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Currently...

Another one of Ali Edwards's brilliant ideas.   It's a good cobweb-clearer for this blog right now.

Watching.... the leaves change in Pennsylvania. Love this time of year.

Listening... to the new Mumford and Sons CD. Downloaded Tuesday. Fishtales is playing in the living room.

Cooking... soup. I made a great crock pot chicken noodle soup this week. I have several more saved on Pinterest.

Anticipating... homecoming, fairs, festivals, Halloween and corn mazes.

Celebrating...Xane is turning 9 in a week! Party on Sunday.

Baking...pumpkin muffins last Sunday. Chocolate cake with buttercream icing for Xane's birthday this weekend.

Buying... birthday presents. shoes.

Selling...popcorn for cub scouts!

Wearing... a chevron tshirt dress from Target. Flip flops.

Teaching...Beowulf. The Crucible. Metric Conversions.

Learning...to stop forcing people into "a box". That sometimes people surprise you in a good way. That the best things in life are unexpected.

Summer bucket list item #1 &2: Keep a journal/ Read a novel

It's really important to me this year that we incorporate educational activities into our summer. I want Xane to practice reading and writing. After all, he's going to third grade next year.

I decided we will keep journals of our summer. Ive had these Smash books for probably about 2 years. They are ready to be filled. Today, we are going to decorate our covers.

Another item on our list was "Read a book." I want to read at least 1 full length novel with him. I did find out that Barnes and Noble will give your child a free book for reading 8 books. You can get the official journal on the Barnes and Noble website, or in Barnes and Noble stores.

Our first book that we are going to tackle is "Brother from a Box" by Evan Kuhlman. I thought he would like it because he always says he wishes he had a brother. We've read the first 20 pages. So far, 12 year old Matthew is at home when a box arrives. He opens it up and finds a robot kid inside. Pretty funny so far. Lots of giggling here.

Summer bucket list

I got this idea from pinterest, and I'm very excited about it! Summer starts here next Wednesday. Xane and I do a lot of fun activities all summer, but I thought it would be fun to do the bucket list to ensure variety. The original idea can be found here.
Also the Happy Family Movement has a summer bucket list challenge. Join up there for prizes and an information packet.

Here's how it works:
You start with color coded sticks. Then you write an activity on each stick. Each day you pick a stick to decide what to do.

Here is our list:
Yellow- sunny day activities
1- sidewalk chalk
2-hopscotch
3- water guns
4- roller skating
5- bubbles
6-make tie dye shirts
7- make and use marshmallow shooters
8-ride bikes

Orange - places to go that are free or already paid for
9- dorney park
10-walking trail
11-pool
12-visit someone
13- playground
14- jacobsburg park

Green- places to go that cost money
15- crystal cave
16- mini golf
17- bounce u
18- bricks 4 kids
19-camel beach
20- find a fair
21-visit the big city!
22-go to the movies
23- davinci science center
24- bowling

Blue- rainy day fun
25-make your own "I spy" book
26- make rainbow Popsicles
27- bake cookies
28- read a book
29- play board games
30- sing, dance, or play in the rain
31- make homemade ice cream sandwiches
32-make soft pretzels
33- make rain paintings
34- make a cardboard city
35- make origami
36- write in summer journal
37- make puppets and put on a show

Plain sticks- things to do at night
38- catch fireflies
39- make a glow stick lantern
40- stargazing
41- have a campfire. Toast marshmallows.
42- host a sleepover
43- have a video game night
44- have a game night
45- watch fireworks

Insta-Friday: Moving Into Spring....

 My word for the year was "move". I picked it back in January because I felt that this year, I needed to move. It's been exactly 1 year since my divorce, since moving out on my own. My word last year was "believe". Last year, I needed to believe in myself, and to trust God to take me where I needed to go.

This year, I felt like I needed to get off my butt. Plain and simple. I felt bogged down with life. I felt like I was going nowhere.

You see, there were so many things that I did when I was married. I cooked, I cleaned, I took care of my family. And then there was only me. Sure, I still have my son every other week, but on the off-week, there is just me. And I didn't know what to do with myself.

Four months in, I feel like I've made a lot of changes.

Change #1: Quit smoking- A work in progress... I'd like to quit. Really, I would. I've been on and off the wagon. I'd like to say I'm getting there and hopefully a final attempt soon! I'm tired of buying them. I chew a lot of gum! I kind of enjoy it. I love bubble gum. It reminds me of childhood.

Change 2: Get outside- I feel like I am doing well with this one. In March, we bought skates. We've been to the roller rink, and to the park, skating. I picked up a pair of roller blades. Never ever roller bladed in my life. Again, it reminds me of childhood, it's something fun that my son and I can do together. Fun.

Took a trip with my son and my nephew to the park a couple of weeks ago. Love the absolute joy on their faces when they swing!

And then, that same day,  we all went for a walk. There's a great walking trail down by my house. I decided to show my sister in law and the boys. The kids wanted to see what was up here, in this flat spot. Was it a big hole? My sister in law helped them climb up. Not a hole, just a flat spot. The boys want to do more adventuring, and I will be happy to do it with them.

Change 3: Make new friends. Most of my friends live far away, or are married, or busy. Finally, after a year, getting to know the people in my neighborhood. My son has made a new friend. Lots of days are spent outside playing lately. I've also made some new friends through dating, and work, branching out, meeting new people.

Change 4: Cooking (again). I had stopped cooking. I ate a lot of sandwiches and cereal. Stuff that was easy. Fast. It didn't seem "worth it" to cook for no one. But guess what? I have found I do have someone to cook for. That person is me. And I'm worth it. This one was a 9:30 pm special on Tuesday night. I got the idea here. Mine does not look as pretty as hers. However, it was delicious. I devoured it in about 5 minutes.

You may be wondering what happened to my "Project Life" posts. Or my "One Little Word" journal. They are in progress. Sometime a few weeks ago I ran out of ink in my printer. So my pictures are imprisoned on my computer. Will get them printed off soon!

Anyway, there is my update. I've gained some momentum. Onwards and upwards.

Project Life Weeks 6 and 7 plus a layout

I feel more comfortable calling this Project Life because I broke down and ordered some of the "official" page protectors. They aren't here yet, but I have become obsessed. I am loving this project. Suddenly I'm pulling out embellishments, stickers and trims that I have had in my stash for years. I also am getting better at filling the boxes. Can't wait for the new ones to arrive. I am officially going to  have more page protector styles than I know what to do with.

I alternate weeks with my ex husband for custody. Week 6 was a non-child week. The theme at Scrapbooker's Inner Circle was "Just Breathe".

How do I relax? Let's see...I do get a manicure (glitter please!), I sit in front of my computer with a cup of coffee. Week 6 brought snow, the perfect kind too, not enough to shovel, and melted by noon! At school, my son made me a fruit tart. I also took a picture of my messy desk at work, just because I spend so much time at work, it's part of my life so why not? Here are some close ups:

Week 7 was a busy week. Valentine's Day happened. We also did some neat things with the cub scouts. We made paper bag kites, and went to a soup kitchen. I have the best valentine in the whole world.

I made a yummy red velvet cake for Valentine's Day (see previous post). The kid loves to lick the spoon. Also, he figured out how to play "Hanging with friends" and message me. Fun! Close Ups below:

Finally, I did a layout. My kid reads in bed every night with a flashlight. One of those things I will remember forever:

I originally was putting the full size layouts in the same album, but I think I need a separate album because at this rate I'm going to need two anyway.

First Challenge in about 2 years

If you have ever read my blog in the past, you know I was quite the challenge girl before. I decided it would be fun to check out some challenge blogs again, this one is from Scrapjacked. The layout to "jack" this week is by Celine Nevarro.

Here is her original:

And here is my take on it:

First, I want to say, it is not this crooked in real life! Hers is a lot different from my regular style, which was not too easy for me, but I like the way it came out. I tried to stay true to her design. I used some glimmer mist on pink cardstock in marshmallow, bubble gum, and peppermint stick, some Smash tapes, martha stewart labels, and I used a stamp from Unity and stamped some hearts. Okay, I stamped A LOT of hearts. I got a little carried away,  in fact. But it was fun.