Ok I had plans today to get the other part of a wall-o-canvas I have had half way completed.  Well, it didn’t go so well.  I pained the bases of them last night before my card class.  So today I started inking my papers and such only to find that one of the papers I had was the wrong one.  So, due to the cost of gas, and the lack of desire to haul three children through the scrapbook store, I ordered what I needed online.  Yes, I only needed three sheets of paper, and yes I paid to ship it.  I did order other things to justify my shipping.  That being said, I ordered from a store in Michigan (www.lifetimemoments.com) so the shipping wouldn’t be crazy and I should get it pretty darn quick.  And really when you think about the cost of gas around here, well, it makes paying for the shipping not all the crazy.  I mean a gallon of gas here is around $3.50 here or a little more.  So I equate shipping dollars in gallons of gas.  So it took me two gallons of gas to ship my paper and other stuff I ended up getting.  The store I would have driven to for just the three sheets of paper is 15 miles from me, so I’m ok with paying the shipping if you figure my gas at $3.50 a gallon-ish and my time.  It is a sad sad day when people limit their activity all because of gas prices!

Got my hair cut today, and I needed it bad!  Some of the gals in card class last night had their photo taken with me.  Yikes, I don’t even want to know how wild and crazy my hairdo was in that photo.  Dilly says to me, “Mommy, you have big hair today.”  Too funny.  I wear my hair kinda messy/spiked all over.  It is a little wild, but I like it that way.  It shows the inner me, without showing too much inner me if you know what I mean.

Today I picked Ethan up at school in the street rod.  The timing could not have been any closer to perfect.  I got there, parked right in front where I usually do.  The moment I shut the car off the school held a firedrill.  So all the kids, including Ethan passed by the car.  I think Ethan about died from excitement.  The smile on his face was HUGE.  I don’t know that I have seen him that excited since he got his Corvette for his 5th birthday.  All the kids were impressed and full of questions for Ethan.  The kid was just glowing.

Ok I’m missing the lost “catch up” episode, so I had better get moving.  I hardly ever watch it as it is on opposite another show I like a little better, so this is my chance to get caught up I guess.

Later!

~j

wildernesspark, originally uploaded by jendera.

I’m sure a ton of you get your digital photos printed via some online service. I’ve used several. About six months ago I was a big fan of Winkflash.com. However with all the deals available to new customers I decided I’d shop around. So from Winkflash I moved to Clark Photo. They have a lot of specials, but I seems to always get so busy that I miss the deadline. I did order from them, but I didn’t get the greatest deal and I thought by the end it was pretty pricey. Then I tried York Photo - well, don’t bother. The shipping was a little crazy and the prints weren’t all that fabulous… ok, but not fabulous. (I’m picky, can you tell?) On the 14th of this month I ordered from foto.com. The turn around for processing was speedy and they shipped ont he 15th. That being said, I still don’t have them. The shipping time was supposed to be 3-4 business days. Now they use USPS but I don’t think they use Priority Mail as there is no tracking data. So today I emailed them asking them to check into my photos and I got this response:

Dear customer,

Your order has been shipped on the 15th of May.
It’s possible that there were some delays at the local post office.
Can you please wait until the 30th of May before you contact us again?
Your order may still be on it’s way.

If it hasn’t arrived by then we will reprint your order.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Best,

Jonathan
Dutch & English Support Foto.com

Ok so is it me or is that ridiculous! So, I won’t be ordering there again. Anyone have a printing spot they have had great success with? If so please pass along the URL.

I have card class today. 22 students. Fun and crazy. There are so many of them and only one of me. Oh how I wish I have a clone. Anyway, I really like to get one on one with students and it is really hard to, if not impossible in that situation. I hope everyone understands that. I’m not sure how many of them also take scrapbooking classes or the altered classes. As much as I’d like to remember everyone - face, name and all, I just can. So my point, for those of you that don’t take my other classes and are diehard card makers… well all I can say is that I’m really friendly, and more one on one in every other circumstance. Honest!

Ok so I got word last night that yet another scrapbook store is closing. Seems like a lot of them have bit the dust lately. There was one at 21 mile and Gratiot that had been in business for a long time and they just closed about a month or so ago I think. There was also another one on Harper in St. Clair Shores and they closed, or are in the process. Now the most recent one is in Clinton Township. They are only open until May 31st. They are a pretty big store and just moved to a new location. If you ask me, and many others, it is a poor spot. It is on a one way street and you need to make a turn around, (you know the ones Michigan is famous for), and I heard the cropping area was a little dingy. I’m told there old cropping space was phenomenal, so I think a lot of loyal customers were sad to see that the crop area went to the birds. Again, this is all hearsay as I haven’t stepped foot in there since they last expansion at the old location. So for all you bargin shoppers, they are currently offering 40% off and out of respect for the store owners I won’t mention the name here, but if you want to know please contact me privately and I’ll share the shopping bargain location.

I’m off here to the grocery store to pick up a few things. I’m down to, uhh, well about nothing in the house. I ordered from NetGrocer.com last week and it is due to come today. I got the shipment of the refridgerated items last week, but the other stuff comes seperately. The boxes today contain most of the stuff I need, so the grocery trip should be speedy. Produce and meats basically.

Ethan is home from school today with pink eye. Shelby had it over the weekend and I caught it early enough that I was able to knock it out in a day or two. Hopefully Ethan is the same. I had drops left from the last time they had it in September. All three had it at once - FUN. Ethan missed a week of school he had it so bad. I hope it is gone by morning and he goes back. Cross your fingers. My other wish for today… that I don’t come home from class to find Dylan with a case of it. Argh.

That about covers it for today. Off to the grocery store, three kids in tow. Later gator!

~j

Ok so it is another day. I did get one more nasty email (see my last post), but I’m over it. An apology would have been nice, but I didn’t get one, and let’s just say I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, I’m over it.

We went to Zak’s birthday party yesterday. The kids had a good time. It was a bowling party so they all did the bowling thing, has pizza, cake and then the opening presents ritual. I felt bad for Michelle as she had to go right to work after and flopped cake down the front of herself! Oh well, whats a little frosting right? Zak seemed to have a great time, as did my boys. I don’t know how much attention was being paid to the actual bowling. I was more of a social outing where occasionally someone happened to fling a ball down the alley.

So who watched the season finale night on abc last night? I watched Desperate Housewives, and Brothers and Sisters. I don’t want to ruin it for anyway, but if you didn’t see Housewives and you are a fan, well, you might want to hit the abc website and watch it online. It was a good one! As for Brothers and Sisters, well it wasn’t suspenseful or anything, but jsut an all around good show as it usually is. Justin left for war and a key fact about Rebecca was shared. I don’t know what is up with Saul and Milo. I have to admit I was in and out of the room during the first part of it so I may have missed something key there.

Ok, layout for today… I had journaled on it. Yes, you read that right. I very rarely use my own writing. Despite Jeannie telling me I should, I just can’t seem to make myself do it. This layout is all about Ethan at age 7. There were a few key things I wanted to make sure both he and I remembered so I covered them in this layout. I like the way it turned out, even if I hand wrote it!

Have a great day everyone!!

~j

Ok so I only have a minute here but I need to tell ya what I just came home to this afternoon. We all went to the Last Harrah at Ethan’s school They were having one last open house kind of thing before the school gets torn town. Anyway, so I just got back and checked my email before starting to prep for cards. I get this email (I have deleted the senders name)…

Jen,

Not sure if that was your van in the parking lot at 13 mile and Harper today, but I wanted to let you know that your magnetic ribbon about kids needing both parents is offensive. Yeah, it’d be great if each kid in the world had two loving, attentive, patient parents. But, the truth of the matter is that that does not always happen. Imagine kids with one parent dead or a parent who is raising kids alone because the other is abusive or incarcerated (for example) – yes, those are kids with one parent. If that kid were to read your message, they would automatically come to the conclusion that they are lesser than those with two parents. Why should he or she be made to feel like crap because of your “values” ? The world needs less judgment of others. I hope you’d agree with that.

Also, not a good idea to have controversial value statements alongside your business name. Just a thought.

Ok so let me first say… uhh, I don’t have a freakin’ van. I assume the business sticker the email refers to is really the URL for my blog, which I do not have on my car, but a few other friends of mine do. As for the parenting sticker, well, I don’t have one of those either.
Now maybe I’m just crabby today, but that email really hit me in a BAD way. I’m beyond irritated for a number of reasons. I mean hello, might it make sense to be sure you were attacking the right person before sending off an email like that?? So yes, I’m cheesed that I was a wrongful target. I’m also miffed as a past single parent. Those of you that are close to me know that I was a single parent to my oldest son from the moment of conception until he was a toddler. That being said, I’m also a mother of three. So accusing me of putting some stupid sticker on my car that was going to make a certain group of children feel like “crap” is also upsetting to me.

All of that being said, my take on it… uhh free speech, and it is a stupid sticker. If you don’t like it don’t look. I’ve seen a lot of things on the back of cars that offend me, but I don’t hunt them down and send them a nasty email about it. So the sender of this email had to follow the URL on the back of the van and find a personal email address for me to send this letter. At no point while fishing for my email did it occur to her to open her eyes wide enough to see that the URL is NOT for a business anyway.

So I’m peeved, and this lady has now added a nasty tone to my entire day. Let that be a lesson to everyone… if you have to be nasty with someone or call them out on values you don’t agree with, please make sure you are focused on the right person first!

~j

[photopress:allabouttheberries.jpg,thumb,pp_image]  I had class last night.  Two at once, which worked out ok.  The Canvas class was fantastic!  The gals were great - so thanks ladies for a great time!  Everyone seemed to enjoy the projects and picked up a few new tips and tricks that hopefully they can try at home.  Anyway, it was awesome and dispite how tired I was (and still am) the class rocked!

Apparently it is a week for new things.  My Crocs are supposed to come today.  I’ll be excited when I finally see them.  I’ve been waiting so long now that the anticipation has really built up.  On top of that I got a new washer and dryer yesterday.  Mine were 6 years old, and frankly NEVER worked well.  For those of you that have been following my ranting lately you know that my dryer broke again a couple weeks ago.  Well, it died again on Mother’s Day, and that was the end of the line for me.  Been there, done that, and I won’t go down that repair road again.  So, that being said, I got a new set.  Woo Hoo, these babies work fantastic!!  I’m thrilled with them and glad I put an end to my Maytag Neptune Nightmare.

I’m also expecting a shipment today that will have the Zutter Bind-it-All System in it.  Jeannie really wanted one, so this one will be hers.  She has promised to share, but if I like it I imagine I’ll spring for one too.  I need to see the thing in person.  Supposedly it binds everything and that would be great for class projects.  The month of June I think I’ll have mostly mini album type of classes going on.  So that would work out well.  Hopefully I can get some samples done this week and wrap up the rest of the cards for class on the 22nd.

I did the featured layout today at the NSD Crop at Little Scrapbox.  I love the colors in this and those American Crafts Thinkers are awesome to use.  I think I used some on each layout that I did that day.  Easy application (not TOO sticky) and very versatile.  They are available in a ton of different materials, from felt to foam.  Check ‘en out if you get the chance!

Tonight I have a PTC volunteer appreciation thing that I was invited to.  Last year they gave us little sliver fish charms and we had refreshments and desserts.  I assume this year will be the same type of thing.  I’m looking forward to the one night a year someone thanks me, lol.

That about covers it.  I have a severe weather warning flashing on the screen in front of my face so I better go clear off the clothesline before I’m stuck in a downpour.  Happy Tuesday to you!

~j

The run down… I am pleased to say that my Crocs finally shipped yesterday. I’m sure you all care. And the eye doctor trip with Ethan yesterday was totally fruitless. I was told it the tic was not eye related and that I should take him to a pediatric neurologist. So that is the next stop on my list. Uh, what else… hmmm nothing really. I’m prepping for cards a bit today and as of my last count I need to go get more envelopes. Wonder if they are open on the weekend??

This weekend is full of fun for me. I have a manicure/pedicure with my mom tomorrow at Olympia Salon and Spa. It is a Mothers Day treat from my mom. She says I’m the mother of her grandchildren so she was taking me out. I’m really looking forward to it. Denny asked what I wanted for Mothers Day and I told him fondue and my scrap room cleaned. So tonight we go for fondue at the Fondue Room. I love gong there. It takes a long time to eat fondue and thats a good time to catch up with Denny. The kids are going to my in laws so we can go alone. Sunday my mom is coming over as is my grandma for our annual Mothers Day thing. We have the men order us pizza and thats about it. LOL Well none of us can cook - it’s Mothers Day, duh!

I really need to go to the grocery store before we all starve over here, and I thought about it today, but I didn’t really feel like it. Thus, I didn’t, ha ha.

[photopress:IMG_4455smaller.jpg,thumb,pp_image] Ethan had one of his friends over from school the other day. She is such a nice kid! Ethan just adores her, and frankly so do I. Denny and I took all the kids to Pump It Up and they had a blast as they always do. They get a ton of exercise and just wear themselves out. Denny likes to get in on the action too and starts bouncing around in the inflatables too. I snapped this photo of Ethan and his friend while they were waiting for the place to open. They were actually nice enough to open it just for us. That was pretty cool!!

Ok I’m going to have to pack everyone us here in a minute to go get Ethan from school. On nice days we walk there and then I don’t have to leave so early to get in the car pick up line. Have a great weekend, and enjoy Mother’s Day!!

~j

[photopress:outletsp.jpg,full,alignright] So a couple of years ago I started seeing Crocs pop up all over the place at trade shows. Now, they are everywhere. I broke down and bought a pair last summer and now I have several different styles. I have a pair suitable for each season I think. I love them and I can’t say enough about how comfortable they are and easy to maintain. I’m on my feet a lot and I chase after three kids, and again, I can’t say enough about these shoes. That being said, at the moment I’m pretty cheesed off at Crocs. I ordered one of the new Spring release shoes on the 24th of April. A few days later I got an email saying there were out of stock. So I called and said just to replace the color I ordered with something that was in stock. So that was all taken care of on the 30th. Yet here I sit on May 10th waiting for my shoes. I’ve called several times now, including today, and was told at least the last three times that they were shipping that day. As of the call I made today they still have not shipped and all I get is the run around. One person will they me they are out of stock, and then come back to the line to tell me oh maybe they are in stock. Bottom line, I don’t have my shoes, and not a single person at Crocs seems to be able to tell me why.  If I log in tomorrow morning and they still haven’t shipped I am really going to hit the roof.  Ok rant over..

Ethan has an eye appointment today.  I have terrible eyesight, and I have ever finger I have crossed that he does not have the same issue.  It is actually another issue entirely that has be taking him in.  My little Ethan has had this facial tic with his left eye for years.  That being said, it is something that seems to come and go.  I’d say he has gone a good 6 months or so with no tic at all.  However, now they are back, BAD.  We went up to the school a week or two ago and his teacher actually commented about it, so I figure it is time to take him in.  Frankly I wasn’t really sure where to start so I thought the eye doctor might be a good starting point.  So that is where we are headed today.  The fact that he could use an eye exam is just gravy if you know what I mean.  Anyway, I’m not sure what will come of it, if anything at all.  I’ve been doing to research on it and I’ve read that some children just have a childhood tic and that for the most part it is something that they grow out of.  I don’t know what to think of it.

Ok I’m off to get Ethan from school soon.  Wish us luck!

~j

      card4, originally uploaded by jendera.

So I’m having what I’d describe as a manic day. I have a list of things to do. I always have a list. However, I can’t seem to get myself motivated to do any of it, but at the same time I’m pacing the house trying to think of something to do. I just can’t seem to get into the groove today. I “wanted” to get some cards done today for class, but I can’t seem to get beyond the base part of the card. I think I want to diecut something for the top of it, but frankly I don’t feel like getting the cutter set up to do it. Nice huh? I’ve got a ton of things I could be doing really, but hardly any of it will get done I’m sure. I want to clean my studio, really I do. Yet, somehow I don’t see that happening. So that takes me back to making my list, which I probably all I will get done today.

I am slowly cleaning out some of my stuff I don’t need around here. I posted some paper racks on CraigsList the other day and one was picked up today. That felt good to get one out of here. On that note if anyone needs any of them, I have a ton to get rid of. They are $40.00 each, cash and carry lol. I still have two more sitting in the house, several more in the shed and a basement full at my Grandmas house. So I should probably make more of an effort to get rid of them. I’m getting tired of cleaning around them really.

I went to a 14 hour crop on Saturday at Little Scrapbox in celebration of NSD. A good time was had by all, but I only finished 5 layouts, one of which I am REALLY not happy with, the other four, well I have one that I really like, and another the is a close second. Again I found myself having trouble getting into my groove. I’m not sure what is up with me lately. I must have too many things on my mind and it seems to be blocking my creative mo-jo.

The computer nerd in me did get some things done last week. I decided to download Mozilla Firefox internet browser. Holy cow, what a difference. It works SO MUCH better that Internet Explorer. If you have the ability to give Firefox a test drive, I’d suggest you do. I may never go back and I’ve been using IE for a very long time. Anyway, give it a try.

Ok so todays image is one of my cards for the May Card Club. If you can make it I’d love to see you! As usual we will be doing 12 cards with envelopes. Just about everything is precut, and prestitched, etc. Class is May 22nd at 6:30 at Little Scrapbox. Come check it out!

That about covers it for today. Have a good one!!

~j

  

   bubbles, originally uploaded by jendera.

Well today is Ethan’s Fish Day at school. His school celebrates children each year individually for displaying what they call “fishyness.” They have a philosophy there called the fish philosophy and its all about caring for others, etc. Anyway, Ethan’s celebration is today and he is pretty excited. Michelle is nice enough that she said she could watch Dylan and Shelby while I go to the school. I’m not sure if Denny will make it or not, but I’ll be there and so will my Mom and Dad.

In other big news I let Ethan walk to school today, kinda. We are the third house down from the school, but I usually drive him or walk with him. Today he really wanted to do it himself. He wanted to ride his bike like the other kids, but we don’t have a chain to lock it up and frankly I don’t think I trust him to be cautious enough to ride his bike there. Anyway, so I walked him to the first house next to the school and let him go the rest of the way by himself. One of the other mothers was about 2 feet in front of him with her triplets taking them to school so I was ok with that. Anyone who knows me knows that I”m a little on the freakish side when it comes to the kids being out of my sight or far enough away that I can’t grab them if I needed to. Anyway so both of us had an exciting morning.

So onto today’s layout. I got one of the EK Success Cutterflys about a week or two ago. I call it the scrapbookers swiss army knife. The thing is packed with tools. I used the rotary cutter to cut the cutter on the piece of printed paper and then stuck it to the cardstock. The line of brads all the way down the side are the mini sprinkles by Queen & Company. I love the way those things look, but the backs are really hard to get apart and those suckers are SHARP. I wounded myself several times. But it sure looks cool, lol. The title is done with American Crafts Thickers. These ones are a foam like texture and puffy. I cut the circles with the new Circle Scissor Plus by EK Success. This one is an improvement over the last edition, but there are still some tweaks that need to be attended to. The little dashes are done with a Sharpie White Paint Pen.

Well that’s all for for now. I need to get the kids ready to hit the road, then off to Ethan’s Starfish Day.

~j

  

   funtobe4, originally uploaded by jendera.

Ok so I don’t know who said it first, but where did the “terrible twos” concept come from? So far my kids have never experienced it and I only have one left and she will hit 2 years in July, so I’ll know soon enough. However, that being said, when Ethan turned 4 there was a lot of screaming and hairy fits being had around here, and now that Dylan has hit four we have the same problem. I have a theory, and I’m not sure how much water it holds, but maybe it is a communication/frustration issue. I like to think that the problem stems from not having enough words to best explain thier feelings at that age, and thus frustration and anger is the result. If that isn’t the case, well, maybe they just become posessed at that age, and don’t return to normal behavior until 5 years old.

At any rate, Dylan has been difficult to say the least over the last month or so. As usual Dylan has his moments. He really is one of the most sensitive and caring kids. He shows genuine concern for others, and can’t stand to see anyone, or anything hurt. We stopped at an Auto Salvage place today and he was very upset to see the damaged cars and trucks. “Aww, poor truck!” he said. Cute. Anyway he can go from sweet to total CRAB in under a minute I swear. Anyone else experience this, the 4 year old crazy behavior I mean? If you have suggestions, I’m open to them! Hopefuly this will pass, just as it did with Ethan.

We spent the day today going all over town looking for a specific part for Denny’s truck. It turned out to be a wild goose chase and out of all the driving and time spent, we got nothing done. It seemed all day that for every step forward we took two steps back. I don’t think I’ve had a day like today in a very long time, if I’ve ever had one at all. I’m glad it is over, but we still don’t have the part we need.

On to the layout. I did this last week using mostly My Mind’s Eye products. I seem to be a big fan of thiers lately. Even the buttons are a MME product. I actually used almost an entire package of the MME buttons on this project, lol. I think I had five left out of the whole bottle. The rest is all stickers, paper, and a rubon. I did machine stich the cardstock. The text in the title is all custom die cut from cardstock.

Ok I’m off. I’m beat and the pillow calls. Have a great night!

~j