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Today and tomorrow Scrap Village is having a virtual crop. There are lots of challenges, games, and chitchatting opportunities to rack up points and win some gift certificates to the store. Now who doesn't want to earn free money for scrapping supplies just by scrapping and talking about scrapping??? Hope you can join us!
I couldn't wait for the kids to go to bed tonight so I could work on this week's challenge. This piece inspired me in a lot of ways on this layout. I decided to scrap this photo because it worked with the color scheme... my eyes were really green that morning, I was wearing a brown shirt, and the butterfly necklace had pink accents to match my pink lipstick. I have been wanting to do a layout with this photo anyway to talk about how it doesn't matter what happens on the road, coming home is always a good thing. I picked the KI papers to coordinate with the colors in the jacket, and used the olive green color as a background accent. I loved the big brown buttons on the jacket, so I used the Making Memories deco brads and some plain antique brads from JoAnns to add that sort of tailored look to the page. I added some whimsical stitching for a textile feel to the page, and the flower inspiration is probably a little obvious. My topic was even inspired by this piece simply because it reminds me of a work jacket, so that is why I chose a topic relating to work, and used the MM paper to pull in the brown colors and the work theme. My journaling and I had some issues to start with. I very carefully planned it in Publisher, printed it in brown on a test sheet to make sure I had the placement correct, and then I painted the background paper with a little pink paint to make sure the journaling was legible over the lines in the paper. The printing smeared on top of the paint, though, and left half of it illegible. I didn't want to make it look really weird by fixing it by hand, and I didn't have another sheet of the paper, so I printed a second sheet of the journaling in pink ink on a transparency, trimmed it closely, and carefully glued it down over the original journaling block. Now the brown smeared words look like shadows behind the pink, so that ended up being a happy blunder.
I used my Pages by Design system to plan the layout design. The tags across the bottom are inspired by the layout on the cover of the current issue of Creating Keepsakes. I loved the way Janet Hopkins lined the tags up, so I mixed up some different sized tags, painted them, and added them to mine. One of my own personal challenges is to get better use out of my magazine subscriptions. I have decided I want to make sure I complete at least one layout inspired by something I see in every single issue that arrives. My CK arrived today, so the timing was fortuitous... LOL
Thanks Maggie and Robyn ! This is such a great challenge!
Once again my scanner gets a great big F in the color reproduction department. The pink tags and flowers are not purply, but more like baby pink. AS soon as I can buy a new scanner, this one is so fired!
I am going to do a whole photo shoot of Beth tomorrow or the next day for her 2Year Old photos, but I snapped this one last night on the way out to dinner. She saw me putting on my jewelry, and started out wanting a bracelet. I let her wear my memories charm bracelet, and then she wanted a necklace. I found my turquoise choker that fit her okay, and that made her a very happy girl. She loves shoes, purses, jewelry, pink, and fluffy things. She can't decide which of her new shoes she wants to wear first, but they sure do make her smile! Happy birthday, Beth... you make me smile!
I don't normally go so long without updating, but it has been a busy weekend! We scrubbed the house like crazy, and I only have one closet and two sets of shelves to sort through. It is so nice to have everything cleaned and uncluttered. It is so much easier to maintain this way. We also did a lot of the remodel work that needed to be done... replaced tiles, fixed paint, framed a window, etc. I even stitched together some new curtains and a tablecloth for the kitchen, and that added some great color to the room.
My in-laws are in town visiting, and that has kept us busy too. We are going out to dinner tonight, and that makes me happy... no cooking!
I once again have friends and family who have had to evacuate and take large losses due to a hurricane. You have all been in my prayers. I am so saddened by the fact that some of these losses have nothing to do with the weather, but with pure and simple thievery from people taking advantage of the hurricanes.
Today is Beth's 2nd birthday, but she is napping so I will have to take her two-year-old photo tonight or tomorrow morning. She understands presents and cake now, so she has been excited.
I will be back on later. I am hoping to get some scrapping done.. .I need a creative break! I am going to an all day crop next weekend, and I just cannot wait!
Nine years ago I was finishing up my third day of hard labor to bring this cutie into the world. I cannot believe how fast the time flies by. Happy birthday, Chet! We love you!
Maggie and Robyn chose this ad for this week's fashion file challenge. Fun!! Here is my layout. 
I used the KI paper that the baby's hat immediately reminded me of. The background is a light aqua, and I just cut some stripes from a dark aqua and pink. I wanted to get away from the straight lines, though, so I freehand cut some little swoopy pieces from orange. The flowers are from Deluxe Designs, the photo turns and brads are from Creative Impressions, the Cutie and Girl flower centers are old Scrapworks Hugs (using my stash.. yay!) and the stickers are American Crafts and Provo Craft. The journaling is made with my Dymo labeler.
The left side stubbornly refused to scan straight... that photo is straight in real life!
I was just checking boards and emails when I realized my Pukester buddies Amber and Kelly were called as two of the Memory Makers Masters, and a third Pukester friend, Caro is a runner-up! Congratulations ladies!! I am very happy for all three of you.... you all rock! :0)
These are a couple of photos from our AZ trip. I had my camera with me all weekend, and took hardly any photos... I really wasn't feeling like myself... LOL
This is the shot I took of Jack and John after they were done golfing. Yummy, aren't they? LOL
I kind of like the way Jack's chin is reflected in my sunglasses on this one. My arm was on our shades too, but I photoshopped that right on out of there. This is one of my favorite pics of the two of us I have ever taken. Not bad for a do-it-yourself shot!
I have been so excited to share my new room. I have a very hard time with interior decorating, so seeing this room come together has been a thrill for me. Nothing here is original, because I gleaned ideas from several sources, but it is heartfelt! I have honestly never had a pretty room in my entire life, so this has been a special treat to myself. I wanted my room to be pretty and comfortable without losing any functionality or convenience in the process. I think I have accomplished that, and now I can't wait to scrap again!
We had to texture and paint the walls, replace some of the linoleum tiles on the floor, and then it was ready to move into.
This is the desk Jack made for me. It consists of two cabinets as the base that are covered with a board. I sewed a solid red tablecloth for it, and then covered it with a clear vinyl to protect it from my inks and paints. Then we painted the shelf on top of it and added it so I had some extra room for photos, a colored pencil jar, and some little jars filled with brads and staples. I also added the feather pen that we had for our guestbook at our wedding. It has been stored for ten and a half years now. I figured I may as well put it to use... LOL. I need to fix the hem on the curtains, and add a longer curtain underneath the cafe curtains. I ran out of the red fabric. The window sill has the two porcelain clowns Jack has bought for me and my mom's silver baby cup. The little table next to it was a $3 thrift store find, and I am using it to store my sewing machine. My primitive stitchery box is underneath it. I have found it to be much easier to sew on pages if I do not have to pull out the machine every time, so finding an unobtrusive and attractive way to keep the machine in my room was important to me. The green box holds all of my standard scrapping tools... trimmer, scissors, adhesives, etc. The white cabinet in the corner has more of the 12x12 sterilite drawers that hold my rub-ons, stickers, and a few misc supplies. It is also home to my empty albums, my xyron machine, and the photos that I don't have digital copies of yet.
The shelves were originally the cash register stand in the store. I kept them when we closed since my house doesn't have any closet space to speak of. Jack stacked them together for me, and I like the way they look like a hutch. I love toile, and the room needed color, so I used the red toile to make some curtains to cover the boxes stored on the bottom shelves. I wanted my room to be functional with all of my supplies convenient, but I did not want any plastic showing. I have my finalist Chatterbox album as well as some other completed mini albums up there, and then little license plate albums I seem to have developed an addiction to. I plan on filling that Harley one next week! I was really happy with the way my ribbon jars went perfectly across the top... they add a splash of color to that side of the room.
I bought these little drawers at Ikea on Friday, and covered them with some papers that match the room. I sanded the edges, and I plan on rubbing some paint on them to junque them up a little bit more. I used them to store my alphabet stamps. I store them all alphabetically... A's and B's in one drawer, C's and D's in the next etc. I like to mix up my alphabets so much that it is too much work to go through several sets to find the letter, so I enjoy having them store alphabetically.
I bought these three-drawer units at Walmart for about $8 each. They hold 12x12 paper perfectly. My paper is sorted by color... one drawer for all the red 12x12 and 8.5x11 patterns, cardstock, and scraps, one for all the blues, one for the oranges, etc. My themed papers are together in one drawer since there aren't many of those... things that are specifically Halloween or Easter, etc. I keep the Chatterbox papers in their own drawer with their matching embellishments since I have so much of it. It makes entering the contest a lot easier... LOL. The little cabinet on the right has six 8.5x11 three-drawer sets where I have things like sandpaper, trip memorabilia, a drawer of my silver embellishments, my Deluxe Designs products, etc. There is also a thin shelf at the top where I keep my Pages by Design system.
Jack cut these letters for me and I altered them, and I have been holding onto them for months now waiting to hang them up. Now that they are up, I realize I need to stamp over the black "is spoken here" part with the cream paint to make it show up better. I bought the spice rack and buckets at Ikea as well for my paints and paintbrushes. Now I need to get the Making Memories paints so my shelf looks even prettier... LOL. The little jars are also from Ikea and hold needles, safety pins, and more silver mini brads. I have way too many of those little guys. The MM magnetic boards are stamped with MM stamps and cream paint. I plan on hanging up my layouts as I make them so I can appreciate them a little longer before I put them away!
I sewed the matching curtains for the closet because it is too ugly to keep naked. We took the clothing dowel out of it a while ago and installed those wire grid cubes to store my antique books. I don't have anywhere else to keep them right now, so they just need to stay put for the time being. I also have the frames I am working on filling with photos and artwork and my larger completed albums stored in there. The magazine rack was my last Ikea purchase, and it will eventually hold all of the books and magazines I have been published in. I am still sorting out that pile, though, so it will have more in it soon. All the rest of the books and mags are going to the yard sale... woohoo! I bought the Making Memories magnetic chalk boards several months ago at a show, so I hung those up in to places in the room. I stamped "Jenn's Junque" on the top and added my MM magnets. Faith has already had a field day using it to draw me pictures and to work on her math problems. I am on the prowl now for the perfect piece of furniture to go underneath the mag rack and chalkboards. The door leads to the room that is becoming the kids' room, and was my old scraproom. It was painted with chalkboard paint, and Jack splattered it in the paint process. I am going to cover it with chalkboard paint again, and then paint a calendar on my side of it. That way I can just erase it each month and not have more paper clutter in my house. The kids will be able to draw and play tic tac toe on it on their side.
I also sort my embellishments by color. I found the black photo boxes at Michaels when they were on sale for $1 each. I used a grungy font to print the color names on cardstock and slipped it into the bookplates. I also use one box for tags. The only embellishments not sorted by color are my Christmas ones, and they are in the drawer with the Christmas paper. 
This is the computer wall. I have a new laptop, so I keep it and my Epson printer inside the cabinet. I plan on getting a small tv with a DVD player in it to add to the cabinet becauase I like to listen to my shows or the cable radio stations while I scrap. The drawers to the left hold my scanner/copier on top, and I will keep my important papers in the file cabinet drawer on the bottom. The art piece to the left of the cabinet was a birthday present from Kyle that I haven't been able to hang up yet. He was so happy to get to help hang it the other night, and he keeps asking me if I like it... I love it... :0) This door leads to the hallway, and best of all, it has a lock on it!
I have a few more things to do in here, like fill the photo frames and add a rug. (Home Depot has one that is the perfect shade of red for $20... I just have to go get it.) I have a few blank spots on the walls that will house my altered clipboards and canvases within the next couple of days, and I want to find a comfortable bar stool type chair to sit in while I scrap. I also plan on using rub-ons to add a quote above the closet, but it will all come together soon. I achieved my goal, though... I created a room that works for me and I am getting rid of 90 percent of the stuff I had. I will take a picture of the yard sale piles before I actually have it.
I hope you enjoyed my little tour... LOL... you are welcome to scrap with me anytime you would like to! I actually have room in the center to add one of my banquet tables so I can have buddies join me, but that will only be coming out for company.
I got an email from Angie at PK today... she wants to use my Black-Faced Beth and my Midnight Visitor pages, so I will be mailing those out tomorrow. I don't know which issues they will be in, but I don't care... LOL... it just feels good to be submitting and getting published again!
Happy scrapping!
I edited my last post and took off the depressing stuff, but I want to thank those of you who sent me words of encouragement! I will let you know when we have confirmed results from the doctor.
I have spent the last couple of days working very hard, and it has had some great results. My scraproom is all together, and the computer room is almost cleared out. Jack took the ceiling tiles off the computer room last night, and we are almost ready to paint the walls and put in the new flooring. He needs to hook up my internet access on my computer tonight so I can post my pictures... I am using my brother's right now and it doesn't have my camera's software on it!
I am teaching at Pebbles tonight, and it is already raining outside. It looks like monsoon clouds, so I hope it clears out before I go to the store this evening! It smells really nice outside right now, though!
I am off to sort more boxes and get rid of a lot more stuff. This is incredibly liberating!
Jack and I had a good time in AZ. We decided to come home Saturday night instead of paying for an extra night in the hotel. I am glad we did. We got home about 9pm, and got to spend today together.
Our trip was very quiet, but that was exactly what we wanted. We went to Ikea on Friday and bought several little things for my scrap room. (Check back soon for photos... it is amazing to me how well it came together.) Then we stopped by the show to say hi to everyone. We had a very yummy dinner with Katherine and John, and then we went back to our room. We were going to go catch a movie, but it was getting late and we were beat.
Saturday Jack and John went golfing, and seemed to have a good time. I asked Jack what they talked about, and he looked at me like I was crazy and said "Golf." I have a good picture of the two of them together that I will post tomorrow when I have my camera plugged in. I told them I wanted to get a photo, and John says "I don't care, I'm used to it"... LOL.
I also explored Beads Galore and then found some of the 7Gypsies stuff I wanted at Memory Lane while the guys were golfing. That was a pleasant little jaunt! I also made a trip into Annalis Scraptique, and that was one of the best scrapbook stores I have ever seen. I love the electic look she has there, and it was very cozy browsing through the store.
I have fallen in love with Maggie and Robyn's Fashion File challenges. I didn't get to make a layout for last week's challenge, but when I saw this week's I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for. This is one of my favorite Todd stories... the kid cracks me up and he doesn't even try to... LOL. I picked up one of these huge lollipops for all of the kids when I was at Disney World during the expo, and I knew I was going to use the pics for this theme. This was meant to be, because I had my mojo on and this page almost put itself together.
I used MOD and Doodlebug papers. I have mixed a lot of papers before, but I really never thought I would mix these. I was very happy with the results though. I planned the layout with my Pages by Design templates, and then I went to work filling in space. My Doodlebug rub-ons survived the rub-on massacre I mentioned earlier, and I liked the way the dots and circular font worked with the theme. Then I added some Creative imaginations "official" circular rub-ons. It still needed something, so I added the silver brads for some texture, and then used some of those Dee's Distressed rub-ons by My Mind's Eye to grunge the page up a bit. All the papers are inked with darker shades using the chalk pads Colorbok sent me... man I love those inks!
I should be packing. Or I should be sleeping. I should even be working on some of my freelance projects or sorting out more scrap stuff. Alas, this layout was screaming my name and crying out for me to pay attention to it, so that is what I did instead. That sound you hear is me giving a contented sigh... LOL
Journaling reads:
Todd went through a phase where everytime Dad went to the store, he expected him to bring him a lollipop. One day Uncle Jesse was teasing Todd, and told him, "Your mddle name should be Lollipop.” Ever since then, if you ask Todd what his name is he replies ‘Todd Lollipop.” He says it so matter of factly that you would believe him if you didn’t know better!
This is the scripture tag book we are making for my Junque class at Pebbles next week. It really didn't come out the way I had planned, but it will work for right now. After I took the photos (my scanner isn't plugged in or working right now, or these would be much better images), I punched holes in the flat ends of the tags and bound it together with some big jump rings so that more pages can be added to the book later. (I am having a part 2 class to this in November.) I also tied some ribbon through the ends of the tags with holes. Each page has colorful patterned paper, and then everything is inked and painted. These are huge tags.... 4x8.5 I do believe.
Whatever will we do????
Jack and I are leaving for Phoenix on Thursday, and not coming home until Sunday. We aren't taking a single munchkin with us... they are spending quality time with Gramma this weekend.
A vacation... together... we haven't done this in... forever. Our last weekend away was our honeymoon over ten years ago... we are a little overdue doncha think?
We have big plans for ourselvs. We are popping into the convention to say hi to my friendly co-workers and some other convention friends. We are having dinner with Katherine and John on Friday. The guys are going golfing on Saturday (if they like each other enough after dinner to spend time together... LOL) and I am going... SHOPPING! I am hitting the bead stores, the ribbon store, the scrap stores (I really want the new 7Gypsies stuff) and there is an IKEA. I am practically giddy with anticipation.
This means I have to get laundry done and get us packed. I have to make sure there is food in the house for said Gramma and munchkins as well.
Jack is finishing up my new scrap room tonight. woohoo! Next week I will finish sorting out my scrap products, and then I am having a huge scrapping yard sale. HUGE. If any of you have ever scrapped at my house, you know how much stuff I need to get rid of. I am going to use the money to buy the kids new beds.
I took Chet and Faith to my mom's church for choir on Sunday. I knew Faith would like it, but Chet blew me away because he loved it. He was so nervous... take a kid with a major speech impediment and put him in a group where he has to sing, and I can see why he was nervous. I told him if he didn't want to be part of choir he didn't have to be. He got right up there and followed along, though, and he spent yesterday humming the verses he had learned! Faith was so happy having a choir she could be a part of. After singing choir, they went to the bell choir practice as well. They start out learning the notes on chimes, and then move onto bells. Their first bell performance will be next month. When I dropped them off, I had an "awwww.. how sweet" Mommy moment. I was watching them walk into the chapel when Chet turned around and signed "Ilove you"... be still my heart! I love you too, buddy! (wish I had had my camera ready for that!)
Time to get school started and get the day going. Chat soon.
Yesterday was a really fun day. I enrolled the kids in Sign Design Theater. Next week the five oldest are all going, but today it was just Chet and Faith. Faith jumped right in and did her best to follow along with the dance moves and the signing. Chet was a little reluctant at first, but once he got going there was no stopping him. He made friends with all the boys there, and since they play YuGiOh on the breaks or when the girls are doing their routines he was thrilled to be there. It was fun, and I am so glad the kids get to be a part of this. They will be learning sign language, dances, routines, and then performing for live audiences.
Then Matt went to a DeMolay/Rainbow Girls/Job's Daughters dance last night. He has been so excited about this dance. It has actually been hilarious to hear him and his best friend Zack trying to quietly plot out their "chick magnet" strategies. I find comfort in knowing that teenage girls are just as odd as teenage boys sometimes.. LOL. The dance wasn't over until 11, but I came back at 10:30 to get him so I could get at least one photo of him dancing. Here is with his favorite dance partner, Yvette. After the dance was winding down, two girls and two guys got up on the stage do some random dancing, form the wave, etc. Oh yes... one of those boys was Matt. He and Faith didn't inherit a shy bone in their bodies. I am so glad they are comfortable jsut getting up and performing and having a good time without worrying if they look silly... especially since they do look pretty silly sometimes. I do enjoy watching them, though!
I made my new banner with the photo of Matt and his impromptu stage pals... he is on the far right doing the monkey at this point of the night. I was playing with filters, and thought the plastic wrap filter looked kind of cool. It hid the fact that the photo ended up very blurry.
So today I am working on class projects for Pebbles. (I will scan in the scripture tag book in a little while.) I opened my rub-on drawer to see what would inspire me for lettering on some of these pages. I discovered that somebody (probably a certain almsot 2 year old with an affinity for becoming acquainted with my scrapping supplies in a "hands-on" manner) has ruined almost all of the top halves of my rub-on sets. 10 sets of Scrapworks alphabet rub-ons and almost all of my Making Memories alphabets. They are stuck together, rubbed into the drawer, or simply gone. Apparently the culprit was only interested in A-M because I can spell anything that doesn't require any of those letters. (surely there are lots of words that use O,U,X,Y,Z... LOL) The weird thing is that I am not mad... maybe having six kids has mellowed me out a bit about stuff like this. I know she is being a toddler. I know I have been gone a lot, and that being home now is going to prevent it from happening again. And I know that having everything put away in the new scraproom will be a big help in avoiding this. But I am sad for my rub-ons... it took me forever to collect that many. The Making Memories ones were all brand new because I was saving them to use with all the new papers I have been buying all summer. Sigh. Poor little abused rub-on letters.
I have to go track down some scriptures now to finish this book. I thought of making it a funny scripture book and using scriptures like "I am the smooth one and my brother is the hairy one" but I didn't want to offend those who might not enjoy my sense of scriptural humor. If you have any great suggestions for scriptures I would love the input.
Today is my mom's 50th birthday. I sat down to make her a card last night, and at the last minute decided to make it an album instead. Since it was already 10:30 at night, I kept it very simple. In fact, I don't know if I can stand it that there are not flowers or ribbons... I may take it back from her for some further embellishing... LOL. This morning we took the photos, came up with the 50 reasons, and the kids all drew her a picture of themselves with Gramma.
I used mostly Basic Grey papers and stickers, and with Shelley Laming inspiring me, I used kraft background and hand cut hearts with brown and blue chalk inks. The cover also has some SCrapWorks rub-ons and American Crafts stickers.
Happy birthday, Mom... we love you!
I took Matt and Faith to choir last night, and found out that they changed the age limits. Faith wasn't allowed to participate in the children's choir, which broke her heart. I was mad about driving fifty miles to be told this info when somebody could have picked up the phone and let me know. I am going to look around and see if there is another one she can join instead, and she might join the bell choir at my mom's church. I just felt so badly for her last night. Matt did get to join the adult choir again, and he had a good time. I didn't get any clear pictures of him during his rehearsal, so this was as good as it gets. I told him that since he refused to sit still for a photo he gets to endure me taking a good one next week... LOL
While we waited for Matt's choir, Faith and I kept ourselves busy watching Ice Princess in the truck. Now, if that wasn't the ultimate mother/daughter bonding moment, I don't know what was! We shared my Diet Coke, laid the seats back and watched the entire chick flick without any boys going """ewwwwwww.... he kissed her!" I will probably find another good chick flick for us to watch next week while we wait for Matt again, because that was pretty fun and cheap... LOL
The Wild Asparagus feature is up on Scrap Village now if you want to check it out.(It is the What's New from the City Planners section) I have been waiting forever to make a page with Faith's first primitive stitchery sampler. There are suppposed to be some new fonts up this month as well, so check into the font page in the library section while you are there if you are a fontaholic.
I got all four boys' belongings decluttered and resorted today. Tonight I am going to start clearing out some of my scrap stuff before I move it into the new room. I can't wait to have my house looking like a home again.
Chat soon
I am having a rough day. The kind of day that chocolate doesn't make any better. Lots of stress, lots of worry, and a big dose of heartache. This can't be healthy.
School went well this morning, though. We head to choir in a few hours. Somewhere around here I have the newest CK... maybe reading that while I wait through two different choir rehearsals will help a little bit. I sure hope so.
We accomplished quite a bit today. I got all of Faith's and Beth's belongings sorted out, decluttered, and moved into the other bedroom. Tomorrow Jack is painting that room so I can get my computer set up in there and start moving the scrapping stuff in. I am so excited at the prospect of actually scrapping... woohoo! I have my Pebbles classes to get put together, and I have some freelance work to get done, and then I get to work on all these page ideas I have been plotting for weeks and months now!
I am going to have a serious garage sale very soon. I want to get rid of at least 50 percent of the "schtuff" in our house.
Tomorrow Matt returns to choir and Faith starts her first season. This isn't just the proud mama talking, but she really has an incredible voice and I am looking forward to seeing what some real training will do for her. Matt is such a showman, and I love to see how much fun he has in choir. Some of his friends are there too, so that is an added bonus for him. He also wants to play football this year, so I need to find the info on getting him registered for that.
The kids have all had their baths, brushed their teeth, and are snug in bed.... aaahhhhh peace and quiet! We all enjoyed our day together very much, and it was all the sweeter knowing I wasn't flying out again tomorrow.
This was my sixth show in a row, so I came home absolutely beat.
I have pictures of the show, but since we are rearranging the house and the computers with the camera software aren't done being plugged in yet, I will have to share them later.
Highlights of the show:
1. Seeing Gina and having lunch. We have been on our email loop for eight years now (the same one Kathy is on) and it was so nice to meet face to face. She brought her friends with her, and they were really nice.
2. Helping Venessa pick up the truck and getting her car tuned. She had to evacuate Mississippi, and fortunately she and her kids and animals are all safe. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for her home or neighborhood. I have a picture of me in the Jiffy Lube getting her car tuned with two cats and a hamster. Then I have photos of Gayle and I sneaking them into the hotel for her after she and Gayle got back from picking Jolleen, Tyler, and Mike up at the airport.
3. Being able to witness and participate in helping the evacuees in Atlanta. The vendors at the show were raising money to pay for the hotel rooms for the people who were staying in the hotel. It may seem small in the overall picture, but it was something we could do and see somebody immediately benefit from it. Before they left, Jolleen and Venessa filled the truck up with water and took it back to the people still stranded in Mississippi. I love working for this company.
4. Finding keylime pie in Costco. It was huge. I am sure it was incredibly fattening. But it was so fantastically yummy.
5. Meeting Amy Eastham from Making Memories... she was hilarious. I will never forget her name... Amy Eastham... opposite of West Turkey... LOL... that is how she introduced herself to me... LOL
Today we did some touch-up painting in the house and rearranged two of the rooms. THe kids' computers came last week, and we have to get the classroom put together so they can start their new program. Tomorrow we are starting back in our homeschool routine, and all of us are excited about that. After we are done on school we will work on finishing up the classroom area. It should all be done by the end of the week.
That means next week my new scraproom should be done. Before I can move my stuff into it, though, I have to sort and minimize it. I have a lot of stuff I need to get rid of. A lot. This is something I am dreading, but I know it will be so much easier to get my work done once I do.
Anyway.. I am done rambling today. Before I sign off, though, I want to remind everybody that we ALL should have 72 hour kits ready in the event of any kind of emergency where we need to leave our homes. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our kids. It isn't expensive to put one together, but if you ever need it, you will find it to be a priceless treasure. Here are some sites with really good info on putting them together.
72 hour kits article
How to make a 72 hour kit
another good list
