My Weblog

houses built of straw

I mentioned yesterday that we had had an extremely windy night on Wednesday.  What I didn't know at that point was the damage that had been done.  I had just gotten out of the bathtub.  I was dressed in nothing but my robe and slippers when someone knocked on the door.  I tiptoed over and peeked out through the peephole to see my next-door neighbor, George, walking away--it took me a while to get there, trying to avoid being knocked down by two large excited dogs.  When Joe woke up, I mentioned that George had been knocking and that I hadn't answered.  He went to find out what was up but determined that George had gone to work.  However, he also noticed that the wind had damaged the front part of our block wall, by the gate.  In fact, he said that, were it not for the gate, the whole thing would have gone tumbling down.  He got it all sort of back in place and carefully balanced, but it's going to have to be fixed better than that if we don't want a dog or two experiencing a concussion.  I work with a guy from Mexico who can fix about anything, and if he can't fix whatever it is, he certainly knows someone who can.  So, looks like we'll be giving him a call real soon.........

So, I went to work yesterday and stayed a good long time.  Added 4 new employees to the payroll system and did paychecks all around.  Then started on the process of catching up with the cash expenditures which I've not been able to enter since the bank locked up on me over a week ago.  I'm still not done, but I've made progress.  I finally got home around 9PM.  On the way, I started to think about what I could eat for dinner.  I think by then, my blood sugar was so low you'd have had to prick my big toe to find some, LOL.  I knew there was no way I was cooking anything when I got home.  I've been thinking fondly of pizza for about two weeks, so I called and placed an order and stopped to pick it up.  The pizza place is around 6 blocks from my home.  I was surprised to find one guy working alone in the pizza shop.  Yes, he had two drivers coming and going with deliveries, but once they were on the road, he was alone.  Many years ago, when Jennifer was in high school, she worked at Pizza Hut.  It seemed to me they always had half a dozen or so kids in there.  Anyway, he told me that they were robbed last week while he was there alone.  In that they are so close to where I live, that wasn't good news........

Designing

I think by sometime tomorrow, I'll be able to put a goodbye kiss on my new Mother's Day kit and get it into the stores.  If not, certainly by Sunday.  It's really turning out pretty.......

Scrapping

Well, I have pages and more pages to show you.  Bella Gypsy Designs put out 8 kits for NSD.  I scrapped with 4 of them.  They all have gorgeous color schemes.  Sorry to say, I wasn't thrilled with the photo I used on one of them, but........that's the way it is.  They did 7 kits for the 7 days of the week and then threw in an 8th kit for a bonus.  The collection is available at special NSD pricing at both Gotta Pixel and Elemental Scraps.  I'm sure it will be available sometime soon at ACOT as well, but I just checked and it isn't there yet.

 

This is NOT a good picture of Jennifer.  But, that was kind of the point.  I wanted to journal about the recent diagnosis she and Atticus have received.  They have Celiac's Disease.  Since they've eliminated gluten from their diets, Jennifer is feeling better and we have hope that our little bitty boy is going to start growing like a weed.

 

Back in March, the kids attended the Spring Fling event at the Law School.  The photographer caught this photo of the two boys watching the grown-ups play ball.  I was tickled to receive this photo because the colors go well with this kit.  I was also tickled that it was such a clear, crisp photo.  Then I started to laugh, realizing the photo makes it look as though Will and Atticus were the only two spectators there!

 

This is the one page I'm not too thrilled with.  I couldn't find the photo I wanted no matter how hard I looked, so this photo is from the internet.  Years ago, I bought two sweatshirts that were alike, one for me, one for my mother.  I gave her hers and never mentioned that I had one like it.  She was wearing hers one night when Joe and I got her involved in a Scrabble game.  I excused myself and went into the bedroom and changed into the matching sweatshirt.  It took her almost half an hour to realize that we were wearing matching sweat shirts.  She was so busy with the game........

 

Two years ago, I was at Jennifer's while she was getting ready for the Barrister's Ball.  I managed to snap some good photos of her.  This is Bella Gypsy's Friday night/Date Night kit and I thought this photo went well with the theme.

Okay, that's all I can show for now.  You have a great day and come back tomorrow for a special surprise!

And he huffed and he puffed and he........

blew the house down.  Well, not quite, but there were moments in the past 24 hours when I wasn't too sure.  Late afternoon yesterday, a front of some sort blew in.  It was amazing.  I've seen windstorms here where the gusts hit around 70mph.  I don't honestly know how high it went yesterday, but it was high.  I would not have been the least surprised to see our patio furniture sailing across the wash behind our house, but I think it's all still there.  My guess is that the wind came in from the south and the house protected the stuff on the patio.  Add to that the excitement of my 3 dogs that alternately huddled inside and went outside to bark at the wind and you've got a lot of excitement!  It's still blowing some, but nothing like what it was last night.

Along with the wind came a substantial drop in temperatures.  The high predicted for today is in the 60's whereas it's been in the 80's for days.  It's actually quite chilly in the house today.  So, I guess I will not be wearing my shorts.  Just as well.  Unless I can talk Joe into making a stop at the IRS building today on his way to work, I have to go there.  Better to look somewhat professional, I guess.

I use bloglines to follow my favorite blogs.  I opened bloglines this morning to see what was going on out there, to find it lit up like a Christmas tree.  Seemed as though EVERYONE has posted a blog update.  Then, silly me, I realized that most of the blogs I follow are by scrapbook designers and Saturday is International Scrapbooking Day.  Lots of designers are blogging, competing for the $$$ scrappers will spend at the sales this weekend.  Many are also releasing new kits or offering freebies or doing both.  I am going to settle for doing a sale.  I do have a freebie in my back pocket, but I'm saving it for the product release date which will not be for another week; it was made to coordinate with the kit I'll be releasing then.  ACOT is planning a big online crop.  They've got a counter going on their home page.  Right now it is 27 hours, 29 minutes, and 3 seconds til the crop kicks off.  At NDISB, we kicked around the idea of a storewide sale, but some designers don't want to participate so we'll each do our own thing. 

I have done a bit of design myself.  Last night I worked on my Mother's Day kit.  It's coming along but needs some concentrated effort if I'm going to get it into the stores anytime soon.  I wanted it to be really special.  Is it really special?  I don't know.  I'm using a grungier style.  And softer colors than usual.  I LOVE the papers.  Each is special in its own right, and as a group, they're so pretty.  Now the big question is whether or not I can come up with elements that are worthy of mixing with those gorgeous papers I made.  Generally my style is a lot cleaner and much brighter colors, so we'll see if I can rise to this challenge.  It took me 3 tries before I found a color palette I liked; the first two were too bright and not giving me the mood I wanted.  But, I really love the colors in choice #3.  It would be wonderful if I could get it finished by Friday but I just don't know if I can do that without stressing myself out.  It's only about 50-60% done at this point.........

My next design decision is whether or not I will do a kit for Memorial Day.  I want to.  I view that particular day as pretty significant.  And, I've been a red, white, and blue girl since my college days.  Just not too sure what kind of "fresh" ideas I can bring to the table.  And, if I am going to be a red, white and blue girl, should I hold it for July 4th?  Do it for Memorial Day?  Do it for Memorial Day and hope I am freshly inspired for July 4th?  I dunno.  I've got to think on that a while, make some design notes, and arrive at a decision soon. 

Being productive on the kit means that my creativity has returned and that is at least partially attributable to a significant reduction in back pain.  Somehow, in this body, pain and creativity don't seem to coexist very well.  My regimen of lying down off and on throughout the day and taking the pain meds and muscle relaxers seems to be working.  I must admit that by bed time last night, I was starting to feel some small spasms again.  But, I slept about 6.5 hours so I should be good to go for a while this morning.  Late morning, I'll lie down again for an hour or so, into the early afternoon, because I've got to go to work today.  Hopefully someone fixed the bank account so I can actually book our cash transactions......  Otherwise, it's payroll and outta there.

Joe has a special Pastor's Appreciation Dinner, sponsored by the Gideon's tomorrow night.  It will be close to the office, or at least, he'll have to come west past the office to get home.  I think I'm going to go in for a substantial period of time and see what I can get done.  Then, he can come by the office on the way home, make sure I get to the car all right, and we'll caravan home.  I particularly want to clean out the two drawers in the desk that are designated as mine.  With tax season over, this is almost like the start of a new year for me and I want it to start out a bit more clean and organized.  I may be forbidden to clean many of the areas that need cleaned, but no one can stop me cleaning out my own two drawers, right? 

Do I have scrapbook pages to show you?  You bet I do, but......... not today.  I have a number of pages I can't show off til tomorrow.  So, come back tomorrow.  Maybe I can get some sort of sneak peek ready on the new kit as well by then.  Have a great day!

Oh, what a day.......or two......or three

So here I sit, all trussed up in the back brace, still.  I have been a pain-filled wreck for three days.  I have been trying to break up my day by lying down every so many hours to take the stress off the back.  It's helping, but it's a slow process.  In the meantime, we're getting ready to order more meds from Mexico.  Today's schedule was supposed to be 5 hours up and 3 down flat on my back, but when I decided I had to go to work, that went out the window.  But, I've been on a steady regimen of muscle relaxers and pain pills and it's helping.  By the time I left work, however, I was getting little spasms again so I knew it was time to get out of there.  I've just eaten a bowl full of strawberries (dinner), and as soon as i finish up here, I'm off to bed for a few hours.  I may be back up at odd hours from now til daylight, but that's okay.  Just need to rest the back and give it time to heal.

My inbox at work is REALLY filling up.  The guys are working on a really big job and there are continuous materials purchases.  I don't mind; it gives me a good reason to get in some hours.  My last few paychecks were mighty puny.  I'm locked out of the bank account on the bank's website and that's more than a little inconvenient.  We got a new keyboard to go with the new tower and monitor.  One problem, it doesn't light up anywhere to tell you if the caps lock or num lock is on.  So, I tried to get into the bank account last week and apparently the caps lock was on.  What shows up on screen when you're typing your user ID in is just a series of asterisks.  So, no way to know.  Anyway, I tried once too often before realizing what the problem was and now I can't get in.  It wants me to list the corporate credit card number before it will allow me to change the password and I have worked hard to avoid knowing that number.  Remember, I got this job after the last guy stole $30,000, so I try NOT to know some things.  I left a note, hoping Matthew or Greg would change the password.  I'm at least a week behind and that's no good. 

I've done no designing the last couple of days.  Hurting seems to have a bad effect on my creativity.

I have scrapped and I actually have one page I can show off.  This page was done with Duck, Duck, Goose which is a collaborative kit by Bella Gypsy Designs and Connie Prince.  The photo is from the internet and I used a template by Connie Prince.

 

It's a cute kit.  I was sorry I didn't have any photos of the grandkids feeding ducks somewhere, but I found this photo online and thought it was pretty.  I love that striped paper.  You can find Duck, Duck, Goose at Elemental Scraps.

Day of Worship

I like to think every day is a day of worship.  I may not share that here, but it's something I try to work into my schedule daily.  Today, Joe is speaking on behalf of the Gideons at two services so I am home, going to church on the internet at my favorite church.  Good stuff!

We babysat last night.  Jennifer was getting together with a couple of friends from high school, so Grandma and Grandpa got the kids.  It's the first time they've all been here for a long while.  Probably 6 months.  Each of them is so sweet in his/her own way.  As a grandma, I couldn't ask for 3 more loveable grandkids. 

Unfortunately, today I am paying a high price.  The evening involved bending, lifting, getting down on the floor, getting up again, etc.  My back is screaming today.  It is REALLY sore.  Worse than that, it is spasming.  When it is already sore, having it spasm too is just like extra punishment.  So, here I am in the back brace, taking regular doses of muscle relaxants and ibuprofen.  So far, I don't notice much improvement from the pills, but sometimes it just takes time.  Thanks to the effort it takes to cope with the pain, I'm not the most pleasant person to be around.  That rarely happens, but today is one of those days.  I'm considering just sequestering myself in the bedroom to spare Joe and the dogs from my crankiness.  Besides, the back could use another lay down.  It's been about 4 hours.......

Just a few minutes ago, Joe asked me if Jennifer had called me.  I said, "No, why?".  Instead of answering me, he grabbed my cell phone which was on the charger.  The battery was so low it had turned itself off.  So, he turned it on, and proceeded to listen to every phone message I had saved over however long.  Now, believe me, I don't have any "private" phone messages.  But, I kinda think if people had wanted to leave messages for him, they'd have left them on HIS phone.  Meanwhile, I'm sitting here, aching in the extreme, waiting for an answer to my question.  Finally, he brings me the phone and wants me to call the voicemail and get Jennifer's message when he's a) already talked to her about it, and b) he's just listened to the voicemail on my phone.  Lucky for him, it takes about 5 minutes for me to stand up and get my legs under me.  Otherwise, I'd have stood up and clobbered him with my stapler or my water bottle.  See--I need to be by myself.  

This has been going on, nearly daily, for almost two months now.  I'm about out of coping ability.......

Designing

Well, my Cinco de Mayo kit is in my stores.  I've announced it on the forum at ACOT; still need to do that at NDISB.  I've forwarded previews to the lady who is doing my advertising.  I've also created two scrapbook pages to show it off.  I think that's a pretty good day's work, considering the condition my condition is in, LOL. 

Anyway, get your sunglasses on and get ready for this lighthearted and colorful kit.

 

 

 

 

Here are the two pages I've scrapped with the kit.

 

 

Cinco de Mayo is in both the ACOT and the NDISB store, on sale for 20% off for the next week.

Scrapping

Well, you've just seen all I can show you at this time.  I've actually done 4 more pages (I think), but I can't show them yet.  So, come back tomorrow for a pretty page.

Saturday is NOT a day off

I am feeling the stranglehold of much to do and no time to do it.  For years I have hated the fact that tax work is FULL of deadlines.  Now, I find myself drowning in self-imposed deadlines for designing as well.

Went to work on Thursday and accomplished a few things.  I got payroll done and sorted through more invoices that had hit my inbox and they are now in the filing cabinet.  I had planned to go in today but am now almost certain that is not going to work out. 

My back is feeling some better.  I hope it stays that way........I'm planning on running the vacuum cleaner today.  That push pull thing........not too sure about that, but I just can't stand not doing it any longer.  I brush Max every day.  And every day I fill the brush up at least twice with dog hair.  And every day he leaves a little trail of dog hair wherever he goes.........  I even find Max's hair on Parker!  So today I will try to deal with the "trail".

Yesterday I made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce.  You know those BIG cans they use in restaurants and school lunchrooms?  Yeah, well I bought a can that size of crushed tomatoes.  And we bought ground beef and Italian sausage and I added my favorite spices and cooked it all for the better part of a day.  Way better than that stuff in a jar though I've been known to use the stuff in a jar myself from time to time.  I just prefer making my sauce myself so that I know what's in it and "preserving" it by freezing.  Seems healthier to me..........  So, because I love my daughter and I know how hard she works, and because I love my grandkids, I have a good sized container in the fridge for her.  I know that some people think I don't have a full time job therefore I must be sitting around eating bonbons (whatever bonbons are), but I seem to stay darned busy.  But, if I can give her something to feed her family, that's a worthwhile goal too.  It would be great to think I might be lightening her load just a little.

Tonight I babysit.  We will have the kids here from around 6PM til around midnight.  Phew!  Normally that would be no problem but right now we have no guest room.  I haven't even gone into that room in months and months.  It's full of stuff that "moved" there when Joe first started to paint the living room/dining room.  And, since that isn't done, just in a holding pattern, the stuff is still in the guest room.  So, I can't put the munchkins to sleep in there........  I guess they'll end up in our room though what I do with sleepy, cranky, tired Joey is another whole issue.

Designing

Well, the Lord has really been a "big helper" when it comes to my designing deadlines.  Joe and I sat down for a few minutes the other day and tried to map out the holidays for the year.  Some of these holidays, I don't see myself ever designing for.  For example, as a good Christian woman from a very conservative background, the idea of designing a kit full of witches and dead people's skulls for Halloween has NO appeal for me.  Yes, I know it's fantasy and fun for the kids, but I don't want to be part of a society that I feel is teaching its kids to look the wrong way for pleasure.  If I can find a different way to put a kit together for Halloween, okay; but no clip art of dead people's skulls!  The other holiday that really doesn't do it for me is St. Patrick's Day.  It seems to me that designing a St. Patrick's Day kit would be too "confining".  One primary color, a leprechaun, a pot of gold, and a 4 leaf clover, and where does one go from there?  Maybe someday, but not in the foreseeable future. 

But, I will get great joy from designing for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and numerous other holidays.  Then there are the "theme" kits--little kids in jammies, boys playing summer baseball, summer swimming kits, things like that.  And, all of this has to fit into a schedule.  So, I have the bones of a schedule.  I want to refine it much more, primarily because I boxed myself into a corner without such a schedule. 

I decided to revamp my Cinco de Mayo kit.  It's about ready to go; might need another 1-2 hours work as I need to redo one preview and add the extra things to the kit that have to be added to every kit.  About half of the papers are new and there's a whole bunch of new elements.  I also went back through and worked to make sure the colors on the elements were truer to the color scheme.  But, I still need to zip it up, upload it, and get it into the store.  And Cinco de Mayo is 11 days away, so I have to get that done today.  I found myself with two required contributions to collaborative kits, both due on May 1.  Then I realized that May 9th is Mother's Day and I really should design something and get it into the store REALLY soon for that. 

So Cinco de Mayo will hit the stores today (I hope).  And I've actually finished my contributions to the two mini kits.  Yup, finished the #2 one and I think what I put together is mighty fine.  And, I've designed all the papers and just a very few elements for a Mother's Day kit.  That particular kit needs a LOT more elements, but I'm well under way on it.  Unfortunately, I am running from behind, trying to catch up.  And, I was actually planning on having a few do-nothing days and a few housecleaning days here at the end of April.  Truth is, other designers are already putting their Mother's Day kits into the store and I still have DAYS/HOURS of work to do on mine.  Don't get me wrong--what I've done, I think, is gorgeous.  But, it's still gonna be late to the party any way I look at it.

I want to get to the point where I am pretty much ready to go with these special occasion kits at least 3 weeks early.  That means that as soon as I'm done with the Mother's Day kit, I need to decide if I'm going to do a Memorial Day kit.  If I am, then I really need to get crackin' on that.  I may opt out of doing anything patriotic for Memorial Day and do a 4th of July kit in a few weeks.  I DO have other kit ideas I want to work with, and, still, a collection of lots of completed kits I want to re-work and put back in the stores. 

I don't think I'm a slow designer, though I've never had the privilege of watching any other designers work.  But, I have to admit I am pea green with envy when it comes to Bella Gypsy Designs.  Two sisters, living very close together, both working at the same time, or one working and the other doing child care.  They put out more kits.......and they are VERY organized.  I want to be organized! 

Scrapping

Funny the way life goes sometimes.  Bella Gypsy has a huge CT of which I am privileged to be a part.  Of course, during tax season, I struggled to get layouts done.  Other people have other stressors in their lives and I know there are weeks they struggle to do layouts as well.  Recently, the CT got the word that we are expected to do 4 layouts a month.  This was not news to any of us; it's what we signed up for when we joined the team.  We were told if we only do 3, we're on probation.  If we only do 2, we're off the team.  That's fair and businesslike.  After all, we're getting their kits for free, in exchange for producing layouts.  It helps CT members get their photos scrapped and it serves to show customers how "great" their layouts would look if they only had this very special kit.  But, here's the kicker.  After "laying down the law", in a very polite way, of course, the designers announced they are putting out 8 kits for April 30th.  I had to giggle.  I LOVE their stuff, particularly for layouts about the grandkids, but........what if I said, oh, so sorry, I can't scrap with your 8 kits because I've already done more than my 4 layouts for this month.  I'd never do that.  I'll do my best to squeeze out some layouts to support the designers and the team.  But, I also have priorities as does every other team member and that's why it's darned hard to operate scrapbooking like a business.  If a mom has a sick kid, there's no choice in the matter.  She can't say, "Oh, please, would you hold off on the nausea and the diarrhea til next week?  I've got to get these pages scrapped for my Creative Team."  Just doesn't work, KWIM?  Or maybe it would be "But, dear, I know you won the sales contest at work, and got us this free trip to Tahiti, but I can't go this week because I have to scrap with these kits."  Nope, that would not work either.......  So the whole creative team thing is difficult at times, from both the designer's point of view and from the point of view of the CT member.

So, I have this gorgeous page I did for Cori Gammon.  I did the page about a week ago and I've been dieing to post it.  Twice a year, the day care the kids go to does a photo shoot with the kids dressed up in vintage style clothes and against a vintage style background.  They are gorgeous.  When I think of my elementary school photos, I kind of want to puke.  There's the one of me with my collar turned up when it should have been turned down, and several of me with hair that just needed someone to care enough to run a brush through it.  So, I am amazed with these photos of the kids.  This photo was actually sepia toned, but I turned it black and white for reasons I'm sure will be obvious!

 

This is done with Cori's kit called Shades of Gray.  I didn't realize it, but yellow is enjoying a resurgence in popularity.  It sure does look good here!  You can find Shades of Gray exclusively at The Lily Pad.  I also used a template by Chrissy W who sells at Elemental Scraps.

Okay, after this whole long discussion of deadlines and tasks I need to complete, I think I'd better get to work.  Hope you have a great weekend. I just might be back here later today with previews of the Cinco de Mayo kit, so stay tuned..........

I hate e-mail!

I have struggled for a week to get the number of e-mails in my inbox down.  It is sitting at 1038 right now and that's just the total of the ones I haven't deleted or put into my personal filing cabinet.  I started at 1114 and have really dealt with a bunch of 'em but they come in faster than I can get rid of them, it seems.  All day long, particularly in the morning when I am least equipped to deal with it, I hear the sound of yet another e-mail being dropped in there.  I can't get ahead of it.  I've unsubscribed from a bunch of newsletters.  They were relevant and interesting to me once but no longer are.  To say I'm overwhelmed by e-mail is an understatement.

I worked my butt off last night.  When the boys have money in the checking account, it's amazing how they can spend it!  I found a bunch of check stubs that were blank.  Fortunately, I was able to reconstruct what they were used for from the bank's web site.  I had two full pages of entries to make where sometimes I have just 3 entries.  And, my inbox was piled high with copies of invoices for materials that had been purchased.  I sorted through all of those and made sure I had booked them, then dumped them in the filing cabinet.  I had hoped to work on the quarterlies, but I musta been hallucinating when I had that thought.  Anyway, I cleared the decks for tomorrow night.  We'll see how cluttered up those same decks are then.........  By the way, I'm not being critical about the boys spending.  It's true, the owner had his usual bunch of expenditures for personal items, but I book those to owner's draw and he gets taxed on 'em anyway.  But, there's a BIG job going on and LOTS of materials purchases related to that.  We've also gotten a number of smaller jobs.  It's actually good to see activity again with an account balance in the black!

I brought home the stuff I need (I hope I got it all) to prepare the quarterlies.  I can get the forms on line so that should work out today.  I won't be going to the office today because I am babysitting tonight.  Jen teaches tonight until 9ish so I'll pick the munchkins up from school and take them home and feed them dinner.  Then they can do their thing for a while and I'll get them ready for bed.  Most likely I am expected to bathe Elizabeth, though I don't have specific instructions about that, and that will be no fun.  So odd, the child HATES her bath! 

Joe said, via phone, that last night was really slow.  Yet, he seemed to be on the move and had some good long rides with decent tips.  We'll see what else he has to say when he wakes up.

Designing

Years ago, I heard Corrie Ten Boom talk about God's timing.  She'd asked her father, a wise Christian man, about it.  Her father was a watchmaker and Corrie worked right alongside him.  Sometimes he sent her via train to another city to get needed parts.  He asked her about those trips.  "Corrie, when I send you on the train to get parts, when do I give you the ticket?"  She replied, "Just before I step onto the train."  Her father explained that that is just the way God works; He gives us what we need when we need it.  Yesterday, inspiration for one of the mini kits hit and I think that will work out fine.  I put together 4 elements for it.  I still need a few more elements and the papers, but I should have all that finished sometime today (I hope).  I'm still mystified as to the second mini kit, but I do have one idea for one element.  So, perhaps inspiration will come for the rest of that mini kit too.  Just gotta be ready to step on the train.........

Sometimes I get a little frustrated with the owner of one of my stores.  Newsletters titled "What's New?" go out 3 times a week and even if I've done something new, it doesn't make the newsletter.  I understand she has scazillion designers she's dealing with and we're all workin hard to put out new things, but she personally approves every upload, so it would seem she would know what everyone has done, maybe make a note of it?  But, this time, she included the collaborative kit preview and all the supporting previews showing off the papers, elements, etc.  That's a good thing.

Scrapping

Still can't show off that one completed page.  And, I worked so long last night that by the time I got home, I had time to heat up some leftovers, eat them, and go to bed.  So, I don't have the pages the CT did with the new kit ready for you.  I CAN show you a page I did.........

 

That's my daughter and two DGSs hangin out on Daytona Beach last year for Spring Break.  And, the kit is, of course, WaterPlay, my collab with Sharia Braxton, available at NDISB and at ACOT (links to my stores above........)

Have a good day.  I've got to get crackin'.

It's gonna be a great day.......

It's Tuesday.  The sun is shining.  The tops of the trees are blowing in the breeze.  The temperature is forecast to be 80+.  My garden is a riot of color thanks to rose bushes and irises.  It's gonna be a great day.

I have another hour or so til Joe get up.  Another hour or so to accomplish something before he turns everything to chaos. 

I finally got all the food put away, more or less.  It's really a hoot.  I honestly think I hear God giggle every time I open my pantry door!  There used to be some rhyme and reason to my pantry.  Canned goods were on the top shelf.  Bottles and glass containers were on the second shelf.  Packaged goods, mixes and such were on the third shelf.  And, the bottom shelf held my onion/potato bin and large items like cereal boxes or cereal in the large Tupperware containers.  All rhyme and reason is now gone, or at least it is invisible behind all the stuff piled in front of it.  I notice there are cans of chili from my client and friend, Judy Ann, on three different shelves.  I have a wealth of cereal with little partial bags of it from DD stuffed here and there wherever they will fit.  It's a total disorganized mess.  But we're going to have SOMETHING to eat for a long while to come.

Joe made a Costco run on Sunday.  We needed some ground beef and some Italian sausage and a few other things.  One thing about sending Joe to the store--there are very few impulse purchases.  However, he did weaken on one thing--a huge container of strawberries.  I tell you, these are the biggest strawberries I've ever seen.  They would be perfect for some fancy chocolatier to dip in chocolate and sell for a fortune.  Perhaps by tomorrow I'll have the batteries charged for the camera and I can show you these monstrous, delicious strawberries.  So, if you go to Costco, be sure you check their fresh produce area! 

Saturday night we made Salisbury Steaks and mashed potatoes for dinner.  They turned out excellent.  I added some of the dried mushrooms (rehydrated) donated by Judy Ann to the pan and fried them in butter at about medium high.  Then I added onion rings and fried them in butter.  I removed the mushrooms and onion rings from the pan and added a touch more butter and amped up the heat a bit and put a beautiful brown glaze on those cube steaks.  They cook in no time.  I removed them from the pan and added some beef broth to the pan and deglazed the pan so all those brown bits of mushroom, onion, and beef would add to the flavor of my gravy.  Put the steaks back in the pan, added the mushrooms and onions on top of the steaks and added more beef broth and some cornstarch.  Excellent flavor to that gravy!  I will NEVER understand why people buy that yucky jarred gravy or powdered gravy mix.  It was a yummy meal!  Joe gobbled up two whole servings of the Salisbury Steaks and a major plateful of the mashed potatoes and gravy.  Slowly, he is learning to cook.  He made the mashed potatoes from peeling them all the way to plating them and he did a great job.  Not a single lump!

Sunday night we took a small break from budgeting and went to Don Juan's on Main Street for dinner.  If you come to Vegas, you really do need to go there.  The guacamole is surrounded by a magnetic field.  It just draws you right into the restaurant from miles away.  The corn chips jump into your hand and you find you've covered them in guacamole and stuffed them in your mouth before you even think about it.  Joe ordered two carne asada tacos and a burrito and I had machaca and eggs.  Joe finished every bite of his, but I had eaten so many corn chips covered with guacamole, I only had room for a few bites of mine.  Now that I'm thinking about it, I think I'll coax Joe into eating the last Salisbury steak for lunch and I'll warm up my machaca and eggs!  

So, I went to bed last night with the right side of my kitchen thoroughly cleaned, down to scrubbing like a crazy woman (again) at the stove top.  I even mopped that part of the floor.  I got up this morning to find coffee spilled and left right where it spilled on the counter and on the floor.  It aggravates me no end.  I trained my DD to wipe up her spills before she was 2.  Why can't I train this man I live with?

Well, my next paycheck will be a good one.  It's quarterly payroll tax return month and I'll be working on making a bunch of adjusting journal entries to get the books ready for the CPA.  We've hired one new employee but I got him all set up in the payroll system last week.

Designing

I am thrilled to announce the collaborative kit you've heard so much about is in the stores.  Sharia Braxton and I collaborated to make a water-themed, tropical-colored kit and I have to say it's great.  We both did some great papers, but our styles are different so there's a lot of variety there.  Sharia did a really nice alpha.  I did a big assortment of elements and then Sharia threw in some elements that were really great.  It's a BIG kit and it's on introductory special right now for 20% off.  Let me show you:

 

 

 

 

If you can't scrap your photos of your kids in their wading pool or your trip to the beach or the community pool with that, hang it up!  Poor Sharia got stuck doing all the previews and finish work and I feel bad about that.  She doesn't seem to mind it, though, and I abhor it, so it worked out.  At the last, however, she started having computer problems and I was wondering if I was going to have to take on the previews.  I hid under my desk long enough for her to get the whole thing done, LOL.

My CT members did some pages with this kit.  I'll try to have those ready to show off tomorrow.

While waiting for Sharia to pull everything together, I completed a kit I'm calling Arizona Sunshine.  Full of hot colors and fun elements.  I've been working, yesterday and today, on revamping my Cinco de Mayo kit so I can put it in the stores SOON.  I've done about 6 or 8 new papers, reworked the colors of the ellies, and added about half a dozen more.  I started to put an alpha in there but I hated the way the alpha was taking color so I deleted it, LOL.  I've still got several hours work to do on it, but I think all the creative work is done. 

I am butt up against some deadlines.  Geez.......I thought I would only have to deal with deadlines in the taxation part of my life, but not true.  I have them in designing too.  I am obligated to doing two different mini kits for two different groups of people.  For one I have a glimmer of an idea.  For the other, I am clueless.  And they're both due by May 1!

I am trying to get myself organized on the design front.  I sat down the other day and made a list of holidays--Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, and like that.  I added the seasons to my list.  Then I started adding other themes folks are sure to scrap--graduations, back to school, etc.  Next I want to take some time and add in some other fun themes and see where that takes me.  The time just creeps up on me and I end up missing opportunities and I don't like that.  For example, what I REALLY want to do for the next two weeks is put together a killer mother's day kit.  But, there are those two mini kit deadlines staring me in the face.  I just don't think there's enough time.....  But, maybe I can get a jump on things for June and going forward.  That would be a big help.

Scrapping

Well Bella Gypsy just announced they're putting out 7 (yes, I really did say SEVEN) kits next Friday.  And, of course, it's all hands on deck to scrap pages with them.  I'll be one very busy lady.

Here's my Bella Gypsy page for this week.  They put out two kits this week, as usual.  One was a boyish-first-haircut kind of thing.  I have NO photos of the boys getting haircuts, so I knew I really couldn't do that kit justice.  The second kit was a salon-type kit--manicures and pedicures, etc.  I opted to use that one because I actually had a photo that would more or less work.  Both of these kits are on sale today at Gotta Pixel.

 

I have one more page scrapped for Cori and I think it's just gorgeous.  BUT, I can't post it til Friday.  So, that's it for today.  I've got to get going.  Have a GREAT Tuesday!

Slowly........

Slowly, I am returning to some semblance of normality.  Another few days and I might be worth somethin!  I didn't accomplish a whole lot yesterday.  I DID sit by the phone, waiting for any last minute emergencies from clients, but all was quiet.  I laid down for a little while, around noon, because my back was aching just a bit.  When I got up, it was truly awful, spasming, etc.  Took a couple of pills and cried a few tears and said a few prayers and that was enough to make it tolerable for the rest of the day.  I did load the dishwasher and wash up the leftover dishes.  And, I did sort out a load of clothes and get them washed.  And, I did a teeny tiny bit of straightening as I moved from room to room.  You know.........going to the kitchen, take the dirty plate, going to the bedroom, take the jacket someone left in the kitchen and hang it in the coat closet on the way, doing laundry, put away the clean clothes that are piled on top of the washer/dryer which no one has had time to put away, back in the office, prepare a bank deposit.  Just little bits and pieces of what needs done.  But, I'll make progress as the days pass and I get back in the swing of things.

So, the search for what's for dinner continues.  I STILL wanted potstickers for dinner last night.  Joe seemed to remember he'd put them on the top shelf of the freezer.  I dug around in that area for a while and finally grasped a bag of sweet potato fries donated by my daughter.  Hey, I baked them and they ARE a vegetable, right?  At least they're more nutritious than Good 'n' Plenty, LOL.  Actually, I really like them and would buy more if DH would not throw up in the aisle of the store.........  He's very narrow minded about food--pasta isn't pasta without red sauce, and I'm sure fries are made with Idaho potatoes, not sweet potatoes. 

It looks as though Joe just might be able to pay the household bills on his own this month.  That leaves me free to use what I've made to make a positive impact on a credit card balance.  A couple of months ago, we raided my tiny savings account to help pay bills.  With the last tax season deposit, I replaced $200 of the $300 and change that was in the savings account.  Since then, they've grabbed $5 a month as a service charge.  So, I'm going to use part of the money to increase that balance beyond where the service charge applies.  Of course, I'll pay my tithes.  And, everything else is going on one credit card or another. 

Speaking of credit cards, have I mentioned here that our garage door is broken again.  I just paid $385 to have it fixed less than 6 months ago.  I'm thinking we probably need a new unit this time.....  There goes that credit card balance again........  But, I really hate coming home from work in the dark and trying to feel my way into the lock with my key.  I DID manage to get Joe to replace some burnt out bulbs and that helps some.  And I got him to adjust the motion sensor light so that it would actually come on sometime before I was standing directly under it.  So, I don't have to wonder who might be lurking on the front porch.  But, I miss my garage door access.  Actually, I could still come and go that way, but the pulling and tugging isn't on my agenda right now. 

Speaking of laundry, did I mention here that I set up an additional hamper and asked Joe to sort his clothes as he throws them in there--one hamper for dark colored clothes and one hamper for light colored clothes.  I rarely have enough whites to bleach, so the whites are always laundered together with the light colored clothes.  But, somehow in his mind, whites are the ONLY light colored clothes and everything else is "dark".  I pulled enough light clothes out of the "dark" hamper last night to require a load of light colored clothes today.  Just as well, he really had them packed down in that "dark" hamper and even my large load washer couldn't have washed them all in one load. 

Matthew and Patty are out of town this weekend.  Today would be a good day to go into work because I'd have peace and full access to the computer.  However, he will still be out of town Monday so I'm going to spend a bunch of hours there Monday and do the quarterlies.  Next on the agenda is a long list of adjusting journal entries and then I will ship it off to the CPA who does the company tax return.  That will give them almost a full 5 months to get it done so, hopefully, it will be filed on time this year.  I will get a few hours on the books today as I brought home the bank reconciliation stuff to work on. 

I spent a good bit of time yesterday cleaning out e-mail files.  Holey moley.  I think I'm on every mailing list in the country.  I unsubscribed to some things, deleted a bunch of things that were out of date, read scads of current e-mails and then either filed them or deleted them.  For the last month, about all I've been sure to deal with was correspondence from clients, so it feels good to have my e-mail box down to less than 1000 e-mails.  It was up to 1176 at one point in the last few days........

I haven't done anything design related for a couple of days.  It was originally my intention to take a week off.  But, I need to finish that one kit up.  And I want to set up a CT forum which will help unclutter our e-mails as that is the only way I have right now to get info to the CT members.  I more or less promised them if they'd bare with the clutter in their e-mail boxes, I'd do this after tax season, so I'd better get it done.  I'm also working on a PLAN for my designing.  I pretty much need to produce a kit for each holiday, and maybe for each season, and maybe for other everyday events that proud mommies take photos of--ballet lessons and karate lessons and swimming lessons and graduations and hair cuts and so forth. 

Cori gave us her newest kit to scrap with and I couldn't move fast enough to use it!  I think I had just the perfect photo to use.  Bella Gypsy will be putting out their usual two kits this week.  They try always to do a girly kit and a boyish kit on the same theme each week.  I usually work with the boy kit because from my vast collection of photos, I can usually produce something suitable of William or Atticus that needs scrapped.  This week I worked with the girly kit because I happened to have a photo of me that would work with the theme.  Since I spend less time with the kids and there are more kids demanding more attention, I seem to get less and less photo opportunities.  Jennifer and Jason do take photos but they are frequently out of focus or blurry because Jason forgets to use the image stabilization feature or because Atticus has eaten a PB&J sandwich and then played with the camera.  I swear, I clean the lens on their camera far more often than I clean my own........  Jennifer can usually figure out who's in the photos, but I have to intuit it by relative heights of the people involved.  Of course, Jen was usually there with the camera and I wasn't........  Sometime soon I'm going to have to spend hours eliminating duplicate photos from my hard drive.  For some reason, they don't eliminate photos from the camera when they upload them so I get 3 or 4 or 5 of the same photo through consecutive uploads.  I can't spare the hard drive space or the back up time so I've got to get that done. 

Well, speaking of getting something done, it's time for me to start on that.  There's that dishwasher to unload and the washed clothes to dry and the dirty clothes to wash and like that......  See ya tomorrow.

Oh Happy Day!

I have many reasons to be happy today.  First, I just took a long, hot, sweet smelling, soaky bath.  It's about the best thing that happens to me on any given day.  As I step into the tub, I am reminded, every day, to say thank you to the Lord for allowing me to be in a country where, with the turn of a handle, copious amounts of hot water, free of water borne disease, are available.  And, praise God for the folks that make jasmine and vanilla sugar and tangerine and magnolia and cherry blossom and juniper scented bath products too!

It is April 15th.  I am glad.  I know you're not going to believe this, but one client had the nerve to call my house last night at 10PM.  Now that takes some balls.  E-mails were pouring in--where did you say I should send this?  I just got a K-1--should I extend my return and include it?  What happens if I can't pay the balance due?  Will they take me out and shoot me?  And like that..........  Many clients were under the impression they had to sign their extension requests.  How many times have I explained this week that extension requests no longer require signatures?  For the better part of two days, my e-mail was shut down because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep it under the limit.  Phew!

IF Joe can make the house payment on his own this month, and that's always a BIG if, I can make a large payment on the credit card I am trying to retire.  It won't be paid off but at least it will be cut more than in half with the tax season proceeds.  AND, this year, unlike last year, I've been paying for the software as I use it.  Last year, Joe needed every penny I could give him just to pay the household bills and all the charges for the software ended up on my credit cards.  Believe me, you'd be amazed if I told you how much........

And, the freezer and the fridge and the pantry are FULL of food.  The truth is, there are still two bags I haven't emptied.........  Some of the free food I can't identify and thus don't know what to do with, but I'll figure out something.  Jennifer gave me some biter biscuits--those hard chewy things you give a teething baby.  We've used some of those as dog treats.  Joe couldn't possibly bite into them and I didn't really want to try, but Punkin, Max and Parker thought they were delish!  I went looking in the freezer last night for my bag of pot stickers.  Hopeless.  Totally hopeless.  I finally found some sort of Frozen Stouffer's pasta dish and that was dinner.  Wasn't bad but I was in the mood for pot stickers.........  The pantry is in about the same shape.  You may just as well prepare yourself to eat whatever is in front because digging to the back puts you in danger of a broken toe from the can of soup that just fell out.........  Some of what we've been given will take some thought.  For example, I was given this huge container (shaped like a saltine cracker box only taller) full of fabulous mixed dried mushrooms.  Guess I'll try to do my homemade salisbury steaks and add some of the mushrooms to the gravy.  I also got a big bag of those french fried onions you put on THE Green Bean Casserole.  I'm gonna have to find another use for those or eat a LOT of green beans, LOL.  It's all good.  Yesterday we had donated tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Love that "donated" thing!

One of the first things I'd planned on doing after April 15th was defrosting the freezer.  Yeah, right!  With all the freezer food we've been given, I'd have to borrow every cooler for blocks around, just to keep the stuff from defrosting/spoiling while I worked on the freezer.  It's really kind of a shame though because shortly it will be too darn hot to spend time in the garage where the freezer lives.  It's in the 80's this week.......

Designing

I am still waiting for my co-collaborator to finish up the previews for the new kit.  Apparently she's got computer woes.  I guess a single paper is taking up to 45 minutes to save.  Been there, done that.  It's no fun.  Now it's looking like Monday before we can get that kit into the store.  I don't know how I'm supposed to make any money this way!  I haven't had a chance to get back to the kit I've been working on.  I'd guess it's about 90% done, not counting previews, and all the last minute details.  I just might work on that today and get it ready to go into a store somewhere.

I also have a number of older kits that I want to re-vamp and get into the stores.  These are a struggle for me, partly because I've already done that and doing it again bores me.  Partly because of the EHD crash.  I still don't have all the bits and pieces of things associated with the right files.  I'd really like to know what I have to work with before I start recreating the wheel.

Scrapping

I have two pages today.  The first is a Bella Gypsy page, left over from last week.  The page I couldn't complete because the alpha was missing an "i".  Well, we finally got the "i", so here is my page and it even has a title now!  The photo is from the internet as I didn't have anything suitable.  The kit is Honey Bee Mine, available at Elemental Scraps.  Everything shown here is in the kit except the little brads in the middle of the flowers which are by Anita Richards.

Another reason I am happy is that Cori's back.  She's produced two kits for us to work with.  I've only worked with one so far, but I love it.  The "photo" is from the internet again and I've used some buttons from older Cori kits.  I also used a template by Connie Prince.  This kit is called Icepop Princess and is available soon at The Lily Pad.

 

I spent many happy hours "working" in my Uncle Bud's store as a kid, and, with permission, demolishing his stock of popsicles.  They were a favorite treat and one I only got there.

Well, that's it for now.  I've got things to do.  Talk later.......

3 more days

On Thursday evening, I can go to bed and sleep and sleep and sleep and just completely relax.  That will be a real pleasure.  The last few weeks I've had thoughts of tax forms and tax questions whirling and swirling in my head all night long.  I can't wait for a completely relaxed sleep and God help the person or dog that wakes me prematurely on Friday morning!

I have one return to finish and a client showing up at 10AM tomorrow.  I did my darnedest to talk her and her husband into an extension but the husband wouldn't budge.  So, because they waited til I'm exhausted and just want to get things finished up around here, I have to do their return tomorrow.  They're good clients and have been with me for years, but I do get tired of being pushed around by other people's failure to do what they ought to do when they ought to do it. 

I went into work this evening.  JUST what I wanted to do.  I'm glad to be home and to have some hours on the books.  In the last couple of weeks, they've gotten a BIG deposit on a BIG job and so, the company is now the owner of a new to us (refurbished) computer, a new wide screen monitor, and a new keyboard as well as several pieces of updated software.  I am being allowed to install one of the programs on my computer here which will make it easier for me to do some work at home if I'm just too messed up to go to work.  That is great and a substantial benefit to me. 

I may not have wanted to be there, but I accomplished a good bit.  I'm still working on March's bank reconciliation.  That sounds awful, but I haven't been there as much as usual so it's not as bad as it sounds.  I also brought home the payroll data so I can work on the quarterly returns if I'm in the mood.

I stopped on the way home at the little Chinese restaurant right down the hill from the house.  I bought some potstickers.  It was really kind of stupid of me since we have some of those in the freezer, but when you've worked all day and you're trying to get home by 8:45, the idea of cooking anything does not appeal.  Well, I won't be doing that again.  I don't know what is in these potstickers, but it's a sad thing when potstickers from an authentic Chinese restaurant taste yucky compared to those you buy in the freezer section at Costco.  They're bitter tasting for some reason.

I stopped by Jen's on the way home.  I'd hoped to get to say hello to her, but she was out "shopping".  Seems she found some lady who has been on a gluten free diet for 9 years and this lady agreed to help Jennifer find things she and Atticus can eat.  Very nice of her.  Funny story:  Like her Mom, Jennifer writes out a weekly menu.  I don't do it so much anymore because Joe is at work at dinner time, but I did that for years and years.  Anyway, she made up a menu plan for the week listing out the things she'd bought that were allowable on the gluten free diet.  She asked Will if he'd hang the menu on the fridge.  On their fridge are some letters, magnetic letters that belong to Atticus.  Will obediently hung the menu plan on the fridge with 4 of Atticus's magnetic letters--spelling Y-U-C-K.  She posted a quickie photo of this on Facebook and I laughed and laughed and laughed.  Sorry Jen, but I think that is just hilarious!  Apparently William is not a big fan of the gluten-free diet.............  However, since it's passed on genetically, there is a 50% chance he might need a gluten free diet himself, so he'd better adjust!  At least until he's had his very own blood test and been given the go ahead to eat foods with gluten and until his mother has time to adjust to this new way of eating and this new way of feeding Atticus. 

I babysat Saturday night.  Jennifer told me that with just a few days on the gluten-free diet, she is feeling much better, more energetic.  And, Atticus is eating better than he has in a long while.  Good news!

I drug Joe along with me to babysit.  It wasn't that he didn't want to be with the kids.  In fact, for a while there, he had a lot of fun with Atticus and Elizabeth.  But, he works all night on Fridays, comes home and stays up til about 6:30 til he leaves for his Gideon prayer breakfast.  Then, by the time he gets home from that and we talk for a few minutes, he usually doesn't get more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep.  So, it's a tough night for him.  He was asleep by 8PM, snoring away on Jen and Jason's couch.  When I got him home, he headed straight for bed.  He snored like a buzz saw all night........a sure sign he's exhausted.  My only salvation on nights like that is if I can get him to roll over and face the wall.  That and two fans blowing in our bedroom is just about enough to muffle the snores........

The kids were all sweet.  When I got in the door, little Mr. Sunshine, Atticus, came running to give me a hug.  So sweet.  Elizabeth is now scooting around on the floor.  I predict she'll be crawling soon.  And, as always, William was a wonderful helper for me, lots better than his grandfather, LOL.  I got my hands on some really cute photos of the kids and when I get a spare moment, I'll scan them and post them here.  I also found out that Jen and Jason had the photographer back to do a kids only photoshoot.  She worked outside and did really well.  I wasn't all that impressed with what I saw of an indoor shoot she did just a few weeks after Elizabeth was born, but lighting for an indoor shoot can be tricky.  She does beautiful work outside. 

Designing

I originally thought the new collaborative kit would hit the store today.  However, due to a breakdown in communication, at least partly my fault, that didn't happen.  Now we're looking at kicking it off on Wednesday.  One of my two creative team girls sent me her page and it looks really good.  I haven't had a minute to work on something.........mostly because I've been busy on another kit.  I think I have that about finished.  I need a quiet moment to "inventory" the elements and see if I've actually created everything I think I should have done.  If so, I'll get it in the posting line-up for May as April's calendar is already full!  It feels good to have some kits done ahead. 

Scrapping

Well, I did do a couple of pages for Bella Gypsy.  I think I've mentioned here before that some clients of mine took care of #1 on their bucket list by going on safari to Tanzania.  They forwarded me 443 photos from the trip.  I can make most of them look better than they look straight out of the camera, but they're not technically great shots.  And, it's apparent they either have the camera set for low resolution or it's an older digital camera.  So, when I ran across this photo, I was ecstatic.  i think it's technically very good and it was fun to scrap.  This uses Bella Gypsy's contribution to Gotta Pixel's monthly Gotta Grab It event, called Boy Theory.

The bead elements and flowers are from other kits.

I live in the desert.  It's not all that easy to get rainy day photos in the desert, so I grabbed this photo from a photo-sharing internet site.  This cute kit is called Drizzle Drops and is available at Elemental Scraps.

 

There is another page which I will post here next time I blog.  I needed an "i" for the title and the girls inadvertently forgot to make one.  They fixed it sometime Saturday, but by then I was out of scrapping time.  So, I'll get that title done and show off the really colorful and fun kit they did called Bee Happy.

I'm giving up.  I'm going to call Joe to say goodnight and then I'm going to bed.  I managed a one hour nap today, mostly intended to rest my back, but I was so tired, I really didn't want to wake up.  Musta been listening to all those snores over the weekend that did me in.  Anyway, later..........