Glorious Weekends... or is it?

I had such HIGH hopes for this weekend! So many fun and wonderful things were on the agenda:

1. Fly to Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Visit with most fantastic brother, Robert.
3. Spoil myself with friend Darren by having hair done into something spectacular.
4. Go camping with Robert, roommate, and friends.
5. Buy killer outfit (and a few new things to add to my "work" wardrobe -- new dress code effective 8/1 - dadgummit)
6. Have all around incredible time chillaxing. (LOVE that word now!)

Unfortunately, due to storms in other parts of our great country, many flights were rerouted and oodles of passengers travel plans were changed. Additionally, the flight I had planned to join was overbooked (by 30 passengers at that), and there were already plenty of stand-by's. The chances of me getting on any flight out to SLC was looking next to absolutely NO way. So, I stayed in Dallas.

But instead of moping around, I accomplished the following:

1. Had hair cut and colored by Cedric at Elixer (Aveda Concept Salon. I really don't care for Aveda products, but he's a great stylist. If I cant' make it out to Darren, he'll just have to do until I can.). Now I have some naughty girl red pieces in my hair. Quite snazzy I must say.
2. Had smashingly wonderful pedicure. My toes are now "I'm not a Waitress" red. Gotta love OPI and their fun polish names. Again - the color red. I'm feeeling a naughty streak coming on.
3. Spoiled myself with an INCREDIBLE massage later in the day at Elixer. It was absolutely DIVINE. I'm already planning another one.
4. In case you thought I didn't do anything productive (other than spoiling myself - which in my opinion is productive), I went to work and spent quite a few hours there Saturday afternoon.
5. I spent a few hours in my studio cranking out fun projects.
6. Hmmm I know I did something else that was productive and beneficial, but it has slipped my mind. Does napping plenty count?
7. I went to the Heirloom Pro stamp show in Grapevine, TX for a few hours. Not a lot to look at , or be awed by - but there was plenty of unmounted stamps to oogle.

In other news, my darling neice, Ainsley, will be celebrating her first birthday this coming Saturday. If all goes according to plan, I'll be down in south Texas celebrating with her. I am REALLY looking forward to spending a tidge of time with my neices and nephew. They are absolutely adorable - and I need some new photos for projects! :)

Additonally, my studio reorganization plan is going FANTASTICALLY! All of my assignments are done, and it's looking awesome! I'll post photos when I have everything just right.

Hope you're all doing well!

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What I Love About You: You Check In

I love that you call me at work, after you get off from work, each morning to see how my night went, to share how yours went, to wish me a great day - and to be sure I know that you love me!

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Whitest White Girl Ever...

Did you know that I am apparently, the whitest white girl ever? According to my coworkers, it’s true. What designates me as such? I think it’s a variety of things.

• First, they realized I keep a big calendar on the fridge. It's really just a desk calendar. I don’t think it’s the calendar that gives me such a big title – it’s the information I/we keep on the calendar. For instance, Steve and Kim’s work schedules are on it. (They need to be – Steve’s days off rotate every 4 weeks and Kim’s work schedule changes each week). If I have anything going on it’s on there too. We also list anything special we’re going to do that week as a family (movies, etc). I also keep track/plan our meals on it. Both Steve and Kim cook one night a week, and the remaining 5 are my responsibility. (It’s actually more like 4 because we probably eat out once a week.) If I know what I’m planning to cook for the week, it helps to make grocery shopping a LOT easier. We also sit down as a group (Steve, Kim, & me) to go over the upcoming week each Sunday evening.
• Second, when I cook, I try to do multi-meal cooking. For instance, last night we had chicken & shrimp fried rice. I made enough of it all to freeze one meal worth of shrimp & chicken fried rice, and three meals of chicken fried rice. One time cooking = 5 meals. I’m a HUGE fan of the Food Saver. (I get the Wal-Mart brand refills though.) I’m used to cooking for my family (parents + 4 kids + whoever was eating with us that night). We almost always have leftovers. Rather than putting them to waste, it became easier and VERY cost effective to just freeze them. Now, I’m not always so rushed to get dinner cooked each of my 4-5 nights – I can just defrost and heat it up!
• Third, I clip coupons – AND use them on double/triple coupon day. Yes, it’s a lot of work – but the savings can REALLY rack up! (Plus, if I don’t feel like doing the work I know that Wal-Mart matches sales flyer prices. I can shop at the W at 2am; to avoid everyone else’s grumbling at me taking up extra cashier time.)
• Fourth, we have chore cards and rotate them bi-weekly at home. Why should I be responsible for cleaning the entire house? I’m not the only one who lives there – and I’m not there as much as some people are. So, the chores are broken down into chore cards (idea TOTALLY lifted from Heather White’s blog – who got it from her mother…. LOVE IT). The main rotating chore cards (since there are only three of us living in the house) are:
  1. Kitchen
  2. Living Room
  3. Hot Spots (Hallway, Garbage, Front walkway, Back Porch, Laundry Room, etc)
  Kim is also responsible for her bedroom and for the guest bathroom. Steve and I also rotate our bathroom and bedroom between us. The great thing about the chore cards is that they make cleaning easy (rather, they tell you exactly what you need to do in each room i.e. wipe down the baseboards, clean the mirror with Windex, sweep and wet-mop the floor, vacuum the furniture, etc). One side of the chore card has “Quick Clean” instructions and the other has “Deep Clean” instructions. The Quick Clean has to be done a minimum of twice a week, and the deep clean at least once. Oh yea, the kicker about chore cards? If you don’t get them done, you have to put $25 per room into the “fun fund” that we’re going to use for a family trip or activity.
• Fifth, I scrapbook. Okay, color me confused or whatever, but last time I checked people from all nationalities, races, genders, sexual persuasions, etc scrapbooked. LOL

I really didn’t know that these things added up to making me the whitest white girl ever. I just figured it was smart planning/shopping/cooking or time management.

Oooh… Charlotte corrected me. “You’re not just the whitest white girl; you’re whiter than the white folks on TV. Even June Cleaver didn’t do all that!”

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What I Love About You: You Eat What I Make

I love that you'll eat anything I make - even if it's horrifically disgusting.

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Camera Update

Reality set in. My wonderful, loving, incredible, honest and reality based husband shared his love for the "wonder camera" with me. And he also shared that ... even in my twisted sense of reality, we can't afford that much of a camera this month. Or even next month. Or maybe even the following month. But, eventually, Jenny the Wonder Camera will be mine!

Don't you love how I named her? I think it's a lovely name for a camera of such incredible fabulousness.

Maybe there's a better name out there, but I'll have to percolate it around in my brain for a while!

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And THIS.... Ladies and Gentleman

is why WE (yes, Steve - my dear... WE, you ARE included in this tiny little purchase) are purchasing THIS little camera!

Heather B. went out with me yesterday with her new baby (make that Jack's new baby - she was just... babysitting. Yeah... babysitting! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!) to take some new head shots for my bio. It had been WAY too long since getting an update (that wasn't me taking my pic in the bathroom mirror).

I must admit, it was ENTIRELY too much fun partying like a rockstar! As you can tell, I have a serious thing with facial expressions that I didn't even know about! YIKES! I am seriously laughing when I look at the photos, remembering the funny story or topic behind them.

Heather did a FANTABULOUS job - I love them! I'm SO lucky that she is my friend - and that her hubby lets her come out to play with me! :)

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I don't know how she (or you) do it...

Seriously. I don't know how my mother managed to raise 4 kids into upstanding and good people, without killing one of us. Seriously. At times, I was one heck of a rotton teenager. I'm sure I was pretty typical, but having a 17 year old in the house (and trying to understand her)forces me to think back to what I was like at that age. I don't know how my mother did it. She deserves huge accolades - by far more than I can simply provide on my blog.

Do any of you have tips for dealing with teenage girls, their hormones, the drama they create, the bitterness, the "I want to be treated like an adult" but not act like a adult thing, and the general overall dealing with them - without strangling them?

I know that not much time was put into teaching her how to do things, and I'm trying to spend the time teaching her now. She doesn't appreciate an ounce of it - and I think she even resents it. (Which I probably did at her age too.) But, if someone doesn't take the time now, she'll never learn, and if she does learn later on it will probably be because of a huge ordeal and not something simple.

It's a good thing that children start as babies - I couldn't handle it otherwise.

Seriously. No joke. How do you do it?

By the way, if you didn't already guess, I loved my mother before any of this started. She really IS incredible. She isn't just incredible though, she is AMAZING. She knows how to do almost EVERYTHING. I'm SO glad that she and I are friends now (it happened after I finished the teenager thing).

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Catching Up...

Well, my work for CHA is officially over - and now the fun can begin! My projects and pieces have all been delivered (over 25 of them! YIKES), and are getting ready to be displayed at this point. Such a relief to have that behind me - GREAT I tell ya!

This weekend is going to be full of nothing but FUN! Saturday is all about "CHA in Spirit Day!" I went through my Maya Road boxes (yes, BOXES) and put together a grundle of fun prizes and RAKS to be divied out during the day. (Caroline donated one of the NEW!! 4"x4" chipboard binder albums too!) Many others put a lot of work into it also. The Pubster Peas are sure to have a complete blast! If you're not a pubster, you're welcome to stop by and play with us too! We're not into keeping others out!

My hostessing hour will be full of fun trivia and other questions. It's going to be great fun!

Other than that, here are a bunch of bulletpoints as to what's going on over here:

• We're still working on the interior paint selection for the main living space of the house. About 1/2 of the walls are done in a color I adore, but the other two (BIG walls) are not. It's been a matter of great fun debate. Steve wanted a lighter color to go up the wall and wrap the ceiling with. I didn't. But, as it goes, we comprimised. Tom is coming over to paint today. Hopefully when I get home - it'll all be done! YAY! Then, I can work on the wall-graffiti! Yahoo!
• Daryls divorce is FINAL! YAY! So happy for him! He's back in Dayton now. If any of you Dayton-ites are fun and single, let me know! He's a BLAST! He'll be here in a few weeks on TDY, looking forward to spending some fun time with him.
• The Garage Sale was a HUGE hit! SO glad I participated! I made a nice tight bundle, and used it for almost nothing productive. A chunk of it did go (wisely) to my credit card though. I'll be participating again in September. I'll be sure to keep you posted!
• My studio is in total dissaray. Saturday is reorganizing day. I know, you're shocked really. I've always had a great fondness for artsy crafty stuff. Normally it's somewhat tidy (as I've learned to keep it that way over the last few years), but with CHA deadlines, GASC, the Garage Sale, and just general other stuff, it's become a disaster.
• I'm working on my travel schedule for the next few months. I'm incredibly loaded for the next two, but will have some time to schedule classes in September and October. So far, on the travel agenda, I have SLC next weekend), McAllen, Texas the weekend after that. Fortunately, I'll be home for the next two weekends after that - but they are full of classes. The last weekend in August Steve and I are heading out to Ohio - so he can see where I spent the 7 years of my life BEFORE Texas (and so he can figure out my affinity towards hot wings and Cincinnatti Style Chili!)
• I've been very dilligent (yay me) at getting up and being at the gym when they open at 5am. Yes, 5am. After reading how Melody (seriously LOVE her blog - and her entire product line... SLURP!!) dedicated herself to toning up, AND seeing the results she had AFTER having 5 children - I think I can do it too. You would htink that getting up at 5 am would be the hard part. It isn't for me - I'm a morning person! The hard part, is making additional "wise" eating decisions and watching what goes into my body. I've regressed in my weight loss (no, I haven't gained "the" weight back) but I have started drinking Diet Coke again. YIKES! I love the stuff. I know that if I cut it out, and go back to drinking water only, I could drop the last 20 or so pounds I want to.

I think that ties everything off.

Happy Crafting!
~heather

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What I Love About You: You Look Out for Me!

I love that you are always looking out for me!

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Feelings....

Do you ever feel so completely overwhelmed with everything you do in your life? So overwhelmed that you feel like you’re losing the battle?

I’ve been feeling like that a lot lately. Not that I’m not doing the right thing, but that I’m not doing enough – in my mind that is. There’s just SO much to do, SO much that needs to be taught, SO much that I want to/need to learn. In reality, I’m going 18/7 (gotta count that 5-6 hours of sleep in somewhere), and doing everything I possibly can within that 18+ hours. Most of you, who know me IRL (in real life), know that I’m a go-go-go girl. I don’t sit around doing nothing very often.

I had a thought today, which put my feelings at ease. He (the Lord) doesn’t give me more than I can handle. He knows my trials, He knows my strengths, and He knows where I need to grow. He knows me. He knows my needs, and the yearnings of my heart. If I put the skills and traits He’s given me to use, He’ll help me get the rest done. If I don’t use them, they’ll fall to the wayside (much like the parable of the talents).

A song that I learned years ago while in Young Women's has been running through my head today. The chorus goes something like this:

I am a Princess, a royal Queen royal queen I’ll be.
So, I must choose to find and use my divine qualities.
Daughter of Heaven, a Queen someday I’ll be
An Heir of my Father-in-Heaven for eternity.

He is a King, and as His daughter - I am a Princess. Isn’t that a GREAT thing to know? I really am a Princess.

Now someone bring this Princess some bon-bons and a glass of ice cold diet coke. :) KIDDING….

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Scrapbookers Garage Sale!

If you’re like me, you’ve accumulated a LOT of scrapbook stuff. I’ve recently realized (well I’ve known it for some time, but have been trying to dissuade myself) that I create better, or with more creativity, when I have less. Strange, but true (at least for me). And, as you can imagine (or if you’ve seen my studio, you know first hand) I have accumulated some serious piles, baskets, and containers of stuff!!!

So, I’ll be joining in on a HUGE scrapbooking garage sale tomorrow, Saturday, July 8th from 9 - 5 at the Magic Scraps office in Richardson, Texas. COME - you will NOT be disappointed!! I've got some really awesome stuff I'm selling for super cheap, cheap, cheap and will have a lot of 4/$1.00 stuff. There will be lots of other scrapbookers including Virginia Barrett, Emily Adams, and Ashley Smith.

Everyone should come, but especially teachers, crafters, scrapbookers, and stampers – there will be something for everyone!

Check here if you need a map: www.magicscraps.com/garagesaleLooking forward to seeing you there!

PS - Cash only so hit the ATM on the way here:)

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