My Weblog

It's been a few days.........

I haven't posted here in a few days, so I need to catch everybody up.  I have been busy around here.  First, I have put myself into photographic hell.  I have a program that sorts through photos and finds duplicates.  I KNEW I had duplicates, but I had no idea how many.  I started a few days ago with over 14,000.  I think I am now down to about 8,000.  It goes like this:  run the sort program which outputs a list of duplicates found, one by one look at the photos listed and delete all but one til you just can't stand doing this anymore, then clear the recycle bin, then run a defrag on the drive.  Then do it all again.......  I have some photos that are popping up with an original and 3 copies, and a multitude with an original and one copy.  There is no rhyme or reason that I can find in the order in which the photos are presented.  So, on one screen of the sorting program, I may find a list of photos like this:  photos from our 2005 trip to Zion National Park, photos of Jen's wedding, photos of my wedding in 2002, photos scanned from the early 50's, photos of Will at DayCare in Reno in the early 2000's, etc.  It's really quite a visual adventure, but I AM tired of it.  When I get through with the list, I will still have a LOT of organizing work to do with the photos, but hopefully I will only do it once to each photo, not four times or more.  I KNOW I have deleted 11 copies of a set of stairs in the condo where Jen stayed on her honeymoon.  Now how the heck did that happen?  What a mess! 

Just so you don't think I have been spending my days doing nothing but sitting in my computer chair, I've also been working on a couple of projects:  cleaning out and organizing the drawers in the kitchen and gathering more paper scrapping stuff together (and listing it all on paper) to donate to our church's Christian school.  I've apparently really blessed the art teacher with the last few loads as she's sent a very effusive thank you note with the last batch.  It's all a Pain in the Butt to do, but I want the stuff out of here and it's not going to walk out under it's own steam, so it's do it or look at it, and I'm tired of looking at it. 

I've been doing way more cooking than I like the last couple of weeks.  It is all occasioned by Joe's work schedule.  On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, he goes to work around 2PM and doesn't get home til around 8:30 to 10 PM.  I wanted him to have a good meal, not fast food, at least once a day so finally figured out I'd have to cook dinner for lunch.  The original idea was for him to take the leftovers to work with him so he'd have something to eat in the evening as well.  That part hasn't worked out very well and I think that's a shame, but I can't change it.  Instead of taking the leftovers with him and microwaving them at work, he waits til he gets home to eat which is way too late (not good to eat that late and then go to bed) and his blood sugar plunges while he's on the job.  But I could talk til my lips fell off and it wouldn't change so I just shut up.  So, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we have a big lunch and on Friday and Saturday when his hours are more normal, I use the crockpot.  That seems to be the best for Friday and Saturday as he can arrive home anywhere from 6PM to 8PM.  At least I can turn the crockpot down to "warm" and the food is still edible, no matter what time he arrives.  So, yesterday, for lunch, I made homemade salisbury steaks with mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes.  I've never made salisbury steak before, ever.  But, it all turned out very very well.  I think Joe was ready to marry me all over again since the food was excellent and he is more attracted to my cooking skills than any other part of me.  I've been using a "Saving Dinner" cookbook from the Flylady's website, and the recipes are excellent as well as quick and easy.

Wednesday was our fifth anniversary.  He worked and I babysat for my favorite two boys.  Jennifer and Jason gave us a gift certificate for Lawry's.  Honestly, I don't think I've eaten at Lawry's since my last government trip to San Francisco which had to be 18 years ago.  I hope I remember how to behave in such a fancy place! 

Atticus apparently took his first step earlier in the week.  I haven't heard if he's tried that again.  Like most little guys, he took one step, lost his balance, and that was that.  I'm sure he'll try again soon, if he hasn't already.  He's an adventurous little guy.  I find that he is also quite headstrong.  I believe he will end up being way more stubborn than Will........  I hope Jennifer is prepared to deal with a strong-willed child.  Wednesday evening when I got there, I was about to sit down in one of the two chairs at Day Care, when he came crawling up.  He pulled himself up and stuck one foot behind a little railing on the bottom of the chair.  But, it is a rocking chair and I was afraid his foot would get hurt, so I told him "NO" and moved his foot.  He did what he usually does at a moment like that--cried!  Then he comes for hugs which so far seems to make everything right in his world.  But, the crying just indicates to me that when he wants to do something, he REALLY wants to do it, and he is NOT amused when someone says "no".

Monday evening the boys and I went on an "adventure".  About a month ago, I lost one of the nose pieces on my glasses.  We stopped by a big eyeglass place close to Jen's house and had that fixed.   They very nicely replaced both eyepieces.  Well, over the weekend, the OTHER nose piece fell off.  So, I called and found out they don't close til 7PM on Mondays and, with Jennifer's permission, the boys and I stopped by there to get them fixed.  Actually, Jennifer thought that going there sounded like "h-e-double hockeysticks" but they were as good as gold.  Atticus crawled around a little bit, but never more than about 8 feet from me and didn't even try to reach anything he shouldn't get into.  Will helped with Atticus and was very well behaved himself.  The worst part of the whole thing was just lugging Atticus into and out of the store. 

Atticus has been taking his iron supplements for a little while now.  The kids tell me he is growing.  Maybe, but he still looks like a baby elf to me.  The biggest problem was that the iron seemed to bind his bowels, so he's been enjoying snacking on prunes.  I told Jennifer about the "Sunsweet One" product that is out--individually wrapped prunes.  They stay moist inside their individual wrappers, but are not soggy like yucky stewed prunes.  He seems to have gotten over the problem, so that's good. 

I babysat both Monday and Wednesday nights.  It was originally supposed to be Monday and Thursday evening, but Jen's class got switched back to Wednesday.  Monday wasn't too bad, but Wednesday was a train wreck.  First, Wednesday night is swimming class night and that always puts a lot more pressure on things time wise.  Whereas we would normally arrive at  Jen's house around 6PM, we're normally not there until around 7:20 on swimming nights.  Then it's a big scramble to get the boys fed something, get them bathed, and get them into bed.  Well, Wednesday, the first big problem was that Jason forgot he needed to be at the house and put dinner in the oven by a certain time.  He actually showed up just as I was pulling into the driveway at 7:24.  I had already lugged the baby and his seat into the swim school, and dealt with a minor emergency (the elastic was rotted on his swim trunks) and lugged him back out to the car.  I was amazed that Jason walked right past me into the house, leaving Will and I with the baby and all the paraphernalia to be carried into the house.  I was all set to just make some scrambled eggs for the boys and I when he decided he'd go to Panda Express and get Chinese food.  That made Will happy since he loves getting orange chicken from Panda.  I ate part of my dinner and fed bits of it to Atticus who gobbled everything he could get his hands on, literally.  I had looked forward to bringing home the leftovers, but Jason asked me to leave them for Jennifer.  Well, I can't think of anyone I'd rather share my germs with, so I did.   While he was gone getting the food, I had the boys take their baths to save time.  I had them all ready for bed before he got back with food.  Then, while I was heating Atticus's bottle, Jason went down the hall.  THAT does not bode well, and seconds later, I found Will collapsed on the bathroom floor, crying hard enough that the rug was getting wet.  That is always a heartbreaker for me, but was even worse this particular evening since his asthma was acting up.  The last thing you want is for an asthmatic to be emotionally upset.  I got him calmed down, gave him a breathing treatment, and he went to sleep very quickly.  Poor little guy must have been exhausted as the breathing treatments contain chemicals that are essentially uppers and normally, he is ready to swing from the chandeliers when he's had one.  Needless to say, before I got Atticus to sleep I was in tears again, praying for the Lord's protection for Will.  He gets so much of my prayer time..........

Well, the good news is that Joe now has three confirmed sales under his belt.  The "pender", the one on which we did not expect to be paid til May, firmed up and with his two other sales, that makes three.  The bad news is that we need about 10-12 a month.........  But, he is learning and getting a refresher in the trenches on his "closing" skills and the leads have not been the best.  I don't expect we'll see good results til after the first of the year.  In the meantime, there's an occasional loan (very occasional--he has not had a loan close in the entire month of November) and signings.  And, of course, the credit lines.......  Darn!

Well, that's about it for now.  I have emptied my mind on to this screen so I'll post a few pages and go throw dinner into the crockpot.

We spent some time at Pine Valley. For the first time we drove the back roads that meander through the Dixie National Forest. And, found these deer.....a sight we don't see at home, ever! I did this page with the September Customer Appreciation kit, Bountiful Harvest, available free with an $8 purchase at NDISB.

This has been a running joke in our family and a source of amazement. When it came time to nurse, Will was all business. But Atticus nurses for a minute or two and then goes through all sorts of contortions to see what's going on around him. I intended this to be a sweet photo of him nursing, but that was not what he had in mind, I guess. I used an old paper pack by Kay Miller called Summer Days. The flowers are extracted from one of the papers in the pack. The burlap hearts are by LaWanna Desjardin from her Earthly Blessings kit. I also used Lynn Grieveson's Victorian Circus Alpha, available at Designer Digitals.

Through the middle of the desert flows the Colorado River. It is like an oasis; people camp, boat, swim, etc., along it's banks, seeking relief from the heat. This area is also a big-time snowbird area. I took this photo along the road between Laughlin, NV and Yuma, AZ. The background paper here is from Nina's Bright Side of Life #1 kit at O Scraps and NDISB. The stitched frame is from Nina's Bright Side of Life #3, also at O Scraps and NDISB. The ribbon is from Nina's Pimp Your Page #6, also available at O Scraps and NDISB. The photo frame is by Katie Pertiet and the alpha is from the collab by Shabby Princess/Cristina Renee.

I love this photo of Jennifer and the boys. So sweet. I used Katie the Scrapbook Lady's Favorite Cardstock for the background. This cardstock is available at The Digi Shoppe. The accent paper (recolored) is by Amy Teets. The frame and doodle (recolored) are by Kay Miller. The word Art (recolored) is by Heather Roselli.

It has been interesting observing my DH's relationship with his daughter. Though they now live 250 miles apart they talk on the phone at least once a day. I hope, when she's past the teen years, she'll realize how devoted he is to her. I saw this quote on a layout by Fortlady which you can see here: http://www.ndisb.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=4325 I did the page with Captured Moments by Nina Scraps, available at both NDISB and O Scraps. The tiny piece of golden rik rak is by Anita Stergiou.

DD and her family chose the hottest weekend this summer and the hottest Labor Day in history to go to Disneyland. The only relief from the heat was an occasional spot of shade or the water rides. Loved this photo of a very wet DD and DGS#2 looking like an exhausted and drowned rat. I used LaWanna Desjardin's Distant Friendship for everything on the page. You can find LaWanna's designs at Scrapbook-Bytes.

Another photo of the "troops" at Disneyland, hiding from the sun in the dense foliage of Tom Sawyer's Island. I used LaWanna Desjardin's newest mini-kit--Autumn Mix--for this page. Great colors, textures, and the cutest embellies in this kit which is available at Scrapbook-Bytes.

Moving on

Well, Thanksgiving Day has passed and I need to move on.  It was an okay day.  We left here around 10AM and arrived at Kolob Canyon (not Kolob Reservoir) around 1PM.  The drive was interesting as even most gas stations were closed--not a restroom to be had.......  We did manage to fill up at a self service gas station just north of the canyons at a little town called New Harmony.  It was windy and COLD and overcast there.  I would have happily huddled in the car for warmth, but we took Toby with us and Joe wanted me to walk him while he took care of filling the gas tank.  The temperature was about 37, but with the wind chill, I know it was well below freezing.  Brrrrr.  We drove into the canyon area to find that despite nighttime temperatures below 20 degrees, there was no snow.  I was really disappointed.  The idea of getting some snow photos was my compensation for everything that was wrong with the day.  Oh, well.  I took a few photos of the canyons and we headed back to St. George.  We were going to try to go up to Pine Valley Reservoir, but decided that was ill advised when we remembered that Utah is an hour later than we are, so what looked like 3PM on our clock in the car was 4PM by their clocks.  And, we'd called ahead to find out that the restaurant was closing at 6PM to allow employees time to spend with their families.  So, we headed to the restaurant.  It was chilly in St. George, but nothing like what it was just a few miles north of there.......57 degrees.  The line at the restaurant was out the door and when we made it through the door, the warmth was welcome.  We were pleased that the line moved quickly.  Not long after we hit the door of the restaurant, we were seated at our own table with plates full of food in front of us.  They were serving all of the food items that are traditional, so I had turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce and Joe had ham, cranberries, and yams.  And, while we were standing in line, we began chatting with the couple in front of us.  They very nicely invited us to dine with them so we had pleasant company for our meal.  After we ate, Joe let Toby out to visit the bushes.  Silly man--he didn't put a leash on  him.  He spotted some children in the parking lot and went loping up to them.  Fortunately, they weren't at all frightened of him so he got lots of petting and loving and was in doggie-heaven.  Then we started home and were sitting in our favorite chairs by 7PM.

Well, Joe made another sale yesterday.  We were thrilled.  I am excited to see what today will bring as he should have 4 sets of clients to talk with today.  Funny thing--I didn't take time to do my part--the spiritual warfare part--until around 4:20PM yesterday.  And, it was the 4PM customers who bought.  So, today, I'll be doing my thing in each time slot.  I have really felt that that is my part in all this--to cover his presentations to his customers in prayer and praise, so I am going to be more diligent about that.  I am convinced this is a spiritual battle, not a financial or "natural" one.  I really feel like one of the two guys who held up Moses's hands while the battle raged below him.  Thank God for all that He is doing in our lives, for the lessons we are learning.......  They aren't necessarily easy lessons, but boy are they valuable!

We found out some details about the company's medical coverage that  I find both disappointing and NOT disappointing at the same time.   Their medical coverage does not include prescription drugs.  So, I haven't figured out what we will do about that.  It is good to have good coverage for doctor visits and hospitalizations, tests, etc.  But doctors have a pill for everything and it would have been a good thing to have coverage for that as well.  It's possible we can find a private plan that will pay for meds.  I don't mind running to Mexico for them, but if one of us were to get really sick, that could become prohibitive.  I'm hoping we'll have a chance to call the insurance guy sometime soon and see if he has anything to offer. 

Joe's work schedule will be changing shortly.  We don't know exactly when, but possibly even before the first of the year.  Right now he works Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.  It will be changing to Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We don't like the idea that he will be working on Sunday, but he has already told his boss he will be a bit late on Sunday as he doesn't intend to miss church.  His boss is fine with that.  This may work out financially to our good because I am sure there will be quite a few people who will be available for a presentation on Sunday afternoon.  He will also have 3 days off a week which will hopefully leave more time for honey-dos around here.  It's all an adventure so we will just see where it leads us. 

I've already done a bit of Christmas shopping on line.  I need to do quite a bit more, so I think I will work on some of that today.  But first I am going to go back to bed for a while as I really didn't have a great night's sleep last night and I am totally lacking in motivation at the moment.  And, because of my lack of motivation, I am not going to post any pages at the moment.  Perhaps I will pop on here a bit later just for that purpose.  Have a blessed day! 

In everything give thanks........

Are you ever glad that verse doesn't say "FOR everything give thanks"?  I am.  I am having a melancholy day.  I'm sure part of it is that I'm still not quite over this flu stuff I've been dealing with for about 9 days now.  My head is still stuffy and I still have some of that generally "miserable" feeling hanging around.  This too shall pass, I'm sure, but not soon enough to suit me--I'd have voted for it to pass a week ago! 

I'm sure part of my melancholy centers around Thanksgiving.  It seems I have much to be thankful for, but Joe and I will be left to celebrate on our own.  Matthew is headed for California for the holidays.  He seems to spend a LOT of time there.  His grandparents, who were always an important part of his everyday life growing up, are into their 90's now, and his grandfather has been hospitalized a number of times recently so he feels it is important to be there while he can.  But, the fact remains that we count ourselves fortunate if we see him once a month, and frequently that is only the result of him needing something notarized or us needing him to help move something heavy.  He has never spent a holiday of any kind with us.  And, this year, Jennifer has chosen to spend one of the two most important days of the year in Arizona.  And, I'll say not one more word about that.

There is some good news around here.  Joe has made his first full-up sale!  He did make a sale his first week, but it is what is called a "pender".  The buyers have up to 6 months to firm up the deal and we don't get paid on it until May.  But Friday evening Joe got some folks in front of him who seemed VERY unresponsive.  They literally sat there with their arms folded across their chests and said very little.  And, because of their schedule, they had to leave before Joe could get their signatures on a contract.  They were interested, it seems, in spite of their defensive behavior and asked to be allowed to come back on Saturday to firm up a deal.  Joe called them during the day and confirmed their appointment and they did indeed come back at 4PM.  They had a thousand questions, many of which Joe could not answer so he had to go get his manager to help out.  But, they signed on the dotted line and we now have a commission headed our way sometime soon.  They bought a fairly small deal, but we're thrilled.  As far as I'm concerned, I'm just going to believe it took God a little while to get those floodgates cranked open and now that they're open, I expect the blessings to start rolling in.

Of course, in typical God fashion, we were pushed to the limit of our faith.  I had questions, but Joe was really upset.  We walked into this thing, believing it truly was God's will for us, both in the short term and in the long term as well.  And yet, night after night, he would come home with a near miss here and a near miss there, but no sales.  He was becoming discouraged and losing faith.  I thought I had a pretty good idea what the Lord was up to........  I don't think I've ever had a blessing that didn't come with a test first, so I just figured I needed to stay in faith and wait it out.  But, I have to admit that was a tough assignment.  But, when Joe came home so down, I found I had to dig deep to encourage him, and, in the process, found my faith still intact.  So, I joked last night that we needed to celebrate this first "real" sale.  Our chosen celebration--he's going to Lowe's today and buy a halogen bulb for the light in our bedroom so we can see well enough in there to avoid taking out our shins and hips on the corners of furniture.  You may not have known that lightbulbs were a luxury, but in our case, they are.  Just one on a list of many things we have not purchased because we couldn't eat it, smoke it, or use it to keep warm.

With trepidation, I have mentioned the word "Christmas" to Joe.  It was greeted with his usual Scrooge-i-ness.   With so little money coming in, the concept of needing to buy gifts is a difficult one to get hold of, particularly in a household where lightbulbs are the equivalent of a bottle of Dom Perignon!  I have earned some money with all the babysitting I've done with the boys and that will fund most of Christmas, I guess.  I love those little guys SO MUCH and I would have gladly watched them for free.  One smile from Atticus or an "I love you, Grandma" from Will and I have been well paid.  But, Jennifer's theory was that she would have had to pay someone else so she wanted to pay me too.   I've carefully hoarded all the money except for $100 which I spent on some computer software for processing photos more effectively.  Now I can buy gifts for my family without adding more stress to Joe who can't seem to look at things with his "spiritual" eyes, only with his natural eyes.  And, if I shop carefully, I may be able to help pay for some of the gifts for his family as well.  That alone, will be like giving him a BIG Christmas gift.  Of course we face my birthday, Joe's birthday, Christmas and our anniversary within the next 45 days as well as Atticus's first birthday.  We've already decided on a no-cost anniversary gift for each other.  I don't want anything that will result in us using a credit card, and until more money is coming into this household on a regular basis, that would include a halogen light bulb, LOL.

We are headed to Southern Utah for Thanksgiving dinner.  There is no way I am going through all the preparations a Thanksgiving meal requires for just the two of us.  We don't need the expense, and I'm still not feeling healthy enough to take on all the prep work.  Honestly, I usually collapse at the table with not enough energy to eat.  Why go through all that for "just us".  And Joe loves the food at Chuck-a-rama, so that's where we're going.  And maybe we can even work in a little side trip for me to take photos somewhere new and different.  I have been so thrilled with the photos I got up there in September--I truly got some shots that ought to be on calendars or postcards or framed!  I did not get the "ultimate" digital camera when I bought my current camera, though I wanted it, but God has surely blessed what comes out of the one I bought.  I took some fantastic photos at Pine Valley Reservoir, some of them with full sun in my eyes.  In other words, I was shooting blind.  Literally, I would tell Joe what I wanted to shoot, set up the camera, and he would point in the right direction and I would point the camera where he directed and snap the pic.  And, my oh my, what photos "we" took!  In fact, I'll be posting two of them with the batch below!  Just one of my own personal little miracles!   I'm going to pull out a map and see what is close by St. George that might be fun to explore for an hour or two on Thursday.  Then, it's jump in the car, and run home because Joe has to work on Friday.......

Well, enough of my blather.  I'll post some pages here and get on with my day.

For a while now, DGS#2 has been creeping but only using one leg to push himself along. Now he's using both legs and trying to get the whole crawling thing down. DD snapped these photos of our baby in motion. I used Amanda Rockwell's A Boy's Journey for this layout. I also used a template by Deb Fisher and a swirl by Tracy Ann Robinson. The alpha is by Bella Gypsy Designs. A Boy's Journey is available at both amandarockwell.com and Funky Playground Designs. Deb Fisher's products are available at Pickleberry Pop.

Just a cute shot of my hubby, smiling from ear to ear. To me, it is a most endearing smile. I used Bella Gypsy Designs new kit, Jupiter Drops, available at Scrapbook-Bytes. The cardboard border is by Dani Mogstad, the starry border (color altered) is by Gina Miller and the cards layered behind the photo are by Amy Teets.

This is my DD's kitty who, no matter how hard I try, really seems to want nothing to do with me. She may be my grandkitty, but she sure isn't grand to me! I used Lynn Grieveson's Whiskers kit for this, available at Designer Digitals. The brad is by Mary Fran and the stitching (recolored) is by Kim Christenson. I also used a shape by Dani Mogstad as a clipping mask for the green paper.

Here's one of those "award winning" photos I mentioned above.  This is one of my favorite photos from our most recent trip to Utah. I'm really proud of this one. If anyone knew Pine Valley existed, there'd be picture postcards for sale there. And, I'd submit this photo to whomever to be used as a postcard! I did this page with Amanda Rockwell's new kit, Crushin' on My Little Man, available at both amandarockwell.com and Funky Playground Designs. I think she was looking on my hard drive when she designed this one!

This is another of my prize photos from the latest Utah trip. I took this photo while almost blinded by the sun so it was the luck of the draw so to speak, but I really love it. It's so.....Norman Rockwell! I used paper from Tania JPS's Fusion Blended Backgrounds for the background. The elements are from Nina's Boy Thing page kit. The doodle is one of Lauren Grier's Deeble Dabble Doodle pieces, but instead of using it as a full-page border, I erased part and just used it down the side of the layout. Oh, and I also recolored a brown ribbon to red to go with the boy's hat. You can find the goodies by both Tania and Nina at NDISB and Nina also sells at O Scraps.

This photo is one my DD brought back from a meeting she attends each year. The little girl is the daughter of a friend of hers and, of course, the baby is Atticus, DGS#2. I used LaWanna Desjardin's Sweet Nothings for this page. The alphas are by Kim Giarusso and Birgit Kerr. The floral brush is by Lori Wiley. You can find Sweet Nothings at LaWanna's SBB store. Wow, it felt so good to throw a little pink on the page!

We drove up to Utah a couple of weeks ago, knowing we were early, but hoping to find some fall color at higher elevations. We saw next to nothing, Because I was missing it so much, I had to pull out some photos from a few years ago. This was photographed at Kolob Reservoir and scrapped with A Boy's Journey by Amanda Rockwell. Amanda's designs are available at amandarockwell.com and Funky Playground Designs. I used leaves from Heather ROselli, a stamp by Carrie Stephens, and stitching by Kim Christiansen (recolored). The ribbon is by Lynn Grieveson from her Lazy Days kit, available at Designer Digitals.

Not dead yet.........

Well, it's been 10 days since I last posted and if I were a gambling woman, I would take odds on how many of those I've been sick.  I finally, more or less, have the lower GI thing under control.  The less wheat I expose my body to, the better it seems.  But, now I am battling the dread flu/cold/infection thing.  I think it really started last Thursday, the 8th.  I had turned in a decent day's work around here on Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday just didn't have the motivation to move from this chair.  But shortly, I found out why as my eyes began to water non-stop and my throat became sore and my head clogged up.  It started as a simple cold but didn't take long at all to convert to a full blown sinus infection.   Monday I managed to wear clothes for a few hours.  Yesterday I wore clothes AND did a few things around the house.  Today I am dressed and have laundry in the washer.  So, I'm hoping that means I will actually accomplish some things in this house.  I really want to go through a lot of piles of "stuff" and see what I can donate.  I'll be thrilled to have it out of here.  The tax regulations make it such a pain though, as each item has to be listed and a value placed on it comparable to what it would sell for in a thrift store.  But, if I can get healthy and stay healthy for more than a day or two at a time, I can produce a tidy little tax deduction, I think.  So far, it seems as though I've been sick in one way or another for most of the month of November.

Well, in many ways I am loving Joe's new work schedule and in other ways it has me confused.  He leaves in the morning and goes for a few hours to the Good Loan Lender office.  He doesn't really have much in the way of referrals coming in.  To paraphrase him, they either have credit so bad he can't get them financed or credit so good they can find financing anywhere.  In many cases, the ones with good credit already have a line of credit or connections to a credit union and they go there instead of using Joe.  The ones with bad credit?  Well, Nevada has passed a law now with regard to stated income loans--you can't do them!  One way or another you have to be able to prove the income the borrower says he/she has.  That lets out a lot of borrowers and should be a real impetus to the IRS to do some income-related audits if they only knew what Joe and I know.......  Anyway, after spending a few hours at that office, he comes home for lunch and then heads to the new job.  And, I don't see him again until somewhere between 6PM and 10PM.  So, I have the opportunity to keep the TV turned off and accomplish some things around here.  What's confusing is what to do about eating.........  He is never home for dinner, except on Sunday and Monday, his days off.  So, I've been just munching on whatever lunch time leftovers I can find in the fridge.  I'm encouraging him to take SOMETHING to work with him because he doesn't do well when his blood sugar goes way down.  He gets very tired and somewhat snarly, neither of which will do him much good with a customer in front of him.

So the new job is not a walk in the park.  We will do very well with it, but right now there seem to be some problems with the marketing company.  They are not doing well at making sure the people coming in are qualified buyers and they haven't done too well at filling the chairs even with non-qualified buyers.  The sales folks operate on a round robin basis as far as leads go, so when there isn't a full house, some salesman somewhere sits out the round.  That's happened to Joe a couple of times.  He's actually had a number of people within an inch of buying, but the manager hasn't been able to close them.  One interesting thing--his new manager is a Born Again Christian.  That's a good thing.  Joe isn't about to do or say anything that will compromise his integrity and it is likely that this man will understand.  Joe does have one sale under his belt.  It's just a numbers game until that one becomes two or ten or two hundred.  And, the Regional VP has been all over this office the last few days.  So, it's obvious he's concerned about the pool of potential buyers.  He even had the marketing company in there one day last week.  So, things should improve in that department.

Okay, I am going to quit this now.  Mother, if you read this, please don't call to ask how I am.  This already says everything I know about that!  And, besides I feel like--well let's just say I'm cranky because I feel so bad!  Here are a few pages.  Maybe not as many as usual--I'm running out of oomph.

I love getting a pedicure. It is so relaxing and gives me such a feeling of being pampered. I used Amanda Rockwell and Jennifer Layden's new collaborative kit called Mint Julep and Rosey Tea for this page. The butterfly is from Flitter by Amanda Rockwell. The title, slightly recolored, is from a very old kit by Michelle Bradley. You can find this kit, Mint Julep and Rosey Tea, at amandarockwell.com.

It was so hot and humid the day we toured Mission San Gabriel. This looked like a loely spot to just sit, relax, and chat over a glass of wine. I scrapped this page using Mint Julep and Rosey Tea by Amanda Rockwell and Jennifer Layden. The alpha is by Birgit and the swirls are by Tracy Ann Robinson. You can find the Mint Julep and Rosey Tea kit at amandarockwell.com.

I kept Atticus and Will a couple of weeks ago. First, the dogs barked and scared Atticus and then Mommy left. I took him into the other room and got him quieted down, then I brought him out and sat him next to his big brother. He just sort of flopped over and laid his chest on his big brother's chest. He immediately felt better. It is SO sweet to see the relationship between the two boys. I used Lynn Grieveson's new kit, Ruby's Garden for this layout. Lynn's products are available exclusively at Designer Digitals.

I've scrapped several photos from this photo session with DD and DGS, but decided to do another. The pink papers I've used are from As Time Goes By by Nina. The yellow papers are from Nina's Bright Side of Life #1. Nina's products are available at O Scraps and at NDISB. I used flowers by Dani Mogstad and the puddled silk ribbon is by Anne Manning. The flower centers are from Jen Wilson. The poem is by Anne Taylor.

Of all the layouts I've ever scrapped, for some reason, this is one of my favorites.  We blasted out of here over the weekend, destination Utah. We'd hoped to see some fall color at the higher elevations. Well, no fall color, but I did capture THIS at Pine Valley Reservoir. I used Nina's Parts of Fall kit available at O Scraps and NDISB for the page.

Poor Will banged his head on the bathroom counter and opened up a cut more than an inch wide and 5 layers of skin deep. He handled it better than we could have expected, like a real tough guy. If you are on LaWanna Desjardin's newsletter mailing list, you got this mini kit, Chocolate Covered Cherries, free. I added a bow by Lynn Grieveson, her Tied and Torn ribbons, available at Designer Digitals. "Tough Guy" is from an old kit by Andrea Burns. LaWanna's designs are available at Scrapbook-Bytes.

That's it!  I quit for today............

   

Tough Day

Yesterday was a tough day.  It was National Digital Scrapbooking Day.  All the stores had great sales but I had VERY limited funds with which to work.  I'm so grateful for my creative teams because they keep me supplied with high quality digital goods and I get my pages scrapped at the same time and it's all "free".  "Free" is a good word right now.  Anyway, I am still chafing with the new store team.  They put you on their team and then seem to expect you will know all the details of what you should be doing without anyone telling you a thing.  If they do tell you something, it is buried in with something else.  It's really hard.  Anyway, I was more or less forced to host a chat.  And I had no clue how to do that on their site.  I've attended a few chats, but nothing like this so the whole darn thing was a mystery to me up until the moment it started.  That I find really stressful!  I found out 26 hours ahead of time I had to have a game for people to play.  Fortunately one of the designers who sells at this store cooperated and gave me a list of questions and answers which I used under the guise of getting to know the designer a bit better.  Then I found out about 1 hour and 45 minutes ahead of time I had to have a scrapping challenge for the chat.  I thought I already had that but, no, the challenge I had was for the month of November!  Holy moley..........  I have concluded that though I've been on Creative Teams for designers who sold at the site and posted layouts in their gallery for years and bought the odd product here and there, I never took part in all this sideline stuff and therein lies my downfall.  I just don't know how they operate and they don't seem to be able to figure out how to tell me what I need to know. 

Here's an example.  They released a new collaborative kit and it's really a gorgeous kit.  I was asked to make a layout with the kit and then to turn that layout into a Quick Page to be sold with the kit.  No problem.  I got that all done.  I really didn't know what to do with it but I saw that other people had posted their pages and Quick Pages to the gallery to be "revealed" on 11/03, so I did the same.  Well, it seems that was not the right thing to do.  It seems I should have arranged to upload the layout to the site (no one has ever mentioned this or told me how or what internet address to use) or sent it to the designer who was coordinating the whole thing--like I knew who that was or what her e-mail address is!  Oh well, I'm just going to give it away to anyone on the Creative Team who wants it and that's that.

We went to the resort yesterday.  We got to watch the Regional VP make a presentation to a group of prospective buyers and, man, was he good!  It was like watching a Comedy Show about timeshare.  I am convinced at least one couple was ready to buy the moment they walked out of the theater.  He just had everyone in stitches for more than a half hour.  In addition, he managed to cover a lot of material which takes the load off the sales person AND he managed to strip away the bulk of the defenses most people would use when attending a timeshare presentation.

We also got to tour a suite at the resort.  It is truly 5 star.  The suite we toured had 3 bedrooms 2 baths and was WAY nicer than my house.  If I ever got to stay there, they'd have a really hard time getting me to leave.  It was also on the 4th floor so you could look out over the entire property as well as seeing the LV skyline.  Too bad we did it in the daytime.......boy could I have gotten some gorgeous nighttime photos on the balcony had we toured later.  Of course, my stomach was rolling from the height the whole time, so maybe I wouldn't have been able to take pictures after all.  Anyway, since I don't work there, I just got permission to tag along with Joe.  Sadly, I would have felt uncomfortable taking photos under those circumstances, but let me tell you, it was gorgeous. 

I am thrilled because Joe is really excited about the opportunity.  He really believes he's going to be very successful at this.  With his natural talent for sales and the help of the Lord, who, we believe, arranged all this, I, too, believe he will be a great success.  I do know from prior experience that leisure activities as a whole are increasing in market share and timeshare specifically is also on the rise.  I think he will do very well.  He made a friend in the training class who had sold timeshare for 8 years.  His friend, Sal, had been out of the industry for a short time, but when he was selling (and remember prices and therefore commissions have risen since then), he was making $150,000 a year.  And, according to a number of people who have experience in the field, the commission structure at Worldmark is far more generous than it is at most other Timeshare companies.  AND, he marveled at the training this company offers because, in the 8 years he worked in the field, he never received training like this.  That should be a real help.  So, I believe, the Lord has really answered our prayers.  I am so looking forward to Joe reporting for actual work (as opposed to training) and bringing home a paycheck that will represent the abundant harvest we've prayed for these last 5 years.

Well enough of all this.  I'm going to jump into the tub and try to relax.  I made the mistake of eating 1/2 of a biscuit at breakfast yesterday morning and, sure enough, spent part of the night in the restroom with an upset tummy.  I DID go to bed early because I felt really ill, cramps, chills, sweats, and other fun symptoms, so at least I am not sleep-deprived as a result of spending part of the night in the wrong room! 

Here are some pages to keep you entertained.

I was working on a layout with a photo I took at The Venetian and went online to research a bit more about it. In the process, I ran across this gorgeous photo by Todd Adams. I decided it deserved to be scrapped and would make a good addition to my album. I used papers by Lynn Grieveson from her new Study Hall kit at Designer Digitals. The circular stitching is by Amy Teets. Zigzag stitching is by Amanda Slagle. Staples are by Amanda Rockwell from her Grape Spaz kit. The bow is by Lynn Grieveson from her Tied and Torn Ribbon collection, also at Designer Digitals.

Last fall we embarked on a not-yet-completed "tourist in our own hometown" project. I took this photo at The Venetian. Loved the color of the water in this photo. I used Lynn Grieveson's Streaky Paint Paper pack for the background. Lynn's designs are available only at Designer Digitals. I used an old freebie from Holly McCaig for the "bling". The stitched sequins are by Anita Stergiou and are recolored. I also recolored the big bow by Natalie Braxton. I used an index card by Amanda Rockwell. The alpha is by Claudia Campbell, but I added the "bling". The flower is by Andrea Burns.

Atticus, at the ripe old age of 7.5 months old is getting bits of food to try to direct into his mouth as well as the baby food his mother feeds him. It's quite a mess! I used Lynn Grieveson's Streaky Paint Paper Pack for the background. Lynn's papers are available only at Designer Digitals. I also used a beautymark by Two Sisters. The frame is by Bren Boone and I turned some embroidered flowers designed a long time ago by Helen O'Daniel into stickers. The tag is by Anne Adejong. The sticker alpha is by Lisa Whitney.This page is a scraplift of a page by Wyowomankristen

Just a tongue-in-cheek layout of DGS and I playing on the rocks at Kolob Reservoir. I used LaWanna Desjardin's new kit, Oopsy Daisy. Oopsy Daisy is available at SBB. It has the most adorable daisy papers in it, but I didn't think I could carry off all those daisies with photos of DGS! The red stars and red stitching are by Chere Kaye. Staples by Amanda Rockwell. The alpha is by Bella Gypsy Designs (recolored).

Poor Atticus! He's been creeping for months, but he just can't get the whole crawling thing down! I used paper and button from Nina's Bright Side of Life 4 kit, part of her new collection. The frame is from her Frame Collection 1. The bow is from Bright Side of Life 3, another kit in the new collection. The notepaper is from Nina's Happy Days kit. The alpha and arrow are by Kate Hadfield. Nina's designs are available at NDISB and OScraps.

DD took these photos of DGS last summer. I played and played with them and really like the artsy feel of them. I used black paper from Amanda Rockwell's The Basics--Black, available at amandarockwell.com. The purple is from her Tastey paper pack at Funky Playground. I used her Picture It Stroked to frame the large photo (recolored). The alpha, recolored, is by LaWanna Desjardin, from her Glam Alpha Purple Glitz available at Scrapbook-Bytes. The bow is from Amanda's Back in Black--Cool kit. The negative strip is by Lauren Grier (recolored). I also used a wonky template by Lauren Reid to crop the papers. The plume is one of Anna Aspnes' hipster plumes.

I apologize for the appearance of this page. I had created it and printed it and then my computer misfired and did not save it properly. I did this page with Lynn Grieveson's new kit, Summer Breeze, available at Designer Digitals. The notepaper edging is by Corina Nielson. The cardboard is by Laura Burger.

So, I am trying to post more often......

It's not really that I've turned into Chatty Kathy, though it may seem so.  But all of my scrapbook pages are posted at one site.  And that site had a major faux pas.  Seems their creative team were saying some pretty horrible things about other people, calling them a bit**, etc.  And even the site owner took part.  Unfortunately for them, what they thought was a completely private forum was available to the public.  There's a pretty good uproar about it in the scrapping community and if the backlash causes them to close down, I will lose the one site where ALL my pages are posted in chronological order.  So, I'm really working at getting my backlog of pages posted here.  Not that I will have ALL my pages here, but.......it's easy for me to go to that site, see what needs to be posted here and get it done. 

Halloween night was quite the deal.  First, Joe did not get out early--he got out late.  Seems a Regional VP was visiting the training site so they were kept even past 5PM.  So I headed off to pick up the boys myself while he ended up going straight to Jennifer's house.  When I got to the daycare, they had the entire parking lot blocked off for a party they were throwing for Halloween.  I ended up easily finding a parking place across the street.  The prospect of hiking all the way back there, carrying Atticus AND his car seat was not a pleasant one.  The Lord must have been looking out for me, though, as Atticus was the last baby left in his room and the care giver actually carried him to the van.  She's much taller and younger than I and didn't huff and puff once on the way there.  Got the boys home and the fun began.  The objective was to get them fed ASAP and into their costumes and out the door.  Fortunately, Jason had arrived first and had added the last two ingredients to the crockpot so soup was ready to go.  Of course, Will won't eat the soup.......  Atticus chowed down, but Jason kept jumping up from the table which meant that Atticus's attention was repeatedly diverted from the task at hand.  When the eating was done, Jason had multiple chores for Will to do before they could leave.  SHEESH!  And, he had not finished eating (probably as a result of all the jumping up from the table he did) and wouldn't leave til he was done.  I peeled Atticus out of his clothes and got him into his costume.  I was amazed that he LOVED the costume.  It had a hood-type headpiece.  I was just sure he'd be working to shove that thing off immediately, but he LOVED it.  He never messed with it once.  And he was all giggles and smiles immediately after I got it on him.  He was very snuggly Wednesday night.  He sits down close to you and just sort of allows himself to topple into your chest.  It's really sweet.  He was a giraffe and Will was Harry Potter again.  Will was not in a good mood before they left but was considerably cheered later on.  We hypothesized that the poor kid probably thought Jason was just going to keep setting up hoops for him to jump through and he'd NEVER get to go.  So, getting the three of them out the door was a good thing.  Joe and I stayed behind.  There were only 4 trick-or-treaters at their door!  I amused myself by trying to follow Jennifer's instructions to get the lunches started for the next day.  It's quite the puzzle actually, though she gives written instructions.  There are things I can't find.  Where IS the caramel sauce I'm supposed to put in to glad containers for the sliced apples?  Where is this soy milk stuff I'm supposed to put in Jason's lunch?  Could it be this slimfast-like stuff here in the fridge?  Or, is it something/somewhere else?  Are these the bags I'm supposed to use--don't appear to be too many of them.......  Now that I've got everything ready for Atticus's lunch, what do I put it in?  And so on.....  I took it as far as I could til the boys got home and left what was left for someone else to work on.
They got a good haul of candy.  Jason dumped it all out on the floor so we could check it over and Atticus kept grabbing pieces of it, paper and all, and shoving them into his mouth.  We must have fished mini-reeses peanut butter cups out of his mouth at least 3 times. 

Finally it was bedtime.  Atticus took his bottle, fought as he's prone to do for just a minute, threw his head back and fell immediately to sleep.  Hard to believe given that Jason was feeding him candy such a short while before.  Even Will went to sleep quickly though this is not usual for him.  I guess, from what Jason said, they walked quite some distance because very few of the houses in the subdivision had their light on for trick or treaters.

As is usual on the day after babysitting, my back hurt like the dickens yesterday.  But, it's better today.  Picking up and setting back down an Atticus-sized package over and over in the course of an evening is either really going to strengthen my back muscles over time or it's going to put me in bed a day or two a week.  I'm not sure which yet. 

Well, I've got to get dinner into the crockpot and get lots more done in the house.  And, Joe calls every couple of hours so I can check his office e-mail.  'Bout time for another call and "what are you doing?"  It would be good if I could say I was drying some of the clothes I've washed or chopping something for dinner.......  Here  are some pages.

On the way up to Kolob Reservoir, there is this gorgeous valley filled with fields of volunteer wheat. Grabbed this shot of DH and DGS amonngst the wheat. I used Kay Miller's Lovin' Life for this page. This started out with a template by Faith True though I changed it a lot.

Found this photo of DGS from last year around the time school started. I used LaWanna Desjardin's new kit, Elementary, available at SBB, for this page. The wordart is by Bella Gypsy Designs, and I've got one of Anna Aspnes's Hipster Plumes on there too! I've also used a Torn and Curled template by Jen Caputo.

I heard the words to a new song by an artist named Eric Dodge. (If you like country music you have to go to his my space where you can hear 4 songs!) Anyway, I just love the song and wanted to scrap the lyrics. I used a photo from our fall visit to Kolob Reservoir in Utah several years ago. The swish is by Tracy Ann and the alpha for "believe" is by Jen Wilson. The lace and round element are by Scrap Artist and the leaves are by Heather Roselli. The cardboard is by Anita Stergiou. The paper is Nina's Grunge It Up paper pack available at O Scraps.

Sometime ago I found a website, www.robertpence.com, that features photos of my parents' hometown, Johnstown, PA. This is a place I spent a lot of time as a child and of which I have fond memories. I remember riding on this inclined plane as something less than fun--downright scary, as a matter of fact. I used Lynn Grieveson's newest kit, Along for the Ride, for this page. Along for the Ride is available exclusively at Designer Digitals. I also used a template, much altered, by Penny Springman.

Our city boy DGS loved being in the outdoors. He told us over and over that he wanted to go fishing. We thought that rather odd--I would have expected a city-bred little guy to think fishing was "boring". Unfortunately we were unprepared, but we'll make it up to him next time. I used a collaborative kit by Ronee Parsons and LaWanna Desjardin called Goldfish. Goldfish is available at O Scraps. I also used her Sunwashed Alpha, available at Scrapbook Bytes. The fishing pole element is from LaWanna's Creekside kit. The frame on the photo and the paint stroke behind the title are both from a frame collection by Amanda Rockwell called Picture It Stroked. Picture It Stroked is available at Funky Playground Designs.

My stepdaughter has the prettiest green eyes! Credits: Green Paper, Tastey, by Amanda Rockwell at Funky Playground Designs Craft Paper, The Basics--Craft, by Amanda Rockwell at Amanda Rockwell.com Stitching, Light of my Life, by Kay Miller Green alpha, recolored, by Jen Wilson Craft alpha, Taggiebet, by Amanda Heimann at The DigiChick Grid Overlay, by Christine Borgfeld Border, Frame Your Page, recolored, by Nina at O Scraps and NDISB

I've wanted to scrap a photo of Jen nursing the baby and finally found one I love. I've used Cindy Irvine's Smudgy Grungy Grids for the paper. Cindy's paper pack is available at NDISB. The silk flowers and the alpha are from Lynn Grieveson's Elizabeth kit (one of my favorites), available only at Designer Digitals. The doodle is by Ida at Catscraps and the lace is by Andrea Burns. The sequins and stitching are by Anita Stergiou.