Busy Bee...

I thought I'd better check in before you give me up for lost. *Ü*

 Now that the girls are back in school, I have been a whirling dervish cleaning up the house. You know, all the stuff that gets neglected (at least in my house) while the kids are home. Because if you clean this or that, it's just going to get dirty all over again, usually sooner than later, so I put things off. At least while they are gone part of the day, the cleaned stuff feels (& looks) clean for a bit longer (and thus the sense of accomplishment is a little stronger). Although, next week, they go for 2 days, then have one 2 hour window on another day for assessment, and they are off school until the following Tuesday. Sigh...

I'm sure you aren't really all that interested in my cleaning routine, so I thought I'd share:

I don't remember if I ever showed this. I found the container and some of the Gerbera daisy plants at the thrift store. The darker orange flowers are from the Dollar Tree. I've enjoyed this most of the summer.

And, I realized I never showed what I came up with for the hanging pots on my porch after the patriotic holidays were done.

I had a hard time getting what I thought were good pictures, that's probably why I never rushed to post them. And I never seem to have the patience to edit pictures, so these are straight out of the camera.

I tried several times to crochet some flowers for the posts, but nothing I created seemed to fit, so eventually I just gave up. Maybe next year I'll be more inspired.

Now I'm getting antsy to put the fall stuff out. Not that I will be getting anything new, I do like the change of scene, though. 

Steve, Amy and Jessica went to our friend Dave's for lunch last weekend. They were gone an awfully long time and when they got home I found out why...

The city where Dave lives (about 10 minutes from our house) was having some sort of fair and on the spur of the moment they all decided to go. At least 45 minutes of their time there was spent waiting in line with Jessica to get her face painted! I think it was worth the wait as she sure looked cute. I thought for sure she was never going to wash her face again. LOL However, the next day the girls and I went to a pool playdate with Susi and Hattie. Once Susi saw her face, Jessica was fine to go swimming and most of the paint wore off in the water.

And while I haven't been able to get into my crafty spot, I haven't been idle:

I've been working on a new project. Hmmmm....I wonder what it could be???

Time will tell and I'll be sure to share when it's done.

With that, I'll sign off for now and wish you all a great end to your week!

Brain Dump Post (Warning...sorta long)

Happy Friday to you! I don't have any artwork to show you, I've got lots of random thoughts running around in my head and I feel the urge to just get them out so I can move on with my day. LOL Read if you want, or simply skip along to your next blog. I don't mind. *Ü*

Are you happy that I don't have a spider web picture or two or three? Well, the reason for that, is Mr. (Mrs.?) Spider has moved the web yet again. I'm not sure why, except maybe he/she really didn't like me nosing around so much and misting it. LOL I noticed the web was still there in the morning and a bit later as I was watering plants, I saw that he/she caught a bee. Success! It was all wrapped up in whatever they create to make their web (silk?). The girls and I went out for a playdate and when we got home just a couple of hours later, the web was gone! No, not torn down, the links to the web were still there, but no web and no bee. And I haven't been able to see where it's been moved to. So, I guess my little foray into taking photos of spiderwebs is over. I thought to myself, I probably should have taken a photo of the success the spider had, but oh well. Thanks for indulging me a bit, but you can rest easy that I will not be posting any more spider web photos. Honest, and for true.

We went to the "big park" for our playdate with my friend, Becky and her kids yesterday. The kids had a great time running around and playing together. The park has a small water "fountain" feature where water streams shoot up at random from the ground. It was very entertaining watching the little kids (not ours) play in it. Although Amy got herself soaked and then ran off to play, knowing she'd not melt and her clothes would dry. Becky had a Sudoku puzzle book with her and I told her I knew it was super popular but I never could get into it because I didn't understand how to do it. So she showed me and I was really intrigued. So much so, I went to the Dollar Tree after dinner and picked up a book of puzzles after dinner. $1 for some fun. Can't beat that. Thanks, Becky for showing me how to solve the puzzles. I have done 4 of them already! Of course, these may be "easy" ones, but I am enjoying the challenge of figuring them out. Gotta keep the brain active, right?

After lunch yesterday the girls and I then went to the local pool. We had talked about it earlier in the week and I said I might even swim this time. I lived up to that thought and got myself into the pool. The weather was warm, but pretty cloudy, a storm was blowing in. Anyway, I impressed myself because I tried diving for the first time since I was a young adult (most likely). I was trying to remember how long it had been. I''ve been in CO for 15 years now, for 5 years before that I lived in Palmdale, and while I had access to a pool at my apartment, I don't remember diving then. I grew up with an in-ground pool in our backyard. So throughout my childhood and before I moved to Palmdale I had daily access to that pool. I'm thinking the last time I actually did a dive was in my early 20s or late teens (and I'm gonna be 44 at the end of the month). Although I used the pool, a lot of times (in my late teens and early 20s) it was to lounge on a raft/floating chair of some sort with a drink and a book to read so I could catch some rays and keep cool. LOL I was initially surprised at how nervous I felt at first when I decided I would actually dive. So I ended up starting from the side of the pool and not from the diving board. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't do a belly flop! The lifeguard told me it looked pretty good, too. So I tried the diving board next. Dang, I didn't remember being SO high above the water! It sure is a leap of faith to do a dive. But I did it and didn't embarrass myself too badly (and I got water up my nose). I was proud of myself for not worrying too much about how it looked and enjoying some fun play time with the girls. We got a couple of hours in of playing and swimming before lightning was spotted and we had to get out. Then it started to get windy and knowing how cold Jessica gets anyway, the wind would just make it more uncomfortable for her, so we left. And joked that the storm blew in just because I wanted to swim this time. LOL

After dinner, I mentioned I went out to find a Sudoku puzzle book. After I found that, I had an urge to head to the Goodwill and just look around to see if there was anything interesting-maybe I could find an item or two of clothing for the girls. When Sandy was here she was full of stories of the neat things she picked up there for low, low prices. I am happy to donate to Goodwill, but havne't ever felt too successful at finding things to buy there. This time I just browsed every where not expecting anything. I found a couple of books, a dress for Jess (for $1.50 because white tags were 50% off) and a swim suit for Amy. Now I know I just got them suits, but this suit held a bit of sentimental significance (at least I knew it would for Amy). She had one that she LOVED for over a year. She called it her purple suit. Well, this suit was faded to pink and the elastic in it was all stretched out, but she'd still wear it. Until I finally had to hide it when I discovered it now had a hole in it as well. She was so disappointed that she couldn't wear it anymore. She really loved that suit. And guess what I found at the Goodwill? THE same swimsuit only newish. It was in super shape and I had to snatch it up for her. She was so excited when she saw it! My other fun find was a denim jacket for me. A Levi Strauss denim jacket and it had a white ticket (meaning it was 50% off). It fit and I got it for $7.00! Whoa Nelly! I know have my own "Sandy Story" from the Goodwill. *Ü*

Okay, I think I've cleared my brain of the random stuff pinging around in there, so I will close for now. Thanks for indulging me if you read this. Have a great Friday and super start to your weekend!

New Profile Photo

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but for that past few years I've had a really difficult time wearing any eye make-up. After I put it on, my eyes water and then the lid gets flaky. I've felt like I was continually messing with the goop in the corners of my eyes as well. So, I pretty much quit wearing make-up altogether. But, on the few occasions where I'd have my picture taken, I'd really dislike how I'd look w/o make up. I was chatting with Erin and she mentioned the mineral make up and maybe I needed to switch brands. It's possible, since I've worn the same brand pretty much since I started wearing make-up (and that's more years ago than I care to think about). Anyway, at the store this morning, I picked up a few new items of make-up, tried it on and decided to have a mini photo shoot. I took a TON of photos and even changed my shirt. (thanks for the tip, Erin) Here's the one I decided I liked the best after playing just a bit with it in PSE 5.0:

Hope this gives you an idea of what I look like these days.

Thanks for stopping by. Now I need to get back to the laundry...LOL

 

Jeanne

A New Kind of Planet...Paper Craft Planet

My friend Kim has been posting about this new website called Paper Craft Planet and I joined the other day to see what it was all about. You can read about here on her blog. I'm still getting used to how it all works, but it looks like a hopping place to visit. Check it out!

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Be sure you get out an vote today if you haven't already! Colorado has one of THE longest ballets this year, and I made sure to sign up for the mail in ballot so as not to feel rushed while deciding. I heard yesterday that over 60% of registered voters in CO have already voted either by mail in or early voting. I think the long lines of a few years ago impressed up voters to get 'r done early!

*****

I didn't get into my corner yesterday. Mainly because I spent the day cleaning around the house. Do you ever have those times where things are fine or seem fine, then you look around and wonder how the heck the house got to looking like a dump? Please tell me I'm not the only one! Anyway...I'm in one of those phases where I'm tired of the house looking neglected. Tends to happen on Mondays after a busy weekend where I don't pick up much because I'm too busy crafting or spending time with the family. (We went for a bike ride on Sunday to the "big" park, as my girls call it, near our Rec Center). Yesterday the bug bit me hard! I took care of a few things that have been niggling at me. Like the corner by our breakfast bar where I had piled a bunch of the girls' artwork. I finally weeded through it and got it down to a manageable size to fit into the tub I bought for that purpose. I then put the tub under our bed, so the corner looks decent to me (no one's said anything about it...maybe it was just bugging me!). I started cleaning in the bathroom and attacked the baseboards that get so dusty. When I looked up from the vantage point of work on the floor, I saw how nasty the walls looked in spots and decided to do some spot cleaning and that led to other cleaning spots and before I knew it, my day was spent. I know I'm not the most pristine housekeeper, but I've gotten lazy and need to step it up again!

Which brings me to my question...sad as it may be...the walls in our house are in need of a good cleaning...and I was wondering what you would recommend for the job? I think TSP is supposed to be good. I was using some of those surface wipes in the bathroom, but that could get pretty pricey...LOL. Any thoughts?

Oh and just to pass along this random tip...I read on a newsletter I get that a gal had a hard time cleaning her shower walls (like I do...) and she discovered those surface cleaning wipes (she gets hers at Costco) work really well. Just use them when the shower is dry. I'm gonna try it!

*****

I guess that's enough of a rambling post...thanks if you've actually read it!

Maybe today I'll get some crafting done...or more cleaning! We shall see!

Jeanne

Any Gmail Users Out There?

Do any of the people who read my blog use Gmail? If so, are you experiencing any problems with it? For some reason the past few days it's taken an inordinately long time for the main page to open up after I login. Then it takes a long time to open each message. Usually it's pretty quick and I've had no complaints. I've done several virus scans and nothing is showing up as a problem. I'm only using 13% of my available space on it, so that can't be slowing things down.

Any guesses as to what might be going on?

Thanks!

Miss You Scallop Circle Card

Here is the final card that Felicia's husband asked me to send. Well, he didn't pick out the design or anything, but he wrote the sentiment. I saw this card on Thinking Inking and wanted to try making it even though I don't have the circle Nestabilities. I do have the Coluzzle Circle Templates, both the regular and companion, as well as circle punches, so I did my best with those. I think it came out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. I'm pretty sure Felicia liked it. Of course it was from Mike...so it could have been totally ugly and she would have liked it! LOL
Here is the card opened so you can see (sort of) how I made it.
It was a trial and error design, but in the end I cut the largest circles from the Coluzzle template. I cut two, then cut one of the two in half and taped them together. This gave me a template so I knew where to stop my knife when I made the actual card-so the flaps for the gatefold were attached. Then I punched a bunch of 3/4 inch circles and glued them on the inside of the card. If I were to make this card again, I would glue the circles on the backside. On this card I started out gluing them on the inside of the circle, but had an issue when I got to the sides that were attached to the flaps. I had to add those circles to the back side. So I had to cover the inside and outside of the card! If you try this, just glue them on the backside and decide if you want to cover them or not. Clear as mud?

Supplies used...With Love-June Stamp of the Month, CTMH (Thanks, Felicia!), Mixed Messages (PTI), Crystal Blue, Sweet Leaf, Buttercup, 2nd generation Barn Red inks, Buttercup cs (CTMH), pattern paper from the Summer Stack (DCWV). I punched a Martha Stewart edge/emboss punch on each side of a strip of cardstock to get the "lace like" band. American Crafts ribbon, Dress It Up button (Michaels, Jesse James brand) I think that's it. If I missed something and you want to know...add a comment or email me.

I took the girls to the Denver Zoo today. I originally thought to do it tomorrow for Amy's birthday, but it's going to get hotter the next couple of days, and they now start complaining when they get too hot. Today was just about perfect weather, warm but not too bad and a bit breezy. Anyway, we had a very good time (but I didn't take my camera-I have tons of zoo pictures that I haven't scrapped yet!). I will take it one trip though. It's so nice to have a membership because I don't feel like we have to stay the whole day...a couple of hours and we're done! :o)

Amy got a birthday gift today from my dear friend, Kelly, who lives in CA. She sent a butterfly treehouse! Remember when I talked about the caterpillars Jessica's preschool had that went through the life cycle and became butterflies? They put the chrysalids in a mesh container that is shaped like a cylinder. Well, this is the same type of thing-only this one has a zippered door opening at the bottom! I have to send away for the critters, but the rest is the same. How cool, huh?! Amy is quite excited. :o)

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have a great night and the rest of your week is full of fun and good times.

Mother's Day Flowers digi layout!

I futzed enough with this layout and am calling it done! I used a Kay Miller Designs template that had some other elements included. I tried and tried to make them work, but couldn't so I took them off and kept this clean and simple. I also used papers from Kay Miller Designs' newest kit called It's a Spring Thing. the font is Roselyn and it was on a font cd I bought somewhere sometime!
I had to share this picture I took today. These are the chicks that were born just a few short weeks ago at Jessica's preschool. They quickly outgrew a 10 gallon aquarium, then a 35 gallon aquarium, and have spent this week in a dog kennel/cage.But, they simply need more room, so they are going back to the farm. I honestly cannot believe how quickly they lost their down and started growing feathers. Amazing. The kids really enjoyed having them. I hope Jessica isn't too upset next week when she realizes they are really gone. The kids have been watching caterpillars become a chrysalis (sp?) this week and those are supposed to open up and become butterflies next week. Maybe that will be a good distraction...G'bye Peanut and Juanita...it's been fun watching you grow!
Acrylic discs, flowers and chicks...man I've jumped around a lot today, huh? LOL

Ah well, at least I've posted something...

Trying something out...

I'm just being a dork trying something out that I've seen done a lot but didn't know how to do.

According to my preview it worked, so I'll 'splain.

I was just reading the Because I Said So blog and on Sundays she does a Sound Out where she answers questions she received during the week. Someone asked and she gave this answer:

QUESTION: I recently started a blog for my family and friends to see, but I can't figure out the *cross out the word* thing that you do . I can do it in my word program, but when I copy and try to paste it over, it doesn't have the crossed out words there. I know this is such a random and off the subject thing, but I AM SO CURIOUS!!! AND I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT!!!

ANSWER: OK, before the word you want crossed out, type < *del > (take the asterisk and spaces out) Then after the word you want crossed out, type < /del >. That will draw a line through the word. I used some spaces in my example so the word wouldn't really get crossed out. Just omit the spaces when you do it.

I'm just testing it to see if it works and it looks like it does. How fun! :o) Yes, I know it takes very little sometimes to make me giddy.

And, by the way, I completely forgot meant to add the stamp set Gift Tags (CTMH) in my credits on the card I posted earlier.

Okay, I'm done now. Have a good one. :o)

Still No Artwork...but Feeling a Bit Better...

I had hoped to get out to my craft room today, but never quite made it. Sorry! I am finally starting to feel a bit better. The tingly sensation is pretty much gone and although my head has felt funny a lot today, I think it's better than it was. The blood pressure seems to have stabilized. I also went to the book store to get a book on reversing hypertension. I even hit Archiver's for National Scrapbook Day (although I wasn't feeling up to making the free Make and Takes). After dinner I went on a short bike ride with the fam and it was fun.

This morning Amy asked me a few times if I wanted to come outside and watch her ride her bike without training wheels. I think she is justifiably VERY proud of this accomplishment and wants to practice (ie show-off) her new found skill. Hey, you know I'm feeling better because on my way out the door, I grabbed my camera. :o) When she wants to get outside quick, she grabs her snowboots because it takes no effort to get them on. She also "borrowed" Jessica's coat...probably because it was handy. LOL Look how happy she is (and notice the bottom teeth are coming in!)I'm gonna have fun scrapping the pictures I took.

Even though I didn't buy a bunch of physical product, I was feeling chipper enough to buy some digital goodies...so fun! I did my part to support this scrapbooking/crafting hobby of ours. Hopefully I will have some creations to share with you soon.

Thanks for your comments on my health related post. I really appreciate it!! Hope you had a great Saturday!

Happy Easter...wanna laugh?

I just came across this on Nicole Seitler's blog...Sugarplum Paperie and laughed SO hard. I wanted to share it with you all as well. Love it! Thanks for sharing Nicole...it put a big ole grin on my face.

Hopefully sometime today I'll be able to work on a layout or something crafty to share...we'll see!

Have a wonderful day!

Interested in a Beginner Jessica Sprague Class?

Then go to her website tomorrow (Monday, Feb. 25th) evening at 9pm Eastern time and sign up for her Up and Running With Photoshop class! This is the first one I took and it started my journey into digi scrapping. Better yet, don't wait until tomorrow to check things out. Go there now! See all the fun things going on in the Forums and Gallery. You don't need to be in a class to have access to the General Stuff! Click HERE to get to her website.

Don't hesitate too long, though...the classes fill up fast!

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming....

Natural Beauty Digi Layout and Ramblings

Thanks for all the well wishes after my post about having a humdinger of a headache. I did indeed park myself on the couch, tried to nap, but kept getting woken up by everyone else, so I mainly dozed. Then hubby took the girls to Burger King for dinner. I wasn't really hungry but said he could bring me back something to eat. They were gone quite a while and came back sans food! He said it didn't taste very good and asked what I wanted to eat. I said a pb&j. He said REALLY? I love them! So he asked the girls which one would like to make me a sandwich. Amy jumped up and volunteered. That was probably THE BEST pb&j sandwich I EVER ate. Know why? Because it was made with loving care by my daughter! It must have been sprinkled with some magic as I felt a lot better after eating it.

My sweet Amy also told me she was sorry she gave me her cold when I tucked her into bed...guess she thought I was getting sick, too. Awwwww.....


I didn't get off the couch for the remainder of the evening and went to bed a little early. Thankfully, when I woke up this morning the headache was gone! (told you there was magic in that pb&j).


I saw on a blog something about how many people have your name and I was intrigued so I checked out the site (I'm always leery of these types of things, thinking it is full of spybots and other unsavory computer gnats). I typed in my name and it appears there are something like 165,000 plus people with the spelling of my name in the US (and 99.9% of them are female-ya think?). There are 334 people who have my last name. AND there is NO ONE in the US with my full name. Wow...does that mean I'm sorta unique?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Anyway it was fun to see. Here's the link if you want to check it out for yourself. How Many of Me? (In case the image doesn't click right)

And if you read all that (or skipped it to get to the layout) here you go!

A lot of digi scrappers love photo actions. I've held off on jumping on the bandwagon because, well, I sorta like the pictures I take and think they look okay in their "natural" state. That's not to say they are professional looking, because they aren't at all, but I think I'm lucky in getting some eye pleasing (well to my eye anyway) shots. But, lately I've been thinking of converting to black and white and sepia tones without having to try to remember what all numbers I need to use. So I went to Scrapgirls.com and picked out a basic photos action. (for non digi people, after you install the action to PSE, when you click on a button, it does all the steps for you to change the photo). So the photo in this layout is black and white with color. I thought it looked really neat and wanted to scrap it. So, I chose to use Kay Miller Designs (yes...I know...again) All Organic page kit. I used a template of hers as well (from Collection 12) The font is Digs My Heart from dafont.com.

I like how it came out and wanted to share.
Thanks for looking!

Tagged Again #2

April tagged me for this one and I'm not going to bed until I get this done. This is a bit different.

Here's the deal
For the two people I tag, you'll need to add another question/topic to the list and have it be a 2 item, then tag 2 more people.

1. Name your 2 favourite scrapbooking topics. My kids and everyday moments

2. What are the 2 best places you've been to? Iowa-so pretty and Minnesota...also beautiful

3. Name 2 things you do every day. Check email/blogs, snuggle with kids

4. Tell us 2 things that pretty much everyone knows about you. I love Diet Coke and I want to be organized.

5. Tell us 2 things that everyone DOESN'T know about you. I get up at the crack of dawn, I snore.

6. Tell us 2 things that got you into the hobby of scrapping? Friends were having Creative Memories classes and the thought of doing that piqued my interest, and my mother passed away and the need to preserve memories became very important.

7. Tell us 2 things that you want to accomplish in the next six months. Take more classes for digi scrapping and ORGANIZE

8. Name your two favorite scrapping tools. ATG gun for traditional scrapping, my computer for digi scrapping.

I'm going to tag Kim and Kathi.

This could get interesting!

I've Been Tagged-#1

Jen tagged me the other day and finally I am sitting down to do it. I've gotten this tag before, so hopefully I can come up with some new random facts.



You've been tagged:The rules of the game:
• Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I just discovered the Solitaire game, Freecell, and am becoming quite obsessed with playing it. Prior to giving my mother-in-law the hand held game, I'd never played the game. I so enjoyed it while she was here, I got one for myself after she left.

2. My cat likes to snuggle up to me when we are in bed for the night. She will either sleep on my back or in between my legs. It feels weird to me when she is not there.

3. This is an embarrassing one, but true. I had to call a friend to ask how to make baked potatoes. I simply wasn't sure and figured it was smarter to ask than risk messing it up.

4. Another embarrassing fact...when I was teaching in CA, the school I taught at was still being built, so we were housed in temporary classrooms. We even had temporary bathrooms. Bathrooms with toilets that had amazing flushing capabilities. How do I know? After using the facilities, I leaned over to flush and my huge wad of school keys fell out of my sweater pocket and were flushed away. Amazing because I had a ton of keychains on the key ring, one of which was a mini tennis ball! I think the staff laughed at me the rest of the year.

5. When I used to paper scrap, I traced and handcut, then outlined most of my titles. I have lots of lettering templates.

6. I love reading books/magazines on organizing. Notice I said I love reading about it...not that I actually implement the ideas.

7. I'm the youngest of 6 kids and have 5 brothers. My dating life in school was NIL once guys found out about how many brothers I had. LOL

Okay, I'm going to tag...(playmates from Jessica's Playground)

Dawn (Dewnie)
Veevs
LivE
Carol
Susan
Jackie
Kari

I'm going to start a new post for the other tag I received...this one is a bit different!

Thanks for visiting and not laughing too hard at my foibles.