PageMaps

I plan to do all of the sketches for pagemaps this month.  wish me luck.  Here is the first sketch 

and the page.  I intend to use a picture of me and all my sisters but I can't find it!  I am going to have to get one of them to send it to me.  Not sure I love the layout, but I love the colors and the concept.  Sorry it's so blurry, I may be forced to retake the pic of it later. 

I showed this layout in progress a couple of weeks ago, maybe, I can't remember but I finally finished it. 

I plan to add this photo of my gabby girl + another one as soon as I find one that I like enough to put in the circle. 

My intention was to craft all day Saturday and today but instead, I spent the entire day reading!  I have read 4 of the 6 - 1000 page DG Outlander novels since I got them a few weeks ago.  Seriously, I stay up until like 2am reading most nights, I just can't put them down.  I haven't had any takers on my offer to give them away so as soon as I finish the last one, I plan to donate them to the Goodwill. 

This is a photo of the worst adhesive I have ever used!  It was awful for me.  I have disliked things before (glimmer mist) and them come to love them but I don't see that happening here.  I got it bc it was on sale for like $2 and I ended up giving it away.  Seriously, awful. 

I had this idea in my had for a bag/purse and it is still there but I still have not definitively decided upon a design or a plan.  It is just swirling around in my head.  Times like this make me wish I could put pen to paper and come away with the picture in my head.

My husband and I have been together for over 14 years now.  I was thinking about how when we first met i loved every single thing about him and he really could do no wrong.  This feeling must have stuck around for awhile bc we dated for 3 years before we got married.  We are very, very different in a lot of ways but I think that what makes us stick and still love each other very much, despite the differences, is we both have the same ultimate goals.  God comes first, we come second and the kids come next (most of the time we come second but on a daily basis I have to admit that we put the kids needs first).  Lovely right?  Well, I have to tell you that the next time that man starts talking in the middle of a good movie we are going to leave the theater and go straight to the judge!  He is the worst movie talker ever!!!!  I am quite as a church mouse but him, OMGoodness he would talk straight thru if I didn't give him the stink eye and refuse to answer his questions.  I won't watch any tv show with him unless it is recording for the same reasons or if it is something that I didn't really want to watch anyway.  AAAAGGGGGHHHH. 

On another note, spring is in the air.  It is supposed to get to 70 on Friday and I caught a picture of these this morning when I was photographing layouts.

I have already been looking through garden catalogs so I guess the boys and I will be spending some time this weekend looking for a nursery for the garden plan I have in mind. 

Thanks for stopping by and check you later.  Have a fantastically wonderful week!

Encyclopedia Brown

Yes, I still have encyclopedias.  I am a smell the book kind of girl so having them on disk is not appealing to me.  I had a whole entire set of them which included the entire works of all the great well known philosophers but I donated them to a private school years ago.  Broke my heart but at least they are being used.  My husband has been threating, begging, and bribing me to give up these last few and I just simply can't.  They are beautiful to me and I am holding out for that library.  When we finally settle into the last home we are going to live in, I will have a library that holds all my books.  I am so looking forward to that.  But for now, I think they will have to go back into the box seeing as how he set his fish tank up right next to them.  Pity.

It is stinky dark and wet and dreary here.  Supposed to rain all weekend and part of next week.  I sure do miss my fluffy snow.  

I will be crafting all day today and 1/2 of tomorrow yes I will.  Can't wait.  I have bought a ton of new papers and embellishments that have been calling me all week. 

K&Co.  Probably one of my favorite companies.  Still have a few things that I want to get

I also bought a lot of pink paisley paper, october afternoon papers and embellies, some new basic grey, american crafts, bo bunny, my minds eye, me and my big ideas and a new company that I was not familiar with called scribble scrabble.  I loved their papers though. 

I have already used the bird and one of the frames on the sticker sheet!  I never do that, it normally takes me a few weeks to use my new stuff.  I plan to cut the center out of the yellow die cut edge paper.  The pattern is too cute to cover up and, again, I have already used the 1 of the token die cuts.  They are about 2 inches wide and 1 inch tall, big enough for a sub title or part of a title.  hmmm just thought of that. 

Oh man, that is a heck of a post.  Sorry about that.  Been chatty lately.  I guess it is the weather!  Thanks for stopping by and hope that you are having a fantastic weekend.  Later

New Favorite Layout

This is my new favorite layout.

It is of my girl and my best friends boy when they were about 6 months old.  I haven't journaled it yet because I am not quite sure what I want to say, maybe I will just use a quote.  At least I used a photo. 

The weather is so bad here and CJ is out of town and I was concerned about Q coming home to an empty house (plus I left my cell phone) that I decided to play hookie on my last class.  Most of my classes have been super empty today so hopefully my professor will not take this day to put out some amazingly difficult concept that I must be in class to appreciate.  I have been faithfully reading each chapter, doing the optional homework and taking hundreds of notes so I should be fine. 

I finally got the new issue of CK and am going to settle in to read it and the 4th book in my Outlanders series tonight.  That's my plan and I am sticking to it.  No laundry, dinner cooking, bed making or other distractions will get between me and my relaxation.  I wasn't crazy about the cover colors, despite the fact that purple is my favorite color, but I am reserving judgement on how much I like this issue. 

I have just started following along with KW cards on Fridays and Mondays.  I went back and started at the beginning and here are the 2 cards I made.  I am going to make this weeks today.  I plan to do nothing at all but craft this weekend (with the exception of taking Q to the art museum).

I have been promising the girl my recipes for a while now and have finally started a blog to share what we are eating with her.  I think she probably misses the family dinners a little. 

Not a lot to share today.  Thanks for stopping by and have fun & fantastic weekend!

Uncle Sam is SO NOT my Favorite Uncle at the Moment!

AAAAGGGGGHHHH.  Is all I have to say after spending months on an issue with my least favorite uncle.  Are you serious?  Could this be any more frustrating?  Yes it could so I will just accept the blessing that it is not and say a prayer of thanksgiving that it will eventually be resolved and things will run smoothly after that.  Right?  Right. 

Anywho on the other shoe, school is going very fine.  Very fine indeed.  Despite the fact that I am surrounded by chattering 18-20 yos, I love it and am doing very well.  The old bowl of jello still has all its flavor.  Yes indeed.  No loss of wrinkles in my brain no matter what my hubby says.

On to better subjects than my frustrations.  I know that I am going to look back on the post I have made these past few days and wonder why in the heck I was having such a bad week.  Which is so not the case, I am have a series of fortunately good weeks that happen to have a few bad moments (disclaimer).  That being said, I will move on.  On to some awesome blog action today.  Hello, I visit about a hundred blogs a day (why the heck do you think I don't update my own? just sayin) but today was a good day to visit blogs. 

First American Crafts stunned me with a gorgeous layout that I can't wait to scraplift by Piradee Talvanna using these products (how cute is that butterfly paper?)

And than Melissa Phillips does another page that I am totally going to scaplift for my niece and she leaves a really simple recipe for homemade Oreo Cookies that I am also going to lift for me and the little guy to make. 

On to Pinefeather who did a tutorial on the cutest simple card!  I can't wait to try it and you know mine will have a drawerful of crap on it and so not look like hers when I am done.  I am also going to go and buy myself a cuttlebug this weekend.  I have been holding out long enough.  I know that as soon as I buy it, a new machine is going to come out that is better but I won't be able to get it bc I just bought this one and .....oh sorry, having a baby bug flashback.  My bad.

Ok, mini albums are my thing and I love to make them but this one by Katie Watson on the Maya Road DT blog is the bees knees.  OMGoodness you have to see it.  

If I ever made a card for my mother that was as beautiful as this one that Ingvilde Bolme made for hers, she would move in with me and cook me dinner every night for a year.  Seriously. 

Ok, I am supposed to be working on a science project idea so that when I call my science partner we have something to discuss but I have no idea where to start.  Hello, science is my worst subject second only to math!  Geez. 

Thanks for stopping by and have an incredibly good day!

Somebody is Going to Get a Black Eye

And since it is illegal to give them to your kids, I guess it is going to be me!  That little boy is acting like a complete butthole today and I swear if he doesn't stop, it is going to get ugly!!!!  Mommy time out (at the scrapbook store and the boys have to fend for themselves for dinner) is fast approaching.  Why is he crying when he is ticking me off?   UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH  Oh, sorry he is not crying, he is singing which is so much more appropriate. 

He informed me that he is having a bad day because he only had crackers and a sunny d for lunch and the lunch lady would not listen to him (and even had the nerve to insist that she was helping him) when he was trying to tell her not to call me or his dad because we were not available.  I am serious people.  I gave in his lunch check on the 1st and it is in his backpack right now.  Why did he not just tell her his check was in his backpack?  No clue. 

I am going to insist on a raise when my husband gets back!

National Zoo

We visited this fantastic (free) place and had a ball.  One of the things I love the most about living in DC is how much there is to do.  With the weather so bad lately, we really haven't done much but it was gorgeous out and we had a great time.  I, of course, forgot my camera but here are the pics the little guy took with the cam he got for Christmas.  He is doing so well with it that I think there is a better one in his future.  Maybe for Easter.  He absolutely loves the thing!  The most interesting thing we saw was a wolf.  I have been to a lot of zoos and have never seen a wolf.  Boy do they stink!!!!!  But this one was red and looked like a very tall fox, hence the nickname, fox on stilts.  It was almost as tall as a zebra.  The female lions were also beautiful and huge, huge, huge.  I am still always slightly surprised by big they are when I see them in person. 
This is my favorite, the meerkats and they were the most active in the zoo besides the little teeny monkeys. 

These were in with the sloths and they were so tiny. They were about the size of a small cat or an older kitten.  They played with each other like children.

This is the wolf, so graceful and beautiful.  I would go back just to see him.  He might even end up on my Christmas cards this year!

Speaking of zoo, the hubby is trying to get cool daddy points by putting this in Q's room

I think he won the popularity contest hands down this week.  It even has an ugly crayfish in it. 

 Oh and I think he put the crabs in there too.  I told them that if the crabs get out there was going to be trouble.  We had them before and they both escaped.  The kids would come home and they would be in the middle of the living room.  Yuck!!!!  Because I am evil (HAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAA), when the boy walks in the door from school, I will ask him to guess what I sucked up the vacuum hose.  Works everytime.  He freaks out and runs to dump the vacuum tray to find his crabs. 

Just wanted to pop in for a quick second.  Off to do a massive amount of science homework and to play catch-up with housework, phone calls and emails. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! 

If You Could Change One Thing.........

That is a question that I have been asking myself and really thinking hard on these last few months, years really.  Seems as if I am growing up.  I know, I know, that is an odd thing to say for a woman who is over 25 (you didn't think I was going to tell my real age did you?).  I am very happy to say that there is not much that I would change and most of what I would change is because my actions caused pain to someone that I love.  Have I been an angel?  Heck no!!!! Far from it, I just think of the great lessons I learned from the things I screwed up on and how those lessons have and are still shaping my life.  My world has ended more times than I can count but I am still here.  I am still important.  I am still contributing.  I am still learning.  I hope to never stop.  I am so happy to say those things about myself because for a very long time, I felt that I had no purpose and no reason for being here.  Okay, deep communication over.  On to the good stuff.

Went to see Alice in Wonderland yesterday and while it was not nearly as good as I thought it would be, I keep finding myself yelling, "I NEED A PIG HERE!".  Easily the funniest part of the movie for me!!!!!  And Johnny Depp, he is so odd.  I could not get into his character, but when he danced at the end of the movie, SO funny.  But Helena B. stole the show.  She was the most entertaining. 

I put pictures on a couple of layouts.  I have been wanting to.  I got a whole but of pics developed at Target but they are all 4X6.  Not that there is anything wrong with 4X6 photos, but a girl needs a little variety.  My printer has been crapping all over the photos that I printed at home.  So annoying!  Great photo, half of it anyway than pink on the other half UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!  Excuse the exclamation points, I am very emotional about this.  So anywho, I ran to Staples to pick up some (expensive as all get out) ink and what should I find there?  A $50 photo printer!!!!  Get. Out.  I am beyond over joyed and the darned things prints like a dream.  O but I tell ya, if those boys use my printer, there is going to be trouble..........

Here is the first layout.  I put a pic of this layout in progress a few days ago and it has really changed.  I am very happy with how it came out. 

This is a layout that I did during the big snow storm.  Love it too. 

This is what is on my desk right now.  Not sure where it is going to go but so far liking it. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and see you next time.  Hope you had an incredible weekend!