Happy Holidays!

Hope that everyone has a wonderful, warm and happy Christmas. We broke with tradition this year, and opened all of our presents on Christmas Eve. As usual everyone got quite a haul - and they are now quite contentedly playing with their loot.

Tomorrow will be a nice relaxing day, getting up and opening the stockings and the Santa presents and then relaxing until the neighbors come over for Christmas dinner. Mitch is making his super-wonderful Prime Rib - my mouth is watering just thinking about it!!

Here's little Emma in her Santa hat - look at that mischief in her eyes! I think her Dad & I are gonna be in trouble in her teen years :)

Scrap Shanty kit sponsor layout

Uses the Metro Chic kit from the Scrap Shanty December Sponsor
The Scrapping Spot and the December Sketch Challenge Sketch.

To the kit I added:
Chip Chatter Alpha, White cardstock, White uniball signo pen, White Souffle pen.

What in the world was I thinking?

Every year, I vow to start making my Christmas cards earlier - or even **gasp** buying them. Every year I end up making them, and starting the 2nd week of December LOL. Considering that I send out over 100 of those suckers - I guess I'd call myself a glutton for punishment!

This is what the card making production line looks like. Thank goodness for my Cricut going to town cutting out all the circles :)



Next year, I RESOLVE TO START MAKING MY CHRISTMAS CARDS EARLIER. Remind me would ya? LOL.

Bows, and bows and bows

One of the DT members, Amy - over at Scrap Shanty, made up an awesome tutoral for the upcoming Cyber Crop.  Making your own bows from scrapbook paper.  Amy gave us a sneak peak of the tutorial and Emma & I couldn't resist making some bows of our own.

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Go Team!

Braeden is playing on the Parks & Rec league for the 4th year in a row. He has the same coach from last year, and a lot of the same players - they are hoping to be the league & Golden Ball champs again this year. They got off to a good start, winning their first game 26-19. Braeden played really tough - and scored 8 points. Go TEAM! (that is their name, LOL - Team!) That's Braeden - #39

Citizen Soldier by 3 Doors Down

For Brett, who loved this video when we saw it at the movie theater.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJRthpxDM10&rel=1]

Christmas Tree

We put up our tree tonight. Mitch assembled it, and since its pre-lit we didn't have to do anything with the lights. I put up the snowflake garland and bead garland and then the kids did the rest. Turned out pretty good I think.

Time for the Ark?

This is our flooded yard.


After getting about 10 inches of rain in 24 hours - Mitch had to make a sump pump by using our garden hose to suction water out into our culvert. Mitch actually put his mouth on the hose and sucked to get a suction started - he said I didn't wanna know what he sucked into his mouth - GROSS! But it did the job, and helped to get what we were calling Jones Sea to abate quickly after it quit raining.

Scrap Shanty 11.15 Blog Challenge

Bethany (Verro) does weekly blog challenges over at Scrap Shanty

Todays is:

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, your blog challenge is to write about your Thanksgiving traditions. Do you take a walk after dinner? Do you hit the movies? Do you have very specific dishes that you make yearly? Was there a disaster when you broke tradition one year? Who does the cooking? Who cleans up?

Hope you join in and post a link to your blog in the challenge thread when you are through!

Here is my answer (thanks for patiently waiting -LOL)

Growing up in a large family - we always got together for holidays and I miss that now that I live so far away.

Just about everyone had a special item that they were expected to bring to the get together. My sister Rita made the pumpkin bread and coleslaw. My sister Vivian made the bean salad. My brother in law Larry and neice Jennifer made home made rolls. My Mom was the baker - in charge of cakes, candies and pies and the Deviled Eggs. Now that she is gone, that has fallen to various family members - but none can make it like Mom.

When it is just DH and I and the kids, we traditionally invite the neighbors on either side of us, and any of the Sailors that have no place to go. I make Turkey, Spiral Cut Ham, Mashed potatoes, gravy (I have to have the neighbor help with the gravy & potatoes as I can never get them right) Deviled Eggs, Pumpkin Bread, Cranberry Sauce, Corn, Rolls and for dessert Lemon Meringue Pie Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Pie Apple Pie :) No one leaves hungry - but writing this post has made me hungry LOL.

Scrap Shanty 11.8 Blog Challenge

Bethany (Verro) does weekly blog challenges over at Scrap Shanty

How has your style evolved? Are you a trend-setter? Do you follow the pack? Conservative? Wild? Do you love bling? Are you more practical? Write about fashion, your home or your art, or all three.

I am definitely not a trendsetter, and I don't consider myself wild, more practical. In fashion - I seek comfort and price. In home fashion - with a DH that wants all white walls and prefers the Southwestern stuff I bought before we married almost 20 years ago - I'd say I'm stuck in a rut. In my art - I do love bling, and I'd say that I follow the pack - as often I see someone has used something and that sparks me to use it.

Scrap Shanty 11.1 Blog Challenge

Bethany (Verro) does weekly blog challenges over at Scrap Shanty
Hope you join in and post a link to your blog in the challenge thread when you are through!

Have you recently had a major finding? Or perhaps, you've had one in the past? This week, write about that exciting discovery in your blog.

I've recently discovered the joy of audio books and getting them from my library - I love my library. We can go online and order up the books, tapes etc that we want and have them delivered to our local branch for pick up. I love listening to books come alive when read aloud - it really makes me live the story!

Scrap Shanty 10.25 Blog Challenge

Bethany (Verro) does weekly blog challenges over at Scrap Shanty

Hope you join in and post a link to your blog in the challenge thread when you are through!

Since Halloween is next week, I thought that I great blog entry would be on your favorite childhood costume. Or you could discuss what you wear now. Or a costume that someone you love wore. Or your philosophy on costuming.

Wow - I really don't remember much about trick or treating as a child. I can't remember any costume that I ever wore - or wanted to wear. Sheesh, thats a bit sad. I love Halloween though - it is about my favorite holiday. I love going with the kids and having them pick out their costumes, and see what they will come up with each year. So far -it seems to follow a theme - Braeden/gory, Brett/military, Emma/princess :)
I don't dress up as an adult, although when I worked at the car dealership we all dressed up and had an employee contest. One of the salesman always won - he was so creative when it came to his costume every year. The year I as pregnant with Emma, there was a lot of road construction and there was a sign that said BUMP - so I wore an orange shirt, and a cardboard sign with a cutout for my preggo belly, with BUMP written on the shirt. One year I went as the wacky gal from Drew Carey Show - Mimi - of the garish clothes and blue eyeshadow. Was a lot of fun.

Ghetto Scraproom Part 2

Wow I can't believe I moved into my new scraproom the end of August and it is still so Ghetto looking :).

Still working off the folding camp table that is pretty wobbly. DH has promised over and over to put up some shelving and buy me a countertop for the room - so it would at least become the white trash scrapbook room LOL. But, that has never happened and now - it is going to become Ghetto Fabulous! DH ordered me some great bookshelves and desks from IKEA for my birthday (and Christmas and anniversary)!! It neccessitated me having to move the existing stuff around so that we could make sure the new stuff would work - and also so it would be easier to put the new stuff in place when it finally gets here in a couple of weeks. This is what it looks like now:

I have a horrible mess made, from pulling apart all the kits I had and organizing them.

Here is what is going to make my room Ghetto Fabulous -



Emma and I are each getting one of those desks and they will be put together so that we face each other. I'm getting 2 of the larger cube bookshelves that will go along the wall behind where I will be working. I'm so excited!! Only bad part is that when it gets here - we have to put it all together before we can put it in the room :(

Please Click

As some of you may know, my sister Janet was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She has had 2 lumpectomies to remove 7cm of breast tissue in her right breast. She is getting ready to begin a chemo & radiation program. She has Stage II Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer - which is a more severe and less common form of breast cancer. It usually mirrors itself in the other breast and often re-occurs. My sister has a long fight ahead of her, but she has a lot of support and a positive mental attitude and a concrete faith in God that I think will help to sustain her. This event has brought breast cancer into full color in our family, and with it being breast cancer awareness month - we see that there are many ways to help. One of them is in the side of my blog.

I am asking that you click daily on the blinky you see under helping others, to help fund mammograms. Had my sister been diligent in getting her mammograms done - this may have been detected earlier. Please help to fund free mammograms with a simple click of your mouse.

During October, if they get 500 mammograms from the clicks - their sponsor will give another 150 mammograms. They are currently only 79% to their goal with 10 days left. So please help them to get those extra mammograms and possibly save a life.

So please Click - thank!
Kim

Grand Opening Celebration Crop

Come and Crop til ya drop over at Scrap Shanty. We have some great make n takes, tutorials, games and challenges scheduled for today through Sunday and are giving you until Wednesday to work on things and get them uploaded to the crop gallery.

We have an awesome prize package from Glue Arts - including 1 pkg repositionable, 1 pkg High Tack, 1 Pkg vellum adhesive, 1 small width glue ring, 1 wide width glue ring, a pen and even a tote - for one lucky participant.

We have an exclusive sketch contest by Becky Fleck - along with a prize for the winner selected by Becky.

and much much more - Come and check it out in our Crop Til You Drop Forum

Scrap Shanty 10.18 Blog Challenge

Bethany (Verro) does weekly blog challenges over at Scrap Shanty

Hope you join in and post a link to your blog in the challenge thread when you are through!

Write about how you create. Some questions to get those juices flowing are:

Do you listen to music? What kind? Loud? Soft?
Do you watch/listen to a movie? What kind?
Do you dump out all your supplies at the beginning and pick and choose what you want to use? Or do you hunt and gather while in the process?
Are you a fast or slow scrapper?
Are you messy or neat?
Do you follow a sketch religiously or do you use a sketch as more of a suggestion?
What are you more inspired by? New products? New photos?

I always get stumped when talking about my creative process - cause I don't really think I have a process. I do listen to music - usually the radio - which is a mix of today's hits and 80's music - I don't keep it too loud as that tends to be distracting. I don't listen to or watch TV - as that sucks me in and I'd never get anything done. I am a medium speed - hunter gatherer when it comes to scrapping. I am extraordinarily mess while scrapping -but have to clean up in between. I love to use sketches - I tend to use them religiously - but occasionally change them up to suite me :) I am most inspired by product and others creations - I am a major league scrap lifter :)

Digital Design Team Call

At the Shanty - we love digital and hybrid scrappers! We have some awesome Digital Sponsors lined up and now we need to get our digital design team together. If you are interested in digital and hybrid scrapping - come check out our Digital Design Team Call

Design Team

We had a design team call over at Scrap Shanty and we had an amazing response. So many talented gals applied - It was a very hard decision.

We were fortunate enough to add to our already fabulous design team of:

Becky T



Carrie G(scrapdabulous_me)



Dawn I (craftygirl)



Elaine N (owlie13)



Stacy D (stinkerbelle)



and our newly added members:

Kathi (Kathi_miniKatie)


Candice (Kansas)



Amy (blksmom_621)



Bethany (Verro)



Mikki (mommamikki)



Didi (Didi R.)



Look for lots of great things in them in the future as we feature our awesome sponsors. We already have lined up Glue Arts, Rusty Pickle, Around the Block, DCWV, KI Memories and more!

Scrap Shanty October Challenge

Scrap Shanty has been fortunate enough to get sponsorship from Glue Arts!! They have an adhesive advice column on our website, and will be providing adhesive information in upcoming planned newsletters. Glue Arts sent our Design Team samples of their adhesives - so be looking for reviews from the DT as they work on their projects. Glue Arts also provided an awesome prize for our upcoming cybercrop. In addition, Tina from Glue Arts posted this:

GlueArts would like to get the ball rolling on the Monthly Challenge! We will be awarding an All Access Pass to the upcoming Scrap-a-Faire Online Consumer Trade Show, that's a $99.00 Value, to one lucky (and talented) entry!

Your mission:

Create the most unique page or card using our GlueArts Vellum Adhesive with either vellum paper or a transparency.

To help you get started, for those of you who do not have a store in your area carrying this product currently, GlueArts will have a special offer for ScrapShanty members, you will get a packet for $4.99 and Free Shipping! Normal MSRP is $5.99.

A winner will be selected at the end of this month by a panel of 3 GlueArts employees. Good Luck!

Check out more specifics here

New places, some same ole faces.

Well, I've been asked to join in with a couple of other gals and take over an existing message board and site. Since I now have a lot of free time on my hands, and no place to hang my internet hat - it seems like fate! Come on over and get back to your scrapbooking roots at the friendliest place on the internet - Scrap Shanty

Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz, oh what a relief it is!!

Did something yesterday that I should have done long ago! Life is too short to spend caught up in things you have the power to change! Something just wasn't working for me anymore, and I had to the power to change it by removing myself from the situation - and so I did! What a relief!!

Well I have decided that I am not cut out for the life of a house painter! LOL. DH and I painted the outside of the house this weekend, and plan on staining the deck and fences and then painting the inside of the house. I am not looking forward to the future projects, and am sure that I will have had enough of painting by the time we are done.

But, that complaining out of the way. It is very satisfying to look at how great the house looks now, and know that WE did it!! The light isn't good enough tonight for a completed picture - and we still have to paint our door maroon. But here are some before and afters - the paint color we chose is called masking tape - isn't that a great name for paint??


Before - a light yellow


After - masking tape :)

Welcome to my ghetto scrapbook room.

We recently decided that Emma and Brett could share a room. Emma never played or slept in her room - and it was just a waste of space - not to mention the time spent taking her toys out of Brett's room to put back into hers. After talking it over with them - we made the big move. I was moving from the laundry room/pantry to Emma's old room and Emma was moving into Brett's.

It took quite a while because Brett's closet had been used for storage, so we had to move that stuff into the family room until the pantry was cleared, which couldn't happen until Emma's room was moved and my scrapbook stuff was placed in. Hours later, I finally had the kids's room looking pretty good and I was tired - so went to bed. Started in again bright and early the next day and by that evening - all was where it was supposed to go.

Well, not all. My scrapbooking stuff wouldn't all fit into the storage that I have now - so some of it is in the family room. Mitch wasn't feeling the urge to go get the counter top and shelving for the new "artist" room as Emma calls it. So, for now - we have a ghetto scrapbook room - using a camping table and a card table and whatever else we could re-purpose. It'll do until Mitch feels like being a carpenter.

Here are some pictures, it's not a large room, and as you can see Emma's room theme was butterflies - My MIL and I stamped those when Emma was 6 months old - time flies!! Here you can see Emma's ghetto scrapping table, an old card table and also, you can see that room had to be made for Kahlua too:



Here is my ghetto scrapping table, a folding camping table that isn't too sturdy!



Here is a shelf that DH made in shop in High school, now holding my stamps and miscellaneous stuff.


Here is Emma's old toy cubes, now holding my photo boxes.

So it ain't pretty - but it works for now!

Everybody say it with me now......

[photopress:DSC00071_resize.JPG,full,centered]
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
This is the newest addition to our family (almost). I say almost because she is only a month old and we get to pick her up on the 19th. Brett and Emma were so excited to go and visit her - and we all agreed on the name Kahlua.
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You know it's been too long when...

you have to reset your password on your blog to get into the darn thing to write a post!

Oh where does the time go?? This summer is just rushing past. We had such high hopes for this summer, DH had a lot of leave to burn and we planned to get out on our boat a lot - since DH will be gone next summer and won't get to use it. But, the fates had other plans. The boat has been in the shop since the beginning of June. Looks like we might finally get it back next week - in time for Mitch and the kids to go to Lake Cushman camping for a few days while I'm in Chicago. Been a long 6 weeks with out that boat - didn't realize it, but DH is a bit of a pouter ;)

We had a great vacation - even without the boat - Sun Lakes is a great place to go - and we will definitely go again some time - maybe in August - will be especially nice if we have our boat back - because it has a great boat launch!!

Emma lost another tooth, so she is now missing the bottom two. Her Uncle Gary called her Toothless George - so we've been teasing her a bit with that.

We have reserved a puppy! Ever since we went to my sister Janet's house - where she had a new little puppy - the kids have really been asking for another pet. We've had so many dogs that we have adopted and that haven't worked out for one reason or another - they dug, they peed in the house, they got out of the yard etc etc, but DH is sure if we get a puppy we can train it the way we want. So we have reserved a buff colored female Cocker Spaniel. The litter was born on July 2nd, so we will get to bring her home late August when she is 7 weeks old. I hope DH is right!
I do love Cockers though - so I'm kinda looking forward to it and the kids are very excited!!

I leave Wednesday to go stay at a hotel near the Seattle airport and fly out Thursday at the crack o dawn to head to Chicago for CHA! I get to see Felicia, Carole and Jen again and hopefully meet my buddy Bonni. Going to be busy but fun!!

I'll try to update with some CHA sneaks while we are there if I have time!

Ciao!!

Stepping down from the Shanty

I have decided to step down as an owner of Scrap Shanty. Having been involved in owning or admining a board for the last several years - it is time for a breather! With DH being gone, and it being summer time - this is the perfect opportunity to spend more time with the kiddos doing things together as a family.

I'm still gonna hang out at the Shanty - just gonna be regular folk though :)

I've Been Tagged

These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. So, time for my 7 random facts:

1. I miss my Mom everyday, especially our early morning phone calls - she was by best friend.
2. I don't like cats, I say I married Mitch because he was allergic and I knew I'd never have to have one.
3. I can add things quickly in my head, by turning them into sets of 10.
4. I love Pepsi and Diet Coke, can't stand Diet Pepsi or Coke.
5. I hate Ham and Beans. When I was young, if I'd come home and they were cooking, I'd leave and go to my sister's house.
6. I was a cheerleader in high school.
7. I have always wanted to own my own bookstore.

I tag Fee, Liz, Lacey, Jill, Jess, Kat, and Cynthia

Accutane

Braeden started on this for his acne - and less than a month later this is the result. No side effects for him so far, other than the dry skin - that is what the 2 red spots on his lip are from - he peeled the skin off - owwwww!!

[photopress:braeden1.jpg,full,centered]

I think it is making a major difference - and wish we had known about it sooner - we sure wasted a lot of time on Pro-Active and Murad and stuff.

Better day

We are having a much better day today - course we didn't leave the house - no use in tempting fate :)

Emma lost her first tooth today, she is so excited and I think she looks so cute with her missing tooth [photopress:emma_tooth.jpg,full,centered]

and the guy who owns the tahoe that Braeden grazed called - and he said he just wanted to thank us for doing the right thing and leaving a note, but not to worry about it, the damage was so minimal and Braeden didn't need it on his record. Woohoo!!! Glad the guy was much more reasonable than his wife. Braeden still has to pay for the damage to his own car - so he'll definitely learn a lesson to be more careful.

Fiasco

Today was a fiasco, almost from start to finish. I am so glad to be putting this day to bed.

Mitch and I decided to take the boat out, the boys didn't want to go - so they opted to stay home. We headed to the Marinia, to find that all the boat/trailer parking was full. Another guy was getting ready to launch - so we asked him about parking - he was LESS than friendly and just blew us off. Then when we saw where he parked - we knew why. He just made his own spot in the overflow area against the curb, and didn't want us taking his spot. But the way our day was going - we'd have gotten a ticket had we tried :)

So Mitch is having a hissy fit - in the way only Mitch can - cussing, veins popping - really just a tantrum - it is stunning to watch ;) So I calmly tell him, no worries - launch the boat - I'll take the truck/trailer home and Braeden can bring me back - we are less than 10 minutes from the marine - no biggie. So he finally agrees to that, hops in the boat to back it down the boat launch ramp - and is too far over and is going to hit a pole. I am franticly waving at him, but he isn't seeing me - so I holler at him STOP! Well that sends him along on another hissy fit, pissed off because it was embarassing to have me yell at him. To which I calmly replied - well I think it would be more embarassing to back the boat into the pole.

So, I run the boat/trailer home and Braeden is bringing me back and I'm dialing Mitch's cell, and it keeps going to voice mail and I am getting mad. He knew I was gonna call him to let him know to pick me up - why isn't he answering?? I tell Braeden, well he isn't answering maybe he sunk the boat. When I get to the marina Mitch calls my cell and tells me that the boat is taking on water (oops guess I should have kept my mouth shut!), not much but some, and he is using the towels to mop it up. So we decide to go ahead and go out and just take it easy, and Mitch plays with the engine, tighteing clamps etc - trying to fix the slow leak. Nothing works. So we decide it is time to head home, call Braeden to come pick me up. We get to the visitor moorage area at the marina, and as we are pulling in - there are 2 dogs tied to a boat. One is inside the boat, the other is on the swim deck and falls into the water and is trying to keeps its head above water - but can't get onto the boat because of the rope. So I holler for help and another guy comes and rescues the dog. So I walk to the Portmasters office to report it. As I get there, here comes Braeden - ticked cause I wasn't waiting for him and I say well it isn't my fault a dog almost drowned and I had to help it. To which he replies - I hit someones car parking. WHAT???
So I try calling Mitch's cell - no answer. We go look at the vehicle - not much damage - just paint transfer. But we dutifully leave a note with our insurance information and phone number. I'm trying to call Mitch - still no answer. I'm ticked he isn't answering, then it finally dawns on me - I've been calling his office instead of his cell. DOH!!

I finally get back to the Marina with the boat/trailer and there is someone at the boat ramp and Mitch is heading in with the boat. The guy at the ramp needs a jump - so I help him pull his boat to the ramp, his wife goes and gets jumper cables and we jump start his boat and he goes on his way and we finally get out of the water. Good thing it was a SLOW leak.

We get home and the lady has called about her Tahoe that Braeden grazed, saying she was calling about the vehicle that our son hit. So we call her back and she says she thinks the bumper might need replaced and they have a shop they take it to and will call us next week. Bumper replaced??? It was paint transfer on the quarter panel - why would the bumper need replaced?? So we are bummed that in trying to teach Braeden to do the right thing, the only lesson he will probably learn is that people will try to screw insurance companies.

I'm going to bed and hoping that tomorrow will be a better day and hoping I can get that song out of my head "You had a bad day..."

WW Part 2

Well I weighed myself today, and I am holding steady. Not gaining and not loosing. I'm just glad that I'm not gaining - as I know that my eating habits the last couple of weeks haven't been the greatest. Having that piece of carrot cake last night didn't help either ;)

Rude

We invited a guy that Mitch works with and his family over for a BBQ today. Mitch told them anytime between noon and 1. At 12:30 we get a phone call that they had heard that Home Depot was having a sale on grills - and they wanted to go get one. They finally showed up at about 4pm. They had gone shoe shopping and some other errands. I just found this to be very rude.

Grrr. That is my pet peeve - being late and I was not a happy camper.

Too funny

Braeden has been struggling with acne for a couple years - it has really been bad this past year. We have tried prescription face stuff, Proactive, Murad - it all helps for a little bit - but then nothing. We had a consult with the dermatologist to see about Braeden going on Accutane - a prescription acne medication that is supposed to work wonders. I was thinking that we should take before photos, because a lot of times you forget and don't really "see" the difference as it is gradual. So I mentioned it to Braeden that we should take a before photo, and he got this horrified look on his face and said "Mom, you are NOT scrapbooking my acne." I started laughing so hard, cause I hadn't even thought of that.

How Stressed are You?

Took this little quiz - and I'd have to say that this is dead on accurate for me :)

Your Stress Level is: 55%



You are somewhat prone to stress, especially when life gets hard.
When things are good, you resist stressing over little problems.
But when things are difficult, you tend to freak out and find it hard to calm down.

How Stressed Are You?

Mothers Day

Today is Mothers Day - and Emma made me a very nice card, with a coupon for 30 hugs, which she promptly gave me. Brett made me a ceramic heart necklace and a nicely decorated padded envelope to put it in. Braeden forgot, but did make me a card on the computer. Mitch fixed a nice breakfast and dinner and tried his best to make it a great day. In all honesty though, since my Mom passed away a couple years ago - I could care less if there we a Mothers Day. I know that isn't fair to my kids, and I try and keep up a happy front. I don't know why it bothers me so much - but it does - it is just flat. I hope that it is just part of the grieving process and eventually I will care again. I hope.

Happy Mothers day to everyone.

Isn't this the cutest thing?

Emma and I made this using the Doodlebug Plain & Simple Chipboard house and the Scrap Addict Emma Pie SDJ. We had so much fun making it. Emma picked what papers went where and I did the cutting and pasting. Only problem I have, is that it must be a tad humid - and some of the adhesive that was on the house isn't staying stuck. But every so often, I give the little roof a pat - and it sticks again for awhile :)

Weigh In

Today I weighed in, after a week of being on WW, and trying to stay within my daily points. I am proud to say that I have lost 5 pounds! I haven't been eating great - but I have been staying within my points range. If not my daily - then I am definitely not using all the extra weekly ones. So yeah me!!

Septic Woes - long and boring.

We have to pay $250 a year to carry an Operation and Maintenance contract on our type of septic system. The county Health Department requries it. So for the past 6 years, we have paid - they have come out once a year to check the system and then submit a report to the Health Department. We get a copy of that report in the mail along with an invoice for the next years contract. No problems until this year. The company that carried our contract Indigo Design - found descrepencies in our system and didn't bother to call us or send us a letter about them or anything. All they did was submit the report to the Health Department and give us a copy - along with an invoice for the upcoming years contract. When I contacted them - the receiptionist was LESS than helpful. I asked her what the report meant, as we didn't understand some of their verbiage - and she replied that is what written the way the Health Department required it and they would know what it meant. I then asked her what we could do to fix the descrepancies before the Health Department came out - and she offered to email me pictures of the system - hello - it is in my back yard - I can walk out there and see it for myself - what good will pictures do me? I then pressed a bit more for what was required by us to bring it back up to code for the health department - to which she replied that it looked like an animal had been digging in our septic mound - and she couldn't tell me how to kill a mole. And that we seemed to be using too much water - and she couldn't tell me how to cut back on our water useage. Totally less than helpful right? So a couple weeks later - the health department shows up at my door and he takes a look at our system and tells me it is failing - first one of this type in the 15 years he has been in the business that he has seen fail - (lucky us!) but not to worry because they have low interest loans for up to $20,000. YIKES. So he leaves, we get a certified letter in the mail from the Health Department - stating that our system is a public health hazard and within 30 days we have to file a repair plan and obtain a permit to pump the septic or they will charge us $513 per day until we do. So we immediately start calling contractors who repair these systems - no one calls back. We finally hook up with Zimmer Construction - and Steve comes out and looks at the mounds and tells us that they aren't failing - they look good - he fills in the hole the animal dug- but that our system is running high - so we should monitor our water useage. He says he can bring the mounds to the new code - and it'll cost about $1000. So we are breathing a bit easier - that is a lot less than $20K! Phil at Zimmer says we don't have to put a repair plan in at the cost of $1200, that they just file some other thing with the county and it will be fine. The guy from the Health Department says that is true and we think everthing is swimming along fine. Phil suggests that since we aren't re-contracting with Indigo that we write to the county and let them know that as soon as the repairs are finished we will sign with a new Operations & Maintenance Contract provider. So I write and let the county know - and they respond with a certified letter telling me that I am in violation and to get a new Operations and Maintenance contract provider within 30 days or they are going to fine me $513. In order to get a new provider, they have to inspect our system - if it is not up to par - they won't take the contract - but the Health Department is unsympathetic to our tale of woe - so off we go to find a new O&M contract provider. Sigh. I then get my estimate from Zimmer construction in the mail - it is not the $1000 we were told verbally - in fact it is closer to $5000 and I am ready to stroke out. %5000 to fix a system that is operating correctly and doesn't have a problem - WTF? The new O&M contract guy shows up to inspect the system shortly after that - and he tells us that the system is functioning correctly but that running high. We fill him in on our septic saga - and he says that we don't need to do anything to the system - it is working fine. So he is going to go to bat with the county for us - and we will see what the bare minimum is that we need to do to satisfy the county. If my system were truly a public health hazard - I would pay whatever to bring it back to working order. But I see no need to pay that much when it is due to the incompetence of the previous O&M provider and an overzealous HD worker. So now we are in the wait and see mode - hopefully this will get resolved soon. Sigh.

Some more scrappin;

A layout of my sweetie Emma Pie - using the Scrap Addict Kit named after her - the Emma Pie SDJ. Oh and I keep forgetting to say that this is based on Sheila's sketch.


Using the Junkitz Extreme Boy line - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff. Picture of my 3 boys - have to laugh though - cause one of those "boys" is my husband - but I think some people think they are actually all my kids :)

Weight Watchers

I am starting my weight watchers again today. Signed up online to use their e-tools. I tried in November of 2005 to go to their meetings - and that was a bust. But I see that I have put on 13 pounds since then - so I have got to do something to get this under control. My buddy Jen is going to be my cyber partner in this. Wish us luck!

Finally time to scrap...

Mitch left for New Mexico yesterday, and I finally have some time to scrap - yeah me. I got a few layouts done that I really like (click on the layout for credits )
[photopress:boything_1.jpg,full,centered][photopress:halloween.jpg,full,centered][photopress:daddysgirl.jpg,full,centered][photopress:lilprincess.jpg,full,centered]
and then one that I wasn't super happy with[photopress:shades1.jpg,full,centered] for some reason the title just wasn't sitting well with me - but I decided to move on for a bit. I then tried to put together 2 other layouts from that kit and they came crashing down around my ears - so I've decided to put that kit away for awhile - but on the bright side - while playing with the 2 crash and burn layouts, I came across the perfect fix for my title dilemma[photopress:shades.jpg,full,centered]. I changed to lime Chip Chatter from Pressed Petals - I think it is much more fun and fits the overall color scheme. So I guess that is the silver lining of my 2 disasters :) Look on the bright side - right?

New Washing Machine

Did you know that a typical top loading washing machine uses 40-55 gallons of water PER load?? I sure didn't. But, we have been having a bit of trouble with our septic running high - due to our water usage - and this seems to be a big culprit. We do 3 loads every other day - so that is a lot of water.

So, Mitch and I did some research, and found the cheapest, most water efficient front loading washing machine that Consumer Reports recommends. They delivered it and I've run a few loads - WOW. It spins the clothes almost dry - is so quiet - and on average front loading washing machines use 12-25 gallons of water per load. Big water savings!!

Spa Day

I had a spa day yesterday. Well really, Emma and I had a spa day :) I had to take her to the doctor, for another consult about her sty - and now she is being referred to the opthamology clinic. After that - we headed over to Mimi's Nail Salon, and I had a full set of acrylics put on and a pedicure. Emma got some silver sparkly nail polish put on - she was in heaven. Then we went over to Third Dimension Salon - and while Emma was getting her hair trimmed - I got my eyebrows and lip waxed :) Then we went to lunch. Quite a nice day.

Later, I went to Desert Sun Tanning Salon and did the Mystic tan. The spray on stuff. Kinda weird to stand in a booth and have a tan sprayed on ya. But it looked good and Mitch was so impressed with my "tan". LOL.

I wouldn't go and do nails and tans and stuff if it weren't for Mitch - he loves that stuff - so I keep it up for him.

Take Me Out to the Ball Park

We bought tickets from the Elementary School for Salute to Kid's day at Safeco Field, where the Seattle Mariners baseball team plays. I was super excited to go, as I haven't been to a Mariners game since I was a kid, and that was WAY before the new stadium.

We parked a couple blocks away from the field, and walked. Emma stopped at one point and started jumping up and down and pointing while hollering "A Taxi, A Taxi". Poor little country bumpkin had never seen an actual taxi - lol.

We also stopped and saw Waterfall Gardens, this beautiful waterfall garden [photopress:waterfall.gif,full,centered] Gorgeous!!

Emma and Brett couldn't wait to buy souvenirs and also Emma had to have a pretzel and Brett wanted a hot dog. The weather was gorgeous and we all had a great time.

[photopress:kids.gif,full,centered]

The Point Defiance Zoo

My sister Janet and her daughter Serene came over and spent Spring Break with us. The weather was great, the kids got along so well that I was wishing they could just stay forever :) We went to the zoo in Tacoma, the weather was pushing 80 and we got some gorgeous photos and had a great time.

It's all fun and games...

It was a beautiful day, and we took the opportunity to go to the community beach in our neighborhood. Emma collected shells, Braeden, Mitch and Brett threw the football and I took pictures.

It's all fun and games until ...


someone throws the ball and someone else doesn't catch it and it goes into the Puget Sound. Brett was devastated and even telling him we would get him another ball didn't stop the tears.

Fortunately for us the tide was coming in, and it brought the ball back around
[photopress:theball.jpg,full,centered] and Brett waited not so patiently for it to come back to shore, and big brother Braeden saved the day - by wading out into the cold water to retrieve the ball.


[photopress:thesave.jpg,full,centered]

And we all went home happy!

St. Patrick's Day

I bought Brett and Emma special St. Patrick's Day t-shirts - because Brett complained that last year even though he wore green, he still got pinched. So Emma got a white t-shirt with a green rhinestone outlined 4 leaf clover on it (perfect for little miss bling) and Brett got one with a big green 4 leaf clover on it that said - You're lucky I'm not your kid. They couldn't wait to wear them on St. Patrick's day - only one catch - I forgot its on Saturday this year - lol.

But the kids didn't care - Emma popped out of bed and said "I'm going to go get my St. Patrick's day shirt on", they both wore them and loved them - even though it didn't work out quite like Mom had planned.

Scrappin' Mojo

Well the FSB let me have some of my Scrappin Mojo back. Not all mind you - but I'm happy with some :)

Here are some layouts I just finished making for the Winter Blahs crop over at Scrap Addict.




I love scrapping with Scrap Addict kits and sketches - makes getting photos onto paper so quick and fun!!

Emma Pie

Well, little Emma Pie is now on antibiotics for an ear infection. I think the reason her eye looked so bad is that the erythromycin eye ointment they gave us for the pink eye was irritating her eye. The dr says the pink eye is all gone, and that the sty should just resolve on its own, but that she has an ear infection, so he'll give her antibiotics that will fight the ear infection and hopefully the sty too.

Emma is just ready to go back to school - she's over the spending the day with Mom thing!!

Pink eye and a sty

Poor pitiful Emma, she has had a sty for awhile now. But on Friday she also developed pink eye - so off to the dr we went. Put her on some eye ointment twice a day. So have been putting that in, along with using warm compresses and massage to try and get the sty to go away. So Saturday she starts complaining of ear pain - but no fever - so just give her motrin. I think her eye is looking worse, not better - but keep up with the treatments. Saturday the pink eye shows up in her other eye - argh and we'd been so careful too. Keep giving her the meds. Her ear still bothers her, so keep her home on Monday, even though she is crying to go to school. Monday night she starts to run a real low grade fever and complain of her ear hurting. This morning - we get up and baby girl looks like THIS

Kiwanis Hoop Champs

Braeden's team not only won the league championships - they also won the Kiwanis tournament. They all played really well and worked really hard - I'm proud of them. I hope that if Braeden plays again next year - he can play for the same coach, I think Shane really taught Braeden a lot this year and helped make him more focused and aggressive as a player.

You Can't Fix Stupid

I bought Mitch this CD for Valentines day - he loves Ron White. Ron White is funny! He cusses too much, he drinks and smokes while onstage - but all that aside - the man is just funny!

If you get a chance to watch his specials or listen to the CD - do it! Listening to him tell how you can't fix stupid makes my day :)

My Little Artist

Emma brought home this picture. They traced the frog onto watercolor paper, and then colored it with watercolor paints. I love it! I think, like Carrie suggested, I'm going to frame it. The frog is just too cute to not look at everyday!!

Cyber Crop Central

Scrapaddict is having a Winter Blahs Cyber Crop starting on March 9th and going through March 18th. There will lots of challenges and chatting and some prizes too - it is going to be major fun!

I've been feeling a bit crowded in my scrapbook nook as a result of all the shopping :) - so I have moved my scrapping area temporarily out to the dining room. DH will be gone to Arizona to visit his Dad for 5 days - so it won't bother him - and I'll have room to spread out and scrap :)

Here is a picture of Cyber Crop Central:

Snow

While it is weird to get snow here - it is certainly beautiful - especially in all the trees we have around our house. It's all gone now, but we have pictures to remind us.



This is the big tree that is in our backyard.

WWW

No, that doesn't stand for world wide web, but for Weird Washington Weather. February 28th and we have snow - and March 1st, it is snowing again and it is 38 degrees outside. That is unreal. What is going on with our weather lately? We have had more wind and snow and ice than I can ever remember having before.

I mean, really, we are at sea level here - and for us to get 5 inches of snow is about unheard of, especially when higher elevations around us didn't get that much. Weird Washington Weather. I am ready for spring - bring it.

Too much time on their hands or...

Mitch just sent me this photo - I have no clue how, when, where or why. Guess he is now Buzz Light Beer.

They are working insane hours, you wouldn't think they have too much time on their hands - maybe they have gone insane.

I've moved my blog

Come visit me at: http://scrapshanty.com/Kim/blog

I've been blogging over there for about a month - while I got it all set up - sorry I didn't post here too.

We are the Champions!

Braeden is playing on the Parks & Recreation League again this year. The last 2 years has been very frustrating for him, because while he had nice coaches, they never seemed to win. This year, he has another nice coach, and a great group of kids on the team - and they have won all but 1 of their games, and that one ended up not counting because the other team had *illegal* players on their team. So, officially they are undefeated. They are the Parks & Recreation Champions - and they have the t-shirts to prove it.



Funny part to this story, is just before they were presented with these tshirts - they played an unofficial games against the #2 team in the league - and got their hats handed to them - 49-29.

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Mitch and I went to this concert last night. It was great! He is promoting his new album - Face the Promise. Some good new songs on the album - we are planning on buying it. He also sang some oldies that really brought back some teenage memories.

But man, we are getting old - it was sooo loud. I would have enjoyed it more with earplugs. Especially the opening act Steve Azar - he was so loud you couldn't understand the words to the song.

Also, someone was smoking pot during the concert - think maybe we got a little buzz off the secondhand smoke. That takes a lot of guts to light up at a concert like that. If I were the one doing it, I'd be sitting next to a police officer or something.

It was great to see all ages and walks of life there - and people were really into the songs - up and dancing and singing along. We had a good time, and left with our ears ringing.

Friends

I'm lucky to have good friends that love me and know when I need chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Look what I got for Valentines Day from 2 of them. (the tin is full of various Hershey chocolates)

Aren't friends grand?

Happy Valentines Day!

Boy did I get a big surprise for Valentines Day!! I got a Sony a100 SLR Digital Camera.




As previously mentioned in my blog the Olympus digital camera I had has been nothing but a problem since I got it, so Mitch bought me this. He said that I deserved it, if for nothing more than all the laundry I do :)

Now, to learn how to take pictures with it. It is sort of intimidating - guess I'd better head to the library and see what I can find. Anyone have any recommendations?

*&%$*(#@( Camera!!!!

I absolutely HATE my digital camera and I feel so guilty saying that. I have tried to love it, truely I have. I love the man that gave it to me for Christmas 2005, thinking he had done bought me such a great gift, and so excited to give it to me, and I feel bad that I have not liked this camera from the moment I got it. It has such a slow shutter speed, that it was no great improvement over my old Sony Cybershot. And, it has already had to go in for repairs - since the zoom went out and wouldn't go back in. And now THIS......

[photopress:sucks.jpg,full,centered]

NO, that isn't some filter I was trying out. That is the way that my camera has been taking pictures on and off for the last week or so. Aaaargh - I can tell that I am going to have to ship this camera off to Olympus again to be fixed. I hope it is still under warranty. Mitch is so mad at himself for buying this POS, and I know he was really trying to get me something he thought I'd like. I promise - after it comes back from Olympus - I will try really hard again to love it.

MSP 2nd Annual Retreat

I am so looking forward to this. Although I think that I have upset some people by my unwillingness to go to Virginia - LOL. I'll actually go wherever the majority votes to go. I'm not a total tyrant. I hate that something that was supposed to be so fun, has just about sunk our very active Yahoo group. I am hoping that we can work through it and get back to being a fun and caring group again - not sure how to make that happen though.

I am hoping that the retreat gets to be in San Antonio. Jen is moving there - and it is someplace that I have always wanted to go. So whether we get together for the retreat there or not - I will be be making a trip to San Antonio, Mitch went to San Antonio last year for work - and got some really cruddy pictures - so I definitely need better ones, and of course I need to see Jen again!!

A Reader

I always knew that Emma was going to be a reader. Every since she was just little she has loved picking up magazines, books and catalogs and "reading" them.

Today, she brought me the book "Hop on Pop" and read the whole thing. I was so surprised. I know her teacher said she was ready - but I didn't think she'd be so fluent so quickly!! I'm a proud Mommy.

Wiped Out!

I am so wiped out - didn't even get out of bed today until late. My trip to Anaheim for CHA was great!! Getting to meet the gals from Scrap Addict; Fee, The Nana, Julie, Liz and see Karen again - was so much fun. I stayed with Fee and Nana's friends Peggy and Cathy and they were so welcoming and wonderful - I appreciated them taking a total stranger into their home.

Fee and The Nana are so much fun to be around. I needed their laughter - and boy did we laugh!! I will never be able to look at a kitten **aka feral puppy cat** without thinking of them. We shopped, we ate, we worked our asses off at CHA, we laughed and talked and formed a friendship that I know I will value forever. Thanks for listening to my tale of woe, and providing such great comfort and advice :)

Of course, since I'm such an enabler - Fee had to be just like me and buy matching bra and panties **aka Mary Ann's** and also a thumb ring just like the one I bought. Was so nice to have the gal at Build a Bear ask us if we were sisters :) Sorry I told her you were my boss ;)

I'm just starting to get back in the swing of things - working hard on getting all the fabulous product that Fee bought for Scrap Addict up in the store - so I can prove that I'm more than just a pretty face *snort*.

I Hurt.

I found out something last night that hurt. Hurt to the core. Shook me to my foundations, made me question everything. And so, I hurt. Time heals all - and that is what this will take - time.

I am fortunate to have a good friend, who reached out to me when I needed her. She didn't have any wise words of wisdom for me, but just hearing her voice on the phone and having her listen - meant the world to me. Thanks Larry for being there.

Go Speed Racer Go!

Horrible day today - nothing seemed to go right. Mitch woke up in a bad mood, Braeden missed the bus. Mitch left me his truck so I could take the recycling and trash to the dump, because it didn't make it to the curb for pick up and was full, and I had a list a mile long of errands to do to get ready for my trip to California.

So, I make Braeden wait until after Brett catches the bus for school, we go to the dump and get rid of the garbage and recyclables, and I'm on my way to drop Braeden off at school. At a time I'm never out, in a truck I don't usually drive, on a road I'm never on - and I get pulled over for speeding.

The motorcycle cop was coming towards me, and he says at the bottom of the hill, he had me at 55 mph in a 35mph zone - $173 ticket. I don't believe for a minute that I was going that fast - but can't really argue with the cop. Also, I had been after Mitch for about a month or more to put his new insurance card in the truck - it was stuck on the refrigerator - and he didn't. So I also got cited for No Insurance - even though I explained to the cop about the insurance card - that's a $538 ticket. But the ever so nice (notice the sarcasm there) motorcyle cop said that would be easy to get dismissed if I showed them my insurance card.

So, anyway, I'm fighting the ticket. I put down that I agree that I sped, but there were mitigating circumstances. I thought the speed limit was 40 and I am sure I wasn't going any faster than 45. So I agree I sped - but there is no way that I was going 55.
So wish me luck - I haven't had a ticket for almost 20 years. Don't want one now!!

Hooray!!

My good friend and fabulous scrapper friend Jen got invited to join the Scrap Addict design team today. Check out her gallery, I'm sure you will be wowed too!

Jen is a talented scrapper and I wish I had her handwriting. When we met in Texas last November, I even had her write my journaling for me on this layout