A Little Something

LOAD 212 BLOG HOP!!

2012-01-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog. You are here because you have decided to join a fabulous group of ladies and participate in the LayOut A Day (LOAD) challenge beginning February 1st. If you haven't joined yet, there is still time...just click on the icon at the right and you won't regret it.

So for those of you who are participating for the 1st time ever, you are probably searching to grab whatever tips you can to make it a successful month. After all, it's LEAP YEAR, and that means the added stress (no....not really) of one extra layout next month. That's 29 layouts in 29 days!! Can it be done--ABSOLUTELY. Do you have to do it? ABSOLUTELY NOT. My best piece of advice is to try not to stress and do what you can. The first LOAD I ever participated in, I completed. However; I also drove myself mad with preparation, lack of sleep, a messy house, no dinner for the kiddos and stress, stress, stress. It was all my doing...my perfectionism coming to a head, and not being able to keep all the balls in the air. So, if you want to plan...cook some meals ahead (google: freezer meals), relax your idea of a perfectly clean house just this one month, think ahead about what pictures and stories you'd like to tell from the past...and remember the theme...past perfect (as in you can get past perfect for this month). Yes, it's easier to say than do sometimes, but be flexible and the inspiration, feedback and amazing support from the great group you've joined will carry you through. In fact, the first time around, I had page kits (PAGE KITS, I TELL YA!!) all ready at the go to scrap away the days. Well, then the first email came from Lain and I went in a totally different direction. I made layouts that I would HAVE NEVER thought to make...from a page about snack time around our house, to random facts about me. I also made a very emotional page about a pregnancy loss that would have never been written had it not been for the gentle prod from Lain's emails. It was cathartic, therapeutic, energizing, inspirational and got my juices flowing all over again...that was February 2010...exactly 2 years ago!

I haven't missed a LOAD yet. Have I completed every one? Heck, no! Have I made wonderful pages that I'm proud of...Oh, yeah! For this particular LOAD, I have decided to dig back to my college days (over 15 years ago) and tell some of the stories of how I got into my Graduate program, my friends, my first car (that I got because I was going away to college) and my graduation. I'm also digging NOT SO FAR BACK, and telling some stories about the recent holidays and a recent snowfall we had here in NJ. I have also sat down a few nights this months and written out some journaling about those stories I remember. I am BIG on journaling, so leaving it for the last minute just wouldn't do my pages justice. BUT...this is just me. Decide what you want your focus to be and grab some pictures and supplies and meet me at LOAD in just 5 days! You'll be happy you did.

Here are some pictures I'm hoping to use this month...well, maybe...and maybe not. Guess I'll just go with the flow :-)

Threw this one of my sister holding me as a baby to see if you were paying attention ;-)

...and the not so forgotten past (as in last week!)

...and back to the good 'ol college days...

I hope that you've relaxed a bit, had a laugh or two and have decided that you are in the right place. If you'd like to read the next entry in the blog hop today, then head on over to LYDIA'S BLOG

and for the record...here is the entire list of participants, so be sure to stop by say hi!!

February 212 Layout A Day Blog Hop Participants

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com

Kelli www.scrapbookgirl71.blogspot.com

Jennifer http://atthebluebarn.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Monica http://scrapinspired.com

Kimberly www.kimberlykalil.com

Eileen http://thinkinkpaperscissors.weebly.com/

Danielle http://acoffeeaddict.com

Pam dailypamage.blogspot.com

Katrina http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com

Cate www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com

Gayle http://www.lifeonlilypadlane.blogspot.com

Heather heathersdragonsden.blogspot.com

Gina http://randomthoughtsmindlessmusings.blogspot.com

Kristie http://kristiesloan.com

Janet http://khashabfamilymusings.blogspot.com

Lydia http://lydiaink.wordpress.com

12 on 12 REDO!

2012-01-25T23:16:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I couldn't leave well enough alone and I redid the layout posted below in good 'ol paper and glue! I think the black funkiness was bugging me and I finally had a little time today while (trying) to pack for a scrapping weekend coming up. Ah...now I feel better!

THE RIGHT SIDE:

THE LEFT SIDE:

A new project: 12 on the 12th...January!!

2012-01-13T02:08:00.000-05:00

Well, I've decided I needed to do something to motivate myself to get scrapping again and the photo/scrapbooking project from Ella Publishing, Take Twelve, is just what I needed! I took photos all day long and then played with the pictures in a digital template to see if I could get done quicker. Unfortunately, it took me just as long and I'm not thrilled with the outcome, so I may just be redoing this month in paper format. I couldn't find the right background paper and then finally just threw some black "paint" over a bluish/green paper that seemed to go with the pictures at the time. Oh well, at least, for now, I've captured my TWELVE!!

Hard to believe...our youngest is THREE!

2011-12-05T15:21:00.001-05:00

Yes, he is...we celebrated Adam's 3rd birthday with family at home this past Saturday and for the first time in a long time, Adam went straight through the day (and night) without a nap. He was excited and kept saying "I'm so happy" over and over and even oohed and ahhed over the decorations I'd put up with Yasmeen earlier that morning. He patiently waited for his grandparents and Titi to arrive before asking (yet again) if he could open his gifts...THAT was the highlight of the day for him! What 3 year old wouldn't be thrilled to open gift after gift of cars, trains, books, and more cars?!!! He was so gracious and lovable (and affectionate) as always--doing his duty to pose with us and the rest of the guests so that we could always remember him on that day. He even had another little boy there to share the excitement with--his cousin Gio! Of course, Gio, being only 6 months old, didn't quite get what was going on, but he did seem to want to lunge for Adam while he was opening gifts :-).

Unfortunately, on the potty front, he had several accidents that day since his mind was on other things (rightfully so), so we'll have to cut him some slack. But now that the festivities are over, it's back to the potty, pronto!!

ETA: the minivan reveal went off without a hitch...sort of. Turns out that when Papa and Nana pulled up into the driveway Saturday, they peeked into the garage to make sure we were there, and saw the van. Luckily, they didn't know it was ours, and only thought that Gido and Shoo Shoo were in town. When they came in and realized that the "other Grands" weren't around, they started to get suspicious--so off to the garage we went and they were thrilled for us!

The Big Reveal...

2011-12-03T10:37:00.001-05:00

Well, today is the big reveal day of the secret we've been keeping all week! It also happens to be Adam's 3rd birthday, so I'll get this out of the way and be sure to post pics of the big birthday later today or tomorrow. For those of you that know us, you know that I am a minivan Mom...and that I love my minivan. I can't believe that it's been over 9 years since we first made the transition to a minivan from a car, but I've enjoyed every minute. For those Moms out there who just can't fathom the idea of driving a minivan--YOU'RE MISSING OUT! I also was very reluctant (and at times downright indignant) about every owning (let alone driving) a minivan--but for Moms with kids and "stuff" to tote around, there is nothing better. These days, the technology alone in any of the more popular minivans, can rival the best technology found in any home or business today. I kid you not...there are manuals out there JUST for the technology ALONE in today's minivan market. I should know...we've been looking at minivans for the past several months (in preparation for the eventual death of the current Town & Country we own) and researching the options available for a large family (all with different wish lists) was quite the battle. In the end (and yes, there is an end...)we wound up narrowing down our choices to the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey. When we looked at family friendliness of each vehicle, the Honda won hands down...so...the big secret (that we've been keeping from my family--sorry guys) is that we've moved up the purchase of the new minivan and it now sits in our garage! We were aiming for the early Spring, but a great deal came up (on Black Friday, nevertheless) and we HAD TO make it work! So here is a picture of us picking up the van this week...Wednesday night to be exact. It's been a killer keeping the secret, but we wanted to surprise my family when they come over later today for Adam's birthday...let's hope they don't see the blog before arriving!!

Happy Thanksgiving--where did the year go?

2011-11-29T22:58:00.001-05:00

Ok, so it's not the end of December...yet, but I'm sure the next month is going to fly by faster than I can even imagine! We've just wrapped up the long Thanksgiving weekend and the notorious black Friday shopping frenzy. This year, as usual, we headed to my sister's house for the annual feast of turkey, "arroz con gandules" and yummy dessert. Thank goodness she likes to entertain, because I would be completely lost if I had to try my hand at cooking a turkey. At the end of the night, the discussion turned to our plans for black Friday. Aileen decided she wanted to go out THAT NIGHT since most stores are now trying to entice shoppers by opening at midnight on Thanksgiving (or sooner). I had no desire to go out, but my girls were desperate. Leena finally convinced me to brave the crowds at Walmart for their 10pm opening. Yasmeen, Adam and Mohammed were smart, and stayed home, but Leena, Aileen, my Mom, Dad, Elena and me all headed out to see what the hype was about. THERE WERE CROWDS AND CROWDS OF PEOPLE in line to get into Walmart. To make matters worse, there wasn't any parking in the HUGE parking lot for the entire mall--and Walmart was the only store open at that time. Somehow, we lucked out and found parking right up against the entrance, and got in line. The store employees were on full guard and had actually set up metal guardrails that resembled a line at a popular roller coaster in an amusement park--it was quite a sight!! So at 10pm, all toys were on sale. Then at midnight, the electronics went on sale--and can you believe there were people literally sitting in the aisles of the store just waiting to grab a deal on a flat screen tv at the stroke of midnight??!! No tv in the world is worth that madness. We browsed the store (getting pushed and shoved along the way by droves of people) and somehow managed to find good deals on some DVDs, a few Wii games and even a very nice, and incredibly priced, rolling desk chair for me. Nothing out of this world, but it was an adventure nevertheless to get out and see all the crazy folks out there that would do anything for a deal. Hey, maybe I WAS one of those crazy folks, considering we got into line (a long, long, LOOOOONG line) just to secure our purchases and be able to say that the trip was worth it.

The next day, the actual black FRIDAY, we headed to the mall for Yasmeen, who was desperate to get some clothes at Aeropostale. Although they did have some good sales, there wasn't much else going on at the mall. From there, the entire gang headed over to Toys R Us (but when we saw the HUGE line we left everything behind and got back into the van). Then we had lunch, and headed over to Clinton Honda to look at the Odyssey minivan once again. Unfortunately, there aren't any "black Friday" deal on cars or vans, so no super sales there. We did go back and make good on our promise to buy toys after leaving the dealership, and the girls bought dolls while Adam scored a tractor trailer truck (say that 3 times fast) at Toys R Us...once the lines had died down!

It was back to the grind today after an entire week off from work due to the Thanksgiving holiday. I enjoyed the time off fully as I will be working a full time schedule next month and will be wishing for time off! Work is getting busier, so that makes the days go quicker, but boy am I tired at the end of the day!

The girls are doing great in school. Both Leena and Yasmeen brought home good report cards and our parent/teacher conference with Leena's teacher was stellar. She actually told us that she gets a gift every year from one of the 3rd grade teachers and that Leena was her gift this year. So sweet! Yasmeen's teachers didn't request a conference (a good thing) and her report card was great, too. Soon her music teacher will be choosing kids to go into the honors and/or Jazz bands (you have to be picked for this) and Yasmeen has a good shot. Let's keep our fingers crossed for our budding trombone player.

Adam is almost....almost...POTTY TRAINED! Yep, he took to using his potty seat about 2 weeks ago after seeing his friend use the toilet and has been pretty good about telling me he has "to go". Of course, he has had a few accidents (like today...when he peed right through his clothes because he was so into getting a slice of cheese, he forgot to tell me he had to go), but overall, he's doing great. Pooping isn't an issue either, but I'll save that for another time since this is all getting into a bit of too much information :-) Once we've conquered this milestone, we'll need to tackle his "bo-bo" habit. One step at a time...

Well, I guess that's it...for now...although I will update in a few days with some exciting (to us) news. You'll have to stay tuned to find out. Let's just say that Mohammed is taking off a few days this week to use up some of his vacation time before the end of the year...and it's perfect timing!!

Have a great week!!

MIA...

2011-10-19T09:47:00.000-04:00

Looks like this whole getting back to work and into the swing of things has really taken a toll on my free time. I use my days off now to run errands, do laundry and make sure that Adam has a day with Mommy that resembles something close to what he used to have with me every day. That means trips to the park, music class and just cuddling. There is a lot of mommy guilt, let me tell ya! I enjoy working, but I feel awful leaving him at daycare, crying and calling out to me...still--even 2 months later! On a more positive note, though, I am settling in to my role at work, seeing more patients each day, and getting to know more and more about the "bread and butter" problems that come through an Internal Medicine practice (and getting better each day at managing them).

So that means that I have less time overall to do some of things I like to do...like scrapbook or update this blog. I really have good intentions, but unfortunately, a blog post won't write itself (someday maybe). Until then, please bear with me until I figure out how to balance work and family and all that other stuff I long to do...

This past month, we celebrated several milestones, with yet another to come! I turned a year older, Leena reached double digits, and Mom & Dad celebrated FIFTY YEARS (!!!!) of marriage. Later this month, Shoo Shoo celebrates another milestone, and even though we can't be with her to celebrate, we want to let her know that we love her and hope she has a fabulous day!! Then there's Halloween, of course. This year, we are slow going on the costume picking, so nothing is set yet. We are thinking about Leena being a "spider fairy"--adjusted from the apparently too cutesy "fairy" costume we were thinking about initially. Yasmeen had chosen some hippie accessories at the end of last year, but has since changed her mind, and Adam, well, he's still clueless and could care less about dressing up, but BOY, does this boy want his candy! Guess that only time will tell how this all pans out...

In the midst of all of this, we are in the market for a new minivan. My old one has been good to us, but she is on her last leg and we know we are going to have to bite the bullet and get a new one in the not too distant future. For Mohammed and I, that means in the next 4-6 months. BUT...that doesn't stop us from going to look at cars and researching every last article put on the "best" minivan at the moment (which changes from month to month apparently). So now we have narrowed it down to the new Honda Odyssey, which is the most popular one around, so not very unique, but hey, since when does a minivan have to be unique? At least it'll be loaded with a ton of family friendly functionality (say THAT three times fast).

Hopefully, I'll be back here soon, but until then, just know that I haven't forgotten about you and hope to keep you posted (here and there) throughout the upcoming months!

And the month flew by...

2011-09-08T22:23:00.000-04:00

It's already September...where did the month of August go?? It was both a busy, and quiet, month for us in August. Yes, busy in that I started working p/t again and that entailed hiring a babysitter, setting up childcare for the Fall, getting used to my new "work wardrobe" and actually putting some thought into getting ready BEFORE the next day arrives as well as lots of cooking. No, I don't usually cook on the days I work, but it was also Ramadan this August, so I had to make sure there was food, and plenty of it, most days this past month. We celebrated EID on the last day of August and since it was a work day, and I couldn't find anyone to cover for me, I wound up taking off the morning only, and then heading into the office for the afternoon. The rest of the gang dropped me off and picked me up, so at least we maximized the time we had together. We spent the morning attending EID prayer, going to the mall for a bite to eat at The Cheesecake Factory and doing a little shopping with the girls at Claire's (THE place for all types of accessories--very TWEEN friendly!). Then it was off to work.

Before I knew it, it was Labor Day Weekend and we were invited down to Virginia to spend the weekend at a rental house near Shenandoah National Park with my sister, her husband and their 3 dogs. Coincidentally, it was also the weekend of Mohammed and my 13th wedding anniversary, so we accepted their offer and headed South! It was a great trip--one that was much needed as we've been laying low all summer due to the horrific expenses associated with me going back to work. At least we ended the summer with a bang--and I even got to take a few steps on the APPALACHIAN TRAIL as it crossed into Shenandoah. Still holding on to my goal to hike this trail someday in the future...even if it is only in sections, and even if I have to wait until I'm in my 60s to do it! We got back on Labor Day Monday in the mid afternoon--exactly 14 hours before Leena and Yasmeen would have to wake up and start their new school year.

That was 2 days ago...the 1st day of school. It was crazy and hectic and happened in the blink of an eye. We woke up and got ready to go pretty uneventfully...we all even managed to get out of the house to take Leena to the bus stop...but once we got back to the house, time got away from us and we actually MISSED Yasmeen's bus! First, there was the struggle to get Adam to eat something before attending daycare (his first full day), then I remembered I had to renew my subscription to a medical reference tool on my phone that I use all the time, and I couldn't connect to the website. When I finally did, I'd run out of time to download the software so I had to leave home without it. Then it was a mad dash for Mohammed to get Yasmeen to school on time, and for me to get everything I needed for work, plus everything Adam needed for daycare and get out the door with enough time to make it to work for 9:30. Well, that didn't happen. Halfway to daycare, I realize I'd left his sippy cup on the kitchen counter and headed back home. By the time we started driving, Adam started having a meltdown. He cried, screamed, kicked, threw his sippy cup at me, grabbed my shirt, kicked and cried some more. He did NOT WANT TO GO TO DAYCARE. It was horrible...HORRIBLE, and to make matters worse (or better in the long run), he had 2 new teachers and didn't know either one of them. All the visits that we made ahead of time to get him used to the new schedule was for nill! He shed some more tears and I shed some too. When I finally walked out the door he was being held back by one of the teachers as he screamed for me to get him. I HATED LEAVING HIM. It was horrible...did I mention that? How do parents do this EVERY DAY????

Once I composed myself enough to start driving to work, I realized it was already 9:10am and I'm about 30 minutes away. I rushed and got there about 5 minutes late, which was miraculous, actually. Patients were waiting and I was busy, so the morning flew by. When I checked in on Adam at lunchtime, the teacher informed me that he had calmed down and was now sleeping. I called our babysitter and told her she should pick him up BEFORE Leena to avoid any more time at daycare than necessary...thank GOD for her!!

I was able to leave work on the early side and made it home even before Mohammed. Adam ran up to me, hugged me, and exclaimed "I went to school today", and then quickly ran back to the sofa and claimed his spot next his beloved babysitter. I was happy to see him not crying and feel that it will only get better with time.

Yesterday, I was off, so I took Yasmeen to the bus stop and took my "First Day of School" pictures on her 2nd day. I spent the day running errands with Adam, who was all to happy to accompany me. When we got home, we watched TRAINS! on YouTube and then headed upstairs for a nap. By the time he got up it was time to get Leena, so off we went. Then it was Back To School Night at Leena's school, so our babysitter came over on her "day off".

Today, we got a call early this morning that there was a delayed opening for our township schools...thankfully, Mohammed was able to wait with the girls. Lots of rain overnight and flooding again in town today. Then another call came in and school was cancelled. HEADACHES!! Mohammed was able to stay with them for the day while I headed to work. We told the babysitter to save herself the hassle of trying to get to us and go home. It took me about an hour to get to work, for what normally would take me 25 minutes. Road closures and back ups were horrific. Getting home was tricky, too, but I made it in about 45 minutes. Glad to say that I'm home tomorrow, even if I'm covering the office this Saturday. Love that it's not every week, and love my part time schedule.

Hope everyone has a safe (and DRY) weekend!!

WITL-Sunday...all done!

2011-08-03T00:39:00.001-04:00

Ok, so even though I documented and photographed our lives on Sunday, I was too spent to think about editing the pictures and posting here, so I'm doing that today! We had a slow Sunday, getting ready to start Ramadan the next day, looking for something low key to do...conserving our energy, since during Ramadan, we don't like being too active in general, and outdoors, specifically, since we can't drink or eat during the daylight hours. In August, those hours are LONG! Our fast will start right before 4:30am each morning (gaining a minute each day for the month), which means we have to get up at least an hour before that in order to have enough time for all of us to make breakfast. Anyhow, I digress...

With a slower pace this morning, I took a few minutes to work on the layout I had begun on Saturday, and finally committed to the design and glued everything down. Even though I worked on it over 2 days, it actually came together pretty quickly using the coordinating stuff I bought for the occasion!

So, in keeping with the easy going pace of the morning, we decided to forego the Monmouth County Fair that we had thought about attending, and instead decided to go visit a bakery in Summit that I had bought a Groupon for...Brownie Points Bakery. Afterwards, we planned on visiting The Container Store in Paramus since it was en route (well, slightly farther, but still closer than if we'd left from home). So it's about noon, now, and we are all getting ready to leave. I and go to print the Groupon, and guess what...the bakery itself is closed, although the owners sell their goods at the Summit Farmer's Market. Of course, the Groupon isn't valid there! So, I decide we'll go to the Farmer's Market anyway and sample something...at least we'd take a ride and still get to go to the container store. Which then reminded me go to THAT website and check their hours. Well, as luck would have it, the Paramus store is ALSO CLOSED on Sundays! There went our plans...

We head out with the idea to go to the Farmer's Market and then see what we'd do. It was Adam's nap time anyway, and although he started out the trip wide awake, he was soon out cold!

The website for the farmer's market said the hours were 11am-4pm. Great...at least we'd have a couple of hours there to look around. We arrived in the area about 12:50pm. As we're walking in we notice a few of the vendors packing up. I wonder if they just sold all their goods and we continue in. Then we see several other vendors packing up. We spot the Brownie Points Bakery stand and rush over. They weren't quite packing up yet, but there wasn't really much left, either. We bought a whoopie pie and a red velvet cupcake and asked the guy at the stand at what time the market closed...and par for the course of this day, it closed at 1pm!! The website was wrong, and we got there just as they were closing.

Adam slept the entire time we were at the market, and since we left after a whopping 10 minutes, he continued to sleep in the van. We had passed Short Hills Mall on the way up, so we decided to go back and kill some time walking around in the cool AC. We made it to the mall with Adam still asleep, but by the time we got inside, he woke up. Short Hills Mall is the ritzy mall in North Jersey that we could only afford to window shop at :-) Luckily, the kids were entertained by all the sculptures, the cool elevator that went up and down on a piston and the fun "ball" fountain where they tried their luck at making a wish. Mohammed was entertained by the glitzy Bentley on display as we entered the mall!

Once we'd had enough of the mall, we headed back towards home, needing to stop at the grocery store for a few staples we'd need for Ramadan and our early morning breakfasts. I couldn't resist all the yummy berries on display, and Adam couldn't resist the toy train they had on a track above our heads!

We were home again by 7pm and we were all hungry. The idea of cooking was rather daunting at that point, but we were all too tired to go out to eat. With the 10 pound (!) Costco bag of chicken breasts defrosted in preparation for the cooking fest that lay ahead (during Ramadan), I decided I'd start off by making chicken tacos for all. Yasmeen volunteered to help and she cut all the chicken for me. The girls have taken an interest in cooking and have become quite the help lately. To go with the tacos, everyone chose their own sides. Mohammed ate leftover Fetah, Yasmeen and I made Caesar salads, Leena had the taco by itself and Adam merely ate the makings of the taco without the tortilla at all!

Afterwards, we ended our day with an after dinner trip to Baskin Robbins/Dunkin' Donuts for ice cream. Well, most of us anyway! Yasmeen and I shared a yummy brownie sundae, Mohammed had a chocolate cone, Adam had just the cone (which he much prefers to actual ice cream, although we always add a smidgen of of ours to his cone), and Leena, well...she decided not to have ice cream at all and opted instead for a frosted donut!

It turned out to be a full day afterall. And with that, our WEEK IN THE LIFE wraps up. Hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful and blessed Ramadan. Until next time,

Janet :-)

WEEK IN THE LIFE-Saturday Edition!

2011-07-31T07:27:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure if if the stress about going back to work is catching up with me, or what, but I woke up feeling nauseous at 3:19am this morning. I could barely make it downstairs and when I finally did, I grabbed 2 Pepto Bismol pills and waited a bit to see if I'd feel better. Luckily, I did, but by then, I was wide awake so I caught up on two episodes of House Hunters and by the time I looked at the clock again, it was already 4:15am. I drifted off to sleep until about 7:13am, when Adam came into my room and climbed into bed with me. He was apparently well rested because there was no hope of going back to sleep at that point. We hung around in bed for a while, and Mohammed got himself up and showered. When he got out, Adam bounced around the room with renewed energy. It was diaper time and luckily Mohammed wrestled him onto the bed for just enough time to get the job done. We headed downstairs to make pancakes (at Leena and Adam's request), and Adam took off to with Daddy's remote controlled "wee-oh, wee-oh" (aka: firetruck in Adam speak) to play for a while.

The girls came down shortly thereafter and while they and Adam were eating pancakes, I made my usual (low carb) breakfast...eggs and turkey bacon. By now the girls had finished eating and were chasing each other around the house (a usual thing for the 2 of them...chasing, bothering each other, arguing and generally being siblings). Leena got Adam some clothes and he got dressed. He must have exerted energy, because he then decided the pancakes he'd just eaten weren't enough, so he opted for a hot pretzel after breakfast (he's NOT eating low carb :-) Mohammed came down and started researching where he could buy a new shelf and water filter for the fridge. After eating my own breakfast, I headed upstairs for my shower.

When I came back downstairs, it was time for Yasmeen to go to TKD. Luckily, Mohammed took her and I didn't have to go anywhere just yet. Before I could blink my eyes, they were back and I had spent the entire time talking on the phone to my soon-to-be colleague about stuff related to...you guessed it...malpractice! I had promised to take Leena to Kohl's for a little (early) back to school clothes shopping during their Early Bird sale, and we needed to GO. As we were getting ready to leave, Yasmeen ran up to me with adoration in her eyes because she had asked Adam to draw a picture of her and this is what he came up with:

She was so excited when she looked at his fabulous work and pridefully pointed out how he drew her hair HERE...and an eye THERE, and look, Mom, he even got my nose and mouth in the right spots. Yep, she really LOOOOOOOVES her little brother! So sweet.

It was off to Kohl's with Adam and Leena then (he didn't want to stay behind). I carried him to the van and off we went. It wasn't until we got to Kohl's that I realized his shoes WERE NOT in the car like I had thought they were. Now he was shoeless, so that meant riding in the stroller...which he does not like. Add to that the late morning surge of energy and subsequent crash right before nap time (which it now was) and Leena and I were on borrowed time at the store--although it doesn't look like it in THIS picture below:

With a few purchases in hand (made just as the clock struck 1pm, which is when the sale expired), we headed home. Adam was having a meltdown and was asking for both his bobo (pacifier) and leche (milk)--neither of which we had on hand. We got home and I told everyone we should leave before he fell asleep if we ever wanted to get out of the house. He could sleep in the car and we wouldn't have to wait until late afternoon do our errands. Today, those consisted of getting to Sears to make a Lands' End return, and to Lowe's to buy the girl's blinds for their bedroom window. Everyone seemed to be in slow motion, so I decided to make use of a little downtime and FINALLY, finally...start a scrapbook page. I can't believe I had to actually talk myself into sitting and pulling out something to work on. I've been so over the top busy lately (and exhausted) that scrapping hasn't even entered my mind. It was nice to see something start to come together, though...I really should make more time for this hobby I LOVE! After about 30 minutes, we finally were ALL ready to leave...

Adam was sound asleep by the time we reached Sears, so only Leena and I got out to do the return. When I got back to the car, Mohammed needed to stop in at Verizon and we decided we'd grab something to eat since we suddenly realized we were hungry...well, all of us but Leena. We agreed to go to our favorite place, Cheeburger Cheeburger. Adam woke up (just in time) and I stopped in at Arby's nearby to get him some peanut oil free fries (say that 5 times fast).

We discovered Cheeburger somewhat by accident while stopping in that mall to eat at Olive Garden some time back. We saw it and decided we'd have to try it out sometime. Well, after that, we started hearing all over the radio about NJ's best burgers and guess what place kept getting mentioned? YUP. And let me tell you, they earn bragging rights, because both their burgers and SIDES are delicious. I love their onion rings, but the fries are a hit too. Everything is fried in peanut oil, so Adam can't have any of it (hence the Arby's fries we come prepared with), but it sure is darn good!!

Haven't tried a shake yet, but Yasmeen says they're heaven!

Home of the Mac N Cheese WEDGE!

Yummy (and huge) onion rings

Not bad for eating out, but that didn't include Leena (or Adam):

Certainly helps that there are trains around...

After Cheeburger, we stopped in at JoAnne's for me :-) and at the music store for Yasmeen. She found the bigger mouthpiece she'd been asked to obtain there and Daddy got it for her. That meant a lot of practicing to come later today. We spotted a bunch of "skittles" in Princeton--what is it about that town that draws yellow cars? Maybe the university???

Almost back home, but Mohammed couldn't resist stopping at the Honda dealership to look at options for our new minivan in the near future (mine can only hold out so long). On the way back to our van, we spotted (aka: almost stepped on) a well camouflaged frog!

We made it back home around 7pm and we were all tired. We did remember that tonight was also the firehouse movie night and wanted to go, but it started around 8. We relaxed for a while, I caught up on journaling and we finally headed out (in 2 cars in case Adam fell asleep for the night) around 8:15 or so. We knew the movie was outdoors, so as long as there was light, the movie couldn't play--we had plenty of time to get there. When we arrived, we were only 1 of 3 families that showed up, so there was lots of room to spread out, lots of popcorn to be had and lots of "wee-oh wee-ohs" to be seen and climbed on!

The actual movie, Rango, was only second to the fun of the firetrucks!!

Adam did wind up falling asleep about 40 minutes into the movie, so I decided I'd take him home. The girls came along because the bugs were out in full force (despite the copious amounts of bug spray we had on) and they didn't want to get bit. So with that, we headed home and another day was done!

Hope you had a great Saturday...just one more day of Week In The Life left...let's make it great!!

WITL-FRIDAY

2011-07-30T19:35:00.000-04:00

A step closer to finishing off Week in the Life with a bang. Today was a day for catching up on phone calls, figuring out malpractice policies, dressing up, playing with trains, baking and taking photos. The day started for us at the usual time although I woke up a few minutes early to make eggs and turkey bacon for everyone before they got up, and before Mohammed went to work. Leena had a dermatology appointment at 9:45, while Yasmeen was at Band Camp, and I didn't want to fall behind in getting us out the door. Once Adam was up, we headed downstairs together and I put on a show called TRAINS! On Demand. He loves watching it and it buys me a few valuable moments where I can check email or clean up the dishes from the morning. Of course, that is, if he isn't demanding that I sit down right next to him to watch along...like he did today. Luckily, I was able to grab my laptop and check emails while sitting next to him. Once the girls got up, they had breakfast and watched Adam while I showered. We were out the door right on time to get Yasmeen to her last day at Band Camp, and Leena to the doctor.

On the way back to get Yasmeen (just in the nick of time), we spotted a yellow car, and then decided to start playing "skittle". It's another car game that we play to pass the time while driving back and forth around town. If you spot a yellow vehicle of any kind, you yell "skittle" and get a point. The winner is the one to spot the most vehicles by the time you arrive wherever you are going. Cars, trucks, construction vehicles, trains, and school buses are all fair game. Even Adam has learned to play and he is really good at it--spotting a yellow vehicle from blocks away!

When we got to the Intermediate school to pick Yasmeen up, Leena snapped a photo of her as she was walking towards us. She complains about having her picture taken, but with that smirk, I think she secretly likes it!

It was off to Costco for a much needed shopping trip, and a little lunch while we were there. We all love Costco for their samples and have a great time going from station to station trying foods that we might not otherwise have the chance to taste. Of course, that means that my shopping cart often includes items being sampled that day--especially when the girls beg me to buy "it"--whatever the it for the moment is. We had lunch afterwards, and although we were somewhat full of samples, we still managed to down a mega slice of pizza, an order of fries, and a churro between the 4 of us--and all for $5--where else can you eat for that these days???

Once home, Adam napped while I got on the phone with a bunch of insurance companies about taking out a malpractice policy. Amazing what you DON'T know when it's time to figure out something as important as this! A bunch of research and internet searches for the different types of policies available ensued. After hearing back from three separate agencies, I had a bunch of applications to fill out, scan and email back. Mohammed got home just in time to help me figure out what was wrong with the scanner as our wireless network wasn't recognizing the connection to it. Another hour passes by and finally we're up and running. By then, it's too late to do anything else today, so I guess we'll pick up again on Monday.

It started pouring in the early evening and I mean, POURING! Then the thunder started, and eventually the lightning. The girls aren't really scared of the thunder per se, but I guess it does freak them out when it's really loud and now Adam is picking up on their unease. So what do I decide to do? Make sure to tell him it's not scary at all, and we head out to our stoop to sit and watch the storm. He really liked going outside while it was raining, and any fears that were brewing just went away. In fact, Yasmeen also joined us outside and seemed pretty calm despite the thunder and lightning--as long as we were safely covered under the front porch.

By now, it was getting later and all dinner preparations had gotten away from me. We hadn't eaten and I had nothing ready to go, so that meant we had to fend for ourselves. I did cook some pasta for the girls and Adam (although he didn't want it), and made a protein shake for me. Mohammed had a good 'ol PB&J and Adam eventually ate a Trix yogurt. The days are so busy that meal planning is the last thing on my mind...all this HAS GOT TO CHANGE with Ramadan starting in 3 days! While making the pasta, the kids were off playing dress up and I loved getting these photos of my little batman (dressed in Leena's batGIRL costume), my Cleopatra belly dancer, Leena, and the very sophisticated business woman, Yasmeen! I also received a surprise visit from my Lia Sophia rep, Judy, who came to deliver the jewelry I'd ordered at an event the week prior.

With the evening winding down, the exhaustion of the days activities hit me like a ton of bricks. I was ready for bed and headed up early. The girls were downstairs with Mohammed and Adam. Leena busied herself building a super sized railway track with Adam's train set, and Yasmeen pulled out her trombone to polish up on some notes. Upstairs, I tried to read for a bit, but was out before I knew it!

Until tomorrow,

Have a great weekend!!

WITL-THURSDAY

2011-07-29T13:00:00.001-04:00

After all our hard work at home yesterday, and the fact that we really haven't been anywhere really fun lately, I asked the girls if they wanted to go swimming at a local lake once Yasmeen was done with Band Camp. At first, both girls weren't too interested, exclaiming "fish pee in there", and that they didn't want any fish swimming around them. Leena was also weary about any bugs that might be out in "the wild". When I explained that we could just go and see how we liked it, and maybe just play on the sand (for Adam's sake), they reluctantly agreed. Besides, I think they feared that if we stayed home today, we'd have to do some more cleaning ;-)

Time to wake up...

After Band Camp, we came home and called our neighbors to see if they wanted to join us for our outing, and they did. We met up a little after noon, made a quick pit stop at the local Subway for lunch to take along, and headed out. After hitting some traffic on 206 and getting slightly detoured (thanks to my useless TomTom), we finally arrived at Round Valley Recreation Area just before 2! We set up our stuff right in front of an open area close to the water and the kids all ran in...even my girls!! Turns out, they actually didn't mind the lake...and in fact, quite liked it. No fish to be seen, and certainly no fish pee that we could tell :-). Within minutes of the kids getting into the water, a lifeguard came over and told us that we had to move, as we had set up in an area reserved only for "bus groups", and unfortunately, although my van is spacious, it certainly isn't a bus. So...we packed everything up again and moved about 50 feet to the left of where we were and set up our stuff all over again. Once we were settled in, the kids got back into the water, making the most of an overcast, but warm, day. Adam wanted in right away, too...so I put his life vest on, and off we went. I took Mohammed's waterproof pocket cam and filmed the kids in the water. Yasmeen got an underwater shot of herself that is great! After a while, the kids got out, we ate lunch (yep, won't be skipping that again), and played in the sand. About 45 minutes after we'd arrived, we felt a raindrop hit us. It WAS overcast, but the forecast didn't call for rain at all, so we hung out a while. The lifeguards didn't close the beach down, so the kids grabbed a chance to get back in the water before it was too late. Even Adam was in on it, so that meant I had to get in, too. Marlo and her kids were great company and I don't think we would have stayed as long as we did had it not been for her calm demeanor and the fact that since we were going to get wet anyway, it didn't matter that it was sprinkling! We managed to stay a total of 2 hours before the rain started to get more steady, and even though there wasn't thunder or lightning, we decided to call it a day, and head back into town for ice cream.

Our neighbors...

This boy loves the water...

Great underwater shot, Yasmeen!

All the kids...

Buds!

He LOOOOOVES Nicki...

Getting down to business!!

After packing and up and changing into our dry clothes, we left Round Valley, and headed to the Polar Cub ice cream place. It's literally a truck stop hole in the wall along the highway that you could miss if you blinked, but it has some of the best ice cream around. On the way there and continuing home, we played the "ABC Game" that we were made aware of by another friend of mine, Judy. What you do is find a word (that you physically SEE) that begins with each letter of the alphabet and whoever gets to Z first, wins! Well, it's pretty crazy sometimes when the competitive streak in all of us comes out. We always get stuck on Q, V, X, Y, Z. We are all desperately wishing to pass a Quik Chek, or see an Xterra on the road, but since we're ALL looking for the same letter at times, and we can't use the same word, we can get pretty aggressive. It really does pass that time, though, and its a lot of fun trying to see what words you can spot.

We got home around 5pm and unpacked all the bags we had taken along. Then I checked email and went through the regular mail. I finally got MY OFFICIAL notification from the Medical Board that I am indeed licensed and ready to practice medicine again! My start date at work is tentatively set for August 9th and I'm both excited and nervous. We had leftovers for dinner, and cupcakes, again. Mohammed had a meeting at the firehouse, so I took Adam up for his shower. Yasmeen entertained him for a while, then almost had a shower herself when he decided it was a whole lot of fun to fill up his shampoo bottle with water and dump it all over her. Once he was finally done, it was the girls turn to shower so that they could watch him afterward while I showered. When we were all clean and cozy, we watched a little TV, and then it was bedtime. Since I was updating my blog, my bedtime was a little delayed, but so worth it to be able to download my pics from the day and see my Week In The Life coming together.

Yasmeen is still dry at this point:

Huddling together in our bed--with Yasmeen on the phone, as usual!

Until tomorrow...and on to day 5 of my Week In The Life!

WITL-WEDNESDAY

2011-07-28T23:14:00.001-04:00

It's a fun week documenting our daily life so far. I'm noticing that we are pretty consistent when it comes to our morning routines, and today was no different. We started our day around 7am, and as usual for this week, we dropped Yasmeen off at Band Camp after getting ready for the day. I made coffee and didn't have time to make breakfast, so after dropping Yasmeen off, I asked Leena if she wanted to go to McDonalds and she said yes. So off we went. We enjoyed our breakfast--an Egg McMuffin with cheese for me (and an extra for Yasmeen later), and hotcakes for Leena and Adam.

After breakfast, we picked up Yasmeen and headed back to the house for a major cleaning fest! With Mohammed coming home later that day, I wanted to make sure that he came home to a neat space, so the girls and I worked hard at clearing the countertops in the kitchen, emptying the fridge of anything we weren't using and making sure the dishes were washed and put away. We also cleaned up the toys in the family room and vacuumed the rug. After working diligently, I promised to take them out for a ride. We definitely had to get some special slide oil at the music store for Yasmeen's trombone at her instructor's request and we'd even discovered a $10 Carvel gift card Yasmeen had found while geocaching a while ago when we cleaned up--so that meant ice-cream for all! All this and it was only noon when we finally left the house.

After our errand, and some ice cream, we decided to take a drive to a town a few miles away and check out the local Borders there now that they are closing all their stores and have a liquidation sale going on. It's so sad to see it go since it was my all-time, favorite bookstore. Guess now I'll have to rediscover Barnes & Noble, although it has never been my favorite. Not sure why, but I always liked the layout of Borders and the "vibe" there. On the way there, we made a pit stop at a local playground and let everyone out for a bit of air now that it's not oppressively hot outside like it's been for the past week. Adam was thrilled to run, as were the girls, although they couldn't possibly admit it being 9 and 11 of course. They just played along for his sake!

Once we reached Borders, we looked around and Leena found a book, along with Adam, who lucked out with a Thomas the Train board book that had a miniature set of trains in the back. From there, we went to Michaels (nothing new) and Kohl's (for Leena), but by now it was 3pm and Adam was beside himself since he hadn't had a nap. We were all getting cranky and it wasn't until we put 2 & 2 together that we realized we'd skipped lunch in our hurry to get out the door after cleaning. We'd had breakfast earlier that morning, and some ice cream for lunch, I suppose, but no real meal. Now we were starving and I had a splitting headache.

We headed home to eat and start dinner preparations, but not before a stop at Shoprite for some staples. Once home, we ate leftover pizza from the day before and I started preparing a London Broil and rice for Fetah (Mohammed's favorite Egyptian dish--thanks, ShooShoo for showing me how to make it!!). Luckily, Adam fell asleep right in his stroller as we were heading out of Kohl's, so I was able to transfer him to his bed to finish his nap while I cooked.

Mohammed came home around 5:30pm and we were all excited to see him. Absence DOES make the heart grow fonder, because we all jumped with happiness when he came through the door. It helped even more when he put down a bag on the (clean) kitchen counter from Sprinkles. That's a well known bakery we had discovered in DC back in March, and they happened to have one in San Diego. After dinner, we had a great dessert and then it was a little family TV time!

It was a busy day, but a great one...and we are all thankful to have Mohammed back home!

WITL-Tuesday

2011-07-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

Made it through another day of Week In The Life and managed to take a total of 62 pictures. Of course there is no way I could possibly use ALL of these pictures, but at least I'll have options! Today was a busy day early on, and then once we came home in the late morning, that's where we stayed.

Yasmeen had band camp again, but after dropping her off, we had arranged to take Adam to "school" for his first foray into the land of daycare. He'll be hanging there for 2 days a week while I'm at work in the near future. He was excited to go in, and even ran off to play with the train tracks they have there, but as soon as a few of the boys decided to come check him out and "play" with him, he was not too happy. He grabbed the bin of train tracks and ran around the room trying to avoid the kids that wanted to play with him. I hung out a while and pleaded with him to share, but who are we kidding? This kid hasn't had to share a day in his young life. It was overwhelming for him, but luckily, snack time was around the corner. When he sat to have pretzels with the rest of them, Leena and I walked out to see how he would do. I told him I'd be leaving and he demanded I sit down at the table next to him. I told him I couldn't and left. We watched him from the front office cameras for a while and he was fine...eating his pretzels and looking around...taking everything in. We left for an hour and returned to get him with Yasmeen. The teachers said he did well, and we were so proud of him! We came home around 11am and had bagels (newly purchased--in town--this time) for lunch. The girls' with butter, Adam's with cream cheese, and for me, homemade chicken salad.

After lunch, I attempted to put Adam down for a nap, confident that his morning adventure had tired him out, but boy, was I wrong! He played in his bed, kept getting up, even took his shorts and diaper off to get my attention, so I just brought him back downstairs. We hung out in the family room while I watched last night's episode of "The Bachelorette". Yes, it's my guilty pleasure and I won't deny it! The girls entertained themselves by concocting all kinds of messes in the kitchen. They put together some inedible butter and herb mixture just so they could "pipe" it out of a plastic bag like Yasmeen had seen on a recent cooking show. As for Adam, well, he was not only awake, but quite energetic. He finally fell asleep crouching behind me on my office chair while I checked email at 4pm!!

With Adam sleeping, I told Leena that we should get started on dinner and suggested homemade pizza. We had to make the dough and let it rise, first, so we got started right away. It came together nicely, and by the time the dough was set aside to rise, Adam came downstairs crying loudly and still visibly tired. I picked him up and headed off to the family room. He fell back asleep on my shoulder, so I settled onto the chaise to watch another show I had DVR'd this past week: Combat Hospital.

Dinner was pretty good. After dinner, it was computer time for me, while the girls watched an episode of A.N.T. Farm. Adam entertained himself by running circles around the girls and eating dry Lucky Charms as a snack. We headed upstairs for bedtime around 9:45pm, but Adam didn't go out until about 11:15pm...so much for a solid sleep schedule for this energetic toddler! Here are some of my favorite shots from today:

Curious boys trying to meet the newest addition to their class:

Happy at snack time--eating pretzels and drinking juice:

Making inedible treats: and piping them onto aluminum foil "plates":

Mid morning snack: chocolate protein shake...YUM!

Making homemade pizza dough:

So good I forgot to take a picture before we dug in!

Our evening phone call from Daddy (in California until tomorrow night):

FINALLY out for the night...at 11:15pm!

WITL-Monday

2011-07-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

So the 1st day of WITL is over and I managed to take 110 photos. There are times as I'm snapping away at just about everything that I'll wonder if what I'm photographing is really important. Then I remember how awesome it is to look back at my album from last year and be able to see what I ate, where we went, who we spent time with. I can only imagine what a gift it will be for my future grandchildren to be able to look back on these albums as well and know a little bit about what daily life in 2011 was like for us. So I keep on snapping.

We began the day getting ready to take Yasmeen to band camp and making a quick trip to our favorite bagel stop for breakfast. After band camp, we headed to the local library to pick up a hold on "Bossypants" for Mohammed (who is away on business in sunny California at the moment) and bumped into my friend Jackie and her boys. Back home, it was hot dogs for lunch for the girls, an omelet for me and crackers with cheese for Adam. While Adam went up to take his nap, the girls watched "Rango" on tv and I caught up on laundry and watched taped episodes of "House Hunters". Adam slept a long time. Over 2.5 hours and I was able to get a lot done, including checking on my medical license, which after a long 3 months, has finally been reactivated! After naptime, we headed out to return our movie and drop Yasmeen off at Tae Kwon Do. She was mortified that I was taking pictures, but there's no making a tween happy. We had dinner, a little tv time, computer time, a call from Mohammed to say good night, and then bedtime. Unfortunately, waiting for Adam to finally go down to sleep caused me to get drowsy and it was lights out for me, too. A pretty typical day, overall...but one I'm sure I'll be glad to look on back in the future.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

A neat pile of freshly laundered and folded clothing:

A newly organized pantry, courtesy of Leena:

My best attempt (of many) at a self-portrait. Wish I had a mirror outside for some natural light!

Before the pantry was organized, everything sat on the table in the entryway!

Stack of stamp sets I've purged from shelving in background--need to donate!

Best bagels anywhere...and I'm originally from NY!

Made it to the train station just in time for Adam to see this go by:

Yasmeen right after Band Camp:

Browsing at the library:

Leena LOVES to do self check out:

The boy loves his trains!

Cuddling before nap time:

Looking over old school papers I've saved (in disbelief!):

Some much needed rain for our lawn:

Getting a one-on-one with the Master:

Dinner--notice how Yasmeen elegantly plated hers on the right (influenced by the Food Network):

So happy to be participating again this year and looking forward to seeing everyone's work!

Let "Week In The Life" begin...

2011-07-25T21:49:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of of the Week in the Life (WITL) challenge hosted by Ali Edwards. For one week each year she challenges anyone who wants to capture the essence of one week in their lives by taking pictures and writing about it. According to her website, she describes this journey as "A seven-day documentary project, Week In The Life is an annual opportunity to capture the simple everyday details of your life with photos and words". Thousands of people around the world take her up on her challenge and at the end of the week, give themselves the gift of having captured time, a literal snapshot, or in this case, snapshots, of what their life is right now.

I took Ali up on her challenge last year. It was a different month, a different week out of the year, but, boy, what a difference a year makes. Children grow...FAST. Interests change. Friends change. Jobs change. New careers are forged, old careers are resurrected. It's such an amazing gift to see where we were in 2010, and what we're doing now. Completing a WITL is what scrapbooking to me is all about. I hope you'll take a chance to check out more about this awesome challenge here and maybe consider joining in on the fun. I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures later this week.

Keeping cool...

2011-07-20T08:49:00.000-04:00

Even though we are going through a heat wave right now...I've got to say, I'll take that any day over a blizzard! That is...as long as there is air conditioning! How some people survive the heat without AC is beyond belief to me. Yesterday, Leena had to go into the garage to get something from the van and when she came in she said "someone could die out there if you left them for a day". I immediately corrected her and pointed out that they could die if left out in the garage for a few hours, especially without any ventilation (let alone the heat). Today is balmy (not!) at a high of 92, but the heat index will make it feel like 97. By Friday, the high will be 97 with the heat index making it feel like 103. So, today Mohammed is taking off and we are heading to Dorney Park...probably just hang out in the water park side for most of the day, and head over to the dry rides when it cools down a bit.

This week the girls are in summer camp. Well, Leena is. Yasmeen is officially at Band Camp (as she is quick to correct anyone who says otherwise). She has 2 weeks of taking trombone and band lessons and is the youngest in her brass instruments group (and the only girl). She is enjoying it. Leena is taking 1 week of summer camp focused on fun with computers, including digital photography. She wishes there was more photography and less computers, but says she still likes the class. Adam and I are fervently running errands while the girls are occupied and then taking long naps into the afternoon while the girls "chill" out at home and watch TV.

This past weekend, we headed into NYC to see the Intrepid museum during a firefighter appreciation event. A quick stop at the American Girl Place for our girls and the day was complete. A fun weekend, for sure!

Ramadan will start in less than 2 weeks, so I am starting to think about meal planning for the month. You see, when you fast for the daylight hours (which are LONG in the summer), you don't want to have to think about what to eat when the time rolls around at sunset. Oh, and the meals have to be filling, so it takes some advanced thought on my part.

On yet another note, the medical board will finally meet on my behalf this Friday. I'm anxious and sending prayers up that they won't find anything missing/incorrect/etc with my application and finally reinstate my license. It's been a long journey and I can't wait to be able to start working again! So, if you think about me on Friday, say a prayer and keep your fingers and toes crossed that all goes well.

Ok, off to take the girls to camp and then get my nails done (gotta get things done while Mohammed is around). We'll be catching up again soon!

Happy July!!

2011-07-11T23:37:00.001-04:00

I wanted to title this post Happy 4th, but I missed the boat. So why not just a whole happy month? Works for me. Hope you are all keeping pleasantly busy this summer so far and getting outdoors when you can--we all need to make some vitamin D and the only way is to get a little sunshine (that is unless you want to take a pill each week, but I digress...). We have been chugging along here in NJ. We have had a few outings with Mohammed on the weekends and I have been desperately trying to keep the kids (which range in age from 2-11) aptly entertained. It's unfortunate that these days kids have forgotten to entertain themselves. If I had a nickel for every time Leena or Yasmeen told me they had NOTHING to do, I'd certainly be able to take a much needed vacation. But alas, here we are...so I decided to make them each a "boredom busters" list and told them if I even so much as here one of them utter they are bored, they would lose their allowance. It's almost slipped out once or twice, but they've managed to keep their comments to themselves.

Adam is our little wild man. Now his hair is finally matching his personality. That poor boy really does need a trim. He is oblivious to the fact that his sisters are suddenly around all the time and is just as happy to play with them all day long, as he was when he saw them for just a few hours after school . He has been exposed to a little bit more "My Babysitter's a Vampire" and less "Special Agent Oso" this summer, but he is doing just fine.

Since my last post, we have been to a few places. We did manage to get out to the Splashground with our friend, Brenda and her daughter, Marisa. Our former neighbor's daughter, Diana, also came along. After that, Mohammed joined us as we discovered a small zoo in South Jersey that I found online. It WAS small, but we really enjoyed it because we were able to feed all the animals...including a whole slew of giraffes! Imagine, a bunch of giraffes right here in the middle of nowhere in NJ! We even found a Golden Corral not too far from there and enjoyed the buffet to its fullest. GC reminds us all (well, at least Mohammed and I) of our time down South, so it was nice to find one relatively close to home. For the 4th, in lieu of heading out to Philly for fireworks like we did last year, we decided to stay local and went to North Branch for the annual Somerset County fireworks. Getting into the park, and even finding parking was pretty easy, but getting OUT, that was another story. Note to self: NEVER go back to the park for fireworks again. We waited in the car, at a STANDSTILL, for well over an hour and 20 minutes before we were allowed to move by the park rangers. It was then that we understood why all those people earlier in the day were parking blocks and blocks away from the park and walking in, instead of driving. Even so, they really did put on a good firework show. Another day, we went with Aileen to the beach. We love the beach, but it isn't as close as we'd like to get there often. We love that we've started a tradition to go at least once each year with Aileen during the summer. Afterwards, we visited Mom & Dad and enjoyed a little time with them.

So, I'm gearing up to head off to work again soon, and Ramadan is right around the corner. I'm sure our outings will start to slow down soon out of necessity, but nevertheless, we are having fun for the time being. And later? Well, those girls better get out their lists and figure out something to do on their own. Wish us luck!!

Summer is here!!

2011-06-30T00:05:00.000-04:00

Looks like it's full speed ahead. The weekend before school ended, we held a ceremony for the girls as they "bridged" from Juniors to Cadettes. They are getting much more mature and they all did great with the formalities of the afternoon. The next day, we celebrated Father's Day with a road trip to Frenchtown for a little ice cream and the possibility of a geocache. We scored the ice cream, but no geocache in sight. Midweek, Yasmeen received her new belt...RED STRIPE. Just one more belt level before she moves into the next training group and gets ready to work towards her black belt!! The girls officially had their last day of school exactly 1 week ago today, and we've been pretty busy ever since. First, we "celebrated" the end of school with a deep cleaning of the upstairs playroom and managed to get rid of EIGHT bags for the donation bins. This included clothing and toys, so it's not as crazy as it sounds, but it definitely made a dent! Next, I had my last layout class EVER. I have been telling my regulars that I will be scaling back to just holding SCRAMP nights for now, and all other classes have got to go. It's good that I was able to finish off the last class before the usual lull in class attendance common of the summer, but it's bittersweet that it's the last one for good. With getting back to working, something had to give! The first full day off of school, Yasmeen enjoyed watching "Mr. Popper's Penguins" with her old Battle of the Books club members (they were chaperoned by the teachers for the afternoon), and then by Friday, it was off to Coco Key Water Resort with my GS troop as a reward for their hard work this year. Turns out that Adam also came along for the 1st day since Mohammed and I had a mix up about who was going to have Adam for the day, but it worked out since he absolutely had a blast! The girls enjoyed themselves a ton, too. They played hard and despite my idea that they might be too tired to stay up late, they got a second wind and were able to stay up late playing games with their GS sisters in the hotel room. The next morning, it was time for breakfast and back to the water park. Check out was at 11am, so they really only had an hour or so of playtime before we packed it up and headed back to Hillsborough. After arriving home, we paid a visit to Elena before she left for Spain for the next few months. We'll miss her!! We had a busy Sunday, too. Gido and Shoo arrived from Florida on their way to Egypt. They came in for Mohammed's 40th birthday on Monday, and we even had a visit from Mohammed's cousin for the day. We spent 2 fun days together with Gido and Shoo-Shoo and when we took them to the airport yesterday, the girls immediately missed them. The girls made me promise them that they would stay longer when they came back to the USA, so if you're reading this Gido and Shoo-Shoo, you'd better stay a while when you get back to NJ! After dropping them off, we headed to Coney Island. The last time we were there was back in 2007 and those pictures were one of the first blog entries I wrote after hopping on the blog bandwagon!! Today was back to work for Mohammed, and the start of the summer craziness that is characterized by endless activity, no schedule whatsoever, and going, going, going all day long. Poor Adam didn't have a chance to nap until after 4pm today, and by then, I only let him sleep for about 45 minutes so as not to regret it later tonight. We started the day with a visit to Colonial Park for my Spanish for Children Meetup group, then to Toys R Us to buy a gift for a birthday party in the early afternoon, afterwards off to the library for the summer reading program and to drop off some (overdue) books and videos. Then off to Tae Kwon Do with Yasmeen in the early evening. We literally didn't come home until about 5:30pm from the time we left at 9am! I will need to take an "off day" soon so as not to burn out in the first week of summer vacation. Tomorrow, I'll be sure to lay low once we get back from the Splashground in Colt's Neck. Yep, another outing to keep everyone entertained. In a couple of weeks, the girls will start their summer recreation/enrichment programs. Yasmeen received her schedule for Band Camp today and Leena is on the hunt for a digital camera for her photography class. Good times ahead!

Talk about ACTIVITY!!!

2011-06-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

Last weekend started out normal enough. We knew we had Leena's recital on Saturday and our family hike in our series of hikes with the rec department on Sunday. Both went well, but what we didn't count on was Bonita going into labor and delivering a beautiful baby boy on Saturday afternoon, a week early, but perfectly PERFECT! Joey was beside himself with overwhelming joy and love for his new son and we were instantly infatuated with Giovani Joseph Otero. Unfortunately, with the ages of the girls, and Adam in tow, all 3 were not able to meet their new cousin. They had to torturously wait downstairs in the main lobby while Mohammed and I took turns visiting the newest arrival. We will finally get to visit him at home tomorrow for a family BBQ--the girls can't wait!!

Leena's recital was wonderful. She danced perfectly and was re-energized in her desire to continue taking classes. She went from not wanting ANY MORE CLASSES AT ALL, to deciding she may want to take 2 classes next year! Of course, she's also interested in 4-H and riding horses, so if that pans out, something will have to give :-) After her performance Saturday evening, we all headed out to Olive Garden to celebrate with a great dinner. We arrived home beat from the busy day around 10pm, and we knew we had better get to bed quickly as Sunday promised to be another full day with early morning hiking and a visit to Gio, of course.

We were out the door Sunday by 7:55am and met up with our hiking guide (and at times, torturer) by 8:05am. We were on our way to Alamuchy State Park in North Jersey, which took us about an hour to get to. Today's hike was supposed to be easier than our first in April...no straight climbs up a mountain this month, thankfully, but a few more miles...5 to be exact. The park was picturesque and the trees and bushes were in full bloom. The terrain was flat (mostly) and so much easier to maneuver for Mohammed with Adam on his back. It was easier for us all, and we had a much larger group than back in April...and gorgeous weather...high 60s...not too cold and not to warm. Wish all our hikes could go this well. We happened across a toad, a copperhead snake and various bugs, gnats and butterflies. I was breaking in new boots, so much to my dismay, the backs of my ankles got sore about 2 miles into the hike and we made a pit stop for some much needed first aid. Amazing what a little wound wash and a couple of bandaids can do! After that, I was good to go. Even Adam managed to hop out of his pack for a while and walk alongside us. Well, not quite alongside us, but behind, in front of and all around us. Note to self--the boy LOVES nature! He wanted to stop and explore every 2 steps, so in order to make time, back in the carrier he went. As a side benefit, our guide loves geocaching, and once I mentioned to him that I love it too, he planned to do several on the hike that were on the way! We found SIX geocaches during the hike and it was great. Of course, being the adventurer (aka: crazed and daring survivor man) he was, he found most of them and signed me in because he lept across rocks and down ditches so quickly that he could have given a cougar a run for his money.

This week has been a lot slower...Music class on Monday with Adam, finished all my CME by Wednesday and mailed it off to the Medical Board, a little geocaching with Brenda and hosted my monthly SCRAMP last night. Today was Yasmeen's rank test to go from Blue Belt to Red Stripe in TKD. Love watching her strut her stuff. Hoping she'll consider going into competition next year since she's pretty good at what she does.

Breathing room...

2011-06-02T21:04:00.000-04:00

We finished the month of May with a busy weekend full of activity and the last of my LOAD layouts. I have to say that I am actually relieved that LOAD is over because now my focus can be fully on the task at hand: politely pursuing the medical board with regards to my license reactivation, and competing all of my CME for this past 2 year cycle in the next week (even though it's not officially due until December 31st)!! I am trying to beat the deadline before the board meets again this month so that I can have everything available to them that they could possibly dream of asking for and hopefully avoid further delay...it's no guarantee though...they ARE bureaucrats!

In the meanwhile, we enjoyed ourselves these past couple of weekends with several events including Joey and Bonita's baby shower (Gio is due in 8 days), our town's Memorial Day Parade, a train ride, a bit of shopping, a birthday party for a neighborhood friend, a pool party at our neighbors and much more! With the girls off of school for a couple of days, we sure made use of our time. Today, Leena had a playdate and created a 2 page layout about one of the events this past weekend. She did a great job! This coming weekend is just as busy. Saturday we have Leena's jazz dance recital and Sunday is our monthly family hike, courtesy of our township recreation department (that is, if it doesn't rain). Then it's back to school for the girls Monday morning while Adam and I attend his weekly music class.

Speaking of school, the girls will officially finish the 3rd and 5th grades in less than 3 weeks...and actually, only 14 more SCHOOL days if you ask them. That means we are gearing up for summer vacation, even if we'll be staying local this year. I can't believe how quickly this school year passed.
This summer also marks another milestone...**fingers crossed**...I'll be returning to medical practice after over 10 years home with the kids. It's a new chapter for us, but I'm excited to return to work (at least p/t for now). We are looking into childcare options and getting things settled so that it'll be a smooth transition once all of my paperwork is set. And let's hope its set soon...my supervising physician (to-be) can only be so patient :-)

Well, that's all that's happening around here these days. I'm sure I'll be posting again soon with some updated pictures of the events ahead. "See" you soon!!

My last few layouts:

Leena's layout today!!

In the throes of LOAD...

2011-05-24T19:42:00.000-04:00

Yes, it really is that time again...unfortunately, as excited as I want to be about it, I am so busy this month that I'm worried I'll fall behind. Fortunately, I have been lucky enough to find something to put together each day, even if I don't always follow the prompts. We're already in week 4 and I'm amazed that I've kept up! Struggling and losing steam is common for me at this point, but I've decided not to go with complicated layouts and try to finish fast--if it's before sunset, even better. Can't wait for a little breathing room next month so I can focus on some other things. Eventually, I'm sure I'll get back to the hobby I love!! So far this month, I've done 24 layouts in 24 days. Here is a sampling!!

Z is for...Zip, Zero, Zilch!

2011-05-06T14:22:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have NOTHING to write about with the letter "Z", except that maybe I think Zebras are nice animals...but instead of boring you, and me, I thought I'd wrap up my A to Z challenge by choosing a "wild card" letter and posting about that one instead. I'm choosing C...for classes. Yep, I'm in the throes of getting ready for my LAST stamping class tonight. It's a Gift Bundle Class, and even though I've been doing these types of classes for over 4 (maybe 5) years now, with my pending return to practicing medicine in the near future, I've decided to stop having classes at the end of my current schedule (which ends in June). I haven't yet decided if I'll continue to host SCRAMP night for the time being...but most likely, I will.

So, what is my gift bundle class? It's a set of 3 projects we'll make perfect for a gift (duh!). They include an altered clipboard, a set of 6 altered wood blocks and a matching card. Here is what I've done. Now off to clear the table so my students have somewhere to sit and work!

Y is for...Yasmeen!

2011-05-03T23:52:00.001-04:00

Even though I fell off the wagon with the A to Z blogging challenge, I am going to finish up this alphabet since I promised Yasmeen that "Y" would be all about her. Yasmeen is my 1st born...my oldest at the ripe age of 11! Sometimes I'll forget and say she is "just a 10 year old girl" (like when she's acting too big for her britches), and she'll be prompt to correct me. Yasmeen is a loving girl with a big heart. She cares deeply about her family (even if she'll only admit it under duress) --and especially about her baby brother--she is the perfect mother's helper when it comes to playing with and caring for Adam. Yasmeen enjoys reading, cooking, talking on the phone, playing on the iPod touch, watching tv, playing the trombone and picking out funky (but cool) earrings. She is currently a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do and can't wait to reach the black belt level. She is looking forward to when her little brother can start TKD, so she can be his personal coach. She dreams of becoming a dentist someday. She has adjusted to Intermediate School in town, even though she had a rough start at the beginning. She is currently taking the NJ ASK tests and told us today that they were "sooooo easy" (let's hope!). She is smart, sensitive, caring and a good friend. She makes us laugh with her silly jokes and saves us a sample of the latest delicacy she's created in cooking class...tonight, it was yummy funnel cake!

Way BackThen:

Closer to Now:

More recent:

Just the other day...

Yasmeen is a blessing to our family. She is the one who made Mohammed and I parents and we are so proud of all she's accomplished so far. She has taught us how to try and be more patient and has also tested that patience. She can argue a point better than the best lawyer out there, but she is also aware that some points are best left alone. She is pure sugar, for sure...but there's also a little spice. She reminds me of ME so much, it's crazy! She is truly our pride & joy and we love her to bits!

X is for Xperience ;-)

2011-04-30T09:22:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm cheating, but the prompt I HAD for X was X-Y chromosome and well, I had planned on writing about Adam (and maybe some other boys), but unfortunately used it up for "O"-offspring. So Xperience it is!

The type of experience I'm talking about is the kind that comes from doing. Well, I guess that's all experience, but it's especially important to me because of my "One Little Word" this year...fearless. I promised myself that I would undertake any and every new endeavor with an attitude of being fearless. When I thought more about this, I started to figure out what makes something fearFULL. For me, that's a sense of inability, or inXperience. So, what helps me become fearless, is knowing that in a fairly short time, by doing whatever it is that I fear, I will gain Xperience and hence, lessen the fear.

This year, I've had a lot of things to practice becoming experienced (and fearless). There is my weight loss journey with The Belly Fat Cure...yep, 22 pounds and holding...now need to get motivated to keep the momentum going. Then there's the fact that I may be returning to work in the very NEAR future. Albeit, p/t, but nerve-wracking nevertheless. Then there's overcoming the childcare issue. And on and on...

...and to the rest of you...remember that XPERIENCE is built by just going out and DOING!! So, let's see how 2011 wraps up the rest of the year...here's keeping my fingers crossed!!

U, V, W....ARE FOR...

2011-04-29T00:02:00.000-04:00

UNACCEPTABLE that I've fallen off the daily blogging challenge, but thought I would catch up by talking about the VALUE of family WALKS! With the warmer weather (more w's) setting in, I always thinking about ways of getting in my exercise while trying to get outside. I really wish we could get into the habit of taking family walks after dinner every so often because they are so enjoyable. Recently, we headed around the block with Adam out of the stroller and he did great! Just as the sun is setting is the perfect time to get some fresh air and do the body good. A more challenging version of family walks is hiking. Yes, we are past the letter "H", but hiking is a ton of fun too. We are so committed to trying to get outside that I actually signed up our entire crew for the recreation department hiking group that meets monthly from April to November and hikes various trails throughout NJ and PA. Our first family hike was this month. Unbeknownst to us, it was a "short" 4 mile hike up the side of a mountain at a very steep incline. Although it was strenuous beyond belief for me, poor Leena struggled with an asthmatic cough and Mohammed had to deal with Adam on his back. We completed the hike, but warned our guide that he had better lighten the load next month. We'll see about that!

T is for...TROMBONE

2011-04-25T00:01:00.001-04:00

This year my oldest started intermediate school and by doing so, it was the first year she could pick an instrument to play in the school band or orchestra. Now, Yasmeen is not a classical kind of gal, so I didn't expect her to pick violin or clarinet, but TROMBONE??? Now that was a surprise. So she shows up at the first band practice and picks up her instrument, and guess what...it's almost as tall as she is. Turns out that another friend also chose trombone and there are now 2 girls in the 5th grade walking around with huge trombones on practice day! Yasmeen really likes it and practices often...however; sometimes (and just sometimes, Yasmeen...if you happen to be reading this), it sounds like a poor beluga whale sending out a distress call. She has improved immensely since the beginning of the year and will be attending band camp this summer, so she is very excited. As for us, we are excited that she's found an instrument she loves and hope she gets better at it every day. After all, did you know there is some college $$ out there for FEMALE TROMBONISTS???? Woohoo...you go girl!

S is for...what else....SCRAPBOOKING!!

2011-04-24T12:30:00.000-04:00

So today I get to talk about one of my passions. I have been scrapbooking over 9 years and haven't looked back once...I love everything about the craft. Love how you can combine numerous crafts into one...like photography, writing, stamping, painting, blogging, sewing, etc... I was introduced to it by a friend when I went out with her to a girl's night out and at the time, I was all about science, medicine and logic and thought that this craft was unusual at best, and at worst a waste of time. Once I sat and opened my mind to the possibilities of creativity while preserving our family's milestones and everyday life, I was hooked! My style has definitely changed along the way, but one thing that remains is that I love (mostly) straight lines and more of a graphic composition. I focus mostly on the story, which means I'm heavy on the journaling and have been known to write my story and fit my layout around it. I can get inspiration from just about anything in my day-to-day life...like color combos from my kid's clothing catalogs and design inspiration from ads on television. I have even used song titles and lyrics on my pages and I pour over the scrapbook websites and print magazines looking for layouts to "scraplift"--a term used in scrapping circles when you copy someone else's work either in its entirety (topic, color combo, design, orientation, etc) or simply use parts of it as a jumping board for your own creation. I also enjoy reliving memories that have been captured that I know I would have long forgotten had it not been for the art of scrapbooking. So for those of you who look at scrappers with a raised eyebrow thinking to yourselves "what in the world are those crazy women doing?", well...you're missing out and should really look at it again with an open mind. You can start here or maybe here or if you would rather jump right in and take a class, then look over here and find one that suits your needs. And if you happen to be someone that already knows the joy that it is to BE a scrapbooker, then maybe you'll want to join me as I create a LayOutADay (LOAD) in the month of May by clicking here. Below I've shared some of my favorite layouts of all time (well, probably just in the past year-LOL), but they are some of my favorites and were a ton of fun to make. Thanks for looking and have a SCRAPPY DAY!!

R is for...READING

2011-04-21T00:01:00.003-04:00

I have wholeheartedly rediscovered my love of reading in the past 6 months or so and get so excited that I usually have 3-4 books going at once. It all began when I picked up a book that was 1/2 price at Borders called A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson. I thought the topic sounded good, but really didn't have any idea about what I was getting into. I just wanted a book that was affordable, portable (I take it with me in my bag) and that sounded interesting...and any outdoor/hiking type book made the list! Turns out, it was a fun read...informative and humorous at times, too! It was about a man's attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, and since reading it, my interest and desire to hike parts of the trail was piqued! From there, my sister passed along her copy of Eat, Pray, Love telling me I'd enjoy it...and I did. When I finally had a chance to see the movie, it paled in comparison. These 2 books were a turning point for me since my usual genre of reading material is self-help. I figured if I was going to take time to read, it should really be something that could "help" me out. The funny thing is, reading for pleasure is helping me immensely. It calms me, relaxes me, broadens my knowledge in many areas and has sparked new dreams and desires. Since reading these 2 books, I've picked up a couple of more fiction based books and am enjoying them completely. That doesn't mean that I've given up my self-help list of books on my "to read" list...it just means that I've widened my circle of interest. To keep track of all of the books that are of interest to me, I've recently discovered Goodreads. Here I can not only keep track of the books I want to read, and have read already, but I can also look up reviews for books that interest me and leave reviews for the books I've read. Goodreads is a great resource worth checking out if you share a love of reading like I do.

Have a wonderful day...and don't forget to pick up a book!!

Q is for...Quotes! UPDATED!!!

2011-04-20T00:01:00.001-04:00

Yep, today I'm going with the obvious and sharing some quotes I've found that are inspiring or meaningful to me. Hope you enjoy!!

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
Helen Keller

“Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us.”

John N. Mitchell

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

Maria Robinson

In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away

- Shing Xiong

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

- Dr. Seuss
Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one is watching.

- Randall G Leighton

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us."

- Alexander Graham Bell

Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.

- Luke

Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today

- James Dean

**FOUND A GREAT QUOTE ON ANOTHER BLOG AND JUST HAD TO ADD IT HERE:
"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." (Michelangelo)
Isn't that the truth???!!!!!

P is for...Physician Assistant

2011-04-19T03:29:00.000-04:00

Something that you may not know about me is that I am a Physician Assistant. You probably don't know this because I am not currently practicing medicine. In fact, I have never practiced in New Jersey-although I have been employed in both North Carolina and New York. Ever since Yasmeen was an infant, I said goodbye to my scrubs and hello to parenting. Soon after, Leena joined our family and most recently, Adam. Now that Adam is two, I have been toying with the idea of returning to medical practice. Although I'm torn about the implications and complications that working in medicine again might cause in our lives, I'm also excited about the possibilities ahead. It's been a while since I have been employed outside the home in any capacity, and at times I miss the camaraderie and energy I would find in the workplace. Of course, I also am aware that I would miss being here for the kids any time they needed me, and for Adam right now...that's every day, all day. He's still young, so I haven't made any definite moves into the work-a-day world, but have been putting out feelers to see how I would be received "out there" should I choose to go back to work.

It's been almost 15 years that I graduated with my Masters of Health Sciences from Duke University. Back then, I could have never predicted that my professional life would have been put on hold to raise a family, but through the support of my dedicated husband, that is exactly what I did. I love being a stay-at-home mom and am grateful every day for the chance I have to be here for my kids. When the time comes to focus on my career once again, my hope is to find a practice that complements my commitments to both career and family.

For those of you not familiar with the role of a Physician Assistant in medical practice, PA's are specially trained, mid-level providers of medical care that are able to diagnose and treat disease, as well as write prescriptions (including controlled substances), order and interpret laboratory studies, and develop and implement patient care plans. They are required to maintain a high level of competency by passing an initial national certification exam, and recertifying every 2 years via the submission of Continuing Medical Education (CME) and every 7 years by the successful completion of a written recertifying examination. PAs can be found in all areas of medicine including, but not limited to Family Practice and Pediatrics. Many of my colleagues from graduate school have in fact chosen a specialty area of practice, such as Orthopedics, Cardiology or Surgery. PAs are recognized as important members of the health care team and are employed in a variety of settings.

O is for...Offspring

2011-04-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

Since I didn't get a chance to post about Adam for my "A" post, I thought I'd stretch it here today and post about him under "O" for Offspring...works, right?? Well, let me tell you a little about Adam. He's two...and our third and final child. He joins 2 older sisters and has become the apple of our eyes. He is definitely fulfilling his role as the toddler in the house. He's adorable and snuggly one minute, and combative and cranky the next. He loves cars, trains and all forms of transportation. He gets excited at construction sites and when he passes by a McDonald's, he demands french fries. He is bilingual and will speak perfect Spanish to me, while addressing the rest of his clan in English. He is demanding and playful. Loving, yet inpatient. He is a wonderful, sweet toddler, and we all look forward to watching him grow into a fun-loving boy!

N is for...NEW layout!

2011-04-16T02:54:00.001-04:00

Cheating here today, because I just completed a layout tonight during my monthly crop here at home and wanted to share ;-). It's for a sketch challenge over at www.sketchythursdays.blogspot.com for their May guest design team position. Even though I know this isn't nearly as good enough as some of the entries, I had fun getty all "artsy" with it and had a blast playing with all my papers and embellishments. So, for today, a NEW layout about some NEW challenges my oldest is facing in school.

The Sketch:

My take on the sketch:

and some close-ups...

M is for...Macbook Pro

2011-04-15T00:01:00.003-04:00

I am an Apple convert! Yes, I recently switched over from a desktop PC to my all time favorite gadget ever...a laptop Apple Macbook Pro. I can't even tell you how much I love this thing. Yes, there was a learning curve to master (and I am FAR from mastering it), but once you get used to the floating windows and all of the shortcuts, you are in computer heaven. Add to the fact that I can grab my little jewel and take it anywhere in the house(thank God for wireless) and that I can store upwards of 15,000 pictures on my hard drive (to date) without any trouble whatsoever, and that I can create movies, videos, scrapbooks and more with the touch of a button (or in my case, the tap of a touchpad) and I am sold. AND...knock on wood...I don't even need virus protection. Yes, I know, I should probably get virus protection, but I was clearly told by both a techie neighbor (who also happens to have an Apple friendly household) and the Apple service reps that the Apple operating system has very few problems, if any, with viruses. It's been almost a year, and nothing I tell you...nothing at all driving me to frustration. This is the total opposite to my previous PC that had issues with storing data, being vulnerable to viruses and adware, and as slow as a sloth on a sunny day. I knew that Apple had a reputation for being good for those who did a lot of graphic type things with their computer (such as gaming and photo-editing), but I had no clue how good it would be. I can have multiple floating windows open, play music, edit pictures and surf the web and this little workhorse doesn't even flinch! And having an iPod means I can sync all my music, movies, podcasts and apps effortlessly. Yes, this can be done on a PC, but it's so much better on an Apple ;-). So today is the day that I dedicate to my Macbook Pro. And if ever I should have trouble with it, Apple service is the bomb!!! Trust me, I've had plenty of issues/questions/concerns since getting my computer last April and they have always been super helpful. GO APPLE. Now, if I can just get to iPhone 4 someday soon...

L is for...Life with Leena!

2011-04-14T00:01:00.004-04:00

Today's message is brought to you by the letter L for Leena. Leena is my middle child, my youngest daughter and a true blessing. At 9 she is intelligent, strong, sensitive and has a good head on her shoulders. She takes after me in the sense that she loves all things crafty...including scrapbooking. She takes after her dad in her love of salad (for dessert!) and that fact that she's not much into sweets. Leena is my little organizer...she loves order and calm. In her words, her ideal day would consist of a trip to The Container Store from which she would purchase a ton of various organizing containers, bring them back home, and arrange them to her heart's delight in her room--corralling and containing all the things she loves. When we go out, she asks if we could go look around at Home Goods. She is not a fan of geocaching--not because she doesn't enjoy a good treasure hunt like the rest of us, but because she detests bugs! She is currently in the 3rd grade, and at the moment, home from school due to a virus and an asthma exacerbation. She loves horses and is learning to ride. She is taking dance, but would rather not. She hopes to someday become a veterinarian or a teacher. She is kind, quiet and loving, and brings to our lives an undeniable presence that is full of optimism and heart. She is a shining star and we love her.

One of her many crafty creations!

K is for...knitting

2011-04-13T11:28:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, my girls (along with others from their troop) volunteered to participate in a service project being run by a Girl Scout earning her Gold Award. The purpose of her project was to teach other GS how to knit so that they could knit 8x8 squares which would then be assembled into blankets for children who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise in need. The organization she was supporting was Project Linus and you can check them out here: www.projectlinus.org. So off we went, and my girls learned to knit. The GS teaching them was patient and well versed in the fine art of knitting. I didn't have a clue how to help them, but luckily, a friend of ours did and once the girls took off with knitting needles and yarn in hand, she was able to help when they ran into snafus. They each produced an interesting 8x8 square which we were all very proud of, and also helped stitch the squares together into blankets. It was a wonderful experience and now the girls have learned a new skill that they plan on keeping up. Here's to Girl Scouts, service, and knitting!!

J is for...journaling!

2011-04-12T00:01:00.018-04:00

In keeping with yesterday's theme, I thought I'd use today's letter to expand on how I go about writing the journaling for my layouts. I've been told that journaling is my strong suit, and I'm glad that it is. When I look back on layouts from years ago that I've done, I'm immediately drawn to the story. I often write in great detail about the event, location, emotions and activities portrayed by the pictures. I love being able to capture these details that I would surely forget in a few weeks, months or years. Even my girls love to read about when they went somewhere, what they saw, how they reacted, what they felt. They may not remember actually being there, but they have a chance to relive it by reading the scrapbook. Writing comes easily for me because I enjoy it. I often write in a stream of consciousness format. This means I don't edit what I'm writing and that I might not even have full sentences...but I DO HAVE DETAILS. I focus on what I would tell a good friend if I were sitting with here going over the pictures. I write about how something smelled, or about how it felt to do whatever it was that I was doing. I focus on the senses and on the emotion, and that comes across in my writing.

Of course, not every layout is a novel (although my friends would beg to differ), but I make sure to write about things that matter. Well, that matter to me, anyway. I enjoy writing about things that will make me smile when I look back on them in the future. Things that maybe will tell the next generation a little something about my life here and now. About how our family spent its days, about things that we cared about. Sometimes, the "what, where & when" aren't as important as the how and why. When I'm having a difficult time getting words down on paper, I sometimes take a different approach to writing. I've used interviews, bullet style lists, captions and even blog entries (imagine THAT!) to fill in for my journaling when I can. Here are a few examples of layouts I've done using alternate styles of journaling...capturing a little of the everyday that matters to us...and one layout that really could stand in for a novel :-)

use of a bulleted list:

screenshot of my inbox:

captions and small phrases that capture what we're up to:

questionnaire:

and for the mother-load of all journaling...

Hope you find your voice and become more comfortable every day getting your thoughts, feelings and life down on paper (or up on a blog)! Happy writing.

I is for...ideas and inspiration!

2011-04-11T00:01:00.002-04:00

Those of you who know me, know that I love to express myself and my emotions through my writing. These days, it takes the form of the journaling in my scrapbooks. I always put the journaling first and the design becomes secondary to the story. This leaves me in a bind sometimes, because I am at a loss for ideas and inspiration for how to arrange my photos into a pleasing design around my journaling, while not detracting from the story itself. This is where my idea of organizating the inspiration I come across on the internet comes in handy. I recently started using Pinterest, and that is one fabulous website! I wholeheartedly encourage you to check it out. However; long before Pinterest, I saved photos of layouts that I loved onto my computer--using the guidelines of the # of pictures in each layout to divide them up, so that I can make quick work of grabbing an idea and putting it to work for my pictures.

In the scrapbook world, when you base your layout on the work of someone else, that is called scraplifting, which is actually encouraged for the typical scrapper because it takes the guesswork out of design and allows you to focus on story and product choices. Funny thing is...inspiration is everywhere, so your idea doesn't even have to come from another scrapbook layout. I was once challenged to find an advertisement in a magazine to "scraplift" and it worked just the same.

Oftentimes, when I choose an inspirational piece to scraplift, the final design is usually nothing at all like the original work. The original simply acts as a catalyst for my own creativity to kick in--giving me a starting line from which to take off. It helps to release the creative block that sometimes sets in from over-thinking the design process and allows me to go with the flow and do what I love. How do you organize your ideas?

H is for...HGTV

2011-04-09T00:01:00.001-04:00

Oh how I love a good home design or renovation show. Heck, it doesn't even have to be about design. I also love a good house-hunting show. I guess it's the voyeur in me that likes to see what's "out there" and what you can get for your money in different parts of the country in terms of real estate. And I love living vicariously through other people's renovations, dreaming about whether I would make the same choices or if their designs would work in my own home. Yep, it's a quick entertainment fix for me, and the network here for all things related to the home is HGTV (home and garden TV). My favorite shows at the moment are: House Hunters, Property Virgins, My First Place, Divine Design, Colour Confidential and My House is Worth What?. Thank goodness for the ability to record these shows because I can always find 30 minutes (or more) at the end of a long day for a little TV time.

G is for...Geocaching!

2011-04-08T00:01:00.004-04:00

It's been a year this past month that I officially started geocaching. For those of you not familiar with this popular pastime, it is usually described as a worldwide treasure hunt using GPS technology. Not sure how I initially became involved with it, but after hearing about a friend of ours who had been "taking walks in the woods" to find "boxes", my curiosity kicked into overdrive. I read everything I could about it and visited the most widely recognized website for the hobby here. This website is chock-full of information about getting started with geocaching and even has reviews on the best GPS units out there. I quickly bought a handheld GPS and told my family I'd discovered a way for us to have fun and get exercise in the process, and that it didn't cost anything to participate (after the initial GPS expense). My oldest was on board from the get-go. It took a little more coaxing for my youngest daughter, Leena, and Mohammed to give it a shot. Neither is what you would call "outdoorsy" and Leena has the added issue of hating bugs. This past year, they have both gone along with it, though, and Mohammed has really helped a bunch by carrying Adam in a backpack carrier on our adventures. I have even told a few buddies about it, and gotten one person in particular to go on weekday adventures with me while the girls are at school and Mohammed is working (you know who you are!). It's really worth checking out if you like to hike. In fact, you don't even really have to like to hike because many of the hidden caches are in urban areas hidden in plain site. Caches are rated according to difficulty of the hide, as well as difficulty of the terrain. Ratings go from 1(wheelchair accessible and easy to find) all the way to 5 (nearly impossible on both fronts). Our family outings are usually a cache difficulty of 1-3 and a terrain difficulty of no more than 2. It's a great family/couple/individual activity and you should check it out! Here are some photos from several of our adventures:

Leena's first find all on her own!

Adam getting a free ride:

Yasmeen's first find on her own:

Adam napping in the distance while we made the find:

They pop up in unexpected places:

The goods inside:

One of Mohammed's recent finds--this one was hard!

An urban cache near home:

My caching pal, Brenda and I with the neatest cache container yet--a tree branch!

Finding a travelbug-and I don't mean my napping son!

Well-hidden:

On our way:

Caches are EVERYWHERE:

Sometimes you have to reach up high and savor the sweet taste of success:

Thanks for stopping by...now get out and geocache!!

F is for...Favorites

2011-04-07T00:01:00.004-04:00

Thought I'd post a fun list of our family favorites based on the list below. We often have random conversations about our favorite "this" or "that", so now I've got them down to refer to anytime!

Janet: age 40

color-orange
food-breaded chicken cutlets (not changes since I was a kid)
snack-chocolate (same for favorite dessert & candy)
tv show-anyting on HGTV (although I love Army Wives and Private Practice, too)
season-summer (for the easy going schedule and girls home from school)
beverage-coffee
restaurant-Olive Garden
day of the week-Saturday
thing to do-scrapbook
gift to receive-a compliment

Mohammed: almost age 40

color- blue
food-Fetah (Middle-Eastern dish)
snack-Raisinets
tv show-30 Rock
season-spring
beverage-soda
restaurant-don't have one
day of the week-Monday (start of a new week)
thing to do-spend time with family when we're not arguing
gift to receive-peace & love

Yasmeen: age 11

color-green
food-french fries
snack-chocolate
tv show-Cupcake Wars
season-Fall (not too cold and you can go outside--in Spring sometimes it's too hot already)
beverage-Iced Tea
restaurant-White Rose System (in Woodbridge, NJ)
day of the week-Friday (she has her private music lesson that day)
thing to do-read (anytime, anyplace)
gift to receive-money

Leena: age 9

color-fushia pink
food-Salisbury Steak "balls" (new recipe I tried this week)
snack-lime tortilla chips
tv show-Victorious
season-Fall (mixture of hot and cold and no bugs like spring)
beverage-water
restaurant-Rainforest Cafe
day of the week-Monday (the start of a new week)
thing to do-write
gift to receive-money

Adam: age 2 (according to Mommy)

color-red (when asked what color something is-its always red)
food-soup
snack-lollipops (or pops as he calls them)
tv show-Thomas and Friends
season-Spring so he can get outside
beverage-milk
restaurant-McDonalds for "papas" (french fries)
day of the week-no preference as long as his sisters are around to play with him
thing to do-line up his Matchbox cars
gift to receive-having a playdate with a "nene hoy" (boy today)

E is for...Everything

2011-04-06T00:01:00.017-04:00

I can't focus today...I keep starting this blog post and then stopping, backtracking, erasing what I just typed, and restarting again. I was going to write about education, or embrace or emotions, but I couldn't wrap my head around any of those topics, so instead, I am choosing to write about everything. Everything that is on my mind these days, everything that keeps me busy, everything that stresses me out...well, just everything.

Call it the Winter blues, but getting through a long, gray winter here in NJ puts me into a sort of sloth-like funk. Even though we are officially in spring now, and even though April is a relatively calm month for me, I find myself thinking a lot about things that have to get done, and aren't necessarily getting done. Appointments to reschedule. Letters to be mailed. Calls to be made. CME to complete. Tables to be cleared. Laundry to be washed. Clutter to be put away. Homework to be checked. Playdates to be had. Layouts to be made. Seems that when I have a bit of a breather from the stress of work overload, I become paralyzed with inaction. It doesn't help that it's so cold out (and in!) that all I want to do is stay curled up in bed in my jammies. Yes, the basics get done around here, but I find it very hard to get a lot accomplished and have a really productive day when there aren't deadlines looming in the very near future. Of course, I've cut myself some slack these past couple of years since I had Adam...he certainly does his share to ensure that my attention is not distracted away from him for too long. He's a busy toddler and a mischievous one, so I can't leave him alone for long before I hear "uh oh" from the next room. So its usually me flying by the seat of my pants to get things done. Not sure why this is, but at least I'm recognizing it. It's been this way as long as I can remember. Even before Adam came along :-) In school, I waited until days (sometimes HOURS) before a project was due before starting it. At work, I would rush to draw up a treatment plan just as I had to present it at Grand Rounds. At home, I start thinking about dinner (let alone cooking it) close to when we should be eating. And it's not like I didn't THINK about it up until that point--I have, and maybe even prepped for it in some way mentally--but to actual DO the thing that needs doing, well, for that I will wait. Thing is, it's worked for me so far...I got A's in school, I worked hard and earned recognition at work, and at home, well, most days I can whip up a dinner in less than 30 minutes. Unfortunately, although I work well under pressure, I don't enjoy the amount of stress such procrastination places on me. This year, my hope is to try to organize myself a little better--maybe start making lists--those tend to work for me, too...and there's the added benefit of checking things off the list that I get done and seeing with my own eyes what I've accomplished that day.

Of course, there are also the self-imposed things that are stressful and keep me busy, too. Like this A to Z challenge. It's my way of holding myself accountable so that I actually get something worthwhile completed each and every day. Something I can look back on, something that STAYS DONE. I can spend a whole lot of time checking emails and looking at various websites on the computer while Adam plays or while dinner is cooking, but that doesn't always accomplish much. By picking a challenge and making myself do it, I feel like something has actually gotten done! That's why each February, May and October I take part in LOAD. It's the LayOut A Day challenge that I commit to so that my beloved hobby of scrapbooking doesn't get lost in the busy-ness of life. Self-imposed stress? Yes, but it makes me happy to see that "load" of layouts at the end of the month! Maybe I should impose a daily "clear the countertops" challenge in May? Nah, that wouldn't work...these self-imposed challenges need to be FUN--and besides, that's a LOAD month!!

Thanks for checking in...now I'm off to clear my tables in the scrap room since I just wrote about (and remembered that) LOAD is starting next month! SEE? I'm getting ahead of the game already...

D is for...date night

2011-04-05T00:01:00.004-04:00

While I was planning my blog post for this letter, a lot of options came up starting with D...daughters, degree, diet, etc...then I thought about date night. I thought about how much I have enjoyed spending time with my husband...just him and I, getting to know each other better and reconnecting after all these years. We've been busy raising our family and its hard to make time for each other. So today, I want to devote this blog post to my dear husband, Mohammed, and let him know that even though we don't get to spend a lot of time without the kids around these days, I am hopeful that we will someday have our date nights back on a regular basis. I love spending time with you and all of us love you very much. No, it's not our anniversary, and no, you didn't know I was going to dedicate today's post to you, but you are so special to me and you make our lives so much happier by being a part of it. Despite the lack of sleep and ensuing crankiness (on my part), I still look forward to seeing your face come through the door at the end of every day. Here's to some awesome date nights ahead in our not-too-distant future! Love you, baby...

C is for...Camera!

2011-04-04T00:01:00.002-04:00

I am a scrapbooker...which means I need photos...and therefore, a camera is essential! After our recent trip to DC, my handy point and shoot decided it had fulfilled all of its dreams and was fine to leave us before its time. When we returned home, I dutifully downloaded the last of our pictures off the SD card and when I tried to reinsert it, she'd had enough. I even took APART THE CAMERA to see if I could fix whatever was ailing the poor gal (mind you, I know NOTHING about camera repair, but how much could it hurt?). No luck, and no warranty, meant it was time to let her go. Hence began the research on a new camera. Luckily, I did have my trusty Canon DSLR to keep me company while I searched, but there is nothing like the convenience of a handy, little camera that you can just throw in your bag and go around town with. I looked at dpreview, cnet reviews and even consumer reports. For the budget I was working with, the Canon ELPH (SD models) kept coming up as a good value. Now, I know that the picture below is NOT of the current model, but turns out I got a killer deal on this one and the reviews didn't really put the newer model that far ahead of this one from last year. So it arrived safely into my arms this past week and I quickly charged the battery so I could play. Here is a picture of old faithful taken by the new camera. And one taken by old faithful of the new gal in town. Now I have options, people! Works for me.

B is for...BB's Closet Consignment Sale

2011-04-02T00:01:00.003-04:00

Ok, so maybe you're reading this from the comfort of your home many, many miles away from New Jersey, but I just had to mention the local consignment sale that comes to this area twice a year. I started shopping there several years ago when my daughters were much younger and found that they carried very gently used "stuff" that was waaaaay below retail price. After spending quite a bit of money on my great finds, I decided I should also try becoming a consigner myself to make up some of the money I spend each year. Well, I have been doing so the past 4-5 years. So what does this have to do with anything worth blogging about? Well, it makes me happy that I am doing my part to live a greener lifestyle. Not only am I saving tons of money on things that I need for the kids, but I'm also able to "splurge" and let them get something frivolous that I never would have allowed at full price. Case in point, the 3D Pictionary game that my daughters just had to have this time around. No way would I have agreed to it at the retail price of $35, but for $12, I let it slide. And for the boy? Well, he got himself one, rad kitchen for a mere $15. Hopefully, he'll learn to cook for real someday and make someone very happy!

So there are probably some new Moms out there that wouldn't think of buying anything "used" for their new, bouncing, bundles of joy (hey, that was ME just a mere eleven years ago), but let me tell you, by the time kid #3 rolls around, you get over that really quick! When DS was born 2 years ago (7 years after my youngest at the time), I made out like a bandit when it came to getting the essentials like playpens, bouncy chairs, high chairs, exersaucers (YES-they are essential) and toys. Everything I bought was in perfect condition and the best part was that when dear 'ol Adam outgrew it, I could sell it BACK at the next consignment! And wouldn't you know it, the Grands wanted to get us the "big" stuff, like our crib and dresser, so that worked out for us, too.

So, if you're looking to lead a greener lifestyle and aren't quite ready to take the plunge in a major way, then consider visiting a local consignment store for some of your family's necessities. You'll find great deals and save a boatload of cash to boot. Wow, after typing that sentence, now I'm thinking I could have blogged about boats or boots. Oh well...

Now, before I go, I can't help but give out a BIG shout out to my daughter, Leena, for BLASTING her science fair project right out of the universe last night. Way to go, baby. You worked hard and we're all proud of you!

Until tomorrow!

A is for Appalachian Trail...

2011-04-01T00:01:00.002-04:00

Thought I'd start out the A to Z Blogging Challenge writing about something unexpected (after all, I could have gone with Adam, my son's name), but decided to go with this instead. About a year ago, I came across the book "A Walk In The Woods" and became interested in the Appalachian Trail (AT for short). I'm not much of a hiker (or exerciser for that matter), but I got this desire (white blaze fever, as its sometimes referred to) to try to hike parts of the trail some time in the not too distant future (seeing how one of the trailheads for the New Jersey portion of the AT is not that far from where I live). I started reading everything I could get my hands on, including trail guides, and recently finished another book called "In Beauty May She Walk", about a 60 year old woman's "through hike" (a hike of over 2,000 miles within the same year). I thought to myself, heck if she can do it, I could certainly attempt to hike some of it. I've got a couple of decades on her and time to condition myself for the trail ahead. Well, my goal this spring, is to start some serious training. By serious, I mean actually get out of the house to do some regular hiking on some local trails and see if my wanderlust of the trail via reading matches my desire in real life! Maybe I'll even attempt a small section of the AT next fall...even my daughter is interested in joining me, although I'm not sure how serious SHE is. Just one thing, though...first I gotta figure out how to get over my squeamishness about mice, and let's not forget the bears!

Getting ready...

2011-03-31T16:20:00.000-04:00

for the AtoZ Blogging Challenge. Heard about it on NJ101.5 this morning and had to check out one of the hosting blogs. Turns out, you play along by choosing to blog daily (except Sunday) on any topic that begins with the letter of the day...tomorrow is A and we'll go through the alphabet in the month of April. Hey...I haven't started yet, it's just that alphabet and April all begin with A. Stay tuned for my post on my "A" word of choice tomorrow...and that's not an April's Fool trick! If you're interested in playing along, too...just click on the button on the right and sign right up! See you back here tomorrow!

It's her birthday...and she's 11!

2011-03-24T00:59:00.000-04:00

My oldest turned 11 today--even though this is posting the next day (I'm a night owl, what can I say?). Hard to believe that eleven years ago, on March 23rd, at 5:20pm, she came into this world and made me a Mommy for the 1st time. She is growing into a beautiful, intelligent young lady and we love her very much. We are proud of her accomplishments and look forward to what the future holds. This week alone, she earned her blue belt in Tae Kwon Do and performed for us at band rehearsal during a visit to her school. Her trombone playing has come a long way in a few short months. Today, we went out for dinner and then came back to the house for a little cake--one of her favorites--Red Velvet. Last weekend, we took her to Washington, DC-at her request-as her birthday gift from us. We had a great time and she was excited to bring back some of DC's finest cupcakes to enjoy this week. Here are some pictures of our trip and of our celebration today. May you have many, many, more happy and healthy birthdays ahead, baby girl!

Time flies when your stressed out!

2011-03-10T16:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm having fun, too...but I have been really, REALLY busy between LOAD, prepping for my classes here at home and getting the girls back and forth from activities. Let's not forget the ultra-active 2 year old with a naughty streak...he has me on my toes constantly. I also had a vendor fair to prepare for, which unfortunately was a big DUD. Wish I'd known that before stressing out about getting things ready the night before!! Oh well, live and learn...I'm never doing THAT again!

LOAD was a blast! It was relatively stress-free (if not for those OTHER committments), very inspirational, and I FINISHED ALL 28 LAYOUTS! Plan to post these here in a bit, but first, I've fallen a bit off the Yesterday & Today wagon (and my One Little Word wagon, for that matter) and plan to start back up with those layouts. This Friday, I'm having a HUGE decluttering sale on a ton of my business and personal scrap and rubber stamping supplies--so if you're nearby and want to score on some awesome stuff-then swing by any time between 7pm and 1am Friday night, March 11th. It's my SCRAMP night, so I'll be here all night :-)

In other matters, I have managed to lose a total of 19 pounds since starting my new eating plan on January 1st. My hope is to keep it going, but boy, are these grey, winter days starting to drag me down. Can't wait for spring to get here. Excited we're finally moving the clocks ahead this weekend...that will mean we lose an hour of sleep (and God knows I can't afford that!), but anything for that extra hour of daylight. For those of you who don't know the eating plan I'm on, just look at my string of layouts below...I dedicated an entire spread to "The Belly Fat Cure". Discovered an awesome spread that makes a good chicken taco out of this world...so happy that it's Belly "good".

This weekend we are hopefully (!) picking up some bed frames for the girls' new and improved SHARED bedroom...and we hope to finish "toddler" proofing Adam's room so we can try to put him down there for naps and bedtime (instead of with us!). Next weekend, we'll be celebrating Yasmeen's 11th (!!!) birthday with a weekend jaunt to DC. She asked us to take her there as her present, so we'll be hoping for good weather. Really HOPING for good weather...nothing worse than walking around the city in the cold and rain. After our return, the following weekend is for ME!! I'll be going to an all day crop nearby and spending time creating and hanging out with friends (even Aileen is coming!!). Can't wait for that. Last but not least, that SAME weekend, we're giving Yasmeen a gift of--ahem...-The Red Cross babysitting course at the local hospital. She can't wait to take it, and frankly, we can't wait for her to take it-LOL! In a couple of years, both she and Adam will be perfectly suited to hanging with each other when Mohammed and I finally decide to sneak away for a bite to eat on any given evening. Well, a girl can dream, can't she????

Enjoy the rest of the month, and let's hope that March does indeed go out like a lamb.

Here is a close up of my handmade flower. Really proud of this one :-)

Well, if you've lasted this long...thanks for looking. I'll be back here again soon with some more babbling. Have a great week!!

Well, we're into Week 7...

2011-02-13T14:11:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post before taking the girls swimming for a Girl Scout event today. I wanted to check in and show you what I've been up to now that it's week 7 on The Belly Fat Cure diet. I've overhauled my pantry and my grocery list is looking a lot different these days. I'm down a total of 17 pounds and it's really do-able. You've gotta check Jorge Cruise's website out here.

Also, it's week 7 in my Yesterday & Today class with Ali, and I'm almost caught up with all the layouts. I'll post pictures later, but I'm running late. Had just enough time this morning to work on my LOAD layout of the day--stay tuned for more on that!!

Super scrappy weekend, and the start of LOAD 211!!

2011-02-05T16:51:00.000-05:00

I'm fresh off the heels of a fabulous, and productive, scrappy weekend I attended with a couple of friends. Aside from plenty of time to scrap to my hearts delight, I also enjoyed a weekend of fine food (that I was able to eat while it was still HOT) that was so good, I actually looked forward to it *ALMOST* as much as the scrapping itself. I made 16 pages, which for a slow and sloth-like scrapper like me, is unheard of! I'll be sure to take pictures and post soon. Best of all, I really like my pages and have warmed up for the start of LOAD (which began today)!

This month's theme is INSPIRATION and as suspected, the first LOAD prompt was to use a picture that inspires me and make it the focus of a layout. I've been using the picture in this layout as my screensaver lately, so I guess that it qualifies. I pulled together this layout that I probably would not have made had it not been for this prompt. It was taken on NYE this past December and I would have most likely included it on my general NYE layout. LOAD has once again (gently) pushed me out of my box and made me look at my pictures in a new way. Can't wait to see what else lies ahead this month!!

I have also managed to keep on top of my Yesterday & Today class that has been going on for over a month now! Our latest challenge was to make a layout that documents a challenge. I chose to write about my relationship with Mohammed and how we have had to work hard to get where we are today. The main journaling was private, so I placed that in an envelope on the BACK of my layout. Another layout for this awesome class was to make a 6x12 page about something "you should know" about me. I didn't really know what to write about, but finally just took the plunge and started to write free-form about whatever came to me and I was pleased with the result. Of course, with February now here, our next monthly layout for One Little Word is also due, and for this month, we are to focus on taking photographs of our chosen word...in my case...fearless. I'll be working on that each week until I have enough photographs for the assignment-9!

Winner of blog post contest is...

2011-01-26T22:23:00.000-05:00

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max:

Result:

18Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Erin said...

Love the thought of going with the flow...I am not good at this either! lol

Congratulations, Erin, I've sent you an email, so look out for it!!

Link up for LOAD Q&A...

2011-01-25T22:23:00.002-05:00

Check it out here:
AttendThisEvent.com/?eventid=17024142
Hope to see you on Flickr for LOAD next week!!