My Weblog

Break time........

It's not that I've accomplished so much that I deserve a break. Rather it's that I got hungry and I always take a short break when I eat.

I'm clean, my teeth are brushed, my hair is badly in need of a haircut, but combed with the overgrown "bangs" clipped back out of my eyes. I even exfoliated my face and moisturized it and took time to put some of my lovely olive oil moisturizer on my legs and arms. My legs and arms are SO DRY. Maybe this is that every 7th year replacement of skin cells that we supposedly all go through, but if that's the case, I must be 7 or 8 years old since I've NEVER gone through anything like this before. I am peeling, more like I had a bad sunburn (it's been about 32 years since my last bad sunburn so it can't be from that). Anyway, it looks gross and I hate it.

I haven't done much on my list of things to do today yet. I've just done a bunch of little things like getting those muffins I bought at Costco bagged up and in the freezer. I put the two empty water bottles on the front porch with strict instructions to only deliver one. I hope the water bottle guy listens; my house is too small to store the # of bottles he likes to deliver. If he takes two empties and delivers one, I should be down to 4 bottles. That is still one more than I want around. I prefer one on the cooler and two spares. Total of 3.

I bought a big bag of sugar at Costco and that has now been transferred to the appropriate Tupperware container. I even filled the sugar bowl for the first time in months. I had a bit of leftover Cinnamon Toast Crunch that wouldn't fit in my cereal containers, so that was brunch today. All gone now, LOL. I also got the very last of the dirty dishes rinsed off and into the dishwasher and cleaned the sinks. I have my dishcloth and sponges soaking in bleach water at the moment. The dish cloth was sour and the sponges stained with coffee stains but they'll all look/smell good as new in a little while.

While I was in the bathroom I took time to hang up my nightgown, two robes and my bath towel. Those things have been victims of the drop and run syndrome the past week or so.

As far as computer time is concerned, I've been unzipping and sorting files. Also, deleting e-mail. While I haven't been able to give good attention to my e-mail, it worked its way up to 2090 e-mails. I've whacked it down to 2024 so far this morning. LONG way to go on that! My downloads file is also overflowing. With the new store opening all sorts of stuff has landed in there. It had climbed to almost 900 files, but with my work on it this morning, I've gotten it down to about 830.

Oh, and I did post a notice in the forum that the 8 kits that are going away from ACOT are on sale. Next up is to get the notice posted for the new kit, Camp. I admit to you freely that I really struggled with that kit. I like light, bright colors and fun stuff. My CT ladies (those who have posted their layouts so far) have hit home runs with that kit though! Some great layouts with that kit! I've had a preview of Karen's layout. She hasn't posted yet, but I know she's got a winner. And Jeannette was waiting with baited breath for her son to come home from summer camp with a bunch of photos to use with this kit. Don't know what Laura and Christy and Sara and Nancy will come up with yet, but I know it'll be good! These ladies blow me away every stinkin' week!

Okay, I'm outta here. Breaktime is over and my cereal has been consumed. Onward to greater things, LOL.

 

It's a new day..........

I'm excited to see what today will bring. It is so great to be out from under the super stress that has existed in this house for the last 3 weeks. I think I'll be celebrating that for days to come. Of course, there is always more design work, tax work, and housework to do, but not with the stress I've been under. Of course, the stress was largely self-imposed. I could have opened the new store with just 3 kits instead of 8. I could have decided not to do a 4th of July kit. I could have skipped the blog train this time around, or settled for just making a mini-kit. But, no, I didn't. I had good reasons for deciding to do what I did; I'm just glad the worst of it is behind me!

I have one complete set of previews redone and ready to switch out with the ones in the new store now. I want to get that done immediately. And I want to add those detailed images so when folks click on a product, they can see the other items available in the product line. I would love it if I could replace all the previews by tonight, but I know that's not going to happen. But, the store would look better with all one style of preview. Oh well.

Next up, I need to post in the forum at ACOT with an ad for the new Camp kit. I want the ladies there to know it's up and available and on sale.

I still have 4 kits to make new previews for. UGH.

I need to do some planning. Our CT can have its own forum at the new store. That is such a benefit, I can't begin to tell you. It will cut down on my e-mail struggles a LOT! But, I have to decide what categories I want to divide that forum into. I did all this months ago when we were going to have our own forum, independent of any store, but I never got the categories set up. Such a waste........ But this time I'm going to get it done and done within the week, if not today.

I need to decide what I am going to do about advertising in the new store's newsletter. Their format for an ad allows me to feature one large image of a product and two smaller ones. I am putting up to 8 products in the store with every kit. Now, how do I make this work? I have no clue. I'm gonna have to pray for divine guidance on this one! I would assume one of the smaller spots will have to go for verbiage which makes it even harder.........

That's just a sampling of my design to do list. And, then, there's doing some actual design work, LOL.

Around here, we're still in the state of "anything will be a help". The kitchen floor crunches when I walk on it. The dining room table is a raging hot spot of miscellaneous "stuff" and of boxes to fill with books to pack away or books to donate. The living room and office are dust covered and both need vacuumed. And the entryway floor is yucky. In other words, I could spend the day cleaning and ignore all that design stuff above and stay busy. It's about time to face up to paying July's bills too--desk time needed!!!!!!!! 

And all that ignores that there are 5 other rooms in this house that have their own task lists.

Also, sometime soon, I really need to get to the bank.

Well, I'm outta here for now. I want to get some stuff done! Can't do that and keep chatting away here at the same time. YOU be BLESSED today!

Saturday is New Release Day!

Please scroll down for the blog train freebie. Sorry for any inconvenience.

 

If you're looking for cutesy this week, you've come to the wrong place. But if you're serious about camping, if camping means more to you than marshmallows on a stick, stick around. Have I got a kit for you! Of course, this kit would be great with most any outdoorsy photos as well.

This kit is chock full of elements and papers, many of them truly unique to THIS kit. You won't find them anywhere else unless someone pirates them. This kit has 6 solids and 14 print papers. The 14 papers include patterns such as your standard stripe and plaid and dots. But there's also camo, maps, trees, lantern, grass, and other theme-appropriate designs. Elements include: a campfire, a kettle, a lantern, 2 owls, marshmallows on a stick, rocks, a set of scruffy photo corners, 2 different pine sprigs, 2 pine cones, a pine tree, 6 dotted ribbons, 5 camp-site signs, a realistic squirrel, a realistic grizzly bear, a sleeping bag, a snake, a tent, a "prevent forest fires" sign, 6 curly strings, 5 frames, 1 camp table, 18 craft/paper flowers, 1 butterfly made from leaves, and 1 "brake for snakes" road sign. There are 4 alphas in this kit. You can choose from beige, blue, green or copper. There are 26 upper case and 26 lower case letters, 10 numerals and 4 common punctuation marks. Alphas are presented on full sheets.

Of course, the kit is on sale for the introductory period at 30% off.

You can also buy the separates, just the elements, just the papers, or just the alphas.

The separates are 30% off too.

And, we have some specialized goodies for you too. Have you ever considered that if you buy our paper stacks and our frame clusters, you have the opportunity to make you own customized quickpages? How 'bout that? And, we are giving you 5 stacked paper sets and 5 frame clusters for the price of 4. AND 30% off. Can't beat that!

Now that's one good lookin' bunch of scrapping supplies. Also, drop by on Sunday, July 1 and you'll find a small freebie as well.

Special thanks to Christy who gave me the "bark" paper and to Carolyn who supplied the "prevent forest fires element, the snake, and the road sign.

 

A better day!

I started early this morning, around 6AM. I was so tired last evening that I just couldn't face fighting with my computer to finish x-carting my last kit at the new store. So, instead, I started a draft of the CT letter. This morning I had that finished and e-mailed out early. Since then, I've done a bundle of design work.

I switched to Internet Explorer and finished off x-carting that final kit and the whole thing was a breeze. I don't really like Internet Explorer so I think I'll be using Google Chrome for a while instead of Firefox. Firefox has been the source of a tremendous amount of frustration this week.........

I had a bunch of little stuff to catch up. One CT member couldn't figure out what she'd done with the e-mail that transmitted the link for blinkies. I had to hunt that up and resend it. I needed to resize some previews for the advertising lady. Little stuff like that. But, even little stuff adds up. I had another mini-set of templates I needed to upload to the new store so I got that all taken care of. Again, using IE, it was a breeze. Then I started on creating new previews. Praise be, I discovered I'd actually done new previews for two kits, not one. So there are fewer new previews to make than I had thought. That's a blessing. So, maybe 30 new previews instead of 50? Can't beat that! Sadly I made the business decision that I need to add previews of other products to the "detailed images" part of the uploaded kits. That's adding some time onto this whole process but it will hopefully facilitate some sales. And, finally, this evening, I've started doing a little puttering around the house. No big jobs done, but every little bit is a help. I've carried out a monstrous bag of trash, carried in a bucketful of dog food. I watered the sprinkerless shrubs. I've got all the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. There weren't many, but I don't like having dirty dishes, even one, in the sink. I prefer them out of sight, KWIM?

As promised, my new tea kettle arrived today. I've unpacked it and it's sitting on the stove. Looks nice there. I need to give it a spin in the dishwasher there, just to get rid of any cooties from whomever packed it for shipping. But for now, I'm just admiring it.

Tuesday, the box fan should arrive. I'm looking forward to that. I think that will really add to the degree of comfort in this room. My book on fabric design is due Tuesday as well. Can't wait!

Actually, I can't wait to actually get back to "design". I have been so burdened down with this new store opening and all the additional tasks and learning required for that that I haven't designed a stinkin thing for a week. That doesn't feel right. As I was writing the CT update this morning, I was looking at the kits I have waiting to go into various stores. Gosh, there's some good stuff there. Some of it needs just one little tweak to be ready to go. I'm anxious to get those little tasks done and have store-ready products.

I have the possibility of earning some extra money using my knowledge of photoshop. This is a real fun thing. If you've been to a store or a restaurant lately, you've seen the folks with those fancy phones doing all sorts of things. They do their banking, order a carry-out dinner, shop for new clothes, bid on stuff on e-bay, make appointments with their doctor or dentist, and so on. Most of them have to scroll all around their screens to find the info they need. Why? because the web pages they are trying to access are built for laptop or PC screens (big, in other words). I would be recreating these pages, reducing them in size so that they will properly display on the tiny phone and ipad screens. I would receive $10 when the job is performed and $30 more if the app sells. And, I would still be going to work here in my home office in tee shirt and shorts at any hour I choose. I have some videos to go through to learn how to do this which is a job I have reserved for tomorrow. I'll know better then if this looks like something I would like to do. Of course, the prospect of extra money might just encourage me to "like" doing it too!

I'm going to try to do some eye candy. IE shut down on me this morning when I did this so we'll all keep our fingers crossed here, okay?

This page is by my buddy, Jeannette. That's her up there on the left. I really like the way she's used the accordion "flowers" on the corners of the layout and the fireworks and firecracker to separate her comments from the date and location. This looks really good!

Karla did this layout for me. I have come to think I really like this little guy, even though I've never met him in person. Doesn't that look like a face you could love? I love Karla's layered papers and all those goodies clustered below the photos. I think those glitter stars with the accordion "flowers" stacked on them look pretty cool too. You can leave Karla some love here.

Alright, I actually have a bit of energy left so let me go accomplish something in this house.

 

It is NOT my week..........

I just spent a whole 45 precious minutes writing a big long post. Part of it was about how I was using Internet Explorer to do this post and how much better it was working than Mozilla Firefox. Then Internet Explorer quit working and my big long post is gone. Suffice it to say that I'm alive and pushing hard on my goal of having 8 kits in the new store. I'll try to update more throughout the day. Drat!

I am fried.....

I have been at this computer all day. Oops, I did take about 3 minutes to finish unloading the dishwasher. And I managed to figure out how to make that iced tea even with a tea kettle with a broken handle. That's it. Other than that, glued right here! I even worked through the heat of the day and let me tell you it was not comfortable in here. I'm at the point where simple tasks are being done incorrectly so I'm going to go take a nap before I get back at it. I might be back here tonight. I might not!

It's Firefox's fault..........

I'm blaming Firefox. I don't know what's up with them, but I'm about to choose another browser. It's happening on facebook, on the new store's site, on Amazon, on Typepad, and on another store site I visited this AM. What else could it be but the browser? Here's the fun part--it's not happening on AOL--different browser. Maybe out of desperation, I'll even use Internet Explorer this afternoon. I am having to click 2, 3, 4 times on drop down menu items and I'm still typing way faster than what is appearing on the screen. It is a terrible time eater. I've been at this x-carting thing now for several hours, all on one kit.......... I still have to do this process called "cross linking" which is very time consuming without internet lags.

So, I sent an e-mail to my design partners about the "required" store wrapper. They may have slammed the door, kicked the door, or expressed their displeasure in some other way, but at least they haven't gotten back to me with their frustration. I promise you, they couldn't be any more frustrated than I am.

I have been watching the wild eyed liberals celebrate the Supreme Court's decision on Obamacare. First, it only made it through the Supreme Court as a "tax". Since Mr. Obama promoted it as "not a tax" in order to get it through the Congress, I wonder if it shouldn't be brought up for another vote. Otherwise, we have a tax not approved by Congress. I think most of these liberals are pretty young or they want something for nothing. I am old enough to remember when we, as a country, decided to fight two wars on two different fronts simultaneously. Anyone else here remember when we decided to do the "war on poverty" and the war in Viet Nam at the same time? Anyone else here remember how that worked out? It must be wonderful to be blessed with an inadequate knowledge of history or a short memory. At first, I was tempted to be very upset about the whole thing. Well, "very upset" is not supposed to be in my repertoire as a Christian. So, I prayed about it. I then remembered that the Lord is gonna take me out of this place soon. Very soon. Then I found myself singing an old chorus: "Heaven is a beautiful place, filled with glory and grace. I want to see my Savior's face. Heaven is a beautiful place." Once those of us who are going to be raptured are gone, this isn't going to be a place you'd want to live anyway, Obamacare or not........

I need to find some lunch and then start "cross linking". Ugh...........

good news and bad news.....

There's good news and bad news today, my friends!

The good news is that the power bill came yesterday. Hallelujah! I don't know when I've had such a low power bill in the summer months. I don't know what I'm doing right, but, please God, let me keep doing it!

The bad news is that I need a new tea kettle. Realizing that we're gonna have another scorcher today and the container of sweet tea is pretty much depleted, I decided to get some more tea bags steeping while it was still only about 80 degrees outside. Went to fill up the tea kettle with water and the handle broke in two. The handle stayed in my hand and the tea kettle landed in the sink. The good news is how perfect the timing was--what if that tea kettle had been full of boiling water when the handle broke? I'd have scalded legs for sure! The Lord sure protected me on that one. It pays to pray for His protection daily! By the way, if you're related to me, I pray for your protection daily (actually twice a day, but who's counting???) too. Walk in faith!

I went shopping on Amazon.com. Since I get free shipping on there, it's about as cheap as anyplace else I could shop. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw tea kettles priced as high as $60. I ended up buying one for $22. It wasn't the cheapest, but it's a good brand, Farberware, so it should last a while. It should be here on the 29th. I've had the old one for about 14 years and I didn't buy it in the first place. It was purchased by a former roommate and left behind on move out. I sure got my money's worth on that old thing!

I went ahead and pushed the button on a box fan. If I want to keep that power bill down, I'm going to have to find a way to work comfortably out here without monkeying around with the thermostat. I use the overhead fan, but it just moves around the too warm air that is out here in the first place. There is quite a difference in temperature when you walk from this room into the living room. If I can pull some of that cooler air out here, it will be a help. Maybe it will save me its $23 price over the next few months. After all, Vegas hasn't had a high temp over 108 yet this year and the worst is yet to come. If it doesn't save me that much on the power bill, at least it will make me more productive. I won't need to take a zillion short breaks to marvel over the fact that I'm sweating or to pull my hair up off my neck, LOL.

I am going to try that smarty pants idea of taping a filter to the back of the fan. If it works, the air quality in here should improve substantially and it should help reduce the dust too. It's a win-win. I'm going to tape it loosely so that I don't burn out the fan motor, though.

And, finally, I ordered a book on fabric design. I mentioned before, there are a lot of books on fabric design and nothing comparable in price that is worth spending money on as regards scrapbook design. It was only $20 and I think it will pay dividends when I sit down to design. I've had a ball with just what I could find on the internet and that has already impacted my designs. I can't wait to get my hands on this book!

There's more bad news. When I was first "welcomed" to the new store, I was sent a file for previews. No comment on the file, just the file. Later, when I finally got access to all the "how to" threads at the store, I found that I could use just a sticker on my current preview. Well, that made me pretty darned happy. First, it's pretty easy to put a sticker on a preview that's already made. It takes longer to make a new preview. And second, in order to make the new wrapper work, I had to shrink my previews by about 2 inches. That, as far as I'm concerned, is a distinct disadvantage for the customer. The customer has the right to see what they're buying. Shrinking stuff even smaller isn't going to facilitate that! But, now I find that this new preview "wrapper" is required. Now, after I've uploaded 6 kits NOT using the wrapper! I stumbled across a thread in the designer's forum last night that says it is required on all products as of 8/1/2012. Bah! I am not a happy camper about that little wrinkle!

Now, whoever prayed over my internet connection yesterday morning, PLEASE get started on that again. It's really slow again this morning. I need it to speed up and let me work! I am not the world's fastest typist, but I am typing a sentence ahead of words appearing on my screen. THIS is NOT GOOD!

Okay, let's do eye candy.......

This CUTE page was created by Jeannette, aka Josoliviamaid. The photo was taken this year at a Memorial Day parade. I love how she's used the bear with the heart in the lower left corner to balance out the striped heart in the upper right. You can leave her some love here.

Here's another by Jeannette. She's chosen to use one of our stacked paper packs for this page and it's the perfect choice with it's slightly worn and folded texture. I remember when the VFW or someone used to give out paper "poppies" for Memorial Day. Do they still do that? Anyway, that's how poppies came to be in this kit. LOVE the heritage photo! You can leave Jeannette some love for this layout here.

This is a theme-y kit, all about the 4th of July, a very USA holiday. What to do if you're on the Creative Team and you live in Bermuda, part of the UK? Well, you scrap off topic, that's what. Sara, aka Keling, used this kit to scrap some photos of her husband and son cheering for Great Britain in the European Football (soccer) finals. Great idea, Sara, and beautifully done.

And with that, I'm out of here. Til your prayers take effect, it's gonna be slow going on the x-carting today! Gotta get started......... YOU be BLESSED today.

 

Did you quit praying?

Well, kit #6 is in the store, but it was substantially slower going than this morning. Don't know what happened, but ........... in case I wasn't having enough difficulty, I suddenly found it necessary to make several very fast trips down the hall to the bathroom. That's okay. I learned a long time ago that after tribulation comes blessing, LOL! I praise God for the opportunity to have a second store. I'm happy about this. I truly believe God is a God of increase and over time, He is going to use this second store to help me pay my bills.

So, I'm going to go get a bucketful of dog food and drag some more food products from the van into the house and then start on #7. I'm hoping I can make substantial progress on that. This will buy me time for all those detail things I have to finish before we open...........

There are some smart people in this world..........

I was researching box fans on Amazon.com when I ran across a review of a fan I was considering. The customer said they had taped a filter (like the kind you use on your furnace/a/c intake duct) to the back of their fan. What an amazing idea. Cooling and dust and allergen reduction simultaneously! Yeah, baby!