Making me Happy Right Now!

1. It's Friday!! Woo hoo!
2. There is a chill in the air. (sweater weather, here I come)
3. Looking at a house for $600 tomorrow and trying to remain positive about that!
4. My mom swept the living room last night. (it's those little things)
5. Max singing at the top of his lungs on the way to school this morning while listening to his walkman. Something so cute about a nine year old belting out The Killers at 8:30am and hearing it acapella. "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier"
6. Envisioning a big slice of cheesy pizza touching my lips tonight!
7. The perfect cup of coffee this morning. Yum! (good job crabby dunkin' lady)
8. Getting rid of 6 boxes of crap this morning. The Amvets truck will be rolling by today to pick them up. Just a thousand more boxes to go!
9. This picture.
10. A great night's sleep 2 nights in a row!

What sexy pinup am I?

You're Marilyn Monroe!

Me?? Marilyn? Well, I am flattered.
If you want to figure out what pinup you are....Check it Out!

What Classic Pin-Up Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

dMode

Need this
Want this
Must have this

I so love Depeche Mode. I have loved them since High School and still do. In fact, I still think Dave Gahan is one of the hottest men alive. So sexy, so hot, so yummy. When I was younger, I thought that Andrew Fletcher was the man, it was the red hair. Love those redheads!!
In 1986, I found the color Black and my whole world changed. I turned into that "new wave" chick that LOVED dmode and hated the world. Well, as a 30 something mom, I still think these guys rock and still listen to all their music. I heard last week that they are coming to rock Chicago in November, but *sigh* the tickets I saw were $50-$75!! With the service charges of Ticketbastard that makes tickets about $70-$100. There is no way this single mom can justify that kinda expense, even for Dave.

Heard a new single and it is good. YAY!! So depressing when groups you once loved comes out with music years later and it sucks. So happy for them, so unhappy that I can't see them.

If God has a master plan
That only He understands
I hope it's your eyes He's seeing through

Oh Marty...you're such the poet.

This Week's Meme

As posted on 2peas:
This week [Sept 26th] we are going silly and talking about our quirks.
Things about us that are abnormal, bizarre, crazy, curious, far out, flaky, fly ball, freakish, funky, funny, geeky, kooky, nutty, odd, oddball, off-center, offbeat, outlandish, peculiar, strange, uncommon, unconventional, unusual, way out, weird, AND whacky..WHEW!

10 Weird Facts About Me (only 10?)

1. I don't like my food to touch each other. I am sure that my food is very nice and friendly and could get along just fine but god forbid my gravy runs into my corn....there is no way I would eat that.
2. I save the tips of my fries. When I eat french fries, I eat right down to the tip that I am holding and then leave that small piece on my plate. Not sure why.
3. Hate mice, but have had rodents such as hamsters and guinea pigs as pets.
4. My bed has to be made before I sleep in it.
5. I love burnt Peanut Butter Cookies.
6. When I want my little boy to hurry up, I say, "Come on, Quick like a bunny." I have no idea where that came from.
7. I use the News of the Weird as a news source.
8. I refer to Coke, Pepsi, etc as soda. Everyone I know refers to it as pop and thinks that is odd.
9. I use the British spelling of words. You know...theatre, shoppe, colour, humour. I just like it. And that some people find it annoying amuses me.
10. I don't have cable television. (one of the only people in America besides my parents.) Everyone always asks, "Then, what do you watch?" I reply, "Books", which is a total lie but makes me sound intelligent. And yes, I do have a rabbit ear antennae and no there is no foil on it.

*Bonus..I cover my ears in a scary part of a movie instead of my eyes. The sounds are scarrier than the sights to me.

I would have loved to complete the bonus part of this challenge, but I am in the process of packing up the Scrap room. It is a very sad process. I feel like I am shipping off my friend! wahhhhh. This ensures no scrapping til I get moved so that I am focused and there are no distractions.

Mawidge

Mawidge, the bwessed awwangement, that dweam wiffim a dweam...
-The Princess Bride

Been thinking about that alot lately. I guess as a single 30 something woman, I am expected to. But what I have been thinking about would surprise most people (I think). In this day and age, marriage isn't seeming as appealing as it once was. With the divorce rate so high and so many of my friends miserbaly married, I am wondering....Why do it? Just today alone, I find myself watching Dr. Phil who throws out this scary statistic...1 out of 12 marriages will end within the first 24 months. YIKES! That is one flippin' frightening statistic! I knew the divorce rate was high, but less than 24 months...that is insane. I really know very few people who are "happily married" or at least pretend to be. You know, the people you see at a party that still seem to be in love, shooting each other little glances across the crowded room. Where are those people?
I was talking to my buddy Eric a couple weeks ago and commenting about how hard it is to date in your 30s. He had his usual words of wisdom, "Of course it is, every guy around your age is now either divorced or never married. You don't want the divorced guy because he is either bitter about marriage now and will never do it again, or the reason he is divorced. You don't want the never married guy because there is a reason for that." As a hopeless romantic, who has never married, I try to come to the rescue of marriage quoting all the cliches, like soul mates, someone to grow old with...."Wuv, True Wuv!!!" What about that? Is it wrong to think that maybe things actually do work out when and if you marry? Aren't there any people who are still truly in love 30 years later?
As a 30 something, I have recently found myself watching Sex and the City. This is a first run through for me because I am one of the only people in America without cable television. The cave just isn't wired for it. I find myself looking at these girls thinking, why are they dressed like that and their lifestyle does not seem that appealing either. Now mind you, I am only on season two, so if anyone gets married later in season 15 or something, don't ruin it, I'm not that far. It probably should appeal to me as a 30 something woman who is self confident, but it truly doesn't. Nor does an unhappy marriage.
Recently, when I was at the Scrapfest, I did notice that a couple of the instructors did refer to their husbands in high regard. Some even went so far as to call them their best friend. I found it so touching and wonderful that it gave me a beacon of hope. I also went to one of the nicest weddings I have ever attended last weekend for my cousin Gina and her new husband Shannon and again, I was given a small beacon. It was so nice to go to a wedding where people aren't secretly thinking, myself included, that this just ain't gonna last. Or where the bride just looks so miserably crabby and angry at the groom you are sure she will kill him on the honeymoon.
I actually saw Love, True Love!!
I just hope and pray that there really is such a thing, that marriage is still held in high regard to some people out there and that people really can be happy after 50 years of marriage.....I have seen Love and it looks something like this...

Meme #11

As posted from 2peas, this week's challenge:

My 10 Scrapbook Mantras

1. Buy Less, Scrap More - I think I delight in the shopping for scrap supplies more than actually scrapping lately, so I have put the breaks on the shopping. I have plenty to use at home already.
2. Use it or Lose it - Kinda goes with #1, if I don't use it, I need to give it away. There are supplies I have bought (a CM oval cutter) that I never even cracked open! Those things need to be purged and passed to a loving home. I have done this with a lot of stuff already, but there is always more should it go untouched.
3. Less is More - Every page doesn't need to cost me $20. Pages can be simply beautiful without adding the kitchen sink.
4. Scrap for Those Who Deserve the Scrap - I need to reserve the scrap talent for the people who truly appreciate it as opposed to the people I think should love it. Let's face it, my brothers just don't give a scrap!
5. If I think it looks good, It Does! - Better stop looking at magazines and idea books as the guide to what is good, everybody scraps to the beat of their own drummer.
6. Never Re-Do - Sometimes if I have a double print that I have kept, I will scrap again, but never dismantle and redo. Do I really have time for that??
7. Life always overrides Scrappin' - Unfortunately, there are just not enough hours in the day to scrap as much as I want. It is upsetting when you have this killer idea and you are just jonesing to get your hands on some paper but there are people I love who deserve that time way more than my photos and supplies. Some day the little boy won't want to ride bikes with his dear old mother and then I can scrap til my hearts content.
8. Scraps Happen - I really need to use up some of the scraps that I have or get rid of them. I hate to throw anything away, so this one is hard. Very hard.
9. More than One - I almost always use more than one photo per LO. It is just not practical to use only one and I generally have more than one great photo for the same idea or event. If I only use one, then all the rest just stay in the boxes.
10. More ME - I really need to put more ME into my scrapbooks. I almost never have my picture taken and really never scrapbook myself. That is so flippin' bad. Need more pictures of me, so I can scrapbook myself.

i *heart* this guy

There are people who come into your life for a reason and he is one of them.
When I was 19, I thought it was a good time to tell my parents what I really wanted to do in life and change majors, schools and completely upset my family. I went to Columbia College to persue my dream of being a star and knew no one. It was very tough on me, going to a school downtown, all alone, not knowing a soul. I am a friendly enough person, but I worried about fitting in, being talented enough, finding and making friends. The second day at school I started my Improv class with my all time favorite teacher Marty De Maat, a man who taught me more about theater and life than anyone, (He was like a hysterically funny philosopher) and I met Eric. He was funny right from that first day and super nice. We were instant friends from that very day.
In the past 14 years that we have been friends, my life has changed constantly but one thing always remained the same, Eric. If I ever needed anyone, he was always there. Through bad times and great, he was always there.

He is kind and generous.
He tells the best stories and has by far the wackiest life.
He is caring and reliable.
He is one the smartest men I know.
He can be a guy's guy and a girl's guy (if that makes any sense?).
He can cook and fix a car.
He is not judgemental and the best listener I know.

I so love this man and am so lucky to have him!

Projects from Scrapfest

These are the projects from the Mall of America last weekend for Scrapfest. They are all labeled by Vendor. Enjoy!!

Meme Challenge #10

Another meme challenge was posted on 2peas today:

10 Memories from your School Years
(this could be embarassing)

1. In kindergarten....I was in a daycare many hours every day and one day this older girl gave me one of those "fortune tellers" that you make with the colors on the outside numbers on the inside. You know..."pick a color, ok, pick a number...1-2-3...pick a number...." then you lift the flap and read it. Well, I was so excited to get one as I had finally figured out how to make the thing open and close, so when I got home I tried it out right away on my mother. Well, being a kindergartner, I couldn't read, so I had to have her read her own fortune. My mother read it and I was sent to my room. Apparently the little piece of paper contained naughty words....I couldn't even read!!
2. In 5th grade....I had a birthday party and we rented the Thriller video (which included the making of Thriller rockumentary) and acted out the video. Taking turns with who got to be Michael.
3. In 3rd grade...we had a mock election to learn about voting and politics. I had to be the campaign manager to get people to vote for the beagle as the top dog. Very silly, but memorable.
4. In high school....We would make up theme days to keep things interesting. One day was brown knee hi sock day, one day was wear gloves day and then there was Robert Smiths' 40th Birthday so we wore party hats and badges. Fun and silly.
5. In 4th grade...my teacher, Mrs. Wermich (the worm) used to have a funny expression for people who would state a definition of a word using the actual word. Example: silence is when it is silent and not noisy. She would say crack-a-lack is crack-a-lack.
6. In grade school....my mom used to make my sister and I wear moon boots instead of cool snow boots. Only the boys wore moon boots....and us, total dorks. Everyone called me frankenstein.
   
7. In high school....I got an infraction because I got caught in the Little Theater with my friend, Jill, laying on the stage singing and talking to hear our echo. We were supposed to be in the library for study.
8. In sophmore year...my lab partner, Kristin Canino, while pointing to our frogs stomach, pointed too hard and flicked it across the room. When our teacher walked by she thought it was too strange that our frog was missing it.
9. Every year....I would dread the first day of school because the teachers were always mispronouncing my name, they would call....Simon, Sim-one, Sim-on, Si-mon....it was pathetic, my name is phonetically simple....Simone, short i, silent e, come on!!!
10. Freshman year....Spanish class, my teacher was asking translations, she would say something in Spanish and we would raise our hands when we knew the translation. She said, "Yo tengo mucho hambre". I raised my hand, she called on me, I said, "I have many men." Got quite a laugh, even from the teacher.

There are actually so many memories from school and it is hard to actually decide where to go with the list. I can make a whole scrapbook for each of my years in high school, probably wouldn't include very many photos because I never took that many, but would be a book load of crazy 80s memories.

Scrapfest in Review

First of all, lemme say that the primary reason I wanted to go to Scrapfest was that I had heard so many wonderful things from gals that had gone in prior years. Also, when I looked over the list of vendors it blew me away, so I thought it must be grrrrr-eat! Well, sometimes when you hype yourself up like that, you are only setting yourself up for disappointment.
My gal, Carol and I went together and that alone was fun. I don't get alot of girl, scrapbooking time, so that part was super fun. We flew to MN due to the outrageous gas prices these days. Carol was kind enough to use her frequent flyer miles and get us there in an hour and a half as opposed to 7 hours in the car. Thanks again Carol!!!
When we got to the Mall of America, I was blewn away by the size of the mall. It is humungous! I thought Woodfield Mall was big! But then, I was shocked to see the classes were right in the middle of the mall!!! Crazy! There were people just walking around, shopping, wondering what the hell these ladies were doing with paper and hammers.......musta been weird to a non-scrapbooker. I thought it was weird though too, while I was in class in front of the Macy's I couldn't help but feel like I was on display. Here is what the classes looked like in the mall.

The Mall itself was pretty cool. Award for the most unique shop....PB Loco. A peanut butter sandwich store. I couldn't help but be curious. I mean, how many different types of pb are there besides smooth and crunchy? Well, apparently, there were seven different types.....even Curry Peanut Butter. We ate lunch there on Saturday and the Cina Nilla, I have to say, was delicious as the nice teen promised. It was Cinnamon Raisin peanut butter, vanilla cream cheese, caramel and sliced apples, all toasted. Yummy! And their cookies were also so sweet and tasty. Also, the colors in the store were very KI Memories and I loved that too!!

The mall was set up with about 20 different Make and Take projects from all the vendors. Some vendors brought some great samples and others did not. Disappointment. Plus, the lines to do the projects were outrageous. I had to wait about 35 minutes for one of them. There really needs to be a better system! I have come up with a better idea and will happily pass it on to the Big 'A' for a nominal fee. Most of the projects were pretty cute, some cheaper than I expected. Also, would have been so less crowded had each vendor actually sold something. More people would shop while others Made and Took. For one of the projects, I was standing in line about 15 minutes when I just knew I had to pee. I know as an adult I should be better able to predict these things, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. So I went in search of a potty, fast. Unfortunately, I had to go all the way into Bloomingdale and when I returned back in line with Carol, the women almost chewed me up. They were pissed! You would think we could all just be a little nicer.....it is SCRAPBOOKING!!!

I was lucky enough and brave enough to meet quite a few famous faces:

Shannon Tidwell, Garden Girl and KI designer

I said to Carol, "You know who lives in Minnesota??? Cathy Zielske!!!" Saw her in front of the Old Navy with Margie Scherschligt...BONUS! I got up the courage I was lacking at CHA and met her. She is as cool as I thought. Down to earth, friendly and Margie is the most smiley friendly gal from Minnesota. When I was off buying little Max something at the Lego store, I ran into Cathy again and we chatted briefly about the pain in the neck legos really are, blah blah mom stuff. So cool!

I saw Sandy Genovese at the Mrs. Grossman booth. She was also teaching classes, but I didn't take any of those.

Heidi Grace was hanging out at her booth on Saturday and she is so nice. Her new line is so different than the last, very cute papers with raised hearts. Got some this weekend.

Didn't get to see Melody Ross, but I did see Christy Tomlinson. I ran into her after her Chatterbox class. I didn't get into any of those because they were booked by the time I registered. I was sweating in Disney that week! Damn!

This is Michelle Hill from Lil Davis and she is like my long lost sister. Oh wait, my sisters are nothing like me....She is like the sister I always wanted! She has 4 kids (can you believe that??) and she is te happiest person I have met in years. So nice, so girly, so my new pretend best friend. I took her class, It's All About Me mini book class.

This is Jen Maguire. I was reading the Designing with Paper Book on the way out to Minnesota and then Sunday, right before we left, there she was!! She is a designer for Hero Arts, Autumn Leaves and a Garden Girl. Very talented!! (and super cute!!)
This is Carol, me and Starbucks. This was the last day. We went to the mall in hopes to get to the few projects we didn't have time for in one hour. It worked out OK.

In front of the Big 'A' in Mall of America. Didn't seem any bigger than the one here and the lady who checked me out on Friday, who was also the store manager, was a total wanker! Horrible customer service!! I asked another girl Friday how much the new Rob and Bob paper was and I got "I have no idea." That was it. No other answer. Good grief, no wonder I only spent $13!


At the EK Success booth, they were handing out these pom poms to promote their new Varisty line of stickers. I of course went crazy with them. Perfect photo opp!

I don't think it was overall worth a trip all the way to MOA and I don't think we will go next year. But, it is so awesome to meet those girls and just get away. I barely did any regular shopping which was a shame because there is no sales tax on clothes there but I had fun with Carol. I think it could (should) be better, they have a good basic idea, but it could be improved on easily and made better. I also think the classes or some of them have to be longer than 45 minutes. That was nuts! You pay $20, got $7 in product and 30 minutes of instruction....there should be more!! The Chatterbox classes were chock full of goodies but the classes I took weren't...figures. I wish that some of those classes were held at some of the Expos around here! Oh wait, I just heard that CKU is coming to Chicago....but that's a whole other ball o' drama!!! Do I want to deal with that??
**I will take pictures of some of the projects and post those tomorrow**

While I was away...

Something way bad happened.
While I was at MOA Scrapfest (more on that with photos in my next post), there was craziness back here at home. My little Max is on an outdoor soccer team every spring and fall for the past 4 years and he loves the sport very much. It is his only activity really and definitely the only sport he truly enjoys playing. He keeps telling me he is going to be a professional soccer player and I keep telling him that requires something called...practice. For the past couple seasons, Max's dad has chipped in as the assistant coach and most of the kids are from Max's school. The coach is really good about trying to get the same kids each season because they know each other and usually he tried for kids from the same school so they are even closer. Well, this season we have moved to the 4th and 5th grade section so we have a few new faces. It's nice. New friends, new kids. We had our first practice last Wednesday and I noticed right away that I heard a name that I only heard when Max complained about school. A name that was never muttered without a complaint or some story. In fact, this is the same child who had been picking on Max last year during school that warranted a school visit from me! I had never up until this point even seen this child, but I knew him. I thought it could be trouble, mother's instinct, but I figured that with Max's dad, Alex, there....what could happen? Alex is a police sergeant and really very strict with the kids but they love him. Practice went smoothly, no problems.
I left on Friday, so I missed the first soccer game and that alone gave me such guilt that I knew someone would be getting something special from the Lego store at MOA. Well, on Saturday afternoon I got a call from Alex that something bad had happened at the soccer game..."Max was jumped". I said, "what did you say?" to which he repeated, "Max was jumped." I was shocked and really didn't understand until I heard the story.
Apparently, before the game started, the boys were all warming up and dribbling soccer balls around, pretty typical. Max, being Max, ran up behind this boy and dribbled the ball away from him. As he ran away with the ball, this boy ran up behind him, tackled him to the ground and began strangling him. Then he started punching him in the head and scratching him, just wailing on the kid. As this happened, Alex was across the field getting ready to start the game and saw it happening, he was running across the field to try and save lil' Max. Before he reached the boys, this little boys own father had reached them and socked this kid in the head to get him off Max. Now, mind you all this is going on in the middle of a soccer field with at least 20 nine and ten year olds around and all their parents. Max was bleeding from wear he had been scratched pretty deeply and throwing up. Not a pretty sight, I hear. The other boy was taken by his father and left.
Being Max and hoping for that soccer career, he insisted on playing, of course. So he played a little. Alex wanted him to anyway, just to get his mind on something else. It was pretty traumatic, Max is really upset about it and should be. Even Alex, who is usually the "Aw, he'll shake it off" parent is really affected by this. We got calls from parents that weren't even there who heard how horrid it was to witness.
I am actually glad that I wasn't there, I don't think I would have been as calm as Alex was. Plus, just hearing about it and dealing with the aftermath has really affected me. I feel so bad for my Max, he just keeps saying "I got hurt, my feelings hurt" and it just breaks my heart. But, I also feel bad for this other boy. What goes on with a child that makes them act that violently? And Alex told me he wasn't even remorseful after his father hit him and pulled him away, he was still filled with rage. This poor child. This poor family.
Max looks like he got beat. Bruises in the shape of fingerprints on his neck. Deep scratches all around his face and neck, not a pretty sight. (good thing pictures were last week)
I also had to go to the school this morning because he is in Max's grade at school to make sure that they keep an eye on them. The recess situation at school is not the best and so many bad things happen at recess to begin with. The principal told me that this child is already flagged and they keep a very close eye on him, "they have to." (how sad)
I am not sure what will happen with soccer, the coach isn't sure how these things are handled. I know he talked to one person from the league and she told him "they can't just kick kids off teams". Alex has said that if this child is allowed to stay, Max will not be on the team, which is even worse. That would really surprise me though. Plus, one of the moms told me that the parents usually pull this child out of activities once he is misbehaving, it's their solution.
Just so sad these things happen. I don't want Max to take all the anger he has toward this child and misdirect it to "become" like this child. Don't really know how to make things right with this one. Just do the mom thing, I guess. And I bought him that crazy diablo he wanted.
My complete review and photos of Scrapfest in my next post....

Picture Day

As a scrapbooker, photographer, mom, I should love picture day. I should look forward to picture day. But over the past few years, I have learned that Picture Day is not all it is cracked up to be. First of all, we expect as moms that this day poses the likelihood that we will be receiving a beautiful photo of our beloved children in four to six weeks which we can proudly display on our mantles. We also hope that the time we spend trying to find the “perfect shirt” will pay off by giving us a picture of our children in new clean clothing. We also hope that the picture will be suitable to keep tucked away in our wallets just waiting to be shown to every long lost friend we may run into at the Target.
These things rarely happen.
The pictures are usually not very good. The clothing you scoured the earth to find never stays clean long enough to get the picture taken and young children are just not as cooperative as you think when you bring in an adult they have never seen before with a camera. I learned this very quickly a couple years ago when I got a cute picture of my son with an extremely dirty shirt. And last year, when he had clean clothes, but his smirk was one I had never seen before and hope not to see again. (wanted to post picture, but apparently the smirk has taken down the program)
He is not your average child, a quality on most days I find endearing. But how many children come home the day before picture day and demand teeth whitening? How many 9 year olds demand to wear a shirt and tie? This is my son. This was my headache this morning. And to make matters worse, he informs me after finding a shirt and tie, that pictures are not being taken until after gym class. Well, it is still quite warm here, about 82 today and there was no way I was sending him to school in a shirt and tie to run around in during gym class. I thought maybe shorts and the shirt? Sure, he would look like the lead singer of AC/DC, but it would be a look that would be remembered. I spoke with the teacher to find out if he could possibly “change” into his picture clothes. Well, there was no time for that and besides not only were the pictures taken right after gym but not until after lunch and two recesses. I was given the standard “if you don’t like the pictures you can retake them in 3 weeks.” So he wore shorts and a polo shirt. (the back-up outfit) And he was not happy.
I asked little Max immediately upon picking him up how pictures were, he told me, “I was pretty sweaty after flag football and you aren’t going to like them.” Last year, we kept the stupid smirk picture to teach him a lesson. Maybe enough people would laugh at the picture, we would never see it again. Looks like that lesson failed. Who’s teaching whom??
BTW...that nice empty space at the top of my blog is where my new title picture is supposed to go, but I still haven't figured out how or how to put it back to the way it was. So, there sits the open space to remind me every day what a HTML failure I am.....ahhhhh.

Scrapfest 2005

Going to Mall of America this weekend with my buddy Carol. We will be attending Scrapfest. I had heard some great things about it until last week. Then, as always, everyone comes out of the woodwork to say it is OK. Why couldn't they have told me this back in July before I got the ticket?
We are flying to Minnesota thanks to Carol's frequent flyer miles and the extremely high price of gas. I am signed up for three classes, so at the least I will be making something this weekend. Don't remember what those classes are, but I do remember that I couldn't get into a few of the classes I wanted because registration started while I was enjoying my Disney vacation and I couldn't for the life of me find internet access at the happy place on earth. In Vegas, there was an internet cafe on every corner, at Disney...nowhere.
There is promise of some scrapbooking celebs like Melody Ross and Christy Tomlinson from Chatterbox. I want to bring my pink trunk, just so that I can be remember as "the girl that won the pink trunk." Does that make me some sort of celebrity? lol. I also know there will be a ton of great companies there such as American Crafts and Autumn Leaves. There is promise of great make and takes, just hope they don't get cheap on us and start charging for all of them. I paid my $10, I want my free make and takes. I am also going to pick up the new Scenic Route Papers I saw at the Big 'A' last weekend, they scream fall. Now all I need are some great pumpkin photos. (I mean great photos, not photos of the great pumpkin)
Coming back Monday with actual projects to post!! Whoopee! I may actually scrap, stand back....

The list may kill me!

Noticing how I haven't posted any scrap work lately and that is just sad. I think I have shaken my scrapper's block, now it is just a matter of finding time! I have actually been working on a scrapbook for my mom with the pictures from Disney, but the size (8.5x11) is really challenging me. Why have I changed sizes, you ask? Well, I thought that the change might challenge me in a great way and possibly bring out a whole new side of me. So far, no. But there are still so many pictures. Also, I was for a time working on the cards for that card swap. As with every great project, I had to start with a few ideas, make them and then get opinions. I have to have prototypes before I settle on just one. This was the proto I went with, it was extremely labor intensive, but I was so worried about being WOW enough that I put in the extra time cutting out each individual snowman. Plus, when I made them, I actually lowered the men so they aren't floating on the card. Glad now that the mini catalog is out I can finally post this! Makes it look like I have been doing something scrappy.

Also, school is back in full force. I unfortunately, did not get the quality or quantity of back to school pictures I wanted, but that is what happens after years of having a photo crazy mom chasing you around, eventually they say no. Upsetting, but I'll get over it. With school in full force now, my homework is really cutting into any sort of me time I may have once had.
Soccer is starting next week, can't wait. Whole new slew of pictures and I have the zoom now, so I am expecting great things this season. From the team as well.
Went and saw The Gipsy Kings Tuesday night at Ravinia. They were great and I almost forgot what it was like to go out in the middle of the week. A date night on a Tuesday? Wow!

Other things on my mind and my agenda:

1. Find a place. (bought myself another month, but I know how fast that goes)
2. Go visit my friend Carol and get my Bazzill Swatch Box.
3. Call my nephew and wish him a Happy 13th Birthday.
4. By abovementioned nephew a Tshirt with attitude and a Target gift card.
5. Get my act together with Stampin' Up and book that damn party already.
6. Figure out how to change my blog and add the new title banner I actually made, but can't figure out this html thing.
7. Put all the crap in the garage that didn't sell at the garage sale on Craig's List.
8. Figure out what the hell I am going to do at work so that I maintain my sanity as well as get all this work done. (workload has doubled since my coworker left)
9. Praying for the people in the south, the news is heartbreaking these days, I get so misty when I hear the personal stories.
10. Figure out what I am doing for the holiday weekend? No kids, long weekend....I'm thinking.....a whole lot of nothing, Yippeee!!!!
11. Plan next weekend, when I will be at Scrapfest at the Mall of America.
12. Hopefully do some sort of Scrapbooking. As my friend said when I expressed wanting to scrap, "if you don't, you will get crappy" Need that on a Tshirt, Get Scrappy or Get Crappy.

Need to buy some sort of planner or something. Perhaps make something??? Plus, continue to pack! Feeling very overwhelmed and stressed these days. Used to be able to come to work and get away from it all, but now it has infected the office. I am completely hiding this weekend and regrouping. Need to chill out.