I am making this really cute premade album for people who want to a 8x8 shutterfly book. It's really clean and simple lines in the design. Here's a page of it. I am done with 12 of the pages so far. Here's a preview of the 12. I am going to make it 24 pgs, so I am 1/2 done. Cute simple layouts, huh?

Kari and Indio came over for a playdate again today. It was fun, but really hot out. Here are some photos of today. Aren't they cute?

Anways, I am sweating to death right now. It's kinda late but I am not tired. I am going in a non sleep streak these last few days. Somewhere buried under all this crap on my desk is my medication to help me sleep. I seriously can't find it. Not that I have looked too hard, but I just can't find the time to clean off this desk. See what I am talking about?

Good morning everyone! Today Madison and I are going on a walk after she finishes watching "charlie and the chocolate factory" and finishes her toast, no jelly, only butter, with no crust. And I have to get down my whole pot of coffee before we go. I am going to commit myself to walking everyday for the next month. 7 days a week of walking 3 miles a day. Nice and healthy. I decided I need to get in shape because we are probley going to go to Vegas in the fall time with our lovely stimulas check that we just got! Whoo hoo! I had wanted to go to Cancun really bad but then Steve talked about Vegas and I thought about how fun sin city would be. We have always had such a great time when we have gone out there. I guess we have a great time together where ever we go because we like all the same things. One day we'll get to Cancun or somewhere else. I'd like to revisit Jamica. Oh would he love it there. Ever been there before? It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I am happy with the travels I have been to....Jamica, Cancun, peurto varta, and the bahamas on a cruise. I would like to go to some different places, but overall I am happy that I have gotten to visit those places. I think I really would like to go to Hawaii someday. Maybe we can go there on our 10th anniversary or something. Fun stuff.

I just love this photo.

What a FUN weekend! Boy, did it ever seem like summer this weekend. On Friday I brought Madison down to the beach/pool (shakopee's pool is made with sand on the bottom of the pool, so it is more of a beach/lake than a pool) with Auntie Lynnie and Barbie and cousins Nikki, Kylee and Logan. She had sooo much fun. Here is a picture of her waiting for her aunties and cousins to arrive.... for some reason, this is one of my favorite pictures. Maybe it's Lynnie's red porch but I just love this photo!...

I wish i would of gotten a group picture of all of us together~I am sure we are all thrilled to be photographed in our bathing suits!

Then on Friday night we went to go watch Tyler in his play, "Jesus Christ Superstar". Grandma Gracie went with. Oh, it was sooo good. Tyler was just so great in this play. I know everyone thinks we think that, but this play was very challenging. If you have ever seen it, you will know how challenging his role was. For those of you who don't know, he played Jesus. It was just very, very good. Here is a photo of him from the play. I sure wish I had photographs of him with the mohawk that he had and all dressed up in rock and roll grub that he was in before the "death" scene....here is is after the "death" scene....

We ended up driving home that same night and woke up early and went out on the boat fishing.

Here's a picture of Steve catching another great catch. Grandma Gracie caught a few fish too but I didn't get her photo with the fish. Bummer. I also caught some fishies, but nothing great. Steve wins the award for the biggest catch of the day! It was really fun out there. Madison was pretty tired though because she had stayed up all night the previous night while Nikki, Kylee and Blaine (Nikki's boyfriend) were babysitting. She got nice and clingly with grandma gracie...Then when we got back from fishing Steve and I went golfing. Man, we both golfed a pretty good game. This was our 2nd time out this year. I think I have my tee-off swing down. So far it is working for me. Steve got quite a few pars on this last game. I haven't done that yet, but hopefully soon. I had some really good tee-off's though! And acutally I am putting quite nice. Nice and straight anyways but of course always just a bit short (or too much). Gotta work on the speed portion. One day it's all going to come together for me! Steve always does good.

Then Steve made us his famous ribs for dinner. Now, I am not usually a meat type of gal. I can take it or leave it, but I have to rave about my husbands ribs. Pretty damn good. He has perfected his ribs. He has a secret. But he can't tell. I think he did tell grandma gracie though. Anways, it was a great dinner. THEN me and grandma gracie went to the casino. We lost. But not too bad. What a bummer because winning would of made the entire great day that we had. It was a really, really fun summer day I gotta tell you. Then grandma gracie slept over night and the next morning we went to perkins to eat breakfast and then I drove her home. Lynnie came with and we visited over a kim's for a short time before we headed back home. Madison took this picture of me and grandma gracie. She's getting good with the camera!

I'll leave you with another fav. picture of mine of madison and grandma gracie on the boat. It was a really good and action packed fun weekend.

Look at how pretty our rosebush is. I can't believe how big this bush is. I suppose we should cut it back, but why really.
I made a "vegas" paper pack for inkededges and was trying to do a layout with it. The only photos I have are the ones of me with Kurt Russell and the other boyz (David Arquette, Kevin Costner and I can't remember the name of the other guy....hmmmm, what was his name?). I am sure everyone has heard this story a million times from me so I'll make the story really short for those of you who don't know....I was down in Vegas in 2000 and they were filming the movie, "vegas 3000" and somehow...don't ask me how really...I was invited by the body gaurds of the "boyz" to sit in while they were filming in one of the casinos. Anyways, it was pretty cool...Kurt Russell was trying to gamble for me by throwing his money in the machine...I sat there and told him how I thought him and goldie needed to get married (can you hear me doing this?), we took photos together. I got some more pics of them all which was pretty cool. I got the star treatment and their body guards told me what ever I wanted I could have...I said "go get my roommate but I am not sure what room we are in", they said no problem. My friend thought that I had gotten into trouble and she came into the part while they were filming and saw me talking to all the guys. She about died. That's my claim to fame story and it was pretty cool. Still am not really sure how it happened except the producer of the show kept running into me and saying hi so I am sure it had something to do with that, although I didn't see the producer the rest of the time while I was watching them film. It was cool.
It is so hot out right now. I don't think I am going to be able to sleep. But I shall try. Tomorrow we are going to the beach so I can do the "hand off" of Madison to lynnie and nikki. Then we are going to go up and pick up grandma gracie and run up to moorhead to see TyTy in his play. Then on Saturday we are going to go on the boat and do some fishing. I think we might try to get a round of golf in before we go fishing. Sounds like a good time, huh? I think so!
Oh, I thought everyone should know that I went out and bought NEW icees/freezes that only have 25 calories in them. That's better but there has to be some that are 10 or less. Are there not sugarfree ones? I will have to spend abit more energy into finding these. There has to be some out there! Anyone know? comment below please if you do!

Isn't this picture cute of Papa and Madison walking? I have been going through my old pictures and coming across some that I forgot. I love this one.
Well, we went to the beach with auntie Lynnie today. We had so much fun. It was a great day weather wise and fun all around. Then we went back to Lynnies and Maddie got to jump on the trampoline with Barrett! We are both tired from being out in the sun all day. We'll sleep good tonight I bet. Here are some photos from today.

So, want to know what my complaint of the day is? The calories in the freezes/icees that I bought Madison to eat. Of COURSE it's me eating them innocently thinking they have to be about 10 calories each. NOPE...60 calories, thank you. Oh...I have been eating these things one after another thinking that I am "safe". Hell, I got 5 wrappers sitting here on my desk right in front of me. I am just shocked at the calories because I am the calorie queen. I know the amount of calories in everything. Apparently everything but freezez/icees. I am losing my touch people.

Tonight it was pretty funny because Steve was watching "ghost hunters" and I had to leave the room because I was getting too scared. Anyways, a while after I left there was this HUGE bang. Something in our closet fell over. Or GOT PUSHED OVER. It's not that I really believe in ghosts but I kinda do. I just don't welcome them or want them around but Steve is probley egging them on to come because he just does not believe in the type of thing. I am SURE that's what was going on in the closet. Freaky. Now I am too afraid to stay up after he does, so that means in 10 mintues I will be going to bed. He goes at 10pm on the dot. For him not being someone who follows a plan or schedule, he sure has his own.

Like this little notebook I made? Does it look realistic enough? I like it! Okay...enough of my digital crap...we are going to the beach today! whoo hoo! First time at the beach this year. It's really summer out! We are going with Auntie Lynnie. Then on Friday we are going again but Nikki and her boyfriend are coming with! FUN! I'll only be there a little bit on Friday because I have to get back early because we are leaving to go see Ty in his play. Nikki (and Auntie Lynnie) are babysitting for us. Isn't that nice? It's so damn hard to find babysitters.
Yesterday Indio couldn't be here for his and Madison's playdate because he got sick in the morning. Madison was very bummed. I felt sorry for her when she said she was going to take her breakfast and go sit out on the front steps and wait for Indio to get here. I had to gently break the news that he wasn't coming. She took it like the little trooper she is.
Steve came home from work early last night and trimmed up all the bushes in our front and back yard. They needed to be trimmed badly. It was almost embarssing! I moved the grass. We played quite the yard team yesterday. Looks nice. We love our yard.

This is kinda a boring layout (not to say that alexis is boring...lol) but I was just trying out some elements that I extracted. Everything is from our yard except the ribbon. Kinda cool, huh? Even the paper is our fence around the pond.

I have to stop making layouts with this paper. I have too many. But I just love the vibrant colors. It's just fun! This is one of my favorite pictures of Ty and Maddie. I have it hanging up by our door.

We are waiting for Kari and Indio to get here for another playdate! Madison wants to sit out on the front steps and wait for Indio. It's so cute. But I told her no because we aren't sure excatly when they are getting here.

Oh...steve and I went golfing last night. Got ourselves a babysitter and went on a date! It was really fun. This is our first time out this year and we actually did pretty good. I have my tee off swing down now. It's kinda funny because I stand there and swing my hips 3 times and then swing. It looks funny but it works. There were so many people out there on the course that it took us 2 hours to do the short par 3 course. Usually we can get it done in an hour. Anyways, it was really fun.

And YES, I went to go see "sex and the city" all by myself. I acutally did it! Whoo hoo for me. I LOVED the movie big time. I always tell Steve that he is my "mr. big". I can/could relate so much (not the ranchy parts) to that show when I was watching it on dvd's. I was in my 30's and not married at the time. I told Steve at that time too that he reminded me of "mr. big". Now they are 40 and have kids and married, etc. and I can still relate! What a fantastic show. I thought they did a great job on the movie too. They just went straight through forward with not hanging on any part to the story which was really smart. It was just well done I thought. Speaking of movies, does anyone know when HighSchool Musical 3 is going to get finished? We decided we are going to take Madison to her first movie when that comes out. We were thinking of maybe Kungfu Panda too. Once she gets movies down then she can go see Ty in some of his shows.

We are going to the beach this week a few times so I thought I'd look at Madison's first time at the beach EVER! I am so excited that it's finally summer. Yeah! I think this week is suppose to be nice out. Fun stuff.

Happy Father's Day! We spent the entire day out on the boat and I am fried! We caught some fish...nothing like 2 weeks ago, but look at this fricken' carp that Steve caught...it's HUGE! How fun!

Everyone in the household is sleeping because we are so tired from fishing. Madison is doubly tired because she has been so naughty the past few days. You'd think we had a teenager or something. Speaking of teenagers *(although technically Ty is NOT a teenager, he'll be 20 in a few weeks..eeks!) we are going to go on Friday to see Ty in his play. He plays Jesus in "Jesus Christ SuperStar". I am sooo excited to watch him. It's always exciting to see him in a play but expecially when he's the lead, it's fun. I guess he has alot of singing parts. I haven't seen the play before so I am not sure what it's all about. Obivously about Jesus. ha!

I got a busy schedule this week. Which is fun. It's a pure mommy week except for tomorrow. Madison is in daycare and dare I say that I might go see the movie, "sex and the city". Except I have to check on the times about movies because I don't know if they even play them during the day anymore. Since I am on the internet I should check, huh? Hang on peeps...okay...guess I can go. Hee hee...I don't know if I can do it. That is going to a movie by myself. I feel kinda silly. Kinda feel sorry for myself that I have to go to a movie by myself. Poor me. Poor little (not really) me. I guess I will have to get up the guts to go see a movie by myself. I am all talk when I say I am going to go see a movie by myself. We'll see. I suppose I am almost 40. You'd think I'd be a tad bit mature over the subject. Maybe I'll go. I'll try. (I just sounded like Madison when she sounds like she's mocking you and she says, "I'll try", when you ask her to do something. It's halarious!)

Well, I hear Steve up checking the doors so I'd best be going. Hope everyone who's a daddy had a great father's day! We did in the Michaels household. I even gave my kid a tubbies (steve usually does the tubbies) tonight in HONOR of father's day. I let the little feller sit on the couch to watch tv. He's a good daddy...he deserves to do that at least once a year:)

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.