Six Days

Really, in the Great Span Of Time, 6 days is not that long. Heck, it's not even a full week. But a lot seemed to happen around here in the last 6 days...

Friday the 23rd was our 5 year wedding anniversary and my mom flew in to take care of the girls while hubby and I escaped for a couple nights to Orlando. We stayed at the Gaylord Palms Resort right outside Disney. This is the view from our balcony...of the inside of the resort. It's landscaped beautifully so you feel like you're outside, but the whole place is really under glass.

Since it was our anniversary, they gave us an extra night free, upgraded our room and even posted this on one of the large tv's in the hotel:

We had drinks by the pool and a fabulous dinner at one of the restaurants. And then we were up early Saturday to catch the hotel shuttle to Epcot:

I loved Epcot. I especially loved the food. Margaritas in Mexico, bratwurst in Germany, tiramisu in Italy. Yes, I basically ate my way through the park. And it was delicious.

Sunday morning we had the best breakfast ever at another restaurant at the hotel and then we headed home to rescue Grammy from the twins. My mom and the girls did great, though Breena was having some potty training issues. Yet that didn't stop us from heading to the Magic Kingdom on Monday:

The girls had a really good time and I think it was our best Disney trip so far (this was their 3rd trip to the Magic Kingdom)....even though they refused to nap in the stroller. Well, until Breena finally, FINALLY gave in....for about 20 minutes:

We even stayed for the night parade. I love seeing the castle like this:

We made the trip home from the Magic Kingdom late Monday night, got a little rest and then took Grammy to the airport Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday started out great. Brian bought some sod from Craig's List (don't ask) so a few of the neighbors came by and helped him put it in. With all the help, it didn't take long and it looked great! Later that day I was upstairs updating my blog for the Bombshell Hop I almost missed, and then I got the girls up from their nap. I was still in the nursery with Breena when Baylinn came running back upstairs and said, "Mommy, there's water in the house!" I immediately ran down the steps and right into a puddle of water. The washing machine was leaking...and had been for about 10 minutes or so. Long enough to cover a good part of the first floor of the house in water. I yelled for Brian who was just as shocked as I was when he saw the flood creeping across our tile and wood floors. I worked our shop vac while he called the neighbors - who had been at our house laying sod just that morning - and asked them to come over with their shop vacs. We worked for an hour straight but got all the water we could see up and out of the house. Then it was time to call the insurance company.

So there's good news and bad news. The good news is that we were home when the leak happened so it only lasted minutes and we were able to get the water out before it ruined any electronics or furniture. It also didn't harm the tile that runs through the middle of the house and into the kitchen.

Now the bad news...

Our wood laminate floors are ruined. The insurance company sent a group out today that worked for hours pulling up the wet parts of the flooring and setting up equipment to dry out the concrete, baseboards and walls (yep, the water got into the walls that quickly). Here's what 22 fans, 4 dehumidifiers and 2 cabinet dryers look like on my driveway:

And here's what they look like inside my house:

As large and ugly as they are, it's nothing compared to the noise these things make...it sounds like you're standing next to a jet engine. You have to shout to be heard above the racket. Lucky for us we have a 2 story and the noise isn't quite as bad up here so we'll be pretty much living on the top floor until the dry out is done - hopefully on Monday. We aren't sure how many weeks it will take to get all the floors replaced....

I did get both girls to the doctor today. Baylinn for a lingering cough and Breena for her, err, bum issue. I hope they both feel better soon. It will make living in this chaos for anther 4 days a bit more bearable.

Whew! If you're still with me....thanks. I needed to get that all out. It just didn't seem possible that so much could happen in such a tiny span of time.

Tomorrow night is GNO @ JT which I am very excited about. (Yes, that's a special code and no, I can't tell you what it means.) Even better, Saturday is National Scrapbooking Day and I'm actually going to get to crop for most of the day at my favorite crop place with my favorite scrappy friends. I can't wait!

The Bombshell Blog Hop

I'm late. Like, REALLY LATE.

I've had this card done for weeks, but was gone all weekend, my mom was in town, missed the reminder email from Bombshell and just NOW at 4:36pm remembered that I was supposed to have this posted at midnight...Ugh. So sorry!

The challenge was PINK, so I decided that my niece's Sweet 16 Birthday would be the perfect inspiration.

Here's the rest of the list....so keep hopping!

Kas
Patti
Meredith
Katie
QueenBScraps
Steph
Erika
Sy
Angie
BoHoRose
Kelli
Stempelientje
Cheryl
Kathi
jheuser
Alison
Shaz
PerkyNihilist
Danielle

I am SO Excited!

I just received my first Club Ruby kit from Above Rubies Studio and I am soooo excited - CUZ THIS KIT ROCKS!!

I mentioned a little while back that I was selected to be a part of the new Design Team at Above Rubies and I knew my first kit would be arriving around mid-April. It came today and I almost ran my husband over in my haste to get it in the house and to get it opened. As I was going through it I just kept saying, "OH! OH!! OOOHHH!!" Yes, it is really that good.

I have a few weeks to get my projects completed, photographed and turned in to Megan at Above Rubies. My work with this kit will be shown exclusively on their site, so make sure you bookmark Above Rubies Studio and check back often to see the projects that myself and the other members of the DT come up with, and to find out when you can purchase this kit for yourself (trust me, you're gonna want to.)

Oh The Horror

My husband didn't get it. He didn't understand why I got so upset. But I know you will understand...

I worked for quite some time on a retirement card for one of hubby's co-workers. I used some of my carefully hoarded SU! designer paper and matching cardstock, searched the internet for the perfect non-cheesy, retirement-themed sentiment, fussy cut the flower and used not one, not two, but THREE pop-dots to secure it to the front, and then hand made the matching envelope. When I was finally happy with it all, I gave it to hubby to sign and address. After a few minutes, I heard a suspicious sound coming from his office. With a sinking feeling I yelled down the hall, "Hey!! Do NOT use scotch tape to close that envelope!!" There was silence...and then a quiet, "I almost did." I immediately retrieved the card and sealed the envelope myself - properly. Crisis averted, but whew, that was close!

Nothing like a little transparent tape to make a hot mess out of a beautifully crafted creation.

Here's a picture of the card - before I added the sentiment to the front:

The card design was based on a sketch that was part of a challenge here last week.

Friday Already

I've been meaning to post all week, but haven't really been spending too much time up here in my scraproom (*gasp*!) ...

Nope, I haven't been crafty all week. Haven't made a thing. Nothing. Nada. But I do have an all day crop tomorrow, so I'm hoping my mojo will show up somewhere between now and then. I have about 11 cards that need made between now and June and "simple" doesn't come easy to me. Thanks to my friend Summer (her super-cute blog is here) who sent me some links to a few sketch challenges which should help me get the ball rollin'.

As for the twins...

Thing seem to be getting a little more.... manageable. The screaming fits and tantrums that my red-haired child was throwing every 5 minutes are now less frequent. We've stuck to our guns...no amount of fit-pitching is going to get anyone what they want. So slowly....it seems to be getting through to her. While we know just how smart she is, she is equally as stubborn. A lethal combo in an almost-3-year-old.

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Here's a one-picture layout using more awesome paper by Mariah Johnson. This picture of Baylinn is actually from Valentine's Day, 2009 - when she was about 21 months old. Why post this today? Because back then, it was good to be her. Nowadays...not so much.

Her sister's fits often come when it's just the 3 of us. When that happens, we go home. Immediately. So that means that Baylinn sometimes gets the short end of the stick. Poor kid. It's just what sometimes happens with siblings. One mis-behaves and the other one gets caught in the crossfire and so her fun ends up cut short too. As they get older we are trying to do things with them separately...it's just not always easy.

A New Week

When this posts at 12:01 am Monday, it will be the start of the new "work" week for me and I'm really, really, REALLY hoping for it to be better than last week.

Did you notice how I put work in quotes?? That's because I don't really work. I'm just a stay-at-home-mom to twin almost-3-year-olds. I have TONS of free time. Just loads and loads of it.

(Is the snarky sarcasm coming through ok? Good. Just checkin'.)

A Giveaway

My friend MC is giving away some great blog candy. Check her out here.

Lucky U

I'm not having a good day.

I know how blessed I am. How lucky.

I know if my girls would've been born at 26-weeks - like they would've been if not for the miracle of modern science - things could be much, much worse. I know. I know. I KNOW.

I won't bore you with the details about the trials and tribulations of having two-year-old twins. I am tired and frustrated. This morning I sighed, I cried, I told myself it will get better. It has to. She cannot be this trying forever. Right. Right??

I googled and found stories of two-year-olds that are way worse than mine. I thought it would make me feel better. It didn't.

So I'm blogging instead. This is my Lucky U card:

The inside said "Lucky U, you get a card from me!" (Maybe it should've said, "Lucky U, you don't have two-year-old twins! HA!")

The sparrows are Bombshell Stamps. The Lucky, the U and the fancy square are Studio G stamps. Staz-On ink, Distress Inks, and Prismas for the (crappy) coloring - I'm trying to get better at it, but it might be a lost cause. The cardstock is from my stash.

Tomorrow will be better.

I hope.

Milestones

We have lived in Florida for 7 years now (wow, time flies when surrounded by warm weather and endless sunshine) and until this past month, I could count on one hand how many birthday parties we have been invited to. Suddenly it seems that everyone we know is having a Big Birthday this year. You know which ones I mean by "big" - the ones that end in an "ooohhhhh!"

The latest birthday party was for a neighbor who turned 40 (insert *shudder* here). I was at a crop when I was trying to come up with an idea for the card, so I took a vote - should I make a scary "eeeek, you're 40!" card or a pretty "beautiful wishes on your birthday" card? The scrappers voted and guess which idea the majority liked better....??

Personally, I love any reason to use a skull and crossbones in a design, so I went with what the voters wanted. The paper and cardstock is retired Stampin Up!, the skulls were cut from Indie Art and the "40" from Blackletter. The rhinestones were donated by my scrappy friend Angie and the black and white ribbon was a freebie from Dawn at our last Scrap Tats meetup (thanks girls!)

If you've never heard of meetup.com, you need to get on there already. It's not just for scrapbooking... it's for all interests and hobbies and a great way to meet people....

Especially if you are like me and don't really like most people. It's a great way to ONLY have to interact with ones that like the same stuff that I do.

A Secret....Revealed

A few weeks ago I became a part of the new design team at aboverubiesstudio.com. I have been keeping this little secret to myself while the lovely and talented owner of Above Rubies, Megan Gravener, has been getting everything ready to launch the new Club Ruby website, blog, forums, tutorials, giveaways and so much more.

Here's a link to today's April Fool's blog post at Above Rubies that was "leaked" so you can see for yourself all of the great things to come. But shhhh! Don't tell anyone! The details are still a big secret!

(Personally I simply cannot wait for the Above Rubies "Gypsy A to Z" DVD. I love my Gypsy, but I know I can get so much more out of it and it looks like this DVD will do just that!)