TGIF!

The husband is on the way home. Earlier than expected, so very cool! Also cool, cause the bathtub is stopped up. Curse of an older house. Love the charm, hate the infrastructure. Tomorrow brings a road trip for me again, quick one this time. I'm going with Miss Tina to take an Ali class at Reminisce. Well, I'm meeting Miss Tina over there. She's taking the morning class and we're both taking the evening class. Should be cool. Would be more cool if I had pictures ready! I need 5-6 5x7" photos, which means I can't just print them downstairs. I may have to print my 4x6" though and just see if I can get the enlargements at A's when I go back to work. Hate to pay full price elsewhere, but might have to for Ali. Sheesh.

House-cleaning today. Trying to do things that don't normally get done. That bag of stuff from the kitchen junk drawer in the Mississippi house that's been sitting on the bookshelf in the living room for-EVER? GONE!!!! All contents put away, thrown away, filed away. I'm giddy over just that if nothing else. Sad, I know.

I'm on a roll

With posts, that is. Here's a quick lo I did yesterday. Scrapworks papers and stickers I got on clearance, HS chipboard flowers, white Uniball pen - yeah, just starting to doodle on lo's...not sure if I"m doing it well though.
Not sure about the handwriting here either. Might cover it with patterned paper and rewrite. What do you think?

Couple more....

Me and sis-in-law who I was so glad got to share some of the Saturday eve CKU excitement. Also, me, my cow poster, and prize bag. I won for best use of location theme. Ol' Daisy there had here own CKU badge and scrapbook full of Chicago history. :) Next pic of me, Debbie S, who is Tina's cousin, and Tina. Finally, 1/2 of the Heidi kit. Cool beans.

Just one more sleep

til the husband gets home. Soooooooo glad for that, but we've made it through ok. Last night was the first that I've had a hard time after the girls fall asleep actually getting them to bed. They sit with me in the big chair, and, for some reason, last night they were sprawled in such a way that I couldn't ease out from under one or the other. I ended up putting them both in my bed and joining them a bit later.

Speaking of sleeping girls, Emily is just about finished with pull-ups! She wears only Dora panties, unless she wakes up soaked (about 1 in 4 nights), then she asks for a diaper. Maddie, on the other hand, won't give up the ghost, but I think Target just ran out of pull-ups, ya know? We've one more full pack, and I'm gonna give it a go, fighting her into the panties. Wish me luck.

Still need to post pics from the weekend adventure. Can't believe it's been a week already since I was there! A few pics from the weekend ~ 4. Me and Heidi Swapp. I love her spirit!! of course, love the products, too. ;) 3. Me and the unsung hero of CKU's, organizer Paula. 2. Me and Willow friends Dalis and Julie. 1. Me and Cricket, who I will love forever. Thanks for being such a sweet, caring, fun, real person and friend. (I had to reload the pics and got them backwards; thus, the numbers.)

Tagged by Dalis!

Another post within 24 hours? Wow....good record for me. I've been tagged by WT Dalis, so here goes!

5 snacks I enjoy:

Chocolate - duh!
Ice cream - vanilla, cookie dough, vanilla
Pretzels
Popcorn
Trail Mix

5 songs to which I know all the lyrics:
(Nothing new.....lol)
The Star-Spangled Banner
The One that I Want (from Grease)
I think I Love You (yep, Partridge Family)
Annie's Song
Country Roads (yeah, both JD songs, Tina)

5 things I would do if I were a multi-millionaire:
Pay off debt
Take care of family near and far
Invest
Travel
Give a lot

5 bad habits:
Eating - bad portion control, eating late at night
Staying up too late
Too much internet time
Waiting for the husband to clean the bathroom instead of doing it myself
Spending too much at the grocery

5 things I like doing:
Being with my family
Scrapbooking
Talking about scrapbooking
Reading about scrapbooking
Decorating

5 things I would never wear, buy or get new again:
The latest greatest sb thing in its first five minutes (before seeing, researching, etc)
QVC sb kits with tons of stuff
Christmas ornaments just because
Heels, if I can avoid it
Bras without underwire

5 favorite toys:
Stamps and ink pads, esp alphabet
Wishblade die cutter
Our computers
Sewing on layouts
My AMM Tote-Ally Cool tool tote

5 people I will tag:
Tina
Tori
Cricket
You :)

That was fast!

Here it is, Tuesday, and CKU is past. It's amazing how quickly time flies. I had so much to do to get ready, and it seems like the days there, while jam-packed, just happened so quickly. The drive home seemed long, but that's the only thing I can say was long. Hopefully, I"ll upload my pics today and can share a couple.

First, I had great fun on Saturday evening visiting with Tori, my sis-in-law. We had a Chicago dog! New for me....yes, I ate the pickle; no, I didn't eat the tomatoes. Uh, yeah, I put ketchup on it. Sorry....it had to be done. Just had to. So, for authentic Chicago food, pizza - check, hot dog - check. Oh, and I gotta give props to Cricket for being the most fun ever. Chicky, I"m sooooooooooooooo glad we got to spend some time together and look forward to doing it again. Tell Sue that Iowa City is at least an hour past Davenport. ;)

Because the final event at CKU (graduation and prizes) does not require a ticket, Tori was able to go in with me and see all the craziness. It was fun though. I made a great poster and was fortunate to win my category. Got a great goodie bag for it. Later that night, roomie Sue and I "worked the crop room" by going around talking to people cropping and looking at albums we hadn't seen from the other tracks. I didn't get to see the AMM Life Lessons one though. I hear it turned out great. :)

The classes were pretty awesome, some better than others. The main class, my album track with Heidi Swapp, was truly awesome. It's too bad that she will be changing the class after this, but hopefully, it will have the same impact on participants. What an amazing experience. It's not so much that, ooh, it's Heidi Swapp. It's really that she shared with us some of herself, something she discovered, something she thought would touch other women, too. And it did touch other women. So many women in the group shared how it touched them, and it was great. I have a lot of work to do to finish my album from the class, but we did a lot of the hard technique work, so the pages should come easily.

The regular classes, the 60- and 90-minute ones, were pretty good. I can't say that any I took were great, but several were ok. The best I saw was the Rusty Pickle 26-Reasons one. Great project. I really like the little book we made in "The Guy in my Life," the board tag book we made in "Festivities at your Fingertips," and Bo Bunny's board book class. The other projects were a little less exciting and really too simple for a CKU albums class. Seriously. Too Simple.

As to the evening activities, they were ok. I had a blast on Wednesday shopping with Lori Bates and Kathy Northup and crew. Wild and crazy chicks. The Yahoo group dinner on Wednesday night drew a small group, but the 10-12 of us had a really fun time. I loved the pizza! Thursday night brought the dorm contests and CKU pep rally. I preferred last year's way of doing these on two nights, but it was ok. The dorm stuff is really getting major....not sure I'll do that again. Had fun seeing it all though. Friday night, no party, but cropping with our album track for 2 hours was scheduled. Heidi Swapp and crew ordered great pizza once the "official" time ended, and we kept going for hours. I loved that and I got a lot done, too. ;)

All in all, thrilled to have had the experience. Not sure how so many do all the CKUs that come along, but happy I went. I made new friends, stepped out of my box, did some great stuff, had tons of fun. Didn't spend *too* much either, which was nice. Now to unpack it all and get back to work on all the projects!

So now, it's Tuesday already. The husband is on a business trip this week, so it'll be another long week around here, or maybe it'll fly by like the rest of them do. Saturday brings a class with miss Ali over at Reminisce, so that'll be cool. At first, I thought of cancelling and saving the credit for Donna D classes in July, but I think I'll go and have fun with Tina, maybe some early dinner before hand, and some coffee talk. Sounds fun, no? Tina, ya ready to do Donna D with me in July??!!

One week to go

One week from today, I'll be on my way to CKU-A. I'm pretty excited about it, but a little worried, well, not worried, but hatin' to leave my family. I really really like being around my family, and I will sooooooooo miss the husband and the girls. To make matters worse, the husband has a business trip Monday-Friday the day after I return! UGH. So, needless to say, I'm having a bit of separation anxiety before it even happens.

So, CKU-A. Very happy about it. I feel as if I am going alone, even though I'll know a couple of people there. I guess that's ok. I never do anything alone because I feel so invisible and conspicuous at the same time. Still, I have some possibilities for fun, so we'll see what shakes out. I know that I will enjoy my album track. I just LOVE LOVE Heidi Swapp's line, and I have heard great things about the track. The other classes seem as if they will be fun, but the main focus is "She," Heidi's classes. I also have some contest entries, well, at least one, another one if I have time. Hopefully, I'll have some luck! My tags are mostly done for the open tag swap; I borrowed and changed up a bit a tag I received in the swap at Mpls last year. I have some dorm things to do still, name badges and some table things. We're going casual on the costume. You just can't go over the top on all of it, ya know? Anyway....hopefully, it'll be as great as last year when Nietra and I went. Now that was fun.

What else....had Mom's Night Out last night with Shannon and Amy. Loved getting together, so-so on the restaurant (the tempura didn't sit well with me overnight), loved the coffee and dessert, really loved all the chatting. I had to miss last month because of the work schedule. Hoping to iron it out for the next MNO.

Trying to do some extra house cleaning every day. I am a horrible house cleaner. Hear that, Tina?? I'm horrible at it!! I just don't wanna do it. It's like exercise. Know how, yes. Need to, yes. Wanna, no. So I am trying to do what I normally get done each day plus an extra thing. I have cleaned the front of the refrigerator and dishwasher. I have mopped the kitchen floor. I have scrubbed the toilet, including the part where the floor bolts are that seems to catch all the dust and hair. So, it's going ok. It's a good thing.

I finally got my Christmas flag down from the front of the house and put the Easter one out. Then it snowed several inches that same day. I found that funny. It's one of the mini flags on an iron hanger, not a big flag pole one.

Fun things I'm loving ~ actually, getting the extra cleaning done, I"m lovin' it. My new Wishblade for scrapbooking, I'm lovin' it. SO glad I decided to go for it and sell my alphabet dies to finance the WB! It rocks. Let me say that again. It rocks. Having my scrapbook room back. LOVIN' IT!!! Works so much better for me and for the girls as it turns out. Who knew. My knew khaki pants that are supposed to be crops, but are really just about regular length because I'm short and pants are made for the extremely tall, I'm lovin' em. Spring arriving, I"m lovin' it cause I want the husband and girls to enjoy warm days and no coats for a while, and me, too!

Okie doke...that's my update. Though I am behind on the Monday blog challenge. For that, which is music this week, I got nothing. Not much of a music girl, I'm afraid. Oh well...next week's might be easier. :)

Monday Blog Challenge

Well, today's challenge is the "four things" listings that I've done previously, so I'll just let ya scroll and find them in last month's entries. :) I'm a cheat, I know.

I've been reading blogs, and, inspired by the vivacious Tina, here's my doll. Yeah, that's me in an alternate universe. Fun though, that site.

Also got the scrapbook room moved back this weekend. By "back," I mean back to the space I had before I decided to give up my wonderful basement office for the girls to use it as a playroom. Yeah, that failed (see post below). So, it went quickly because I really just had to put things back as I had them before. It's even roomier, cause no piles o' stuff. But I can have piles o' stuff if I want 'em, cause there's more room. Heh.

Worked on this cj yesterday. It's about time.....we've been doing this about 10 months, and I think they're all lost. Somehow, Sarah's cj made it to me, and I send it home to her, so at least one is on track. I think it's Amy Totty's fault. That Bazzill chick has them stacked up. I want my book back! But I want Amy's work in it!! Get to it, chicky!

So, that's where I am. Oh, and I got my Wishblade on Friday. That thing is COOL. Even the husband loves it after we were able to make a Cubs'-looking logo, circles and all. Made the title on the cj layout with it, too. Now just to learn the more advanced functions. I'm going to be happy with it though...definitely the right decision to sell the old Sizzix alphabet sets to pay for it. And I made better money on those than I spent, especially since I bought them from ebay in the first place! Nifty, nifty. :)

Wednesday

Man! do I need to catch up. The days seem to pass quickly whether I have anything specific to do or not. After several work days in a short time from last Thursday through all day Sunday, I was thrilled to see Sunday night come, except for the fact that the husband returns to work Mondays. So...I've really enjoyed the past two nights, but tonight, it's work again. And tomorrow night, too. Bummer. A few short hours on Saturday early, just filling in for a co-worker and grabbing some extra pay, and the weekend is mine. Yippee!!

I had a revelation yesterday about my scrapbook space. Well, actually, I had that particular revelation a while ago, that my space SUCKS. The revelation yesterday was that I am taking my good space back from the kids. I'm moving back into my fun little office painted Becky Higgins Behr asparagus green with my scrapbook words foam-stamped on the overhang. Yes, the husband will have to clean and paint over the crayon that now adorns the walls, but so what. I'm taking my room back, my room with the shelf-lined closet and hangy space. The move starts Friday eve. Yippee, again!!

The playroom? Ahh...it will be in the big space that I've attempted to occupy since Christmas. The space is large, but so unusable for scrapbooking! I can't hang anything in the cinder block (not easily, anyway), I can't place anything that's a temptation for the girls, I can't use low shelves or open spaces, stack things on the floor, etc. It will be a perfect play space...good area carpet, wide open space for the Little Tikes stuff, Barbie tent, Shrek chairs, etc. And now that the girls have the feel of the basement, I think it will be easier to keep them from the spaces they don't need to be in, such as the laundry room and furnace room. At first, I thought it would be tough, but after standing in the little office yesterday and seeing what I'd see out the door from my scrapbook desk if it were back in there, I realize I can still keep an eye on what the girls are doing, and, truth be known, they'll want to be near me enough that I can keep them from going where they shouldn't anyway.

No new layouts to share....several nearly-complete ones needing titles or journaling. Hope to get back to scrapping soon. It's therapeutic, cheaper than therapy, creative, and fun. Oh, I'm also trying to keep my pledge to not buy patterned paper anymore for a while. Got a few sheets of the newest stuff, and now I just need to use it!

Elsie, Elsie, Elsie

I just gotta say, could Elsie Flannigan's layouts be any more cute??? Check out her blog; link to the right.

Guilty Pleasure

Our WT weekly blog challenge is "Guilty Pleasure." Gee, not sure I have any of those, as I'm so bad about having what I want. Maybe if I did feel guilty, indulging wouldn't be so easy. I have to say that I love Hershey Nuggets with Almonds. Just love them. Sadly, I find that they taste different, actually better than Kisses. Not my fault they are bigger. There's just something about chewing a nice chunk of chocolate that's soooo good. I guess the guilty pleasure part of it is having several in a row. Like 6 or 8. Lots. Love em. Love em so much that last year, each instructor at CKU got a single Hershey Nugget with Almonds in a tiny plastic bag with a thank you tag attached. Chocolate is always welcome by scrapbookers, ya know. I think it's a universal rule or something that you must have chocolate while scrapbooking. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Pre-pre-school blues

So today we went to pre-pre-school for the 3rd and last time. The "director" told me last week that she and the teachers are concerned with the girls' apparent fear of the bathroom. They don't care if the girls go potty or not (they are only there for 2 hours a week, anyway), but they MUST wash their hands before snacks. This is a health department regulation (yeah, I confirmed it). I figure, sheesh, won't an antibacterial wipe do the trick? Health department and day-care licensing guy says their doctor can write them a note about their phobia and an exception would be made, but I'm still not taking the girls back. They just turned 3, they will go to 3-year-old pre-school in the fall, and that will be fine. This was an attempt to get them involved outside the house and with other children to help them learn and play with others, share, etc. The director was pretty rude, which is why I used quotes around her title in the sentence above. I mean, here I am, obviously-distraught parent with 2 3-year-olds who want to go to school, and she's just walking by like I'm not even there. "We have to keep the group together," she says. So I ask, is it a "keep the group together" issue or a wash-hands issue? There are 7 kids in the class and 2 teachers. Sheesh...can't they wash their hands in shifts with those numbers? The potty is just a few paces from their class, too. Even the pastor who walked by showed concern for my distraught state at least. Well, good riddence, I guess. If she can be that rude and unfeeling (not even showing sympathy, despite the "rules" is what gets me), I don't want my children in her school anyway. And this a church facility. Harumph!! I have already enrolled the girls in a closer church program that starts after labor day. It's a 3-year-old class, twice a week, and my friends have their kids there and LOVE how they nurture the kids and HELP them. Gee, what a concept.

So yesterday, I did two simple layouts while the girls played, but I'm waiting for my new QK Studio Classic alphabet to arrive by mail so I can put titles on them before posting. :)

Fragile and amazing

If you feel like it and haven't already, take a look at Tara Whitney's blog today. She and her family are amazing and deserve some great joy in life, especially right now. I don't know Tara at all; I just read her blog and think she's amazingly talented. Link is to the right in my Blogs listing. :)

Flat hair?

Ok, so I'm looking at the pics below and thinking, sheesh, I've got flat hair. You know how when the lady fixes your hair and it's not the way you would fix it, so you fool with it on the way home? Well, it's still an improvement over how badly outgrown my hairstyle was, but I gotta get my poof today. Trust me, it'll poof, and it'll be better. lol

New Stuff

I joined my WT buddies in a blog challenge. It's to get us all blogging again after a sluggish winter with not many entries among us. So the first challenge is "I am a child of the ___." Well, in my case, it's the 1970s! I was born in the early 1960s, so I came of age in the 70s.

I remember wearing clogs.
I saw Aerosmith in concert 30 years ago.
I wore bell bottoms.
I thought the Mystery Machine was cool long before Sarah Michelle Geller was even born.
I rang in the country's bicentennial.
I remember Watergate.
I wore a dress in my 6th grade picture that was so short, my teacher threatened to send me home if I ever wore it again.
I had shag haircuts.
I loved Donny Osmond.

Concerts I saw:
Aerosmith
Blue Oyster Cult
KISS
ELO
Alice Cooper with Eddie Money and Sweet
Captain and Tenille (I have no idea why though....lol)

The other blog challenge was to post about what's new. Well, nothing much new with sb'ing and the usual things I go on about, but I did get new glasses and a haircut today. What do you think?I'm hoping I shook off the winter dowdy! First photo is a "hold the camera at arm's length" self-portrait; dh took second photo for me.

One more....

This is Maddie's birthday lo....Em's was posted a-ways back. Again, love the Bazzill biggies!

A layout

Might as well add a layout I did at Tina's last week that I finally journaled on....not entirely happy with the journaling as I ran out of room to write....oh well. Love the big Bazzill flower!

Valentines and Crocs

Two things I did yesterday...brought hand-made valentines for the girls to trade in preschool and got some crocs for comfy feet while working parttime. I blame Donna Downey for enabling me on the Crocs, btw. Oh, yeah, those ARE my fat, pale ankles, thank you very much!

Tagged

Well, I've been tagged by Cricket! A second post within 13 hours or so? Gee, I can't believe myself! :)

WHAT SCRAPBOOK LINES/PRODUCT ETC. DO YOU DISLIKE?
Hmm..I don't dislike a whole lot; I prefer some things to others. I guess if I have to say something, it would be that I dislike Zots because they do NOT stick like Glue Dots, most roll stickers, though there are some nicer quality ones with quotes or good alphas (like American Crafts), and I guess cheap cardstock. Hate cheap cardstock.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING YOU EVER HAD TO SCRAP?
I don't think I've sb'd anything hard, but I've tried things that turned out hard, like an entry for the Basic Grey contest last year.

WHAT TECHNIQUE DO YOU USE MORE THAN ANYTHING?
Probably inking and distressing. Even though a cleaner look seems to have taken hold of the industry lately, I still love the shabby chick look.

WHAT'S THE SMALLEST SCRAP OF PAPER YOU SAVE?
Geesh, I need to get over this, but probably about something 1"x2" depending on what paper it is. I figure if I can get a die cut out of it, it might come in handy, and some cardstock I use over and over so I know I'll use that color again.

EVER HAD ANY SCRAPBOOKING RELATED INJURIES?
None that I can think of...I'm sure I've been stuck with the piercer or a staple or something.

FINISH THIS SENTENCE: "IF I WASN'T A SCRAPBOOKER/STAMPER, I WOULD SPEND MY MONEY ON..." books, first edition and collectible books, Gymboree clothes for my girls, house stuff.

GIVE US YOUR BEST STORAGE OR ORGANIZATIONAL IDEA:
Wall storage. I have learned that you can't find a place for every little basket you can find, but storing on shelving or on the wall (like the MM panels) is helpful. Also vertical paper storage...can you say easier than a million wire Target cube shelves??

YOU JUST WON A WEEK LONG SCRAPBOOKING CRUISE FOR 5, WHO IS GOING WITH YOU?
Wow...Nietra, Tina, Donna Downey, Ali Edwards, Heidi Swapp, Karen Burniston, Dana from Archivers and Teri from Scrap This Crop That. Wait, that's 8. Well, we'll just have to eat less so we can all go.

AFTER YOU HAVE ANSWERED, TAG FOUR OF YOUR BUDDIES:
Four? Not sure I know four who blog.....Tina, Kara, Amy Renee', and ..... Karen B? are you reading still? lol

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, technically, it's 7 minutes past Valentine's day, but I had a bit of trouble logging into Blogger. I am now using Internet Explorer to surf, and I had to reset some things in the Internet options before Blogger would let me blog.

So I have been busy...just nothing too exciting to blog about. I've done some layouts that I have pics of but need to upload. In the meantime, I"ll share a glimpse of dh's mini-album/Valentine's card that I made. Tomorrow, the girls have a little party at pre-school. I made a bunch of heart-shaped valentines for them to take for their classmates. I'm so excited! Their first official valentine swap!!

Speaking of swap.....ok, bad pun....I switched to the Heidi Swapp album track for CKU-albums. I just couldn't help myself. I knew I'd love the one I was in, but I just can't resist the Heidi Swapp stuff...in the words of one of my three-year-olds, I reabby reabby reabby wub it!!