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bah humbug!

I spent a very frustrating hour or so this morning, doing some shopping on the internet.  Because of budgetary constraints, I buy next to nothing for personal use these days (besides, I can make most of what I need myself), but I do still buy items for use in my designs.  So, while reading through the forums at DST this morning, I found a new (to me) store that had designer use items on sale for as much as 50% off.  I decided to take a little look.  Well, I found they had 1371 designer use products.  Now, before we talk about this nameless store, let me explain that I am designing with PSE6.  Many people will swear you can't design with this program, but you've seen my products, so we know that's not true.  But, PSE6, being a limited use program, also limits what I can buy to use in designing.  So, some sort of index to products would be helpful.  For example, many digital scrapping items are made using actions.  Well, many many actions don't work in PSE6.  In fact, many digital designers who create actions don't even bother to test them in PSE6.  Us po' folks are just not taken into consideration.  So, if a store indexes its designer items by type and shows actions in one part of the index, I know I can pretty much just ignore that part of the store.  Well, boasting 1371 products, there was NO index.  That meant, to see the complete inventory, I was going to have to wade through 137 digital pages..........  ugh.  But, as it turned out, that was only the half of it.  Let's suppose I'm on page 1.  I want to go to page 2.  But, up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on page 2 and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items.  Yes.......I click.  Page 2 opens and there is an item I might possibly be interested in.  I click on it so I can see a slightly enlarged version and read the detailed description.  Up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on that page too and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items.  Yes.......I click.  The slightly enlarged version with the more detailed description opens.  But, I decide I still can't see the product well enough to decide whether or not it's something I'd like to purchase.  But by clicking on the slightly enlarged photo, I can navigate to a greatly enlarged version which will solve that problem.  Up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on that page and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items.  Yes.......I click.  I decide the item is not for me and close that page.  The slightly enlarged version of the product is still open so I click the back button to take me to Page 2 of the cu items.  Up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on page 2 and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items.  Yes.......I click.  I decide there's nothing on Page 2 that I want to buy and I click to proceed to Page 3.  Up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on Page 3 and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items.  Yes.......I click.  On Page 3 I find an item that is on sale and that I can use immediately in a kit I'm working on.  I click on "add this to my cart" and up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on the page that displays what's in my shopping cart and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items.  Yes.......I click.  When I've finished checking to see if the item is properly in my cart, I want to go back to Page 3.  I click the back button and up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on Page 3 and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items.  Yes.......I click.  And this continues.  For.137.pages.........  I will never shop at that store again.  Initially I thought it was a Windows Vista thing since Vista is notorious for asking you dumb questions like this.  But, not long after I finished up at the crazy-making store, I had a look around another store and there were no warnings about secure and unsecure items.  In fact, navigation was smooth and serene.  I don't think you could pay me to sell in the "secure and unsecure" shop.  All it would do is piss off my customers and result in rants like this on their blogs.  Fogeddaboutit.  

I woke up Saturday morning with my back screaming.  I have no idea what happened while I slept to put it out of place or whatever, but it really hurt.  Of course, I'd promised to take the boys for the day as Jennifer was out of town.  They arrived at 11:15AM and didn't leave til dinner time.  Saturday evening I sat here at my desk, struggling to get some work done, and the pain was downright awful, tears rolling down my face.  'Bout the worst I can remember.  Sunday I had the boys again, this time from about 10:30 until about 4:XX.  I was not in much better shape.  But, at least I didn't end up sitting here crying Sunday evening as I had on Saturday.  Today it is somewhat improved.  At least, it's 8PM and I'm sitting and not crying, so that's a good sign.  Of course, I did not go to work today as I just didn't know how the back would hold up.  And I did take a muscle relaxer and lie down for a good 3 hours this afternoon which undoubtedly helped.   I do wish I could find a muscle relaxer that didn't knock me out so that I could take one and still go to work and not have to undo tomorrow all that I'd done today, but so far I've not been able to find such a pill.  Saturday night the one thing I really wanted was a masseuse who made house calls.  Somehow it seemed if someone really put some counter pressure on my back, it would feel better.  But, it was just Max, the German Shepherd, and Punkin, the pit mix, and me.  No hope of a decent massage from those two.........

Joe worked Saturday night.  It's the first Saturday he's worked in three weeks.  Saturdays are pretty big nights so we're grateful for the extra money.  But that was 6 days of work for him this week and he's been exhausted ever since.  His Gideon breakfast meeting on Saturdays is a real problem.  It means he doesn't have time to lie down and sleep when he gets home from work, and when he gets home from the meeting, about the best he can get is 4 1/2 hours of sleep before he has to get up and go to work again.  That makes Saturday nights especially difficult and Sundays are just lost days. 

He slept yesterday until about 2PM.  Then he went down to Jen and Jason's house to help with the assembly of the remaining pieces of the jungle gym.  Jason couldn't figure out how to assemble the slides so his solution was to throw the pieces away.  Jennifer got involved and lined up Paul, a friend of theirs, and Joe to come and help him in order to save the slides from the trash.  The thing is now about 95% complete, but it's been in the yard for a good 6 weeks and the boys are dying to be able to use it.  It was ghastly hot out there, and even though the thing is in the shade, that didn't keep Joe from arriving home with clothes that were soaking wet from perspiration.  He was dehydrated and exhausted and still tired from working Saturday night on 4.5 hours of sleep.  To top it all off, Jen broke his sunglasses.  Of course, it was totally accidental, but we bought those sunglasses in Mexico, probably can't afford to replace them til we go to Mexico again, and he's glued them back together numerous times.  According to him, they can no longer be salvaged.  We had dinner and he fell asleep in his chair........  Exciting day.

We had his new favorite sandwich (Marlboro Man's favorite sandwich from Pioneer Woman's blog) for dinner and I roasted some potato slices with olive oil and spices.  And when I thought dinner was all ready, I realized I'd totally forgotten to cook the corn.  Geez!  I'm blaming it on the pain, the pain pills, and the muscle relaxers.  It seems a viable story.  Anyway, we didn't need the corn anyway.  He actually ended up feeding some of the potato slices to the dogs as treats. 

After the boys left yesterday afternoon, I took a muscle relaxer and conked out in bed for a while.  When I woke up, Joe was gone.  I figured he'd gone to the grocery store for the laundry detergent I needed.  Well, yes, but while he was there one of the checkers poured out the story of her life to him and he witnessed to her.  Meanwhile, with my back screaming, I'm in the kitchen, slicing up the cube steaks, slicing the potatoes and painting them with olive oil, slicing onions, cooking, and wondering where he is and getting more unhappy by the moment that he was not there to help me.  Honestly, I had it all done when he wandered in, but he was quickly forgiven when he explained that he'd had a "divine appointment" at the store. 

Funny Atticus story:  Saturday afternoon, Will decided he was hungry so we looked through the kitchen to find something he'd eat.  He decided on a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese.  He painstakingly covered every square millimeter of that bagel with cream cheese, so cute.  Then he agreed to share it with Atticus who, of course, wants to have/do whatever his big brother has/does.  Shortly thereafter Atticus came to me carrying a remnant of his part of the bagel saying something I just couldn't understand.  I had to call William for a translation.  Apparently in Atty-speak, a bagel is a donut.  The things I learn from these boys! 

One of Will's favorite passtimes is drawing.  For Christmas, from Aunt JoAnne, he received a killer art kit and a sketchbook.  I love that thing and, if he weren't my beloved grandson, would consider bopping him over the head, stealing it, and running like crazy to get away from him.  Since he IS my beloved grandson, I just oooooh and aaaaaah a lot over it.  Anyway, I have to produce a boy kit within the next coupla weeks.  And William has a zillion transformers.  So, I thought, perhaps he could draw some transformers for me and I'd use them in the boy kit.  I knew they'd be "childlike" drawings, not professional, but thought that just might add to their charm.  Well, Saturday he arrived with no art kit, no sketchbook, etc.  But Sunday he brought it all.  And ended up drawing the head of one transformer and nothing more.  So, if any of you ladies is looking for a transformer kit to scrap your son's or grandson's collection, go buy from someone else.  Obviously, since I can't draw a lick, I'm not gonna be selling one anytime soon.......LOL.

I am coming along nicely on my 4 kits.  The one due 8/5 is completely done.  I'm still stuck at papers only for the one due 7/31.  But, for the one due 8/1, I am about 80% done.  I'm a little thin on papers and could still use some elements, but good progress has been made.  I've done nothing with the one due 8/25, but I've got more than a month for that one so I'm not too worried.  One of these kits is a back to school kit and darned if one of the designer stores didn't put out a collaborative Commercial Use kit with Back to School as the theme.  Just in time!  The best part is I learn something new with every one of these things I do.  A different way to use an overlay.  A different way to use a ribbon template, etc.  So, the more I do, the better I get.  I don't think my early kits looked too shabby, but I notice the progress.  Don't know if anyone else would, but it makes me happy. 

Last time I was here, blogging, I mentioned some scrap pages I'd done but couldn't post.  Well, the stuff went into the store today, so I'm good to go.  So, here's some pretty pictures for ya.

 

This page was done with a kit called Smelly Ogre by Bella Gypsy Designs.  The stitched border is from another kit.

 

This is done with a Bella Gypsy Designs kit called Indulgent.  This Japanese garden is actually the courtyard of an office building here in Vegas.

 

This sweet photo was taken at Disney World when Jennifer and family visited there in March.  That sweet little bundle in her arms is Atticus.  I used Crabby Kid, another kit by Bella Gypsy Designs for this page. 

Crabby Kid and Indulgent are both available at both ACOT and Elemental Scraps.  Smelly Ogre is only available at ACOT.

And, last, but not least, here's a page with my own The Mighty Jungle kit.  The Mighty Jungle is available at NDISB.  You can find it here:  http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=95

Okay, I don't want to test Typepad any further.  My image-heavy posts usually result in locking down my computer.  So, I'll sign off before that gets a chance to happen.  Have a good evening.

Friday

That doesn't sound like much of a title, does it?  But, it's the end of the workweek.  Tonight begins the weekend.  No makeup required.  No alarm clock.  For me, Friday is a pretty exciting word.........

Well things on Joe's job are slow.  That means money is scarcer than hen's teeth.  He's been doing pretty well as far as fares are concerned on the weekends, but the tips have been small.  And, weekdays are perpetually slow.  We need lots more than we're getting, so if you want something to pray about, jump in.

At my place of employment, we are all holding our breath for July 11.  We are supposed to receive about $43,000 for work completed some time ago.  We have hung on and talked creditors out of taking drastic action and gone without paychecks (I'm now owed 5) and hopefully our waiting time is almost over.  Unfortunately, the boys have no new jobs in their back pockets, so feel free to pray about that too.  The company needs work!  Jobs are promised, but for months down the road.  In the meantime, we all have bills to pay.......

As to designing, I have completed my assignment for the collaborative kit which was due by 8/5.  Phew!  One down, three to go.  I've got the papers completed for the kit due 7/31.  I've got to get going on that one next with elements. 

I took a couple of days off from designing kits to do some quickpages for LaWanna.  I worked with her kit, Canary Sunshine.  I swear, if there are papers anywhere in the scrapping universe that are prettier than the papers in this kit, I've never seen them.  It took me a while to talk myself into doing anything other than looking at them!  But, I finished up two sets of four and they're in her inbox so those should be out shortly and then I can show you previews. 

Last night I scrapped.  Bella Gypsy has 3 kits due out Monday.  All I can tell you today is "cute, cute, cute".  One kit is cuter than the next.  I seem to be telling you all about things I've done that I can't show you photos of yet.  But, since the kits aren't due out til Monday, I can't post my pages until then.  I got 2 completely done and the third awaits a title and it will be finished.  These young ladies produce kits with great color schemes and they are SO prolific.  Their kits are substantially smaller than mine, but it still blows me away how much they get done in so short a time.

You may remember that several months ago, Joe got a ticket.  He lingered too long in traffic, trying to find a place in a taxi line.  It started out at $750, but, thanks to help from one of Jennifer's attorney friends, was reduced to $570.  That's still a huge amount for us right now, but God has arranged a miracle for us.  One of Joe's Gideon buddies, knowing our need, has given us a check for $270 to help us with the amount due.  We are SO grateful.  If we can't raise the money for the remainder of the ticket, a bench warrant could be issued and Joe could be subject to arrest.  Yes, indeed, you can pray about that too!

I stopped last night for a few minutes at my favorite market, Sunflower.  Oh, my, the marvelous bargains they had on fruit and veggies.  Joe loves seedless green grapes so I grabbed 5# of those for $.77 per pound.  He can take those in his "lunch" which, given his work schedule, happens somewhere between 11PM and 1AM.  I could not believe that I found bing cherries for $.88 a pound.  That is an unheard of price.  And, they had black plums for the same price.  I picked up a veggie I've never seen before--red corn.  I got two ears for $.99.  I've never tried this type of corn before, but I'm anxious to cook it and see what it's like.  Finally, I got some cube steaks.  Joe so enjoyed the sandwiches I made a few weeks ago that he requested I make them again.  So, for dinner on Sunday (the only day of the week I'm guaranteed to have my husband home), we will have Marlboro Man's favorite sandwiches, roasted potato slices, and red corn on the cob. 

Jennifer and Jason have a plum tree in their backyard.  A few weeks ago, when I babysat for them, I picked some of their plums.  Fortunately for me, they didn't seem to mind.  Anyway, this week I took what was probably no more than 3/4 of an hour and made some Plum Freezer Jam.  It turned out so well so I went begging for more plums.  Sadly, they were all gone.  I was sorely tempted to buy some of those for sale at $.88 a pound at Sunflower.  But, considering our cash situation, I did not.  This morning I intend to have some toast with my homemade Plum Jam on it for breakfast.  I was only able to make three small Tupperware containers full, but I will give one to Jennifer in exchange for the yummy plums they let me have.  Mmmmmm..... I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.  If only I could afford to buy canning jars, I could make many more batches of jam and jelly with all the delicious fruit to be had at this time of year.

Well, my last bit of news is that our sweet German Shepherd, Max, is sick.  Joe and I are broken-hearted that we do not dare spend the money to take him to the vet.  Conceivably, I could take him using one of my credit cards, but with paychecks so hard to come by at the place I work, the huge challenge later would be how to pay the credit card bills.  I have researched on the 'net and found that I had purchased, on our last visit to Mexico, an antibiotic that is effective and safe for him and we are administering that daily, along with our most earnest prayers.  In my own experience, God has, in response to my prayers, healed a dog and a hamster.  I am believing He will do so again, but again, I ask your prayers.

Well, that's it for now.  I'll be back.........

PITA

I am not very happy with Typepad right now.  It locked down on me yesterday and the only thing that would fix it was re-booting.  Of course, I had 90 bazillion scrap design related things open in Photoshop, so, it took me til today to get all that sorted out and saved so I could reboot.  And, it was easy to see that my hold on photoshop was tenuous at best--it gave all the signs of locking down again, so I posted what I had and that's that.  Maybe later I can come back with a few more updates.  One thing I know--from now the photos on this blog will be a bit smaller.  I'm hoping that will make Typepad happier...........

The Morning After

Well, I have to admit I had a lousy night.  Perhaps it was something I ate, I don't know.  But, suffice it to say that I have everything about my bathroom memorized.  So, I'm not really firing on all pistons right now.....  If I'm too boring here, please just cut me some slack. 

Today is July 5th.  You would think I'd be bubbling over with news of amazing fireworks displays and the magnificent day I had at the family barbeque.  Well, not really.  Joe was on the extra board and thus had to show up at work last night.  He worked Friday night and thus slept all day yesterday til it was time for him to leave for work.  Unfortunately, though he sat there for about 2.5 hours, hoping, he did not get the opportunity to work last night.  So, on the way home, he stopped and picked up some steaks and some potatoes and we had a decent dinner for a change.  One of the local grocery stores put T-bone and Porterhouse steaks on special for $3.97 a pound.  We bought 4 steaks, cooked one and split it and have three stashed in the freezer.  I'm hoping to talk Joe into buying a few more because that price is phenomenal.  I threw a couple of potatoes in the microwave and we had baked potatoes with butter and sour cream.  And, do you remember months ago when I was cooking and freezing asparagas?  Well, I pulled some of that out of the freezer, brushed it with olive oil, sprinkled it with some spices and stuck it under the broiler when the steaks came out.  All in all, it was delicious.  The timing was a little off, though.  We got our plates filled up about the time the fireworks displays started going off around the valley.  We saw none of them!  But, you know, we lived with out 'em.

Friday, Joe worked.  It was a good night and we are grateful.  We are told, by the old-timers around the job, that Friday night's results were much like those that were normal before the recession.  We could honestly live decently if such results were typical now-a-days.  Dear Lord, may there be more nights like Friday night, many more...

I had the boys Monday afternoon.  William had been to the dentist Monday morning.  They gave him laughing gas and filled two teeth.  When it was decided that William wanted to come here instead of his Day Care Program, of course, Atticus wanted to come as well.  William was his usual sweet self and Atticus, as always, provided the entertainment for the day.  Atty has a new phrase:  "I said no."  Most two year olds say "no" a lot, but I think "I said no" is a bit different.  Anyway, it sounds pretty funny coming out of such a little guy.  He got some of his beloved "mack-e-cheese" to eat for lunch and that made him very happy.  He wanted something and neither Joe nor I could figure out what it was.  Will managed to translate for us--soda.  I can't begin to tell you how he pronounces it, but it's funny. 

So, I've been designing and designing and designing.  I'm signed up to produce contributions to 4 mega kits between now and August 25, three of them within 1 month.  I've got a decent start on the one due 7/31 and on the one due 8/5 and I bought some stuff to use for the one that's due 8/1.  I think the 8/1 kit will go together pretty quickly.  Not too sure about the one due 8/25 yet, but, thankfully, I have some time on that one.  It's pretty unusual for me to have two kits in process at once, but that's what I've got going on right now.  The 7/31 kit is a "space" kit.  The 8/1 kit is a "back to school" kit.  For the kit due 8/5, the theme is "dusk to dawn", and the 8/25 kit is a boy kit.  That kind of runs the gamut of things, doesn't it?  Somewhere in there, I need a tea party kit and then I can be really straining my creative brain!

I finally got my new kit up in the store. 

A funny thing happened on the way to making this kit.  I was reading through select threads in the forum at DST when I came across one where a lady was searching for a “jungle” kit to go with a certain color scheme.  She even posted a photo of a cute kids’ bedroom set (curtains, bedspread, etc.) she was trying to match.  Well, I loved the color scheme and I’ve wanted to do a jungle kit anyway, so I went to work.  When I finished the kit, I PM’d her and told her I’d made her a kit and arranged to upload it so she could claim her kit.  The funny part is that it was only about a week later that I realized this lady and I are on a creative team together.  Here all this time I thought I was making a kit for a stranger and she was no stranger at all!

So, what can I tell you about this kit?  The contents would probably be helpful.  The kit contains:  8 beautifully textured solid papers, 12 coordinating print papers, 8 beautiful satin bows, 8 buckles with satin ribbons attached, 1 frayed burlap matte, 3 butterflies, 5 folded and clipped silk flowers, 2 rectangular frames, 1 round grape vine element which can also be used as a frame, 2 pieces of tropical looking greenery, 3 realistic hibiscus flowers, 6 journaling mats, 1 raffia page wrap, one silver metal leaf charm, 7 folded gingham ribbons, 3 stickers, and one sticker border.  Most elements are large but can easily be sized down.  The kit plus add-on contain well over 200MB of goodness!

Here's the photo my friend posted in the forum at DigiScrapTalk:

 

And, here is the kit I created:

 

 

 

 

There are a LOT of "jungle" kits out there, but not with this unique color scheme.  I LOVE the colors here and I also love the denim-y texture on the solid papers.  Anyway, it's up in my store which you can get to by clicking on the "My Store" button on the right. 

I was having so much fun working with this kit, that I ended up creating an add-on to go with it.  If you were signed up for my newsletter by July 1, you received the first edition of said newsletter with links to download the add-on for free.  If you weren't signed up for my newsletter, why not?  Don't you see that button on the right there?????  Anyway, the add-on is now in the store and you can purchase it for $2.00.  It looks like this:

 

One of my newsletter subscribers was sweet enough to send me a copy of her layout done with the add-on and then she gave me permission to show it here.

 

no title

Outside my window... Sunshine and blue skies.  We’ve got a bit of cloud cover which means there’s actually some humidity in the air.  High’s today will be 3 digits……

I am thinking... That this cleaning thing I’ve been doing is not showing results as quickly as I’d hoped.  Oh, the places I’ve worked are definitely improved, but there’s still so much to be done………

I am thankful for... a husband who works hard, a daughter who loves hard, and a Father in Heaven who listens hard.  Also, thankful for my sweet DGS, William, who I love so much and for his little brother who likes to sing “I’ll Fly Away”.  And, Matthew collected $10,000 from a customer, so I have three small paychecks in my purse that I can cash today!   

From the kitchen... Well, I would have been responsible for cooking a reasonable dinner tonight, but, as of yesterday, Joe’s work schedule changed.  He is now regular on Mon, Tues, and Wednesday, and an extra on Thurs, Fri, and Saturday.  His only guaranteed day off will be Sunday…..  He’s so tired, I don’t think he can do 6 days a week, but hopefully this will result in him getting at least 5 days a week….

I am wearing... Shorts, tee shirt, laceup shoes…..I’ve got a lot of work to do today, LOL.

I am creating... I have a few elements in mind for this floral kit that is makin’ me crazy.  And, I am working on some Quick Pages for LaWanna Desjardin. 

I am going... absolutely nowhere that I know of.  Actually ended up going into work twice during my “week off”  (layoff), and was there yesterday ALL DAY.  I’m not going outside my front door today!!!!!!

I am reading... I watched a movie a month or so ago that dealt with the Atlanta Child Murders in the early 80’s.  Just after I watched the movie, I did a lot of research on the internet on the subject and decided I’d like to read more about.  I’m reading These Bones are Not my Child by Toni Cade Bambara.  It’s one of those books that is chock full of detail, thus difficult to slog through.  But I pickup tidbits of information here and there and verify them through internet research.  This is a very interesting subject and one I’m almost convinced has been whitewashed…… 

I am hoping... to have at least two garbage bags of things to donate by the time the week is out.  I’ve already got a big pile which I started cataloguing last night so we are solid for a tax deduction next year.

I am hearing...  Only the clacking sound as my fingers dance across the keyboard.  I love the sound of silence!

Around the house... The cleaning invasion has assaulted fronts in the kitchen, office, and the spare bedroom.  In the meantime, I continue with the everyday stuff like loads of laundry and trying to keep Joe’s coffee spills wiped up in the kitchen.

One of my favorite things... Iced tea.  Why is it we have decaf coffee in the house but we can’t seem to keep decaf tea around?  I’m so thirsty for a glass of Iced Tea right now. 

A few plans for the rest of the week... Well, looking forward, I have today, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before I face going back to work.  I hate the broken days that come with working a part time job outside the home.  I figure I spend at least 5 hours to get paid for 3.  This includes getting ready and driving back and forth.  That’s 5 hours spent out of my days grubbing for a very small paycheck when I could be here, making progress.  So, I’ve got to work hard these next four days and make as much progress as possible, around Joe’s sleeping schedule.

"Vacation"

Well, it's not really a vacation, more a different kind of work.  I think I've been laid off.  At least, I was told not to come in to work this week except for the day we have an auditor due.  I would love to be out on the veranda with someone fanning me, drinking a mint julep and reading a good book, but, alas, I've decided to use the time otherwise.  I've started cleaning.  We do have a lady who comes in and helps us out for half a day every two weeks, but there is so much she doesn't do.  It seems everywhere I look, I see dust and cobwebs.  So, I've been after that sort of thing since Saturday morning.  She tends to dust around things.  I've been stripping surfaces bare, cleaning them, then sorting through and deciding what should be donated or trashed before anything goes back in place.  The shelves in our bay window in the kitchen were FILTHY.  I had to have Joe help me get those out because they were screwed in too tight for me to budge them.  Then we washed the window several times.  It's still not a window that makes me smile, but it's definitely better than it was when we started.  That's just one example of what I've been up to.

This morning, I went in to the office to meet with the auditor at 10AM.  Imagine my surprise when he no-showed!  I called him and he had our appointment down for tomorrow.  So, I did what any self-respecting woman would do with the free time--I went shopping.  Of course, I went shopping at the second hand store, but, it's still shopping.  I picked up two very nice pairs of shorts and two very nice shirts for Joe and two books for me.  I also got a good idea of the selling price of used items, which was important to me as I'm packing up a bag of goodies to donate and I want to price things accurately for the tax deduction.  Had I not gone shopping, I'd undoubtedly have priced things $3-$5 lower per item than I should have and that would have cost us a fair amount of tax.  So, I'm sure our tax savings will more than outweigh what I spent.

Not much else going on here.  I do have a new kit to put into my store today so I'll be back here with previews of that shortly.  And, there's an add-on goody that I'm going to give free to my newsletter subscribers.  Of course, if you don't want to subscribe, you can buy the add-on in the store!  Later......

The Lion King, New Kit, Blog Train

Well, we succeeded in getting tickets for the 4:30 performance of The Lion King yesterday.  We took William, our 9 year old grandson.  It was a great show.  I found myself just transfixed with the technology and graphics of the production--amazing.  I was a bit concerned about Will's attention span in that the show lasts 2.5 hours.  But, he did very well, better, in fact, than Joe who was tired and was having a hard time staying awake, LOL.  We had difficulty finding the valet pickup to get our car back, and once we found it, it took a long time to get it.  But, the show was such fun, the wait was worth it.  So, if you're in Vegas anytime soon, I highly recommend seeing The Lion King at The Mandalay Bay.  It's not cheap (unless you get two free tickets like we did) but it's a great show.  Fun, too, to be able to take the kids and not worry that they'll hear something inappropriate.  Of course, no photo taking is allowed, so, sorry I can't share that with you.

Joe and I were talking yesterday morning.  I've lived in Vegas now almost 30 years.  We came to the conclusion that this was my 4th show in all that time.  Years ago, I saw Lou Rawls and I saw a Joan Rivers/Bobby Vinton show in the early 80's.  Somewhere along the way I saw Fiddler on the Roof when the Aladdin still had a Theater of Performing Arts.  And, now The Lion King.  Wow!  Joe is hoping we'll be able to get free tickets to The Phantom of the Opera which is playing at The Venetian.  That would be wonderful.  We'll see. 

Well, I'll post a reminder about my new kit and then onward to what you're REALLY looking for!  The kit is called Talkin' 'Bout My Guy and is on sale this week, 20% off.  Just click on the button to the right to be taken to My Store.  Here's the kit preview.  If you'd like to see more detailed previews, scroll down two posts.

If you like my designs, I would really appreciate it if you'd click on that little button on the right labeled "Newsletter" and give me the information so I can send you my newsletter.  Of course, we're talkin' special sale announcements, coupons, freebies and all that sort of thing..........

Now, I know you are all really interested in my brief critical review of The Lion King.  And even more interested in my new kit!  Thanks for looking.  But, I know you are most interested in my contribution to the NDISB (Natural Designs in Scrapbooking) blog train.  This time, our theme is "Child's Play" and we've got some playful papers and elements for you.  Here's my preview:

You can download it here:  http://www.4shared.com/file/107193191/75c7750f/HFD_CP_NDISB_June_blog_Train.html 

Sorry, this blog and I are not getting along as far as links are concerned.  Just copy and paste, please.

From here, you want to go to Maggie's blog at http://sandersmr.blogspot.com

And here is the entire list in case you get lost along the way.

starting point NDISB Blog http://www.ndisb.com/blog
1- Blind Sight Designs http://blind-sight.org/blog
2- BGDesmet http://bgdesmet.blogspot.com/
3- Barb Speck http://www.barbspeck.blogspot.com
4- s3js http://underthemulberrytree.blogspot.com/
5- Fortlady http://grandma-k.blogspot.com/
6- Tahera http://scrapbookartstudio.wordpress.com/
7- wvsandy http://msm-mysweetmemories.blogspot.com
8- Design Dispositions http://mkostoff.squarespace.com
9- Nadine http://nadineswordartscraps.blogspot.com/
10- Maz - http://www.nowthenhabibi.com/scrapping-stuff/
11- Little Dragon Designs http://littledragondesigns.blogspot.com/
-----hosting Linda - LindaBglw
-----hosting Mooseyscraps
12- Mom_of_5 http://koppelkreations.blogspot.com/
13- Hot Flash Designs http://p-u-s-h.typepad.com/
14- Maggie - Sandersmr http://sandersmr.blogspot.com
15- Cre8tvlyYrs Designz by Gina Arzaga http://www.cre8tvlyyrs.blogspot.com/
16- AmySueWho http://amysuewho.blogspot.com/
17- Heather Manning http://digiscrapping.net/blog
18- Crecia27 http://gray-daze.blogspot.com/
19- Samceline http://www.samceline.de
20- Bunnynose http://bunnynose-aboxofchocolates.blogspot.com/
21- Charlize Creation htp://www.beautyframe.blogspot.com
22- Phil4v4 www.otterandcrabapple.blogspot.com
23- Little Bit's Dzynz/Laura Mundy http://lilbitsd-zynz.blogspot.com/
24- Bebimora http://bebimora.blogspot.com/
25- NDISB Blog http://www.ndisb.com/blog

Bah!

Well, I finished the kit I had been working on and started working on another.  I had put together a mini-kit for the store's monthly collaborative several months ago.  Then my EHD crashed, taking my mini kit down with the crash.  I thought I had found it and tried to restore it through Mozy.  Well, I got part of it back but not all--I think I restored the working file and not the finished product.  I never was able to restore the thing in time to have it in the monthly collaborative kit.  So, last night I pulled out what I had and began working with it to make a whole kit.  I worked on it some more this morning.  I think I've finally come to the conclusion I don't like the color scheme.  It's supposed to be a garden-type color scheme, and while all the other colors go very nicely with the greens, they don't necessarily seem to go all that well with each other.  There were 10 colors in the color sample and I really only feel I can work with 8 of them.  2 of the colors so closely duplicate 2 other colors that you can't tell them apart unless you zoom in on them and really study what you're looking at.  Finally, I just decided to do away with the 2 duplicated colors, working my way down to an 8 color palette.  Anyway, I have about 75% of the papers made as well as a bunch of ribbons.  If something doesn't break here with my mojo for this color scheme, you'll find a big freebie here soon.....

In the process of working with the kit above, I've found myself disappointed in some overlays I've purchased from various Commercial Use designers.  I've been working with floral papers and trying to fill in the design, as opposed to just flopping it onto a colored bg paper and blending it in.  I've tried floral prints from two different designers, both of whom have been designing long enough to be "experts".  I expected top quality.  What I got was NOT that.  I don't have the steadiest hand in the world and I don't have a tablet.  So, I'm trying to fill designs with the magic wand selection and the Edit/Fill Selection command.  That only works if the design is "closed off".  In other words, if the petal of the flower is just sketched in, and the petal is not complete closed off, the color will bleed right into the rest of the design.  I was working with one cutesy daisy pattern and I liked it so much I decided I'd delete the parts of the flowers that I couldn't color.  Well, what I had left kinda looked like someone had been playing "he loves me, he loves me not" with those daisies.  I gave up and scrapped the whole thing when I realized that some of the centers of the daisies were not "closed off".  I looked at the design carefully and decided I just could not get away with deleting the center and treating the petals as if they were just blowing in the wind.  So, for this project at least, I just wasted money and time working with products from those "expert" designers.....  They're kind of off my list of people from whom to purchase.  Sorry 'bout that but I don't have sufficient funds to be buying stuff I can't use.

Joe succeeded in getting another ticket for The Lion King, so we will be taking Will to see it tomorrow afternoon.  I sure hope he enjoys it.  That ticket was anything but cheap!  Joe and I have been together and living in Vegas for 6 years and this will be the only show we've ever seen together.  I've actually been here almost 30 years and it will only be my third show!  I'm getting excited about it.

Like thousands of other people, I am a reader of Confessions of a Pioneer Woman.  Her blog is always interesting to me, her photography is excellent.  One thing some people may not know about her yet is that she is an excellent cook and generous enough to share some killer recipes on her blog.  Last week I made her Asian noodle salad and it is just excellent and a very tasty way to get some vegetables into our diet.  (That reminds me--I need to make another batch of dressing as Joe has sucked up all the dressing and only about half the salad so far.)  Thursday evening I made some sandwiches using a recipe from her site.  Very simple and simply delicious.  Tenderized Round Steak, cut into strips against the grain, fried with onions in butter.  Drop in some Worchester Sauce and a little Tabasco, serve on some nice deli rolls.  I think Joe said he spent about $8 on the meat and so far we've had two dinners and two lunches from it.  There's enough left for one more sandwich and Joe has already requested that I make it again.  He had a sandwich in his lunch last night and loved it, reporting happily that it was just as good cold as it was when I served it warm for dinner Thursday.  Finally, I got the bug to bake cookies.  I admit that cookies are really not my thing.  Lately, baking hasn't been my thing.  In fact, lately, with Joe working 5 nights a week, cooking in any form is not my thing--I exist on Ramen.  Anyway, I found a recipe for Oatmeal Cookies on Pioneer Woman's site.  So, I thought I'd give 'em a try.  Wow!  Those things are the best Oatmeal Cookies I've ever tasted.  The dough was supposed to be refrigerated and then sliced and placed on the cookie sheet.  I wasn't up for all that, so I just used a mini-ice cream scoop and dropped them.  They took a minute or two longer to bake than she recommended for the sliced dough, but they are sure yummy.  Unfortunately, it only made just over 3 dozen and Joe is eating them 4 and 5 at a time so I expect they'll be all gone very soon.  I will warn you that you need to be sure to walk your dog for miles or have a treadmill that is in working order when you use her recipes.  Lots of butter and other fattening stuff which, of course, just contributes to the yumminess of it all.

So, I think I may have discovered a "cure" for the blood pressure headaches I've been having.  When it became necessary for me to switch over from my previous medication to a new one, since the doctor didn't say anything specific, I just assumed the dosage would be the same.  180 mg every 12 hours.  Well, I've proven THAT just doesn't work.  The pills do bring the blood pressure down, but can't seem to keep it down for a 12 hour period.  In fact at the end of 12 hours, it's up high enough for several hours that I have a headache.  I'm going to give them a shot at one pill every 8 hours.  I tried it with one pill this morning taken 8 hours after I took one last night and no headache!  In the meantime, I'll e-mail the doc and make sure I'm not killing some part of my body by doing this!  But, we have 200 of the new pills and I sure don't want to throw them in the trash if I can make 'em work.

Joe had an experience last night.  He led a woman to Christ in his taxicab.  It was pretty cool.  Maybe that's why he's driving a cab?  Anyway, he did get a cab last night and he made decent money as well as earning a spiritual reward so it's all good.  Now we just need to see if he can do it again tonight!

When Joe heads out for work, I'm going into the office.  I have never been there on a Saturday before, but I had such a lousy headache yesterday afternoon that there was just no way I was going to work.  It took me hours to get my bp down to the level that the headache faded.  So, I've got things that need done and I'm gonna go in for a few hours today.  Really doesn't make much difference to me these days.  Even if Joe has the day off, he spends a lot of it in bed and I'm here designing or whatever.  So, I may as well get a couple more hours on the clock and a couple more necessary tasks completed.

Gotta run now.  Have a great day!

New Kit

Well, at last, a new kit in the store.  I really enjoyed working with the color scheme from the June 1 Blog Train and decided it would be perfect for a Father's Day kit, or any kit celebrating the men in our lives.  So, I expanded my contribution by 11 papers and a bunch of elements and turned my mini-kit into a full kit.  I like it and I hope you will too.

Here are the previews:

 

 

 

 

Great kit, huh?  It's in the store and on sale for 20% off as an introductory special. 

Other than that, not a whole lot happening here.  At work, I am getting ready for an audit by a state auditor.  It kicks off on 6/24 and I have about half of the paperwork the auditor has asked for pulled together so I should be ready for him in plenty of time.  AND, I actually got to cash two paychecks yesterday.  What a relief that was!  I need to do payroll today for checks that should go out today but can't because we don't have the funds to cover them.  So, having cashed 2 checks, I will still be 3 checks behind........

I've actually finished up another kit that I really love.  In fact, I made so many pieces to it that I had to break part of it out into a mini kit to sell as an add on.  But the papers are gorgeous and I really like the elements too.  Someone at DST was asking for a "jungle" kit to go with a certain color scheme--she even posted a photo with the colors she was looking for--and I obliged.  I still have to do the finish work, but the designing HAS to stop, no matter how much fun I'm having, lest I have to sell two add-ons instead of one!  This thing could take over the world if I keep this up!

I am still having some problem with the store system.  On the newly released kit, I posted the previews you see above, but the preview of the elements didn't show up.  I asked for help, followed the instructions I got, and ended up with two previews of the printed papers and two previews of the solid papers.  Thankfully, I also got a preview of the elements.  AND, in my opinion, that preview of the elements is really important.  You can get a pretty good idea of the papers without a close-up (except for texture), but elements--you need a close-up.  So, glad I at least got that! 

Well, I'm gonna sign off for now.  I want to get started on that finishing work for the new kit.  I plan to have it in the store next week.  And, of course, there's another idea chasing me around already which I am not going to let myself start til the last one is done!

Time for an update

I have consciously avoided updating, leaving the blog train freebie at the top of the blog as long as possible.  I hate to have folks have to search for it.  Folks, if you're looking for my blog train contribution, it's one post down.

Well, the big flare-up at work is more or less settled.  Matthew forced the issue of having a conversation about it.  Otherwise, I would never have brought it up.  I'd prayed about it and felt it was God's job to take care of.  But, perhaps, the conversation was God's answer to prayer.  When push came to shove, Matthew more or less admitted that he was just in a foul mood that day and took it out on me because I was there.  That's fine, Matthew, but it's not particularly a mark of a grown up.  Nor is it the mark of a "professional".  Further, you went to the owner of the company with it.........  He says he was upset about the wording of a note I'd left him. 

Before I close the books for any given month, I do a little financial analysis and some auditing.  I have a spreadsheet on which I've displayed column by column our Profit and Loss statements for every month since July, 2008, when I started there.  The next to last column in the spreadsheet is the average of the expenditures in each account for all the previous months.  I then post the current month next to the averages and look to see what is out of whack.  Sometimes I know right off the bat why there is a variance and it is perfectly legitimate.  If I don't know, or simply don't remember, then I pull up detail on those accounts and work my way back through the entries to assure that everything is properly booked.  In that process, I ran across 4 errors.  Some were pretty serious, some were not but all were made by Matthew.....who shouldn't be messin' in my books anyway!  I left him a note (since I don't always see him when I go in) asking for explanations of those 4 transaction.  The note was very factually worded, no commentary, but something made him take offense.  (I personally believe he took offense because he did not like that I caught him in these errors.)  Anyway, according to him, that started the ball rolling and he doesn't like that I wrote him a note instead of just calling him on the phone.  Well, first of all, my memory isn't all that great and I can't trust myself to remember until the next time I see him.  Secondly, on those occasions when I have called him, there have been numerous times when he was far less than "gracious", to put it mildly.  Thirdly, I thought the detail might be helpful to him in remembering what the transaction was all about and explaining it to me.  Finally, the note forms part of an "audit" trail.  When all this was explained to him (minus the part about him not being "gracious"), he decided maybe the notes were okay.

He went on to talk about how he is working on complicated stuff and how his concentration is disturbed when there is noise in the room.  This is just laughable.  I will be sitting there working and all of a sudden, he will shout at the top of his lungs F___.  No working, just a shouted swear word.  He plays what his father refers to as "crap-rap" music all the time which is also full of profanity.  Sometimes he uses his Netflix account to watch movies while he works.  He sings, he keeps time to the music by beating out the rhythm on his desk, he talks on the phone, he does all sorts of things that constantly break my concentration.  He did not directly address my whistling, if I really do whistle, but talked about how what he is working on is complicated and when he isn't allowed to concentrate, he makes mistakes.  Well, buddy, that door swings both ways.  I simply agreed with him that excess noise was difficult when doing a complicated task and left it at that.  Twenty four hours later we were together in the office again and he was singing and playing the drums on his desk.......

So, anyway, we are moving on.  Honestly, I think one of the most helpful things that happened was when his father actually stood up and told him that he wouldn't find a more honest or dedicated employee anywhere and reminded him of the times I have spent an hour driving to and from work and left after an hour and a quarter because there just wasn't any more legitimate work to be done.  Joe's idea was that he was just going to stay out of it.  But the simple fact was that Matthew was wrong and I was not.  I really felt that "staying out of it" was a betrayal to me.  To my way of thinking, he and I are strapped together, back to back, and are supposed to take on all comers in that position, not back off because his son makes a horse's a__ of himself and screams the loudest.  I had a very calm conversation with Joe about it, told him I felt he was being less than the kind of husband I thought he should be.  So, he pulled up his big boy pants and said something to Matthew for which I am grateful.  By Joe staying out of it, I felt Matthew would take that as having his Dad's permission to beat up on me again and again......

So, Jennifer attended her conference in St. Louis last week.  She left early Wednesday morning and returned Saturday evening.  In the meantime, Joe and I helped out a lot with transportation for the boys to and from daycare/school and other activities.  She sent out an e-mail describing what needed to be done on each day of the week.  Quite honestly, I got lost in the words, so I converted it to a chart and signed Joe and I up for the days we were available.  For example, the boys needed to be transported both coming and going on Friday.  Well, Joe was able to take them, but I had received a Jury Summons and was a little freaked out about signing up to pick them up.  Last time I had jury duty, they made me sit there all the way up until 5PM.  Had that happened, I'd have had to fight my way across town in 5 o'clock traffic to get to the boys.  As it turned out, I was not needed for jury duty so that was good, but Jason had already agreed to pick up the boys that evening.  Jen ultimately adopted my "chart" idea and adapted it to record the things that had to be sent to school each day and the things she had bought for Jason to feed the boys for dinner each evening.  She joked that she thought it was really funny that it took three of us and a chart to do what she does in a week.  Well, yes, but Joe and I, for sure, don't see the notes from school, don't follow her to the grocery store, don't even talk to the boys on a daily basis.  For us, the chart was really helpful.

I picked her up at the airport and asked her about St. Louis.  While we were having temperatures in the 90's here, she said it was only 57 degrees there when she arrived.  I guess she was pretty tied up in all the meetings, but she did have one free evening.  A bunch of people got together and went to the Gateway Arch.  I asked her what she thought about that and here is where being raised in Vegas makes a difference.  For her, it was kind of ho-hum after the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino.  Yeah, I guess it would be........

So, we had fun with the boys last week.  Joe was very surprised at Atticus Friday morning when he dropped him off at day care.  Around here, if there is a choice, he's after Grandma all the way.  But when Joe went to drop him off at day care, Atticus actually clung to Joe's leg.  That was surprising because he's had the same day care provider for quite some time and really loves her.  We went to Will's last ball game Thursday night.  We had the bright idea of taking Punkin and Max with us.  AFTER we got seated and they calmed down, that worked out to be a fine idea and they behaved well.  But Punkin was her usual self--pulling like a maniac when attached to the leash and Max is no expert at being on a leash either.  It still amazes me that a 60 pound dog can pull a 200 pound man, but Punkin turns Joe into a pull toy every time.  It was a beautiful evening to be out, just the right temperature with a light breeze.  It's times like that that living in Vegas is a treat.

So, the stage production of The Lion King is here in Vegas at the Mandalay Bay.  Through work, Joe has two free tickets.  We're trying to figure out how to work it out that we can take William.  Joe took Erica when she was 9 and she just loved it.  Hopefully, Will will love it as well. 

I am currently working on designing a kit.  I love the color scheme and it's coming together pretty fast, thank the Lord.  I hate when I "labor" over a kit.  Anyway, it will be entitled "The Mighty Jungle".  I was on the net last night researching the lyrics to "In the jungle, the mighty jungle" and ran across this.  I e-mailed the link to Joe under the heading of "how many beers does it take before a person is willing to spend his time doing this?"  I don't know how to embed the thing here, so here is the link.  It's a hoot......I watched it once with my mouth hanging open.  Then I watched it again and laughed til my sides ached.  Then I forwarded it to Joe who also thought it was hilarious.  I'm not having a lot of luck with links lately, so if the link doesn't work, it's worth it to take a second and do the copy and paste thing.  http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1832527/in_the_jungle_the_mighty_jungle_lion_king/

Well, a couple of scrapbook pages and I'm outta here.  This first one was done with a kit by Bella Gypsy Design called "H2ology".  As you might guess, it was intended for use with water play photos.  Well, not me, I used it for something else entirely.  Anyway, you can find the kit at ACOT and at Elemental Scraps.

 

This page is done with a kit called "My Dad Rocks" by Bella Gypsy Designs, also available at ACOT and Elemental Scraps.  Hope you like 'em!

LaWanna Desjardin came out with a new kit called "Pop".  It is simply gorgeous and the elements are such fun.  I did two sets of quick pages with the kit which should go up in the store at Scrapbook-Bytes shortly. 

Gotta run now.  Joe is awake which means that I can finally get dressed without fear of waking him!