Organize your Stuff (round 6): Week 2&3: WOYWW 172

Click here if looking for the Organize your Stuff Week 2&3 prompt.

Wednesday is here! Wednesday is here! Time to share What’s on your workdesk (WOYWW)! The lovely Lady Julia has the list at the always awesome Stamping Ground. Come on, We’ll show you ours if you will show us yours…

Here is our desk today:

Creative Me is a bit distracted by the upcoming return of our Fabulous Spouse…as is reflected in the card that she created…

Now it is time to channel inner Mary Poppins and tidy up the Scrap Room…if only it were that Easy! OCD Me wants her handbag!

(***The POW warns that it is family stuff from here down. Scroll to the end if here just for the desk***)

Fabulous Spouse is finally back here in the United States! Hopefully, he will be home by the end of the week from the stateside demobilization process. The POW is definitely sure that this is by far more stressful than having him on The Front, but we do not know why…probably has just a little to do with the no plane ticket home yet though. Here is a picture of him with the Seabees in Kuwait.

Oldest Child got some real playing time this week as his Freshman Football team won 46-0! He has finally decided that the offensive line is fun, because it makes the defensive line look slow and you can mix it up. Also, for now…he has a 4.0! (Woo Hoo!) However, football does come with a price…the dreaded Football Crud. The wet cough and runny nose that no antibiotic can cure…you just need to tough it out.

Illusive Middle Child was not so lucky. There was no joy in Mudville…He lost his game 20-6. However, he too got a lot of playing time, so he really cannot complain (although he did…all the way home) LOL.

Girl Friday is repeatedly reminding us that all she wants for her birthday is her Daddy, and when he is home that she will tell him that she loves him, and give him kisses and hugs. She also has a double ear infection, but that did not keep her from cheering at her brother’s game. After all, real girls cheer.

Organize your Stuff (round 6): Week 1: WOYWW #171

Week 1 prompt and link here.

Today is Wednesday, which means that we are half way through Week 1 of Organizing our Stuff, and it is also time to show off What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Where wonderful folks from around the world show off the neat, the tidy, the cluttered and the creative… We love them all, and are glad as always to be hostessed by the Fabulous Julia at the Stamping Ground.

Here is our desk today:

It is cluttered as usual, but as we are mid-crafty, Creative Me has not gotten to tidying up yet. …yeah… that’s it…

This is the card that Creative Me made using the scraps from our Monday layout, and detritus that PA Me missed when it was her turn in the rotation to clean up. Yes, those are photo scraps behind the words!  It was inspired, by of all things our DVR'd episode of FaceOff where they had to design makeup for Alice in Wonderland characters infected with Resident Evil Zombie viruses...seriously.

When we stop to think about our scrap space, OCD Me has decided that she loves the ink and Copic storage (even if Creative Me and the Inner Hoarder would LOVE more). The scrap storage is working pretty well too.

However, the general clutter, and yes…*sigh* the volume of memorabilia is just TOO MUCH! We are not going to fit another desk in here, so we need to clear off some real estate…stat!... before Creative Me dies a slow death from under use… we’re not dead yet!

(***The POW’s warning: the rest is family stuff…and lots of American football pictures. Scroll to the end if just here for the desk.***)

Well, here is another picture of our favorite Patriot, Fabulous Spouse. A day after the September 11th Anniversary, we can tell you that WE will never forget, as we feel officially trifecta-ed with Fabulous Spouse on deployment in his submarine for the original September 11th, a trip to Iraq for the Surge, and now a trip to Afghanistan… and not even any frequent flier miles to show for it! Here is to supporting The Front!

At the Homefront… we are living the American dream…er, pastime… football! Oldest Child had his first High School Varsity home game…where he played his trombone in the Pep Band.

Girl Friday and Illusive Middle Child had practice during the first half, but the good thing about a home game is that we just had to get our hand stamped and pick them up from the back fields and walk them in during halftime!

We even got our pic snapped by the field photographer! (We are in the green shirt to the left of  the mom in the #12)

The next day, the field belonged to the Little Guys, as it was Junior League Football time. Girl Friday cheered for both the 1st/2nd Grade Team, and the 3rd/4th Grade Team (her brother’s team).

Illusive Middle Child was channeling his Inner All-Star, as he was a Team Captain and started Offense and Defense. The score was 42-6, and he only got a rest when they had to kick-off after the goals and when they finally put in the second string.

Then, it was Freshman Football time. It is the second game of the season, but it is the first one for which Oldest Child was eligible (he broke his ankle the second day of football camp back in July). With Illusive Middle Child as the ball boy...

and Oldest Child on the Offensive Line (2 series in the 3rd quarter and 1 in the 4th), they too got a win…14-6!

So, if you are keeping score…

Oldest Child:2 games, 4 practices
Illusive Middle Child: 2 games, 3 practices
Girl Friday: 2 games, 3 practices
…oh, and we had Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church (actually, we missed church this week *blush*), and oh yeah…school is in session!

Happy Hopping!

Organize your Stuff (round 5): WOYWW #170

Wow! Wednesday! Where have you been? Or rather, where have we been? Summer is whirlwindy (OCD Me notes: not a real word) in the best of times, this year it was a positively “Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore”, Category IV twister! So, sans four Wednesdays or so, we are back with the always Awesome Julia and the What’s on your Workdesk Wednesday folks over at the Stamping Ground (albeit a late post! LOL!)

Here is our horribly messy desk:

And here is the card that Creative Me whipped out for Big Picture Class’s free Big Idea Festival’s prompt #1: A Card.

As a side note, OCD Me has taken the keys to the house back from the POW, and next week will start Round 6 of Organize your Stuff! It will be the good, the bad, and the UGLY! (Yes, the POW was able to talk the TLC crew out of filming the scrap room for their next season of Hoarders… for now…).

(***POW Warning: the rest of this is Family Stuff. Skip to the end, if just here for the desk!***)

Things are finally winding down for Fabulous Spouse on the Front. Here he is after receiving his “End of Tour Awards” (The medals for not getting blowed up, and doing a good job 18 hours a day working for the Cause). He is farthest to the left. So, within the next four weeks or so, he should be coming home… hence OCD Me taking a renewed interest in the house.

As for the rest of the tribe, football and cheerleading has been our life. Here is Girl Friday at practice in the red shorts.

Illusive Middle Child is doing double duty as a Junior League football player, and a Freshman Football Team ball boy. This picture was after the first game…which they lost 12-14. Oldest Child is obviously upset. He did not suit up, as he is not eligible until next week for play due to breaking his ankle at summer football camp.

Finally, here is the token back to school shots. Oldest child was first (predawn, 6:35 school start time).

Then the little guys were off… (*sigh*… first time that Girl Friday did not want to wear a dress for the first day…rhinestone jeans are in now!)



Happy WOYWW!

Organize your Stuff (round 5):WOYWW 163

It has been another two week gap, but Happy WOYWW! It is another What’s on your Workdesk Wednesday, when we wander the world watching the wonders that others create, or peep at the places where they perform their craftiness. As always, the Fabulous Julia of the Stamping Ground is our hostess!

Summer is so busy! …and so is our desk!

We must confess that there is no new crafts though. Creative Me is getting ready to paint the kitchen and living room, and with The POW focused on football, PA Me has been runing the home show. So… it is just a desk shot today.

(**The POW warning: the rest is family stuff. Skip to the end if just here for the desk!**)

Now new pictures from The Front. Fabulous spouse is busy doing things of which he cannot speak, and actually preparing to come home in a few months! (As the POW often says, it is amazing how time flies while it is standing still!)

Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday are still enjoying the sunshine of summer. Illusive Middle Child is wrapping up week four of sailing camp. He is enjoying the challenge of moving up to the bigger, two-man FJ’s that his big brother was sailing earlier in the summer.

Meanwhile, Girl Friday is at art camp. However, in their free time, there is still lots to explore in the Outer Banks, and here they are snorkeling…and discovering a hermit crab.

Oldest Child has started the all-consuming High School football season (#54 practice jersey). It is amazing to see how he is listening to the coaches and improving with each session. We are in the football camp phase right now, and he LOVES it!

However, as of Tuesday, he is also discovering that into every athlete’s life, a little pain must fall. He rolled his ankle, and the next couple days will see how good/ bad it is.

He also has some new Foreign Exchange brothers (well, for two weeks, at least). We were an emergency, last minute Host Family. We like them a lot, and it gives Oldest Child somebody other than his Xbox friends with which to hang out… when not at sports.

As for us, we made our annual pilgrimage to the Rails to Ales Festival in Cle Elum, WA. This year it was a Girls Only event (especially as Fabulous Spouse was half a world away). It was amazing to see old friends and faces (Fabulous Spouse- the guy from Sierra Nevada who stays at the B&B says hi!), and to make new memories as well!

Here is to hoping that we are more crafty next week!

Organize your Stuff (round 5): WOYWW161 & Independence Day 236!

Happy WOYWW! …and to those of us in the United States… Happy 4th of July a.k.a. Independence Day! So, you know about the 4th, but what is this WOYWW of which we speak? It is What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday. The day hen crafters (and those of us who like to snoop) hop around the blogosphere to see a world of workspaces and projects! (and make a friend or two along the way). As always, we are hostessed by the Fabulous Lady Julia of the Stamping Ground.

Our desk…again is but our laptop and hard drive and digi bits…

While the POW is uber happy to still be on holiday, Creative Me cannot wait to get home to her more tactile papers, paints and inks. That is not to say that Creative Me cannot whip up digi magic when the need arises. Here is a layout Creative Me snapped together from an event that happened just yesterday…over in Afghanistan!

Photoshop Elements and the internet are a wonderful thing! Who’d a thunk that pictures taken 24-hours ago, half a world away could already be scrapbooked!

(**The POW Warning: family stuff from here down. Scroll to the end if you are here just for the desk**)

For a treat, we have a picture of Fabulous Spouse’s desk. This was taken on his birthday last week (note that the cupcake has no frosting…stupid mail monkeys lost the frosting-mailed at the same time as the cupcakes-…until 2 days after his birthday). Big changes in the works for Fabulous Spouse on the Front as his boss is headed back to the United States… which means a new Major General. (Ok, Creative Me cannot help but breaking out into the Pirates of Penzance’s “I am the very model of a modern Major General” every time we see Major General, just because it makes milk come out of OCD Me’s nose. You cannot take us anywhere).

Oldest Child is learning to drive… the riding lawnmower. He actually got most of the grass…ok 75% the first go round. He is settling into teenager-dom in style, preferring to hang out in the house on his Kindle then with his family. Ok, unless food is involved or said Kindle is threatened to accompany us, he will opt out. I guess it does not help that it is between 90-100 degrees F (32.2-37.7 degrees C) here.

Illusive Middle Child is taking to sailing like…well the son of a Sailor! (and grandson of a Harbor Pilot). He is mastering the one man Opti, and he and Oldest Child took out Grampy’s two man sailboat. He has managed to not capsize yet (we were pretty darned sure that the two man boat was going down several times during her maiden voyage).

Girl Friday was amazed by the thunder and lightning storm that came through and the 85 mph winds that accompanied it (we do not have thunder storms in Washington). However, the Beach is her favorite (that and trying to convince us that a hermit crab needs to come home with us). We are convinced that half the North Carolina seashells will make their way back home.

Finally, seafood! We went to the Crab Claw for the bucket of seafood (crab, mussels, clams, shrimp)…and Girl Friday opted for dinosaur chicken nuggets. We are pretty sure that it is the first time in recent memory that the adults finished dinner before the kids!

Have a happy 4th of July! Thank you Fabulous Spouse and all the soldiers, sailors, and marines that sacrifice to keep our Freedom! Happy Blog hopping!

Organize your Stuff (round 5): WOYWW 160

Wow! It is Wednesday again! We know, we know. Wednesday happens the same time every week, and yet it always seems to catch us by surprise! Today is WOYWW (what’s on your work desk Wednesday). It is our chance to share our desk and peek at those (who are way more crafty) around the world. The always Awesome Julia at the Stamping Ground is our hostess with the mostess (and the POW envies her organization to pull this off every week)!

Here is our desk this week…

Ooops, that is not a desk, it is a laptop! Well that is because we are at my parents for the 4th of July/ Independence Day holiday with the tribe. Rather than taking a bunch of stuff on the plane, the POW decided that a laptop and our digi files was all we needed.

Here is the layout so far… it still needs some input from Fabulous Spouse, but we are working our way through the disc of photos we received in the beginning of the month.

The POW also wants to apologize on behalf of all of us for missing the last two weeks. The kids’ last two weeks of school were insane! So, we have been in hyper overdrive overcommittedness (ODC Me wants to let you know that our spell check does not recognize that as a real word). Real words or not, there has been very little crafty time, bloggy time, or down time.

Creative Me has been stuck in the car with the rest of us going from point A to point B to point C and then back to A with the rest of us. Therefore, the only craftiness that we have is a digi page that we did in Photoshop for our 31 Days class with Ali Edwards at Big Picture Classes (the focus is the journaling prompts not necessarily the layout), and now this. We have a laptop, will travel!

The POW and OCD me have been also in discussions. We have come to the realization that round 5 of the Organization Challenge is derailed beyond repair in our lives. So, we are going to regroup, enjoy our vacation at Grammy’s house, and perform an intervention with PA Me and the Inner Hoarder when we return. If that does not work, Creative Me knows where we keep the colored duct tape…. Hmmmm..

(***The POW warns that there is family stuff from this part out. Scroll to the end if you are just here for the desk***)

Fabulous Spouse is still working 18 hour days for the General on the Front. As a birthday present, he got to go on a field trip for 36 hours (no pictures from that yet). Our mail monkeys (the same ones that fixed the airplane in Madagascar 2) delivered the box of cupcakes, the box of REI socks, but not the box with the frosting, candles and other snacks. We guess that is the price for living in a war zone! However, he did get a picture of his P90X workout team. (sing with us: one of these things is not like the others...ours is the one in yellow) :)

It is hard to believe that Oldest Child is finally moving up to High School! He spent the last two weeks getting a bunch of awards (requiring being driven to extra events).

This was made interesting by the addition of the character/ female girl, "She-who-must-not-be-named".  Oldest Child ditched us at the Track banquet to spend time eating with She-who-must-not-be-named, then She came to his concert to watch him recieve the Most Improved award. Oldest Child even dressed up for the last Thursday of school, where the 8th grade semi formal...and She-who-must-not-be-named was in attendance.

He even missed the last day of Freshman Football week for this! He is the boy in the middle with the bright green top!

As for the others...the little guys have been afoot making mishief.  We celebrated their 1/2 birthdays on Father's Day, and had a wild time at the local pool!  With winter birthdays, there is nothing like celebrating when your kids CAN come, in the spring!

Next we were off to brave the air travel from Pacific Northwest to the Outer Banks of NC (with only a 4.5 hour layover).  That was ok. We were on a mission to track down some Chic fil A chicken (not served in Washington...ok there is one in Bellingham, but that is practically Canada).

Tummies full, we arrived, and the fun began! Family time at the pool when the seas were too rough to take the boat out.

Mongolian BBQ with real East Coast Wonton Soup (mmmm) a quart got sent home by the Inner Hoarder and she ate it for lunch.

Finally, it was Monday, and the boys were off for two weeks of sailing camp! We wish them well and very few capsizes.  We love them!

We will be here to blog hop and chat back, so please drop us a line!

Organize your Stuff (round 5): WOYWW 157

Welcome wonderful Wednesday and all that is WOYWW (What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday) where we wander and watch the countertops, benches, laps, floors or anywhere that crafty happens around the globe. It is hosted, as always, by the wonderfully awesome Julia at the Stamping Ground.

For starters, the POW was super excited to find two little goodies in the post today. Our first ATCs from abroad! (Wow, her Majesty’s mail is fast! We are afraid that our lowly mail monkeys are not nearly as efficient).

Thank you so much Jo (Twiglet) and Jill! The POW assures you that while delayed getting to the post office, they are enroute. (PS- We love you mail lady).

Next, of course is our desk…

Stamps:Avocado Arts; Ink:Momento, Copic
Paper:Bazzill, Cratepaper

In the wonderful world of crafting, Creative Me has been working on some extra ATC’s for those extra gals who agreed to swap with us last week, so that they could be mailed, a Father’s Day card (forgot to photograph), our 31 Days prompts, and this…

We have been busy! Which of course means that the craft room has not gotten any cleaner. PA Me keeps telling the POW and OCD Me that we will get to it after school gets out…which is soon.

(**The POW’s warning: The rest is Family stuff. Scroll to the end if you are here just for the desk!**)

Fabulous Spouse finally sent us some pictures from his new office on the Front. He is the guy in the middle of the back row that looks like he is hiding, because he should really be in the front row. (PS- Fabulous Spouse is 5’ 10 “ which makes everyone else giants). He is currently working 15+ hour days, so we keep hoping that that whatever sleep he gets is quality sleep! (Silly war, not going on during normal working hours!)

Oldest Child finished up his Middle School Track career. He also went to his Boy Scout Order of the Arrow Ordeal, and passed. Since it rained this weekend the POW worried about him…sleeping under the stars in nothing but his sleeping bag and a tarp.

Illusive Middle Child was boy scout camping as well. This was his first “official” campout with the Boy Scouts (he is a Webelos as of Thursday, and those cub scouts ARE allowed to camp with the big boys). He played all sorts of skill games, shot archery, was pulled in the human chariot races, made meals, and got to climb the giant pioneering tower one campsite over. He LOVED it.

Girl Friday camped as well (at Great Wolf Lodge with the Girl Scouts) and then spent the week prepping for the 1st Grade School Musical. The theme was Old MacDonald, and her class was all pigs. She had a blast, and if we knew how to embed video, we just might have!

Have a great WOYWW! Off to go hoppinng!