A Bit of Everything

We're gearing up for the dance recital this weekend. It's the last week of classes, we're making sure we have the costumes ready (I still need to sew a couple things) and I'm cleaning house for Mary's visit (mother in law). Add the fact that Jess has a horse show on Sunday and you've got another busy week for us.

But I guess you've heard that from me before.

School's almost out. Not sure who's more excited; the kids or me. No more packing lunches. No more driving to Georgetown every day. Lots of time at the pool. I do know one thing though....I will be the only one excited about the FIRST day of school in September.

Still need to lose weight. Not going up, but not going down either. Haven't managed to do the treadmill thing more than twice a week. What will it take for me to get off my butt and JUST DO THIS?!?

I'm super excited about the October Scrapbook Getaway that Pat/Peg/Dar (and others I guess) put on (through TwoPeas). With no scrap buddies and no LSS for crops, I never get to do scrappy things with other people. It's going to be a blast!

I'm also excited about getting the first monthly layout contest up and running at AllyScraps. I had it listed on the Pub Calls Blog (thank you PCP) so I'm hoping it draws a bunch of people to the site.

Got a great big headache today. Must be a low pressure system sitting right on top of my house. Wish it would go away.

I'm off...have a good one!

The Unofficial Start of Summer

That's right it's Memorial Day Weekend! And when you live at the beach, the tourists and traffic make it feel all that much more summery. Fortunately, this year the weather makes it feel like summer too. In fact, we're off to the beach in a few.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Live chat tonight with Lisa from Crate Paper!

Stop by the message board at The Scrapbook Stand and check it out. It starts at 8:00 pm Central time. Hope to see you there!

A Great Prize and a New Page

This is the awesome prize you could win just for completing a few challenge pages with us at AllyScraps.

That's an entire SEI album kit!

Check out this thread and see how easy and fun it is for a chance to win!

And this is my latest page completed for AllyScraps.

Some of my favorite new products are on this page...those to die for Lil Davis chipboard letters, the yummy Fancy Pants paper and my new Primas!

You like?

Claire's party was a success!!

All the kids, and even the parents, had a great time. They loved the moon bounce - I was a little worried they would get tired of it. Seems 6+ is the perfect age for jumping. The food was good and the ice cream sundae bar was wildly popular. I'm so glad she had a memorable party.

This photo was almost impossible to get. No one wanted to sit still, sit close or look at the camera. This is the best one I got and I took about 10 shots. But what's important is the picture...I'm so happy to have a group shot from her party. (and for those that don't know her, Claire is second from the left with the heart on her cheek)

Back to the grind today...Claire has dance and Hannah has her choir concert tonight. Luckily, Jessica's lesson was cancelled otherwise I'd have to clone myself to get it all done.

Looking forward to Memorial weekend. We have NO plans. That's a first in MONTHS!

Happy Monday, have a good one.

Did I mention that I won a prize?

Because I did!

Karen Russell did a fabulous thing and put together a fundraiser for Women for Women through her blog with prizes donated by famous scrappers and Scrapbook Companies. Long story short, I made a donation and won a page by Rhonna Farrer!!

Can you believe it?!? This rivals the trip to the Olympics for "Coolest Prize I've Ever Won". Seriously. And Rhonna is on top of it. I got my email from her a few days after the drawing, sent her my photos (which I labored over choosing) and she's done the page already. Already.

And have I mentioned how completely gorgeous it is? Holy smoke it's fabulous. I'm still giddy every time I look at it. I can't wait to actually have it in my hands. It's going on the wall. I've thought about framing layouts and hanging them up but never done it. This will be the first.

Do you want to see this marvelous creation? I've posted it in my gallery at The Scrapbook Stand. Check it out! And while you're there...have a look around. It's a great site with super kits and a fun message board.

Thank you Rhonna. I'm totally in love with it!

ps - I tried to make all those links pretty but I just don't have the skills. If anyone cares to enlighten me it would be much appreciated. :D

*edited to fix links! Wheeeeee! Thanks so much for the help!*

ME on the treadmill?

You've got to be kidding!

But I did it. Finally. I've had this plan in my head for weeks, maybe months, to turn myself into a runner. Don't laugh. It's true.

I'm not the gym type. At least not now. Too fat. Silly I know, you don't have to be fit to go to the gym. But I'm not going, if ever, until I'm not embarrasing in work out clothes. So that leaves exercising at home. And luckily we have a treadmill.

So my plan has been this: start slow. I'm in the worst shape I've ever been in. Really. I think I would enjoy being a runner but when I go outside and try I get about 3 houses before my lungs are burning. So I came up with a plan (or did I read it somewhere) to walk for 2 minutes, run for 30 seconds, repeat. For 10 minutes. Doesn't sound like much but when you've done nothing for as long as I have it's a start.

And today I finally did it. It's only 3 bursts of running but I made the last one a full minute. And I enjoyed it. I'm going to do this for a week or so and when my lungs feel better I'll add 5 minutes. Then another 5. Then make the running parts all a minute. And just keep going and going until maybe I can run a full 10 minutes. The last part is vague I know. I'll work it out (no pun intended) as I go.

So anyway. I'm proud of myself. It was only 10 minutes but it's a start.

More of the same

So this weekend is Claire's birthday party. Doing the whole moon bounce in the yard party and cooking out. I messed up the invitations and put March instead of May so I'm not really sure anyone is going to show up. I need to make some calls today. I realized my mistake (thanks Julie) on the way to school that morning and wrote the correction on the envelopes (while driving) but it seems most of the kids opened them at school and only took home the card. Ugh. I feel like such an idiot. And it's my own fault for being behind schedule and not having time to mail them. Ah well, next year I'll get it right.

So anyway, that makes for another busy week. Party prep. I am together on the important things though. The moon bounce is booked and the gifts are bought. The rest will fall together easily enough.

Jessica's band concert is tonight. She hasn't mentioned anything about a solo but after the Christmas concert I told her to ask for one when Mr. Bennett was looking for volunteers. We'll see.

Got the weekly challenges started at http://www.allyscraps.com/ . There's going to be a fun prize every 4 weeks for one lucky participant. Check it out...you never know, YOU could be the winner. More about the prize later. Must get busy!

Have a good one.

more photos...

The Prom Report

She was GORGEOUS!

Definate model material.

She had a blast and I managed to get some decent pictures. I did learn a few things about my camera and lenses, my skills (or lack of) and photo shoots in general. Luckily, I didn't screw it up so bad that it's a total loss. And I wish I could get more than 2 photos to post at a time....can't seem to get them to load.

I'll try to post more...

Prom Picture Pressure

It's all I can think about today. I've been to the nail salon, the barn, the florist and through it all, in the back of my mind, are thoughts about taking pictures tonight.

You don't have to be a scrapbooker to want fabulous photos of your daughter's first prom. Just a Mom. But combine the two and you've got a great NEED for the perfect artitistic photographs.

Most of my problem lies in the fact that we have no good spots to take photos in the house or yard. There are no cool columns, no picturesque benches, no shimmering ponds. Inside is white walls or unattractive (for photo backgrounds) furniture. The rest lies in my lack of confidence to use my camera properly.

It's too much pressure.

But I'm going to do the only thing I can...take a BUNCH and hope for the best.

Wish me luck!

I scrapped again!

I've been sick all week and just now able to actually do some projects. Started and finished a page today for http://www.allyscraps.com . Love these papers from Fancy Pants!

Playing Bunco tonight.

Tomorrow is the Prom, among other keep us busy things.

And then Mother's Day.

Not a bad weekend ahead.

Hope you enjoy yours!

it's Monday again

another week zipped by. There were a few different things in there....

Let's Dish. http://www.letsdish.com/ If you haven't tried it and there's one near you. GO! After a fun (honest) 2 hour session I left with 12 yummy meals ready to freeze. Now when I'm pressed for time or let's face it, just don't feel like planning dinner, I just defrost and follow the simple instructions. Sound like a commercial? I'd do one for free...this is brilliant. No Let's Dish near you? Do a search using "prepare meal session" and you'll find LOTS of options.

FIL. For those of you not familiar with net speak that's Father-in-Law. Jonathan's Dad and his wife Mae were here for the weekend. Had a good visit despite my allergy induced chest cold.

Little League. Jessica's boyfriend (still can't get over this one) plays and the whole family went to his game. Jess must have really wanted to go to tolerate all of us there with her. ;)

But the BEST NEWS (do you hear the bells and whistles) I had was when I found out I made the design team at The Scrapbook Stand http://www.thescrapbookstand.com/ !!! I was really shocked to see my name on the list. I'm surrounded by some amazing talent and so honored to be included. Their kits are fantastic and I can't wait to get started! Stop by, check it out.

And now I have to play catch up. Claire's birthday party invitations should have gone in the mail Saturday. Probably I should start them. The mother's day gifts I had (and still do) planned to make should be almost done by now and in the mail tomorrow. Probably I should start them. And I haven't scrapped a page in DAYS. Not only am I going through withdrawals but I've gotten some awesome new products from AllyScraps http://www.allyscraps.com/index.asp to play with and I want to get started. And then there's the laundry...but for today...I'm not going there!

Much to do, much to do....I'm off. Have a good one!

I survived!

It was a crazy, busy weekend but we made it through. Here's the recap:

• dropped Jess & Brooke off at Trey's (Jessica's boyfriend!) baseball game Friday night. They had a blast. Trey's team won (he's the catcher) 10-2. Brooke spent the night.
• recital ticket sales - waited in line Saturday morning for just over 3 hours. I was 3rd in line...got 30 great seats! I played fair (didn't hog all the best seats) too.
• took Brooke and Jess (and Claire) to the barn for their ratings exam. Jess passed - she's now a D3 Pony Clubber. Heard she exceeded the standard on every question!
• raced home, showered & loaded everyone up (including 2 of Hannah's friends) for the drive to New Castle. Met Dad & Vicky, Doris and John & Suzanne and their kids at Casablanca for dinner. What a blast! Awesome food (7 courses), fabulous belly dancing and great company. I think Hannah really enjoyed having everyone together for her birthday celebration. Jonathan left from there for a hotel at the airport. He's now in Orlando at a CIMA conference.
• up early Sunday and got the grocery shopping done. Whew! Hannah went to work (she is really liking her new job at Azafran) and we cleaned house.
• Claire's dance pics were at 1:50. I was late (forgot the dance bag) but it went smoothly.
• Jessica's dance pics were at 5:20. We were on time, they were not. Didn't get out until almost 7:00. Picked up Chinese on the way home.
• Hannah's pics were at 7:45. I was going to leave Jess with Claire (after she was in bed) so I could go take pics myself but was too creeped out leaving them home alone in the dark.

At that's that! Weekends like that make me appreciate Mondays so much. And since I'm pretty caught up on laundry, the house in clean and dinner is already in the crockpot, I'm going to try to get some scrapping done. I'm behind on my list of projects.

Before I go...a little blog challenge from http://www.allyscraps.com/index.asp :

1. If you go back and change anything in your teen years, what would it be and why?

I was awful to my Mom. Not always, but there was chuck of time (when I was 17th) that I was rude and disprectful. It was the last thing she needed being a single mom. I'm so glad we have such a good relationship now.

2. If you could go to heaven for an hour to see a loved one, who would you pick and why?

My maternal grandmother. She died when I was 8 (cancer). I don't have too many specific memories but I feel wrapped in love just thinking of her.

3. What is one thing you can NOT do without besides your family?

My car. I pretty much live in it.

4. What your dream day consist of?

A clean house, my (non-bickering) kids and husband around me and lots of laughter.

5. How much time do you spend on the computer per day? and you can't say "too much" really try and figure it out.

So we really have to answer this one?? I'm going to go with 5 hours (not all at once) and then I'm going to try to cut down. Really I am.

That's all for now.....have a good one!