Friday Wrap (InstaFriday)

Hello and Happy Friday:

Here's what we have been up to this week, via phone camera photos:

1.  Back 2 School:  We always do a photo in front of the house on the first day of school. This year Alec refused to pose. But the girls gave me a few minutes. And it takes my breath away how beautiful my 2 girls are! Here's to new beginnings!

2.  Homework at that coffee joint. Katie helping a frustrated Emma finish her math. It's nice that we have older kids that can hang out with us when we go for coffee.

3.  More storms this week, even though the monsoons were supposed to be over. There was a great lightning show on the drive home from the valley, but I couldn't get a photo of the lightning. Too fast for me to hit the camera button. But I wanted a reminder of all the storms we had this summer and how nice it is to have rain and stormy weather.

4.  I'm not sure what happened, but there seems to be animals everywhere lately. How did we end up having so many???  So this mess is my bed, with the 2 dogs and 1 cat. There is another cat, but she HATES the dogs and hides out while they are awake.

 

5.  Out to dinner Monday night. Did you notice the glasses? Yeah, we are at that point in life. We need to pull out the glasses to read menus. Oh well, can't stop that aging process.

6.  More dog fun. Einstein has learned how to open the cabinet where we keep the garbage. So at night while we are sleeping, he opens the cabinet, knocks over the trash, and then eats what he wants and shreds the rest. Along with Daisy. But he is the mastermind and only shares when he is ready. I know. Because I caught the 2 of them in action. We will be putting up child safely locks next, since keeping the trash on the middle of the island is not such a pretty site!

 

7.  Last photos are the 2 beasts busy working on their new raw hides. They were so happy last night. I was hoping these would last for a few days since they are so large, but as of this morning there is not much left. The raw hides will be gone by sunset. Well, a few pieces may live on. Since Einstein likes to hide them in the couch cushions, under the bedding, in the yard. It's pretty funny watching him in action! By the way, Einstein is the black and white beast, and Daisy is the brown and white one.

Link up and share your week.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your weekend. Do something fun!













Holy Hell!

Hope that title didn't offend anyone. But really, how do my kids get so old while I stay so young??

Today is the first day of school (Alec started Monday, but we're counting today as the first day).

This morning was a bit different than previous years. Girls spending much more time working on their hair. Katie washed and straightened hers last night, then curled it this morning. Emma showered this morning, then I dried and straightened and added a braid.

Also, Katie expanded on her makeup. We added eyeshadow in this year. And an eyelash curler. She wanted eyeliner, but we're waiting until high school for that. Last year was the start, with mascara and lip gloss. I'm having a super hard time watching her (letting her) grow up!

Alec slept until the last minute and got ready on his own. He was sleepy and cranky (gee, where does he get that from?). He made a quick breakfast and out we went.

I have always taken photos outside on the first day of school, but Alec wouldn't let me this year. So I had to sneak in shots when he wasn't looking.

Katie took the bus with her friends, but I dropped off Emma and Alec.

Here's to a new year full of possibilities!

And a chance for me to remain young. Ha!

Smile

Image from Pinterest. No original source.

How is every one's Tuesday going?

I'm having one of those cranky days. Which would actually make it 2 cranky days in a row. Just feel like doing nothing, but that's not possible since there is so much to do.

Yesterday I took the kids back 2 school shopping. Again. I'm more of a "let's get this done early and avoid the crowds and the last minute rush" kind of person. So having to return stuff and start over made me cranky.

But Emma did find a dress (really to be worn as a long shirt) that she loves. And everyone got everything off their school supply lists. Now Emma just needs a backpack, since she changed her mind on the one we bought 4 weeks ago. And of course there are slim pickings at the stores now. We compromised with agreeing to order one online and being okay with using last year's for the first week.

Today I woke up early. Should be a yeah!, but no. I'm dragging. My body is just having trouble with a sleep schedule that flips around so much.

Made a shopping list. Yeah! Can't get it to print.

Cleaned out fridge. Ready to fill with fresh food for my family. Yeah! Would rather take a nap.

House is trashed from dogs ripping up stuff. Girls will be cleaning downstairs when they wake up since they can't seem to understand that they can't leave anything around that smells like food. Or the dogs will get it and shred.

Meet the teacher is today. Then hair appointment, which normally makes me happy, but not today.

Did I mention I'm grumpy? Well, I need to get over it! And just smile. And maybe get an iced coffee. That might help with the smiling.

Have a great day. Hope you're not grumpy.

Palm Springs Blurb Book

Happy Monday everyone!

I wanted to share my first Blurb book. I decided to do something a little different than my usual scrapbook mini album for the Palm Springs trip. I had stumbled across Blurb a few times in other blog posts, and decided it was time to create my own book.


Front cover:

Back Cover:

I wanted to start small for my first try. I went with the small square (7x7inches), 20 page, softcover book. I did upgrade the paper though. So my final cost was $12.50 plus shipping. Not bad for your own book. The hardest part was waiting for it to arrive at my house. And I love it!


Inside pages:

It did take me some time to figure out the layout for each page. If you like to keep things simple, blurb will create the book for you. But of course, I have to obsess and tweak each page a million times! Yes, some days it is hard to be me.

I chose not to add words to the book, but that is definitely an option. I wanted to add my own handwriting to some of the pages to make it feel more like "me".

Bottom line is that I adore this book. It makes me smile every time I see it. I will definitely make another one, but bigger next time!

Anyone else out there used this company ? Did you totally love it too?

Every Day May Not Be Good.....

Image from Pinterest. Tried to find original source, but no luck. Sorry. But we can still enjoy the message!

Have an incredible Sunday.

Shop Grand Re-Opening

Hello peeps.

I finally did it. Moved my shop over to Etsy. I have been at BigCartel, where they charge a flat monthly fee. Which was more than I was bringing in through sales. And I wasn't crazy about how the shop looked. Although I think that problem was more me than them.

So I'm in the process of moving all my canvases over to the new shop. But it's a long, slow process since I'm taking all new photos with my new camera (more to come on that soon). And I like the new photos! You can see the details so much better!

I also added some new canvases. See how cute they are?!

Create a Worthwhile Life

Cherish This Life

You're Pretty Much My Favorite of All Time in the History of Ever.

You Have My Whole Heart My Whole Life


Come on. You know you need one. And hey, shipping is free. How can you pass up on some canvas love? Just sayin'.

I would appreciate your feedback on both the new shop and the new canvases. You can click HERE or you can click on the "My Shop" tab at the top of the blog (right under the ginormous luckypennylove).

Have a Happy Day!

side note: Ginormous was not flagged by spell check?? Is that really a real word or is my spell check broke?

Friday Wrap (aka InstaFriday)

Yes, It is yet another Friday. They do go by at an alarming rate!

It's time to share your phone photos. Which in my house means Instagram photos.

Once again, I didn't use my phone camera very much this week.

Girls got back 2 school haircuts (no photos, just trims for both).

Van died. Went car searching on Craigslist. Found a car. No photos of any of that, but we did have to find a place with Wifi. Hello Starbucks. And this one did not look like all the others. It was in an older building (around Northern and the I-10 in Glendale), and it just had a different feel to it.

The next day I got up early (see the time documented below). 8:22 is early for me, since I seem to be going to bed around 4 or 5 am these days. So we had a very productive morning. Opened a new bank account for   luckypennylove transactions. Changed our address on our driver's license (we moved 22 months ago), sent out the contract and deposit for the beach house (Fall Break), and faxed off proof that our firstborn has his own car insurance (which means our bill is lower now). Not bad for the to do list. Then it was time to go to work.

And I finally took the time to switch my shop over to Etsy. I like the way it looks. Stop by and tell me what you think. I only have 5 canvases listed so far. More to come over the next few days.

Otherwise, we are just slowly getting ready for school to start.

And you know the drill. Click on the button below to link up and share your photos. Be sure to leave a comment if you see something interesting.