Winner!!

Well, actually, I think we're all winners in that we've found (hopefully) some new ways to combat the dreaded mosquito. :) I'm totally going to try some of these. Oh, and not to discount the recommendation at all but I have to mention that I've tried Skin So Soft before. My mom was an Avon rep part of the time while I was growing up. She tried it on all of us. To my recollection, it worked on my youngest three siblings but my brother and I seemed to attract the darned mosquitoes even more when we used the Skin So Soft. Go figure, eh?

In any case, the winner of my giveaway, by random draw, is JOY! (who posted about the tobacco leaves) Joy, please email me and I'll get a fun prize out to you shortly!

Thanks to all!! (And feel free to email me with any more tricks if you come across them!)

Yes, I know I should let it go...(giveaway!)

...but I have to reiterate how much I hate mosquitoes. :) Noah's soccer practices (twice a week) are just swarming (I think there's a canal nearby or something) and I don't think I'll survive the next eight weeks like this. Last night, I wore long corduroy pants and a sweatshirt in attempts to protect myself. Fortunately, the weather had cooled off enough that this wasn't too bad, though I would probably have been comfortable (temperature-wise) in just shorts and a tee. I hate using the spray stuff, though...it smells bad and I always feel like I need to shower afterward, know what I mean?

It's not just me, btw. I've talked to at least three other people in the last couple days who are having similar issues. We all agree that someone needs to make a pill that people can take to change their body chemistry to make them not appealing to mosquitoes. Seriously. 

So. I know someone mentioned vitamin B and others have told me that garlic helps (I need more details, though!). Tell me, folks, what are your mosquito repelling tricks? I'm desperate here and will give away a gift just for the sake of ideas! Please share your thoughts/tricks in the comments...any and all are welcome! Oooh. And I'll take tips on how to decrease the stupid itching after the fact, too! One tip per comment (so if you have lots of ideas, you'll have better odds of winning), and I'll draw a name Saturday night and send the lucky winner a little something.

Moving forward...

Once upon a time, we bought Noah a bike for his fifth birthday. The following spring, despite having ridden the bike some during the fall (complete with training wheels still), Noah decided he didn't want to learn to ride a bike and declared walking to be his preference. (This, we believe, was directly related to having fallen from the bike once or twice...never seriously. We didn't push it, though. And he's definitely seen all the neighborhood kids zooming around on their bikes so knows that it can be fun. Cautious as ever, though, he was adamant. We resigned ourselves to wait.)

Fast forward to this summer. Noah (now approaching his eighth birthday) still refused to even consider riding a bike. He continued to prefer walking/running while his younger brothers rode their trikes around the cul-de-saq. Asher, meanwhile, seemed content with his little Kettler trike (inherited after Noah had moved up to the bike almost three years ago). Neither boy wanted or fit that bike we'd bought Noah when he was five. We happily gave it to a friend.

Then, recently, I had a revelation. I sat Asher down to talk...I wanted to make sure he understood that even though Noah didn't want to learn to ride a bike there was no reason that he couldn't learn to ride a bike. Aha! Asher, once freed to contemplate doing something Noah hadn't already done, was genuinely interested in a bike. Noah continued in his insistence that walking was good.

This past Tuesday, then, we stopped at the new Toys R Us location near us (they'd just opened a new store) and figured we'd look at the bikes. To my surprise (and delight...hee hee), both Asher and Noah found bikes they wanted to try out and proceeded to ride around and around the bike section. (Micah took a liking to a cute little pink Radio Flyer trike that, um, we weren't interested in.) ;)

So, we left with those same two bikes. (I did make them try some others and had Nathan come to the store to inspect the bike choices and all...but the boys insisted that those initial two were the ones...and since the floor models had only been out for a few days, and since time is valuable, we went ahead and got the pre-assembled floor models.)

Since Tuesday, all the boys want to do when not at soccer practice or music class or otherwise occupied is ride their bikes:

Yes, the training wheels are likely to stay on for a good while, but at least they're riding! :) I'm so happy to see them, particularly Noah, venturing forth and enjoying the ride...finally. He's even fallen off a time or two and just gotten right back up! (Fortunately, btw, our cul-de-saq is a wonderfully quiet one with very attentive drivers.) Micah, incidentally, has been offered Asher's Kettler trike but insists that he likes his plastic "trike bike" better.

So. It's good. :) Now if I could only get them to stop fighting about who "wins" all the time...

Though there are plenty of more important things...

I'd like to officially proclaim my desire that all mosquitoes everywhere be GONE! Ugh. I hate mosquitoes. Thoroughly. Unfortunately, they seem to very much like me, as I'm constantly being accosted. As evidence (though I don't really need further evidence given my lifetime experiences with the blasted bug), at Noah's soccer practice last night I suffered at least 20 bites from just the waist up (probably the same on my legs but I refuse to count). I have bites even on my stomach, people! (and, yes, I was wearing a shirt and long pants) I had people swatting me in attempts to help. Because apparently all the mosquitoes in the area decided to focus on me. Not one of the boys received a bite. Not one. Argh.

Hence. I hereby file this complaint. So there.

September KOTM

I'm still sifting through the pictures from last week in Estes Park. :) In the meantime, here are three layouts I just finished using some of the awesome goodies from the Creating Keepsakes September KOTM by Lisa Bearnson. The kit has a fabulous variety of chipboard, acetate and foam pieces...so fun! Here's the first one:

The "boy," the ampersand and the plane chipboard pieces are all from the kit. Yes, some of the chipboard are plain and others are not (very cool!). I agonized for a bit as to whether to paint that ampersand but, in the end, decided I kinda liked the plain ol' chipboard color, as it didn't distract from the other colors on the page. Here's another:

The title on this one is a little hard to read. Here's a better look:


I took the acetate title and coated it in Glossy Accents...subtle, but fun. I also used both chipboard and acetate stars and the chipboard bracket from the kit. :) And this last layout is, I think, my favorite of the three:


Pretty much everything except the fantastic Prism Papers cardstock here is from the kit. Oh, and those smashing yellow American Crafts vinyl letters...yum. I particularly love the acetate film strip and the oh-so-perfect chipboard robot. Course, those big white foam letters are pretty cool, too. And that chipboard circle has something going for it...Here's a closer shot:


Yup, lots of goodness in the September KOTM. Check it out. :)