My Weblog

We're havin Hamburger Cookies for lunch. Want some?

So, when money is in short supply, you forget you ever heard the word "steak" and it's back to Hamburger, right?  Last weekend I made a huge meatloaf and Joe ate it on bread in his lunch this week.  Worked out great, particularly since his "lunch" is around midnight.

So this weekend, I started a huge batch of spaghetti sauce with meatballs.  I thought I could put some in a thermos for his "lunch".   I didn't get a chance to finish the sauce last night so that was one of my first order of business this morning.  I had cooked one layer of meatballs in the pan before I started the sauce and baked the rest, figuring I'd just drop them in with the sauce later.  When I went to bed last night, they were on the cookie sheet, cooling.  So, I get my sauce out and I add a little oregano, some rosemary, some sweet basil, a little salt, a little sugar, and some more tomatoes.  Once I got the additional tomatoes in the pot, I grabbed for my extra meatballs.  I looked in the oven 3 separate times.  No cookie sheet, no meatballs.  I checked the freezer in the garage in case Joe decided they needed to be frozen.  I checked the freezer in the house and I checked the refrigerator.  Finally I checked the backyard.  I thought it was possible the dogs got into the kitchen and ate the meatballs and when I found the cookie sheet in the dishwasher, that clinched it.  He'd hurried up and put the cookie sheet into the dishwasher to hide the evidence from me.  

I waited a while and pondered it and it just didn't make any sense.  I went in and woke Joe up.  "Where are the meatballs?"  "I don't know", he replied, giving me that goofy deer-in-the-headlights look I hate so much.  So I went out and searched some more. All the same places, same results.  So back into the bedroom I trooped.   "No, Joe.  Now focus here.  WHERE are the meatballs?  I left them on a cookie sheet in the kitchen last night."  "Those were meatballs?  I thought they were cookies.  I put them in with the cookies."

So, back out to the kitchen I go.  I had made a batch of those no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies last week.  I opened the container and there were my missing meatballs.  So, I know you won't mind if the meatballs taste just a smidge like chocolate.  And the cookies, well, does garlic and onion go with chocolate? 

GEEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can hardly wait to find my shoes in the freezer and my clean underwear in the car, or whatever other "help" he gave me after I went to bed last night..........  It's gonna be a GREAT day!!!!!!!!

So here are some pages I posted 'round the internet last week and want to put up here as well.

This first one was on the night the kids put up their Christmas tree last year.  We were invited over to share the experience since, not having any money for Christmas last year either, I'd elected not to put our tree up.  We waited and waited while Jason mucked about with the lights, first separating the strands, then testing them, then arranging them on the tree, then re-arranging them on the tree.  It took a LONG time.

This is from the Trim the Tree kit by Bella Gypsy Designs.  CUTE kit.  I made the frame because I thought I needed something extra to make the photos stand out.

When Jennifer was pregnant with Atticus, I wanted to do some belly pictures.  I bought a black backdrop, had it all planned out in my mind, then discovered she didn't want belly pictures.  Finally, near the end, she let me snap a few random shots.  Later, she told me she regretted that she hadn't let me take more.  This year, they had a professional photographer do some family photos.  Her, a stranger, Jen let take belly pics.  I'm green with envy because SHE got to do what I wanted to do, but she did a great job.

This was intended to be a gender neutral or boy kit, I'm sure.  But, when I saw the turquoise I knew immediately what I wanted to scrap.  So I filched a few flowers and swirls from another Bella Gypsy kit and created this with their kit called Every Little Thing.  That's my daughter and my granddaughter in that photo!

You can find Bella Gypsy Designs at Elemental Scrap, Gotta Pixel, and ACOT.

Any minute now, Joe will get up and begin to wreak havoc in the house again.  Gotta go so I can keep an eye on him!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  

Recovery

Real Life

Well, it's been quite a week.  I worked Tuesday and planned on working on Wednesday and Friday.  As it turned out, I didn't work on Wednesday.

I went to Jennifer's house in the morning.  I arrived pretty much in time to cook lunch for Jennifer and the boys.  I think she'd planned on cooking it, but Elizabeth was up and hungry and that kind of took care of that.  I whipped up some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and had lunch with the troops.  After lunch it was nap time for Atticus and Elizabeth and Jennifer had to lie down with them.

I cut the yams into pieces and started them boiling.  They're darn near impossible to peel before they are cooked but the skins practically pop off with your fingers after.  Next, I started working on the filling for the pumpkin pies.  It was quite an adventure.  Thank God for William who saved the day.  "Hey, Will, where does your mom keep measuring cups?"  "Will, do you know where the _______is?"  Whatever I needed, he knew where to find it.  I was fortunate to have plenty of frozen pie crust dough in my freezer and I brought 4 big balls of it with me.  I ended up making 6 pies and one pie plate full of nothing but pumpkin custard.  By that time I was exhausted and in a lot of pain--my back was protesting LOUDLY my being on my feet so much, bending, etc. 

I got back home a little after 6 and was just pretty much useless the rest of the night.  I hurt so bad all I wanted to do was sit down in the middle of the floor and cry.  I tried a mega Ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer and got a little relief, but not enough to really matter, particularly since I had hurt so bad for so long.  Also sat with the heating pad on my back, which usually helps a lot, but it just wasn't enough.   Finally, I caved in and went to bed.  Dosed myself with another mega Ibuprofen and started praying.  It was my heartfelt prayer that the Lord let me get through Thursday without the pain.  I knew there was still much work to do and just didn't know how I'd face it if I hurt like that again.

Being the woman of amazing faith that I am (LOL), when I packed up the things I needed to take with me, I took the back brace.  However, God, being more faithful to me than I gave Him credit for, answered my prayers.  When I arrived home Thursday night, in spite of all the food prep we did Thursday, I was tired but I was not in pain.  No pain the whole day.  It was truly a miracle. 

Our dinner went well.  Of course, on a day like this, you must have one mishap.  For reasons I don't quite understand, Jennifer decided to try to make the mashed potatoes in the food processor.  I think it was actually just an experiment.  We've always used a mixer and that has worked well.  Well, the experiment was a magnificent failure.  We ended up with a potato mixture that was just a bit thicker than Elmer's glue.  I am sure she can make a great potato soup with it if she thins it a bit and adds some cheese or green veggies.  Fortunately, she'd bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes and had only cooked about half of them.  So, she and Jason peeled the remainder of the potatoes, chopped the raw potatoes into smaller pieces, boiled them, and we succeeded in making mashed potatoes after all.  The turkey didn't get as brown as I'd have liked.  And, I knew she didn't have one of those lace-up kits so while I usually stuff the neck cavity, I was unable to do as much in-the-bird stuffing as usual.  But what we had was yummy. 

Joe worked Thursday, but it was so slow that he actually came to Jennifer's and stayed about an hour and a half.  I wonder what her neighbors thought, a cab parked there for so long.  We enjoyed our dinner.  We'd have been eating mac and cheese or something equally delicious if Jennifer and Jason hadn't invited us over.  And, Jennifer said, with the new baby, she'd have ordered pizza and that would have been all the Thanksgiving they'd have had if it weren't for me.  So, I guess it worked out well for everyone.

Jen sent the leftover in-the-bird stuffing home with me as well as the candied yams.  She also gave me the bulk of what turkey was left.  I boiled the carcass, skin, etc., last night and picked through the debris this morning, separating bones, skin, and gristle from meat.  I abhor doing that.  It used to be that if I tried, I'd start to heave.  But, over the last few years, I've gotten past that.  I still hate doing it though.  But, I've got two large containers of rich broth and meat for soup or whatever.  I also froze three small packages of meat for Joe who LOVES turkey sandwiches.  I am looking forward to making turkey and dumplings with one of those containers!  He wants me to do Turkey and Rice soup with the other. 

Friday, I prowled around the internet looking for the best possible deal on a 2 Terrabyte EHD.  I had found one I thought I would get for $219.  But, found the same thing at Amazon.com for $14 less with free shipping.  I got a notice today already that it's been shipped.  Of course, the free shipping gets routed through the north pole or somewhere similar and takes up to 9 business days, but at least it's on its way.  With my computer trying to restore from Mozy, there hasn't been a backup in a while now and I'm getting concerned.  So, I am anxious for the new EHD to arrive so I can begin furiously backing up. 

The restoring thing is still NOT going well.  I've given in to the fact that I am not going to be successful in less than 5 years with the in home client restore.  So, I go in each day and request a batch of files through the web-based restore and download them when they're ready, then make a new request.  I'm still missing some of my design stuff.  It's a mess.  Other things Mozy has "restored" 4 copies of!  I'll be working a long time to get this straightened out.  Now you know why I need such a BIG EHD for backup.  I have to back up 4 copies of anything I can't weed out between now and whenever it arrives.

I got an order of vitamins in the other day.  I mentioned here before that I've had numb fingers on my left hand for a while now.  At first I thought it might be carpal tunnel syndrome, but that effects the fingers on the thumb side of the hand and the ones I'm having problems with are on the little finger side.  My research on the internet indicates this may be caused by the elevated dose of thyroid meds I am taking.  The suggestion is to take B-12 to help alleviate the numbness and pins and needles.  It seems to be helping though it's still a bit numb.  And, I can certainly tell if I forget to take a B-12 on any given day.  I was just about out and found a buy 2, get 3 free deal on sublingual B-12 tablets on the internet.  I also got in a supply of Vitamin D3.  I've seen a number of articles recently that seem to indicate that a D3 shortage increases our susceptability to the flu.  Since I had such a horrible experience with the flu last year, I REALLY want to avoid it this year if that is possible.  I bought 1, got 1 free and quite honestly intended to hoard both bottles for myself.  Joe, after all, is as healthy as a horse and while he's utterly miserable for 2-3 days, he's better so quickly when he gets a cold or the flu.  However, if he gets sick, he always very generously shares his germs with me and I end up being sick for weeks.  So, out of my own selfish interest, I've given him a bottle, LOL.

Today is our 7th anniversary.  Seven years ago, we were both sick as dogs and standing in front of a preacher saying "I do".  Today, I saw Joe for about an hour and a half and he is working now.  BUT, tomorrow night Jennifer and Jason are taking us out for dinner for our anniversary and that will be wonderful.  So sweet of them to do as I know that will be the extent of the celebration--we can't afford to buy each other gifts and haven't got enough time together for more than a kiss on the cheek.

Design

I am under the gun with deadlines design-wise.  I was actually two days late with my contribution to the Christmas Collab kit at DSB.  I was NOT impressed with what I did, but time was short and the pressure was on and Thanksgiving was in the middle of all of it.  So, I'm just happy I got something done.  I gave the store admin my full permission to trash anything of mine she wanted to trash.  Besides the muck up with my computer and having very little with which to design, I was offput by the color scheme--two shades of purple, two shades of blue, golden yellow, and avocado green.  I had a hard time seeing "Christmas" in that color scheme.  I'm SO narrow-minded.

The blog train kicks off December 1.  I've got enough papers designed for a full kit, but I need 5 more print papers for the mini to give away and more elements for the full kit.  I'll start work on that when I finish this.  THIS color scheme has green and red and a couple of other colors thrown in and I'm having a much easier time with it.  I have learned a couple of new techniques between the two kits, so that's always good. 

NDISB always does a monthly collaborative kit which is given away to customers who buy $8 in product from the store during the month.  This month we are celebrating what we hope is the cure to all our server woes and a re-design of the store.  AND Yours Truly was supposed to be in charge of the collaborative kit for the month.  We've decided to turn it into a free download-a-day kit.  It's big and the color scheme is a good one and there is a very large % of our designers participating so there'll be something to suit everyone's taste.  We've hit a few rough spots along the way.  Hard to get 30-40 designers from all over the world with different language capabilities and different priorities, etc., all on the same page.  But, for the moment, we're good to go.  Tonight I have to make a preview for a designer who forgot to do one.  I HATE doing previews, but the show must go on, so to speak.  I'm honestly very happy with how well it's gone so far.  We've got a great group of ladies to work with.

I have bits and pieces of three kits on my hard drive waiting to be pulled together and put into my stores.  There's the pink one I did in honor of Elizabeth.  That one was completely lost in the crash, but I managed to get most of it back.  Just need to reconstruct some previews and final details and upload.  I have another kit that's about half done, maybe a bit more.  I guess that'll be up next.  It's a winter kit.  And then I have plans for another winter kit that I'd started before the crash.  I even had to reconstruct the color palette for that one so it'll be the last of the three to hit the stores. 

I am VERY happy with my decision to sell at ACOT.  At all three stores, I can go in and check my sales.  ACOT is selling well and I am thrilled to see something more than $20 in my sales account.  So, I'll make a big splash at all three stores this coming month and see if I can keep the momentum going. 

Scrapping

I have two pages that I've done for Bella Gypsy Designs.  Those ladies are animals.  I am just amazed at the amount of product they turn out.  Of course, there are two of them working at once which helps, I'm sure.  Still, they sure can put out some product and it's all gorgeous.

This first page is from the night the kids put up their tree last year.  Jason messes and messes with the Christmas tree lights.  It was better last year than the year before, but, honestly, it goes on for a VERY long time.  I snapped these photos while we were all waiting to be able to hang an ornament on the tree.

That page features a beautiful kit called Trim the Tree, available at Elemental Scraps, Gotta Pixel and ACOT.  The CT just loved this kit.

When Jennifer was pregnant with Atticus, I wanted to do some "belly" pictures but she wasn't enthusiastic about that thought.  I got a few random shots but nothing like I wanted.  She had these photos done professionally in August.  I never did get any "belly" shots, but I don't have a fancy schmancy camera and a professional backdrop, etc., so she is blessed to have these.  I'm sure I couldn't have done as well.  This kit is called Every Little Thing which, I think, was intended to be a "boy" kit.  However, when I saw the turquoise, I KNEW what i wanted to scrap, so I used some flowers from another Bella Gypsy kit. 

Well, that's it for now.  It's 8:30PM and I still need to do that preview, work on that mini kit, and dry a load of laundry.  I had planned on making a pot of spaghetti sauce with meatballs, but I think that will have to wait til tomorrow.  Toodles.......... 
 

Everything's OK now that the fire's out

Real Life

As a preteen and a young teen, my daughter liked to putter in the kitchen.  Her best accomplishment in the kitchen was her chocolate chip cookies which were delicious.  It was 1994 and I was working for a crook named Peter.  (No kidding, he subsequently got the opportunity to spend some time "up the river" for churning client investment accounts.)  Anyway, I was hired to prepare tax returns for his clients.  I was working away one afternoon when the receptionist buzzed me to tell me my daughter was on the phone.  The first words out of her mouth were "Everything's OK now that the fire's out".  I'm sure that was meant to be reassuring.  Good way to let Mom know you were fine and then give her the bad news that there'd been a fire.  As it turned out, someone had dropped a hot pad in the oven and when she'd turned the oven on to preheat for her cookies, the hot pad had caught on fire.  She did an excellent job of dealing with the situation and then called me, no damage done except to the hot pad.

Just the other day I called her and left a message on her cell phone:  "Everything's OK now that the fire's out".  (I think those words are immortalized in our conversations.)  It seems Joe's cab was hit with him in it.  Some lady with 5 passengers and a "screaming baby" ran a stoplight downtown and hit the rear end of Joe's cab.  Thankfully, she caught him behind the rear wheels and was only going about 30 mph.  Of course, Joe's supervisor and the Taxicab Authority and the Metropolitan Police all had to be called.  The officers said he was "lucky" because if she'd been going just a bit faster and had hit him between the wheels, she'd surely have flipped the cab.  She hit him hard enough to knock him a complete 180 degrees from where he started.  As it was, thanks to the Heavenly protection we pray for daily, and his seat belt, he was completely unscathed.  It did cost him more than 2 hours of time while he waited for everyone to show up, get the stories recorded, etc.  Then he had to drive the cab back to the yard and get another cab.  I swear, Satan will stop at nothing to harrass us financially.  We don't consider Joe "lucky"; we do consider him "blessed" and we are thankful to God for his protection.  So, no one was hurt, just the vehicles and Joe's earnings for the night. 

I worked Saturday about 7 hours and then finished up Sunday with another hour.  The previous week I had to work because the balance sheet per books did not match the balance sheet per return for 2007.  Obviously, someone had made adjustments to the books in deriving the numbers for the tax return that never got recorded in the books.  So, that was my project for the first weekend, reconstructing all those entries.  Saturday and Sunday, we did something similar.  Part of the 2008 problem was with an account that closed mid-July 2008.  It was closed because the prior accountant had embezzled and then tried to float a check he'd stolen.  Anyway, when I started, the bank had not been reconciled for 12 months and no transactions had been recorded for 6 months.  I immediately started doing bank reconciliations on July 07-December 07.  Then I began trying to puzzle out (from the records available) what had happened from January 08-June 08.  By the time I got all that done, I honestly think I just flat out forgot to reconcile that final 17 day period in the old bank account.  It was closed in July 08 and I was just trying to keep up with what was happening in the present without worrying about a bank account closed in the past.  So, that had to be done.  Then we had 10's of thousands of dollars of checks that never cleared the bank.  My opinion and the opinion of the CPA is that those checks were rewritten again later so that the ones that didn't clear were just duplicated expenses for items the bank actually processed.  So I tracked all those down and put together the adjusting journal entries for those.  It wasn't difficult work, just tedious and time consuming.  But, it's good for the paycheck so I'm happy.

I just heard from Joe.  He says the town is totally D.E.A.D.  And he's out there trying to eek out some kind of a living.........  I'm not surprised--it's Thanksgiving week.........  I can hear in his voice that he's down in the mouth about the whole thing.  We took stock of our bills last night.  We are two months behind on both mortgages.  And we're behind on the car payment.  We finally figured that if we totally use up everything we have, we can pay one month of the mortgage arrearages and keep the utilities turned on for another month.  But, we'll be in need of a miracle come December.......  and that leaves us nothing to use for the purchase of food or gasoline.  We've hung on now for about 18 months.  I'm not sure how much longer we can hang on.  There's no "fat" left in the budget to cut.  We're actually talking about raiding the change jar for gasoline!  Jen thinks we might qualify for food stamps, so I'm going to go see about that next week. 

It appears that Jennifer and I are doing Thanksgiving Dinner for her and her family.  We tried to plan the meal to be done early enough that Joe could be with us before he has to go to work.  But, he correctly pointed out that he will lose sleep if he does that, and he can't go to work on insufficient sleep.  So, Jen and I went over the menu and we made plans as to what we would try to accomplish on Wednesday and what we would try to finish up or do on Thursday.  She is buying all the food and I'll probably end up doing the lion's share of the prep work since she has a newborn to take care of.  I'd better remember to pack up my back brace to take to her house.  Doing the pies alone is enough to make me ache pretty much.  Doing everything else will just add to it.

I still have not decided on a new EHD yet.  I thought I'd wait til this weekend and shop the 'net like crazy for one on sale.  I've got to have one, no question about it.  It's just where I can find one that's available at a good price.......

The whole "restore from Mozy" thing is just unbelievably bad.  I could not believe that I actually got a customer service survey from those people today.  Boy, was that a mistake on their part.  The system restores for a while.  Then, all of a sudden, it decides it should back up.  BUT, it tries to back up simultaneously with restoring.  This totally locks up my computer.  I literally spent over two hours yesterday morning rebooting and rebooting and rebooting trying to stop that backup thing and get control of my computer again.  Beyond all the sadness and inconvenience that goes with not having my stuff, what is really fun is that the stupid system is trying to back up the EHD that crashed.  So it just sits and spins for hours at a time looking for something to back up where nothing will ever be found.  Isn't that fun?  And, somehow in all the Sunday morning lockdown mess, it canceled the restore that was trying to run.  I had restored about 45 Gigs of 54 that were slated to be restored in that session.  Now, for reasons I can't comprehend, it's trying to restore the 54 gigs all over again--not the remaining 9 gigs I didn't get, but the whole thing, overwriting the files I got.  It's just sickening.  This system is highly regarded among scrappers and I've used it before with great success.  But it sure is a bummer this time around.  And, it really doesn't help that the customer service tech is an English as second lanugage person.  I suspected as much in that her answers to my questions were not on point.  Now, having received that survey, which she signed, I know it to be a fact.

Jen went to Costco the other week and picked up a bag of some iced coffee drink powder.  It doesn't taste like a Starbucks Mocha Frappucino, but it does taste good and it's quick and easy so, I've been doing that instead of my homemade frappucinos.  I actually got the Frappucinos to where they tasted just like Starbucks--I needed to add more chocolate to the mix than what the recipe called for.  I was still having trouble with the proportion of ice, however.  But, I've now got that down with this instant stuff, so, when I run out of the instant stuff, maybe my homemade stuff will taste just right! 

So, I was supposed to organize and assemble a collaborative kit for NDISB for December.  Normally, you buy $8 worth of stuff from the store and you get the collaborative kit for free.  We've turned out some pretty good lookin' stuff, let me tell you.  This month is a real challenge.  Honestly, since August, the store's been down for days and days.  If I told you what I made from sales for the period from November 1-15, you'd be rolling on the floor laughing or sitting there crying into your keyboard.  Because everything's been down and because of my EHD mess, I'm just all messed up.  Anyway, normally the person in charge makes all the decisions and then puts together the contributions from all the various designers into one humongous preview and organizes the downloads.  In return for doing that, she gets a larger % of her sales (pays lower fees on sales) for the month.  I ABHOR doing previews and, in my own personal opinion, I STINK at doing them.  I posted my color scheme and my theme early on, but the store's been down, no one had much confidence we'd ever actually get to do anything with them.  Now, all of a sudden, it looks like the problems are being solved and NDISB will be good to go, permanently, VERY soon.  There are a bunch of designers from all over the world shouting "Whoopee" at that news, let me tell you.  So, the collaborative kit is now a go, and it's a go at pretty much the last minute.  We're going to do things a little differently this time.  Each designer's contribution will be presented separately with the use of a graphic that looks like an Advent calendar.  And, everything will be free this month.  Just go to the website, click on the door with today's date, get your goodie.  Well, the whole thing about had me ready to spit yesterday.  We have two designers that I know of who are Jewish.  We have at least one designer who is Asian.  We have customers from all over the world.  When it came time to do the color scheme, I was warned not to go with just Christmas colors because those of our customers who are not Christian would not want the kit.  So, I adopted a color scheme that is not just Christmas colors.  Then, it came time to name the kit.  Again, I was conscious of the fact that any customers we might have who are Hindus or Shintoists or Muslim or Tsaoists or Atheists or Jehovah's Witnesses might not appreciate a title with the words Christmas or Santa in it.  So, we substituted the word "holiday" in the title. 

So, when the idea of the calendar graphic was suggested, one of our designers kicked a fit because it was described as an Advent calendar and declared she would not participate unless we called it something else.  Of course, her reasoning for all this was that customers who were not Christian would not click on an "Advent" calendar to get their freebies.  You know, I honestly don't believe that.  I think if someone offers you something gorgeous for free, most people would click whatever they had to click to get it, short, perhaps, of a contract agreeing to participate in a violent revolution.  Just my opinion, but.........  Anyway, said designer threatened to "take her ball and go home".  She threatened to pull her part of the kit unless we agreed not to call it an "Advent" calendar.  You know, if she wanted to control the December kit, perhaps she should have volunteered for it!!!!!!!!!!  One of the big problems here is that I am one of those people who goes out of her way to say "Merry Christmas" rather than "Happy Holidays".  What I (and a very large % of the world's population) celebrate is Christmas.  And if I am wishing you well, I will wish you a Merry Christmas, not Happy Kwanzaa.  So, this has all been very difficult for me.  At this point, I am so upset that I regret every concession I've made.  Thank God, next year, I'll be doing November.  Perhaps someone will object to the very idea of us thanking God for his benevolence........UGH!  I hope not.

Well enough blathering from me.  I've got contributions to 3 CHRISTMAS collabs to finish! 

I Can Only Imagine

I have only a few minutes and I must get ready for work.  Yes, I am working this weekend again.  Not my fave thing, but it sure gives a boost to the paycheck.......

I thought I'd spend a few of my "waking up" moments reading some blogs.  (I've got over 900 e-mails to sort and over 250 blog posts to read.......just a little behind..........)  Anyway, there are only a few blogs that I've read recently so I thought I'd read the updates to those and catch up on the ones with 15 updates later........  I popped onto Miss Kim's blog and there, in a list of 10 things she is loving at the moment, is a link to a You Tube recording of Mercy Me's I Can Only Imagine.  Phew!  Heavy way to start the morning, but a sweet way as well.  The song puts me in mind of all the folks with whom I plan on spending eternity.  People I never got to know as well as I'd like in the here and now but with whom I can spend forever there.  Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and a couple of infants I will finally get to hold and rock and sing to.  Loved ones who are missed here but, not, I think, for much longer.   Turn up the sound on your computer, then click this link to see the video, hear the sweet music:  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz512_mercy-me-i-can-only-imagine_music 

As humans, we seem to find ways to anesthetize those spots where other favorite humans have been  yanked from our lives.  Perhaps we were children when they left us; perhaps not.  If we were children when they left, we learned to live our lives without them.  If we were adults, I guess it is the same--we learned to live our lives without them.  No more phone calls, no more visits.  No more time spent around the kitchen table.  But, when you're cooking along just fine, not thinking of that empty spot in your heart, it can be almost as though your life never included those people.  Then, there is a song like that, or a scene from a movie we shared, or an experience that reminds us of the past, or a quick glance in a mirror, and, almost instantly, the spot from which those people are missing becomes raw again.  This next week, I will use my paternal grandmother's personal Pumpkin Pie recipe........

I am so grateful I am absolutely certain I will see some of those people again.  If you're not certain, you can be.  Just ask Jesus to come into your heart to live there and be with you.  Acknowledge that you believe in Him and His message of love and forgiveness and you, too, can be absolutely certain.  Will you dance for Jesus?  I will, and I'll be graceful and beautiful and lithe and slim when I do it!

Lately, when I pass a mirror and casually glance at it, my paternal grandmother peeks back at me.  I don't know why she's hiding in there!  And then I realize she was just two years older than I am now when she moved on up.  I was 12 when she went to heaven, and that's not just a polite way of saying she died--she's there, for sure, because Jesus was her King.  Sadly, though I was 12, I don't feel as though I knew her very well.  Maybe it's because, in those days, at least in my family, adults spent time with adults, and the kids were expected to play together without any adult intervention or participation.  It's hard for me--I wasn't raised to know how to do things any other way, but I want to change that memory for my grandkids.  I'd like them to know, not in some vague way, that I thought they were FANTASTIC and worthy of my time and my love, and I valued them no matter what.  Gotta work on that.  I want to leave a legacy of love; I have nothing else to leave them, and nothing else would mean so much anyway.  Perhaps through my scrapbooks they will see my love for them.

Anyway, that song is one of my favorites.  I value music that has the power to change my world, my life, and that song is on the short list.  It makes the world a better place, even when you have to work on the weekend.........

Love to all,

Marci 

New and improved?

So, it's been a few days since I posted here, and since Joe is off at work and the house is quiet, tonight seemed like a good time to catch up.  Honestly, I wish Typepad would quit making "improvements".  It took me 5 minutes just to figure out where to click in order to make an entry!  I'm not so sure I'd call that an improvement.

Designing

Well, bit by minuscule bit, I get a few things back through Mozy every now and then.  I'm finding that is less necessary than I thought.  I guess it pays to buy little and mostly at the same stores.  Of course, when the EHD died, I immediately started contacting stores I've patronized.  Most of them were very sympathetic and helpful.  Top of the list for customer service was Plain Digital Wrapper.  Lisa, the owner, couldn't have been more helpful if she'd hopped on a plane and sat down in front of my computer and started pressing buttons to download all the links she'd reset.  She was MARVELOUS AND FAST.  Second was DigiDesignResort.  They came in second because they required me to send them a list of my orders.  Then, they reset the links without question.  That "reset the links without question" part earns them very high marks.  But, do you wanna guess where I came up with the order numbers?  Yeah, from the my account page on their site.  It would have seemed more efficient to do that themselves, rather than batting correspondence back and forth with me.  But, together we got it done and that was the important part.  Lowest on the list is Funky Playground Designs.  I do buy from them occasionally.  They have some designers there who do good CU products, products you don't see everywhere you look.  However, they have a published policy that they won't reset links.  Gee, thanks.  Second lowest on the list was Scrapbook Graphics.  They willingly reset my links so I could download again, AFTER I PAID THEM $10!!!!!!!!  Well, again, at least they reset the links and they were polite about it.  I have bought a lot of CU stuff over time from Flergs, way more than $10 worth, so I guess it was worth the "investment". 

And, now, if I can keep the thing running properly, Mozy is coughing up some restored files.  It seems to want to back up ALL the time.  And, if I weren't trying to restore, that would be just fine.  But, you can't restore when you're backing up and I have no idea what triggers it to flip from restore to back up.  They must have planted trained mice on a wheel inside my computer or something.......  Anyway, I've found the only way to keep the restore running is to reboot.  That seems to stop the mice in their tracks.  So, we're working away, about 30% on 54 Gigs of CU stuff.  There's way more to go after that so say many prayers for me, please. 

I've been pricing EHD's again.  I seem to do that a lot.  Maybe that's because I work my EHD's to death, or maybe it's just that the darn things are made without cooling systems!  I don't know, but I sure do get tired of buying them.  Anyway, so far the best price I've found is $219 for a 2 Terrabyte EHD.  Yes, I really do need a 2T EHD.  Honestly, if you're not a designer, you just couldn't imagine the amount of stuff designing generates.  And all of it is valuable and needs to be saved........  For example, one of my sites will be going down for a site re-design and there is some question about whether the product descriptions will be in tact when the site comes back up.  Who would have thought those would turn out to be so important.  But, I can promise you I don't want to re-write them for 38 products!  I could go with DVDs for backup but I'd need so many of them, I think it might be cheaper to just keep buying EHDs.  And, with DVDs there's the problem of storage and finding them when you need them.  Anyway, I'm going to have to spit polish that credit card and see if I can get it to work again so that Mozy isn't my only backup. 

In my search for an EHD, I saw a neato little gadget I'd really like to have.  It's "only" $50, but with my current budget, $50 is a fortune.  There are at least 53 other places I need to put $50.  Anyway, this little neato gadget plugs one EHD into another, thus creating an automatic RAID system.  That sounds like heaven to me.  Having as much stuff as I have, it takes forever to back up from one EHD to another.  Doesn't it sound like heaven to have that just happen in the background automatically?  It does to me.  SOOOOOOOOOOOOO  much less stressful.

Anyway, I actually did some designing today.  I have been so disheartened with the crash that there was just NO creativity in me.  It was all I could do to drag myself to the washing machine and back.  But, today, I got started on a new kit and I think it's going to be really cute.  I'm actually excited about it and, given what's going on around me, that's saying something.

Scrapping

Did one WHOLE page for Bella Gypsy Designs.  Again, no mojo.  Can't post it yet, but it's really cute.

Real Life

Well, yesterday was the pits.  Joe got up cranky and mean and stressed.  How do you wake up stressed?  I can't quite figure that out.  I can understand getting stressed when things don't go right or when your kids are clinging to your legs while you're trying to get your slacks on, or when someone spills stuff all over your white carpet, but we have neither kids nor white carpet, so how do you wake up stressed?  Anyway, he took it out on me as is his usual MO.  I must admit I get awfully tired of playing the part of the whipping girl.  Really, yesterday was two days in a row I was the whipping girl.  No fun. 

Then I went to work.  Several weeks ago, the pile in my inbox grew overnight by several inches.  I couldn't figure it out, but I didn't have time to mess with it.  Yesterday, I made the mistake of looking through it.  Most of what is there is stuff I have nothing to do with.  Or, it's stuff I asked Matthew to handle, or stuff Matthew is SUPPOSED to handle.  Imagine my surprise when I found 3 quarterly payroll returns for the feds and the state, all due 10/31, all prepared by me on 10/23, in my in box.  Returns not signed.  Checks not signed.  Nothing folded and inserted into envelopes.  No envelopes licked, no stamps attached.  Laying there in the exact same condition in which I created them.  I had even written out detailed instructions (sign the fed return on page 2, near the center; sign the check; make a payroll deposit with the check; fold the tax return, put it in the envelope and mail it by 10/31).  How do you screw that up?  I don't know............. 

So, after being Joe's whipping girl at home, that's what I found at work.  And, the owner of the company has stated repeatedly that he doesn't want to pay any more penalties.  Well, penalties and interest will surely ensue if you don't file the stupid returns when they're due..........  Thank God I had prepared those checks and dated them as well as properly filling out the stubs in the checkbook so there could be no question as to when I'd done the work.  Finding those returns just blew me away.  I was depressed before then and on the verge of tears from having been lambasted by Joe.  Then I find those.  I left the office and went to Jen's just so my grandkids could smile at me and hug me.  I really needed that.

William has apparently decided he WILL help take care of his baby sister.  A few months ago, he told me he would take care of Atticus, but he was going to leave the baby to mom.  But, according to Jennifer, he has been very helpful with her.  He was finishing up homework and packing up everything for school today when I got there.  He had been to visit the orthodontist.  They are going to give him an "appliance".  No, not a toaster or microwave.  It seems he pushes forward with his tongue against his front teeth when he swallows and is exacerbating his overbite.  So, they're going to give him something to stop that.  No braces yet as he still has too many baby teeth.

Atticus was, as he usually is, Little Mr. Sunshine, all giggles and smiles.  The day he turns into a moody kid is the day I just don't want to be around.  He is such a happy little boy and every one of his smiles is priceless to me.  One of Jason's friends gave him a little thing that looks like a little pup tent.  He thinks that is great fun and loves crawling in there and zipping it up.  Part of it is mesh so he can still see out and we could see in.......he had a huge smile on his face, lovin it. 

Elizabeth Jane doesn't say much.  She just sleeps and eats and poops.  But, she's growing and she's cute and cuddly.  My daughter sure does make cute kids.  So far, I don't see much of our side of the family in Ms. Elizabeth.  I think she looks like her daddy.  But, if I remember correctly, that changes from time to time as they grow up.  I knew that babies did not have good eyesight, but somewhere along the way I'd forgotten that God fixed it that their vision is clear as a bell at the distance from Mom's face to Mom's breast.  So, when we're holding her, she can see us just fine.  I can't imagine that resulting from the "big bang", can you?  I'm glad she can see me.  I want this face of mine to be very familiar to her!!!!!!!!

Well, that's all I have time for right now.  There's laundry that needs switched from the washer to the dryer, carpets that need vacuuming, and a few dozen other chores I wish I had time and energy for tonight.  I discovered today that someone took the scratchy side of our sponge to the front of the microwave control panel and to the stainless steel.  It's all scratched up.  I questioned Mr. Joe, the guy I found (honest to God!) trying to scrub the teflon off of a baking sheet a while back, but he denies all responsibility.  Maybe it was the dogs.........  More soon, provided Mozy keeps working and I don't become too depressed!

It's a miracle! She's alive!

Designing and Scrapping

Sorry to have been absent from here for so long.  I have been buried under computer woes for days and days.  My EHD with all my purchased Commercial Use stuff, all my Personal Use scrap kits, all my own personal kits which I've created, all my layouts waiting to be printed, everything, died last week.  I have had Mozy running in the background on my computer for two years, and it's a relief, mentally and emotionally, to know it's there.  But I have had the most awful time getting anything downloaded and restored from their site.  I seem to have connection problems, major connection problems, when trying to go in one way and if I go in from the web they seem to be sending me the same files over and over and over--it's like they throw in something new and different every now and then, like throwing me a bone.  Going in from the web, you have to select the files you want to download.  Then you wait hours for them to process your request.  Then you start downloading.  Then when you finally get the downloads complete, 8 or so hours after you requested them, you unzip them and find they are duplicates of yesterday's request.  It is SO frustrating.  Actually, for one brief period, the system functioned as it should and I got back a lot of my Amanda Rockwell kits.  I have Amanda kits from years ago, before she made it big........  or at least I HAD those kits.  It remains to be seen if I still have them when this restoring process is complete.  I could not begin to tell you how many hours I've put in, in front of this computer, in the last week, but it's way too many to be so unproductive and stressed. 

Today, at Joe's work, is the "bid".  All the guys come in and "bid" on what shift they want to work.  Then, in theory, they get what they ask for, depending on their seniority.  I have no clue what Joe is going to bid on--I'm hoping it will be nights again.  I get NOTHING done when he is here and am reasonably productive most nights when he is not here.  It would be good, however, if he could get one of the weekend nights as a regular as opposed to being an "extra" again.  He didn't get a cab Saturday night again.......I suppose I'll hear, via cellphone, shortly. 

In the meantime, I've got to head into the office 6.5 hours early, and work on that stuff for the tax return.  Hope you folks all have a great day!

In addition, NDISB is down again/yet.  There is a site redesign in process and I've seen the new stuff and it's beautiful.  We will have a new, much larger server and cleaned up backend software.  That is wonderful!  That backend software has been a crazy-maker for me.  I would go in there to upload a kit and have to pick through lists of stuff from designers who left the store two years ago.  Not an easy thing to do when you're dealing with ADD. 

Need I say my design and scrapping mojo has disappeared?  I have been so utterly undone by this EHD failure....  I can't concentrate for a minute on doing anything new.  Nor, in many cases, do I have the tools to do anything new, nor do I know where to find the tools if I do have them!!!!!  My world is just turned upside down and I don't see it being righted for weeks.  But, I've got a "snow" kit kicking around in my head.  I'd started it in earnest just before the crash and, of course, lost everything I'd done.  I've re-done the color scheme, but that's as far as it's gotten.  I did manage to get back my little girl kit, and that took several days.  I need to pick through it and see what's missing.  I know I added 5 or 6 more elements at the last minute and I'm afraid they may not be part of the save.........  darn, this is a mess, isn't it?

Real Life

Real life has been interesting.  Honestly, I prefer it uneventful and boring, but I guess I can't have that.  The big blow up this week is that the boss needs corporate taxes finished by mid week.  Of course, I wasn't advised of that fact until Friday.  And, the CPA's office is unwilling to devote any time to straightening out whatever is screwed up in the books.  We're messing in 2007 right now, back in the reign of terror of the construction guy who thought he was an accountant.  What a mess the books are.  I worked Saturday and Sunday and have made progress, but, in theory, the CPA wants them to tie out exactly to the tax return and I just don't know if that can be done.........  It is, for sure, a challenge, given the time line I've got.  But, I'll get paid for all these extra hours and that will certainly be a help.

Parker is making me a little nuts right now.  We really can't quite figure this out.  He goes out through the pet door just fine.  And, if we leave home, we never return to find him marooned in the backyard.  Yet, when we're here, he stands at the pet door and scratches at it, rather than just coming through it.  Anyone got any ideas?  And, he doesn't do this all the time--just some times.  Anyway, all three of our furbabies are as cute as can be and doing well.  I'm trying to screw up my courage to call the local low cost spay and neuter facility to see what it's going to cost to neuter Parker.  I hate to say it, but I'm gonna have to use the credit card again. 

Joe has been frantically working on the paperwork for his bankruptcy.  He got a "questionnaire" from his attorney that runs 25 pages.  And, he is so anal that he is really sweating it.  I just went through a similar questionnaire that my boss did for HIS bankruptcy--I promise you, HE was anything BUT anal about his and he's still been allowed to declare bankruptcy.  I've tried to tell Joe all this, but, as usual, he isn't listening.   He is a master at making his own stress.

In some of the downtime, waiting for computer stuff to be ready to download, I visited the blog of a fellow designer.  Some of you will know who she is from my description.  She has 5 kids and she puts out a freebie Word Art daily as well as various Word Art packs going into her store weekly.  I love her word art.  She seems to put into beautiful or fun fonts exactly what I am thinking.  However, it is her blog that just blows me away.  How on earth does a woman with 5 kids have time to blog daily, give away a freebie a day?  And her blog..........  Sometimes when I finish a post, I feel as though I've spilled every thought I've ever had, right here on this screen.  But hers makes mine look like nothing.  It is SO detailed and chock full of photos.  It is almost a minute by minute account of every single day and every single interaction with each of her five kids, her husband, and her girlfriends.  WHERE does she find the time?  I have no clue.......  I'm not sure I'd want to be THAT detailed on a blog, but, really, it must take hours and hours!  This bit I've written here has taken me a half hour to write.  Imagine how long it would take to write what happened at 8:40AM and at 8:43AM and at 9:04 AM and at 9:22 AM.  And then add in the time to upload and process digital photos by the dozens.  I think I will keep my plain-jane blog!

Tuesday

Designing

Well, DSD is officially over.  NDISB is back up, but the sale has ended.  DSB's sale is ended.  I just manually reset all the prices at A Cherry on Top, back to retail.  We got an e-mail from the store owner at NDISB.  During the downtime, she sent 6 e-mails to the webhost.  He never responded once.  But, he sure managed to fix it so that a lot of us didn't make much money on that sale.  Oh, well, it looks as though NDISB will be down some more this week, based on what she said in her e-mail. 

I was going to put my new girly kit in the store today, but I think I will hold it until later in the week, until after this possible service interruption at NDISB.  I'd hate sending out a newsletter that says "oh, here's my great new product and if you can't find it here, go to these other places".  My newsletter recipients know I sell in three stores.  And they know how to find each of the stores because they're all linked both here and in the newsletter.  And I know there's nothing unethical about sending people to one of the other stores; yet, somehow, it doesn't seem right, so I'll just wait.

Scrapping

In my "spare" time today, I'm posting layouts hither, thither, and yon.  Alas, they're all layouts you've seen.  So no fun pages for you to view today.

Real Life

I finally dropped a few bucks on a haircut last night.  I'm not sure if I like it or not.  They shampooed it and then cut it and I had them skip styling it to save a few dollars.  So, at the moment, it kinda looks like I've got a drowned rat on my head, but shortly, I'll migrate to the bathroom and hopefully come out looking better.  I had been wearing it short and layered and I love that because it blows dry and I'm done with hair in 2 minutes or less, literally.  However, I just don't have the money for regular trims.  So, it's been growing for a while, and I've about grown out to where it's an acceptable bob.  A little short over the ears yet, but by the next cut, we'll be there.

Wandered around in Trader Joe's for a few minutes last night.  They have great salads, y'all.  I had no idea.  But, nutritionally, my diet has been so bad and I'm trying to change that a little.  I bought two salads, one was $3.99, one was $3.49, and I honestly don't remember which was which.  But, I ate one for dinner last night, the one with cranberries, blue cheese, roasted pecans, and raspberry vinaigrette and it was very tasty and plenty for me.  I have one in the fridge--pear, gorgonzola, and almonds on a bed of yummy looking mixed greens.  For the price, they're quite a good deal.  I also picked up some apples and I'm going to try their espresso coffee to see if it's a decent alternative to Starbucks.  If so, I just found a way to save another $6 every two weeks. 

My homemade Mocha Frappucinos are working out pretty well.  They're really pretty easy to make as long as you own a decent blender and don't try to blend up a measuring spoon into the mix!  And, they taste good, at least as good as the ones I've been buying at Starbucks.  I'm just using a little French Press coffee pot to make the expresso and that works out just fine.  Another thing I like about them is that I can make them with some sort of artificial sweetener (at least in part) instead of all sugar.  And they have the added bonus of giving me some milk in a form I can stand.  Lord knows, I, like most women, need the calcium.

I whipped that repaired vacuum cleaner around the living room last night.  It did great.  No more hairballs left behind!  I was really concerned about the cost of the repair, but I got away for $68 which was much cheaper than I expected. And, that included a spare filter!

Well, the town is emply this week.  Joe worked last night.  If it hadn't been for some decent side money, he would not have made minimum wage for his 12 hour shift.  Cab lines were so long it was taking up to 1.5 hours to get a ride and after waiting that long, the ride might have only been worth $6 or $7.  It is disheartening for him.  He is tired and works hard at this and makes so little.  Please continue to pray that he finds a better job.  Of course, God will have to drop it into his lap because with working 12 hour shifts and then trying to sleep to be ready for the next night, he has no extra time.

I have been "nagging" him to keep a running list on his desk of things he needs to do.  He's so tired and so stressed that his memory is not serving him well these days.  Yesterday, being Monday, was a good day in that he didn't work Sunday night.  He came out, sat down at his desk, and made a whole series of phone calls, one right after another.  I was working away on my side of the office.  I was surprised at how efficient he was with it all--that is, I was surprised until I found out he'd finally accepted my suggestion and started a list!  It DOES help!

I've got to get after it myself.  It's still early, but I need to get dressed and started on my day.  I've been wanting to start on a snow kit, and I think today's the day.

Headache, 48 hours and counting

It's been a bit of a lost weekend.  I didn't feel well on Saturday and all day Sunday I've had a headache.  Wow, I'm tired of that! 

It was Digital Scrapbooking Day on Saturday and it was intended that I have a 40% off sale in all three of my stores.  That went with limited success.  First, at NDISB, I'm not allowed to put my own store on sale.  I have to do that through the owner.  I requested she do that on November 4th.  When I checked in on Saturday, I found nothing was on sale.  Ugh!  I e-mailed the owner who said she'd not seen the previous request.  I don't know what she did, but she did get part of the store on sale, not all of it.  I sat here for what seemed like hours, but really wasn't, setting the sale prices as "specials" on all the products she missed.  Then I went back through and reset all the dates through the 9th instead of the 8th as it was supposed to be, since the sale started late.  Didn't help much--the store has been down for 24 hours, maybe longer.  What really bothers me is that we've had no communication as to what is being done or how long it will be down.......

At Digiscrapbooking Boutique, the sale was set up just as it should have been.  However, somewhere on Saturday, the store went down.  They got that repaired really quickly, but it's been decided to extend the sale there an additional day through today.

By the time I got through the discouragement of not having my sale handled properly at NDISB, and then the store going down, I no longer cared about creating an advertisement at ACOT.  I guess I kind of figured that they would go down too, but they didn't.  So, I sold a few things with all this mess, but not much.  Oh well! 

I did create a couple of paper overlays for use in designing papers.  And, I should have my girly kit in honor of Miss Elizabeth in the stores tomorrow or Wednesday.

Scrapping

Mostly I've been sitting here feeling like ka-ka so no scrapping was done.

Real Life

I babysat with Atticus for a couple of hours Friday.  Jennifer took the baby in for that hearing test which, of course, she passed.  When I arrived, Atticus was sitting in William's desk chair, watching a Mickey Mouse cartoon on the computer.  I checked on him frequently, but he never care out of the room the whole time I was there.  I really want Baby Atticus back, not this little boy he's grown into!  He's growing up so much I can even understand what he is saying most of the time........

Joe did not work Friday night.  That was an unexpected blow to us.  With the town full of conventioneers, he really wanted the opportunity to work.  But, no, he was sent home.  He did get to work on Saturday and, thankfully, the money was still good.  All outer signs point to a slow week this week, however.

He was mumbling about buying me 3 pounds of ground beef and why I hadn't cooked it.  Well, I will agree that I asked for it, so I guess you could say I asked for it.  But, I wanted to make meatloaf for sandwiches for lunch and some spaghetti sauce.  It wasn't like I wanted to apply it to my body as some sort of weird beauty treatment.  For both of those, I need onions and some form of tomatoes, neither of which we have.  Now, I don't grocery shop.  Whenever I do, I get comments from him about spending too much money, and why did I buy two more cans of tomatoes when I already had one in the cupboard.  (Well, maybe because I intend to make meals that require three cans of tomatoes??????)  Just so you know, I only shop with a menu and a list..........  So, years ago, I quit grocery shopping.  Then, for a while last spring I did some grocery shopping at a store I love here in town.  But, once again, he complained about what I bought.  (Hey, this is a grocery store, not Neimann-Marcus, fool!) so, I quit that too.  He stood here yesterday and told me that I wouldn't go to Food for Less (to get onions and tomatoes) because I'd spend $150, like I'm some sort of spendthrift.  Now, honestly, I could easily do that.  We're out of almost everything.  We have NO fresh vegetables or fruit and almost no canned veggies.  There is some meat in the freezer, but almost nothing of what you'd use to extend that into a meal--potatoes, rice, noodles, etc.  We're very low on bread.  And, so it goes.  So, IF I went to Food for Less and spent $150, it would be VERY easy to justify.  However, it was said like some sort of accusation which was really weird and hurtful since now I am being accused of WANTING to overspend at the grocery store when I quit going to the grocery store just so I wouldn't be accused of overspending.  I swear, I can't seem to get this right. 

We are in the process of applying for a loan modification on our mortgages.  Joe has been on hold with them for 28 minutes.  Now they are telling him that the 59 page application package we sent to them does not contain the correct paperwork.  Of course, being a former mortgage broker, you can bet he sent them everything they asked for.  This is so frustrating.

Well, I'm going to get to work doing the final packaging of my new kit and then see what I can get done in the house.  Two days nursing a headache didn't help much......

Dayus Interruptus

Today will be one of those fragmented days that I dislike.  It seems I just get started on a task and something from "outside" imposes a deadline which requires that I change tasks.  For example, it's about 7:20 AM now.  By 9:30AM I have to be fully clothed and at my daughter's front door.  Somewhere along the way today, the phone should ring saying "come pick up your bright and shiny and fully functional vacuum cleaner" and, given the dog hair everywhere, I will drop whatever I'm doing and RUN to the car and speed to the shop to pick it up.  And, sometime today, I have to go to work.

In the meantime, I have to make some kind of reasonably attractive announcement about a sale.  We are celebrating Digital Scrapbooking with a special day this weekend.  Along with everyone else, I'm having a sale.  So I need some sort of "announcement" that lets everyone know my shops will be on sale, 40% off.

I DID get the second fall kit into the stores yesterday.  It really is a pretty kit, with 8 solids and 15 papers and a bunch of elements.  Comes to just under 190mb.  Guess I should do some previews here;

See, aren't those pretty colors?  And, since I added over 40 mb of new papers and elements to the kit but didn't change the price, I think it's an excellent value.

It seems I finish a kit, let it sit for a week or two, then come back and look it over.  And everytime I do that, I seem to end up adding to it.  I've done a kit in honor of Miss Elizabeth.  Finished it up last week and it is so pretty.  The colors are not as soft as I'd originally envisioned, but not all little girl's clothes are baby pink, so that's okay.  But when I opened the kit up yesterday to begin adding previews and TOU and that sort of thing, it looked a bit sparse.  So, of course, as per usual, I started adding to it.  It's pretty much jam packed now, LOL.  I mean, really, 4 frames?????  It's a good one! 

Scrapping

Still no scrapping happenin' here.  Too much to do........  Sorry state of affairs!

Real Life

I went to work last night and found there wasn't much to do.  The company is between jobs.  We've got a chance of redoing the paved surfaces, at least 30% of them, on Fremont Street sometime in the next month.  Otherwise, right now we don't have any other jobs in sight until after the first of the year.  So cross your fingers for Fremont Street, otherwise, I will be getting some mighty small paychecks, particularly given my paychecks are already small!

Joe went to Jennifer's yesterday.  She helped him some with some of the legal stuff for this lawsuit that has been filed against him.  He got to hold the baby and I am SO jealous.  I'm babysitting for some period of time today, but I'm babysitting for Atticus.  Springing Jennifer and the baby from the hospital was a time-consuming and difficult task.  In the process, she opted out of having Elizabeth's hearing tested.  Apparently Jason is all undone over that, so this morning, while Grandma babysits, Elizabeth will have that test. 

This big convention in town is a real boon to Joe's earnings.  Oh, if it could only last!  We might actually be able to chisel our way out of this financial mess we're in.........  Everytime I think about Obama's comments about people not spending money on conventions in Las Vegas, I just want to strangle him.  How could he say such a thing?  Is he completely unaware that people in Vegas need to eat too?  And have bills to pay..........  So many people are just flat out of work in this town because of the economy and stupid remarks like that.  We are so grateful Joe even has a job, though it is certainly not a job for which he is trained.  But, it would be so wonderful if he could earn enough to assure us that we'd be able to pay the power bill..........

Of course, in the natural system, every blessing brings its own trials (while in God's system, He gives wealth and adds no sorrow to it).  Traffic in the touristy part of town is just a nightmare, according to Joe.  While there is a customer in the cab and the meter is running, it's not so bad.  If, for example, he picks up at the Wynn, and drops off at the Mandalay Bay, it's not so bad.  Chances are excellent, with so many folks in town, that he can get a customer at the Mandalay Bay with a very short wait.  Then wherever that passenger wants to go, the meter is running.  However, the airport has been running like greased lightning.  The problem is getting TO the airport to pick up a fare.  It takes 2-3 times as long to fight his way TO the airport so he can once again start that meter running.  So, yes, having all those extra people in town for whatever this big convention is, is a real boon; but it does bring its problems.  But, at least, for the last couple of days, if he can get to a cab stand chances are pretty good he'll be just the second or third in line versus 8th or 10th like usual. 

There are ways most cabbies use to increase their earnings.  But, we are born again Christians and consider those ways closed to us; we choose not to do those things that are illegal or unethical.  For example, there is the "long haul".  Some cabbies work nothing but the airport and they "long haul" everyone, meaning they take everyone through the tunnel.  In some cases that makes sense, but in most cases it just adds a minimum of $5 to every fare.  Or they work downtown, and they drive a fare who is southbound north to take the freeway.  Another way is to pick up "flags".  When the town is slow, cabbies are supposed to either take radio calls or sit in cab lines outside the various casinos.  But many cabbies will cruise looking for anyone on foot who might like a cab ride.  They will just stop and pick them up.  That happens to be illegal in Vegas.  It's a way of life in some big cities like Boston, or New York CIty, or Chicago, but it's against the law here and, in a town where the tickets are outrageously expensive, it's a ticketable offense.  People who do these things consistently book either more rides or more money on a nightly basis.  This, more rides or more money, gets them kudos with the company and consistently bigger paychecks.   However, we believe God will reward us for being honest and for obeying those in authority over us. 

However, look at it this way.  On slow nights, Joe may sit in a cab line 30 minutes or longer waiting for a fare.  It's not unusual for him to have no more than a ride an hour.  Sometimes he actually has to wait hours for a fare.  If you can increase the number of rides by picking up flags, you can make good money, providing you don't get caught.  The closest hotels to the airport, like the MGM, are about $11 for a cab ride from the airport.  Imagine you sit in that cab line for half an hour and instead of $11, you long haul the passenger and he or she ends up paying you $16 or $17 for the ride and a bigger tip.  These two things, done consistently, all night long, night after night, could add a fair chunk of change to a cabbie's income......

I have my chances to cheat as well.  About 60% of the time, when I go to work, no one is there.  One hundred per cent of the time, when I leave, no one is there.  I could write pretty much anything on my time card and they would have no choice but to believe me.  Fortunately for them, I don't believe in that kind of thing........  I would like a small raise though.  I've been there almost a year and a half now.  Maybe it's time?

Vacuum cleaner stories:  Shortly after Joe and I got married, my vacuum cleaner quit working.  I shopped and shopped on e-bay til I found a good deal on a Simplicity vacuum cleaner.  That particular brand has everything you would look for in a vacuum, like a metal beater bar, for example, and they last FOREVAH!  I guess Joe thought I was a nut case, but he tolerated my "weird" behavior.  Anyway, I got us a new/old Simplicity for approximately $285.  It was still hermetically sealed in the box, but had gotten lost in the back of someone's ware house for years.  So it was certainly a prior year's model, but it had never been used.  I found out yesterday that it's a '93 model.  Of course, I've only had it for about 6 years.

When the thing quit working, Joe's idea was that we could buy a replacement for $100.  He doesn't get that the amount of dirt and dog hair (and twigs, if he's doing the vacuuming) we vacuum up in this house would kill a cheapo vacuum cleaner in very short order.  We'd be spending $100 every 6-12 months for new vacuums.  While I was standing there last night, they completed the sale of a brand spankin new Simplicity vacuum.  Yeah......$810.72.  Now that's a chunk of change.  I immediately called Joe to let him know how fortunate he is that his wife is a bargain hunter!!!!!!!!

So, I'd better go get dressed.  Sorry I can't chat longer.  I'm intending to raid Elizabeth's closet looking for girly patterns for future kits while I'm there.  I know Jen won't mind........  Later, gators!

 

I TOLD you I love fall colors......

I have spent the last two days reworking one of my older kits.  I have some that I've taken out of the store that will never again see the light of day.  But I had a fall kit that I got into the store quite late in the fall last year.  It never really got the attention it deserved.  So, I pulled it apart and put it back together.  I loved the color scheme then and I still do.  I did ditch 1 paper, and I've added several new papers and a buncha new elements.  It's about 40 megs larger than it used to be, but it's got some gorgeous stuff in it.  I'm hoping to get it zipped up, uploaded and into the stores tomorrow.  I don't want to miss that FALL window again....

Scrapping

I actually have one kit from Bella Gypsy Designs that I just love, but I haven't been able to get near it because of the project above. 

Real Life

Not a whole lot going on.  Joe had a good night last night because there's a BIG convention in town.  Don't really understand it, but he says tonight is slower. 

I am still chasing dust and dirt everywhere I look.  I think it might help a little when I get the vacuum cleaner fixed.  Joe forgot to put it in the car for me yesterday, but it's in there now so I'll drop it off on the way to work tomorrow.  Anyway, I've cleaned and cleaned and there are pockets where things look okay, but only pockets.  I've got to make better progress than this.  Not quite sure how, but maybe just by staying after it.  I've gathered up another armload of stuff to donate to charity and there's plenty more where that came from.  And, I found something tonight in our "junk" room that I've been looking for for weeks and weeks--some baby clothes that were Jen's that I've saved for Elizabeth.  Some cute stuff and still in excellent shape.

Well, that's about it, for now.  But, I made up my mind I'd be adding something to the slide show daily til I got it caught up and I figured while I was here..........  Have a good sleep.