My Musings

More Disney

2011-08-25T13:29:00.001-07:00

Disney busy

2011-07-05T23:52:00.001-07:00

I can’t tell you how happy I am with kits by Captivated Vision, Melissa Bennett, Brittish Designs, Eva Kipler, Julie Billingsly, Traci Reed and other brilliant designers who have made this book work together so well. Also C. Schneider and Yin who made templates so there is some sort of a consistent feel. Soon I will add links to all of my Disney pages so that you will get the complete credits however I am finally updating my online gallery with that information. I can’t wait to share that with you…these women are SOOO very talented and they deserve all my thanks and more.

As you will see…I have been busy (of course my house isn’t clean but hubby hasn’t said anything yet LOL) Also if you see something repeated, it is probably because I tweaked or fixed it.

And before you mention it…yes, I am inconsistent with my journaling BUT everything I have scrapped I have safely in my journal to add to the journaling blocks. I know, you were worried

Disney Book–To Date

2011-06-11T15:22:00.001-07:00

I have so many pages yet to complete, but here is the start.

Kendall Marie

2011-06-11T15:03:00.001-07:00

Captivated Visions – It’s About Her

Layout Productivity

2011-01-05T21:23:00.001-08:00

Amazingly getting things done…

2011-01-02T17:06:00.001-08:00

I know that things have to go back to normal tomorrow with hubby going back to work and me starting the job search process but this vacation has allowed me to get back to those things that I love to do and has given me a new desire to get back into scrapping. One of my goals for 2011 is to finish at least two layouts a week on top of working on my Disney book which I have vowed to have finished before Dec 31st. It sounds ambitious but I have spent part of this week sorting things and putting them into project folders in order to make them easier to complete.

That being said, here are my latest layouts.

Forever…and new layouts

2010-12-23T13:01:00.001-08:00

I know it feels like I have been away from my blog for forever and I wish I had some great exotic secret to share, but I have just been busy. Of course, two weeks of my silence was because I was visiting the mouse at Disney Which I absolutely loved. I will be posting pictures of that in the next few weeks as I work to finish my scrapbook. Since my vacation book from three years ago is still “almost done” and in the project bin, I am determined to finish this one before June.

I have done a few pages since being back that I can’t wait to share with you.

And this year’s Christmas page is already done. I have no idea how that happened already

…maybe it was because I didn’t decorate

National Scrapbook Day...and a Sale

2010-11-04T12:08:00.001-07:00

I know that this weekend I am going to be doing some major shopping to enhance my digi-stash and on the chance that you are doing the same :) , I am having a SALE!!.

My store at Enchanted Studio Scraps will be 40% off any purchase of $3.00 or more, (no coupon needed) from Nov 5 - 7.

Available HERE

New Release

2010-10-21T20:10:00.001-07:00

I miss Fall….I miss the smells of apple cider, wood fires, crisp cool air. I miss the sounds of crackling fires, crunching leaves under my feet, and tractors pulling trailers of excited people sitting on piles of hay. I miss the crisp air, the hot chocolate and fresh pumpkin desserts. What does this have to do with anything? I made a kit to celebrate the season and bring back the memories.

Fall Fling, available at Enchanted Studio Scraps HERE, and on sale until Monday at 30% off or $3.85.

12 Days of Halloween

2010-10-18T15:37:00.001-07:00

Be sure to visit Enchanted Studio Scraps daily starting Wed, Oct 20 to get this HUGE mega kit.

Going out with a Bang! Retiring Life’s Everyday Moments Collection

2010-10-18T11:37:00.001-07:00

It has been a GREAT 8 months but it is time to move on to bigger and better so Tammy and I are retiring the Life’s Everyday Moments Collection available ONLY at Enchanted Studio Scraps.

From now until 11/1/10, LEM is on sale for 50% off individual items or $55 for the whole store.

Newest Layouts

2010-09-22T21:20:00.001-07:00

I have had time to sit down and work on some layouts with some of the new kits that I have purchased and I can’t wait to show them to you.

Credits for all available HERE

Life’s Everyday Moments New Releases and freebie

2010-09-10T09:59:00.001-07:00

Tammy (Polka Dot Chicks) and I released the next installment in the Life’s Everyday Moments Collection today which covers the Elementary School years.

As a bonus we are including these extra elements

So look for THIS

Available at the store HERE

Also Added today were the Basic School Tags which coordinate with all of the school kits.

Available HERE

These and all the other new releases are 30% off this weekend only.

Don’t forget to pick up my Halloween kits and be on the lookout for a new one next week.

Available HERE

And if you are still here, here is a preview of next week’s LEM kit…and your freebie

DOWNLOAD HERE

** If you want yet ANOTHER freebie, head over to Tammy’s blog for a new QP

New Release…Happy Halloween

2010-09-09T18:39:00.001-07:00

I am releasing a new – actually old kit – in my store tomorrow and it is one that you have seen before if you have followed this blog for any period of time. I had to redo the preview because I realized that my style has changed a lot over the last year.

You can find Happy Haunting and the Happy Haunting Cardstock in my store HERE. It is on sale for 30% off until Monday.

Things have been abnormally busy around here and I can’t believe all of the tasks that keep piling up on my calendar. One of my newest things is a cake decorating class that my bff Terry and I are taking and I have actually had a lot of fun. She knows a lot about me if she takes me to classes where I can be both creative and messy!! We are working on flowers and I am finally going to learn how to do the basket weave. I know, it is crazy but I am actually kind of excited.

Terry, Cherry and I are also working on a really RELEVANT bible study that while it was taped around 10 years ago, God is showing his perfect timing in all of our lives. We are working on Beth Moore’s Living Beyond Yourself, which is about living in the Spirit and man is the Lord letting me know that I haven’t been doing what I am supposed to be doing. I love it when He shows me that He loves me.

Oh, if I didn’t tell you…THE CONTRACTORS ARE GONE…FOR GOOD!!! They finished up last Friday, got their final payment and I don’t have to worry about them waking me up early anymore. Also the house looks remarkably nice and I am really enjoying spending my time in it.

We picked up the kitten from the vet’s on Friday. We finally got him clipped, snipped and shot and it is amazing how much his behavior has changed. He has settled down so much, doesn’t go out of his way to pick on the other cats and stopped climbing on the curtains. We also got Nala taken to the vet and her ear mites are now gone. She is also a much happier cat.

The rest of last weekend was spent painting, sorting through the mess the painter left for us, cleaning up all the laundry in the bedroom and running errands. So much for a nice relaxing weekend.

Another thing that happened was that Tammy and I released quite a few new items in the Life’s Everyday Moments collection. Look:

You can find it…and all of the other LEM kits HERE. Tomorrow is also new release day at Enchanted Studio Scraps and there will be more LEM items added.

Exciting News and a new kit

2010-09-02T10:41:00.001-07:00

I have news that I haven’t shared with you yet, and primarily because while my head knows this, there are issues keeping it from hitting my heart…Yet.

Wayne and I are grandparents!!

One of Wayne’s twins let us know several weeks ago that he was notified that he was a father. Ummmmm, ok. It seems as though he was playing around with someone who was in a live in relationship and she got pregnant. The baby was born May 5, 2010 and James was told of her existence right around his birthday at the end of July. Wayne and I found out about it during dinner one night in the middle of August.

This is the reason it isn’t quite hitting my heart yet…she isn’t quite real to us yet. This little girl is almost 4 months old and we have never met her. I have gotten a couple of pictures forwarded to me on my phone but that just doesn’t make her “real”.

Seriously ADORABLE.

So now we are all waiting for the baby’s mom to move down closer to James, and while they are not going to be romantically involved, they are going to raise this little girl together, and the rest of us are supposed to be able to do the same.

I didn’t realize just how much I wanted to be a grandma until the opportunity arose…now I just want to hold her, cuddle her and be “that grandma”.

Since I have not been able to do that yet, I decided to design a digi-kit to celebrate her and capture her introduction to our family.

Here are the papers:

If you want to pick it up, you can get it at my store in Enchanted Studio Scraps HERE. And so that you can celebrate with me, I am giving away a quickpage (without the pictures of my adorable new grand-daughter)

Click HERE to get it

And look for new releases for both Life’s Everyday Moments as well as my personal fall kits this month.

Not Blogging Doesn’t Mean Life Stops

2010-08-28T08:38:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know that I haven’t blogged since the end of June and believe me hubby has asked me to catch up the blog so that he can show friends and family the progress on the house. I won’t go through and update every little thing, but believe me, things have been BUSY here. Despite being busy I have managed to keep track of our life and it is due primarily to two WebPages/programs that have been my primary sanity and I am very thankful for those developers who decided how to keep my brain in order. The first is www.cozi.com. Cozi is an online site that gathers together a family’s calendars, to do lists, shopping lists, etc and puts them into one place accessible on any computer, ipad, phone, etc. It also syncs with my Microsoft Outlook so I only have to put something in one place and it shows up everywhere. This has made life nice when I forgot my grocery list at home and was able to access it on my ipod touch. The other site is www.ohlife.com. Once you sign up it automatically sends you an email at 8pm asking you simply, “how was your day”. All you have to do is send an email reply and your life is documented. The best part in my book is that you can go back and read all your entries, take your journaling and blog or scrap your life. And those things you don’t want to share? Well OhLife is accessible only to you!!

July was FULL of birthdays and is our busiest birthday month of the year. We have:

Josh 7/6 – I have a hard time believing my baby is 20 now.

Youngest Sister 7/11, Mother in Law 7/15, Brother in law 7/25, Another sister 7/26

Twins 7/28 – 23. Thank God I can say while I love them both as if they were my very own, I don’t want to have 23 year old sons.

Plus all of the renovations.

To make things simple, here are the before and after photos

Living room: Before/After

After:

Dining room: Before/After

After:

Powder Room: Before

After

Library: Before and After

After:

Add in all of the parties, church activities, gatherings with friends and general business, our month was slammed. I don’t think I scrapped a single page…and if it didn’t have anything to do with a major event, I probably didn’t take a picture of it.

August was a little better (and since we are almost done, I have no problem discussing it in past tense). We moved on to a different renovation project and turned our attention to the upstairs loft area. Not surprisingly, our loft was unusable for the family since it was originally my over stuffed craft room. We moved things into my office but never completed the room. Now we are in the process of painting, stretching the carpets and working at making it a family-livable space.

One of my nephews celebrated his birthday and my sister was smart by not having 2 dozen children plus their parents in her house. We celebrated at Inflatable Zone and boy did they have fun, especially Ben. He is the favorite of his cousins and he didn’t have a chance to take a break with them chasing him all over the room.

Speaking of Ben he has been extraordinarily busy, and back to killing my food budget. Marching band practice started at the beginning of August and those poor kids were out in the Texas heat from 5 – 9 pm every week day. Some of those practices were held with the heat index of 104. Made me glad for air conditioning. His band march off and BBQ was on 8/20 and I was not impressed with the drum major. Ben would have gone farther into the competition if the DM hadn’t made the contest all about simon-says type mind games and not actual marching. Either way, the food was good, Ben had fun and he and Lyndsay (his g/f) got to spend a lot of time together.

Last night was Ben’s first game and they did really well. I was impressed that I actually got pictures.

Last thing I am gonna touch on is construction and termites. If you remember, this entire remodeling project was caused BECAUSE of termites and while we are still having issues with our contractor and getting things done right, we have termites again. The nasty little buggers are eating my front door. The Terminex guy had to take a picture because this was only the second time in 23 years he had ever seen that. So on top of our messed up renovations (the columns have a gouge in them that is going to have to be rebuilt, the fireplace has a number of places on it where it looks like they took a ball peen hammer to it, and the crown molding doesn’t match in a few places and looks horrible) we will have to replace our front door and possibly drywall in the dining room. I am just glad that we hadn’t done any remodeling in there yet.

Other Stuff

2010-06-23T09:49:00.001-07:00

Since not having the computer, other really great stuff has happened besides the renovations and I want to share.

Most notably, Jared, Wayne’s youngest, graduated from high school and was formally accepted at University of Louisiana Monroe to chase his meteorology degree. It was a great (but very long) ceremony.

Letting the graduate decide where to eat had us at Benihanna’s which was yummy!

I promised cute kitten pictures and since he isn’t here any more this is all I have left…but Josh (my oldest) has claimed Mr. Shifu as his own and they are batch’ing it together.

Finally Wayne and I finally finished a project that was one of those “If I’d have only known it was this easy I would have done it years ago”. When we got our furniture from Basset it broke within a month so we had to have it fixed. They overstuffed the cushions and they were so uncomfortable but we figured it would take a lot of work to fix them. Surprisingly it was easy.

Very overstuffed chair which is uncomfortable. Also they under stuffed the back so it was hard to get out of.

1. unzip the outside cover

2. take off the under cover

3. Peel off the top cushion which is inconsistently glued down so it is easy in some places and horrible in others.

4. Pull out lots of extra stuffing

5. Use General Adhesive and glue top cushion back down.

Step to seal and repeat OFTEN! Another project down.

Did Ya’ll Miss Me???

2010-06-23T09:19:00.001-07:00

I am finally back with a mostly functional computer and let me say that being without a reliable computer really isn’t fun. As it stands I had to try to boot this one numerous times this morning because it doesn’t automatically find the hard drive and I get a boot disk error. Hubby was in a meeting so I had to figure it out myself – which took 3x as long as it should have!

Man do I have pictures to show you…We are almost done with the renovations, the contractors only have to come in for touch ups and as Holmes on Holmes says, “the lipstick and mascara”. Yes, the amount of HGTV watching that is going on in this household is scary.

When I last blogged about the renovations, I was waiting for the contractor to come back in and fix all of the issues with the columns and archway and the John was getting pretty annoyed with his subcontractor at having to redo things all the time.

They took down the columns and reinstalled them, capped them with the WRONG grade of wood (they used paintable instead of stainable), had to purchase a $90 piece of paper thin wood to cover the error, then stained the cap. Of course part of the touch up is that the arches and columns have a very shiny finish and the fireplace is a mat finish. And I have no idea how they are going to fix that but that is not my problem.

After that, the tile guys came in and put the tile on the fireplace. I love how it turned out!

All they had to do was remove the wood pieces, add the wood trim and it would be done.

Then we had a paint issue. I chose my paint and really loved it but it looked almost identical to the wood…which would really negate the cool effect of the new fireplace you know?

Thankfully Carmen didn’t feel well that day and left around 9:30 so that I had time to take the tile, a stain sample and the sample of the bottom color back to Sherman Williams to choose a different sample. I taped a 1970’s feel on my wall just to shock the hubby when he got home. He didn’t think that teal, lime green, hot pink and purple was an appropriate choice. Apparently, this one was better:

Now we are back to working on our own stuff and boy did the contractors spoil us. Lots of things being accomplished with little work being done by me. Spoiled I tell you. But we managed to pull out carpet, level the floor and at least get one room full of flooring. Wayne came home Monday night and we got the library done in just under 3 hours (and since Ben is at camp in CO, I actually had to bust tail, which I still feel today)

Putting the last piece in was a real challenge.

Baseboards are the last piece then touch up the paint and DONE!!!

Sigh

2010-06-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Last night my computer died. Not a happy death either but a "let's crash everyday for a week then finally get around to trying to fix it" died. It took with it my Photoshop, my Outlook, my latest school paper that was due yesterday and my calendar. Thankfully most everything else was moved to the external hard drive. You would think the college educated woman would be saving the paper that was due on an ehd as she was going wouldn't you? That would have been too easy, and much too smart. GRRRRR

This morning I am working my way through 600+ emails (7 days worth), resetting up some of my programs and rewriting a paper. *Hubby just called and he found my old mail and calendar, Thank God!! I was hoping he would rewrite my paper for me as well but no such luck. Downstairs the construction effort has started up again after a very quiet 3-day weekend where we could sleep late and have the house to ourselves - ahh bliss. I will be so glad when it is done.

Oh yeah, the kitten is gone :( He was adorable and I loved him BUT I was getting tired of cleaning up kitten poops wherever he wanted to go, including the middle of my bed. He really was too little to be away from his mommy so I sent him back with Josh to where he came from. His mom ran away from him and his siblings but there is another mom who is letting them nurse and teaching them how to be cats. This works for me. I did get a number of really cute pictures from before he left which I will post when I get my machine back.

Weekly Wrap-Up

2010-05-28T08:15:00.001-07:00

Do you remember a time or situation when things got so heavy that you just couldn’t think about it – or even talk about it one more time? That is how I have been looking at this renovation this week – especially with all of the errors, time issues and drama.

First there have been the issues with the schedule and as of today we are a week overdue and counting. The original contract stated 3 weeks plus touch-up and today makes the end of week four and as it stands now it is unlikely that this will be done by NEXT Friday. It may take even longer than that. It is really frustrating.

Then the columns and pony walls were wrong and had to be fixed. Last Friday, John came into the house and immediately noticed a major issue with the columns not being centered either at the top or bottom. Carmen, Eli and John came up with a plan of attack after Eli complained bitterly that the problem stemmed from an error in dry walling. Their solution was to add drywall to make the wall wider in order to center the column – WHAT?????

So Wayne comes home – you have heard about Wayne, right? The completely anal engineer who believes there is ONE way to do something…the right way? Anyway he comes home and I tell him about the issue as if he hadn’t noticed and he tells me that he saw it Thursday night and was just waiting to see if the contractors did anything about it without him saying anything first. He pulls out the six-foot level, multiple tape measures, laser level and proceeds to take multiple photos to email to John to support his position that the framing was wrong, that the measurements that were right weren’t even followed and adding almost an inch of drywall was NOT an actual option. It is good to know that I wasn’t the only one who thought that was a really stupid idea.

Nothing lined up

Nothing was even the same width

While he was in this mood, Wayne decided to climb the scaffolding and clean the ceiling fan since it was painted on and not cleaned well.

John came over the following Mon day morning, pretty early, and he and Wayne conference called before Wayne’s first meeting and Wayne, John and Carmen agreed that Eli would have to take the columns out, center them as they should have been AFTER taking out the pony wall closest to the back door and making sure that they are both the same width and on the same plane. Notice I said they all agreed…seems that Eli didn’t agree. He didn’t show up until Tuesday afternoon and he did only part of the job. The columns are now centered on the existing wall but since he never actually took down the pony wall that part didn’t get done correctly. I have told both Wayne and John that it didn’t get done but apparently it falls under the “it looks ok so file it in the done column even though it isn’t”. So Eli “finishes” the trim and calls the job done – AGAIN.

Of course on Wednesday morning we realize that he didn’t listen AGAIN and there is another screw up. Carmen and I talk every morning, even just for a few minutes, so that he and I are on the same page with painting or whatever is being done that day and he informs me that the top of the trim at the arch is paint-grade instead of stain-grade wood and he was told by Eli that he is supposed to paint it white. He is pretty sure that is wrong since Eli, Carmen and I were all talking together and I was saying that I wanted all of the drywall painted and all of the wood stained. Really, I stay at home during this entire thing and it would have killed Eli to check with me if he wasn’t sure??? So Carmen stains the top piece which really is just plywood in pretty rough condition so that I can see what it looks like and he could always prime it and paint it if required. Well, it looks like crap. There is a wood patch at one end that stands up and just looks horrible. John came in and Carmen warned him that I wasn’t happy even before he talked to me so he was ready for my comments right away. Now neither of us is happy with the work and Eli is going to have to come back and fix it again. Notice the recurring theme?

Oh, and during all of this drama someone taped the plastic in the kitchen to the ceiling with masking tape which peeled off the paint which is now added to the list of things to do before they can leave my house. Since I no longer have the paint from the builder they can’t just spot paint the ceiling so they have to do the whole thing in white. Add at least another few hours for that to happen, plus all of the covering of cabinets, appliances and seating. GRRRR. Needless to say, when John left he looked really mad. Mad to the point that I thought I had done something particularly stupid so I called Wayne to ask him to call John and make sure he was ok. Since it was late, they didn’t talk until Thursday (way-to-early) morning but they had a good conversation. According to John we are actually one of his most reasonable customers (ARE YOU SERIOUS) and he is just upset with Eli and the amount of time the job is taking.

While all of this was happening, Carmen was also busy. He has stained the fireplace which looks awesome by the way, stained the newly fixed columns, textured all of the wall surfaces and painted a lot of trim.

Today the tile guy is supposed to be here to get the fireplace surround done but I have no idea what else is on the schedule.

In other news, last Friday my parents came over around 4pm so that we could head to George Bush Park for mudbugs, BBQ, and beer. YUMMY!! Our church held their second annual crawfish boil and we had three times the number of people this year as last. The Women’s Ministry provided the desserts and I had to do double duty as a floater and an eater. I excelled at one more than another though. Our music ministry leaders each put on a mini-concert and we really all had a lot of fun.

On Saturday, Wayne and I decided to spend MORE money on our laminate floors, which was not in the original plans for this month. We went to Tile Zone where we picked up our last order and we went with a specific laminate chosen and a $3.47 sq ft price that I wanted to do better for. We found a slightly different product for $2.79 and a promise of them to be delivered by today for hubby’s 4-day weekend. Of course, after we paid, he called on Monday to let us know that it wouldn’t actually get here until the second week of June. Like I expected anything else at this point.

The only other thing I wanted to mention before you guys can go (if you are actually still reading) is that I just inherited another cat. A kitten actually and dang they are hard work. Josh brought it from Richmond on Sunday night but I didn’t realize that he left the kitten until Monday morning when he was up in Austin. Of course, I have never been serious about not really wanting another cat before so he didn’t realize I was serious this time. Now Shi Fu is adorable but is only about 6 – 8 weeks old and is teething and climbing everything. The other cats are looking on with tolerant aunt-like attitude but they definitely have no problem smacking him around when he crosses the line.

Renovation Update

2010-05-21T09:08:00.001-07:00

It isn’t that I am being a bad blogger, I promise, it is just that things around here had been as exciting as watching paint dry – LITERALLY for about a week.

Carmen has been working on mostly the white paint up until yesterday when there was finally color put on the wall. That being said, the ceilings look nice and crisp, the arches pop and the window trim is gorgeous – provided we find no more paw prints in the wet paint. <grin>

The color that we added to the new “library” actually is more of a semi-gloss than a satin and has more blue than the “baby puke green” that I chose before. My bff Terry came in in 2007 while we were in Alaska and painted for me as a surprise. I just wished I had chosen a better color. I think I did this time.

Finished:

The original artwork that I picked for this room is actually too small and too floral. This metalwork is what I had picked for the living room and with the new mantle isn’t right either so it is being repurposed. I love the colors and it is going to work really well I think. Add the drapes and the rest of the furniture (and of course the hardwood floors) and this is going to be the perfect conversation area / library / quiet time space. Really, I can’t wait to sit in here and just commune.

Last night Wayne and I curled up in here (cause wait til you see the actual living room – not a seat to be used) and just played catch up from the last few days. Things have been super busy with him at work and between the construction and school, things at home aren’t much better. Of course, I did get to go play on Wednesday. Terry and I went off to a day spa for the day and I came back pampered and much more relaxed. Wayne liked it cause I came back happier which of course worked better for him. Apparently I have been a bit of a bear :)

Ok, enough dallying, let’s get back to the important stuff – the progress:

Yesterday, I ended up with all three sets of subcontractors in at some point in the day which led to a lot of progress. Carmen with the paint (above), Richard the electrician and Eli came back to work on the carpentry.

Richard and his son were playing on the scaffolding in order to put in the new lights in the living room. We were tired of relying on just the ceiling fan for all sources of light – or using the lamps which weren’t all that effective either. This way we have a lot more option as the new lighting will be on dimmer switches for wider use. They also put the ceiling fan on a dimmer and a remote (hopefully one that we don’t lose regularly like the TV one). We checked it out last night and should work really well for lowering the lights during movies (which I like) without turning them off (which Ben likes).

Look, there is another hole in my ceiling!! At least Wayne didn’t fall through to make this one.

Does Tink seriously think that the coil of wire is going to jump up and bite her? The cats are as done with this construction as I am. There are too many people in their house who bring in too much noisy stuff and junk. I know the feeling. :)

But…the results are awesome – 4 new lights

Eli has been spending quite a bit of time with the woodwork part of the construction and Carmen finished the drywall last night so that Eli could come back and work on the columns between the living room and breakfast area.

This one is more complete than it’s twin but Eli ran out of molding. He tried to put crown on the top but it was just too much so he has to shop for something a little different to make the same dramatic statement.

I have learned something from remodeling though, and truthfully I am still learning. I am being taught patience and grace. There have been so many times during this ordeal that I have just wanted to move to Zimbabwe until this “three week plus touchup” project is done, especially since today is the end of week 3 and the list of things left to do is as long as the things already done. There have been times that I wanted to just yell at the people around me for things like leaving the door open or throwing sawdust all over my house. Believe me, these are things that are irritating and have been addressed but the good Lord has given me the wisdom to know that I am not the one who needs to address these issues with the contractor as God gave me a good and patient hubby who is much more politically correct than I am. What the Lord has given me is peace. Peace to know that when it is over it is all going to be good. Peace to know that these are men…fallible as all man and working hard to do the right thing. And Peace to know that I am not in control of any of my life, and the wisdom to know the difference.

It is going to take another three weeks…God be PRAISED!!

Finally…Scrap news our first CT Call, and a freebie

2010-05-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

For most of the shoppers and designers in the digital scrap world, you all know that stores have been down for days, and while most are back up there are still some missing in action. Happily, Enchanted Studio Scraps is Back!!! Why is this important? Welllllllllllll, I have news. I have finally found an awesome combination of store, owner and participation and AM GOING EXCLUSIVE AT ESS.

That being said, I have more news, Tammy and I are having a CT call.

It says:

BlueMaige Designs and Polka Dot Chicks are having a JOINT CT call! Come join the FUN and be a “BlueChick”

Since we have a joint project together, Life’s Everyday Moments and our personal stores at ESS, we thought it time to have a joint CT Call.

Our store is:

Enchanted Studio Scraps (both of us plus Life’s Everyday Moments) (soon to be exclusive)

Requirements:

- 2 layouts per kit/1 QP per kit

- Post in the galleries of our store, ESS as well as DST and DSA

- Post on your blog to advertise/enable us

- Be involved in the forum at ESS at well as the CT forum there

- We ask for a 6 month minimum obligation

Please send:

- A short bio

- A link to your blog

- A link to your best gallery/galleries

- Why you want to be a “BlueChick”

We are looking for 6 – 8 CT members as well as 2 CTM’s. (CTM’s have the same requirements as above plus advertising, enabling and blog posting)

Please send applications to: bluechicks17@gmail.com

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Credits: Charming Birthday (Life’s Everyday Moments Collection)

And look at this:

This is the kit that is coming out at the end of this week for my personal store. As a reward I am giving away a cluster freebie.

zip file with both shadowed and non-shadowed version available HERE

Renovation Days 10 & 11

2010-05-15T21:35:00.001-07:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to blog about the renovation today but I have found that since school starts tomorrow (Sun 5/16), I am a bit more reluctant to spend all of my time behind my monitor.

FYI – John said at the beginning of this renovation that all of this work was going to be done in 3 weeks plus touch up. I told that to Carmen yesterday and he actually laughed at me. Monday starts week 3 and he hasn’t put a single bit of color on any of the walls, still has drywalling to do, has another coat of paint on all of the trim and hasn’t even looked at the spindles of the stairway. Unless John sends another couple of painters there is no way the contract will be done on time.

Thursday, May 13 – Day 10

I really wish that I had pictures to show you from day 10 but it ended up being an emotionally BAD day. Anyone who knows me knows that I am an uber-control freak and I am really tired of having people in my house, tired of the constant noise, dirt, sawdust everywhere, having to manage people and feeling like I have to be home all the time. Now, John has said that there is no reason for me to feel like I needed to be home and I really do like all of the subcontractors Everyone who has come into my house has been super nice, very professional and I have no problem being alone with any of them, but I think it is the control thing.

Anyway, Thursday I had had enough and decided to get out for a while. I headed over to La Centerra and wandered around Kirklands looking for decorating inspiration, then I went to Mission Burrito and Toll House. I really wanted chocolate chip cookies but with all of the sawdust and plaster dust in the house I just don’t want to cook anything before giving everything a very through clean. They even had the table saw going in the livingroom without putting plastic back up so I have sawdust EVERYWHERE.

I got back and the fireplace was almost done, the trim was started and things looked a little better but not done.

Friday, May 14 – Day 11

Today was a better day, not because anything really changed but I slept later and better and was a whole lot better equip to handle it, plus I knew that Wayne was going to be coming home early and should be home when John showed up. I actually woke up the first time at 7:30 and got up to unlock the door expecting to lay back down and get up when Carmen came in. Instead of the door chimes, I got a phone call at 9:15 from Terry – something I needed which worked well in my favor. That extra couple of hours definitely changed my outlook. Carmen came in about 30 min later and got to work painting ceilings, caulking and keeping on.

Eli and Osley got to the house around 1, Wayne around 2 and John about 2:30. Talk about good timing. Of course I had to ask John to have the guys put the plastic back up in the kitchen (which the guys did but pushed it back out of the way, opening the kitchen to sawdust and making me wonder why they even bothered). I said as much to Wayne and he is going to deal with it. Also, when they started putting up the wall they cut the carpet, which they weren’t supposed to do (instead of cutting the laminate which they WERE supposed to do) and because of that we are going to have to replace the carpet 3 months earlier than we planned. Now we are going to start hardwoods the day after the contractor leaves. I am not sure whether to be angry about it or jumping up and down.

So, here is the progress:

Wayne looking down over the carpentry work and sticking his tongue out at me :)

Fireplace:

All that is left for the wood is the stain!

Pony Wall:

Carmen is going to be working on the drywall for this wall on Monday so that Eli can come back and work on the columns. I can’t wait to see what it ends up looking like when it is done.

After the contractors left we headed over to Cherry and Norris’ house for the BESTEST, MOST YUMMIEST fish dinner ever. Cherry made spicy Creole style rice, baked Tilapia and a creamy shrimp and crab sopping sauce that was the best with garlic bread. Cherry, if you are reading this…it was SOOOOOOOOO good.

Me…with my best friends

Today

No contractors!! I got to sleep late!! Wayne and I basically just chilled out, spent time planning the new floors, watching the Discovery Channel and watching it rain. Ben didn’t seem to stay home longer than 45 minutes and I cooked for the first time in about a week. Good Grief – it was a GREAT day. Tomorrow Josh will be coming home for a while before he heads back up to Austin. Not bad day…not bad at all.

Oh yeah…..before I go, look at what I made today:

I have gotten my mojo back! YIPPIE!!

Feeling Creative

2010-05-12T21:34:00.001-07:00

I swear it seems like years since I last scrapped anything…I just couldn’t seem to find my motivation. (Yikes I sound like some drag queen actor don’t I?) I just felt like I needed to put some things down in my scrapbook – especially since I have been putting more time and effort into my blog.

Here is what I have accomplished!!

Renovation Days 8 – 9

2010-05-12T15:14:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, May 11 – Day 8

It really is hard to blog about a day where a lot got done but nothing VISIBLE happens you know. Yesterday Carmen put up the scaffolding in the livingroom, covered all the furniture with plastic and spent the day sanding all of the plaster he had been putting on the new drywall and touching up anything he missed.

I will honestly be so glad when this is done and I get my house CLEAN. Do you see that carpet? I am glad that I am getting new hardwood floors cause there is no rescuing this mess.

The only piece of VISIBLE fixing that got done was…..well LOOK

Before:

After:

no more hole in the ceiling!! Yippie

Osley, the worker-bee carpenter, spent most of the day outside cutting and cutting but really no building.

Before Carmen left, he and Ben moved the love seat and ottoman into the office so that Wayne wouldn’t decapitate himself on the scaffolding in the morning.

Wednesday, May 12 – Day 9

Today all the woodwork was caulked, walls textured and everything ready to be painted starting tomorrow. For some reason, I just didn’t do a lot of taking pictures today. I have been organizing my office and getting ready to start another semester at school.

Here is what I do have though.

The molding is caulked and primed. It is ready to paint whenever he is ready.

Here is the fireplace. I love how it is slowly getting more and more detailed as the days go on.

Renovation…Day 7

2010-05-11T08:29:00.001-07:00

Monday, May 10 – Day 7

More Drywall – man this is going to take forever

See – pipe is moved and sheetrock has been done already

BUT….the biggest change is HERE

(this is Eli – seriously talented carpenter)

Now THIS fireplace is going to make a statement

Oh yeah….and Carmen primed the crown, it looks better white

Since I am actually posting this Tuesday morning and there is scaffolding already up in the livingroom I can tell you….I can’t wait to see what gets done next!!

Renovation Days 4 - 6

2010-05-11T08:19:00.001-07:00

Thursday, May 6 - Day 4

Before I was able to post to the blog about the progress being made, Wayne and I went out to dinner with his parents and had a great dinner at Willie’s (burgers…yummmmmm)

Progress:

Crown Moulding going up in the livingroom!

Crown up in the entryway:

It is fair to say that the majority of the day was spent on the crown in the livingroom and not much else. I guess that is how subcontractors work. It seems inefficient to me, but I don’t get paid to do it so there.

Friday, May 7 - Day 5

Carmen finished drywalling the fir so that Eli and his guys could finish the crown, which they did. I, on the other hand, was no help and just sat in the “termite room” curled up on a big chair reading Stephen King’s Gunslinger series.

Eli cut out the drywall so that Wayne could move the gas valve for the fireplace so that it would fit into the design of the fireplace.

Saturday, May 8 – Day 6

Carmen only came today to knock out the drywall that needed to be taken care of.

Eli is supposed to be here Monday to work on the fireplace!

Not Renovation…but Everything Else

2010-05-11T07:46:00.001-07:00

I am going to assume that anyone who knows me or has read my blog realizes that I am not a BAD blogger, just an inconsistent one. This is the reason that I have chosen not to get involved with such long term tasks as Projects 365 and/or 52 and just treat each day as if it was its own individual project :) It isn’t even like I haven’t been taking pictures, watching progress, living my life or doing memorable things…I am just horrible at documenting them. Then there is the horrible feeling when I haven’t documented all of my drama, “should I go back and blog about it? Should I just do the scrapbook pages and move on? or should I just assume that no one really cares and go from here?” (I started to put the renovation post with this one but geez this one got long)

Of course, since I actually blog for the same reason that I scrapbook – For me, if you are wondering, I decided that it is perfectly acceptable to blog what I want and be content if I am the only person who ever reads it. Sounds reasonable, right? If you decide to come along for the ride, I just pray that something I say or show you blesses you in some small way and just brings a smile to your face.

April 30 – Celtic Woman Concert.

Ok, even I can’t believe that it has been nearly two weeks since I saw this simply AMAZING group of women make the most joyful noise EVER. It was truly an awesome experience.

And I have to mention that I have just the PERFECT hubby in the world. We got 18th row tickets because I was watching the PBS special and while I thought I was being reasonably well behaved, I was apparently sending off “ohhhh can I Pppppplllleeeaase” vibes and when PBS said “if you spend $X for the telethon you can get tickets” Wayne looked at me and just said, “you are going to call right?” Well what was I going to say, NO??? Are you kidding me??? I called during the very next commercial (no sense missing the show, right?)

So the night of the concert we decided to eat at home and make it to the concert early and I knew that we were in the 18th row…but WE WERE IN THE 18TH ROW…ON THE FLOOR…AND WE WERE SO CLOSE WE COULD SEE EVERYTHING. Yeah, I was excited. There was absolutely no camera/recording activity allowed so I had to make due with buying the program and downloading pictures from the web for my scrapbook – which of course are actually closer looks so I am not going to complain. And of course, I have been listening to everyone of their cd’s for the last two weeks just to keep that joy from disappearing.

Esther – Start Date: April 19 – End Date: July 10

One of the things that I said to myself is that I was NEVER EVER EVER going to stand in front of a group and talk. Ummmmm, for any of you who have ever had the privilege of being in a class taught by Beth Moore, she has a saying that has stuck with me in the years since I have heard it, “If you don’t get down on your knees, God will cut them out from under you”. I know that it isn’t exactly humble to tell the Lord what you will and won’t do. Of course, God likes a good laugh like the rest of us, but I felt my knees give and I am leading a bible study. Thankfully, I am really just “facilitating” a study that I didn’t write but that doesn’t mean that that isn’t in the cards in the future. I am trying not to make the same mistake again, you know what I mean? So this wonderful group of women and I get to spend time together, growing deeper relationship with each other AND with our Father. Talk about a Win/Win.

May 9 – Mother’s Day

Ours was not the typical Mother’s Day (yes, I know this surprises you, right?) Jefferson got baptized (or dipped as we jokingly call it) and we all met for the family event. Ok – technically WE (the immediate hubby, son and I part of the family went to Dad’s old church first cause we weren’t told the that venue had changed but we made it to the other one on time cause my hubby can SPEED when he sets his mind to it and all was good – not even any hard feelings which is important to note).

Then off to Christine’s for dinner – yummy fajitas

Kids playing outside before food was served

Renovations…Day 3

2010-05-05T13:59:00.001-07:00

Well I have no pictures to show you today because I had no subcontractors show up. It is already 3:30pm and the subs that were expected today not only didn’t come, but didn’t contact the contractor either so when I called him at 12:30 to tell him I was leaving and no one was around to open the door he was mad. I was really looking forward to getting the drywall started and seeing how the fireplace was going to be framed out.

Not only did they not show but have you EVER TRIED TO CORRAL CATS? I mean, this isn’t an easy task with seven rather well behaved cats who are used to having full fun of the entire house but are being shoved into one room together day after day. This morning I was able to catch 6 of the cats into my room before I realized how this activity was affecting them. My well behaved-litter trained cats were showing their displeasure by turning my house into a litter box!! Not FUNNY!!!

I ended up letting the cats out of the room and told the contractor (John) that they were no longer going to be locked out of their house and I was not going to be happy if they were let out. I left at 12:30 to go have a GREAT lunch with one of my sisters and made it home around 2:30. I got a message on my phone from John letting me know how sorry he was that his subs weren’t going to make it today….it isn’t how he does business…thank you for being so patient…etc. It was a nice message and I am glad that we were all friends before this work started and I really want to remain friends after it is done.

So…now I am tired (I got up early because…yeah), didn’t take a shower cause I woke up late, and crabby. Tomorrow is gonna be better, right?

Oh, and because I can’t stand not seeing a picture, you get this:

Since I couldn’t find a picture of the fireplace that I wanted, I showed the contractor these four and he is going to make a custom fireplace face from these.

This type of top with the columns over the mantle

This mantle. I want something with this much weight and presence. Before the fireplace looked a little like an afterthought..not a focal point.

Then this wooden face with the more arched look. I do love the fact that Carmen can look at all of these pictures and come up with something a little original but more to the character of the house.

Renovations….Day 2

2010-05-04T14:53:00.001-07:00

It was another productive day today. Early this morning we had the head electrician and his two “worker bees” come by to do all of the new wiring, putting in lights and generally checking that off of the to do list.

Lights in the two upstairs showers:

Empty Shower Ceiling

In Process

I guess I left a few towels laying around in there that they had to move out of the bathtub…but no one even takes a shower in there.

They tied the new light to the existing one outside of the tub to make things a whole lot easier.

Bathroom #1 Finished

Ben’s Bath

Ben seems excited (or as excited as a 16 year old boy can be) about taking a shower with some actual light.

Then the guys got working on moving the light switch out of the hall and into the living room with the rest of the switches. The guys were super sweet and had no problem vamping for the camera. I did warn them that I was a scrapbooker and that they should expect to see the camera often. :)

Cutting the drywall:

Looking for a place to put the switch and the cable:

Wayne would probably want this drill bit. Does he need it? Noooooo, but “isn’t it cool”.

Ready for the drywall:

Then there was the new electrical plug. I do feel for the drywall guy who is supposed to come as early as tomorrow.

There was another misunderstanding today with the crews. Yesterday the carpenter said he was going to be here at 9am but he didn’t actually get here until after 11. Today there was an issue between the electricians and the contractor regarding scaffolding. Since the scaffolding wasn’t here today the lights in the ceiling didn’t actually go into the living room but I understand that they will be back later this week to finish putting them back in.

Josh left to go back to Austin this afternoon but while he was here he vamped for the camera while the carpenter in the background was working on the new fir so that the crown molding would have someplace to land when they put it in.

Fireplace:

Here is where they left it yesterday:

This is what they did with it today….finally got rid of the UGLY brick

Now I know that these pictures aren’t that exciting, especially since there is so much white against white and it seems as though not a lot is actually getting completed but tomorrow there should be quite a bit more visual progress. Tomorrow the sheetrocker (is that even a word) is going to be here working on all of the holes and start painting in the “termite room” and the master carpenter will be here starting on the new fireplace.

Renovation … Day 1

2010-05-03T16:26:00.001-07:00

A few weeks back I posted how our office was taken over by termites and Wayne had to tear off the sheet rock to find where they came in and made a huge mess doing it. Today the contractor started and sent in the wood working people – actually just one gentleman who worked like crazy and got things done so much faster than I was expecting. He did things today that I didn’t think were going to be addressed until later this week.

Before they got here this morning I understood that they were only going to be working in the old office, replacing the studs that were damaged so this is what my living room looked like. Granted we got rid of most of the bigger items but it was NOT ready for a make-over.

And the dining room has all of the furniture and stuff from all of the rooms that have been emptied to be worked on. I can’t wait to see this on done.

Then look who showed up out of the blue this morning.

MR. JOSH. Of course he was a great help when it came to getting the rest of the furniture out of the living room. He was in town to go to BuzzFest with a friend and decided that he wanted to come see me this morning to surprise me. It was good but he was not happy with the truths that he was given. I guess that is what happens when it is time to grow up.

Check out the black hair (ick). I mentioned that it didn’t exactly inspire warm fuzzy feelings in me.

Termite Damage in the office:

Before: After:

New studs in the wall

Powder Room Renovations:

We have been working on this for months and we are finally almost done. We needed to just finish the crown molding…which this beast of a carpenter put in today. Ignore the crazy woman in the mirror and just look at the coolest paint job and awesome black vanity and mirror.

added Molding – it will look much better when it and the ceiling are painted a clean crisp white.

The Fireplace:

Before:

I really really hate this mantle. I don’t like the white brick, the “toe stubber” on the floor and…well you get the idea right.

In-Process

After Tear-Down

New AC Duct work – since we are putting in a new pony wall they had to move the air condition register over so that this new wall would fit.

Tomorrow we are getting the carpenters back as well as getting the electricians in order to put in the new lights, wiring and move light switches to walls that make more sense.

Other photos of today:

Josh’s father sent him an old musketball shotgun for his re-enactment days that are coming up in June. Josh is more interested in clubbing someone in the head with it than actually having to take the time to load it. With as heavy as it is I tend to agree with him.

View Full Album

Our Backyard

Today:

NEW Life’s Everyday Moments and a Freebie

2010-04-22T23:05:00.001-07:00

Before I get to the goodies, I have good news on the home front…we signed the contract with the contractor and will be starting our home remodel and termite repair before the end of the month. Another positive is that with the exception of the crown molding the powder room is done and usable!! Let me tell you, that is a beautiful thing.

Tammy and I have been insanely busy adding more to the store AND to the color profile so be ready for another group of items that tie into this whole idea of scrapping life’s everyday moments, as well as the special things that come as we do this crazy thing called living. You just know you are going to see renovation layouts soon :)

Here are the newest additions to Life’s Everyday Moments:

Autumn Wedding:

This kit was requested by one of our blog friends, MaryAnn who requested a fall wedding kit for her niece who is going to be married later in the fall. Tammy and I combined our styles and have a funky AND classic kit for your enjoyment.

$8.00 for 34 papers and 70 elements (we got a bit carried away)

Digital Scrap Ink / Divine Digital

Vintage Baby

$2.00 for full Upper/Lower/Numbers and Symbols

Baby Boy/Girl Add On:

$3.50 for 8 papers and 12 Elements

Charming Birthday Add On:

$3 for 7 papers, 12 elements and 1 quickpage

And on the the freebie: I was going to do something different but I really loved the idea of this “with this ring” frame where the photo of the groom goes in one circle and bride in the other. Of course, I would love to see what you came up with if you use it.

Also as an added bonus, Tammy is giving away something on her blog as well, go here to pick it up.

Available HERE

Seriously????

2010-04-13T11:41:00.001-07:00

Well I can tell from my lack of blogging that that things have either been extremely boring around here or just too busy. Care to guess which is true????

Grab a cup of whatever, sit back and let me tell you a tale.

On a positive note – I FINALLY got my Associates Degree…2 schools and 4 years in the making but I finally have achieved something. When I left my job about 4 years ago I sure wasn’t thinking that I was going to be doing this this long, or be unemployed this long. I figured a year for my kids to shape up…ummm NO, maybe two years at the most. FOUR and my eldest, eventhough he is as college still gets into more trouble than any 3 people I know….but I digress. I am still in college though, working on my Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice (I should be writing a paper right now by the way but you see that isn’t happening) and will end up with a Humanities certificate as well which is good for Social Work. Add that to the Paralegal education and I can deal with kids both before and after they have to see the judge.

On the lemonade side of life (yeah right) I get to have my house remodeled. This is what my office now looks like:

TERMITES!!!!

Yeah, I was getting ready to go paint the walls and this room would be done, really that was all that was left to do. Finally got the mess cleaned up, looked at the wall and there was a HUGE termite nest stuck to the drywall. You know how men have selective hearing and if you ask them to take out the trash they don’t hear you? Well say, “Wayne, termites” in an average voice and they come running down the stairs. Of course, he claims I yelled repeatedly but I think mine recall is much more accurate. So he comes down and proceeds to 1) find the buggers, 2) break out the drywall and 3) soak the wood with so much termite killer that we have to run for the hills for the stench. The cats were intrigued

Well…there you have it, my poor office is gutted…but I get a contractor!! And not only does he get to fix this room but he gets to fix the hole in the livingroom ceiling from back in 2004 when hubby fell through from the attic (thankfully his leg got caught cause it is a two story livingroom) AND paint the ceiling and walls in that huge room.

(over 50,000 pictures….can’t find the one needle in the haystack – I will keep looking)

Another thing they get to do is finish the powder room that has been without ANYTHING that makes it a functional bathroom for almost 3 months.

See, my part is done, we painted….now PUT THE TOILET BACK IN!!! He is working on it….but is also working 70 hours a week so I can’t be too mad.

Let’s see:

Then there was Easter….

Does my son not look like he belongs in the Nascar circuit????

Yeah…I know.

This is my favorite time of family get togethers, sitting on the porch afterwards and just watching the kids play.

Hubby and my mom

Real life sometimes shows up:

Ben and his girlfriend Brittney (trying to kiss but mom held the camera)

So of course, he threatened to moon me :)

So I will try very hard to update this more often….but stuff happens you know?

Pretty Scrappy Closed

2010-03-28T21:38:00.001-07:00

I am sorry if anyone went to the store in the last 48 hours to either place an order or pick up an order, I would have written sooner but I had to get my head around a few things that went on in the store.

Friday I was notified by another designer that Pretty Scrappy’s store owner Julie Frank (Share Your Moments Designs) and the store manager Robin Grief (ScrapperGirl Designs, Big Apple Designs and Plain Jane Designs – which was all part of the problem) were accused by another store of stealing and using non-commercial use elements from multiple kits in their own works. The reaction by the owner was a full denial despite quite visible proof. I was able to pull all of my products from the store and write a letter to leave the store just before Julie closed down the ftp, shut down the store and sent an email that basically said nothing to only about 30% of the Pretty Scrappy teams. Many innocent designers and team members tried to log into the store only to find it “closed for maintenance” and no explanation. I am fortunate enough to have two other stores (Divine Digital HERE and HERE and Digital Scrap Ink) but other designers were not so lucky.

If you have purchased anything from me, Tammy, or our Life’s Everyday Moments collection at Pretty Scrappy and were unable to pick up your product, please send me your invoice and I will get your product to you.

New Release!!..and a goodie

2010-03-15T10:33:00.001-07:00

Life’s Everyday Moments is growing!! This month we released 10 new pieces, quite a few of them are “basics” in the original 40 colors to help you get even more versatility out of this pretty awesome collection (if I say so myself).

They can be found at Pretty Scrappy at 40% off for the rest of the month, Digital Scrap Ink and Divine Digital (Yippie, we finally got that store opened). Won’t you please go pick up some things for layouts of YOU.

Now on to the goodie. I threw together a number of the things just waiting to be released during the next few months..just cause it made me smile. I hope you enjoy.

* Link Expired

Link Fixed

2010-03-06T08:45:00.001-08:00

I am sorry for those of you who left comments letting me know that the link wasn’t working. I actually took a quiet pizza night with just hubby and me and cleaned off the dvr. It was relaxing.

Here is the link for the birthday sampler:

** link expired**

LEM Friday Freebie

2010-03-05T11:13:00.001-08:00

Oh man…this week has been one of those weeks where you just want to bury your head in the covers and sleep until next Monday. Please tell me I am not the only one to have had one of those. Of course, that being said, I meant to have this up at midnight….we all see that didn’t happen.

This week Tammy and I are giving away another sampler and quickpage from another piece of the Life’s Everyday Moments Collection. This week we are focusing on The Charming Birthday kit.

Charming Birthday - $5.00 (but here is a hint, Pretty Scrappy is having their birthday sale and everything is 40% off – including this!!)

- 14 papers/31 elements/Uppercase Alpha

The Kit is available at Pretty Scrappy and Digital Scrap Ink (Divine Digital is getting uploaded this week – yippie)

If you head over to Tammy’s blog HERE you can pick up this adorable quickpage

And here is that something special from me:

** link expired **

Remember, we love comments, and appreciate every one of you.

Whoopie!!!

2010-03-01T20:34:00.001-08:00

So, what does this mean for you? All of the Life’s Everyday Moments kits are now 40% off at Pretty Scrappy and that is an AWESOME deal. This would be the perfect time to sample this collection at the perfect price.

Snow….Again

2010-02-22T16:30:00.001-08:00

It should not surprise anyone who is a regular reader (Yes Tammy, I know there is only you), that we Southerners from Houston don’t normally see snow. We are scheduled to have snow for the third time this season. I don’t even know what to say about that…

I have bible study tonight, after which I am putting gas in the car cause it is well past E then I am hiding in my warm house for the next two days while it supposedly snows.

There is a reason I don’t live in Kansas City you know!!

Isn’t this adorable?????

2010-02-21T17:38:00.001-08:00

I mean seriously.

I got an email from Tammy this morning letting me know that one of her favorite blog friends Mary Ann made me a present but since I didn’t have my email address on my blog she couldn’t get it to me. Because of this, Tammy had to forward it to me. (SEE MaryAnn, I edited my profile to include my email address :) )

I LOVE IT. It is great that she is able to use this alpha….she did comment that because it was green it was going to be used often. I would also love to see any and all layouts done with either this alpha or just the Life’s Everyday Moments line. There are actually quite a few copies out there in circulations (YIPPIE) and would love to see your stuff.

Life’s Everyday Moments Part 5

2010-02-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

I sincerely hope that you all enjoyed this alpha and the introduction of the kits that have started Life’s Everyday Moments.

As you know, all of these kits are available in our stores at HERE at Pretty Scrappy and HERE at Digital Scrap Ink. The store at Divine Digital didn’t get set up this week due to a death in the admin’s family and that is completely understandable.

If this is your first day on this blog, I am giving away an alpha sampler every day this week that works beautifully with all of the birth kits which will be available until Wednesday the 24th so make sure you go back and pick up all of the pieces.

Tammy is giving away her own sampler as an add on to the Baby Boy Kit today and you can find it HERE .

Here are the kits we have introduced you to so far:

And one more….

Also, we have been hard at work creating more of the basics for Life’s Everyday Moments and have created stickers, word art, buttons and many more papers and alphas to go with this incredibly versatile kit. I can’t wait to continue to introduce this labor of love. In order to make sure that you keep up with this kit, follow me and you will find out things as they happen!

On to freebie number 5 – Last Part

If you collect all 5 pieces this week you will have the full alpha kit - Upper, Lower, Numbers & Symbols

*sorry link expired. In store soon

I will be taking down all of the links next Wed and putting this kit in the store with the rest after that.

Life’s Everyday Moments Part 4

2010-02-17T20:49:00.001-08:00

Tammy and I are so excited about the response that this kit has gotten. It is wonderful to know that so many memories will be recorded and enjoyed.

As you know, all of these kits are available in our stores at HERE at Pretty Scrappy and HERE at Digital Scrap Ink. Hopefully they will also be available at Divine Digital by Friday. As a bonus, I am giving away an alpha sampler every day this week that works beautifully with all of the birth kits.

Because I should have done this day one, and because I just love the fresh look of this blog, you can find Tammy HERE

Here are the kits we have introduced you to so far:

On to freebie number 4

If you collect all 5 pieces this week you will have the full alpha kit - Upper, Lower, Numbers & Symbols

*Sorry link expired

I will be taking down all of the links next Wed and putting this kit in the store with the rest after that.

Life’s Everyday Moments Part 3

2010-02-16T20:36:00.000-08:00

I am so glad that so many people have both downloaded and commented on the first two parts of the alpha. I love knowing that people are enjoying this offering.

I can say that LEM is one of my favorite projects and I am still enjoying making more pieces to this collaboration.

All of these kits are available in our stores at HERE at Pretty Scrappy and HERE at Digital Scrap Ink. Hopefully they will also be available at Divine Digital by Friday. As a bonus, I am giving away an alpha sampler every day this week that works beautifully with all of the birth kits.

Because I should have done this day one, and because I just love the fresh look of this blog, you can find Tammy HERE

Today we are unveiling 5 more kits. Now these are already in the store but want you to see them:

On to freebie number 3

If you collect all 5 pieces this week you will have the full alpha kit - Upper, Lower, Numbers & Symbols

* Sorry, link expired

Life’s Everyday Moments Day 2

2010-02-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

Did you see the new kits in the stores? Let me know if you are looking for anything specific and we will see what we can do. Also, tell me what you think, are we on the right track?

Yesterday we unveiled:

On to freebie number 2

If you collect all 5 pieces you will have the full alpha kit - Upper, Lower, Numbers & Symbols

*Sorry, link expired

Life’s Everyday Moments

2010-02-14T22:10:00.000-08:00

I know that it is well into February but we are finally ready to kick off 2010 in a huge way with a new project. Tammy, of the PolkaDot Chicks, and I got to thinking what could we do something different in 2010 that would capture all of life's moments, good, bad, happy, celebrations, and everything thing else we could think of.

When this first started this project, it was slated to start as another Book of Me however it transformed into REAL LIFE. So we started brainstorming and decided that EVERYONE can use these kits/tools/etc. for all of Life's memorable moments. So with some research and ideas floating around, plus a little trip for Tammy to come to Texas to confer in person, we came up with Life's Everyday Moments.

After picking 40 colors to work with (yes, 40!) we started working hard on designing. All of these kits will complement each other and we intend to provide you the tools to make your Everyday moments POP!

We think this will be a fun project and we are excited to see how far goes. This might be several months or a yearlong project. We will take it one week at a time. After the dust settles and we get caught up, we are working on a possible CT call…so keep your eyes peeled!

So today we are showing you 5 of the 14 kits we have so far….yes, you read right….we have made 14 kits so far for this….wow…can you say BUSY! I mean along with real life and college, wow! Plus we have CU goodies in the works too….

As of Monday, February 15th all of these kits will be available in our stores at HERE at Pretty Scrappy and HERE at Digital Scrap Ink. Hopefully they will also be available at Divine Digital by Friday. As a bonus, I am giving away an alpha sampler every day this week that works beautifully with all of the birth kits

So today we are unveiling:

On to freebie number 1

If you collect all 5 pieces you will have the full alpha kit - Upper, Lower, Numbers & Symbols

*Sorry, link expired

Just Because Sale..and last chance

2010-02-01T09:49:00.001-08:00

I was surfing around the new and improved Digital Scrap Ink this morning, which looks AWESOME by the way. Instead of doing my homework like I am supposed to be doing, I decided to put all of my kits on sale for 27% off. You can find all of my full kits for $4.00 until Feb 12.

AVAILABLE HERE

Also, I am joining a new store in a few days and now is your last chance to grab the freebies off my 4shared account before I replace them with new stuff and put the old into the store.

*Link Expired

* Link Expired

Enjoy and be on the look out for brand new kits, elements, alphas and extras February 8th.

Traditions

2010-01-18T21:22:00.001-08:00

This year (all 18 days of it) my mind has been taken to the word TRADITIONS. I have spent a lot of time looking at the traditions and wondered such things as:

- why does my family have to have Thanksgiving at my mom’s house?

-why does our family celebrate Christmas on the 24th every year instead of the 25th?

- why do I always take down the Christmas tree on the 7th of January?

- why do we always stay at home on New Years Eve just to watch the ball drop?

One of my “get organized” goals this year is to spend time daily tooking at my pictures and come up with scrapbook stories. (This is a hint for the upcoming series of kit coming 2/15 if you are looking for one). To that end, I put together this template and page to show off just one of our many traditions that we need to know why do we…

You can find the template HERE

Disney World!!

2010-01-18T20:55:00.001-08:00

We are going to Disney World!!! I am so excited. Disney is one of those places I have never visited and Wayne and I keep talking about it but it never seems to happen. We keep doing expensive things around our house like changing the tile in the house, repainting, renovating or getting new furniture or appliances and we just couldn’t justify the expense. Well, this one fell into our laps just like the Alaska trip a few years ago.

Saturday night we went to Wayne’s company’s anniversary party and enjoyed fine food, wine and company…and lots of raffle prizes. We won our first prize, a 10 Megapixel Nikon CoolPix camera pretty early in the evening and I have to say, I was happy, especially since my little point and click has not been as accurate as it used to be. The evening progressed and the “Grand Prize Drawing” was at 10:45 and to be honest we were ready to go about an hour earlier since we had to be at church by 7am to set up for service. Well a long drawn out, drama filled drawing took place and by the end we were the proud winners of 2 round trip airplane tickets anywhere in the continental US, Alaska, Canada, Mexico and Central America. We kicked around the idea of a Panama cruise for 28 days, New York state and all points east, and Key West Florida but DISNEY WON!!!!

Now Wayne is just shaking his head at me as I plan a trip for adults only in the family fun capital of Florida…and we are not going to be there until after Thanksgiving. Is it Thanksgiving yet?????

WOW

2010-01-11T09:50:00.001-08:00

Do you ever have that goal that you really want to accomplish but it seems like every time you sit down to work on it something else comes up? That has been the way it has been with this blog recently. I sit down to work on it, even write up little bits and pieces of my life and the phone rings, or the kid needs something, or it is time to do this or that. I am so far behind that I will probably make up my postings over the next few weeks but I wanted to say, “I got my mojo back and am designing again”. My good friend Tammy, of The Polka Dot Chicks, and I are working on a collaborative project that is scheduled to go on all year. I am so excited and have already created so much for it. It will be for sale in about 3 stores in February but there will be freebies and previews and just general hype as we go along. I can’t wait.

To my friends who have continued to contact me to make sure that I am alright and still kicking, thank you. To those of you who have watched the time slip by like I have, I hope we have a great time catching up and moving forward.

Tracie

National Scrapbook Day

2009-11-06T23:37:00.001-08:00

As you all know by now, this weekend is the weekend for huge sales, great deals and lots and lots of blog posts. I want to share with you what my stores are doing as well.

My kits are available in the following stores:

Bits2Kits is having a 30% off sale on everything from the 5th to the 15th. My store is HERE.

Digital Scrap Ink is allowing all of the designers to set their own prices on things and things are between 25 – 50% off across the store. My store is HERE. (just an fyi, not your best deal)

Pretty Scrappy is having their Halloween Sale, $1 and $2 sale through the 7th. My store is HERE and my Halloween kits are ON SALE for $3.30

Digiscraps3 is having their GRAND OPENING to coincide with NSD and are having challenges, prizes, freebies, etc all week long. They also have a blog train. My store is HERE.

Digiridoo Scraps is holding a 50% off storewide sale on everything excluding CU items. THIS IS THE BEST PLACE TO PURCHASE MY KITS. You can find my store HERE.

In other news:

SALE

2009-11-02T07:16:00.001-08:00

My Halloween kits are 40% at my Pretty Scrappy Store. The link is HERE

Happy Halloween…and Freebie

2009-11-01T09:35:00.001-08:00

We didn’t spend Halloween in the traditional manner this year, and I guess with teenagers that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This year we were in Austin checking out Josh’s school, apartment and area surrounding. The we spent a CRAZY amount of money at the San Marcos outlet mall setting up a new apartment for the kid.

So, because I was not giving out treats at home, I am giving out one here. This mini kit corresponds to the two Halloween kits that I have in my stores (ON SALE 40% OFF HERE)

Download Here

Store Kits

Galveston Birthday Trip

2009-10-26T18:50:00.001-07:00

When my birthday party plans crashed and burned my darling husband decided to take me to Galveston for the day without kids. We had an AWESOME day – here are the highlights

Me on my 40th. Yeah, I look a bit different than I did on my 20th but hubby loves me :)

My birthday cake. Have I mentioned that I LOVE CHOCOLATE (of course that is probably why I don’t look like I did when I was 20 – hehe)

We had dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf, which had pretty good fresh seafood. Wayne stayed at the table and paid for dinner while I wandered down the dock to take pictures.

The clipper ship Elyssa. The sails were at full mast because of the commission ceremony of two new tugboats being added to the ship channel fleet.

Walking along the pier

Dolphin watching on a channel tour

All in all it was a GREAT birthday…I had so much fun.

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-10-03T08:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I turned 40.

I had to stop and look at that a moment and realize that I don’t feel as wierded out about it as I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t “just a number” like a few people told me but it is A number and not the most important one that I will deal with in my life.

I spent my day in anticipation, what was hubby gonna do? Were the kids gonna forget or rush in and spread the birthday joy? Were my friends gonna call, email or write? How about Facebook and Twitter?

By the end of the evening my questions were answered. Hubby brought roses and CHOCOLATE (does he know me best or what. Who needs diamonds when Snickers will do?) and the Kindle DX was ordered and is on its way. Of course that covers Anniversary in November and Christmas but I am good with that as well. Both of the macho young men that I have spent almost half my life raising responded appropriately and if one of them hugged me a little longer and harder than “seeming” for his age, that is ok with me too. There was a surprise party planned but didn’t happen because of a hospitalization of my best friend’s mom and well, all good parties are held at her house cause she makes the most amazing food ever. Johnny Carino’s, my guys and more food then I should eat in one day was an awesome substitute. And Facebook jumped all day long with friends and relatives I haven’t seen in years all wishing me a happy and blessed day. I even got to talk to the mother of my 21 year old God-daughter that I last saw when she was 6 months old.

All of that is well and good but it made me realize a few truths in my life that I don’t see often because I am so focused elsewhere.

1. I am blessed each and every day for having these people in my life. It isn’t just on the birthdays or holidays when this wonderful support system is seen but every single day.

2. Little things make me happier than the big things. The Kindle is great and the party would have been awesome and yeah, I won’t lie, I was bummed that it didn’t happen but when I asked myself why the answer was because my favorite people, my family and friends, were going to be there, and I missed the opportunity to spend time with them. It was the company, not the thing that meant the most to me.

3. My husband is an awesome man. He sat and quietly told me what he had planned, who he had invited and how my best friend “had done all the planning” and I just knew he was leaving a few things out. He left out that he knew it was important to me so he never forgot the comment I made a few years ago that I would like to celebrate my 40th with my first big party. He left out that even with the mind that deals with facts and figures all day, he had to employ some serious creativity to keep this under wraps. And he left out the fact that he knew me well enough to know that I would be disappointed but was important enough to sit down and tell me, “I’m so sorry it didn’t work out”.

Everyone who told me to have a blessed day, or wished me a blessed birthday, thank you. But I am here to tell you, I am blessed daily. I pray you are too.

Sneak Peek

2009-09-30T23:14:00.001-07:00

Look what is coming around the corner. Check back and I will tell you where to get it.

$2 Day At Pretty Scrappy

2009-09-20T19:31:00.001-07:00

Adorable Water Kit

2009-09-18T12:38:00.001-07:00

Late Night Scraps and Creations by Rachel teamed up again to create this adorable new kit called Squid Ink. They have opened up a new store called Plucky Pear and this and all their other designs can be found HERE.

Here is what I did with this kit. It was especially cute since Josh and Liz haven’t been back from their Galveston trip for very long.

New Kit, Freebie and Coupon

2009-09-16T21:13:00.001-07:00

So, I have figured out that designing can be completely addicting and I was so inspired by so many things this coming up season. Since I live in Texas, I miss the colors of fall, the change in the weather and attending football games in something warmer than tank tops and shorts. This kit reminds me of everything I miss from up north.

Crisp cool nights and colors exploding from the trees can only mean that a Happy Harvest is just around the corner. But you don't need to wait around, a Happy Harvest has already arrived! Filled with rich, warm colors and textures that you can almost feel, along with just enough variety in the elements, makes this kit one that you can use over and over all season long. From the little felt mushroom, to the apples picked fresh from the tree, you can almost smell the scent of fall. Happy Harvest contains 18 perfectly textured papers and 77 elements. Happy Harvest Add On Paper Pack contains 12 plain pieces of textured card stock and the alpha contains 26 Upper Case Letters, 26 Lower Case Letters, 10 numbers and 32 symbols

In celebration of completing my second kit, I am giving away this template as well as a coupon for $2 off of the purchase of the bundle kit. Since the coupon thing didn’t work so well with the leaving the comments thing, I am doing it this way. I hope you can find some use for it.

Template HERE

You can find this, and all my other kits HERE

Sneak Peek

2009-09-15T20:44:00.001-07:00

I know it is getting late in the evening but I wanted to show you the sneak peek of my latest and greatest kit, due to be released this week.

Also, if you left a comment on the last entry, please make sure you provide an email address. If you didn’t, you can still leave a comment for you 40% off coupon.

New Kit and Freebie

2009-09-12T12:24:00.001-07:00

I know that my last freebie was quite a while ago and I did say that I was going to give away a freebie every week but that was before I jumped into the designer’s ring and finished my first kit. Yes, I said I designed my first kit!!! And yes, I am excited.

I started this kit using commercial use Vectors that I got from Polka Dot Pixels over at Polka Dot Plum and it inspired me to run with it and create what I think is a really cute kit.

Not all items are shown in this kit but you can find the kit at Pretty Scrappy HERE.

Here are some of the layouts using this kit so far. I would love for you to email me or upload to your gallery a layout with this kit and let me see what you do with it.

Liz

Tammy

Teri

Also available in my store is my Atomic Alpha which coordinates with the Polka Dot Chicks Atomic Kit. (I sure know a lot of polka dot people don’t I?)

You can find my alpha HERE

and her kit HERE

Teri provided this week’s freebie (thank you so very much Teri) and I am pleased to be able to offer it to you.

Download Here (automatic download at ftp since 4shared was hyjacked)

As an added bonus, the first five people to leave a comment on my blog will receive a 40% off coupon for the Happy Haunting kit so make sure you leave an email address where I can find you.

Speed Scrap

2009-09-08T07:00:00.001-07:00

Won’t you come join me for a speed scrap at 12:00 (Noon) EST over at Polka Dot Plum.

Doesn’t this look like a cool prize just for coming out to play?

Join me at www.polkadotplum.com

Life…Interrupted

2009-09-08T03:29:00.001-07:00

For those few of you who actually have my little corner of the world saved, on your Google reader list or just visit occasionally, I am sorry for not updating lately, things have been in yet another state of flux for me.

I had the opportunity to explore the world of digi scrapbook store ownership, with all the ins and outs and I am hooked. Now, it fell through at the last minute (yeah that hurt, A LOT) but it made me realize that I am headed in that direction sometime soon! I am looking for either an established store that is up for grabs or to start something new within the next 6 months. During that time I am going to concentrate on research, design, scrapping and my family. I am looking forward to some fun time in there as well.

For those of you who don’t know, I have been accepted as a designer at Pretty Scrappy and should have my first kit up within hours of this post. I am super excited and can’t wait to see what happens.

In other news, Josh, my eldest who some of you may remember graduated in June, isn’t doing so well on the leaving the nest phase of his life. About 2 weeks ago he took the ASVAB for joining the Army and didn’t pass the test. It is sure harder than when I joined the Navy 100 years ago :) He gets to take it again around the 30th of September but unless he actually picks up the book and studies he isn’t going to pass then either. Since he will have to wait 6 months before being allowed to take the test again I hope he has other plans because his playing Xbox all day and emptying my kitchen days are quite over thank you very much.

I am almost finished with my first class in my new college and surprisingly I am getting an A. Doesn’t hurt that this class is basic “what do you want to do when you grow up” but I can always add a 5.0 into my GPA to bring it up from the last school I was at. It is amazing how much different things are when you are actually interested in the degree program.

Ben, the youngest of the crew, is in marching band again this season and we are scheduled for a football game every weekend from now until mid-November. God forbid that anyone gets in the way of Texas High School football. I have to say though, there is a certain trumpet player in the band that is just the cutest ever. Wanna see?

so, can you tell which one is mine?? I only managed to catch a close up picture of him on his way back from the bathroom. Oh well, maybe next game.

Ben is the one standing in the front on the 45 yard line. I love my SLR, I shot this in RAW and when I have a few minutes I am going to zoom in and isolate him. I can almost see up his nose LOL.

Have an awesome day and I will be back shortly.

Trac

Polka Dot Plum Layouts

2009-09-02T23:41:00.001-07:00

I am sure that most everyone knows by now that Polka Dot Plum is open and there are a HUGE group of talented people over there making the store a success. You can find the store, gallery, forum and chat at www.polkadotplum.com and I encourage you to go see for yourself. I got to, in my own way, add to the excitement over there and put my layouts done from these awesome designers over in the gallery. Here they are for your enjoyment as well.

It’s Almost Here!!

2009-08-29T21:00:00.001-07:00

Polka Dot Plum is opening their doors on September 2nd and they are planning a huge sale, games, challenges, prizes and so much more. Won’t you come over and join in on the fun?

Big News!!!

2009-08-23T14:19:00.001-07:00

So much going on!! Polka Dot Plum will be opening its doors on September 2nd! Lots of fun planned to kick off the opening celebration. There will be a blog train, challenges, freebies, prizes, and lots of gorgeous new products by the design team!

There are so many awesome designers putting things into the store as we speak and I was lucky enough to have made it on to the creative team for the store and am so excited. Stay tuned for more details and sneak peeks!!

Sale! Sale! Sale!

2009-08-11T08:29:00.001-07:00

This says it all, don’t ya think???

Her store is HERE

Wednesday Freebie – QP

2009-08-04T22:27:00.001-07:00

For this week’s freebie I wanted to show you a new kit by Late Night Scraps. She put out a really cool graduation kit and although I had to recolor some of the elements to work with my son’s maroon school colors, I was SO pleased with this kit.

Here is the preview of the kit which you can pick up at Pretty Scrappy.

Here are the first layouts I did for Josh’s book. Since graduation is such an important part of this kid’s life and so many things happened on and around this day, I am going to turn this event into it’s own book.

Here is the best part of this kit, it isn’t just for graduation. I was able to put together this really cute quick page that has nothing to do with school.

You can pick up the Quick Page HERE.

Doodelle Party – First Entry

2009-08-02T15:59:00.001-07:00

"I can't sleep till ... noon, but I do try

"I can't live without...chocolate, and really who can????"

"I know that it's love because...no matter what happens he lets me get away with so much and never gives me grief about it."

Sneak Peek

2009-07-30T12:26:00.001-07:00

Check on Friday for the release of Inkin’ Creations’ new kit at Pretty Scrappy

Wednesday Freebie

2009-07-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

I have another template for you this week. I got a couple of comments last week but would sure appreciate to hear from you if you think I am on the right track.

I’m not sure I am liking the color scheme for the template but I will change it for next week.

You can download HERE

Pretty Scrappy Sneak Peek

2009-07-28T16:24:00.001-07:00

Astros

2009-07-27T20:01:00.001-07:00

So, the Astros aren’t really doing that well this season but Wayne got us box tickets for the game on Sunday so I am not really complaining. There is nothing better at the ballgame than good seats, great company, great food and basically all the beer you can drink. This time though I took Ben, Lauren and Lauren’s little sister Tori and drank no beer. The food was awesome though.

Minute Maid Park from the box

Tossing out the team shirts

Thankfully despite the fact that we lost 8 to 3, fun was had by all.

Battle of the Creative Teams Week 2 Layout

2009-07-25T22:02:00.001-07:00

The theme this week was our personal top 20 playlists. I have such eclectic taste in music that it wasn’t easy for me to chose just 20 since they change all the time. Don’t forget to go vote on Monday.

Credits: Drama King by the Pretty Scrappy Design Team and Kisses from Heaven by Armina

Birthday

2009-07-25T21:52:00.001-07:00

Thursday we celebrated Lauren’s 18th birthday. Have YOU ever taken four teenagers out to dinner? If you have, you know that it is a heck of a way to spend an evening. Ben had a headache and was crabby, Josh’s allergies were bothering him so he was crabby, Josh and Liz were bickering again (Dr. Phil…can’t you come over and help?) and poor Lauren was just trying to hold on. By the time we got to the restaurant I was ready to string them all up just on principal.

When we got inside we were told that we would have to wait for 10 minutes, I was just waiting for the fighting to start again. Thankfully the Good Lord took pity on me and we were called almost immediately. Of course, they put all 5 of us at a table for 4. Good Grief. Knowing what I do, I grabbed crayons and kids menus on the way past the station and passed them out when we sat down. There was an almost immediate change in the atmosphere at the table.

Ben was informing me that I was not allowed to take pictures of him during the night. It didn’t work out that way.

Finally concentrating.

Coloring on each other’s pages. Thankfully I brought extra

“Ben, I want the blue one” No – really, that is what she said before she grabbed the crayon. I said 18th birthday right?

I was just about ready for my own table by the time they brought the food. Thankfully while they were loud and having fun, it didn’t completely deteriorate into juvenile bathroom humor. You did notice I said completely, right?

After dinner there was the traditional song and cake :)

“I don’t want the check, you are closer”. Doesn’t ever seem to work that way. We came home with lots of leftovers and even better memories.