Just wanted to share a fabric I designed, now available at Spoonflower. Hope you all like it 🙂

Sword fights: a definite must for parties, ha ha ha! Poor Xander (why is it always the little girls that are crazy like that, get use to it though!) and poor Violet (that Diana is a fiesty one!) Kaitlin was sooo patient, she gets total props from me on that one. Angell held her own. And my Katelon, silly girl, party favors are for your guests (oops, forgot to have a talk with her about that) Ice cream soda turned out pretty good, cake didn’t fall over (bonus), may pole (ehh), no injuries, no one fell in the pool (yay) Isabel (such a lady!), Joshua, my man (what a gentle man), Trey (I’m not letting that sweet sweet look of your fool 😉 me I saw you with that sword) Alyssa (you almost had me fooled too, great make up though) Sara (wow, you’ve done this before!) Jacob (my sweetie, go get ’em) lol. I sure am glad everyone came. Those who couldn’t make it, no worries, you wouldn’t have been able to hear past your own chin 🙂 lol. Ooooh, ran out of food, Ted to the rescue!! yay Ted, you’re so good to us. Thanks for bringing your girlfriend Johny, wanna come hang out on any given normal day??

So glad I got to see and hand with some of my own friends, but next time I hope to actually visit more with you all 🙂 By the way, thanks Mom and Gwen and everyone else that helped me out behind the scenes!!

We are almost done with those wood floors we’ve been putting in. Everything except a few difficult cuts! Now we are moving on to planning the big 5 birthday party for my oldest! Carpeting goes in tomorrow! My Mom’s house almost looks brand new 🙂 I’m working on a new kit, but just can’t seam to find the time to get the darn thing completed. I know you all have been waiting! I’m trying 🙂 Everyone have a blessed day!

Since my last post, we have been to Clifornia to have my oldest daughter interviewd at a talent agency, to Knott’s Berry Farm for everyone, and home and great pictures/headshots taken of her. I still have to make a cd of all her photos and send them to the agency and print up a couple and get that ready. My baby is now 8 months, my where does the time go. She has cut 2 little teethies, learned to scoot all over the house, she sits herself up on her own now and she has reallyh grown. She is just beautiful! We don’t plan to have any more kids. So it is a bit of a bummer that this is the last one and she is not so little anymore. Babies are so precious!

Today my shoulder blade is killing me. We put wood floors in my mom’s bedroom and ouch ouch…Maybe a tylenol will help it. Got in so late last night and my baby woke me up at 5:30 this morning, blech! A little sleep PLEASE! My hands are sore too, but that is minor 🙂 lol. I was introduced to a new ECO friendly product and I am excited to share that with you all, but first I have to try the product!

Well that is it for now. Oh I have a new CT member for digital scrapbooking. I am so glad to have her, MOZZ at forevermore creations 🙂 I want to post her layouts here but I don’t have time right this second. So off I go 🙂 Have a great day!

To make a short story long…..

For quite some time my brother has been staying with us, well actually, renting a room from us. It started with trying to help him accomplish his goals of becoming a fire fighter. He stayed with us for about 3 months for free while trying to get on his feet, get a job etc. We fed him, let him use our laundry soap, paper plates, toilet paper, paper towels etc. Once he got a job and he still didn’t offer to contribute, we decided it was time for him buy his own food at least. Every Sunday I got up at 5:30 to take him to his Fire Explorer training and picked him up again at noon. While it doesn’t seam like much for some, hauling around my then 2 kids that early in the morning was not something I looked forward to, not to mention that I was quite pregnant with my third. Gas was at least 3 dollars a gallon so that was another sore point. At times it got even more frustrating to see him not puting much effort into his career goal, this especially bothered me as I saw him take advantage of my Mom and Stepfathers generosity. Eventually leading up to them paying for his school 3 times and his rent when he lost his job and equipment/clothes for his schooling and fire fighter goals.  This only led to arguements (between us) and harboring bad feelings.

Cleanliness has always been an issue and even as I tried harder not to harp on the little things, apparently he saw this as, the less he does the more I leave him alone. All of this time, cutting off his internet when he doesn’t do the things he agreed to do, was our sole recourse or penalty. We couldn’t charge fees as he couldn’t affor anymore. We didn’t want to threaten to kick him out every week as that is not how we want to be. The things we asked of him were to sweep once per month, vacuum once per month, clean his bathroom once per week and pick up after himself. His choice of one day of the week to do his laundry. We didn’t ask him to do dishes, only rince his and set them aside, pick up trash, clean the pool, or any thing else.  He knew that if he did not do these things, internet would be turned off. Yet EVERY time internet was turned off, he acted like he just didn’t understand how we could do that to him. It was simple, we ask you to respect us by keeping those things up, after blatent disrespect so many times we thought maybe doing that would help him be aware of it more and keep up on those things. It worked slightly, he did the stuff maybe 50 percent of the time rather than zero percent of the time.

Most recently he couldn’t pay his rent because he had gambled all his money.  This was the second time he had done it since living with us (he has paid us now). Well, after his rent wasn’t paid and he’d avoided us for a week, leaving his room where you could hardly see the floor, stink coming out from under the door and trash piled up all over. Laundry in my way, and the bathroom still not disinfected… My husband had enough, he turned off his internet and cable – mainly for leaving such a mess and hoping to get his attentin enough to get the job done.  To this my brother had a major meltdown and we could feel the chip on his shoulder even through his forced Hi’s and Bye’s. Even when my husband decided to vacuum, rather than coming to see if he could do it, my brother just shut his bedroom door. Sooooo….. After what I thought was progress, at least we were all trying to be decent to each other and talk things out my brother left the house mad. When he came back I wanted to tell him we can revisit the subject next time in an even more calm matter…but he refused to open his door. He tried to make me talk through the door several times as I said it’ll only take a second (I was leaving). Rather than argue whether or not he would open the door, through the door and having difficulty hearing him, that was it. After so much had gone on, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I told him to just get the f#$%& out. I couldn’t resist. I really tried to keep my temper cool but this was all after hearing a bunch of baloney about how he wanted to do less around the house, as if there was much less than that, and how he wanted his internet regardless of his own actions. I just couldn’t take it any more and told him to get out by Feb 7th. Two weeks, since he was on a pay by the week deal anyway. 

Well, 5 days later he is out of our house! Today was a new day, a NEW START. I still love my brother but the respect is gone. He has gone to my Mom’s house to stay and save up money to get into a new place, yet he went out gambling last nigt…uh hello! Wow. Anyway, he is usually soft spoken, and generally a nice guy but it sure was nice to be able to walk around my house in a  T SHIRT & PANTIES and not worry about him walking in.  I have an extra room now that he is out, that can be decorated any way I like and made into a sewing room. I am thinking about painting something fun in there for me and the girls to enjoy. We’ll see. At least my fabric and stuff will be in it’s own spot now! Yay!

Not really, love rocks! But this kit is so much fun! You can finally record the broken hearted moments! I used it to make a layout of me and my hubby 🙂 and it still worked great!

Anyway, here is another free quick page made with the new FORGOTTEN HEARTS kit, from my friend Pebbles. What a fun kit!

DOWNLOAD FREEBIE

Here is a preview of the kit FORGOTTEN HEARTS by Pebbles Designs available at ScrapbooksGoneDigital! Enjoy!

Well it is confirmed. I am a total & complete idiot, with no memory at all since I had the baby. Yesterday I had to take the dogs out. Katelon was holding the baby for me.. I come back in, baby poo all over her outfit, take the baby, clean her up, clean everything else up, run up to soak her outfit, pull the stopper, turn on the water, drop in outfit, think to myself I should NOT walk away while water is on, oh well there is a safety hole to catch it if I don’t make it back on time, run into the laundry room to switch the stuff, hear screaming downstairs “MOM, Angell is torturing the baby again”, run downstairs, seperate Angell from the baby, catch dog mid action pooing on my floor, run dog out, clean that up, hear the baby crying inside (too cold to out to take her), run in grab her -nothing makes her happy, she’s ready to sleep, by now I have forgotten the water running upstairs. Finally I get to sit & feed baby, I can breath again, Jason comes home – walks straight upstairs, that’s strange no kiss… Then I hear “Get up here!” and my oldest comes running, “Daddy needs your help!” Oh no, I just flooded my bathroom & garage…nice….. Sorry honey….. 😦 So we spent last night getting all the water up, pulling up the carpet and padding so it wouldn’t mold, renting blowers to dry it all up. Wow, that was A LOT OF WATER!! …………..I suck…….    😦

Hi everyone, thank you so much for all the wonderful birthday wishes. I didn’t realize anyone would even notice! As I get older, it’s just another day and not so exciting as when I was a child 🙂 but Jason did make it a really nice day.

Hey Angell slept through the night in panties (we forgot to put her pull up on) and she didn’t tinkle in the bed. Yay, I didn’t wake up in tinkle on my birthday! Also, I didn’t have to clean ANY puppy tinkle at all THE WHOLE DAY, boy was that awesome! Especially since it is super cold and rainy here and the puppies practically refused to go potty outside…Thank goodness for tile and wood flooring and disinfectant.

Jason made me a restaraunt style breakfast, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and toast. I got to open presents. They brought me flowers. He also made an awesome dinner, smoked cheddar baked chicken, it was REALLY good. Jason played Happy Birthday for me on the piano, so cool right! Then they sang it to me at the table with the cake. I really really enjoyed that part because my girls LOVE birthdays and the smiles on their faces, as they sang, was just priceless. I mean what could make a mother happier than seeing her kids happy and having such a wonderful husband. By the way, it was  German chocolate cake… homemade… and it was the super yummy!

Wow, reading what I wrote above… I am truly blessed… Thank you God for blessing me with a truly wonderful family!!

Update on Riley: PRAISE GOD!!! All the glory is HIS!!!

Lydi writes: Hi to all our friends, RILEY IS GOING TO BE OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She just got out of surgery, where they opened up her skull to release the pressure of the swollen brain. The miracle is that they found absolutely no trace of a tumor, an AVM, or malformation of any kind! They detected a tag of what they assumed was the ruptured vessel, but NOTHING ELSE. The catscan had clearly showed a growth of significant size of some sort, but when they got in there, there was no tumor, no AVM, no growth, and nothing to repair. Everyone is amazed at the fact that Riley survived such a massive bleed and the mess it had created in her brain. I’ll never again question the power of prayer and will remain forever and eternally grateful to God and all our friends who prayed for Riley. She still has to recover from her ordeal, so your prayers are still needed and very much appreciated. The Bible says that before anything comes into the physical realm, it is first created in the Spiritual realm. Last night I prayed that God would call upon all His Physician and Healing angels to “operate” on Riley in Spirit- and today it happened in the physical. If this isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what would be classifed as one. P.S. I just helped another little soul come into this world today at 1:06 P.M.- a girl weighing 5 lbs and 5 ozs.
Love,Lydi and family…

This is just proof that there are still miracles, even today! Thank you everyone for taking the time to pray for someone else!

My girls’ breakfast today. It was my 4 yr olds’ idea to make heart shaped pancakes with a cookie cutter!

Well we made the trip to Arizona, Fort Mohave… boy was that smart {sarcastically}. We came back with the DOUBLE MINT TWINS:) hahaha… Meet Hyperther”Mia” and “L“ightning Bottom. Mia fell in the pool and almost drown in the pool the first time we took her out (Jason saved her), so that’s the story on how she got her name. Ellie “L” is so wiggly she got a bad haircut and wound up with a lightning bolt on her rear so we’ll call her Ellie B.

They settled in just fine last night. We were surprised to see they were eating and drinking right away. They don’t even seem phased by the trip and separation from the other puppies. Probably because they still have each other. By the way they are 11 weeks old. The lady we got them from was super nice. We were able to get a discount because they were getting older and also by buying the two together…  and they are fully registered akc schnauzers. Yahoo…so lucky. Obviously both females, so we might breed them at least once.

Needless to say, my girls are super excited to have them & each has claimed one as her own. No we will not get be getting a 3rd dog for our third daughter… Could you imagine? Hahahaha… No 🙂 Some other names we thought about are Daisy & Minnie. Hershey & Squirt…cute on their own but not together hehehe…eewww 🙂 and Honey & Bunny.

So anyway, so much for trying it out, we jumped in with both feet. We haven’t had dogs for so long we probably won’t know what to do with them 😉 We can’t take them to the doggie park just yet,  not till we get their 12 or 13 week shots. Jason & I went on his 2 days off… an overnight trip so we are super tired today & he had to work… Poor guy. Think I’ll make him some dinner for tonight! Gotta go get that going, I suppose. My time is even more limited now that I have two puppies & a baby to potty train 🙂 gluttin for punishment! See you all and hugs!

I am testing to see if I can fix my double updates on twitter and facebook, sorry for the inconvenience for my subscribers!

Some tidbits about me – don’t have time to scrap it so…

I drink a pot of hot jasmine tea almost every day.
I am often missunderstood.
I would still be playing softball 3 nights a week or more if it wasn’t for having kids.
I don’t like to cook dinner but I like to make breakfast and desserts.
I am very self concious of my body.
I think the military changed me too much.
I’m proud I nurse & had babies at home.
I’m probably so far right, I’m falling off the cliff.
I secretly think my children are genius compared to all of yours 🙂 haha gotcha…
I’m very optimistic.
When I feel regretful, it’s a very strong emotion.
I am always dreaming, thinking of new ideas, new way of living, new ways of being.
I don’t enjoy keeping house, I’d rather be out and about.
I often wonder why my husband loves me, I probably don’t deserve him.
I am almost always late.
I love to wakeboard and go boating.
I miss having and riding horses.
I often bite off more than I can chew.
It is hard for me to settle, a gypsy at heart.
I love to learn!
I am an artist.I love to create, be artistic and crafty.
I have a softspot for people who need help.
My favorite color is lavendar.
I could live on the beach and ocean. I feel at home there.
I don’t like to run.
I love to go to yard sales.
I’m obsessed with buttons.
I’m always questioning my spirituality.

Watched a movie with hubby tonight..The Ugly Truth..

I thought it was very funny. Definitely glad I watched it from home and not the theater {says shyly} Now it’s over and I’m just procrastinating going to bed…

Okay so everyone knows that I dont’ agree with vaccines. But the more I read about them, the more I find the studies show they do not increase the immune system or health but that they actually cause more sickness overall. My first child recieved many of her vaccines, until she was two when I started questioning it. But she had several ear infections when otherwise healthy as an ox, after much pain and 2 sets of ear tubes in her ears, now I find out that several vaccines actually have been shown to cause ear infections in studies…What!!! I am only sharing this so that you too may start questioning, reading, learning, discovering for yourself QUESTION before you do it… that’s all I’m saying. You love your child more than the govt, the dr’s or anyone, THINK about it, QUESTION it, LEARN about it, YOU DECIDE… if only I knew then what I know now… Good luck everyone, on your quest!

http://www.vaclib.org/links/ears.htm

Here is a free Halloween mini digital scrapbooking kit. You can pick it up now at DigitalFreebies.com.

GET FREEBIE

Here’s the Way Wicked add-on kit that goes with it.
SEE THE ADD-ON KIT

My 3.5 mth old  rolled over today for the first time! From tummy to back 🙂 Yay!

Yesterday we went yard saling. This was our special yard sale find 🙂 $3 for the whole set and it’s just adorable. My 4.5 year old has been making tea since we brought it home! We also got her & my 2 year old a Sit&Spin ($1) and a piggy bank(1) that talks and wiggles 🙂

Oh also my 4.5 year old surprised me with a light purple homemade beaded bracelet from a craft sale, isn’t she sweet!

I opened my email to this lovely poem waiting for me from a fellow swap-botter! Why, just for inviting her to my group, Journaling for All Crafters! What a lovely surprise and it just really made me feel special. I am sharing it with you. I hope you enjoy it too 🙂 It links to her blog. Have a great day and THANK YOU Masterbard for the lovely poem!

So I didn’t get to post this 2 days ago – too busy doing who knows what! Anyway, I was putting my 2 yr old down for a nap, and we were just laying in bed with the light peeking through the shutters just right, she’s just perfect. I laid there holding her thinking I wish I could just stay here and cuddle her longer but downstairs the other kids were waiting waiting waiting for me to come down. Feeling as perfect as I felt there cuddling her, as her eyes finally flitted to sleep and I thought, you know, this is her safety. This is what makes her feel the ultimate comfort. One of those moments where it just doesn’t get any better than this, but it didn’t last long enough, that’s for sure!

I hope you all will join me for this swap. I have created a poem – postcard swap at swap-bot.

I swap with Swap-bot!

For this swap you’ll send 1 postcard with, YOUR poem, to four people, for a total of four postcards.

Here is what you’ll do:

1. Start making your 4 postcards now! It would be especially nice if they reflect your craft: digital-arts, fabric scraps, scrapbooking scraps, atc’s, ephemera, quilts, etc use your imagination.
2. Read about your partners
3. Write a poem or 4 (this can be simple or complex, funny or serious, whatever is on your mind)
4. Write YOUR poem onto each of the 4 postcards
5. Be sure to sign your name under your poem
6. Take a picture, front and back, so you’ll always remember what you wrote or the artistic postcard you made
7. Mail to your recipients
8. Wait for your mail to arrive 🙂

Please make and send only something that you would be glad to receive yourself. Please keep poems family friendly, nothing X rated.

This is International, so be sure to check rates and/or add extra postage for people out of your region or for items that are heavier or bulkier. Also, you may want to keep this in mind when you are making your postcards.

Finally, after you believe your partners have recieved his/her postcards, if you like, upload your picture to your favorite photo share (photobucket, flickr, slide) come back to the SWAP HOMEPAGE, post a link for all to see, and make comments about what you see)

I DO HOPE YOU’LL JOIN US:)
______________________________

TO JOIN THIS SWAP:
sign up at swap-bot
join us HERE!

I look forward to seeing what you all made!

I know, I know, where have I been?? Well, busy 🙂 with my new baby of course. It has been quite an adjustment around here with a new little one! The other two still want to make sure they have their special places in the family too. I still call my middle one, the baby… well she is still a baby, only 2 years old – hasn’t even hit the half way mark yet. Oh I do expect so much from them, they seam so smart, I assume they should act like bigger kids.

So the last few days have been slammed. Two days of showing houses, then a pool party birthday for my nephew at my house, then 1 day at home with a fussy fussy baby & sickish kids, then Sunday, missed church so off to small groups! Today…hmmm maybe up to Mt Charleston!

Happy Birthday JACOB!!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday! We love you!

We had a nice day today. We woke up this morning and to our suprise, the weather was nice. I finished up some laundry, fed the kids and we left the house around 10 am. We took a little walk up and around the block then came back and spent a few hours at the park. I know it’s hard to believe but it was only 85 degrees this morning and 95 this afternoon! What, in Las Vegas in the middle of September?? Yep and we had a slight breeze. The kids had fun playing and we all enjoyed the fresh air. My friend Kathy met up with us and brought her son and some snacks. The walk home was a bit warmer since we weren’t  in the shade anymore. After we got home, ate lunch and cooled off, I layed the kids down for a nap and ended up falling asleep too. So, no, nothing got done today, but we did have a nice day just hanging out together.

I am now a member of The Toy Society. I made my first toy drop. It is so fun to handmake a toy and leave it soemwhere hoping that someone will notice it and give it a home. I left my first drop at a park! #618.

This is where I made the drop

I sure hope it finds a good home! I left it in the little blue tube, to the left there.

Well today I’m running on 4 hours sleep, ugh I’m tired. I had to get up early to go list a house for sale, then run accross town to let clients into their home to be, then home to relax for an hour and then off we go to my neices birthday. I wanted to make her something for her birthday, but since we just made her a bit of whimsy boo bear, we decided to give here a gift card for clothes. School is starting soon and I’m sure she’d appreciate being able to pick some things out for herself, it’s her first year in highschool!! Wow, they grow up so fast. We are so proud of her, she will be going to an awesome Magnet High School. She doesn’t want to go there, but yay for her, she is so lucky since our schools here are so horrible. Someday she will appreciate it!

Sometime last week I got some new brushes from my favorite design resource. Then the other day I came up with a color swatch that inspired me to make a new header for ScrapbooksGoneDigital.com, one of the shops I sell product at. I had an inkling to give our store an updated ‘FRESH’ look and just couldn’t help myself!

Today I surprised the owner of ScrapbooksGoneDigital with a new store banner for the shop! I wasn’t sure if she would like it, you know, everyone has different styles…but it turns out she absolutely LOVED it! And her many thanks made me feel so good and totally made my day – I was SO happy I had made it for her.

I just love how it turned out and wanted to share with you all! Take a peak at our new look!! And be sure to let me know what you think!

Morning all. Today I woke up to my little girls laying next to me – looking at books. WOW…What a wonderful way to wake up. But I stayed up till 2 am, urgh, stupid me! Now I have to make tea and breakfast with my eyes half closed 🙂 hmmmm… what to make, what to make….

DigitalArts-cafe.com has closed down totally now. It was the first store I ever designed for and Melo was the best lead ever! She taught me so much and was always doing something for the site, it’s hard to imagine puting so much work into somthing for her to have to let it go. I do miss our conversations, but she has been busy. Anyway, I’ve said my farewell to her for now, but I hope to keep in touch!

Remember when Grandma use to wear that old apron and you would think..I’d never wear that – but it looked just fine on her? Well, here is a site I ran across while web surfing – you gotta check it out, not your average apron!

http://aprongoddesses.blogspot.com/

And then of course there’s this very interesting blog that makes me happy! My Mom would love it too!

http://apronthriftgirl.typepad.com/apron_thrift_girl/

Also, as I am discovering Waldorf schooling and education, I would like to introduce it to you – so that you can discover with me. Here are some links for more information:

http://www.waldorfmama.typepad.com/
http://www.waldorfanswers.org/
http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/07_Community/articles.asp

and a great pay it forward website:

http://thetoysociety.blogspot.com/

Finally, I found this website, but haven’t yet reached the point of making the pledge:

http://www.buyhandmade.org/

Already been swimming for the day with the girls, baby has been sleeping all morning, sewed a blankie, got a freebie ready to release today on my blog, uploaded tons of pics to flickr left descriptions, need to connect it to my blog, ate breakfast with my family, ironed a little and now blogged… busy busy busy, but I always feel like I’m chasing my tail! lol.

Wasted the morning on CE for real estate, ugh! Trying to get escrow closed on a short sale and started a baby blankie today. Gotta get back to photoshop soon, have tons of ideas running thru my head and a new brush set to play with, can’t wait to see what I come up with!

It is with much sadness that I must inform you – DigitalArts-Cafe.com has decided to close it’s doors for good… AND SO my store will be on sale for 35% off.

Hope you all are doing well, I am enjoying my time off with my kids. I will be back soon 🙂 
Blessings,

Vivayne

Took my 4 year old daughter to the park for a picnic with some friends. But no sooner did everyone get there and we had to leave. She collided with another kid at the park running thru the water park playing and wound up with a huge 3.5 inch gash! Here is a picture of her gash…

beware… graphic pics to follow!!

Before Doctor:

After Doctor:

I got this information sent to me in an email and it was pretty interesting, so I thought I would share 🙂

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery…….if you had to do this to survive you were “Piss Poor” But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot………..they “didnt have a pot to piss in” and were the lowest of the low. 

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:  Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.  Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the Bath water!” 

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.” There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.  The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, “Dirt poor.”

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold. 

(Getting quite an education, aren’t you?)  In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge  hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. 

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, “bring home the bacon.” They  would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat. 

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust. 

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.  They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake. 

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer… 

And that’s the truth…Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

I just wanted to share this most recent picture and layout with you. This was a free quick page from Danielle Engebretson’s Infinite Grace kit. I took off the words that came on it, added my own words and word art, and edited the photo. Hope you like it.

Ooopsss!! We are having technical difficulty at DigitalArts-Cafe.com and our boutique is down 😦  darn…. but our galleries and forums and the blog are still up so please feel free to still visit them, catch up on your gallery submissions and comments, and come back because we have an awesome new kit planned for July and some SUPER freebies that you WON’T want to miss!!

My husband says it takes a real King to raise Queens, that’s what he was told at work. He was also told that in some cultures it is good luck to have 3 girls and that it will bring good fortune 🙂 Well that is good news!

So the other night I am putting my 4 year old to bed… and she is my most difficult child to get to sleep. She defies sleep to everyone’s astonishment, she can stay awake longer than most adults 🙂 Anyway, so I am putting her to bed and we are laying in bed, winding down. Finally, thinking it’s time she starts learning it, I say “okay, it’s time, close your eyes and I’ll say a special prayer for you.” so I proceed to tell her the Lord’s prayer. After I’m done she says this to me “okay Mommy, now close your eyes, I’m gonna say a prayer…” and her prayer was this, “I love you through and through, through my heart and EVERYWHERE. Goodnight. Amen.”  Kids just say the cutest things! I loved that!

I’ll ask my 2 year old (birthday in July), “Are you Mommy’s girl?” and she’ll say “No, I’m Daddy’s girl.” She also loves crepes so much when Daddy is off and asks her what she wants for breakfast, she’ll ask for crepes! A 2 year old asking for crepes, lol… They both love to swim, they are out back right now swimming. I’d be out there too except you shouldn’t swim this soon after having a baby. Their cousin Alexis stayed the night last night & just left. They love to have her, we love to have her. Thay have so much fun with her & she’s always a big help. We are planning our daughters 2 year birthday and my Grandmother is coming to Vegas for her 80th birthday and we are expecting Jason’s Mom and my Aunt Cindy for the early part of July. Guess we’ll be pretty busy planning parties and visiting with everyone 🙂 The girls just came in from the pool. My 2 year old is sitting on Daddy’s lap and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to our newborn right now. Here sweet little voice is so precious. Well, I better go, I’ll write more later…. Bye for now!

I had my baby.  She was born at home – 8 lbs 4 oz and 20 3/4 long. Her name is Haayllee Sable. Everything went very well and we were able to have much of our family with us. I started having small contractions on the afternoon of June 15th. On the morning of the 16th they intensified.  She was born on Tues, June 16th at 11:36 pm. She’s eating like a champ, has 10 fingers and 10 toes 🙂 I am feeling better now, although my muscles are still a little sore. My other two girls just adore her. If she fusses, I just let my 4 year old hold her and she calms right down. My 2 year old  just kisses her non stop, it’s really sweet.

Here are some pictures for everyone to enjoy… keep in mind we were all super tired!!.. and they are only 72 dpi and very small (not for printing).  We’ll share larger files with family 🙂