Where's an exterminator when you need one?

It seems as if the flu bug has bitten at our house. Sweet Sadie seems to finally be feeling better, but Breanna came home from school complaining that her stomach and her *chest* hurt. Please please PLEASE tell me we won't have any pneumonia for Christmas...

Feeling mighty uninspired for scrapping right now, but I've got to get my groove on and finish out my Sizzix contract. It just feels so *awkward* with the new pc dt in place, and it being full of the fab and famous. Part of me just wishes they'd say they don't need me anymore (they don't) because I feel like 5 projects plus instructions is alot of work to do a month...that they very likely may never use. *Sigh**** Does this feeling of inadequacy ever get better? Maybe if I won HOF...*SNORT* bwaa haa haa haa

I did this funky lo with uncomfortably close shots of Josh crossing his eyes. I kinda like it, but I'm not sure anyone else does. OH WELL. When did I start scrapping for other people?

Well, Sadie wants attention AGAIN...I am so not getting anything done. Does Santa still come if he can't walk from one end of the room to the other? Maybe some elves will help clear a path to the tree...

A "Baby Bank," a sour note, a NEW camera!...(and a wee bit of buyer's remorse...)

My dear Sadie is an interesting child. At two years old, her favorite snacks appear to be smoked almonds....and spare change. Yep, spare change. When I said that to my mom I had to repeat it 3 times before she realized that I was talking about good old American money. Apparently, dear daughter must have ingested some (see turkey post) because today dh noticed a penny and a dime in the potty along with yesterday's leftovers. (yes, you can say ewwwwww.) I am SERIOUSLY hoping that there is no more left in there...

I picked up my Nikon D-50 today!!! I'm excited to try her out, but I have to purchase a memory card first. (Another $100, and me already spending so much on myself.) I'm actually feeling anxious and a little guilty for spending SO MUCH MONEY on me when there is so much we need to do around here...and so little money month to month. Maybe some great Christmas pics of the kids will clear that remorse right up....

OK, so the lens my camera came with doesn't seem to be the lens of choice. I looked up Quantaray lenses on the internet and found people saying all sorts of bad things! I talked to the sales guy, and he says I can try it for a month and see what I think, but that he likes this particular lens as opposed to the Nikor one that's comparable (and 50 more.) PLUS, this lens does macro and the other one doesn't. I REALLY wish I knew more...

DH and I had 2 performances this weekend with Accabella. It went alright, but something was rotten in Denmark...One keychange in one song went HORRIBLY wrong (uggh) and SOMEONE keeps missing some key notes on some ending chords. I know who...but I'm not naming names. ;) Here's hoping that the rest of the performances go better. The majority of them are church parties, which I hate for the most part, due to kids running all over and half the audience not being able to hear. Still, I love the music, so what can ya do?

Thanks for dropping by...

Black friday, a migraine, and a new camera!

Dear hubby and I went out and did the Black Friday thing this year. Overall it was really disappointing! The sales just weren't all that exciting, (except maybe for a $400 laptop at WALMART...and you can't PAY me $400 to go there on Black Friday.) The sale I always look forward to the most is at Roberts (a local craft/scrap store.) This year? NADA! Nothing! NO super deals! I'm gonna write a letter....

After dh and I shopped, I went shopping at the outlet stores with sis. Got some great deals at the Old Navy Outlet, but by the time we were done I had a migraine in the making. Got home and went straight to bed. Didn't get to Mom's to work on heritage album. *sigh* Missed out on Thanksgiving leftovers!

Saturday we went to Inkley's and ORDERED MY CAMERA! 'Bout had a heartattack watching dh write a check out for $700 (which was a good deal for my digital SLR). I kept trying to talk myself out of it, but dh was determined. (He's a sucker for a bargain.) Anyway, they were out of stock but it will be here Thursday. Now, how to tell the children Santa's not coming this year....(LOL...just kidding!)

What did you think about the sales? Good, bad, uninteresting?

Tofurkey, anyone?

(That word is seriously fun to say.) I really want to know if anyone has tried this...anyone who also remembers what the real thing tastes like. It's just too bizzarre a concept for me to wrap my brain around.

So...going to Mom's today for Thanksgiving dinner. I am in charge of the PEAS and the JELLO. I'm going to try to make this strange raspberry/pretzel/cream cheese thing I had once. Only problem is, apparently that is the JELLO concoction of choice here in the JELLO capital of the world because dear hubby is out and about desperately trying to find frozen raspberries. No luck at Smith's or Albertsons. I just sent him to Wild Oats...perhaps there are some frozen raspberries next to the Tofurkey. No lectures about last minute please. I only knew I was bringing the JELLO two days ago. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

In other news, we are probably going to see a movie with the kids today. I really want to see Harry Potter, but I'm concerned that it will be too much for the younger three kids, and my oldest DD is with her aunt. I'm not sure I can sit through Chicken Little and keep my sanity. Generally speaking, I'm alright with the animation thing, but Madagascar seriously pushed the limits of my patience and to me Chicken Little looks about the same. Sigh...the things I'll do for these kids....

I've discovered doing heritage pages is HARD! I want them to be elaborate and shabby and have lots of cool stuff...but the fact is we don't have the time or the supplies. The results are certainly better than the magnetic album the photos were in previously, but it leaves me unsatisfied and strangely afraid that someone will see it and I'll have to explain myself. "I would have done this and this and this, but we didn't have time..." or "This looks NOTHING like what I normally do!" Weird. And the results are nothing like my current style or ability. I'm finding that I don't enjoy scrapping just to scrap...it needs to be "good" meaning "publishable" or at least something I won't be afraid to post in my gallery. Sheesh...when did I get so anal?

Have some tofurkey on me!

We have turkey all year round....

Sadie is a little turkey! Gave me quite the scare last night, and I'm still not entirely sure there's not a penny or something residing happily in her stomach. She ate and drank afterwards, so I feel fairly confident that there isn't anything STUCK anywhere. That kid.....

She has decided that she doesn't want to sleep in her bed anymore...she'd rather sleep with her brother. I'm sure that the reason for this is that she can't get easily in and out of HER bed. We finally relented, because the child can scream for hours on end and it just wasn't worth it. It's obvious she's the baby of the family. Lucky for her she's so stinking cute!

Schedule for today...head out to mom's to work on album. I have SO much to do around here (it's the worst mess it's ever been, which is saying ALOT) and it's rare that I have a day off of work, but the stupid thing has to be done. Wish me luck and lots of creative vibes...I need to get this finished today so I can focus on other things.

Josh's joke of the week: What kind of bee makes milk? A BOOBEE!

(note: dh is not at all pleased Josh finds this so funny and shareable.)

Later....

The fat lady sang and boy is she off key...

Well, I'm not surprised but still a little blue. The winners were announced today, and..you guessed it..close but no cigar. Still, the gals that won turned in amazing work...I truly feel they deserve it. Congrats Leora and Kenna! Here's one of my lo's from the last round... I had SUCH a hard time with this challenge (to use red, orange and blue.) Still, I like how it turned out.

Now that the contest is over, I've got to concentrate on my Provo Craft projects. My contract isn't up until mid March, and the jury is still out on if I want to reapply. The compensation is AWESOME, but I know that all the same girls getting all the great gigs will be all over this like white on rice...so do I really want to set myself up for another big letdown? AND...it seems that more and more people are submitting for everything...the Cactus Pink call had over 500 entries....for a company that hadn't even debuted yet! Yikes what lousy odds! (When I go to Vegas I don't even gamble, that's how much I dislike losing :) ) You know that frog in the cream barrell that paddled until he made butter? Sadistic little bugger.

OH CRAP! I think Sadie just swallowed a coin. More later...

Well, today is the day that I hear about RMH....again, not holding my breath but still...it would be NICE! Oh well, if it doesn't happen, back to the drawing board I go...

Speaking of scrapping...my mom has all these pictures from my great aunt that she wants to compile into a scrapbook....tomorrow. I am going to spend all day there, but I KNOW that it's going to take more than one day to get it done. Thing is, my great aunt is in her 90's...so I understand the push to finish it. I just don't like doing things half-baked. It's going to HAVE to be really simple. SO...if any of you out there in cyberland have a link to a heritage album that is simple yet really well done, I'd love to see it. There might even be a rak involved....;)

GUESS WHAT????? I get my camera! Whoo hooo! It's going to be a year's worth of presents all rolled into one but it's worth it! I'm still torn between the Nikkon and the Rebel...if I go for the Nikon d-50, I won't spend as much, but that new rebel.........*sigh*. I drool more over that thing than People's Sexiest Man Alive issue. What's a girl to do? I borrowed my neighbors digital camera for some projects (a sony) and I fell in love with the ease of plugging in and printing out. (The time lag on that thing about killed me though!) I can't wait...be prepared to be totally bombarded with pictures when I get it.

TTFN...and thanks for visiting!

Jumping on the blog wagon...

I fully realize that there's not that much so terribly interesting about ME...but this looks like fun anyway :). Where to begin?

Basic Facts:

Mom to 4
Pre-K teacher
Scrapper (wannabee)
Sci-Fi Fan
Chocoholic
Avid Reader
Alternative music junkie
Singer and bell ringer (my geek quotient just rose even higher...)
????

Can't say too much has happened today. Still waiting for results....I'm in the final five of the top miner's contest at Rocky Mountain Hobbies, and looking at the other gals entries I know I'm sunk. I'm pretty good at doing decently consistent lo's, but I lack that elusive WOW factor. I'm excited for whomever gets the DT nod, but sad that I am once again "close but no cigar." They say it aint over until the fat lady sings, but I sang twice yesterday so it's about as over as it can get. :D

It all makes me wonder why I care so much about being "validated" in this way. Scrapbooking was originally concieved as a way to preserve photos and memories...but for me it feels like one big contest...one long road on the way to being "good enough." And, when I think I've finally got some thing good enough to be publishable, the styles change so fast that I'm "five minutes ago." Doesn't help much that I've made some good friends online who have had a lot of success this way. It sounds so hollow when they tell me something is "awesome," and then I look at their latest creation and realize how average I am. I know they are sincere...I am just being a twit is all.

I am so grateful to Heidi for taking a chance on an unknown and putting me on her DT. I think her site will really go places once people start catching on to her great kits. I hope I can do them justice. Here's a pic of the terrific kit I got to use this month. Check out the kits at papermadememories.com.

I'm rambling now, and the likelyhood that this will be read is minimal anyway. Kind of fun to whine when no one is listening. Ciao for now...