and on the other hand....

there are those children that are over the top gift givers. it's like an endless gift bag, just keep putting your hand in and every time you bring it out it's full of some fun item. not cheap crap mind you, but good stuff: twistable crayons, high quality wooden logic toys,national geographic activities, etc. this same child often adds a gift card for $10 or $15 as well. and i do mean child. these gifts are all child driven. the child in i speak of is an indulged only child. i appreciate that she values my child's friendship but i almost feel dirty letting my child open these gifts; like she's being bought off.

i know. i know. can't win for losing with me.

it's the big 8 for my oldest today. wasn't it just yesterday that she was refusing anything but my b**b? screaming when anyone, and i mean ANYONE, but mommy or daddy picked her up or held her? sigh, i can not believe how fast it's going.

on a different note, i am going to complain about birthday gifts for kids. let me say first that i am not materialistic. i do not expect anyone to spend a bunch of cash on my little ankle biters; i, in fact, rarely spend more than $10 on a gift for birthday parties - always books and/or art stuff.

what i do not understand is when 2 children from the same family are invited to a birthday party and they come bearing a singular gift (worth $10 - i'm telling you the cost for comparison only). yes, i realize times are tough (although this family is truly not hurting) but really, you can't go to half price books and get 2 books for less than $10? or joann's and get a crafty item for 3.99 each (without a coupon)? the capper is when one of those same children sees a ($15) gift from some one else and says 'oh yeah, i got that for my friend's birthday tomorrow'.

and while i'm ranting about birthday gifts, if you are invited to a birthday party of twins, please, please, please bring EACH child a gift. again, it doesn't have to be something expensive and frankly i'd rather it not be. we all know that these things are for the most part played with for a week or so and then broken, lost, or interest simply wanes.

there is always someone who brings ONE gift to be shared between my twins; and no, it's not a game or something they can play with together. hello. they may have come from 1 egg but they are individuals with 2 minds, 2 likes, 2 dislikes. please acknowledge each child.

yes, even if all 3 of mine are invited to the same party, they each take a gift that they picked from the 'closet' (yes, i'm one of those; i buy a variety of things all year and store them in one place so the kids can 'shop' as needed - you know you get those last minute invitations too; but that's another rant. in fact, one year, i had such a good find that i bought like 10 of the same thing, and every girl). if we, the parents, are invited also, we take something too. i learned, as have my children, that it's good manners for each guest to come bearing gifts.

is it just me? discuss.

i love giveaways!

and a site that is chock-full-o good ones is 5 Minutes for Mom. They're having some great mother's day give a ways right now head on over and see for yourself!

monday meal plan...on tuesday

something new because i want to win a 1 year subscription to the meal planning service: relish! from i'm an organizing junkie. so here we go:

monday: swiss burgers w/carmelized onions & roasted garlic (deeeeelish) & sweet potato fries

tuesday: french dips & green salad

wednesday: spaghetti w/salad & garlic bread

thursday: bean soup w/croissants

friday: shredded pork (crockpot) & roasted potatoes

saturday: leftovers

sunday: roast chicken w/garlic mashers

pretty unimaginative, thus the need for the subscription!

i want to WIN!

THIS is worth blogging about. 

this is the only tool i've drooled over. why haven't i bought it? silly reader, the price tag is what is holding this crafter back. 

the good news?  kelsey, the crafty lady over at VanillaJoy (a blog i like to frequent) is GIVING ONE AWAY! can you believe it? 

so i thought i'd share the wealth and let you know that if you want a Silhouette of your very own, but can't afford it, you can always throw your hat into the ring to win one! wish me luck!

scraplifting

do you scrapbook? have you visited Scraphappy? oh you should go, you should also listen to Lain's podcast (i use itunes) it really does make you smile. one of the fun things over at Lain's blog are her challenges; every thursday is '30 minute thursday' and the current theme is scraplifting. 

for those of you not familiar with the word, it means to look at someone else's layout and either copy it or use it as a frame of reference for your own layout. just an fyi, it's ok to copy someone's work if it's going in your personal album, but it's not so good to copy and try to pass it off as your own...always site your sources people! but i digress. so, if we choose to participate this week, we are to scraplift. i had the perfect project in mind. 

in march i purchased the 'celebration' kit from Lisa Bearnson's kit of the month site. this particular kit came with maybe 20 pre-arranged layouts, and each had it's own little bag of stuff needed to make the page(s). does that make sense? the theory is, all you need to do is open the bag, copy the picture included, add your photos and ta-da page done. i bought it because i thought it would be a good way to bang out some pages and whittle down some of my picture backlog. good in theory. the problem: i'm kinda a non-conformist - so, i'm using all the stuff to make the layouts my own. it's taking a little longer than originally anticipated, but i'm getting it done! i did this one today. viva VBS!

so this is the pic of the l/o that came with the kit:

(don't mind the mark, it's just to remind myself that i did that one already....you know how it is)

and here is my interpretation:

left

right

this is actually a special l/o. we journeyed to s. dakota to help grandma move into an assisted living complex and clean out her apartment. you can imagine how difficult it was for everyone. it was the last time we got to visit with grandma (my mil) and i'm grateful for it. the twins were 2 1/2 and their older sister just barely 5 - but they were old enough to love and appreciate the woman we saw only 2x a year. it's a good memory for everyone and i felt bad that it was languishing on the computer. now it's done, thanks Lain!

Hey Cupcake

I NEED this but i'm cheap and want to win one instead of purchasing it. This is my 4th try at winning one from The FullMommy. Oh well, either way I do enjoy the blog.