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How to Get Your Floor Clean

 Today we got our kitchen floor VERY clean. You too can get your floor clean by following these steps: 1) Decide to wash your face before going to bed. 2) Look for a washcloth in the laundry room. 3) Notice that you have an extra water filter on the top shelf. 4) Decide that NOW is a good time to change the fridge's water filter. 5) Recruit your oldest to remove the old filter. 6) Wonder why water is spewing from the port in the fridge. 7) Watch gallons of water pour into the fridge and onto the floor. 8) Figure out how to turn off the water behind the fridge. 9) Watch more water come out of the port. 10) Locate every towel you have when you regret owning only a Swiffer floor cleaner. 11) Wipe out every shelf in the fridge, throwing out old bottles of this and that. 12) Move the fridge back in place and see what interesting detritus is exposed. 13) Recruit the oldest to clean it up.  14) Return to washing your face which is all you wanted to do in the first place. It's been a l
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Story Time

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It's been a long time since I told a proper "Annemarie" story so here is today's antics. You see this dress. I love this dress. I got a deal on it. I think I have worn it once before. I like it because it's 100 degrees here today and still have to dress for my job as a Curriculum specialist at my school, so it's cool enough but long enough to cover the little shorts I wear under dresses. Why is this dress the center of my story?  Follow along my friends. School starts at 7 a.m. We are 100% online and technology issues often arise, so I like to be on time to catch the help line. That means leaving close to 6:30. I was so proud of myself for getting out at 6:35 (I have a 15 year-old who likes to oversleep.) Backpack on, purse over my shoulder, coffee cup in one hand and water cup in the other. All items are being placed in the back seat when I find I can't remove my backpack. The tiny little hook is caught in the seam of the bag. Try as a I may, the hook w
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I'm Baaack...At Least for a Bit

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Long time no post. So what brings me back? Quirky Dutch Summer . Week 1 has me making my own art journal.  This sent me on a field trip to Hobby Lobby where I found quite a deal on journals, canvases and a pad of primed sheets of canvas. (More than 75% off.) I then dug through a very old stash of acrylic paint. All of my art supplies are in the garage after I cleaned out my office for Thanksgiving a year and a half ago. I needed room for a long table. I also didn't want my company seeing my messy workspace. I've not brought much in since then. That's what I'm liking about Quirky Dutch Summer. It has me playing in my art stuff again. I have no plans this summer and my youngest is about to leave for cousin camp, giving me plenty of time to get my hands dirty. So let me show you what I've made. First I painted the front of the canvas. Then I painted the back and let them dry overnight.  I folded the edges over and glued them down. I used Aleene&
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I Love a Giveaway

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Doodling, Tangling, Zentangling....I've been doing these for years. Last year I joined the Tangle It! Pattern Club. It's a great source of inspiration. The folks there are Ah-Mazing! Well, Pattern-collections.com is holding a giveaway. The prize? a Tangle-It Planner. It's not only a planner, it also has tips, tricks and suggested tools for keeping a Tangled Planner. Click HERE for the giveaway Here are some of my latest tangles and doodles. Wanna join the fun? Go to Facebook and join  Tangle It! Pattern Club .
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Here I Am - Three Years Later

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It's interesting how it still hurts to really talk about how much I miss you. However, it does get better. Everyday I feel better.  When you first left so suddenly, the pain was so strong, crippling, paralyzing. Then the numbness came. I had to work. I had to become an automaton. Get up, help the kids, go to work, help other people's kids, get along with coworkers, drive home, be a mom. Lather, rinse, repeat. I did find out I was difficult to be around so I had to numb myself some more. Dusty Shoes - Post Canyon Hike Getting Goofy at Disneyland The following summer, I took the kids on our dream road trip seeing everything you and I said we would see with all of our kids (eight in total). Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Washington, Colorado. We saw it all, minus a few kids. It was fun and sad all at the same time. Visiting your relatives was especially poignant. Sitting out in your uncle's backyard, I could imagine you sitting out there chewing the fat, sipping a be
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The Mistress of Make Do

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One of my favorite online/TV people is Ree Drummond - AKA The Pioneer Woman . When I need something tasty, I often choose her recipes over those of other celebrities like Martha Stewart or Ina Garten. The PW makes meals that aren't complicated but full of flavor and appeal to everyone in my family. The easiest recipe I have found on her site is for oven roasted potato wedges . The problem with most recipes in my house, however, is I don't always have all of the ingredients. This means I either have to forego the recipe or make do with what I have in the pantry. This weekend like most weekends was a make-do kind of day. I really wanted to have potatoes, but when I looked through the pantry and fridge, I found I was short ingredients like olive oil. I also am not eating butter this month (say it ain't so!). This left me wondering what to do. I then looked in the closet and found a jar of coconut oil. I couldn't figure out how to pour a solid over potatoes. Then it hit
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Reason #2367 Why I Don't Sleep

I was asleep until my cell phone rang. It was my house phone calling. Why is my house phone calling? Hello? Hello? James is that you? Click Me: (debating whether to get up or not and finally getting up to look for the phone.) James, why do you have the phone? James: I thought there was someone looking through my window? Me: (confused how he saw someone in the window with the lights off, dark outside and the view of the  window blocked by a bookcase. ) Give me the phone. (Hanging it up and heading to bed) James: Sorry, mom. Me: Goodnight  (but now I'm curious. Did he really see someone? Dang it! Putting on winter coat and boots, I head outside with the phone as if I could do anything) NOTHING Now I lay awake when I should be asleep since I have class tomorrow morning. And people wonder why I don't leave him home alone.
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