Do you ask a bear if it has fur???

A friend at church asked me if I could create something for her....

I being intrigued said, "Usually....what do you need?"

Friend - "Well could you like help me out with something for girls camp? You sister Laura said I should ask you."

Me -"Sure, love girls camp you know me always willing to help." All the while thinking Laura had better not gotten me in over my head. Sisters, mark my words, they're trouble.

Friend - "Well could you paint me something....like are you good at that?"

John - "Do you ask a bear if it has fur?"

Really that's what he said! I'm going to keep that in my witty "Susanisms" arsenal for a while.

Since this friend has a great sense of humor and she knows us pretty well....I said, "I think I'm actually offended that you asked me "if" I could create something."
Friend - "Well I know you can create cards and scrapbooks and stuff...but I didn't know if you could well do other things."

It's mighty unusual to have someone question my skills. The following conversation took place the last time my help was needed for a church related project. My good friend Maria said...."I need an elephant to catch bean bags in for the ward carnival. What do you think?"

My answer, "How big do you want it?"

No way to back out of that one! That Maria knows me way to well.

Here's the elephant. I started it the night before it looked like this. My girls did inform me that my blob looked nothing like an elephant. I explained, layers of paint require time to dry before the next one is applied. Everyone's a critic! Finished the tubing and the mouth the morning of. No animals or wallets were harmed in the making of this elephant...I used stuff we had on hand.

So if the question is can I do it.....yes, yes, I can. Will I do it....most likely. Can you have it early...what are you expecting miracles? No previews here.....this "artist" definitely enjoys finishing a project with moments to spare.

Don't forget to find a way to throw this into a conversation this week.

"Do you ask a bear if it has fur?"

Funny Day

Syd - "Damn I can't find it."
Kate - "Mom!!!!!"
Me - "What NOW?"
Kate - "Sydney's well you know saying a bad word."
Me - "Which one?"
Syd - "I don't know?"
Kate - "She really said it mom."
Syd - "I'm not lying."
Me - "Sweetie just tell me exactly what you said."
Syd - "I said Damn I can't find it...you say it too mom, right?"
Me - "Yes Syd I guess I do but can you remind me not to? By the way that is a bad word."
Syd - "Okay I wasn't lying...I just didn't know it was a bad word okay?"

1. This tells me I loose things WAY to often.
2. Really, haven't I learned to pay attention to what I'm SAYING YET. She isn't my first set of little ears.
3. Sisters, really we love to tell our parents everything our sister has done wrong.

My other laughter for the day....
Me - "I can't find my bag of horse radish I really need it." I didn't say the infamous D word this time.
Syd - "Well mom if it was horse....maybe the cat's ate it."
Yep, the cats ate it!!! I don't know what she thought I had lost! After my hysterical laughter subsided I explained what horse radish actually is and that the lost bag contained starts that I was going to plant in our garden. I actually saw the aha lightbulb turn on in her head.

List of things to do today....
1. make cards
2. box up old clothes
3. Clear kitchen table
4. Vinyl lettering for living room walls.
5. Start on a dessert for mom's graduation party.

Okay so I made the cards and I bought boxes since I was out of empties.....well that's about all I got done on my to dos. Things not on my list, excercise-check, family prayer -check, scripture study mine and girls - check, straighten studio - check, library - check, breakfast, lunch, and dinner - check, making sure that the girls survived bedtime - check, taking care of Paige's first wake up of the night - check, study for OMG classes tomorrow - check.....Now it's off to bed.

OMG!!!

No it doesn't mean what you think it means. Kate has been banned from using that abbreviation and wondered why I was allowed to use it.
"I can get away with it because I was the mom."
"Yeah right mom."
"No really I live in one of the few states that can."
"What?"
"Well I'm taking the Ohio Master Gardener classes....Ohio Master Gardener is abbreviated..."
"OMG? Oh Mom that's really bad."
Yeah but it made me laugh!
There are Master Gardener programs in every state. They pay to take classes to educate themselves on Gardening and then volunteer all over the country. It was estimated that last year the Ohio Master Gardeners: donated almost 120,000 hours, valued at $2,166,000.00, to Ohio communities and homeowners. If you are curious about the program this is the link. I'll also be linking a bunch of fact sheets on Home Gardening on the left side of my blog. I've gardened with my Dad since I was a toddler. I love how much peace digging, growing and exploring nature give me. I am always ready for St. Patrick's day! That is the date I can start planting peas, lettuce, chard, spinach and radishes. Okay now go dig up some dirt and plant something!
P.S. On her way out the door Kate yelled SYL!

Ut oh! MOM.....

Paige said these words a few too many times today. She and Sydney decided to have a tea party. Now I expected a little water after I figured out what they were doing. "Mom, water isn't sticky so it's not like I'm making a REAL mess." That's kindergarten logic for you. Their little "tea pot" split down the side and they couldn't figure out where their water was going. I finally figured out there was a problem after trip number three to the bathroom. They were so quiet and not bickering that I really hadn't noticed them...but we all know that's when the worst disasters happen. Not a big deal, we dried up all the water and I went back to mopping the kitchen floor. I needed to wash my broom after I realized that is had gotten disgusting due to kid messes this morning. So I put it in the tub with a little Mr. Clean. I love that man! His lemony fresh products smell soooo good! I started a load of laundry. While I was getting the soap out I lost hold of it and dumped in half the box. Dry detergent definitely is easier to clean up than liquid. When I discovered that I could actually take out the bottom drawer out of the stove to reach the sticky mess that had seeped under the edge. I became completely absorbed with cleaning under the stove. Our cats love to send anything they find skidding across our kitchen floor and I found a boat load of miscellaneous treasure and 13 cents. Next thing I hear is Paige, uttering the dreaded, "Ut oh! MOM?!!!" For the love of a horse named sissy what could it be now? I got up of the floor where I was hand washing under the stove to check on her. Yep there was a problem, a big watery hilarious problem. I, the adult who is supposed to be in charge, forgot to turn the bath tub water off and it was pouring over the edge of the tub like a waterfall. I had a nice pond going in the bathroom. I believe it took only ten towels to clean it all up. I had just put washed and put away five of those towels. Paige thought it was all fun. So while I was cleaning she took a cup of water....she pulled a chair over to the kitchen sink and helped herself. Then she took it to the living room for another party and dumped on top of her little plastic counting bears on the ottoman. Apparently they wanted to learn how to swim. That's how my day went. I guess this show that mom's... we just aren't perfect. Sorry no photos I was running disaster control forgot all about taking them. I can show you one from college when I put regular liquid dish soap into the dishwasher and had bubbles over a foot tall and four feet out into our carpeted kitchen! It just goes to show that I have always had some seriously amazing cleaning skills.

A week ago Monday....

Monday - The rain has stopped, it's warm and I was itching to get outside. I went over to Laura's to help pick up debris and unload her kitchen cabinets. Jade is remodeling their kitchen/dining room. Do you know what happens when you take down a wall? You discover what is on the other side and in this case it wasn't good. Later after a visit to the meet our new pediatrician(thanks to Melissa E. for the great referral!) We went outside, cleaned up the side flower bed, and enjoyed our "lake" and it's yearly visitors.

You're the man Jade!

Sydney helping Paige with their new jackets. I love the moments when they are sweet to each other.

Three girls trying to will the water to leave the yard.

Our little duck buddies.

National Scrapbook Day Fundraiser Crop May 2nd

My friend Michelle is hosting a crop on National Scrapbook Day. I'll be there. How about you?

"Skrappaper Reunion"

Hi Ladies! I am doing a fundraising crop for my Church's Vacation Bible School. I was hoping to extend a warm welcome to all friends of Susan and John at the Skrappaper. I truly miss seeing everyone and hearing all the stories and laughter. Below are the details and what I was hoping to do.

St. James Lutheran Fundraiser Crop for VBS
National Scrapbooking Day, May 2, 2009
10am-10pm $35 or 10am-6pm $25
(Go to http://www.coolgod.org/scrapbooking.html for more details.)

All Skrappaper friends are invited to come at 9;00am for coffee, donuts and some catching up. This is a special invite that I'm hoping many of you will be able to attend. The crop is for a great cause and the coffee and donuts are for some great people. The deadline to register is April 29th. Please specify on your registration if you are attending the reunion. (That way I will have enough coffee and donuts for all.) If you have any questions please feel free to call me. Thank you for supporting our VBS and for taking the time to remember how special Skrappaper (Susan & John) were to us!

Michele Mankowski
419-885-1541