Who's fault is it?

I've always taken a two prong approach with my kids in dealing with things they can't have or touch, etc.
First, tell them no and take it away.
Second, put it where they can't get it.
'Cause really, little kids are going to touch if they can. I've never really had a problem with any of my kids getting into stuff UNTIL Sammy. Sam has gotten into everything from the day he could move around. He learned how to defeat every kind of child safety latch and lock. The biggest "oh no" that Joe and Tom ever did was dump the dog food on the floor or into the dog water.
It only takes Sam about 30 seconds to find something to get into. Even when I do a visual sweep of a room and think everything is okay, he'll dig through a closet to find something. (which is why we've had to call poison control twice!)
You name it, he's gotten into it: markers (too many times to number!), stamp cleaner (3 times he's dumped in on my craft chair), make-up, nail polish, nail polish remover (poison control), baby oil (poison control), cleaning products, latex paint (still no sure how he got the lids of the can, though he's done it twice with two different cans), food, and water. There's more but I am tried of naming them. He's eaten candles, painted floors, superglued books, wood-glued the table, covered the dishwasher with soap, and more.
Sometimes, I feel like it's a game to him, but to me, it's just plain frustrating. I frequently get told that I just shouldn't leave him alone. Most of the time this happens, I don't consider him alone. He'll be playing on the living room floor and I will go to the bathroom. I'm gone less than 2 minutes and I come back to find white paint all over the floor.
Today, I was cleaning the bathroom and had already put away the bathroom cleaner. Sam was playing in his room with Tom. I was cleaning the mirror with glass cleaner when the phone rang. I answered it in the kitchen because that's the closest phone. No, it is not a cordless. I had to take the call as it was one of the many insurance people we've had to talk to over the last week. I was only on the phone for less than 5 minutes. I had to give the lady Jay's work number and then take her number and name down. Done. I had set the glass cleaner on my dresser as I had walked through my room to answer the phone. When I returned to my room, Sam was back in his room with Tom, door shut. However, the 3/4 full glass cleaner bottle was empty and my bed was soaked. I had to then strip the bed before it got into the mattress (too late!) and start the process of washing all of our bed laundry. 1 load of sheets, 1 load with the plush mattress pad, and 1 load for the blankets.
At what point should I stop blaming myself for leaving things out? At what point will Jay stop getting irritated with me for leaving things out? When does it become all Sam's fault?
Sam did get a time out for his behavior, but it never seems to make a difference.

Heart 2 Heart Challenge, week 2

Here are the requirements for this weeks challenge:

This is a 1/2/3 challenge.
*Use 1 stamped image (not 1 set, but 1 image)
*Use 2 different patterned papers
*Use 3 embellishments - these can be 3 of the same thing or 3 different things

I had a little bit of a hard time using only 1 stamped image. I really wanted to use an alphabet set and spell something out, but that would be more than one image, im my opinion. So, I used the "Happy" stamp from March's A Little Everything.
Everything on my page is Close To My Heart, even the giant snow flakes.
I made this 12 x 12 page to go in a frame on the wall. I am making one of each of the favorite pictures I have of my kids. This one is of my youngest son Sam.



The patterned paper used is a preview of one of the new Summer packs. It is called Zippidee. The edges of one paper are torn to reveal the other paper. The edges of the cranberry cardstock is distressed using our edge distressor. The snow flakes are the CTMH Flurry Dimensional Elements. I sponged Indian Corn Blue ink on the the flakes and then painted them with our Create-A-Shade Pearl Paint. I love that it dries to a shiny finish.
I used foam dots to layer the snowflakes.

Allergies strike

It's that time of year again. Pollen, pollen everywhere. Gosh, I really dislike it. It's wonderful weather outside, so we wanted the windows open. Now every surface in my house is covered with a fine green dusting. My eyes hurt. My head hurts. I sneeze. I feel miserable unless I am inside a pollen free, air-conditioned area, which doesn't happen much.
Allergy medicine either works great and makes me sleepy or doesn't work very well. I can't seem to find any that work, with no sleepy side effects. I supposed I could actually go see my doctor, but that becomes a real pain with dragging kids along or finding a babysitter.
I used to take allergy meds year round when I was younger, high school and early college. Later in college, I quit using them because I lived in a house that was fully climate controlled. The windows had been painted and nailed shut years ago.
AC ran from the first warm day until the last. I also worked full time, went to school full time and had to do 16 hours a week for my internship so I didn't seem much time outside. I did take care of the yard and the flowerbeds, but just an OTC medicine would cover me just fine for that.

I escaped from the house again last night for a little scrapbook time with Sherry and Jenn. I was able to get some layouts done and some relaxing time in as well. I am scheduled to go back to Great Scraps next Friday with Sherry, Dorene and Marie.
My diet has been going really well for the last almost 3 weeks. I haven't broken it once. I am down about 6 pounds and 1 clothing size. I am very happy with the results so far, though the pizza and candy at GS last night were tempting. I stuck to the plan though and didn't have anything. I had eaten at home before leaving so I wasn't actually hungry. It can just be hard watching everyone else eat yummy pizza while not having any. The pizza that they order for Great Scraps is really good when hot, but horrible when room temp. So by the time I was a little hungry, the pizza was 2 1/2 hours out of the oven and not really a temptation anymore.
We are hoping to run the kids into the ground this weekend. They are just too wild and no amount of outside time this week has settled them. We going to try to change that this weekend.

A squished car

Almost every time the phone rings between 5 and 5:30, it is Jay calling...usually to say that he is going to be later getting home than expected. I took a chance this evening and started making dinner before he got home. The phone rang at 5:25. My first thought was that it was Jay, he was going to be late and that dinner would be done before he was home. Well, I was right, sorta.
Jay was slowing down to the in the long line of cars that were waiting to turn left onto Magothy Bridge Road from Route 100. He happened to glance up in the mirror and see a mini-van flying down the road, with no chance of stopping. Jay tried to speed up to get out of the way, but he just didn't have enough time. Jay was probably doing about 10 mph when he got hit by the van going over 60. Jay was spun around and went through the right lane and thankfully off the right side of the road. He didn't hit any other cars and no other cars hit him. Everyone was okay, though Jay is starting to feel sore now.
Jay's car was a little car, a two-door hatchback. The trunk space is compressed down to pretty much nothing and the backseat got shortened quite a bit as well. The booster seat behind his seat got pushed way up against his seat. The driver's door was also stuck shut since everything got pushed a bit. Jay climbed out the window in order to get out.
Of course, his car is worth very little and will probably be scrapped. The problem becomes that we have no idea how long we will be stuck in the States. What do we do about a car? We don't really want to buy another one and then pay to have it registered, etc. Our third car is in storage and is not really up to running daily. The motorcycles aren't road ready either. We can't afford to rent a car for an unknown period of time. We are hoping to try to borrow one, but we don't know if the couple of spare cars that are floating around Jay's family are registered or anything.
The most important thing is really truly that no one got hurt. A car is just a car and we'll figure something out. I will be sure to update more as we move through this process.

On a strange note, Jay had his blackberry from work in its clip on his belt. Somehow in the course of the accident, it disappeared. Who knows where it is.

Heart 2 Heart Challenge, week 1

Okay, so I love scrapbooking...well, all paper crafting really. I tend to let life in the way and don't get to enjoy my hobby as much as I would like. I also don't share on my blog much about my hobby. Well, perhaps that will change. This week I decided to participate in the Heart 2 Heart Challenge. The challenge is to use the specified colors to create something using Close To My Heart products. It doesn't have to be all CTMH, but what I created today is 100% CTMH.
This is a Luau invite that I am helping my mom make. This is my first run and she will have to approve everything, but it works for this challenge. This week, we had to use Sweet Leaf (green), Sunflower (yellow-orange), and Chocolate (brown).
Here's how I created my card.

Supplies needed:
Colonial White card base,
Chocolate cardstock, 1 x 4 1/4
Colonial White cardstock, 3 x 3
14 inches, hemp
Surf's Up stamp set
Foam dimensional tape
Sunflower, Sweet Leaf and Chocolate ink

For the background I used just a plain Colonial White card base and random stamped the base of the pineapple using Sunflower ink. Sunflower ink is actually the color of the surfboard, but I used a technique called second generation stamping.
To do second generation, simply ink the stamp. Then stamp once on a scrap piece of paper. Then, without reinking, stamp the image on your project. I used second generation Sweet Leaf on the tops of the pineapples.
The surfboards were stamped on the 3 x 3 cardstock and cut out. I chose to do one of the surfboards in Sunflower and Chocolate and the other in just Chocolate ink.
I used an edge distressor on the piece of chocolate cardstock, but the edge of your scissors will also work. I tend cut and tied the hemp and placed in on the card. I used the foam tape to raise up the surfboards and then stamped the Luau in chocolate ink on the card.
That's it. Pretty simple. But I like how it turned out.

Our Spring Break

We had a really great spring break. We rode bikes every day that it was nice. We'd head out every morning just after breakfast and ride for about an hour before coming back from the school.
Wednesday night, I stole some time out of the house to go to a movie with my friend Brandi. She doesn't get a chance to get out much either. We saw the movie "Green Zone" and I really liked it. Two thumbs up!
We dyed 30 eggs on Thursday after bike riding and we had a lot of fun. The boys can get pretty creative sometimes.
We went to Patapsco State Park on Friday for a hike and picnic. We did the Cascade Falls Trail which is a 2.2 mile steep trail. We had a really great time. We ate a picnic lunch in the car (all the tables were full and I forgot a blanket). We walked the suspension bridge a couple of times. We finished the afternoon with some time on the playground before leaving the park. I snuck out for a few hours to scrapbook with Angie and Sherry, but I wasn't out long and was home in bed before 10 pm.
Saturday, the boys spent the entire day outside helping Jay pick up piles of brush to haul to the dump. We lost several pine trees around the garden area during the snow and they all had to be picked up and hauled away.
Sunday, we packed up the new bikes and headed over to my parents' house for Easter. We did an egg hunt in the back yard and then decorated the bikes after lunch for the Easter parade. Last year was the first parade for the neighbor and Sammy didn't know how to pedal. The boys loved it this year, partly because it was much warmer than last year. Sammy was also able to keep up with everyone this year.
Today we went to the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It is located out next to Dulles airport, so it is a bit of a drive. We really had a great time today seeing all the airplanes. I also took the boys to an IMAX movie about fighter pilots. We left around 2:30 for the 1 1/2 hour drive home...and it took 3 hours! At one point, I really needed gas so I picked the first exit to get off on. It turned out to be a residential area and I had to go about 5 miles down the road before I finally saw a gas station. Then I had to pay $3.20 a gallon! Cripes! Of course, then I had to drive 5 miles back up to the creeping beltway. Ugh.

I posted pictures of our spring break on my facebook account. Loads of fun was had!

Quick Australia Update

Well, April 1st came and when without much happening. Boeing managed to not sign anything, but did extend the short term contract for 3 Northrup people until the beginning of May. So, people have been recalled from Australia and pulled off the job here. The guy that Jay has been talking to about all this told him there's no way that Boeing will wait until May to sign. He says that it will take us about that long to get there, settled and Jay ready to work...so there is no way that Boeiing can wait. Jay answers that Boeing has already missed a payment, missed the end of the contract, and still gets to have 3 Northrup people until the end of the month. We were supposed to be there in January, and we weren't. We were supposed to be there mid February, and we weren't. We were supposed to be there at the beginning of March and we weren't. We are supposed to be there now and we aren't. And so, we wait.