My Weblog

Not yet, girls!

Tomorrow, we do another of those BIG blog trains.  The traffic here on my blog is REALLy high today, I think people trying to get a jump on the blog train.  Mine'll be up tomorrow, just like it's 'sposed to be!

I put another bunch of hours in at work on Friday.  I finished the "emergency" project and did some catchup work on other stuff that I haven't gotten to.  It was a worthwhile endeavor.  I want that desk caught up because I'm expecting a new job very soon.

We were supposed to have the kids yesterday for some period of time, but they never came.  I stuck around the house all day, but no kids.  I guess Jennifer decided to do something else with them and didn't remember to tell me.

I have been haunting e-bay lately.  I have literally bought myself nothing to wear, other than a new pair of running shoes, for 2 years.  Thursday I went to get dressed and found out that the entire left elbow area of my Lanz nightgown had ripped out because it was threadbare.  I've owned it for at least 20 years.  I hated to do away with it, but my red flannel nightgown with the appliqued scottie dogs is now in my trashcan.  So, I've been trying to find a replacement on e-bay.  Those Lanz nightgowns retail now for anywhere from $54-$61 each.  Yes, it's great that they last 20 years, but who has THAT much money for a nightgown?  Not me.  So, I'm trying to corner one for significantly less.

So, today is Halloween.  I think this is the first year we haven't been invited to go to the pumpkin patch with Jennifer and the kids.  And, as far as I know, we won't be seeing them tonight.  I did manage to get some photos of the boys in their costumes, but none of Bethie.  Sad........

After the adventure of Parker running off last week, we think we have finally found someone who will fix our wall.  One of the guys Joe knows from work claims to have the skills to do so, and has promised to come and take care of it next Thursday.  The only payment he wants is to be able to take Parker to the mountains with him when he goes up there.  As long as he keeps him on a leash!  I don't want to have to go to Ely to retrieve him, LOL.  We've tried for MONTHS to get a guy from my work place to come and do the work and were willing to pay him to do so, but in spite of numerous promises, he's no-showed every time. 

Design

Well, the green and brown kit is completely finished down to previews and all that other stuff.  And, finally, I have arrived back at the "garden" kit.  I've been trying to get back to that kit for weeks (months?).  I'm ready to start alphas, previews, etc., on that kit as soon as I finish with this blog update!

Tomorrow is the big blog train and I have to get everything set up for that tonight. And, I just hired a new lady to take over my advertising and she has some questions to which she needs answers......

Scrapping

Nope.  I'm starting to wonder if this is a dry hole.  Probably not.  I got a real cute photo of Bethie taken at day care that I'm itchin' to scrap.  Maybe.....

 

 

Good Morning!

Well, I survived last night's childcare experience quite nicely.  When we got to the house, Bethie was asleep in her car seat and stayed that way for about two hours.  It may be that she kept her mom awake til 3 AM, I don't know.  But, when she woke up, she was in a good mood.  Yay! 

I gathered the boys around me and explained that I was really "sick" when I left Tuesday night.  And, as a result, new rules.  Atticus could watch something he wanted to watch before dinner.  After dinner there would be NO TV.  After Atticus was in bed, William could turn the TV back on and watch something he wanted to watch.  This worked out really well.  No whining from Atticus because he wanted to watch something different from what Will was watching.  No arguments or pushing over the remote.  No arguments with Grandma when it was time for bath and bedtime.  In fact, Atticus came to me and told me he was ready for his bath and then proceeded to strip himself down to "nekkid" right there in the dining room.  He was asleep within minutes of having a story and being put in bed.  William was more with it last night too.  He did much better at getting his jobs done and getting them done with only one reminder.  And, he was helpful.  All in all, it was a good experience for me and since there were no meltdowns from anyone significantly shorter than me, apparently it worked for them too.

I am freezing cold this morning.  It's probably no more than 67 degrees in the house, but this is more than likely a hypo-thyroid thing; "cold" usually means low thyroid.......  Anyway, I have a small space heater under my desk which I'm doing my best to snuggle up to without burning myself.  I'm still cold, in spite of the heater, a flannel nightgown and a really heavy and warm robe.............

I am also TIRED this morning.  I'm sitting here typing this on about 5 1/2 hours sleep.  And, I missed getting any opportunity at all to lie down yesterday afternoon.  Whether I lie down because I'm tired or because my back is making trouble or because I have a headache, I usually manage to lie down for somewhere between 20 minutes and an hour.  Not so yesterday.  I got an "emergency" call from the CPA that he needed me to do a bunch of additional work on A/P and it had to be done by noon today.  I have no idea how long he's supposed to have been working on this project, but I'm sure he's had it for a while.  I don't mind the extra hours; in fact, I'm grateful for them.  I just wish I were given a bit more time to plan.  I was literally "out the door" 15 minutes after we got off the phone without even having time to eat lunch.  And, as soon as it's daylight, I'll be "out the door" again this morning.......

Apparently my bosses are out of town.  Or so the CPA said on the phone yesterday.  I'm amazed they didn't think they should tell me that.  It was really fun, trying to use the restroom at work yesterday.  THey pulled several vehicles into the shop before they left and one of them is pulled up so close to the entrance to the restroom that it's a real challenge to get past it.  I worked pretty hard yesterday just for a place to pee, LOL.  Not going through that again today.  If I get the slightest urge, I'm headed to a nearby casino to use their restroom!  No climbing over jeeps for me today.

Design

I didn't really get much done design wise after I blogged yesterday.  I think I managed one preview for the green and brown kit.  Then it was off on my "emergency" call to the office.  So, this afternoon, I'll have 7 to go plus a few other little details and it will be done.

Scrapping

Nope.  I was busy doing "emergency" stuff.  I do have two cute photos of Elizabeth and Atticus.  Apparently, on Tuesday, the day care center had some sort of Halloween "do".  And they took photos. 

The day care director was so sweet to e-mail me these photos.  Aren't those two little people cute!

I'm outta here.  I'm going to take a mega Ibuprofen and see if I can grab another hour's sleep before I switch into "emergency" mode.  Have a blessed day!

Working Hard

So, when I woke up around 4, I had the inevitable headache.  That has now receded and I'm feeling okay but for my post childcare backache.  Tonight, I'm on duty again.  I am to pick the littles at CDC, transport them home, feed them, bathe them, and just generally hold the fort until Jennifer comes home from a trip out of town.  But, with the help of God, I'll still be capable of walking, LOL.

Design

I have continued to work on my new kit, the one in browns and greens.  I've finished the design work, including the alpha.  It's chock full of elements and somehow I think I could keep making elements for it for a long time to come.  I'm lovin' it!  Still need previews and all that stuff.  I'll work on that tomorrow and then back to the second Christmas kit or the garden kit.  Did I mention here that I got in a lot of work on the garden kit earlier this week?  A bit more work on elements and it will be ready for previews.

I put my Halloween kit on sale for 40% off from now through November 1.  I'd like to boost my sales a bit and there won't be as good a market for a Halloween kit after October 31 as there is now.

You can find it at the HotFlashDesign store at ACOT and/or NDISB.

Scrapping

No, not me.  Too busy driving to Henderson to effectuate the return of my prodigal son.  You know, the one lying next to my chair as though being close to me is really important to me.  What a dog!

 

Prodigal Son

Several months ago, a strong wind blew over part of our wall, right up front, alongside the garage.  Joe has it jerryrigged somehow to help keep it upright, but it's not very successful.  And everytime it wobbles, our front gate opens.  Last night when I returned from Jen's, it was standing wide open.  I looked in and checked the back gate.  Our yard guys have been known to not properly latch that back gate, so I wanted to make sure it was okay and it seemed it was.  This morning I was sitting here working when I got a call from the ASPCA telling me someone had found our German Shepherd.  I didn't think so.  I could see him lying on the couch.  Then it dawned on me that someone had found his collar which is around Parker's neck!  When the kids are here, we put Parker in the crate.  He's still too much of a puppy to be sensitive to how small they are and could easily bump into one of them and knock them down.  Punkin ate Parker's collar right off his neck, so we put Max's collar on Parker to make it easier to lead him into the crate.  I looked around and sure enough there was no sign of Parker and sure enough the back gate was standing wide open.

I called the person who had him.  She lives about 4 blocks from us.  She said she was out walking one of her dogs around 8AM and found Parker.  She didn't want to leave him at her house because she has 4 dogs and didn't want to introduce a new one and then leave.  So she took him to work with her to keep him safe.  I had to drive all the way to Henderson to get the big turkey back.  And, of course, when I called Joe to tell him Parker was in Henderson and needed to be picked up, he got all cranky with me about how it would take too much time out of his day and he wasn't having a good day anyway and............blah, blah, blah.  I had hoped he could get him and then I would meet him and we'd put Parker in the van and he could go back to work.  However, by the time he shut up and thought about it and called me back, I was already at least 1/3 of the way there.  The surprising thing was that Parker didn't seem the least excited to see me.  It was as if he goes on 30 mile trips with perfect strangers every day.  All very matter of fact.  Anyway, we haven't killed the fatted calf, primarily because we don't HAVE a fatted calf, but we sure are glad to have the big stinker back.  And, I can say with confidence that my thyroid may not work, but my adrenals are in fine shape.

Wipe out!

Oh what a night!  The little guys were apparently over tired and highly uncooperative.  The big guy, usually my best helper, was pre-occupied and unresponsive.  And I hurt from end to end.......

I started off giving myself two dandy bruises on my left leg, trying to carry that darned carseat with Miss Bethie in it from the DayCare to my van.  One is about the size of a quarter and one about the size of a silver dollar and both are a beautiful shade of purple.  Bethie, of course, cried the minute she saw me and realized Mommy wasn't going to be with her last night.  I broke a nail, down to the quick, trying to get her and her carseat loaded into the back of the van.  I fixed what Jennifer wanted me to fix for dinner.  Atticus ate one bite of the eggplant parmesan and 6 or 7 strings of spaghetti and one bite of salad and wanted no more.  William ate NO eggplant parmesan and less spaghetti than Atticus ate.  Of course he wanted no salad as it had things in it that were green and healthy.  Bethie also did not eat though she did rub spaghetti sauce into my sweat shirt in about 3 places.  Both boys were totally transfixed by the concept of watching TV or a movie after dinner.  Of course, they didn't want to watch the same thing so there was a confrontation about that.  Will had started watching an episode of something before dinner and wanted to finish it after dinner.  Atticus wanted to watch a movie.  When we put the movie in for Atticus, I explained that he would not be able to watch it all because it was too close to bathtime and bedtime.  Of course, when it was time to turn it off and get ready for bed, he screamed.  Then he just decided to refuse to cooperate with the whole bathtime process.  I already had Elizabeth in the tub and couldn't leave her to capture him.  Finally, when he realized nothing was going to make the TV come back on, he came into the bathroom.  He refused to let me help him get undressed.  He decided to pull a turtleneck and a tee-shirt off over his head simultaneously.  He struggled and struggled with that and I was pretty sure he wouldn't have any ears left when he finished that but........thankfully, they were still attached.  Then both Atticus and Elizabeth decided to scream simultaneously at bedtime.  I finally got them both to sleep, but it was just awful.  Elizabeth wanted on my lap.  Then she wanted down.  When I put her down, she screamed.  When I picked her back up, she wanted down.  When I put her back down, she screamed.  This went on for a good 20 minutes.  In the meantime, back to William.  One of his jobs is to feed the dog.  I reminded him twice but he didn't feed the dog.  Another of his jobs is to empty out the lunch bags.  He did that about halfway and then quit.  He's supposed to hang them on a coat rack type thing when he's done, but they were left splattered all over the floor as was his backpack, making walking difficult and risky when carrying a baby.  (In the meantime, Elizabeth decided to unload a cabinet and splattered her round plastic bottles and sippy cups all around the kitchen and hallway.  The floor was totally booby trapped.)  When told to do anything, he was pretty much hearing impaired, meaning everything had to be repeated several times before there was a response.  When told to get ready for bed, he "didn't hear you".  So, 20 minutes after his bedtime, I found him playing with his legos.  Shortly thereafter, I found him in bed, with a light on and the door closed, reading a book. I think tomorrow night, there will be no TV/movies.  I refuse to go through all of that again. 

We are not even going to talk about the worst blood pressure reading of the night.  Suffice it to say that 3.5 hours after I took my evening pill, it was still elevated to the point I had a wretched headache and was afraid to go to bed.  For a while there, I was unsteady on my feet and wondering if Jen would find me in a pile on the floor when she got home. 

Of course, ths morning, upon getting out of bed I almost fell because my back is wrecked.  All in all, I don't ever want to do last night ever again.  If that is how it is every night, I have no clue how Jen does it.  I'd be on a LOT of medication for depression and despair and a LOT of medication for stress.  And to think she has money problems on top of all that!

We were hit over the weekend with a wage levy on Joe's paychecks.  Fortunately, the government used an employer name and EIN for a company for which Joe no longer works.  Therefore, the company could not enforce the levy.  But they're coming for us.........  We worked on the paperwork necessary to set up a payment plan over the weekend but then Joe begged off of finishing it because he needed to do some muck about this trip to Florida.  I think his priorities are a little off.  Thankfully, I was working on that online, using Firefox as my browser, so I did not use it in the reboot.  He was angry at me for not having done it before, but since he has been paying whatever bills we can pay, I have no idea where to find the information.  I think, after his nasty remarks, he was a bit surprised at how detailed the forms are.  He had to dig through files and got a lot of the information from his bankruptcy petition but would have been lost without that.  I don't know how he could have expected me to find any of that out!

And to make my life complete, my computer rebooted overnight taking with it 3 papers, a doodled flower, a calendar I made so I could get November's release dates straight in my head and who knows what else with it.  All gone...........

Design

There is A LOT of positive response in the forum at ACOT to the Wakey kit.  In fact, I think there are 16 very highly positive responses.  Everyone loves the artwork.  I'm uploading a free copy of the kit for the lady who did part of the artwork for me now.  She refused to bill me for the "professional" version of the sleepy lady as long as she could sell it when it was released.  A free copy of my kit isn't much of a thank you, but it's the best I can do.

I got a bug to work on a new kit yesterday.  I had all the solid papers, 12 patterned papers and a few sticker-style elements done.  It is from this kit that I lost 3 papers with the reboot.  I'm hoping I know a way to recover the three papers and the one element I lost I KNOW I can re-do with little effort.  It just makes me mad when someone else gets to control when my computer reboots.  Shouldn't that be my decision?  Or does some "big brother" out there get to decide that too?  Anyway, the new kit is in shades of greens and browns and I'm using primarily one of the packs of drawings I purchased on the 10 for $10 sale a few weeks ago.  It's gonna be cute! 

Scrapping

Actually, I did scrap.  I made a quick page with the Wakey kit to give away as a freebie here on the blog.  Of course, the loss of that was part of the damages of the unforeseen, uncontrollable reboot.  So, nothing from me today!

 

New Release Day

Yesterday was new release day at ACOT.  I put the much talked about wake up kit in the store.  Stay tuned for previews.

Well, I think we can say with some certainty that fall has finally come to Nevada.  A look at the forecast tells me the highs will be somewhere between 68-78 for the next week.  It is a true relief to have the air conditioner stop cycling!  Those summer power bills are killers!  And, as the weather cools, the need to water our grass lessens and we get to pay less for water too. 

Tonight I spend a few hours with the kiddos.  Pick up Bethie and Atticus from school, take them to their house, and fix them dinner.  Then it's a bit of play time, bath time and bedtime.  The toughest part of all that is that Bethie and Atticus have the same bedtimes but different expectations.  Bethie wants to be rocked and sung to, and Atticus wants to have someone read him a story.  I haven't figured out yet how to do those same things at the same time!

Went to work yesterday and got some stuff done, but I was basically invited to leave when Matthew arrived.  Sharing one computer is not very efficient.  Most of what he does has nothing to do with the company, but he still wants the computer when he wants it.  So, I packed up some stuff and brought it home.  I'd rather be here than there anyway.  While the house ALWAYS needs dusted, you never have to worry that what you might touch will give you some dread disease.  Such is not the case there!

Design

Yesterday I could no longer control myself.  I have a flower kit in the works.  It's been in the works for weeks and I have kept shoving it to the back burner while I concentrated on more pressing issues.  Yesterday I decided I needed to do something fun just for me.  I pulled out my flower kit and started on the elements.  Gonna be some pretty stuff in that kit!  I should have it finished today or tomorrow. 

The due date on the collab kit at NDISB has been pushed back from October 25 to November 5.  I've put SO MUCH work into that thing already I am tired of it.  But, I am responsible for getting it previewed and into the store, so..........  I'll have to do all that come the 5th.  Til then, I can play with what I want to play with, LOL!

So yesterday I put the new kit, WAKEY WAKEY, into the store.  This is a fun kit, meant to be used to scrap about your wake-up style, your coffee addiction, etc.  There is a LOT of original artwork in this kit.

As you can see, it's chock full of bright colors. 

There are alarm clocks and coffee pots and coffee cups and word art galore in this kit as well as the usual ribbons and ric rak and strings.  Also some cute word art, doodled flowers, cute little yoyo "flowers" and other fun things.

Fun bright colored papers featuring primary colors and fun prints.

And, you can't do a fun, bright colored kit without an equally fun, bright colored alpha!

The kit is in the store at ACOT now and should be up at NDISB today.  Of course, it's on the usual 20% off introductory special.  And, if you want just the elements or just the papers or just the alpha, everything is available separately at ACOT as well.

Next week we will do the newborn boy kit.  And, I've decided the week after that we'll do the kit I created over the same color scheme as the NDISB collab.  It's kind of my last hurrah for the year with fall colors.  And, after that, I'll start Christmas kits!  Woohoo!  I LOVE Christmas.

Scrapping

I really haven't taken time to scrap.  Here's a page one of my CT ladies, Christy Sturm, did with Pooky Pooky Pooky, the Halloween kit.

I giggled when I saw this page.  Just like when you give a gift you can't control what it's used for, when you sell a kit you can't control how it's used either.  I REALLY didn't want any witchy, gory stuff in my kit.  I wonder if Christy giggled when she used that photo of her daughter as a vampire on my sweet little Halloween kit.  She designs gorgeous pages, that's for sure.  I love how she's used a grouping of ribbons as a border and as a base for her title.  Good lookin' page!

Well, that's about it for today.  Don't I have an exciting life?  Yeppers.  Hope your day is blessed!

 

Productive Saturday

In spite of losing about 3 hours to child care yesterday, it's been a productive weekend.  I mistakenly said I was working on the ACOT collab yesterday.  Wrong.  I've already wrestled that one to the ground and submitted my contribution.  I spent yesterday working on my contribution to the NDISB collab and the kit I am making to coordinate with it.  I am at the point of sitting down with the back of an envelope (I still haven't found the index cards) and figuring out what's left to do.  Sometime today I hope to call that kit and the mini kit DONE!  

I also spent several hours deleting duplicates last night.  I recovered another 50 or so GIGS of EHD last night.  WOW!  I am thrilled.  And, again, I have to say there's more to delete.  It's a real challenge for me mentally, and I avoid it but seeing the amount of empty space grow on my hard drive makes me so happy, I suppose I'll just keep it going!

I am finding that while my machine is not as lightning fast as I'd hoped it would be, it is still substantially improved.  Back ups and defrags that took 24 or more hours are finishing up in 8 hours or less.  And, one can continue working on other things with relative ease while those tasks are going on in the background.  I have to tell you, this is a lot less stressful as a way of working!

The kids were here for about 3 hours yesterday.  I think all 3 of them were tired.  Atticus was a bit more whiny than usual.  Bethie played around here for a while.  Then, she got cranky.  I picked her up and within 1 minute, her head was on my shoulder and she was fast asleep.  William was more distractable than usual.  He was helpful, but had to be spoken to repeatedly before anything registered.  Of course, it was a joy to have them here, whiny, cranky or distractable.  This grandma says they're the 3 cutest children in the world, no matter what anyone says.

I did not get much done on "floor" day.  I just barely got started on vacuuming when the kids arrived.  By the time they left, my back was worn out.  So, I'll go after that again today.  Guess I need to do a load of white clothes too.  If I accomplish all that, I'll have done a good day.

I'm gonna get to work.  Tme to do that envelope thing.  You guys take care!

The Day Yawns Before Me

It's 6AM on a Saturday and I am awake and thinking about what the day holds.  Joe is working a 2AM to 2PM shift so I've got a fair amount of quiet time, hallelujah! 

The computer continues to do well.  No lockdowns so far!  I even set it to defrag the largest EHD and it finished that little job overnight.  Now, in the background, I have it defragging the smallest drive.  The largest drive, my backup drive needed it the most as I plop things on there and then replace them with a later version and then delete them.  Without a defrag, data is spread all over my 1.5 TB drive.  Right now, it should all be lined up like tiny little soldiers.  It's a good thing. 

So, today I will try to finish up as much as possible of that collab kit for ACOT.  And, I will get after these floors.  And I will work on finding my desk.  And, I'm going to finish this quarter's payroll tax returns.  That ought to keep me out of trouble.  Maybe I'll kill off some more duplicates?  I killed off about 6 gigs worth last night. 

I have the kids for a short while today while their Mom gets her eyes checked.  That should be fun.  I'd better do as much of the floor as I can before they get here as picking up Bethie and putting her back down 50 times an hour is a bit hard on the back.

I am still looking for a new advertising person.  Today in my e-mail, I finally got a copy of an advertisement sent out on my latest kit.  That kit has been in the store 12 days.  They're more than a little behind the times.........  And this wasn't a forward of some previous ad they sent out; it was a copy of the actual ad which went out today. 

Healed!  Strangest thing.  I have done more than my fair share of rounds with boils.  They are NO FUN, extremely painful, absolutely horrid to have lanced, and incredibly expensive to have lanced.  The Lord and I have a deal that I don't have to go through that anymore.  Night before last, I discovered a bump right in the area where my underpants elastic hits.  I did what I think is the natural thing, I started to squeeze it.  Then I was struck with the thought it felt like a boil and I thought I'd be screaming from squeezing it, but it didn't hurt at all.  Yesterday during the day, I sat, walked, moved the computer around, etc.--no pain!  When I checked on the bump, it had become a BUMP.  I am not all that good at estimating the size of something I can't see, but it felt about the size of a quarter and was really swollen up.  I grabbed the thing and squeezed and it "blew".  Sure enough, it was a boil, all swollen up.  But, no pain, no painful and expensive lancing.  It's just taken care of.  Wow!

Well, I don't have any more for today.  I'm off to manufacture my version of a mocha frappucino so I can get to work!  Have a great day.

 

Hidden talents

Well, today we are celebrating my hidden talents.  Contrary to what I was told, the RAM for my computer came yesterday.  It was not due until 10/25-10/29 so I was surprised and happy to see it.  However, RAM in a plastic mailing pouch doesn't do much good.  Somehow it has to get into the computer to do any good.  Joe expressed his doubts about being able to do it, so I decided to take it on.  The instructions that came with the memory sticks are pretty much useless.  6 pictures, 2 of which depict unplugging the computer and plugging it back in again.  Big help!  I ended up googling how to install RAM and watched two You-tube videos about it.  Then I had to physically struggle with the computer.  Joe gave me heck for not taking the computer outside and blowing it out.  Yeah, right, Joe.  I wrestled it around a bit but I didn't carry it anywhere!  I did clean up a good bit of dust that had accumulated on the inside of the side cover.  Also on the computer and under the computer, during the wrestling process.  Anyway, I got the sticks installed.  The computer is running a bit faster, but not as much faster as I'd hoped.  However, "faster" is a by-product as far as I'm concerned.  By big thing is to stop it from freezing up on me. 

Yes, it gave me fits again this morning.  I was working on the collab for NDISB.  I had 7 papers open (in layered format) and 2 in-process previews in layered format.  I ended up closing absolutely everything else on the computer and it still took me over an hour to save those items and back out of the program so I could reboot.  It was such a struggle I expected it to lock up on me totally at any minute.  Fortunately, I made it through.  God knows, I've lost more than enough work already.  Now, hopefully there will no longer be a danger of that. 

The whole "Joey goes to Florida" thing is still flying around.  I guess he's going.  I'm not thrilled about it.  We are just beginning to see earnings large enough to pay our monthly bills and now he has to give up four work days for a visit to his mother and what I think is a wild goose chase.  This loss of 4 days wages is going to be really difficult to make up.  He's going to work Saturday this week.  That will help some.  To make it worse, he has to miss work over the weekend, clearly the busiest time.  And working a weekend is no great shakes.  He's been working every other weekend for a while now.  So, he will need to work 6 day weeks for 8 weeks in a row to make up the 4 days wages lost.  This does not make me happy as he can just barely drag his butt through one 6 day week when the next is a 5 day week.  But, I am keeping my mouth shut, other than to tell him repeatedly that we are NOT moving there.  There is no way this is going to happen.  I cannot believe it is "God" who wants him to pastor a church that will most certainly split under his ministry.   It has taken him 8 years to move from where he was spiritually to where he is now and that's a big deal.  Yet, I find myself correcting him constantly.  I can't see a congregation of largely elderly Baptists making the transition.......  But, we'll see what the Deacon Board decides after he tells them what he REALLY believes.......

Today was to have been a "floor" day.  It's not going to happen.  Wrestling the computer has been about all I can handle physically for today.  Maybe tomorrow?  Tomorrow I have the kids for an hour or so while Jennifer gets her eyes checked.  And, since Joe is working I will have no reinforcements.  However, sometimes, if he's tired, that's better than having him here.

Design

Well, I still haven't unearthed those index cards.  Really, I haven't looked for them any more.  I ended up using the back of an envelope yesterday.  It wasn't great but it worked.  I ended up getting A LOT done yesterday, all the little detail stuff that makes me crazy.  But, I have now checked and cross-checked four kits and they are ready to go, all the details taken care of.  In that I hate doing that stuff so much, crossing the many steps off, one by one, was a motivator to keep me going. 

Today, before the computer repair work, I did some design work on the fall kit.  I'm having problems slogging through that one.  I have to do a lot in order to pull out enough for a mini and I'm tired.  Too bad my "break" week didn't provide me a break, LOL.  But, I got a lot done and most of the rest of the year I can coast.  That's always good.

Scrapping

Nope.  Nada.

I'm going to go lie down for a little while and then get up and hit it again.  I have to have dinner ready when Joe walks through the door as he's planning on going to bed by 6PM. 

Body clock is off

Well this thing the world has about having sunrise show up later and later has got my body clock all messed up.  I am going to HAVE to start setting an alarm clock.  I am losing hours of my day sleeping in in the morning.  So, starting tonight, an alarm will be set.

No major stuff on the calendar for today, just the same-o same-o.  More design work.  More housework.  More rain in the forecast with a high of 73.  Same-o.

I was reading an excellent article last night about faith.  It had to do with the verb tense in what we say.  Since I'm a bit of a grammar ninja, it resonated with me.  If we've prayed for something, according to God's will as detailed in The Bible (The Owner's Manual) then we should be speaking in the present tense.  We know, for example, that it is God's will for us to be debt free.  He tells us to "owe no man anything save love".  That's pretty plain.  And, we've prayed to be debt free.  In the natural realm, there's just no way that can happen any time soon.  But, we've prayed in accordance with His will.  Therefore, faith says "I am debt free", not "I'm going to be debt free".  So, as a statement of faith, that makes perfect sense to me.  I'm going to have to start watching my verb tenses..........

I have had the sneezies the last few days.  No, I'm not coming down with something.  It's just my body's way of clearing my sinuses.  And it's a welcome event.  When my sinuses don't drain properly, then I have to fight the headache that results.  So, I hope I just keep on sneezing.  Joe read somewhere that when you sneeze 3 times in a row, you are having an allergic reaction to something.  I just sneezed three times in a row.  And now my nose is running.  I think I'm allergic to stuffed up sinuses, LOL.

Joe was complaining this morning that he was out of things to take in his lunch.  There are times when he gets "cheap" and his version of "cheap" is more related to "stupid" than it is to being careful with money.  For example, he usually takes some kind of potato salad or macaroni salad or bean salad in his lunch.  He went to Costco on the weekend and bought neither, thinking the smidge he had left would do.  Now, he's out.  Really, it's a good thing to have some extra around.  Particularly the bean salad since that doesn't even have to be refrigerated til it's opened; we can just shove it in the pantry.  But, no, for heaven's sake, don't buy extra........  He's also been buying granola bars to carry with him as a snack.  I reminded him that those were almost gone.  THey didn't have that particular box of goodies, so he bought nothing.  Now, wouldn't it have been smarter to buy something else so you'd have SOMETHING even if it wasn't granola bars?  I don't get it.  Now he'll stop by some 7-11 and buy something that will cost more and be less healthy OR he'll go without, his blood sugar will drop and he'll come home extra mean and cranky.  I can hardly wait.............

Design

I worked hard yesterday, but it was slogging through quicksand.  My goal for the day was to be finished with the kit I created to go with the ACOT collab.  I did not meet my goal.  I did get the alphas done, but I need to preview them.  I created some Worn and Torn solids to go with the kit and I need to preview those.  I still have to add the No Piracy notice and the TOU and write the product description.  Then we can close that one and move on.........  I'm ready for something different.  It seems I've been working on this kit forever.  But, the finishing was so complex I ended up having to make a list just to keep myself on track!  I figure what's left to do shouldn't take more than an hour or two and that has me very excited.

I sent my 3 color swatches off to LaWanna.  No response.  Well, this is exactly what happened last time.  We talked about doing a collab kit.  I pulled color swatches and made theme suggestions and never heard back from her.  So, she's on her second chance here.  I really would like to collab with her and I'm willing to do most of the work.  But, I can't hold a gun to her head.........

I've decided this list idea is a good one and I should create one for every in-process kit.  It would definitely help me to be more organized.  I KNOW I have a stack of index cards around here that would be just perfect, but I looked for them last night and couldn't find them.  Guess I'll look around some more today and if I still can't find them, I'll work out an alternative solution.  I don't need the list while I'm doing papers.  I don't really need it til I'm deep into the embellishments.  But, then I look the kit over and try to decide what I haven't done that would work with the kit.  That's where the list needs to start, I think.  It does give great satisfaction to cross things off the list.  For example, my list had 10 items on it when I started it for the ACOT kit and it's now down to 6.  That looks much more manageable and having it all written down allows me to move forward and accomplish what needs to be done.  Yes, I like this idea. 

Scrapping

Not today.  I did get some cute photos of the boys in their Halloween costumes Tuesday night.  I should scrap them with my Halloween kit, right?

Gotta get this party organized.  Have a blessed day!