Too Hot to Trot

We are in the middle of a record breaking heat wave here in Vegas. Yesterday morning when I took Jack to work at 6:45 it was already almost 100 degrees, and it only got worse as the day burned on. (Two people in his company ended up in the hospital with heatstroke yesterday.) I decided to take the kids to the park to play in the water feature. Faith had the most fun as she jumped and twirled through the spouting water. Beth had to get used to it, and once she did, she didn't leave her own little water spout. She kept trying to step on both holes at once, which was very funny to watch. Todd and Kyle loved playing on the water-spitting frogs. Today we are going to fill up the little pool and live in it.

I had to laugh when I heard the news last night. The top story of the hour was that there is medical evidence to prove that being in the heat makes people cranky.


After the water park, we ran over to the orchard to pick up some fresh fruit and veggies for dinner. I LOVE zucchini and squash... I could eat it all by itself for dinner. The kids love to pick the veggies, and they actually enjoy eating them when they know they picked them out themselves. They grow up to four feet long in the orchard, and they are only .25 a piece. What a deal! We came home with peaches for peach cobbler, plums for snacking, 4 huge yellowsquash, 2 huge zucchini, 2 cantelopes, a big fat tomato, and 7 pints of freshly pressed apple juice for $12. We are going back in a few days to get some more fruit to juice in the juicer.

Highlights from CHA

I am home from Chicago, and I had a wonderful time. Here are some of the highlights of the trip!

Edited to add: Katherine confessed on her blog that she really was the one stalking Kelley... LOL... I was trying to be nice! The sad thing is, though, that I don't even know Jeff Gordon from, well, Jeff Gordon (which is a page I will post after the Master's contest is over) We teased her mercilessly about going from being the stalk-ee to the stalker! It was pretty cool, though, that in one of katherine's Nascar layouts in the booth she actually had a photo of one of the SpeedScrap ladies dad!


Kelly Earnhardt has a new line of Nascar products, and she was offering them in her booth. We spent so much time in her booth that we half-joked that she probably thought we were stalking her. She was such a great sport, and let me take this photo where she was pretending (I think) to be hiding from us.




You don't have to go to Rome to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa... you just have to to get to the YMCA in Rosemont, IL! The sun was already setting when we got there, but some of the photos came out really nice. Check out Katherine's blog in the next day or so, and I am sure she will post some of the others we took on her camera. Katherine, Julia, and I are actually sitting in front of the tower in this photo, but you can't see it in the original so I cropped it down to hide my tummy... LOL



Tim Holtz has a new line of stamps that he was giving away and autographing. He started laughing and joking with me when Wendi and I came back and asked him to pretend to sign it again for me while we took a photo. Then I went stalking Lindsay Teague. I really like reading her blog, so I wanted to meet her. I am sure she thought I was a nutcase, although I really tried to pretend to be a normal person.



We rode around in a space shuttle all weekend. Seriously. That can happen when you rent your vehicle from a company called Enterprise. This was the dashboard of our rental, and we felt like we needed to chat with Houston anytime we took off or landed. I can't tall you how many times I turned the windshield wipes on while I was trying to park because the gear stick was on the control panel of the space shuttle instead of on the wheel like it is in a car. If you are looking for a new vehicle, I
truly do not recommend the Nissan Quest.

I don't have photos of us sweltering in our hotel with the broken AC last night, but it inspired us to go down the street to Hooters. That was good because it meant we sat in 106 degree heat instead of 107. I am so glad to be home where we come by our cruelly high temps naturally, without the help of humidity!




Seriously, the best part of these trips is getting to work and hang out with people you really like. I always like going places with Katherine, and I had a great time getting to know Wendi. I also have a photo of my boss, but I don't think I should post it because she has socks on her head and is giving me a funny look, and I know she wouldn't care, but I still want to keep my job... LOL. I felt bad that Amanda got sick, but it was still really nice to spend time with her and Jolleen, and get to know my roomie, Julia. Anyway... I hope you all enjoyed my little CHA report. Now I have to go spend some time with all these little people clamoring for my attention!

More CHA updates

I got to go see a few more booths today for a few minutes. I had my picture taken with Prince Charming in the Cinderella carriage, and Tim Holtz and I had a good laugh while he pretended to autograph my stamp from his new collection for the second time. I will share those photos when I get home.

Heidi Grace has some gorgeous new papers with a dimensional texture on them that I oohed and aahed over. Even better, though, are her new ribbons and the thin acrylic letters she has.

The new lines at Imagination Project, esp the Gin X products, were great. I can't wait to play with some of the nwe Gin X coasters and rub-ons.

A company called Speed Scrap has an entire line of licensed Nascar products. I am going to let Katherine tell you about how cool those are... LOL

My Mind's Eye has a new line that is very Basic Greyish... the colors are gorgeous.

Speaking of Basic Grey, they have some absolutely stunning new papers that made me sigh in delight.

Rusty Pickle has new papers, some new chipboard letters I really liked, and some new rub-ons that caught my eye.

Pressed Petals has a set of stencil metal letters I really like, but I cannot swear that they are brand new. However, they also have a set of textured chipboard alphabets that are new and are fabulous.

Melissa Frances has a new frame with a built in music box. Very cute. They also have a bunvh of new rub-ons in white and black that I liked.

American Crafts now offers lots of gorgeous new ribbons by the spool, as well as lots of new letter sticker colors and papers. It is a line called 6th Avenue.

Technique Tuesday has some new alphabets and stamps as well. My favorite is the Brooklyn Bridge alphabet and some circle embellishment stamps.

Tim Holtz has a bunch of new things in several different places, and today I saw his new stamps like I mentioned above. He was giving them out and autographing them while his supplies lasted. (About ten minutes... LOL)

Provo Craft has a new line of metals that really grabbed my attention, as well as their new Cricut system.

I have been inthe Autumn Leaves booth twice saying hi to some friends, and can you believe I haven't managed to see what they have out yet? I get too distracted sometime.

I got back over to the Chatterbox booth today and got to see the book in person. Jack says mine still hasn't arrived at the house, so I am hoping it was just delayed in the mail somewhere. Jesse from Chatterbox is great. She recognized me when I walked in the booth, and that just made me feel good... LOL

Tomorrow is the last day. I will try to cram in as many last minute visits as I can while I wander the floor on my lunch break with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

See ya tomorrow night!

hanging out at CHA

Today was the first day of the CHA show, and I had a good time. Set up went really well yesterday, and our booth is really bright and fun to see. I have some pictures, but you will have to wait until I get home for those!

The scans on their site do not do the new Chatterbox embellishment boxes justice. They are gorgeous. Their new ribbons are packaged in little storage containers that prevent the ends from rolling loose. Very cool.

Fontwerks has some architecture stamps that I NEED, and a Cezanne font that I love. Katherine got a set of the Cezanne stamps, and I am just green with envy... LOL.

Making Memories has a really cool old photo booth in their booth, so Katherine and I piled in there to take a set of funny photos. I really like their new velvet letter stickers, and I love Margie's new Maddi line of stickers/embellishments. (She named them after my boss' daughter... isn't that fun?)The Meg and Brooke line are cute too, but I fell in love with the orange/pink combo for Maddi.

Carolee's Creations has some new sets, but I particularly loved the aqua/deep burgendy (it almost looks brown) toile set. She also has some very pretty colors of twill that I haven't seen before.

The 7Gyspsies booth was put together so beautifully. I love all of their 97% stuff, and they have some cute new photo clipboards. Their new papers speak to me... I need those too.

I mentioned already how much I love the new Daisy D's papers... oh yeah.. I love them.

There are paisleys everywhere, which just makes me a happy person. I have been a paisley fan for a while, and the ones I saw today are just colorful and wonderful.

I spent most of my time in the booth, but tomorrow I am sure I will get to go see more. I had a great time catching up a little with some friends and saying hi. I also met some new people and got to chit chat with them a bit. There has been a lot of laughter. When I get home there are some funny stories to share, but for now I need to go to sleep. I will sneak back down here tomorrow night and add some more... stay tuned!

Thank you!

I just wanted to thank everybody who has left some praise for Faith! That made her one very happy little girl! She is going to email her own thanks when I get back home.

Off to CHA

I am getting ready to head out to CHA, and I will be home in a few days. I am looking forward to seeing Katherine and the other Deluxe gals I work for, and meeting up with some Pukester friends and online pals who work in the industry. I will return and report! Then I will sleep for a whole day! LOL

muss-kle muss-kle man

Chet has been exercising and drinking lots of water for two weeks now, and is very proud of his big muscles. He asked me to buy him a muscle shirt when I got home, and I found one for him last night. It made his day! The second picture really makes me laugh, because if you know Chet, you know he is just too nice of a kid to really pull off that expression.

like a kid in a shoe store

I took Beth with me to look for shoes to wear at CHA this week. She is an absolute shoe fiend, and has been since she could crawl. She loves to pick out shoes, try on shoes, play in shoes, put shoes on her hands, carry them in her purse, etc... she just loves shoes. She let out a happy little squeal of excitement and started laughing when we walked in the store, which made the ladies running the registers laugh. I love how she posed with the flip flops I found for myself, and she loved pulling shoes out to examine them and then stuff back into their boxes. She found this funky pair and wanted me to get them... she even hugged them to her chest after she pulled them out of the box. She cracks me up.

random shots

The last two days have been very busy while I have run around like a chicken with its head cut off looking for shoes and jeans. The girls have done a lot of the shopping with me. I turned around to look at them in the car on the way home yesterday, and found them both asleep in the exact same position. Faith heard the camera snap the first time, and started to wake up while I was snapping this one. My hand would fall asleep if I slept on it like that... LOL

We took all the kids out for dinner on Monday night, which is a rare event. They were so good in the restaraunt, and we had a good time. I am not sure what happened while the waiter was taking the photo, because the looks on their faces make it look like our enjoyable evening was a grim affair!

Tonight I had a lesson with my Activity Day girls about what life was like for pioneers, and then we played in the church sprinklers. I brought Faith with me, and she had so much fun ducking in and out of the water. I spent all afternoon with the kids reading stories, watching a movie, and literally just hanging out on the couch together. It was very enjoyable, and very much needed!

I have some photos of Matt at leadeship camp to share when I get home. I am so thrilled. His leaders sent him home with a whole disc of photos, plus he brought his two disposables back to get developed. I am going to let him make his own album about his experiences there.

Scrapper Faith

Faith was scrapping with me last night, and is very excited about her pages. She asked me to share them with my scrapping friends. If you have a spare minute, would you please leave some feedback here that she can read? you would really make her day! Thanks! (sorry for the blurry photo!)

shots from my Sunday

It turns out that Mr. Skittles is really a Miss Skittles. She is still adorable, though, even if she does like to lie on my scrap supplies to give herself a bath.




Matt was in charge of dishes yesterday. He realized we were out of dishwashing detergent, and didn't realize you aren't supposed to use regular dishsoap in your dishwashers. I have heard of this happening, but didn't think I would ever see the day it happened in my house. Fortunately, I caught it before the dishwasher got too far into the cycle, so only a quarter of our kitchen floor was covered in bubbles instead of all of it. Todd and Beth thought it was one of the coolest things they have ever seen.

Home again mish mash of info

I flew home this morning, dropped Jack off at work, and launched my day. You know, sometimes it is hard to launch a day when you just landed from a long flight.

I took very few photos this trip. In fact, the only thing we really did was go to the Mall of America. It was impressive in size and attractions. I asked Cindy to take my photo in front of this sign, but nobody wanted to walk around with me to take the photo of the sign by the driveway into the mall. I tried to get some shopping done for CHA, but that was a depressing endeavor. I still need jeans and shoes to wear before I leave on Wednesday. I would like the folks from "What Not To Wear" to just pop up at my house and take me on a $5000 shopping spree with pro advice!



I did stop off in Archivers to check it out, and it was kind of fun to find the Colorblocking 2 book on the shelf with my kids' faces smiling out at me.

The last photo is of a church building that just stunned me with its beauty. I think it is part of the St. Paul's college, but i have to do some research to doublecheck.

I am going to try to put together a masters entry for Memory Makers and get it mailed before I leave. Five pages in two days... I can do that, right? I probably should have not posted the Black Faced Beth page so I could use it for my entry, but it was too fun to not share... LOL


If you get PaperKuts, I have a layout on page 24 featuring the Pages by Design system in the August/September issue that was just released. There is a thumbnail of it on the contents page as well. My sketch didn't get published with it, so flip to the ad on the backpage of the same magazine for a full explanation of the system!

There was a birdcage with some pretty little birds in our hotel lobby. I thought this was really charming at first. The next day I ate some chicken and wild rice soup for lunch. While it tasted okay, the wild rice and grains looked just like wild birdseed. I joked about paying to eat birdseed soup, but truthfully I thought it would stop there. That night I went to Chevys and decided to treat myself to fried ice cream. I kid you not, the ice cream was rolled in oats and sunflower seeds. I don't know what St. Pauls fascination with the birds is all about, but eater beware... LOL

OOH LA LA

I was just looking through the new Daisy D's catalog, and I have decided that I NEED that Gingham Rose collection. Those colors just speak to me. I am going to have to go check it out in person while I am at CHA next week. Maybe they will have a few extra sheets on hand that they need to get rid of... LOL I need some of those rub-ons, too.

Apraxia

My blog is pretty light-hearted, and I keep it that way on purpose. But I had one of those moments today, and I want to talk about it. When Chet was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, I immediately started searching the internet for information about causes, cures, treatments, etc. What I found scared me so badly, and I swore that I would never again do that until after we had a thorough discussion with a real doctor if we were ever given another serious diagnosis for any of our children. So when he was diagnosed with apraxia a year later, brought on by the aplastic anemia,I never sought out internet information or other people dealing with it. We found that the aplastic anemia was so rare that we have never met another family who has a child with it. When we were told how rare the severity of Chet's apraxia is, I think I just assumed I wouldn't be likely to meet other families dealing with this struggle as well. (He has the worst case his therapists have ever seen, and he will likely never speak in a "normal" manner.)

Today I was surfing along through some scrapping blogs, and I found MOMS of kids with APRAXIA. The words jumped out of the screen at me. I haven't even chatted with these ladies through email yet, and yet I feel a connection to them that was never available to me when we were getting through the worst of the aplastic anemia. I knew that knowing other families with the same diagnosis in their lives is very important when you are dealing with any critical/terminal disease or development issue, but I didn't realize how much I was missing until I found those blogs today. I feel like I have been given a gift.

I already had the "Making a Difference" section of links on my blog with the organizations that have been key in Chet's journey. Today I added some more, and I will surely add more in the future. My blog will continue to be light, happy, and full of the day to day life things that my family and I enjoy, but occasionally I will add a smattering of the day to day not-so-light things, and I hope somebody else might stumble upon them and not feel so alone in their diagnostic journeys.

my sweet little bug

I am getting ready to take Beth in for her first haircut, and to tell the truth, I keep putting it off. How can this be my last baby to get a first haircut? She is growing too fast. I love her fly-away hair. It is so soft and downy. Sigh. So I took photos of her today to keep as a momento.... about 50 of them. I will try to sob quietly when they start snipping away and making her look like a little kid instead of my baby. I won't cause a scene. But that earth shattering crack you're going to hear will be my poor heart breaking.

I don't think I have ever mentioned that Beth is my most difficult child to get pictures of. The rest of them are hams. If they see a camera, they start smiling, posing, suggesting ideas, etc. Not Beth. She will look anywhere but where I want her to, and I find it nearly impossible to get a photo of her smiling. I got a couple today with her funny little smile. She really is a happy kid, I promise!


Mom, are you done taking my picture yet?

just the two of us

I know you can't tell by the look on his face, but Jack adores me. Really.

Some 4th of July shots

We were going to eat dinner at my mom's house before the fireworks, but some BBQ mishaps forced a change of plans. Instead we picked up a bucket of chicken and ate it picnic style at the park. We loved it so much, we plan on doing the same thing again next year.
My pictures are a little out of order here because Blogger is not wanting to upload them like it usually does. This was the first time Beth was really aware of fireworks. She loved them. They would boom, and she would say "wooowwww." She didn't make through the whole half hour show, though. She was done being amazed about ten minutes into it and wanted to go home... LOL.
Have you ever seen a more enthusiastic bunch of kids???? You might have noticed that we were short our half-a-dozen kids by one. Matt is still at leadership camp. It is disconcerting to go on a family outing when we are missing one kid. It feels like you forgot one and left him behind. Beth didn't want Jack to let go of her. That is what happens when she doesn't get a nap in the afternoons.
Faith made these cute little flags all by herself for Jack and I to wave while we watched the show. It makes my heart beam with pride to have a crafty daughter... LOL

Off to St. Paul

Tomorrow afternoon I am off to the St. Paul convention. I am looking forward to seeing the Mall of America and sniffing out any historical sites that might be nearby. Did you know the Mall of America has a bead store AND a scrapbook store.... LOL.. did you care? I am seriously considering bringing some scrap stuff and finding a crop to hang out at if there is a shuttle available. I am not teaching in a classroom this week, but rather demoing the Pages by Design in the booth. (Which really means I will be teaching all day... LOL) Ultimately, though, I am looking forward to the weather. It was 107 degrees here in Vegas when I picked Jack up from work. Yuck. (I'm melting, I'm melting!)

I took some photos of Beth today to post in a little while. I have to go finish dinner and get packed real fast.

let's talk taxes

I needed something to keep track of all my receipts from this year to make filing my taxes easier. All of my pay from all three jobs comes on 1099 forms, so I am gonna need every deduction I can take. Now, if you were a tax person, wouldn't you love having a pile of paperwork handed to you in this little envelope book???

Speaking of taxes, I wanted to share the best piece of advice I have heard regarding having your taxes done. It comes from my friend Katherine. She told me to never let the mafia do my taxes. Since I need to hire a tax specialist this year, I am making my interview sheet for him/her now. So far I have "Have you ever prepared and filed forms for clients who filter their money through shady business fronts? Do you meet your clients in dark corners of Italian restaraunts that the FBI cannot bug? Have you ever woken up with a horsehead in your bed?" Do you have any others for me to add? I would love to hear them... LOL

I made the cover for this out of chipboard. The insides are 6x9 manila clasp envelopes that I painted and printed a data grid on. The grid will list the receipts inside... business name, date, show, amount, food, other. The tabs are made out of cardstock with Autumn Leaves calendar rub-ons for the months. The cover was made with Scrapworks paper, Moonshine travel stickers, Sonnets letter stickers, Autumn Leaves rub-ons, Making Memories rub-ons, and homemade chipboard numbers using MM stamps. I am taking this into Kinkos tomorrow to have it spiral bound, and then I will add ribbons to the spiral. TFL!

skater zzzz's

It is getting late, and I need to go to bed if I want to survive the festivities of 4th, but before I go I have two photos from tonight to share. We bought Kyle and Todd their own little skateboards to play with, and they haven't done anything without them today. At bedtime the boys and their skateboards were tucked gently into bed... LOL

Yayyyyy!!!

I am pouring grateful offerings of chocolate, hugs, and happy thoughts down on Marjorie's head! She took pity on my bannerless state of being, and gave me the right directions to get my banner posted... I am so happy!!

Can't figure yours out yet?

First, follow the directions on Lindsay's blog for making, sizing, and storing your banner.

Then upload it to photobucket.

After it is uploaded to your photobucket album, highlight and copy the tag line.

Return to your blog dashboard, and click template.

Find the line in your template that says div id="header" (this is inside of two brackets)

Click in the empty space under div id="header", right click your mouse, and click copy.

Publish your changes, and return to your blog. Refresh your screen, and the banner should be in the header spot.

Thank you so much, Marjorie!

"muse-ings"

I sat down to scrap yesterday afternoon, and realized my muse had suddenly gone quiet. I looked around the scrap room, and I knew why I couldn't find her. I had probably buried her under one of my piles somewhere. (I told you my tables were piled embarrassingly high.) The poor thing was probably stifled under a stack of rub-ons or suffocated by one of the bags of stuff I have brought home over the last couple of months. I took a deep breath, and then I did it... I cleaned the scrap room. After I was finished putting away all the products I forgot I had, I sat back down, and she was still gone. I think she is hanging out with the banner fairy, and the two of them are laughing at me.

So today I cleaned my kitchen. I washed the walls, floors, baseboards, furniture... everything, and I did it all by hand. Faith, Chet, and Kyle all had a wonderful time "helping" me with their own washcloths scrubbing their assigned areas. I don't know why they think scrubbing the floors is so fun, but they do, so I let them. I didn't find my muse buried under anything in the kitchen either.

So now I am back in the scrap room, staring at the pile of work I really need to get done because I do like to get paychecks, and I still can't find that blasted muse. She's fired. I am placing an ad first thing in the morning for a replacement.

Banner wanna-be

I was going to try to make a banner with this photo since I failed so dismally at my last attempt, but the sad truth is that I am just a banner failure all the way around... LOL
I spent too much time digitally spot-coloring the photo to not at least share it, though!

I was working with some terrible lighting as I tried to take these shots, but I had to take them when I did because Matt left last night to go to leadership training camp with DeMolay. I will probably try again next week after we are all home together. The kids are not laying on a flag... it is flag-print fabric.

Photos

Photos

And more photos

Firecracker hair

I tried to take photos of the kids for the 4th yesterday, but with six kids doing six different things, I wasn't getting a lot of cooperation... LOL. Here are a few of the better shots. We bought some of that red hair gel and we made the front of everybody's hair red. They loved having "firecracker hair."