This is the battle cry I have heard for the past 4 weeks. Thank-goodness Ashley goes to year round school. I could not handle being camp counselor for 3 months.

I have been wanting to go to a local ceramics shop since moving to Cary. Today with the temps being in the mid nineties and my daughter watching the same Spongebob episode for the 400th time, I felt it was time to go. It also helped that I had a ‘buy one-get one’ coupon. Love those coupons.

Believe it or not Ashley did not want to participate in this adventure. She wanted to watch ‘Phinneas and Ferb’ AGAIN. I did what any mother would do in this circumstance, I threatened her with chores if she did not go. It worked.



Look how miserable she looks. What a mean mother I am. She hated it so much that she did 2 projects. Gosh I am cruel.



I love painting ceramics. As a child I used to go with my mom and paint pots. In a throw back to my childhood, I chose a very cute snowman jar. I hope it comes out okay. I sort of gave him a black freckle under his eye. We get the glazed projects back next week. On the blog next week, I will show you our works of art. Well, I promise they will be ‘works’ not necessarily ‘art’.

It has been almost two weeks since I started Weightwatchers. I am now starting to get creative with my meals. Creativity with the meals is key to staying on the plan. Here is a 5 point sandwich that is really tasty.It is my version of a low fat quesadilla.



To make this sandwich:

You take one whole wheat tortilla, you fill it on one side with two slices of low fat deli ham and one slice of Alpine lace swiss cheese. If you like you can add tomatoes, lettuce and mustard, all of which will add no points to the sandwich. You fold over the tortilla and stick it in toaster over for 2-3 minutes.



You can have it with a side of fruit or baked potato chips. It is really tasty and satisfying.

That’s all that been happening at Chez DJD this week. Hope you are having fun and not working too hard. View Comments

Okay I am not be this big but I am weighing a little more these days. I have been indulging in the foods of the south and now am paying the price. Curse you BoJangles chicken. My weight has ballooned to 150! Weighing 150 and being only four feet tall, is not a good combination.

To get back on track, I joined WeightWatchers. I have had success with the program in the past and hopefully will again. I love WeightWatchers because you can eat real food just less of it. You can even indulge a little and still loose weight. My goal is to get down to 120. Even though I am short my frame is rather big. God Bless the Albers family gene for that! I wish I was built petite like the Italian side of the family. Oh well you can’t change genetics! Sorry mom!

My absenteeism on the blog is due to Ashley being on vacation. We have two more weeks until she goes back to school. While on break, I have been reviewing math and reading with her everyday. She is not thrilled with the idea. When she whines about doing ‘homework’, I remind her that my dad made me do a few math problems every day during the summer. Why do kids always roll their eyes when you tell them about your childhood?



Now it is not all work and no play. Yesterday we went to the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC. If you live in the triangle or visiting, I urge you to go. It is a cool place. The museum is a combination of a science exhibits and a zoo. There are animals to see, rockets to explore and the best butterfly house in the country. It is worth the trip to Durham.

Tonight there is a new show on Discovery Health channel about dwarfs. The show is called ’I Am Pregnant and...’. It’s about a couple that is going to have a dwarf baby. The couple is a ‘mixed couple’ meaning the mom is average size and the dad is an achondroplasia dwarf(like me). It should be interesting to see. It airs at 9 pm on the east coast.

I heard from my mom that dwarfs babies are painful to give birth to due to the size of our heads. Every mother’s day she reminds me of the agony she went through with me! I think she tells the story so I get her a good mother’s day gift.



On the Discovery Channel tonight, the fleet finds out about Captain Phil on the ‘Deadlist Catch’. Last week’s episode made me cry all over again. Poor Captain Phil. I love the Cornelia Maria. I hope Jake and Josh quit smoking. Every time I see them with a cigarette, I want to rip it out of their mouths! I love the show and have been a fan for several years. It is a great show and if you have never watched it you should.

What have you been up to this summer? Where have you gone? What movies have you seen?

I must leave you and count how many points is in a Oreo cookie. I hope only a few because I REALLY WANT ONE! View Comments

Hey, How are ya? I know I know...I have been a very bad blogger. I haven’t posted in a long time. Life has been moving slow and I just needed time to unplug.

There has not been much excitement going on in North Carolina. In fact, it has been down right boring.The weather has been dreadful. It is hot and I mean HOT! Sunday the temperature was 103 with 100% humidity. We have been staying indoors playing Xbox and scrapbooking. It’s been so hot, that I haven’t cooked much either.

While locked up, I was inspired to do some summer pages.The first page is about my daughter turning 9. I cannot believe that my baby turned nine this year. I wanted to capture who she is right now. What does she like to do and who she is right now. I wrote down some questions and had her in her own writing answer. Ashley does not have the best penmanship in the world, so I had her practice writing the answers before writing them on the actual page. For this project I used my favorite new line Basic Grey ‘Basic’.I love love love this line! It is really cool for school pages or when you want to document milestones. Other page elements are K&Company chipboard and Prima flowers. I wanted a doodling effect for the photo matt. I stamped pink swirls before adhering the pictures. The title was done with a digital font which I enhanced with a gel pen.



The second layout is a vacation page. During the summer we love playing miniature golf. It is our favorite summer pastime! Here is a layout showing our last mini golf outing in Myrtle Beach. For this page, I went retro. I used magic mesh for underneath the title to give a gritty look to the page. Magic Mesh is a product that is hard to find. I used it a lot when I first started scrapbooking. The patterned paper again is Basic Grey . It’s their ‘Boxer’ line. The letters and brads are also Basic Grey. Green was the theme of the layout because golf is the color green!



I also have been getting into some real trashy reality tv. My new favorite is ‘Real Housewives of NJ’. As if you didn’t know that already! As Teresa Guidice would say ‘I love love love this show’. The Manzo family so reminds me of the people I grew up with in NJ. They are just good salt of the earth family types. I would love to sit and eat with this family(especially if Caroline is cooking). Of course there is the villain of the show which is Danielle Staub. Danielle reminds me of the girls who used to hang out in the smoking lounge of my high school. You know the types. Been around the block a few times and stink to high heaven of pot and cigarettes. This is who I hope my daughter doesn’t turn into later in life. Still in all, love all the gals and as they say in Jersey ‘Jersey Girls rule the World’!



That’s been my life in a nutshell. So what have you been doing? What are your summer plans? I promise I will stay on top of the blog this summer. It will be tough but us Jersey girls can do anything. View Comments

Yes, I have been ‘LOST’, not on the ‘island’ but in the state of North Carolina. I have been busy lately. Ashley is on vacation and I broke a few things around here. Life has had more ups and downs again.

Speaking of LOST, did y’all watch the final episode? I have mixed feelings about the end. I wished the parallel world was better explained. I am assuming the bomb did not work. The parallel world was their version of the after life. The only people that truly got off the island was the pilot, Sawyer, Kate, Claire and Miles. My interpretation of the whole series was that you saw the time line of Jack’s life. Jack’s life was intertwined with life on the Island. Speaking of Jack, what a fine specimen of a man! I would break vows for him. So what are you views on the show? Did you like how it ended? Let’s discuss.

On the topic of breaking things, I side swiped my husband new car. It was lovely. He parked in the driveway which he rarely does. I was thinking of what I had to buy at the store instead of watching backing out of our very narrow drive way. All of sudden I heard ‘BAM’. I thought oh crap! I knew what I did. My car was stuck to the side of his. The worst was telling him I did it. He did not get mad but was upset. The car is only a month old. I now have to find a good body shop in Raleigh. Finding a good body shop is like finding a needle in a haystack. We were recommended one from a neighbor. We now just have to find the time to bring the cars in.




Other than crashing into cars and watching TV, I completed one item on my bucket list. With much begging and pleading with my husband, we took a trip to Asheville, NC. My dream in life was to see the Grand Lady on the hill. I finally got to tour Biltmore. The way some people follow star trek is the way I follow the Vanderbilt family. I am a Vanderbilt family geek. I have read at least ten books on the family and have toured two homes(Hyde Park and The breakers). Biltmore was the gem in the collection of Vanderbilt homes and it did not fail its reputation. What a gorgeous home.

The tour is not for the faint of heart. Many stairs to climb. It was tough but I got through it. George Vanderbilt and his wife had to be the most healthy couple in Asheville at the time. Just to get to the second floor was 4 flights of stairs. At one point I thought a tour guide was going to find me keeled over on the floor. Needless to say Rich did not join Ashley and I on the tour.



Here is a trivia question for you. Guess who is currently the most famous Vanderbilt family member. He is the son of Gloria and the great-great grandson of the family’s patriarch Corneilus.It is none other than Anderson Cooper. As I toured the home, I wondered what his thoughts of the home would be. Did he ever tour it? What does he think of his great-great Uncle’s accomplishments? If you read the blog Mr.Cooper, please drop me an email. I would love to have a cup of coffee with you to talk family.




In conclusion of this long post, I have to tell you about the major spill I had in the kitchen. I was getting ingredients prepared to throw in the slow cooker for dinner Monday morning, when I took a major tumble. I was at the kitchen sink and I mis-judged when climbing down the stool. I thought I was stepping down, instead I tumbled down and twisted my leg. I was laying flat on my back screaming for Rich. I thought for sure I broke my leg. I didn’t break any bones thank-god, but I am still sore. This stool is a death trap and really need to get it replaced. What a few weeks it has been!



I am off to Charleston tomorrow to visit family and to go to Folly beach. I hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend. Please say a prayer for all our soldiers that keep us safe. Take Care and be safe. View Comments

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day. My family took me out to my favorite restaurant PF Changs. My husband had the foresight to make reservations. It was the smart thing to do because the wait was over 2 hours for a table! We were seated as soon as we arrived and the service was first class. The food was awesome and I was very happy being with my family.

Last week, I worked on several scrapbook projects. I would like to show you step by step how I construct a page and where my ideas come from. My inspiration for this project came from my trip to DC last year. Ashley and I took a tour of DC. It was Ashley’s first visit and she loved it.

First step in planning a layout is picking the papers that will be used. All my layouts are 12x12, unless I am working on mini-albums. I usually choose a sheet of patterned paper and a coordinating solid background. For this layout I used pattern paper from Making Memories ‘Passport’ collection and sky blue card stock from Bazzill Basics.



To make the pattern paper ‘pop’ from the background, I inked the edges of the paper. I pick a darker shade than the colors being used but still within the same color palette. I love Tim Holtz’s Distress Inks. The Inks are great for outlining papers and elements.



Next step is to work on the title. You need to choose where your title is going to go on the page. The title defines the layout of the page. Make sure it is what catches the eye first. For this project, I am going to stamp the words ‘Washington DC’ on the map. I first stamped the title on a piece of scratch paper to see if the ink and title will work. It’s important to stamp your colors on a scratch paper first because you can’t erase ink! Once you are satisfied with the look and color then you are ready to add the title to your layout.



Finally it’s time to work with the photos. I first lay all the photos(and I mean all) on the layout. Next I start to move photos around, take photos off and add page elements. This process maybe repeated several times before I start adhering the photos. I want the pictures to tell a story so it is important to get the right placement in the layout.



After I adhere photos, I add my journaling then I am done. Depending on techniques used, it takes me an hour to two hours to do a two-page layout. This is a beginners way of doing pages. More advance techniques will come soon.



On a different note, for safety reasons I had to remove last week’s blog post. I should have thought it through more before I posted. I guess I was just really angry. If you have questions or want information on how to protect your child, please email me. I will be glad to help.

Have a great week and we will talk soon! View Comments

What....Did you think I would forget to wish you a Happy Mother’s Day?
Happy Mother’s day to all the moms, step-moms,
soon-to-be moms, dad-moms and Grandmoms that read my blog!
Luv DJD View Comments

The weather was wonderful this past weekend. So wonderful that we just had to get out and enjoy. The question was what activity can we do that is fun and for free? hmmm.... Guess what I found that was fun and free.

Saturday, I went to the Apex Peak Festival. I had a blast. Admission was free and so was parking! We strolled down the street looking at all the craft vendors. There was free music from a great band. People were dancing in the street. It was a great family outing.

I know you are thinking festivals are not totally free DJD. Okay I did buy a lemonade and funnel cake but the costs were still minimal. You can enjoy the music and the atmosphere for free.

To find a local festival near you, go to festivalsandevents.com. All you have to do is plug-in your state and voila you have a big list of festivals.

The weather is warm and the sun is shining. Get out there and enjoy a local festival! View Comments

I can’t believe that my baby, the child that screamed through the airport eight years ago, who continued to scream for the next twelve hours in the hotel room, turned nine yesterday! It was Ashley’s big birthday! She told me that this is her last year as a single digit age! I wanted to cry when she announced that with pride at breakfast. Boy did the time fly. She was one years old when we finally got her from Korea. She came on her first birthday. What a way to celebrate your first birthday! Stuck on a plane for over twenty hours then tossed in the arms of a woman you never met. No wonder why the kid cried for almost 12 hours straight.

Celebrating her ninth birthday made me feel nostalgic for when I was nine. What did I love to play with? What was my favorite candy? What was the rage of the day? If you can make a childhood time capsule what would you put in it? What 5 items would remind you of your youth?

Would you put in your collection of Wacky Packages? I loved wacky packages when I was about nine years old. I collected and traded these gross stickers. I remembered that I scored a Skimpy Crummy Peanut Butter sticker. This was one of the ‘rare’ stickers in a package. My cousin offered me 5.00 for it and I said no! Dumb me.



What was your favorite candy that you would like to remember? My favorite when I was a kid was Pixie Stixs. I was all about sour tastes just like my daughter. Ashley doesn’t like Pixie Stixs but she loves those disgusting sour patch kids.As hard as I try, I can’t make her like the classics! BTW, I correctly spelled the name ‘Pixie’. Wonka candy is incorrect with ‘Pixy'!



When I was a kid, I only drank milk with Bosco syrup. Bosco rocked! Hershey syrup cannot even compare to Bosco. I loved it on ice cream. It would cover the ice cream in gooey goodness. While researching Bosco, I found an internet store that sells it! It is not in the glass jar, so I don’t know if it still tastes as good as it use to. I will have to order a bottle and let you know if it is worth it.



Are you old enough to remember ‘Suzy Homemaker’? If you were a little girl during the seventies, chances are you owned a Suzy Homemaker toy. Suzy Homemaker made toy kitchen appliances. I had the oven, sink and wash machine. The oven was fantastic. It made real cakes. It was bigger and better than the Easy Bake oven(which also came out in the seventies). I thought I was the ‘Ace of Cakes’ with my Suzy Homemaker oven.



I wasn’t into Barbies like many little girls. The clothes were to hard for me to put on the doll. The clothes back then had real buttons, zippers and snaps. Today’s Barbie is much easier to dress because of velcro. I did however loved Dawn Dolls. Dawn Dolls would be the number one item in my capsule. The clothes were easy for me to navigate. The dolls were more fashionable then Barbie. Dawn Dolls wore ‘Couture’ whereas Barbie wore ‘Gimbels’. I had every Dawn Doll and most of the designer fashions. Recently, I showed my collection to my daughter. Needless to say, she thought Barbie was cooler. Kids they just don’t understand!



There you have it, my five time capsule items. What are yours? Please tell me your time capsule items. I would love to know. Tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day. I will hopefully have a layout I can share with you. Take care and have a blast discovering your past! View Comments

Hey all! Have you been to your local library lately? It’s a wonderful place to go that is totally free! All you need is proof of address and poof you have access to a world of magic. Okay enough with the sticky sweet talk. As I have previously mentioned one too many times, the Davis family is watching our pennies. My new goal is to find great things me and my daughter can do that are either free or can be done with minimal costs.



This week we went to our local library. My daughter is into Nancy Drew and they have the best collection of Nancy Drew books. I have been wanting to read the ‘Lovely Bones’ for sometime and I was happy to find it at our library. I used to buy all the books I wanted to read. I would read the books once and then sell them at a garage sale. What a waste of money! Your local library carries the best in new literature, the classics and biographies.

Libraries also sponsor free programs for children such as book clubs and character read-alongs. It is a great place for kids to discover books and acquire a love of reading. You can also rent movies at libraries and many libraries have books on tape for adults.

If you don’t know where your local library is located, you can look it up at Public Libraries.com.

I am having fun discovering all the things you can do for free or on the cheap. Stay tuned because next week’s is a good one! View Comments

Rich and I have been extremely frugal the past two years. I’ll be honest, we are cheap. We evaluate every dime we spend. Do we really need this item or not. I know most of the country is doing the same evaluation.

Today we sort of threw caution to the wind. We bought this house last summer. The selling point for us was the screen porch. We had a screen porch in Virginia which we enjoyed. We love our new screen porch but it does need some TLC. TLC meaning it needs patio furniture. Outdoor furniture is pretty pricey thus it has been put on the back burner of our house budget.

After shopping around for almost a year, we finally found a set that will not break our budget and will look pretty good on the porch. Home depot has a Martha Stewart four piece patio set for $399.00! Most patio sets retail over 1,000.00. Today, we went to Home Depot to see if the set would accommodate our requirements. I was able to sit in the chairs with easy and so was Rich. No stools required(which is a good thing). The quality is good and I think it will last us awhile. So if you need a new patio set that will not break the bank, you need to go to home depot and check it out.



No, I am not being paid for this promotional announcement. I just like to find good deals and share them with you. Hey everyone is looking to find good deals. I will also share activities you can do for free with your kids or by yourself. I think it will be a good challenge for me to find things to do that are free or for minimal costs. My daughter is tracking out again from school so I will be forced to stretch my entertainment dollar! Check the blog on Sundays and I will post the good deal/activity of the week. This should be fun! You can also share your good deals or free activities in the comments section of my blog.

One more item I would like to share. If you are into chocolate, you must try the new 3 Musketeers Truffle Crisp candy bar. They are to die for! I mean it’s 'better than sex' type of candy bar. Pick one up at the grocery store and I promise you won’t regret it!



Take care and post your good deals on the blog! View Comments