Grab a kleenex y'all

When you get frustrated with your kids today...or find yourself saying for the nine hundredth time "get off of me!" watch this. Put yourself back in check. With everyone in the house sick this week I know I had to.
http://www.oprah.com/media/20090924-tows-stephanie-struggle-crash

Semi-Charmed Life

Lurrve me some charms. I like little things. They are so...well...little. And that makes me happy. Spent some time with some FAB women today making these FAB Halloween charm bracelets. We are all such overachievers...there are more then 12 charms. Oh was it a blast.

Seriously, no idea why this one is sideways. I didn't even take the photo sideways. Oh well, thanks Blogger.So all puns aside, I do lead a semi-charmed kind of life. I have no idea what Third Eye Blind was thinking when they wrote the song. I have no idea what it is about. (I hope nothing weird). But I love my life...with the good, the bad and the ugly. Semi-charmed. There are a lot of things going on in the world that I don't like or understand. Tear worthy and heartbreaking. But they make me appreciate my friends, my family, my passions that much more. Taking the time to bond with good friends and new friends is chocolate for my soul. Thanks ladies. xo

Wedding Hangover

No, I am not a drinker but the wedding hangover is there. My baby sis is now a Mrs. And boy did we do it in style. I really, really wanted to put a photo on here but didn't want to infringe on the photographer at all so here is the shameless plug for BOB MICHAYLUIK. He made me blush with every second comment but the man knows what he is doing, let me tell ya. He can turn a regular wedding party into a group of supermodels. I can not WAIT to see the rest of the pictures.

Everyone had a FAB time and my sis looked gorgeous. We rocked that wedding party gig. Stay tuned this week for some scrapbook goodness as I think I am going to jump right in to some 6x12. Check out Leica's blog for some inspiration today.

Can something be TOO pink?

A little cupcake creativeness for a friend's baby shower:

I overloaded the pink a bit BUT made up for it with the filling. Is that...could it be? NO. Did she bake a chocolate chip cookie inside a cupcake??? Yes friends, it's true. No idea where she got the idea but Leica was over a while ago and gave me the lowdown on how to do this. Best. Idea. EVER. Seriously...who wouldn't love a bite of moist chocolate chip cookie tucked inside some frosted cupcake goodness? Wonderful. I have always looooved baking cupcakes. The decorating ideas are endless. But lately I have been especially inspired by Saucy and her never ending stream of Martha-ness that makes me happy. Hop on over to Saucy's Sprinkles and get inspired. Have you baked for your loved ones today? xox

Another Saucy-tini anyone?

But of course! Saturday night I stayed out waaaaay too late carousing with some sweethearts of the blogging world. Did I just hear you snort? We are SO sweet, just never mind. We convened at Saucy's place where she was shakin' her thang in the midst of some a.MAZ.ing cocktails. That girl can mix a cran-tastic drink let me tell ya. I was not partaking of the alcoholic type that night but that didn't slow Saucy down for a second. Virgin Saucy-tini coming up. Sigh. It was wonderful. I mean come ON...who doesn't like a pink drink with floating fruit?!? Sigh me up.

And this is a creation I will be trying (and I use that term loosely) to recreate in the very near future. Brie cheese topped with a mouthwatering combination of brown sugar and berries. Baked on a cedar plank surrounded by toasted buttery bread. Oh you heard me.
I had 3 little golden toast rounds with this concoction on it...felt guilty afterwards and loved every minute of it!

So I do have other photos...but they aren't mine to post and the conversation was too good to bother getting much in focus. I will learn to use this darn camera properly one day, I swear.

These girls are such a riot. We laughed and hollered until the wee hours. I haven't had that kind of raucous good time in a long while. Much needed. Much appreciated! Thanks Saucy girl...you understand the desired Martha-ness of my world and inspire me to create even more good things.

Stop the love. Oh my word. {Don't worry...you aren't supposed to get that. But I bet Karen just burst out laughing.}

The Evidence

I haven't photoshopped these or anything...just raw form. But did we ever have a RIOT! Sheryl's birthday was the perfect chance to don our tiaras for a scraptacular night! These photos I either took myself or were taken with my camera by the ever sweet Corinne. BUT...stay tuned. I am blessed to be getting a copy of ALL the photos taken that night courtesy of the uber talented Karen Pidskalny of KMP Photography. There are some FAB group shots in there I can't wait to get my hands on!
Come on, what girl DOESN'T need 4 foot subs in the trunk?!?


So apparently I was only focused on Andrea in this one...I am still learning. So many tiny little details on this camera. It's a love/hate relationship! I am thinking maybe...just maybe...I'll have to give in, put down my Diana Gabaldon book for a while and actually READ my manual. (GASP) I know. It's just not me.

A looooong overdue THANK-YOU

Sorry people. It's been a while since I've had a moment to breathe. Family medical issues...and still trying to stay on top of life. You know what I mean? Things plod along even though I haven't scrapped anything noteworthy in a few weeks. I am working on my little sis's baby shower favours...maybe those will be noteworthy, I'll keep you posted. I've been snapping a TON of photos with my new Canon Rebel XSI, however I have to go visit Sheryl to learn how to get the darn pics off my HC card! LOL I've had a couple botched attempts. I honestly think my computer is just against me. It has a mind of it's own...and that mind does NOT like blogging or pictures. And certainly NOT blogging WITH pictures. LOL Could you imagine if I wanted to try digital scrapbooking? The silly thing would probably explode. But once again, I digress...on to the long over due thank-you.

I wanted to extend a big thank-you to Linda over at Yesterday's Memories for the wonderful donation of several boxes of paper scraps to be used in my classes at the Boys and Girls Club. I adapted the Bo Bunny class I did back in March and we did mini ones for Mother's Day. THEY ROCKED! So thanks for the supplies Linda, Staff and Scrappers at Yesterday's Memories. We really appreciate it!
Now go create something!!!

Pay It Forward Baby!

If you read my blog often, you may know of a tiny, little addiction I have to Starbucks. Just minor. I can quite anytime I want. Really. So my sis asks me to garage sale with her this morning and I of course ditch all my plans, pack up the boys and head across town. And on the way, there just happens to be a Starbucks. Is it my fault they put one there? No. It's like a moth to a flame people. But I digress...
There was this absolutely snooty woman in front of me who was on her cell phone the entire time she was in the drive thru line. Like the entire time. Even when the ever patient and polite server asked her 3 times what she wanted to order. And the woman told the server to hold on. How rude. I almost yelled out my window. But I wanted to set a good example for my boys so I sat back silently fuming and just waited. You would expect after that kind of treatment the server would be rude right back. But nope. She was sunny and smiling even after little miss high maintenance handed the coffee back and asked her to dump some of the coffee out and add one of those cap stir stick things. Well, at this point I am rolling my eyes and blaming the woman for all the great garage sale deals I am missing. LOL So I pull up to the window and am blinded by the sweetest smile EVER. I told her to google me before I drove away. Dania, (I hope I spelled that right) you made my day with your sunny smile and excellent service. So welcome to the world of scrapbooking blogs...take a peek around in my archives to the right and you'll discover I love to give stuff away. It's a little thing we like to call RAK (Random Act of Kindness). Please e-mail me at scrapbaby333@yahoo.ca and I would love to send you an original Kate creation. Just for being your friendly, wonderful self today.
Everyone can take a lesson from this young lady. Certainly me because I would have told that lady outright how rude she was being. Pay it forward today and do something nice for someone. It will make you feel good inside and it will show on the outside. Cheers.

Blessings all around

K, this has been the weirdest week ever. Seriously. I made some to die for cute invitations for Samantha at the Boys and Girls Club. She asked me to whip up a few for her birthday and she is such a doll I couldn't turn her down. And then I forgot to take a photo of them for the blog. Darn. Then I gave Jelena her gift...super cute mini album of an amazing playdate we had with the kids. And I forgot to take a photo of it for the blog. Why do I have a blog again??? SIGH. I'll have to track down the projects again and snap off some blog goodness. Stay tuned.

Also this week we have had sickness upon sickness in our family. Not me though. I am the caretaker. So between laundry, doses of drugs, baby spit up and sweaty, fever ridden children hanging on me I am somewhat ready to blow this pop stand and do some scrapping with the girls tonight at the LSS.

But there is a silver lining to everything...I have met some amazing new people this week, spent time with family, baked, scrapped, cleaned and hung things on my clothesline. Yup, I am that much of a geek. I LOVE hanging stuff on my clothesline. It was the first home improvement I made the hubs do when we moved in. No kidding. So amidst all the chaos all I have to do is look out my kitchen window and see my rainbow of cloth diapers gently waving in the breeze. And then I smile. And that's all it takes. Seek joy in the simple things people!

It's my blog, I can rant if I want to

I understand money woes. I understand budgeting. I understand sometimes doing without. I understand prioritizing. What I don't understand is people who publicly complain about NOT having money. NOT having opportunity. Simply NOT having enough...and then you look in their cart at the grocery store and it is loaded with chips, pop, deep fried breaded chicken strips, sugar laden drink crystals, chocolate bars and other pre-packaged, sodium filled "foods". To the tune of $258.00. Not a green leafy item in sight. I think I may have spotted a few bananas under several packages of licorice but I could have been mistaken. I know it is none of my business but I was flabbergasted. Feed your kids an apple please! Or buy whatever you want and DON'T complain about how you don't have enough. There are people who thrive on much, much less. Check out this amazing lady, I read her blog daily. Thanks for the inspiration Gayle!
And that is my rant of the day. I have a sick babe on my hands, an extra child for the weekend and an out of town husband. Wonderful scrap related topics to come next week. Enjoy your weekend and soak up the sun if it happens to make an appearance!

A Tribute To The Mamas ♥

Okay, so no offence to mothers everywhere...but I do have a few faves. Yes, of course my own Mum tops the list with my Grandma Myrtle who has been gone for a long time but still rests in my heart. Love you Gram. But today I want to give a shout out to a few of my wonderful girlfriends who touch my life everyday. You are beautiful, special ladies who deserve tribute every single day.
Connie and Annalisa...these girls survived La Loche with me and I couldn't have lived without them! Connie is resourceful, a wonderful cook (those cookies are still the best EVER) and is always up for a game of Kaiser (even if we lose). Annalisa is a beautiful musician, has the prettiest smile I have ever seen and has an eclectic style I envy. Both have hearts of gold.

Leica what can I say about you today that I haven't said 100 times before? This girl has some serious scrap talent, loves her man and kids fiercely and is always up for a roaring good time whether we are at a scrap event or letting the kids run around in pajamas and capes. Who wouldn't like a friend like that?

Megan may have a soft, innocent personality but when it comes to strength of character, this girl has it in spades. She watched her babe fight cancer and was there every step of the way. She is the pillar of her family. She held my hand before I walked down the aisle at my wedding and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Clockwise from me at the top, my sister in law Alana, due to give birth in July! Hard worker doesn't begin to describe her. Passionate about her ideas and knows her mind. My other sister in law Kimberly has the most caring heart I know. She is quiet sometimes but you would never know that with the way she loves and cares for her family. She has a resilient spirit that most people only dream of. And my friend Jelena...who is so bubbly and loving. She has this radiant glow about her that draws people in. Don't be fooled by her carefree attitude. She is a protective mama who knows what's right for her babes. Love you girls!!!

I met Kelly a few months before our northern post. And thank God every day for that. She is my close confidant, the other half of my creative heart. We met for a reason and don't take that for granted. She inspires me to do more every day. And I hope it's ok with her that I put her naked belly on the internet...again. LOL

And of course my sister Dennica. We did not fully appreciate being sisters for a long time. But that doesn't matter now. We rely on each other for understanding and compassion. No matter what the world thinks, my sister is behind me and I am behind her. She has drive to achieve what she wants out of life. No matter what obstacle is thrown in her path.

Those are some of my girls. The Mamas who inspire me, listen to me when I need an ear, stand when I need to lean. They love strongly, fight passionately and believe in themselves.

Happy Mother's Day to each of you. xox

Bachin' It KATE STYLE

I am on my own this week as DH is away for work. So me and my darling little sons are whooping it up! It's only day one and we hit Auntie's house, the gym and the video store. Are we wild or what?!? Big plans for the rest of the week with more gym, playdates, movies and of course scrapbooking! I have several almost finished projects on my desk right now that are just to die for. I have been very happy with most of my work lately...now there just has to be MORE of it! LOL I am also LOVING the photos that Sheryl took at DS2's first birthday the other day. It's a weird one, but here is one of my faves. I had HUGE sparklers for the older kids to run around with but they were not fun to light. Everyone was anxiously awaiting their turn. And just because it is ADORABLE, I thought I'd show the totally cute cupcakes that my cousin brought the kids when she was in town last week. That is one thing about small towns. The bakeries are so FAB! So a big shout out to the Tisdale Bakery. You ROCK!

A Whole Day's Worth of VERY Cool Stuff...in no particular order

Cool Thing #1:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my darling younger son! He turned one yesterday and there was no blog post because I was too busy outdoing Martha. Check it out:

Seriously, the CUTEST cupcakes I've ever made. Poor Elmo had a couple mishaps but hey, it's nothing that couldn't be hidden with mounds and mounds of buttercream icing!

Cool Thing #2:

Allison Orthner visited my blog. I know, shut up right? It happened. And she left a comment to prove it. That makes me really happy! Click on her name to view her blog, she has some great pictures of Camp Croppin' on there! Best weekend of my scrapbooking career (so far!)

Cool Thing #3:

Leica Forrest has very cool friends. No, I am not talking about myself here. But you are all very funny for thinking so. :0P She has some FAB pals and I like to visit their blogs. There is one gal I have been hearing a lot about for a while. Saucy is SO COOL. She bakes. She is THE Martha. She digs Pioneer Woman. All in all, she sounds like a good egg. I stalk her blog weekly and dream of meeting her one day. Are you with me? I already think she's way beyond cool. And then she goes and pulls something like this:

win a trip to see the jonas brothers with saucy and loopy!
To celebrate my third blogiversary AND my 600th post, Loopy and I have decided to have some awesome fun and share our good fortune at the upcoming Jonas Brothers concert in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on July 2nd!

Ok, are you freakin' kidding me with that??? That has to be the best blog post I've ever read. My niece would lose her mind. She already asked me if I would take her...notice how she didn't ask her Mama who is 9 months pregnant and not into concerts that much anyway! LOL I've been to over 30 concerts in my life and those are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head. My sis came up with 3. So Auntie it is. So my little Poopsie who is 8 asked me to take her to see the Jonas Bros in Edmonton. I talked it over with her Mama and the general attitude was that it was maybe a touch expensive for her first concert what with travel and everything. So drooping and disappointed, she sat in the back of the van with a looooong face. But if I won tickets from the amazing (and never to be topped) Saucy...maybe Mama would say yes??? Stay tuned people. AND check out Saucy's blog and leave her some love whether you are entering the contest or not. A serious RAK like that deserves some serious love. Now ante up.

Weird Randomness

So ever since I put the Feedjit on my blog it's my new favourite hobby to check out where people are viewing me from. There are some cool places like New Zealand, Germany, France, etc. I'm pretty sure the New Zealand one is DH cousin and the Germany one is an online friend but sometimes I like to imagine it's famous European scrapbookers. So sue me, I'm a dreamer. The Feedjit also tells you where they came from and how they left your blog. For instance, Arrived to Scrapdivalicious through google.com, left via braunc13.blogspot.com (which is Corinne Braun's blog, one of the links to the right). It's WAY cool. The part where the randomness comes in is when it says they arrived through google. At first I thought "Why would people be googling me?" Then I smartened up and realized they were googling other things and my blog just happened to come up. So now it's my new favourite hobby to see what they've googled. You can do that. And whoever set it up that way is a freakin' genius because it was killing me trying to figure out what they could possibly be googling until a little voice in my head said "Why don't you click it and see what happens." What led me to that is another Feedjit feature...it tells you which pages people have viewed and there was one specific page that kept coming up over and over again. My locally famous Pudgy Pie post. So I did a little more investigating (ie. I actually learned how to use Feedjit) and found that when people google "Pudgy Pie Recipe" my blog comes up on page 4. How cool is that? Ok, so it's cool in my world. I don't get out much.

The part where the weird comes in is the other stuff that has shown up through google. Namely someone from Istanbul googled "your babes" and my blog comes up amidst some "other" stuff that you can probably imagine without too much trouble. Innocent on my part...because of this post. And a G rated one is somebody googled "Phillipians 4:13 mug" and came across my blog because of the scripture in the title.

That is my rambling for the night...some of you may wonder "Hey Lady! Where are all the new scrapbook pages?" Do you think I have time to scrapbook? No. I sit at the computer thinking about the cool features on Feedjit. Sigh. It's just how my mind works. Okay, I'm kind of kidding. I actually scrapbook while thinking of Feedjit.

5 Minutes? For Real?

So I got one of those forwarded e-mails from my friend Katherine (I know, it's a good name) and usually I just delete them without even reading them. Not just from Katherine...from everyone. I hate forwards. Just e-mail me personally to see how I'm doing, ya know? Anyway, I was going to delete it when something caught my eye. The word CHOCOLATE. So naturally, I immediately read it. Here is what it said:
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

So me being the anti-microwave person that I am, I thought this was NEVER going to work. In my mind the microwave does not cook food. It makes popcorn, heats tea water when I forget to fill the water cooler and unevenly tries to reheat leftovers. That's it. I really thought this was just going to be a great way to occupy the children for 5 minutes. I have my 8 year old niece for a sleepover and all I've been listening to all day is VERY high pitched squeals of delight as the kids chase each other around, in and out of the house. Sorry to all the neighbours on my cul-de-sac. LOL So we gathered up the "cast of characters" as The Pioneer Woman would say (I LOVE HER) and I started measuring things out and the kids had a jolly good time dumping stuff in their own personal mugs. Well knock me over with a feather...a few short minutes later we had CHOCOLATE CAKE! Dry ingredients first:

Then egg, milk, oil and vanilla.
Pop them into the microwave for 3 minutes per mug. So 6 minutes later...
We had this:
At this point, my ever critical Martha-ness came out and I thought "We are NEVER going to be able to get that out of the mug." BUT true to the recipe, they slid out of the mug onto a plate with no effort at all. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! I was shocked. So then came the taste testing and no, it's not the best I've ever tasted but for 5 minutes? It's darn good.

Notes for next time:

-One mug is PLENTY for 2 kids to share. They each had their own and they are climbing the walls now.

-I would cut down on the cocoa just a smidge

-For sure add the chocolate chips. I omitted them to just try out the actual cake part. It's a little lacking.

-I'd use 1 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp applesauce.

-Eat it right away. When the cake cools it gets pretty hard.

This is something I'd for sure try again! Great for a rainy day like today!

A very merry Easter to you

First and foremost...all the glory to Him this weekend. No, I am not talking about the Easter Bunny. Get your minds out of the chocolate gutter! Our Lord died and rose again so that we may be saved. Celebrate your Faith!

We don't do the whole Easter Bunny thing at our house. We do hide chocolate eggs for the kids to find but they know full well who makes the Easter treats. And I don't have a fuzzy tail. A haystack "nest" loaded with candies, complete with a cute little peep. Martha, eat your heart out.

It is SO a jammie day

Jammies, chocolate, cookies & milk, TV and book reading. That's it today. I spent all weekend away from my boys getting my scrap on with the chicas from Just Cr8 and now I need some cuddle time. BEST event I've been to yet, tons to blog. People, food, make n' takes, prizes, it was all just SO fab. So relax today...rest and revel in the warm fuzzy feelings of a good time had with good friends. Ciao until tomorrow. Or whenever. ♥

I CAN'T BELIVE IT!

Well this whole thing is just turning into a million dollars worth of free publicity! Rambling Dave from C95 is continuing this week with his little scrapbooking insults (tongue in cheek of course) and is actually showing up at Saskatchewan Scraps on Saturday morning! Knock me over with a feather! It'll be so much fun to help him create a few pages with the girls at the Just Cr8 table. Dawn, you did a FAB job of drawing attention to our wonderful art! I am proud to know you girl!

So I will be blogless for a few days (big surprise) as some girls from Just Cr8 are stopping by tonight to get some goodies ready and I am still scrapping my entries for the competition. Megan gets in tomorrow night and the rest will be HISTORY! SO EXCITING! More later.

It's a Scrap Challenge Baby!

So Rambling Dave from C95 sort of opened up a giant can of whoop a$$ on himself this morning with a comment about scrapbooking. And how it's like a sticker collection. Really? Oh Dave...you have no idea what you have gotten yourself into. The Just Cr8 gals have rallied together led by the uber talented Dawn Hueser and have started e-mailing him samples of our art. Hear that Dave? It's ART. Not a sticker collection. Oh my word is he EVER not going to hear the end of this. We have all thrown down the gauntlet and dared him to show up at Leica Forrest's event this weekend. Saskatchewan Scraps will never be the same. More on that later!

For Kel...cause that's how we roll

Nothing serious today...just some big birthday fun! My friend Keli did some amazing invitations for her oldest daughter's birthday this month and I thought it was so completely blog worthy. So you must be asking "Kate, you always link up the FAB person's blog with their name...you forgot to link Keli's blog!" No, dear people, alas I did not forget. Keli has put her blog aside :0( even though it was totally creative, funny and well-written. So Kel, this blog's for you baby. Leave a comment petitioning Keli to get back in the blogging world...cause I miss reading it! (Even though we talk on the phone pretty much every day but that's not the point) Aren't those totally adorable??? I'm SO copying that for my son's next birthday! Thanks Kel!