did you feel that?

Tonight we had a bit of a scare at the house. There was a 4.5 earthquake in Maine which shook us here in New Hampshire. Heck, I have friends in Rhode Island that felt it. (story) 

I would like to say I felt it, but alas I did not. Alex and I were downstairs getting him ready for bed while Kira went upstairs to finish her bedtime prep. I heard a rumble which I thought was a train since they go by all the time and have become common place for us (twelve years will do that to you) and didn't think anything of it...

Until Kira came running down the stairs freaking out. I mean seriously I thought she had come face to face with a live critter in her room she was so scared. She tried to explain to me that the house shook and she felt a bang. I start thinking that maybe a branch had smacked into the house from our two maple trees that need to be removed before they actually do fall on the house. It was quite windy today and it could have happened.

I got dressed for the weather (chilly) and went out to investigate turning on all the outside lights that I could. Grabbed the flashlight too to scare away whatever might have been climbing the house (hey you never know!) Checked the back of the house by Kira's room. Nothing. Roof looked good. Side of the house looked good. Time to check the front of the house. No major branches on the ground or against the house. Walked up the front lawn to the road to see if anything had landed on the roof- nope nothing up there either.

Having no clue and the house looked good, I went back inside to tuck the little monsters in for the night. As we were all getting into the fun of relaxing and going to sleep, the phone rang. Hubby calling. He asked if I felt it. Felt what?? That is when he told me about the earthquake that I missed even though I was in the thick of it. I heard it, does that count?? And it did freak my munchkin out so I guess I can say I survived it.

Then I hopped on to Facebook and man... what a chatty bunch of characters I call my friends. My whole news feed was about the earthquake. Then my cell beeped with the update from the local television station. I feel so left out. Like I missed something big.

Of course I say this in with a note of humor, I do not need to live through anything bigger than that or any closer. Being on the outskirts suits me just fine for this type of adventure.

May your day be house shaking free!

where i want to be

Yup... this is it... right where I want to be today. Not sure why since today has been a pretty decent day with the kiddos and the weather. I think I want to hang with my twin again. Missing her. 

I took this picture after the rain cleared up before the sun went down. Look how calm and still the lake is. Simply beautiful.

Then the sunset came. Seriously it was overcast all day and yet this is what happened at sunset. Totally amazing and peaceful.

The next morning before we had to leave this slice of heaven. The lake was a bit rougher than the previous day and oh so inviting. I sunned my toes on the dock before we headed out. I can hear the water hitting the rocks and the dock.

Yup... that's where I want to be today.

loons on the lake

What a sweet family portrait.

Last year there were twins born but they didn't make it, thanks to a hungry eagle. It's the circle of life but sad at the same time. This year it looks like mommy and daddy have decided to keep a closer eye on their offspring. I was happy to catch this moment.

what a difference a day can make

Same tree... different day.

Still totally amazing.

Working my way through my Boyd Lake pictures. Figuring out which ones to share. It would help if I could concentrate and just do it. I keep getting distracted. Must be the kids. They are always wanting to eat. I mean seriously... didn't I just feed you breakfast? And now you want a snack? oh my. This parenting thing is tough.

Off to the kitchen. The natives are hungry.... again.

slice of heaven

I was finally brave enough to spend the night at my twin's camp on the lake. Yes I will admit, I am not the rough and tumble crunchy kind of gal. I like my water in pipes and a toilet to flush. 

But part of me really wanted to wake up at the lake and to enjoy everything about camp. I am glad I did. So amazing. Totally get why my twin loves being there during the summer.

A M A Z I N G !

We went up Monday after I arrived at her house. Her girls had gotten the truck all packed up so it was easy to throw my stuff in the back and head out. One hour later and we were there at Boyd Lake. So peaceful... minus the throng of kids that were splashing in the warmer than warm lake water. But even they were totally relaxed.

Tuesday morning I awoke to find a heavy layer of fog on the lake. It was much too early for this chickie to be up so I failed to get a picture of the lake. I guess my brain doesn't function at 5am on the lake. When I woke up later, it was to the soft dripping of rain in the camp. I think that was even better than the sun the previous day. Very calming.

I took some pictures and I must say, this is one of my favorites. The drops were sliding off of the pine needles and the rain was hitting the lake. Perfect!

I'll leave you with this shot while I figure out what to share next. Stop and enjoy the rain.

what i did last week

Last week... it was a busy one and totally awesome. However, some of it was pretty darn boring. I'll share the boring photos first and the fun ones later. Cuz that is how I roll!!

Monday morning I headed north on 95 to visit my twin in Bangor, Maine.

Definitely a picture that will have to be cropped to show the welcome to Maine sign better.

On Wednesday, I headed out of Maine on 95 South and snapped this sign. I wasn't in New Hampshire long enough to get a picture.

I'm still motoring along. Now I am on the NYS Thruway.

I hate this bridge. It's too high, too long and they are always doing some sort of repair on it. Makes you wonder.

Here we are in Massachusetts on Friday. Hey... look at the traffic. This is near Lowell where Route 3 joins 495 which means about seven lanes of traffic must merge into three. We ran into the same thing last year coming home from Syracuse! Plus there was a minor accident ahead which everyone had to stop and look at. Hate that.

oh look... more traffic! There was a car off the road up ahead. Gotta peek again!

So to summarize last week.... I drove... A LOT! But I got to visit my twin and go to her camp on Boyd Lake. And I got to pick up my kids and bring them back home. I guess that means all the driving was totally worth it.

disney 2008 continues (photo heavy)

I went away a couple weeks back to a friends place in Maine. I spent the entire weekend surrounded by some amazingly talented women. We ate, we laughed, we slept a bit and ate some more. We each even managed to squeeze some scrapping into the weekend as well. I brought along my Walt Disney World 2008 trip to see if I could plug away at more of that trip... and I did. Nineteen pages later I returned home. I had to put titles on two of them and a journal spot on another which I finally was able to do this week.

Time to share. I used PageMaps for all of these great pages. Sometimes they look like the sketches... sometimes not so much. But that is where my inspiration comes from.

Kira hanging with a small collection of dalmatians at one of the stores at Downtown Disney. Happy little girl there.

They have this fun fountain at Downtown Disney and Kira LOVES standing in it. It was warm so she was enjoying cooling off a bit... but not too much. I used the papers since they looked like water shooting in the air and it matched her outfit as well! I used my big red Sizzix machine and lowercase fun serif alphabet for the title.

One of my little guy on this trip. Unfortunately, he was at the age that once he was released from the stroller, he would take off and laugh at you to try to catch him. Needless to say, we didn't let him out too much. This was one of those times he was testing his boundaries.

Donald Duck!! He was so good with Alex. Alex didn't cry or scream. Just covered his eyes. I added in the circle of brads around the best picture. So much fun!

My silly silly girl. Sometimes she cracks me up to no end.

Waiting for the electric parade and the fireworks.

The kids got some new toys while we waited for more fireworks on this night.

Random smile pictures from around the Magic Kingdom. I stamped SMILE across the top of the layout with my Mickey head alphabet stamps. Very happy I picked them up when they were on clearance!!

Alex thought this was a great show! It was air conditioned, he could get out of his stroller and his television friends were there! Good time.

A few pictures from my mom's favorite ride which turned out to be one of Kira's as well.

Here Kira is hanging out in one of the shops at Downtown Disney. She took the little Tigger and helped him climb the tree in the shop. I totally loved the decorations and took pictures of them.

Alex climbing a light pole at the Hollywood Studios. If Dave hadn't been holding him, I think he would have gotten farther. He was intent on getting to the top where a bird was sitting. He then took off chasing the birds on the ground.

We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney when we first arrived on the Disney grounds. Good food and fun times.

There they are. Now to keep the pace up and I might finish this trip someday. LOL

update to vent

After much thought on the matter, I did return to the Kittery Outlets to ask for a price adjustment on my Childrens Place purchase. It took a bit of time for the girl to ring in the return as she had to type in each of the numbers for the items (and I had purchased quite a few items) and then she rescanned everything and I received a lovely discount of about $50! Really worth it to me.

While I was standing there waiting for the girl to type everything in, the girl who waited on my yesterday was next to her and someone tried to use a Childrens Place retail coupon and she told them that they were two separate "companies" now but that she could offer her the outlet coupon discount instead!! WHAT??? Why couldn't she have done that with me yesterday?? Why did I have to travel back up there to go through all this??

I do believe I am writing to the company (I already took their online survey) but I think a district manager needs to know of this.

Feeling better already.

had to share and a vent

Okay first off what an incredibly LONG and tiring week it has been keeping the electronics off in our house. Alex was pretty easy going with it, Kira however was quite the grump about it by the end of the week. Of course her beloved reading is not the same as playing her DS. Looks like she will be unplugged some more.

Anywho... at the Family Dance Party, I hung this amazing banner that we got from Staples for $19.99! Seriously. Hubby had a coupon for a 6' x 2.5' banner. Love it. The graphic I will let you know came from my favorite of favorite Aliens. She did such a great job on it. LOVE IT!! It was the logo for the week of fun we had (we being the PTA).

I was the photographer at the Dance Party taking pictures of the families and groups of kids which I then emailed to the parents so they would have these great memories. I had to test my lighting and such and I had two adorable subjects on hand....

This is before they danced like fools all night and were hot and sweaty. But they are kinda cute! It was a fun night. I need to get the pictures hubby has of Alex 'break dancing' on the dance floor from his phone. So cute.

Now for the vent... today went to the Childrens Place outlet up in Kittery, Maine. We usually go there since the closest mall with a Childrens Place is about 45 minutes away and they have a better selection as it is a bigger store than most of the mall ones. I loaded up my mesh bag full of jeans for Alex (he is destroying the knees on all of his jeans), short sleeved polos for Alex, capris for Kira and a couple of tank tops. Pretty full bag when we got done.

I get in line with my coupon for 25% off and my Place Card which gives me an additional 5% off my sale. I'm thinking I am doing well. The girl rings me up and we do the small chat stuff. She sees the coupon I have and continues to ring me up. At the end she gives me the total before my discounts and I hand her my coupon and card. She looks at the coupon, converses with the girl next to her and tells me my coupon does not work in the outlets. ummm... since when?? I have been doing this for some time now (like since Kira was born) She tells me they have separated the two companies. Now there is the Childrens Place in the malls and Childrens Place Outlets. hmmm... I must have missed that email that they sent to all their customers on this big change. Especially since I am a Place Card holder AND I get their emails practically every day with coupons.

I was like okay ring it up whatever. Then I get thinking about it after we leave and I am not happy in the least. Now as it is about 4 1/2 hours later, I am really really not happy about it. So I go and look in my inbox and there is an email from Childrens Place Outlets. It's the only one so this is something very very new. I open it and there is a coupon there for 25% off!! ummm... I had one of those. They couldn't have used the correct code (as I am sure it was somewhere in their computer system having worked retail before I know these things) since obviously I have received emails from Childrens Place. Tomorrow we are going back up there after a birthday party and I am getting my discount or they can return my entire purchase and forget about me shopping there again.

Don't mess with someone who has worked retail before. I know how things work and they could have done something for me especially since the amount was over $200. grrrr. Not like I went in for one shirt on sale for $2.99 and wanted it cheaper, I was buying a full bag of stuff.

If you have made it to the end, thanks. If not... no biggie. I feel better getting it off my chest. Now I can have a nice evening with hubby. TTFN

project life 2011- weeks 24, 27, 29 and 30

This is the post that is messed up a bit with the missing pictures on three weeks. Soon as those pictures get printed, I'll be good to go on posting them. The journaling blocks are done, waiting on pictures.

Week 24- Kira's friends party at Chuck E Cheese, silly kids, Alex's car seat that he got sick all over, DADDY HOME!! and a haircut for my little man.

Week 27- My Maine lilies from my twin Tania. New ceiling fan since our other one fried (lucky there wasn't a fire) My new bread machine as I over-used our old one. Grandma Clark's desk in Kira's clean room and new ice cream bowls for the kids. Can't go wrong with M&M bowls for a buck (or maybe it was $2) at Walmart. They are so cute!!

Week 29- Me visiting my twin Tania. Had the best time EVER!! Hanging out with the kids at Nana and Papa's. Visiting my forever bestie and her girls.

Week 30- Seeing the Pooh movie, photo shoot with the kiddos, my rose of sharon in the back yard. Needs a trim this year. Price of gas for me with my Stop and Shop gas rewards savings!! So happy!! Truck from my twin's neck of the woods and the farm stand where we get our corn.

So happy I am doing this project as I love looking back at all the silly pictures and how this year is going. Glad the family goes along with all the pictures I need to take to keep this current.

where i have been

I took a few vacation days to go visit my twin up in Maine. We had a great time with lots of laughs, good times and sun! She took me to Bar Harbor. Hadn't been there in ten years so it was a nice treat to go. Wanting to go back again and do some of the beaches. Instead we did some retail therapy (which was loads of fun).

Here we are at Jordan Pond. Lovely little place. Good Maine blueberries there as well. Had to sneak a few off the bushes as they were beginning to ripen. Yummy!!

Love my twin and miss her. Glad there is internet so we can stay in touch.

After my fun in the sun vacation, I had to drive to Syracuse to pick up my offspring. That was a long drive from Bangor, Maine to Syracuse, New York in one day. Wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be and was very uneventful. Wish I could say the trip back to New Hampster was as nice... but it wasn't. It was exceedingly hot and the traffic in Massachusetts was horrible. No reason to slow down but we did... many times. Don't get it but was stuck in a few pockets of cars.

Took a picture to prove how hot it was on Friday July 22 while we were driving. Very hot according to my van. And I was very happy to have had enough gas to get us home. If we ran into much more traffic, it was going to be VERY close.

Today we took the offspring to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie. They had already seen it with Nana and Papa but agreed to go see it again with mommy and daddy. The three of us wore our Pooh best to see him. Kira even had Pooh and Tigger in her hair. Daddy got to take the picture since he didn't have any of the 100 Acre Woods friends on his clothing. I know... it's a horrible thing.

So that is where I have been. Hoping to work through the laundry and cleaning this week and spend some time in my scrap room creating. Never know... the kids may cooperate. Enjoy the sun and fun. I know we are since the heat has broken here. I love when we can turn off the A/C's and open the windows. See you soon!!