Well it is just about that time again.  Each year we have a little July 4th celebration here.  Personally I don’t think Denny is all that into celebrating our freedom, he just likes to set things on fire.  Last night we went and picked up all our fireworks.  We got a ton of stuff, as usual, and I’m looking forward to it.  The kids are pretty excited too.  :)   So that is all planned for Saturday.  Woo Hoo!

Sunday is going to be a different kind of fun, again revolving around Denny.  His Boxcar 57 program airs on HotRod TV at noon EST that day.  We have invited a bunch of family and friends over to watch it.  This isn’t the first time Denny has been on TV, but I think this show is going to be one that has a lot more to do with him than most of them have in the past.  Plus last time ESPN interviewed him he was a little less than prepared and I think he had more of the deer in the headlights kinda look.  This time around HotRod TV followed him around for a few weeks, so he had more time to perfect his tv persona, lol.   Anyway, I’m excited for him.  I’ve been telling him for years how talented he is and I think it has only been the last few of them where he has maybe started to believe me.  In the most modest of ways of course.

Today, after we hit the grocery store, I’m going with my mom and cousin to Mt. Clemens for the Stars & Stripes Festival.  The kids are looking forward to it and thankfully it isn’t too hot today.  I think the high is supposed to be 76 degrees and the humidity isn’t all that bad either.  This will be the first year for this particular festival, so I’ll have to let you know how it goes.

No big scrappin plans for today.  I NEED to get all my stuff put away.  I’d like to preplan some stuff for my upcoming retreat at Scrap Palace so that I don’t have to drag everything I own.  That however requires that I finish cleaning up after myself from my first trip.  HA!  I’m so very behind around here.  Seriously.

This layout titled “Create Art” is one that I did on my last retreat.  The journaling is hidden behind the one set of photos.  I do that a lot lately.  Covers my butt when I get near the end and realize a ran out of room and have yet to journal, lol.  The “create” portion of the title is cut on the Circut.  I shadowed it, adhered together and then stamped on it using VersaMark as my ink.  I then covered the dark green portion of the letters with Ranger Glossy Accents.  (A note on that stuff… I got it right before I left to try instead of my favorite Diamond Glaze.  Well I like the Diamond Glaze better.  That being said, the Diamond Glaze soaks into flowers and such and the Glossy Accents does not.  So they each have their own special use.  See, it’s true, scrapbookers really do NEED a little of everything.)  The word “art” is done using the new Queen & Company chipboard alphadots.  They are self adhesive and very cute.  I distressed them here.

Ok that is about all the inspiration I have for today!  I need to get my fanny in gear. :)  Happy Friday!!

~j

I’m home from my annual retreat. This year the girls and I rented a house on Harsens Island to set up “shop.” The view was beautiful, and we could not have asked for nicer weather!! It’s really nice to sit next to a bank of windows and watch the water and the boats go by. There was a lot of boat traffic due to Jobbie Nooner, which Michelle fondly refers to as Chubby Nooner. Jobbie Nooner is a wild and crazy party on Gull Island. Apparently it is as close to out of hand as you can get without causing any real lasting damage. And in my eyes, even that is up for debate. Not a party I’ve been to, nor one I ever aspire to attend if you know what I mean.

At any rate I arrived over there around 11:30 or so on Thursday and left in the morning sometime on Sunday. I guess I could have stayed all day on Sunday but honestly I missed my family. Yes, feel free to tease me… I’m over it. Between the missing my family and the gabfest with the girls I finished twelve layouts. I’m satisfied with that amount, so I’m looking back on my weekend as an accomplished one! I’m not sure what our plan will be for next year, but I’m looking forward to doing it all again!

Now I’m back to the old grind. I spent the day Monday prepping for card class. I went and have the cardstock all cut and scored at a printers when I picked up the envelopes. That saves a LOT of work. Then Monday night we went out to eat with my Grandma and Cousin. We went to Pizza Hut, lol, I know you were expecting some magnificent meal. After we came back home and watched the kids get some use out of the Slip ‘n Slide Denny bought while I was away. The best part was watching Denny go through it himself. What a riot.

Tuesday I prepped all day for cards… Do you see a trend here? I finished them a little after 3pm and I have the leave the house around 5pm to get to the store in time to setup. Yes, it was down to the wire. I think I may have had several freak out moments, but I made it. The cards were a big hit - thanks ladies - and that was a fitting way to end classes at Little Scrapbox. The store won’t be offering any classes, so I’m told, during the summer. So that’s that. I will be offering classes at other locations, so keep your eyes on the blog for updates on that. I’ve got some cool stuff in the works!!

Wednesday, uhh, I don’t remember Wednesday, lol. That happens to me a lot.

That brings me to today. It is Thursday and I took the boys to get bigger Crocs today before we leave on vacation. I’ll be gone July 6-8 on a retreat at Scrap Palace, and then we leave as a family for Great Wolf Lodge on the 9th and return on the 11th. So I needed to get moving on the shoes before all my spare time got away from me. That’s another thing that happens a lot. The boys were pleased about the new Crocs and even found some “Cars” Jibbitz to put in them. Then we stopped for a slice of pizza and came home to get some much needed picking up around the house done. Right now they are at the library with my mom and Princess Shelby is taking a snooze. Ahh the quiet. I can’t get enough of that!!

I slept in this morning. Not that I had much choice as I took that Ambien and that stuff knocks me right out. I woke up this morning from my solid night of rest to a nice little note from Denny. “I miss you already! Love, Denny” We are so cheesy aren’t we? Seriously, I think we get along so well most of the time that if you lived here it would probably disgust you. lol

I went to check out Scrap Palace the other night. Wow, what a fantastic house. If you are looking for a retreat spot be sure to check it out. I’ll share a little more about it in the next couple weeks when I have some more photos. I do have to tell you that not only are the amenities fabulous, but there is a ramp the goes directly from parking to the crop area. Yes girls… a RAMP! No more lugging totes up stairs, through the house to set up shop. Trust me, I can relate to the feeling of exhaustion just from unpacking. And if you aren’t usually exhausted from unloading all your treasures then you aren’t bring enough stuff. *wink* There will be an open house coming up pretty soon and I’ll post the date for that when I have it. That way all the area scrappers can go check it out and see how great it really is. I think everyone will find that Scrap Palace really runs on a grand scale and aims to please.

Ok well I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and I suppose my family is going to want to eat dinner today so I better get something started. I’ve posted a few layouts from this past weekend throughout this post. Enjoy!!

Well some of you may know that I was trying out for a Design Team position at The Scrapbook Stand.  Well the 4 new members were selected and announced on Sunday.  I’m super excited to say that I was one of the lucky four.  Now that the selection has been made I can start to share some of the projects I entered.

This is one of the layouts that I did.  I also did one altered item and a card. Anyway, this layout is done with all S.E.I. paper.  I have to say that I really like it and I haven’t cared for the S.E.I. product releases for the last several years.  I think I’m more into traditional prints and their stuff seems kinda out there lately and more along the comic lines.  Hard to describe, but it just hasn’t been me.  Honestly these prints are only two out of the bunch in this particular line that I even like.

The journaling, which I added after the fact is hidden behind the bottom photo with the Heidi Swapp floral as a pull tab of sorts.  The chipboard letters are Rusty Pickle.  I painted them, put foam squares behind them and embellished the edges a bit with ink and a white sharpie.

In other news I leave tomorrow morning some time for my scrapbook retreat.  The girls and I rented a house on Harsens Island this year to cut costs a bit.  I’m excited to leave and get some scrappin done.  The last layouts I did were the ones for the Design Team contest and I haven’t done a thing since.  Of course I have to pack up everything I own, lol.  So that is kinda a pain, but it really is worth it.  The packing shouldn’t be all that bad this year because I have the Craft Locker system, which I love, and that makes taking the vast majority of my stuff MUCH easier.  Pretty much just take them off the wall and go.  That system is a ton better than trying to wade through a ton of different boxes and such to try and find what I need.  Jeannie on the other hand has a billion different little boxes to store all her treasures in lol.  I don’t know how she can find what she wants when she wants it.  Of course we all have our own system and if it works for her, well more power to her. :)  My only real issue at this point is what cardstock to take.  I have a large cabinet full of cardstock but I obviously can’t take it all.  So I need to sit down at some point tonight and pick through what I want/need to take.  I have no idea where I will find the time to do that, but I’ll figure it out.

I left the house a little before 5am this morning and went to a car show with my Dad, Dylan and Ethan.  Ethan and Dad drove there in my Dad’s 1961 Corvette and I took his 1933 Ford Cabriolet with Dylan.  I think we all had fun.  Dilly was ready to go home before it was over, but I saw that coming.  Around noon the kid is just exhausted and usually asks to go to take a nap, so he was pooped.  I covered the kids in sunblock, (if you know me you know where this is going), but I didn’t bother to put any on myself.  Well I never tan, and I never burn.  It is a blessing and a curse at the same time.  My skin tone is ghostly white, so I could use a little color and I can never seem to get it.  Well, today I got home and felt a little itchy.  I went in front of the mirror to find a sunburn on my arms and face.  It isn’t real bad, at least I don’t think so, but it has been enough the bug the heck out of me for the last couple hours.  The last time I got a sunburn I was dating Denny and it was about, hmm, 10 years ago maybe.  So I guess I was due.

I’m waiting for Michelle to get here now.  We have pedicure appointments at 6pm.  FUN!!  I figured we could give our piggies a treat before we leave tomorrow.  I really could drop off into a nap any minute and it would not suprise me if I fell asleep in the middle of my foot soak.  My Dr. gave me some Ambien CR samples to try when I went in yesterday.  I don’t sleep.  Really, I don’t sleep.  It is just a fact of life for me.  I’ve tried Lunesta and Rozerm and neither was ANY help at all.  So the Doc suggested I try this and if it worked she’d write me a script.  Being I seem so resistant to all those types of drugs she put me on what I think she said is the highest dose.  Well I took it last night.  About 30 minutes or so later I was out.  I slept till about 1:30am when I woke up to the tv as I fell asleep watching it.  Then went directly back to sleep.  It was great!!!  I don’t feel hung over today, but I could use a little rest.  I think had I been able to stay in bed past 5am today I’d be fine right now though.  So here is to sleeping!!  I’ve missed it and I’m looking forward to getting some more of it, lol.

I’m off… if I have access to the Internet while I’m gone I’ll keep you posted an how I’m making out.  I intend to get a lot of scrappin done and I’m feeling pretty motivated!!  Wish me luck!

~j

I can’t believe it, really, I can’t.  Today, June 16, 2007 I finished my “Best of 2005″ album.  HA HA, yes smarty pants, you read that correctly… 2005.  Hey it was a good year and apparently deserved A LOT of attention.  Really all I had left to do was fill in the journaling, and although that went by really quickly, I had been putting it off for a long time.  Obviously!

The concept behind this album was to take some of my favorite photos from 2005 and journal the date and the memory that went with each photo.  One page for photo, and one page for journaling, and that makes up the whole album.  Simple concept really, thanks to Ali Edwards, who showed me how to make it all come together.

The album itself if a 7gypsies chipboard album cover with green paint.  The flower design on the top was done by placing a Heidi Swapp mask down before painting, so that the chipboard shows through.  Mind you I did this a year ago, lol, and that was probably my first time using the masks.  The rest of it is all made up of paper, stickers, stamps, ribbon, and transparency sheets.  Plop it all together, finish the darn journaling and TA-Da, the Best of 2005 Album.

Now that we’ve addressed that, let me tell you that with the exception of finishing that album the rest of my day stunk.  Denny is working today and has been there all day and will be there apparently into the evening.  I had a 14 hour corp today, which I made a 30 minute appearance at with Shelby, then paid my $50.00 crop fee and left.  Now I’m sitting here, aggravated and missing Denny.  He called and asked when I “wanted” him to come home.  Well how does he expect me to answer that, I mean really?  That is a no win isn’t it.  Kinda like when you ask your significant other if the dress you are wearing makes you look fat.  In my case, the real answer would cheese me off, and the fake answer would too, as I would know he was lying through his teeth in an attempt to spare my feelings.  So I have the smarts not to even ask those kind of questions.  So I said all I could think to say, “Do what you want?”  I’m sure to anyone other than Denny, that comment might have come off slightly obnoxious if not down right nasty.  Lucky for me, and for him, he knows me well enough to know that I have reached a point where I don’t care either way.  I mean my plans are already shot, and I’m most of the way through the day anyway, so what is a few more hours at this point right?  It was then that he informed me that he would be working all day tomorrow too.  :???:   Like I said, a stinky day.

On the up side I finished my album and my cousin is in town for Texas as of today.  I saw her a few weeks after Shelby was born when we were in Las Vegas for a trade show.  We meaning, Shelby and I.  Yes, I took her to Vegas.  No, she didn’t pose with any show girls.  But, she did pose with Heidi Swapp, whom mysteriously turned up pregnant a short while later with baby Capri.  Coincidence?  Shelby is cute, and Heidi made a comment to her hubby, “Aww I want another one!”  So think what you want about that, lol.  Anyway, so that was the last time I saw my cousin.  She was living in Vegas at the time and is now back in Texas.  As of today, she is here for a little while, although I have yet to get the chance to see her, but hopefully the kids give me that chance later on today.

Time to move the sprinkler, and then I’ll have to hunt for another “almost finished” project to wrap up.  Try it, you’ll be all impressed with yourself and totally in love with that accomplished feeling!!

~j

With my scrapbook retreat quickly approaching I thought it fitting to shine the spotlight on a local retreat… one that is just far enough away from me to be a real getaway.  Located in Romeo, Michigan pretty gosh darn close to a scrapbook store you’ll find Scrap Palace.  The house is fabulous, the accommodations are fantastic, and the owners are wonderful too!

I’ve been waiting for  the official launch of their website so I could share it with you.  You can check them out at www.scrappalace.com to learn more.  There you will find photos, more information on the locations and accommodations, and weekend rates.

There are four bedrooms at the Scrap Palace.  The master has a loft and bath and is designed to fit four guests.  The loft itself will accommodate another two.   The other three bedrooms accommodate two guests each with a bathroom right off the hall.

For those of you that appreciate quiet, like me, they have a wonderful porch where you can take a little time to relax.  If you prefer the indoors, the living room area is  also another quiet spot where you can soak in the pages of your favorite scrapbook magazine.

Now for the best part… the cropping.   Each guest will be pampered with their own six foot table complete with cup holder, executive chair and a waste basket to hold all those scraps of paper that will be flying off the table while you are being super creative. :)  Scrap Palace also has plenty of tools on hand that will make your scrapping all that much easier.  There you will find items ranging from die cut machines to paper punches.  Scrap Palace really aims to please and nurture your creative spirit.

I’m not 100% certain when they plan to officially open but I think the first weekend for guests will be the end of July.  You can contact Pierina or Amy for more details on that or anything else at scrappalace@comcast.net.

Have a great day… I’m back to the seemingly never ending photo sorting!  If you don’t hear from me in awhile I’ve been buried alive under a pile of unruly photos!

~j

Yes, go ahead and beat me with a wet noodle.  I’ve haven’t blogged in a few days.  Shame on me.  I have however been knee deep in photos, literally, and thus my absence.  Who knew that when I started to weed through photos that I would be this big of a task.

This whole thing started with me taking some photos out of friends children and passing them on to them as I figured they would have more use for them than I would… obviously.  From there I realized I have a ton more photos around here than need be.  I mean I take A LOT of photos.  This comes from photography classes where the instructor tells you not to be afraid to use a roll of film at one time, after all, some of the best shots come out of no where.  So that’s me, the wild photo taker.  The only issue with that is that I don’t always have the time, or desire to weed through them before I send them off for printing (when they are digital).  Soooo, I get a massive stack of photos from one event that I’ll never use, and a lot of them are what I like to call “defective” shots.  You know the ones, we all have them.  Only when the photo is obviously poor, which is hard to tell when looking at the little preview on the order screen, do I bother to deleted it before printing it.  That is problem two.

Problem two, leads me to yet another problem.  I have all these photos, which I’ll never scrap left over from events that I’ve already scrapped.  What to do with them?  Can I throw them out??  Maybe.  Could I store them at my Mom’s?  I’m sure she would be more than happy to let my boxes of photos join all the other stuff I never took out of her house.  NOT!  So what is a snap happy photographer to do?  I started to pitch some things, like obviously awful photos that I’d never use anyway.  I think from that point I might go get some photo storage boxes to put the “leftovers” in.  You know, the ones I scrapped, but still might come in handy when I need to make a last minute gift for a family member.  So that my friends, is my plan.  I’ve been doing little bits at a time… first the pitching of the yucky photos, then I’ll move on to the sorting and packing up.  Wish me luck on that.  It really is an intimidating task, and I find myself wishing I still had an assistant… any takers???

In other news, Denny has some permanent hearing loss from all those ear infections he has been getting.  Kinda odd for a man in his thirties to be getting ear infections if you ask me, but what do I know?  Anyway, so the ENT told him to start wearing ear plugs when working to protect what is left of his hearing.  To which Denny replied with “alright” and a nod.  Which of course really meant that he had no intention of doing it.  So that was Monday, as of today no ear plugs in sight.  The fact that I’ve become increasing annoyed by the constant need to repeat myself for the last several months apparently is of no importance to Denny.  It seems as if the only thing that comes out of his mouth is “What?  Stop mumbling!” and it is slowly driving me insane.  On the bright side, if you have something not so nice to say about him, say it while standing on his left.  :razz:

Saturday I have a crop at Little Scrapbox that I don’t think I even want to attend.  I’m tired, and it is a lot of work to pack up all my stuff, drag it in, and then back out again.  Especially considering I leave for my retreat on the 21st, and I’ll have to do it all over again.  On top of that my cousin Terri is coming in from Texas that day.  I’m already going to be gone for several days of her visit here (retreat time) and the crop is  just one more added to that.  Lastly, I have an all important hair cut.  I need it cut, and want it cut before I leave.  So I’ll be late to the crop, which means I will have to park in the street and lug all my stuff from even farther than usual.  I have a lot of junk, errr, treasures to carry.   Like I said, I don’t think I even want to go, but I’ve already committed to it.

Back to my photos,  which I hope to have cleaned out in time for my retreat so that I can be a little more efficient while I’m there… so I keep telling myself.

~j

Well I’m pleased to say that Denny took the pigeon out of its cage yesterday evening and according to him the bird “over powered” him and flew off. I assume it flew back home to its original owner and trainer. No bird = happy Jen. I do feel bad for Dylan though. He really liked the goofy thing and wanted desperately to keep it. When he told me that “Whitey flew away” his little chin was quivering and he had the tears welling up. My non-mommy voice in my head said, “bummer your sad, but I’m glad that damn bird is gone” and then I spit out my best impression of sadness and compassion I could muster up. So I said, “I know you are sad Dilly, but now Whitey can fly home to be with his friends.” Still bummed out, he went back out to mope about it. Still, I’m glad the bird in gone, and in a couple weeks Dilly will have forgotten about it. I think.

It’s the last day of school! Nice. I’m looking forward to more time to myself in the morning and the ablility to sleep if I am so inclined. Yippee. I got out of bed at 3am today. Again I couldn’t sleep. I hope thatgets a little better cuz like I said I may have the chance to sleep in and who wants to miss that!!

I scrapped this morning while I was up. Finished up my second layout for the DT contest at thescrapbookstand.com. I wish I could share it with you but it needs to stay a secret until the reveal the new members. That should be next week I think. I can’t stand the waiting!!! Anyway, I used some S.E.I. paper that I got at a S.E.I. party at one of the CHA shows. I’m not even sure which ones. I have the paper packs they hand out piled here. I’m not usually a big fan of their paper and I’ve never been. But the prints from the Such A Boy line really worked with the photos I was using.

Ethan has his school party here tomorrow. So far the weather is supposed to be great - 74 degrees and sunny. Hopefully that hold true. Living in Michigan means dealing with weather that bounces around on a daily basis. Today we are expecting scattered storms and wind. The inflatable people at Wacky Zone said they could deliver all our items today but I don’t know how that works with the weather. I have to admit I”m excited for it to come. It will give Shelby a chance to play before all the bigger kids get in there.

We had a local golf club building burn down completely here yesterday. It’s right down the street from us. I started burning at 2:30pm and they were still working to put it out at 6:30pm (which was the last time I looked). The building was a historical one (built in 1910) and unfortunately it was a total loss. The had fire departments from five cities helping to contain the blaze. Those flames were like nothing I had ever seen before. The good news is that no one was hurt and it was only that one building (the clubhouse) and didn’t hit the lockers or sports shop. Still sad just the same.

Ok I’m off. I want to catch some of the news before I have to wake the kids! Have a great day!

~j

I was up all night.  I wasn’t feeling all that hot around 10:30pm and it was a down hill slide from there.  I went to bed around 1:00am only to be woken up by Molly (the dog) at 2:30am for a potty visit.  After that I couldn’t get back to sleep and the sound of Denny breathing was just making it worse… that deep breathing he does sometimes… like gale force winds ripping across the bed. lol  So I got up, and got crackin’.  I finished one of the two layouts I need for my Design Team application with thescrapbookstand.com, I’d love to show it here, but I can’t, at least not till after the winners are announced, then I think I can show it.  So you lucky people get to see the pigeon.  By the way, did I mention it is a trained homing pigeon??

In an effort to distract me for the large bird that’s taken up shop at my house, I’d like to present the blog challenge for today.  What makes me smile?  That’s the question I’m supposed to address today.  That’s hard to narrow down really.  A lot of things make me smile.  The most obvious answer would be me kids.  Not true on all days, but the vast majority of them find me smiling at something pertaining to them.  Beyond the obvious, Michelle usually gets me laughing, or we get each other laughing.  I’m not sure who starts it most of the time, but it’s always funny.  My husband makes me smile/laugh.  He does some of the most ridiculous things and has gotten himself in some real predicaments that I can only smile and shake my head at.  Most of those things end up with him being stuck someplace… stuck in the basement, stuck in the crawl, stuck in the attic, stuck in a floor vent.  Leads me to think Denny has a self-image problem.  One that makes him think he is a little person maybe.  All those things make me smile.  That is a pretty good list after the night I’ve had, way to go me.

It is supposed to be hot today, with a high of 87 degrees.  I’m sensing an air conditioning day.  I’m not a big fan of hot.  I try to stick in the lower part of the house and work on things there as its cooler, and if the windows are open I leave the attic fan on most of the day.  I LOVE that attic fan.  Really, I love it.  All houses should have them in my opinion.  It brings a real nice breeze up through the hallway.   We’ll see how long I can stick it out, the heat I mean before I break down and turn it on.

I hope to get my second layout done for the DT contest today.  Dylan spent the night at my parents house so it will be just Shelby and I so we’ll see how it goes.  Wish me luck.

Ok I’m off to start my day and do my hair before I take Ethan to school.  I can’t go like this, I may scare some poor innocent child!  Yikes is all I can say.

~j

Ok I finally finished that layout that has been sitting here giving me the stare down since the holiday weekend. What a work of art huh? By far NOT my best work. But I needed to get it done. I set it aside to create an altered clock for Ethan’s teacher as a thank you gift. I figured if I took a break things would get better. Well, it didn’t work out that way, but, well, uhhh, they can’t all be masterpieces right?

The chipboard letters that I used to spell silly are from Rusty Pickle. I’m not even sure if they sell them in a kit or what. Last year at CHA in Chicago (it will be a year in July) one of the gals at Rusty Pickle (Hi Jen!) gave me a Sales Rep Package. In the pack was a pretty large stash of chipboard letters. Those are from that bag. I’ve been working out of that same bag ever since Jen gave them to me. The supply is running a little low and I’m going to have to see if I can get my hands on some more. (Note to self - Email her and see where I can find some more. ) Cute aren’t they? Anyway, I painted these ones with a Ranger Paint Dabber, outlined them a bit with a glitter pen, and then applied a coat of diamond glaze. Who doesn’t love Diamond Glaze???

Another little tip from me… You all know how I feel about the entire line of Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L products. Well, the EZ Dots are the perfect, yes I said perfect, adhesive to apply the neww Queen & Company Felt Ribbon!! I cut the black flower the adorns the corner of the top photo on my layout out of the felt ribbon and used the EZ Dots to adhere. AWESOME. No liquid mess and the bond is great. If you haven’t picked any up yet, give it a try. They have packed 49 feet of adhesive in that handy little dispenser - seriously - so you get a good bang for your buck also! Plus the dispenser is green, and I just like green.

I’m supposed to be cleaning right now. I told myself that was going to be my job for today. Housework kinda stuff… cleaning, dinner prep, laundry etc. It’s 11:30ish here… so I’m close to lunch, and I haven’t gotten a lot done. I did some minor picking up here and there, and I scanned and stitched the layout I posted today. That really about covers it. I need to get some stuff done! I’m not sure what my problem is. I think I’m just focused on Ethan’s party this weekend, and waiting for that to happen. It is a big deal for him, he gets all excited, and the planning that goes into it is fairly extensive. All of which is totally ruined if it rains, so I’ll be freaking out about that until the last possible minute. This is the second year for it, and last year I had game/activity stations that we rotated through. This year, for the sake of my sanity, we rented an inflatable slide/moonwalk combo which I figure will do 90% of the entertaining and the cotton candy machine will do the other 10%. I called to confirm the rental Monday and the guy is throwing in a carnival game on top of the other rental stuff so that will handle any overflow entertainment need that might arise. All in all I think I have it all covered for now. That is unless it rains - yikes.

I’ve been going over in my head lately what I am going to create for my DT application at thescrapbookstand.com. I already created my altered item, but I need to do some cards and layout type projects too. I have ideas swirling around up there, so hopefully I’m able to execute one of them before the deadline. I’ve been hanging out here and there on their forum and they started up a blog challenge. They are on challenge three as of today and I’m a bit behind due to all the school stuff I’ve been helping out with, and the class I had last night. I signed on to participate though, so here it goes… time to play catch up.

Blog My Biggest Fear: Off the top of my head I’m not sure what my biggest fear is. Honestly! I’m not afraid of an awful lot of things really. I’m good with spiders, and confrontation as needed. That covers a broad range of things doesn’t it? Hmm, so as I sit here racking my brain trying to think of something, uhh, I’m coming up empty. I’m not a big fan of IV’s… does that count? That was disappointing wasn’t it?

A Quote with Meaning: One of the other challenges was to publish a quote that means something to you and why it is meaningful to you. Well my quote, which I posted in my banner a week or two ago when I did my most recent “blog revamp” is one uttered by the infamous Katherine Hepburn…

If you obey all the rules,
you miss all the fun.
- Katherine Hepburn

That is so true for the most part. I’m not telling you to go rob a bank, lol, but I think most of us need a little reminder to let our hair down and have some fun. I can be a pretty serious person, and unless you know me pretty well, you don’t get a lot of my silly side, and my dry sense of humor can be lost on some people. I have several pieces of art in my kitchen and dining area that are kinda silly and out there. I’ve had people that don’t know me really well in a social scene and they see those and comment how it really gives them an insight into who I really am. (Apparently you find out a lot about people by the art they choose to hang in their house. I imagine ones underwear drawer could be pretty revealing too. )

I think that gets me caught up. See, that wasn’t so bad.

Ok now I really must get moving here!!

~j

Today is/was Roadrunner day so I went to school with Ethan today to help out.  The day is filled with both outside and inside activities.  No rain, so it was a success.  It is still going on now, but I had to come home to get a break.  I spent the afternoon there yesterday helping with a scrapbook project for Father’s Day also, so I’ve had my fill.  I left halfway through the carnival games and just before Karaoke.  I can’t picture Ethan doing the singing thing, so I don’t think I missed too much.  I don’t know how teachers do it.  Really!!  I give them all the credit in the world.  It is such in important job, and I don’t think they get enough appreciation for it.  I had to come home anyway to get things packed up for class tonight.  I’m teaching the altered clock so I had to gather up all my goodies to take with me.  I’m really beat and if I was the napping type, I would have taken one.  For some reason I feel like I’m in a zombie state today.

Yes I know this is a sorry blog post, but like I said… I’m a zombie, lol.  Off to class I go. The post for tomorrow will be better… I promise!

~j