31 Mar 2008

Last day of the month! I have a layout for you....

The text reads:

A missionary I was writing to really liked half-dollars. So I sent him one just past the half-point in his mission. I figured I would probably still be single when he got home - so it was a token of affection. By the time he sent me a 50 pence piece from England, I had already met DJ and fallen in love. DJ gave me this jacket that he had bought on his mission even though it was too small for him. He said he figured that someday he would meet a girl he could give it to.

Part of the continuing saga of the Greatest Love Story Ever Told (in my home anyway). Want to see another one?

Not sure that this is how I want the final layout to look - but it's something for now. I'm planning on 2 page layouts for everyone (facing pages). So I might put more facts about him on this page....we'll see.

What great fun it was to visit the museum - and it continues to be a pleasure reading the stories! The pictures will still take a few weeks - I'm getting them on disk (mailed). But they will be great quality!

So today I'm making great progress on my list. Just a few more things to go. Yes - these layouts were both on my list. Well, back to the list - and getting the girls room cleaned.

Have a wonderful day!

30 Mar 2008

I'm convincing myself I am getting better - slow and steady but I am getting better. Less swelling today - and lots of rest.


So - I printed the stationary on cardstock. I used the same template I used for the other card I made (on the family site). It fits in a white invitation envelope - don't have my ruler handy.....I used a rounded corner punch to give it a great look. The metal organizer I found in the office supply area at Wal-Mart. So cute!

So today I was home - but I did print the layouts from Thanksgiving, Becky. Thank you! They went into my family history book - I decided to do three sections - past, present, and future. I don't have all sides of the family - but thanks to you I have a great section on our side!

Lots to do this week. DJ informed me that we got 2 new people to help with Activity Days - so we'll probably be splitting our group this week. Exciting but busy. Our theme for the week is Secret Service. I'm making some fun handouts for the girls....Should be fun!

Well, I better get to bed. Have a nice evening!

29 Mar 2008

Bad news - the swelling has returned. So I'm optimistic about my doctor's visit on Monday....we'll see!

In better news - I wanted to show you how my idea had turned out - the stationary....

In the first picture, you can hardly see it - but the word Love is stitched at the bottom (digitally of course). I still need to make a label for the little baggie of extra embellishments at the front of the pack - but all in all, I think it turned out really well! I've always wanted to have a certain gift that I give for these types of things - I think I do now! I kept my template so I can change the font and coloring....such fun!

I will be posting the history of George E. on the Family site if anyone would like to get a copy. Don't know if I'll get the "page" done or not - but thought it would be a fun story to talk about with the kids tomorrow.

Anyhoo - have a great day and be grateful for a face that's not swollen!

28 Mar 2008

Well, now I'm really wondering Aaron.....I'm waiting for a phone call ;) Anyway - I don't think the mold contributed at all. Some weird allergic reaction. The doctor didn't seem too worried - but as I was becomming less recognizable....I opted for the steriod shot. The swelling is down a bit - but now the skin is red.....still something different...something better, eh?

SO today I've been busy cleaning - and getting the girls to help. I really need to train DJ in how I do this so he can take over when I'm down. So much to catch up on....But all in all not terrible. It could always be worse - I could have black mold!

I decided to get busy and do a wedding gift I'd wanted to do for a while - I'm hoping it turns out well.....personalized stationary for the new couple. Something different and fun! Saw the idea in Real Simple - March 2008, p 150. So many ideas - so little time! I really want to do a quiet book like I saw at Sharon's house - that looked so neat and I have the perfect little photo album for it. Now I just need the time.....

I hope to start going over the stories this weekend. Already I sorted them, punched holes in them and put them in a big binder (and I mean big!) So then I will just have to condense them into one story with all the good stuff in it - and post it for everyone to enjoy. I'm thinking of sharing a story a week with my girls (Sunday stuff).

Well - I think I'm on the mend. I'm still not headed out into public until I think I look a bit better.
Have a great day, all!

26 Mar 2008

No idea how it got to mid-week already. I've had allergies going and some strange symptoms so I went straight to the quick care when we got back. I think I even stumped the doctor. At any rate he gave me a nasal spray, which I am using. Basically as long as I keep dosed up on Tylenol cold It's bearable - otherwise my nose hurts like I image a nose-job would hurt. The cartlidge part. Anyway - we're surviving. I have another doctor appointment on Monday - so we'll see how I'm doing then.

We had a wonderful trip and so enjoyed getting to see everyone and visit! The food was fabulous! We got our DUP work done - they are going to mail us a CD of the pictures in about 3 weeks. I can wait - got lots to do in the meantime. The stories are so wonderful! I think we have about 660 pages to sift through. The scrapbook I do will not be that big at all. :) But I do want to keep a copy of the original stories for reference.

Aaron & Kari's house is so cute! What a nice neighborhood - and they even have a great walking path. What a great life there! Thanks to everyone for being so kind to us while we were visiting!

As for now - with my head cold and all I'm spending most of my time in bed "recovering". My girls are my nurses and they accept small jobs pretty well. Not sure that I'll be on again this week. Just working on getting my nose feeling better. Crazy - you don't appreciate things until something like this happens.

Have a wonderful day! Pictures later!

20 Mar 2008

I've found a great web site that should be helpful for anyone looking for a bargain. www.pinchingyourpennies.com They are state specific - so you put in what state you're in and they list the bargains. Here, someone goes through the Albertsons weekly ad and rates the deals - like 2 star, 4 star etc. You have to register, but it's free. Just wanted to pass that on.....

So today is busy packing, getting everything ready. I really like coming home to a clean house - so I have to clean before I go. Not too much work, usually. Just enjoying all the fun things....we have a couple of Eastery surprises for the girls - things to keep them busy on the road. And Monk season 4 was in at the library - so I picked it up and am looking forward to seeing a few new episodes (new to me).

Kimball has a friend that moved away 2 years ago that is stopping by today just before we leave. She is so excited to see her - I need to get my camera back out of the car so I can take a pix!

So much to do - no more time to write today. Have a wonderful day!

19 Mar 2008

I got the papers tagged - now on to the other stuff.

So we went and picked up our 420 boxes of cereal this morning. Want to know what that looks like? Here's a couple pix:

Here's a picture of our order - the pallet by the speedy guy. Want a peek into the store?

And that is the front of the store! Crazy times for Jared today. What a guy!

So my dear husband was so tired last night - went to bed early and all. I was watching TV in bed while he rested. He hasn't noticed that I snuck out last night and got my hair cut. He saw me last night - and I went with him to the store this morning, and we had breakfast together. Maybe it's too much like it was - but it's now an a-line cut with lots of texturing. I really like it. I'll put another pix on at another angle later.

So today is the waffle dinner. I hope it goes well. At any rate - it will go! I better get going and get everything finished up. Have a great day!

18 Mar 2008

Thanks for the compliment Reg! I am feeling so productive. Today I touched up the paint in my bedroom - that I've put up with since we moved into that room! It took less than 5 minutes and left me wondering why I put up with it as long as I did. Little things make such a big difference! I also picked up a bunch of tools that have been sitting around in my way - and almost cleaned off my dryer (a real hot spot for gathering clutter).

I printed out my word of the year - and taped it up by my computer. It's Priority. It helps remind me to do what really needs to get done. Very helpful! Saw the word idea on a blog and took it to heart. There were so many good ideas - enough for every year of a life and more!

My new scriptures arrived - well, most of them. We got new Spanish scriptures to use in our Spanish classes at church. Very exciting. My triple combination (burgandy) was backordered so I'll still have to wait for that....but I've been using DJ's old one - so it will work in the meantime. Nothing like a new set of scriptures.

So I've got a busy week - our Waffle dinner is tomorrow night. The activity day girls are going to be making toaster waffles for their parents. I should make up some "order forms" since they will be serving as well. We'll see what I get to. There's tomorrow to work as well. I'll be so glad when the dinner is behind us. Need to do reminder calls today and make up new phone call lists for the girls who do the calls usually.

I decided to work on actually using PSE organizer instead of just tolerating it. I'm categorizing and tagging like crazy today. My goal is to get all the papers in a collection. Today. I'm over half way through my kit files - doing the papers that is. It's a long term project but will be good. I just got so inspired by the article about organizing in this months Digital Scrapbooking magazine. Somehow I thought it would go faster than it is :) Silly me....always thinking that things will go faster.

I'm getting so excited for our trip - lots to accomplish but fun times ahead too. Wondering how I'll do with the long drive. It's been a bit rough pain-wise lately. My energy is good, though. It's always so fun to visit and enjoy everyone. The girls are really excited for the trip too!

Well - I better get going, these papers aren't going to categorize themselves! Have a wonderful day!

17 Mar 2007

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We're all green here - I even made some green cupcakes. With green frosting! Anyway - been busy. Got my album done! Don't remember which pages I've posted and which I haven't. I'll check......OK I see. Here's the last few:

So - that makes a total of 44 pages in my traditions album! I'll bring it to Utah with me, Becky. Excited to see you! I'm feeling a bit of pressure to get my Feb album done - but I'm not going to rush it. I do have 2 pages clearly in mind....so I should do them at least. We'll see! At any rate I'm doing more than just collecting kits.

Have a great day, everyone!

15 Mar 2008

More layouts to show....

4 more to go!

14 Mar 2008

More layouts done! I'm really zooming this morning - hopefully it extends into the afternoon! I even put tabs on the edges of the section pages! Looking like a real album. So here's some layouts:

Names have been removed to protect the innocent. So...I'm using FotoFusion. Love it! And this month in Digital Scrapbooking (magazine) they had a great link for more FotoFusion fun. www.fotoscraps.com It's a community of fotofusion users that has tutorials, freebies, etc. Great site - I found these templates there!

I'm still enjoying Photoshop - it's just nice to be able to whip out a page in a hurry and have it look good!

I think I have 9 pages left to do for the traditions album. I'm so excited to get something done! Also - I picked up the Snapload that replaces the posts in albums - with finishing my album up I needed something that I could add pages to easily - and I've been really impressed with how well thep product works. The only thing I've noticed is that it isn't as flat as the post system - but my book still stays shut fine - so not a big problem!

Well - that's probably good for now - I have to get those 9 pages done! It was my January project after all and it's the middle of March!

Have a great day!

13 Mar 2008

Where does the time go? Middle of March already! I did a layout just really quick - to go into my traditions album. Just have to pick up another color cartridge to print it. Here it is for you to see:

I know you can't see the page borders but it's 8X8 - my current scrapping size. The text is about Baumgardner - a fun place that we go camping every year. Hopefully my computer and I can spend some real quality time getting more layouts done real soon. DJ's working late tonight - so guess what I'll be doing?!? Layouts hopefully!

Anyway - I'm getting ready for year 2 of the Growing Up movie and talk. The school usually does it in this grade (5th) - they just did an extra last year because of a need.....so I'm going again. No way I wouldn't be there with all that stuff they cover. I'm wondering if the nurse will look any more comfortable talking about it this year :)

So - I'll sign off for now - more layouts tomorrow! I know how you've missed the daily pages - me too! I've got to get back in the habit.

Have a great evening!

12 Mar 2008

Hello again! I am pleased to report that I finished Mount Washmore yesterday - probably a total of about 8 loads between Monday and Tuesday. Even got them put away. That's a big accomplishment.

No - I'm not taking the Stacy Class - I wanted to read the book first (wish it had been out earlier) and see if I needed more information. Where I'm doing all-digital a lot of the ideas apply in different ways than she shows in the book. Still figuring some of that out - but making progress. I've been collecting kits again - really need to do some pages! I am headed to the school today so I don't have much time today, but wanted to post something!

The girls are having fun watching a movie on their computer this morning - really cute to see! I decided to make a disk for those wanting to start digi-scrapping. We'll see how they do with the disk.

That's all for this morning! Have a great day!

11 Mar 2008

So much to talk about today! First - it is officially fan season here. Yep - I'm getting too warm at night so I've begun using my ceiling fan. Crazy me! I'm pulling out the summer jammies today too. But I'm loving the warmer weather - the girls are as well! We had a family bike ride to the park with a picnic for FHE. Well, almost everyone rode - DJ's pull along for Hinckley had a technical issue so he took along the jogger stroller, which really helped pull the food along! Still it was so much fun!

This leads me into - I LOVE the DI store! yesterday I went looking for a specific thing - a child seat to go on the back of a bike. And I found it!

$10.00! Plus it came with all the parts and an instruction manual! Once there - I found some other wonderful deals - here we go:

I found this garment bag - We have had a really ugly one for years - so I was so excited for the opportunity to replace it with a pretty one! But that's not all:

So almost all the way through Photo Freedom - I saw these file boxes - identical to what Stacy uses and had to get them. There are 2 stacked on top of each other - not sure how/what I'll use them for because I'm not planning on printing out all my photos - but how could I resist for $3.00 per box - total $6.00?!? They came from a dentists office. I know because I found this inside:

Not sure whose teeth these are - but fun to see! That's still not everything I found!:

Yep - that's a pogo stick - for $4.00! But still, there's more!

A four slice toaster for $1.00! I'd planned on going to another store to get a new one - but how can you say no to one that works for a dollar?!? My girls are so excited. All in all - I spent less than $30.00 at DI!

In other colorful news - I got a new purse:

As I'm learning Spanish - my "spicer" side is coming out. I had to chuckle as I realized this is my color, though. According to the spinner :) So fun! I'm loving this purse!

Well - I'm listening to a Stacy Julian interview and getting some work done, hopefully. Hope today is great for you! Later....

10 Mar 2008

I wanted to get on and post yesterday but knew if I did I'd be online way longer than I wanted. So - I restrained myself. But here I am today - planning some fun things! First - I'm taking Spanish at the church - the local missionaries are teaching every Saturday.

So I'm getting a ton of ideas from the new book - still working on figuring out how to incorporate it into my system. But all in all, good stuff. I've got a couple of new ideas - I've got to do a family words album - for all those cute things the girls say. They seem to escape before I can get them down! Also - I've thought about doing an album about what comes to mind when I hear certain Hymns (maybe another one on non-religious songs). There are specific stories with certain Hymns for me. That's all I've got written down I think.....But I love Stacy's LOM plan - with albums - All about us, Places we Go, Things we do, etc. So more than enough to keep me going for quite a while. I like the 15 minutes at a time idea too. That really works with my life.

So - I've just got to jump in and get going doing pages again. Plenty of inspiration, just need to feel productive. Also - I need to do my "Big Picture tag book from Stacy's other book. I've almost decided that part of my style is spelling mistakes ;) You laugh or you cry!

Anyway - that's what we're up to - in addition to all the Monday chores. I am trying to crash today, but haven't had much luck yet. Maybe later.... I've got a huge Mount Washmore to do today!

Have a great day yourself! Hasta Luego!

8 Mar 2008

I can't believe I didn't blog yesterday - I was sure I did....Don't know.

So today I went to my first official Spanish class. It was good - mostly review for me. I'd rather be ahead of the game than behind.

I've got some running to do - and I'm looking forward to digging deeper in my book PHOTO FREEDOM that arrived yesterday afternoon. Lots of fun!

More later...

6 Mar 2008

So I've succumbed to the trend and just finished Twilight. So good! Very much fantasy but still a fun read. I put the other books on reserve and look forward to reading/listening to them soon. I just have to get through the BOM in Spanish! After reading the better part of 500 pages today - it's just a matter of sitting down and doing it. I know I won't understand much - but I'm hoping to catch some of the language cadence and rhythm at the very least.

Thanks, Becky for the link! I have a friend who's just been bitten by the digi scrapbook bug and thought I'd pass it on to help her "get caught up" - or whatever we're calling it (since Stacy Julian says the goal is not to catch up - but enjoy it so much you're ahead).

It's been a really good day - even the mood has been good. I realized I had had a cookie the other day (plus 2 bites of cake on Sunday) and I'm attributing my poor mood the past couple of days to the sugar. I just keep learning about what I can and can't eat - and as long as I stick to the rules it seems to work!

So - not sure I'll get much done today, but I've been thinking about my pages a lot! Even emailed Stacy Julian with my idea for a traditions album class on Big Picture Scrapbooking. Probably won't hear anything back - just wanted to pass the idea on because it's been so BIG for me!

Have a great day, everyone!

5 Mar 2008

Activity Days tonight. Looking forward to that....just getting some things finished up today. Got a couple of books from the library - looking forward to reading those. Anyway - just wanted to put something on today. Thanks for the directives to take it easy! My body had gotten to the point it didn't give me a choice. Must have been that Sunday nap - I never have one....so I did on Sunday and my body figured - It's time to rest! and took it to the extreme? I don't know really....

The fog is keeping me from doing much on my computer....but I am unzipping and organizing my files. :) That's a good thing...

I do have a question for Becky....What service was it that you used to scan in your pictures? Thanks in advance :)
Have a great day - more tomorrow!

4 Mar 2008

So I'm having a bit of a flare. Not sure why....but it is a real doozey. My girls have been wonderful helpers - especially as we had to feed the missionaries last night. I put some chicken in the crock pot and Kimball pulled everything else together when she got home - in addition to tidying up! I was so impressed with the girl. I'm up today - which is more than yesterday. Not sure how long it will last, though. Just draggin......

My mind is full of ideas for my pages....when I get back to them. Hope you're doing great! So enjoy looking at the blogs seeing what everyone is up to.

Have a great day!