Bra Shopping...With your Daughter...

is STRESSFUL!!! Not that it is her first bra or anything, but jeesh - the styles - oh my - a little risque' for a tween!! I went to the stores her friends go to and the other Mom's said they go to also, but STILL!! Maybe I am just turning into a bore - not that I wear gramma panties and Platex Cross-Your-Heart bras (AS IF I'd even fill those out!!), but hmmmm... Let's just say it was an experience I will not forget. My baby is getting TOO OLD, TOO FAST!!

As far as my weekend update...I spent Friday night and ALL DAY Saturday having scrappy fun with mi chicas!! Didn't get tons accomplished, but had lots of fun chatting it up, eating Cricket's scrumptious cookies and brownies (ahem... hitting the gym here soon as I finish posting this!!), and restraining myself from shopping too much (darn @!!@@###@@@ BUDGET!!).

So here are a few LO's I finished. Will follow soon with the ones I am still finishing up. It's been oh so long since I have done any BOY LO's and about high time I have scrapped some of my little man Zach!! I stepped away from my norm a little - no flowers, no lace, no distressing, but still had oodles of fun with the bright colors and of course my fav. Kraft cardstock. When I found out Craft Fancy sells Bazzill Kraft paper in both 12 x 12 and 8 1/2 X 11 - I totally did my HAPPY DANCE and stocked UP!! OH JOY!!

The Weatherman Says...

meteorologically we are in Spring with the coldest, snowiest three months now behind us. Seriously??!! As I watch the snow flurries coming down and it is in the low 20's. Oh, but wait, the Weatherman also said we are in for a warm up - 40 degrees by the end of the week!! Hmmmm - somehow, 40 degrees just doesn't sound warm to me.

But, I listened to that Weatherman, and decided it was time to change up my blog header, in honor of Spring - meteorologically of course.

My family is still trying to get over this flu bug. Each one of us has had some sort of flu/cold thing going on over the past two weeks. NO FUN!! I am hoping we are on the tail end of it now. Now that I am feeling better, I plan to spend tomorrow cleaning, and set off a Lysol BOMB in my house - wouldn't it be nice if they really made one of those??!! GOODBYE GERMS!!

Here are a few cards I made over the weekend. Used a new little A Muse Stamp Set I got at Craft Fancy and some new American Craft Papers I picked up too. Liked the bright colors!

Valentine Pretties

Not much happening today. Just working on some Valentines to hang on my Valentine tree. Need to start packing up soon to head to Archiver's to crop with my BFF Tracy, Tracy's Mom, Jackie, and a couple friends, Stephanie and Kim. It's Kim's Birthday today!! Happy Birthday Kim!! Tomorrow, we have a basketball game, then home to make some Valentine Cupcakes with the kids, and hopefully a flourless heart-shaped chocolate cake.

Just found out I have another LO getting published in Scrapbook Trends July 09 magazine. Doing my happy dance here!!

Leaving you now with a few pictures of the Valentine ornaments I have been working on.

In My World...

Well, in my world, ponies don't eat butterflies and poop rainbows, as they do in Horton Hears a Who!! My kids love this movie, and especially love the scene in which the characters describe their perfect world!! I keep meaning to scrap and journal a layout about this. Each of my children has a description of their perfect world. I'd like to tell you they describe their worlds to be ones in which there is no hunger or poverty and of course world peace exists, however, the worlds they describe seem to be more like the ones Horton's friends do - the ones with rainbow pooping ponies and such.

In any case, my world is pretty OK for now. I recently found out I would be having a layout published in Scrapbook Trends magazine in June this year. This finally ends my long dry spell, as I have been submitting on a fairly regular basis, but have not had anything picked up in awhile. It will be my first time in Scrapbook Trends magazine and I am pretty excited, as is Isabelle, since the layout features her.

Let's see, what else is going on in my world...I have started running again. Several sessions into my physical therapy after knee surgery, my physical therapist and I both determined that resuming running as exercise would be possible. So far I have been working back into it slowly. I probably won't ever be able to run as far, or as often as I used to, but at least I can run, and that is what matters most to me. I just have to be more conscious about listening to my body, and when it starts to hurt - stop!

What else - well, the job hunt continues. I left my FT job several years ago when we relocated to Washington state for Trey's job. Since then, I have been a SAHM, dabbling a little in PT work here and there in the craft industry. With economic times they way they are now, and my kids in school FT, I have been hoping to get back to work FT now. It hasn't been easy. I've heard everything from "you're over qualified" to "well you know, since you have been a SAHM for awhile now, you may want to consider going back to school and getting a masters or taking some refresher courses". Yeah - refresher courses in WHAT exactly?? Do they think my brain cells died because I stayed home with my kids - well technically - some may have, but still!! Jeesh. AND - believe me, if I COULD AFFORD to go back to school, I WOULD (well maybe - don't really relish the thought of doing homework), but if I COULD AFFORD to go back to school, I wouldn't be looking for FT employment. Really if you think about it, I've been doing one of the hardest jobs out there for the past 12 years - raising children!! I am a mediator, a negotiator, an event planner - a MOM!! We do it all and you know it is one of the toughest jobs I have ever had, yet one of the most rewarding too - at times - you just have to keep reminding yourself sometimes!! LOL!! So maybe I haven't dabbled lately in Excel, or done any database or product management as of late. I have learned many new things - like how to thread my sewing machine. Seriously, I am blessed to have had time to explore hobbies, I once never had time for like scrapbooking and photography.

Speaking of scrapbooking, here are a few pics of some projects I have been working on. First a little Love Notes book. I finally used a kit I got in Jan. 08 from Scarlet Lime to do this little album. I used some of the designs shown in the kit instructions, and some are my own creations. Also, I have added some pics of little Valentine Hearts I made to decorate the cupcakes the kids and I will be baking this week. Hope to post some pics of my Valentines tree I am working on now real soon.

Victim of Fraud

Yep, it's true. I cannot believe it. I cannot believe I did not catch it sooner! The other day while doing bills on-line, my husband Trey, questioned me about a bill that posted to our checking account that he assumed was a scrapbook kit club charge since in the item line description it said "Paperstreet". I recently cancelled my last kit club membership (boohoo!!) so I too was somewhat surprised and looking at the description of the charge that posted, I also thought it was a scrapbooking related charge. I knew I had not purchased anything lately on-line or otherwise, so I started investigating the charge. The post to our bank account on-line also had a web site notated which was Epoch.com. Epoch is an Internet Payment Service Provider (IPSP) which enables merchants to accept payments online. I had never heard of them before, but maybe some of you have. I proceeded to call them only to be told that somehow someone accessed my debit card number and was using my debit card to pay for a subscription to an on-line adult entertainment website!! Not only that, but this subscription charge has been posting to my account on a monthly basis since Aug. of 2006!!!!!!!!!!@@@@@!!!!! $24.87 a month since Aug. 2006!!!!@@@@@@@@ !!! How both my husband and I overlooked this, I will never know. Epoch told me they had some email address linked to my debit card that neither my husband or I recognized. They said whoever was at this email address had been using my debit card to pay for the adult website. Epoch said they would stop all payments and could refund me up to 4 months (going back 120 days) of payments but that was it. We also called our bank and spoke to the fraud department. They said if we filed a claim with them, they could only credit us back 60 days, so suggested that we wait and see if Epoch would credit us back, since they would go back as far as 120 days. The bank said this kind of thing does happen more often than you think. Weird. I feel violated. Still seems fishy to me.

Well, enough of THAT story. I finally took some pictures of my latest Valentines project. I've done an album like this in the past - "What we Love" - the Adams Family. In fact, I had one published last year in Paper Trends Feb./Mar. 2008 issue!! My very first publication!! It was pretty exciting being it was my first publication and they did a two page spread on it!! It's fun to look back at each family member's list and see how it has changed over the years. This latest album is made with a chipboard album from Maya Road. The papers are from KI Memories Wild Things paper line and the embellies are a mixture of KI Memories and Making Memories.

REDECORATING

Just a little facelift here for my blog. I finally finished updating my blog header. Thought it would get me in the mood for working on Valentines cards and projects. I have all my Valentine scrappy stuff out in my scraproom and am trying to decide on what to start next. Maybe I will check out some challenges and see if I can get motivated!!

Little Bird Out in the Cold

Record low temps here in Wisconsin, and more snow on the way again!! It has been below zero both today and yesterday, with windchill down to -40. School was cancelled both Thursday and Friday. The kids are climbing the walls, as am I!! Today we might go to the local ice rink to skate (indoor - of course!!), then out to a movie later. The kids spotted this little bird sitting in the tree outside by our deck. They couldn't believe he was out in this cold and wanted to bring him inside!! LOL!! This reminds me - I need to get out to my bird feeder and refill it with more winter seed.

I've been getting a little scrapping and submitting done on these cold winter days while I am holed up inside. Recently, I had one of my layouts (Hugs) published in Memory Makers Jan./Feb. 2009 issue. It seems like this was submitted soooo long ago - WAIT - it was!! Just now getting it published!! I have been on such a dry streak lately, I sometimes feel like giving up on submitting, but I guess you don't get published unless you keep trying, so I keep plugging along. Honestly, my favorite part about getting published is my kids' reaction to seeing themselves in the magazine.



Here is another LO I finished recently with one of my favorite paper lines from Making Memories - Noteworthy. I don't think I will ever tire of it. I recently stopped all my kit club subscriptions. Really trying to cut back on spending. I have sooo much scrappy stuff too to play with, I need to stop buying more. I have made a resolution to start working with WHAT I HAVE ON HAND, with maybe a new TIDBIT added here and there!!


Last but not least, I will finish up with my December Daily. Yes, I DID finish it, just never got around to posting the last few days. I enjoyed this project and look forward to pulling it out next year and looking back at Christmas past!! This has prompted me to do a similar monthly picture journal. I got the idea for a picture/journal in a class I did with Danelle Johnson last year. Didn't get it done last year, but no time like the present to start it, this being the beginning of the new year and all. I will post some pics of it at the end of the month. I am sure some of you have already seen this project on Danelle Johnson's Blog. Oh, and promise to myself - update blog header!!






** Sorry, missing Dec. 21, 22 and 24 - can't get these photos to load right.