My Weblog

Hump Day

Wednesday.  I like Wednesdays.  It means I am halfway to the weekend.  Oh, blessed thought!  I'll bet you feel the exact same way, right?

So I spent about 9 hours yesterday headquartered mostly right here at the computer.  I did little else because the act of standing up was not pleasant.  And I did not wear the back brace.  After two days of wearing it for substantial periods of time, I have tracks where the bones run.  By 9pm last night, I'd had enough.  I took a handful of whatever and went to bed.  Woke back up at midnight not really feeling any better than I had at 9pm, so I did it all over again.  This morning, I feel fine.  I'm not going to be stupid today.  At some point (soon), I will go get the back brace and truss myself up.  If I wear it for just a few hours, perhaps the bones won't dig in so much and my back will benefit. 

I went out to the kitchen for a cup of coffee when I woke up to find we have another ant invasion.  Local pundits claim that they come into the house looking for water.  Well, I'm not nearly as interested in why they come in as I am in getting rid of them.  But, those local pundits are probably right in that we see these "invasions" mostly in the bathrooms or in the kitchen.  Anyway, the windowsill was crawling with ants.  So, I've sprayed them and now am faced with cleaning up bug bodies.  I HATE bug bodies.  I don't want live ants crawling on me and I don't want dead ants on me either.  And, it seems, I am incapable of cleaning them up without getting some on me.  Yuck!  I am grateful, however, that I live in Nevada.  Mosquitoes are basically non-existent here.  We don't have much of a problem with roaches/water bugs either.  We used to joke that there were only 4 flies in Nevada, but I'm pretty sure there are more than that now.  Must have moved in with some of the immigrants from back east..........  And, imagine my surprise and delight the other morning when I found a scorpion in my bathtub.  But, I remember, in Florida and in Missouri, swatting mosquitoes everytime I went outside in the evening and at least we don't have THAT to contend with.  Just the yucky smell of ant killer.........

Designing

I jumped in with both feet to another collab kit.  At NDISB, we are required to contribute to 4 a year.  Here it was, June, and I'd only contributed to one!  I didn't like that number very well, so I took another look at the color scheme for July's collab and decided I could indeed come up with something for it.  I started yesterday afternoon and finished by 9 last night.  Honestly, I wasn't at all impressed with the colors until I started working with them.  Wow!  They look so much better than I expected.  I even did an alpha to go with the collab since no one else has contributed one.  Anyway, I just zipped all that up and uploaded it to a file sharing site and sent links to the girl who is in charge of it this month.  Last month, though I participated, they forgot to include my stuff in the previews.  I "think" my stuff made it into the kit, just not in the previews.  But, I never get the collabs so I'm not sure.  In theory, the collabs are available to me but, since the store was re-done, I've never been able to get to that part of the server.  So, one can only hope.........  For a while there, it didn't matter.  We had a number of designers whose style I just didn't like.  Now, however, I'm seeing more of what I like and wouldn't mind having those collabs except for limited storage space on my EHD. 

I am still fighting for space on the EHD.  I eliminated more than 6 gigs of stuff last night.  I'll be at it again today.  Since it's now more than 6 months from my last EHD crash, I'm really wondering if I'll ever get it all sorted out.  I suppose the only way to find out is just to keep plodding along.  I am hoping Joe will have time this coming weekend to move my desk around again so that the DVD drive is accessible.  Once I start burning some of my older kits to DVDs, that should free up a LOT of space.  What I do in the meantime is a drop in the bucket compared to that.  Of course, he was only able to buy me 10 DVDs, but still, that ought to handle between 40 and 50 gigs of stuff, so that will make quite a difference.  In the meantime, I have started trying to put away $10 per paycheck into the savings account to help pay for some of the equipment and software I need.  I haven't been able to print a single scrapbook page in a year and a half.  I need a photo quality printer.  And, I need more DVDs.  And I will need another EHD sooner or later.  I really would like to upgrade my design software to PSCS5 and I'd like to get Illustrator.  And, finally, I'd like to get a tablet.  The priciest of these items, by far is PSCS5.  I guess that will come last........

Scrapping

Nothing.  Nada.  Shame on me!

Okay, I have lots to get done in the next few hours, so I have to get to it.  Have a blessed day!

Nevertheless

Yesterday was a "nevertheless" day.  My back was all messed up and I prayed my way through everything I did.  I know that sounds like a lot of prayer, but then, I didn't do that much.  In fact, my major accomplishment for the day was going to work and staying there somewhere close to 3 hours.  And staying in the back brace for about 5 hours.  I prayed my way to work on the strength of one mega Ibuprofen and prayed even harder coming home with that Ibuprofen wearing off.  I ate some dinner and took one of everything back- or pain-related and went to bed.  I slept a long time, given that one of the muscle spasm pills I took has a terrific drug hangover.  By staying in bed, I avoided sitting here, falling asleep, and staring blindly at the screen.  So far, I am sitting at my desk pain free.  I'll just keep praising the Lord and walking in faith that "pain free" continues.  I am making a very definite effort to sit up straight.  No leaning to the side, no bending forward to "sniff" the screen while doing detail work.

I read last night, on ACOT's message board, about one hapless lady's loss of all her data when her EHD failed.  She was in a total state of panic, something I understand completely.  After tinkering for about 8 hours, she managed to get the EHD back on line and recovered her data.  I'm betting she'll find a backup solution for that EHD post haste!

Joe and I received a very nice gift from Matthew and Patty.  It was not something we "needed" but we certainly are going to enjoy having it.  Several years ago we bought a big screen TV with attached DVD player.  It has never worked right.  We have about given up even loading a DVD into the player for fear the player will eat it, as has happened several times.  We do have a DVD player in the living room, but when the kids come over, they frequently come armed with DVD's  and they headquarter in the living room.  It's mighty unhandy to move that player from one room to the other.  They bought us a DVD player!  Now we can watch our Netflix movies!  We seldom sit in the living room as both of us have things we want/need to do online.  And we don't have laptops.  So the DVD player has been in the other room and we've been out here thinking how nice it would be to watch a DVD while we respond to e-mail or design or work on the household books or whatever other project we might be engaged in.  But, no more!  Now we can do both!

I did do a bit of work yesterday with regard to designing.  With the big blog train running through here on July 1, I needed to get my mini kit packaged up, preview uploaded to the blog train site, mini kit uploaded to a file-sharing site, etc.  I managed to get that done so I'm all set when it's time for that blog train.  Hint:  One of my tasks in finishing up that blog mini was creating a coupon for a generous % off on all my stuff at ACOT for whoever uses it.  If you're a scrapper and you participate in the blog train, open my part early.........  Just sayin'

I decided not to use 4shared this time.  I've remained loyal to them for years.  Even when someone started a rumor that they'd downloaded a virus from that site, I didn't believe it and continued to use them.  However, with the advent of the longer wait times to download, coupled with more advertising during those wait times, I went with another site this time.  I'm not convinced that site is all that secure when it comes to digital piracy, but I wanted to make the download process less of a PITA for the participants.  We'll see how that works out.  With 100 designers participating in the blog train, waiting up to 3 minutes for a single download sounds beyond frustrating to me.

I was quite happy last week to discover that Netflix had acquired some new movies.  I'm sure they acquired more than I spotted, but I was happy with what I saw--until I realized I needed to speak Russian, Italian, Spanish, French, and German fluently to watch some of them.  I realize that most websites these days have to take into account that they are serving an international community.  However, how disappointing to find a movie where the description makes it sound like something you might want to watch, only to determine that you have to study Russian for 6 or 7 years in order to be fluent enough for it to make any sense!  I'm thinking it might make sense for them to make a "foreign language" category on their site.

Well, that's about all I have to say for today.  If I don't make it back here before Thursday, be sure to check in then for a mini-kit from yours truly.

How did we get here again so soon?

My calendar says it's Monday again.  Seems like we just had one of those.  Saturday and Sunday go by much too fast around here.

Well, it's official, Joe starts working days on July 5th.  I'm not looking forward to it, but maybe it will work out.  In some ways the idea of me going to work before dawn is a good idea.  When I get home, I'll have the whole day to myself.  To design, to do what needs done around here.  That's certainly something to celebrate, right?  And no more dinners at 9PM.  I like that too.

Yesterday was a rough day here.  My back tried to cause trouble.  It spasmed and it spasmed a LOT.  It hurt like the dickens.  We prayed over it and I took two muscle relaxers and wore the back brace for 7 straight hours.  Can you say OWIE?  The bones in that back brace are merciless.  

Sometimes I think the spasms are caused by the high level of thyroid meds I am taking.  I take other supplements to try to balance out what the thyroid meds inhibit.  This time, I think it is mechanical.  With the best of intentions, while I was in Florida, Joe took my desk apart and reassembled it.  As a result, my CRT ended up being moved from my computer desk to my regular desk.  That raised the level several inches.  I ended up day after day with neck problems, I think because, with the added height, I had to tilt my head back to see the screen through my glasses.  So, I put a cushion in my chair.  That helped with the neck problems and, while I was nursing the latest boil, took the pressure off of the boil.  I basically sat half on the pillow, half off.  Worked great for the boil problem.  However, I ended up sitting at an angle and steadying myself with my left elbow.  My back was not straight.  Worse than that, where it is currently situated, the CRT is angled to the left during the day because of glare from the window behind me.  Again, my back is not straight.  I don't know what we're going to do about it.  Perhaps we can swap out the location of the CRT and the tower.  Another contributing factor is that Joe replaced my old broken up chair mat with a new one.  Unfortunately it is MUCH smaller than the old one.  So, in order for me to get close enough to see the detail I need to see to design, I end up leaning forward.  Anyway, mucho stress on my back all around.  Of course, all this is just guessing, but I think it's pretty good educated guessing.  Now what to do about it all? 

I didn't get a whole lot done other than make a HUGE bowl of potato salad for Joe to take in his lunch.  A couple of weeks ago, I sent him off to Costco and suggested he buy some potatoes.  He came home with a 20 pound bag!  And some of the potatoes have been big enough to use as a weapon.  Seriously, one of these potatoes would be roughly equivalent to 3 baked potatoes in a restaurant.  I filled my largest bowl with potatoes yesterday and only cooked 5 potatoes!  Anyway, it turned out pretty yummy.  I'm used to putting hard boiled eggs in my potato salad.  I did 7 hard boiled eggs and chopped them up and put them in there and, honestly, they were lost amongst all the potato.  

For 3 weeks now, we have been trying to get someone from our mortgage lender to call us back with regard to a loan modification.  We filed all the paperwork last October.  Then when they became aware we were in bankruptcy, all communication stopped, as it should.  However, Joe's bankruptcy was dismissed on April 13.  When he contacted them, early in June, they were still telling us they couldn't talk to us because of the bankruptcy.  Yes sir, they are right on the ball!  So, apparently there is only one person we can talk to.  He has a very efficient voicemail.  It takes all our calls.  Then, apparently, it eats our messages so he doesn't  have to return our calls.  And, the Obama administration can't figure out why so few people have taken advantage of the loan mod program.  Perhaps for reasons such as this?  Lenders really seem to work at making the process incomprehensible and nonfunctional. 

Designing

I worked this weekend, around the back pain incident, on a mini kit for a blogtrain that starts on July 1.  Cute, if I do say so.  Still have to get it uploaded and all that so that's what I'll be doing when I finish here.

Scrapping

I did not scrap this weekend.  No time.  Since I don't have a laptop, I can't scrap in bed, LOL.

Edging toward the weekend

This week I hope not to feel the need to go to work.  That makes the weekend look much more attractive to me!  Can't wait..........

Well, I have sorta landed in the dog house.  Maybe not.  However, my recent "behavior" as a designer has been the topic of discussion on the Message Board (forum) at ACOT.  I'm not overly fond of being the topic of discussion, but..........  Here's the deal:  I love ACOT.  I really do.  The site is always up, no crashes, no downtime.  I am paid immediately at month end.  For uploading kits to their store, their custom software is among the easiest out there.  I have been so happy to be able to sell there.  As I see it, there is a fly in the ointment.  The site was originally an online scrapbooking store.  They sold sheets of paper, stickers, scrapbooking tools, etc.  And it was for this purpose their software was designed.  When they decided to add a digital scrapbooking side, they reworked their software to accommodate digital.  And, they've reworked parts of the software as the need has arisen.  

You know, when I post my kits here, I will show you the kit as a whole, and then I show you the parts--the elements, the patterned papers, the solids.  That way you get a good look at everything and if you want to buy the kit, you can just click on the buttons above and go straight to my store.  And, as designers, we tinker with our preview format.  I've used one format for a while but I had another format before that.  I liked my prior format because I thought it gave everyone a good look at the parts of the kit at first glance.  However, it was "different" and on the advice of some experienced designers, I changed it back to the format you see now.  Even now, though, a few kits from now, you will see a different layout for the Printed Papers Preview.  Why?  I put so many papers in a kit that with the standard preview, it's difficult to get an idea of what the papers really look like. 

ANYWAY, at ACOT, the only thing I can display in the store is the main preview.  They made a stab at fixing the software to allow additional previews and, while in the doghouse, I found out that I am not the only one who can't make the "fix" work.  I asked about ways to display the additional previews in the designers forum and basically got told there was no way to do it.  You can do a thread in the forum and add all the previews there, but when a customer is looking at the kit in my store, all they really see is the kit preview.  If they want to see more, they have to go search the forum.  And any experienced marketing or sales guy will tell you you don't want your customers wandering off somewhere else while they're thinking about a purchase!

One of the really neat parts of the ACOT software is that when you post a layout in the gallery, if you got the kit at ACOT, you can add in the product number of the kit in the store and a few minutes later, your layout will show up on a tab, linked to the product, in the store.  So, I reasoned that the way to give my customers the detail previews they expect would be to post those supporting previews in the gallery, just as if they were a pretty layout, and link them up.  Then, when a customer is making a decision about whether what's in the kit is something she wants to purchase, the detail previews could be clicked on and viewed.  MUCH more detail able to be seen.  Good for me, good for the customer, and since ACOT gets a part of what I earn, good for ACOT.

So, I asked for and got permission to "Post away".  And, slowly, one kit at a time, I've been adding previews.  I am not flooding the layout gallery with them.  Anyway, someone who isn't even a digiscrapper was prowling around the digi gallery and decided to raise the issue that she didn't like seeing the previews in the digi gallery.  Geez!  A) She isn't a digi scrapper, so why should she care?  B) As a paper scrapper, she shops in the paper side of the store where papers are sold one at a time.  There is no visibility problem when you're buying one paper and there is a photo of the one paper right there.  So, she has no clue what it's like to buy 20 papers and 40 elements in a package and wonder if you're making the right decision. 

So, I'm in the doghouse because someone who is totally unaffected by my posting kit previews in the digi gallery, and doesn't have a clue why that would be important, doesn't like it.  Actually, a number of digi gals popped to my defense for which I am grateful.  They understand what I am trying to do and say it helps them.  So, it's not awful unless management decides to squelch it for some reason.  Then I'll be ticked!  But, I spent substantial time last night writing out a response to this woman, trying to make it clear what I'm trying to do and why.  I really didn't want to spend my time that way!  And, I am convinced that once someone draws attention to me in a negative way, there is a subtle change in the perception of others toward the negative.  Geez.........

Well, I'm just going to pretend I'm some goofy Hollywood starlet and that any kind of publicity is good if it causes people to check out my kits.  So there!

Besides all that, I've been feeling pretty darn bad.  I've put 3 kits and a huge collaborative kit in my store at ACOT this month.  Lots of bright shiny new inventory.  Kits I am quite proud of.......  And it's the worst month for sales I've ever had at ACOT.  Darn!  And right on the heels of the best month I've ever had.  I asked in the designer's forum and one designer has answered.  She says it's her worst month too.  So either everyone hates us both, or digital sales in general are in the toilet this month.  

So, I've been wanting to do a forum for me and my CT.  I took a run at it last night with a free forum and I must say it is totally beyond my abilities.  It involves a knowledge, be it a limited knowledge, of html.  Just put those four letters together like that and I start to twitch.  I actually thought I was making progress for a little while, then it seemed everything I did evaporated.  I dunno.  I think I'm gonna have to get someone to do this for us.  I get SO DARN MUCH e-mail on a daily basis and I hate the thought of cluttering up my CT's e-mail.  But I DO need to communicate with them.  A forum would take care of that.  And, it would also provide a centralized place for us to post layouts with the kits, etc.  Sometimes there'll be someone on a CT who can do this kind of thing, but if any of my ladies has this kind of talent, she's sure keepin it quiet!  Well, it will stay on my wish list til I'm past the worst sales month of my life because I'm almost certain to have to pay for it.  Darn!

Actually, I just sent Matthew an e-mail and asked him to take a look at the forum thing.  He's been tinkering around with all sorts of internet stuff.  I promised to buy him a 16 oz Margarita on a hot day if he could make it work.  That'll be cheap enough and a good motivator for him.

Oh, and I MUST make a correction here before I forget AGAIN.  I told you all the story of William's sad day at the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz.  How he played the "claw" machine and lost all his money........  How we would need to be concerned that he would grow up to be a gambling addict, LOL.......  NOT SO!  He clarified that for his mom when he got home from camp on Sunday.  Yes he did play the "claw" machine.  And yes he did lose all his money.  BUT, he didn't lose all his money IN the "claw" machine.  He just lost the money--physically lost his money, as it dropped out of his pocket or something on that nature.  So now we only have to be concerned about him being a kid!  And, shortly, in fact much too soon, that will cure itself.  Or maybe just be concerned about him being human (and there's no cure for that, LOL).  I seem to remember my father for whom William is named losing his whole vacation wad when it fell out of his pocket in a men's restroom at an airport or some such story.  And he was definitely not a kid at the time, just one very sad human.  From that point on, he'd arrive wearing a shoe full of money, reasoning it couldn't fall out of there unless he took the shoe off!  Of course with airport security these days, even a shoe full of money wouldn't be all that safe since you have to remove your shoes!

Oh, and I'm here to confess I am totally nutso.  I decided to pull out the kit I plan to release at the end of July and make sure it is good to go.  Well, this just goes to show that I just can't leave well enough alone.  It was a perfectly good kit.  Nothing looked like it could be done better.  Nothing looked out of date.  BUT, I've added 5 new papers, two doodled flowers and 3 glittered flourishes to it so far.  I swear, I just can't quit! 

I'm outta here.  I need to go add some more stuff to that perfectly good kit, LOL.

Even if it takes a miracle

Monday night was a very poor night for Joe.  He didn't even net minimum wage for his 12 hour shift.  And, of course, the lower his "book", the lower his tips.  He did have one good tip, about $8, from a couple who had been passed on to him from another driver.  When you're not busy, time passes slowly.  And he gets himself into this "I have to find another ride" mindset.  Over and over we talk about how God supplies the rides, but, when it's miserably slow, he has trouble hanging onto it.  And he gets more tired than usual and worried and worn.  Last night the same folks called him and wanted just to ride up and down the strip and see all the bright lights of Vegas.  When the ride was over, the husband tipped him an appropriate amount for the ride.  Then, quietly, the wife called him aside and asked him, "If I give you something for Wendell (the other driver), will you make sure he gets it?"  When Joe said yes, she handed him 2 $100 bills, one for him, one for Wendell.  After a 50% split with the company, as well as gasoline costs, taxicab authority fees, airport fees, all of which are borne by Joe, I'd have to guess that was roughly equivalent to Joe booking an extra $250.  The words of an old song just flitted through my mind:  "God will make a way when it seems there is no way."  Even if it takes a miracle.

I'm still hard at work on disk clean up.  I just might still be working on that come November, LOL........  I have managed now to find 190 gigs of free space on the EHD.  It is performing better and I am defragging it now which should help even more.  Normally in each file for each kit, I would have several folders containing the actual stuff I upload to the stores.  One folder for the alpha, one for the elements, one for the solid papers,one for the patterned papers.  Flattened files in jpg and png format.  I also keep my layered files which are terrific memory eaters, but important to me.  If for some reason I have to rework the file, I NEED those layered files.  There is also a file with all the store previews in it at web size, but I always keep the layered files of these too.  Then, I've kept the zip files which are created from the elements file, the patterned paper file, the alpha file, etc.  However, because of the EHD crash and recovery, in some cases there will be up to 5 copies of the "stuff" folders.  But, I can't be sure everything is in any of those 5 copies because of the way the recovery has gone.  So, this whole process is a real challenge to my ADD brain.  I have to start at the bottom of the "tree", copy everything in that file to the file at the top of the tree.  If it won't copy without asking me if I want to keep two copies, I know I have at least some duplicates and I delete those duplicates.  Then I delete that "bottom of the tree" file and step up a layer on the "tree" and repeat the process.  And, deleting one copy of a paper might get me back 1.5 mb, a far cry from the many gigabytes I hope to recover over all.  So, it is a slow process.  The first thing I delete is the zip files; I can always recreate them.  Then it's one button, one brad, one silk flower, one ribbon, one paper at a time.  Amazingly time consuming for tiny increments of improvement.  But I will forge ahead. 

Around here, I've still been fighting the vacuuming battle.  I've made two complete rounds through the house now.  The first required 3 vacuum cleaner bags and netted more than a FULL grocery bag of dog hair besides.  The second round required 2 vacuum cleaner bags and netted an overage of about 2/3's of a grocery sack of dog hair.  I am hoping by the next round to have made a real dent in the dust problem.  Perhaps if I can keep that vacuum cleaner going, I can dust less and breathe easier.  It has, however, taken substantial prayer and substantial resting time to do the vacuuming.  It is said that vacuuming is one of the worst things one can do for one's back, and I'm here to testify that it's so.  I can't go more than about 5 minutes without starting to feel it.  And in that substantial time is spent during each 5 minute period of vacuuming in clearing dog hair out of the tube that runs from the brush up to the bag which requires bending, it is a long, slow, and laborious process.  So about 5 minutes, then I sit down.  Then another 5 minutes, then I lie down.  And so it goes.  Perhaps as I get a leg up on the dog hair and don't have to spend so much time bent over trying to clean out that tube, my back will fare better.  I hope so.  I'm ever so grateful that my back, though hurting, has not spasmed in this process.  THAT is how I got into this mess in the first place!  THAT and my husband only vacuuming once during the two months when I was not able to............  I consider the lack of spasming another miracle.  In fact, in spite of how it ached last night after going through half of the living room and all of the office, it is not even sore.  Miracle indeed.

I also cleaned the kitchen floor last night.  It was so in need of cleaning that I actually went over it twice.  In the light of day, it honestly looks like it could use yet one more mopping.  I have threatened Joe within an inch of his life if he spills on the floor and doesn't clean up after himself.  Honestly, I think that behavior is inexcusable if you're over the age of two.  If you could see the spills on the counter top and the dust everywhere else in the house, you'd know I don't have time to wipe up dried spots of whatever from the floor too.

I listened this morning to the first sermon in a series on spiritual warfare.  I was struck by the fact that the pastor read off numerous quotes from Winston Churchill.  Then I went searching on the internet for more Churchill quotes.  My goodness, that man had a God-given way with words.  A true wordsmith.  It occurred to me that just as he was a wartime warrior so we are also wartime warriors.  There is never a moment when we do not have to choose between that which is evil and that which is good.  It may be circumstances, an action, an emotion, a thought, but the battle rages on without respite.  We, as Christians are required to be ever vigilant.  We must guard our thoughts, allowing only those thoughts that line up with the Word.  We must guard our emotions, making sure they are based on the Word, not our hurt feelings or perceived offenses.  We must choose to act in the right way which sometimes requires that we give up our rights.  We must allow ourselves to look at our circumstances only through the filter of what God says about them.  Only by exerting control over ourselves in these areas, can we live a victorious life for what the WORD says about us, our circumstances, our emotions, etc., is always victorious.  Our own pastor, Sunday morning, talked about how sometimes it is necessary to tell people we won't talk to them as long as they spew poison into our lives.  Of course, we don't hate them for the poison.  And we can't allow ourselves to feel offended or rejected or angry or discouraged by what is said.  And it may be a (and I use this word advisedly) hell of a battle to get to equanimity after such a thing happens.  But, the TRUTH is what the WORD says about us, not what some human says.  And, sometimes, this process of constant warfare, like a soldier in battle, leaves us haggard and worn.  It should not be so, but we are only human.  I have been known to cry out in prayer for respite.  But, the fact remains that if I get that pain-free or trouble-free day for which I've cried out, the next day I must be up and ready for battle, for as surely as the sun rises, battle will come.  That day after the rest will be the "Tet Offensive" of the month...........  And, so we mark the days of our lives by the spiritual battles we fight.  And, if you're not conscious of fighting spiritual battles, you'd better reconsider who you are supposed to be in Christ.  While Christ does not make a continual onslaught on unbelievers, satan does make a continual onslaught on believers.  So, no onslaught on you?  Where do you stand in Christ?

Designing

I am really ahead in designing.  One of my CT ladies has very limited time to devote to scrapbooking though it is her greatest joy.  She has asked that I try to get kits to the CT at least a week ahead of the time they will go into the store.  I have always had a rough idea of what was coming next, but would frequently wait til the last minute to get it all spit polished and ready for upload.  With the need to get things out a week early, I can't do that any more and that is a good thing.  I sat down a couple of days ago and sent out an e-mail to the 3 ladies who, so far, are my whole team, and laid out what would go into the store in July.  I've already decided I'm not going to put any more kits into the store in June.  And, I've decided I'm not doing a 4th of July kit. 

I am doing 2-3 solo kits a month.  And a collaborative kit with Sharia each month.  I realized as I wrote that e-mail, that the kit I am polishing up right now is for release at the end of July!  This is like sitting in the catbird seat, let me tell you.  Of course, now I have to think about what I'll do for August, but I'm not under the gun to do anything design related.  That's a very good feeling! 

Hoping to get to this point for several months.  Now, I hope I'll have time to set up a CT forum.

Scrapping

Nope.  Nary a thing.

Have a great, victorious day!

I can't say I've gotten a lot done but at least it's been a quiet morning. 

I keep working on this EHD.  With all my work, I still don't have 180 Gigs of free space.  But, I am determined to make this work, so I will keep at it.  I was ready to take the first kit or so off the machine when I realized that I can't get to the DVD drive.  When Joe worked on the computer while I was out of town, he turned the computer around so the front of the machine faces the wall.  The only way I am going to insert a DVD is by feel because I certainly can't SEE where to put it!  This makes that backup problem a bit more difficult............

The last thing I wanted to do yesterday was go to work.  I have so much behind the scenes stuff to accomplish with the design business.  But, it is work that pays my bills.  So, off to work I went.  Got a few things done and then hit on what could be a bonanza.  I've got to look at it closer, but I think I saved the company $18,000 last night.  Not that anyone will say "Good job!" or anything like that, but still......

Not much else going on around here so let's move on to

Design

Well, the latest kit by HotFlashDesign and Sharia Braxton Designs hit my ACOT store and her store at Elemental Scraps.  It's a giant kit.  STUFFED with goodies.  In fact it is SO BIG we had to change the way we are selling it to sell the elements and papers separately.  Otherwise, you couldn't see the papers for all the elements.  Here are some previews.

 

 

 

 

The glitters are being sold for commercial use as well as for personal use and S4H/S4O use.  They are unique, as far as I know, because they are 12 x 12 sheets.  I don't know of any other designer who sells glitters in 12 x 12 sheets.

Scrapping

Nary a thing from me.  If I can figure out how, I'm going to show you a page one of my CT ladies scrapped with the kit above.  Lemme see........

 

As best I can tell, everything but the matting on the photo and the elements in the right hand lower corner is glitter.  Oh, the stitching isn't glitter.........  Anyway, she said that this is her nephew and his new wife who are in Romania (her parents are foreign missionary school teachers).  The more I look at this, and believe me I've looked at it A LOT, it looks to me like a beautiful woven or hand painted piece of eastern European art with a photo displayed in front of it.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I can't imagine how long it must have taken her to piece this together.......  Sharia commented that she didn't think it was possible to use so much glitter on a layout without it looking overdone, but this doesn't look overdone.  I agree.  Hope you like it too.

I'm outta here.  Things on my to do list are nagging at me.......  Have a great day.

Monday, Monday

I thought if I used the words from the song, in that singing tends to lift the emotions, I might feel better about it being Monday.  It didn't work, but it was worth a try.

First off, I am going to tiptoe into the bedroom shortly and take Joe's temperature.  At some point yesterday, he "cleaned" the kitchen.  Now, believe me, this is NOTHING like what I would do, but it is a real improvement over what he usually does.  Remarkable really.  I hope he's not sick.  He actually wiped out the sink when he was done (forgot the faucet).  Though there are a few fresh coffee drips, you can tell he actually kinda wiped down the counter top.  And, most amazing of all, did some work on the stove top.  Is this perfection?  Did he do it "right"?  No, but it's a darn sight better than his usual.  I am so grateful.  Most days, I spend about all the time I have available for the kitchen and get no further than the countertops and loading the dishwasher.  Because of his efforts, there is a genuine possibility I could see "uncharted" parts of the kitchen today.  Whoopee!  I love to go exploring..........

He and I seem to be on opposite schedules today.  I was up from 3:30AM til 5AM with a blood pressure headache.  I guess I took my BP pill too close to bedtime and it didn't really start to work before I went to sleep and body processes slowed down.  Anyway, I came out here and worked a little on the computer, waiting for the pill to really begin to work.  I went back to bed and not long after Joe got up.  I'm not sure how long he stayed up but he's back in bed again and I'm out here working...... 

Yesterday morning at 4AM, there was a "bid" for the cab drivers.  That means they all congregate at the company offices and are called in by groups to "bid" (based on seniority) on the available cabs/shifts the company has.  Joe had increased in seniority by about 25% since the last "bid", but it was not enough to get him anything worthwhile.  With his company, you can always work (maybe).  If you're on the schedule as a driver, you get a cab.  If you're on the schedule as an extra, you get a cab if there's one available after all the regulars are taken care of.  If it's your scheduled day off, you can show up and if there's a cab left over after the regulars and extras have their cabs, you can get a cab.  Joe's most recent schedule had him as a regular cab driver Monday through Thursday nights, and as an extra on Friday night.  Actually, this has worked out pretty well.  I don't think there've been more than 2 Fridays in the last 6 months when he didn't get a cab, albeit, he's had to work some strange schedules.  But, he wanted M-F nights, regular as his schedule.  One of the managers who could always be counted on to see to it that Joe got a cab has left the company, and I think Joe was concerned about the possibility that he would not get a cab on "extra" days.  In any case it was all moot.  By the time they got to him, every night shift was gone.  So, for the next 6 months, he's driving 4AM-4PM, days all the way.  The only good thing about this is that he's a regular on all 5 days, no standing at someone's mercy and begging for a cab to drive.  Traditionally, day shift does NOT make as much money as night shift.  And, this schedule is for July-December.  It will be hotter than Hades out there, making it miserable to have to be lifting people's suitcases around and hop in and out of the cab to help folks load.  Worse, the cost of gasoline is borne by the driver.  So, with the need to run the A/C full throttle through AT LEAST the end of September, that's a problem.  Of course, this comes at the time of year when power bills and water bills are soaring........  We will be calling on Jehovah God for some of that divine favor He's promised in Psalm 5:12 to get us through the summer..........

I'm not sure how all of this will work out here in the house.  I get so much less done when he's around.  I'm not looking forward to a drop in productivity.  He will get home from work around 5PM.  No later than 8PM he'll have to be in bed because he'll have to be back up again by 3AM and on his way minutes later.  I'm not used to having him around and I stay busy in the house and with my designing, so I can't actually say I miss having him here.  In fact, it just might be the opposite; it's just possible I regard his absences (whether driving or sleeping) as a chance to do my own thing.  And, I am certainly not used to "cooking dinner".  Dinner for me ranges from pop tarts to frozen crab cakes to pot stickers to a PB&J sandwich.  I'm pretty sure he's not going to be up for those kinds of choices........  And, I will have to change my work schedule.  I've been working roughly 5PM to 8PM.  This means he leaves for work around 3:15 and I have an hour to pull myself together and work my way out the door.  I guess I will now switch to going to work at 5AM.  YUCK!  I sure hate the sound of that!

He always acts like Father's Day is no big thing.  I think he's afraid I'll see how disappointed he is if his kids don't remember him.  According to him, he has 5 kids.  Matthew, Jennifer, Christy, Misty, and Erica.  Yesterday, he was counting them off.  Matthew and Patty took us to lunch at Olive Garden.  Jennifer called and explained that yesterday was a really full day for her but invited us to lunch next Sunday.  Christy and Erica called from California.  Misty texted him.  At the end of the day, according to him, he was 5 for 5 and smiling.  Matthew usually comes up with something for Father's Day.  And, Jennifer always remembers him.  He loves that!  And Erica can always be counted on for a phone call.  Christy/Misty are unknowns.  He was the only Daddy they had from the time they were 5 years old on, but, when his marriage to their mother broke up, they clung to their mother and he was more or less abandoned.  One would hope that as they've gotten older, they might have realized how blessed they were to have a man step up and shoulder the responsibility of two little girls and love doing it.  Many men might marry a woman, but few will truly love someone else's children.  Truly love them enough to be Daddy in every sense of the word.....  I actually took him out for Prime Rib at our favorite $7.99-Prime-Rib-dinner place Saturday night.

William is home from camp.  Apparently he had a lot of fun, but though it was a camp sponsored by the Quakers, wasn't able to enunciate much that he'd learned during the week.  Of course, to know William is to know that he has no qualms about telling the world about how smart he is and how little new he learns from day to day....... Truly he IS extremely bright; I just hate to think he finds so little challenge in each new day. 

Saturday evening, Joe transplanted a tree.  We have no idea how, but God caused a palm tree to grow in our rose garden.  For all the years I've been in this house, we had one of those pretty red-leafed maples growing in the smaller side of our front yard.  However, it died and we had to take it down.  It has looked SO bare out there.  I was inspired to have that volunteer palm tree transplanted to somewhere near where the other tree had been.  It took me three weekends to motivate Joe to dig it up and then dig the hole for it in the front yard, but, by George, we have a palm tree about 20 inches tall in our front yard now.  I'm sure, as it grows, it will add beauty to the yard.  But, it was really hard work digging it up and digging that hole in the front yard.  Now we have to pray that God will cause it to continue growing in its new home.........

Designing

Well, today there will be a new kit in my stores--as soon as I can find where on my hard drive I dumped the previews, LOL.  I did a mini for ACOT on Saturday and that turned out very well.  Then, yesterday, I did some hard drive clean up.  You remember that backup that went on for about 5 days?  Well, I decided I would never go through THAT again.  It was my design file that was the problem and it was the largest file on my hard drive--completed kits, minis I hope to turn into kits "someday", bits and pieces, color schemes I've put together, and so on.  First I moved the color schemes to a separate file but that didn't make much of a difference.  Then I split the kits that are in my stores off into a separate file.  When I did that, I somehow lost 100 gigs of hard drive space.  Oops.  NO IDEA what caused that.  Then I worked on two more kits.  Suddenly I found myself with a sluggish EHD and in the red zone as to available space. 

So, I started on trying to figure out what I could delete that would buy me some space.  First I found that my photo file was backed up to two EHDs.  That's not necessary in that I have off site backup going.  Deleted the photo file on my working hard drive and gained back about 28 gigs.  Then the tough stuff began.  Remember I said that the EHD was sluggish, I think, because it was SO full.  So, even the act of deleting took forever.  I found I was back to the "duplicate" problem that arose out of the previous hard drive crash and recovery.  I have bits and pieces splattered all over that part of the hard drive.  The recovery process went something like this.  Ask for kit A and get 3 papers.  Ask for kit A again and get a paper and 6 elements.  Ask for kit A again and get nothing.  Ask for kit A again and get 7 papers and 1 element.  Ask for kit A again and get 3 layered files back.  And so on until it seemed I either had it all or I just gave up and started on Kit B.  So, some of my files contain 4 or 5 copies of all sorts of things.  And the process of sorting through and eliminating duplicates, triplicates, quadruplicates, etc., is painstaking and SLOW.  My original intent was to copy some of the completed kits onto DVD and store them.  However, with all the multiples in the files, most of them wouldn't even fit on a DVD.  I can see this is going to be a LONG process.  I feel like I'm slogging through jungle without a machete!

There IS a new kit going up today but I can't show it off yet because I can't find where on my hard drive I dropped the previews in the middle of my "clean up" mess.  So, if you want to see the pretty pretty papers and other goodies, you'll have to check back later.

Scrapping

As usual, Bella Gypsy put out two new kits this weekend.  One was a kit themed for a backyard bar-be-cue.  They have obviously never spent a summer in Vegas.  Who wants to go stand by an open barbecue fire when it's 110 degrees?  Do I need to tell you I have NOTHING to go with that theme in terms of photos.  Actually, I DO have some photos from a picnic we went on when Jen was 4 but I certainly didn't have the time to dig THOSE out, LOL.  So I only scrapped with one kit.

This is a beautiful soft kit, called Upsy Daisy.  It's a collaborative kit with Connie Prince.  Oh, and by the way, I have no idea who the person in the photo is--I grabbed the photo off the internet.  Upsy Daisy is available today at Elemental Scraps.

Well, enjoy your Monday, Monday.  Sing a little.  It'll make you smile.  It might make the neighbors complain, but it'll make YOU smile. 

Saturday afternoon

and somehow I am still home.  I tried to find out what time Mr. Joe would be getting up, but he just kind of grunted at me.  So, you can bet, if I leave now, 20 minutes from now my cell phone will ring and he'll be there asking where I am and when I'm coming home, LOL.

He did not have a very good night last night.  I don't know if it's the economy, the lack of conventions, the hot temperatures, or what, but he found the town to be decidedly "empty" for a Friday night in Vegas.  We'll feel that when he gets his next paycheck.  Slowly, his faith has been growing.  He has a "buddy" who is one of the biggest cheats around.  His "buddy" takes folks way out of their way to boost the meter, talks to every breathing male from less than 21 to 90 about going to a strip club or a house of ill repute, just looks for anything at all that will net him money.  Lately, with the Lord's help, Joe has been ahead of him all the way.  Of course, it takes a lot of work on Joe's part, but the Lord has been faithful to "bless the work of his hands".  It almost seems as though the test is to see if Joe will complain about things early in the evening.  As Christians, we should be full of the joy of the Lord and full of faith.  If we believe His promises, and if we have faith in them, then our countenances, our speech, etc., should reflect our joy at living a secure, blessed, healthy, safe, long life.  Particularly if we are doing our best to be "God chasers".  But, Joe's orientation has been to complain.  Complain about the other drivers who cheat and make more than he does as a result.  Complain about the passengers who give him a 10 cent tip.  Complain about the traffic.  Complain about getting radio calls that take him way out of his way.  Just complain in general.  He has definitely been a "cup half empty" kind of guy.  We've had a lot of conversations about this.  It's just not a Godly way to talk.  After many conversations, it is getting better.  But, the blessings that come his way during the evening, come from the most unexpected places and at the most unexpected times.  A $50 ride at 2AM, and when he tells me about how it all happened, I can almost hear Daddy Jehovah chuckle.  And so, praise God, we are beginning to be a bit more joyful around here; circumstances haven't changed, but, perhaps just a little, my 60-year-old "old dog" is learning a few new tricks.  Hope so!  I certainly don't have this locked down myself, but I did learn, a long time ago, that every cloud has a silver lining.  You can either look at the problem or you can look at that silver lining.  I manage to stay on a much more even keel that way though I do have my lapses.  I think I'll do better when Joe completes the transition from cup-half-empty to cup-half-full.  Hard to live with a negative person........

Well, good news!  It's the weekend and we have NO plumbing problems, LOL!  After fixing toilets two weeks in a row, it's a relief a) that we have no more toilets and b) that everything else seems to be in working order (except the front wall and the garage door, but neither of those fall under the heading of plumbing).  Last week's plumbing problem turned out to be an easy fix.  The washer and nut on the bottom of the water tank had, over the years, somehow worked their way loose, just a little, so there was some dripping going on from that source.  Joe tightened things up and no more drip.  

We are going to have to do something about the front wall.  Like much that was done around here before my time, the block wall which separates the back yard from the front was badly built.  It needs re-bar, concrete, and to be tied into the blocks to the side of it.  It keeps blowing down when it's windy and it's too heavy for Joe and I to right.  He has to try to get Matthew and his muscles over here to set it back up.  The company is having a lull in work, and one of the guys who works there can fix ANYTHING.  I need to remind Joe to call Tino about the wall.........  Get it fixed now while he is not working so many hours.......

Tomorrow is Father's Day.  I'm not too sure what to do about that.  Maybe I will drag Joe to Target and buy him some underwear.  My mother would be talking to him about what people would think if he was in a car accident and had to go to the hospital in the ones he currently owns.  Really, they are pretty scandalous.......... 

So William has been away all week at camp.  It took three tries, but Jennifer and I finally connected by phone and I got the scoop on some of the camp happenings.  First, the information the camp sent was that he should bring $15 with him as they would be going to the boardwalk at Santa Cruz one day and that way he'd have some money to spend on games and snacks.  Well, Jennifer actually gave him $20, thinking perhaps he'd want to buy some gum at the airport or somehow end up short a pair of socks and need to buy another.  It seems that Jason also gave him $20.  So, I guess Will was the Richie Rich of the camp with $40 in his pocket.  He got to playing one of those games where you feed some money in, a claw comes down, and you try to maneuver it to grab a stuffed animal.  Apparently, he got "hooked".  He put almost all of his money into that machine and then cried because he'd lost it all.  Then he tried to get one of the counselors to buy him a cotton candy.  The counselor told him he knew Will still had some money and Will could buy his own cotton candy.  Will's answer was that the money he had left was his allowance and he needed to save it!  No, no one bought him cotton candy.  He seems to be having a good time from the reports we are getting.  I'd have bet on the boy being homesick, but I'd have been dead wrong.  He obviously has more guts than I gave him credit for.  Shame on me.  Bad Grandma!  Over and over, he is exhibiting more characteristics that inspire my admiration.  BTW, Jen, we've got to keep that boy away from slot machines when he grows up, LOL!  I thought Atticus would really miss having his big brother around, but Jennifer reports that he seemed to miss William the first night, but hasn't seemed to mind since then.    

So, shortly after Jennifer moved, taking the family's small dog, Dakota, with her, Jason adopted a dog.  He's always been a fan of small dogs, but somehow ended up getting some sort of Labrador Retriever or Retriever mix.  The dog's name is Mikey.  When I try to picture a "Mikey" in my head, I see a mischievous little boy.  Well, Mikey fits the profile except he's a dog.  Poor Mikey has been in a number of different homes.  So, it stands to reason he has some separation anxiety when he is left alone.  And my experience with Labs is that they are "puppies" long after they are full grown.  So, when they are bored, they chew.  We, in fact, still have a little bit of a problem with Parker, who I estimate is pushing two years old.  The last time Jason went out of town, he asked Jennifer to watch the dog.  While Mikey was at Jen's house, he ate Bethie's sippy cup, Bethie's toys, Atticus's toys, and various and sundry other objects as well as chewing on the arm of her couch.  Jennifer told Jason, in no uncertain terms, that she would not be watching Mikey again.  Jason went out of town again this week and thought he was going to get Jennifer to watch Mikey.  There is obviously some part of "I will never watch Mikey again" that he didn't process.  Anyway, poor Mikey spent the week being boarded.  I have no idea when Jason is due home but I'm sure there's going to be one very happy "puppy" when Mikey gets picked up!

I have been vacuuming intently in this house.  No one would believe the amount of dog hair that has been collected.  You know those plastic grocery bags?  I completely filled one of those with dog hair.  In fact it was so full that when I went to tie it shut, it sent off billows of dust.  That was in addition to using a new vacuum cleaner bag for the hall, a new vacuum cleaner bag for the living room/dining room, and a new vacuum cleaner bag for the office.  Holy moley!  I started on the second round last night.  I have done the hall and our bedroom and have about a quarter of a bag of dog hair hanging on the vacuum, as well as starting off with a new vacuum cleaner bag.  I'm figuring on at least two bags for the vacuum this time through.  But, I am bound and determined to get ahead of it.  In the meantime, I've been brushing Max daily.  When I first started brushing him, months ago, he wanted no part of it.  Now, with the help of puppy treats, he comes to be brushed.  I seem to fill the brush at least two times every day.  You'd think the dog would be bald by now, but he's not!  However, I'm sure there's less dust and dander around here these days.  The other dogs, seeing that Max gets treats, get excited and line up and crowd in to be brushed as well, but they shed very little.  I brush them anyway, just because they enjoy it.  Oddly enough, I read that brushing a dog prevents doggy odor and that seems to work well. 

Design

I have just about finished the kit I've been working on.  I'm still in love with it.  It is so darn cute!  I still have previews to do, but that's it. 

I found out today that ACOT desperately needs a collaborative kit done by July 1 for publication in a magazine to be released in September.  Whew!  Seeing as I have another collaborative kit to contribute to by July 1, fast action was called for.  I've actually managed to put together a good looking mini kit and a complete alpha in the last few hours.  Whoever put together the color scheme seems to have been enamored of dark and drab colors.  I know it is a fall kit, but honestly early fall is anything but dark and drab.  Shhhh!  I've taken a little designer's license with the colors.  Still definitely the same root color, but lightened up some.  They were all so dark, it was hard to distinguish one color from another.  Why bother with a kit if all the papers and elements look like they're the same color?  Oh, well, I'm pleased with what I've done and will have it done within the next hour.  Yippee!

Scrapping

I've been too busy around the house, designing, etc., to have done any scrapping.  But I MUST do some before the day is out.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have some pretty pages to show you.  Either that or I'll be shot at dawn no later than Monday morning, LOL.

Have a great day!

It's here!

Friday, that is! And I, frankly, am happy about that. I will probably end up going to work tomorrow anyway, but it's good to know no one but me expects me to do that. 

Well, I celebrated a bit too early over the lancing of the boil.  I forgot how very sore that becomes afterward.  So, Wednesday, I did not go to work.  Last night I went for just a couple of hours.  But, today, today we can legitimately celebrate as it is almost pain free. 

Just before I went to Florida last month, I got a new cell phone.  I argued that I didn't really need a new phone, just a new battery, but Joe would not have it any other way.  Much to our consternation, although the new cell phone is manufactured  by the same maker as my old phone and Joe's current phone, the charger we had did not fit (That's called marketing, folks).  Of course, they sent me a charger with the phone, but my car charger didn't work.  And, I am not the greatest at remembering to plug the darned phone in until I want to use it and see it's almost out of juice.  I've been trying to get to the AT&T store ever since.  Unfortunately, they close before or about the time I usually leave work.  And, I am not going to spend the gasoline to make a special trip.  So, having gone to work last night and then leaving early, I decided to deal with the charger issue since it was something I could do standing up, LOL.  I ended up getting a charger for the car and a blue tooth.  I don't like driving with one hand while talking on the cell phone.  But, Joe talks me home from work most every night.  So, now I have a blue tooth so I can drive properly.  It was a bit humorous.  They gave me a "case" for my phone because I bought the "bundle"--charger and blue tooth.  What was humorous is that they had the nerve to tell me the case is a $30 value.  Well, I'm certain there are people in the world who would indeed pay $30 for a cheap molded plastic phone case, but this lady isn't one of them.  I swear, it's unlikely the darned thing costs $2 to manufacture (somewhere offshore, of course) and import.  What nerve they have to sell it for $30.  Just boggles the mind. 

Design

I've made a decision.  I am going to re-stock my 3rd store.  With NO effort from me since somewhere around New Year's, a tiny bit of money continues to trickle in from that little store.  I admit, I was very disappointed in that store after I signed on.  Really, it was my fault.  Prior to that I had been in only one store, owned by "friends".  I did not properly investigate the site.  What I did not realize was that it's major designer and owner, had turned the management of the store over to someone else.  And, yes, indeed, there was a store CT, but in all the months I actively participated in that store, I think the CT only did one layout with my stuff.  So, I was not amused.  And, I began to think that active participation in the forum and gallery were just too much trouble.  Yet, my stuff continues to sell there, if only in dribbles.  I started to wonder what would happen if I actually added to my inventory there.  So, I'm doing just that today by adding in a kit which they've not seen there. 

I'm supposed to be resting from design work.  Remember, me with the aching hands and wrists.  Well, we had a rainy day and my hands hurt.  Now it's sunny again and my hands don't hurt.  Besides, with Joe gone from 3PM til 4:30AM and asleep from 5:30AM til at least 12:30PM, I would be bored out of my mind if I didn't design.  (Yeah, I could dust, but that's so pointless in that you can write your name in the dust again 3 days later.)  Anyway, I've been working on a new kit and I just absolutely LOOOOOOOOOOVE it!  It is turning out SO well!  It's kind of unusual in that I think the color scheme would work well for a boyish kit; but I've used it for a feminine kit and it's bee-you-tea-ful!  I showed Sharia a preview and she thought it looked great.  It's really a great thing to have a designer to bounce things off.  She suggested a few elements and I'll do those before I quit, but, honestly, I could stop right now and just look at it for a few days, amazed that I, of all people, was able to create that!  Oh, yeah--don't let me forget I need to do an alpha........It won't hit the stores until July sometime.  I've promised the CT girls a week off because I dumped two kits on them this week.  

Scrapping

Nary a thing.  I SHOULD scrap a page with each of my masculine kits.........  Yeah.

Guess I'll quit this for now.  I need to go do some totally pointless dusting........

Hump Day

It's hump day!  Only 2 more days til Friday.  I'm ready. 

Well, I've been sitting on a boil for somewhere just under two weeks.  Today, it broke and drained.  That makes this somewhere close to the happiest day of my life, LOL.  The last time I had a boil, we were out of town.  We ended up going to a very nice emergency room at a very nice small hospital.  The wait was less than 30 minutes to be seen by a doctor.  The doctor immediately lanced it.  It was one of the most painful experiences of my life.  I had ahold of Joe's arm and he claimed his arm was going numb.  I don't think I said any curse words, but I sure prayed a lot if you count "Oh, God!"  I will never forget the doc decided to give me a shot "for the pain".  Of course, the shot hurt like crazy and he admitted it wouldn't help anyway, but I got the shot.  When we were all done, in spite of what our insurance paid, we ended up paying $700 out of pocket for that little adventure.  I made up my mind this time that I wouldn't be going through any of that again.  In fact, at the time, I made Joe promise if I ever had to have another one lanced, I could pay whatever extra it cost for general anesthesia!  Hot baths and lots of prayer and this adventure is 'bout over!

Here's a cute quote from Atticus via Jennifer's facebook: 

"I not have angry eyebrows. I am happy people!"

Such a CUTE little boy!

Well, the topic around here today is the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.  When George Bush was President, he was much criticized for waiting, I think, 3 or 4 days before surveying the damage from Hurricane Katrina.  Obama waited 2 months to go to the Gulf area but you just don't hear much critique from the liberal press 'bout that, now do you?  And last night, when he could have made a plea for help, for volunteers, for charitable contributions, to reassure the American people that this problem would be dealt with someday before we die, he made a speech about politics.  Defending his totally invisible involvement (yet, to date, he has never held a single conversation with BP's people).  Pushing for cap and trade which will raise the taxpayer's bill even higher and lower our standard of living.  Little notice, if any, was taken of the devastation to people's lives, people who live along the Gulf.  Shrimpers, fishermen, oil rig workers, restauranteurs, those who operate tourist areas such as Tarpon Springs, hoteliers, the list goes on and on.  What is to happen to these people?  Does anyone care?  I hope so.

A talk show host on one of the local radio stations made the statement last night that the current plan being discussed is to set off a nuclear bomb below the oil leak in the hope that will close it up.  The concern is that the earth's core will be damaged.  This brings on thoughts of shifting tektonic plates and tsunamis and more earthquakes.  Also, in theory this would exponentially increase the possibility that water around the globe, both fresh and salt, would become polluted.  In fact, if the leak is not stopped and worsens, within two years, ALL of the world's water will be polluted.  That may be an overstatement.  I don't know how an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could pollute mountain spring water in Colorado, but this is not my area of expertise.  Joe was telling me about this and my immediate words were "that sounds like something out of the book of Revelations".  Yes, one of the plagues to come during the period of the tribulation is unpotable water, around the world.  Two years?  2012?  Let's hope this is one "prophecy" Nostradamus got wrong.........All I can say is, if you're not ready, it's time to get ready.....

I watched an old movie, Zulu, this past week.  In it, there is a Swedish missionary who is pushing a "gospel" of peace, even as 100 British soldiers are about to be attacked by 4000 Zulus, armed with guns stolen from the bodies of 1200 British soldiers the previous day, spears and shields.  It got me to thinking how one word, mis-translated in the King James Version of the Bible, has caused a LOT of confusion in this world.  One of the Ten Commandments is translated "Thou shalt not kill."  Newer translations by better scholars translate that as "Thou shalt not do murder."  There's a difference there.  An enemy killed in battle is not murdered.  But, if your neighbor pisses you off and you go hunting him down with a hatchet, that is murder.  Yet, we have had conscientious objectors who have refused to fight in this country's wars based on that particular scripture.  Jesus himself said that in the last days there would be wars and rumors of wars and that people within a household would turn against each other because of Him, so the very idea of "world peace" goes against the Bible.  And, Jehovah God is credited with helping the Israelites win MANY battles when they exited Egypt and claimed Canaan land as their home.  And, He did not shrink from punishing the evil with a death sentence; He knew evil is contagious.  Evil doesn't just stop; it must be stopped.  And the peace Christ came to give us is peace within our spirits, hearts, and minds because we can rely on His promises.  It is not a peace obtained by refusing to fight evil; it is not a peace obtained by giving an evil man what he wants.  That does not lead to peace; it just leads to greater demands.  I am reminded of Neville Chamberlain negotiating away Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia in the interest of "peace", only to have Hitler turn around and go after Poland as well..........   

Design

Well, I've climbed down off my soapbox.  Let's talk about my latest kit.  Actually, I put this kit together more than a year ago.  It went into the vault when the store at NDISB went down.  With Father's Day approaching, I decided to pull it out and look it over.  I ended up ditching some papers, adding replacements plus 6 additional papers.  I ditched or reworked almost all the elements.  It went from a generic masculine kit to a golf kit.  I really do think it turned out well and I am pleased with the elements as well. 

The kit:

 

The elements and papers:

 

 

 

I got a little carried away with the alphas.  I ended up doing alphas in blue, green, burgundy and brown with a denim finish.  The alphas are upper case only.

 

An "eagle", for those of you who are not golf nuts yourself and are not married to golf nuts, means you've finished a hole at 2 under par.  I am married to a golf nut (though he seldom gets to play) and so I have that kind of information floating around in my head, LOL.

Well, that's it.  I'm going to go sit in a hot bath and soak my butt, LOL.  Oh, happy day!