my dog

is on probation, according to the paperwork I received from the Association.
I think when you capitalize Association it makes it seem much more threatening. Like the Illuminati.
Anyway, our "violation has been put on hold" and if we get another call on our dog WITHIN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS, we will be automatically fined. GREAT.

I am going to fight this, yet again. I made freaking PEACE with the neighbor!! It's ONE neighbor that hates the dog!!! If he hates him so much, he should just call animal control and let THEM deal with it, not the Association!

::::sigh:::::

baby gumball

Violet and Riley love searching our neighborhood for little yellow air gun pellets left over after a neighbor has finished shooting the pigeons that plague our homes. They are usually in the rocks or the gutters. Violet has a few of the bb gun balls in her collection, and yesterday Riley found one and was carrying it around everywhere, putting it in his belly button, hiding it under the table, and generally having a great time with it. He took it in the car, but dropped it when he was in his seat. He kept asking me over and over, "where's my baby gumball?" and I was, of course, puzzled. When I figured out he was referring to the little yellow pellet, I told him, "Honey, you know that's not gum, right?" and he said, "I know! It's a baby gumball!"

And then it hit me.
Not baby gumball.
BB gun ball.

hahahahahahahahaha

Old Friend

Eric Fadely is in town this week and we got to have dinner with him on Monday night. We went to Mimi's Cafe and had a lovely dinner (tho' the "Arnold Palmers" the guys drank were little more than weak tea with a lot of lemon water and really not worth drinking... of course they kept getting refills and kept drinking them... hmmm). But the food was great and the sitting around the table, reminiscing with an old friend was lots of fun. The guys laughed and joked about how "musicals DO happen in real life!" and how much better their lives are since having kids. We discussed the houseing prices and I am tempted to move to Tennessee now (I am still thirsty)... After dinner we decided to go to the brand new Cold Stone Creamery that just opened in the same shopping center... only when we walked over there we found out it really *hadn't* opened yet. So we headed back to the house instead and talked a bit more... then Riley had a huge poop in his diaper and that was Eric's cue to leave... I hope he made it back to his hotel okay... :)

Cinderella

Mama Lali had a great idea the other day... she thought it would be lovely if four generations of princesses went to see a princess show in the theatre. So last week, Abu, Mama Lali, Violet and I went to the Summerlin Performing Arts Center and saw Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. It was a lovely evening! First was dinner at Tenaya Creek Brewery (food was "eh...," although the calamari was yummy), and then we went to the show.

The show was very well done. The set was amazing - it totally reminded me of one of those kiddie Disneyland rides (like Alice in Wonderland) - bright, fluorescent colors, curved lines, every shape exaggerated & silly. This extended to the costumes of the stepmother & stepsisters. AND OH MY WORD were the stepsisters not COMPLETELY hilarious!! Maybe it was because they were both MEN! They were certainly ugly...

The funniest part of the show was when Abu turned to me about halfway through the show and said, "one of the stepsisters is BLACK!" LOL

At the end of the show, Violet, who was completely mesmerised by the Fairy Godmother's magic, talked to her for awhile about it... and the Fairy Godmother gave Violet her email address so that she could find out just how she did one of her tricks. It was so cute, and Violet was beaming that *she* had the FAIRY GODMOTHER'S EMAIL!!

Here are a few pictures from the show...


Violet and Mommy


Four Generations... waiting for the show to start


Jessie & her wicked stepsisters... ;)


Mama Lali and Evil Stepmother (Melinda - this is Leslie Fotheringham!)


Violet with Cinderella (Kelly Fotheringham) and Prince Charming


Abu and Fairy Godmother


Violet getting Fairy Godmother's autograph


Fairy Godmother telling Violet to email her

Just for fun...

I painted this at artpad.
Then I did this one.

So much fun. You should try it. ;)

potty training...

Riley has been doing *kinda* well with it. It depends on the day, LOL.

He had been doing really well with pooping on the potty lately, but today wasn't a great day. First he comes up to me... "Mommy, I do pee" and I watch the wetness form on the front of his shorts and on the floor. Huh??? So I check in his pants (because he *was* wearing a pull up) only to find he had pulled his little riley OUT of the underpants. So he's kind of getting the hang of it... kind of... I just need to get him closer to the potty and teach him to pull down his pants completely. We changed him into a new pull up and I told him to tell me when he needs to go potty.

Not ten minutes later he came up to me, "Mommy, I do poop." But I could already smell it was too late. So as I changed him we talked about pooping in the potty.

Does poop go in your diaper?
"no."
Does poop go on the floor?
"no."
Does poop go on the carpet?
"no."
Where does poop go, Riley?
"outside!"

O-kay. Not quite grasping it just yet.

Words heard from my mouth today...

"Riley, DON'T lick the dog!"

I tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen. He wanted to lick Barabbas. Maybe because Barabbas was licking him. I don't know. I finally gave in...

and, yes, Riley got a tongue-full of Rabbas hair.

ewwww.

fun fun fun, fun for everyone...

I just signed up for the Disney Movie Club - I needed to replace a few of our DVDs that got ruined (Riley was trying to pry Monster's Inc out of the case and BROKE IT IN HALF), and there were a few we wanted to add to our collection. I figure, we'll get our 8 Disney DVDs for about $90 and then I'll cancel the membership. I had one of those music club memberships in college and added some great tunes to my collection back then, and it was a pretty decent deal. This one is, too.

We are trying to plan our summer - Disneyland or the beach? Disneyland or the beach?? Both have their merits... both are waaaaaay fun. Trying to coordinate it all with the fam right now. It's crazy - staying at the Disneyland Resorts is sooooooo freaking expensive. The same nights and park deals are about half the cost at other hotels that are really not that much farther away. Just wondering if convenience is worth staying there, or if the Hilton or Marriott Suites a block away is the way to go... Of course I have never had the luxury of staying at one of the Disneyland Resort Hotels... and I guess they *are* amazing... but to the tune of $4000 for a family vacation??? Yikes!

Didn't want to forget this...

Mom sent this to me in an email. I decided it was a good reminder for me.

On Being Mom
by Anna Quindlen

If not for the photographs, I might have a hard time believing they ever existed. The pensive infant with the swipe of dark bangs and the blackbutton eyes of a Raggedy Andy doll. The placid baby with the yellow ringlets and the high piping voice. The sturdy toddler with the lower lip that curled into an apostrophe above her chin. ALL MY BABIES are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two
taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like.

Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past. Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.

What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all. Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2. When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit- up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing.

Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month-old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the, "Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame." The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, What did you get wrong? (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the
first two seasons. What was I thinking? But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be.

The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity.

That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were....

In the middle of Panda Express last night,

while I was getting us food, Violet turned to her daddy and asked,

"Daddy, how can I ask Jesus into my heart?"
And her daddy told her, you just pray.

So Violet knelt down on the floor of Panda Express, put her hands together, and prayed while her dad held her hands and her brother helped me pick out the orange chicken, "Jesus, come live in my heart and be with me forever. Thank you for dying for me and saving me from my sins. I love you. In Jesus' name, Amen."

And you know what, He did. Right there in the middle of Panda Express while I payed for our dinner.

Isn't God amazing?

Chuck

Why does my son feel the need to *CHUCK* everything???
WHY WHY WHY WHY?!??!

Down the stairs...
Across the room...
From the bathtub...
Into the bathtub...
Out of his crib...

It is NEVERENDING. The discipline, the talks, the spanks. And still he chucks.

He's lucky he's so dang cute ;)

My trip to Mesa

I seem to be a traveling MACHINE lately! Just last weekend I drove to Mesa, AZ with my pal Valerie to teach at the CK Convention for Michael Miller Memories. My classes were abysmally small (although a hit with those that attended!!), and I was frustrated at the lack of enthusiasm for the fabric paper product. I came to find out, however, that it wasn't for lack of enthusiasm... they had not properly listed our class until *AFTER* pre-registration closed. So the only attendees of the classes were through word of mouth at the convention. And they did not show our project sample to prospective attendees (not sure why either, because we had sent them one). We did, however, have a "make & take" table in the event's main hallway. This is where I spent most of my convention time, and it's also where we generated a ton of buzz about the product. Loads of people went straight from the make & take into the vendor faire and bought some paper, so the show was a success. Valerie stuck by my side through nearly all of it, even though she didn't have to, and had a great time playing teacher along with me. I enjoyed her company... made it much more fun. She's a natural.

Something really cool... I have an online friend, Suzy Gross, that owns a store in the Phoenix metropolitan area... it's brand new, called "Annalis Scraptique." Such a cool store... loads of the newest, latest, most exciting stuff lined her shelves, and the whole setup is very funky and fun... all old bookcases and tabletops and buckets and relaly unique store fixtures. Makes you want to explore the whole place and touch everything. My favorite part is the workshop/class area with long wooden tables surrounded by wooden chairs from Ikea. Only they are not plain... each one of them has been painted/decoupaged/altered/collaged/made into a work of art by some of the coolest, funkiest scrapbook artists out there. And when I was there, Suzy asked me if I would do a chair for her studio too!!! I was thrilled at the opportunity. And so I returned home with a chair in the back of the car and all sorts of great ideas already forming in my head.

On the five hour drive back, Val & I listened to the soundtrack for The Last Five Years and now I am dying to see the show. I've got tons & tons of deadlines, including finishing the cover layout for the July/August Memory Makers, so I have got to get going... again...

Oh and then the next day...

We slept in, played scrabble and ate lunch at Johnny Rockets while just below us on the street Sandra Bullock was getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, visited IKEA for the first time (OH DEAR LORD I AM IN LOVE WITH THAT PLACE!! We were in there for FIVE HOURS!!!), went to the Santa Monica Pier and got our pictures taken at one of those silly photo booths...

then we rode the ferris wheel, had dinner at Mariasol Restaurant on the ocean, visited the Promenade (and didn't spend NEARLY enough time there), got a Starbuck's Coffee and mixed our own CDs at Hear Music - where you can choose from a quarter of a million songs to create your own custom CD (with a jacket/name/playlist you design yourself). Or if you just want to sit there and listen to music while you drink your coffee you can. And if you see a CD you want to buy but you aren't sure if it has the songs you want, you can scan it and then listen to it right there. Awesometastic.

We left LA a little after 9 p.m. and stayed awake by giving everyone we could think of "IKEA names" like Glorm and Klak and Overklig. It was faaaaaaar too silly in the car for us. What a great trip. :)

Star Search

So it all started when Melissa and I stopped in Taco Bell Wednesday afternoon. There, in line in front of us, was Jennifer Love Hewitt. Mel did not believe me, but we eventually said hi to her. She was very sweet & gracious. And for those interested, ordered two Mexican Pizzas and about fifty mild sauces :).

We had a couple hours to kill before going to see the tonight show, so we went to see if we could get into any of the studios around the area. All of them were heavily guarded by security, but we tried anyway. We tried Warner Records but my sly little "can I please use your restroom, please???" trick didn't work with the guys at the front desk. Dang that tight security! Sheesh!!

THEN we went to see Jay Leno.



Our seats were AMAZING. Front row, right on the fifty yard line. He was DOING HIS MONOLOGUE five feet from us. Very cool. Just before the show he came out, warmed up the audience, and even posed for pictures with us (we were not allowed to bring in cameras, but one of his producers snapped this shot with a Polaroid!). When Mel & I came on stage, he asked if we were her for a cleavage convention. And he wasn't directing that comment toward Melissa!! NICE! LOL!! Melissa also ended up dancing onstage as part of some audience-entertainment thing... and won an Official Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tank Top!

Kevin Bacon was Jay's first guest... and during the commercial break, he smiled and winked at me. He was very friendly, and not at all creepy like I thought he would be.

The other two guests were Kim Raver and Amos Lee.

SUCH great fun to watch a show in production. Afterward, we drove around and tried to get into other studios, but no luck. We did see Zach Braff driving his Porsche down Olive Street after leaving Touchstone Studios, but couldn't catch him. So we headed back to the hotel to figure out what we were going to do that night.

When we pulled in to the valet parking area at our hotel , the bellman asked if we were there for the premiere. "Of what?" we asked. "Miss Congeniality 2," he replied. We told him no, and thought we could walk down to Grauman's (a block away) and see if we could up our star count for the day.

It was CROWDED. People were mobbed everywhere. Limos were lined up and famous people were spilling out all over the red carpet. And we could get NOWHERE NEAR IT. The hoards of fans were kept at bay by dividers, and security was everywhere. We tried to go across the street, then around to the opposite side, and still saw no one. I told Mel we should have come over in a limo. They would have let us right in. Just as we were giving up to go back to the hotel, one of the WB Studio guys came over and asked if we were together and if we would like to see the movie tonight, cause he had a couple of extra tickets.

I had already seen the movie at a sneak preview with Rick on Monday night in Las Vegas. And it wasn't all that great. In fact, Rick summed it up best with this review:

"It was the best sequel I have seen since "Speed 2!"

So I wasn't too excited about seeing the film, but it was obvious this WB guy chose Mel and I cause we were cute (cause there were plenty of un-cute people around us at the time). And Mel hadn't seen the movie, so we accepted. And it gave us another chance to hang with the stars.

Oh, and did I mention free soda and popcorn? Yep.

So the movie sucked just as bad the second time, but it was cool that we were in there watching it with Sandra Bullock and Regina King and William Shatner and that funny smiley dude from Drew Carey and the rest of the cast (and, actually, Melissa was technically in the movie as an extra, so really we deserved to be there, cause she is in one scene!).

After the movie, we said hi to William Shatner who was really creepy looking up close and I think pretty terrified of us. In the lobby I spotted a few of the other actors in the film, and then Mel and I both saw ROB REINER! Mel shook his hand and we both said hi and how much we admired him and wished we weren't so geeky when we met famous people cause we would have discussed with him that The Princess Bride is our favoritest movie that ever was made.

We were *THIS CLOSE* to sneaking our way into the Premiere Party when we chickened out at the last second (had we just walked in with the crowd we would have been fine, but we got skeeeeeeeeered).

We decided to instead go back downstairs and get something to eat (and it was now 10 p.m.) and then on our way downstairs we saw Jerry from ER and tried to talk to him for a bit, but it was pretty obvious he was terrified of us too. Our "be cool when we see famous people" schtick was obviously not working. :p

As we had dinner at CPK , we reflected on our great day. And it was indeed great. And then the waitress asked if we were 21 when we ordered our drinks.
Life is good. :)

Off to L.A.

Melissa and I are taking a "girls trip" to Los Angeles. We are going to see a taping of Jay Leno on Wednesday afternoon and then do the whole tourist thing. It's gonna be awesometastic. We are also going to search for Zach Braff and do our best to find him, possibly on the set of Scrubs. Not totally sure how we are going to pull off our little escapade, but if Jessie Baldwin wants to do something, she usually finds a way. ;)

I'll be back Thursday evening. Rick gets to play Mr. Mom (his favorite role) that day... the kids will love it. And I will love sleeping in on Thursday morning!

You put the lime in the Coke...

I have a new favorite way to drink my Coke. With Lime.
Yummmmmmmmmmmmy.

So I was happy about that. My week was starting off very well.
I am getting my hair and eyebrows done this afternoon, so I will be cute for my trip to LA with my friend Melissa. We are going to try and get on Leno on Thursday. She has a "connection" there that supposedly has tickets for us... we'll see... :)

Oh, and Lanna from CK called me with an Honorable Mention nod. Looks like they don't hate me after all. I'm not supposed to share this with anyone just yet, so don't tell. I think the winners get announced in a couple of weeks. But, yeah, that did put a bigger smile on my face. :)

Won't you be my neighbor?

I don't know if I have mentioned the neighborhood association saga yet. We have a beautiful, gorgeous neighborhood of wonderfully, friendly people. The kids play in the park behind our house or ride bikes in the road out front. In the evenings (especially this time of year!) everyone is out on their front porches, chatting and catching up. Everyone loves to play catch with our dog Barabbas, trying to see how far they can throw the ball before he catches it. Everyone enjoys each other's company. That is, everyone except the couple that lives on the corner right across the street from us.

They are weird.
They are in their early 30s, so they aren't crotchety old people. They have lived there as long as we have. No kids, no pets. When they come home from work, they pull their car into their garage and close the garage door before they get out of the car. The only time I see them outside of their house is when they check their mail, and they do NOT say hello. Especially the wife. She won't even make eye contact. They are very weird. The husband has talked to us a couple of times - once when we were working on our front yard landscaping, and another time when we were at the mailbox he said hi. That was about it. And I think it's cause I said "hi" first.

So last November I get a letter from the neighborhood association that our dog is "running loose and defecating in the common area." Our dog goes nowhere without us, and if he poops, we get a baggie and clean it up right away.

I called and asked for proof that it was my dog and they said all they had was an anonymous phone call from a neighbor a few days earlier.

The following month, we got another letter. This time it was a violation notice. The "anonymous neighbor" has complained again. I fought it with the association and said without proof and photo evidence, I will not acknowledge it. They dropped the issue.

Well, on the 10th of the month, the kids and I (as we always do) went to check mail with Barabbas. On our way back, Barabbas laid down on the neighbor's grass, waiting for us to cross the street. At that exact moment, our neighbor came out of her house, on the phone with the association, complaining about the dog. Did she even bother to acknowledge ME, who was standing right there???? NOPE.

The following Tuesday I got a letter... another violation notice and now I must appear before the Board because of continuing complaints.

Um, hello! This is the SAME NEIGHBOR EVERY TIME!!! It's not "continuing complaints..." it's ONE PERSON blaming his dying grass on MY DOG.

*** I should add that the dying grass in his yard was a result of him fertilizing it with winter fertilizer in the spring and therefore burning his grass, resulting in him needing to replace it all ***

I was FUMING. So I took the rest of the week to collect myself, got a pretty flowering plant, and brought it over to him, offering a peace offering and asking if there's anything I can do to repair our neighbor-to-neighbor relationship. He admitted that there was poop on his front yard and he reported it, and that it may not have come from my dog (nice). I told him that if he ever finds poop in his yard that I will personally remove it, if it's from my dog or not. He also told me that his landscaper told him that dog urine caused all his grass to die. Funny, that dog urine is high in nitrogen - just like the fertilizer he used. So was it dog urine? I doubt it. Unless a herd of dogs had been pissing all over his grass - and NO ONE ELSE'S. But he did thank me for coming over, and I reiterated that I would be more than willing to clean up any mess from my dog I saw... and that I would do my best to keep Barabbas off his yard when we went to get the mail. He seemed fine with that.

We'll see how many months it takes for him to change his mind.

And I *still* have to appear before the Board next month. Great.

Measuring

My self worth with a contest...
I've got to stop doing that.
I know it's not right. I know I am a good scrapbooker. Yet when I heard that all the Hall of Fame winners have been called, I was (and still am, frankly) upset.

I look at my work. It's awesome. Not a single layout in my whole entry bugs me. They are all fantastic. I love what I did. I kicked my art up several notches. I feel like I am at the top of the heap. Everyone who saw my layouts said the same thing.
"These are amazing!"
"Your best ever! I can't believe how great these are!"
"You're a shoe-in!"
And I believed them.
Were they just being nice? Trying to make me feel good? Trying to butter me up? I don't get it.

This contest is considered, in the scrapbooking community, the pinnacle of a scrapper's career. Once you make Hall of Fame, you have arrived. Manufacturers come to your door wanting you to do stuff for them and get paid. People send you places. You get book deals. You get serious recognition. That's why I wanted it. I knew the opportunities that awaited the winners of the contest. I wanted to be one of them. I reeeeeeeally wanted it.

I will be fine in a few days. But for now I need to be pissy about this.

oh and can I just say

that the whole pinky-toe side of my foot is bruised? It's pretty grody looking. I can't wear ANY shoes... only my flip flops. Thank goodness for Rainbow sandals. ;)

for those of you wondering...

how my son got on the counter in the first place, he was brushing his teeth - he gets on the counter and straddles the sink. the only problem was that his toothbrush was put into the toothbrush holder upside down, and when he tried to pull it out, it wouldn't come right out. so he pulled harder. and i think you know the physics of what happened next.

My morning. (I am not making this up!!)

Today is the start of "call week" where Lisa from Creating Keepsakes magazine calls the winners of the Hall of Fame contest. I will be a nutcase every time the phone rings. I will also be checking the messageboards and email constantly for any sign of the calls having started. The winners cannot reveal who they are, so if anyone gets called they need to announce it online anonymously so that their identiry isn't revealed until the announcement day in May. I decided I needed to prepare for the week, so I cleaned the house really well last night and have already planned out the week's worth of dinners. I checked my email this morning... nothing (of course). That's okay... the week has only just begun.

I *needed* to take a shower. I was funky.
The kids can fend for themselves for two minutes.
I get into the shower.
My hair is nicely lathered with shampoo.
All of a sudden, Violet comes running in.
"MOMMY!! RILEY FELL OFF THE COUNTER!!!"What?!?!!?I turn off the shower, look around for my towel (WHERE IS IT??!?!), can't find it, jump out, and as I jump out of the shower, my pinky toe stays in for a second.
Now I am naked, wet, dripping, with a pinky toe that is sticking straight out to the right. That can't be good.
So I hop, naked, wet, dripping, with shampoo getting into my eye to the kids bathroom, where Riley is on the floor crying.
Violet described to me what happened. He was sitting on the counter and fell backwards - did a complete back flip and landed on his butt on the floor.
No bumps, all his extremities seem to work...
I ask Violet for the flashlight and she brings it in. His eyes are fine. WHEW.
Oh yeah.
I am still naked, dripping, shampoo in my eyes, and hopping on my broken toe that *REEEEEEALLY* hurts.
And all I can think is how funny it would be if Lisa called me *RIGHT NOW.*
But she didn't.
Whew.

updating.

liane is in town. we saw hitch. it was hilarious. i found a kindergarten for violet. riley is potty training still. he has green poop. not sure why. rick has been working crazy long hours. i have been scrapping. the play room is organized. the system of bins is working. i am in a bible study/mom's group that is great. the kids love it. i love it. it's good. i made the best tortilla soup last night. i have lost five pounds. i know this cause i broke down and bought a scale last week. liane is irritated cause i am not blogging more. i promise i will do better. really. i promise.

back on track...

or at least back ;)

I finished and sent my Hall of Fame entry with nary a moment to spare. It arrived safe & well on Thursday at the CK offices. One less thing off my plate. Next was preparing for Atlanta. I got to break in Rick's new luggage set... and it worked perfectly!! The big rollie-bag for clothes & stuff, the medium rollie-bag for scrap supplies and the little shoulder bag for my carry-on stuff. I packed several books to read on my down-time and lots of cute & sassy clothes (many thanks to e-Lan).

My flight for Atlanta left on Thursday at noon-ish... we dropped off Violet at class & Riley at gymnastics (with Miss Valerie) while Mr. Jim drove me to the airport. I was so excited about the plane flight... direct to Atlanta... and it even was showing a MOVIE!!! "Ladder 49" - one I haven't seen yet! I rented the little cheap headphones for $2 so I could see it. On the flight I had an ENTIRE ROW OF SEATS ALL TO MYSELF!! It was AWESOME! By then I was exhausted and decided to stretch out... just for a minute.... and slept the entire way there. I woke up just before the plane made it to Atlanta.... oops! So much for the movie!

The temperature when the plane landed (at 8 p.m.) was 27 degrees....eeeeeeeeeeeee...... I was ffffffffreeeeeeeeezing!! At baggage claim, my bags were the *LAST* ones off the plane. Everyone had gotten their stuff and left and I was standing at an empty carousel, freaking out a little, when the bags popped up right over the side. WHEW!! Took the shuttle to the hotel to meet my roommate, Ursula, whom I have known online for a long time, and also designed for Michael Miller Memories.

The Hyatt was nice - not amazingly swanky, but not bad either. I think I was expecting nicer... but it was actually decent. All our food expenses, etc. were picked up by the company, so we enjoyed some decent meals at local restaurants. Friday we went to a place called "Ted's Montana Grill" which was excellent. Saturday was "Mary Mac's Tea Room" and lots of Southern comfort food. Sunday we attended an awards dinner and the food was awards-dinner-esque. Decent but obviously catered for the masses. Monday was our staff meeting and an EXCELLENT catered meal at the hotel. That one was awesome.

The week was nonstop. We'd get up at 6:30 a.m. and not go to bed till 1:00 a.m. every night! The show was usually 8-5 or 8-6 a.m., but there were all sorts of events after the show we were attending, from meetings to dinners to meeting friends... and, well, you can imagine, I never cracked open my books once. I had a great time getting to know the other Memory Makers Masters, as well as many other people I had never actually met in real life. At the booth I wore pink & green polka dotted jammies and did product demos and make & takes. It was all the talk of the show. :) Everyone wanted my jammies!

Monday I walked the show floor with a fellow Master, Samantha, and the two fo us made some connections. Sam was offered a product line deal from a MAJOR company. There are a couple of companies really interested in seeing what kinds of product line I can design for them (WOW!!) and then another company owner was discussing with us the pros and cons of designing for another company or owning your own and being in control. Either way it's a big decision to make. I wish I knew the right thing to do!! I have a lot of work ahead of me.. I need to get myself going to pitching my product ideas if that's the way I want to go. Otherwise I need to be developing my line and starting a company... lots to think about! aahhhhhhhhhhh

Even thoughI missed my family tons, the week went by tooo darn fast, and before I knew it I was heading on a plane back to Vegas. Once again I had a row all to myself and once again I fell asleep, missing the movie.. this time "Friday Night Lights."

It's good to be home... now will someone help me unpack??!

everything & stuff

I know I am a procrastinator. Always have been. It's like a sickness. I swear the muse will never hit me before 10 p.m. So, naturally, because my trip to Atlanta for the CHA convention is less than a week away, I am faced with a MOUNTAIN of deadlines, projects, and just general *STUFF* that I reeeeeeally need to finish. Good news is that no matter how much I have to do, somehow I end up getting it done.

The problem?

Since having kids, my impeccably timed Muse/procrastination gene is now not allowing me enough time to get things done. At least that is how I feel. Don't get me wrong, it will still get done. But I am guaranteed to have some sort of meltdown between now & then. Oh wait... I think that's always happened too... *sigh*

So here I am, procrastinating again by blogging instead of doing my journaling on the computer. This is what I am supposed to do with my precious computer time that comes few & far between with the kids. I usually have about 15 minuted in the morning, another 30 minutes midday, and then after Rick gets home in the evening I can have a block of computer time while he entertains them for awhile.

My business cards arrived in the mail yesterday!! They are gorgeous. (I have blurred my address & phone number for security reasons)

I designed the background myself :)

I still need to create my portfolio & resume, work on a circle journal that I am exchanging with the other Memory Makers Masters, and decorate my name badge holder. Oh and I decided last week to officially enter the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame (HOF) contest... I have been toying with the idea but had decided not to enter because it's too much stress and too much headache... especially right before the show (entries are due in-house on Feb 11th). Then last week three awesome ideas came into my head and I figured out a really unique texture technique as well... and all of a sudden my hat is in the ring. What's a little more stress in my life? Somehow I think I subconsiously live for the pressure. Really I just can't let a big competition go by without entering. I can't win it if I'm not in it!!

For the next several days I will be surviving on Starbuck's coffee to keep me awake into the wee hours. Should be an interesting ride! I can't wait to see what happens at the end.... ;)

Oh and major thanks to my awesome husband Rick for getting me the amazing HP Photosmart 8450 printer. At least I won't have to worry about printing my photos & layouts at Sam's Club... I can do it all at home... at 3 a.m!

Update on the kids (since I guess you guys want to know about that too...) ~
Riley's talking in complete unintelligible (except by me) sentences. It's hysterical. He also repeats EVERYTHING his big sister is doing/saying. Gymnastics is sooo much fun. He can now do the "bear" and the "table" and all the stretching exercises. He's learned how to dismount off different apparatus with a "stick and finish" move that is soooo cute. Potty training is taking a back burner as yucky poopses the last couple of days has led to a mean case of diaper rash. Violet is really into "reading" things and has about 10 sight words that she can identify regularly (aside from hers and our names). It's so exciting. She'll be actually reading in no time, I am sure of it. I am most proud of this cause I haven't been pushing her to read... this is all on her own timetable.

Alright... computer time is nearly over and I *have* to get this journaling printed out for my HOF entry...

He dropped the kids off!

Riley did it!! He told us he had to go potty last night and we were expecting the usual little pee dribbles... but instead he made his first poop in the potty!! We are so proud.

And for those of you who missed it the first time... a little song :)

Poop in the Potty

inspired by Tisra

Whose blog reminded me that I don't need to be eloquent or profound... you guys really just want to know things that are going on in the life of the Baldwins.

Stuff that's happened so far in 2005:

-I keep forgetting to write 2005 on checks. Sigh. How long will it take this year?
-It snowed a couple of weeks ago! And stuck to the ground for a few hours. The kids loved it and Violet thinks that snow in Las Vegas is a regular thing.
-Riley's favorite video is "The Best of Elmo" - it's got major tracking issues in the beginning from overuse. I am not sure how much longer it will last... hopefully till he moves onto the next movie phase.
-Riley has GONE PEE IN THE POTTY twice now!! We have made a big fuss over it and he is very very proud. But not proud enough to do it regularly. But we're getting there!!
-Riley and I are taking a "totnastics" class on Thursday mornings. He totally loves it!! 45 minutes of rolling around and jumping on trampolines. Can't beat that!
-Violet is really blossoming in preschool. 2 days a week for 2.5 hours each day can really cram a lot into kids brains... and of course she is a sponge. She's nearly mastered writing her name in upper & lowercase (instead of all caps). And today she decided she would write her name in cursive, so she connected all the letters. hehe.
-Violet is really a social butterfly. Anywhere we go that incolves a playground, she'll run up to a kid that looks like her age and say, "Hi! I'm Violet! What's your name?" and then they will start playing. It's so nice that she is asking the names of her newfound friends, instead of calling them by how she sees them (like "the pink girl" cause she was wearing a pink shirt).
-I am tired of living in our house. Our HOA sent us a second letter (and threatened to fine us) based on an anonymous letter from a fellow homeowner that our dog has been running loose and "defacating in the common area." Hmmmm. He's never out without us and if he poops we clean it up. Someone around here must not like us. Oh and they are raising our rates to $90 a month, up from $70 - which I already thought was an insane amount of money to spend on a neighborhood without a pool.
-I've been very good about my water drinking lately... and it makes me feel much healthier.

-One of Rick's New Years resolutions is to run a triathlon this year. Hopefully our healthy eating habits and new exercise machine will get him in the shape he needs to finish it. And please let it just be a mini-triathlon this time.

-I am back on the FlyLady wagon and very happy about it. I already see a difference in my home in the week I have returned to the system.
-Riley is so much of a boy now that his hair is cut. I need to post a before and after shot. It's cute. :)
-I am gearing up for the CHA show in February... a plane ride ALONE and time to promote myself professionally. I really hope to go somewhere with this scrapping career and this is my chance to show it. I'll be bringing page samples, a portfolio, and business cards.
-On my to do list: get page samples, create a portfolio, and get business cards ;)

I have fallen in love

with Chantico .

It is like liquid heaven.
I had a cup last night. Hot, molten chocolate permeated my every pore.

I have not been able to stop thinking about it since then.
I can't wait for my next cup.

I am trying to get myself in shape, still... and there is that 25 pounds that is still clinging to my midsection that needs to go away... so I have decided that this will have to be my only indulgence. Once a week I will experience a Chantico (and, truly... it is an experience.), for if I choose to deny myself that which I have now discovered, I will go mad.

And then I will come home and do 100 extra situps.
See? It's like exercise motivation. That has to be good!

More Christmas revisited...

A great day... we only wish Tinty & Lukey were here too!!

Good idea... bad idea...

Today was Riley's birthday party, rescheduled since he was sick for the original one. Several friends called to cancel this morning cause they weren't feeling well from last night's festivities... but Cindy Carrasco came, and so did Jessie & Jared from up the street, and the Castillos. It was a nice, small party. While the kids were eating lunch, they were all trying to figure out who was oldest and who was youngest. Violet let us all know that "Jessie is the oldest and baby Cross is the youngest and *I* am the MEATIEST!"

Gotta love malaprops.

Then we all went up to the mountains for sledding. Us and the entire Mexican population of Las Vegas. No kidding - there were people EVERYWHERE and not a single one of them spoke English. Finding a spot that wasn't over-crowded was a chore, but eventually we did. We sledded for an hour or so and then started to get cold, so we got back in our cars and the 20 minute drive down the mountain took TWO HOURS. Apparently everyone was leaving at the EXACT SAME TIME. Okay, so maybe New Year's Day wasn't the best choice for going sledding.

Launch

So Violet lately has been jumping down the stairs... taking them a few at a time, then, at the bottom, leaping off from 4 or 5 up. Riley has been soaking this all in, and tonight decided to try it for himself. From the top step. By himself. He launched right off. Rick was in the living room and heard a thud, then saw his son through the bannister - head on the step, feet flailing through the air, doing a perfect endo down the stairway. Rick caught him as he got to the bottom of the steps and other than being a little shook up, Riley was none the worse for wear. Thank goodness.

As for Violet, her favorite Christmas gift was from her Mama Lali and Papa... skate shoes... she hasn't taken them off since Christmas morning. She skates everywhere. She's already biffed it a few times. I am sure it's only a matter of time before I'll be able to share a launch story starring Violet too...

Christmas at the Publow house

Wasn't the same without Melinda...
so in your honor we took several photos of the little details of the day that you will appreciate. This is the first post of photos. More to follow, of course! Props to e-lan for her help in getting these uploaded. Sorry it was so difficult to do on mom & dad's computer!!


new Korean wine bottle holder


creepy Santa clinging to the tree


Liane's Christmas present from me... ;)


oooo the lighted village ornaments!


Joey McIntyre I love you!


the Liane shrine...


The Melinda shrine...


Nativity scene before Christmas. Where's baby Jesus hidden this year?


Oh! There he is! Don't tell Papa!!

coolness

The Chatterbox album I made has been selected as one of the 25 Finalists !
I'm pretty thrilled... just for being selected my album will be in the idea book (very cool!) and I'll get some nice product prizes from the company (good cause I need some new album covers!). I have to send the actual album to them for final judging, and I'll know in January if I won a cash prize... $1000 first prizes in each of the categoriesof photography, journaling, or memorabilia, and $10,000 grand prize for best album overall. Although I am pretty certain I won't win the big shebang, I am hoping for a memorabilia nod. That would be awesome!! Actually, just being a finalist is awesome!! :)

The village is up

The silver ornaments are up.
The dishes are in the cabinet.
The kids are napping.
I am about to quietly read my novel.

Now Christmas can come ;)

Since when did

throwing away a poopy diaper become a FIGHT between the kids?
I asked Violet to throw away Riley's diaper and Riley threw a FIT. He *demanded* to do it himself. He also has to be the one to turn off the TV. If *anyone* turns it off first, he goes to the TV, turns it BACK ON, and then turns it off himself. @@

The week's been a little nuts... we've put up Christmas decorations and made cookies, made cards, made crafts, and hosted a few parties. It's been fun but exhausting. And I still haven't got out the Christmas village or the Christmas dishes yet... hopefully today.

Tonight we're going to see Seussical the musical with the kids... I can't wait!!

The Happiest Place on Earth

It really was a great trip for us. My in-laws got us a portable DVD player for the car, which made the 4.5 hour drive *much* more tolerable for the kids! They watched Nemo, Home on the Range, and Lion King 1.5.

Our Disney tickets were waiting for us at the Concierge desk with a very nice note from the lady who dropped them off. It was a GREAT experience for us, and we'll probably keep doing the ebay thing for tickets!

The hotel (Hyatt Regency Orange County...we got it on Priceline for $45 a night) was VERY beautiful and VERY fancy. It had a 17 story atrium, which Violet realized *very* quickly made a lovely echoing sound. *giggle* we are just not the fancy hotel type. Our room was on the tenth floor and the kids loved arguing over who would push the elevator buttons. We dropped off all our stuff and drove over to a shopping center down the street... I wanted to get a pair of comfortable shoes (all I brought were my birkenstocks... comfortable, yes... but not for two full days of walking). We also saw a Wal-Mart and wanted to look in there for a beach cruiser bike for me, since we found one reasonably priced at Walmart.com. Sure enough, there was ONE bike at wal-mart! Already assembled and everything. I rode it all over the store and to the checkout counter. Rick made fun of me as I tried to scan the barcode (which was stuck to the front reflector) by picking up the whole bike. LOL. That wasn't working so I finally got it to peel off enough to scan it. Then I rode the bike through the parking lot to the car. I was having a BALL!! We leaded in the bike and got a pair of lace up canvas shoes for me at Payless, then we stopped at Baskin-Robbins for some ice cream dessert. Such a happy time so far and we haven't even gotten to Disneyland!! Back at the hotel we parked the car ($36 for 3 nights... OUCH!) and I rode my bike through the lobby up to the elevator. Rick thought I was insane. We tried to get the kids tired enough to go to bed, but they were pretty wired. We took them to the hotel pool, which was nice and warm but the air outside was so cold it wasn't much fun.. and the spa was waaaaay too hot. So back in the room the kids got a bath before bed and actually fell asleep at a decent time.

Kids got up at 5:30 am chanting "Dis-nee-land!!!! Dis-nee-land!!" and so we got up, took showers, and had breakfast downstairs in the lobby (buffet was $15 per person... OUCH again! I guess this cheap hotel thing wasn't such a great deal after all!). The shuttle to the park picked us up at 9 a.m. and we headed over. We met our friends Jim and Valerie at the entrance and went in and saw Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy right away! It was a great autograph and photo moment for the kids. You should have seen Riley talking to the characters! He LOVED it! He scrunched up his little shoulders and said, "Hi Mickey!" in the cutest voice! We did all kinds of rides and fun things for the kids... Small World at Christmastime is seriously my favorite. I was so excited to share that with them! Violet and I did the Matterhorn while Riley slept and she enjoyed it ("except for the scary parts," she said!). We were pretty much nonstop all day. Rick and I had a leisurely late lunch at Blue Bayou while Jim and Val took the kids to the Snow White show, which they said was awesome. The PARADE was wonderful and the fireworks were amazing. And that was just the first day!!!

On Day 2 we decided to have breakfast with the princesses at the park, and that was a GREAT choice! It was $22 for the adult buffet and $12 for the kids (Riley was free), but the food was OUTSTANDING and the fact that the princesses came RIGHT to the table to talk to us, take photos, and sign autographs was the BEST thing! Sooooo worth it! We hopped over to California Adventures and watched the Aladdin show (INCREDIBLE) and played at the Bug's Life Bugs Land (that was fun for the kids... kinda boring for the grownups). Finally at 2 we met Rick's parents and we all went back into Disneyland, rode the train, did Small World again, played in Toon Town (Violet's favorite ride was the Gadget's Go Coaster that she rode onwith her Grandpa Rich), met another family from Vegas (the Russos) for dinner, and watched the snow fall while we had mochas. Such a wonderful time. And great to do the trip with a couple of extra grownups (since I think *every* time we were halfway through a line Violet needed to go potty). Such great memories... and SIX rolls of film to develop! :)

di-nee-lan! di-nee-lan!

Riley's been chanting this for days.
I love that he really has *no* idea what is in store for him. I am so excited for him!!!
We leave tomorrow afternoon for Anaheim and will go to the park on Wednesday and Thursday. The house is clean and the bags are packed... Violet's been ready for days too. I am tooooo excited!

okeeee dokeeee

Time to get this house in order.
I neeeeeeeeeed to clean it before we go on our Disneyland trip on Tuesday. I am so excited. We bought our tickets on ebay, and actually I am a little *concerned* about that cause I've never done it before. What we did was find someone who was using the first 3 days of their 5 day passes and selling the last two days, apparently a common practice online. I found a great deal on ours ($170 for three 2-day park hopper passes... over $100 off regular price), and I am supposed to be meeting the lady who is giving us the tickets at our hotel the night before we are supposed to go. She's already got our money, so hopefully she comes through. If not it's definitely a lesson learned.

Thanksgiving was great, mostly cause there was *NO* drama!! (hard to do with 36 of us!) Tinty and Lukey were sorely missed, but we still had a great time... three turkeys (one in the oven, one on the rotisserie, and one in the deep fryer), tons of stuffing, yams, sweet potatoes, veggies, rolls, jello, and so much more. I was in charge of a relish tray since Melinda wasn't there and if I do say so myself it was great. It looked so beautiful and colorful with dill & sweet pickles, black & green olives, baby corn, grape tomatoes, and sugar snap peas in the pods. Mmmmmmmm! The kids loved the tomatoes and peas!

Tish and Leslie outdid themselves with a great Turkey Treasure Hunt for the kids, which brought the funniest line of the night, uttered by Violet.

Leslie: Where do you wash your clothes?
Violet: OOOH! THE DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!

We were all stuffed and then ate and drank some more. I think there were 8 pies. Rick and the cousins all played poker at the game table while I shared my Chatterbox contest album (woohooo!! FINISHED!) with mom, Pam, and a few others. They all loved it, especially cause Rick wrote his own journaling for the side that told his perspective.

Liane and I got up at oh-dark-thirty to hit the sales on Friday morning, making a 5:30 a.m. stop at Starbuck's for some shopping fuel. We did some GREAT shopping, and we even had to stop midway through our excursion to unload the car to make room for more stuff. Gotta love it!! She left for college this afternoon and I already miss her... it was really the best weekend I had with her in forever. I can't wait till she comes back for Christmas!!

And the pile of laundry still beckons me, so I must go...

stream of consciousness

random thoughts in my head tonight...

the house painting is rad. i love my blue wall. i love the cream walls. i love the taupe walls. i love it i love it i love it.
my scrap room is still not in order yet.
i have a butt-load of laundry to do. like i am not kidding htis pile is gi-normous. which of course is why i haven't done it. it's too big.
my inlaws will be here in less than 24 hours for a week long stay. they'll be at bob's house so there's one huge stress off my back.
my house is not ready for this week.
i want to put the kids together in one room, in bunkbeds or something and then turn violet's room into their play room. i think it would work great.
i found a great bunkbed set at sam's club... complete with SLIDE and clubhouse panels. of course it's $400 or something so it's not exactly something i will buy anytime soon.
i did a cool wedding gift for sammi and billy... got a picnic basket, put a couple of bottles of ibc root beer, those jiffy pop popcorn things you do over the stove, popcorn holders, movie theater candy, and dvds: my best friend's wedding, my big fat greek wedding, and return to me. good flicks.
our trip to az was good. we listened to shock by robin cook.
remember blindsight by robin cook? opthalmologist. lol
sammi and billy's wedding was just beautiful and perfect in every way. red roses everywhere. they were amazing.
i love the aults. i wish they lived closer to us.
i wanna move to this ranch in pagosa, colorado that has 300 acres, three houses and two buffalo. i think the buffalo is the best part. ;)
staying in a hotel with two small kids is challenging to say the least.
breakkie was awesome at the hotel too... yummy waffles, fruit, coffee, juice, cereal in the mini boxes (including GOLDEN GRAHAMS... hello! that's rad!!)... mmmm
the drive back was crazy - rain the whole way and even SNOW just outside of kingman!
getting home from trips sucks when your house wasn't clean to begin with.
i am trying frantically to finish an album to enter in a contest. i thought the due date was the 30th... but instead of being postmarked by the 30th it must be RECEIVED by then. that means really i should have it out to them by the 24th if i want to send it priority or the 27th overnight. i am looking at overnight right now. less stress for me.
lost is seriously an addicting show. i am sad there's no episode on wednesday.
i need a new printer.
we made chili tonight...mmm
the kids were on the counter helping me make cornbread muffins when violet yanked the mixing bowl out of riley's hand causing him to (topple? fall?) launch from the counter to the ground. I was down there and caught him just before he biffed it big time. or at least i thought i had. he looked up at me and i saw a cut on his forehead that was bleeding and a nice big goose egg forming just below the surface. i had to get him a little butterfly bandage to close up the wound, which probably sounds much worse right now than it actually is.
let's just say i am glad we took our family christmas photos last weekend.
we need to get thanksgiving scarves. and tint needs one too even though she's not around.
i need to go to bed.

I still have piles of scrapbook supplies everywhere.

of course here is why i haven't put my stuff away...
I need to rearrange the scrap room to make room for my stuff, including installing new shelf units.
This means I have to remove the current big cabinet that is not functional for my needs right now.
But I have nowhere to put the big cabinet.
So I decide the best place would be in the dining room... right where the piano is.
So I decide to move the piano. But there is our old ratty couch there. I move the couch out to the garage for now.
The walls are filthy. I need to paint (I've been putting this off for months).
It doesn't make sense to move the piano over there before I paint.
Now I need to decide on the color...
OH YES! I'll inspire myself with some of my prize paper :)
SEI Seasoned... the green, the cream, and the blue. You can see it on this page: SEI Paper
I have a red wall in the dining room, so this will go quite nicely.
Of course now I am painting my whole room instead of just the one wall I intended to do all along.
But I will be much happier. And isn't that what's truly important here?
Off to Home Depot. I buy paint, tape, new rollers, and brushes.
The paint department guy looks at me like I am nuts when I show him the paper that he needs to use to match paint colors. But he humors me and mixes the paint.
I come home and tape off all the walls, baseboards, and light fixtures.
Rick and I paint. ALL DAY.
It looks FABULOUS.
We still need to do the stairwell.
I'll get to that tomorrow.
Then I'll move the piano.
Then I can move the cabinet.
THEN I can put together the new shelf units.
And *THEN* I can put away my new stuff. Maybe ;)

The UPS man came to my door!!

And here's my haul - the prize package from Memory Makers!!! I am *swimming* in boxes right now. I really really need a bigger house LOL! Good LORD there are a LOT of scrapbooking supplies in my house! Thankfully Valerie helped me sort through and organize it all into manageable piles. I will be writing thank you notes for the next MONTH! hee heeeeee!!!

ThermoWeb - All their adhesives
Karen Foster - the ENTIRE line of products - papers, stickers, transparencies... everything!! It was about 5 inches thick.
Liquid Nails Perfect Glue - MORE adhesives - 12 packages of it!
Zig embossing pens, embossing powders, and the Inscriblio engraver from EK success
Paper Love Designs - their entire paper line
Go West Studios - a new company - really great embellishments of metal, wood, and acrylics
Making Memories - OH MY WORD! This was my FAVORITE!! Included: Fabric alphabet, fabric tags, fabric pockets, fabric swatches, Mailbox alphas and numbers, eyelet tag letters, rubons (several), jelly labels, metal frames, ribbon, woven labels, wordfetti, alphafetti, quotes, charmed plaques, dyeable trims, sewing kit, book binding tape, charmed words, jigsaw alphas (two!!), cards & envelopes (8 different kinds!!), embellishment paper, minibook album, scrapbook dyes, 12x12 cardstock, 12x12 patterned paper, and the book set: Fresh Paint, Sew Simpe & To Dye For!!! Oh and a COOL tote bag!!!
Magic Mesh - TWO sets of the entire line!!
Spellbinder Wizard machine and dies - personalized and in Violet color just for me!
Quickutz hand tool and Paige alphabet
Architexture sheet metal (2 sheets)
Prism Papers - a TON of cardstock - about a 6 inch stack!!!
Provo Craft - Eco Africa, Stickers, Embellishments, and an album
Chatterbox - the entire Sun Room , Reading Room, and Parlor collection, complete with the whole bookcloth set (7 sheets), Tacks, Tags, Rivets, Nails, Alpha stickers, Mailboxes, and the FONT CD TOO!!
Design Originals - Bottlecap papers, plain bottlecaps, and bottlecap stickers
Flair Designs - Their whole line - the number paper and stickers is VERY cool
SEI - Groovy Girl, Bee Bop, Sweetie, Seasoned, and a 12x12 album
Scrappy Cat - Double sided papers, cardstock tag stickers and alphabets
Meri Meri - An assortment of their line
Glue Dots - 2 each of Craft dots, Memory dots, Mini dots, and THREE of the Glue Lines
Rusty Pickle - Assorted papers, tags, letter stickers, and metal buttons
K&Co - Tim Coffey Album Kit
Sandylion - Papers and Stickers from various character lines (Disney, Spiderman, etc)
Deja Views - The Butcher Block collection (SOOO COOL!)
American Traditionals - Three collections of papers and embellishments: Party, World Traveler, Moments, and an accordian book
Sweetwater - Various papers (3 of each style), letter/word stickers, button hole strips, transparencies
Prickly Pear Stamps - Typewriter Key alphabet, various other rubber stamps
MAMBI - Paper Pads (Primary, Pastel), Cottage Collection papers, Soft Spoken, Frame Basics, Stickers, Ephemera, Woven alphas, Threads, and Jumbo Threads
Lands End - Memory Makers Master 2005 Polo Shirt

ALL THIS is in ADDITION to the Sizzix machine with Sizzlits alphas, the box of goodies from Pebbles Inc., the box of fibers from Fibers by the Yard, and the other stuff that has been promised to us once the lines from Memory Trends come out!! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Words out of Violet's mouth recently...

At the basketball game... "So, when we say Butterscotch Underwear, the blue guys lose?"

Handing me a mango... "Mommy, can we have this flamingo before we go?"

so we went driving

and found seriously the coolest house. And of course there's a super deal attached to it, as there was a buyer who fell through on it - so all the upgrades (iron railings, granite slab countertips, fancy cherry raised panel cabinets, black appliances, etc etc...) - over $20,000 worth - are included for free on this one particular house since the buyer who fell through already paid for it. Not only that but it's offered at phase 9 pricing (they are currently in phase 14), which is another $15,000 savings. And it's HUGE. Check it Out.

Of course it's totally out of our price range. Had I gotten that @%&*! job with the Rotary Club we probably would have put earnest money down right away.

I wish we had a bigger house. I wish I could feel comfortable and not crowded. I wish money wasn't the biggest issue right now in our marriage. I wish we could just not worry about stuff like that.

Just feeling a little crabby this afternoon... :p

busy days

I never did a Halloween update, so here it is....

The kids had a GREAT holiday. We had a group of friends over at our house for chili, cornbread, salad, and hot apple cider. A group of us all took the kids out from 6:00-7:30 p.m. and only hit about a third of our neighborhood... but the bags were OVERFLOWING!! As usual, it was just about the coldest day of the year around here, so we decided last minute that Riley would be too cold in his costume, so we had him put on a great little giraffe coat and he went as a nice, warm, and toasty giraffe. Violet ran the show, leading the kids from house to house in search of the best candy. One house was giving out full sized crunch bars, and the kids were all thrilled about that!!

Back at the house everyone had a great time, and about 300 kids or so came by for candy. Maybe more! We did an informal costume contest for kids and adults. Rick wore his cloak and brandished his sword, and I was Kim Possible (although Violet kept telling me I was not really KP cause I didn't have the orange hair LOL). Kristopher won as Clark Kent (he had a little Superman shirt peeking out from under his clothes), and his son AJ won as "Illuzion," his character from the online game City of Heroes. He even had wrapped one arm in foil to serve as his "robotic arm." VERY creative!

The house has stayed remarkably clean, thanks to Melissa's vow to help clean up after the party. It's so lovely to have a clean house. I've been maintaining it for the last 2 days. I think that's a record around here!!!

Still waiting for the official election results, Rick and I were riveted to the TV last night watching the election returns come in. So much so that I fell asleep at about 9 p.m. Guess it wasn't as exciting as I thought! At least I had a good night's sleep. Of course as I wake up this morning the results aren't clear, but it looks like the president will have another 4 years in office.

A busy day ahead of us... I guess I'd better get going.

words heard from my mouth today...

"You do NOT use a chopstick to stab an apple, Riley!"

cleaned house

alll freaking day. Bleagh. It wouldn't have been so bad except that Rick watched the kids all day yesterday while I scrapped. And while he is an awesome dad and spent the whole day having fun and playing with the kids, the house suffered, and suffered badly. Today I found a banana peel on the side of the couch. ewwwwwwwwwwwww

Scrapping day was great fun yesterday. We had a good crowd, especially since it was a weekday and we were there for 12 hours! I didn't get much scrapping done, but had a lovely time giving away prizes and spending time with my friends.

Today we had to get the house back in order though... Melissa has decided to use our house to have a Halloween party tomorrow. Every year we would go to Shontell's house (down the street), but she has moved away. We would have done it at Mel's house but she only has one neighbor so far. Not much on the way of trick or treating. So next year the party will be at her place. This year it will be her party at my place (which is nice cause I don't have to provide food, favors, games, or really anything but the home and the great neighborhood).

I always like the "someone is coming over" incentive to get the house really good and clean. And I love starting with a clean slate when trying to get myself back into a routine. Last month when I was trying to get back into Flylady, I tried to get the house super clean so all I had to do was maintain it. But I didn't, so I was not completely motivated to keep it up. This time, though, we did some serious cleaning. Even our cabinets have been polished. It looks great. We have yet to do the upstairs, but that is actually in much better shape than the living area. We would have finished tonight, but it was our community's Halloween party tonight.

The kids dressed up - Violet in her Sleeping Beauty costume and Riley as an In-N-Out Burger Employee... white jeans, white shirt, red napkin around the waist (held with a giant safety pin, of course), paper In-N-Out hat, and spatula. He was hysterical! He didn't like keeping the hat on, though. We brought our pumpkin for the carving contest.... and it WON FIRST PLACE! Violet was so excited to claim her prize ($5 in McDonald's coupons and a goblet full of Hershey's Kisses!)! After we left the party, we went to Ritter's because it was Free Scoop Saturday, and let me just say I don't miss free scoop day for anything. I had the Lite Espresso (mmmmmmmm). Violet had Cookies & Cream, and Rick had Chocolate. Riley fell asleep on the way and missed out on the dessert, but that's fine. He'll have more than his fair share of candy tomorrow!

Tomorrow morning we will get to the upstairs... vacuuming and dusting and cleaning windows. After that we'll carve the rest of the pumpkins, and dress up in our costumes. If I get really inspired, I'll sew Riley's cape so he can be a Hobbit instead of a burger guy. We'll see how it all goes!

pumpkin carving

Violet really has been beggin me to carve pumpkins with her, so I decided that we could do a couple today. Of course, you may recall we bought a ton, so this is just the beginning. After doing a little bit of searching, we found the perfect design for our pumpkins. Violet was so excited to begin, and was a real trooper when it came to scooping out the guts and seeds. After we drew a simple face on our smallest pumpkin, she carved it out with her kid-safe cutting tool (with a little help from mom). Then I went to the task of carving the face on our largest pumpkin. We chose those two because we wanted them to look like this when they were done. They actually look pretty great, and the best part was the lighting of the gourds after the sun went down. Both kids were thrilled at how they looked! (although Riley was a bit concerned for that poor little "kun-kin")

Violet named our masterpieces when we finished. The little one is called "saddy" cause it's sad since it's being eaten. The big one is called "Jack" cause he's mean. (???)

Jack, you be nice, you hear me?

Happy Birthday Mom!

I love you so much! I think the years are looking better and better on you. You seem happier and younger than I ever remember. Is that just cause I am getting older? In any case, I hope you are enjoying your special night. Have a wonderful time!!

The toe stretch

I love when I am cuddling Riley and getting him ready for bed and he's in that "almost ready to sleep" mode where his eyes are sloooowly shutting and I pull off his shoes and socks and I watch him s-t-r-e-t-c-h out his toes in that last little burst of energy before falling asleep.

Young Voters for Jesus.

I voted today. There's an early voting center about half a mile from my house so I thought it would be a good idea to just get in there adn get it done before the place gets crowded. As I headed over there with the kids, Violet asked me about what I was doing. As I explained to her the privilege that adults in our country have of choosing the right person to be the president, Violet pondered the facts. Then she said to me, "I know who I am voting for."
Bemused (and quite curious), I asked her, "Who are you voting for, sweetie?"
"I'm voting for Jesus," Violet replied proudly.
"Really?" I asked. "Why are you voting for Jesus?"
"Well," Violet said thoughtfully, "The president is supposed to take care of us, right?"
"Right," I answered.
"So, God always takes care of us! Jesus would make a great president!"
I had to agree.

We have officially started a new PAC (uhhh, that stands for "personal action committee, BTW) called Young Voters for Jesus, and you can send your checks payable to me. Or large bills. Those are fine too.

Vote early and vote for Jesus. That's my motto. ;)

kun-kin pie mama!

Riley loves pumpkins.
Everywhere we go he is fascinated by them. "Kun-kin mine?" he asks, as we pass by a pile of them at Wal-Mart. He loves our little collection in front of our house, and goes out the door several times to look at them and point at them and count them. He can count to three now, so he counts everything. "One, two, three, one, two, three..." He sees them on TV and in photos in the paper and at the neighbor's houses. "MAMA! KUN-KIN! MAMA!!!!!"

Violet has been obsessed with pumpkin pie because her "recipe book" from Joanne has a pumpkin pie recipe in it. She really wants to use our pumpkins to make one, but I talked her out of it and explained that the canned pumpkin is actually better for the pies. So I got a couple of Marie Callendar piecrusts ("Deep Dish," according to the package), and together we made the recipe, enough to fill two deep-dish pans. Well we filled both to the tippy top and still there was an entire pie's worth of mix left over. So I got another crust and now we have three pumpkin pies. The two I over-filled came out a bit soft (probably should have cooked them for another 10 minutes), but the third one came out *perfect*. Violet was sooooooooooooo excited to have pumpkin pies for dessert last night! Of course now I have three pies. I'll probably take one to scrap night on Friday. That would be a good, yummy dessert that I wouldn't have to eat.

Speaking of which, I have a *lot* to do regarding planning for scrap night (or I guess I should say day... it's all day on Friday the 29th, Nevada Day). We are doing sub sandwiches for lunch and Olive Garden for dinner... it will be scrumptious! I have tons of prizes already bought and a few more still to come. Right now I am trying to coordinate goodie bags for those in attendance too.

So much to do, where do I start... I think I'll have a piece of pumpkin pie!

Cover Kids...

I just got word from the editor of Memory Makers that they want to use this photo for the cover of their April 2005 issue... I am so excited! This photo was taken in July 1979 and includes, from the top: Jessica Hurd, cousin Jeanine, Alex Hurd, Cousin Mark. The little ones across the bottom are Me and Melinda. Aren't we so cute?!

It's still not a total definite... they need to be sure the photo will reproduce well (since the original is just 3.5 inches high)... but their main concern was that it would be in focus, which it is. I'll know more in a couple of weeks!

Ketchup??? On the STAIRS??

Yep. I came downstairs after getting dressed to find my son on the fourth stair with the ketchup bottle. He had poured a dollop onto the carpeted step and was dipping his fingers in it, placing his fingers in his mouth, and nodding "mmmmm!" at me.

No! Not "mmmmmm!" That's GROSS!!!
You do *NOT* eat ketchup off the stairs!!!

alas no job for me.

Club President gave me a call this morning and told me how perfet I would be for the job and listed all of the reasons why, including all of the member recommendations I received. As I was waiting for her to tell me when I could start, she gave me the word I dread. "However..."

However what?

And the however was that there were 5 other club members who recommended family members for the position. And although she said I was absolutely the best one of them for the job, I will not be getting it. She decided that, rather than choose one club family member over another to simply disqualify all the candidates and look for someone outside the club. She didn't want the other members to be upset if I was chosen, so she and the Board decided it would be in the best interest of the club.

Does that even make *sense*???

Frustrated right now... in so many ways.

Simone Olivia

will be in surgery tomorrow. Mom just called to tell me that she has a Diaphragmatic Hernia, a very rare and very serious condition that must be corrected surgically as soon as possible.

The good news:
* Surgery will be performed tomorrow when the right specialists can be available.
* She is 7 pounds, 10 ounces... a nice, healthy size. We want those lungs of hers to be well developed.
* She has people all over the world praying for her right now.

please please please pray.

she needs your prayers

Jeanine and Jared welcomed their baby daughter to the world this afternoon... details are still sketchy, but she is suffering with something wrong with her diaphragm and is now in surgery to repair it. I don't know anything more than that. Lord, please calm the fears of Jeanine and Jared right now. Give them strength to seek You out when they need You most. Listen to their cries for help. Guide the hands of the doctors. Strengthen their new baby daughter to come through the surgery with flying colors.... Wrap your arms around this new family. Help them find peace right now when all they feel is fear. Lord, make a miracle happen tonight.

labor day

My cousin Jeanine is in labor right now with her first baby. We don't know if she's having a boy or a girl. I can only imagine the anticipation, excitement, fear, joy, pain, and love that she and her hubby Jared are feeling right now... and the baby hasn't arrived yet!

We're waiting to meet you, little one... :)

jojo's party

was good times. At Mom & Dad's house and catered by Osaka. Mmmmmmmmmm. Sushi. Even Rick ate some! And he liked it!! It was his first sushi ever and he has decided that the only way he will eat fish is if its raw. LOL!

I decided against the flannels and the wools and went for a navy blue top/khaki skirt combo. Very cool looking (thanks elan for your fashion sensibilities). Club President wasn't there but a few of the board members were and they all thought I would be PERFECT for the job and declared they would say so at the Monday meeting... so, hopefully I will hear some good news on the job front very soon. THAT would just be awesome.

Back to Jojo's party though... Mom & Dad got her a pretty "Photos of Nevada" coffee table book and all the guests at her party signed it on various pages, like a yearbook. What a great idea for a guestbook and what a great keepsake for her of the state she is leaving behind. Sometimes they come up with the coolest stuff. Lots of wine was served (no surprise there), as well as Sake. I swear Mom had a glass of wine in each room of the house and as she mingled would nudge over and say "is that *my* wine?" and nudge over and have a sip. Then she would trot over to another part of the house and do the same thing. It was rather amusing, though not as amusing as later in the evening when she & Dad were on their, I don't know, fortieth glass of Sake (okay possible slight exaggeration on the glass count), and Mom kept saying, "Sa-ke. Saaaaaaaaaa-ke. Sak-e. Sakkkkkkkk-e. SAKE. sahhhhhhhhh-keeeeeey." over and over and over and over. Dad was his charming self as usual and was trying to speak "Japanese" to the guy at the sushi bar, but of course not really speaking Japanese, just making himself sound like he has a Japanese accent for the benefit of everyone in the kitchen (in case we didn't know how to properly pronounce "halibut" the authentic Japanese way LOL). That was funny, though not as funny as the time when a group was sitting around the firepot and a flaming pinecone tumbled from the mouth of the pot and rolled across the ground, landing just under Rick Wright's pantleg. Thank God my husband was sober enough to get a stick and shove the ball of flame out of the way before Mr. Wright ignited.

Yes, the party was lovely and so was Joanne. Wearing a pretty sleeveless cable knit sweater in an aquamarine that matched the jewels she was wearing, she was stunning, charming, and the perfect guest of honor. I'm going to miss her... I hope she spends plenty of weekends in Las Vegas hanging out with us. At least for the sake of game night. Without Joanne on their team, Mom and Dad have no hope of winning Trivial Pursuit. ;)

Artist Trading Cards

I am a member of the online community at Two Peas in a Bucket, and I have met some amazing scrapbookers and artists there. One of the members thought it would be fun to trade "Artist Trading Cards"... where we create/alter our own little baseball card-sized pieces of art. Mine looked like This. They were all so different and so cool. Some were heat embossed, some had been stamped, some were photo-based, some were sewn, and all were just amazing. Now I have a set of sixteen little works of art from all over the world (one girl sent hers from The Netherlands!!).

My scrap room is now 98% done. I have completely cleared out the *big* cabinet and made it ready for more supplies (I have been warned that The Box is now The BoxES and previous Memory Makers Masters said the contents will completely BLOW US AWAY... and we need to arrange for storage NOW LOL). The only thing left to do in the room now is to paint the big cabinet. All my other cabinets are a solid white, but this one has been "antiqued" and doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the room. I have the paint, I have the hardware. I just need the motivation.

Tonight is a going away party for my parents' friend (and mine), Joanne. She's moving to Montana in November, so we wanted to give her a fun send-off. I painted a little picture for her and we used it as the cover of her invitations. Here it is:



Dress for the party is something my parents coined: "Montana Casual." What does that mean? Flannels and mountain boots? Thermals and suspenders? Lots and lots of fur coats? Fleece-lined hats? I want to dress the theme, but I am not sure how to do that. Especially since the lady that is deciding on whether to hire me is likely attending the party. Do I try to make a good first impression? Or do I dress the theme? Hopefully I will have figured it out by tonight.

words heard from the bathroom today...

"MOM-MMY! Riley touched my poop!"

The funny thing is that this was not the first time I heard those words. What is with my children and poop? And why is Riley obsessed with touching it? And when will Violet learn to wipe her own butt?
::sigh::

do I have what it takes?

A really cool job opportunity kind of fell in my lap today. It would be perfect for our needs, and would be something that makes Rick extremely happy to actually have *money* in the bank at the end of the month. The best part about it is that it would only require one day a week to do the work, and much of it I could do from home. It seems verrrrrrrrry promising... but the president of the organization has asked me to provide a resume so that she can see it and set up a formal interview with me.

I know I would be awesome at this job, and I am confident. But the thought of an interview really freaks me out! Why? Is it because I have been out of the workforce for that long? I think it goes back to when I was applying for a front desk job at the Mirage Hotel (which I ended up not getting). The manager who interviewed me, during a seemingly innocuous set of questions, pushed me to the point of complete stress and tears for no reason. I had no idea what her motives were, other than to frustrate and humiliate me. Later on, while I worked in another department at the Mirage, I learned of an "interviewing techniques" course that the managers receive. One of the techniques they emphasize for jobs that require customer service is the one I to which I was subjected... this idea that they will put pressure on me and get me to the point of frustration to see how I handle stress. I could not BELIEVE that this was not only common practice in the interviewing process, but actually *encouraged* by the HR department! I was very angry at that point because I believe that I did not get the front desk job precisely because I caved under the pressure of her questions. The thing is, though, I am a pretty level headed person when I understand their motives. When I am dealing with customers, I know that they are expecting good service and they usually end up angry when they are not receiving what they expect. And I can deal with that. But for someone to come out of left field with evil interviewing tactics has left a bad taste in my mouth. Now I can't go into an interview without wondering if the manager is going to pull a stunt like that on me. I feel like I have to be on my guard constantly. And in turn, I do not get to show the side of me I would like people to see... the happy, witty, fun Jessie.

Hopefully this interview will be different...

balance

Balance is what I need to find.
Balance...

Finding my center, surrounded by my children, husband, scrapbooking, the pets (when oh when did I become the owner of so many stinkin PETS??), the house, church, friendships, errands, working out, and other things pulling me in every direction.

I think that might have been my problem the past few months. Rather than finding a good balance in my life, I have been constantly on the edge of the next thing to do or see or be... I climb and I climb and I climb and I jump to the next ledge. I haven't stopped. I haven't turned around. I haven't stopped to BREATHE DEEP.

Skipping meals is not the answer... having a balance in what I do is. My house will slowly have the "bad stuff" eliminated from it. I have replenished the healthy stuff that I let fall by the wayside due to lack of time and energy. Stuff like carrots for snacking, cheese & crackers, yogurts, and whole foods. It requires more time and dedication on my part. The stuff has a shorter shelf life. I have to make an effort to be sure it gets eaten or it will go to waste. But I know it is the right thing to do. I am also going to institute a salad night once a week. I have done salad nights before, but never on a regular basis. I need to make Thursdays salad days. (I know, I know, Liane, Thursday is already Commando Day. But that's how I will remember salad days too... it's the whole "natural" thing...)

I am also reorganizing my scrap room into a much more efficient space, and although it's pretty much a disaster-in-progress, I see the end, and the end will be good. LESS CLUTTER. More space for me to create. A dedicated space for my commissioned projects and freelance work. A place for magazines. It is actually quite lovely in my mind right now... :)

I am returning to the ways of Fly Lady as well. I did sooo well when I was FLYer. My house felt more like a home and I could maintain it better. And I felt healthier too. I never really stopped FLYing, but aside from the shiny sink everything started to go by the wayside of "I just don't have the time right now." How lame is that? Why don't I have the freaking 30 seconds it takes to make my bed in the morning? And I love Kelly's missions and dedicated Zone work. Even if that was the only 15 minutes I spent on my home a day, I felt productive, happy, and proud.

As part of my whole BALANCE thing, I have decided to be sure I do something fun that my KIDS want to do each day. Today we went to the Pumpkin Patch at the Gilcrease Orchard and picked TONS of little and big pumpkins... at least 12... and even after getting a pint of fresh pressed apple cider it still cost less than $8 total. Gotta love it. And I was reminded of all the other excellent, fresh fruits and veggies for the picking there. I think we will go back on Monday and get our week's worth of green foods, especially since it will be like a whole $5 for a basketful.

Since I vowed no more skipping meals ... off to make lunch.

how much

string cheese can one boy eat in a day?

I'll tell you. Today he had 6 pieces.

SIX.



So I have been trying to be healthy around here.
I've cut out (almost) all sodas from my diet, relying on water.
I joined Curves in June and have been going 3 times a week at least.
I've been aware of reducing my portions and eating healthier (although I haven't been cutting out sweets and stuff, cause I think I'd die if I did that so I am just reducing those as well).

And today I went to the gym and got weighed in for the first time since July.
I am three pounds heavier. And everywhere except my calves and hips (which remained the same) has grown. By an inch.

WTF?

Talk about a freaking downer.
So, why, again, am I leaving the house every night to work out? Why am I denying my self the true pleasure of a Coca Cola Classic? Why am I saying no to that second cookie when I *REALLY* want it? Why??? When it's obvious that my efforts at cutting back and being healthy are completely backfiring?? What is the freaking point of all this, when everything I have done the past few months has meant absolutely NADA?

I am upset. I am angry. I am frustrated.
I am tired... TIRED of working out. TIRED of drinking gallons of water. TIRED of it all.

arghhhghg............................................

Why is this the hardest part?

Coming up with a cool title.... it's sometimes more than my little brain can handle.

So I took an online IQ test the other day and I fared quite well, although I was disappointed the score wasn't higher. What's up with that? Why do I care? Why can't I just be satisfied with being (actually, quite) smart? Why do I need to be a "genius?" One of life's little mysteries. Oh right, it's not a mystery at all. My goal in life has always been to be the best at everything I do (dang those parents of mine for putting crap like that into my head!!), and, frankly, I want to be a genius. I used to be "Brains Unlimited" in junior high and high school. While I never knew what my original IQ score (pre-kids) truly was, I am actually attributing my current score to the fact that I have children. A recent study shows there is a good chance my IQ has significantly lowered as a result of having two kids. I always thought they were draining brain cells through my milk. Now I know for sure. Or at least, that's what I can tell myself. *snort*

I need more storage space in my scraproom. Rick is kind of beside himself about that. Oh well... he'll get over it. I am slowly, slowly kicking him right out of there. Soon he'll be on his little computer in the hallway.... mwahahahaaaaa...

But, no, really... I need more storage space. My countertop is full of product and boxes of stuff I just can't get to, and I have nowhere to actually create my art. So I have decided to build a shelf unit right abouve this desk that will hold photo boxes, supplies, and other miscellaneous things so that I can have space for stuff like my paper racks... as well as space to S-P-R-E-A-D out. I want to be able to feel *creative* here, and currently I don't. I think I'll need to do a little closet overhaul as well. But hopefully I will be able to do all this before I get The Box from Memory Makers.

Have I mentioned *The Box* yet?

It is supposed to contain *TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS* worth of scrapbooking supplies!! Some companies have donated their ENTIRE LINE of products!! I am seriously beyond thrilled. Of course I haven't bought a single scrapping item in a month now cause I want to wait to see just what's in The Box... and of course I am grateful I don't have The Box yet cause I have NO ROOM for any of it right now! Better get offline and back to cleaning the space out... and I'll head to Home Depot tonight to get the hardware for the shelves.

Oh and the kids.... they are actually doing great. Riley now says "Apple Juice please Mommy" plain as day when he wants some. And everything that is in a can or bottle is "Daddy's Beer" LOL. I decided that I'll just keep it that way for now since it is the perfect reason why he isn't allowed to drink sodas, etc. Kids. They crack me up!