Here's your sign

When I was driving home yesterday around the beltway of VA beach, I saw a weird sign. It said:

"Speed Limit is Enforced by Aircraft."

This made me nervous. I'm not a speeder. I still don't understand what that sign means. Does the aircraft fire shots at you if you are speeding? Swoop down and carry your car away? Float tickets down from the sky? What happens when we go through the Monitor Merrimack bridge/tunnel? Now, I've got a lot to pay attention to there on the inner loop of 664. But I kept the warning in the back of my mind. Just in case the driver next to me traveling at the speed of light gets sapped, I want to hang back a little. You know, just in case.

J and I had a nice little vacation, for the price of a tank of gas in my car. We played in the sprinkler, went to 3 different playgrounds, had a BBQ that got rained on, and did a little shopping (or in J's case running down the middle of the mall). I got a great deal on HP photo paper at Office Max, 2 for 1.

Home again, home again. The whole house smells like the new futon, which smells like fresh paint. Not bad. I finished the laundry before I left my parents house. So, just taking the energetic spirited child to the food store today, always an adventure. Is there anything I can do to make going to the grocery a more pleasant experience for everyone? My little magician can get out of the straps/cart.

Hoping to upload some photos when I get back.
I have those pics of the new scrap room to upload too.
Happy Thursday everyone!

Update

Just a quick note to let you know I'm still alive. I'm still on vacation, will be heading home tomorrow. I've taken lots of pictures but my internet connection here is not the best, so I won't risk losing a long post or the photos in an upload. So excited about the beach photos I took today, can hardly wait to scrap those. Let me know what you've been up to if you stop by!

Frayed Edges

This page is the result of the frayed edges of my sanity lately:


Cosmo Cricket Patterned Paper Jack's world x 3, Maya Road Chipboard hearts. The colors in Jack's world make me happy, and I needed that while making this layout. Framed my text print out and added paper, hearts and photo on top.

When the going gets tough, the tough take a break. I'm thinking of visiting my parents this week, but taking the child-in-constant-motion on a car trip seems daunting. But, I think a little break from our same old routine would be good.

This weekend was expensive. Dh needed a new Mac laptop for work. We had to get new cell phones because mine (after 4 years) died. I make do, go without and wear things out. And I have a hard time admitting that it is time to replace them. I tried to get a new battery for my dinosaur, but "they would have to special order it." My phone is dead, I don't have that kind of time. I felt so stupid in the cell store, everything is marketed to people half my age. (And I'm in my 30s, so that's saying something.) I didn't want a Crackberry, nor did I need the bells and whistles of an iphone. I've only sent 3 text messages in my life. I just wanted what I had, but that was impossible. Everything changes I guess. We just got the free upgraded phones to our existing account, with a new service plan for a couple of dollars more than we were paying. However we still had to buy the car charger and pay some fees, so our "free" phones cost about $100. And I could tell the very hip person working at the Verizon store thought we were the lamest people in the store for choosing the "free' phones. It's not a cheap thing. It's a simplicity thing. I can't stand to have and pay for more than I need or will use. Maybe I'm just too ADD to focus on all that stuff, while I'm driving, drinking a latte, singing to my child, swearing at bad drivers, and trying to read the GPS in bumper to bumper traffic. Call me crazy. The uber cool Verizon dude did.

I have so many Fall pictures from last year, it's going to be a challenge to do this year and last year too. Here's a start, it's Scribble Scrabble Autumn Afternoon Line:


I love the Scribble Scrabble Autumn Chippers, just love them. In case you are interested, I think Memorable Seasons might be having a design team call soon. Just wanted to give you the heads up on that, Jill is really great to work for and Chrissy the head of the DT is wonderful.

Well, the tough needs to charge her lame phone and pack. If you pray, I'd really appreciate a prayer for the car ride. 'Cuz I'll be on the road with all the people who did opt for the upgraded data service plan. :) Have a great Monday!

TGIF and oh so random

Thank you so much blog readers, for your advice about the all about me layout photo. I realized that photoshopping the red out of my hair is in fact taking the "me" out of the picture. So I cleaned this one up and used it here:



That American crafts will test your retina.

J is sleeping better, but the tantrums are an ongoing thing. I'm reading "The Spirited Child." I'm trying to understand how this little person is giving me my highest highs and my lowest lows, all in the same 5 mins. He is definitely energetic, perceptive, and sensitive. I don't think he exhibits any symptoms of ADHD or Autism. And this may just be the age. But I have come to understand this: child are not a blank slate that you get to write on. Nope, children come with their own personality and my communicates his likes and dislikes at the top of his lungs, normally in a public place. I'm almost to the point where I forget to be embarrassed.

These past two weeks have taught me how I need to make better use of the time I have, and to prioritize. I can't do everything, and I had to make a very difficult decision today. I decided not to stay on for another 6 mos at Memorable Seasons. My time there was wonderful and I made lots of good friends and I learned a lot. But I need to start submitting my work for publication again, and something had to give. Time has to come from somewhere, but I want to do everything. But I want to do everything 110% and I know that I can't give MS that right now.

Since it is Friday, such a wonderful day, I won't end on a sad note. Instead here is a card I made for my neighbor/friend Amy. I know she will put it up on her fridge. She has 3 kids and is always overwhelmed with school starting. I thought she could put this up and be reminded to be happy:

Cosmo Cricket's Mr. Campy Happy Campers Card:



I used some Luster Rub-ons for the leaf in green and red on top of the Cosmo Mr. Campy Blackboard. They remind me of eyeshadow. It said to use a fixative, but it was like the blackboard sucked it up because it wasn't coming off this morning! I did the computer lines and text, printed it out, stamped the Mr. Campy Stamp Happy Campers on there with Van Dick Brown ink, and then added Mr. Campy patterned paper. I also added the lines on the leaf with a permenant marker in Green. Easy.

Well, except when you leave the stamp out and J stamps "happy campers" all over your new futon cover. Dh laughed, me not so much. It came out with washing. I'll show you pics of the completed and cleaned scrap room tomorrow.

TGIF and hey, I've been wondering, did Chatterbox and Fancy pants pick their DT? I didn't apply, just have lots of friends who did. Crossing my fingers for them!

Cosmo Cogs Card

I usually pride myself on being pretty flat, as far as scrapping goes anyway. But today I created a card with some dimension. I hope I can show that to you via photos, using Cosmo Cricket's Cogsmos Diecut Cogs.

I've always wanted to buy a card like this. I always seem to inevitably buy a card for some one's 38th birthday and I forget to give it to them. What on earth am I going to do with it now? Not a problem with this card, it's multi purpose.

Here is showing the dimension:



And here I used the Cosmo Buck Naked Chipboard buttons for the dimension under the Cogs: (For the biggest I used two buttons, for one of the smaller cogs I used one button, and the other I just put on the Cardstock)



I used the Making Memories Sharp tool to poke holes in the card for the Karen Foster Screw brads, but you could totally wing it and cram them in there. I'm just anal like that. :)



So here are some general uses for my new favorite card:

I've been thinking, Let's . . .

Have a baby
Go to lunch
Go shopping
Go skydiving
Go to Europe
Move to the West Coast
Elope
Get Engaged
Get Married
Get Divorced
Get a Llama, puppy, kitten, ferret
Buy a house
Celebrate your birthday
Cheer you up with a round on me
Get a manicure
Make fun of our co-worker/boss
Get a life
Go out on a date
Find someone to cut your grass
TP the neighbors house
Take some antibiotics and get well soon.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless.
Note: I don't take any of this seriously and neither should you. It's just paper. And I love it.
Hope your Tuesday is balmy and breezy.

Monday

Good Monday Morning! J and I are enjoying what's left of the summer, got big plans to play outside with our trucks in the dirt today. Here is a Cosmo Cricket layout that exemplifies what we have been up to lately:



By way of instructions, I printed the photos first, then I added the title and the journaling with the computer later (but it would be better if you did it all at the same time, I'm kind of scatterbrained like that.) I mounted it to cardstock, added it to the Cosmo Cricket Get Happy patterned paper. I left a space in my journaling for the Cosmo Cricket Vintage Blackboard letter, and then inked by Cosmo Buck Naked Chipboard heart with Colorbox Scarlet Ink. I added the Making Memories tiny Alphas last. I added the instructions because a couple of people have asked me if it was a digital layout. Nope, if you ink it, definitely not digi right?

I got a futon and an expedite bookcase at IKEA, but my room is kind of a mess at the moment. I might need a day or two to share pics. God bless dh for hulling everything out of IKEA, tying it to the roof of the car, lugging it in the house up 3 stories, and putting everything together for me. He totally gets it, or he fakes it because he loves me. Either way. . .

I'd love to hear about your weekend! Leave me a link/comment so I can find you!

Weekend

Lately I just feel so tired and overwhelmed. I have been taking a nap every time J sleeps this whole week because I am so tired. I'm pretty sure I have been fighting some sort of a virus, only in the past 24 hours have I begun to feel better. The only scrapping I've done is in the evenings, whatever I can get done between 8:30-10. Not much is getting done and it's frustrating to me. I frustrate my own self sometimes.

My dh came home last night, this was a surprise and I was so excited to see him. I feel like I have been counting the minutes until he returned from this past trip. Unfortunately, things did not go very well on his trip and he was upset. I hate to see him upset, it so rarely happens. J gets his easy-go lucky attitude from dh.



I've been fooling around with my camera today. I had to get some "all about me" shots for some pages for the challenge at Memorable Seasons. I really, really, really don't like pictures of my self. And I hate to scrap myself, me staring at me staring back at me. Yikes! But for the record, for posterity, I have to do it every once a quarter. Like going to the dentist or doing taxes, it's a necessary evil. It hurts like a root canal though. Here is one that I probably won't use (my hair is entirely too red). I found a way to calm it down a little in some other shots, so maybe it will be ok?

I'm going to IKEA tomorrow! Happy day, I love that place. I plan to get a small Expedite to put in my closet, to hold some things that I need but don't use a lot. I'm also still thinking about the futon, I'm going to look around there and see if anything moves me. I've lived without it this long though.

That picture makes me want to go get a haircut, do you think locks of love would take my 10% gray/90% reddish brown hair? Probably no one wants any gray hair right?