My iPod

Scott decided I needed an iPod for Christmas. I made the mistake of asking if I could add 2GB of songs to his 7GB that he has on his 30GB iPod. I thought that way, when we are on vacation, I could listen to MY music. I might have just as well asked to use his spleen! I had a MP3 player but he had the car adaptor thingie and it seemed my MP3's battery was ALWAYS dead!

Anyway, I ended up w/an iPod, a car adaptor & a charging/playing "dock". It's cool but I was not overjoyed w/it. I wanted stamping stuff!! (which I did get but, as you know, you could always use more!)

After having it now for 3 weeks, I don't know that I could live with out it. I used to listen to the radio when I picked the kids up from school. Now, I listen to my iPod. I used to listen to the music on my computer while at home, now I listen to the iPod. I even downloaded games so I can play on my iPod when I'm waiting around. I think I like it!

Laundry

Does it ever end??? Ok, so I got the fancy pants washer last Monday, did tons of laundry. I guess since the new washer has such a large capacity compared to the old one, I felt I couldn't do laundry until I could fill it. This is just 3 loads of laundry!! There are 3 more in the laundry room to be done & one more here!

Last night we watched Dirty Harry on blu-ray and I folded. And folded. AND FOLDED!!! That was a whole lotta folding. The sad party is, while it sat so peaceful overnight, more dirty stuff was created. It's an unending battle.

By the way, I do have some matching laundry baskets. LOL

Today's Pic

This is one of the most fabulous gifts I think I've ever rec'd. I got this from my boss (in addition to a GC from my lss!) Her hubby works for a local refinery & had gotten these tool kits for vicci & her daughter. Somehow he was able to get FIVE more of them for all of us girls at work. It is the coolest & has everything I could need. Yesterday, we got the new knobs for Becca's new dresser (needed ones that matched her desk better) and of course I needed a phillips screwdriver to replace them. The phillips that was actualy upstairs was so worn down, it wouldn't work. So, I went downstairs, got my handy dandy tool kit & had like 5 different choices of phillips screwdirvers. WOOHOO!!

Of course, I'm torn w/the idea of taking all the tools out & using this for a scrap tool kit! LOL

Saturday's 365 Pic

WINTER!!! It's gonna be a COLD week this week. On Thursday, our low is supposed to be -6!!!!! And where will Scott be spending this delightful StL winter week?? Tulsa. How do you type a rasberry?

This photo does not show how cool my coat rack is. Last summer, I had one of those coat tree things. Worked well but was so big & bulky. I was at Lowe's buying something else & saw this BEAUTIUL (I'm so into brushed nickel right now, I'll buy just about anything w/it) wall mounted coat rack. Luckily, my dad was in town & "installed" it. I love it so much more than the coat tree!!

Dang, I missed posting yesterday.

I did take my pic tho.. Of course, it's still on my camera & it's upstairs. I'll have to load it later.

Yesterday was a fun day!! Went to a SU party with one of my work friends. Had a GREAT time (how can you have a bad time at a SU party??) and made 2 super cute cards. Finally bought the pocket silhouettes (hmm, weren't those on sale a few months ago? Why didn't I buy them then??) and the square punch. One of the cards used these stamps & I loved it Plus, my favorite C'mas card made at Sue's C'mas open house was made w/the square punch. I'm hoping the punch will be here in time for my 5 C'mas cards this month.

Yesterday afternoon ended my auctions. Sold ALL the Longaberger stuff (liners, pottery but no baskets, I can't give up a one of them!) but only one stamp set. Made $78!! Woohoo. More spending $$$ for Shack-a-paloosa!!!

Todays pics...

...didn't really turn out as cute as they were in real life! The cat was asleep on the back of the couch (where he TOTALLY isn't supposed to be!) I took him off & put him in his bed and covered him w/his blanket. Being the contrary creature he is, he decided he was no longer tired and got out of his bed. Unfortunately, the blanket didn't leave him. Static had it stuck to his hiney. It was hallarious to watch. The pics, not so much.

After that 5th pic, I did take pity on the poor thing & removed the blanket from his hiney. Did he appreciate it?? NO! Silly kitty!

After the tree is gone....

...it's time for snow!! We found this adorable snowman at a Hallmark store after Christmas. Isn't he so cute!! Now, the snowflake lights are LED lights. Kinda burns a hole in your retina if you look at them too long. I really don't like the way the string of snowflakes looks on the banister but I'm not sure what else to do w/it. I'd like to get some sort of garland & then drape it so the flakes don't stick out so much. But, it's lights & lights make me happy!!!

Well, I didn't manage a 2nd post.

I put a TON of stuff on eBay this afternoon. After that & dinner & catching up at the Shack, I didn't have time or anything intersting here. Sorry. No decent pic either. I'm feeling a little bit like a failure. It was such an easy resolution, why couldn't I keep it up??

I'll re-evaluate & decide if I will keep on plugging away or give up & let it go.

Ooops, How Did I Miss Yesterday???

Wow! I spent all day thinking I had posted and I guess I didn't. Wow, that resolution didn't last long. Well, I guess I'll make up for it w/2 posts today.

Yesterday was laundry day. I got my fancy new LG Front Loader washer. It's pretty but, I'm afraid that might be all it is. I'm not sure I'm thrilled with it. I think I'll have to buy the HE soap to see if that make it all better.

Pros: LARGE capacity, detergent/softener/bleach dispenser that can be CLEANED (one of the problems w/my old washer was that it was FILTHY!!) and clearly, the cat likes it!

Cons: LONG wash times (48 minutes for an average load. Don't ask how long for a "sanitized" load!!) and even when I added MORE time for "stain cycle" the wussy stains on shirts didn't come out. I had to pre-treat, run it again & then the did come out, same as my old washer. The rest of the problems are user error or at least user ignorance: how much soap? how much softener, how big a load can fit into the dryer??

I was not able to purchase a new dryer ('cause the old one still works FINE) so now I'm worried that the giant loads I can wash in the washer are going to KILL my dryer. Although, I'm sure the dryer is just going to die of embarrassment as it looks so OLD compared to the washer. Poor dryer. It's 20yo (the washer was only 8) and still running like a champ. A champ that has had the snot beat out of it a couple too many times!

Anyway, I'm going to go today & buy the HE soap. Then, I will be confident that I'm putting enough soap in it. I'll learn to live w/the long cycles 'cause one day I'll be able to get the fancy pants dryer & it'll all balance out. The stained clothes are a rarity so I can deal w/that. I am REALLY HAPPY to have the washer & to be able to wash clothes when I want. I never realized how important that was until it was gone.

As soon as I posted this, I saw this cartoon. Thought it was appropriate. Although my kids, who had a snow day yesterday, pretty much kept themselves busy while I did all the laundry. I sure hope you can click on it & make it bigger!!

What a mess!!

Hmmm, is this table a metaphor for my life?? This is my scrap/stamp table. Sad, huh?? Needless to say, I have not worked on anything for a few days. So much for my resolve to clean up after my projects. On the plus side, all the Christmas stuff is down & put away. Well, almost all. I realized that my lighted garland is still up (and lit & pretty!) I'll take it & the C'mas cards down later (today, this week, this month??) Scott put all the snowflake lights up (I'll take pics later) and I got almost all the snowmen out. But, for now, I have to do laundry!! My new washer FINALLY got here. I'm on load #2.

January 4th, post Christmas blues

All day yesterday was spent taking down the Christmas tree. Everything except 2.5 hours spent w/my older brother (Wayne) while he took apart my computer (literally!) to get a tiny media card out of it (I was the one who stuck it in, not one of the kids!)

Anyway, back to Christmas. I hate taking down the decoartions. Really, really HATE it!! The house is plain w/o them. I have trees in all the bedrooms, candles, garland & wall art in the bathrooms, things on the doors & bubbly, glittery nightlights in the kitchen & bathrooms. It is all so GONE when it's gone!!

So, today: the upstairs tree comes down and I clean out Nick's toy drawer. That boy wants to save EVERY Happy Meal toy that ever makes it into this house! I told him to do it but we'll have to wait & see what he actually REMOVES from the room. Then I'll go thru it again. After that, we'll make a run to Goodwill!

Back to my computer. My brother took the whole thing apart & still could not get to the card reader to remove the media card. So, after he left, I was messing around with it & got the card out!! Yea me! Unfortunately, all the messing w/the card reader messed it up so it still doesn't work. Oh well, back to the USB cable!

Eventually, I'll take pics of my ATCs!

January 3rd, the resolution falls???

Ok, remeber when I said I was gonna take a pic a day & journal. Well, I failed already. I MEANT to take pics of Scott taking down the outside lights yesterday but, I didn't. I could give a dozen valid reasons but, that defeats the whole purpose, right??? I mean, technically, I DID take a pic of the ugly green ornament but, that's not what the whole project was about, right??

So, this morning, I got up early & took this pic. I think it'll work for my journalling about my feelings about the end of Christmas. I wish I could take artsy pics. I know this could look so much better but.... Oh well. I have half my C'mas stuff down: downstairs tree is down & most of the downstairs decor is down. Unfortunately, none of the "normal' stuff is up nor is any of the Snowman stuff up. I could do it tonite or look for the stamp sets I wanted to put on eBay or work on a swap or watch TV & go to bed early (gotta get ready for back to school! ICK!)

Not a new photo but, I wanted to share

I like to give the kids' teachers ornaments for Christmas. I had an idea about the ornament I wanted to make this year but time got away from me. I saw some BEAUTIFUL ornaments on Laura's blog and they look like something I could manage. How wrong I was.

I thought I followed Laura's directions exactly. They aren't hard directions? What could I be doing wrong. Well, I think I figured out the problem. It was 2 fold: I was draining them too long & was using semi-icky glitter. I had the MS coarse glitter & it was just too coarse & not sparkly enough. This picture does not show how truly UGLY this ornament is!!!

I decided to try again. This time, I could only find HUGE ornaments at Michael's, all the little ones were taken by people who planned ahead better & knew what they were doing! Oh well. I used Cool Caribbean reinker (I only have brown reinkers for some reason. Weird. I bought Cool Caribbean, True Thyme & whatever the reddish In color was at that time. This was before I started boycotting In Colors!) and my ultrafine glitters in colors. Here is the weird thing; the color of the ink is not that important; it's the color of the glitter that effects the color of the ornament!! (The pink was done w/Pretty in Pink ink)

I used pink glitter w/CC and it came out more of a true blue. I used light blue glitter and it turned out light blue. I used gold glitter & somehow, it gave a greenish gold tint to the ornament. When I ran out of the gold, I used dark green. WHOA, that turned out a dark, Dark, DARK green ornament!! I think if you click the pics below, you might get a better picture of what the colors look like.

So, if you decide to try this next year, here are a few tips:

1) use a waxy or plastic drink cup to drain them in. You will be able to reuse the ink (if you use one color of ink anyway) cause the ink will just pour right out of the cup. If you use the 3oz PAPER b/r cups, the ink soaks thru.
2) Drain the ornaments for 10 min or less!! But, before you turn the ornament back over, wipe the "mouth" of it off so it doesn't drain back into the ornament & make the glitter glob.
3) Experiment w/different colors of glitter. I'm dying to try a brown ink w/a gold or red glitter to see what happens!! (When does Michael's restock their ornaments?? Mine is COMPLETELY out now!)

I guess it's time to take the trees & the other decorations down now. :( I hate this day!! But, I bought a cool, big light up snow man & I can't wait to get him & the rest of my snow stuff out!! My upstairs tree is mostly snowmen: can't I leave it up til Valentines????

Isn't Jan 1 the GREATEST!!!

It's so easy to keep your resolutions!! Here's a photo & a post. Woohoo!

Today was a nice quiet day. Scott & I are both sick but we did manage to make it to midnight last night. The kids watched the fireworks, I went to bed, Scott filled the humidifier to have in our room. I don't think an humidifier does much good but a) he likes it & 2) it drowns out a little bit of his snoring.

Got up, got a shower (something you take for granted on a "normal" day but since I've been sick, it's been a every 3rd day luxury!), worked on some ATCs (pics tomorrow maybe?).

Last year, on NYD, we went to see Night at the Museum. The kids have decided that it's a tradition now. Well, what's playing? Benjamin Button, nah. Valkyrie, Scott wants to see this but, come on, the kids are 12 & 14. Plus, I know how it ends! Nah! Marley & Me, fine by me but dd REFUSES to see it. I guess that leaves Bedtime Stories.

Why is this boy such a goof?? Oh yeah, I'm his Mom!

Not a huge Adam Sandler fan but it was a fine show & a good way to spend an cold afternoon! Before the opening credits both kids had a tiny bout of Montezuma's revenge & ran to the b/r. Nick actually missed the first few minutes of the show. But, they both bounced back & refused to eat anymore popcorn. More for me & Scott, right?? No, I kicked the dang thing over about 10 minutes into the movie. When will they make theaters for us plus-size movie goers?? I know my tushie is big but please give me enough room for my feet & the bath-tub size of popcorn (ah, now I know how my tushie got big!!)

Home again, left over Imo's pizza for dinner (YUM!!), watched a little tv, worked a little more on ATCs (don't you LOVE Changito!! Isn't he/she just perfect for paper piecing??)

Now, it's 9:30 & time to get the kids back into the school day bedtimes. I guess Nick's gonna get to stay up until 10 now like Becs. He was going at 9:30 but, since they both get up at the same time & leave at the same time (and Nick's almost always ready to go when we leave, unlike someone else who doesn't usually have shoes on, contacts in, hair combed, bed made, pretty much NOTHING done!), I guess it's only fair.

New Years Resolution

My hope for the new year (besides health, world peace & all the crap) is to update my blog daily!!! I need to get over the fact that I may not have crafts to share & just post. Even if no one out there ever reads any of it, I want it as a "journal" and to help me maybe get back into scrapbooking! I love the immediate gratification of a card but my first love was always scrapbooking.

So, on the order of Becky Higgins Project 365, I'm going to post something everyday. I hope to take a pic of something w/some sort of significance everyday. I don't know what in the world it might be but, I'm going to try. Now, having said that, I can't download any pics right now. I got a teeny, tiny media card stuck in my SD slot on my computer. I'll have to find my cord & download the "old fashioned way". LOL