Lisa's Laughing Place

Silhouette Giveaway & Discount on The Bragging Mommy

2010-12-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

The Bragging Mommy is giving away my dream toy...tool...creative outlet... the Silhouette!

This beauty does EVERYTHING!

Cuts out any shape you can dream of, etches glass, cuts vinyl and stencils, draws elaborate designs, creates scrap booking supplies, makes temporary tattoos, magnets, creates custom apparel and MORE!

The BEST part...you don't need to pay out all of your hard earned dough to buy dozens of expensive cartridges {when you really only like a handful of the designs on a cartridge anyway}!

This wonderful creation works with your PC {and MAC's} allowing you to download and pay for only the designs you love...not to mention many digital images are already included and you can use files saved on your computer! How great is that?! Even better...you can draw your own images as well. I know!!! :-)

One lucky reader (let it be me!) will win the following via the Bragging Mommy site...

Silhouette SD Machine

1 roll of premium black vinyl

1 roll of frosted vinyl

1 roll of premium transfer paper

A Home Decor CD of cuttable images

Head on over to The Bragging Mommy right now and enter to win before it is too late! If you don't win, be sure to take advantage of the great discount that Silhouette is offering for The Bragging Mommy readers!

Bragging Mommy & BrewBot!

2010-12-27T14:18:00.000-08:00

One lucky Bragging Mommy reader can win a Tassimo T20 Home Brewing System! While I hope it is me, I would be happy if it were someone I know too so I can still come over and enjoy a yummy coffee with a great friend.

Head on over to The Bragging Mommy and over to BrewBot.com and see what I am talking about.

Keep your fingers crossed and cups ready!

Lisa's Holiday Wish List

2010-11-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
The wish is for my daughter to be able to create real and happy memories of being surrounded with love on Christmas and her birthday (since they are the same day)!

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition? Opening presents!

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? To spend Christmas in Hawaii. I loved Hawaii and would love an Island Christmas!

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? Hot cocoa, spiced cider, a good movie and a warm blanket to cuddle with my hubby and daughter under.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up? Uno, War and Yahtzee

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? We watch Emmet Otters Jug Band Christmas every single year without fail. It is such a classic.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip? Hawaii or to California to be with my parents if they were not coming here. :-)

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

A Kinect of course!

A shiny new DSi to replace the one my daughter wore out!

Ohhhh...and Zumba to widdle my middle after the holidays!

Updates...

2009-06-04T09:34:00.001-07:00

Oh my aching muscles...

Now I am not complaining so don't get me wrong but between the gym and bellydancing I am S-O-R-E! My weight loss is going slowly but surely which is all I can ask for. I am just going to keep at it and before long I know I will reach my goal.

B is on her last day of Pre-K today and then she moves up into the wonderful world of Kindergarten. She is doing good in school and is enjoying it. She is also doing great in swim class so that is nice. She really loves the water and asked her teacher on the first day of lessons when she was going to learn how to dive. She is too funny sometimes. :c)

Scott and I are doing well. Most things are just status quo which is nice.

The weather is heating up here in our part of the world so we are bracing for a very warm summer. We have been up in the 100's several times already this year so it looks to be a long one. Oh well, I still say it is better than the cold. :c)

I will try to get some pictures on here soon so you can see the fam and how we are all doing.

Aloha, aloha and aloha...

2009-03-06T13:55:00.000-08:00

Since it has 3 meanings I thought I would use all three with you! We have been back from our trip for the week now and while I enjoy coming home, this was a trip I could have extended a bit and been fine with. As you know we took Bay to my parents where she chilled for the week and got very spoiled by everyone. Scott and I went on from there to Oahu with a day trip to Maui as well. It was simply gorgeous and rained for perhaps a total of 5 minutes the entire week. The weather was mostly 75-78, sunny and some winds that were harder at night but still as beautiful as could be. I could not have ordered up any better weather and by some miracle I managed 6 days in pure sun without even the slightest bit of pink on my skin!

Without further ado here are a handful of pictures from the trip. I have a gallery of them if you want to see more (just shoot me an email) but here are some of my faves...

First of all I highly recommend riding a horse on the island. Here is the beauty we took out for the week!

Here is Scott in his natural element...the beach of course!

And here I am in my least natural element...the beach of course!

This coconut was hanging out on the same beach so I thought I would share it with you!

"Jack" was in our tour group at the Polynesian Cultural Center!

At the luau!

Dinner at the luau! It smelled just like ham. :c)

I learned some Hula as well as some Tahitian dances while at the PCC. Ignore my big booty!

The show at the Polynesian Cultural Center was breathtaking. This was one of my favorite parts.

He is Samoan and one of the funniest people I met. Did you know that Samoan means Happy People? It's true. The men cook, clean and hunt which makes the women happy so naturally everyone is happy! :c)

Here are a few shots from our trip over to Maui. That place is amazing but don't try to get to Hana in a rental car unless it is a Hummer or tank! Those roads will kill you and your car. In fact, do like we did and get the funniest tour guide at Hana Tours...Barry. He makes it educational and fun so make sure to ask for him by name.

Here are some Mongoose. They are so cute and remind me of ferrets. They are everywhere if you look for them.

...us.

Back on Oahu we went to Pearl Harbor for the day. The memorial was sad but inspiring. We went on the USS Missouri which I had been on in 1985 while dry docked in San Diego and also checked out the new Aviation Museum. Those were all pretty cool but my favorite by far was the USS Bowfin. I am not sure why but I really love submarines so any chance I get to tour one I am all over it. The submarine museum was sweet too with all of the flags from the various subs. Did you know that the crews all design their own flags? They have a lot of them hanging in the museum so if you ever get a chance to go there you really should. Sadly 58 subs were lost in WWII.

Here is the USS Bowfin flag from WWII. This is also the only sub known to have ever hit a bus with a torpedo. The various patches signify merchant ships, battle ships, subs and of course the bus that they sank during wartime.

To close I thought I would share with you a pineapple! Not that I ever thought much about it but I would have sworn they grew on trees. It was a shock to see fields and fields of this. Huh...I really did end up learning quite a bit on this trip.

Oh and the deep sea fishing trip was a bust so I am not showing pictures of it since I would have rather been in a shark cage. Oh well...at least it was a bust in Hawaii!

Aloha and Mahalo for stopping by!

Valentines & Friends

2009-02-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

For Valentines Day this year S had to work (yea & ugh...) so Bay and I went to H's house and met up with B and the kids to make sugar cookies and cupcakes. It was lots of fun and a little too much sugar cookie dough was added to my waistline but what the heck!

Holy Sugar Cookies Batman but my child is almost as white as the flour on the counter! She definately takes after her mama in that department. Sad thing is that she is actually tanner than me. :c)

After the baking festivites H was kind enough to entertain my offspring for me for a little while so I could go run some errands before my big trip this week. I was able to get some shopping done and then I had to pick up Bay so we could head off to a Birthday party for one of her friends from school at Chuckie Cheese.

It never ceases to amaze me how loud that place is! Just thinking about it now is making my head hurt. Luckily for me I have several amazing friends and Haydee and Bernard came to join me there so I would have some adult interaction to save my sanity. It turned out to be a little more fun than I thought. I got a boatload of tokens and we all set out to get tons of tickets for Bay! She had so much fun and came home with a Pink rubbery Iguanaesque lizard toy that she loves. Sadly she broke it 2 days later because she would not put it down for a minute. Oh well...it happens!

So that is the quick and dirty on how we spent Valentines Day. Now I am off to get ready to drive to Cali and then fly to Hawaii. Aloha!

New Books on my list...

2009-02-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share with you all the new book series I am reading. The author is Sherrilyn Keynon and I really like her writing. You can check out the list of books at http://www.dailyinquisitor.com/hunter/excerpt.htm

Here are the books and the order in which you should read them for the best experience in the series...I have bounced around a bit but am trying to get on track with the order. It took me a while to get into Fantasy Lover but I was happy by the end. What sold me was Night Pleasures and what hooked me completely on the series was Night Play.

1. Fantasy Lover
2. Dragonswan
3. Night Pleasures
4. Night Embrace
5. "Phantom Lover", in the anthology Midnight Pleasures
6. Dance with the Devil
7. Kiss of the Night
8. Night Play
9. "Winter Born", in the anthology Stroke of Midnight
10. Seize the Night
11. Sins of the Night
12. "Second Chances", included in the Dark-Hunter Companion!
13. Unleash the Night
14. Dark Side of the Moon
15. "A Hard Day's Night-Searcher", in the anthology My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
16. "Until Death We Do Part", in the anthology Love At First Bite
17. Fear the Darkness (free e-book)
18. The Dream-Hunter
19. Devil May Cry
20. Upon the Midnight Clear
21. Dream Chaser
22. Acheron
23. One Silent Night
24. "Shadow of the Moon" in the anthology Dead After Dark
25. Dream Warrior

I hope you get a chance to check them out. They are fantasy based on real mythology. I am really enjoying them. :c)

ALOHA

2009-02-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

Can you guess where I am going at the end of the month? :c)

Half way to 70 and still having a blast!

2009-01-13T08:15:00.001-08:00

Me and the girls all went out to celebrate the big 3*5 on Saturday. Benihana is so much fun and I even got my Budha who I have lovingly named "Boo" because he is my boo! Look at him raising the roof...he is an animal! Of course if I was filled to the back of my head with alcohol I would be raising the roof as well. ;c)

I just wanted to take a minute to thank Pat, Kristina, Becky, Stephanie, Heather and Haydee for coming out to hang with me on my Birthday! I love you guys...err girls! Next up is Stephanie for the big 2*1! Get your party hats ready.

Quick catch up...

2008-11-18T08:57:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since my last post and I certainly need to get some pictures up here. I really am sorry! I will work on it in the next few days and see what I can come up with.

Just a quick update and then I am back to business...

Movie News: Twilight is just a few days away! Eeeeeepppppp! I am so excited. If you have not picked up the books yet be sure to get on it and then go see the movie. Also, I highly recommend the soundtrack. It has some great artists on it. I am really looking forward to the score as well and can't wait for that to come out. I am a big fan of Carter Burwell so I am excited to see what he has come up with for this movie.

Books: I have been reading the Dark Series by Christine Feehan. There are 19 books in the series so far and I have managed to get through 12 of them in the last 13 days. They are about 360-400 pages each so they are fast reads. I love them. It is the series that was able to pull me out of my Twilight obsession and back into some sort of functioning reality. If you want to give them a read, and I would recommend them, I feel I must warn you that they are much more adult in nature than my standard fare. Consider yourself warned! Now go pick up Dark Prince and enjoy!

Health: Everyone has been doing well and we are all healthy overall. Scott and Bailey have been battling slight colds but nothing major. I have been seeing a chiropractor for a few weeks now since I managed to trip over a small chair and face plant into the wall in the dark and knocked some ribs out of place in the process. It hurt but it is not the worst thing I have done so I am moving on! I am still losing weight and feeling better about myself so that is good.

Life in general: All is well on the homefront. Bay is doing good in school. Scott and I are just working as usual. Nothing really new to report here.

My passion...My Obsession...

2008-09-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

Yes. I admit it has been a while since I last posted but it is for good reason. I have taken some time to myself and have gotten back to the gym, shed some weight (still working on shedding more) and have gotten back into reading.

The reading part is where my obsession comes in to play. By nature I am an avid reader and when I come across a good book I will devour it. I am prone to re-reading a book if I really like it but usually that would be something I do after a few months or a year. I have found an exception to this recently! In just over 2 weeks I have read, re-read, re-read and re-read the Twilight Saga. Yep! I have read Twilight 4 times, New Moon 5 times, Eclipse 4 times and Breaking Dawn 5 times. I am also in the process of listening to the audio version of the books too.

I. AM. OBSESSED. It is not painful for me to admit though I am sure it should be. Stephenie Meyer is a brilliant writer and I am so absorbed by her novels. She is my new favorite writer at the moment.

And it gets better...the movie "Twilight" comes out on 11/21/08 and I am anxiously awaiting that date. So that you can share with me the excitment of waiting I thought I would provide you with a lovely countdown so enjoy the one above. CAN'T WAIT!!!

I am also trying to read Host, Eragon, Elder and Brisinger at the moment as well. I will let you know how that goes. :c)

New Treasure!

2008-08-21T13:43:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share with you that I have the Best Friends and Family a girl could ask for. My dear friend Becky gifted me with the most wonderful treasure a little over a week ago and I wanted to publicly thank her for it. (I will post a picture of it tonight or tomorrow). Stay tuned to find out what is was and why I love it so!

THANK YOU BECKY FOR MY NEW TREASURE!!!

Oh and I got a surprise treat in the mail today from my wonderful Mom and Dad. Thanks guys for thinking of me. :c)

All is well...

2008-08-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who called and emailed me yesterday after my icky surgery. I appreciate your sweet thoughts. Everything went well and I am back in the saddle today. I get my stitches out on Monday (not especially looking forward to that) and then perhaps one follow up visit and I should be right as rain.

Thus far I have no real discomfort and no swelling. I am not taking any of the painkillers they gave me, just the occasional Advil if it starts to ache. Dr. Kerr did an excellent job. Let me know if you ever need a great Endodontist here in the valley. He and his staff were so amazing with me and my needle issue. 9 shots is not easy for someone with a needle phobia! :c(

Scott stayed with me yesterday in case I needed anything and once Bay was home from school she spent her entire evening cuddling with me and making sure I was OK. I really do love my family!

If this is the worst life has to hand me then I am doing just fine. Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain. So I am dancing! *twirl*

First Day of School

2008-08-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

This morning went off without a hitch! She woke up all smiles and wanted lots of hugs and kisses so nothing was out of the normal there. She ate her breakfast and brushed her teeth. She got dressed in her uniform she picked out the night before and came happily bopping in to get her hair done. She grabbed her water bottle out of the refrigerator and stopped at the door to ask me to take her picture before she grabbed her backpack.

I looked around for my camera that was on the ledge and it was GONE! Ack! OK...no worries. I grabbed my cell phone and shot 2 quick pictures as we headed out. So ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure I present to you:

My Little Schoolgirl!

When we got to her new school we parked and walked in. She immediately went over to her new teacher and gave her a big hug, hung up her backpack, sorted out her cubby and signed in. She took the red crayon out of the cup and wrote her first name and then took the purple crayon out and wrote her last name. She explained to me this was so they knew her name was 2 words and not just one. She then introduced herself to another little girl, told her they could be friends and then went to work on one of the computers in the room. As I was getting ready to leave she gave me a hug and kiss and told me she would see me tonight.

Huh...guess my work was done! She didn't need me to stick around at all. She was ready to go and get started on her new adventure and my supervision and help were not required. It made me giggle a bit on the way out to my car. She has always been a confident child and has never been nervous in new settings, she just takes a leap and has at it. I like to think I have something to do with this and her confidence but I think all kids are just born how they are and we as parents just help to guide them based on that. She is just naturally outgoing and confident. She likes new challenges and seeks to make friends no matter when or where. I take comfort in knowing this and it really makes me feel good. She will be fine in life because she knows how to adjust and adapt.

Today my baby girl started real school (well Pre-K, but at a real school...not daycare) and she stood on her own two feet just fine. I am swelling with pride and satisfaction. :c)

Random Moments of Love

2008-07-27T19:29:00.001-07:00

Flirty fun in her new dress for her Auntie Caren's wedding reception.
More fun with dad.
Showing off her new Hannah Montana shirt. She LOVES it!

Of course I have to end with her gorgeous eyes.

Bay is heading to Hogwarts...

2008-07-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

We got her Robes (uniforms) and her potions and cauldrons (school supplies) ready to go. OK so it isn't really Hogwarts but it sounded fun. Miss Bay is getting ready to go to her first real official Big Kid School. Here are some cute pictures of her in her uniforms. She was dying to try them on and I was dying to get some pictures so it all worked out for your benefit! Enjoy. :c)

She is so excited to be starting at big kid school and I must admit I am a bit excited too. It is sad to think she will not be across from my office anymore but it is rewarding to know she is ready to move on and move up in the world. She is only heading into Pre-K but it is still a big move for her since she has been at the same daycare center since she was 8 weeks old. She did their Pre-K program last year but with her being a December baby she missed the cut-off for starting K without testing in. I could have tested her and did have her on the list at one point but thought better of it. While she has the academia part of it down I think that she needs more time to grow and mature. Being almost 4-5 months younger than other kids in her class is huge at this age so I took her name off the test in list and decided she will go when she is ready next year. She will be ahead of the curve and if it comes to it we could also test her up a grade later if that is what she is ready for. Time will tell and we shall see what we see!

At any rate, she loves that she gets to wear skirts and dresses most of the time so it will be less of a fight getting her ready for school in the mornings. She has 2 pairs of shoes, one in blue and one in brown so she will be able to match everything. Believe it or not that matters to her. She picks out her own shoes every day and always makes sure to let me know that they match and if she doesn't have a pair that will match perfectly she goes for her clear flip flops. She has also taken to picking out accessories for her daily outfits. Yesterday when we went to the Cowboy event she made sure she had on a necklace and ring to match. When we came home she put them away and later when we went out again she picked a new set out to compliment her change of clothes. She is too funny! I hope her future boyfriend has enough money to support her love of shoes, purses and jewerly. :c)

Day of the Cowboy

2008-07-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

It is really nice to have such great friends who are active with their kids and want to do fun things. Becky and her two kids A1 & A2 joined Bay and I at Goldfield Mining Camp for Day of the Cowboy on Saturday. The kids really enjoyed themselves and despite the heat it was a nice break from all the "city stuff" we typically do.

Here is what you see when you come to town.

I have no clue what this is but it looked neat so I thought I would get a picture of it.

Bay and A1 get along really well so it makes playdates with them pretty easy.

We watched the Professor above try to sell his "Cure-All" to the townsfolk. His sales went south quickly when he got ran out of town. Bay asked me if I got a picture of that and I had to tell her no because he ran so quickly!

Here is one that shows her pretty eyes again. Sorry...can't help myself.

She was making friends with all of the cowboys and cowgirls that we came across and asked if she could get pictres with them. This particular one liked her so much that he gave her a gold (or bronze) coated dime so she had her own chunk of gold in her pocket!

Bay even got a picture with the town Floozy! She was well dressed for a floozy but who am I to judge!??!

Here was the gentleman who was standing by the floozy area so of course Bay had to make friends. I swear she has never met a stranger.

Here are our playmates for the day! Becky, A1 and A2. Like I said, it is nice to have friends who are active with their kids and don't just stick them in front of the tv for the weekend. We all had a nice time so I hope we can go and visit the area again once it cools down a bit. :c)

More Random Moments...

2008-07-22T20:29:00.001-07:00

So I promised I would just post random photos from time to time and now is one of those times! Enjoy.

Bay on the beach in Cali!

Just being her cute self.

Flower Girl pose 1.

Flower Girl pose 2.

This is just one I love because you can see her bright and pretty eyes. She may be a handful at times but really, aren't we all!??! I find myself smiling inside (and out) at times when I look in her amazing eyes.

Random Moments...

2008-07-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

I sometimes find that I don't post pictures because there is no real story behind them so I have decided that I am going to do segments now and then of just random moments for the sake of sharing.

Here is a picture of Shrish, me and mom over the 4th of July.Here is a picture of Bay and her daddy after baking and decorating a cake for no real reason other than she wanted to. He is such a good daddy and I am always grateful to have him in our lives. They enjoy doing random things like this when they can and she loves to wear her chefs apron in the kitchen so any chance she gets to wear it is a good day to her!

4th of July Family Fun

2008-07-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to get together with my brothers and sisters over the 4th of July in Ohio. While the flights turned out to be a bit of a drag the adventure overall was great and I am really glad I went.

This is the view I woke to every morning. They had a pond dug in their back yard several months back with the expectation that it would take years to fill to a reasonable level for use. Well, with all of the rain they have been having...

This is my sister "Shrish" aka Crystal. I could not pronounce her name as a small child so it came out as Shrish and it has stuck ever since. As you can see, the rains have filled the pond quite nicely so she and our cousin Paige decided to take a nice dip...

while our newest addition to the family, my brother in law Ric enjoyed the view and watched from the shore.

We did lots of visiting and lots of eating. While we did venture off the sprawling acres of Alice & Gerry's estate I did not manage to take a single picture. We were able to enjoy 4 towns fireworks right from their driveway because outside the front door is nothing but wide open fields. So in the absence of pictures from the rest of Clayton, OH please enjoy more from their gorgeous yard and some of the family in general.

Next time I am hopeful that B and maybe even S will come with me but given the sad happenings at the airport in Atlanta I am grateful they did not. The airport was shut down due to inclement weather and our filghts were delayed for over 8 hours. I could not imagine having to entertain my sweet little girl for that many extra hours in an airport or when we were stuck on the tarmac in our plane. It was rough enough on my mom and dad. Oh and poor Shrish and Ric were stuck overnight in Atlanta and didn't make it out of there until late the next day. But like I said, airport drama aside the trip was great and we are all looking forward to getting together again in a few years.

I hope that you all had a nice 4th of July and were able to spend it with family and friends. I also hope that you all remembered to say a nice thank you to those who are and have been serving our country so you may continue to have your freedoms. I am grateful to come from a family chock full of military service. Mainly my family is Air Force but we have a few in other branches as well so I would like to take a quick moment at this time to thank them all from the bottom of my heart for the sacrifices they have made for me and you!

God Bless America!

When Cousins Come Calling!

2008-07-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Little B has been having fun with her sweet cousins from California. Allow me to introduce you to Andre and Sunshine.

I will post a little more later but for now we have to run so enjoy the sweet smiles above until I return!

New site coming...

2008-06-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

The inability to use the features I wanted as well as being able to get comments frustrated me out of blogging for a while. I am over it...and I am taking my blog back. I am going to start fresh and new! Stay tuned for an all new and completely improved blog from me! Talk to you soon.