Switching things up...

...for 2010. New decade, new blog address. I'm done with being Creative Exile, so you'll find PhotoPaperScissors over here:

PhotoPaperScissors2.

Please update your bookmarks and any links to me you may have on your websites. Thanks so much!!

What do you any of you know about TypePad? I've created a blog over there, too, but wondering if it's free, or just a free trial.

Santa time...

Well, the most stressful of my holiday events is over, supper club with Santa at our house last Saturday. Ben did waaay better with Santa than 2 years ago, he was one of the first kids up on Santa's lap this year!

In 2007, we tried to distract Ben with a school bus toy, but once he realized where he was...uh-oh. This year he handled it like a pro!

Unfortunately, he told Santa he wants a DS (like his sister). We're going to call his Leapster 2 a "Leapster DS." Good thing it has buttons & a stylus like sister's DS...

Oddly enough, Tess did NOT ask Santa for gerbils like she's been telling everyone she wanted to, and better yet, she did not question the fact I told her, that Santa does not like to bring pets on his sleigh  (because it's a long trip and it's not good for the animals -- except the reindeer, of course).

Okay, next year I'm going to try and do better with this blogging biz. Yeah, I say that every year. Like I'm going to get to the gym and write that novel, too.

Happy holidays! Don't forget to track Santa's progress (one of my new favorite Christmas Eve traditions!)

sleep well, sleep tight...

By now most of you have heard that my room -- and only my room -- was hit by bed bugs while at camp. I can tell you I now know more about bed bugs than I ever expected to...but, on to the LOs I did at Scrap Camp.

Thirty-five pages (24 LOs...turns out I was counting "wrong," but the right way was to my benefit!) from Wednesday night (arrived at 8:30p -- much later than expected after dropping off Ben in Farmington and going back home to pack up the car) to Sunday noon...although I didn't scrap at all on Sunday...too wiped from 1a - 3a bedtimes all weekend!

My first favorite of the weekend...after 5 missteps...did this one Thursday afternoon...

One of my very favorites...and a 2-pager :)

I was most proud to get ephemera from the Michigan International Speedway on this one. E thought to bring a booklet back and I wanted to get it on the LO.

I hope readers get the Ace of Cakes connection...love the Sepia action in PSE.

I got compliments on my layering and use of patterned paper at camp for this one...

Considering we (my roommate had an even worse reaction to her bites than me) got refunds from the camp, I'll consider it a good weekend away. Just the week after (and all the itching) was a bitch.

Amuse bouche

I'm packing to go to Scrap Camp next week, hoping I don't come down with what Tess had over the weekend: chills, fever, coughing...everything but the killer sore throat that I hear comes with the H1N1 virus. I'm taking Airborne in preparation...not that it'll do me any good. So far Ben is hanging in there, no signs of illness yet. That's my biggest worry for now.

I'm working on a calendar for gifts this holiday season, digitally, now that I've figured out clipping in PSE 7...so I don't have much to share. My scrapping stuff is (mostly) packed and what scrapping I'm getting done is on the 'puter.

So, here's a little bit of amusement for you: Cake Wrecks. Saw it in People, then again through a blog where I was downloading digital goodies. Have a laugh on me, and think healthy thoughts.

fear

I love challenge blogs, although I'm usually so wrapped up in my Chronological Scrapping that I just don't have time to do them, or my Mojo is using her frequent flyer miles when an intriguing one comes up.

I tend to go all out and support new challenge sites, like Julie's My Favorite Things (did the first one, but they come & go so quick I haven't had a chance to do more...working on #4, Food, but doin' it digi so I may never get it Quite Right, KWIM?) (digi takes FOREVER, BTW, but when I don't have internet -- a daily occurance, grr -- I turn to PSE training).

I've met a number of gals on the Point Blank Period start-up team, and have long admired the work of pretty much all of them, so I was really curious to see what they'd come up with. This one, about What Holds You Back (in a nutshell...there was more to it than that...) was instantly inspiring.

I struggle with the concept of having my own personal Style...I like to experiment, so I don't stick with one thing for long, however, I tend to latch on to trends & look back later to say, "ugh." But I have a rule, Never Re-Do, so I'm going to take my own advice here and Let Go.

The one thing I enjoy doing now that I have been tinkering with PSE7 for a few months is vintage tinting of my photos. My last 3 favorite projects have been about using this technique. I'm not sure yet if it is going to become a signature "style" for me (perhaps only on single-photo LOs) or if it is just a passing fad. Time will tell.

Here's a gift I made for Jan, my fantastic Secret Sis at SISiversary this year. She usually sent along a Starbucks gift card with my goodies, so I had a feeling she was in SBs a LOT :) I put a gc in with the personalized mug I decorated:

I was very proud of myself for figuring out how to use a brush to highlight Jan's cool new tattoo -- the cross above her heart -- without having to consult a PSE textbook. The vintage tinting tends to make details soft & dreamy, so I wanted to pop that tat and tuck a relevant Bible verse right next to it.

I used rather thick Stampin Up papers & embellishments, and some details curled and crumpled as I rolled this up and put it in the Create A Mug, so I'm glad I got a shot of it before it got damaged.

Deee-troit

I got a call a couple of weeks ago, the entry we put in while cruising the A2 art fairs at the Doug FM booth yielded a one-year family membership to the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, but we had to go downtown to the Fisher Bldg to pick up our prize.

What with weekend getaways and Varsity Day Camp and general summer runaround, it took me a while to get down there (I had to do it within 30 days...I think we just made it!). I brought a party pack of Zingerman's magic brownies to say thanks, the promotions gal who came out to give us our prize was thrilled. I believe she actually hugged the brownies.

It has been a while since I've been to Detroit, and it doesn't get any better the longer I go without a visit. Buildings, houses, factories disappear, and construction alters my memories of the Motor City (best billboard: "Recession: this is a test, not a final" -made me smile)!

First of all, I promised Ben a Giant Tire, and I-94 delivered:

I took a detour (some would say This Way Be Dragons), knowing the Fisher Bldg is on West Grand Blvd, but not taking the right exit for it. Grand Blvd (hasn't been grand in about 40 years) runs in a half-square through the New Center, and I took the wrong half. Oh how I wish I could have seen it Back When. There were some grand old houses and apartment buildings, but as Ben aptly put it, there were many "sad" houses, and a few "bad" houses. I wasn't too confident about stopping & whipping out my camera, too bad as there was one old house with a flower garden out front worthy of Ann Arbor (and that, my friends, is pretty dang grand).

Almosted ended up on the bridge to Canada...

Yeah, THAT'S a detour, people! And saw another great billboard:

Now THAT'S ghetto...LOL...finally got to mecca, the gorgeous Fisher Bldg, after a detour up Cass Corridor (REALLY didn't want to slow down and whip out my camera there)...past my alma mater, Wayne State (go Warriors! and, thank you for not being Tartars anymore --WTH, anyway?!)...

Ben ran right under the ropes and on top of this worn emblem:

Sorry, Fisher Bros.

Before we left, we had to stop in the restroom. Check out the swinging double doors and cool tiles:

Last stop: City Knits. Picked up the last of my Summer Tweed for my Kaffe Fassett afghan (yeah, right...intarsia, in Summer Tweed! Nutso) and some Tofootsie sock yarn. Got on their mailing list. LOVE their new space (well, 2 year old new space, but much bigger & more light...not in the bowels of the Fisher Bldg. anymore). All in all, a great trip & I'm glad my kids got to see a bit of Detroit. Even if it was from the car (perhaps more appropriate that way...)

Last pic...a beautiful mosaic wall...

Yup, the entire building is a work of art.

Knitting again.

Last night I went over to the Dark Side, and went to a Meetup Stitch n Bitch. I realized as I (re-)introduced myself that I hadn't been to this group in 5 (!) years. They met a bit too early for my schedule (6:30p) and I really liked the Ann Arbor Knit In group I was part of for 3 years or more (which would go until 10p or later). That group has fallen apart in the last year, as graduate students graduate and new ones don't come along to fill in and members start spinning instead of knitting (it happens...and there are different meeting groups for THAT obsession!)

The Meetup group is moderated by someone who used to annoy me; perhaps I've become more Zen in the last few years, because she sat right next to me last night and I just knit away, silently enjoying myself & the conversation around me. It was sooo relaxing to finish up an old project (well, except for the stuffing and sewing, but that's easy enough) without a toddler pulling at me.

Went into Cynthia's Fine Yarns in Mackinaw City on Monday before we left, and Tess found a knitting loom she wanted to try, so I am finishing up the baby seal toy I started for her 3 or 4 years ago, so that she's inspired to keep at it. She's done pretty well with the looping and "knitting," but it's a slow process. I'll try getting her to do some actual knitting -- on needles -- again sometime soon.

I'm thinking I need to use Mandi's kit for a knitting project album; the handmade wood album covers she made for the kit are warm and natural and would be a perfect beginning to keeping a record of my (finished) projects. The papers she created are inspired by vintage clothing, some even have a hint of a knit pattern in the background that will also be perfect for a knit project album. She has some kits left and the price was reasonable, check it out:
I'm looking forward to playing with this kit soon...

Seriously. Exhausting.

You would think having Gma along to corral the two kiddoddles would help just a little. Woke up in Mackinaw City to pounding rain and thunder and thought...oh well, the carriage ride should still work. Then the skies magically cleared and the day brewed up sunny and HOT. We got on Shepler's ferry at 10:30a, and got off the carriage around 1:20p, thirsty and hungry. Ben was just melting. Ate up at the fort and that perked us up just a bit, enough to shop in the Fort & walk back into town.

I had plans to take the kids to Mill Creek today, but was just too wiped from yesterday to even consider it. When does school start again? And why am I not putting Ben in preschool yet? Oh, yeah, potty training. Absolutely no progress there.

More pics up at fb, if I've friended you. If not, why? ;)

Absinthe makes the heart...

We went to Weber's for dinner last night...E is a "frequent feeder" so we have mad coupons...one for $75, even, but we'll hang on to that one...our little family could never spend that much there. Last one we had we used for Mother's Day with the whole famn damily.

I mentioned it on facebook a while back...absinthe is "legal" again (but I'm guessing no where near as potent as it was before it was banned a century ago), and Weber's offers it. If you like ouzo (and oh yes I do), it is the same taste, strong licorice you have to cut with ice water and a sugar cube (to release the "green fairy"...didn't you see Moulin Rouge?).

It is a weird buzz...I find myself strangely alert when I drink it, and very talkative (like that never happens, LOL). But this morning I woke up very fuzzy-headed, and I even got to bed earlier than usual last night. We did NOTHING all day today, except get out to grocery shop very late in the afternoon. Later I made borscht with the GIANT head of cabbage we got in our half-CSA share late last week. I had just made stuffed cabbage so I couldn't use it for that (still have stuffed cabbage in the fridge!), but borscht only takes a half a head...so, yay me, I FINALLY got out our new vacumm sealer and shredded & froze the other half.

Right now it's the only thing in our new ($50 Craiglisted) upright freezer downstairs...pretty silly-looking all alone in there, but we hope to hook up with a quarter side of grass-fed beef some time before winter.

That's what I get for listening to this book with E on the way home from Florida earlier this year...it's what prompted him to start a(n overcrowded!) garden, buy the freezer, and get us into a CSA this summer.

Worth the price of admission...

...oh wait, this is a FREE class over at Jessica Sprague! I don't know if you can still sign up for it, but I'm learning some useful things, like creating this vintage-style, hand-tinted photograph:

From this:

Of course, Tess liked the bright greens of the original, but when I saw this photo in the LCD screen on my camera, the image I had for an eventual LO was more toward the vintage image I finally created. Hey, it's my hobby, after all ;)

Looks like Friday night cropping will continue, thanks to my cropping buddies. Tonight we're all crowded into Kelly's, last week it was Shandra's. Tomorrow I actually crop ALL DAY, the final crop at Scrapbook Memories, a goodbye crop for Patti, the owner. I need to organize some page kits, because it's going to be too crowded for me to bring ALL my crap.

Finished this LO yesterday, after running to the Big M chain with my 50% off coupon so I could nab the last MS butterfly punch. I saw it being used all over the place at SISiversary and just fell in love with little patterned butterflies everywhere. And I'm not a butterfly person, in general (as I'm not a bird-on-a-branch scrapper, or the flourish type, either...)

This is my next-to-the-last birthday LO from 2008-2009. I have been DREADING getting these done, as I do every year, but my goal is to have a decent birthday memory book for each of my kids, as I have NO memories of my own birthday celebrations (such as they were with 4 kids and a working mom in the house). I just need to change up my approach from year to year to keep it fresh.

I am just about done with 2008 overall; the next pages I'm dreading are holiday (Oct-Dec) pages. I've done a couple pages for 2009 already, mostly everyday happenings, which are more interesting for me. Doing Project 365 last year gave me waaaay too many photos to scrap, which is why I am so "far behind" (I'm a bit anal, and *like* to scrap chronologically, so bite me Stacy Julian, LOL). Hopefully my Friday night crops continue, so I can keep up. I'm a happy scrapper when I'm all caught up (and it HAS happened before)!

Worth a listen...

NPR's reading of the Declaration of Independence.

History. It's a good thing to remember now and then.

Sad.

A little sad that this silliness is over:

SISiversary 09 rocked. I'm finally caught up on sleep and can write a little about it. The drive was exhausting, but I was also able to do the first real thinking in about 7 years (yeah, that's right...Tess is 7...you don't even have to do the math)!

The ride home was more tiring than the ride down. Took me 9 hours to get there, and 11 to get home, because I kept stopping at all the little places I saw on the way there...a quilt shop that turned out to be out of business, Elizabethtown (too bad everything in Glendale was closed on Mondays), another store called House of Quilts that was, sadly, all made-up quilts (Made in China), although I did find a cool new houndstooth backpack pretty cheap (my purple one is just sad). Oddly enough, I didn't really stop to eat (aside from a half a chicken wrap in Elizabethtown); I think not sitting down to a hot meal all day made the drive home even harder.

It's not like I didn't get enough shopping done in the SIS onsite boutique. I actually was able to behave better than at Creative Escape (most likely because things in the SIS boutique were not at CE prices...ooo, snap). There were only about 77 women at SISiversary, compared to 700 at CE, so overall the atmosphere was more friendly and laidback, although I have FINALLY learned (I hope) not to jam back-to-back classes on my schedule, and forget about things like oh, say, lunch (the slight time change messed with me all weekend).

Okay, more photos to make me happy again:

Angela Spangela (aka Professor H.L. and roomie extraordinaire), and Jamie BoBamie, who had the cutest little New Joisey accent...you only heard it on certain words and then BAM it was straight on into a brief Sopranos or RHNJ episode...hee...just for a flash...

Aimee was my late lunch buddy on Friday (and NOT a roomie, which I finally remembered by oh, say...Sunday) and Saturday dinner buddy (fried pickles? really?!) and all around good for a gut-busting giggle at any given moment.

Wendy (spelled it wrong for a reason!), another great, totally laidback & relaxed roomie, she even got up as a karoke virgin and sang Friday night. That's when I knew she'd be game for anything. Sorry I made you mess up a page with my concoction Saturday night. You got me back on video, so we're even...

Oh, just go to my Flickr site and you will see so many happy moments. I'm definitely signing up for next year!

Finally, I am most sad that my Friday night crops seem to be over. Scrapbook Memories is closing for good on July 11th at 5p and will be closed for most of the holiday weekend (including tomorrow). There is a final goodbye crop for Patti (owner) on the 11th, but that's a Saturday, so I think I'll have to skip Friday the 10th. Basically, that means...no more scrappin with my peeps on Friday nights. Sniff.

Gettin Digi Wit' It

Armed with CK's Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking 3, a load of online digital freebies, and my rudimentary knowledge of Adobe programs (Pagemaker...heard of it?), I've been spending a LOT of time on my computer creating 8x8 digital LOs (since I don't have a wide-format printer...I like my LOs in my hands, thanks!)

I'm still working on the concept of brushes (I can't get them to show up as a layer, and I can't seem to bring them forward off my background so that they can be seen...seems I have to add them to a layer -- say, patterned paper, or a photograph -- before I layer that piece onto my background...), but at least I can load brushes, and see them -- bonus!

My LSS is closing, by the end of July, if not earlier. She's selling to a liquidator mid-June, which means after that she can just walk away and choose not to hold late-night crops, or even have the store open. There are plans in the works among us Friday night regulars to keep getting together at least once a month, but I am really going to miss scrapping with Real Live People (and, moreover, friends) on a weekly basis. Which is why digital scrapping is not taking over my life just yet.

Full swing

Well, now that Memorial Day is over (early!), summer is in full swing. More so when Tess gets out of school in a couple of weeks (!)...just wanted to update you so you know I'm still alive...busy, but alive!

Happy Mother's Day!

Still a favorite...

Scrapping challenges

I've taken to carrying around one of my (MILLION of) blank journals, to make notes & doodles about scrapbooking layouts that are in my head. I even brainstormed in church on Sunday, for this leftover SIStv challenge:

We had to use a certain page design, the color orange, bling (my suggestion to the list), the word "joy," stamping, and tape. I hope I'm forgiven, since I *was* scrapping a Psalm!

The next sketch in my notebook was for the first challenge over at the new KiddieLit blog. The theme was Wizard of Oz, and I used the following from their element list: HOME for my topic, a quote from the book/movie, the color yellow, blue gingham (hand cut letters), red sequins, rainbows, and twisted ribbon.


I did 5 more challenges at SIS for NSD, although I managed to get 4 challenges into one LO, so I really only did 2 more pages. I thought I was tapped out for inspiration, but having a notebook along for the Boring Mom Bits (church, storytime at the library, etc.) really helped keep me inspired.

Hopefully keeping track of due dates, like the one for this challenge, will help me enter more of these challenges and keep me scrapping during the week, not just on Friday nights.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Baby monkey card
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile

I had a baby shower this morning but I'm now over at SIStv checking in on all the crazy NSD challenges. I think I'm down for nearly a dozen, so this will be a short entry!

Kelly, one of my crop buddies, sang "You Are The Champion" (a la Queen) to me when I finished this project last night (a month-by-month baby album, not the card pictured here. I made this card from paper scraps from the album this morning)!

What's incredible is that I decided around 1p yesterday that my friend Stacey needed a baby scrapbook as part of her gift. To be presented at the shower I attended this morning.

I took me about 4.5 hours of solid scrappin' to crank this out. The biggest time suck was punching out letters & glueing them down. The second biggest was choosing the paper I'd use for each page.

I love this gift for new moms. You can see the entire album in its Flickr set.

I AM THE CHAMPION! Stacy Julian would be proud.

Scrapblog header

I played around a bit this morning (instead of writing a post, shame on me!) and created the new header, above. It's a WIP (work in progress), so stay tuned and feel free to give me some advice! I need it, LOL...I especially need to know how to change my blog background color in Blogger!

Thanks to NanBHack at SIStv for walking me through how to save a Scrapblog as a JPEG so that I could edit it further on my computer!

It's Friday night, so that means I'll be off to scrap in just a few. Scrapping until midnight, then coming home to fire up my computer and start celebrating National Scrapbooking Day with Michelle, who will be posting a challenge at 1:00 a.m.

So THAT'S how she gets to be the first one to post the blog entry thread at SIStv...

Feeling compelled...

...to enter this fabulous contest! I have recently learned to love kits and this one's a beaut..you could win it for FREE!

Click on the pic to check out the deets.

Will update soon, E is home after dental surgery and I'm about to take off for a walk. Hit a number on the scale last Wednesday that I was hoping never to see again...let's just say an "8" was involved *shudder*

LOTS of rummage...yipee!

Crazy weekend, starting with Friday morning...up at 6a to shower & get kids ready early...had MOPS. Up late the night before making a salad for our Caregiver thank-you luncheon on Saturday...bringing it in Friday saved me a trip Saturday morning...

Cropped until midnight, finishing up this LO and completing another...



Up at 6a AGAIN on Saturday, to hit the first of the April-October Ann Arbor Antiques Market. I woke up at 4:40a and turned off my alarm, deciding I needed sleep more than rummaging, but woke up at 6a anyway (!) so I showered & headed out early.

Some awesome finds...a tin toy stove to start a display collection (Debbie Bliss inspired that, I believe), wooden blocks (from 50 cents to $3), a printer's tray to decorate a la AE, two vintage tennis rackets for a display down the stairs to the "man cave," some vintage tennis photos for same, and two mesmerizing paintings that I would love to know the origin of...


I couldn't stop looking at them, or thinking about them, so I had to have them. The second one is damaged. There is a big gouge out of the one girl's red hat, and damp or water-stain marks around a couple of toys in the window. They are rather large, about 18" x 24", quite darkened by time, but I am loathe to try and repair them lest I lower their value. Considering I got the pair for $48, any higher price would be interesting, but I don't think Antiques Roadshow is coming to town anytime soon.

After rummaging, I met the fam for lunch, then took Tess to a birthday party at the movies...I had the dubious task of sitting through the Hannah Montana movie. Now I have a couple of questions for Disney:

1. Nuns in an English boarding school? Didn't think I'd catch that, did you?

2.Are there really 5 year-old fans left to their own devices to discover Miley's secret? That was just disturbing.

3. What was the casting description for Travis? Must look 12 but have a voice like a 40 year-old? Did his voice change after you cast him? Where did you find him, Sundance? Are they cloning Robert Redford now? Obviously I was disturbed by the young man they cast in this role...

4. If that's Miley's Grandma, who were Vicky Lawrence and Dolly Parton playing on the TV series?

5. Thanks for reminding me that Brooke Shields and I are old enough to be Miley's mom. You guys really need to deal with the Dead Mom issue, BTW. That wasn't really a question, more of a commentary. Being a mom and all.

Thanks. You know where to reach me.

Easter and then some

Survived spring break week (barely). So nice to have E back home (even if he got to go to work all week...yes, even all day Good Friday).

Too much candy for Tess, though. I'm glad she's at my MIL's with E & her brother. Three! meltdowns! before! breakfast! (not including the jellybeans at 6:30a).

The Easter bunny came by at 6a to leave jelly bean trails from each child's bedroom door to the spot where their Easter baskets were located:

Luckily, she (I'm convinced the Easter bunny is a she...c'mon, give us ladies one holiday, right? Santa's got his and I've never seen a female leprechaun, we can't be witches only...besides, who REALLY goes and fills those baskets? Can I get a what-what...)

SHE put Tess's basket in our room, so that I would know when she was up (see 6:30a, above) and feel some of her excitement, not like Christmas 2007...ahem.

Grandma wanted a picture of the dress she made for Tess & her AG doll, we got it but not without (another) tantrum and sour face (AFTER the photo was taken, thank goodness):
I would have preferred that she comb her hair (and the doll's), but as we had just experienced Meltdown #2, I let it go. As Tess so wisely noted, "her hair matches mine!" Somehow I don't think Grandma is going to appreciate that...

Lil Guy got a very nice basket, too, and I got a nice photo of the both of them. Rare, believe it or not. Tess cannot be in hug range without squeezing Ben until he smacks her.

I had to move fast.


Hope you are having a bright, sunny Easter weekend too.


Peace out.

Crap.

I called E in Colorado this morning and told him he's never. allowed. to take a trip alone ever. again. Here's a little summary of little things that went wrong and drove me over the edge this weekend:

1. Ben didn't nap Saturday.

2. He woke up at 4 a.m. ready to roll. Uh, no.

3. Alarm went off at 6:30a so that I could get ready for early church before waking Tess; she had to sing in both services for Palm Sunday.

4. Sunday evening she swallows a metal marble from the Mousetrap game. Yes, she's SEVEN. I have no idea why she thought it would be a good idea to even put that in her mouth. Ben, maybe. Tess, uh, no.

5. Call 911 in a panic, they send an ambulance, she's fine. We just have to wait until it passes. Lovely.

5b. the only bright spot: I am not charged for the ambulance visit (apparently you only get charged if you ride).

6. The other bright spot in my weekend was the fact that Tess was supposed to go to a friend's house at 1p today and sleep overnight. In fact, Tess's only question before the ambulance arrived was, sniff, "will I still be able to sleep over?" sniff... The friend's mom called this morning; they are out of power.

So now I have Tess's friend visiting and sleeping over here tonight.

At least Ben is napping.

And I made brownies.

Charmed, I'm Sure

I was on FIRE with this project Thursday and Friday. This is the most fun scrapping I've had in a while. The idea just came to me and I couldn't let it go...ever since I found Cindy (fellow Friday Night Cropper) throwing away slide protectors (gasp!)...I KNEW there was a mini-mini journal in there somewhere...



Lots of other LOs in my SIStv gallery...I've been on fire generally in that department. I know it will wane once again, but I'm enjoying the ride for now.

E's out of town for a 4-day weekend. I'd call it an "exchange" trip for my trip to SIS Live at the end of June, but he has not arranged childcare for me (as I have for him that weekend), so I've come to think of it as more of a "retaliation" trip.

My only bump with not having him around was getting both kids out the door early (8a) this morning, so that Tess could sing in BOTH Palm Sunday services. After Ben woke at 4a last night. He NEVER does that, except that he did not nap yesterday (kids out front with sidewalk chalk on our driveway, kept him up) so at 4a he was all. done. He wanted to have major conversation with me, but after 20 minutes of trying to rock him (only to have him pull back and start on a new subject with me), I put him down and walked out.

Of course when I went to get him up early this morning, he was passed out like a little drunk, arms in the air, nothing would wake him except for some gentle shaking and calling and conversation. Payback time, baby!

Kindergarten Art

The pile in my kitchen hutch is still there (Tess's 1st grade work), but our kitchen table is (mostly) clear. I went into my scrap room and got to Tess's pile of kindergarten art from last year and remembered this gem:

All about her day, Step One: "I git my mom ep" -- It made me laugh when I first saw it, and it still does (I especially enjoy the accompanying artwork). I see she didn't get the concept of the assignment...she doesn't go back to sleep In The Morning. She does now, though. I have to "git her ep" in the mornings this year. My alarm goes off at 7a but I usually hear the high school bus coming through our neighborhood at 6:50a. Yeah, you read that right. 6:50a.

Seriously, I do NOT remember getting up that early for school as a teenager. Then again, I didn't take the bus. I thought school started around 8:30a, but another Livonia grad claims we all started at 7:30a. Of course, I didn't take the bus, but I walked or my Mom drove my sister and I in, so we had to be ready to leave with some time for travel.

My new printer has a scanner, obviously. I have soo much scanning to catch up on. Not too happy that I have to have Kodak paper for it -- makes sense, but I had just bought a HUGE package of Canon paper; I ended up giving it away at SIStv since my pictures were coming out dull. E claims Kodak ink is cheaper (one of the many reasons he picked this printer); I'm hoping the same holds true for Kodak paper.

Photoshop EleWHA?

I'm cleaning out kindergarten artwork (goodness, my girl has come a long way in a year...but I still love some of her original spelling!) when I come across a Scrapbook Answers (sniff...long since shut down, every issue came with a) DVD...two of them, in fact. One had a 30-day trial of PSE 4.0 so I downloaded it. I've been looking for a replacement for my beloved but frustratingly slow MS Picture It software, which is apparently not compatible with my new Vista system.

I went to a beginner's tutorial site and tried a few simple steps...holy cow, it is not at. all. intuitive, nor does it work as they describe (and they are also using PSE 4.0...I know there is a 7.0 version out right now).

I am so disappointed, I wanted digital scrapping to be easier, not harder, than paper scrapping, but there are so many steps and I've had to start over so many times with one stinking LO that I'm giving up for today.

29 days to go...

Here's the paper LO I worked on this weekend...not anything ground-breaking, but it takes care of most of the pictures from our trip to Ohio last August. I haven't done a 2-pager in a while, this was time-consuming...but not as time consuming as my first (so far) failed digital page!

Oops! The girl's bus is here...gotta run.

Skipping church

Wow, I was on a roll there, wasn't I? Well, today I am Pampering MySelf (yup, check those initials), so I let E take the kids to the gym/daycare and later his mom's (packed up some of my stuffed cabbage for her), and I have the house to myself.

I have been in a really bad mood this week (again, check the acronym up there). I slept in until 9a and made the executive decision that I was just not going to be ready to head out the door by 9:30 a.m. Most Sundays I am -- Tess has Sunday school, then children's choir, then she joins me halfway through church (BRILLANT idea, thanks Liz!) and E picks her up after to go to my MILs for the afternoon. Most Sundays.

Today I'm going to get some scrapping done. While it's nice to haul everything out of the house and go meet friends, I like having EVERYTHING I own, scrapbooking-wise, at my fingertips. Don't you just hate that feeling when you're out at a crop, and you know you have the PERFECT embellishment, sitting in packaging at home? And since I'm on a buying freeze (a mode I got into while saving for Creative Escape last year, that -- given the economy -- seems to be a permanent habit of mine), I can't just go buy another embellishment. While I'm scrapping, I'm going to organize, as well. But first, I must start with my Hot Spot in the kitchen:

This has been festering for weeks. Mail, Tess's school papers (check out the hutch...that has been multiplying for months), books from the library, magazines (Tennis, anyone?), perhaps a check or two down there somewhere (that would be nice). Let me know if you see anything that is yours...

On the lighter side, I have been working with the SIStv Winter Detox kit to make a fun mini (8x8) album that I hope to post soon. I entered their (snort) Style Star publishing contest for the theme "Spring Green," against my better judgement (I hate contests, and I hate WTP -- Working To Publish -- seems such a waste of my limited scrap time...besides, me? a Style Star? That's a stretch):

Well, it was fun, and I scrapped some amazing photos I took of the Huron River overflowing its banks, an annual event, it seems (we've only lived here 2 springs so far).

Hopefully I'll be back later with pictures of a clean kitchen table and hutch and some scrapped-up goodness.

I am so going to hell.

More rummaging...

...in Florida, of course! Church rummage sale, amen. They take some pride in what they're selling. Now, let's see how these PhotoScape page combos turn out:

Pretty cool, huh? (the PhotoScape program, I mean. I'll get to the frame in a sec...) Too bad it doesn't seem to have an "exit" option -- you have to close the whole program and start over to do a new project. Weird. I'm sure I'm missing something. Took E to find the crop option, so perhaps he can help me with this, too.

The bottom of the frame says "British Make." It's a heavy silver frame, 8.5" x 5" (frame opening is 7.75" x 4.25"). I could not for the life of me figure out how to open it, then found that the bottom of it slides back and the glass and backing slip out (see top photo combo).


Total cost?

25 cents.

I love church rummage sales.

My next find -- one more from the rummage sale, and another from Betty's Stamp Pad (WARNING: dangerously loud and annoying music set up there...lower your volume...and, most of her inventory is hopelessly out of date, as well as ridiculously expensive, but there was a find or two there):

From the rummage sale, a small Cuban cigar box, with the most gorgeous little clasp. I'd like to alter it, but it's almost too beautiful to cover up. Almost.

From Betty's, the wooden tic-tac-toe boards are perfect for altering. She had a really gorgeous sample which I completely forgot to photograph. Oh well, that leaves them open to my individual interpretation.

Cigar box? Another whopping 25 cents.

Tic-tac-toe boards? $3 a pop.

Things I'll remember about our trip...

1. It rained in every. state. on our trip down. Yes, even when we got to Florida:

2. That damn DS. We had to limit Tess's time on it to about 45 minutes-1 hour. Mesmerized.

(yes, I'm aware she's holding the case upside down. She was just getting the game chip out, not reading. Reading she is still doing great at, despite the fact that she brought no books along. She gets car sick, like me).

3. Golf carts are even funner than cars! Especially when Pa lets me drive!! --Ben

4. Dr. Seuss fish at Mermaid's Kitchen, Sanibel Island.

5. Mermaid's Kitchen: where desserts are the only thing worth getting. Seriously, don't eat there. The decor (mermaids!) and their cakes are awesome, but not their $24 shrimp (lunch!!) entree, with only 4 shrimp on the plate, a tiny cup of coleslaw, and a pile of inedible french fries.

6. Tearing into Charlotte Harbor on our friend's father's boat. Took my breath away!

7. The peacefulness of the canal (once we slowed down...)

8. How much Ben loved the ocean and its waves. Add another swimmer to the family!

9. The creativity of my daughter, the Indian Princess:

10. Pelicans dive bombing in formation toward a school of fish in the swim area:

The highest temps reached was 78F. On our last day. Which ended up being Saturday instead of Friday, so we could hit the beach. Finally.

We took 2.5 days to drive down, but made it back in 2 (ugh). On the drive home, we listened to waaaay too much HSM2 dance party music (Ben's favorite: hey batter batter swing, better known as I Don't Dance) and I knit a very yellow sock, which will henceforth be known as my Florida Sock(s). Found out I can turn a heel while in the car, and not get sick.