Thursday, February 28, 2008

2 LOs and FREEBIES!

So I finished my 1st ADSR LO! I also managed to make it work for April Staker's T2T Contest! Hee-hee! Nothing like killing two birds with 1 stone... I also got another My Fives LO done this morning. Was hoping to get 2, but dishes, dinner, and kids made other plans! LOL I've got a boatload of uploading to get done tonight/tomorrow. Some of my CT LOs may not get uploaded to galleries until the weekend...

Title: Troublesome Twosome
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Joshua Mini Kit by April Staker.
Breadtag and reversed staple (used x3) from the Close It Commercial Use Pack by Heather Manning Designs.
Peach flower from the Tranquill kit by Flutterby Designs of Digital Scrap Garden.
Script run on photos: In The News by Heather Manning Designs.
Photos by me.
Fonts: Times New Roman; GG Herb Script

LO completes the ADSR3 #1 challenge and April Staker's T2T contest.
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Title: 5 Places I want to Travel To
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Simply Flourishing kit by Bratty Sisters Designs available at Digital Scrap Garden.
Fonts: Elegant

LO completes challenge 24 of 50 from the My Fives Challenges at DD.
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I also have 3 QPs to share, but don't have previews to share here. You can check them out at Digital Scrap Garden if you want.

Links removed - see post for 3/21

I have to run for work. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Testy Tuesday...

I'm beginning to think my car issues are contagious... I found out Sunday that my sister & BIL put over $700 in parts into their truck this past weekend, and it still won't start. Then this morning I get to work, and there's a message from the other woman in the office that HER car won't start... She tried charging the battery, and it won't even hold a charge. YIKES!!!
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I got 1 more LO and a QP done yesterday. I was hoping to get so much more done, but I just wasn't in the mood. Dangerous considering how much more I want/need to get done before March 1st. I did get 2 more 5's LOs done this morning as well though...

Title: My Purple Girl
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the My Purple Valentine kit by Doodle Designs available at Digital Scrap Garden.
Script run on photo: Violet Mist by Heather Manning Designs.
Photo by my dad.
Fonts: CK Boxed In; CK Brownie

(I also created a QP of this page... watch DSG for it!)
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Title: 5 Things I Can Cook
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from Julie Lipgloss kit by Kristine of WenchdGrafix.
Fonts: Hootie!

LO completes challenge 23 of 50 from the My Fives Challenges at DD.
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Title: 5 Things I Look for in Friends
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from The Luv Bug kit by Kristmess available at Gotta Pixel.
Fonts: Jane Austen

LO completes challenge 36 of 50 from the My Fives Challenges at DD.
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Gotta' run before the boss gets back from lunch! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Treasure-filled Weekend!

Did you all have fun joining the Treasure Hunt?! If not you missed out on some great goodies! Of the 45 or so designers who participated I only knew or worked with the designs of 6 of them previously! There were some hiccups, but honestly with the size of the digi world I wasn't surprised... Some of the sites had trouble with bandwidth 'cause - jeez, let's think about this - hundreds of people were trying to access them at the same time! LOL
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Friday afternoon I called the mechanic who's had the car... He'd tried switching out several parts he had on hand to see if they could get it going, but it will only fire on 2 cylinders - period, end of story. He's only put a little over an hr into it, but electronics are not his specialty. At this point it boils down to: the additional cost of replacing the computer to see if that fixes the issue... the additional cost of several hours of chasing wires to see if they can find further corrosion causing the issue... or, calling it quits. I think we're just going to try to sell the car for parts, and find something else to at least keep me going 'til better weather when there is a little more $$ coming in. It makes me sick when I think about how much we invested into the damn thing in the last 2 months...
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I didn't get any LOs done Friday night or Saturday afternoon due to the hunt. I also didn't manage to stay up for the ADSR Kickoff chat because Brenden refused to go to sleep until I did, and he was acting like a hooligan. They do have the first ADSR challenge posted though, and I have a pretty good idea what I'm going to do for it.

Saturday, Brenden started asking for Wendy's at 7:30am when he woke up! LOL So after work we headed there for lunch, and ran into my sister and her family. We ended up nabbing Krys for the night. While Mike was on the pc yesterday she and I went through my remaining "My Fives" list so I have the majority of the lists completed - just need to do the LOs... Not sure if my CT designers will be happy to have so many LOs from these challenges though! LOL
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I did finish these yesterday...

Title: Two Hearts
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from The Luv Bug kit by Kristmess available at Gotta Pixel.
Photos by ? (These are my husband's aunt and uncle, and the wedding was before I joined the family.)
Fonts: CK Limerick
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Title: 5 Reasons I Love the Rain
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers from the Sethro Tull kit by Rachel Martin available at Pickelberrypop.
Elements from the Little Man Ike kit by Rachel Martin available at Pickelberrypop.
Fonts: CK Limerick
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And, I did this this morning for the T2T LO contest at DST. I spent well over 2 hrs on this LO this morning - which I NEVER do with digi. Hope it was worth the effort.

Title: Define Me
Photobucket
Credits:
Striped paper from the Ready 4 Spring mini kit by Betsy Tuma.
Green corner cluster and beaded wire flower from the Avant Garden mini kit by Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild.
Tattered frame cluster, rusted key, and golden swirl from the Trash to Treasure kit by BrokenJar Creations.
Green & yellow floral paper from the Trash2Treasure kit by Acorn Designs.
Black photo hinge from the Simply Love mini kit by Beth Kern aka Dragonfly Scrapper Designs.
Flowers from the Treasure Hunt Freebie kit by Blushbutter.
Green Floral Rust paper from the TTT Freebie by Christy Sturm.
Messy stitches and green kraft frame from the t to t gift by Kathy Moore Designs.
Wood plank sign (recolored) and mauve poppy from the Treasure Hunt Gift by Sharon Walden aka Nini's Notions.
White flower with blue gemstone from the It's A Bloom mini kit by Heather Manning Designs.
Transparent tape from the Trash to Treasure 1 kit by Hummie.
"Define", "Me", and torn definition fromthe Define Me kit by Joy Kuoha of Kuoha Designs Ink!.
Blue paper from the Spring-A-Ling Paper Pack by Kim Hill of CG Essentials.
Buckle ribbon from the Fun Set by lj crochet.
Green glitter swirl and canvas flowers from the Treasured kit by Lliella Designs.
Green gingham ribbon from the Treasure Hunt Gift 2 by Lynne Simmons.
Cardboard bookplate from the Raw Elements Cardboard Accents by Mad Scrapper.
Glitter leaves, raspberry flower w/gem center and ribboned frame from the Berry Ice kit by Liz of Sweet Digi Scraps.
Beautiful tag from the Selection Box kit by Ruby Rynne.
Kraft paper swirls from the Trash 2 Treasure Grab Bag by Sherrie Piegdon.
Folded flower from the Trash to Treasure kit by The Twisted Sisters.
Silver scrollwork corner from the Trash to Treasure Grab Bag by Tina Williams.
Photos by me.
Fonts: CK Limerick; CK Typist
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Called the school this morning to check on Kindergarten Round-up - the when and what. I've been told by some that kids HAVE to know/do certain things now before they're admitted to kindergarten so I wanted to be sure Micaila's ready... Well, it's the first Mon/Tues in June (2nd & 3rd), but they couldn't tell me exactly what they're tested on. She knows her alphabet and colors, can write her first name, can hop and balance on one foot, and count to ten. After ten she gets a little confused, but we're working on it. She also refuses to say yellow - everything is "amarillo" because she pronounces it lellow and doesn't like us working to correct that! LOL She doesn't tie her shoes because -well - I don't buy the kids shoes with laces! LOL Velcro is our friend.
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Not sure what else to say so I'm going to work on those 5's LOs! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Randomness...

Dad sent me this, and I had to pass it on...

Doctor's Office: Bubba Had Shingles

Those of us who spend much time in a doctor's office should appreciate this! Doesn't it seem more and more that physicians are running their practices like an assembly line?

Here's what happened to Bubba:Bubba walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Bubba said: 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat.

Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked Bubba what he had.Bubba said, 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Bubba to wait in the examining room.

A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, 'Shingles.' So the nurse gave Bubba a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told Bubba to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.

An hour later the doctor came in and found Bubba sitting patiently in the nude and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, 'Shingles.' The doctor asked, 'Where?'

Bubba said, 'Outside on the truck. Where do you want me to unload 'em??'
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I have 3 LOs to share from this morning...

Title: You Hold the Key to My Heart
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers, word art, and elements from the Hugs N Kisses kit by Gina Miller of Simply Homespun Designs available at Divine Digital.
Script run on photo: Violet Mist by Heather Manning Designs.
Photo by me.
Fonts: DokChampa
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Title: 5 Nicknames I Had in School
Photobucket
Credits:
Paper from the Heart to Heart kit by Snowraven available at Kutnkudly Kreations.
Fonts: Epoxy History; Depressionist Three; Danette

LO completes challenge 3 of 50 from the My Fives Challenges at DD.
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Title: Last 5 People I Emailed
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers, flower, and cardboard w/pin from the Dirt Don't Hurt - Basics kit by Heather Manning Designs available at Purple Paper Flowers.
Breadtag and reverse staple from the Close It Commercial Use Pack by Heather Manning Designs available at Purple Paper Flowers.
Fonts: CK Kimono

LO completes challenge 16 of 50 from the My Fives Challenges at DD. (Email addresses purposely blanked out for posting purposes.)
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2 of my designers have decided to stop designing for profit due to health/personal reasons so as of the end of Feb I'll be on the hunt again I'm sure! I have to try to remember to stay up for the ADSR kickoff chat tonight. First challenge is posted Sunday, and I'm a little nervous as this is my first time participating! Off to check out Heather's big announcement at her blog!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dad's a very young 61 today! I'm a bad daughter though... didn't manage to make a card last night like I'd planned. I did give him his present two weeks ago 'cause he was with me when I bought it so I couldn't really hide it! I think I posted, but I can't remember - I got him a sheet of 20 photo stamps. All he has to do is choose the (1) photo he wants printed on them, and go online. Choosing the 1 will be the problem I'm sure! LOL

In my defense, I came home to a house that looked like a hurricane had rolled through. Apparently Mike got a migraine at some point during the day, and just shut down...
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For those that have asked, or are wondering - I spoke with Kandie breifly this morning as we were both trying to get ready for work. Teresia's scheduled for a second surgery today. She's still hanging on, but from what Kam said there hasn't been much improvement. Kam said the kids still seem to be taking everything pretty well, and sends her many thanks to all who have sent them thoughts, cards, gifts. If you want to let her know you are still thinking of them you can leave comments here.
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I also got a surprise in the form of a message at MySpace from my other best friend, Brandi! We became very good friends while living on LI. She's got two sons who are just older than each of my kids. She's actually the first person who mentioned scrapping to me - although I'm not sure she's started scrapping even now! LOL She and her husband divorced about 3 or 4 yrs ago, and she moved to VA. I'd managed to lose track of her address and email so that even the Xmas card I sent came back...
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HEAP hasn't gotten any kind of message to my oil provider yet. Despite the fact that all paperwork was submitted last Friday on an emergency application stating I had less than 10 days supply of fuel. I had to call this morning to try to arrange for a delivery tomorrow as I will be completely out sometime between Sunday and Monday. They ended up telling me they had space on the truck for today, and would have to deliver today as they won't be back in the area 'til Tuesday. So I won't be paying a few other bills this month... They also informed me that a whistler needs to be installed on my tank before my next delivery or they will not deliver. The whistler is supposed to warn them if they are getting close to filling the tank so they don't overflow it. I explained that my tank is a 230-250 gallon tank on almost empty so the 150 gallons they are delivering won't overflow... Then called my landlord to let him know he's got 3 weeks maximum to get this fixed so I can get fuel again. I'm still waiting for the shower to get fixed. I've been using needlenose pliers to turn it on and off for a year now 'cause the on/off knob broke off.
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Gotta' run 'cause I'm posting while the boss is at lunch. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

LOs from the weekend...

Saturday afternoon:

Title: Eternal Love
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Grungy Valentine kit by Bratty Sisters Designs available at Digital Scrap Garden.
Photo by me.
Fonts: CK Darling

LO completes the Feb 2008 Quote Challenge at DSG.
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Sunday:

Title: 5 Places I have visited (and would like to again!)
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers from the Little Punk Paper Pack by Miracle's Momma Designs available at Elemental Scraps.
Arrows from the Creative Expression kit by Tracy Blankenship.
Fonts: CK Greeting Card

LO completes challenge 5 of 50 of the My Fives Challenges at DD.
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Title: 5 Names to Change To
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the My Bonnie Blue kit by Kristine of WenchdGrafix.
Fonts: CK Honeybee

LO completes challenge 14 of 50 of the My Fives Challenges at DD.
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Tuesday morning:

Title: Movies - 5 Top & Last 5 Seen
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Hugs & Kisses kit by Gina Miller of Simply Homespun Designs.
Fonts: Dirty Ego; DokChampa

LO completes challenges 11 & 28 of 50 of the My Fives Challenges at DD.
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Still no news on the car... Not sure what else to say atm, but there is some majorly wierd mojo floatin' in the digi world right now...

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Look What Micaila Made Me!

With no help!!
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I have LOs to share, but I'll haveto come back to share them as I am running LATE!!!!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

I'm here...

For those who may have worried as I didn't post yesterday... I'm sorry! I woke up with a massive headache, and really didn't want to look at the pc screen. It subsided slightly after breakfast and a double dose of Claritan, but came back in the afternoon. It didn't really stop again - even after a dose of Excedrin. So, I pretty much ate dinner, and went to sleep on the sofa. No headache this morning - thank heavens.
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The car - My car started acting up the last 1/4 mile to work on Thursday morning - again. The odometer started bouncing all over the map while I was driving at approx 30 mph, and then the engine started revving with my foot steady on the gas pedal -like it was dropping into neutral and out again. Well, the good news is it wasn't the transmission this time. The bad news is it was further electrical problems. The mechanic couldn't even getthe damn thing started yesterday. They think the sensor for shifting may have been shorted out by the electrical problem.

The tow - I've never actually had to have a tow before. I have tow coverage through my insurance which covers me to the nearest approved mechanic for my car make. The insurance company called the tow company to arrange for the tow, and get an estimate. It was estimated that I would be paying for approx 12-14 miles at $3 per mile, and they accepted only cash or credit card. Fine - I have enough cash on me to pay approx $42. Would I be riding with the truck? Well, that depends on when they get here because I don't leave work 'til 5:30pm. (I really can't afford to pay for a tow, AND leave work for the time that would be replacing the money...) I'm told they will be here topick up the car at about 3:15pm.

At 3:20pm I get a call from a guy about the pickup stating he won't be here for about another 30 minutes. He then gets huffy because I won't be riding with him, and refuses to take the $42 cash. He insists rather rudely that I HAVE to have a credit card to secure the tow. I explained that this was not what I had been told by the insurance company, and I do not have a credit card - to which he gets even ruder. I even tried to explain that IF by some chance the milage was a mile or two over the garage would pay the difference, and he refused to believe me. I finally told him I'd have to talk to my father and call the company back... I call Dad, and he gives me the card number for his debit card. I try to call the guy back at the cell number he'd called from, and get a busy signal so I call the company number that my insurance company gave me. When the owner answers I explain that I am calling back with my father's card number, and state that the "driver" I'd spoken with before was very snotty. Guess what??? It wasn't the driver - it was the owner. Who then proceeds to become even more rude and snotty. I explicitly stated to him no less than twice during this call that I expected a call with the exact charges if it was any more then $42 - to which he blew me off stating "that isn't how I do business". So I called my insurance company, and filed an explicit complaint against him.

At 4:10pm the driver finally shows up to get the car (50 minutes later), and he tells me there is all ready 13 miles on the tow! According to him the company policy is to charge from their garage to the tow pickup to the tow dropoff... That has just doubled my charges... I state to the driver that I expect a call on my cell (and provide the number again) if the charges exceed $42. I also explained to the driver that I expected a receipt for the tow to be left with my mechanic stating milage and amount charged. Yup, no problem, he understands. So I called Dennis at the mechanic's shop, and explain the bs that has been occurring. I let him know that a receipt should be left with him.

Fast forward to 2pm Friday - still no call from the tow company. So I called the insurance company again to check what their contract for milage charges is with this guy as the driver is telling me it will be almost twice what I'd been quoted via the insurance company... I managed to get an agent on the phone who immediately sounds concerned because to the best of her knowledge no - it should only have been charged from pickup to dropoff. I also explained how I'd requested several times to be called with the total charges as this was my father's card, and that the service had refused to call me. She had to talk to her supervisor, and they were going to have to look into it - fine I expected that. She calls me back a half hour later. They'd called the owner who at first tried to blow them off because he was driving, and then (suddenly) remembered what tow they were referring to. Supposedly the final milage after my 5 mile exception came to 11 miles so the final charges were $35 and change due to tax. (So yes, it was under $42, but they had led me to believe I was going to be charged for approx 26...) The good thing is that this agent has noted all of this into my account so IF the jerk tries to charge any more I have a recourse.

Then Dennis calls... He gives me the news above, and then states, "And, at this point I'm pretty pissed with this tow service too." Oh lord,... it just keeps getting better. He made sure to reinforce to the driver that a recipt was to be left with him - yup, yup... The guy was going to just leave the car in the middle of their lot. Dennis had to point him to where they needed it. It did get left there, and then because Dennis was helping another customer when the guy was done the driver "left the stuff" on Dennis's desk inside... Keys - no receipt. Friday morning when Dennis goes to pull the car into the garage to check it out... my driver window had been left completely down - all night... It snowed... So I guess it is time for call number 4 to my insurance company. At this point I hope this guy loses his contract with them. What a butthole.

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Title: Fo-cus!
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Coral Florals kit and addon by Kara Jones of K-Joi Studios.
Photo by my dad.
Fonts: CK Academia
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Title: Playland Fun
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Foresight kit By Eva K.
Photos by me.
Fonts: CK Buddies
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Sorry for the gloom and doom rant above... Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Some LOs!!

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you get good things! Dad got me some roses and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The kids each gave me a Valentine and a piece of chocolate - which they immediately asked if they could eat! LOL This is going to be fairly quick 'cause I need to get out the door for my HEAP meeting.
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Title: A Deck Full of You
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Midnight Butterflies kit by Heather ManningDesigns available at Purple Paper Flowers.
Photo by my cousin.
Fonts: CK Tea Party

This is my baby brother at his ex-housemate's wedding reception. :)
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Title: Grungy Valentine QP
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Title: Simply Flourishing QP
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Watch DSG for these!
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Title: A Cute Bloom in My Garden
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Simply Flourishing kit by Bratty Sisters Designs available at Digital Scrap Garden.
Doodle from the Doodle Set 4 by Acmdesignz.
Photos by my dad.
Fonts: CK S.W.A.K.

LO completes the Feb 2008 This & That Challenge at DSG.
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Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Animal PSA

Dad sent this email through to me last night, and I thought that some of you would probably be interested...

Hi, all you animal lovers. This is pretty simple. Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals.
It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on the purple box "fund food for animals" for free. This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.

You can click as many times as you want. If everyone who gets this email "clicked" once a day, thousands of rescued animals would be fed for free. PLEASE, take the time to click.
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

It really does only take seconds. You just have to wait for the page to load, and then click the purple button. I mean, if you WANT to you can read all the ads on the page, but you don't have to...
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Last night I went to close an email window, and for some reason all of my open programs (only 3) closed out on me... Including PSP where I had a page 90% done for Midnight Butterflies... I was so PO'd I just walked away. Mike was on the pc this morning so I finished watching an episode of CSI I'd DVRd because I didn't remember seeing it (I had seen it.), and the end of American Pie: Band Camp which I'd DVRd a couple nights ago when I was awake for most of the night.

I decided to check my emails, etc. quick before going out to shovel... And, then Dad called. He was awake early so he's all ready shoveled out his drive, and come over to shovel out the end of my drive behind the car! He's coming back to go into town with me in about an hour, but I still need to go shovel the walk, and in front of my car so there's less to do tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have to be in town at 8:45am to check in for a group meeting to apply for HEAP. I'm hoping to get at least enough assistance to pay for 1 delivery of fuel oil. It's just shy of $500 for 150 gallons which with the cold snaps we've been having only lasts us about 3 weeks. I just got a delivery on the 5th, and will probably need another by the 26th...

Anywho - gotta' run! Kids want breakfast, and I need to get that shoveling done. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Unexpected call...

So, I've been working at Burns Photography for just shy of a year - March 15th to be exact. I'm one of those people who doesn't look for a job if I have one. Bad in today's market I know - but the truth. So, you can imagine my surprise when I received a call yesterday morning while picking up my order at McDonald's from a local company looking for a Graphic Designer!!! They had a copy of my resume I'd posted last February. It may go no where, but it was kind of cool. I've dug out my college portfolio just in case...
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I haven't had any further updates from Kam so I assume Teresia's still fighting...
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I have 1 LO to share 'cause PSP was going extremely slow - file must have been huge in layers...

Title: Beloved
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from Julie Lipgloss kit by Kristine of WenchdGrafix.
Photo by my brother, Blayne.
Fonts: CK Tea Party
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Gotta' get going for work! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Monday, Monday...

Not a whole lot to say this morning. I've got to be in town by 9:30am for our creditor's meeting to wrap up this bankruptcy. I've only got 3 LOs to share with you. I haven't got near as many done this weekend as I'd hoped, but then I've been a little preoccupied worrying about Kam and her family. I also found this morning that Mike has started a MySpace page, and listed himself as single - the butthole...

Anyway, keeping this quick 'cause I still have to do dishes, shower, get the garbage to the curb, and get myself and the kids ready to go.
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Title: Love At First Sight
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the He Loves Me kit by Julie Kelley Designs available at Scrapbook Elements. (White paper at
93% opacity.)
Photo by my dad.
Fonts: FG Cheryl

LO completes the Feb 4th ES Blog Challenge.
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Title: To My Buccaneer...
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Buccaneers kit by Kristmess available at Gotta Pixel.
Photo by my dad.
Fonts: FG Cheryl (Also, my handwriting using a tablet and pen.)
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Title: Funny Face
Photobucket
Credits:
Papers and elements from the Grungy Valentine kit by Bratty Sisters Designs available at Digital Scrap Garden.
Photos by me.
Fonts: FG Augustin

LO completes the Feb 2008 Sketch Challenge at DSG.
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Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Please help...

I know most of you who read this may have all ready received an email from me... If not you may have read my posts earlier in the week about my BF's sister... Or, maybe you've come because of a blog train post, and are a complete stranger... In any of those cases I urge you to send any positive thoughts/prayers to Kandie and her family. Teresia has moved into the dangerous stage of infection. She was burned so badly that she has no ears, lips, or eyebrows left, and only has a few small patches of skin.

For those who don't know the story it can be found here:
Man burns wife, takes own life in Monroe County

I know how great the digi community can be, and while I myself am not religious I do believe in the power of positive thinking in ANY form. Teresia has 3 children- 14, 11, and 9. Kam is taking care of them during this trying time so I know she's trying to be strong for all of them. Just knowing there are people out there - strangers or not - thinking about them and wishing them well will help her pull through this. I realized yesterday when I tried clicking one of the MySpace links I left earlier in the week that you wouldn't be able to see them as she has her profile set to private, but you can leave comments on her Blogger blog. It looks sparce as she set it up while talking to me in Sept and didn't go back, but I can let her know to check it. Please if you have a few extra moments stop here to leave her some good thoughts.

I'm tearing up as I type this because I'm far enough away that I can't give her a hug, or let her cry on my shoulder. What I can do is spread the word, and ask for the kindness I know you all have to be shared with her. Also, please share this with as many of your friends and family as you are comfortable doing so with. The family didn't think him capable of something like this -they thought he loved her enough not to. Domestic violence has no boundaries - love or lack of it is not the issue.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

A LO and a Reminder!

So I found a "sketch" challenge yesterday that is really more of a template challenge, but either way it worked REALLY well with what I had in mind for Micaila's cake photo and Julie's Birthday Girl kit so I managed to get a LO done last night when I got home! Yeah!

Title: Blow'em Out!
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Credits:
Papers and elements from the Birthday Girl kit by Julie Kelley Designs available at Scrapbook Elements.
Template by Karah Fredricks of Blue Flombingo.
Photo by me.
Fonts: CK Typist

LO completes the February Sketch Challenge on Karah's Blog at Blue Flombingo.
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I also wanted to remind you about the Love Song Challenge we have going on over at Heather's CT Blog! Only a little under a week left to enter, and there are some pretty cool prizes!

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Come join in the fun!
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Not much else to report this morning... Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Friday, February 8, 2008

Really late...

Boss went to lunch so I can post this quick... I'm sick. Yup - I finally caught whatever the kids were dealing with. I'd really like to be in bed right now, but I don't get paid time off 'til I've been here 12 months, and that isn't 'til March 15th. So, I'm hoping to hold off the worst of it 'til Sunday when maybe I can get a really LONG nap while Dad's at the house...

You know I been feeling like a slug, and mentally beating myself up (a very little bit) because I hadn't gotten any LOs done in 3 days... AT HOME!! I've created 14 papers, 13 pages, and 2 more templates (would be 15 pages if I was working faster today) at work. No wonder I have nothing left when I get home! LOL These pages are very, VERY simple though - just photos and papers and a quote on most. I think this is harder for me then when I have embellies...

But, I did get another My Fives LO done this morning before I ran out the door...

Title: 5 Things in My Purse
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Credits:
Papers and elements from the Patty's Warm Hug kit by Boyerville Scraps available at DSO.
Fonts: Coaster; Comic Sans

I can't think of what else I might have to say 'cause my head's fuzzy.

Thanks for stopping by, and try to have a great day!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

TY!

Thank you, ladies for your well wishes. Updates can be found at Kam's MySpace page and MySpace blog. Teresia is fighting so there is hope. Kam is trying to get temp custody of the kids so there is some stability for them during this trying time.
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I had big plans for this morning, but instead I am running on 4 hrs of interrupted sleep. (Brenden had seemed to get better, and now has a fever again...) AND, Mother Nature decided we needed yet more white crud. So I need to go get my lunch together, do dishes, get laundry started, and shovel before I leave for work... no LOs again this morning.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Good thoughts please...

I almost never post twice in one day, but I got this news after I had posted for the day... My best friend's sister was brutally assaulted and set afire by her estranged husband yesterday, and is in critical condition. All good thoughts and or prayers if you are religious would be appreciated.

Here is the article:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080206/NEWS03/802060462

Humpday...

Well, it snowed again overnight after raining on and off all day yesterday... We had some pretty bad fog on the drive home because of it. Gotta' go shovel more crud to get out of the drive this morning. At least my car was parked towards the end of the drive so I don't have to shovel the whole thing to get out...
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I have the two LOs from yesterday to share, but I didn't do any more last night. I just wasn't feeling scrappy. I really just wanted to crawl into bed 'cause with both kids sick I've gotten almost no sleep in 3 nights now. (At least this morning Micaila woke up as her normal happy self instead of whiny/crying wench...) Instead of scrapping I downloaded kits for some of my CTs so I should be able to kick some hiney when I get scrapping again. All these new goodies to play with!

Which leads me to my next question... For any of you who are designers... If I have Commercial Use overlays that I have purchased, and use them to create digi papers (jpeg format) according to the terms of use I should be able to resell those papers, right? What if I decided to donate the papers? Does that break TOU? I'm working on the sample books at work that I talked about yesterday, and the boss hasn't purchased any paper packs/kits yet because he wants to get an idea of the look first. I thought maybe this would be a way around the issue for the time being... BUT, I don't want to break TOU. Neither my boss or the client would get the overlay file. Boss would only get the flattened jpeg paper, and client would only get print-out. (We are a small business - only 4 of us in the office! LOL) Any input?
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Title: 5 Websites I Visit All the Time
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Credits:
Papers and elements from the Punk Princess kit by Miracle's Momma Designs available at Elemental Scraps.
Fonts: CK Scratchbox

LO completes challenge 31 of 50 for My 5s at Divine Digital.
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Title: A Friend Is...
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Credits:
Papers from the Sunny Side Up Paper Pack and Addon by Miracle's Momma Designs available at Elemental Scraps. (Addon available on her blog.)
Flowers and gem from the Punk Princess kit by Miracle's Momma Designs available at Elemental Scraps. (Gem re-colored.)
YIR 2007 Template by Miracle's Momma Designs available on her blog.
Stitches by Natali.
Photos by me.
Fonts: CK Stylish Black; CK Tea Party

LO completes the Feb 4th ES Blog Challenge -late, but done! LOL
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Gotta' go shovel and shower! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Quick note...

I didn't get time to blog this morning 'cause I was tryin' to finish up a LO for a challenge... that was supposed to be posted by the 4th! LOL Dumb-butt me forgot what day it was! Oh well, it's late but done...
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Dad stayed with the kids yesterday, and I managed to turn in the truck plates, pay off the cable bill, do the grocery shopping, stop at the North Country Store for muenster, and stop at the Gieco office to get the truck off the insurance in just under 2.5 hrs. Removing the truck saved me just under $40 for the month... Dad was shocked I was home so quick, but as I explained to him I don't think I'd run errands completely alone since before Micaila was born. I felt a little lost, and the only other things I could think of to take up time would have cost $$ I didn't have to spend! LOL
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Natalie Bird had a thread in The Happy Place at DST yesterday asking who was having a bad day and why because she was going to RAK a few people with her new grab bag... She ended up RAKing everyone who posted before she came back to the thread!!! What a complete sweetie! And, I can tell you it is large and AWESOME! Check it out if you haven't yet...

And, don't forget Heather's Designer's Delight 6... Only a few days left 'til it's opened...
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I do have 2 more LOs...

But, I can't share them right now 'cause Photobucket is doing some site maintainence...
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Guess what?! The boss has been hit from enough sides with how scrapbooking is a big $ business that I'm going to be able to do some basic/small scrapbooking at work! It won't be for me, but still awesome!

He's had me design 5 new styles for graduation announcements, and now wants me to work on some templates for creating Senior Books - approx 20 pages to show off their photos from their sittings. I'm sure these won't be cheap items...

So, I need to figure out are S4O and S4H the same, or does it depend on the designer and their TOU? I want to make sure if I can convince him to invest in a few paper packs/kits that we purchase the correct kind for this. We would be doing the designing and having it printed so the clients would never get the files...
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Gotta' run before he gets back from lunch! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Monday, February 4, 2008

So,... It's Monday again...

My upnote from the weekend?! I finally managed to sell the blinkin' truck that we've been trying to get rid of for almost 2 yrs! I settled for $600 less than I originally wanted, but it is gone! Now, maybe it sounds foolish to have agreed to so much less than I wanted to get, but in my town you cannot have an unlicensed vehicle in your yard... So the damn thing has been sitting here - licensed and insured - and hasn't been driven by us since 2004! 'Nough said?!? Paying off two bills with the money today, and hoping to turn in the plates so I can cancel the insurance today as well.
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EvaK (Digi Chick) was having a Description Writer call last week. I didn't make the cut, but the sweetheart was nice enough to send a coupon with the rejection that covered the price of her Grab Bag!! Gotta' say - it's large (200Mb) and beautiful! If you haven't checked it out you should!

And, speaking of Grab Bags... have you checked out Heather's new Designer's Delight 6 yet???
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Grab it before it gets opened!
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I've decided to switch-up what challenges I'm doing this month because of some attitude that really bothered me. So, my February list currently includes 25 challenges at 4 different sites, and 50 at another site! Now I know every eyebrow that reads that has immediately jumped about 2 feet in the air, but here's the deal:

My 5's at Divine Digital. Hostessed by Princess Lala and Nora Long. There are 50 journaling/listing prompts for you to create a mini book of your "5s". If you complete at least 45 of the 50 before the end of February, post them, and link back, you get a great prize from Laura (Princess Lala). Most of these are not that hard, ladies!! I completed two of them in an hour this morning! And, I'm about 1/3 finished with a 3rd!

Title: My 5 Fav Authors
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Credits:
Papers and elements from the Hooked On Books Addon by Mikkel Paige.
Fonts: GG Herb Script (Yes! That's my dad's handwriting immortaized by The Golden Girls Designs!)

LO completes challenge 21 of 50 for My 5s at Divine Digital.
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Title: 5 Flowers for my Garden
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Credits:
Papers and elements from the Granny's Kitchen kit by OneScrappyMom available at Elemental Scraps.
Photo by me.
Fonts: CK Dandy

LO completes challenge 27 of 50 for My 5s at Divine Digital.
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I also completed two LOs and two QPs yesterday...

Title: Reed Family Tree
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Credits:
Tree and frames from the Family Tree kit by Christina Wall available at Gotta Pixel.
Paper from the All About The Alphabet kit by Christina Wall available at Gotta Pixel.
Photos from ummm... everyone?! LOL
Fonts: CK Heritage
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Title: So You!
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Credits:
Papers and elements from the Mirabel kit by Rachel Martin available at Pickelberrypop.
Photos by my dad.
Fonts: CK PuppyLove

LO completes the Jan 28 Double Dog Dare at SDD.
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The QPs are for Trina's 8th grade project via DST...

Page 1:
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Page 2:
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I created page 2 with and without the title so it could be used for other NYC pages if desired.
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Well, this has been a long post, and I need to get dishes done before running errands. Dad has offered to stay here with the kids so it shouldn't be as bad... Mike managed to bring something home Friday night so that Brenden was sick by the time I got home from work on Saturday... Micaila woke up crying about everything this morning, and quite frankly both kids are still dozing on and off...

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Need A Challenge?

Love love songs? We've got one for ya'!

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Click here for more info!
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Here's mine: She's Got Eyes
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Credits:
Papers from the Royal Tapestry Paper Pack by Kiki Halbert.
Frames from the Crack Me Up and Wrapped Tight Frame Packs by Kiki Halbert.
Doodle from the Paper Swirls Freebie by Princess Lala.
Photo by me.
Fonts: CK Heritage

I (obviously) didn't use Heather's stuff for this challenge, but Kiki's was calling to me! I'll be playing more this weekend after work!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Grand Opening and some RAKs!

Guess what?!

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Kristine has opened her own store!!! And, has 6 new kits/mini kits!!! You saw parts of Commandos Colors in my Summer Days and Storm's A Blowin' LOs, and you'll be seeing more new kits in the next few weeks via my LOs! Also checkout Kari's, Nikki's, Mojo's, Shannon's, and (last, but not least!) Kat's blogs as they are also CT members for Kristine!

And, there's more!! We've all been authorized to hand out some RAKs! So much fun when the designer's let us do this! :D My RAKs are going to be randomly drawn from posters in my Happy Place thread at DST. To be eligible just go here, and post before 6pm EST today!
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I also GOT RAK'd last night AND this morning! Andrea sent me her new kit, Patty's Warm Hug, and Kiki Halbert sent me links for her new Grab Bag available at PDW starting today! It's packed so be sure to check it out!

I didn't make Flergs's CT... Of course, with approx 170 entries it isn't a HUGE shock! LOL Her new store opens today at Scrapbook Graphics, and she has her CT announcement up on her blog now. The winner, and four luck Guests for February. I'll just cross my fingers that I get asked to guest sometime in the next few months! :)
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Well, the final counts for Jan came up like this:
4 - 8x8 paper pages for CJs
2 - 12x12 digi QPs for 1-time gig
37 - 12x12 digital pages
41 pages completed for the month

31 Challenges completed (I think I just pooped out for the last week! LOL)

I don't have a new LO this morning, because I spent most of my time last night and this morning downloading!!! All the new kits from Kristine, all the challenge goodies from DSO, a bunch of stuff from Atomic Cupcake ('cause I don't want to miss any of it!!), the RAK from Andrea, and the RAK from Kiki!
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Gotta' go... They're predicting 6-10 inches in two parts today along with the possibility of high winds and freezing rain again. Most of the schools in the area have closed, but we need to get my car before work so Dad is driving me out with the kids to pick it up, and then coming straight home again. Turns out the altenator issue was due to some wires that had corroded and shorted out the alt. Of course, the wires were exposed because my plastic liner for the wheel well had torn off about 5 years ago, and our friend/mechanic at the time told me it wasn't a necessary part so it got tossed... Turns out that it keeps the water/salt/dirt from getting into this wiring. Friendly warning!!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!