1 Snap a Day - Day 28

I love those days where everyone is in a good mood.  The Peas aren't fighting, everyone's listening...I haven't seen these days lately.  Today has been "that" day.  Happy Peas = Happy Mommy.  It's hard to believe that next year I will have two Peas in Elementary school.  I don't even want to think about when all three of them leave me!

 

Day 28:  Lunch Date

 

This little Pea is my only lunch date on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  He has the same thing EVERY time:  half a cream cheese and jelly sandwich, a banana and a cheese stick (or slice of cheese).  It rarely changes.  I want to remember these lunch dates...time is just flying by!

Just playing around...

Valentine's Day is coming up, so I thought I'd play around with some cookie ideas!  I have a plan to make some conversation hearts, but I was also intrigued with lace.  Sweet Sugarbelle has another great tutorial...this one about piping lace onto cookies! 

Here are my first experiments...

 

They were a lot of fun to make, but I think next time I will use a slightly larger decorating tip...the #0 tip I used showed EVERY little shake of my hand!

 

I think I will make these, along with the conversation hearts, for the Peas' school Valentine gifts.  Fun!

 

 

 



1 Snap a Day - Day 26

Snow!  Although there was only about an inch of snow on the ground, the Peas were chomping at the bit to get out there and use their new saucer sleds.  Those new saucers didn't even make it through the hour they were out (as you can see below)...

 

Day 26:  Broken saucer but no broken spirits!

 

I give 100% credit to my husband for taking these photos...he took the Peas out to play while I was baking my butt off in the kitchen!!

 

 



Birthday cookies!

Now I need to focus on something else besides my photos...I know!  Cookies!  I had two orders for today, both for birthday parties.  The first order was wrapped yesterday, 2 dozen in all.  Here they are, ready to go...

Day 24:

The next batch to go out was a dozen Lalaloopsy cookies.  This was my first time making them.  They were a lot of fun, and the tutorial from Sweet Sugarbelle was a huge help!  I would definitely make them again!

Day 25:

 

Next up is a surprise party!  I will post about that order AFTER the party happens...I don't want to be the one to blow a surprise!  You'll be hearing more about that in a couple of weeks.

Photo Recovery Update...

Today is a 2-post kind of day.  I've been taking the photos for the 1 Snap a Day challenge, but just haven't been able to get my act together and actually blog!

Some have been asking if my photos have been recovered (see the post about that here).  Well, we're onto phase two.  Phase one was completed on Monday.  My hubby's I.T. guy (thank goodness for Carl!!) was able to recover a bunch of photos before HIS computer crashed!  Unfortunately, the photos he was able to recover, I had already backed up onto disks (they were from 2006-2009).  So, on to the second phase...Rapid Response Computer Services.  They have been super nice and walked me through their process.  They will be sending my external hard drive out to a forensics lab to see if they're able to crack into my hard drive.  I'm really nervous, since I believe that if the FBI can't retrieve my photos, who can?!  I should hopefully know within a couple of weeks. 

The photos I really need back are my 2011-2012 photos and my youngest Pea's baby photos!!!  Between Snapfish, Shutterfly and Facebook, I am able to collect some random shots from that timeframe, but the Peas' birthday parties, holidays, sports, etc...I just can't believe that they might be ALL GONE.

Here's a cute photo of the youngest Pea that Carl was able to recover...

 

Please keep sending those good recovery vibes my way!

1 Snap a Day - Day 21

Guess what we've been doing since 7:30 this morning?

 

We've been building a fort!  A day off of school = awesome time for the kids, but not always so awesome for me.  I really hope that to day is a good day all around.  I actually have activities planned for them!  I'm really trying for that "Good Mom" gold star today.  I have to decorate cookies for a couple of orders this weekend, so the kids will have some cookies of their own to decorate.  Top that off with a couple board games, while the youngest Pea naps, and that should secure a medaling spot in the Good Mom competition. 

 

Now...off to make this tent bigger!

 



1 Snap a Day - Day 20

Day 20...

I thought it would be so cute if Santa brought the Peas each a Furby for Christmas this year.  I thought they would get a kick out of the "furbish" language and have fun trying to teach it English.  The excitement lasted about 5 minutes...then these three furbies started talking amongst themselves (for a VERY long time). 

Then the youngest Pea thought it would be so much fun to pull his brother's furby's tail and drop it in the floor.  That's when the furby got MAD.  There was fire in his eyes and, even though he was talking his furbish gibberish, you knew he was cursing you out.  Creepy.  And there's no on/off switch.  Highly annoying.

I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the living room and saw this...

 

The Peas collectively decided to give two of the furbies (the ones that still had working batteries) a time out.  They stuck them between the TV console and their play kitchen.  Awesome.  Why didn't I think of that!  Now I don't have to stare at those creepy eyes.  Yikes. 

 

 

1 Snap a Day - Day 19

It was a little quiet in our house.  Quiet is not normally a good thing.  The last time it was really quiet, the youngest Pea came out of the bathroom with lip balm covering his hair.  So, I was a bit nervous as I rounded the corner to the bedrooms.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this...

 

How nice!  The two older Peas were actually playing together.  And NOT fighting.  This was a serious picture moment.  This sibling peace lasted another 7 minutes and 21 seconds (yes, I timed it).  Maybe next time we'll shoot for 10 minutes.

1 Snap a Day - Day 18

Hello, old friend...

Day 18:

 

I really missed my coffee during these last 5 days of sickness.  That's right...no coffee since last Saturday.  For those that know me (and my coffee addiction), it seems impossible.  You know it's bad when your children can place your order for you...good to know, just in case I lose my voice. 

 

Today I'm feeling better, so I will continue my laundry marathon and do some much needed cleaning!  I'm also excited to get back in to baking and crafting.  I have two cookie orders that are due next weekend, so I will be baking tomorrow...yay!!!  I think next week I'll post some more step-by-step photos of how I use the Kopykake projector.  Remember the dalmation cookies?  I have an order for those, so I'll show you how the process works!  I will also be making Lalaloopsy cookies for next weekend...I can't wait to try to make them.  I love trying new designs.  Yippee!!

Day 16 and 17

Ahhh, I'm finally caught up with my photo posts!  My images for this week are nothing spectacular...in my flu infested state, all I could grab was my phone camera. 

Day 16:

 

My sleeping buddy

 

When I was finally able to migrate to the couch, Ozzie remained my faithful companion, sleeping right next to my head (and carrying on with her usual bullie snore).  I swear she knows when one of us is sick, because she wants to be around that person ALL the time.  When I was in bed, she would go down to eat and pee, then she'd bolt back up to my room and sleep next to my side of the bed.  Good dog.

 

Day 17:

 



 

Please, just EAT!

 

I'm finally feeling human today, so it's back to making semi-healthy meals.  When a parent is sick, all healthy habits for their children go out the window.  Sure, you can have another bowl of Lucky Charms (where you ONLY eat the marshmallows), followed by some Goldfish and Cheerios.  No veggies?  Suuure.  Well, tonight I cracked the whip.  The Little Pea has always been a terrible poor eater, no matter what I did.  Really...to the point of vomiting when he tried veggies.  I'm almost ready to call in the professionals on this one.  So, sure enough a meltdown occured between trying to eat the chicken and the peppers (he gobbled up the perogies).  He did end up eating the peppers, but no chicken (because he threw that up last time he "tried" it).  I still considered the peppers a victory!

 

Hopefully back on track with the real camera tomorrow!!



Catching up on photos...

Well, this flu completely knocked me on my butt for almost 4 days!!  I was in bed for about 2 1/2 days...luckily the hubby was able to work from home on Monday and Tuesday.

I am going to backtrack and post Monday and Tuesday's "1 Snap" photos...

Day 14:

 

And then there were three...

 

Well, we're down two fish since our purchase a couple of weeks ago.  Luckily there were no floating bodies...they were found in the filter.  Miraculously, the children have not said a word about them!

 

Day 15:

 

 

 

This is what happens when I'm sick for more than 2 days...the laundry overflows in each bedroom (including ours).  This basket is minor compared to the other 3 bedrooms.  Today, since I'm starting to feel human again, will be the start of my laundry marathon.

 

Two more days worth of photos to come...hopefully tonight!

 



Kopykake creations - take one

Remember these guys?

 

Yesterday I was super productive and spent the afternoon decorating cookies with my new Kopykake Projector!!  I'm glad I did because today I'm sick (it's about time, since everyone else in my house has had some kind of illness since New Year's!!!). 

 

The projector was easy to work with, but it will definitely take some practice before I'm completely happy with my tracing.  I quickly found that I had two problems, the first being my piping consistency for tracing.  This is something I can't seem to master yet.  I think it needed to be a bit thicker...practice makes perfect, right?! 

 

The other problem was that I was trying to do too many things (so what's new).  I had so many little designs I wanted to try, which means too many colors and a brain overload with how to layer the designs onto the cookie.  For example...

 



 

It too me a good 20 minutes to figure out what to outline first and how many layers I wanted to build upon this cookie.  I ended up tracing the basic outline of the face and hat (sorry, next time I will take progressive photos).  I filled that with color, then layered the eyes, eyebrows and mustache.  Lastly, I added the brim to the hat, the "M" and the nose.  Now that I understand how to do it, next time will be easier!

 

Besides experimenting with some nostalgic characters, I also tried out some other fun stuff...

 

This cutie here...

 

 



 

Maybe a Valentine's Owl?

 



 

How about some spring cookies?

 



 

I hope you enjoyed my first attempts!  I can't wait to try some more designs!  I think my favorite is the spring bunny.  Which ones do you like??



 

1 Snap a Day - Day 11 & 12

Today is a "two post" kind of day. 

Friday was Day 11 for the 1 Snap challenge...

 

Day 11:  Taking care of a sick Pea

 

Our youngest was next in line to get sick.  The oldest Pea had strep last week, so we took him to get tested (the rapid test came back negative, but that's what happened with my oldest, and she still had it).  Little Pea enjoyed some cartoon time with Daddy (and his favorite PJ bottoms and favorite superhero shirt).

 

Saturday, Day 12...

 



 

Day 12:  Typical Saturday night

 

Little Pea was finally feeling better...well, better enough to use Daddy as a trampoline!  I haven't been able to document this "Daddy attack" for awhile...it seems that someone's always sick!  

New Toy

Now that the holidays are over and the Peas are enjoying their new toys, I got myself a shiny new toy...

 

A  KOPYKAKE  PROJECTOR!! 

 

This little large beauty is my first big investment for my business.  I don't know if you remember my monkey cookie issues, but this machine will eliminate that.  I can now project an image directly onto my cookies, so I can trace it with icing.  Not only that, but if the cookie has various layers (like the monkey did with the face, then lips and eyes), I can just put the cookie back under the projector after it dries...and Voila!

 

I will be playing around with some cookies this weekend, so stay tuned for some fun designs!!

1 Snap a Day - Day 9

 

Who's happy with their new pj's??

 

 

 

This little Pea is!

 

I've been taking a lot more photos of this little Pea over the past couple of days.  I still don't know if my photos can be recovered, but I will hopefully find out tomorrow.  Last night I broke down...I realized that not only all of 2012 and part of 2011 are gone, but also this Pea's baby photos.  I do have some random ones that I had backed up (I have all of my photos up until May of 2011 backed up on CD's, but I got busy and kept forgetting about it), but they can't compare to what is missing.  Please continue to keep the recovery vibes coming my way.  I'm hoping to have a happy post tomorrow night!  As for now, I've been baking to take my mind off the situation (which means new cookie experiments!!). 

 

Time for this girl to get in HER pj's too...

1 Snap a Day - Day 8

Day 8:

 

 

 

One of our gifts to the Peas for Christmas was an empty fish tank.  We told them that we would all go shopping for a fish for each of them.  The Hubby and I had done the research in advance and thought the Glofish would be perfect for them.  Of course, when we actually went over the weekend, they were sold out.  So we settled on five Neon Tetras.  The kids were all excited, trying to come up with names for them.

 

Aaaaand I'm pretty sure the poor fish were scared stiff, because I'm sure they saw this:

 



 

After the Peas went to bed, we were joking about whose fish would be the first to visit the ocean in the sky.  Sure enough, the next morning there were only four fish (and my sweet Hubby declared that mine was the one that got caught in the filter).  The Peas keep thinking they're playing hide and seek, and I'm just a really good hider.  I guess tomorrow I will be sneaking to the pet store so I can replace myself...

1 Snap a Day - Day 7

This is my final Resolutions post...and it's an important one for me.

Day 7:

 

A very bad thing happened today...

 

I take A LOT of photos.  I'm usually good about backing them up...I burn the photos to a CD and also file them in the Creative Memories Memory Manager system (since I'm a consultant, it's a given!).  It's been a little over a year since I've filed and backed up, so I was getting nervous that my laptop would crash.  Yesterday I took ALL of my photos off the laptop and moved them to my external hard drive before I started filing them into Memory Manager (which is where the "vault" for MM is also located).  Anyway, I was making good progress, UNTIL...

 

This afternoon I went to work on filing and the "photos" folder was missing on the external hard drive.  Then, I couldn't access anything because it said the drive was corrupt..WTF?!  At this point, I started having trouble breathing...am I seriously going to lose the ENTIRE year of 2012??  I called the hubby in a complete panic.  After talking with his IT guy, the hubby walked me through some kind of scan thing (as much as I use computers, you would think I know how this stuff works...not. at. all.), which is pictured above.  After about an hour of scanning the drive, I held my breath and tried to access the hard drive.  There was ONE file on it.  Oh my...

 

At this point, between talking with a friend and my hubby, I started running a recovery program with a "deep scan".  It is currently still scanning and will continue to scan for another 8-10 hours (it keeps changing).  If this recovers all of my photos, I would wait days!  Please send good recovery thoughts for my photos (and sanity) as I wait for my beloved photos. 

 

This is a big lesson for me to stay on top of backing up my photos!!!



1 Snap a Day - Day 6

Resolutions...

Day 5:

 

 

Walk AWAY from the craft coupons...

 

Every time I receive coupons from the local craft stores, I get all giddy...what shall I buy with my shiny new coupon?  Usually I can figure out something that I might need in the far near future to purchase.  And online coupons and specials are the WORST!!  When the Fat Quarter Shop had their Black Friday sale, I couldn't control myself.  This mindset is my downfall.  Do you know how many skeins of yarn and yards of fabric I have?  Maybe when I follow resolution #2 and organize my office, I'll be able to show you with a photo...but it's too many to count. 

 

So, this year, I will sadly put aside my favorite coupons unless I actually NEED them (like if I run out of Meringue Powder, or sewing needles).  It will be my "Frivolous Craft Purchase Detox".

1 Snap a Day - Day 5

Resolutions...

Day 5:

 

Thou Shalt Not Kill Thy Plants.

 

The same thing happens every year. 

 

 Mid-May we make the trip to Home Depot or Lowes to purchase the poor, unsuspecting plants and flowers.  I become very positive about the experience, telling myself that this summer will be different and ALL of my little beauties will thrive and look beautiful all summer.

 

End of May, we've already had our first victims because we were down the shore and forgot to water them before we left.  Go back to Home Depot to purchase a few more flowers.

 

Mid-June...Oh, wait.  We have to water the flowers, right?  More victims.  No replacements.

 

By August, the remaining flowers have been burnt to a crisp and I have given up all hope. 

 

Now that we're in our new house, maybe this year I can actually keep them alive...at least I will try.  Maybe I'll actually do some research and figure out which plants can survive with very little water (besides cactus).  The little beauty above is an Amaryllis, which was given to us by my Mother-in-Law.  I really can't take credit for the growth of this flower...my inlaws and Peas watered it every week.  Maybe it's just me...maybe if the Peas do the planting this summer, the flowers will have a chance to survive.  Hmmm... 

1 Snap a Day - Day 4

Resolutions...

Day 4:

40 Before 40

 

Okay, I cheated a bit with this photo...my friend took it, BUT it was with my camera.  Does that count?  I needed it for a good reason......

 

One of my good friends, Casey (creator of The Creative Confectionista), has started a 40 before 40 challenge!  We go way back...both of us on soccer teams together, both of us hating to run.  I hated running so much that I decided to try and overcome it by...running a Marathon.  In 2001 I raised enough money for the Arthritis Foundation to earn myself a trip to run the Dublin Marathon (that's right...Dublin, Ireland)!!!  Looking back, I definitely did not train well for those 26.2 miles of pain, but I did finish.  I am 99% sure I will NEVER run another marathon, but a strange thing happened after I finished...I actually started to enjoy running.  Weird. 

 

Fast forward to 2009...that's when Casey and I started running some races together.  Now we have certain race traditions that cannot be broken (Jingle Bell runs, Turkey Trots and our celebratory Dunkin Donuts coffees).  I will be joining Casey in her quest to complete 40 races by the time we turn 40!!  You can check out her blog about it here.  I will also be keeping track of my races, which you can check out on my 40 Before 40 page.

 

Join us!  Create your own 40 Before 40 Page and let us know!!

1 Snap a Day - Day 3

Resolutions...

Day 3:

Take more photos of the kids!

 

 

 

This is my youngest Pea, all ready for his first day of Preschool this morning.  He started the 2 1/2 year class, twice a week.  I just can't believe he's not a baby anymore...and I also realized I've slowed down with my Pea photos.  Everyone always told me that you have the most photos of your first child, but I was determined to prove them wrong.  I did pretty well, up until this Pea turned 2.  This year I will make sure to take more photos of the little things that the Peas do...which will probably be seen with this 1 Snap a Day Challenge!

1 Snap a Day - Day 2

Resolutions....

 

Day 2:

 

Organization!!!  Another New Year's resolution is to finish unpacking boxes and organizing my craft room.  We moved into our new place about 6 months ago and still have a large amount of boxes that still need to be sorted out.  Some of the boxes have migrated to my craft room (so the rest of our house can actually look like we've moved in).  I would really like to use my table as a cutting surface, not a storage surface.  So, here's to more organization in 2013...

 

 

My messy, messy craft room (maybe in 6 months I will have an organized room photo).



1 Snap A Day - Day 1

Resolutions....

Day 1: 

Today I will start with the first of a few "Resolution" photos for this "1 Snap A Day" project.  My first resolution is to get back on track with my healthy eating habits. 

 

 

Throughout my life I've always been athletic, but there came a time where that window closed for me...right after the Honeymoon and start of my Master's Program.  Add to that three children, and helloooooo heavier me!  I finally called a good friend (while eating a huge piece of coffee cake) and asked her about how she was able to lose weight and keep it off, and two weeks later I was changing my eating habits through Take Shape for Life!  I started the program in July, and 3 months later I ran a half marathon....4 months later I officially lost 30 lbs!  I am so happy to see that the window has now re-opened and is wider than ever!  My awesome coach is Megan Guttman...click here for her facebook page!  You can also search for her on the TSFL website.

 

The week between Christmas and New Year's was a very difficult one for me, so I did end up straying a bit.  My first resolution is to get back on track and finish the first phase of my plan in the next 45 days!  I have about 13 lbs. to go until I reach my goal weight, so I am determined to get there by, let's say, Valentine's Day!