Wednesday, January 30, 2008

random things

some random things about me

alrighty ... my friend wendy just did this and i looked like fun, so anyone who wants to play let me know in your comments!!

1. i love earthquakes! seriously. ok i know you all must think i'm crazy, but i love them. (but i always hope when they are over that the epicenenter was close --- so it wasn't that big, and no one was hurt). we haven't had one in awhile!

2. i once chipped my tooth in a stater bros. we were at the grocery store with my mom and my brother and i were fighting over who got to sit in the cart. well we decided i would sit on the bottom, so i climbed in and as scott went to move to the top he let the gate go and it swung down and hit me in the mouth. later on in high school the filling came out ... and my husband thought it was great fun to call me "chip" and he still does every once in a while.

3. i broke my sisters arm. on mother's day! (you're welcome mom!) seriously ... we were outside playing. and i wanted to jump on the trampoline and she was laying in the middle of it. i asked her (nicely i'm sure!!) to get off, and she wouldn't ... so i jumped on her! she held out her arm to stop me from jumping ON her and i broke her arm. my mom didn't think it was actually broken so they wrapped it up and didn't take her to the hospital until the next day. (don't worry nicole i love ya! you're my ceo --chief emotional officer!!)

4. when my siblings would fight with me when i was younger i would use makeup and pencils to make bruises darker, or just plain make bruises to try to get them into more trouble!

5. i've had a crush on my husband since i was 13! oh man was he sexy back then with his baggy pants falling off his butt, and that weird greaser hairstyle where its shaved on the side and long on top, but slicked back. mmmmmm, ooooooh yeaaaaaah!

6. i'm a pack-rat and i have a hard time letting things go!

7. i love baked potatoes. i'm hooked on them at the moment and currently almost eat them everyday for lunch. i'm going to have to post on how i make mine. they are divine! probably the best baked potatoes you've ever eaten ... EVER! come over and i'll make you some.

8. i hate pasta, raisins, bell peppers and coconut--not the flavor, just the texture

9. i miss gilmore girls. (sure i can keep myself busy with all the seasons on dvd ... but no new episodes? sad day!) i get reminded of this loss during the commercials for special k, which lauren graham narrates. oh lorelai ... i miss those blue eyes and witty banter!

10. my favorite thing every week is going to my parent's house every sunday for dinner. i look forward to it ALL week. we always have fun and ALWAYS have great food. (as we say in our family ... it's "top button" -- you know, like "top shelf" but button because it's sooooo good you eat so much and you have to un-button the top button. see? now you're gonna start saying it ... it's gonna catch on!

Monday, January 28, 2008

he will be missed

yesterday, the president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed on. he will be sorely missed! i know i cannot write anything as eloquently as so many others are ... and i love what my sister has written, so i pass you along to her blog today!

Friday, January 25, 2008

cold day remedy?

it was really cold last night and the rain is just pounding on the roof, the remedy? a fire in the fire place, the new (february) real simple magazie and a nice warm cup of hocho (that's hot chocolate for those of you who don't know.) want to enjoy some yourself? oh ... and i'm not a pig, one mug for me and one mug for robby. YUM! (and i finally took down the christmas stuff on my mantle, hurray for cleaning!)
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jodi's hocho mix
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3 cups powedered milk
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
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fill your desired cup 1/3 of the way with mix, cover with boiling water and whisk well. ENJOY! (will keep for 2 years, although i've never had any that long)

Thursday, January 24, 2008

cleaning my entry way

alright on today's agenda, clean up the entry way bookshelf (c'mon this is what people see when they enter my house) and do 2 loads of dishes. alright, i know these are things that most people take care of on a daily basis, but lately i haven't. maybe if i blog about it i'll care more. so here are the befores and after.before it was covered in CRAP and the books were all haphazard! now it cleaned off (except for place for our keys, wallets, phones, glasses, etc. and a small stack of magazine and mail (i.e. bills), oh and i put all the shoes away that just get kicked underneath. sheesh!!

my kitchen counter after 2 loads of dishes, huzzah! i can hear my dishwasher rumbling in the background. can you tell that dishes are my nemesis? not really i don't mind the dishes part ... it's the unloading of the dishwasher. seriously, i don't know why but i hate doing it. so my dishes sit on the counter until i get around to unloading! sheesh!! oh, and i also did 2 loads of laundry, overall it was a pretty productive day! oh ... and robby and i made a little head-way on our bedroom while aidan "helped" (read that as totally get in the way).

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

cleaning my bathroom

my sister and i have recently decided that we need to focus more on our homes and bodies to more fully be able to take care of our families better. (meaning clean more and excercise more). in order to do so we're checking in with each other and talking about our accomplishments, goals and setbacks. today i tackled my bathroom. this is the one only robby and i use, so i don't have to worry about guests ... needless to say i have neglected it for too long. i'll only post 1 before and after because the others are too embarrassing.i need to stop pileing up my dirty laundry on my floor and put my hair and makeup stuff away when i am done. sheesh! but i must say my bathroom is a heck of a lot more peaceful now!
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next up ... make my bedroom presentable (for this i will need robby's help as most of the problem is his things -- we've been living here for 8 months and his clothes are still not in the closet -- i'm sure you're gonna want to tell me to put them away, but half of his clothes don't fit him, and i don't know which half!!) wish me luck -- aidan's birthday is rapidly approaching and i need to make my entire house presentable!!!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

christmas pictures

i realize i never posted any pictures from christmas. here are some of my favorites ... adian's favorite part was the bows. seriously, sooo cute.

tyvek wallet and checkbook cover

HUZZAH!!! thank goodness for orders, here is the order that i just finished tonight and will ship to the customer tomorrow. it's a wallet and a checkbook cover, and for good measure i threw in 2 pocket mirrors. (sorry not available on the website right now ... but SOON. i'm working on new images!!!)
my new kodak easyshare 5300 printed these babies just beautifully. seriously ... i'm in LOVE with my new printer.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

friends are GREAT!

alright, soooo i've been a slacker in the posting department because my life has just been kinda crazy lately. aidan's been driving me NUTS (he wont sleep ... not during the day and not during the night). and then last tuesday while i was trying to update my website (http://www.jocole.net/) i screwed something up, and there was no repairing it. they had to completly re-install the software that runs my shopping cart and i lost EVERYTHING!! (customer info, order info, all the product descriptions/pictures i had on there ... EVERYTHING.) so on top of everything else i've been trying to get it all back online and decent. i finally got it to where i dont HATE it. it's not the best, but it'll do for now -- until i have some more time to work on it. (if you feel like stopping by and checking it out and letting me know if you see any typos, that would be grrrrrrrrr-eat!!)
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needless to say things have been kinda rough for me.
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this afternoon i was supposed to meet with a member of our relief society presidency (kristi) at another member's house who just had a baby. well i thought i knew where i was going, but was kinda worried because i couldn't find my phone before i left the house. i went anyways. i drove around for 12 minutes trying to find it, turned around went back home and mapquested it, found out i was in the right area and headed back down. i got there 25 minutes late!!! by then i was completely frustrated. i felt bad ... i *hate* being late.
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well it was very apparent of how frustrated i was, and later this evening i had a knock on my door. it was kristi. she had a plate of cookies. kristi, that meant the world to me. thanks for being my friend!!!

they were so appreciated and delicious (see i've been eating them). hopefully this week gets better!! so far, it's beginning to look up! yum, i'm off to eat another one before i go to bed.

Monday, January 14, 2008

aidan loves to explore

aidan loves to explore and get into EVERYTHING! as my neice hannah would say: "he's curious like curious george!" seriously!
(and yes the last four pictures were all on the same day, i don't dress my child in the same outfit everyday, i guess i was just a little picture crazy!)

Friday, January 11, 2008

it's here!!

we've been without a printer for MONTHS. it's been hard -- especially since my calling kinda requires it. you don't realize how much you take your printer for granted, until you have to live without. when ours stopped working we couldn't really afford to go out and buy a new one, plus i'm VERY picky. i wanted one that printed with pigment based inks, and not an epson (the last one was an epson and i was pretty disappointed -- and then it stopped working). anyways, after doing tons of research on printers and inks and continuous ink systems i was still baffled by which one would work for me. i really need something that uses pigment based inks because they are waterproof and that is what i need for my business, jocole.
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well, the other day after aidan woke up and i changed his diaper, we walked out into the living room and turned on the tv. (mind you this is usually not the first thing i do in the morning). and just guess what was glowing out of the screen. an infomercial. well time to change the channel ... WAIT ... it's an infomercial for a printer (wait a little longer) and it uses pigment inks!!!! huzzah! i did some research online and finally decided to purchase it on. it fullfills all the requirements, plus it is bluetooth wireless enabled, which means i don't have to have it connected to my computer -- bonus! i'm so excited! i wish you could all watch the infomercial and decide to buy one yourself. merry christmas to me!!
let me introduce you to the kodak easyshare 5300. i got it just barely before christmas and i started printing the second aidan went to sleep and i could get it all set up. i'm so excited. if you want to purchase one for yourself for $50 less than what they are selling for at kodak.com go check out kodakordernow.com. i am so glad it arrived before christmas because i had some printing i need to do for some presents!! LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

fun with photoshop

i've been playing around with photoshop trying to get new (read that as *better*) images for my website, http://www.jocole.net/. and i've been messing around with some images, here's one of my favorites. aidan and me in my mom's backyard ... all swirled up and looking like an impressionist painting. i love it, i want to blow it up and put it on my wall. so much fun. same picture, just black and white (for you nicole) it's actually really easy, and if you don't know how to do something the help how to box makes it easy!! play around with it and i bet you'll find some new cool tricks. i know you can make just part of the image black and white as well.
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stay tuned and i'll let you know when i get the new images on my website.

Monday, January 07, 2008

burda style

ok, i appoloize for not posting anything for awhile. i've been busy and lazy and just enjoying being busy and lazy. but whilst being lazy and surfing the internet (truly one of my favorite hobbies, i love finding random awesome websites) i thought i would share with my readers my new favorite website. it's called burda style and it's an open source sewing website. they have a collection of patterns (that you can download in pdf format and print at home!!!), a collection of how tos, a "sewpedia" (sewing encyclopedia), a forum and blog.
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ultimately the creators invision the members uploading their own patterns (in pdf format) so they can share and create together.
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what an interesting concept. i don't really enjoy sewing, but lately i've been wanting to sew more and more. and this site has pushed me over the top. i printed out a pattern on saturday and hope to sew a little tonight after aidan goes to sleep. when i'm done i'll post the results. i've had this itch to create something, so i'm hoping this website will give me the push i need to start sewing and focusing on my business again!
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so, if you like to sew i highly recommend heading on over to burdastyle.com and get inspired!!!!