Orange Sneakers

What a fun day! It's amazing to me how the weather affects my moods. Today was my idea of a perfect fall day...sunny, cool and about 60 degrees. I put on one of my favorite warm up suits (a cute one that isn't frumpy and makes me look like a "hip" SAHM) and took the girls to school.

Then it was on to my WW meeting, where I actually LOST 0.6 pounds! This was astonishing, because I ate way over my point limit for the week. I kind of slipped back into my old habits of snacking late a night (as a result of staying up too late). But I'm so glad I went. :-) Our leader talked about using music to motivate yourself, so I'm digging out all my funky and high energy tunes. I think I'll start with "Pump Up the Jam" by Technotronic.

Speaking of funky, check out my latest layout. I made it for Amy Knepper's CT challenge called Just for Kicks. I think I surprised a couple of people with my orange shoes. :-)

Amy Knepper's Vintage Vashon kit, available at The Digi Chick. Font is Ellifont

Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good as today.

Awww Eli...come on!!!

Eli, you might ask? Who is Eli? I am speaking of Eli Manning, QB of the New York Giants. He's my QB for my fantasty team and he's getting his butt kicked right now...3 to 35!!!

It may surprise you to know that I have a fantasy football team. This is thanks to DH who needed "just one more person" to fill out his league. Wanna know my team name? Wilderness Buffalo Chip. But then, it's appropriate since his league is called the Moose Poops, and the division names are Snout and Rump (I'm in the rump division...fun, eh?).

I have been doing some extremely strange layouts as of late. Quirky, you might even say. Ever since I started hanging out at Digital Art Quirks, I've been exploring the darker, quirker side of my scrapping personality. It's a bit scary, I must say, but also a good thing (I think).

I had to make a layout for their naming ceremony over there, and here is what I finally came up with:

Credits: Paper and beads by Krista Mettler;
Doodle shapes by Catscrap; Alpha by Meredith Fenwick

Oh and I forgot to show this one...it's an ATC I made for the Andy Warhol themed snail mail exchange, also at DAQ:

I can't remember where I found this lovely lady...sorry! I did all the recoloring myself.


I've been tagged by AmyK (thanks Amy!). This one is kind of fun. :-)

Here are the rules:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. I'm So Glad Jesus Lifted Me (from Lifted, by Doulos, my old quartet)
2. Streetcorner Symphony - Rob Thomas (how can you NOT like this if you are a Grey's fan?)
3. How We Operate - Gomez
4. 100 Years - Five for Fighting (makes me cry every time I listen)
5. We Built this City - Starship (yes, I'm an 80's junkie!)
6. Start Me Up - Rolling Stones (great hockey warm up song)
7. Send in the Clowns - Judy Collins (I can't even explain this one!)

I want to tag Dawn T., Tania, Jane, Audra, Robin, Kim Smith and Raji. Have fun girls!

Surrounded by...

...some interesting people right now. I'm at Panera, while my girls are in school. I should be out walking, and I may actually do that once I leave here, but for now I'm catching up on blogging, emails, etc.

A Favio (Fabio?) look-alike just walked in. Give me a break...that look was over a LONG time ago! LOL! Two tables over there are two late 40-something women having breakfast. I think the one lady must know everyone in this end of town, because she has said hello to every other person walking through the door. Right next to me there is something of business meeting going on.

I like to come here just to be around people, specifically adults. I know all you SAHM's know what I mean. I just enjoy hearing adult conversation, even if I am not participating in it.

I'm having a really hard time right now being content with being a SAHM. I'm pretty sure this is where God wants me at the moment, but I'm getting restless. The daily tasks of doing laundry and constantly picking up toys are becoming mind-numbing, and I can feel myself slipping back into a darker mindset.

I had considered really launching into designing, but I've realized I have so much to learn and I just don't have the energy to get into it right now. I already spend too much time on the computer as it is, so I don't want to commit to anything more.

I did this layout last night. It's a somewhat weak attempt to "freestyle".

Credits: RAKScraps September 06 Mega Kit Add-On, available at Scrapdish: Alpha letter by Correen Silke, Flowers and corner swirl by Robin Cabana; Papers by Rachel Dickson;
Font: Batik

Journaling:
There is nothing you two won’t try. Today you decided to make your own balance beam out of
the toy bins. Of course...the toys that were inside all ended up on the floor! I couldn’t be mad, though, because you were having so much fun. Your creativity continues to amaze me every day.

Geez...this sounds depressing! Guess I better go take that walk. It's almost Friday!

Just scrappin'

I think fall is officially here. Today it's about 60 degrees and actually feels chilly! Makes me want to curl up and take a nap (but then, what doesn't?). LOL

I finally finished a layout from the girls' birthday in July. I started two other layouts but didn't like them. Melinda made this cool template which was perfect for all those photos, and of course Amy's new kit had the girls' favorite colors.

Credits: Template by Melinda Staley; Papers from Darling Dreamer, Elements from Clay Creations - both by Amy Knepper, available at The Digi Chick starting tomorrow, 9/21/06; Stitching by Doris Castle; Corner swirl by Robin Cabana, from the September RAKScraps Mega Kit Add-On, available at Scrapdish; Crayon doodle shapes by Tiffany Brady from Crazy Crayon Shapes, available at Plain Digital Wrapper; Hand Stamped Alpha by Michelle Coleman

Well I'm off to watch Lion King II with the kiddos...have to be there to explain potentially scary scenes. :-)

Happy hump day!

I'm done...

...reading about all the drama in the digiscrapping world. Over. Finished.

*** DISCLAIMER *** PMS **** WARNING ****

You are wondering what I'm talking about? Go on over to DST. Check it out for yourself. But I wouldn't recommend it. There was a thread there a few days ago about the digi world being oversaturated with designers. People basically started getting on their high horses talking about how great they were and how a lot of designers should not be selling because their work is low quality. It got pretty heated. One designer even said some of the kits she has seen "made me want to gag". How rude and unprofessional is that? Needless to say, I won't ever be buying from her.

Then tonight I'm reading the blog of a designer I've been following for a while. I like her stuff, but then, I like other people's stuff too. She is doing a guest CT call but is going to chose who gets in just by watching their activity at DST. It's as if it's the greatest privilege in the world to even be on her team for just one month. *Sigh* I'm sorry, but please get over yourself.

I guess I wonder how things went from a bunch of ladies who like to scrapbook, and use their computers to do it...to...a bunch of little girls in cliques who all think they are better than everyone else.

I just going to be taking a step back from the community aspect of this digiscrapping world for a while. I take things to personally that I know I can't handle it. This whole competitive designer stuff has stolen the joy out of scrapping for me. I did manage to finish a couple of layouts this weekend, and it was fun to just scrap, if for no other reason than to do it because I like it.

This first one is just a fun layout about the joy of pizza:

Credits: Whimsey papers and elements, and Slop Alpha by Tiffany Brady
at Plain Digital Wrapper; font = Michelle Marker


Here's a cute picture of Gretchen after she licked all the ice cream and cake off her plate at a family party:

Credits: Kate by Jen Wilson, Template by Melinda Staley, Font: LB Marci, Atomic Cupcake Inked Edges action


Now here is the most exciting one: how cool am I as a brand new 7th grader?? Check out the pin striped jeans, jean jacket (denim on denim would be a fashion disaster now days) and the Trapper Keeper.

Credits: Chocolate Swirls by Sue Bond Hand Stamped Alphas by Michelle Coleman Font: Shelton


And last but not least, my sweet Heidi, who since her 4th birthday has developed a bit of an...


Credits: Birthday Doodles kit by Tracy Blankenship
Fonts: Times New Roman, Stamp Act
Sketch by Robin Cabana
Atomic Cupcake Pristine Chipboard action

That should do it for now...gotta get some sleep. Church tomorrow, then bathroom painting, then another church service...it wears me out just thinking about it. Nite nite!

School shoes

~~ Time to shop ~~
Do you remember going shopping for school clothes and shoes as a kid? I sure do. I was really spoiled. I used to go with my Grammy (great grandma), Ma (grandma) and mom each fall. All three of them are only children, and I just have one brother, so you can imagine the amount of clothes I would receive. We used to go to this little place called "The Moppet Shop" in a small town nearby. I was always so well dressed!

Now...with my girls it's a completely different story. We don't exactly have the funds to be running around buying clothes at upscale stores, so I shop garage sales and K-Mart! LOL Apparently my mom felt it was time to step in when I told her Heidi didn't have any dress shoes and wore her "high heel" princess dress up shoes to church on Sunday (remember, she's only 4). But hey, if she wants to buy them shoes...I'm not going to stop her!!

We started at K-Mart and found some for Heidi, but none in Gretchen's size. Figures. Then it was on to Target where we found some for Gretchen. We just got black paten leathers, but then they wanted to try on the sparkly red "Dorothy" shoes too. Those went on the list for Santa. LOL Mom couldn't resist getting them each a Halloween shirt with a little sparkly bat on the front too. After lunch at McDonald's it was time to come home. I really like having Mom back in town. :-)

I finished this layout for Tiff Brady's contest on her blog. I think it came out cute, and it's a little different than the stuff I normally do, especially since it's a square!

Credits:
Random Scraps elements by Tiffany Brady
Background paper by Maya of Scrapbookgraphics.com
Sketch by Gina Miller (September blog freebie)
Machine stitching by Christina Bartholomew
Hand stamped alpha by Michelle Coleman
Date-It tag by Mindy Wade

I have a new album ready to go into my store at 1 Hour Scrap...it's an 8x8 (yes, another square shape...what it wrong with me?). Hopefully it will be up in the next day or two.

Happy Wednesday!

Oh what a beautiful morning...

...oh what a beautiful day, oh what a beautiful evening, everything's going my way.

Remember that song? I believe it was from the musical "Oklahoma". That's what I woke up feeling like today. Cool, eh? After I dropped the girls off at school (it seems really strange to say that), I gassed up Rocket (the girls' name for Rob's car, which is red...Little Einsteins is one of their favorite shows) and buzzed home to begin the systematic declutter of my kitchen. Wanna see what I got done?




Don't look too closely, because there is a pile of papers still sitting on the dining room table. BUT...since we have to eat dinner there tonight, I have a deadline! LOL I'll get the girls to help me shred papers. They love that.

Well, I better get back to decluttering. I'm trying to use the computer time as a reward to myself for getting chores done. Think that will work? Hmmm....

First Day of School!

Well, we made it through the first day. Woohoo! Everything went very smoothly. Uh, well, almost everything. We had the outfits laid out last night. The backpacks were packed. Rob came down early this morning and made the coffe, emptied the dishwasher and got out all the breakfast stuff. We were even running early. Rob kissed all of us goodbye and went off to school We were right behind him.

But.....









I LOCKED US OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!!


What an idiot I am! I was so hyper about taking the girls' pictures on the front porch for the first day that I forgot to take my keys as I shut the door behind us. DUH!!! Good think school is only 7 minutes away. I called Rob and he came home to let me back in. I kept apologizing and thanking him. He's such a good guy. He never said a negative word, and didn't yell at me (which I deserved for sure!).

The girls went right into their classroom without incident. There was one little girl in their class who was just wailing. I felt so sorry for her, and for her parents. They were loitering out in the hallway, waiting to see what she would do. That would be so tough.

I had intentions of coming home to clean, clean, clean, but instead I went to Panera to drink coffee with two friends of mine who were also dropping off their kids in the same class. I think I'll clean on Thursday...LOL!

Here is a layout I did of their orientation meeting last week:

Credits: RAKScraps August 06 Mega kit: BG paper and ribbon by Jan Bolton, Notebook paper and binder rings by Kim Jensen; Scrapdish August 06 Mega Kit Add-On Kit: Corkboard alpha by Rachel Dickson, Binder backing - paper by Correen Silke; Scotch tape and crayons by Christina Bartholomew from her School Days kit, available at SBE; Date-It tag pack by Mindy Wade at Plain Digital Wrapper

Now of course I have the photos I took this morning, and already have a layout ready to plop them into. I'll post those tomorrow.

Okay, enough blogging time...gotta go fold laundry and thaw some chicken for dinner. I'm going to make Chicken Paprikas tonight. Yum!

Blogger...ARGH!!

I've been trying to post a new message on here for the past several days and Blogger has not been cooperating with me!! Imagine me making that kind of growling, pirate type sound right now...ARGH! At least it worked this time!

So what have I been doing this week? Hmmm...can I remember? One highlight was Thursday. I took the girls to their "meet the teacher and see the classroom" day at their school. I think I was more excited than they were! They did great. When I took them into the room, they pretty much started playing right away and hardly noticed when all the parents left to go have the meeting with the main teacher. *Sniff* I guess my little girls are growing up. Hmpf.

This weekend we were supposed to go to our area's annual German American Festival, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I think the humidity today is about 99.99% and it's drizzling right now...yuck! It's too bad, 'cause it's a really fun event. Our neighbors dance in the German dancing club and it's so much fun to go watch. And of course my girls love to watch the big girls twirl around in their German dancing dresses. Maybe next year...

Rob has been working like a maniac all week, getting ready for school to start. He's a night owl, so if he needs to work on a server problem or whatnot, he'll come home for dinner and then go back, but he stays until 2-3 am! The other night he went in to find a backup server actually smoking! Not good. But at least we live close to church.

So this week the girls start school on Tuesday. I'll have my camera in hand and will most likely be shedding a few tears, along with all the other moms in the hallway. Maybe I should arrange for us all to go to breakfast or something.

Speaking of breakfast, I have a dear friend in Texas who also has twins who will be starting preschool this year. She suggested we arrange a "champagne breakfast" and chat over the phone while relishing our newfound quiet time. Isn't that great? I'm afraid it won't be a regular thing, though, as she is probably going back to work soon. Bummer.

New product this week...check it out at my store at 1 Hour Scrap.



And some new layouts...

Credits: Something Girly kit by Jeannie Papai; Fonts: Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS

Credits: Boyish Charm kit and Layered Sketch (from Set #4) by Jeannie Papai; Font: OliJo

Credits: Young and Carefree kit by Amy Knepper, available at The Digi Chick Font: MA Flirty


Credits: Vintage Vashon by Amy Knepper, available August 31 at The Digi Chick.
Font: Note This

That's all folks...have a great week!

Last Week of Summer

It's FINALLY time to start school. How great is that? I'm so excited! My girls will be going to preschool this year. It's only two mornings a week, but this means that I get to experience all the fun "school stuff" through them. And, I get two mornings to do what I want!!!

~~~~~

A couple of actually scrapping things (Dawn, you may want to skip this part...LOL!). Be sure to check out Gina Miller's blog today. She has a special coupon good only tomorrow in her newsletter, so check it out.

And I'm excited to announce that Amy Knepper has asked me to be on her creative team! Yay! I love her stuff and I look forward to seeing her "new" style. You can check out her designs at The Digi Chick Boutique. Here's a layout I made with her new Young & Carefree kit:

And here is one I made with her Beachside Holiday kit a while back...


Well I gotta run and go pick up our van, which just had the brakes replaced...another $350 out the window!

I finally picked a name!

Thanks for all the great ideas for the name of my new kit (see the previous post). Here are the two winners:

Paisley Palooza - May's idea

Flannel Pajamas - Debby's idea

I decided to combine the two and I came up with Paisley Palooza PJ's.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to give me ideas!! I'll probably end up doing this again...what a fun way to name a kit.

The kit will be available at 1HourScrap in a day or two.

Help Me Name This Kit!

I'm not the greatest at naming kits, but I usually come up with something. This time I'm stumped! Please help me name this kit. Post your suggestion before Thursday, August 17 at 9pm EST to be entered in the contest. The winner(s) will receive a copy of the kit. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Please leave me your email address so I know how to contact you. Thanks!

New Week, New Stuff

We had a fabulous weekend! Grandma's party was a big success. She really enjoyed herself and even the kids did exceptionally well.

My brother is in town from San Diego for a few days so we're going to be doing lots of "fun uncle" activities, like the zoo, swimming and shopping for princess bicycles. I can't believe they are big enough for actual bicycles...yikes! But that's what he wanted to get them for their birthdays, so that's what we'll do. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~

I finished a couple of new QuickPage sets over the weekend. They should be up in the 1HourScrap store sometime today.


I made this one using Christina Bartholomew's School Days kit. I wish I had some photos to put in this set, but my girls will be starting preschool this year. Maybe I should go back and scrap along with Sue's School Album challenge at RAKs...and get my own school days finished!



I made this set with Christina's Birthday for Her kit, for my girls' birthday party. I always have a tough time scrapping birthdays for some reason (too many pictures, maybe?).

Well we're off to buy the bikes. Wish me luck!

How stinkin' cute is this? A digital grab bag! For only $1.00, I just HAD to go find out what was in it. Even I can afford $1.00!! LOL I won't spoil the suprise as to what's inside, but IMHO, it's well worth it. Tiff Brady is a master of marketing, wouldn't you say?

I found this over at Plain Digital Wrapper. Check out the grab bag here. Hurry though, because the grab bag is only available until tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~

I finally finished my layout for Grandma's 90th birthday, which we are celebrating tomorrow. I know it isn't very fancy or flashy, but I wanted to make it really easy for her to see/read. Grandma is legally blind so I used the black text against the yellow background for the best contrast.

Credits: August Color Challenge Kit by Lisa West (Zephanee) at RAKScraps;
tag by Robin Cabana; staples by Christina Bartholomew; font is Century Gothic

~~~~~~~~~~

Well I better get to sleep. Family gatherings are always so tiring...why is that? Maybe because they require so much restraint? LOL

Nite!

Beauty Treatments

It's Thursday, isn't it? Do you ever lose track of what day it is during the summer?

I'm taking the girls to get their hair cut this morning. My mom is meeting me at the salon (is BoRics technically in the "salon" category? LOL) because I guess she thinks I can't handle taking two four-years-olds to get their hair done. She's probably right. Heidi has been one time, but Gretchen hasn't been yet...could get interesting.

I have to share a recipe I'm going to try tonight. Gina Miller posted this on her blog for all of her readers. I have a ton of cherry tomatoes around here from our garden, so this will be a great way to use them. You can see the credits on her blog.


Okay, we're off to get beautiful! I'm sure I'll have some interesting pictures of this event...

Exciting news...to me, at least...

Well it's official...I just sold my first kit! I haven't done too much kit designing... just for prizes for my RAK chats/challenges. But, I'm on the CT at 1HourScrap, and Christina decided to encourage us to sell our designs there, if we want to. So far I've only sold QuickPages...but I figured...why not try it? This kit is my favorite one I've ever made. Today she emailed and said that someone had actually bought it. Yipeee!!!

My two other kits right now...

Find it here

Find it here

In other news, I took the girls to the park today to meet up with the playgroup from church. It was so nice to see everyone, since we don't meet during the summer. I have found summer to be kind of isolating...KWIM?

Things are shaping up for my grandma's big 90th birthday party on Saturday. My parents are hosting it...thank goodness! DH is in charge of taking pictures of all the guests. I still have to finish up my scrapbook page for her memory book. I find it difficult to "scrap on demand". I have so many good pictures I can't decide which ones to use.

Happy hump day!

Gretchen's first blog entry

Gretchen
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Polar Freeze!

Yes, you read that right. We are experiencing "global cooling" here in NW Ohio. Today it's only supposed to be 80 degrees and lower humidity! Hallelujah! I hope to take the girls to the park, after we hit the library.

We had a really nice weekend around here. Saturday was just a "stick around the house and not to a whole lot" kind of day. After dinner to took a "ride" in the car (do you remember doing that with your grandparents? I loved that...) and wound up at one of our favorite ice cream places out near our airport. They have this fabulous chocolate crunch dip (which is just chocolate dip with rice krispies in it) and then they dip your whole ice cream cone it. Yum!

Sunday we had Rob's family over for a cookout, and we celebated my birthday and my BIL's bday together. Rob and I have developed a nice little system for entertaining. He does the cooking, and I do the cleaning/table set up/etc. Now, why did it take us 12 years to figure this out? I used to get SO stressed out everytime we would have people over, trying to do everything. He loves to cook, and is a REALLY good cook, so why not just let him do it? I'm so lucky to have him!!

Unfortunately, before everyone came over, I started getting a migraine. I had to lie down for a while but managed to get up and catch the last half of dinner. Things were okay until they were ready to leave. It came back with full force...head, stomach, the whole shabang. I was up half the night and can still feel remnants of it today. Anyone have a good solution for these things?

Okay, I'm off to get beautiful before we go on our excursions. Have a great day!

New Look

So what do you think of my blog's new outfit? I won't lie...I am up WAY too late playing around with this, but I had to get it just the way I wanted it before I could go to sleep. The joys of html...

I took the girls to a park today for a picnic lunch and we had the pleasure of listening to a tuba quartet play a little concert. I used to play the tuba in college, so this was quite a thrill for me. LOL We got to see some geese, ducks and even two beautiful swans. Gretchen took a bunch of pictures. Very fun!

We decided to wash the van this afternoon, and it quickly turned into a water fight. When DH got home, the girls could not wait to soak him. It was so much fun just to get soaked and not care about it.

I better attempt to get some sleep. It's already 4:21am. This insomnia is for the birds.

I Want to be a Kid Again...

Do you ever wish that? I have been wishing that a lot lately...

I watch my girls play, and they have so much fun. I listen to them as they make their dolls and stuffed animals talk, and it's so darn cute. They can make just about anything talk. And they can make anything fun, in a silly, child-like way. I treasure this time with them so much, just watching. Sometimes they even let me play! And then sometimes, when I try to join in and use a silly voice, they tell me..."No Mommy, don't talk like that! Just be Mommy, okay?". LOL

Maybe I'm a bit reflective lately since I turned 34 yesterday. Birthdays aren't always very easy for me ...long, long story which I'll share sometime, but not today. Anyway, I had a great day. DH brought me flowers (he used to have them delivered, but I'm afraid of flower delivery trucks now...another long story), Dave Ramsey's new book "The Total Money Makeover", a Starbucks card, and couple of cool "fashion" pens and a neat back massager thing for the back of my computer desk chair. Gee...is there a theme here? My wonderful friend Patrice even brought me over a gift...a PartyLite lantern that I had been admiring but knew I shouldn't buy. How nice is that?

Last night I went over to my old stompin' grounds, a nearby swim and tennis club that I grew up going to. I literally went there every day, all day, every summer and lived in the pool. I was 12 years old before I realized that not every kid spend all day every day in a pool!

Last night was the club's annual synchronized swimming show...they are still doing them! I was in synchronized swimming there for about 8 years. It's the only real athletic thing I've ever done, and I was even pretty good at it! It was so great to watch the little girls, dancing around in their costumes and doing "ballet legs" in the water. I have so many awesome memories of those times, and even a couple of video-taped shows I was in. Hmm...I really need to do a couple pages about this...don't I?

And with that...we are going to leave Barnes and Noble now...night!

Quick Plug

When: August 1st at 10pm EST

Where: Chat room at Digi Shop Talk

What: Get ready for a literal "speed scrap"! You will be given one QuickPage to scrap with at the beginning of the chat. As soon as you finish/post that one, you'll receive another one. You can earn up to four free QuickPages, plus a bonus if you finish all four! This is a great way to get lots of scrapping done in a short amount of time.

Hope to see you there!

Here is the QuickPage I made that will be part of the bonus...it's called "Manly Man", since it has masculine colors.

You win some, you lose some...

I can't believe it's Friday already! The week has gone fast, which I'm thankful for. It's been pretty stressful around here lately.

The birthday party went very well. I'm grateful we just did the family party this time. The girls loved making their Hello Kitties at Build-A-Bear, and my parents, in-laws, grandma and all the rest got a kick out of watching the girls. None of them had ever seen this before so it was a first for them. I had ordered Subway sandwiches at the mall in advance, so we just brought pop and chips and called it dinner. The most important thing...it was cheap and easy!

We all came back to our house for cake and presents. The girls of course liked their cakes, and then the presents. We are now surrounded by Barbie Fairytopia, Hello Kitty, stickers, princesses, etc. I am up to my eyeballs in pink!!! LOL

~~The Aftermath~~
So for all you moms, you know...after a big event there tends to be general chaos for a couple of days. Unfortunately, in our house, it has lasted all week.

Monday: Stayed home to clean up and recover. Good thing. Lots of tantrums from Gretchen all day long.

Tuesday: Went to the fair. Girls did okay but it was SO hot and sticky (90 degree with about 90% humidity) that they got cranky. However...

My pictures won ribbons!! Yay! Blue ribbon for the Heidi photo, red ribbon for the Gretchen photo.

Wednesday: Took the girls to the free Curious George movie at the mall. Heidi decided she couldn't sit in her seat anymore and started crying (90 minutes in). So we left. Then Gretchen was mad that we missed the end of the movie. She became so irate that by the time we got to the car, I couldn't physically get her into the carset. When I finally was able to wrestle her in, she managed to get out!! I had to call DH to come help me. It was awful.

Thursday: Decent day, but we purposely stayed home. I managed to organize the girls' stuffed animals (read: put most of them away in a box!) and a bunch of my purses.

Which brings us to Friday. I have a bunch of errands to run today that I don't want to do, like buying a wedding gift (I'm just so bad at picking out gifts) and cleaning.

One more thing...I've been tagged by Audra!

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
Not searched, but pulled over.

2. Do you close your eyes on a roller coaster?
Nope. I scream and carry on like a maniac!

3. When's the last time you've been sledding?
About 5-6 years ago, in northern Michigan. DH were on a weekend trip up there.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?
I like my space, but I also like my hubby being there.

5. Do you believe in ghosts?
The jury is still out on this one. All I know is that I get shivers every time a pass a certain
restaurant near our house that is on the National Register of Haunted Places.

6. Do you consider yourself creative?
Yes

7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
Of course he did!

8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie? (silly, I know ... but very "now")
Jennifer for sure. I can't stand Angelina. I mean...who goes to a remote, foreign country to give birth??

9. Can you honestly say you know ANYTHING about politics?
I know a fair share, but only from listening to Glenn Beck and Rush on the radio.

10. Do you know how to play poker?
Sort of, but I'm not very good.

11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
Yup...in college. It wasn't pretty.

12. What's your favorite commercial?


13. Who was your first love?
You mean someone I actually dated, so just someone I WANTED to date!! LOL Probably Jon, my boyfriend in college. He ended up being gay. :-(

14. If you're driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around you, do you run a red light?
I have before.

15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?
Yes.

16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?
Boston

17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?
Yes, lots of times. Even took an ice skating class in college.

18. How often do you remember your dreams?
All the time. I can even wake up, then go back to sleep and continue the dream.

19. What's the one thing on your mind?
Counting down the days until school starts.

20. Do you always wear your seat belt?
Yes, always.

21. What talent do you wish you had?
I wish I could dance.

22. Do you like Sushi?
I love california rolls and avocado rolls, but would be willing to try other kinds (tuna?).

23. What do you wear to bed?
a t-shirt and pj pants

24. Do you truly hate anyone?
No.

25. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
No one. DH is enough for me. :-)

26. Do you know anyone in jail?
No, but I know someone who works at a jail.

27. What food do you find disgusting?
Probably clams/oysters...yuck!!

28. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?
I love to joke and tease, so yes, but all in fun (nothing mean....I hope).

29. Have you ever been punched in the face?
Yes, by my DD.

30. Do you believe in angels and demons? Yes.

Birthday Eve

What a great day we've had today! We went over to the fairgrounds to submit my artwork this afternoon. I should have a pretty good chance of at least getting some kind of ribbon, I think. There were only 9 entries in the scrapbooking class (I had two of them) and 7 entries in the photography/children class (I had two there as well). I'll find out Tuesday, the fair's opening day, how I did. Woohoo!

We drove around for a while, just crusing the city, the way we used to. I sure miss doing things like that. Then we stopped to have lunch at this cute little diner-type place...another treat.

I must pause here and applaud any of you amateur or professional cake decorators out there. I have spend my entire evening preparing the girls' birthday cakes.

Here I am attempting to frost the darn thing. How do people get it so smooth, and without crumbs in it? I put the cakes in the freezer for a couple hours first, which did help with cutting them. I also mixed a couple spoonfuls of corn syrup into the frosting to make it easier to spread, and dipped my spatula into warm water while frosting.




Heidi's cake









Gretchen's cake. Hmmm...can you tell which one I did first? LOL

I'm actually quite pleased with how they turned out, since I am generally baking-challenged. I used bubble gum tape to make the bow (above) and the flower (left), and then decorated with a little more frosting and some M&M's.

I found the template for this cake at DLTK's Kids Crafts site. Lots of cool stuff there...check it out!

I better get to bed...gonna need the energy for the party tomorrow. Later chicas!

Why Don't Old People Like Children?

Happy Friday! Despite my title, today was a pretty good day.

After doing a few chores this morning I took the girls to an outdoor, lunchtime, FREE concert at a nearby shopping center. Now this place is in a very affluent suburb of Toledo, and it's one of those "outdoor mall" concepts...with shopping, movie theaters, restaurants and apartments. It's very sophisticated, so clearly, so DO NOT fit in there! But I don't care! I knew they would enjoy the string quartet, and it gave me a chance to relive my music ed major college days. And did I mention it was FREE?

We packed our lunch and I purposely packed it in a recycled bread bag, just to see if I could get some looks. LOL It was a beautiful day and the girls really did enjoy the music. They recognized several songs from "Little Einsteins" (which have words on the show) so they were happily singing along. This is what caused all the dirty looks from the crowd, made up of mostly retired age folks. At what point do people forget that they ever had young children?

No matter. We indulged ourselves with some ice cream and then stopped by Yankee Candle. I finally bought an electric tart warmer, that I've been wanting since Christmas. Early birthday present. :-)

Tomorrow I'm taking two scrapbook pages and two photos over to our county fair. Wish me luck!

Splish Splash

Today has been one of those awesome summer days...the way every summer day should be. I was home with the girls this morning, updating Quicken while they played. We are doing a cash envelope budget now, so I like to stay on top of our spending. Did you know you can set up cash accounts in Quicken? Very cool!

I let the girls help me paint some artist canvases I got at Hobby Lobby with my birthday money. (My birthday isn't for another 2 weeks, so I'm a bit ahead of myself! LOL). Thanks to a great suggestion from my buddy Kelley McDonald over at RAKScraps, I'm going to make some wall art with the canvases by printing out some papers and photos and making a sort of collage. I hope they turn out well. I'll post photos when I'm finished.

This afternoon I was actually brave enough to take them to a little neighborhood public pool nearby. It's really quite nice...sloped entrance (like a beach), a big fountain, and the deepest point is only 4 feet. It is limited to children 12 and under. Why has it taken me 6 weeks to get them there? They had a blast! Gretchen even made a new friend (a 7-8 year old girl in a PINK swim suit...go figure!).

I grew up going to the pool just about every day, and I would love my girls to have that same experience. Makes me realize how much my Mom sacrificed her own plans so that we could do what we wanted to do.

Hope you are having a great summer day like I am!

Happy Monday!

Whew...the start of another week. Where did last week go??

I'm actually glad for a fresh start. Last week was a LONG week (at least while I was in the middle of it). Rob was gone from pretty much Monday am to Thursday pm, stopping in for an hour here and there a couple times. I did get to go scrapping with my bud Patrice on Thursday night, which was a treat. It's great since she lives right next door. :-)

We were supposed have a playdate Friday, but Gretchen had a hissy fit first thing and literally ripped a hole in her dress! So...playdate cancelled. I ended up having a babysitter come and stay with Gretchen, and I took Heidi to the pool and we met up with some friends there. I *hope* that was a correct parenting decision. I think both girls enjoyed the separate time.

Saturday I did my annual judging for some 4-H projects (family and consumer sciences category). I think 4-H is so valuable, as it teaches kids such practical, hands-on life skills. I'm a city girl, so I had had the chance to be in 4-H (I did girl scouts instead, which was great too), but I would love to start a 4-H chapter at my girls' school. Actually, they can be Cloverbuds starting at age 5...how cute is that??

We had Rob's parents over for dinner on Saturday night, then we to church Sunday am and over to my parent's house for dinner Sunday night. I love having both families in town, but sometimes it's overwhelming to have so many extended family commitments.

Today we had those friends over (who we had to cancel on Friday!) and it went splendidly. Heather has a 3 year old daughter and a 10 month old son, so the 3 girls played together so well and really the baby hung in there too. I love days like this!

So, the main agenda for the rest of the week is to get ready for the girls' birthday on Sunday. They will be 4 years old!! We are just having a family party this year...and probably next year they'll be begging to have friends come over. I figure I'll get away with just family for as long as I can! Every time I ask them each what kind of cake they'd like, I get different answers. I think tomorrow I'll be writing down their answers, and that will be the "final answer". LOL

Geez...this was quite a chatty post! Guess that's what happens when the kids are in bed, and I'm here watching Super Nanny by myself (yes, Rob is gone again tonight...back at work).

Garage Salein'

I'm not sure if "salein' " is a word, but I'm going with it anyway! LOL We just got back from a little tour around my end of town, crusing the garage sales. What fun! The girls are finally old enough (being two weeks short of 4) to actually listen, follow directions, not run into the street (usually) and sort of shop.

And what cheap entertainment! For a total of $7.00, I bought a magnetic zoo toy/set, a Little People book, a wooden puzzle with doors that open to reveal "suprises", a bag of glitter, a bag of ribbon, a bag of cross stitch thread and 3 glasses on pink lemonade!

Right now DH is over examining a bathroom sink vanity/base that we've been wanting to put in our bathroom. It's in great shape. The seller wants a pedastel sink, which we have and want to get rid of, so we might just switch. Isn't that fun? I love garage sales and stranger speak (a phrase coined by my husband and his brother, who are both experts in this area).

Now I know there are other blogs where the authors discuss great deals they find at Target, but my budget doesn't allow that, so I'll discuss garage sales instead, okay? LOL

It's almost TGIF...yay!

I feel like bloggin'...

Okay, I'm back. Jane, I'm glad I made you laugh! That is my general purpose in life...to make people laugh, so I guess I've accomplished my goal for the day.

I've been having trouble keeping up with this blog because I'm not exactly sure what it's main purpose should be. Ginger T seems to have cornered the market on rectangle scrapping (love ya Ginger!) so I'm not sure how useful this site is. And I'm certainly not a big designer-type person, and I don't seem to be getting any layouts published...so hmmmm...why exactly am I here?

There is something very therapeutic about blogging, as I'm sure all of you who blog on a regular basis know. I think it's because I feel so cut off from the rest of the world, being home with the girls every day. I know, I know...I should make more effort to get out and do stuff, but dealing with the constant fighting and screaming in the car is not a very big incentive to go!

So I guess I'll just use this blog to post some layouts, give my opinions on meaningless topics and other types of utter nonsense.

On that note, I am listening to the George Norrie show right now, on AM radio. If you haven't heard of him, go check him out...he's a complete nut job, but is very entertaining. Right now he's got some guy on who is predicting earthquakes and such. I guess I'm glad I don't live at the base of one of those!

I'm going to have to download a couple Gomez songs. I know AmyK is a big fan, and then Robin mentioned them too, so I felt compelled to check them out. They are pretty cool...an alternative, kind of funky sound. Right up my ally!

My iTunes fav right now: They Might Be Giants - Flood (the whole album). I loved them back in college, and it's fun to listen again now.

I better sign off now...gotta get some sleep. I am having a gal I know from church come over tomorrow with her kids (a preschooler and a baby) for a playdate. These social engagements always make me nervous, espeically when they are at my house. I have a bunch of cleaning to do!

Nite nite!

I Haven't Fallen Off the Planet!

Okay, so I know it appears as though I've fallen off the digital earth. But I haven't, really! May and June were completely crazy months for my family. DH was working like a maniac (the end of the school year is always tough), and we've been out of town a couple of times.

I'll be back later.

~~T.G.I.F. (I think...)~~

Rectangle layout feature: Little Lady Bug

This one caught my eye today and gave me a good laugh! According to Kim, she bribed herDS with a dollar to put the ladybug on nose so she could play around with a new ladybug kit she bought! I like the black background and the way it contrasts with the fun, bright-colored paper strips. The stitching is a great border and don't ya love how she zoomed in closer on the nose? Check out Kim's gallery at RAKScraps.

Credits: Little Lady Bug By Kim Hill, Font: Catharsis Macchiato

Weekend Plans

This weekend is all about family time. My aunt and uncle are visiting from Florida, so I'll be taking the kids over to Mom and Dad's to hang out. Tomorrow Mom is having a lunch for all of the female relatives in town (I think there are 15 total), so it will be a day of acting proper and polite (something I don't really do naturally...LOL).

Hopefully DH will get some serious work done on our bathroom project. We are stripping wallpaper and painting, replacing woodwork, etc...just a little sprucing up. At the rate we work, however, this could take months!!! I suppose I should be taking pictures and scrapping this event, but ya know, I don't really feel like it.







Rainbow CD Album

I just finished a cute little CD album that I will have available at 1HourScrap (hopefully in the next day or so). It's a rainbow color pallette and would make a great gift for graduation.








Well have a great weekend!

~~Happy Wednesday~~

Rectangle layout feature: Building A Swing

This morning I searched the rectangle galleries in my little "network" to find a layout with multiple photos. It didn't take me long to find this one by Deb (DebsAngels23) at RAKScraps. By using 4 photos in a clean, symmetrical layout, Deb is able to tell the story of her DD building a swing. Don't you love the pink/brown color combo? It's one of my favorites. The large title draws your eye to the top and the cute little sunshine element is a nice touch. Great job Deb!

You can check out more of Deb's layouts in her RAKScraps gallery.

Credits: Resolutions kit by Tracy Blankenship at Digital Freebies, Sun element by Christy Heins - March RAK mega kit; Font: Microsoft sans serif


Mom2Mom
I'm off to the year's last meeting of my church Mom's group this morning. I'm supposed to bring the snack AND prepare the lesson today...oh boy...looks like I'm stopping at Panera for some bagels and praying the Spirit will enlighted me with a few nuggets to share.

Happy Wednesday gals!

Pilates, anyone?

Boy am I tired...
I know, I know...this has nothing to do with scrapping, but it affects my general well-being, which affects my scrapping, so I think I'll mention it anyway, 'k? I've been working out for about 6 weeks now and feeling really good. Getting a little cocky even, since I've been running on the treadmill and weight training.

So I tried some Pilates tonight, on a video. Can we say "good ole fashioned ass-whoppin'"? LOL I am SO tired, and didn't even finish the video. Gretchen came down to investigate and decided she was going to dance with me. This kid is going to be a dancer or performer of some sort, but I refuse to put her in any more ballet classes, as I don't want her to turn into a total prissy-snob!

[No offense to anyone who might have a daughter in dance class, but in my neck of the woods, the moms are completely snotty and stand-offish and the girls are just too cute...ugh!].

Rectangle layout pick
I've been totally slacking on highlighting people's excellent layouts on the blog lately, so here is a new one I found today that deserves some recognition.

Credits: Boat House kit by Kathy Moore at DigiScrapDivas

"Red Shirts" by Corinne at RAKScraps caught my attention with its bold primary colors and simple, clean lines. I love layouts that record a quirky, everyday thing that you normally wouldn't think to scrap. Corinne journals about her DS's fondness for wearing red shirts here. Check out her gallery for lots of other great layouts.

That's all for now!

You win some, you lose some...

Disappointment
I knew I shouldn't have tried that contest over at Digiscrappin.biz. I found out last night at the chat that I didn't make the second round. I was majorly bummed last night (doesn't help that I had PMS). I felt sad, disappointed, angry, rejected, defiant...all at once.

But if I'm completely honest with myself, that layout wasn't my best work. Yes, I spent some time on it, but it certainly wasn't my all-time best photo, and not my best compostion.

I guess what makes me sad about this competition is that I know others will feel like I do, and as this thing goes one more and more people will get cut. I wonder if it is a good idea to try competing with other scrappers. I mean, why did I start doing this in the first place? Was it to try to win a contest, or preserve some wonderful memories for my family by creating pages that are fun to look at and journaling that is entertaining to read? I know it's the latter. My kids certainly don't care if my pages are published or win contests.

While I was working out this morning, I was listening to my iPod and "Eye of the Tiger" came on. A line from the song seemed very appropriate to my experience with the contest:

"So many times, it happens too fast...you trade your passion for glory...don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past...you must fight just to keep them alive"

Translation: I can't trade my passion for scrapping for the glory of winning or being recognized publicly. I can't lose my focus...just stay the course...hang out at my scrapping home, RAKScraps, and don't worry about the rest of the sites.

Am I making a federal case out of this? Probably. I'll be totally over it in a couple of days, and then I'll follow the contest, just to see how my RAK friends are doing. I'm still rooting for ya!

And now, something far more meaningful
I went up to the U of Michigan Children's Hospital tonight to visit some friends. Their 2 month old daughter just had her first open heart surgery to correct a birth defect, and will probably have two more surgeries this year. I had the priviledge of seeing little Katherine in the PICU and she is just beautiful. She even opened her eyes for me and seemed to enjoy all my advice for when she gets older ... LOL! I can't tell you what a boost it gave me to see this little miracle girl, and I was overwhelmed with God's grace and tender loving care. My friends are holding up well and they can feel the prayers of our church body. It doesn't get much better than that. I made sure they are taking photos (they are) and maybe when this whole ordeal is over, I'll be able to scrap it for them. Now...that's what scrapping is all about.

'nough said...good night!

Do I Have What It Takes?

What was I thinking...entering that Ultimate DigiScrapper's Contest over at DigiScrappin.biz? The more I look through the beautiful entries for Week 1, the more humbled I become. Here's my entry: Genuine Smile. I tried playing around with some blending, which is not my normal scrapping style, but hey...in this contest you have to be different, right? LOL I guess we'll see what happens!

I am really intrigued with this new site...DigitalArtQuirks.com...which I read about on AmyK's blog. It's a quirky, funky place where you can try out all those experimental layouts you've always wanted to try. I'm particularly interested in the art journal...I'm not really sure if I "get it" yet, but I'm willing to learn. Here is one of Amy's layouts from there, which I just think is WAY cool:

Check out her blog for info on credits!

I've been doing some scrapping of my own. I think I'm addicted to making QuickPages right now! I just put together a Mother's Day 5x7 mini-album and also a Father's Day 8.5x11 album. Both are for sale at 1HourScrap. Now, if I could actually take the next step and put some PHOTOS in them! LOL



Well that's all for now...I'm beat!

We're Debt Free!

...at least for the moment. LOL I mentioned in a previous post that I've been listening to
Dave Ramsey, that Christian financial dude, on the radio everyday. TodayI'm going by the bank to pay off our only debt...our home equity line...and it's very exciting! Woohoo! I could have done this months ago, but I like to have a certain coushin of cash in our savings acct, so we kept that money and just kept making payments on the loan. How dumb is that??

Speaking of money, I've been buying too many kits lately. And now there is another one I REALLY want...but definately shouldn't get! Have you seen this one?

It's Melany Violette's Girls Edition CD. You get all these kits for $16.00! How can I not buy this since I'm a mom of twins girls? Argh.

Well I'm off to the bank, post office and then the park for a picnic lunch with Nana and Papa (my parents). TGIF!

Homework??

I just finished this layout about my girls' first experience with homework. Yes, you read correctly...HOMEWORK! They are 3.5 years old and I have them enrolled in a two-morning-a-week class at the Y. It's a kind of pseudo preschool class...they do crafts, a lesson, gym time, snack, etc. When I went to pick them up on Monday, their teacher handed me a stack of papers they had done along with a homework assignment! It just cracked me up.

That wasn't the best part. When we got home that afternoon, I told them, "Let's do your homework now girls!" and they both screamed and said "No! We don't want to do our homework. We don't like homework!!!". Now, how did they learn about homework? I've never discussed it with them. Is this something inherited?? Sheesh!

In other news...I've been turned on to Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial counselor who has a cool radio show everyday. He's all about paying cash for things and getting out of debt. I just pulled our credit reports and am working on our budget. It's fun stuff, let me tell you.

Along those lines, I am finally letting go of my college textbooks and just posted them on Half.com. They have a whole textbook section there and you can make some decent money. If you have textbooks in your attic, dust them off and make a little extra cash. If you need any music education textbooks...check out my sales. LOL

Thanks Gina...

...for getting me addicted to your blog. LOL If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out Gina Miller's blog. She's a digiscrapper/designer of course, but she has a way with words and posts about funny things like product reviews and asks for suggestions about regular, everyday things. Hmmmm....I've always wanted to be a writer...maybe I should take a crack at this daily blog thing!

So, to start off with...I'm going to post some random, off-the-wall things that are coming up for me today.

Pizza boxes: Gina mentioned in her blog that she wants to store her 8x8 layouts in hat boxes rather than albums, since she doesn't scrap in chronological order. Great idea! DH just picked up 4 medium size pizza boxes for me (new ones, of course) so I can create my own, totally free boxes. Then I'll get to work altering them and viola...storage boxes for layouts!

Sandbox stress: Does anyone else besides me get completely stressed out over the kids playing in the sandbox? I don't know why it bothers me so much. It shouldn't. I try to be a pretty cool mom and let the girls get dirty, run around...you know, be kids. We have one of those water and sand tables...

Now as far as I can tell, they don't even make this version anymore. Hmmm...I wonder why?!!!! The water gets in the sand, the sand gets in the water....argh!! And worse, usually the sand just ends up all over the driveway. Trust me...if you are going to get your kids a sandbox, just get the plain, old-fashioned kind.

I think it's going to rain soon. I actually hope it does. We've had a ton of beautiful, sunny days lately...so I'd welcome an excuse to stay in and be cozy!

Don't forget to check out Jeanine's chat tomorrow night at SBB. I know she's nervous so go and root her on! She's offering a cool freebie...check out her blog for more info.

Have a great weekend!

Ooops!

For some reason clicking the preview doesn't seem to work, so let's try it again:

http://s48.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2UZH7NL90DHUL01ZZO98XL1TH9

Freebie: In The Pink

Since everyone else likes to share freebie on their blogs, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon! I don't make many kits and am not very skilled at it yet, but if you can use a pink kit, you are welcome to it! Just click the image above to download it. I'd appreciate a comment if you download. Thanks!

I'm in business (sort of....)

Yay! I just sold my first ever QuickPage over at 1HourScrap.com. I fee really honored that someone liked my work enough to actually PAY for it. :-)

I wish I could figure out a way to do a better job keeping my blog updated. I read Gina Miller's a few times a week and just wonder how she has time to keep up with it. Or anyone else who posts daily, for that matter!

I am going to be updating my list of rectangle scrapper's galleries in the next couple of days, so keep your eyes open for some new inspiration!

1 Hour Scrap Is Now Open!

There is an awesome new site out there that you HAVE to check out! 1HourScrap.com is a wonderful resource for all of us who are pressed for time, yet want to get our photos scrapped using beautiful, skillfully designed pages. There you'll find a huge assortment of QuickPages and mini-albums in png and jpg formats to help you get the job done.

I've had the honor of working on the Creative Team since November, designing QuickPages and communicating with Christina Bartholomew and Carol McFarland, the co-owners of the site. This is an exciting time and I hope y'all check it out!

I'm espresso!

I was perusing around BlogThings.com and found this fun quiz. I love anything involving coffee...so this was perfect! What kind of coffee are you?

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Thursday featured rectangle scrapper: Sharon (sharitas)

Okay, I know it's only Wednesday but I wanted to post this anyway! I haven't been doing a good job keeping this updated so I'm trying to do a better.


Anyway, I chose Sharon this week because I like her style. This layout is my favorite from her gallery...I think the criss-crossed ribbons are a neat touch. Check out her gallery at RAKScraps here.

Special Printing Info for Rectangle Scrappers

Special thanks to RAKScraps CT Member, Meredith {mcardall}, for the following information:

Looking for an affordable way to print your 8.5x11" prints? Thanks to Herman at Adorama Pix, for a limited time, all 8.5x11 prints are $0.99. That is cheaper than an 8x10 at most places! Adorama Pix uses Kodak Royal paper in glossy or matte finishes. This "unadvertised" promotion is to determine the demand for this size digital print at a temporarily reduced price among the digital scrapbooking community. If we show good support to this site, they will continue to provide low-cost prints in this unusual size. Just use the coupon code at check-out.

Adorama Pix website: http://www.adoramapix.com/
coupon code: PXSCRAPBOOK
COUPON EXPIRES 4/30/2006