sweet side effect

for the past few days, i've had terry pick sam up at school. it was becoming such an emotional drain on me and really making me crazy and uptight. i'd get to school and sam would hide or run away or start whining that he didn't want to go home. invariably he would end up hitting me or kicking me and then i'd have to drag him out kicking and screaming to the car. then he would proceed to cry all the way across town to adam's school - not want to get out of the car to go get adam. then he wouldn't want to leave school. horrible. so i told terry that he needed to do it for awhile and go get him after work (an hour later than i usually arrive.) terry's first couple days were awful, but now sam knows terry means business so it's getting better.

the sweet side effect in all this is i get to go straight to adam - i get there 20-25 minutes faster. then we can actually talk in the car without a whining and crying three year old! it has been truly wonderful. he tells me about his day and we hang out together a bit before i start dinner. today i asked him to let me take a few photos - sometimes when i'm talking to him i can't get over how cute and smart he is. today was like that - he was talking about the masters (renoir, seurat, monet, michelangelo etc.) and i asked him if i could shoot some photos. so here he is - my big boy. :)

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and yes he loves to be goofy - what kindergartener doesn't? i did manage to get him to smile a couple times!

blogger is awful for photos. here's a link to a better view of the montage...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/celestefsmith/montage.jpg

a site that i found recently that i enjoy

i was looking around for inspiration the other day and found this blog that really spoke to me. of course, i have no sense of personal style and my house is blah. however, i could see some fabulous color schemes and design here to inspire my scrapbooking. also, the list of other blogs and sites that are listed is fabulous as well.

on another note mm idol voting is still on today. so go vote!

last night i stopped at michael's and picked up some storage. unfortunately i can't find a vertical cropper hopper to save my life. i was able to get some embroidery boxes and those cute $1 acrylic stamps they have right now. when i returned home, i helped dh put the boys to bed and put away 40 containers of american crafts brads. i also was able to replace a couple of containers that had fallen apart recently. a great accomplishment. see what a cup of coffee after work will do? now if i only felt like scrapping!

all alone

ok so shandy asks us to blog today about this.
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"what do you do when you are all alone and think that no one is watching?" .
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ahem
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well yeah that could be embarassing now couldn't it?
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no it's not that - mind out of gutter.
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ok i'll admit it.
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i think everyone does it don't they?
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well maybe an image is in order.
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hee hee.
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well at least i don't eat it!

on childhood fads and other assorted garbage

well shandy over at scrapgal is hosting a blog challenge this month. presenting us with all sorts of interesting topics to discuss. today's topic is "tell us about a fad you had to be a part of." if i wasn't so lazy i'd go dig out a picture. at the time the fad was called the bi-level haircut nowadays we'd just call it a mullet and move on. absolutely horrific looking and maybe i'll dig out a picture and scan it in.

in other news i made it to the next round of mm idol and lucky me i get to stress about the next project for the rest of the week. thanks for voting and check it out again on monday.

10 things that make me happy...

1. sleeping in on the weekends
2. boxes of scrapbooking goodies on my porch when i get home
3. a clean house
4. when my boys giggle
5. a pedicure
6. spending time with my family
7. days off from work
8. dh's foot rubs
9. my favorite programs on tv
10. a spark of creativity and a finished project

i think...

well a little challenge over at scrapgal has me scrambling to catch up and it's only day 2! i missed day one ha!

anyway...here goes.

i think that i'm eating too much crap at work. seriously. friday there was cookies, then a baby shower with breakfast goodies and cake, then more cookies and goodies, then a birthday party. this am someone brought in chocolate donuts at this rate i'm going to need new pants.

mm idol voting has begun again. you can vote until tomorrow at 4pm - you don't have to vote for me but these ladies through their heart and soul into these projects so go give someone a vote!

bad blogger bad bad bad

it's been three weeks since my last blog post. yikes.

let's see...scrapbook news...
had a few items picked up for scrapbook trends. made the top 30 cut for mm idol - next vote is next monday - stressing about the assignment a bit. getting a jump start on my work for the month. going to a crop on friday.

homefront....
boys are good. growing and learning more each day. sam is a handful - wrote with marker all down the handrail of the stairs this past weekend. back to watching him like a hawk. adam is doing great in school - he loves it and i'm thankful for that.

good news on the sinus front - went to the doctor yesterday with a sinus infection and i'm feeling better due to antibiotics. they referred me to yale - let's hope some experts can figure this out.

i desperately need a haircut i've had to cancel twice in the past week because i was too sick to do much but go to bed. bought new glasses i think they are a little dorky i have a couple more weeks before i can return them and tell them i want something else.

not much else to report - hope you are all well. off to a meeting.

online crop this weekend

Scrap Garden is having an online crop this weekend -- it is being sponsored by Croppin Frenzy. There are some awesome challenges, games and lots of random goodies being given away this weekend. Come play at .:Scrap Garden:.

woot

excitement! my first magazine assignment! yay! i sent the layout off yesterday to memory makers. i was so nervous, but it all worked out. i also had 5 layouts picked up for an mm book – fun stuff!

packages should start rolling in this week. a scrapgal order, some bam pop, march poppy ink kit and a swap rak too! all that cha goodness – i can’t wait! heck, maybe my big box from american crafts too!

i’m in a little bit of a holding pattern here - waiting on product so i can get my march work done. in the meantime, i’ve been organizing some and sketching out designs.

we are headed to pennsylvania on saturday for the long weekend. we are attending the baptism of our new nephew clayton. sam and adam are looking forward to meeting the little guy. sam thinks clayton is going to play with him (clayton will be around 8 weeks old!) adam keeps calling him caitlin! my funny, funny boys. i can’t wait to get some pics of the little guy.

work is blah – all those competitor earnings calls. sigh. i’ll be glad to be done with them.

holy mackerel

it's been over two weeks. so sorry i guess i have no excuse just laziness. mel gave me a nudge - thanks mel!

exciting goings on this am here at the smith household. but let's look back a little first...

two years ago after baseball they had a fair and there were people giving things out. one of them was this litle tooth holder shaped like a tooth. the other night i checked adam's tooth and saw that it was wiggly. he shot up out of bed (we were reading) climbed up on this table in his room and brought the tooth down and said "guess i'll be needing this soon!" i was so surprised that he had kept it and remembered where it was. i was giggling - he was so excited!

well back to this am, my niece, lila, "helped" adam and pulled his tooth right out. how funny is that? so while taking photos of him and the tooth. i took one of her with the tooth holder. if i'm motivated later i'll try and post them.

nothing going on in the scrappin' world for me. i did post my poppy ink and scrapgal layouts for february. fun stuff. i just had a lot of fun this month and didn't worry - which felt liberating. i'm going to try and aproach it like that next month.

cha - oh my - huh? my list is a mile long. i even bought some of the new american crafts even though i'll be sent a bunch. couldn't wait! here's some of the paper...it's available right now at scrapgal - run don't walk. carly will get it in the mail to you today probably if you order this am. you'll have it in your hot little hands on tuesday! she's the speediest shipper on the net.



i've seen the scenic route out there. it's coming soon. i'm trying to be good and not buy what i won't use. not buying full collections of paper and mostly embellishments since that is really what i need more of. so my list includes 7 gypsies, hambly grids and rub ons, scenic route, the creative imaginations scalloped paper, ki, love elsie, bam pop, pizzazzill, sassafras lass, makimg memories, autumn leaves journal stamps, gin-x as you wish, project essentials (office linle from imagination project), heidi swapp and i will be buying a lime green cropodile. no bg, no mme, nothing distressed! i don't do distressed well and i have volumes of it! i'm super energized about the new lines. can't wait to get them and play.

the sinuses - the cat scan showed nothing. not enough sinus disease and a slightly deviated septum so no surgery for me - it's a wait in see. in the meantime, i'm coughing again. my md prescribed tessalon. it seems to be working a little better than nothing. i'm doing a lot better than i have in the past. so i'll take it. sinus pain is ick - sinusitis - no infection - so that's good.

this weekend - no plans. i hope to clean out a closet, help adam with valentine's cards for his teachers and of course his homework, and go through the kids clothes - wish they'd stop growing!

we have snow on the ground here for the first time this year. i'm sure the boys will be out playing in it this afternoon.

hope all is well with you!

noses

adam is home with a sinus infection - poor little guy. if you've never had one consider yourself blessed. i had a cat scan on saturday and they found nothing - so i'm forced to wait and see on sinus surgery. that is a big fat suckola as far as i'm concerned. i've been coughing for almost a year and i've had multiple sinus infections every year - like 6 or 7 - for the past few years. i know the surgery isn't fun but i was hoping for a cure.

i've slowed down on my scrappin' a lot. it's been awesome to just veg and watch tv at night. i need some time away to think about what i'm doing. i am keeping up with dt responsibilities and i have another crop in a couple weeks so i'll be scrappin' some for myself. i'm just trying to keep up at this point.

not much going on here. work is hectic. home is hectic. that's life.

the news

well i left scrapjazz. i know you are thinking that was short lived. they changed the requirements somewhat and i decided that they weren't for me. lucky for me carly and dina took me right back at scrapgal. i really really really missed being on the dt there. i so enjoy creating for the newsletter and coming up with/doing challenges. it really pushes my creativity and yes even somewhat writing articles - well not really but that's just a self-conscious thing anyway. i'm so happy to be back where i feel like i belong. never leaving again - they will have to kick me out lol.

i actually feel re-invigorated! excited for my crop on friday - all set to go too. working on my last layout for scrapjazz for a fellow jazzer. i hope to finish up and post tonight.

kind of boring and ant-climatic huh? sorry.

new year

ok it's a new year. i was going to try to get healthy and lose some weight, exercise, eat right, blah blah blah. well it isn't happening. that's all i'm saying.

scrapbook wise - status quo is where i'm at. except for photography. i have to work at this in 2007. i bought a diffuser for my flash. i'm reading a bunch and i would like to try and be comfortable shooting in manual by the end of the year. as well my photoshop skills - i want to improve them. maybe next year's goal will be digital scrapbooking. :)

i haven't been scrapping much. i feel like i'm still recovering from the holidays. ;) i have a crop next weekend - going to scrap one page this weekend for ac then pack up 16 crop packs for the crop - i might be lazy and just bring my scraps bin and some cardstock/title stuff/journaling stamps, etc. i'm not sure yet. hope to be productive.

dt changes are afoot - i'll keep you apprised when it's firm. nothing major.

and i'm still looking for another manufacturer. have a couple feelers out - we'll see.

UHU

receiving free products in the mail is always fun. i couldn't wait to try out the UHU stic and UHU glue roller! first i tried the UHU stic. adam (he's 5) made some thank you cards for his teachers and a couple friends. i loved that he was able to see where the glue was on the items he was gluing down and even when he was over zealous the glue dried clear and not lumpy at all. i saved the UHU roller for my poppy ink kit this month. i loved how the tape held great, but you could reposition items easily if needed. i'm so indecisive so this is a great feature! hey if they want to send me more i wouldn't be averse. ;)

if you have a blog and would like to receive free samples, visit maria filosa's blog. look for the entry dated november 2nd. maria also has demos and other cool information about UHU on her blog. :)

more later...c.

of christmas prep and letterboxes

let's see not much to update here. we've been preparing for christmas here. we wrapped all the gifts this past weekend and decorated a little gingerbread tree. i'm pretty much ready to go - just food shopping and such. huge sigh of relief. the kids are gearing up for it and can't wait to decorate the tree tonight. it's my mom's birthday today - trying to think about her a lot today. happy birthday mom - i miss you!

been working on my january scrapjazz assignment - fun new ki wild thing paper - ki was generous - the full line! i've done 7 layouts - hope to do one more and a card this week. nothing earth shattering just my usual style but fun. poppy ink january kit should arrive soon - bg blush and other awesome goodies - heather burch has done it again! i'm missing the pi girlies as the board is down until after the holidays - hope you are all well and enjoying the season.

yesterday we went letterboxing for the first time with the kids. no we weren't letting them hit each other with huge letters nor were we delivering mail. :) here's a good definition...

letterboxing enthusiasts hide and hunt weatherproof containers in remote or
scenic places. each container holds a guestbook, a rubber stamp and stamp
pad. the planter of the letterbox distributes clues to it's location. clues
can be easy to difficult; finding a letterbox may require a combinaton of
skills such as mapreading, orienteering, and puzzle-solving.

basically, you go to the letterboxing.org website, look up a location and print the directions. off you go on a hunt for boxes. the kids loved it! i loved it! terry loved it! so much fun to have a quest during our usual tromp in the woods. so intriguing to know those boxes were hiding out there the whole time. i see a lot more of this in our future. i took a lot of pictures but didn't have time to go through them last night. who knows we might even get into geocaching - which is a similar concept, but using a gps.

work is awesome - i'm loving my new job. so much better than the last one. so much better than my prior position - i'm really excited about it!

hope you and yours are happy and healthy. have a wonderful christmas and a prosperous new year! i'll post next year. ;)

we have a winner

well update first and then i'll tell. or you can scroll down to the bottom and find out now. lol

scrappin' has taken a backseat lately. i'm too busy with the whole christmas experience to even think about it. i finished the shopping this weekend and the decorations are up. hoping to have all the presents wrapped by the end of next weekend. and we decorate the tree on monday - my mom's birthday - a little party for her - one of her last wishes to keep her grandchildren aware of the love she had for her family and christmas. fun but a little melancholy at the same time. each year should get easier - but in some ways it gets harder watching these children grow up without her.

enough of the sad...not much else to share. oh you want to know?



hmmm....



the winner is nicole. hey nicole hope you know how to get in touch with me. ;) i have a few questions for you and then i'll send you a lovely package.

voiceless

yep laryngitis - can't say much of anything. at least i can still type! the boys aren't listening to me - it's chaos around here. it's my first time with true laryngitis.

i finished cleaning up my scraproom, sorting stuff by color and putting stuff away from my crop. i even uploaded all 13 layouts - i found another one tucked away - to scrapgal. you can find them in my gallery there.

dh and i are off to play santa - the boys are going to my sister's and we are headed to borders, target, and toys r us. wish me luck. i'm hoping to just finish my list on this excursion - then we can get the wrapping done.

no housewives tonight and i have to iron. we'll have to resort to hgtv! ;) remember to sign up for the rak below. have a great sunday!

rak

i'm leaving that rak open for a week or so. So post on the thread below. it won't be a random rak - it will be specified to your tastes. so i'll be asking you questions about what you like if you win.

the lady at the crop was thrilled. i arrived first and she came after. i told her i had a box in the car and she could have it - but she had to take the whole box and I didn't want anything back. :) she said you've made my month. it made me feel good. and best part more room in my studio. yay!

i was able to complete 12 layouts - well almost - some brads and finishing touches. nothing pub-worthy mind you. just getting stuff done. i feel energized. and best part they are going to do this once a month! yay!

ok i have to stop procrastinating and clean this room so maybe i can finish up those layouts tonight.

going to a crop!

well i’m going to a crop tonight. yay! i packed up a bunch of mini-kits to bring with me. i’m hoping this kick starts my mojo a bit. it will also be fun to see some scrappin’ friends i haven’t seen in awhile.

on a spending freeze which is going to be hard while seated in an lss. lol

and as for the purging mentioned yesterday. i did a bunch of purging last night. a lot of provo craft stuff, coluzzle templates, and some odds and ends. i think there is 18+ inches of assorted pp in the pile. do you think this is crazy? i'm going to bring the box to the crop and pick one person there maybe determine who is the newest to scrapbooking - then i'm going to tell that person to come to my car and take the box. a true rak. i just can't afford to ship all this stuff out and it's all old stuff that most seasoned scrappers wouldn't want anyway.

on an unrelated note, i am going to do a rak – so post below and i’ll give a little something something to one random person. not posting this on any message boards so my loyal (few lol) readers will get first dibs.

why?

why?

why do I equate rejection in the scrapbooking industry with personal failure? one of my design teams decided not to renew me for next year. i’ve worked hard for them, always been on time and i’ve always been willing to go the extra mile. i am so overwhelmed with assignments that the fact that they non-renewed actually is a good thing, but something inside me says i wasn’t good enough. subjectivity. i need to remember that.

anyhow, on a better note. i can’t wait to purge. i have a bunch of paper and other assorted items to go through and get rid of which will help me get more organized and give me more space. I’ve finished up my assignments and i’m moving on. this will allow me to spread out my american crafts stuff a bit and be more productive in my never ending quest for publication. by now if you’ve figured it out and your interested in some stuff – track me down and ask me for some! lol

on a happier note, the poppy ink gallery debuts tonight. awesome awesome kit and the dt just rocks. you can’t get in on this months kit, but you can sign up for the next one or order some of the rockin’ add-ons.

and my debut as one of the blue crew on scrapjazz is tonight. doodlebug galore and rockin’ buttons too.