Failing at my job

I have been a stay at home housewife/mom for about 90% if my marriage. I've never been good at it.
I'm not good at keeping up with the laundry. More often than not we are digging through a laundry basket (vs. neatly organized dresser drawers) to find something to wear. I'm not good at cooking regular meals. We eat out WAY too much. I'm not good at keeping the kitchen clean. I hate unloading the dishwasher. I'm not a big fan of loading it either. Bathrooms YUCK. I clean the bathrooms because I hate to sit on a dirty toilet or because people are coming over. Scrubbing the baseboards or the grout? No thank you! I love that we have our beautiful home, but I don't feel like I take pride in it as much I should. I can't believe I'm admitting all of this. But it's true. Of course I don't like to live in filth or mess but I absolutely despise housework!
I'm not a good cook. So I don't enjoy it. My family (myself included) is SO picky that it makes it even more of a miserable experience.
Ok enough with the excuses. Bottom line, I'm failing at my job. Whether I enjoy certain aspects of it or not.
I wanted nothing more in life than to be a wife and mother. Not everyone feels this way. I get that. But that's me. I also know that not everyone is lucky enough to have their dreams come true. I was. And I'm not being a good steward of that blessing. I mean, not EVERYONE loves their job right? I just can't imagine being anywhere else.I can't imagine my kids being at their school or a babysitter all day while I do something else. So if cleaning & cooking are the negatives to that wonderful life than I'll deal. And I have. But I have been slacking sooooo badly lately!
So from here on out I am going to renewing my commitment to my family.
I am going to be a good example of a house keeper for my children so that when they are grown they will know how to keep a house. My mom was such a good example of this for me. I just rebelled when I got out of her house LOL I could really use those chore lists, and someone checking up on me now!
I am going to cook dinner as many nights out of the week as possible. Even if my husband isn't home to eat it - he'll have a good lunch the next day! And even if my kids end up poopooing their meal and eating a pb sandwich instead!
I am going to be better at my job. Because I do NOT want to get fired!!!

If any of you have any tips or suggestions on how to make this job any easier/enjoyable? I'm all ears!

My Summer To Do List

**In NO particular order**
done
in progress

1. Keep up with this blog better!

2. Get caught up on my Project 365 blog (caught up to April 3oth!)

3. Play a game &/or read WITH my kids everday

4. RE-organize my kitchen

5. Purge our entire house and get things ready for LFR in the fall.

6. Paint our bedroom, the hall bathroom, and the laundry room

7. Switch the playroom & my craftroom

8. This one is personal

9. Lose 30 pounds

10. Complete at least 30 layouts (17/30)

11. Have friends over for a "just because" party

12. Read 8 books (4/8)

13. Go an entire week (or more!) without eating out for ANY meal OR snack

14. Record some videos of my kids doing summer activitiess

15. Sign my kids up for some extra curricular activities
Colby's playing Tball & Lacie is doing gymnastics!

16. Start going to church again

17. Celebrate July 4th at the beach

18. Go to Disneyland 2-3 times :) (1/3)

19. Learn how to embroider

20. Learn how to use photoshop elements - changed my mind about this one

21. Make my own laundry soap

22. Plan Lacie's birthday dinner

23. Plan Colby's birthday party

24. Get an overnight away with my hubby

25. Hang up pictures and other decor in my barren house of 2 years OY

26. Get caught up on my kids school albums
Lacie's kindergarten & Pre-K pages are DONE. Colby's Pre-K pages are done too!

Testing.
Blogging by txt

She's 21 now

My baby sister (well one of 'em), Emily, turned 21 on April 25th. She decided on Easter that she DID in fact want a dinner party with family & close friends. So me, being the super rad sister that I am who has absolutely nothing else on my plate, offered to put it all together for her :) We reserved her fave restaurant, coordinated decorations with her outfit, she asked my mom to bring an album of baby photos and we invited guests. It was a really nice fun evening that I know meant alot to her. I was so happy to be able to help and happy to be a part of her big day - I left the REAL partying to her friends ;)

I made those table runners! This was actually at the end of the night after the parents and grandparents and kids had left haha SIBLING SHOT! :) Buttery nipples MMMMM

The REAL sibling shot :)

Auntie with her niece and nephews

Her fabulous friends

My nephew was macking on one of the waitress. He is too much in his lil undershirt!

Birthday cake

Birthday margarita!

She got carded when she was ordering her drink haha

Pretty soon I'll be celebrating her 21st *tear

She and her friend went and got matching tattoos.

S.O.S.

Ok people, I can't take it anymore! I NEED A BLOG NAME!
A cute one
A fun one
One that I'm not gonna want to change again in 6 months :)
I don't really want it to have a MOM theme or a CRAFT theme, just something fun and ME

Here a few that I've thought of but I don't LOVE any of them :( So suggestions are much much needed!
Mood Swings
Mood Swingin’
He Said/She Said – or I might just make a new blog of things the kids said using this name
So Rad-ish
Sugar & Spice
Cheeseville USA
Blogtastic

What's in it for you? Besides the fact that once I get a cool name I'll stop whining about not having one? :)
How about a lil prize action? I will be putting together a lil prize package for the creative thinker(s) of the bunch. I'll update when I figure out what that prize will be but trust me, IT'S GONNA BE GOOD!!
Ok ready, set, GO!

National Scrapbooking Weekend

The first Saturday in May has been dubbed National Scrapbook Day and my local store always hosts a weekend long cropfest. Friday from 4pm-12am, Saturday 8am - 12pm, and Sunday 10am - 6pm. It is UBER fun people! Tons and tons of presents and prizes to be won! Seriously people FUN TIMES!!! All the ladies there are SO nice and it is really fun to see everyone's different styles. Here a few pics from my weekend and also the pages that I worked on :) (They are a bit out of order because Blogger is being a hag and not letting me move them around)

These first pages were all done digitally using Microsoft Publisher 2007.

The theme was a weekend in Paris so the decor, make n takes, and food all had a paris theme. There were lots of fun vintage hats for us to try on and play with! This yellow one was made for me don't ya think?

This is a card I made...

This is what I left home on Friday afternoon LOL

These are keychains we made Friday night. They were SO fun!

A page I did of my Lacie Bug

Yes there are exactly 100 buttons on this page :)

The only 2 page layout I did all weekend hahaha

The green background paper is actually bumpy like LEGOS are. So fun!
This page is adorable but it cost me just around $10 to make due to poor decisions on my part :(

This is just one of the fabulous presents we got.