Scrap my World

Exciting things are happening!

2007-11-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

So I'm the first to admit...I am really a bad blogger. I think I spend more time apologizing for not writing than I spend actually writing.

Today I have some exciting news...I will be going to work at The Scrap Nook in Bolivar!

http://scrapnook.typepad.com/scrap_nook/2007/11/index.html

I am so excited about starting this new chapter in my life. Seriously, can any of you think of a more perfect job for me? My official first day is Dec. 3 but I may be there a couple days next week too.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone! And wish me luck on my new adventure!

Dreams do come true!!!!!!

2007-08-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

Look at this picture!!!! Matt took it at the Peter Tork concert last night, and it was the only picture in the bunch that turned out well...but if I had to choose, I'd rather have this one picture than the dozen slightly blurry concert shots I got. Look at my face...that's pure joy, my friends...the kind of joy that can only be realized through the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Like everyone else, I have a list of things I want to accomplish in my lifetime, and meeting Peter Tork has been right up there at the top of my list ever since I discovered the Monkees in 1985, a year or so before they went on their anniversary tour. I was 14, and going through a rough patch in my life. My home life wasn't the greatest, and the Monkees' story (that whole not having control over your own destiny thing) really struck a chord in me. Most kids can probably relate to that, but I really took it to heart. And Peter was the one I admired the most, especially after finding out about how much he struggled after the Monkees disbanded. He really inspired me to try to be a better person, corny and stupid as that may sound.

The reason I write this is because despite the euphoria I'm still feeling at finally having done something I've always wanted to do, I really have mixed feelings. The show was fantastic. The experience totally rocked. But after having built it up in my mind for the past 20-odd years, actually meeting Peter was slightly anticlimactic. He signed my cd. We took a picture. And I said to him, "I have been wanting to meet you since 1985." And he said, "Oh, have you?" And smiled. And that was it. And not only that, but there was a young man in line before me, who was obvioulsy developmentally disabled, who kept asking him questions. And Peter finally said to him, "Quit asking me so many questions. You're taking up too much of my time, and I have things I need to do tonight." Not cool, I thought. Never in a million years would I have thought he'd be an ass like that. I wanted to cry, because in a matter of seconds he'd crushed everything I'd ever thought about him. My plan was always that if I ever met him, I wanted to thank him for the profound effect he'd had on my teenage years, because I avoided a lot of things that could have really done me harm because of his influence. Honest to God. He was my hero. But after what I'd just witnessed, I didn't feel like I could trust him with something that came straight from my heart. Sadly enough.

So there it is. Dreams do come true. But they die hard. It's hard to realize that someone you admired for so many years is not only human, but not a very nice one at that. As I type this, I'm feeling a little sad, like I've lost a friend. And I'm feeling a little let down, because after all the years of looking forward to this, it's over now.

I have lots of other things I want to accomplish in life. But I really hope accomplishing them won't be as bittersweet as this. At any rate, I have closed this chapter in my life. No regrets. I've always said in regards to my love of the Monkees, some things you never grow out of. But I admit I was wrong...at 36 years, I guess I've finally grown up.

The Wow Factor...

2007-07-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

Musings at McDonalds...

2007-06-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

My daughter, McDonalds employee....! She is ridiculously excited about having her first job. She got her first paycheck on Friday. $330 and some change. Isn't that ridiculous??? Times sure have changed when I had my first job making $3-something an hour at Hecht's .

All that's missing is the picture, which she refuses to let me take. One of these days I'm going to have to sneak in with the camera and take some quick candids of her at work.

On the down side, I've been having to spend my weekends here because it's a 50 mile round trip to take her to work. It's not an issue during the week when Matt is working a few blocks away, but he's off on weekends and she usually isn't. I really wish the price of gas would go down so that I wouldn't have to stay in town all day. But on the plus side, McDonald's has free high speed internet, which isn't even available where we live, so I have been spending my time here online doing things I can only dream of at home...watching videos...being inspired by the gorgeous pages in the ck image gallery...shopping...oops! I wasn't supposed to divulge that little bit of information! LOL

I have been on a scrapping kick lately, starting a couple weeks ago when all the kids spent the week in Kansas City with relatives. Here is one of my favorite pages, a scraplift from the July/August Simple Scrapbooks:

Here's another I had fun with:

Yes, that's FIBER! I love fiber, whether it's "in" or not. It picks up the colors in McKenna's shirt perfectly and ads so much texture to the page. I had so much fun doing this layout I'm going to use the rest of my fiber stash making cards with a stitched fiber design.

And this will probably be the next picture I scrap:

I took a series of pictures of McKenna on the front porch in her Mexican sundress. She is such a little cutie, and still likes to have her picture taken, so I am enjoying the photo ops while I still can!

Have you heard of The Secret?

2007-02-16T21:32:00.000-08:00

OMG...if you haven't, you need to go to thesecret.tv and check it out. We bought the book at Border's, but you can get order it off the website. There is a dvd too. It's truly amazing. Basically, it's about the law of attraction and positive thinking. Did you know that everything in your life is there because you wanted it to be? Through your thoughts and actions, you create your own life. Sounds so simple, but who really consciously thinks about that as they go about their daily lives? I never did. If you are constantly depressed, and negative, that's what you attract. On the other hand, if you are positive and happy, you will attract good things. And one thing really hit home to me...the book says that you can't attract more into your life if you are not grateful for what you already have. Doesn't that make total sense? I have begun to start every day saying "thank you for my life." And continue to say thank you for everything that I have. My beautiful children and my husband. My new home. Even my piece of junk car, because at least I have transportation. And I have discovered that when you start the day with gratitude, it's impossible to have a bad day. Because you are so happy and uplifted by the thought of all the good things that are already in your life. Which, of course, opens the door for more blessings.

I wish I'd known all this sooner...

I've been tagged!

2007-02-15T07:08:00.000-08:00

Angie from the ckmb has tagged me today, so I've got to share five quirky things about me. Hmmm.

1. I'm 36 years old and have never had a manicure or a pedicure.

2. If I am staying home, I'm going to be wearing sweats or shorts, a t-shirt, and NO BRA. If no one is going to see my, why bother with the battle armor? I wanna be free... :)

3. My favorite foods are marzipan, Kozy Shack rice pudding, hummus & pita chips and Philly subs from Arby's. Not necessarily in that order.

4. I love to read and take a book with me everywhere I go. You never know when you are going to be stuck waiting in line, or in a traffic jam...

5. Everything I am wearing right now was purchased at Wal-Mart. I'm not big into fashion or designer labels.

Thanks Angie...now I'm off to tag someone else!

Crazy Kamikaze Birds!!!

2007-02-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

It snowed. It iced. And Matt decided the birds needed saving...so he bought a 50 pound bag of sunflower seeds and sprinkled it liberally around the house. It didn't take the birds too long to find it. And I have to admit, it was a wondrous sight to behold all the birds in our yard. We had cardinals...blue jays...golden finches. But then they started flying into our windows!!! What the heck? I guess we cleaned them too well when we moved in. Several times a day, we hear a THUD! And discover feathers stuck to the windows. I wonder...does our house insurance have a bird suicide clause? Because if this keeps up, we're going to end up with broken windows. Next time, Matt needs to put out the bird seed farther away from the house.

Here's my newest layout:

I've been having the best time playing with all the new paper I got for my birthday. I've gotten 18 layouts done so far (my goal is 104). I finally feel like I'm getting caught up.

Somebody still likes snow!

2007-01-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

We got six inches of heavy, wet snow yesterday, and Rowan had a blast playing in it. He rode his sled down the hill, threw snowballs, made snow angels...the rest of us are sick and tired of the white stuff by now. After being stuck at home for over a week, with no school for the kids, we're all going a little stir crazy. At least Rowan is still enjoying it. The rest of us are counting the days until spring!

Getting ready...

2007-01-20T09:15:00.000-08:00

It's only been a week since the ice storm, and now we are preparing for SNOW! Winter has definitely hit the Ozarks this year. I'm already tired of it! Yesterday, I decided to make a grocery run so that in case we get stuck, at least we will have plenty of food in the house. Ah, the joys of living at the bottom of a very large hill, in the woods, a mile from the county road. For the last week, we've kept the car parked up at the neighbor's house, on the county road. Any time we've needed to go somewhere, we've had to drive the truck (it has tire chains) up to the neighbor's and switch cars. And reverse the process on the way home. Which is great fun when you have a load of groceries, as you can probably imagine. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm ready for SPRING!!!

Ice, Ice Baby!

2007-01-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

I got up this morning and discovered a frozen world where everything glittered like diamonds. It was so beautiful in the sunshine that I had to take pictures.

Unfortunately, the beauty won't last, when it all melts we will have an atrocious mess to clean up. But today, I am enjoying the view from my deck.

The season is over!

2006-12-09T23:39:00.000-08:00

Well, my first season as a craft show exhibitor is over, and I can honestly say it was quite a learning experience! I did eight shows overall, starting with the Wheatland Harvest Festival in early September and ending with the Urbana Christmas celebration craft show today. My biggest lesson was that you can never predict what people will buy. Something that sells out at one show may not sell at all at the next one. I had a great time doing this though; it's something I always wanted to try doing, and I had fun and met many very nice people in the process. I also made my personal goal of being able to completely finance Christmas with my craft show proceeds! I'm really looking forward to next year, now that I know what I'm doing! But I'm also looking forward to a well deserved break...I don't think people really understand how much work is involved in doing craft shows. Granted, it's enjoyable work, but it takes a LOT of time. I haven't done any personal scrapping since August, and I can't wait to get back into that...with lots of new product, since I have managed to use up most of my stash on my inventory!

And now for a house update...our fridge died this week, and since our new appliances are being delivered to the new house on Thursday (we managed to get the date moved up), Matt is going to try to get the tile finished this weekend, and we may be moving in ahead of schedule. Way ahead of schedule. I can't wait to get moved in, but at the same time, I was really hoping we could do it AFTER Christmas. Here's the dilemma: should I disassemble the Christmas tree and reassemble it at the new house? Or should we just leave it up here and come back on Christmas morning? You know, I haven't even started packing yet...guess I should get to it!

Digging Out!

2006-12-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

OK, I so totally do NOT miss living in North Dakota!!! We got the first snow of the season last Thursday and ended up with 14 inches of snow on top of two inches of ice. What a mess...we have been trapped at home ever since. There is no getting down our 1 1/2 mile hilly driveway until everything melts. The kids have been out of school for four days...they are going stir crazy and so am I! Snow is overrated!!!

But looking on the bright side, our kitchen cabinets were installed the day before the storm hit. Check them out!

How's this for a Thanksgiving photo?

2006-11-24T15:18:00.000-08:00

This year, we all had a lot to be thankful for. My sister-in-law was thankful for her brand new convertible. And Bronwyn and Victoria were thankful that they were allowed to sit in it and listen to the radio!!!! Bronwyn even got to drive it down the road to Grandma & Grandpa's old house. That was the thrill of her life...guess what she wants for Christmas now? (AS IF!!! Ha ha)

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are getting ready to go full steam ahead into the Christmas season...and I have been crafting my butt off, between gifts and merchandise for my last two craft shows. I also got up at the crack of dawn this morning and braved the Black Friday crowds at Wal-Mart to get Elliot's portable dvd player-a steal at only $50. I am halfway done with my Christmas shopping, and it's not even December yet! I feel like I've actually accomplished something!

Tomorrow I'm doing a craft show and on Sunday we're putting up the tree. I'll have more pictures then...

Exploding boxes!

2006-11-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

Check these out:

These are exploding boxes; they are pretty popular right now. And when I saw a sample at Scrapbook Generation, I knew I had to try making some. After all the paperbag albums I've made recently, this was a welcome change!

Holy cow it's been awhile!!!!!!!

2006-11-05T19:30:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot I had a blog!!! And I actually did forget my blogger username and password, so it took some trial and error to even get into the site. Yes, I have been a baaaaaaad blogger!!!!!

A lot happened last spring...soon after my last post, I found out I needed to have gallbladder surgery, and we started construction on our new home. Then as summer turned to fall, I decided to try my luck at selling paper bag albums, journals and cards at craft shows. So I have been busy busy busy. But things are starting to wind down a little bit now, so maybe I can be better at posting on a more regular basis!

This is our new house...we should be ready to move in by Thanksgiving!!! Hooray!

Happy Easter!

2006-04-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

It was a good one...we spent it at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and as you can see everyone was happy and getting along! (For the duration of this photo shoot anyway! Hee hee!)

The egg hunt was great...McKenna started out with a little help from Bronwyn and Elliot, but before long, she got the hang of it and ended up with quite a haul!

After the egg hunt, we dyed some eggs. The eggs turned out lovely, but not as lovely as McKenna's little hands!

Had a blast at CKC!

2006-04-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

And meeting CK's Lisa Bearnson was icing on the cake! I took her phenomenal class, "Simply Become Who You Are" and ended up with an adorable mini album all about me. That was fun...I'm always working on a project but none of them are about me.

I also shopped till I dropped, literally. All of that beautiful, wonderful product under one roof...how could I not? (Grin!) I am almost embarassed to admit that I bought six bottles of prima flowers. (New prima addicts are always the worst, it's a documented fact! LOL!)

And what good are prima flowers if you don't have a cute carrying case for them? I made this one out of an empty Guiness 6-pack box. The paper is from the All My Memories Couture line...another ckc acquisition.

I can't wait for next year's CKC!!!

My favorite aunt!

2006-03-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

This is my layout for last week's Donna D class assignment, which was to create a layout celebrating someone who has made a difference in your life. It was an ironic assigment, considering my mother had just mailed me some pictures of her and my aunt for another project I was working on. One of the pictures was of my aunt, me, my mother and my grandmother at my grandmother's dining room table, upon which there were scissors, crayons, and paper. I couldn't believe my eyes...I never knew this picture existed, yet this is how I best remember my aunt...papercrafting with me on long summer evenings while everyone else visited. She is the reason behind my love of paper crafts and scrapbooking, and I always wanted to do a layout about that. So here it is, and I feel so good that I have recorded this important piece of my personal history!

Awww....so cute....

2006-03-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

This sweet little puppy is the newest addition to our family. We adopted her last weekend, and as you can see, she is fitting in quite well! The kids all adore her, especially Bronwyn! We named her Luna, since she has a white patch on her chest that looks like a crescent moon.

Heck Yes!!!!!

2006-02-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

Isn't it beautiful????? Isn't it perfect????? Isn't it???

I haven't been this excited since I got my first boom box in the 7th grade!

I had been planning on getting an ipod for a few months, but I never really considered getting the one that played videos. But since our business is, after all, producing motion photo videos, I figured I could also use it as an advertising thing and get a tax deduction out of it. And it does play our videos...and they look so cute on the little bitty screen!!!!!

I cleaned house this morning, and with my music to keep me company, it didn't even seem like work. I danced, and I sang (badly, to the chorus of, "Gosh, Mom, keep it down!" from Elliot, who is home sick today!).

But the best thing about my new ipod is that I have rediscovered my music, and in a lot of ways, myself, too. I live in a small house, with a big family. The TV is always on, or someone is practicing clarinet or drums, or doing homework, or sleeping. I don't have a lot of opportunity to listen to music, except for those rare occasions when I'm in the car by myself. But a funny thing happened when I was loading my music onto my ipod. I started with this CD...remember this one?

In 1996, I got divorced, went back to school and was embarking on a new life as a single mom. Looking back, I remember this as one of the best times of my life...I was savoring my newfound independence, reveling in my accomplishments and getting my life together. And Alanis provided the soundtrack to it all. I played this cd so many times I wore it out and had to buy a new one. Yet, as I was loading it onto the computer, and as I heard the first strains of "All I really Want," I realized that I hadn't listened to this cd in almost ten years. Why?? Did the music serve its purpose and I no longer needed it? Or is it because life just got in the way of me enjoying a cd where every song had personal meaning for me?

Something to think about.

And here's another one:

If you don't remember this, you're not alone. This is the BEST album Bad Company ever put out, in my humble opinion. It's 15 years old...but you never hear any of the songs from Holy Water on the radio, ever. Classic rock stations will play "Feel like Makin' Love" or "Bad Company" all day long, but you never hear, "Holy Water" or "Walk through Fire." It's like the album that never was...I couldn't fine this album on itunes or at my local music store. Fortunately, I tracked one down on ebay; I have good memories associated with this one too, but mostly it's just pure fun and it ROCKS. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to "Holy Water," and the first few bars of screaming guitar don't make you want to dance, there is something seriously wrong with you!!!!

My new favorite thing!

2006-02-23T06:22:00.000-08:00

Heidi Swapp ghost letters rock! OK, I know they've been out for awhile, but I only just recently bought some, and they are worth every penny. They added just the right touch to this layout; I painted the backsides pink to match the KI Memories acrylic flower frame.

This is my new favorite LO; I love these pictures of McKenna!

I'm a cardmaking fool....!

2006-02-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

It's amazing...in all the years I've been scrapbooking I've never made a single card. I never really felt the need. After all, in my family we don't normally send each other cards and when we do, we make a contest out of finding the funniest, tackiest, rudest, most disgusting card we can! But this week's assignment for Donna's class was making cards from our scraps, so I set out to make one card, and found I couldn't stop! The next thing I knew, it was 2:30 in the morning and I had seven cards completed. This is going to be addicting, I can already tell. Cards are strangely liberating...they are so much smaller than a scrapbook page, so my design decisions aren't as complicated. Best of all, I can use up my huge stash of scraps! Now if I only had someone to send them to....

Happy Valentine's Day!

2006-02-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Ah, love and romance after 8 years of marriage...it certainly has a different face than in the beginning! I remember our first Valentine's Day...Matt had bought me roses the week before, and on the actual day he took me out to Big Al's Pasta Bar in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Afterward we went to the Comedy Club and finished off the evening at Borrowed Bucks Roadhouse.

This year we are going to get our taxes done! So much for passion and romance!

What it takes to make a teenager smile!

2006-02-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

My kids are pretty much used to my various projects. Whenever I show them what I'm working on, they give it a cursory glance and mumble, "yeah, ok, Mom."

Of course that was before I completed my week 5 project for Donna Downey's on line class! Bronwyn came home and saw this sitting on the table, and she actually smiled!!!

This is a 9 x 12 canvas collaged with her actual band music. I wanted to make something special to show her how proud I am of her drive and determination to stick to her goals. She made district honor honorable mention band (the first freshman in 10 years from her school to make it), and her goal next year is to make it to all-state. I know she can do it. She is a pretty amazing kid!

Premonition?

2006-02-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

Bronwyn and Elliot had pep band tonight, and when I picked them up, they were fighting over what to listen to on the radio. Elliot put it on the oldies station, which happened to be playing "Happy Together." The three of us simultaneously burst into song...loudy, terribly...along with the music. And then we started to laugh. So there we were, laughing, singing badly, and it occurred to me that when I am 80 years old and they are putting me in "The Home," this is something they will remember. They will say to each other, "Remember when mom picked us up from pep band and we all started singing at the top of our lungs in the car?" And they will relive the memory and hopefully feel bad about locking me away!! Hee hee!

But seriously, don't you sometimes just know when you're making a memory? And isn't it always during some relatively insignificant event?

I burned my tuna melt...

2006-02-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

But it was still darn good!!! I make the world's greatest tuna salad...not too often, because it is a little labor intensive, but today I just had to have it. And what did I do? I burned it. I left it on the stove while I was reading blogs...big mistake!

Anyway, there is a reason to all this rambling. See, when I got the cheese out of the refrigerator, I noticed that there was a perfect half-circle bite mark through the plastic. Hmm, wonder who did that? Hee hee! It had to have been McKenna. She loves American cheese.

These are the little bits and pieces of my children's childhood that I want to remember. When I'm 60, will I remember what it's like to go the fridge and pull out a slice of "sampled" cheese? Probably not. This is why I scrapbook. These memories are too precious not to keep!!!

In pursuit of enlightenment...

2006-01-31T22:02:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's 12:03 a.m. and I am totally nuts for staying up so late, let alone posting at this late hour. But I had to share this amazing documentary I watched. It's called "What the Bleep Do We Know." It's about quantum physics. Matt rented it, and when he told me what it was about, I said, "How boring!" Because you know I've never been one to get excited about math and science. OK, I've never been one to be able to even do math and science!!!! So he put it in and fell asleep watching it, which proved my theory about how boring it was, right?

WRONG!!!! I was sitting at my scrapbooking table working on pages for a swap and I was listening to this movie playing in the background...then I started getting interested, and I totally abandoned my project and ended up watching the whole thing. Bronwyn watched it with me, and it blew both of us away. The main point of the movie was, simply, we create our own existence. And there is lots of science to back it up. We create our reality, we create our health, we create our state of being. If I am doing a bad job explaining this, it's because it's kind of hard to get your mind around; you know, it kind of contradicts what we believe to be true.

The thing is, the thing that's so amazing and that actually brought me to tears, is that this kind of proves the existence of a soul, and the existence of God. Not the way we have all been taught through organized religion to believe, but in a way that makes so much more sense.

I am not enlightened enough to explain it any better than that. I totally recommend that anyone who reads this watches this documentary!!!

The New Monochromatic Look

2006-01-31T13:11:00.000-08:00

I have seen a lot of this type of layout recently...all done with the same color of cardstock rather than different shades of the same color. This is my version. I love this picture of Rowan and what it means to me, and I really wanted it to take center stage. I think I succeeded...what do you think? The scan's not the greatest, but you get the idea!

Inspiration is everywhere!

2006-01-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

It's no secret...I'm not a fashion magazine kind of girl. It's kind of funny, actually...I'm making a circle journal about this very topic--my lack of and complete uninterest in, fashion and style. But while at the laundromat on Saturday (washing the comforters & sleeping bags), Bronwyn and I looked at some fashion mags. She looked at "Lucky" and I looked at "Vanity Fair." Wow, I have been missing out on a great source for inspiration! I tore out half the pages in the magazine for future reference....everything from page ideas to cool photographic effects to try. There were a whole series of ads that were done in that hand-painted 1950's photograph style...you know, like those postcards of movie stars. That was so awesome it made my list of things I absolutely have to try.

This is what I love about this hobby...the unlimited potential for creativity and experimentation!

And away we go!

2006-01-25T19:53:00.000-08:00

All right! Now that I've gotten the hang of posting pictures, I'm going to post tons! Here is where I spent my weekend, shopping till I dropped. Coupons are a girl's best friend! I love love LOVE Archivers! It's scrapbook nirvana...the mother of all scrapbook stores.

Trial and Error!

2006-01-25T19:33:00.000-08:00

Here we go...my first attempt at posting a picture. This is my current favorite project...my altered clock!

My first post!

2006-01-19T09:33:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! This is so exciting!!!! My first post on my own blog! I am finally getting in on the act, and I am really looking forward to sharing my projects and my life with my family and friends!

I had a dream the other night...a nightmare, actually. I dreamed I had died and was looking down on my family and thinking, "But I wasn't done yet...I have so much left to scrapbook!" When I woke up, my first thought was, "This is pretty sad...I'm even dreaming about scrapbooking now!" And then I suddenly came to a realization...a late-night epiphany, if you will. It was, simply, that scrapbooking is what I was meant to do. Recording my family's history, random moment by random moment, is my life's work. I may not get paid to do it (yet!) but that's what I was meant to do with my life. Sitting there in bed at 2 a.m., I was more sure of that than I have ever been of anything in my entire life!

And so, that's what this blog is about...sharing snippets of my life's work, and my life, too, in the process.