enjoying the ride

trying something new

2005-09-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with typepad this morning and will probably continue to play all day (I shouldn't have to work on my birthday, right?!) For the next month I have a free trial so you'll be able to find my blog entries there. We'll see if it lasts!

http://jesshunt.typepad.com/enjoying_the_ride/

with friends like these....

2005-09-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

Once again I'm reminded of how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life. Today after work my girlfriends took me out for dinner and drinks at my favorite Thai place. We all had drinks with umbrellas and everyone was fully cooperative in having their picture taken! We laughed so hard that we cried - it was a wonderful birthday present :)

Back to work....

2005-08-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

I forgot to take my picture this morning before school!! lol...I was going to do it, then I forgot....oh well....maybe next year ;)

I have boring trainings much of the week but there will also be time to re-organize my desk and get new forms and test kits ready to go in between calls and emails from teachers and parents. I talked to two parents today and everyone was very nice and in a good mood - perfect way to start a new year! My co-workers are a different story - so many of them seem to be in a constant state of stress!!

This year I'm trying a new thing that I call my personal bubble of calm. It's an imaginary bubble of space around me that is calming and soothing - anyone who is freaking out may not come near my bubble of calm! So far so good - had to back away from a couple people today who were within striking distance of my bubble...lol...could be an interesting year!

Off to watch Big Brother and Rock Star INXS - I think Wil missed me when he was away last night because he even agreed to watch the shows with me! Could be a birthday week treat too :)

it's a school night....

2005-08-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's true....my summer vacation officially ends when that alarm goes off early tomorrow morning. Mind you I've been getting up quite early all summer long, but it's going to feel MUCH different tomorrow morning. Technically I was "invited" to my first meeting with parents today - at 7:30 this morning to be exact! I had glanced at some work email when I got home from my trip, but as I was re-reading it this morning I suddenly realized I had to get in the shower and to one of my schools in a quick hurry. And so it begins...the next week will be filled with lots of last minute details as we prepare for the kids to arrive at school. As a school psychologist, most of my job revolves around making sure that new kids are placed in the appropriate setting for their educational needs. This morning's meeting was for a 2nd grader with some significant behavior problems. I certainly applaud parents for letting us know what's going on upfront so that we can be prepared and help the child be as successful as possible - I just wish we didn't have to do it at 7:30 this morning :) Oh well...it really is all worth it in the end when you see children happy and learning. As I was thinking about the first day of school I remembered this layout that I had done for a slumber party scrap at SBB awhile ago. Then I got to thinking about what going back to school used to be like. Mom would arrange my brother and I on the front step of the house and take our picture before the bus came (this tradition must have stopped somewhere around middle school I'm thinking...lol) New clothes, new school supplies, and most importantly...new backpack and lunch box! Good stuff :) I still get a bit of a thrill looking through the school supply aisle at stores and always buy myself some back-to-school treat. This year I found some cool mechanical pencils that I'll be able to use when testing. It really is the little things like cool pencils and a fancy sticky note pad that make work a little more fun! No bus picking me up tomorrow morning...and Wil won't even be here to take my back-to-school picture since he's gone to Seattle to watch the Mariners/Yankees game with his dad. Just me and the kitties...oh...and Matt Lauer of course....my back-to-school routine always involves catching the first 20 mintues of the Today show :)

Hazel - aka Tilly

2005-08-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday is the day that I visit Hazel (nicknamed Tilly - and that's how I most often refer to her!) I met Tilly through my mother-in-law who handles all of her finances and such. When she went on an extended vacation she asked me to check in on Tilly - I've been visiting with her almost every Sunday since then! She is now 101 years old and still quite sharp and witty!! I was challenged at the Scrapartist All Day Crop to get a picture of her today at my visit and then scrap it along with a little bit of her history. Well when I went to visit I figured out pretty quickly that today was not really a good picture day. She was a bit anxious about an upcoming doctor's appointment - so instead I asked her if she would let me take her photo album for a week. She seemed quite excited that I wanted to do something with her pictures! The picture above on the left is from her album - her husband Ray passed away a very long time ago - but she still speaks so fondly of him and the time they spent together. They were married in 1932, but I'm not sure when that picture was taken. The picture on the right is one of my own that I took at her 100th birthday party. I really look forward to my Sunday visits with Tilly - I feel very lucky to know her!! I'm hoping to scrap some of the photos she gave me in the very near future :)

In other news (as my friend Danni likes to say!) I had such a fun day at the All Day Crop over at Scrapartist and am happy to announce that I hosted my very first crop today - how fun!! Everyone was hillarious and I think they had a great time too :) All of the crops were a lot of fun - kudos to everyone that hosted, created freebies, and attended the crops today! I'm heading off to the gallery there now to comment on layouts - lots to see!

highlights from my trip

2005-08-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

Just a disclaimer that these are not the actual scrapbook pages - just a summary of the trip for my family - wanted to get the story and photos out and I know it will take me time to scrap them. Check it out if you have any interest!

SNAKE RIVER RAFTING ADVENTURE

Come visit me.....

2005-08-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

At my very first crop hosting gig tomorrow at Scrapartist.com!! There is a whole day full of events and you can read about all of it here - ALL DAY CROP SCHEDULE - there are special treats at each crop too that you can add on to a free paper pack that we are giving away. Look forward to seeing you there!

Home Sweet Home

2005-08-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

While I am happy to be back with all of the comforts of my home I have to say that I had a BLAST out there!

Many stories to tell and pictures to share - will get everything sorted out this weekend I hope so I can post as much as possible. I have a waterproof camera that I need to get to Walmart for processing and there will be pictures from others too....so many scrapping opportunities coming up! This is a favorite picture already though - me and Wil on our boat. This raft that we rented came with some problems, but all in all it kept us afloat for the 5 days.

So I think I'm finally through all of the emails and blogs that I wanted to catch up on - I'm doing my best to put off any unpacking/laundry types of tasks. Unfortunately, I will have to get to it sooner rather than later as work starts up again for me on this coming Tuesday.

For the moment I think Walmart just opened so I will go and get those pictures developed (I can't remember the last time I had real live film developed!!) More story to follow!

Packed and ready to go....I think!

2005-08-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning we pack up the car, pick up our raft, and head east toward the
Snake River! I spent the day cooking/baking and packing and I think we just have a few little things to do in the morning before heading out. It's a bit different than packing for other trips when you think you can just pick something up if you forget it...once you're on the river there's really not anywhere to pick anything up from! We certainly won't go hungry - I have enough treats and snacks to feed a small army :)

I'll be away from my computer until we get back home next Friday or Saturday - I will miss my little scrapbooking world but look forward to discovering a whole new world out there on the river. (and I'm sure I'll come back with a great many pictures to scrap!)

Have a great week everyone and I'll chat at ya when I return!

Camp and other noteworthy events this week

2005-08-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

So this week SBB is having their first summer camp event - I'm in Cabin #3 and having a blast :)
Here is the crew that I'm sharing a cabin with....

Such a nice group of women and they do awesome work too - you can find some of our camp layouts in CABIN #3's GALLERY. Never did go to camp as a child so I'm enjoying virtual camp now - still get all of the comforts of home too :)

Now here's the big news of the week (for me anyhow!) - yesterday afternoon I got an email from Simple Scrapbook magazine and they want one of my layouts for their Jan/Feb. issue - woo hoo! It's so exciting to think that someone would actually pay me some cash to put one of my layouts into a magazine! It's my first published layout so I'm very excited - I have to have everything in the mail by Friday so must get to work on that.

I'm busy getting packed up for our river trip - seems like there is a lot of planning that goes into this....can't really run to the store and pick something up if you forget it! lol...had a planning meeting on Tuesday and I'm very excited about the trip - watched some video of previous trips so I'm looking forward to getting on the water!

Not much else going on here at the moment - should probably get back to the laundry so that everything is clean and dry to finish packing. Will be doing some other errands today too to prepare for the trip. Tonight is Big Brother too...looks like Kaysar is on his way out the door again :(

No News is Good News

2005-08-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

Guess I've been remiss in my blogging since Tuesday! I guess nothing of note has happened since then, except......

KAYSAR is back in the Big Brother house - woo hoo! Thanks for voting if you did....I guess he got 82% of the vote....I really thought it would be closer than that! So I'm anxious to see how this affects the house.....really....it's becuase I'm a psychologist that I watch this show - it's so interesting to learn about how people get along cooped up in a house together (anyone buying this?!)

I've been in workshops/trainings for most of the week....not terribly exciting but it is nice to have a little extra pay for shopping! Yesterday I had to do the dreaded swimsuit shopping for our river trip - thank god for those little swim skirts they have now....allows me to even wear a two piece with those wonderful tankinis...yay!

And last but not least....I really can't resist a sale....especially when it's on something I've been coveting for awhile now. I got Carrie Stephens' Soul Search kit on sale at SBB....

Carrie really is an amazing designer and I'm excited to start playing with this kit - must find the perfect pic to use :)

A little more shopping later on today to make sure I didn't miss any spectacular swimsuits out there....a little scrapping (tons of fun new stuff to play with)...and a little bit of laundry will fill up my Saturday - hope you are enjoying yours!

Back....for the moment

2005-08-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

Princess Camping was great and relaxing fun - there will be pictures and scrapbook pages!! I'll wait to do the pages to tell the story - it's just so nice to hang out with wonderful women and just do nothing but read, eat, drink, float on a river, and sun ourselves....really great fun!

Had dinner with my wonderful husband tonigh (chinese take-out) - it's also really nice to hang out with the man ya love :)

And so tonight I will watch Big Brother (have you voted to keep Kaysar in the house?! you can vote more than once ya know!) and try to catch up on a few things before I have to get up super early to make the trip to Boring. I'm told it will take 3 hours to get there....all this time will be spent in a car with my supervisors....we'll see how that all turns out.

Pray for me - lol :)

Princess Camping

2005-08-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the in-laws late last night and I'm out the door this morning on another mini-adventure called Princess Camping!

My friend Gwen invited me to join them on this annual event over at the Oregon Coast and I'm pretty excited about the whole thing - I mean really....how often does a girl get to wear a tiara in public!?! Apparently the idea is that we are camping out in the woods (near someone's cabin so there are things like a shower and I'm going to say there is even electricity) in our tents....but we bring everything that we would need to be as comfortable as possible....ie., Gwen says she will be bringing her down comforter. So I dusted off my crown, packed up a few conveniences of home and a couple bottles of wine....and I'm off!

Should be back sometime on Tuesday and then on Wednesday it's off to Boring, Oregon (no kidding....that's what it's called) to attend a training for work. Thursday and Friday are also workshops (again for work- isn't this my summer vacation?!) but at least they are right here in town. Hopefully sometime in there I will have time to scrap - have lots to catch up on :)

IMPORTANT (to me!)

2005-08-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ok - this may seem incredibly silly to those that don't watch Big Brother 6 - but I was really disappointed when Kaysar was evicted from the house. I think he's soooo smart and very fun to watch!

But get this....he could get back IN the house if enough people vote for him :)
Soooo....if you have a spare moment - please vote for Kaysar!

Thanks :)

Visiting family

2005-08-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

We traveled to Central Oregon yesterday to visit the in-laws – Wil’s mom, Sarah, and stepdad…Warren. Warren’s children are also here and so are the two grandchildren. Not as many people as it sounds like – but definitely enough for some great games of cards J And that’s what we did until very late last night….pinochle, hearts, oh heck….lots of card playin’.

We left the kitties at home of course, and since our roommate has moved out, we found ourselves in the position of having to find someone to keep an eye on them. And then I had a brilliant thought…..there are FOUR kids that live across the street and at least two of them look old enough to have this responsibility! So I decided to go over and see what they thought of the idea – you’d have thought I was trying to buy them a pony they were so excited! The mom says they love animals but have no pets….perfect! I asked what sounded like fair compensation for their efforts and the mom thought that a quarter sounded fair….a quarter?! That sounds like the kind of money I would have made as a kid doing this kind of thing….surely the price has gone up since then?! On the other hand…kudos to the mom for raising kids that don’t think they deserve compensation for every little thing that they do – and kids that don’t even flinch when she suggested a quarter. I had three of the kids over yesterday to meet the cats – what fun they all had running around my house trying to make nice with 3 cats. If nothing else, my cats will get a wonderful workout from this arrangement J Very sweet kids – they stayed for quite awhile and they seem very responsible….I hope it goes well because we’ll be needing someone for a whole week when we go on our river trip. (I left $5 on the counter – I’ll leave it up to them to sort the whole thing out)

One of the nice things about being at the in-laws is that we set them up with wireless internet gear so I am always able to hop online and stay connected with the outside world. While everyone is sleeping in (as everyone is doing right now) I can hop online and see what’s going on at SBB, ScrapArtist….all that good stuff. This morning I woke up and plugged in….and then nothing….no connection?! Bummer….so I gently woke my computer geek husband and he was kind enough to wake himself up and work on this problem for me (in exchange for 10 minutes of back scratches….it’s all about compromise, right?!) He’s working on it right now so I’m writing my blog entry in Word to paste in when I finally get connected.

I am having a bit of withdrawal though not being able to access all of my scrapbooking goodies. I travel with the laptop that I use for work, and it’s just not powerful enough to handle the scrapbooking stuff. So I’ll visit the boards and forums and do a lot of commenting - collecting inspiration to use when I get back home J It’s a good warm-up for the week long trip on the river during which I will have NO access to my computer at all!

Wednesday

2005-08-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

So I'm having a serious lack of motivation lately....or maybe it's more a lack of direction. I have so many things that I should be doing around the house...but here I sit at my computer most of the day! It's just so much more fun to play than to do all of these silly chores...maybe tomorrow. No wait...tomorrow I have to go to work! Some pre-school year meetings to bond with one of the schools I'll be working in....the school has been having some serious issues and we're getting a new principal that I am VERY excited about....my attendance is technically optional since I work at several schools....but it seems I should go and make a good impression :) I guess I'll be getting paid to go too, so that's even more incentive! So that will take up most of my tomorrow and half of my Friday. The other half of my Friday will involve a trip to central Oregon to visit Wil's mom and their family.....should be a good weekend.

So the past couple of nights I've gotten sucked into Rock Star INXS...anyone else watching this?? Last night I stumbled upon Jordis's performance of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" and I really loved it! I have to admit that I don't think I've ever heard Bowie's version....but Jordis was incredible...it was such an emotional performance and I love her voice. She performed it again tonight for an encore and I wish they would release it somewhere...very cool. So of course right now she's my favorite....lol....based on one performance....and without seeing many of the others perform! Really wasn't planning on getting hooked on anything but Big Brother....but now I think I might need to see what happens! And while I'm on the topic of Big Brother...I am SO BUMMED that Kayser is going to get voted out this week....ugh....

OK....nuff of that....think of me tomorrow....don't know if I can survive a WHOLE day of work....I'm out of practice....lol. (bet I'm not going to get much sympathy for that comment - my apologies in advance to all of you who work all year 'round!)

one of those days....

2005-08-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those "blah" days that I guess we are all bound to have every now and again. You would think that any day one has off from work would automatically be a good day - apparently this is not so!

Nothing bad happened today....just felt a bit tired and cranky all day - not really a big deal I guess in the scheme of things. I will settle in to watch Big Brother in about an hour and then head up to bed....convinced that tomorrow will be better :)

On the bright side - we got a few good errands done today....new tires for the car...getting the CD player fixed in the car....returned some tennis racquets we were demo-ing....AND....I did my exercises today (yay me!) When will that ever become routine in my life?!

A couple more bright spots I must mention.....

Yay to Becky on her article in the local paper - I'll be interested to see if anything else comes out about it....maybe someday someone will fess up about the signs....if you have no idea what I'm talking about, or if you do and want to read the article you can find the info at Becky's blog.

And last....but certainly not least.....Danni....you really got me going today with that little craft project of yours. I've already printed out a page of 3x3 pics to practice with...off to the office supply store for some laminating materials tomorrow! Thanks again for the inspiration - you rock :) See Danni's blog for more info on all this.

Post-Party Exhaustion

2005-08-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

I blame that for my lack of posting until now :) The weekend was so much fun! We were so happy to have about 30 of our friends and family here hanging out with us on Saturday...then Wil and I spent all day Sunday trying to rest and recover! We took Wil's uncle out to his plane at the airport at 5:00am, made a quick stop to visit with Wil's dad at Starbucks, then fell right back into bed and slept until about 10:00am. I didn't even bother trying to clean up the house and the yard until today. I went to work this morning and spent the afternoon cleaning up the post-party mess. I also managed to take some scrapping breaks and got a few layouts done today :) I even started making some pages for a wedding scrapbook! I'm so nervous to start this project because I want to be good :)

Big excitement in the scrapbooking world today...two of the fabulous women that I work on Creative Teams for have joined forces to bring us one super-scrapbooking site! Michelle Coleman of Second Mile Designs and Nancie Rowe Janitz of Scrapartist have come together at ScrapArtist.com and have also welcomed designers Susan Bachman and Dianne Rigdon into the fold! Michelle and Nancie are such amazing women and I know they will provide a happy environment for us to grow as scrapbookers and artists :) Oh...and here's the best part....big sale to celebrate! Go check it out....

SCRAPARTIST.COM

Now - since I've been sitting at a desk or standing behind a kitchen counter/sink, I plan to grab a beer from the fridge and go sit on my patio with a book before it gets too dark out :)

chalkboard update

2005-07-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

for those who were anxiously awaiting news of how my chalkboard painting project went....

Success!

Where have I been??

2005-07-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Wow time flies - I'm trying to figure out where I've been since last posting on Tuesday...I think I can account for most of the time.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I was at work during the mornings - getting ready for the fall inservice. On Thursday...which I guess was yesterday...I did the work thing in the morning and then I was going nonstop for the rest of the afternoon.....but it was all fun social stuff. I went to Costco to shop for our big party this weekend - why is it so fun to buy things in mass quantities? After that I had drinks with my mother-in-law - she's been out of town for a week so it was nice to catch up with her. We had a couple of friends meet us - I visit a woman who is 101 and her daughter and granddaughter were here visiting from California. I have heard many stories about them, but had never met them. It was a lot of fun and I snapped this family photo for them :)

From there it was off to a friend's birthday party...and after that...Wil's uncle and friend Ellen landed their plane here in Eugene for a visit! They have been on a big trip that included time in Russia - all by flying their own plane around. They are stopping here to visit on their way back to Tuscon and seem to enjoy having their feet on the ground for a day. Tonight we are having a BBQ at Wil's dad's house so we can see pictures and hear more stories of their adventures. Then tomorrow is the big party here. Still have some stuff to do to get the house ready...but I think it's going to be lots 'o fun! I'm sure there will be pictures :)

Two Years Ago Today....

2005-07-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

I got married!

I know it doesn't seem like a long time to be whoopin' and getting excited about - but it is....trust me :)

What a wonderful day that was - I tried to journal as much of it as I could at the time because I never wanted to forget how I felt on that day...I was soooo incredibly happy and I had an overwhelming feeling that I was doing the right thing. There haven't been many times in my life when I've felt so sure about what I was doing....but this was definitely one of them.

We had a friend read parts of a poem called The Art of Marriage at the ceremony and I want to share it here again today...it has so many good things to remember in it :)

The Art of Marriage
by Wilfred A. Peterson

A good marriage must be created.
In the art of marriage the little things are the big things...
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once each day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is in giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is finding room for the things of the spirit.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right partner,
it is being the right partner.

So there ya have it - I think we've done our best to follow this advice and if I do say so myself we are doing quite well :) We will be celebrating with dinner out somewhere tonight...will be a great time to reflect on the last year and look ahead to goals for this coming year together.

On a scrapbooking related note to this topic....I have yet to scrap my wedding pictures! Two years later and I just haven't found the right kit/elements yet. So all of my favorite designers out there...if you happen to be reading....the colors were lavender/blues, ivory, champagne, and we used hydrangeas for all of the flowers ;) lol

Monday Monday

2005-07-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

The week is starting out well - yay! I took Wil to school this morning (which he was wide awake for!) and then set off on some errands. I returned an item to Target and one to Home Depot, made $12.15 recycling cans/bottles, and even managed to get the car filled with gas and washed! I also had two loads of laundry done before leaving the house this morning - by 9:00am I had all of this done and felt sooo accomplished!

Then I sat down at the computer....time just gets sucked away when I'm in this chair! Another hour has passed and I have spent a little bit of money on a couple of kits (gotta love sales!) What did I get you ask?? First of all...I've been waiting a LONG time to buy Rachel Dickson's The Flirt kit. I loved it immediately, but wanted to wait and see if I still loved it in a few weeks. Turns out that I do...and as luck would have it it's on sale at ScrapDish AND there is a bonus coupon at their booth at DigiScrap Fest....so I got it for a steal :) woo hoo - thank you Rachel!

My other deal is from SBB - Michelle Underwood is having a big sale and I love her stuf :) Because of the budget I've limited myself to one choice - and I picked her Tropical Breeze kit.

So now I'm taking a few minutes to update the blog and then get back to work. We're having an anniversary type celebration BBQ here this weekend so I need to make the house look pretty and clean....as well as the yard. Also cleaning up the guest room as family might come visit too on their way back from Russia?! More on that if they come and tell stories....

Lightning and other excitement

2005-07-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

Major thunderstorm last night - woo hoo! Might not sound that unusual to some of you....but for us here in Eugene, Oregon, it's not a common occurence. When I went to bed last night I noticed some bright flashes in the sky and couldn't believe that it was lightning...until I heard the thunder that went with it! This went on for quite some time (I'm told....dh says that I fell asleep while the worst of it was going on!) and then there was some heavy rain. Everything had settled down by this morning but apparently there were some strikes that caused some damage...might have even started a fire I heard on the news this morning. Big excitement, huh??

I talked to my friend Donna on the phone last night for well over an hour. She lives back in Wisconsin where we were the very best of friends....boy do I miss her! We don't talk as often as we should, and I'm not nearly the friend I would like to be from such a distance. No matter how long it's been since we've talked though, I feel like I can always pick up just right where we left off. It's good to have friends like that....she probably knows more about me than anyone else in this world :) She's a paper scrapper but I'm trying to turn her on to digital....I really think she would love it.

I just got done snapping some pictures of my kitties and wanted to share one - she might be a big kitty...but I think she's beautiful!!

lots to say - no text?!

2005-07-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

So earlier today I had all kinds of things to say and I spent some time typing them all into this text box on my screen...then I hit the button to publish the post and POOF - all gone :( bummer, huh?? So now it's late...I'm tired...you're getting the very short and condensed version of what I had planned to write.

1. Did some weeding in the yard today and actually kind of enjoyed it....gave me great satisfaction and that was really strange! Always dreaded this kind of work before....does this mean I'm growing up?? Or is it just way too hot outside and I've been suffering some sort of heat stroke?!

2. Working on projects indoors too to escape the heat. Today I painted an old door we had sitting around with chalkboard paint. You have to wait a few days before using it...I'll keep you posted on how it all turns out.

3. The boarder is mostly gone and all of his stuff is out of the living room so I've been doing a little bit of an office update. Will post pictures when complete....hung some pictures I had taken today and am rather pleased with the result if I do say so myself (no nakey dancing yet though Becky!!)

So that's it in a nutshell....will be copying this text before I hit publish....just in case!

I've got nothing!

2005-07-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Really....I don't think I have much to talk about at all today! This morning I did some more weeding outside but it got hot very fast....went out for a little time in the sun this afternoon but didn't last long before I felt like I was beginning to melt! My fancy schmancy car tells me it's 99 degrees out there - yikes! Thank goodness for air conditioning. I've spent the rest of the day trying to make sense of the piles that have accumulated on my desk and bring some sort of order. My plan is to actually FILE the things in the "to file" pile and then keep up with it instead of making a new file....craziness, right?! Still trying to organize and cut back on the amount of "stuff" we have just sitting around.

Our boarder is finally moving out of the house and into a duplex. He's been living with us for this past year - ever since we moved into this house. It's been nice to have the extra income and Craig is a very good friend....couldn't ask for a nicer person to live with...but I'm really kind of excited to be able to have the whole house just for us. I can get up without having to put on pants to feed the cats - woo hoo! Tonight is his first night in the new place - might even sleep with the bedroom door open ;)

Well I guess I did have a few things to say - probably pretty boring though and for that I do apologize. I'm off to continue reading Harry Potter so that I can go back to reading Dena's blog - I see she's giving away some book secrets over there ;)

the saga is over!

2005-07-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well we did it! Yesterday afternoon (after some scrambling to figure out where the heck my title went) we went on over to the dealer and after about a good half hour of negotiations and another hour of paperwork and waiting, we have ourselves a new car!

We celebrated with dinner out and then we did stop by the bookstore to see what was going on there - holy Harry Potter craziness! Thanks for the tip Becky - I'm heading out to Wal-Mart in my new ride right now!

So does anyone out there want to buy a '99 Passat?? Becky, don't you have kids that are driving?! ;)

I confess....I went shopping!

2005-07-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Since I have the honor of being on some really great design teams....and they make such awesome stuff...I haven't found much need to do any extra shopping lately (thank goodness for our budget!) But yesterday when I ran across this sale I just couldn't stop myself!

I got a few things....ok....actually 2 kits and 2 paper packs - all for just $8.00 - woo hoo! I LOVE Tanya's work and I can't believe I don't have more of her stuff....I just get busy doing other stuff and forget to go there. But I went, I bought, and I plan to scrap!

I'm also frantically scrapping away with a new combo kit that Michelle Coleman and Holly (digichick) are giving away at a crop this Sunday night at Second Mile Designs. You can go download the kit now - http://63.247.133.139/forum/viewtopic.php?t=92 - and get info about the crop - password will be given away at the crop. My very favorite part of the kit are two curvy templates that are included. I cannot make curves and these templates make it super easy!! Love it....

As for non-scrapping news....we are going to talk money this afternoon with the car salesman. Definitely not my favorite part of the process...but I have to say that we have it a little easier than most when it comes to this part. Our current renter/friend, Craig, is a car salesman so we have a lot of inside information about how these things work....but even better than that....we are very lucky to know the owner of one of the car dealerships in town. My dh went to school and remains friends with his kids and he has made all of his car purchases there. We don't waste much time haggling...he usually just gives us the bottom line and we run away with the deal :) Hopefully everything goes smoothly....it gets a little more complicated as our tastes change and the price of the cars we're interested in increase! Hopefully I'll have more news on this for tomorrow's entry.

Last, but certainly not least....I'm looking forward to the new Harry Potter book (although since we didn't preorder I don't know what are chances are of finding a book this weekend...or even getting close to the store for that matter!) Now I have to find time for some serious reading too on top of everything else on my "to do" list!

but what about this??

2005-07-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

So today we went out test driving again and I think we might have a winner....what do you think about a Volvo V40?! She's not what I would call stunning, but she's no slouch either. I really never thought that I would have the same feeling I had when I was test driving the car I have now....I remember it like it was yesterday. I got into the car...and the seat just folded right around me....almost like it was hugging me! Well I tell you...I felt it again today. As I slid into the seat it just wrapped me up and said "let's go!" And off we went.....and boy can she GO! Plenty of get up and go - she's in great shape and the price is going to be just right by the time we get done chatting I think. We brought her home tonight to try out and see if we still "respect her in the morning" :) It's just so darn comfortable and she drives like a dream....wish us luck in the negotiations.

I had every intention of getting housework done today....it just didn't happen. Nor did a lot of other things I had intended to do. I did manage to get some major weeding done out front though. That was a bigger accomplishment than I like to admit to. We are soooo "lawn-stupid" and are still getting the hang of taking care of things like that. I'm going to head out to do some more work out there tomorrow morning before the sun gets so crazy hot.

Wil just got home from tennis so I think we're going out for a drive - you know how it is at first with a new love....drivin' all the time :)

Much better, THANKS!

2005-07-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

Everyone was so nice to me after my cranky post - it helped :) I'm feeling much better today and am ready to face whatever the world's got for me!

So here's some fun news - I have the honor of being on the creative team over at Designer Digitals and I participated in my first creative team "chat-n-crop" over there last night. The inspiration ad had curves in it....and I'm still trying to figure curves out so I was a little intimidated! I'm relatively happy with how it turned out so I'm going to post it here too - I just love this picture of me and Aubrie now that I've messed with it a little!

I have to tell you though - right after I finished mine I peeked in the DD gallery and I saw Pattie's curvy layout - WOW! Talk about knowing what to do with your curves!! Check it out for yourself - she just rocks.... http://www.designerdigitals.com/ddgallery/showphoto.php?photo=300&cat=511 If you've got the time, stay there to look around - sooo much talent in the designers and other creative team members.

IN OTHER NEWS....

We went car shopping last night - always more stressful than I think it's going to be. We drove a Honda Element (how fun are they?!), a VW Passat wagon, and a Subaru Forester. I love everything that the Element can do - really a very functional vehicle...drives like a truck though and I'm not sure I like that. The VW wagon and the Forester were about the same for me....I didn't LOVE either of them....but they are not bad cars. We were happy with the performance of both. So the search continues...I think we probably need a day or two to recover from all of the work we did on it yesterday.

I'm playing tennis and having lunch with my mother-in-law today so I better get going and packed up for that. Thanks for coming in and taking a peek :)

Work and car woes....must be Monday!

2005-07-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

I'm working a few extended contract days this summer and today was the first day. Only there for the morning, but was quickly reminded why we get summers off. We need time to just not think about this stuff! I could go on and on about why this meeting was so incredibly frustrating, but you really never know who is going to read this and frankly the details would just bore you. I will just say that sometimes I wonder if I'm one of the last sane and rational people on the planet - geesh!

And car woes - figures! As if the oven breaking isn't enough for one month...I took my beloved (but elderly) car in for a routine oil change and found out it needs a little more attention....gasket something-or-anothers, new tires, and apparently I only have about 10,000 miles left on my brakes! Dropped about $200 there and went directly to see my friend Craig at the car dealership.....I think it's finally time to let her go. My husband isn't using his car much these days since he's back at school so we are considering trading both of our cars in for something more useful (and something we can both drive - we mutually despise each others' cars). I'm currently looking at the Subaru Outback and Forester - anyone out there have any input on either of those?? It must be affordable....it must be reliable...and it must be able to haul our camping stuff around :)

So yes...definitely feels like a Monday! There are plenty of wonderful things to be excited about though....I got to see my good friend Leila at the meeting today and we had a wonderful lunch together before picking up my car :) Nancie's crop at ScrapArtist last night had a huge draw and I've heard nothing but praise for the creative team's kit and her site - very happy for her :)

Off to look for more of the brighter side of Monday....

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT THE CROP

2005-07-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note about the crop I mentioned at Scrapartist.com tonight - a message from Nancie :)

******If you haven't already registered in the scrapartist gallery, you must do so before tonights crop! ******Go to www.scrapartist.com/galleryOnce there, click on Register at the top right.Give a unique username and password (write this down as you'll need to get into the crop)That's it!Then at 10pm EST, head to http://www.scrapartist.com/scrapchat/index.php and put in your name and password.

Hope to see you all there tonight!

Free Kit Heads Up

2005-07-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

This one is a big one - there is a "meet the creative team" crop at ScrapArtist.com this Sunday night and we are giving away a HUGE kit at the crop (actually you can download ahead of time and get the password to unzip at the crop) - for more details check out the INVITATION
Here is a preview of the kit:

Pretty cool beans, huh? So come on over and check it out - I'd love to see you there :)

Let's see - not much else going on here this weekend. There is a big tennis tournament at our club so I imagine I'll be hanging out there later. Other than that, no big plans for the weekend - which I guess is kind of nice! I spent so much time cleaning and doing laundry this week that I think I can just sit back and relax for a bit!

50 cents?! NO WAY!

2005-07-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

So the people across the street are having a yard sale today. My first thought was "shoot! wish I would have known about this and I could have put stuff out too without having to post signs!" My next thought was that I should probably go over, buy a glass of lemonade from their cutie little girls, and put in a neighborly appearance. So off I went with a couple bucks. They mostly have kids clothes and toys but then I saw it....sitting on top of the small pile of adult clothing....the Brett Favre jersey.

For those that don't know Brett Favre is the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, who play football in my home state of Wisconsin.....and he's the best thing that has happened to our beloved Packers in quite some time. As a bonus - he's just plain gorgeous :) So imagine my surprise when I saw this Champion brand jersey in fairly good condition sitting there on the table for - wait, can that be right?! - FIFTY CENTS!! Even better - it fits!!

It's in the washing machine right now - I'm sure this sounds silly to most anyone that would be reading this - but I love it and I'm a little excited! woo hoo me :)

I also picked up a couple of little outfits for my niece - looks like they were hardly ever worn! I just love yard sales and bargain hunting....it's a little bit addictive and the only thing that keeps me from being out looking at more of them is a tendency to get lazy about hunting down locations and leaving the house.

I had a major block on scrapping yesterday and every time I sat down to work on something I just couldn't think of a thing that I wanted to scrap. I think I'm back on it today though. I'm downloading a new kit for a crop this weekend - it's a huge kit and the ScrapArtist team is giving it away for free at a crop on Sunday night....stay tuned for more details!

Organizational Update

2005-07-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would update everyone on the progress of my home organization project ('cause I know you're all dying to know!)

I finished the living room as mentioned in an earlier post and included a picture of the neat and organized videos and dvds above. I love having those baskets in the entertainment center. There is no organizational dilemma that a good basket can't solve :)

Although I thought I was going to be tackling the storage/cleaning closet in the kitchen, I decided to put that off for a bit and clean out/reorganize the cupboards. I cleaned out all of the old and gross stuff that had been in the cupboards for far too long, and then rearranged a few things to make sense. Now that we've been here a year I have a feel for where I want things to be. I was able to get my summer dishes out into a more accessible cupboard and I got all of the spices into a cupboard too (prior to this they were just all laying in a basket (in this case NOT a good storage solution!). I even put a list of what spices we have on the door so that my husband isn't constantly asking what we have or buying 3 garlic salts! I also created this new little pet dining area which also houses my cookbooks - they are still adjusting to the change and the cookbooks are still neat and tidy because....well....I don't really cook! And last but not least, the junk drawer. Now it has these little containers inside so that you at least have the illusion of organization. I can tell you exactly where to find a flashlight, batteries, and keys now! woo hoo!

Today I'm heading up to the bedroom and I'm not coming back down until every piece of clothing (that we actually wear) has a home in the closet! I'll also be doing some cleaning - washing sheets, dusting, scrubbing in the bathroom - all kinds of fun stuff! It will be a happy place to retire to tonight by the time I'm done!

Per Becky's Request....

2005-07-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

at least I think she was talking about me!

{Three Things}

Three screen names that you have had: jesshunt, jesslynnb, jessicarabbit

Three things you like about yourself: sense of humor, organizational skills, I'm reliable

Three things you don’t like about yourself: lack of patience, quick temper, my weight

Three parts of your heritage: Austrian, German, Irish

Three things that scare you: failure, harm coming to my family or friends, small spaces

Three of your everyday essentials: my computer, pasta or bread, a book

Three things you are wearing right now: pjs, panties, glasses

Three of your favorite songs: I Believe in Miracles (is that the name of it?!), Bless the Broken Road, Time in a Bottle

Three things I want in a relationship: honesty, commitment, love!

Two truths and a lie: I met Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island, I have flown a small plane, I did a guest appearance on Young and the Restless

Three things you can’t do without: my television, my family, the love of a cat

Three places you want to go on vacation: Italy, Greece, Hawaii

Three things you just can’t do: sew, math, keep my house clean :)

Three kids’ names: Aubrie, Alicia, Luke (our nieces and nephew!)

Three things you want to do before you die: travel, have a family, live a long and happy life

Three Celeb crushes: Ricky Martin, Ben Affleck, Pierce Brosnen

Three people you want to know these things about: Nancie, Michelle, Danni

What day is it??

2005-07-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

Seriously - I just asked my husband what day it was....not the date mind you...the actual day of the week! This is what happens when I'm not working - I lose track of all space and time. Oh well :)

First things first - I want to answer a question that someone left in the comments - Craft Tea Lady asked about getting the password for the download...unfortunately I'm not at liberty to pass that out....but I'm told that the kit will be sold for a limited time at both Michelle and Nancie's websites for the month of July for $3.99 - I'd go looking for it on Monday (hint hint) Sounds like the crop was a big hit - I wasn't able to be there but it sounds like a lot of people were! I'm so excited about the two of them teaming up on a project and hope it happens more in the future :)

So I couldn't make it to the crop because I was out dancing the night away with my friends at a local festival called Art in the Vineyard - what a blast. I took some pictures so I'll get those posted soon. Today we attended a party at a friends house - it was the end of season party for my tennis team. I am so lucky to play with such nice and amazingly talented women :) We even let our husbands attend - had a great time playing bocce ball and grill Costco hotdogs and polish sausage! The weather was perfect too - happy day! Tomorrow I'm heading out on a shopping adventure with my friends - a nearby outlet mall (in Woodburn for those that are close enough to go!) is having sidewalk sales this weekend and the 1st was our pay day - woo hoo!

Well I'm off to get some more vacation pages done for my brother - hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend!

Another couple layers..

2005-07-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

more about me :)

LAYER THREE - yesterday, today & tomorrow

Your most over-used phrase on MSN/Hello - "lol" and "right"
Your thoughts first waking up - don't move or the cats will know you're awake
Your best physical feature - my wrists...skinniest part about me :)
Your bedtime - 11ish
Your most missed memory - while I do remember lots, I wish I could remember EVERY detail of my wedding because I was so blissfully happy!

LAYER FOUR: your pick

Pepsi or Coke - neither...I don't drink soda
McDonalds or Burger King - yuck....I guess if I was forced to choose I'd pick BK
Single or Group Dates - single
Adidas or Nike - Adidas
Chocolate or vanilla - chocolate
Cappuccino or Coffee - neither....really, all I drink is water (or wine....or beer....or sometimes champagne!)

Don't miss it!

2005-06-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Independent Collection

Really - this is so exciting! Two of my favorite designers (that I am also lucky enough to serve on creative teams for) have joined forces to give us this gorgeous kit - WOW! And get this - they are GIVING IT AWAY at a crop tomorrow night at smdesigns.net. The crop is at 10pm EST but you can go download the kit now - they'll give away the password to unzip it at the crop. I know I sound like one of those crazy ads for car dealerships - but I'm really just that enthusiastic about the whole thing :)

Just an update on the Sears guy - of course noon came and went without a word from him. I had to call to ask what was going on and then it took me no less than 10 minutes to navigate through the automated phone system to find a person. She said she would have the guy give me a call - he was running behind. Over an hour after that he finally calls to tell me he won't be able to be there until 3:00pm (my appointment was supposed to be between 8 and noon?!) He seems oblivious to this thing we call time and I suddenly act as though I'm much busier than I am - really it's just plain rude to assume that I don't have better things to do than sit around and wait for someone that can't seem to get here in a four hour time span! So in the end he tells me that the most expensive part in my oven is broken (of course it is...) and it will cost $470.00 to replace it - "would you like me to go ahead and order that?" Ummmm...geee...can't I get a whole new oven for something like that?! (maybe an exaggeration - I've never actually purchased an oven) Nonetheless, I'm incredibly unhappy with the service so I'd like to take some time to think about it thank you. I also remembered that we are still covered by the home warrenty we bought along with our house just a little less than a year ago - and thank god, it looks like we will only have to pay a service fee for another repair guy (NOT FROM SEARS) to come out and take care of that. Happy Ending :) Just one more thing about this - Jerry, the Sears repair guy, did acknowledge that he should have called to tell me he was running late and he also said he would ask the customer service people to call me. Big surprise...they haven't called....I have a letter written and all ready to go. Not loving Sears so much right now!

Ok...enough ranting - I got a good start on my dining room yesterday (part of the great organization effort) and today I think I'm prepared to tackle....the cleaning/storage closet!!! Should be a great big mess :) Can't wait!

Will finish this off with the layout I did with the Independent Collection kit....enjoy :)

2005-06-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Miss Independent

Living Room - Check!

2005-06-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

Ok - while watching Oprah yesterday I got the living room organized and in order. The movies under the tv are all in the baskets and labeled, the entertainment center and bookshelf are dusted off (and I'm talking about even those places that you never see) and the sport balls that have accumulated there (basketball and two footballs?!) are now on their way to the garage for a different organizational day. That was probably the easiest room to do - it's a small one and there isn't a lot going on out there :) On to the dining room!

In other household news - I'm on my 2nd hour of waiting for the Sears guy to come look at my oven. How wacky is this?? The stove works just fine, but the oven...not happening. I'm stumped and really I don't have much desire to try and figure it out...so I made an appointment online with the Sears people. I swear something is destined to break around here once a month - wonder what July will bring us! Back to the waiting - he (or she...ya never know) is supposed to be here between 8am and noon - now it's not like I have anything better to do, but as soon as you realize you're tied to your house you think of a million things you could be doing with this time. I could be out running (ya right!), or getting a picture of a fun sign for the photography challenge at SBB. I could also be getting started on that dining room organization while I watch the Young and the Restless :) Cross your fingers for a cheap fix on the stove!

must organize...

2005-06-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I am determined to do this summer is bring some sort of order to this home. I think that I would have much more time to do the things that I want to do if the house was organized and routines were established - this is the summer that I want to finally accomplish this!

Getting started is a little harder than I anticipated - I have all of these ideas, but it's just hard to jump in and do what needs to be done. I think I will go with the approach of tackling one room at a time...today it's the living room. There are videos to sort through and a bookshelf to arrange. There are also a bunch of magazines out there to sort through.

Wish me luck!

LAYERS

2005-06-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Stole this from Dawn's (huni buni) blog who stole it from Shawn's blog....there are 10 layers (although layer 8 appears to be missing) so I think I'll only do a couple at a time....

LAYER ONE - on the outside

Name - Jessica
Nicknames - Jess, Jessica Rabbit, Bruiser
Birthday - September 2nd
Birthplace - Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eye Color - Blue
Hair Color - depends...I guess a very dark blonde at the moment
Height - 5'10"
Righty or Lefty - righty
Religion - Catholic
Sex - Female

LAYER TWO - on the inside

Your heritage - a little irish, a little german, a little austrian
Who do you look like - definitely like my dad and his family
Your weakness - I have no patience
Your fears - failure
Your perfect pizza - pepperoni...lots of cheese...lots of crust
Goal you'd like to achieve - having my own family

Wine, wine, and more wine...

2005-06-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

What a day I had yesterday - finally got the pictures off the camera so I can put up a few here and tell the story. Chery, Gwen, and I boarded the bus for the barrel tour at 10:00am and we didn't get back to our cars until 6:00pm. We visited 6 different wineries around Lane County and tasted 3 different wine and food pairings at each stop - woo hoo! It was such a goregous day - the vineyards were beautiful and the wine was very tasty. I came home with a few bottles of Pinot Gris to add to my own collection :)

I was feeling a bit tired when I got home, but I wanted to get out of the house so I invited Wil to go on a short walk with me. We ended up wandering much farther than I anticipated but it was so nice to spend time with him just talking and exploring our neighborhood and beyond....the perfect end to a wonderful day!

Unproductive...

2005-06-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

So today I did pretty much nothing....nothing productive anyhow. I managed to float around the internet for much of the morning, went and had lunch with my husband, back home to read some blogs and chatted with a friend, took a quick rest while watching some daytime tv, then managed to run a few errands after picking up my husband so that I would have gifts and food to take to a party tonight. Sounds like a pretty relaxing day, right?? So why do I have these feelings of guilt and laziness?! It's summer vacation for crying out loud, and I've more than earned my time off....why can't I just kick back and relax for a day without feeling like I've totally wasted a day?? I'm so disappointed in me - will have to work on this :)

Sunny Days

2005-06-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have to say that today is pretty perfect as far as days go! It's sunny, but not too hot with a nice cool breeze :) I opened up the windows to let the fresh air in (soon to be closed up though as my allergic husband comes home!) and sat outside on the patio for a little bit soaking up the warm sun - just perfect!

I'm working on getting all of the laundry done (or as much done as one can actually get laundry - something is always dirty!) and the kitty throw-up cleaned up. I finished a couple of scrapbook pages that have been open in photoshop for quite awhile and the kitchen is almost clean. And the highlight of the whole day....there is a turkey breast cooking in the crock pot that will be just right for dinner.

I also managed to catch up on some emails and clean up my inbox a bit. I just love not working in the summer - it feels like I have all the time in the world to get these things accomplished. And it's only 2:30 in the afternoon!! This kind of bliss will fade after awhile I imagine....especially as the summer goes on and the days before I have to go back to work become fewer. But for now I will enjoy this feeling and just go with it :)

Oh right....I planted flowers in my flower boxes out back too! Pictures to follow in the near future.

Silence is golden....

2005-06-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

...and a little unsettling! My brother and his family got on a plane to head back to Wisconsin today, and I'm sitting in my big empty house all by myself...something I've not had the opportunity to do in quite some time.

The rest of the family visit went so well! On Sunday the weather turned out to be just GORGEOUS at the coast - I'm never going to believe the weather people again. We left for the coast and went directly to the ocean. Joel and Carrie walked hand in hand with Aubrie after taking off shoes and rolling up pant legs right into the chilly water. The waves came back in a little bit higher than they anticipated and pants got wet - this completely turned Aubrie off to the ocean. Later in the day Aubrie informed us that she didn't like the ocean today, but maybe someday she would - great forward thinking for a 3-year-old, right?! Our next stop was Sandland Adventures in Florence where we had reservations for a dune buggy tour. What a blast that was....my brother often takes Aubrie out on his 4-wheeler at home, so she was more than comfortable with this activity....just smiled and giggled the whole time (even when Auntie Jess was clinging to the seat mumbling frightened curses everytime the buggy dove straight first down a steep sand dune!) After lunch at Taco Bell it was on to the Oregon Coast Aquarium - lots of fun things to see there :) We came home to have a barbeque in the backyard to celebrate Father's Day - hotdogs, cheddar dogs, chips, and beer! We invited my father-in-law over too and topped the whole evening off with ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery (YUM!)

On Monday I was told we were going to have a "relaxing day around the house." Yea, right! Aubrie and I were up early to take Wil to school (first day of summer term) then we stopped at the grocery store on the way back home - Aubrie was really excited to ride in the car shaped cart. We had some breakfast at home then Aubrie and I went to the park while Joel and Carrie worked around my house - Joel fixed up the pond in the backyard and Carrie got everything ready to make potato salad (just like my mom makes!) Once back from the park we headed out to Home Depot to pick up some pond supplies and flowers for the boxes out back. We lucked out and got the race car cart at Home Depot - woo hoo! Once we got everything dropped off at the house we headed over to the club to do some swimming then home for a quick lunch before picking Wil up at school and heading out to the airport. Wil's dad got out the little plain and took Joel, Carrie, and Aubrie on a little ride. I'm told Aubrie slept through most of it - guess that happens when there's no time for a nap! We stopped to visit my friend Tilly on the way home, then grilled steaks while sipping beer on the patio.

On Tuesday we packed up the Explorer and headed to Portland. Made a quick stop in Woodburn for some shopping and lunch, then on to the Oregon Zoo. I've never been, so it was a new Oregon experience for me too :) Got a lot of great pictures and saw many neat things before getting back in the Explorer to find our hotel near the airport. Did some swimming in the hotel pool before AND after dinner and a little soak in the hot tub. Got to bed early so we'd be ready to get up and to the airport on time.

Which brings me back to today - I dropped Joel and family off at the airport at about 5:00am and after waving goodbye and blowing kisses I got back in the Explorer for a very quiet ride home. I will miss them a lot - these are the kinds of days that I wonder if I really want to be this far away from my family. We are blessed to be able to see each other at least twice a year right now and there are many emails, videos, and art projects that go back and forth...but there are times when I think I'm really missing out on something. As the days go by I'll begin to remember all of the reasons that I love living here and my life will return to some sort of routine...and all will be right in the world again :) Enough rambling for today...I have scrapping to catch up on!

2005-06-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

They made it! Safe and sound and looking good....on Thursday morning my brother, Joel, his wife, Carrie, and my niece, Aubrie, arrived at the Portland airport for their Oregon adventure. Since they've been here we've been going pretty steady! They said they wanted to do a lot of relaxing....if this is their idea of relaxing, I must be getting older and slower than I thought!

On Thursday we stopped at a McDonald's with a playland (that was a "must" for Aubrie) on the way back to Eugene. Once we unloaded all of their gear at home we went back out to get some groceries and other supplies. When we got home we fixed dinner then hung out a bit before it was time for Aubrie to go to bed.

On Friday I got up early with Aubrie and we played a bit before everyone else got up. My brother fixed most of the breakfast (yummy!) After breakfast we went out for a little walk to the playground near our house where Aubrie found many things to keep her entertained. We came home to bake some cookies then take a little nap before heading off to Aubrie's very first movie in the theater, Madagascar. She made it about an hour and 15 minutes before getting too antsy to stay any longer....only missed the last 15 minutes or so of the show! After the movie we went to the tennis club where we belong to watch Wil play tennis and tour the facility. There is an awesome pool there that would be fun to swim in if the weather ever warms up! We fixed dinner when Wil got home from tennis - Joel and Aubrie hung out on the patio with some poppers. We watched a Bob the Builder video before Aubrie's bedtime, then played some cards before the adults' bedtime.

Saturday Aubrie was up early again so we played a bit, took a bath, and painted toe and fingernails before everyone else got up. Once everyone else was up and clean we headed out for breakfast at a great pancake place. After breakfast it was off to a new activity center for kids called Minds in Motion - what a blast! I think Wil had a blast climbing in the play equipment with Aubrie and the other children that were there....Aubrie's favorite play area seemed to be the pretend vet office! While Aubrie napped at home we played some cards....when she got up we decided to go bowling. After bowling we stopped at Ross to do a little shopping, and then off to Applebees for dinner. A quick stop at the drive through window at DQ for a "dillyscotch" then home to bed!

Which brings us to today! I'm hoping that the weather clears up because we are planning a trip to the coast. We want to see the aquarium and take a ride in the dunes. I'm having such a blast with Aubrie - she has really changed a lot since the last time I saw her....growing up much too quickly :)

In the midst of all this excitement, I finished my school year at work so I am officially off for the summer (aside from a little extra work I agreed to do) so I'm really happy about that. I can kick back and just enjoy our company while they are here! I'll keep you posted on the rest of the visit events when I find the time...our schedule seems very full :)

Bad News/Good News

2005-06-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

So bad news first - no toots for me....no call for any of the layouts I submitted for SS Digital #4....bummer!

Now good news - soooo many of my scrapbooking friends are getting the call - woo hoo! I will be so excited to see their work in print - congrats to all of you who are getting published...very exciting!

More good news - my brother's plane is in the air right now....almost to Denver. Wil and I were frantically finishing house cleaning last night to get ready for their arrival. Can't wait to see them!

Last bit of good news - I'm done with work for awhile! I got through my "to do" lists and can say goodbye to another school year. I'll be doing some work over the summer so I won't be away completely, but I'll definitely have more time for myself and my scrapbooking :)

Overall, far more good news than bad news - really can't complain!

our yard

2005-06-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

We are still pretty new to home ownership and more specifically, yard care. When we moved into this house (almost a year ago now!) the backyard was one of the things we were very attracted to - it was gorgeous. Then the winter rains came....and all of a sudden we were faced with - WEEDS! I'll have to do a scrapbook page about it because it became quite an ordeal, this battle we had with weeds that were at times taller than we are. But I believe we can finally say that we're winning :) Last night we sat out on the patio while grilling some steaks and I just couldn't stop looking at the yard - we've really turned it back around and it's looking like the yard we bought. Much credit goes to my husband, Wil - I'm really not so good at the yard work!

Only two official days of work left - I made my final "to do" lists yesterday and ended up with one list for each building that I work in. Math says that if I get one list finished per day, it will all be done by the end of Wednesday. So far I'm on track - one list down, two to go! I'm really tired this morning though and having a hard time waking up, so we'll see how productive I am when I get to work. There's really no more putting things off though - yay!

The house is almost ready for our visitors on Thursday - we're putting up a little tent for my niece in one of the spare bedrooms and I have a little pink sleeping bag with butterflies to put in there - fun! Still have some laundry to do, the bathrooms need to be cleaned, my room is a mess, and I need to vacuum everywhere....but I'm saving that for the very last thing.

Well I'm off for a little breakfast and the Today Show - I'm sure it will be all about Michael Jackson's acquittal....won't even bother to go on and on about that :) Happy Day all!

8 days and counting....

2005-06-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

I really do hate to wish time away, but I really think it's time to put this school year to an end! A second grader just came screaming into the office that he wants to go on summer vacation right now - and at the top of his lungs began telling everyone what he would be doing this summer - and that we were currently ruining said vacation. Now I'm not really sure what got this young man going, but I simply sat down next to him and let him know that I kind of wished summer vacation was starting right now too! After a couple of threats to run away from the school and more tantruming in the hallway, he is finally calming down in the office next to mine. It's amazing how much difference an audience will make.

I still have plenty of work to do to finish up the year, but none of it requires the children to be here - it's just paperwork...maybe we could just let them go! :) Oh I'm sure the parents feel differently about this and are looking at summer vacation a little differently than I am. I'm looking forward to sunny days on my patio, tennis with friends, shopping and camping trips with family and friends, and most importantly, my brother's visit coming up in a little over a week from now.

My brother, his wife, and my 3-year-old niece are all coming next Thursday - I can't wait! We've got a lot of fun ideas of things to do while they are here....children's museum, the zoo, the aquarium at the coast, sand dunes....I'm sure the time will pass much too quickly :)

Until then though, it's back to work - I'm sure there will be more screaming and crying before the year is over....might not all be from kids either!

Scrap for the Cure!

2005-06-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

go get it!

I got home tonight to find that one of my favorite designers had come out with a new kit while I was away from my computer screen! Nancie Rowe Janitz has created a kit called Women's Day (seen above) and she is donating half of the price of this kit to the Koman Breast Cancer Foundation - woo hoo! It's just a huge bonus that the kit is so gorgeous. I had to make something with it immediately, but with SBB still down I had to find a way to get it out there! I posted it at Nancie's website and you can see it here - A WOMAN - you can also purchase this kit at Nancie's awesome website - www.scrapartist.com

As for the rest of my weekend prior to the excitement of finding the kit...it wasn't bad! I did some laundry and cleaning up around the house on Saturday morning and then we headed north on I-5 to do some shopping at the Woodburn outlets (fun!) then we spent the night at a friend's house just outside of Portland. Today we explored a new shopping center and wandered around Powells (big, ginormous bookstore in Portland) for a bit before coming home and having dinner with my father-in-law, Jim. It was a nice relaxing weekend....no complaints :)

good friends, good wine, and a bright pink coat

2005-06-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

Pfeifer Vineyards

So this was one of those weekends that make me remember to just sit back and enjoy the ride instead of wishing time away. As we get even closer to the end of the school year, and theoretically the end of my work year, my life has seemed increasingly hectic, chaotic, and stressful. By the time I get home at night I'm often feeling too exhausted or drained to do things around the house, and sometimes I have even brought work home to do...something I really try to guard against.

This weekend I thought that we were going to get some things done outside, and when that didn't happen like I thought it would I got a little freaked out. My husband has been a saint and he helped me to focus on just one thing that I wanted to get done so that we could work on that together and see some progress. We chose to clean up the bedroom in order to make a little sanctuary where I could go that was clean and easy to relax in. What a great idea that was! Once that was finished we were able to go hang out for a bit. On Sunday we decided to move my computer desk into the downstairs office to make more room for crafts and stuff in the upstairs one....it's something we've been talking about doing for awhile so it was nice to jump in and get it done. There's still a lot of clean-up to do on that one, but we made a lot of progress. We went out for dinner with new friends and had a great evening.

On Monday (Memorial Day) my mother-in-law convinced me I should leave the house and do something fun - I went with her and a friend of ours to a Vineyard. I'll be the first to admit that it's hard to work up the enthusiasm to leave my house and be social, but once I'm out there I usually have a great time. Monday was no different and we ended up having a beautiful day out at the Vineyard. We discovered some new yummy wine, and a very scenic spot to enjoy it. The picture above is out on the patio - as you can see I was on my second glass of wine :) I also got to wear my new pink coat - quite the find as it was $12.99 at Old Navy - woo hoo!

So lesson learned...no matter how crazy work can get, the weekend will come, and it will bring time to relax and time to accomplish a few things....

Fridays feel good

2005-05-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

boy do I love Fridays! As the school year winds down, people are reaching all time high stress levels at work and are really running out of patience. It is so clear to me why they give us the summer off - no one could survive a full year of this!

but Friday has arrived and even better than that, it's a nice long weekend. we're not going anywhere special - just hanging around the house and relaxing. i am a bit bummed - seems like our air conditioner isn't working, and it was quite warm out today. no chance of getting that looked at until tuesday I guess - I'll hope for cool nights and minimal allergies for dh.

i do have some scrapping to catch up on this weekend - pages for the design teams that I am on....I'm excited to use some of doris castle's new kits - she cranked out a couple of them this week and they are always so pretty. I'm also looking forward to doing more with michelle coleman's americana kit - lost of possibilities there too :)

hope everyone enjoys the long weekend....i know i will :)

Conferences....and other excuses to stay away from work

2005-05-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Just got home from a conference in Portland - went up with a co-worker last night and stayed at a hotel the night before - what fun! There is something so freeing about just driving away from work and knowing that you won't have to face it tomorrow....
Of course I just read my emails and discovered that while I'm away the world goes on and my inbox gets a bit backed up. I'm not looking forward to going back and cleaning up the messes that occured while I was gone. Oh well...so it goes.

The conference was about being able to tell the difference between a socially maladjusted child, and an emotionally disturbed one....bet you didn't know we differentiated, right?? It's a lot of crazy stuff that in the end boils down to funding for special education and the fact that we just can't put every child that has an issue in special ed, no matter how much we want to help them. I'll leave it to you all to figure out which one we aren't supposed to be serving....the emotionally disturbed or the socially maladjusted. The speaker had a lot of good things to say, but he also got taken off topic pretty easily and people got a bit riled about some things he was saying. I won't bore you with the details - most of it is only really exciting and interesting to geeky school psychologists.

Coming home was good - the countertops were still clean, the office looked respectable, and the cats were well fed. My husband even cooked dinner - yay! Sometimes you don't have to be gone very long for them to miss and appreciate you a little more :)

Well I am off to see when American Idol is on tonight - I think this is the first time that I'd be ok with either one winning, although I think I'm leaning a bit more in the Carrie direction. Hopefully I can get a little scrapping done too - it was tough being away from my computer overnight and all day!!

I got a comment :)

2005-05-20T06:11:00.000-07:00

good things

Last night I got an email that said someone had posted a comment at my blog - yay! Didn't even know if anyone was reading my ramblings....apparently there's at least one person that has peeked in :) Not only was it a comment - but it was a very helpful one (go check it out - you can't miss it - it's the only one!) I've been feeling a bit down and it was just a really nice thing to have happen. She referred me on to one of Rhonna's entries about change and I really think I'm going to spend more time looking at that and making a plan for some change in my life so that I can feel better about how things are going. So long story even longer - thanks for taking the time to offer some sympathy and advice!

I also decided it might be good to note some of the good things that happened in my life yesterday so I made this page when I got home. I stopped quickly at Old Navy before I got home and was pretty excited to find some comfy sweats on the clearance rack - I could picture myself heading straight home and slipping into them before watching tv. When I got home, there was an IKEA catalog in the mailbox - happy, happy, joy, joy! There is nothing more fun than dreaming about what your house could look like if you had the funds :) And finally, my cats followed me around all evening just to be where I was - I love it when they do that!

One last thing - I watched the season finale of CSI last night - oh my goodness was that an emotionally draining episode or what?! When poor Nick discovered he was buried alive I almost couldn't watch - felt myself getting clausterphobic!! What a wild episode - the ants just about did me in.....am very glad he survived though - can't imagine the show without him!

feeling blah

2005-05-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

all i ever have to be

So lately I've been feeling rather *blah* and I just can't shake it. I think it has something to do with all of the rain we've had, combined with some allergies, and end of the school year work stuff. I've been feeling way overweight and sluggish (though I'm not going out of my way to change my eating or exercising habits) - and I feel like I'm never able to keep up with the things that need to be done at home because I'm in no way motivated to do it! Ack!

I sat down to do some scrapbooking and decided to try and get some pictures of myself - they only confirmed how overweight I was feeling - but I did find one to put in this page with some song lyrics from one of my favorite Amy Grant tunes. For some reason it was conforting to read through these and get it all down on paper.

Tomorrow is another day - and hopefully the sun will shine!!

The weekend

2005-05-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

I'm noticing it's been a whole week since I've written here - I guess it was a week I would just prefer to forget! Work was quite stressful and that kind of colored my mood at home too.

The weekend has been mostly relaxing and fun - my tennis team played yesterday and lost...my partner and I lost our match although I'm not really sure we should have - just didn't play well when it mattered most. On the bright side, Wil and I worked out in the yard together - I love it when we work on home improvement stuff together! I took lots of pictures of him using the new weed whacker - woo hoo! It was quite the production :) We ended the evening by grilling out and then just hanging out together for the rest of the evening.

Today I need to do at least one load of laundry, visit Tilly, and get some groceries. Later this afternoon we are invited to a party, so I also have to decide what to take to that. There are only a few more weeks of work left, and only a month before my brother and his family come to visit - can't wait! For now I'm off to get some scrapbooking in before the day really gets going....

Mother's Day

2005-05-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

Last year for Mother's Day I was actually with my mother - what a treat! I went home to surprise her (a trip from Oregon to Wisconsin so it was a BIG surprise) and we did the Race for the Cure in memory of my Aunt Marg. I remember that the weather was gorgeous on Sunday and we sat out on the deck at home - soaking up the sun. Very relaxing and very fun to have just picked up and took off.

This year I called her - not a surprise in the least, in fact it was much like any other Sunday. As much as I miss my mom (and that's quite a bit!) I really just have to sit back and think about how lucky I am to still have her in my life. So many people have lost their mom - at least I know that I can still call her up and ask for the recipe for this or that....or when I'm sick I can give her a call and try to get some sympathy....and when something really great happens she's still at the top of my list to call and tell!

So for all these things I am very grateful - my mom is awesome and I'm blessed to have her in my life :)

2005-05-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

What a relief to have this day finished! Awhile ago I agreed to speak at a parent night workshop at one of my schools and do two sessions on "what to do with my wonderful but difficult child" Wow - that's a pretty broad subject, and I had no idea what people were expecting to get out of the session. I'm used to talking to parents and teachers, but never really in a big group, so I was pretty nervous. I'm happy to report that all went well and I feel like people found some of the information I provided useful - yay!

We also got our first movies from Netflix today - I signed Wil up as a birthday present (luckily I benefit from this one too!) He got the movie Blade and I got the first season of Sex and the City - can you believe I've never seen one episode?! I think he's downstairs watching his movie right now - I'm supposed to be working on getting our weekend pictures posted to the gallery on our family page. I think I'm going to take the computer to bed to add captions and such.

Just got done watching American Idol - I'm so bummed there was no Constantine tonight! I wasn't overly impressed with anyone. What was even better was the Bachelor last night - don't know if you saw it, but it was one that they will be talking about for some time to come. The girl that got sent home went on a rant about how she was discriminated against because she was so pretty....crazy!

Well I guess I better get back to those pictures!

A fly?!

2005-05-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you - working in an elementary school really keeps you on your toes! You just never know what children will say or do. I have taken to writing the really funny stuff down so I don't forget. Today I thought I would get it written down here.

Part of my job as a school psychologist is to go into the classrooms and do observations of the kids. Today I was spending some time in a Kindergarten classroom - and I happened to walk in during show-and-tell time. A very proud young lady was sitting at the front of the class with a little treasure in her hand...the other students were asking questions about her precious item. As I tried to determine what was in her hand she launched into a descriptive tale about how she had removed the legs of the fly. The what?! I quickly looked to the teacher to see if I had heard correctly, and sure enough....the child was showing and telling about a dead fly. The really interesting part was that the rest of the students were completely enthralled with the topic and couldn't ask enough about the situation! I think we often forget just how easy it can be to entertain children :)

What to do first?!

2005-05-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

Wow - what another great weekend! To celebrate Wil's birthday I rented a house on the coast for us to hang out in for a couple of nights. It was sooo cute - will definitely be working on some layouts with pictures from the weekend. We did a lot of reading in front of a nice warm fire and just spent some really great quality time together - such a good thing :)

While it's nice to be back home...it's hard to know what to do first! For two weekends in a row now I've been away from the house, so there are a lot of things that are not done. I have bills to pay, a counter to clear off, clothes to put away, and a fridge to clean out. I have things to unpack from this past weekend, pictures to get on the website to share with family/friends, a whole weekend of SBB layouts in the gallery to browse, and there are all kinds of other scrapbooking fun I'd like to have. I just don't know where to start!

Ya know...I think there is also a slice of cake in the fridge downstairs that is calling my name....that seems like a great place to start!

2005-04-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Wil's Birthday

Wil's 30 today! woo hoo :) We've arrived at the midpoint of "birthday week" and it seems like it has been going pretty well. Tonight we will be having dinner at one of our favorite steakhouses, and then Wil really wants to go to the tennis club for men's night. This will work out well as I'm going to run some errands to get ready for birthday weekend at the coast. We are really looking forward to getting away and spending time together - the house looks so cute and cozy!

change in plans...

2005-04-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

talia

I went home last night thinking about the design teams that I'm on and the fact that we're getting to the end of the month and I haven't been able to get some layouts up with new kits! Last night was going to be the one night that I could stay home and devote some quality time to that. I downloaded some new kits from Kirsten Smit in the morning and had them all ready to go. I sat down at my computer, switched the tv on to Oprah (which turned out to be FAR too heavy of a topic to relax to) and got to work on a page using Kirsten's new Sari Market kit. Midway through the project my husband tells me that his stepdad is getting in his car and on his way over to spend the night at our house. Now to be fair, we were expecting him to stay with us one night this week (and we're happy to have him!) but I was thinking it was going to be Wednesday night, and I would have all night to clean and prepare. Suddenly I only had 2 1/2 hours to get everything picked up, cleaned up, and ready for a guest. I finished my page and uploaded (see my beautiful Talia above - this kit has so many bright and pretty colors!)....then tackled the mess that had obviously resulted from some sort of natural disaster that had hit our home while I was away at work. Just about every piece of clothing we owned had to be on the floor or the extra chair in the bedroom - the bathrooms needed a good once-over - and I can't remember the last time I tortured the cats by running the vacuum cleaner. Wil was a big help and took care of the bathrooms (yuck!) as well as hauling the evil vacuum cleaning machine upstairs for me. We managed to get everything put away (or hidden from view) and I was just vacuuming the last little carpet area when Warren rang our doorbell.

He treated us to a great dinner and had fun playing cards before heading off to bed last night. I still have some scrapping to do, but I think I'm going to try to take my materials to the coast this weekend. Wil and I are escaping to a cute little house on the coast to celebrate his 30th birthday - woo hoo! I have lots to do before we are ready to go there - but at least the house is clean!

Adding pictures and other details

2005-04-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

testing....

So I've been messing around trying to make this a little more my own - it's been rather frustrating at times, but I think I'm getting the hang of it! I managed to get this litle picture of myself on here so I consider that to be an accomplishment. I had a links section up yesterday, but something went amiss and it's all gone now! I'm off to try and get it back up again during my lunch break....

enjoying the ride

2005-04-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

So here it is - my very own blog. Wil has been busy getting our family webpage up and running, and it's just wonderful....but I wanted to have a little place here to call my own! The first decision I had to make was choosing a title for the blog - not quite as easy as it sounds. I looked at a bunch of other sites for inspiration, but then "enjoying the ride" popped into my head. I feel like my life has been one destination after another - finish school so you can go to college....finish college so you can get a job....get a job so you can buy a house....buy a bigger house to prepare for a family....and so on! Sometimes it feels like I get lost focusing on the destination, and forget to enjoy the ride. One of my hopes in having this blog is that I will actually make the time to sit down and write about the ride and enjoy the day to day things that make my life great!

So thanks for checking out my page - feel free to come back and "ride along" anytime you'd like :)

enjoying the ride

trying something new

with friends like these....

Back to work....

it's a school night....

Hazel - aka Tilly

highlights from my trip

Come visit me.....

Home Sweet Home

Packed and ready to go....I think!

Camp and other noteworthy events this week

No News is Good News

Back....for the moment

Princess Camping

IMPORTANT (to me!)

Visiting family

Wednesday

one of those days....

Post-Party Exhaustion

chalkboard update

Where have I been??

Two Years Ago Today....

Monday Monday

Lightning and other excitement

lots to say - no text?!

I've got nothing!

the saga is over!

I confess....I went shopping!

but what about this??

Much better, THANKS!

Work and car woes....must be Monday!

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT THE CROP

Free Kit Heads Up

50 cents?! NO WAY!

Organizational Update

Per Becky's Request....

What day is it??

Another couple layers..

Don't miss it!

Living Room - Check!

must organize...

LAYERS

Wine, wine, and more wine...

Unproductive...

Sunny Days

Silence is golden....

Bad News/Good News

our yard

8 days and counting....

Scrap for the Cure!

good friends, good wine, and a bright pink coat

Fridays feel good

Conferences....and other excuses to stay away from work

I got a comment :)

feeling *blah*

The weekend

Mother's Day

A fly?!

What to do first?!

change in plans...

Adding pictures and other details

enjoying the ride

feeling blah