Since snuggled in bed is driving me nuts

How about I ramble for just a bit?

Niina's preschool started today, she'll be going 9am to noon Monday-Wednesday. A total of 9 hours less of "Will Saara be home from school soon?" every ten minutes.

Trying to come up with fun stuff for Saara's b-day party on Friday (and saturday for family) is not being helped by a nagging headache :oP
She's having seven girls over on Friday, four of them are staying overnight. The overnight bit is easy enough, movie on the big screen, popcorn and pizza.
The party before is still just notes jotted down. Ideas that may be used. We will be having a pinata, which takes care of the goodie bag fillings. I'm also setting up a sundae bar with ice creams, sauces (caramel & chocolate), sprinkles, cookies and candies. We had the same thing last year and the guests actually requested it again, LOL! I've noticed that kids hardly ever eat cake anyway. Maybe tiny cupcakes though, I have to set the candles somewhere!
From us she's getting the Sims2 University pc game. I confess I'll be playing with it too...
From grandparents, godparents, uncles and family friends she is getting a stereo set for her new room. She is in no way expecting this. It'll be cool to see her reaction. Surprises are the best.

What's with the rain this year? Just during the first week of August we got 5 times more rain than on average all month. And it hasn't stopped! We've been getting nearly torrential rain. The gutters were overflowing with the water yesterday. I don't mind August storms, in fact I love a good thunderstorm. We've had a couple doozies. But the rain?? My lawn is pushing out mushrooms more than grass...

I think I'll go take some ibuprofein and go nuts on the couch for a change.

My to-do-list

My list for this week is ridiculously long. I'll give you some pointers:
* make samples for my friend's shop
* bake, bake, bake
* hunt for decorations
* drive to get the pinata
* start on the altered postcards for a 2Peas swap
* go to the post office
* oh oh oh... I know there are so many more...but...

I have a headcold! Perfect timing as always. Grumble, grumble...
All I want to do is the crawl in bed and forget about the world.

Wish me luck.

Creative mess?

Or is it create a mess?
Somehow my desk looks like this again. It was fine yesterday....now it's filled with all that I have left of the Basic Grey Lollipop Shoppe line.

My friend is opening a toy/party supply store next week and asked if I wanted to see if any of my creations would sell. Now that's just too good of a deal to pass. I'll get to put up samples and contact info at his store.
Exciting.

Hence the mess... using up scraps and thinking up ideas. Hmmm...

Friday therapy

It feels good to find great shoes and a cute top when you are not really looking for anything. Retail therapy never fails.
And I had my hair done. Color and a cut. And some fun chatting. I totally love my hairdresser, she is just too cool.

I needed some relaxing time today. Niina woke up with nightmares at 5am, she refused to sleep in her own room, so I had to park her in our bed. Never a good thing. Now I'm sleep deprived too. And she is wiped out tired.
Which leads into the girls fighting and me looking for a sound proof padded room.
Oh the joys of motherhood.
And I still need to vacuum the house (my Friday ritual).

I may need to open a bottle of red wine to finish today's therapy session....

Who knew?

Who knew that by adding my name to the CK website scrapper locator I'd actually make a new friend? A real life scrapping buddy! Who says it's all my fault she must buy every alphabet sticker sheet out there :oP

I'm sad to see her go. Texas is just too far away.

Christine, you rock! Thanks for looking me up :o)

Sunny morning

Late August is a time of transition this far north (I live right on the 60th latitude, same as Alaska). The air is a bit crisper and clearer. The light changes, the angle of the sun is so different from the long summer days. It inevitably gets me thinking of the six months of pitifully dark winter days. The price we pay for 18 hours of daylight in the summer I guess.
But there is an upside to the lack of light in the coming months.
Candles.
Lots of candles.

Mom moment

My oldest turns 10 next week.
She's got attitude problems.
I dislike the term pre-puberty, but since I can't think of another one....
It's hit her hard.
And I'm in the line of fire!
She got home from school today and had a complete meltdown. She screamed, yelled, slammed doors, stomped up- and downstairs as loud as possible, screamed some more and stomped the floor. And slammed the door a few more times for good measure. Screamed at her sister.
Over one teeny misplaced toy.

At moments like these I try to remember what an angel baby she was.
I. Try. Hard.
Doesn't always work.

I let her scream.
I made her apologize to her sister.
And she is grounded tomorrow.
Oh yes.

Aaaahh...

Thank You Helen.
It all looks good now.

Apart from me spending a bit more time than usual at the computer this morning, it looks like an average day at the Anttila household.
Niina and her little friend are eating lunch.
The washing machine is doing it's thing loaded with whites.
Need to figure out dinner.
I really should start planning Saara's 10th birthday party for next week. Invites need to be made today.
Being bombarded by a million questions from a 4 yr old.
Have to email DT layouts in today (great, even more time spent at the computer).

Maybe I should just ignore that list and take a nice long walk with my camera, it's such a lovely day. Just a hint of fall in the air.
Aaahh....but then there's that 4 yr old...
"How far are we walking mom? I want to go home already!"
Yup.
Better start on that list.

It really can't be this difficult.

So here I am eight fortysomething AM trying to add a photobanner. And there it is, looking good. Except...
I can't get the old title to disappear. There it is, still smack on top.
I'm following detailed instructions and still can't get it to work. Like I need more grey hairs...
And no, I will NOT ask help from geeky husband. This blog is my thing and mine alone.
So maybe I'll just go and eat breakfast and read the newspaper.
Brainfood.
That's it.

Thank goodness I have a hair appointment on Friday to hide these greys that this HTML stuff is giving me.

Empty canvas....

Always intimidating...
I wonder what will come of this....