30th Upload

It was upload day at Peek. The theme was unusual shapes and patterns.













I used a chipboard swirl for my shape. This layout just doesn't sit right with me. It's been bothering me for days and I now know why (at least I think I do). It's the font. I don't think I like that Arctic Frog font with my handwriting. Who knows?




















I used huge quote marks for my shape. When I showed my mother this layout, she thought there was too much white paper and she said, "Get rid of those quotes...they're distracting."

That's all I have for now.

Thanks for looking. :D

Kindergarten Charmer

Yesterday while I was picking up Trent from school, at least 5 little girls from his class all said, "Bye Trent!" as we went walking past them. My little handsome dude. ;) 

A little picture

I had to bribe her with cookies to get her to sit still. That is why there are crumbs all over her lips.

3SB Uploads

I just finished working with 3SB September kit with the new SEI Doodley Doo stuff.

Inspire Me

I just finished up an entry in Leticia's journal. Her theme was "Inspiration". What inspires me? Several of my choices had already been taken, so I took the next in line. Paper. Yep, paper inspires me. I know, I know...it's kind of like the cart leading the horse, but...

Lots-o-layouts

I need to get better at this blogging stuff. All I do is upload layouts. :P

The 15th is always a big upload day.

Becky Fleck did some sketches for Peek. The design team had a great time playing with them. Here are mine:



Trent got a new bike right before school started and right before we moved.





The above 2 are from the same sketch. I just flipped around the photo and the patterned paper.

My DML uploads:




I finally got my hands on this line of Making Memories. I didn't realize that Jill even sold it. I discovered it on clearance and bought a whole pack of it. I just ADORE that mini flower print.



The theme this month was "Scrapping the Bad Stuff, too." I had no problem coming up with a subject. ;)


SEI...I had a really hard time with this line. :?



Scenic Route


more Scenic Route



...and even MORE Scenic Route ;)

Sweetwater's layouts from August:

This is their newest month release.





I have some 3SB layouts to upload, but Katrina is sitting here asking me, no begging me, to read her a book.

Scraproom Renovation

I mentioned before in a post long ago, that there is an awkward space between my scraproom and the rest of the house. We want to fill in the space and have it become the rest of the house.

The space is 6 feet by 12 feet. We need a wall knocked down, a floor added, a little bit of electric, an extension of a vent and 2 doors. One door to go into the garage, the other to go into the backyard. We'll do the tiling, painting and hanging of the new lighting fixtures.

I called 4 different contractors but only had 2 return my calls. Both came out and reviewed the area we wanted enclosed.

One bid was for $3,000.

I got the other bid today.

$11,900.

How on earth can there be such a HUGE difference? Reading the description of the work, it sure looks like they both understood what we wanted. Weird.

My Dad suggested that maybe the 2nd guy doesn't want to even bother with it.

Another Alpha Entry

Here's my entry into Debra Cooper's Alphabetica Journal. I guess I kinda went a different way with the alphabet inspiration. Trent just started Kindergarten, so all I could think about when I saw ABC's was that. Thanks so much to Heather Simpson-Bluhm for some of the book pages that I used in this piece.

Deja View RAKS

Sue Thomas has posted 3 Deja View RAKS at DML. Post your name on the thread to win, but do it NOW as the deadline is this evening.

Wedding

Sports

Family

New House

This is a copy of a letter I wrote someone when she asked about the new house. I thought I'd just copy and paste it here. Everything is the same except that the dogs have now caught several lizards and even a baby mouse. After all the complaining and whining I've done this last six weeks, it sure is nice to have something happy to write about. :P


The kids are doing really well! Everyone is kinda surprised at how well they're doing. Katrina is even sleeping in her big girl bed and not her crib. Trent says he never wants to go back to that other house and that he "luhhhhhvvvveeeees this house!"
The kids spend most of the day playing out on the patio. Trent rides his bike back and forth while Katrina plays in the Little Tykes car. They pretend they are policemen/women. They hardly ever watch tv anymore.
Katrina named a little ground squirrel she can see from her bedroom window, "Seeds". She likes to sit on the bench under her window and watch him.
Even the dogs are happy. They spend the entire day outside chasing fuzzy creatures and lizards. Thankfully, they haven't caught one yet. They don't whine to come inside and at the end of the day they sleep like rocks.
Erik and I are still unpacking. We like to watch the mountains in the mornings go from hazy to clear. Neither of us could remember what the mountains looked like in the morning before now.
Today we took a test bike ride to Trent's school. He was able to ride his Superman bike the entire way (.70) miles while Erik and I followed behind him. I pulled Katrina behind me in the bike trailer.
And yes, I'm hoping the best for my buyers. I am no longer mad at them. ;)
I still don't have my scrappy room unpacked. It's a little bit overwhelming.
I think everything is better then we expected. Thanks for asking. :D

Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying their new swing set:



Here is a picture of the dogs in the backyard. You can see we just have a chain link fence, dirt and cactus. I don't care though. Everyone around us has a block wall so we still have lots of privacy. I can still go out on my back patio in my underwear. ;) Right now I'm really enjoying the natural desert (as are the dogs). We will eventually landscape it and probably remove the cacti. For now, though, I really like it. I will post some pictures of my mountain view and some pictures of our saguaros. Having a saguaro in your yard is a big deal and we have 3! None of them have arms, but it's still pretty cool to have your own saguaro.

And here's a layout from Peek for the 31st upload. I only had time for one layout this time around. We were using Technique Tuesdsay stamps. I love those things!!

Thanks everyone!!

Uploads for the 15th

At Peek, Linda put together this really cute kit. I had so much fun working with it and it went together so easily.

Ms. Katrina in her pink and white polka dot swimsuit. She was being so goofy this day.


The negative sleeves weren't part of Linda's kit, but I just LOVE them. I'm going to run out of them soon and then what am I gonna do????

Here are my LO's at DML:


I think I like this line of KI. I wasn't too impressed with it at first, but once I got my hands on it I LOVED it!!


I had fun with this one. The screaming lady is from the original "Fly" poster. Shhhhh...I right clicked it and saved it on my hard drive. I covered the entire layout with Mod Podge (my new favorite product) because of all the little edges from when I cut out the picture of Trent.

Since we've been trying to move for the last 4 weeks, we've had so many boxes all over the house. The day I brought these home, he took them over and became a robot. He did this for days until I finally decided I needed the boxes.

Yes, I smudged out my street name.


Scenic route stuff. I LOVE Scenic Route.

My three favorite manufacturers are (in no particular order) Sweetwater, Daisy D's and Scenic Route.


This is what Baby Kat does when you ask her to show her "big smile". I thought I'd try something different with this layout and stick my picture down first, and then add the patterned paper and other accents.

Sweetwater layouts all from last month; all from the "Go Fish" collection:





I know, I already did a layout with this picture. I really like it and wanted to use it again. ;)

Vortex of Real Estate Hell, car crashes and more

Well, here it is the 18th. We were supposed to move today, but I guess the buyers of our home thought we were taking potatoes as payment because we found out that there is NO MONEY. We found this out about 2 hours before we were supposed to sign papers. They beat their record of screwing us, though, by about a week. Last time this happened with these buyers, they at least had the courtesy of giving us a week's notice before we were informed the deal went bad. Oh, I've been assured that the money is still coming, we just weren't exactly sure when up until a few hours ago.

I've been told that maybe next Tuesday or maybe even Wednesday we'll be moving. Sure. I won't hold my breath. I think this is perhaps the 3rd or 4th time we've had a moving date. My phone is already turned off and on at the new home we don't even own yet. I can't change it back without losing my phone number. I thought we'd give it a couple days, why not? After all, that's the least of my worries at this point.

During all this excitement of deal on, deal off, Erik and I crashed our cars. I was driving Trent to school earlier this week and rear-ended Erik. He had left the same time that we did to go to work. He was driving in front of me and as I was watching the people walking around on the side of the road exchanging insurance information from an accident that must have happened 30 seconds before, I slammed into Erik. It was either kill a pedestrian or hit Erik.

Well, I promised State Farm I would let everyone know how they screwed us up, down, sideways and back and forth. So, here's my story on how we no longer have Erik's vehicle, or even a 2nd vehicle:

Last September, I called my now retired State Farm Agent and told him that we no longer wanted collision coverage and glass on the Volvo (Erik's car). The car was a 95 with now a 170,000 miles on it. It wasn't worth much more then the amount of the deductible.

"Oh, ok...sure...no problem", was the response of the girl on the other end of the phone.

I knew that if Erik was hit from another driver, he would be covered by their liability. Erik has always been a careful driver and had never been in an accident. After I hung up the phone, I started worrying about theft and the glass coverage. After discussing it with Erik, we decided to add glass back to the Volvo. I called the woman back, explained by reason and added glass back. We felt we were covered.

Well guess what? We are NOT covered. We were quickly informed that we can not have a claim on ourselves. In other words, they will not pay for the damage of the Volvo (blue book value of $1700). We have lost our 2nd vehicle. HadErik been a stranger, he would have been covered.

I have been with State Farm for 19 years. My parents have been with them for 26 years, my Grandmother since she moved here; 10 years and my daughter 1 year. All of us our canceling our policies.

I was NEVER informed of this situation. Had I been informed I would have never followed behind Erik while driving. Doesn't your insurance company push, push, push for that 2nd car coverage? Shouldn't that information then be on the top of their mind when you call and make a change on the 2nd vehicle's coverage?

We don't have coverage for a rental car. Right now we have NO VEHICLE! I have to pay for a rental car for who knows how long. We cannot afford another car (even after selling this house...another issue I just don't feel like writing/talking about) so Erik will have to take the bus to work. We have no other choice.

Check your insurance coverage. I know there are several of you out there with a decent family car with full coverage and another car that's maybe somewhat of a junker without collision. If so, let me tell you YOU ARE NOT COVERED!!!!

Either put collision on that junker car or don't ever caravan behind the junker.

I was going to add some uploads from the 15th. I'll do that on another day.

First day of school & the house deal

Today was Trent's first day of Kindergarten. Not only did Erik go, but so did Grandma and Great Grandma. Below are some pictures. Katrina decided she wanted her photo taken as well.

He's my little dude. So happy and excited about Kindergarten.

Trent had homework on his first day of Kindergarten. All he had to do was color a picture of Curious George, tape him on a popsicle stick to make a puppet and then memorize 4 rules of the classroom. They are:

Be Respectful
Be Safe
Listen to Others
Be Responsible

There were small examples of each rule.

"Listen to others when they are talking. When you have a question, raise your hand." I raised the Curious George puppet in the air. "So what do you do if you have a question?"

"I don't know."

"You raise your hand," sticking George up real high.

"Ok."

"We listen to others when they are speaking. And what do we do when we have a question?"

"I don't know."

"We raise our hands, Trent."

"Ugh! This is too hard." He gets up and joins Katrina playing Disney Princess games on-line.

This is the first day of Kindergarten and it's already too hard? Huh? It's the first day!! I have 13 more years of this?? Flashbacks of Ashley in school...not fun!!

HOUSE

Deal on, deal off, deal on, deal off, deal ON! We may me moving sometime this week. And YES, to the house I have pictured on my previous entry.

We won't know exactly when until a couple days from now. It sure makes it hard to schedule a mover. Erik and I certainly can't do this move ourselves, especially with my very bad hips. It has been so stressful. It's more stressful than I could ever imagine it being. Hopefully this will all be over soon.

Thank you everyone for all your well wishes and prayers. I so believe that all your prayers and good thoughts have helped us during this very stressful time. Thank you so much.

I should probably mention...

that the deal on our house fell through. About a week before we were to close on our current home, our buyer's buyer flaked on them. So, because we were going to use the money from the sale on this home to buy our other home, we had to cancel that deal too. Our home is back on the market, the boxes are moved to the garage and we are waiting for realtors to come and show our home.

Thank you everyone for your well wishes. I so appreciate them.

Let me also mention, that if you are looking for a GREAT loan officer, you MUST call this guy.

D is for Dump Truck

I just completed Tia's page for her super cool transportation journal. I had the letter "D" and I decided to do "Dump Truck".

My kids are still looking at me strangely for having destroyed a book. It wasn't their book, I bought it at the thrift store, but still....they are a little upset with me! I'm always telling them not to throw books, not to color inside books, etc. Treat books with respect! I guess this is more of a case of do as I say, not as I do!

Yeah, that's a little bit of glitter on the main truck. Everything is better with a little glitter.

Bored

What do you do when you're 5 & 2 and 98% of your toys are packed up? You go swimming in the living room. Our house is just nothing but boxes and mess right now. I saw Trent run past my bedroom and he was wearing his swim trunks.

I said, "Trent, what are you doing??"

"We're going swimming, Mommy. Baby Kat has her swim suit on, too."

I look around the corner and sure enough, she had taken off her clothes and was attempting to get her swim suit on.

Each of them had on their summer hats, too.





Trent with his "short board". Later I heard Trent trying to convince Katrina to ride it down the stairs like a sled.

15th---big upload day

The 15th is always a big upload day. I've been working all month (and it's been a BUSY month with packing and signing contracts) today's releases:

A Peek Into Yesterday's theme was "Scrapper's Choice". It's a free for all!! This is always one of my favorite themes.



Daisy D's is quickly becoming one of my favorites, next to Sweetwater of course. ;) I also added a Christina Cole shaker box for a little added fun. The chippie swirls are Deluxe Designs Plain Jane chipboards.


Some older KI and some Heidi Swapp.



More Daisy D's, Blue Cardigan and some Basic Grey. Prima tissue flowers.

Down Memory Lane's theme was "Glitter and Gems".



More Basic Grey. I submitted this to the BasicGrey gallery. Thankfully, they accepted it. I always thought they took everything. I was surprised a couple months ago when they didn't take one of my submissions. :( The title for this was inspired by a Madonna song.



Life before kids....nothing else to say. ;)



My mother's crazy knife holder.


This was more of a focus on the journaling. I need to do that every once in a while.

Sweetwater's June release: Freedom:



Look at this! It's one of my first "altered" projects EVAH! It's a band-aid tin with a handle. I covered it with paper and added cinnamon candies to it. I didn't wait long enough for the Mod Podge to dry before I gave it to my mom as a gift. She said, "Ugh! It's sticky!!"

It's already been pointed out to me in my Alphabetica group that I need to wait a little bit longer for this stuff to dry. heehee




This is a ride at our local Community Center's playground. I always liked this picture. When Ashley saw this layout, she said, "no one is going to know what that picture is!" Did you know what it was when you saw it?



Simple, but I still like it. :D



This is Trent and Katrina's friend Dorian. Isn't he a cutie? He and his family just moved away to another city. :(


Thanks everyone for taking the time to look. I very much appreciate it. :D