My Weblog

Are you ready?

Another weekend has ended and it's a workaday world out there.  It's back to work.  Yuck!  I'm not up for it, but I'll pray about it once I get myself in the van and I'll be fine by the time I get there.

Joe worked yesterday so he was REALLY not up for going to work this morning.  Yes, he worked another Sunday.  Sundays are good days to work if you're a cabbie in Las Vegas and we've fallen even further behind on our bills, so he's planning on working every other Sunday for a while.  We're grateful he's been able to get a cab since Sunday is his day off and that usually puts him at the bottom of the pecking order for who gets a cab and who doesn't.  Also, they've been letting him call in an hour early and they tell him whether he can get a cab, so he doesn't have to drag himself all the way down there for nothing.  He had a good day, money-wise.  Good amount on his "book" and the tips were decent too.  And, he actually got off an hour early because his cab died.  The battery just went Kaput.  So, he called a tow truck and got towed back to the 'yard" and they sent him home instead of giving him another cab.  That was good as it got him a little extra sleep.

I have a praise report.  Several months ago, I'm guessing that a very small chip came out of one of my front teeth.  Teeth are a problem when you've been diagnosed with thyroid disease as thyroid meds and calcium fight.  Calcium blocks the effectiveness of the thyroid meds and the thyroid meds block calcium absorption.  So, this one tooth has been really sensitive since then.  Sensitive to air, to cold, etc.  Being a dummy sometimes, I really haven't prayed about it until this morning.  I prayed about it, then did one of the things that usually makes it hurt, and there's no more pain!  Go God!  What a blessing that is!

Design

I didn't get much accomplished on design yesterday.  I made a few buttons for the new kit I'm working on but that's certainly no big deal.  I did decide to change my orientation as to what kits will get made next though.  Of course, some things are seasonal and you pretty much just have to do them.  You kinda have to do a fall kit and a Thanksgiving kit and Christmas stuff and like that.  But, I've decided that I am going to do my best to work with what I have for my other kits.  For example, I still have a number of very nice kits that were in my store at NDISB before the crash.  I need to rework them a bit, brush the dust off, update the elements, and get those back into the stores.  And, I want to work with the graphics I have in stock or can make myself for a while.  That will ease the burden on my credit card.  I'll still have to do somethings on the card, like paying the advertising service, but no more purchases unless I'm desperate.  It just has to happen.  And, it won't really be a hardship because I have a lot of things on hand with which to work.  For example, without even looking, I already know 3 of the new kits I'll be doing.  I figure without any effort at all, just reworking some older kits and doing those 3 kit ideas, I can come close to the end of the year, particularly if we throw a Thanksgiving and a couple of Christmas kits into the mix.

I held a little impromptu sale in my ACOT store in honor of William's birthday.  I can see that impromptu sales are not going to be happening any more.  I have over 100 products in the store now and changing the prices manually takes about 2 hours.  So, I spent 2 hours lowering prices storewide for the sale and 2 hours raising them storewide when the sale was over.  Not doin' that again!  More planning will have to be done for things like this in the future...... 

Scrapping

Yes, I scrapped a page.  Bella Gypsy Designs came out with an apple themed kit which they called Johnny Appleseed.  I still have photos from one of our trips to the "pick your own" orchard here, so I scrapped.

Okay, I give up.  My internet has been crappo since yesterday and I just can't seem to get that page uploaded.  Maybe I can do better later in the day or, at worst, tomorrow.  Sorry.  Beyond my control. 

Time for me to toddle off to the other end of the house and get ready for work.  You guys be good now, okay?

 

Day's end

Here I sit, nursing a headache.  My blood pressure is not abnormally high, but it's in that range where a headache usually results.  In addition to that, I do not seem to be able to drink enough water.  I am SO thirsty.  Don't know why, don't recall eating anything particularly salty, but I've worked my way through about 20 oz of water in the last hour and a half.  Most likely this means I'll be in the bathroom multiple times tonight, but so it goes.

We ended up getting to Jennifer's late today.  I don't think I ever got an "official" start time for the birthday party.  Jason came by around 9:30 and picked up the grill and the table and told us to be there at 11-ish.  Well, what usually happens is that Joe gets his shorts in a knot and we arrive on the dot and then we sit around and look at each other for however long it takes to get the party rolling.  So, we actually didn't leave the house til 11:07.  (I have to take the hit for the 07 part.)  We were just a couple of miles away when Joe's cell phone rang and it was Jennifer wondering where we were.  I guess the kids got antsy so they opened birthday presents without us.  We're not really up on what's "in" and what's not in the toy scene these days so, other than sharing Will's excitement at whatever he got, we didn't really feel too bad to have missed that.

Jennifer baked the birthday cake.  It was in the shape of a guitar and she did a great job.  It was actually one of the best chocolate cakes I've eaten in a long time and it was gluten-free!  Knowing the icky texture of many gluten-free baked goods, I didn't expect much, but she did a great job.  We really couldn't afford it, but I slipped William $20 and a $2 bill for his "collection". 

I got a little peeved at Joe.  He went outside and banged around on the grill and actually got it working better than it's worked in years.  Geez, would it have hurt him to do that while it was here?  When we opened it up, we noticed that one of the wire "shelves" (I don't actually know what that should be called) was missing.  I'm going to have to check around here and see if I can find it.  Also, in transit, the grill that goes over one of the "burners" went missing.  Hopefully, it will turn up in Jason's truck.

That's about it for tonight.  Just passing the time.  Joe is asleep because he is going to work again tomorrow.  He really doesn't like working on Sunday, but we have way more in bills to pay than we have money to pay them with, so it's a necessity. 

And, I forgot to mention that the company got some money in, so my paychecks are cashable.  Unfortunately, though I did payroll on Tuesday, by yesterday morning, the paychecks were still not signed.  I had asked Joe to try to stop by sometime yesterday afternoon to see if he could get mine, but he forgot.  I want to try to figure out where I stand and what I might have to contribute to the household bills.  It won't be much, but, whatever I have will help. 

 

Bad Girl

Well, as you know if you read yesterday's post, I had all sorts of plans for what I was going to do when I came home from work.  Sadly, I got little of it done.  I spent my available time designing and beating off another ant attack and cleaning up the carnage from winning the battle against the ants.  They were really bad this time.  Not so many as sometimes, but all over the stove and countertops on both sides of the sink.  I swear I'm gonna buy stock in the Raid company if this keeps up.  But, I felt way less than successful at the end of the day when I looked at the house.

Today is William's birthday party.  Jennifer called and asked if she could have her grill back.  Yes, but it hasn't worked well in years.  We have no idea what happened to it, but it seems to not let enough gas through, even with a full bottle of propane.  So, it's very hard to get a hot enough flame to cook anything.  The husband of some friend of hers is handy so she's going to have him look at it.  I just hope she's not counting on it for the party.  She's also asked to borrow one of our tables.  Just looking at it across the room, it has at least 5 boxes of stuff on it as well as miscellaneous other things not in boxes.  And, it has a number of boxes stored under it.  I'm not sure but what it will take two people to lift it out of the little spot in which it is nestled.  I reminded Joe about the table last night.  Looks like a big job to me, but he's not even started on it.

The back is doing somewhat better today.  I think there was one area that was still "out" when I thought I'd gotten it all "in" again.  Anyway, that one spot was still bothering me pretty badly when I went to bed last night, but I think it just went "in" a few minutes ago.  I tried one maneuver that sometimes helps when it is "out".  It was really funny--instead of the back going "in", the jaw went "out"!  I know, based on the Bible that I'm healed, but sometimes the symptoms that try to linger on are really something.  Fortunately the jaw went back "in" quickly.  Actually I can't even say that for sure.  The jaw has been so screwed up for so many years (more than 20) that I'm never quite sure whether it's popping in or out when it pops.  As long as it doesn't hurt and it doesn't pop with every attempt to chew, I'm satisfied.

Hallucinations.  I'm having them.  One of my CT members posted a layout you haven't seen.  (I always check the galleries early on.)  I went to grab it so I could post it here to show it off and it's gone.  I'm very sure it was there..........  really I am.......  I just went to check for it again and it's back.  I've got to lay off these homemade Mocha Frappucinos........

We had another of our steaks last night.  Joe decided splitting a steak wasn't enough for him, so he grabbed a steak for himself and a filet for me.  His steak was just perfect.  My filet was nowhere near as tender as I'd expected.  But, I got to taste both and they were scrumptious.  Here we are with a mountain of unpaid bills, eating steak.  I don't know whether to celebrate the luxury of steak or chafe at God's timing on supplying the money for our bills, LOL.  I think I'd better celebrate the luxury of steak and celebrate God's promise of supply even if we haven't seen it functioning fully as of now.  I DO think He's pulled back on the throttle a bit since Joe has "confessed" his attitude and is working on changing it.  But, just to show you that Vegas is a mere shadow of its former self, I used to have a client who was a Las Vegas cabbie.  A good 15 years ago, he was grossing $500 a shift plus side money.  These days, we celebrate if Joe grosses $300 a shift.  And, the side money is not much to brag about because Joe won't do what is necessary to be done to earn it.

Design

I continued work on the kit I am doing from the collaborative mini kit.  I have papers and more papers and more papers.  So many, in fact, that it's a bit overwhelming and I'm not in the mood to give up yet.  I decided to use part of the existing Kraft patterned papers for my part of the collaborative kit and to sell the cream patterned papers and the black patterned papers.  I haven't quite figured out all the details of how I'm going to do that, but that's my goal.  They really are gorgeous. 

Monday is our "week off" this month.  I will not post a new kit.  Sometimes I think I should be re-vamping an older kit and putting it into the store, but no matter what I put into the store, I would want my CT to do some layouts and I promised them 3 layouts a month which means 3 kits a month.  So, my older kits are just mouldering on my hard drive.  I have some fun ideas for what comes next and have purchased some graphics for each of the kits I have in mind.  I'm looking forward to working with those.  I even have the color scheme picked out for one of them.

Scrapping

Well, Karen's layout reappeared.  Weird.  Anyway, this is done with Last Slice of Summer.  In case you don't remember, the kit looks like this:

And, here's Karen's layout with it:

Doesn't she do nice work?  I've always been fairly proud of my photo restoration skills, but this lady could out do me any day of the week.  That photo is from a 60's vintage slide!

That's all, folks.  I've got to get going around here.  Have a great day!

 

Still a ball of sore

It has been more than 2 days since I picked up a toddler or a baby, but I am still sore.  It's always an adventure to see if I'm REALLY going to get out of bed and if one foot is REALLY gonna go in front of the other, and if those feet/legs are REALLY going to support me as I go from here to there.    Fortunately, it only takes a few minutes and I manage to toddle off, LOL.  I think my "sore" today is rooted in a bag of rice.  I talked Joe into buying some Basmati rice at Costco the other week.  We've been working on a bag of brown rice and I really dislike the texture.  So, he brought home some Basmati.  Well, that's one BIG bag of rice!  And, one cup of the raw stuff makes enough for us for a meal.  Wow, what am I gonna do with 20 pounds of it?  (It's either 20 or 25 pounds and I'm not gonna "run" to the kitchen and lift it to find out which for the sake of perfect accuracy.  Just roll with me here, will ya?) 

Jennifer, on the other hand has two large bags of pinto beans in her pantry.  I doubt those will be gone overnight!  William eats next to nothing, at least at dinner time.  Sometimes Atticus nearly licks the plate clean and other times he doesn't eat and I haven't been able to tell yet what triggers him to eat.  Bethie is much like Atticus.  There are days you can't feed her fast enough and days her greatest joy seems to be dropping the food on the floor for whatever dog happens to be around.  My point being (you knew I had one, right?) who is going to eat all those pinto beans?  So I conjured up this great idea of trading Jennifer Basmati rice for pinto beans.  All well and good.  However, I wasn't very clear in expressing myself.  First problem, she arrived here to drop off lentils and pinto beans.  I KNOW what to do with the pinto beans, but the lentils--well, last time I made lentil soup, Joe ate it only because there was nothing else around to call "dinner".  Anyway, I didn't have my rice ready to give to her.  So, I decided to fix that last night.  And, Second problem, when I bent over to get the bag of rice, I heard pop, pop, pop, pop, as vertebrae or disks popped out of place in my back.  It only took me less than an hour to get them back where they belonged, but, in the meantime, they messed me up enough to raise the soreness quotient significantly. 

I've managed to bend over and pull one of the drawers out of the fridge and get it cleaned out.  Not much to throw away and no disgusting leaks in there to clean up.  Putting it back was an adventure.  And, I got part of the stove clean.  And, I scrubbed the counters clean (yes, even the counter I cleaned the day before required significant application of the scratchy side of the sponge before I got it back to normal) and one of the double sinks.  But, I had dishes in the other sink and dinner cooking on the other part of the stove, so I'm sure they're waiting for me to clean them this morning.  In fact, I saw pasta sauce cooked onto the "clean" side of the stove already........  Yes, Joe served himself................  I still have a small part of the living room to vacuum and then the hall (but my glutes are lookin' good!!!)  I even got one small part of the kitchen floor more or less clean. 

Speaking of the kitchen floor, I kept smelling something foul in the kitchen.  Well, it turned out to be something fowl alright.  Seems Joe had put those chicken carcasses in plastic bags and put them in a cardboard box he hadn't taken out with the trash.  Sure enough the chicken stuff soaked through the cardboard box all over the floor.  And, they spoiled.  And part of the cardboard box is now stuck to the floor.  And, of course, it certainly didn't occur to him to get down and chisel that stuff loose, no, un-huh.  I do wish he'd get his brain out of neutral.  I KNOW he's smarter than that.  Is it possible he does this stuff maliciously?  I have no clue.......  Anyway, the kitchen still smells none too pleasant and I suppose I will get down on my hands and knees and see what I can do about the stinky cardboard that is stuck to the floor.  The big question will be how I will get up from there, LOL!  And if I'll upchuck from the smell once I re-hydrate the spoiled chicken juice.....  I'll get it done.  One way or  t'other. 

So, I have my work cut out for me when I get home from work, LOL.  But I have to go to work today to pick up my uncashable paycheck.  Gee, I am so glad for all those extra hours I spent working on bank recs.  Now if only there were enough money in the corporate account to cash the paychecks.  I'm having to borrow money from Joe to make my credit card payment today........

Design

I mentioned that I had remembered that I needed to work on a mini kit for a collaborative kit for the store at NDISB.  So, I started on the print papers for that last night.  (I'd already done the solids and then alternated between the computer and the vacuum while the computer struggled to save them.)  I never just do a mini for those.  I do a mini I can ante up for what's required but then I also turn the thing into a full kit.  The color palette has one shade that is perfect for a kraft finish and two shades of cream.  Okay, so I'll do cream-based prints for the mini and do my kit based on kraft paper (If you don't know what that is, it's like brown paper grocery sacks.)  Well, I was rolling along with that plan really well when I happened to throw some black into the mix.  Holy Toledo!  I almost came out of my chair, almost--except for the sore back, LOL.  It looked SO DARNED GOOD I could hardly stand it.  That took an ordinary looking kit all the way to spectacular right here on my screen!  I think Joe thought I was doing something really unusual over here in my chair as he was sitting at his desk at the time all those sounds of visual ecstacy were escaping from between my lips.  So, I now know exactly what I'm gonna do with that color palette--I'm gonna turn it loose and let it play with the black and just have a grand old time!  But, I have enough papers for the mini, so now I need to do a few elements for that and then I can get back to my gorgeous new kit with gorgeous colors on black!

Next week the last piece of artwork for the wakeup kit is supposed to appear in my e-mail and I can finish that one up.  I did a border for it yesterday, but it's hard to push ahead when you don't have all the materials yet.  I do need to do some of the generic stuff for that kit--ribbons, bows, flowers, strings--the kind of things that go into every kit.  And Playdate is down even further on the list.  I don't know why.  It's gonna be a darned cute kit as I have some really cute doodled art work for that kit too.  And the patterned papers are just perfect for the toddler to school age kids.  And one totally unique element!  I know it won't make it into the store until November, so perhaps that's why I'm kinda dragging my feet on that one. 

Scrapping

Sorry no pretty pages to show off today.  I've got to get my butt in gear and do some Bella Gypsy stuff or they'll kick me off the team.  And, how could I ever survive that.  I LOVE their kits!

Well, the back has loosened up a bit and I'm gonna take some thyroid pills and some ibuprofen and go get ready for work.  Have a blessed day!  I will!

 

Pages and pages

I have pages done by my creative team to show you, a little later.

Well, I didn't get as far in the house as I'd hoped yesterday.  The vacuuming takes so much time because I have to keep cleaning out the tubes.  But progress was made and I'll make some more before the day is over.

Thundercloud came to visit again yesterday.  I inventoried my pantry the other day and discovered that various people had donated 3 packages of taco seasoning to me.  I may have made tacos once before in my life.  It's not something with which I'm very familiar, but I decided to give it a try.  After thinking about it, I decided you really need to have diced tomatoes for on the tacos and we had no tomatoes.  So I called DH to see if he could stop by somewhere and pick up some tomatoes.  I didn't put any time limit on it or anything.  I didn't need them in the next 39 seconds, just sometime before he wanted to eat dinner.  When he doesn't get something at the store, his usual response is "store's open", meaning he can stop by and get it some other time.  That tends to make one think that it's no big deal to stop by and pick up what's needed, right?  Well, no........  He went off on this whole big thing about how he was driving as hard as he could to get home so he could pick up some deposit slips and go to the bank and he didn't have time and............  on and on.  For years now, I've been reminding him of Nancy Reagan's "Just say no".  Yet, all too frequently, he gets all upset and dumps all over me when I'm just trying to feed him and he's the one who went to the grocery store in the first place and didn't get tomatoes!  I cannot conceive of why it is necessary to be so unpleasant. 

In the meantime, I seem to be making inroads with Matthew.  He actually sent me a forward yesterday.  It's not that I love forwards, and I get quite a few, but he has NEVER sent me anything but an e-mail regarding work.  I decided THIS forward was a bit of a milestone.

He reports that they painted the baby's room, and he did the floor in there, so other than waiting another 3-4 weeks, they are all ready to bring little Matthew home.  Joe and I were talking about it the other day.  The first time I ever went to Joe's apartment, he had this photo of a boy, maybe 10 years old, hanging on his wall over his desk.  I knew IMMEDIATELY that that was Joe's son.  Except for the fact that Matthew is much taller and bigger all around than Joe, he is the spittin' image of his father--light hair, blue eyes, ruddy complexion.  Patty, however, is Hispanic, with dark hair and dark eyes and dark complexion.  It will be interesting to see what the baby looks like--will he be ruddy with strawberry blond hair and blue eyes, or dark?  Well, we'll know in a few weeks, but I'm betting on dark since the blue eyes are a recessive gene........ 

Speaking of grandchildren, my sweet William celebrates his 11th birthday today.  He is gonna be a heartbreaker.  Ladies with daughters, keep 'em hidden........  Just sayin'.

Bad news from the bank.  They just decreased my credit limit on my credit card.  Of course, it's the credit card with the a/c repair on it.  It's not like I just went spend crazy and bought goofy stuff with it.  But, there's no telling what a bank will do these days!   

Design

I did a bit more on the wake up kit.  Not a whole lot, but a little.  I can't finish it til I get that other piece of artwork anyway, but I'll keep plodding along on it.

I remembered that I signed up for a mini kit for a collaborative kit that will come out next month.  So, I downloaded the colors for that and did all the solids.  Now, I have to get my thinking cap on and decide on a direction in which to head from here.  The color scheme is wonderful, and I used a texture that more or less makes the papers look like they shine, so it's gonna be purty........

I'm also in charge of a collaborative kit that will come out in November.  Today I have put a color scheme together for that.  I'm lovin it.  Definitely a fallish palette.  I'm thinking of calling it "Count Your Blessings". 

Scrapping

I'm not sure exactly where my CT pages "belong".  Since they are with my latest kit, Judy Ann's Tee Shirt, do they belong in Design?  Or, since they are pages, do they belong here?  Unfortunately there's no one to give me an official ruling, so I just have to wing it.  I've decided to put them here.

By Barb

By Christy

By Christy again (A two pager)

By Karen

There are actually two more ladies on my Creative Team, but both of them are temporarily without internet.  And one of them is expecting a hurricane!  I LOVE seeing pages made with my kits.  I always feel so proud of myself that I (with the Lord's help) managed to create something good enough for people to use to preserve their precious memories.

Well that's it.  The vacuum cleaner is calling my name.  Time to go celebrate that magnificent beater bar that is rooting out all the matted down dog hair.  I am blessed with a wonderful beater bar and a wonderful vacuum cleanter!

I know, I know

I already posted today.  Oh, well, it's feast or famine around here so you all might just as well get used to it. 

I'm not sure if this is unique, but Bethie looked at me yesterday and said "Mama".  Sure hope Jennifer got to hear that before I did........ 

I've started a load of clothes washing, hung up the clothes in the dryer, and started the vacuuming.  I made the mistake of walking into the kitchen to get myself a cup of coffee.  Whoa, Nellie!  Joe didn't do dish one from yesterday.  Usually the cooking is on me and the after-dinner clean-up is his.  Lately, he's been rinsing the dishes and finishing up in the morning.  Either way, I get to walk into Joe's version of a "clean" kitchen.  (Note:  Joe's version of a clean kitchen and my version of a clean kitchen differ significantly.)  However, the dirty dishes never even made it to the dishwasher this morning.  Maybe that's because the dishwasher didn't get unloaded yesterday.  Or, maybe those are still yesterday's dishes, not washed.  I truly couldn't tell, so now I've added everything from yesterday that I could fit in there and washed the whole lot of 'em again. 

I have decided that I'd better allocate a LOT of time to cleaning the stove top.  When last we met at the freezer, Joe was complaining that there were 4 chickens in there and I hadn't done anything with them.  Well, I have now!  I roasted all 4 chickens over the weekend, stripped the meat off the bones, cooked the bones and whatever meat we missed in the deboning process for broth.  I have the chicken meat in the fridge and I need to break it up into small packages and put it in the freezer.  I already have about 50 ounces of chicken broth frozen.  Joe "helped" put the chicken carcasses into the boiling pots and "helped" remove them.  Therefore, there is much cleaning to be done to the stove top.  It is wrecked!

I have decided that rather than griping about the vacuuming, I am going to be grateful for a beater bar that is strong enough to get all the old dog hair out of this poor old carpet.  I am still amazed at what I am vacuuming up.  And, here is the question of the day:  What is it about vacuuming that makes my butt hurt?  Not my back.  Down in the glutes.  If I'd realized that working my glutes was a by product of vacuuming, maybe I'd have been doing a lot more of it!  That cellulite is outta here!

Had to mention that I just may have managed to teach Bethie to stay out of the dogs dishes yesterday.  Twice I pulled dogfood out of her mouth, but that was it.  She had opportunities to try it again, but bypassed them.  That would sure make me rest easier.  I'm so afraid she'll choke on the stuff. 

I have come to the conclusion that I am going to HAVE to upgrade the memory in this computer SOON.  I have 4 gigs of RAM and honestly think I could use twice that.  I've reduced the size of the files with which I am working where I can,  but it is still taking forever and a day to save them.  Imagine, spending more than 5 minutes saving 1 piece of paper when most of my kits have about 20 papers!  Honestly, though graphic files are large in comparison to Word files or Excel files, 5 minutes is pretty outrageous.  Fortunately, I set the file to save and then run to the kitchen to chisel gunk loose from the sink, countertops, or stove or spend 5 minutes working my glutes by shoving the vacuum around.  But, on days when I don't feel up to that, I waste a lot of time waiting for files to save.  It uses so much of the computer's available memory that it's really hard to try to do anything else simultaneously.  Now, where do I find the money for memory chips?  Guess that's another thing to add to my prayer list......

Okay, back to the grind. 

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Is this thing on?  I haven't blogged in several days and am wondering if it still works the same as it used to.

It is Wednesday and it is early in the morning.  I am a ball of "sore" as I've spent the last two days doing child care.  Monday Atticus, Bethie, and William spent the day with me.  Yesterday it was just Atticus and Bethie.  Jennifer delivered them to my door, so there was no need to carry Bethie in that 3 ton car seat, but I couldn't begin to tell you how many hours I spent rocking Bethie and Atticus nor could I tell you how many times I picked them up.  But I CAN tell you that my back will be MUCH stronger as soon as those muscles heal.  I was giggling to myself yesterday afternoon as both Bethie and Atticus were on my lap, that if I could just bench press them, I could really build up my arms! 

William was not in all that good a mood on Monday, so, though he helped when asked, it was with a lot less enthusiasm than usual.  Atticus was more difficult Monday than usual as well.  I think both he and Bethie had a case of the sniffles.  Jennifer uses the sling and carries Bethie around much of the time.  I suppose the sling is a good thing in that it gives you hands free, but I look at it and see hours upon hours of my back muscles trying to counter balance the extra weight hanging on the front of me and I hear the screams before they happen.  I am sure I could get to the place where the sling was helpful, but for now, I think I need to bench press more children before that happens.  I'm trying to figure how to hang that sling off my back--think what a workout that would give my abs! 

Both littles took naps yesterday.  I was shocked that I managed to talk Atticus into that.  But he had this light cough that I heard hundreds of times throughout the morning, and I think he needed the extra rest so his little body can get rid of whatever bug he is carrying around with him.  I really wanted to use their nap time to get something done around here, but I fell asleep and was most thankful for that little break. 

I am off duty as a day care provider for more than a week now.  Should be able to take care of the house during that time.  I will always have a house to clean (til the mortgage company takes it from me) but I won't always have snuggle-able babies to love on.  If the back responds to the heating pad and ibuprofen, we will try the vacuuming trick today.  I really need to clean out at least PART of the refrigerator too.  Who knows what science experiments lurk in there!  I see many unlabeled pieces of Tupperware in my future...........

  Design

I now have 3 finished kits stashed on my hard drive.  Capri, Pooky Pooky Pooky, and True Colors.  I got a good bit done on Wakey Wakey the past few days, between rocking babies and doing puzzles with Atticus.  I had originally commissioned a certain piece of artwork from Faith True for Wakey, but, knowing she was having such a wretched time with morning sickness (from her FB posts), I saw something that would work and told Faith not to bother with this particular piece as I knew it would be the most complicated to do.  She was gracious and maybe even grateful and threw in a few extra pieces I had not asked for to compensate.  I found something on the internet with a different "flavor" to it, and it worked well.  Yesterday morning at some ghastly early time, I contacted the artist who drew the internet piece (she lives "down under" so the timing was actually good) and asked if she could draw the same piece, but dressed and accessorized differently.  That will finish the "special" graphics for Wakey Wakey and all I need to do is the "generic" things that go into every kit--ribbons, bows, flowers, etc.

Faith also did some artwork for Playdate, and I'm anxious to work with that.  Once Wakey and Playdate are finished, I will have finished off everything I've started and will have kits ready up through early November.  I'm really proud of myself in that I allowed myself to "play" with whatever kit I wanted to play with along the way, but have had enough self discipline to move each kit along.  I guess I should go into my stash and pick out some more color schemes for November/December and get started with those.  I've got some fun ideas up my sleeve for what comes next.

Monday I managed to get a new kit into the store.  I started at zero o'clock in the morning and had the kit up in ACOT by 4:30AM.  NDISB was more difficult as I kept getting an error message.  I e-mailed Theresa and she fixed up that error message thing quickly and so the kit is up in both stores.  Folks really seem to like it.  I've received positive feedback from the CT on both papers and elements, and lots of comments at ACOT on the color scheme. 

Guess I should show you what I'm talking about, huh?  Okay, this kit is called Judy Ann's Tee Shirt.  My friend and client, Judy Ann, showed up on my doorstep with some tax stuff, dressed in the cutest tee shirt.  I fell in love with the colors.  I thought about ripping that tee shirt right off her and running for the scanner but came to my senses when I realized she just might not understand that.  So, I took her tax info, shoved her out the door, and ran for the computer.  Fortunately I have good color memory, LOL!  So here's Judy Ann's Tee Shirt:

Elements:

That's the paper pack, and here's the alpha:

Isn't that a fun color scheme?  AND, there are some unique elements in the kit as well.  Of course, all of the elements are not shown in that preview.  There are tons more!  Do you see those extracted floral elements mounted on chipboard?  My friend and CT member, Sharia Braxton helped me with those as I had an idea in my head but just couldn't produce what I wanted on the screen.  I haven't had a chance to scrap with it yet, but my fingers are itchin' to do just that.  The Team has produced some lovely layouts with it.  I'll try to get those ready to post tomorrow.

Scrappin

I just might have a page to post here, but, truly, I can't remember.  My brain is mush after two days of baby talk.......  I'll be glad for a few quiet moments to take stock and figure out where I am.  If I were doing child care full time, I'd have to make notes for myself, just to keep track of what I've done, LOL.  And to think, Jennifer functions in the middle of all this everyday!  Well, I always did think she was akin to Superwoman, possibly switched out in the hospital at birth.  Whoever got my kid instead of Jennifer, lost big time on that one. 

Oh, boy!  I just got two announcements in my e-mail that IRS is holding an open house.  I just KNOW you are ALL excited by that prospect.  Me too!

Gotta go.  Mucho to do around here.  Also, Jennifer forgets (and now I know why) that we go to bed EARLY.  In fact by the time the kids were picked up last night and we fixed and ate dinner, we had exactly 10 minutes til bedtime.  Ya gotta love that, right?  Anyway, Jennifer called last night so I need to call her back, now that we should both be more or less awake.  Have a bright sunshiny day, inside and out!

 

 

Only God

You know, you can work to change someone else for years and nothing will happen except that they will become resentful.  As a pastor friend says, "Negative information is always free."  But when you begin to pray...........things change.

Last night, for dinner, we broke out one of those steaks.  Those choice steaks we bought last week.  Yup, it was great, tender, juicy, wonderful.  And after we ate our steak (we split one) and our baked potatoes, DH says "I have a confession".  Whoa, baby!  "Yes, dear" I replied sweetly, LOL.  "I've been a cab driver for the last 9 months".....  Yeah?  "I mean I've allowed myself to be a cab driver at work....."  I finally got it. 

As Christians, we go to work to do what it is they hired us to do.  But, more than that, we go to work to be God's witness in that place!  He places us there for a reason.  The rest is incidental.  Well, some time ago, DH lost sight of that "incidental" part.  I knew it.  I knew it by the way he fussed over the lousy tip he got from this guy, and the way that particular handicapped guy smelled of urine, and how drunk and foul-mouthed those passengers were and how he got called clear across town to take some wheelchair passenger for a $6.50 ride.  Yes, those things are not good.  Yet, didn't you pray to be a servant when you went to work this morning?  There's been cursing and anger and all sorts of negative things coming from this man's mouth for so long because he was a "cab driver" instead of a witness for God. 

Well, there's been some sort of revelation in DH's life.  Praise God!  He's got it.  Now, I'll have to pray he doesn't lose it again.......  This change in attitude needed to happen.  It's been part of the circling Mt. Sinai experience we've been in for so long.  I am looking for a break through in other areas now!  Praise God!

Designing

I have worked hard on design stuff.  I am completely done with and ready to upload Capri.  I'm also completely done with and ready to upload True Colors, the fall kit.  I've just wrangled the Halloween kit to the end except for previews and details.  I was so pleased to find, at just the right time, some artwork that was just perfect for the cutesy Halloween kit I wanted to create.  (See, I TOLD you I get supernatural help at this!)  I've created 6 elements for the wake up kit and two additional papers.  I am very pleased with the artwork I purchased!  I have all this great stuff to design with, and there are so many great color schemes and I just can't design fast enough, LOL! 

Scrapping

I do have one more page to share.  This page was done with Glass Half Full by Bella Gypsy Designs.  It kind of speaks to the way things have been around here, in a lighthearted way. 

I'm outta here.  Got to work on the previews for the Halloween kit and I still have 4 lousy bank recs to finish.  See ya!

Serious Stuff

I usually try to bring a little levity to my blog.  But today is all serious.  Today is the 9th anniversary of the terrorism in America that cost us the precious lives of our citizens.  It is all over Face book.  Flags flyin in people's profiles (including mine) and people asking "where were you?"

Given the time difference between where I live and NYC, I have to assume I was actually at home when the first plane hit the first tower.  I honestly didn't hear about it til I was at work.  Someone there had found a live feed on their computer and we were all gathered round watching it.  We were a fun bunch of people most of the time, but we were dead silent.  There was no joking around, each of us lost in our own thoughts about this travesty that had just occurred.  I have a cousin who at that time worked for a DOD contractor.  He frequently had meetings at the Pentagon.  I was worried about him.  I also have family in Stoystown, PA where United 93 crashed.  I was worried about them until I heard finally that the plane had crashed in a corn field. 

This is the first year I haven't made a scrapbook page to commemorate this day.  And, it's not because I am any less hurt by it all or care less than I once did.  But, just reading some of the comments on some of the blogs I read, reduced me to tears.  I read a statistic that I want to keep in mind.  Considering all who worked in the World Trade Center, Towers 1 and 2, all who worked in the Pentagon, and the maximum number of passengers that could have been on Flight 93, we had a 97% survival rate.  I wish it could have been 100%, but praise God for the 97%.  It could have been much worse.

This verse is on my mind today:  if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:13-15

I pray for this country nearly every day.  Do you?

 

Moving right along

Well, we are both healthy, all the appliances are working, the 15 year old car got Joe to work without incident and will undoubtedly return him home without incident, our computers are working, and I am breathing air conditioned air.  We are blessed!

Not much to report on the home front except that I continue to slog my way through bank reconciliations.  16 down, 4 to go.  With some supernatural help, I will finish those 4 today sometime. 

Design

I have heard from the artist I hired to do some elements for me for two kits I have in the works.  She has been deathly ill with morning sickness, but started taking B6 and is feeling much better.  She hopes to have my goodies completed by this afternoon, Yay!  In the meantime, I've done the alphas for the kit that is complete and I just finished up the previews.  I have to tell you I just HATE doing previews.  There are just so many steps to the process and I've not been able to work those steps down to an organized approach.  It is even more complicated in that I sell in several stores and have to have several versions of the kit previews, the elements preview, the paper preview, the alpha preview, and like that.  So, I try to work through everything and check to make sure I've done it all, but I don't seem to be very successful at that and it frustrates me no end.  And, usually, I don't figure out what I've missed til I go to put things in the store.  But, those previews are done (I think.......)!  The kit is ready to go in the store, all but zipping it. 

I mentioned working on a Halloween kit and how I was going to need some supernatural help to produce a kit that would not be full of "dark" things like witches and cauldrons.  Just the next morning, I saw some Halloween artwork advertised on Facebook.  Yes, there are some witchy things there, but there are also other things I can use while ignoring the witchy stuff.  And the product was on sale so I got it for a very reasonable price.  That was good news.  So, the Halloween kit is marching toward completion.  I will work on it as my "reward" between those bank recs I have to do. 

Scrapping

I have actually done two pages since I last posted, but I can only show one.  Atticus has been having a tough time adjusting to having a little sister.  Jennifer has tried very hard to help him not to feel excluded, but in HIS mind, HE is the baby.  Jennifer was calling Bethie her "pretty pretty princess".  Atticus decided he would be a pretty pretty princess too.  In fact, he commented to his mother that being a princess was something he did very well.  I picked him up from daycare a few weeks ago to find him dressed in a tee shirt, shorts, a tutu, and pink plastic "high" heels, and waving what I'm sure was either a princess's magic wand or scepter.  It was funny, but not so funny, all at the same time.  I was all too aware of the emotional pain he was feeling.  Actually, I was looking for a different photo to scrap with my latest kit and these photos just worked.  This page will make good blackmail material when he gets older.

Love that boy!

Gotta go find something to eat.  I'm actually feeling more than a little bit hungry.  Have a blessed day!