{ A Mother's Day Meltdown. }

Okay, I'm just going to say it.....

i am not a real big fan of Mothers Day. in fact, for me it's just another day of the week.

i still cook, clean, and pick up after my kids just like i do 365 days a  year.

but today's is mothers day, maybe today will be different... NOPE.

this morning i was yelled at by one of my teenagers. i know, i know, he's a teenager. it's comes with the territory.

but, then as i was driving the kids to church, i said out loud, after more yelled words from the one of my teenagers, how I hate this stupid holiday and that it's no different then any other day of the week for me.

then i quickly slide on my huge "celebrity style" sunglasses so my kids couldn't see the tears streaming down my cheeks.

was i acting like a child and having a pity party?

yes.

i.

was.

i guess, i was expecting more from my day. and i'm blaming the outburst on my hormones.

because i can...

i'm skipping church today to stay home with one of my kiddos. he's caught some dang cold bug and is coughing up his right lung.

i think i was home last year with another sick kiddo.

it's all very groundhog day to me.

i did manage to spent a few minutes online and i have to ask,

are all your Mothers Days as perfect as your instagram/facebook posts seem to be?

i hope they are, and part of me is completely jealous of the fact that MANY of you get breakfast in bed.

the closest i've ever come to breakfast in bed is, when we stay in a hotel and we walk down stairs for the free complimentary breakfast.

i will spend my "holiday" doing the following things.

 Dirty dishes in the sink

no, i won't be cleaning my boys bedroom but it just makes me frustrated seeing all this mess. 

ALL THE TIME.

loads of laundry, lots from having 7 people in our house and lots from the boys camp-out. 

does anyone notice the cooler in the background? 

apparently we now store the cooler in the laundry room. 

don't get me wrong, i think it's great to have a day to celebrate all things Mother and

i do love being a mother to my kids.

i fiercely love all 5 of them

and i have found being a mother one of the hardest, & most rewarding jobs i've ever had. 

do i feel rewarded everyday? nope.

but every once in a while one of more of my kids will remind me that i'm doing a pretty good job, most days.

being a mother has made me more grateful for my own Mother. she has done so much for me and still does. i want her to know that i love her very much.

i also love my Mother-in-Law because without her i wouldn't have my amazing husband and frankly she had a pretty big hand in how he turned out. 

and i like him alot. :)

i ran across this photo yesterday while purging our "shop". this is 1 of maybe 2 pictures that i can think of that's just of my mom, my sister and me. it just made me stop and think about all the women in my life.

so, i'm going to buck up & slap a huge smile on my face and enjoy my "day". i mean the day's not over yet. it has to get better, right?!!

 my hat is off to all you amazing mothers out there, i can only hope to aspire to be more like each and everyone of you more each day. 

photo via web

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{ It's My 38th Birthday }

yup, it's my day today!

i've had a few reminders....

this was my favorite reminder early this morning. 

i also have a few things planned,

1. trip to the DMV to get my license renewed

2. spend 2 hrs at school for the human growth & development class with my oldest girlie

3. pick up kids from school

4. get a hair cut

5. clean the house

6. do more laundry

7. clean something

yup i am full of fun today.

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{ Happy Birthday To Me! }

Yup, sadly it's that time of year again.

It's my birthday today....

Photo via Pinterest

 This year has been a real treat, 

we've been without water for almost 3 days.

Right now the "Domestic Pump Service Guy" 
(really his business card calls him that-I joke not)

 is here trying to pull our pump out of the ground. 

Poor guy... It's only 180 feet down there, so he's here for awhile.

photo via web
Also I decided to start getting more healthy, so I started walking/jogging while Addison was at pre-school. 

Well, Thursday I obviously over did it.

Photo via web- we all know this is SO NOT ME!
I screwed up my knee big time and have been in bed since Friday night in P.A.I.N. I'm happy to say that, today I'm feeling a bit better. I can walk on it without cringing or crying.

Now if only I could take a shower, do laundry, dishes, or heck flush the toilet like normal instead of pouring water into the bowl to "flush" it out. 

On the up side, my birthday gift this year is a new well pump hidden 180+ feet in the ground.

Yeah turning 37 this year freaking rocks. 

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{ Stepping Away.... }

From the Coupon Binder that is....

I've been couponing....

There, I said it.

But lately I have found that couponing is a job and seeing as I already have several jobs, coupons are one thing that I need to let go of.

I personally feel like it's taking up too much of my time.

Having to:
 hunt down the best coupons,

print & cut them out,

match them up

 and then go to several different stores. 

It's just too much for me.

With 5 kids & 1 daycare child everyday along with all the things I have to do daily 

I just do not have the time or the energy for it anymore.

I have several friends who coupon, and they leave me in awe of the deals they can get. I think it's fabulous that they have such a knack at this craft.

I guess it's just not one of my natural talents and ya know what? 
I'm okay with it.

I did a major purge of my coupon binder last week and I have to say, I felt relief after emptying out most of it's contents.

  I still love Coupons and will use them to stock up when my favorite items (Dishwasher soap & Laundry soap) go on sale. But I think that's where I will leave my friendship with coupons.

On isle 10, the soap isle. 

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{ 36 & A Giveaway }

Today I am 36.  

It's officially here.....

Today will be spent cleaning and working outside.

Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate a birthday don't ya think?!

In honor of the big 3.6.

 I will be giving away 3 Pressed Peonies of your color choice to 1 of my lucky and awesome readers!

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what you did on your last birthday. 

Easy as Birthday Cake!

Well, duty calls I better get back to work!

Good Luck & have a Fabulous Weekend!

Giveaway will close on 4/26/11

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{ My Holiday OCD }

 Hi my name is Rachel and I have Christmas Tree OCD. 

This is where I hear everyone say in unison, 
Hi Rachel.....

No the tree is not perfect, yet. Yes this was taken today and yes I know I'm early.

They say admitting ones faults if the first sign of acceptance so I will be the first one to say that........

YES I have Christmas Tree OCD & YES I am the only one that is allowed to decorate our Christmas tree. 

There I said it, its officially in Cyber Space.

I know this makes me a terrible mother as my kids will never grow up saying that they loved the holiday tradition where we all gathered together to decorate the tree while listening to Christmas music and sipping hot cocoa. Yeah, THAT pretty much will never happen and frankly I came to grips with this fact years ago.

But I'm sorry, to me the tree has to be perfect, it's just something I can't get over. After I get the tree all decorated, I will sit and stare at it & more often then not you will find me moving things here and there.

I once let the kids help me a decorate the tree and when they went to bed and finally were asleep I rearranged the whole flipping thing 

(see told you it was ocd). 

If it helps any, I do have little Christmas trees in each of my kids bedrooms that they get to decorate themselves how ever they like. I am hoping one day I will let the kids help again maybe when they've grown. But until then this is how it's going to be.
Please tell me I'm not alone here? :)

Our tree from last year.
Well I better get back to my unfinished tree.

But first I get to go on a date with my oldest, we are going to watch Harry Potter 7!

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{ Happy Birthday To Me! }

That's right I'm smack in the middle of the Ol' Thirties today!
It's all good though, I'll be spending my day with 2 sick boys and most likely cleaning the bathroom or something glamorous like that. I'm secretly hoping my day is filled with more than cleaning the royal thrown, but we'll see!

I learned whilst surfing tonight that I share my birthday with the following celebrity's. William Shakespeare, Valerie Bertinelli, Sandra Dee, George Lopez, Lee Majors, & Shirley Temple just to name a few.
How's that for a little mindless trivia first thing in the morning? :)
Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!

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{ Retreat & A Scripture Bag }

I totally forgot to post about this cute scripture bag that I made for Brinley, so here it is. It's not perfect I didn't really use much of a pattern just some measurements. I think it turned out okay for my first try.

I got the idea from my awesome bloggy friend Shauna.
Yes, her bags are what mine is supposed to look like, but what are you gonna do. :) Check out her blog she comes up with the cutest stuff and her kids are all so dang cute,

Today I will be driving through this beautiful City (Spokane) on my way to Idaho to have a Retreat with my girlfriends!

 My mom is staying here with my kids THANKS MOM and I won't be home until Monday night LATE! 
I'm sooooooo looking forward to spending time as Rachel and not Mom for a while. I have the most awesome group of girlfriends, we laugh, scrap & eat (not in that order) till the wee hours in the morning.

And this is my destination.

Don't you just feel sorry for me now?

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{ Dating Ikea }

That's right I have a date with our "Local" Portland Oregon IKEA TOMORROW!!! I figure our date will start between 12 or 1, gotta love that 4 hour drive. :)

No kids, only my Mom & I then I am making a stop to visit one of my best-est friends "Ellen" whom I haven't seen in years!! I'm leaving early in the morning so I better get some shut eye!

Now where did I put that GPS????

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{ M&M's, Dye & Done}

Guess who had her 2 yr check up, & got M&M's during shots?
Yeah, she rocked those shots!

And guess who dyed her hair dark brown for the first time ever while in Idaho hanging with her best gal pals?!

Before.....

After!
Thanks you Shauna & Eleasha I LOVE IT!

And guess who has reached her capacity for Christmas stitchery's? Sorry gal's I'm completely booked, these take time to make and I have 11 orders to get through. If I get them finished soon and find I have time for a few more I'll let you know.

Thanks!

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{ Captains Log }

Day 9:

Adult female running fever of 103.6 with chills followed by sweating. Lots of coughing with very little sleep, time of sleep last night 6:00 am, awake at 8:00 am.

7 yr old female running similar fever with out much coughing, seems to be improving.

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{ It's A Date! }

Him

+ me (minus the camera)

='s 1 fun date with my oldest watching this tonight.

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{ A Faux Post }

I'd like to say a big Thanks to all of you that left me Birthday wishes. I wish I could say that it was a Happy birthday but it was more on the side of a Crappy Birthday. It was so bad I wish I had this cake because seriously it say it all.
We had Ice Cream from McDucks instead.

I won't bore you with the details but let me just say that I'm glad my "30 Faux" birthday is done and over with.

Okay now on with other things, I have been wanting to put something above my "Faux" buffet table for a while now so I decided to throw some plates on the wall to see how I like them. Not sure if I'm loving it all the way, it seems to need something extra. So I guess you could say that the jury is still out on this one.
Don't mind the cute blurry (almost) nine year old boy in the picture...

I am also trying to find and get pictures printed so I can finally use these frames that I got on clearance at Target ohhhhh... about 3 years ago. Good thing I bought all 5 that they had, little did I know I would be having a surprise 5th baby! :) These are on the opposite wall next to the plates.
I'm trying to decide if I like the frames white or if I should go black.

Decisions are the worst! And what makes it even more depressing is when you don't really have a grasp on what your decorating style really is. 

I guess you could say I have
"Faux Style".

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{Just Me}

EDITED: My blog has been found Saucy by SITS (link is over there on the left)! I was so excited to see this when I woke up this morning. Who knew I was so Saucy? Must be the hair cut & my ever witty charm! Yeah right! Thanks SITS!

So I'm totally stepping out on a limb here and posting pictures of myself. If any of you know me at all & I've said it more than once on here that I LOATH any and all pictures of myself although & I have posted 1 or 2. But I've decided that I need to accept me for who I am. I'm not going to change overnight, I am a mother, a mother who has had 5 kids, my body has gone by the wayside along with my looks. I joke with my friends that the older I get the uglier I get. But I'm working on it SO here I am embracing {ME}. I think we all need to do this every once in a while, if only to remind us of Who we really are... So I'm stepping out from behind my camera (kinda) to say hi my name is Rachel Berry and this is who I am. Feel free to join in or just leave me a comment and tell me how freaking crazy I am for posting this. I know I'm second guessing clicking that Publish Post button below. But here goes.... Gasp!Yeah I know, I'm a total dork it's my version of "shooting" myself. Like the camera shooting me wasn't enough. Plus I was entertaining a little 3 yr old boy who was out of camera range. Okay I'm going to go put a paper bag over my head now.Post note: I once heard from a fellow blogger and now friend Chris that it's nice to put a face with the bloggy name. So here ya go. But yeah I'm pretty much still mortally embarrassed & I think I'll go throw up now.

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{And I'm Back}

Just thought I would check in and say Hey! We got home from the coast on Thursday night and I immediately repacked my bags and left for my scrapbook getaway with my friends Shauna & Calie. Holy good times! I laughed until my head hurt and scrapped till my eyeballs fell out, so much fun!

I have much to post about but it's going to take a post or two. I have to get back into mom/wife mode & finish up my craft for girls camp on Thursday so I'll be posting stuff here and there as I get my to do list checked off. Anyway just wanted to let you all know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I was just off playing with my friends.

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A Little Hair Cut.

I braved the Friday the 13th curse and got a new do & took a picture of my big bad ugly self! And in while sitting in the hot seat I made a major decision (for the hair that is) And I GOT BANGS! I haven't seen bangs on this head for I don't know how long. I'm pretty sure that I like it, but then again it has only been 3 hours and 46 minutes since I got the chop & my love for it may change by tomorrow. Lets hope not.

On another note it's the Mother Daughter outing tonight and Me and the Girls are skipping. So I told Miss Brinley that I would take her out for Ice cream and maybe a movie of some sort. Lloyd has to work all weekend because they are having a Warehouse sale so we won't see him until tomorrow night sometime. So it's going to be just me and the kiddies this weekend. Oh and my new hair.

Alright you can all stop laughing now & get up off of the floor

I so loath pictures of myself. Yuck!

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So Busy!

I am still here, I am just running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get stuff organized and cleaned before all my company comes, my brother and his 3 sons are coming tomorrow afternoon & then my parents will be here Saturday morning. With Parker's Baptism and baseball games and trying to get meals organized and well life in general I just feel like I am getting nothing done and it doesn't help that Addison knows that I have stuff to get done and has decided to be on some freakish baby crying binge. OKAY I GIVE!

Sorry if you find the above picture offensive, but frankly it's how I feel, minus the pets. Just picture the pets as my other children. Well the warden is yelling at me to get back in line, must go finish shoveling my rock. How many more years do I have left in my sentence?

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Another Year & None The Wiser

Today is just a reminder that I am yet another year older, and as my title say's none the wiser. A couple of my kids are just peachy today, I wish they weren't so crabby. I need to be spring cleaning, but have no desire to do ANYTHING. Today I just feel blah! Well off I go to force myself to clean the toilet. Wish me luck.

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Busy, Busy, Busy!

I'm here, I've just been super busy getting Parker's Baptism announcements ready (his birthday is next month) and I'm also helping my friend Maria with her son Ethan's Baptism announcement as well. And I'm trying to make a chenille bib for Addison as she needs something stylish to wear while eating. I promise to post a picture when I get it done.

And I am also still quilting. I need to put together the one from the quilt class and I am also working on the Pickles and Ice cream one as well. I have way to many irons in the fire. Oh I almost forgot, I also have 2 no 3 friends that want blog help. Hopefully I can get it all done and keep my house semi-clean in the process. Wish me luck!

Here's my progress so far on the Pickles and Ice Cream. I am so stupid for trying to make this quilt. It only has like 5 thousand little squares. Never again. But I'll finish the thing. In this picture I still have to attach the second row to the first. Sigh. So much to do, so little time.

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{ Amish White Bread Recipe }

Photo via: Tastykitchen.com 

That's right folks, I make bread. Me, myself, I, Rachel - & it's none of that bread machine stuff. I've been making this bread for about 2 weeks now and it actually comes out so yummy every time.
And that is a miracle in and of itself because the last time I made bread was way back in High School & it didn't turn out (my dad called it toast bread) so I decided that maybe yeast & me just don't work well together.
I know some of you may be saying so, what's the big deal I make bread all the time. Well to me having bread actually turn out & taste good.
Can I get a hallelujah here! ;)

Amish White Bread

2 cups warm water
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast.

Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. Mix salt and oil into the yeast.

Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat.

Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Edited to Add: I mix in all my flour and then leave it in my Kitchen Aid and let it beat the crap out of it for 8 minutes, then I take it out and hand knead it for 2 more minutes on a lightly floured surface. 
Then, let it do the whole rise thing.

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