Catching Up & a Digi Layout

Whew! I'm back! And feeling better, finally! It took until Tuesday of this week for me to feel a bit more human and for the horrible coughing attacks to subside. I ended up missing a family day trip to Golden Valley State Park on Labor Day due to an awful coughing attack. I didn't want to spend the whole time hacking up a lung while trying to enjoy myself. I think though, it was my cold breaking up. I hate that type of coughing. But Tuesday, I felt better and today I'm almost back to myself. I'm still coughing some, but not as bad as I was.

I took my dad to the airport on Wednesday morning and heaved a sigh that the busyness of the past several weeks is over. We had a nice visit (well, as nice as it could be with me being sick). My dad took us out to eat several times and bought us a couple of dvd movies. He watched the girls a time or two while I ran an errand. He also was so understanding of me not quite being myself while he was here.

I celebrated my birthday last Friday, too! I am now....42! Oh my! LOL Actually, it doesn't bother me. I mentioned to Steve that I might like an mp3 player and asked if he knew anything about them. He didn't and I didn't! But, my upline, Kay told me she downloads motivational speakers/lectures for direct sales and listens on her mp3 player. I thought that sounded like a good idea. So, Steve got me one for my birthday!!! I haven't had a chance yet to really play with it. Steve did download some stuff for my dad to check out how it works. (I think he might be getting one after he gets home next week-he's in Idaho right now visiting my oldest brother for the week). I also mentioned I might like a paper cutter that could cut something like 10 sheets of cardstock at a time. Kay told me it cuts her prep time down dramatically. My dad got me one! :o) And we went to Chili's for dinner. Yummy! I was actually feeling okay on Friday. I got a great b-day card from my friend Kim-Thanks, Sweetie! My girlfriend Kelly sent me a book of poems on long standing friendships (we've known each other since Kindergarten) and a ribbon/butterfly bookmark and a neat dangly for a cell phone or in my case, my new mp3 player. So, it was a nice birthday for the most part!

Okay, I could go on about that, but I don't want to bore anyone to tears. LOL So, I'll talk a bit about today...it was the first day both of my girls had school. Amy's in first grade, so she's gone all day, and Jessica is in preschool and she goes for 2 1/2 hours. I was so excited to have some "me" time!! Well, I dropped Jessica off and came home. Looked at my incredibly messy house and kept walking out to my scrap room. Sat down. Looked at the mess in there and sighed. I wanted to create something, anything, but felt such a strong urge to clean. I mentally shook myself and said NO! You are going to create! But what?? There's SO much I wanted to work on I honestly could NOT decide where to start. Plus it is messy...I'd have to clean a bit before starting anything. I decided to look through my new Imagine book from CTMH for inspiration...that was nice, but that voice in my head said, you really should clean up...grrrrr. I looked at the clock...only a little over an hour left before I had to pick up Jess. Aghhhhhh! Okay, I'm taking that digi sb class with Jessica Sprague. I'm behind because of all the stuff that I've been doing. Okay, I'll go work on a lesson. Yes!! Went back into the house and sat down at the computer and this is the result of my efforts:

The goal of this lesson was to start with a premade layout again, but I added the two pictures (cropping them). I added the journaling in a list form. I learned how to add the check bullets (Yea, I have a lot of them. I may need to edit that list). I added the green circles around the date. I added the letters to spell Amy's name AND changed the color of the letters. Finally I used what is called a brush (stamp) and added the flourish and changed the color of that, too. I finished in time to save it before I had to pick up Jessica. And whew! NO mess to clean up! I love that!

After we picked up Amy, I succumbed to the urge to clean up a bit. So, I feel better about how my house looks for the moment, too.

It's good to be back. :o)