Well, it's like 4:30 in the morning and I can't sleep. Steve, Madison and I ended up sleeping over @ Kim and Tom's last night after the festivities for Buffalo days here in Buffalo. Too tired to drive home and we took them up on the offer! Madison loves to be with her cousins anyways. I think there is a parade and some more stuff to do TODAY. Notice that I am using present tense hence it being 4:30 am. Last night was fun....we just sat in the beer gardens, listened to the music and let Kayla pretty much watch Madison. By the way Madison thought she was a little hotshot being able to run with Kayla and her friend! It was cute.
Anyways, I woke up about 2:45 and couldn't fall back asleep so I got on the computer and started doing some inkededges stuff. I think I will try to get back to sleep now....even though I am not tired I might be able to still get a few hours in. TaTa for now.

I am up early today. Go figure. Madison is out watching Dora....I just poured a cup of coffee and came in to check emails and decided to do this little survey for ya all. You can do one for yourself and leave in the comments...just copy and paste and then put in your own answers. I'd love to read them....
1.What I was doing 10 years ago: 10 years ago I was....29. Damn....I was still in my 20's. I can't remember what I was doing then other than working at PrintComm for the State, doing what I loved doing...my graphics. Man, 10 years and what really have I done? Maybe the next 10 will need to be a bit more fullfilling. Wait...I guess I found the love of my life and had a child, that's pretty good. Okay, whew...I feel better now!
2. 5 things on my list to do today:
- Bring Madison to a NEW park.
- Blog at least one entry, which I am doing now, thank you!
- Go on my 3 mile walk. My calf is allllll better now!
- Call back my friend Lisa
- cook dinner tonight.
I'm boring, I know.
3. Things I would do if I were a billionaire-
-Give $ to all of my family.
-Shop for random things I didn't need everyday of the year
-Pay off Tyler's college. And put away $ for Madison's college.
-Buy a lake home with all the fun toys we want.
-Hire a personal trainer.
4. My bad habits.
-Bite my nails.
-Eat too much.
-Don't exercise enough.
5 Places I’ve lived
-Minnesota
-Pennsylvania
6. 5 jobs I’ve had
-Worked Rax (wearing the green polyester pants)
-Worked at HOW graphics
-Worked for the State of Minnesota at various agencies.-worked in a call center for Mastercard
-Worked for State Farm giving quotes. *way too young to do this.
-Worked at Cost Cutters as a receptionist.
-Worked at Carson Praire Scott as a hairstylist and electrologist. Later this turned into Regis.

That's my life in a nutshell. Oh, Madison wants to type something...Here she goes:
daddy tyler moo (she's trying too spell mommy but accidently spelled moo. Need I say more?)
mommy madison i love you
Oh, she did a great job typing! It's amazing how kids can type and stuff. Not like when we were little. It'll be cool once she's in school doing computers and stuff.
Madison right now is drawing on the paper to wrap Steve's father day present in. We got him a shirt (whoo hoo, right?). Don't worry...he doesn't ever read the blog so it won't matter that I am writting this. I had a hard time picking out a shirt for him. Usually I am fine with buying his clothes, but this year he said he doesn't want any fancy colors. I am always buying him perwinkles and rusts and burnt oranges as the color. This time I got him blue. Boring blue!
Here's a picture of the little rugrat.

Look, I made up my own quote! I'm right up there with all the famous quoters of the century...Well, Madison and I are about to venture off into the warm, beautiful summery weather on our walk. I told her that I would stop at the park by this school that we walk past. It is acutally the school that Maddie will go to if we are still in this house by the time she gets in school. We talk about moving sometimes but I think it's more talk than anything. We first have to update our windows before we'd ever move. That's a must. Okay....enough of blogging and onto the real world!

Just one last little layout of me. Don't I just sound like a self-affirming individual? So postive sounding. My therapist would be proud..hee hee! gotta go!

Okay, okay...I'll quit using this paper to scrap on. It's my latest paper and elements that I just designed. Do you like them? Here's the paper...
And here's the elements...

It'll be awhile before Kim gets these up on the website over at www.inkededges.com. I wish I knew how to do the web portion of our business because Kim is alot busier than I am. How's the biz you ask? It's fine. We could certainly do alot more to get more sales. I think I said this before...but we already met our challenge (which was getting our business up and running) and now we are kinda bored. We acutally just had a conversation tonight how we are bored with EVERYTHING! We both said we need a challenge. I guess my challenge could be getting to bed early again. I was doing so good with that and then lately I just kinda blew it and have been staying up late again. Not really super late, but late enough. I can't help that I am a night owl. Maybe I'll take my medication to get me to sleep..hang on, I'll do it right now...okay, I did it. Now in about 1/2 hour I should be GETTING sleepy. Aren't you glad that you can be there while I take my meds? hee hee.

Speaking of my Shutterfly book...here is a picture of the cover. It just looks so cool in print. Steve said it was really cool too. It's kinda expensive, but considering for the last year (more like 3 or 4) years I haven't bought any film or paid for any photo processing, it actually comes out even. Okay, way less than even because the book costed $62.00 bucks and that is NOTHING compared to buying the film and paying for the photo processing. I thought it was a great deal. Needless to say Steve wasn't happy when he asked me "hey...what the hell did you spend $61.79 on at Shutterfly?"...I just kindly and calmly expressed the good deal it was and stated to him if he thought so too? He said no. But THEN he saw the book TODAY and he said it was great. Maybe a few days of letting him calm down did the trick. Who knows! But he's happy for it now and isn't that what we want....for Steve to be happy. :)

Anyways, I can't express enough how happy I have been with shutterfly's printing of my projects. In fact anytime I actually have gotten some prints, which is rare, I have been extremly happy with their service. Also fast too. Another place that I have been happy with is vistaprint.com for getting things like Kylee's graduation announcements for her party printed. Nice service, fast, great printing. Here's a picture of Kylee's announcments that I did up for her:

It just turned out so nice. Anways...I have had some great experiences with some of the places I have choosen to do my work at and have just been very pleased with their results.
Do you ever have dejaviews? I totally had one of us sitting at woolsworth in Apache plaza in the little resturant that had eating a cheeseburger with mom and Kim. Maybe that was just triggered on about something else but that is what I am remembering right now. Wierd. I wonder why these thoughts sometimes come in my head. Just out of nowhere, out of the blue they come. Maybe I was thinking about Apache Plaza the other day.
Well, I am rambling on now about nothing. I think my meds just kicked it. Whoo hoo. Anyways, hope ya all had a great night. I think I'll go lay in bed and watch some tv. I seem to be missing out on some of my reality shows that I really like. I haven't watched the "hills" for a few weeks and need to catch up on them. There are just so many shows that I can't keep it straight what I watch anymore. Maybe I'll have to make myself up a little chart and keep it by the tv. IF the stupid sunday paper had the tv guide anylonger than I would be using that but noooo, they won't put that in there anylonger. How stupid can they be? I think that is one of the reasons people bought the paper in the first place. Now there is no more tv guide and it's just sad....something of the past. I LIKED the tv guide and now I am left to my own devices having to search for shows that I can't even remember the nights they are on. Yes, tv is becoming my life. Only at night though. I was never one for daytime tv. Could never get into it. I use to try to get into the soaps but failed miserably. I got too bored by them.
Wow..I found a way to keep on rambling. Okay...the meds are really taking a liking to me right now so I'd best get on my way! Gotta go to bed!

Kylee's graduation party is this Saturday. Fun stuff I'm telling ya. Isn't this is cute little layout I made in honor of the graduate? Here's another little one that is a tad simpler...

Steve just asked if I was having an internet affair because I am on the computer again...hahaha. I promised him I wasn't. Crossed my heart, hoped to die, stick a needle in my eye. He believed me.

I got my shutterfly book in the mail already! It's so cool. Next time you come over to the house you should ask to see it. It's the perfect coffee table book. Except it won't be on our coffee table because we have a 3 yr old!
Yesterday I had a headache and pretty much spent most of my time on the couch. I HATE days like that. Total waste. At least it was rainy out and not sunny like it is today. That would be terrible to be lying on the couch with it being sunny out!
Did I tell you that I am painting Madison's playset? What a job. Jeepers. I should of taken before and after pictures. I did all the big painting and now I am doing the small detail work which is taking forever. I have been doing this for about 2 weeks now. I don't think I am ever going to get finished. There is alot more to go.

Hi. I am so excited. I ordered a shutterfly book of all my layouts that I have done over the last year. I am trying to find out how to preview the copy on the blog, but in the meantime if you'd like to take a look at it, you can go here:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0IbMmTRoyasXLw
and it'll bring you to the shutterfly site. You don't need to become a member of shutterfly to view the book. It should arrive in the mail between Thursday and Saturday! Whoo hoo!
Well, we went to the park this morning and had some fun. I am getting to know some more of the moms and daycare ladies who bring their kiddies down to the park.
Madison's ice skating lessons start up again today! She is so excited. It'll be wierd to wear winter clothes in there but it be hot (kinda) outside! Guess we'll just have to gather up the winter wear and throw it in a bag. I wonder what I'll forget today.

Okay...this is the really yummy salad that Graco made on mine and Kim's bday's. It is super duper good. Thanks mom for giving me the recipes to post.

blt salad

1 pound thick-sliced bacon
2 large heads romaine lettuce,washed & cut into bite-size pices (about 16 cups)
3 large ripe tomatoes (1 1/2 pounds)
cored and cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup whipped salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip)
1 teaspoon salt-free seasoning mix (such as Mrs Dash)

1. cook bacon in a large skillet about 6 minutes, until crispy. drain on paper towels; crumble when cool.

2. place half of the lettuce in a 14- to 16- cup salad or trifle bowl. sprinkle half of the tomato pieces and half of the crumbled bacon over the lettuce. press to compress ingredients.

3. spread half of the salad dressing over the top. sprinkle with half the seasoning mix. repeat layering with remaining lettuce, tomato ( reserving some for garnish), bacon and dressing. sprinkle top with remaining seasoning and reserved tomato. cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

And then this is the sandwhiches that she made....

HAM & SWISS SANDWICH WITH DILL SPREAD

2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
course salt and ground pepper
2 thin slices Swiss cheese
2 slices pumpernickel bread
3 thin slices smoked ham
green leaf lettuce

1. in a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, and dill. season with salt and pepper; set dill spread aside.

2. place cheese on both slices of bread; top with dill spread. place ham and lettuce on one slice; top with other slice. refigerate, wrapped in parchment or waxed paper, up to overnite SERVES 1

Well, it's been a few days since I have blogged. I can't even remember what has happened it the few little days it has been. How's THAT for being 39? Oh, we had fun on our bday. Here is a photo with me and Kim and 2 of our friends. It was a really fun day.

mmmm... dairy queen cookie dough ice cream cake. Steve suprised me with this. Ain't he just the sweetest thang?

Here's some cute pictures of the cousins...

Check out Madison's poses in this layout. Is she a natural or what? Hope everyone had a good Monday! Peace out.

Oh, before I go....Guess who made the Dean's list? He is so awesome! He totally makes me proud. Way to go TyTy!

Look at this cute photo of brandon that i did up. He looks like a little model!

Here is my 39th self portrait. Eeks.

Here are my lovely bday presents. I LOVE them! The bath stuff is from my baby. The purse is from Steve. Yes, it's a fake Coach. I walked him through the process of where to go to buy a fake one....the Mall of America of course. I love it. It's really cute! I told him for my 40th he can buy me a real one. He said he'll start saving!

Here's the child with the purse. Man is she crabby apples right now. whew....very crabby. On my birthday too....that shouldn't be.

Kylee's Graduation

Well, we went to Kylee's graduation last night. It was a nice, but obnoxious ceremony. Which means that it was fun:)! Here's some pics from last night.

Nice looking bunch, eh? Oh, that reminds me that I nominated my sister Barb for the TLC show, "What NOT to wear". Awesome huh? If she got picked she'd get 5000 bucks to spend on a new wardrobe. Hell, I should of nominated myself!

Oh...hey, it my birthday today. Well, happy birthday to me. whoo hoo. 39. Eeks. That's all I'm going to say about this special occasion.

Yesterday Madison had her very first playdate with Indio (kari thompson's son). It was so fun to watch her play with someone in our backyard. They got along really good minus a few screams and cries (from Madison only...not me!). Plus Kari and I never see each other, which is really wierd considering we are both home and live so close to each other. So, it was good to catch up with her, once again considering she is my best friend! We are going to try to get together every other Tuesday. Hopefully this next time we get together it will be warm enough to go to the beach.

Here's a cute picture of Indio I took yesterday. It's so wierd to see our two kids together. It's cool. They've seen each before so I am not sure why I am amazed that we both have kids but Kari and I have been friends since fourth grade and I just can't believe that we now have kids. Since we are almost 40 years old *OMG* I shouldn't be amazed that we both have kids now. Okay, I will quit babbling on about the kiddies!

Speaking of almost being 40....tomorrow is mine and Kim's bday! Whoo hoo. Actually I am abit bothered by turning 39. Obiviously because I am abit bothered by being almost 40. The other day Steve did a little freakout himself saying that he's going to be 50 in 7 years (I'll stand to correct him..it's more like 6 1/2 years now!). He is almost middle aged. Oh...did I tell you that he is trying to buy a dirt bike? HE'S GOING THROUGH A MIDDLE AGED CRISIS NOW!!! Wow, I just figured that out...he is not buying the convertable or divorcing his wife for a younger woman, he is buying a dirtbike. eeks. He's going though a middle age crisis. Wow! That's all I can say is wow. I am not happy with the decision to buy the bike either on many different levels. BUT, I told him I never want to tell him that he can't do something so I have agreed to it...still not really happy with it. He's going to kill himself. This is the guy that went dirtbiking when he went to vacation with his guy friends and ended up with a hematoma seroma on his leg. Which is STILL there if you can believe it. Oh, what is he getting himself into. He is really going to hurt himself. I can just feel it. But this is what going through a middle aged crisis does to a guy. Jeepers.

Wow, is Madison good at going potties now in her potty chair. Now THAT is amazing because she hasn't once gone in her pullups or diaper in a few days now. Not even during the night last night and we made sure to put a night time pullup on. God, are those expensive...either daytime or nighttime pullups cost alot. Much more than diapers I think. I did buy her some princess underware though. Maybe we can just do those at home and then if we go somewhere we'll put on the pullups. Like how I plan out my child's diaper/pull up delima for the whole world to see? Poor Madison. Her mother is already embarssing her.

Well, I had best get going and finish doing the laundry and cleaning a tad. You know what I figured out? If I spray off the kitchen counter with Pinesol cleaner, he thinks the house is really clean. And if the window are open, the wind carries the smell and he can smell it when he walks in the door. Then he thinks that I am really cleaning. Little trick for any of you newlyweds....hee hee.

Mom got back her results from her cat scan. If you don't know what's going on, when she had pneuomia a few weeks ago they saw something on her lung from her pneuomia xrays. So she went in to get a cat scan. Anyways, the results show that she has an 8 mm spot of tissue that is non-calcified. They are going to redo another cat scan in 3 months to see if the spot has grown any. We are taking this as good news. What we are thinking is that years ago the doctors had accidently punctured her lung while she was in the hospital for another procedure and we are thinking that it might be scar tissue. We hope that's what it is. Please say a little prayer for graco. I'll keep you update via the blog.

I am going to Kylee's graduation tonight. It's raining out like crazy so it is NOT going to be outside. Bummer. Here I go again talking about the weather.

Cool, one of my layouts got picked for being featured in a online magazine. You can go here and click on my layout (it's with Madison and Steve...you'll see it..the first one): http://scrapbooking.com/article/41349
Hey...guess who's almost potty trained at record speed? Of course Madison. It's not speedy as in age wise, but today she has gone potty 4 times in her pullups and not once in her diaper. Guess she hasn't had any diapers on today...she had pullups on and then graduated to her underware. Excuse me..her DORA underware. It's that great? Thank GOD because this has taken FOREVER. Now we are going to have to figure out how to get her off the suckers that she gets each time she goes potty. We can't keep that up forever. But it works. We'll just have to phase that out of her life pretty soon.
We went to the Mall of America today. It was pretty fun. She went on alot of rides, had her ice cream cone, played at LegoLand and then we went home.
Steve is out at Hooters right now with a bunch of guys that he has to somewhat entertain from work. When I worked there we would go out with these guys too. They are the people who are entwined with the ELS machines at the DNR. Those are the machines you buy your fishing license with. When we use to go out with these guys it was so much fun (and very wild). Times have changed though....I think they got in some type of unprofessional ethic code of conduct trouble. But man, did we use to all have fun! Lots of fun. It was kinda like the good ole' college days. Fun stuff.
Right now Madison is watching Peter Pan for the 100th time. Yes, her latest of obessional behavior. That's about it for now!

So, Look at the 2 videos underneath this blog entry and see me and Steve in action. Steve is making me put mine on too even though I don't want it to be seen. Oh well...what the hell, right people?
Nana, thank you so much for getting this for Madison. It's PERFECT! Thanks!!!!!
Well, we are having fun playing with this so I gotta go!

Fashion Show with Kelly...

Fashion Show with Steve...

Madison watching the parade at Grand Ole' Day...

Her eating one of her suckers that she caught while they were throwing out candy. Man, are they ever getting chinsy with throwing out candy. Can't tell if they are just cheap and don't want to throw anything out OR if they are trying to avoid a lawsuit if they accidently hit a child. Something is up with the amount that they throw. We are talking about ONE piece per child. Remember the good ole' days were kids were almost hogpiling to get to the candy? Well, those days are GONE.

Aren't these the cutest little toes you have ever seen? I think her feet are so cute. Of course I do! Well, we are burnt to a crisp from fishing yesterday. I took a picture of how bad Steve's back was and I can't find where I put it on my computer. He looks like the coppertone kid. Remember that ad? Boy, does sunblock work good though. The stuff we put on little maddie is spf 50. Nothing gets through that.
Well, I RE-hurt my leg *calf* again. Guess how? I was sleeping on the couch again last night and about 3 in the morning I heard all this ruckus outside the window and I FREAKED and jumped out of the couch and literally ran into the bedroom. In the process of my freaking out, I repulled my calf muscle. It really sucks and it really hurts. I figured out the ruckus was the newspaper guys delivering papers. It's kinda funny when you think of the ways I have injured myself.
Well, today for fun we may go to GRAND OLE' DAY(s). I use to always go to that in my younger years (aka party years) and it was so much fun. I think they use to have it Saturday and Sunday but now it's only on Sunday, hence grand ole day vs. grand old days. See?

Kim is running her triatholon today. I feel guilty for not going to see her today. I should of waken up early *yeah right..., and gone to see her. Hopefully she'll beat her record for herself. I sure don't have the energy to train. Hell, I don't have the dislipline to train for a triatholon. I did my team tri back in the 90's and that was good enough for me. I DID want to do my first 5k ever though and I put the caboosh on that with my calf. One of these years I'll get my act together and actually do something cool like that. I envy anyone that runs and does triatholons and stuff. It's just sooo hard to do and I don't know if I could ever do it. We'll see. Maybe. But that's later down the road so why bother with it now, eh? lol

Which variation of her toes do you like the best? I kinda like the high contrast black and white. God, I really want a good, good camera. But we couldn't afford it right now. Guess I will have to try and save up! jeepers. I'll pay like 500 something for the one I want. It'll take me a year or 2 two to save up.

maaaaaaaaaaaaaaabdison michaels. Madison wanted to spell her name out. A little bit too many a's.

Well, gotta go and get ready for the day now!

Oh my goodness, look at all the fishies we caught! We each caught our limit! Talk about awesome fishing! That was today...one after another. How fun!

Cute pics of Steve and Maddie and Maddie with her little sunglasses on. Those glasses are funny. She actually looks like she has bifocals on. ha! Oh...if you haven't guessed, we went out on the boat today. What PERFECT weather. Oh fishing was so much fun. I also caught about 5 bass that we just threw back in. I also caught a MONSTER carp that got off my line. I caught the big one and it got away! Steve is cleaning the fish *remember alive?. Ick.

This was Madison last night posing for the camera. I love it when she *wants* her picture taken. She did that over at Grandma Gracies also. It's so awesome when she does it!
This is about the boring-ist day we have had in a long time. My child has watched movie after movie and me...well, just lying there on the couch 1/2 dozing most of the time. I finally had to get up and make a pot of coffee so I could try to get some energy into me. That is seriously all we have done today. Can you say boring?

Not much to blog about today. Nothing has happened. I am really bored. Madison is in daycare. I don't feel like cleaning. So I made this layout. That's all. Nothing more to say. Bye.

Well, we are back from Grandma Gracie's house. We had a good ole' time! It was fun. Both days we went to McDonalds and played in their playland.

Oh...me and Kim are having our bday party at the big chutes and ladders park in Bloomington. Anyone who wants to come, please do so! We will have a picinic table and just hang out at the park all day! Here are the specifics. I'm sending out the email maybe tomorrow. If you get a email and see someone who's name isn't on the list, please forward it to them. I don't have everyone's emails in my address book *still!

I am a little worried people won't be able to find it because it's in a "wildlife" type of area in Bloomington. I guess maybe I am a bit worried people won't find us in the park. We'll be in the picinc area right outside of the playarea *to the right of the playarea*. Anyways, if people want to come, cool. If not, well then that's fine too! It's not a big deal or anything! I decided that's what I wanted to do for my bday this year and then Kim said she did too with the kiddies and then we decided to have a little party for anyone who cares to join!

Well, we are heading off to Grandma Gracies for a sleepover. Not sure what we are going to do up there cuz it's not looking too good weather wise! That means no going to the park if it's too horrible outside. We always have the McDonalds play area. That's probley what we'll do. It's been quite awhile since we did a sleep over at Grandma Gracies house. I'll have to bring my camera!
Oh, did you watch the Denise Richardson show and the Living Lohan show last night on the E channel? I have been waiting and waiting for these stupid shows to start! I was so excited for them to premire last night! It's so dumb....how many reality shows can one person like? I am such a reality show junkie. I am not too sure how I like the Denise Richardson show yet but I do like the Living Lohan one. That Dina Lohan mom is such a spaz (I think). Also for Lindsay NOT being on the show they sure talk about her alot. It's kinda sickening. I am sure they are cashing in on her name so it attracts people to the show. Anyway, I do give a thumbs up to both of the shows so far.
I almost have us packed to go up to Grandma Gracies but should probley get going up there now! I'll blog when I get back. I am sure we'll be back tomorrow at sometime. Depends on the weather again. I sure talk about the weather alot.

Just some more photos of this weekend....

Interview with Madison

What is up with this stupid weather? It's suppose to be nice out today! We were suppose to take the boat out and go fishing again, but instead we ending up going to the Como Zoo. It was pretty fun. Everyone else under the sun had the same idea.

Here are some pictures of us there.... This is Madison climbing the ropes in the kids play thingie...

Here she is on the cars....I went on the Tea Cups with her....made me sick to my stomach...

I still feel sick and this is after a couple of hours! Steve is going to make ribs tonight and that ends our memorial day weekend. Guess I never went to Daddy's grave. Poor Dad. Or Jake and Hunter's. Poor little guys. I haven't been there (the cemetary) in years actually. Cemetarys give me to creeps and I am kinda afraid to go by myself. I am sure Steve would go with. Next time I am in the area I will stop. Now that Mom doesn't live over there anymore I never really get in the area.