my days weave together

stooooooopid typepad

2006-05-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

So either they failed to inform me or i failed to read the teeny tiny miniscule fine print that read something to the effect of - give us your credit card info up front to enjoy the discounted price. Cause when i went to sign up for a year of typepad, it was all of a sudden two dollars more per month than it had been showing me all month. Had i even thought for a SECOND that i would not be able to get that price through the end of my trial, I would have signed up earlier. Even after nicely asking for the discount to be extended to me , less than 12 hours after my trial ends, they refused.

so fine. we don't need no stinking typepad!!!

(but that wo'nt stop me from trying to get that discount price another way!!!)

So after our crazy weekend, which I still need to blog about but have neither the time nor the patience to do so right now, we are getting back into the swing of our week here at Atkinson land. I am trying to make one healthy change a week with regard to my diet/exercise, in the hopes of finally losing these last few (60) lbs of baby weight. HA!
Last week it was to cut out coke on one day ( hereforth known in our house as " no coke wednesdays"). I will keep that change this week and add another. 2 gallons of water a day. And drinking 8 oz. of water before indulging in any snack. I am also going to be hardboiling a bunch of eggs either tonite or tomorrow morning so that instead of a brownie or a cookie for a snack/breakfast/whathaveyou, I will be eating protein which will be MUCh MUCH better for me. Although some days, brownies are good for you.
So hopefully I am able to stick to this new change for this whole week. Next week I am going to tackle a change to my exercise habits. In that i will probably actually start exercising. Any way shape or form that is consistent is better than my willy nilly visits to the gym or walk around the block now. MUST start making some serious disciplined changes.
I am also having a clean sweep challenge with my friend to see who can clear out more junk for a garage sale we are having on saturday at her house. That should be good motivation to just rmove a lot of excess junk from the various closets and nooks in the basement where it has managed to accumulate recently.
So - lots to look forward to this week. Now i can hopefully keep up the energy level to keep up with all of this now too!
plus i want to SCRAP!!!!!!!

LOTS and LOTS of new exciting stuff coming up soon from some of my favorite designers! PLUS i saw a sneak peek of the DSD mega kit for JUNE - i am in LOVE with that color scheme!!!

save those pennies girls! lots to shop for in the weeks to come!

i love this hobby.

now i am off to try to get one page scrapped real quick while the kids are sleeping!

maybe i will start to tell the story of this weekend....

ughhh - gotta get that all out before i lose that all.

anyways - TTFN!

terra

a temporary new home

2006-04-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

I have decided to give the trial Typepad a run for its money.....check me out over there for the next few days!

T

TerraBull - my typepad blog

I'm FIRED!!!

2006-04-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well - no great Eight Weeks of Fame for me I guess - I did not make it to a second interview on the Apprentice show. BUT -

It was an awesome fun experience and I am very glad I did it. My body is finally starting to thaw out from standing outside for four hours in the fricking arctic wind that whips through Chi-town, and I am SO proud of myself in my interview. They asked what we all thought about taking "under God" out of the pledge. Oh please do not even get me started again. Anyways - I was not fanatical, but I led the group discussion on the topic and eventually had seven other lemmings agreeing with every thing I said.
I am not quite sure what it was they were looking for - they seemed to be going back and forth in telling us, we want a tv personality, but we really want a good businessperson. Let me tell ya- they had some freaks crawling out of the woodwork for this one! I think they should hold a call in Vegas - now THAT would be some good entertainment right there.
So all in all - it was a blast - I am glad that i did it - and I am proud of myself for trying.
I gotta tell you - getting up that morning and seeing all the well wishes and good thoughts from all you friends who believe in me - I had tears in my eyes.
So thanks and hugs to all of you for your cyber support!

Now - on to this crazy week.

More flu hitting our house and this time we were nice enough to pass it on to our friends (aren't we nice?)
Getting ready for vacation, having the cramps/PMS from HELL week. I mean honestly I swear I am dilated to five with these suckers! Midol needs to create a NEW product - their advertising can include the fact that it is equal to half an epidural! (not that i have ever had an epidural, but if I HAD, I would imagine it would be somewhat akin to taking 35 tylenol/ibu's, which is about the point i am at right now.)
Am I actually talking about this on my blog?????

Anyways -

today is LAPTOP DAY!!!!!!!!
I have it narrowed down, the store supposedly has it in stock, and as soon as I pick up the kids from the daycare and go to ballet class - I am THERE baby. I am hoping this eases the work burden a little bit as I will not have to be tied to my desk all the live long day , but can actually enjoy time with my kids while trying to accomplish some of the more mundane work tasks.

So excited.

I am so scatter brained right now trying to think of all that I have to do this week before vacation - I can't even concentrate on what it is that I am trying to say!
So I will leave you with some layouts.

This first one is using the DSD April Mega Kit. It has way muted-er (nice word huh) of colors than i would normally pick - but i love the soft spring rainy feel to it. And it has a grungy edge overlay. I am a sucker for grungy inky borders. just ask my hard drive.

This was a scraplift from a magazine - it was actually a layout that was in an ad - so i have no idea how to give proper credit, besides the fact that I pretty much butchered it and whomever DID do the original design would probably be horrified to have her name attached to this eventual rendering of her artistic idea.

This next one uses Gina Miller's new Andy's Things Collection One, To Infinity kit. I LOVE these kits, and while I could MAYBE slap something together with my girlie pics, I wanted to do them true justice. So I begged my friend Jenn Vogel for pics of her two ADORABLE baby boys, and she was gracious enough to oblige! I mean look at the cheeks on this kid - don't you just want to SQUEEEEEEEEEEZE them???? I do.
Jenn - I do not know how you resist such a face!
This is also a scraplift of Janet - *a little eclectic* - one of the Guest DTM's for Gina this month. I have been on sort of a scraplift kick lately. Guess my own mojo is taking a brief hiatus.

And lastly for today - this scraplift of Aggie (the other Guest DTM for Gina Miller in April). Yes folks you are seeing it here first today! I JUST got done with this one - and something about it - probably the soft colors {Gina Miller's PErfectly Pastels Paper Collection, Sunday Suit edition} just soothes me and I like how it flows. I LOVED aggie's use of the circles. I scraplifted this from her two peas gallery where she states in the comments for the original of this scraplift - this is my second digi page. NICE. It is gorgeous, Aggie - you are a natural!!! I loved the circles.

So anyways folks. There you have it.

Layouts and the Apprentice scoopage.

Don't get much better than that.

I have to hold myself back from re-posting tonite with the laptop.!

oh heck who am I kidding? You all KNOW i will be back to flaunt the new technology!!!!!

Thanks for the luv, peeps.

Keep it real.

T

{Getting very NeRvOuSsssssssss}

2006-03-31T17:05:00.000-08:00

TOmorrow morning is my BIG SHOT at the BIG TIME!!!

Apprentice tryouts baby!
I filled out my application today - seven pages - lots of legal mumbo jumbo...i probably just signed my first born child away, but hey - who reads the fine print anyways????
So now I just have to mapquest where in downtown chicagoland we are going to - and I think I am set. Updated the resume - although I could NOT concentrate on it so it sounds like i am a lot stupider than i actually am, which is only minorly stupid. I am stuck somewhere between REALLY wanting to move on, and just really hoping I get just the chance to interview. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but then I also do'nt want this awesome opportunity to pass me by.
I have to make sure my suit is ironed, do something with this weave and find my earrings. Oh and figure out what shirt I am going to wear. I will HOPEFULLY be able to talk the oh so willing hubby into taking pics for the scrappage of this fun event - but who knows. Sometimes he hates having to actually participate like that. {rolling eyes at non-participatory husbands}.

So - to keep my mind off of that...
I am just going to post a few recent layouts. Some of my faves have come out of the past few days worth of scraps.
For full credits - please visit my gallery at DSD.

Ok this is all blogger is letting me post for right now.
I have PLENTY more to share - i will figure it out sooner or later. But for now i am going to go put my kids in bed so I can paper scrap a little and take my mind off of how nervous I am starting to feel!

Thanks for all the good luck and positive thoughts and prayers being sent my way! I appreciate all you cyber friends more than words can say!

Terra

Ya gotta love that Illi-noise weather!!

2006-03-30T16:07:00.000-08:00

Last post - snow on the ground.
Today - sunny and 70. Go figure. No wonder everyone has some form of the ebola virus.
Oh lordy there is so much to catch up on - i doubt I get to it all.
First things first.

Old Car:

Suburban 1500
Good car.
Leather seats, heated front seats.
Liked this car.
Had a Gojillion miles on it.
But a good car nonetheless.

May::it
REST :: in peace.

NEW CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my gosh aren't you shocked by how different it is??

This is a Yukon XL Denali.
Yes the color is actually SLIGHTLY different
This is Silver Birch. The other one was Gold Coast craptastic.
I got my sunroof. My 6 disc changer. My heated leather seats even in the BACK row!!
The installed dvd player for le poissons. The controls in the steering wheel. Power mirrors so i can parallel park (as if i am EVER in my LIFE going to attempt to park in this bad boy. No thanks. I would rather illegally park in someone's yard or on the sidewalk before I attempted that. even WITH the helpful turn down mirrors.)What else - oh the pedals move up or down to my legs. It has the kick ass pimped running boards. The rims need to go - need my 24 in spinners on there. (And no my husband would never actually allow me to do that to his baby.)
Anyways - all in all - a very hella cool car. Now if i ever get to drive it - it will be even that much more fun!

so - a catch up on the week. Went to a friends house for dinner on Monday nite. My best friends husband throws kealey up in the air as a how are ya doing type gesture, she gets down, walks to the front staircase and yes you guessed it - puked all over this BEAUTIFUL entry way. Then proceeded to puke EVERY fifteen minutes thereafter until four the next morning. Fun times.
Tuesday and Wednesday were obviously very laid back - please God don't let the baby catch this- type days. Today the girls went to a new daycare arrangement I have with a friend so i can concentrate on work two days a week and everything went SWIMMINGLY. Work got done, the kids had fun, I got a little dent in the housework made, and we all went shopping afterwards. I got a new Amazing Brows kit by Bare Escentuals cause yeah I waxed three fourths of my eyebrows off accidentally the other nite. SUCK. I look like a total drag queen. But this kit is rocking and easily makes it look like i just have very finely sculpted brows instead of nothing.
Oh my gosh i still cannot believe I did that. TWO DAYS before Apprentice tryouts and I am TOTALLY geekin it up over here!

So - it hasn't exactly been an exciting week - but a good week nonetheless.

I am on day two of my Rhonna inspired challenge to form a new good habit - waking up early. It is not as hard as I thought once I am actually out of the bed. But MAN my eyes do not want to open as early as I am forcing them to! Hopefully by day 21 this gets LOTS easier.
So - one more week till our fun filled vacation. I think we are at T-minus FOUR DAYS till laptop purchase!
I figured i better get it early enough in the week that I can format it with all my computer stuff (kits, DIP, pics, etc) so i can actually entertain myself on this oh so exciting road trip from hell - i mean road trip to Texas.
I will have to post more about that later.

GAG - final four shminal shmour. BRING BACK SURVIVOR ALREADY!!!!!

Ok - gear me up here kids.
Help me prepare for this Apprentice interview on Saturday. What would you wear - the conservative business attire? or the flaunt your best assets attire? Dangly earrings? No earrings? Hair down, hair up?
Should I go for the - i am a smart business woman approach or the - hey put me on cause i am CRAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYy approach? Cause either or both are me - i am just second guessing myself here.

Talk me through it - seriously - give me your opinions on how or what you would do.

loves ya babes! I am holdin steady at 130 on the blog ring - how the EFFER do you get your blog header to show up on that thing - anyone know????

And one more Q - how do you pay for typepad - i can't find the info ANYWHERE on the website - can i pay all at once with paypal?

Thanks -

T-crest out.

Please someone - be kidding me!!

2006-03-24T06:44:00.000-08:00

This has got to be just a cruel joke. Please say it isn't darn near the end of March and we just got MORE snow last nite. How on EARTH will I ever get to utilize these cute new spring fashions like gauchos and platform sandals and new makeup if it is still freaking SNOWING outside???

Hopefully the sun makes an appearance today, warms it up to the tropical temperature of roughly 36 degrees, and melts this stuff away. I want snow in the WINTER, not the spring thank you very much. If you can't deliver snow on MY timetable, don't deliver it at all.

So anyways - besides that minor setback today - I am ready to attack this weekend. Not that I have any huge plans - I just - i woke up early and feel oddly full of energy. But I truly have nowhere to really divert that energy. So be ready for massive gallery flooding by yours truly for all the AWESOME pages I am sure to create this weekend. i will probably needlessly shop as well, inspired as I was by my friend MizAmyLou's shopping foray last weekend. She raked it in man. I love vicariously shopping through friends. I really truly haven't gone hogwild shopping in a while. Been too busy it seems like. And with snow - ehhh - who wants to shop for cute springy clothes???

So today we have Karissa's hearing evaluation appointment. I am sort of torn about it. On the one hand, I do'nt want anything to be really wrong with her. On the other hand, a totally clean bill of hearing health means - she just doesn't wanna talk. Or I am doing something wrong with her. Either way the problem comes back to me, me failing as a mom, me doing something wrong as a mom, me screwing up somehow. right? I mean, logically I know that isn't true, but as moms don't you sometimes feel like you have the responsibility for EVERY single thing that occurs in your child's life, like every single moment from conception forward is a possible starting point for the downward spiral of your child's physical, emotional or mental health. Why do we put this pressure on ourselves? Why am I being such a downer about this when really I am in a pretty good mood? Just random thoughts I guess.

Anyways - after that, we get to pick up my mom's dog, Maximus. I love this dog. I truly do. I am not really a dog person, but I love Maxie. Oh yes you will see plenty of pictures in days ahead. I am trying to train him to become a seeing eye dog or one of those helper dogs so that I can take him on trips with me. He isn't buying into the training so much. Probably a combo of a.) I started him too late and b.) I am in no way shape or form a dog trainer, much less an aid dog trainer. But hey, its fun to try! My mother just rolls her eyes at me and mutters something out loud about where did she go wrong. (See what I mean with the mom guilt??? Like its her fault I am a warped personality!)

And then....i dunno what the rest of the weekend holds. I assume it will probably GREATLY depend on if I got paid or not. If i go to our little cubbyhole mailbox and see that glorious HAGC envelope staring back at me, well, then momma's got a new pair-a-shoes! And if not, the girls and I will find something to entertain ourselves I hope!

I need pictures on here to brighten up the bloggage. yes, yes I feel typepad looming ever closer in my line of vision. I am actually waiting on Shannon to cave first. If she goes to the dark side, I am SO there. Speaking of the utterly wise and adorable Miss Bieger - lets all head on over to her blog and wish her a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! I love celebrating birthday's in cyberspace, specially with digi-friends. So Shannon - I hope your day is extra special and tons of fun and that it is not snowing on your birthday where you live. May the rats stay in their little hiding places tonite and may you be overjoyed at the celebration you have on this day.

Is there really anything else worthy of writing it down here today....

oh yeah! My best buy damn the man story!!!

So anyways - two years ago I broke down and bought my daughter a portable DVD player. BAck in the day they were pretty expensive still, so I dropped $250 on it, plus bought the $70 warranty. In two years I have exchanged that puppy SIX TIMES. Yes six for the price of one folks. I guess this is why they do not recommend letting your two year old handle her own electronics. But I digress. So throughout this time I have been able to upgrade since the prices have fallen since that first player i bought. Well eventually the manufacter's warranty runs out so now I am on the best buy warranty. I take it in about a month and a half ago for service, and they ship it back three weeks later saying, oh we just needed to clean the lens head. Right. Like I didn't try that myself thirty three times before I brought it in to you. It took you three weeks to tell me that??? So I get it home - nope still broken. So i pack it all back up and take it BACK in. By now my box has like fifteen little best buy pink security check stickers on it. So now they tell me, they will send it back, but if it has to be replaced then that will use the warranty I have on it, so I wll have to purchase a NEW warranty on any NEW player I get. Fine. Totally understand the logic of that. So they call me a week later. Umm we need to see all your warranty receipts. Me: why? all my warranty info is typed onto my work order sheet right here that is in your system. Geek Squad Geek: Wellllllllll ummmmmmm I dont know, I am just reading the notes on my screen. Me: Ok thanks for your uber ability to handle my customer service. I will be right in with my warranty info.

The whole fam-damily trucks into the car and into the store. Have I mentioned how much my husband hates trying to corral my two children in best buy? Oh yes, his favorite thing to do on the weekends. Anyways.

Me at the counter to the poor geeky kid who offers to help me: I was told to bring in all my receipt warranty info for my player. (pushing my large folder stuffed with numerous receipts all nicely organized by date and time across the counter to him.)

Geek Squad Geek: Ummm yeah see the problem is, when you exchanged it the last time, you should have bought a new warranty then. So ummm this dvd player now that we have out for service is like ummmm not covered by any warranty. so if ummmm you want it back, like, umm you are gonna have to pay for all the service charges and stuff.

Me: Neat. But no that theory does not hold any water. See, it was never explained to me that I had used the warranty, so I was never offered the opportunity to purchase a new warranty. As you can see, i buy warranties on everything I purchase (me showing him my warranty folders on my thirty dollar thumbdrives.) So if I had been told that there was no warranty on this plaer, I most certainly would have bought one.

GSG: ok umm see, that really isn't my problem.

Me:(fuming mad cause if there is ONE PHRASE in the customer service language that pisses me off it is someone telling me something isn't their problem) Oh looky here young man, you are gonna MAKE it your problem real fast or I am going to find someone above you who WILL make it your problem!!! (Ok i really said, alright then please have a manager come over here to discuss this with me.)

MEanwhile, another GSG has noticed that I am about to ring first GSG's scrawny pimply neck and goes -" ummm Greg, why dont' you take this phone call and I wll finish up with this customer".

GSG #2 reviews folder and documentation and calmly listens to my side of story again. Notices the numerous visits I have had to make to Best Buy in the past month, decides quickly his life is worth more than a stupid dvd player and goes to find a manager.

Comes back and tells me that while it is against their policy, they are going to be making an exception due to my impeccable record keeping skills with all my receipts and warranties.

Thank you!

So yes, I fought the big bad corporate monster that is Best Buy and I WON!!!!!! Walked out of there with an even BETTER new dvd player (which screamingly is now on sale for $50 off this week!!! gggggrrrrrrr) with two screens for my children. Bought the new warranty and hopefully will not have to deal with that issue for a long time to come.

The moral of this story? Buy a warranty and do'nt let your toddler hold her own movie player.

There, that's all I got for ya folks!

If you are still reading - i hope you have a GREAT weekend!

Write and tell me what your fun plans are! Let me live vicariously through you!

PS - does anyone use hello? I have been made fun of for my ridiculously short list of friends. wanna be my friend? let me know your hello sign on name so i can relentlessly bug you throughout the day.

Terra

Isn't it weird...

2006-03-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

How it seems like we (*warning- large sweeping generalizations up ahead - if they don't pertain to you, do'nt take offense!*) - as a society, seem to so rarely be satisfied with what WE have, and what WE do...it seems like we are always wanting more, or different, or better or bigger.
I was just cruisin some blogs and wanted to get all pouty - but IIIIIII want to do that, IIIIIIIII want to be the cute one, IIIIIIIIIIII want to be a superstar!!!
But then i thought, wait, i bet to someone, i AM that. Haven't we all read other people's blogs and gotten just a teensy bit jealous over this that or the other thing? I guess part of it is just human nature. We are driven to succeed, to aspire, to reach out for more.
So instead of beating myself up over it, I am going to choose to turn it into a positive.
Knock out the whining (which thankfully none of you can actually HEAR cause i promise it is quite toddler-ish of me!), and what I am left with is something visual to attain to, a visual set of goals to work towards. Instead of being jealous of other people, work toward what exactly it is that makes me jealous. Define what exactly it is that makes you have that "jealous" feeling, then see how you can turn that into a goal to attain for yourself. so that is my new goal - aren't you all glad I shared it with you????

HA!
'
So anyways - Wednesday - hump day - Awana day --- what else does this day bring?

I feel like I have already lost track of the day of the week by the time wednesday rolls around. Like - la la la - just another endless cycle of housework and cartoons and diapers and work....dang that sounds so boring just typing it out! And on some level it is. Very mundane and boring. I think with winter still hanging around like a bad odor, it is very tough to feel "up" and motivated to do much. I am craving something exciting to happen. I hope it is a GOOD exciting though not like - rush to the ER exciting. oh gosh i spoke life into it now!!! throw salt over your shoulders quick!
I really should get to scrappin! I want to, I love it, it just seems like lately every time i start to get in a groove, I get massive interruptions, then it is very hard to come back to that page, so i try to start another one. I have three unfinished pages sitting in my folder right now. I never have that. I start one, finish it, save it and post it. I think it just sort of is par for the course of this blah time of year. Stores have cute springy stuff out, and I am still lookin at wearing a turtleneck and wool sweater with my winter coat for a good month yet. GAG!!!
Hopefully by this time next week when i start getting things ready for our vacation to MIL's house I will be more upbeat.
Ok - i am going to try a little fun thing to cheer myself up. Remember back a few weeks (if you read the egger blog that is, otherwise you will have NO IDEA what I am about to talk about) anyways - they challenged us to do a joy list. Well i never quite got around to doing that as a layout, but i think maybe i will do a late winter version of things that make me happy so i can refer to it here just to look on the bright side:

** A new laptop. Coming soon to a blog near you. I cannot wait to tear into the box and smell that factory electronic smell, load all my programs onto it, make it my baby who will purr and shine just for me. Who will allow me the novelty of scrapping, i mean WORKING, in the quiet luxury of Barnes and Noble coffee shop, or in the living room DURING my shows, or at nite when DARLING hubby has turned my office into an online casino. happy happy joy joy. I WILL own this bad boy before vacation. Countdown to April 8: T minus 16 days. Give or take. Not sure when i will exactly get it. But sometime before the 8th of April I assure you.
An HP dv8000z model, 17 inch screen, built in media ports along the sides, a hella graphics card, 1 gig hard drive, 240 gig memory...ahhhh sheer bliss. Now to just pray I can find a great deal on it somewhere which will allow me enough money leftover to purchase the warranty. (Note to self - blog about best buy warranty story).

** My new dream car. The GMC Yukon XL Denali. Yes it is ridiculously expensive, no i have no idea why. It just looks hella cool. Woudl'nt I be big pimpin' pullin up to the preschool in THIS puppy? I envision decking it out with a full chrome package, cattle pusher on the front, spinners on my rims and two huge woofers in the back. Room for groceries what? Can't the kids hold their own strollers? I would of course need to then go drop a load on some gucci sunglasses to complete my look, but still - this is my joy list - leave reality out of it please!
Although I will say - my darling hubby is actually making a few inquiries with some of his friends as to exactly how many thousands of dollars a monthly payment on something like this will be. Perhaps that would be enough to make the "vacation" of a road trip to MIL's with my two screamin mi-mi's worth it. Rollin in my big pimpin car.

** My new tart burner and tarts. Yes I caved to the Gina Miller and Shannon Bieger pressure. I mean come on, how can you not? They are so darn CUTE with their incessant chatter about how their houses smell so springy and fresh with their tarts etc. So i did it. I bit the bullet, walked into a Yankee Candle store, and walked out about forty dollars poorer. Got a relatively non descript little tart burner and the following scents : Sunwashed Linen, Juicy Grapefruit, Greenhouse, Cherry Lemonade, and Pineapple Citrus. I have only had opportunity to burn the Grapefruit one thus far, but i must say, those little puppies can put out the SCENT let me tell you what! Other than the fact that my husband had to pretend like he was gagging at the strong smell throughout dinner, I was quite pleased with my purchase and will fully blame the aforementioned chica's for any and all bankruptcies hereby ensuing due to my newfound obsession. oh ok cool. it decided to just copy my yukon pic instead of my tarts pictures. ok.

** my really really good friends at the GMD team. These girls just know how to come along side you when you are down and really give you a good cyber-hug. I cannot even begin to recount here the countless times and ways they have made me laugh when i need it the most, but here is something that will probably not fail to bring a laugh to my lips for a LONG time to come:

Yes that is a picture of Fifty Cent's face on a scrawny Kid Rock. I know this is totally one of those - you had to be there - type of things. But let's just say - that yes, I consider myself a cross of Fifty Cent meets Kid Rock. I'm a little white trash, but I am keepin it real.
Word to ya mutha. Fo doggy shizzle.

** The FunFetti cake I made with Kealey yesterday. Let's just say it was a good time to make a cake. And now I am FULLY working off every calorie I eat because instead of actually frosting it, putting a small piece on my plate and eating it here at my desk, I grab a bite, dip it into the frosting tub and eat it a bite at a time as i pass through the kitchen back and forth between my office and the TV room as my children have just URGENT pressing matters that need my attention every thirty seconds. Oh yes this works, I read it in O magazine.

**There is truly so much other stuff in my life to be happy for - i dont need to live somebody else's life! I could fill up pages upon pages with it. but it all comes down to just remembering it on a daily basis. I am going to try to post my happy thoughts more often here. It has really changed my mood from the beginning of this post to now- just typing it all out.

And with that -
I should go. I SHOULD go work out. I SHOULD go scrap - paper or digi - either way i have tons that I could/should be doing! I SHOULD go do something productive. But I will probably find a way to procrastinate and waste away the better part of this afternoon, cause, that's what I do best!

Much love to my homies!

T

Monday Monday....

2006-03-20T06:50:00.000-08:00

Wow what a weekend!

I went to a mom's conference called Hearts at Home with three of my goodest friends. We left on Thursday afternoon and came home, well VERY early on Saturday morning. That whole time I got a whopping 90 MINUTES of sleep. Yes. One and a half hours. This is from a girl who BARELY functions at home on anything less than 9 hours. I am still catching up. I am WAY too old to be doing stuff like that!
It was just - have you ever just started talking with someone and you kept talking and talking and talking and it was just like totally therapeutic to finally get it all totally out in the open? It is amazing what getting some thoughts out of your head and into the big blue open will do to give you a new perspective.

anyways - we made it to the conference and it was so very good. It is all about really trying to encourage us as moms, who in our jobs don't get a performance review or a pat on the back or anyone telling us - hey, they may throw fits in the grocery store every once in a while, but you're on the right track, they will be fine adults. So it was very soothing to the soul, and if nothing else, just a good break from the kiddo's to realize how very much you miss them.
Miss Sara Groves was also in concert that nite. If you have never heard her music, wow, you are missing out. she just has such a way of writing down and singing about the things that go through your head on a daily basis. i love her music. i heart it. the link above is to her website where it talks about all her music, i think you can hear previews of it, link to itunes to buy some. Anyways - i was just overwhelmed with emotion at her concert. She sings about being a mom and her love for her kids and you are just like - oh my gosh - YES - you get it! I can't explain it. If you have ever heard you music, you know what i am talking about. If you haven't, but want a song recommendation or two for your itunes purchase - let me know!
In other news...

Still no help on the skincare front yet! I have not even had a chance to go out shopping and looking. i am thinking of hitting the Sephora store in a little while. Or i MAY just wait till our "vacation" (I put that in quotes because our vacation started out as a me and ben only trip to vegas, and ended up as a ROAD TRIP, with the KIDS, to my MOTHER IN LAW's house in TEXAS. - need I say more...)
anyways - if i hold out till then, ben may be so overwhelmed with guilt that he allows me to spend like a madwoman at the mall, or MIL who is a beauty product freak will "help" me figure out what i need and then offer to buy it all for me, or i may get to go shopping by myself period and actually have time to peruse. So... while I normally would buy all this stuff in anticipation of looking good for vacation, it may behoove me this time to hold off for a while! We shall see.
It is getting PAINFULLY close to laptop buying time!
Ben STILL is all - well I just don't really see why you NEED one.
Do you HAVE to need everything you purchase in life? Did he NEED his kawasaki @%(7251JX crotch rocket? did he NEED his own ipod? Does he NEED me to beat him over the head with my 17 inch 8 lb new baby when i purchase it? GRRRRRRRR.......
the most frustrating thing about that - he says it WHILE he sits at MY DESK on MY COMPUTER playing POKER online and downloading god only knows what sort of viruses and spyware while I could be working/scrapping/chatting.
Ok husband vent over with.

sorry i should have put a warning on this post!

Ummmm
So tonite is bunco. Hopefully my darling sissy can watch my kidlets for me so I can go win some moola!!
I have mountains upon hills of laundry. I should get off my booty, off the computer and start fulfilling more housewifely duties.

I will have more exciting and funny stuff to share later/tomorrow i promise!

thank you thank you thank you to all of you who faithfully check in here and leave comments!

To really say thanks - a little giveaway...
Some of you may already own this - but play anyways cause maybe there is a booby prize!
In an attempt to start clearing out my paper scrap area - I am condensing. I think this is a really great book, but i have SO many idea books taking up space - I just need to start clearing out!

So leave a comment here. Leave multiple comments i don't care - i will draw a random number at this same time tomorrow - 9:30 central time. whatever number of comment that is, will win this fun prize!

Ok the natives are getting restless and moving furniture - I better go check on that!

much love and peace to tha sistahs -

T

Sha la la la la la la ti da....

2006-03-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

I do not know why - but today is better. Thank you all so VERY MUCH for your kind words and comments to my mini meltdown yesterday! Hearing how you all cheer yourself up was very neat indeed. Now if i could get you all to comment like that EVERY DAY - well gosh knows I would be up to GM status in NO time. I currently drop lower and lower in the digiscrap blog ring stats on an hourly basis. But no matter - it isn't like i am trying to make a business out of this, so i am glad that some designers are getting their names more out there through carrie's awesome idea!
anyhoo - so i got little nudge in the booty from an adorable little designer named {jan crowley} and i just kicked it into some ultra unknown gear and did ELEVEN layouts last nite! In like four hours! Now do'nt say that some of them LOOK like they were done in under fifteen minutes...
no way do i have the patience to upload all of them, but i will offer a sampling of some of my faves here for your viewing pleasure. and a pleasurable experience I am sure it will be.
So hold on to your swivel chairs chicas...

These are all using Jan Crowley kits available at The Digi Chick. She has some awesome adorable stuff let me tell you!

Ok blogger has decided to just randomly place photos wherever the heck it feels like GOSH - so we are just gonna go with it. A little visual feast for your eyes.
They don't know where to rest!!!

Ok so i got some HELLA adorable shoes from Target today. Let me see if i can be among the ranks of cool blog chicas who can link internet images.
Yay I did it! - don't you think they are cute?

I got them for a mom's conference I am going to tomorrow. You know, walking around a college campus in sub zero snowy weather just TOTALLY calls for practical shoes like these. I know. Pragmatic is my middle name, didn't you know?

I am hoping with this four inch height that my extra eighty pounds gets sort of "camoflouaged" - how in the EFF do you spell that word? Good lord, you would think I had been like 35th in the nation in the spelling bee 17 years ago instead of the illustrious coveted FIFTH PLACE. oh yes. You are reading a celebrity blog, did you not know that?

Ummmm so what else. Oh yeah - those shoes were my nice bit of retail therapy. Thanks to all who suggested that. Sometimes just a little something new can turn your day around. My mom also had sent me a hilarious card in the mail and it arrived at JUST the perfect time. Don't mom's just sometimes know when you need a good laugh?I will have to take a pic of it and tell you the story umm on saturday when i get back!

so we have a busy day tomorrow - ped's appts, shopping with mom, pickin up the friends and headin down to south central IL!!! (it is sort of like south central LA except without the gangs and with a lot more corn fields.)

A few more layouts to leave you with.

ok nevermind. blogger is too tired.

how much is typepad again??????

GRRRRRRRRRRRRr

ok. since you all responded so nicely with comments yesterday - should I ask another question?

Ummmm.

What is your favorite skin care tip or line of skin care? My skin isn't breaking out as much as it is just - THERE - i don't even know how to begin describing what i need. I want it to have life and glow and be healthy looking again.

Should I go tanning?

Feel free to throw in your two to ten cents here!

Always welcome!

Have a GREAT day/nite/evening!

And you ARE coming to Julie Howard's chat at DSD tonite aren't you?

See ya chickies!

is it {SPRING} yet?????

2006-03-14T07:03:00.000-08:00

oh my gosh. please someone be kidding me.
It is like thirty degrees here today and we are supposed to get freaking SNOW tonite. This is after a weekend up in the fifties with spring thunderstorms.
PLEASE PLEASE somebody flip the switch and make it WARM here already!
I wanna wear gauchos and sandals and cute springy clothes!
I also really really would love for my skin to stop acting like a thirteen year old's and for my weave to just decide what it is doing sittin up there on top of my head.
Yeah it just needs to be spring.

Here is a list of things that i believe are imminent in my life:

(Shout izzout to Gina for the idea and traci for the ghetto terminology).

Anywaysssss....

WHy is the font on this screwing up now?

Sorry - hopefully we are back to normal now.

Ok so.....wow it has been a boring few days! I would hate to bore you all with the blah details of our blah lives the past few days! so maybe i will post back when something truly exciting has happened!

What do you want today to bring for you? What do you want today to be like? What would make you happy today?

these are the thoughts I am asking myself today in an attempt to hopefully dislodge myself from this funk/rut I feel stuck in. I have fun stuff coming up - i need to take the boring blah days in stride with the fun exciting ones, and do what I can to help make each day a special memory, for me and my girls.

If anyone is reading this - please leave me a comment and tell me how you handle blah boring days (if indeed you have any!) what do you do to cheer yourself up or give yourself to look forward to?

Hope you all have a happy day - thanks for stoppin by my (currently boring) little corner of the world!

a layoutt I finally finished for the Emotions workshop over at The Digi Chick. Fun challenges!

Letters by Rebecca DiGrazio, BG paper and vellum flowers by Gina Miller, as is the chipboard heart and brown polka ribbon. All available at SBB!

Shoot I just realized i forgot to post this anywhere! Along with about five other layouts!!!!

fun times for me - uploading to galleries!!!

Have a great wonderful non boring happy filled day!

T-money out.

feelin a little {A.D.D.}

2006-03-10T15:37:00.000-08:00

I have no idea why. Could be the three hour conference call i was on this morning plus the one hour follow up call this afternoon.
could be because it is above freezing for the first time in like five months.
Could be because it was actually SO nice we played outside a little today and i cleaned out the car (pinpointed the rotten diaper smell in the car - no not a rotten diaper - some rotten milk. Totally against character for me - i just threw away the whole dang sippy cup. 3.99 is just NOT worth it sometimes!)
Or it could be because i GOT PAID finally and now have money burning a HOLE in my pocket!!!!
I gotta pay Uncle Sam his cut, pay the bills, pay student loan, and do a little of God's work with some of it....so i am not sure that that actually leaves me anything to do much fun with...
but DANG i am inching ever closer to that elusive laptop goal!
If only I could be happy with like a basic average laptop, I would have three by now. It is cause i keep reading all these laptop posts on 2peas, and browsing through Laptop User magazine, and drooling over at the HP and Dell websites -- so the bill for what i WANT keeps growing.
I think i have decided on the HP DV8300 or something like that. They have it at Costco for 1300. but i can't get an extended warranty there. They have it at Best Buy for 1700, but add in the warranty on top of that and I am loooking at 800 MORE dollars than the costco one. that is like a whole back up laptop cost! I could get two for the price of one!
so anyways - all of this is contributing to the mind scatteredness today.

Big things coming up with work. I hope they pan out. But this will mean i need to REALLY buckle down, stick to a schedule and finally admit that working full time from the comfort of my home WITH two little kids underfoot is probably not working out real well. I am going to have to find an alternate solution. Some middle ground whereby all of us stay happy and sane and in love with each other. I hope such a solution exists. No i know it does - I hope I have the strength to tough it out till i FIND that solution.

You know what else I hope for - for some contact company to make contacts that actually dont dry out my eyes in like three days in a high enough power that i can actually see out of them. Oh sure - tons of hype about the new hydraclear OAYSIS ones - supposedly banish dry eyes. Yeah. Don't make them for REALLY blind people. Same thing with colored contacts. Not for blind people. (FYI this is my random vent for the day - i realize things could be a LOT worse, I am truly not really COMPLAINING as much as I am just VENTING.)

And - Ben just pulled up from work.

so maybe we will go get dinner together.

Nice family times.

Update more later!

peace out homies.

T

Broken Remotes and Shredded Pinatas

2006-03-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

yes my children shredded the pinata last nite. Imagine a layer an inch thick of bright pink crepe paper teeny tiny little strips strewn amongst your dining room furniture. totally frustrating. Then Ben comes along and tried to help by telling me i needed to clean out the filter on the Power Stick (yes that is the actual name of my little handivac - isn't it - ummm - suggestive???) anyhoo - he takes the filter off and the whole pile i had just vacuumed up goes flying everywhere again. So needless to say he took over vacuuming right then and there without a word from me.
I made a DARN good chicken helper meal last nite! Now i realize it was probably like four hundred calories a bite and packed full of good things like MSG and other preservatives - but man it TASTED good. Four Cheese Chicken Helper. Pop open a can of cooked chicken, pour the noodles cheese sauce some milk and water in - let it boil for ten minutes, cool for five and VOILA - instant dinner. Instant calories too but that is beside the point!
So there - that is my recipe for the day! Enjoy!

And now i am sitting here with the TV remote in about five pieces trying to figure out how to put this one back together. Most items i can fix before Ben gets home and even has a CLUE about the chaos that has reigned in our house that day. But this one is a challenge. I think my crowning triumph was the day the garbage disposal broke and i had that thing taken apart and put back together in WORKING ORDER before he got home. PHEW!

So tonite is missions nite at Awana at church. Do any of the five of my blog readers have ANY ideas what sort of missionary story i can tell? I am starting to freak out a little here! I have eight hours to figure this out. Can't believe i totally spaced on this!!!
In other news - work may be crankin up here to a REAL high speed shortly. It would be great on an income basis, but i would REALLY need to evaluate the situation with trying to get work done with the kids around. Either way - I am happy that things are looking up and happy for a change of pace.
I am so sick of winter. I am over it. Fine, we didn't get all the snow this year i had hoped for. So ok, let's just be warm already and move on!
I miss that about California, if nothing else - come February man you were living in capri's and sweatshirts. I sit here now in frozen IL looking out on my snow covered lawn. Well melting snow.
supposedly it will be 60 degrees on Saturday?????If that is the case, you best BUH LEEEEEVVVVE i will be wearing me some gauchos and sandals! I will take a pic to prove it.

ok so - here is you all's mission. Notice my new blog ring blinkie down on the right? The competitive nature in me has taken over!
The adorable Carrie Stephens ( Fish Scraps) has started a digi scrapping top 50 of sorts for digi scrap blogs. She is still working out a few kinks, but i think this is a WAY cute idea.
So we all know that Gina Miller is of course going to reign supreme in the number one spot. Unless some other designer starts giving away massive amounts of freebies and making people laught out loud on a daily basis.
but let's see how high you can bump ME!!! I sit in like 6th place right now. Which is not saying much considering there are only like 8 of us on there right now!!!! (teee heeee!!)
So i am tryin to think of a good blog trafficking device.
Any thoughts?
why do you visit some people's blogs? Are there any blogs you read on a daily basis? and if so, why?
And can any of you typepad people tell me, do you have the ability to instantly respond back to any comments you get in your inbox from your blogs? I am debating the switch.
decisions decisions.

ok - no blog stalking - leave a comment!

(Karissa says - hey, be cool like me and leave a blog comment!)

The Big Birthday Bash!

2006-03-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

oh ok - neat - it loaded all my pics to one side.
Let's see how this blogger bot thing in picasa really works. This could be a very interesting post to say the least!
Anyways - the party was a blast!
I was not quite as prepared for it as I had hoped to be - only in that we were throwing the cake together still as guests were arriving, and i wanted to have all the balloons up everywhere so kealey walked into a tinkerbell wonderland when she came home. She was still pretty impressed with it - so much so that our kitchen is still decorated with purple and pink streamers and there are bits and pieces of pink and purple various paraphernalia everywhere around this house!
But it was so worth it! In this first picture - you can see the happy birthday girl with her big present from grandparents and my sister - her princess table lamp that twirls and sings or some other such silliness. She loves it. Plus it means I can stop turning on her stupid closet light every nite - so it's all good in the hood!
In the next picture - the other big hit gift of the day - from me and her sissy - a Sky Dancer. Now this one came with a bonus DVD. The DVD was made up of a few cartoons that some poor soul probably tried desperately to market to some broadcasting network and failed miserably. This DVD is the FRUITIEST thing I have ever seen. Basically this green bearded dude was the Sky King, but his evil brother "Sky-clone" destroyed the Sky Kingdom, but not before Sky King sent away his Sky Queen who came to earth and is known as Skyla. She runs a dance academy called Hi Hopes Dance Academy (arent you shocked there is no sky reference in the name? I was). Anyways - she picks her best five dancers from the school to be her Sky Dancers, and come with her to Sky Kingdom to rebuild it.
Oh my gosh I can't believe I watched the whole thing. But I didn't want my kids watching some utterly freaky new age crap about how we can all sprout wings and fly. Anyways - besides being utterly banal and mind suckingly retarded, it was'nt too new agey - so they can watch it. The toy itself is a deadly weapon. You pull on the rip cord and this doll goes flying off in any direction. There are marks on our ceiling from Ben and I apparently pulling the rip cord too hard and having the doll go shooting up in the air. Next we see a completely unmake=upped mommy and baby girl enjoying the birthday cake that got slapped together minutes before the party started. I was unmakeupped for this very reason. Nice. And kudos on the fat rolls too. Good lord. I need some serious bariatric surgery or SOMETHING. Gross. Gag a Maggot. Ok - enough self berating in this post. I am glad I just got INTO one picture.

Next shot is of Karissa enjoying these god-forsaken horns that came in the pinata. Six children blowing these horns is enough to make you want to slit your wrists open with a dull spoon. I needed a serious shot of gentleman jack and a few tylenol thrown in for good measure. Horns got quickly replaced by candy.
The pinata itself was the life of the party. EVERYONE loved the pinata. And yes of course the last string is the one that opens the trap door.
But kealey just keeps going on and on and on about the fricking pinata. So i am glad I shelled out the extra bucks for the kit that included the tinkerbell pinata since there were NONE to be had in this area.
Notice my nail polish in the pic of me and kealey and the cake? it is tinkerbell green - JUST for my baby girl. The girls in the nail salon thought i was nuts. But I had to do it. Kealey appreciated it and that is all that really matters.

Anyways - It is almost time for ballet and we are going to be late AGAIN - so i will post more later - but thanks to everyone for asking how the party went and for the prayers for my sanity - they definitely helped!
Thank God we only have one birthday a year right? Cause i think kealey would have definitely done this every day for like two weeks straight if i let her!

Ciao bellas - back for more lata!!!!

T

The Big Tinkerbell Shindig

2006-03-03T05:43:00.000-08:00

Ok so tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!! It so isn't even going to be that huge of a party - probably four or five girls, plus their families. But for some reason, this is THE social event of the year on Kealey's calendar! My parents are taking the girls today so I can get the house cleaned and the party all set up and whatnot.
HOpefully I am productive.
If I get everything done I am rewarding myself with a pedicure! Desperately need that!
Thank you all for the well wishes for our sick family of a few days ago and the sweet comments you left on my kealey letter. I wanted to get it out here so I would remember what I wanted to journal when I finally bring myself to finishing that layout!
We got our portraits of the girls back last nite. Oh my gosh they are just breathtaking. I will have to try to take a picture of our large wall canvas one we got. I have to take it in to get framed first. Then decide where to hang it. But I love that a moment of their childhood was truly captured in this way. If you want a sneakpeek of it - go here - then you have to click on galleries - their picture is like the fifth or sixth one along the bottom. they are sitting on steps looking into a box.
Anyways -
not much else is new here. Will have to take a ton of pics of the big tinkerbell bash. I am going to be throwing up pink and purple for a long time to come. Holy tinkerbell overkill.
But if it makes her happy - then it makes me happy.

HOpe you all have a WONDERFUL friday!

Terra

To my baby, on her fourth birthday.

2006-02-27T20:02:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe you are four. (Do all moms say this on every birthday that each child will ever celebrate? Probably so.)
You and me - we've had our ups and downs. You have been the guinea pig in this whole experiment called motherhood I am in. Your fevers have been the ones I have agonized over - to call the doc and look like a lunatic, or not call him and have you die of some unheard of disease? You were the one who had to endure hundreds of different kinds and sizes and brands of diapers till we found one that worked! You are the one who has brought me to the very core of my being searching for the strength to get through the next day{hour-ten minutes - thirty seconds}...
You are the one who first spoke the words "i love you momma" to me, and with those four words brought me instantly to my knees in tears. You are the first human being I have ever taught correct toilet habits to. Or the english language to from scratch.
Yours is the cry - laugh-voice-hair I can pick out over any crowd - from almost any distance.
You were the first person to instill a deep sense of terror the first time I could not find you after you wandered away from me in the store.
{And you better not EVER tell her this, but you are the reason I suddenly understood Memaw's seemingly irrational fear of the fifteen foot height of the second level of the mall when you went to look over the railing. My whole life I never understood how such a small distance could create such a fear. Now I do.}
I feel like we have reached a milestone this year, without me truly even thinking about it.
Today you became my little girl, no longer my baby.
This year you will perform in a ballet recital, swim by yourself, play with the neighborhood kids in someone else's back yard till the sun sets lazily on those long summer nites.
This year I will buy you a special backpack and a shiny new outfit (or five) and send you off to preschool.
You will come home excited to show me all the amazing wonderful things you are learning in school, from your teacher, from your new friends.
and I will be happy for you - oh so happy my baby girl. You will be growing up and getting even more of a taste of this wonderful thing called life. I know you will live it out loud. You have been since almost this exact moment, on this exact nite, four years ago, in a little white room, in a circular hospital tower room.
I was in a place beyond pain. My eyes were clenched shut(I remember this cause I never knew why they turned all the lights off - figured it out once I watched the video later). Your daddy was on my side whispering encouragement to me, just sharing his gentle strength with me. But I knew I had to leave that place and go beyond myself to reach out and take hold of you and push you from me, and into this world. Part of me wanted to keep you tucked inside me forever - my baby - forever protected from anything bad. Always next to me. Always mine.
But that isn't love.
Love is letting go. Letting you make your own choices.
So from a place deep deep inside me - You were born. We did not know you would be our baby girl. I didn't even really realize you had been born - so relieved was I from the pressure of pushing you out that I didn't realize what the relief meant.
I finally opened my eyes and there you were on my chest. This tiny little scrawny wet little birdlike creature. And you weren't crying. You opened your big huge eyes and looked right into mine - and I said - "hi baby, I'm your mommy, and I love you so much. I am so glad you are here."
And it was just our moment. It forever will be.
The nurses started clamoring - what did you have what is it? Look!!!!
And I am sorry to say - I had no idea what I was looking at. My first thoughts were oh no we are having one of those babies that end up on Dr. Phil hating their parents for making the wrong decision. I started sobbing. They all shouted - its a GIRL!!!!
and I looked at your daddy and he was sobbing and we were both so happy to have you - our Kealey Grace-Elisabeth.
Your name means God's promise of a beautiful gift.
We knew it fit you perfectly the moment you were born.
Some days have been more like white elephant gifts - where you want to trade up with the person holding the quiet baby, or the baby who went by the books. But those days are all worth it now - looking at the absolutely sweet, precious, fun, silly little girl you have become.
You are my beautiful gift from God, baby girl.
This is going to be a fun year, I promise you.
I cannot wait for all the memories we will make this year, all the fun things we will learn and do together.
You make me smile and laugh EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I love you forever.
I'll like you for always.
As long as I'm living,
my baby you'll be.
(from your favorite nigh-nigh book)

Just take me out back and shoot me now

2006-02-25T07:06:00.000-08:00

Cause this old cow is DONE. I am so sick. I do not even know how i am sitting upright long enough to type this stupid post. I have not been this sick in a long time. Something is desperately wrong with the innerworkings of my body, but at this point I am too far gone to even care. What makes it worse is that the whole family is sick with it. Between ben and I we are trying to take shifts in bed to gather enough energy to try to keep this place from falling completely apart. The house is a mess, I am a mess, everything is a mess. And I just do'nt care. I do'nt have the energy to.
If you are the praying type - please offer one up for us gimpies over here.
Cause only the Good Lord knows how we are gonna make it through this weekend unless some SERIOUS health and healing smacks us all on the head.
I have so much to do.
I am overwhelmed.
I just want to go crawl back into bed. for a long long long time.

I hope you are all having better weekends than this.
Any thoughts or tips on how to get over this crappy cruddy cold/throat infection/random high fever stuff - leave themhere - taking any and all suggestions!

Will be happier later - I promise!

Terra

Ok this is more like it!

2006-02-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

Two days? i can do two days. Cause they were two DANG COLD semi busy days.

I am completely uninspired today.
I have laughed a lot reading the crazy action over at Gina's CT board. There are some CRAZY gals in there - shout outs to all y'all - you know who you is and why you made me laugh today.
Every day I should say.

I love people who are REAL and genuine. Sure they sometimes attract stalkers, and that is ok too. But i love that sense of reality that shines from within them. No complications, no gimmicks, just what ya see is what ya get.

I should be doing work. Or if not work, at least doing some CT scrapping. But I have no desire for either.

I just feel like I want to go back to bed. I hope to the good Lord that I am not coming down with something. Cause if it is gonna start off this slow, it is going to build to a full steam. Like a two week type deal.
I cannot deal with that right now!

I am just in a blah mood. don't want to do much of ANYTHING. it is very strange. the house is semi clean cause we had company last nite. There is really nothing to do. except the aforementioned items which have already been ixnayed for today.

gross. just gross. Gross that i just ate like seven buffalo chicken pieces for lunch. Oh sure, they were good at the time, but now they are just sort of - sitting there - in my stomach, taking up space and not digesting.

Why am I discussing this on my blog?

I need to make my blogprettier. How many times do i say that?

I need to take a deep breath.

T

oh my gosh a whole week????

2006-02-18T13:30:00.000-08:00

Surely I have updated in a week!?!?! This can't be TRUE.
oh heavens. no wonder I am losing my faithful readership right and left.

i have so much work to do to spruce this little place up.

tired of it. know it can be so much cuter, even if it IS blogger. gotta work at that!

Anyways - why is it that when the weather outside is ungodly freezing (we are supposed to reach a HIGH temp today of 6. SIX WHOLE DEGREES. For all my tropical friends, that is FRICKING A COLD.) - anyways , the weather is freezing and i just want to hibernate. I do not want to DO a thing. I feel like I am moving through jello. and i have even had two mochas today. No wonder bears just call it a season and curl up in a cave. They got the right idea fo shizzle.

So.....
going to attempt to figure out the web pic thing.....

Coming up in two short weeks will be Miss Kealey's 4th birthday. Think back to your birthdays - do you remember your fourth? I do, my hubby does, most people I have asked do. Why is this?
Well anyways - since it is a memorable birthday for whatever reason, I really want to do it cute.
But two hundred dollars for the ULTIMATE birthday party kit???? Yikes.
Convince me to do it. I mean, this is one AWESOME Tinkerbell party, don't get me wrong. But I just dropped a LARGE chunk O change on the girls' portraits. I cannot wait to get them back. Totally sobbing through the whole photographer's presentation slideshow of all the pics of the girls. I can't even begin to describe it to you so I won't. Just prepare to be blown away on the 11th or thereabouts of March when I get them back!

So anyways - on top of that money, and the taxes still being screwed up (I don't think I blogged about that, but basically my tax statement reflects about $17K more than I actually made. Just a simple mathematical error I a sure! grrrrrrrr) - I just - can't quite bring myself to do it. But you all know how suggestable I am!!!
Make me want to do it! Cause I want to cave and do it really bad.

What else....
Hmmm this cold is freezing my brain. So I have had to do like THREE All About Me pages in the last 72 hours. I am getting REAL sick of scrapping myself. But - here they are, since these are like the only layouts I have produced lately! And I have so much cute new stuff between the Shabby Shoppe re=open and some new stuff from Gina and a few other fave designers!!!
GRRRR - When will I get time to just sit and scrap when I want to???????

So this first one is for Digi Scrap Divas - YES - I was asked to be on the CReative Team there! I am SOOOOO excited about this opportunity! I love that place And now to be part of the team that helps make it what it is???? TOOOO much fun! Had to slap this one together entirely too fast for my liking. So there is something off about it, but not quite sure what. Probably my picture - HA HA HA. Anyways. this is the January Mega Kit from all the DSD Designers An absolutely huge kit with all my fave colors. Could not love this kit more. This one on top of the awesome Digi Chick New Designers one, on TOP of the like thirty five Valentine's kits I bought (Heather Ann anyone???) - good lord. I shoulda taken at least a full card (500+) pics of Valentines pics. Alas I did not. Guess I will have to find Valentiney type crap to scrap about!

This one was for JAn Crowley's team. Now I just love this girl. She is so cute and genuine and hello - you would never in a hundred years guess the chick had just had a baby. I mean like, 48 hours before. She amazes me. So anyways, she asked us to do a page about ten things we love about ourselves. I realize the journaling is suckily small. So here is a link to the page at TDC, so all you snoop scrappy dogs can read it. *cause let's admit it - the only reason we buy scrap magazines is to read the sordid journaling on everyone else's page*
And lastly - I guess this one wasn't required. And I did it BEFORE I HAD to do these other two. I just needed to get some stuff out of my head and onto paper. And I used this paper I designed myself *i had some help*. It is nothing noteworthy, but I LOVE how it turned out, and it just fit my page so perfectly.
This one isn't posted anywhere else, cause it was just sort of a page for me and my blog. Whatever. It is somewhat inspirational to me. I am thinking about printing it out and sticking it here by the computer, cause it reminds me to focus.

And yes I am now officially sick of looking at my own mug here on my blog.

Anyways.

got some good paper scrapping stuff the last few days. at TARGET of all places. Cute cute monogram magnets in the dollar spot. And tons of other cute magnets. My office magnet boards from Ikea are now plastered with cute magnets. Are they helping me organize in any way shape or form? No, but they LOOK darn cute! If anyone sees an excess of "K" monogram magnets could you pick me up some and send them my way? I will gladly paypal you!
I also got some new foam alpha and heart flower stamps from making memories along with a cute paint set at target last nite, then went to a special Archiver's event this morning and got fifty more dollars worth of paper crap to add to my collection. I might even use it someday. Someday when it isn't twenty below zero in my basement scrap area.

I am sitting here freaking out over having to clean the house for our company tomorrow nite, so I should sign off and get on that.

Hopefully I will be better this week about updating and will scrap some NON - ME pics soon to get these ones outta here!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Come to Gina's chat tonite at SBB - be there or be square!!!! You do'nt wanna miss winning one of her AWESOME new paper cd's!!!!

Check you all later!!!

T

{Catchin Up}

2006-02-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

Feel like I am finally catching up - on life, on laundry, on cleaning, on sleep...
and of course just when i feel like this, everyone gets sick. I have been dealing with horrific gastic issues from both end of the digestive system from both kids ALL WEEK. And darling hubby goes to play poker all nite. how sweet.
I am in SERIOUS need of retail therapy right now.
I have bought a few new cute kits - which i LOVE - but right now i am needin the BIG TIME. I am So close to heading up to costco to plunk down the cashola for the laptop. Is this bad of me???
Tomorrow I finally get some "quiet time" as kealey likes to call it - time alone for mommy. The girls are going to see "queerious george" (kealey's stab at curious) I guess maybe he is queerious too. You never know about those cheeky monkeys!!
Anyways - mom and dad are coming to take little chitlins to movie and probably spend the nite with them, so i MIGHT get a date nite out of it! but if i do'nt, I will be at the awesome Miss Julie Howard's chat at DSD on Saturday nite. Sounds like fun. I love chat/crops. If you do too, read about Julie's here. Hope to see ya there!
So tonite is the awesome chat/crop at TDC. I tell ya, that place is really picking up again and it is awesome. There are SO MANY great designers there! My friends Kimberly Giarrusso and Jan Crowley are selling their awesome designs there. I am so blessed to be on both their teams. Awesome awesome ladies.
So anyways...

I am excited for my day of quiet tomorrow, have about six hours of unzipping to do here.... (ugh, my almost least favorite digi task - right next to the pain of uploading and typing credits for each layout!!!), gonna curl up with a beer and a good movie tonite by my lonesome, and dream of my new creating machine - it will be mine someday...

Can anyone tell me how you do like webshots as pics? in your blog entries? I am guessing it is going to entail something utterly time consuming and ridiculous such as saving as, uploading to photobucket and then pasting code in here....(do i sound like the world's laziest person today or what???? geez)
anyways...

I will leave you with this hilarious FW FW FW: email from my sissy poo. We both hate forwards. Never forward them on. But this one had me DYING laughing. My apologies to those of you who have seen this before -but I hope you still get at least a little laugh out of it! {Editor's Note - I apologize for the language on some of it - but for some of them, it just makes them that much more humorous - so in they will stay for now!!! Just laugh - life is short!!!}

1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time.... I know where my watch is pal, where the hell is yours? Do I point at my crotchwhen I ask where the toilet is?

2. People who are willing to get off their ass to search the entire roomfor the T.V. remote because they refuse to walk to the T.V. and change the channel manually.

3. When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too".Damn right! What good is cake if you can't eat it?

4. When people say "it's always the last place you look". Of course itis. Why the hell would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they? Gonna Kick their asses!

5. When people say while watching a film "did you see that?". No Loser,I paid $12 to come to the cinema and stare at the damn floor.

6. People who ask "Can I ask you a question?".... Didn't really give mea choice there, did ya sunshine?

7. When something is 'new and improved!'. Which is it? If it's new, thenthere has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, thenthere must have been something before it, couldn't be new.

8. When people say "life is short". What the hell?? Life is the longestdamn thing anyone ever does!! What can you do that's longer?

9. When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks "Has the bus come yet?". If the bus came would I be standing here, dumbass?

Oh I am laughing all over again just putting them in here!

I have done a TON of layouts the last few days. But didnt want to flood any galleries this morning, so I spread them all out over my three main galleries - TDC, DSD, and SBB. (what is up with the acronyms in this hobby???) Anyways - three were for my grandma's b-day yesterday. i whipped them up, shipped them off to costco, my mom picked them up and drove them up to milwaukee in new frames for grandma. She loved them all. What an awesome gift to be able to share. Without further ado - here are the grandma pages.

This one uses Gina Miller Polka Papers in Punchy and some Jen wilson elements from the alphabet pack. Available at SBB. Inked edging by Nancy Rowe Janitz at Scrap Artist. Used a built in DIP filter on all the pics.

This one below uses the DSD mega kit for January. An absolutely HUGE awesome kit from all the DSD designers. The stamp is from a Ashley Olson Hot for You kit at Modscraps.

This last grandma layout uses the beautiful Napa Valley kit by Kimberly Giarrusso available at The Digi Chick. I just cannot say enough about how gorgeous this kit is. well paper pack and element pack - but both are equally awesome.

And that folks - is all she wrote for today.
I have a ton of other layouts to post. But i don't wanna make this post three miles long.

Needin to spice up the blog o rama a little bit. toying around with possibly moving to typepad????

nahhh - maybe i won't... dunno.

Anyhoo
have a fantabulous weekend. I will post more saturday and sunday you can bet -so if you are bored - peek in here - i will have some mindless drivel for you to read i am sure!!

C-YAAAAA

Terra

Random As Usual

2006-02-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

ohhhhhh so mad i am green like the incredible hulk!!!! Blogger lost my draft from last nite!
I suppose it isn't ALL bad since it was written at like midnite and it was mostly random gibberish to begin with... but MAN that is frustrating...
Anyhoo.
I am in a creative mood today. If it weren't freaking ten below zero in my basement I would be down there creating more. I actually did brave it for almost an hour this morning, bundled up the kidlets and went downstairs to the frozen tundra. Made a few shrinky dink elements that i have yet to bake, UTEE'ed a chipboard element (my heat gun woudln't even heat up that is how cold it was), organized my cute stamps into my cute stamp organizer, then stopped having feeling in my fingers so we trudged upstairs and went for some healthy McD's. I hate when they advertise their new toys and get little kids all hyped up "oh looky - we have strawberry shortcake toys!!!! PAY ASTRONOMICAL PRICES FOR OUR HAPPY MEALS SO YOU CAN HAVE ONE TOO!!!!!" So you fall prey to it, only to be given a leftover piece of crap RAVEN toy from earlier this summer. Are you kidding me???? Had I not driven to the McDonald's in my houseslippers i woulda gone in there and DEMANDED my strawberry shortcake toy darn it!
Ok deep cleansing breaths -- wooooo saaaaaaa, woooo ssaaaaaaaa........

and we're calm.

here is my other random thought for today - two songs that WITHOUT FAIL make me laugh out loud - Baby Got Back and The Bad Touch (the discovery channel song). I do not know why I laugh at these utterly crass songs, but no matter what I always giggle out loud whenever I hear "Oh my god becky LOOK at her butt. I know = she looks like one-a those rap guys, girlfriends...but,,,you know, who understands those rap guys...."
HA HA HA HA HA.....too funny. Takin it back to the old school there.

Ok back to this century, I did some layouts today!

If you want full credit details, please visit my main gallery here at DSD.

Otherwise, these first three are all by Gina Miller, the first two using her new It's My Life kit and elements, and the third one using her new Dew Drop kit and elements, and her Perfectly Imperfect Stitches pack ( LOVE THOSE THINGS!!!) All available HERE.

The next few that I did were using some fab stuff from Kim Hill, available at CGEssentials.com , her personal store. The colors of this kit I used, LIttle Ladybug, are truly unbelievably bright and vibrant! I love it!

And Lastly I did this one for a challenge at DSD by Julie Howard, to use a different graphic space than we usually scrap in. This was actually quite a challenge for me - I do not think rectangularly at all, and it probably took me longer to do this layout than most of my larger square ones! I guess I am just hip to be square, but it was sure fun to try this!

This is using stuff from Michelle Underwood's Carnival kit, available at Scrapbook Bytes also. The stamp alpha is by Michelle Coleman, and I BELIEVE I got that at Scrap Artist. I was very bad in my early days about keeping track of that sort of thing!

anyways - I think that is about it for this exciting episode of mi vida loca.

Oh my gosh I gotta do my joy list layout too. I think I need some exciting new notebook paper stuff from darling Gina!!!! Might wanna run and snatch that up yourself!

Speaking of dear Gina - if you REALLY REALLY like her stuff, you might wanna be stalking her blog the next few days! She has a surprise in store!!! There is a link conveniently located on the upper left hand side!

And OH MY GOSH have you seen this?

I am dying. No I have died and gone to heaven. I must have that. MUST. It screams my name.

I aslo know of another very fun CT call coming up VERY VERY soon from my good friend Kimberly Giarrusso. Watch her blog for it!! You wo'nt wanna miss it!

I will bid you all farewell - hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Terra

2006-01-30T18:15:00.000-08:00

Ok going to attempt to catch up on layouts here. I am horrible about posting them here. i do not know why.
Need a little ipod inspiration to help you get started do a job that is going to take you forever but you have to tackle? Go download "I believe in a thing called love" by the darkness. TOTAL laundry music. Even makes scooping kitty poop go faster!!!

Anyways without further ado(I think i abuse that phrase):
oh perfect this one loaded twice. DANG blogger. OK i cant complain it is free and it gets the job done. This is using Kimberly Giarrusso's forthcoming AMAZE kit. It is amazing indeed. The layout is of my sissy's car after her accident. I look at it and think about that nite and realize - life is too short to get caught up in petty stuff. Just live. Grab hold of life and ride it!!! YYYYEEEEEEE Hawwwwwww.....

I swear to you this child is growing before my eyes. I have to think REAL hard about what life was like when SHE was my baby, not karissa. They are so alike in so many ways, i feel like I am living the same year over and over again, like the movie Groundhog's Day. This kid can make me laugh SO hard. She is just a goof. SO grown up though. VERY into stick on earrings and having her nails painted. We went today to get REAL tap shoes and REAL ballet slippers for class. This kid better start making me some money SOON or i am gonna go broke!!! love her to death. just wanna squish her back up into my baby sometimes. But i love seeing the little girl she is becoming.
Oh credits - flower and quote from Jen Wilson's Dress Up Princess kit.

I did this one a few weeks back, but it got quickly buried in the gallery and I just loved it. So i thought i would subject you all to it again. This uses elements from the magnanimous Gina Miller's Sugar Ville kit, her velvet stitched alpha and her Decorative Edges. Oh and the beautiful bloom flowers on the file tabs.
Karissa has definitely entered the phase of the terrible two's. Kealey did this too - turned two at 18 months. Then was pretty good the last few months of being two. but holy COW could I sell karissa to the highest bidder some days. She is a crack up. She is my little clone. Thank God she has more of her daddy's personality to her though! When she is sweet, she is VERY VERY sweet. that is the part that is Ben. When she is in a mood though - WHOOO boy can that child pitch a FIT!!! It actually usually makes me laugh cause it is SOOOOOO dramatic. I am sure the other people in McDonalds or Target being subjected to the meltdown don't find it so humorous, but I gotta tell ya - when this kid starts screaming - it is either laugh or well....some of you moms have been there. You know what i'm talkin'bout.
There is one more layout I wanted to share - my circle journal layout about turning 30. But I gotta resize it. Didn't realize i hadn't sized that one for posting. So check back later.

Thank you to those of you who faithfully comment and read here - you may never know how much it brightens my day to hear from you!!!! Hugs to you all - wherever and whoever you are!

I gotta do the latest Egger Challenge too - the joy list. So YAY even more for you all to look forward to!
Have a wonderful evening. CAn't wait for those horrific American Idol tryouts tomorrow nite. That is like watchin a train wreck!!! But i love it anyways!

Do you know what this THURSDAY IS????????????????????????????????

the excitement builds.....

word to ya mutha

T$

2006-01-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

I know you all have just been DYING to read my responses to this OH SO FRESH game of blog tag going around!!!
We have GOT to come up with something cooler for us all to do with our time. Although truly - I have enjoyed getting to know people a little better through their answers, and I am honored to the utmost degree that I got this tag from the Eggers, among other various friends!!!!
SOOOOOOO
without further ado...

Four jobs you've had in your life:

Holding the pizza sale sign on the street corner for Domino's Pizza
Driving a casket delivery truck to funeral homes for same day deliveries.
A consultant for developers wanting to develop low income housing using the Section 42 Tax credit program through the IRS
And by far the hardest - being a mommy

.Four movies you would watch over and over:

Forrest Gump
Tommy Boy
How to Make An American Quilt
Pirates of the Caribbean
Want me to go on? I can think of at least five more: LIttle Women, Legends of the Fall, Say Anything, School of Rock, Princess Bride....ok there are tons more, but I will stop
.
Four places you have lived:
Bolingbrook IL
Paradise, CA
Tacompton (Tacoma) WA
Milwaukee WI ( I went to high school six blocks from where Jeffery Dahmer lived. During his heyday. Bet that was more info than you ever wanted to know!)

Four TV shows you love to watch:

Survivor
The Apprentice
True Life (on MTV, only when they aren't assinine - faves include the cheerleading one and the i have no money one. don't know why.)
House / Office/ My name is Earl/CSI Vegas / Wheel of Fortune
honestly - I really do'nt watch THAT much TV!!!

.Four places you have been on vacation:
Aruba
Disneyland/CA Adventure
Ft. Myers/Sanibel Island
Lake Chelan WA - THE BEST family vacations ever. Total WT.

.Four websites you visit daily

:-DigiScrapDivas
-The Digi Chick
Scrapbook Bytes
Scrapbook Addict
(I think I have just pigeonholed myself and my interests.....

Four of your favorite foods:

Anything fattening (alfredo pasta, chicken fried steak with oodles of gravy, an ultimate cheeseburger from Jack in the Crack, taco bell spicy chicken enchiladas, you get the picture)
Anything specifically prohibited on my nutritional plan - potatoes, broccoli, sugar - the MINUTE it gets put on my restricted list, I want it. Combined with the fact that there are like exactly 23 items I CAN have (mostly random sources of fish and obscure vegetables) - i of COURSE want anything I can get my hands on!!!!
Jalisco tacos from a little hole in the wall restaurant in tacompton - La Fondita.
Another tacompton specialty - Sakura. Cook at the table Japanese food with the MOST DELICIOUS orange sauce and brown sauce ever. Makes Benihana taste like cardboard.
Ok great now i am starving.

Four places you would rather be right now:
In a deep deep drug induced sleep to catch up on my two straight weeks of work/jetlag/bad eating/etc.
Anyplace warm.
Anyplace without screaming children.
Anyplace they will bring me a little fru fru drink with an umbrella in it to my poolside lounge chair. And charge me fourteen bucks plus tip for it. It would be REALLY great if this place was being paid for by anyone BUT myself.

Four bloggers you are tagging:
I hate to say it, cause everyone else says it already - but I THINK everyone has been tagged. I think everyone is tired of it. If i am wrong - please correct me.

I am going to think of another fun thing to do that I can tag four people to do.

Anyways - I hope you enjoyed that little glimpse into my crazy life.

Here are a few topics coming up for discussion in the next few days.

I got to meet two congressmen on my business trip. Both were very funny - probably because they are not socialist democrats, although they are both democrats. Very intriguing, captivating, knowledgeable. Have to do more research into where they stand but I can tell you this right now - if you live in Tennesse - you all have got one VERY good looking congressman!!!! I TOTALLY thought they had gotten Derek Jeter to talk at our conference. IT wasn't Derek, but he looked EXACTLY like him. I digress. anyways - a very eye opening speech from both of them with regard to the future of not only my current line of work, but America in general.

Kealey got signed with a modeling agency. Someone gave them our name, I have never returned the phone call, but finally after about the fifth person in a week told me I should get her into commercials/etc., I called them back. It was a pretty strict screening process she had to go through, but they were very impressed with her, and we signed a contract with them. They wanted Karissa too (as she is pretty photogenic) but she wasn't quite ready to go through the screening, so her name is on the contract, but she is not being actively marketed. We go for headshots probably sometime next week, and then we sit and wait for the money to roll in!!!! Just kidding - it totally isn't like that. We might not get a call for months, or we could get one next week. It was something she totally wanted to do, so we are trying it, and we will see what it brings!
If anyone has an extra copy of February's Parenting magazine that they would like to donate to me, I would be appreciative. They used a quote from me in there, and I cannot find a copy on the shelves here ANYWHERE. I would just like to have it for posterity. My first pub toot!!!
Does anyone have kids with pigeon toes? I am afraid Karissa is getting more and more pigeon toed as the days go by. given her early leg/spine problems, this is not surprising, I just would like to have some more info on the topic.

ahhhh - hubby and dinner have arrived home.

More to come soonly!!!

T-crest out.

I am slowly slowly catching up from the trip away.

Must. Get. Sleep.

2006-01-22T15:17:00.000-08:00

I could bitch and moan here for a GOOD twenty minutes or so about jet lag, rude flight attendants, even RUDER old men with prostate problems who try to rip the bathroom door off its hinges while you are using the decimal-sized airplane bathroom with your toddler in there with you, driving white knuckled over a treacherous mountain pass in a blizzard and avalanche conditions...BUT I WON'T!!!

Instead....

I will focus on the POSITIVE THINGS!!! First things first - my newest addition to my family - my beautiful little ipod nano...i would take a picture of it, but I lost it.....just kidding. IT is SO tiny I am not even sure it would show up on a picture. If I was Shannon or gina i would be able to find a web shot of it and insert it here....maybe i will try that later when i am not so tired. I love it. To all of you who helped talk me into it - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! Right now I have a bunch of my brother's music on there in apple format - now i gotta figure out how to reformat it to PC. i am SUCH a geek to have even spoken that sentence out loud. Remember the good old days when WALKMAN was cool - and not even the CD ones - i am talking the tried and true mix tape cassette from your current boyfriend bright yellow with huge headphones and going through a costco sized pack of AA batteries in one car trip WALKMAN. Now THAT was the height of coolness.
ahhhh nostalgia.

Anyways -
So i survived trip number one - the car wasn't that cool, but it got me over the pass and transported the fam-damily all around Tacom-pton. So it passed muster. Now i have exactly 48 hours to do the laundry, pack the kids back up for a trip to grandma's house, find my summery business clothes, pack them, knock back a few metabo-cranks and head out to do it again - this time though in sunny phoenix. No avalanches and mountain passes there. Just sun sun and more sun. And oh yeah, some work too in there somewhere.
MUST get laptop. MUST. Do you have any idea how hard it was to not SCRAP that entire week?

So - to cure that - a quick page I completed using an eclectic brew of random stuff. Hope I do'nt forget anything here: Background paper, stitches and staples from Gina Miller's Esmeralda collection at Scrapbook Bytes. Sequined Flowers also by Gina Miller, also at Scrapbook Bytes. Inked Photo Edge by Jen Wilson, at SBB. Notebook Paper by Kimberly Giarrusso, Sweetheart Kit, available at "soon to be announced"!!!

Journaling: At sixteen months you are still a very sweet baby, loving your big sister and wanting to do everything she does. And you still have those wonderfully pinchable cheeks. You are running and walking and nothing slows you down...although I wish I could, so I could cuddle you in my arms forever.

Too bad that is her two months ago. HOLY TERROR - she is such a toddler now. How does this happen in two short months? It is fully the influence of her older sister I am convinced. They need to be separated. I can only handle one crazy child at a time!!! WOW. I can only imagine life in about ten or eleven years, with a fifteen year old drama queen and her equally dramatic but much more petulant younger 13 year old sister. I will probably want to escape on a lot of "business" trips at that point.
In all seriousness - they are a ton of fun and keep me laughing though, pretty much every minute of the day. I do'nt recommend flying with them, but other than that, they are my beautiful babies. They are what make me who I am.

I feel like I have so much to catch up on. The work packages from this week are piled up at the door to my office. The mail from this week is still piled up on the counter. How can a one person consulting business create SO MUCH PAPERWORK?????????? It is nuts. And my family wants to start doing this on their own too - so triple that amount of paperwork...instant headache just thinking about it.

I have missed talking to my friends, catching up on life, hearing about the funny things everyone's kids are doing....
I am blessed. I have made a lot of good friends in this digi scrapping world. and look forward to making many more. I think that is really the draw of Creative Teams - having a built in group of friends. Besides the free cute stuff....it is the camaraderie and closeness that develops from working towards a common goal. It is the validation of something you pour heart and soul into - someone else thinks it is good. I do not have any idea why I am talking about this. Just trying to figure out for myself where I am going and what I am doing I guess.
I LOVE digital scrapping. Love it. Love what it is helping me become and how I am discovering more about myself through it. I do not want to change a thing. Am I sad I didn't make a few of the teams I had applied for? I was, for a few hours. Then I realized that really the only thing I was missing out on was the free stuff. Because in the teams I am on right now - I have all the good friends and laughs and support anyone could ever ask for. So I am HAPPY for those who made it - truly I am. It took me a few days of mulling this over to come to that point....but I just needed to get it out for my own sake.
In other news - I have been tagged - like FOUR TIMES!!! When it rains it pours!

a few weeks ago i was BEGGING to be tagged, now I have them piled up like semi's in rush hour traffic...
I have to go copy and paste them here - wondering how many are duplicates....

Ok with that, I will close out this post. Watch for the blog tag catch up tomorrow!
Have a wonderful nite ladies!

Eleven Days till Survivor!!!

terra

Back in the Saddle???

2006-01-17T07:48:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry to anyone who USED to read this blog that it has been so interminably long since I last posted. I made it to WA with the girls. I am at work now. So busy I can't even see straight. But I just HAD to update my poor neglected blog when I saw how long ago it was I last posted.
Nothing really funny or witty to say here today!
I see I have been tagged - I think I have a backlog of tags - three deep!!!! YOu will all know every last secret about me before I am done with my tags - i LOVE IT!!!! Now to just finish up a little more work so I can get to the fun tags!!!!
I feel so separated from my normal life - surfing blogs, leaving comments, leaving praise on layouts in my fave galleries....SCRAPPING!!!! Downloading freebies, buying new kits - I can't do ANY of that because a.) I have so much work to do it isn't even funny, and b.) I am using the work computer as I do not own a laptop - don't you all think I need my own so i can load it up and use it ALL THE TIME at home and then when I am away I can still scrap and buy without fear of work finding out ????? Come on - enable me!!!!
God has been good to me and my family - I cannot complain! I miss my babies a lot being here across the mountains from them, but only two more days and I will be back with them. If you are the praying kind - pray that I get this work done that i HAVE TO GET DONE today. I am feeling myself get an ulcer just thinking about all that must be done in the next 48 hours.
So....bought any cute kits lately for scrapping? I am just begging for enablement here aren't I???? I will be ITCHING to get back to shopping as soon as I get home.
Did I tell you all I had 265 emails in my inbox yesterday (the first time I could check email in two days) - 265. In two days. That is RIDICULOUS. And those were my REAL emails - not the junk mail and not even including the other 145 that piled into my hotmail junk account. Took me about six hours to get through them all.
Well - I gotta go get started on today's work requirements. I will try to post again with the tags maybe later tonite if I get my work done!!!
Thanks for leaving comments - it totally makes me smile to see what you all have to say!!!

Have an eggerful day!!!!

Speaking of eggers - does anyone know if they will post again soon? Not that I have completed challenge #2 yet, but I am just dying for more of that egger goodness!!

T-crest out.

packing, grandma barbies, and fun new stuff!

2006-01-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

JUST when i think we are getting back to a normal routine (ie - hubby back to work) - we are getting ready for two weeks gone. At least the laundry is almost done, I am CLOSE to having the app done for work, the house isnt a TOTAL disaster. Some times though I just feel lost - like where do I even begin? Or what was it I was trying to begin in the first place?
See like now - got distracted by turning on the care bears movie (for i swear the 87th time in the last three days), and now can't remember where I was going with this post. But no matter, my posts have little to no direction to them anyways. Which is fine, cause that is how my life is right now, these days.
OK I wanted to remember how random Kealey can be sometimes. Here is a verbatim conversation we had last nite:
Kealey: hey momma, can we go to red store now? (target)
Me: What for baby?
Kealey: I need to get something that's a extra extra EXTRA special super surprise.
Me: How is it going to be a extra special surprise if I have to buy it?
Kealey: It just is.
Me: Well, you better tell me what it is otherwise we can't go there!
Kealey: (with hands up as if to say chill mom) OK OK I'll tell you. Its a annaliese grandma barbie doll.
Me: ??????? a GRANDMA barbie doll of annaliese (princess and pauper barbie movie) ( I am seriously stumped here. I have never in my life seen a grandma barbie doll.)
So off we go to red store, to see the grandma barbie doll.
Turns out she just wanted to meander the toy aisle at Target. Hey, I give the kid props for being creative! She got me to go!!! And no, no grandma barbie doll exists- at least not at our target, last nite.
So...I really really want to be a very good worker/mom this morning so I can scrap all afternooon! I have so many goodies downloading to my inbox right now!!!! WOO HOOOO!!!!!!

have you seen all of Gina Miller's new stuff at Scrapbook Bytes? It is adorable beyond words. I am giddy with excitement to get the newest kit. Its called Sugarville. As if that isn't the cutest name to go along with this cute kit. And she has messy stitches now - been waitin on those girl!!!

Kimberly G is also going to have a KICKING new kit out very very soon. If you like bright and grungy - you are going to LOVE this kit!

And watch for my layouts coming soon using Kim Hill's PRincess and Dance kits. Cause you KNOW i have at least a hundred thousand of those pics!!!

Ok off to do boring work stuff for a little while!

I leave you with this page I did of my friend for her AAM page for one of her DT's. IT is using Kimberly Giarrusso's "Sucker Punch" kit, available at Digital Freebies. LOVE the mix of blue and red in this kit, with all the black accents.

Egger On Dudes!

t-crest.....OUT!!!

PS - only TWENTY FIVE DAYS TO SURVIVOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Eggers

2006-01-09T14:16:00.000-08:00

Wow Guess I have been neglecting Ye Olde Blogge here for a few days! Been totally busy!!! We leave on Saturday for business trip number one to Washington, come home the following Saturday, then I leave on that wednesday for Phoenix for three days. Just found out that another app is due on the ninth of FEBRUARY....which i thought was in march....
Does anyone know any really good OTC Crank Pills I can buy? You know, like the kind that supposedly helped Anna Nicole shed four hundred pounds??? I mean the weight loss would be a VERY welcome side effect, but i basicallly need them for the ability to stay awake and productive for the next 893 hours straight. Anyone? Leave a comment with your vote for metabocrank pill of the day.

Anyhoo - in other news. I am SOOOO very excited for my friend Gina. Well, I consider her my friend. She is pretty popular and in demand, so not sure i am her friend....I digress. Anyways - she is a FABULOSO designer of all things digi - and now she gets to design for a traditionally paper shop expanding into digi. I am going to tell all my paper scrappin friends to go check out her stuff over at A Cherry on Top. I think their digi section goes live on Feb. 1. Some other "friends" of mine were invited to be on their Creative Team, but are still thinking about it. I wish them the best of luck in their endeavors, whatever they choose!

ok so on to the title of this post. The Eggers. Have you heard about them, seen the blog, cried while reading the blog???? Here it is

Eggers Rock - the blog

Go check it out. I totally am on board with this.
I have struggled this past year with my identity. I was a pretty popular girl in high school. Went to a pretty small school though, and we all kind of knew each other. College - you do'nt really have cliques in college, but back then i was thin and pretty and vivacious and got lots of attention. I guess that would be as close to popular as it gets in college. I have always had a lot friends, and not really any problem making friends. But last year I fell into a pretty bad depression. I had always thought before, about people who were depressed - "JUST SNAP OUT OF IT!!!" and i realized REAL quick , that that wasn't how it worked.
So I have been slowly trying to figure out who this new me is. We moved to Illinois at the end of my pregnancy with Karissa. I didn't have the energy to go make new friends. I had no one to help me celebrate the birth of this baby girl, no one to cry on their shoulder after finding out about her hip/spina bifida problems. And I guess I am still kinda in that pushing people away state. I crave friendship, yet I do not act friendly. I want to change this about me, and i see a way to do that through the Eggers. They took the words out of my head, put them on a screen for everyone to see, and challenged me to think about my own actions/motivations.
So i tried it today - in real life even!! - at Costco - I complimented a young man on his singing - he was just singing to himself but had a lovely voice. I told him so and he got embarrassed and said - oh you were'nt supposed to hear that...." but you could tell he was so proud. And I felt proud too. It made ME feel like a better person, for finding the good and beauty in a perfect stranger. I gotta try that more often. Make someone else's day - and it will make yours!

Ok that is really all i wanted to say about that right now.

I have lots more to say....but time on the computer is limited right now....GRRRRRR.....when i hit the lottery i am buying myself a laptop!!! or buying one for hubby so he can stop buggin me to share with him so he can play poker!!!!

So go read the egger blog if you haven't already.

have a terrific day!

more to come later!!!

t-crest out....

Welcome to a New Kind of Tension

2006-01-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

All across the Alienation, where everything ISN'T meant to be ok.

Just thought I would try opening with the random music quote of the day for once.
Soooooo, what's the dilly-yo?

I got my kitchen clean and the floors done - i am officially OFF for the rest of today. Till the next cheerio flinging accident occurs at least. Now this all only happened cause my mom was here, and she is a cleaning MACHINE. So we got a lot accomplished this morning. Now I have the last of the christmasy smelling candles burning, all is sparkly and shining again, and semi quiet. Except Karissa woke up after about a fifteen minute nap cause she had to, um, eliminate. WHY must this bodily function occur during naptime I ask you? It is like she tries to time it that way. Ok what else is on my mind today that I can bore you all to tears with...
I am very excited for Gina's crop tomorrow nite. At SBB. I told you about it yesterday, or two days ago rather. But I will tell you about it again here. I wish it was tonite! I am really overly excited for this cyber event I think! But did you SEE the freebie on her blog???? It is so cute. That woman is a genius on crank I tell you. She doesn't sleep. She shops at Target. She is THIN. She puts out cute stuff like it just magically appears on her computer. Plus she makes me laugh. And I am a tough audience. She is just a good kid. I can get behind someone like her. And I am glad I am - Gina if you are reading this - I am SO glad to be on your team. And team - you are all awesome. So thanks!
I CANNOT wait till this application round is over and i am home again so I can concentrate more on my digi scrapping, teams, and friends. I am going to go into serious withdrawals starting on the fourteenth when i am in WA then AZ for two weeks. SERIOUS. If I win the lottery i am buying a laptop. that is all there is to it. No discussion.
So I gotta figure out how to take pics of the paper album I made yesterday for KEaley. It is precious. I wish I could enter it in HOF I am THAT proud of it. But it is 8x8. So it doesn't count.
anyways - i love it. I have it sitting here on my desk and I just sigh with pride at myself everytime I see it.
here is a page I did using Gina's Caramel Pecan Delight kit available at SBB. I LOVE this kit. It is an older one of hers, but the colors are yummy. And the NAME just makes me want to consume large amounts of fattening creamer. LARGE amounts. Like mostly creamer with a tweed bit of coffee. and the best part of this layout? the AWESOME frame she made JUST for me so it could be an all gina all the time page. Except that the doodles are from the OTHER gina. (C-DDE). I love the difference in expressions on my two girls' faces. It is usually reversed. But poor Kealey was fighting a cold and Karissa was just feelin high on life.
I think I am ready for another baby. I WISH WISH WISH I could just lose this last stubborn weight. I do'nt care about my size, I do'nt care about the number, I just want to FEEL like I look good again. I cannot lose the weight in my face to save my life. They need like a cheek exerciser. If I talked IRL HALF as much as I type, I probably WOULD lose the weight in my face. Weird thoughts.
I am ready for 2006 to be a GREAT year. I love the anticipation of things to come that a new year brings.
Ok I think I need to get on the ball and change the blog header already. I changed the color in anticipation of doing so - just haven't added the finishing touches or gotten designer permission yet. But soon. Very soon.
Have I mentioned how much I Love Valentine's Day? Not because we celebrate it with any huge fanfare here, i think it is ALL about the color scheme. Target plays on this I swear. They put out cute valentiney stuff in cute red pink and white variations, with the ultra trendy black thrown in this year, and I melt. I want it all. Bought the girls like three of their "who do you love" clothing line. I am a SUCKER I tell you!!! So my new blog banner will reflect that. Now that I have talked it up so much, it better live up to expecations huh?
I am going to do a gina-esque list here soon about things I need for the trips. soon I will do that. Like if my children ever leave me alone for fifteen minutes.

Anyways - hope you are all having a GREAT friday! Anyone have exciting plans for the weekend through whom i can live vicariously????

peace out -
the original American Idiot

Never, Ever, Ever Give Up

2006-01-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

I have always loved that quote from Winston Churchill. Truly. Never Give Up. You never know what the next day, or afternoon, or evening can bring. You never know what sort of fun news is hiding in your junk mail folder! So check it every so often. In between all the pharmaceutical BS and massive FW: FW: FW: from your great aunts....there is some fun, funny, good stuff.
So thanks to all my buds for keepin it real.
So wow - fourteen comments on my last post - I feel so GINA MILLER like with that!!!
Yesterday was a good day after all. I am still tryin to catch up from it all, so details will come later. But it was good - thanks to all of you who commented and helped to cheer me up.
I went paper scrapping today for EIGHT HOURS. IT was insane. I got a whole mini album done of my daughter though that i have been staring at for like, nine months. Felt REALLY good to get that done, and she just LOVED looking at it when i got home. gotta do a little journaling in there still, but it is done. And the truly odd thing - i was able to FLY through it cause i thought, now what would i do if this were digi...whereas in digi i am always going - what would I do if this were paper???? It totally helped me out tonite. I think I have a sickness. I could just PICTURE which elements/kits/papers I would use on which page. TOTALLY strange. But hey, what else can you expect from the terrarist right?
That was pretty much my day.
I am tired today. I will try to be more interesting tomorrow.
Did everyone see the new EArl and OFfice? I feel SO bad for Jim. Like this is even close to reality for me. but i do - i just want to call him up and talk to him about pam and what to do about her... earl was funny - but not hilarious like normal. Apparently all the writers are STILL on holiday break....geesh.
Wow - i have a LOT of scrapping catch up to do - HOPEFULLY tomorrow is a good day to do that.
I have a question for all you blog readers - has anyone ever come across a lighted egg timer? I am looking for one for my grandma...she is going blind. I haven't done a THOROUGH web search yet...but thought I would toss it out there to see if anyone has ever seen one.
Do you sometimes wonder WHY we all settle for status quo? Do you ever want to just change it up - scream in the middle of church, wear a swimsuit to a business meeting, get your nose pierced just for the #*&% of it?

I do.

seacrest out.

Just stuff I have to get out..

2006-01-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

I am not sure why, but these thoughts keep bugging me so i need to get them out of my head and onto paper.

Creative/Design Teams - why is this such an all consuming part of my day? And for that matter, why did this become THE thing to do in the digi-world - make it onto a CT/DT? Not that i do not LOVE the teams I am on. I do. As soon as I am smart enough I will figure out how to link my CT blinkies here. And then there is one that I would REALLY love to be on, that is in the application phase right now and I will wait with bated breath for till next week. But then I read Bree's Just Digital Calls site, and I am like - oh that would be fun, and so would that and so would THAT!!! When will the madness end? How do you decide enough is enough?
And you know what I think would be HELLA awesome? To have a PM on the board from someone giving me a personal invite to their team. I think that would just make my year. I will strive for that this year. To be good enough for a personal invite. Not because my self worth is wrapped up in that, just because, I think that would be really neat. Just neat. I do'nt even know if most designers would actually do that, most of them do formal calls. But still - my blog, my daydream right?
I am hungry for crappily fattening Olive Garden breadsticks right now. This is my random buzzing thought. No attachment to anything whatsoever.
I think I am lonely. This is really vulnerable making to put this on my blog, cause it is probably going to come across as a shameless cry for pity. But really, that is not what I am going for here. I will take it if you want to dispense it, don't get me wrong, but I am not looking for it specifically with this post. I just, I would LOVE to have a friend i chat with, who knows me, who i can complain to, celebrate with, keep up with...do you know what I am talking about? I have friends IRL, truly I do. But we are all so busy. My mom and my sister are cool too - but again, have lives of their own. For the MAJORITY of my day, it is me myself and I. And two toddlers, one of which still speaks an unintelligible language I am slowly starting to understand. The other of which wants only to discuss fruit snaks and barbie movies. And dancing australian bears. {sigh} i love my life, truly I do. I just want someone who UNDERSTANDS me, who will write to me and say - hey, how ya doin today, here is what is going on in my life, what about yours? Maybe it's me. Maybe I am just not good friend material. or maybe, just maybe, we all feel a little bit this way at times. I do'nt know. But this has really been bugging me the past few days. This poor little old blog is my only place to really....be open....to converse about my real life. and maybe that is why the blog comments mean so much - it is someone talking back. Instead of me always talking to thin air.

Ok so i've gotten these things out. Not sure if that makes me feel better or not yet. Yeah, a little. Why is it so hard for people to connect to each other?

Why is it so hard for me to connect?

2006-01-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Just a silly layout I did new year's day for a challenge over at DigiscrapDivas. It is based on these Amex ads where a celebrity fills out this info and somehow that ties in to their amex card???? go figure.

Anyways - it was fun to do - I liked having the questions there to prompt the journaling. And if I had ANY pictures of myself that I liked, I would add it. But I do'nt. Maybe soon. If I lose 50-60 pounds by say, oh february. woulnd't that ROCK to actually be able to lose that much weight that fast? Ok what am I talking about that is so random.... there was going to be a point to this post. OH - credits for the layout - doodles by Kim Christensen from the Black Elements pack at SBB, paper by Jessica Bolton, Lily's Sophisticated pack at Eclectic Scraps, Overlay from the same pack.

So...what is on my mind today.... the randomness of my site hits. I KNOW people are reading this!!! but no one ever leaves a comment. Ok not entirely true - my chicas Shannon and Gina keep it real.EDITED TO ADD: Jennifer has told me she keeps it real for me too. My apologies to her for leaving her off of my list! And a few others occasionally. Why is this the pinnacle of my day - receiving blog comments? Like I actually have anything to say worth commenting on. I just want to be one of the POPULAR girls!!!

I have seemingly a lot to do today, but I think I am going to go watch Cinderella with my baby girl and have a banana. I will be back later on to add a few things to ye olde blog, update my links and such...cause I know you are all just DYING for that to happen!

peace out.

terra

Don't forget to come Saturday Nite to Gina's crop!!!! It will be fun - all the POPULAR girls will be there, and so will I!!!!

See you then!

A year in Review - Part Duh

2006-01-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

July - Ok here is where the REAL fun/craziness started. We (ben and I) went to Vegas for vacation - TEN DAYS. oh my gosh I wanted to shoot myself by the end of it. It was for three days for a CTMH convention, which was tons of fun, but honestly, WAY too many menopausal/pregnant women packed into a small area. They actually had pretty good crowd control, which usually pisses me off about large conventions, I met some fun equally sarcastic people as me and we made fun of pretty much every speaker, every day, except Tracy White. She rocked the journaling world. It was neat to hear her speak in person. I didn't win a DARN thing, well, ok I won 10000 pennies ona Men In Black machine, then spent them all right away again, and 6000 nickels on Wheel of Fortune, but again, gave them all right back to the casino. They gave me a free buffet and two t-shirts for it though, so we're about even. (not even CLOSE - but that's a whole other blog entry!). It was VERY hot there, unfortunately, it was even hotter once we got back home. Yes folks, Chicago in the summer of 05 was almost as hot as vegas. Unbelievable. We got home two days before my birthday (the fourth) on which we celebrated karissa's birthday. I have hereby surrendered my birthday to karissa. So I am stuck at 29 forever. Karissa was actually DUE on the fourth, her due date was 7/4/04. My 28th birthday. but she had to be stubborn adn came three days late. Little stinker. But she can be the firecracker baby now. I do'nt mind. Even more exciting than her birthday - was the day she walked. Oh glorious day. I was too overcome with emotion to even take a picture of it, and before I knew it - it just became her mode of getting around. God is good all the time - and all the time, God is good. Do you know that? I hope you do. I hope you believe it, live it, breathe it. He is good. My baby who was born with a hole in her back, and no hip joint to attach her leg to - walked. I am lucky. I am blessed.
We had a huge family event in our backyard for her b-day, it was tons of fun. We stayed inside again for the rest of July. JUST TOO HOT. Too hot even to go to the pool. And NO THUNDERSTORMS. That is what I love most about the midwest in summertime, and i got ROBBED this summer.
August - I can't really remember august. I went on a business trip to Denver the third week of August. It was fun, learned a lot, stayed in a $269 a nite room, which was TOTALLY overpriced, but it gave me access to the concierge level where I got free drinks, desserts, and breakfast. STill overpriced.
September - Another business trip, this time to Moses Hole. Rented a hella cool truck to drive over the mountains from Sea-town. That rocked. I felt like a TOTAL hillbilly - think Gretchen Wilson - tooling in the basin country in my blue big truck. I forget the majesty of the mountains. They are gorgeous - especially when it is not snowing. Two weeks later - I went BACK to washington, except to Spo-compton this time, then drove from there. The car was nothing to speak of. yes my rental cars are usually the guideline by which i measure the fun ness of my trips. I found an AWESOME scrapbook store in the middle of nowhere Washington that I now plan to raid on every business trip I take to there. Sure beats hanging out at the Super Walmart every nite! or the wanna be casino next door to my hotel. Anyways - I spent The end of September being TOTALLY pooped out, way beyond tiredness/jet lag. Adding up all my symptoms, begging my midwife for a blood test for hypothyroid, doing my own medical research, and finally finding an osteopath whose website spoke directly to my concerns with the medical community - namely, that they treat symptoms, not a person, not the whole problem. Was able to get in relatively quickly with them and got my diagnosis - which I will not rehash here, it would take way too long - read back in my archives if you wanna know or leave me a comment - I will talk about my medical conditions till the cows come home! - and finally was able to start putting the pieces of my life back together. I wasn't losing my mind, I wasn't falling apart, I was going to be ok. Started having a LOT of appointments, which meant a lot of driving around, but it was worth it to be back on the road to health again.
October - Most memorable moment - going out and just buying my Nikon D50 cause I WANTED IT - I waited almost a year for it. I wrote one big check to the IRS to pay ahead on my taxes, checked the money in savings and just DID IT! I love it still. It is SUCH a fun toy to play with. now to learn how to use it better....but that will come in time. October FINALLY brought some relief to the hot weather, but it was still in the 80's when we went to the pumpkin patch - punkin patch pictures should be jeans and sweaters, not tank tops and shorts. So we went a few times. I love punkin patch p

ics. Now I gotta scrap all 254 of them. Seriously. Ok this picture wo'nt rotate and won't delete. Sorry you're stuck with it!
November - I am seriously drawing a blank on November. I do'nt think I went anywhere. I remember we had a good thanksgiving with family. And that is about it - I will come back to this if I think of anything uber important.
December - Was a blur of fun family and gift buying. And oh yeah, Christmas! The girls had a lot of fun this year. I love the many blessings God has granted us with to allow us to provide such a huge Christmas for them. For now. We have it now, so we will enjoy it now.

Wise thoughts on a year end wrap up -
I am not sure I actually have any. It was a good year. Sure, there were a few parts I would rather not ever live through again. But all in all - I know I grew this year. I stretched, I am still stretching. And I know that 2006 will be a great year too. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for this year. I have done one resolution layout, but I feel another one coming on. I do this every new year - have about 13 lists of resolutions. I like to categorize them , analyze them, write them in different colors, view them in different ways = and somehow, they go from "resolutions" to just life changes I have to think consciously about making. I just make them part of me. That is the hard part. Making them a part of you. Figuring out who you are, and how those new pieces fit.

I hope you all have a GREAT 2006.
May God bless you and keep you and make HIs face shine upon you.

terra

The Year in Review - Part I

2006-01-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

don't get scared off by that! This wo'nt be a twelve part mini-series or anything! I just have to break it up so I can come back and add pictures later!
January - We had just started going to a new church at Christmas, so January we spent hanging out with our friends from our old church. Every Sunday afternoon - dinner and TV/games at our house. This was a lot of fun. We celebrated Ben's 30th birthday in a fun way with everyone. Karissa started sitting up on her own and for once, I didn't have to be her SOLE entertainment. Kealey started really showing love back to me as more than just her caregiver, she started to understand the emotion more, and that was fun. I stuck to a resolution for once and started taking Irish Dance classes even though I was the ONLY adult in a class full of 4th graders - luckily I am not self conscious about being the tallest being in a room full of children and NOT being the teacher. Also started a GREAT Beth Moore Bible Study at my church.
February- More hanging out with friends. Went to Florida to Ben's Dad's condo for a week, came home with terrible ear infections (me and the girls), Kealey got on a HUGE princess barbie kick, and we celebrated her 3rd Birthday at home with our friends. I made a Barbie cake. Kind of. She loved it though - still talks about it! More Irish Dance classes, still in the Bible Study.
March - My best friend Kimberlee had her baby at home in her birthing tub. I was supposed to be her doula but she waited too long to call me, and I missed the birth by about three minutes. SO MAD!! Had to clean up all the ummmm aftereffects though, and quickly realized that hospital births are still the way to go for me. Neat experience though. My dad got the job in Lake Zurich! They moved here on March 11th, lived with us for 3 weeks, got a house of their own, our goddaughter came the day they left for her spring break for a week, and one week later, my Sissy and her hubby moved here too - TOTAL surprise! But a good one. They moved in with us...we thought for a month or two.... Since we had family in and out all month, the sunday evening get togethers tapered off. Still at Bible Study and loving it - and still the tallest creature in Irish Dance class.
April-I went to a mom's conference with my BFF Brandi - had a BLAST. The sudden departure from nursing (even though it was maybe only 24 hours) HURT LIKE A MO-FO. but she picked it right back up no problem! Noelle and Nate still live with us. The girls LOVED the easter egg hunt, somehow got about 678 plastic eggs filled with candy. Karissa started crawling - a miracle in itself since she was born with spina bifida and we were never quite sure what she would be able to do. I cried watching her get it together. It was a long process. Her one leg was born without a hip socket to hold her leg in place, and that leg just couldn't quite get the message to move with the rest of her body. But she did it - my girls a fighter!
May- I can't remember May. Something must have happened in May. Mother's day? I am sure we did something. OH!!!! Irish Dance REcital! Now, if you have never seen the movie Elf, you will not be able to picture this recital. Think of the movie though, how Buddy the Elf was like ten times bigger than the other elves. So we go out on stage and AT LEAST they put me at the end of the line so I am not sticking out like a completely sore thumb. All the other little girls are yelling out "hi mommy!" - I am the only one ON STAGE who has someone yell out "hi mommy" to them...But Dance I did! I said I would learn it and I said I would perform it and by gosh by golly I did! None of the pictures of the recital turned out cause apparently no one else in my family is capable of operating a camera correctly. That and my mom shoots solely with a cheap toss away camera from like the grocery store brand, or her digi cam that operates MOST of the time on half battery life. Love her to death, but God help her in the camera department. Yes my parents came to my first and probably only dance recital. It was a lot of fun and a GREAT sense of accomplishment.
June- It got WAYYYYY hot here in June. Now do'nt get me wrong, we moved here from California where it was EASILY in the 90's by April, and most june, july, and august days were triple digits. But Illinois? No way - our blood is too thick here. We pretty much stayed inside, cranked the AirCon and tried not to move. That is all I remember about June.

now on to part two.
I gotta come back and add pictures later, since pre-October I was still in the dark ages with a film camera and pics developed to cd. So I have to root through thousands (ok maybe dozens) of cd's to find the corresponding pictures.

over and out- part two coming your way shortly!

T-dog

Oh my gosh I got TAGGED!!!!

2005-12-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

Ok besides the fact that I was pretty much BEGGING for it on the SBA Board {a rad fun place to hang out and NOT do all the things you should be doing in any given day}, I am still pretty excited about being the chosen taggee by Miss CherylP - a very funny chica with an adorable little boy. Check her blog out sometime, I guar-own-teee you will laugh out loud at least once. At least.
Anyhoo - She tagged me with a Christmas Tag, so I will do a few of those, and change it up a little on my own since Christmas is now long past....ok like four days but seems like ages ago. And yes, my tree is STILL up.

Here Goes!!!
-What is your favorite Christmas song? Dominic the Christmas Donkey. I swear this is a real song. I had NEVER heard it till we moved to Chicago last year. It is HIlarious. It is about a Donkey who helps Santa in the Bronx cause apparently the reindeer don't do cities. Besides that crass break from the reason for the season - I do love Joy to The World. guaranteed to put me in the Christmas spirit when sung right.
-Do you have a favorite holiday treat? A better question would be, do I really need an excuse to have a treat? No, sadly not. Anything that is a holiday treat is good enough for an every day treat! I will say, I do not make frosted sugar cookies year round though, only at Christmas, so I do love those.
-What is your favorite family memory from your childhood? My parents were NEVER rich by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, hand to mouth paycheck to paycheck would be a more accurate description. But one year, they told us we were going to go to the airport for breakfast. And then asked if we wanted to see the inside of a plane, and then of course the plane took off and we were all like - WAIT WE'RE JUST LOOKING!!! But it turns out it was a surprise trip to Disneyland for us. How on earth they afforded this is beyond me. I guess I do'nt want to know. I want it to be the magic of parents who do and sacrifice anything for their kids. The magic of childhood. I hope I give my kids some of that each day.
-What is the best thing that Santa brought you this year? My 1 Gig High Speed Memory Card for my DSLR. it is amazing the difference that thing makes in taking great shots. REad down a few posts for the things Santa DIDN'T bring me....
-What time is it right now? 8:48 pm Central Daylight Time
-What song is on your {imaginary or real} Ipod right now? If I had one, it would be playing Chariot by Gavin Degraw since that song is in my head right now.
-Digi-Scrapping, Paper Scrapping, or Both? I am a little of both right now. I get WAY more done digitally, but cannot give up my LARGE LARGE paper stash, and the feel of actually sticking stuff down, inking edges, sinking a foam stamp into paint, .....wow that sounds fun. I gotta try it again sometime soon!
-Coke or PEpsi? Coke. All the way, all the time. Pepsi is a sick sick joke played upon the consumers of this world who actually drink the stuff. Turns out it is made of toilet bowl cleaning fluid.
- Five things you would go out and buy right now if $1000 fell into your lap -
1.) an Ipod
2.) a laptop
3.) a wide format printer
4.) a Victoria's Secret Bra
5.) new makeup from Sephora

I think that goes over my $1000 limit, but it is fun to dream.
-One thing you absolutely unequivocally LOVE about who you are.
I can make people laugh. I do it when the time is appropriate and when it is not so appropriate. I have been doing it my whole life. I love the feeling of hearing other people laugh, especially when they need to the most.

-Name one quote, song lyric, overused sentiment, whatever , that means a lot to you, that changed or shaped the direction of your life today.
I guess for me, most of my "life shaping" was done in childhood. I had good parents who raised me in the Christian faith, so obviously, many Bible verses have played a part in shaping who I am. But as far as me making my OWN choices about who I am and how I would live my life, that happened in college. During my "black" phase. Listening to a LOT of Indigo Girls songs. One line that has ALWAYS stuck with me is this "Oh how I wish I were a trinity, so that if I lost a part of me, I'd still have two of the same to live - But nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal, as specks of dust - we're universal". We're all just specks of dust. Make a difference to yourself, and it will affect those around you who matter the most. nobody is more important than anybody else, really.
Ok I am getting a LITTLE too deep for this blog.
so one last dumb question to end it -
-What's your favorite color? This isn't it exactly, but it is close. The blue of the Caribbean Ocean. I am not even sure it is on the spectrum of colors it is so unreal....

Ok that's it, that's all I could come up with!

Now, I KNOW there are a lot more people checking into this thing than are leaving comments cause I can SEE my site visit report! so you need to start leaving a COMMENT if you read this - even if it is "gosh that was so boring I wanted to poke my own eyes out". LEAVE A COMMENT!!!

But in the interest of making someone else's day as mine was made by being tagged, I hereby tag Miss KAthy M - the great leader of our humble SBA band...I pass the blogtag crown to her, may she wear it well.

The freakish australian dancing bears

2005-12-29T17:02:00.000-08:00

Ok I am hoping this picture shows up well.
Observe if you will the TV screen to the right. Notice the two HUGE dancing bears in the back wearing overalls and tutu's {is this a fashion statement in Australia? anyone? anyone?}

So these bears are trying to learn ballet apparently. They never actually DO the positions, they just stand around in the back making laughing gestures.
These are vaguely reminiscent of the large stuffed bears I referred to a few posts back.

anyways - just thought I would share my exciting day with you.
yes, this is as exciting as it got today - large semi-dancing bears wearing weird outfits.

Enjoy.

Just another lazy/crazy day

2005-12-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

I am ambiguous towards my life on days like today. Ok I will admit it, it is 4:45 and I am still in my pajamas. It isn't like I wear a silk nighty to bed or anything - it is a sweatshirt and sweatpants for crying out loud - so really, if I WERE to have actually gotten dressed, it would just have been a different sweatshirt and sweatpants. Cause it is just one of those days. I didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do. Well I had lots to DO and that is part of the problem. I had to keep the back living area clean, I had to help my daughter Kealey with her new Bella Dancerella ballet "lessons", I had a lot of real work to stay caught up on, I have the laundry that I STILL have to do, I have the floors that STILL need to be cleaned, and of course the Christmas tree that STILL needs to come down.
Found out that a conference I am going to that was SUPPOSED to be in February got moved to January, the week AFTER my weeklong trip to WA for the busiest craziest week of my work year. My poor babies. But I wrote out all the things that were stressing me out in my mind and I realized - not one single one of those concerns is worth actually stressing over. It is what it is, and we will all survive somehow! Luckily my babies are going WITH me to WA (as is my darling mother who will watch them at my brother's house while I drive over the mountains to work), so at least it isn't like I am going to have two straight weeks away from them. It will be two straight weeks away from our home, schedule, family life, but, as I already said - we will survive.
A few updates, cause I know you are all just DYING of curiousity -
Sissy's Accident -
After a million painkillers were not working, Noelle went to the Urgent Care where some kind soul actually REVIEWED her MRI scans and saw that one of her spinal discs was about to pop out of place. Ahhhh so THAT is the reason she can barely move...Anyways - she sees a orthopedic surgeon tomorrow so hopefully they are able to help her a little bit more. The dealership that is fixing their car called them and said - "yep, it looks like your airbags SHOULD have gone off, they hit all three sensors, so here is the number for Nissan Corporate if you want to take it up with them." Twenty minutes later, the same guy calls back and is all "ummmm nevermind, it looks like you hit on the side so only two sensors went off and that is why the airbags didn't deploy, don't bother calling Corporate". Whatever - nothing like trying to backtrack to save your own hide. Their lawyer is supposedly handling that aspect of things. I am not one for the sue-happy state of affairs this country has settled into, but when things are BLATANTLY wrong, and there is no sense of right or wrong among people or corporations these days, if you have to get a lawyer involved to receive some JUSTICE (not millions of dollars for fake injuries here, just plain and simple an eye for an eye) - then so be it. They are not looking to pay for three kids' college educations here, they just want their bills to be paid for by those who caused them in the first place. I wish them the best of luck in that endeavor.
My Shopping Adventures Last Night
So I made it to the mall - why is this all in bold???? There hopefully that is better - anyways - Alas, the store was out of the Tall Uggs I specifically wanted. But I found a GREAT knockoff pair at Carson's that were only $30!!!! compared to the $130 I WAS going to spend, this is obviously a wonderful bargain. It will at least give me a chance to see if I really do like the look of them, and if so, splurge on the name brand ones closer to spring, when hopefully my calves have had a chance to shrink a little bit and they will actually look CUTE on my tubstacker little legs.
I also got a few cute scrapping things at Archivers - I am actually sort of in SHOCK over the amount of paper scrapping supplies I have. They multiply like rabbits down there i SWEAR it. I actually did scrap a paper layout today, but i have a LONG way to go before I have even made in that puppy! Note to Self - make a resolution about using before buying any more paper supplies...
So I am still lusting over a STUPID ipod - i have NO idea why i want one so bad, but indeed I do. I think it is a MUST HAVE purchase for these two trips I am about to embark on. don't you? I found an adorable pink round sparkly one at Target that I Think is absolutely made for me. May have to sneak a couple bennies out of the checking account and go and grab that bad boy.
Well my wrists are getting all carpal-tunnelly from too much typing today, and Kealey is ready to start on ballet lesson number two with the freakish brace wearing ballerina from Australia and her two mongo dancing teddy bears. Honestly - I have to take a picture of this thing and scrap it - you wouldn't BELIEVE how amazingly fruity this video is...
Be patient - in time you will all get to enjoy the fruitiness...

Live long and prosper

terra-riffic

{Gasp}!!! Has it been that long since I blogged?

2005-12-28T15:17:00.000-08:00

Wow - I totally thought I had updated about our Christmas but I guess not!
Christmas was good - the girls LOVED it - and as soon as I offload the 547 pics from my new 1gig card (my fave present from DH) - I will post a picture of them in their SLAMMIN' new barbie jeep. I just TODAY finished picking up all the toys that were still scattered around the tree. we got SO much they didn't even know where to begin playing with things. It was so much fun to watch them.
We went to my mom's after our christmas morning where they got even MORE stuff. That was fun. We played Catchphrase - oh my gosh I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time - we are talking mascara ALL over my face - I stopped caring about it cause I kept laughing harder and harder. It was a combination of working on five hours of sleep, giddiness over the holiday, and the cheap wine I got from the endcap at Meijer. Top ten signs it PROBABLY isn't that chic - it is on an endcap at the cheapo grocery store. I guess its a level above Rainbow Outlet, but not much. And if you have never had the joy of setting foot into a Rainbow Outlet - you are MISSING OUT!!!! I mean, stuff that is like thirty days past its expiration date is considered fresh, the cheapest toys/toiletries you could dream of, and the random knock off fashion accessory are just a FEW of the reasons you will want to RUN to your closest RO. There is one right next to the hotel I stay at when I go to Moses Hole for my work - I laugh every time I pass it, but have yet to go in there. Next time I am out there for work, I am so going in and taking a digital pic to post here for everyone's enjoyment.
WOW did I get off topic or what?
Anyways - So christmas was good - but my DH REFUSED to buy me the three things I wanted most - but did tell me I could go buy them myself. Tall Ugg boots, my wide format printer, and an mp3 player.

I am off to the mall!

more to come later!

Christmas Eve

2005-12-24T21:46:00.000-08:00

Once again - all is quiet in the house. It is just me and my thoughts. I like times like this. I wanted to get this down now, so I could go back and scrap about it later. What this Christmas will be like - through the eyes of my two babies. It is all about them now. I usually care a LITTLE about what is under the tree for me - but tonite, my anticipation rests all on THEM, and their reaction in the morning. Which will be their favorite present - which will get the biggest or silliest reaction? Did I get enough? Could I have gotten them more? But then, is that truly what I want them to think of Christmas - that it is all about how many gifts, getting everything they want...
And no, that is not it.
It is about this - family, and love, and resting secure in the fact that 2000 years ago a baby was born who would become the King of our lives, the very essence of Love itself. It is about the pure innocence of those bright white lights shining for all the world to see, and how everytime I see them, I think of warm cozy nights spent with the people I love the dearest in all this world.
I look at the pile of presents around the tree, and I know we are blessed indeed. Not just with material things, but with things that really count. Health, family, security, love.
Christmas is these things to me - magical, happiness, beautiful, and a wonderful expression of love.
It is late and I am beginning to ramble, I am just in a quietly euphoric state right now - I love the night before Christmas.
I believe.
I really do believe.
I hope you do too.

Hear that??? No you don't....

2005-12-22T05:57:00.000-08:00

Cause there is NOTHING TO HEAR!!!!! Ahhhhhhh - relaxation at its finest = grandma's got the kids!!!!
It is her 32nd wedding anniversary today - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOMMY AND DADDY!!!! - and she took my kids for me so I could get some work/wrapping done. What a GREAT mom i have!
So hopefully today I am VERY productive. I have my little list all set up of my goals for the next few hours. I can only allow myself so much time to play on my message boards and scrap (cause you know sometimes in the middle of an EXTREMELY boring spreadsheet you just gotta bust out with a little creativity and do a page), and I HAVE GOT to get a few more gifts wrapped! I just know me and darling hubby are going to be up till the wee hours on Christmas Eve putting together the Barbie Jamming Jeep and wrapping gifts still.
Tonite I get to go shopping with my mother in law. She is so sweet. She takes me out for dinner, then to Toys R Us, and says - get whatever the kids want. WAY better than having to return toys that are too young for my kids, or worse, way too old. Or even worse something that just takes up space like the 5 foot tall teddy bear I saw some kind old soul purchasing last nite. WHERE do people store those kind of things???Honestly - that has to be an allergen-fest waiting to happen with those oversized teddy bears, not to mention that I would think MOST little kids would be scared to DEATH of a bear the size of their mommy.
I digress.
Not that there is actually a point to digress from on this little space of the web I call my own,but if there HAD been a point, that would have been a digression.
Well - I better start working while I am still feeling my hot chocolate buzz! The sooner I get the applications done - the sooner I can scrap!
Oh - one quick page I did the other nite for a Color Challenge over at digiscrapdivas.com
I did this in like ten minutes, yet I love it for its simplicity. The colors are from Kim Hill's "Winter Wish" kit, available at cgessentials.com, The photo turn, flower, screws and bookplates are from her Business Casuals kit, available at the same site.
I cannot WAIT until Christmas!!! I am so excited to see it through BOTH of my babies' eyes - they are just going to fall over with excitement and sqeauling!
Good luck to everyone with last minute to -do's!
TTFN!!

One of those weekends...

2005-12-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

No no - luckily this is NOT my car. It is my poor little sissy's. Her and her husband were coming home from her work party on Saturday nite and some fifteen year old with NO license, and NO insurance driving mommy's car ran a stop sign and tried to cross four lanes of BUSY traffic, right in front of my brother-in-law. Who is a cop. Who was VERY VERY pissed that this chick did NOT even show any sort of remorse for what she had just done. her car has a pretty banged up back passenger door. That is it. What is worse is what it DOESN'T have. Insurance. I am not even sure if any of her older family members speak english. She supposedly spent the nite in Juvie and will not be able to get a license until she is 21. I hope to God not. I do not want this chick driving around on the streets while I am out there!
Totally messes up situation. I feel horrible for them.
Since the accident happened about five minutes away from where I live, and about an hour and a half from my parents, I am the one who got called to come be with them. I was woken out of a WONDERFUL drug induced sleep, trying to battle the effects of the inevitable bronchitis I get every year at this time, to throw on three layers of clothing and race down there, not knowing what the extent of everything was. My sister was just being driven away in the ambulance, totally hysterical, and I had to wait till they towed the car and then drive my BIL to the hospital. We were there till 2 am. Then I had to drive them home, half hour away, then drive back home, only to be greeted the next morning by my children wanting to be up at 6 am. So now I am half asleep, half awake, half drugged and about one fourth able to breathe. Sunday nite, Noelle (my sis) starts losing feeling in her arms, so back to the ER we go. On Saturday nite, they heard the airbags didn't deploy, took a few xrays of her back and sent her home with a painkiller. Literally. NO exam, no checking her pupils, no having her grip the docs fingers or do any sort of manual dexterity anything. Just - you're gonna be sore, take two of these, do'nt lay on the couch all day.
So she starts losing feeling and then getting shooting burning pains alternately in both arms, radiating from her back/neck. This time, they actually do an MRI, full set of xrays, manual dexterity exams, and FIND OUT WHY this is all going on. She has pulled every muscle in her back - thank God no spinal cord injuries like they at first thought.
I hate doctors. Have I mentioned this before? I think I have - check the archives - probably sometime in August was my last diatribe against the medical community.
Anyways - she came home with me finally at about 2 again. Again my children were up early. We spent all day today driving around to towing companies, police stations, oh and a quick stop at the scrapbook store. Gotta have a little fun in there sometime right?
I hope it all works out in the end. I hope they aren't stuck with all these bills cause some idiot chick was out for a joyride. I hope there is still some justice left in this world. I hope I can breathe again soon, and that sometime before I turn forty I can catch up on sleep. Doubtful, but stranger things have happened.
With that I bid you adieruwoeilkn - however that french word is spelled. Hey - do'nt look at me, I took German.
Auf Wiedersehen.

die terraristerchen

The Suds

2005-12-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

I feel like that episode of SpongeBob where he gets "the Suds" and he is like grossly sick. Not that I am at that completely gross point yet, but my chest feels like it could get that way real fast. I am beginning to think I have some sort of weak lung disease, as that is where EVERY SINGLE sickness I get settles. It is fully annoying. Almost as annoying as my child who is up in her crib singing the "don't wanna take a nap" song, second verse same as the first. Little bit louder and a little bit worse!
Ok soapbox for today, and of course this probably applies to none of the four or five of you who read this blog, but I will jump on this box anyways.
here it is:
Nine times out of ten, it is NOT fedex's fault that you have not received your package. And in the interest of holiday spirit, I will graciously include the other shipping companies here (UPS, USPS, DHL, whomever.) They are ALL, individually, absolutely working their boot-ays off this joyous of all seasons. You and every one ELSE and their mothers and third cousins are ALL shipping stuff, and ordering stuff, and it OVERLOADS THE SYSTEM. IF YOU GOT YOUR PACKAGE AT ALL THIS MONTH - thank a UPS or Fedex Driver. For every package that DOES get delivered, there are four more still sitting back at the terminal because their little vans are full to capacity. Take a look around - chances are you will still see delivery vans out late at nite from now till next weekend. Next Saturday nite, they will STILL be out, making deliveries, trying their darndest to get everyone THEIR package. INSTEAD of being home with their families, they are all doing their jobs. Now I REALIZE that this job is nowhere NEAR as truly important as a soldier in Iraq, or a fireman or paramedic who puts their life at risk every day, or any number of other important jobs. But it is truly one of THE MOST overlooked, underappreciated and probably most abused jobs anyone could have. You might ask where this is coming from. Well I'll tell you anyways. My husband runs the chicago area home delivery terminal for fedex. That poor man has had his head ripped off more times than i count by ABSOLUTELY IRATE people wanting THEIR package yesterday. NOw there are a million and one reasons why some packages just do'nt make it to their destination, but i am like, come on people!! HAve we all lost our HUMANITY???? Are we INCAPABLE of making a nice inquiry as to the status of our package?
Ok this is turning into more of a rant than a soapbox so I will stop here, I just wanted to remind All FOUR of my readers - give them a break. And when you DO call - a nice attitude will PROBABLY get your package dropped on your doorstep that nite vs. screaming and yelling making it take two weeks or more to make its appearance.
Wow - ok wherever that came from. I guess it is my fierce loyalness to those I consider friends and family. I HATE when people hurt them and makes me instantly want to go fight their fights for them! Just wait till someone tries to hurt my KIDS' feelings - holy momma bear will be out in full force!
Anyways - not much else fun going on today. I will leave you with a fun layout I just did that I have yet to upload to a gallery - yes folks -you saw it here first!!!

All colored shapes and background paper made with Gina Miller's Back to Basics Paper Pack available at The Digi Chick. This is a GREAT kit with LOTS of great basic background papers so you do'nt have to go searching through your stash to find just a plain background. Has a wonderful texture to it. The photo corner edges are from yet another awesome edge pack (Edges 2) from Gina Miller also at the Digi Chick. The doodle that looks professional (the flower one) is from Shabby PRincess' Shabby Scratches kit available at the Shabby Shoppe. The NON - professional doodles are by yours truly. Obviously. So I am not a doodle queen.

And that's all she wrote folks!

I do'nt have a random music quote today. I have only been listening to Green Day for the last few days - so all of my quotes are from that. American Idiot. Go buy it. Live it. Be it.

just kidding.

have a moo-la-la-wonderful weekend!

t-$ out

Sorta in a blue mood...

2005-12-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

Just kidding. But i did change the color of my blog - did anyone notice? I was up till 11 last nite (WAY late for me!) trying to figure out the @)*(#&%@ web safe color thing. And I did!!! basically just plug in a bunch of ff's and ccc's and a few random numbers and see what you come up with! why can't they just be like - magenta, or chartreuse... who the heck uses the color #ffcc00995fc????

anyways busy day with a little mom/tot cookie exchange at a friends house - it was all fun till karissa hit meltdown point. Not pretty. I am on serious sugar overload. Think I need to go make me a lovely veggie seaweed shake - GAG A MAGGOT!!!! I swear, the things I do in the name of good health...Gross, I do'nt even know if I can go make it...
Ok speaking of gross things. you have GOT to check out the new link I have - over there - to the left - look at the end of my links list - the Hilarity one. It is called The Sneeze, and this guy has this section called "Steve Do'nt Eat That" - ok I am cracking up just typing this. Just start reading the Steve Do'nt Eat That archives and you will see what I mean. Then for even more fun, browse over the left of HIS website, look for the CheapAss Cereal Hall of Fame - you will BUST a GUT seriously. I mean, i had to have burned off at least 67 calories in hard laughter the last time I read it. My brother and I read it together over the phone one time, we were both in serious tears from laughing so hard.
Go do it - today - it will lift your spirits I promise. That or make you gag, but probably a little of both and I am ok with that.
Crap - work just called - gotta go get started on that. Oh yeah and mix up my neat shake.

Before I go....Random Quote for today- heavy emphasis on the random

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh RESCUE PACK - comin to the rescue!!! (Arescate) RESCUE PACK - comin to the rescue!!! A rescue pack, I got your back, I can turn into a parasail or a kay-ak...."

NAME THAT TUNE!!!

fo shizzle ma nizzles...

terra

Some new fun layouts!

2005-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

I am always amazed at how EASY and FAST it is to crank out digital layouts that, for the most part, I absolutely love. I think I will always be a little too critical of my own stuff, compared to the AMAZING talent out there in the world, but for my books, for the smile they bring to my family's faces - they are absolutely priceless - and that is truly all that matters.

This first one is using a free kit from ScrapArtist = called My holidays by DebF. It is an adorable kit and pretty versatile for not only christmas pictures. The charms, of course, are from my current addiction to Gina's Enamel Charms kit, available at The Digi Chick

I think I may actually end up catching up on Kealey's LIFE in pictures by sometime around her fourth birthday. That would be a great feeling of accomplishment! Then i have to catch up on the little one. Could I be caught up by her second birthday in July? Probably...that would be a good goal to shoot for. And it is all only made possible by the amazing abilities of digi-scrapping. Will i ever go all digi? i doubt it. I am wayyyy too stingy with all my paper supplies to just give them up. Plus I love going down to my little space and just creating, using my hands, gluing stuff down and seeing what will happen if i mix this ink with this paint...

Ok for the other layout today... This is a premade page included in the super cute "Smells LIke Teen Spirit" kit available at Creative Snaps. I love the brightness and grunginess of it. IT was wierd to just slap a pic into the middle of it - but i think it turned out stunningly with a b/w converted pic - so I'll take it!

Speaking of Kealey - I remembered what I was gonna blog about last nite with her.

Cute things Kealey has been doing lately. Well, maybe not so cute, but they make me laugh!

We were getting into the car the other nite, and i hear her making like a "purring" sound. Now this is not strange as she is going through this "mommy pretend like I am your kitty" phase where she crawls around and meows. (Yes I kno w she needs professional evaluation - I'll get to it someday). Anyways - she goes "puurrrrrrrrr - she loves to stir it up, purrrrrrrrrrrr she loves to stir it up" Singing this. And I just bust out laughing. And if you know your pop music of today you will too.... I CANNOT believe she picked that part of the "Bellydancer" by Akon song out!!! This is after her father lectured me on letting her listen to Black Eyed Peas after she came home singing "my lumps my lumps my lumps, my weevy wuddwy wumps" (she gets the last few words confused). LIKE I am trying to teach her the lyrics!!! The kid picks up anything going on around her like a frickin hoover!!! My only alternative is pretty much to listen to classical music all day!!!! her other fave song to sing is "Milkshake", as in "my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like - it's better than yours"...

Anyways - she cracks me up. I hope we always have a fun relationship, but boy, am I scared for when that kid turns 14 or so....oh the fights we will have in this house! We are too stubborn, too independent and too much the same. But i love her to pieces.

And on that note, I will wrap up this little entry. I am sure it won't be my last of today, but just in case it is...

Random Music Quote of the Day

This is an oldie but a goodie - bonus points for getting this one!!

"I'm takin it back to the old school cause I'ma old fool who's so cool - you wanna get down? Let me show you the way..."

Keep it crunk peeps...

terra

On the road again...

2005-12-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

Just can't wait to get on the road again...blah blah makin music with my friends, well i can't wait to get on the road again...

ok now that you all have that song stuck in your mind as do I, let's proceed to today's post, shall we?

Yes - it was another long haul day of driving up and down the recockulously busy Hwy. 59. Quite possibly filled with THE STUPIDEST drivers this side of the Mississippi. I mean hello - does it give you PLEASURE to just sit and stare at the green light and NOT PRESS THE GAS PEDAL????? we got places to go dudes!!!! ANTICIPATE THE GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A random layout I completed the other day - the cute gingerbread charm and red stitch are from Gina Millers SO CUTE Enamel Charm kits available at the Digi Chick! Love those charms! I wish the pics had turned out a little less stark - but my in-laws house is so dark I had to use the flash!
Anyhoo - Lost one more pound today - BELOW 190!!! Only 60 more to go!!! I envision LOTS and LOTS of salads in the immediate post holiday future. Since I have currently downed about 14 little frosted sugar cookies today...yeah, definitely time for some post holiday calorie counting.
The good news of today - finally got paid!! momma's got a new pair-a-shoes!!!! the bad news - it is such a large check my idiotic bank which shall remain nameless ( US BANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) will decide to place a hold on it till kingdom come or hell freezes over, whichever happens first. Which means I should get my HARD EARNED MONEY sometime in oh, say, 3009. But hey at least i will get it someday! Truly, I am not complaining. I have been very blessed to have my job. God is good. I have enough left to SQUEAK through the remaining shopping days of the season (Thank God for credit cards!!!) and by then, the funds should release and I can pay BACK all the credit money.
What else, what else....
ummmmmm - drawing a complete blank here....
oh - it is supposed to snow more tonite!I would love the snow for myself and for my girls, but for my darling hubby - oh he of great courage who ensures all you ungrateful people of chicago get their fricking packages THREE DAYS EARLY - it would sort of suck. Although he did lose some ladies package the other day with outfits for her twins that she needed for a photo shoot the next day - i think I woulda prolly been a little pissed about that too - you know he will find it like the day after christmas....
How do I get off on these tangents?
So karissa took a headfirst dive out of the target cart today. That was fun. Her pupils looked fine so we continued shopping but MAN did that make a loud thump! Lest you all think I am the worlds WORST mom - my MOTHER was supposed to taking care of her! I was two rows over. Heard it from there. Honestly - it is no one's fault but my own - I can't stand the bloodcurdling screams from trying to strap her in, so I let her sit in the back - except today she saw something she wanted and decided to try to get it. I did take her right to the chiropractor after my dr. appt - he fixed her up and she seems to be feeling ok. Having suffered from 8 or so concussions in my life, I know what to look for - and she definitely didn't have any of those signs! And really = from the way she landed, I am pretty sure her tummy broke her fall - she grabbed onto the shelf and just thumped the rest of the way down...she's a trooper though!
I have GOT to be better about taking and posting more pics on here. New Year's REsolution #623 - take daily pics, and post one on blog.
You do'nt even want to know the other 622 resolutions before this one. And yes, in spite of some cutesy scrapper's suggestion in some latest issue of some cutesy scrapping magazine that we call them "intentions" - I am sticking with resolutions. Did our forefathers INTEND to start a free country? NO - they RESOLVED to. Did I INTEND to keep my vows to my husband - NO - I PROMISED, RESOLVED to do so. Intentions just sounds so faggy to me. I like REsolutions better. JMHO. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!
Ok getting off the soapbox now...
With the predicted storm tomorrow - I am hoping to catch up on housework, get more than a few pages scrapped, and even perhaps get some REAL WORK DONE - so I can keep those paychecks rollin in!!!

Haven't been good with my new fun feature lately so here we go...
Random Music Quote of the DAy

"I'm callin alla soldiers - alla God's soldiers. We at war - we at war with racism, terrorism - but mos'uvall - we at war with ourselves...
You know what the Midwest is? Young and Restless..."

Leave a comment if you know!!!

peace out homeslices - catch ya on the flip side!

terrarist

Nothing Cute to Say

2005-12-11T09:46:00.000-08:00

Can't think of a cute title here....

anyways - got a page done today that i wanted to brighten up my blog with...I like the grungy feel of it. Sort of outside my normal box...I want to do a ton more, but am still stuck in a paper scrapping, chronological mindset with regard to my pictures, and it is hard to just pick a pic off the harddrive and scrap it. I will get there eventually though.

I feel very antsy. I know I have so much work I SHOULD be doing, and so much housework that I NEED to be doing, and yet all I want to do is play on the computer, scrap, or watch stupid TV. I know a lot of my problem started when my health took a nosedive this summer. I can tread enough water to stay sort of afloat, but I REALLY have got to get my act together with TWO applications coming up in five weeks - one of which has no name, no legal documentation - NOTHING....nothing. My brain is boggled as to how this will be pulled off, but you know what? I KNOW that this came from God. I KNOW this is my chance to pull myself up by my own bootstraps, swing back into the saddle, and ride back to my normal self. This month will challenge me beyond even what I thought were my limits...and I will grow through this, and I will make it through this, and in the end, my family will be better off for it.
Here is what I need to have happen to pull it off:
Housekeeping service - at least bi-weekly
Preschool class for kealey - two or three days a week for four hours at a time.
MDO or daycare of some sort for karissa - same day as kealey - one day a week
Pre-planned and Pre-cooked meals
a work schedule outlined - which tasks which day

Excuse me while I think out loud here - sorry this is so boring to read...more exciting stuff will come later - maybe, I guess I am not all that exciting...

Anyways - even though we now have probably close to ten inches of snow on the ground, I WANT MORE!!!! This is crazy! I have not seen this much snow in YEARS!!! I love it! I re-did my christmas tree last nite - much more happy with it now, will have to post pics of that later.
The girls and I did it while listening to "My Little Pony - a Very Minty Christmas" cd. This is SURE to become a classic - I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys sappy christmas music redone to a pony theme. Or anyone with a three to four year old girl who likes to dance around to silly music. It is REALLY starting to look a lot like Christmas around here! I gotta figure out how else to get in the Christmas mood...I am ALMOST there, but still not sure what is exactly missing. It isn't like I am going a hundred miles a minute like some people, it is more like I am stuck in first gear, going about TEN miles an HOUR... I took the last of my thyroid meds today. I am hoping that my body starts recompensating for itself SOON!!!
Hope you all have a wonderful Winter Sunday!!

terra

Snow, Sliding Airplanes, and Shattering Stoneware

2005-12-09T06:01:00.000-08:00

WOW - so we got a lot of snow yesterday! Took my sister three hours to drive her 17 mile commute, and my husband 2 and a half hours to drive his 45 minute commute. I would have shot myself if i had been stuck in the car with the kids for that long. Thank God we did not go anywhere yesterday. So maybe you heard about the plane sliding off the runway at Midway? What is really freaky about that is this - I was supposed to go out of town this week, returning last nite. I would have been flying into Midway, probably at about that time, and my husband would have been on that road to come pick me up. Shivers. God is always watching out for us. Always. Edited to Add: I just re-read the story and am very saddened to find out a little boy died. They did not have that info last nite. I am so sorry for his family...
but what SUCKED about that plane thing is that they fricking pre=empted my shows!!! For like the same repetitive assinine conversations...
"Ummm Jim, it looks like a PLANE slid OFF the runway, INTO THE STREET, at Chicago's Midway Airport."
"Yes Ann, we ARE getting reports of a PLANE sliding OFF the runway, onto CENTRAL AVE, at Chicago's Midway Airport."
"So this was at MIDWAY airport?"
"Yes MIDWAY - again if you are just joining us - a PLANE has slid OFF the runway at MIDWAY airport - we are waiting for more details.."

So instead of going BACK to something interesting until they have their act together, they continue on in this pattern, RUINING my shows!!!!!!
So if any kind soul wants to update me on the last few minutes of survivor and the first maybe ten of Apprentice - it would be GREATLY appreciated.

And then the kicker of the nite - so I try to be a good wife and go start the shoveling of the driveway. We have a snowblower in our garage - but I have NO idea how to use it, so I get the shovel out and start shoveling. MAN that is hard! Anyways - I had had dinner just about ready for Ben to be home at his normal time. I had the bread cooling on my Pampered Chef stoneware pan, and the spaghetti water started boiling over and CRACK - my bar pan split RIGHT down the middle, cracked TOTALLY in half. Scared me and the kids to death it sounded like a gunshot or something. So now I am sad about that. I have a feeling that my stupidity probably isn't covered in their lifetime guarantee and those things are EXPENSIVE!!!
Anyways - I think I did more damage to the driveway than help, but Ben acted like he appreciated it, and then we did our driveway and part of our neighbors' all together, even Kealey got in the act! It was fun. But cold. My cheeks have perma-blush on them today - prolly wind burn or some such nuisance.
but I love the snow. I HATE the fricking bunny family who lives under our porch - they RUINED my nice fresh blanket of clean snow by hopping all through it.....I am about to unleash the cat on them!!!
SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!!!!! I am truly deeply sorry for everyone who got in accidents last nite, or had a horrific commute, and for plane pilots who break through barrier walls to drive onto a busy street, but i LOVE how much snow we got!!!! It makes it seem more Christmasy!!!
But now today I get to drive in it. Kinda gonna be a crazy morning - we will see how this day turns out!
Oh and to ADD to the craziness, my business partners calls me last nite to add an "emergency tax credit app" to my list of already crazy work items.
Don't get me wrong - the money will be GREATLY appreciated!!!! But MAN I am going to have to work like a couple overniters to get this all slapped together! Good thing I stocked up on BigAss Binders at OFfice Depot this summer!
If anyone would like two adorable children to add to their holiday festivities....
just kidding.
SOMEHOW i will get these apps both written, and they will ROCK the socks off those analysts at the State.
Oh my gosh - i think my DIP trial ends today - gotta get scrappin and get some new software MUCHO fasto.
Ok LATER I promise I will be funny!
Gotta live up to my idol Gina's standard!!!

Peace out-
t

You better Watch Out...

2005-12-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

You better not cry! you better not pout I'm tellin you why...
Santa Claus is coming to town!
Finally off loaded all my pics. This one didn't turn out so hot - I think Santa's costume is a tweed bit too red for my camera to recognize...but he was a good sport to deal with the lovely miss karissa like he did. She was obviously MORE than pleased for this visit. Kealey was happy for that cause it left more time for her to share her two mile long list with the Big Man.
anyways - it is snowing somethin fierce outside - guess my comment on Gina's blog was heard by someone!!! This does sort of put a damper on my big plans for the afternoon....which included getting dressed and going somewhere, probably target (for no reason) and working out (i have a big reason to there, but no motivation)....
ahhhh wellll....always tomorrow! I am off to find my Bing Crosby White Christmas CD (which I think my husband secretly threw away like four moves ago - big scrooge!!!), and make some hot cocoa...
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!! YAY!!!!

Crappy start to an otherwise exciting day!

2005-12-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

Ok - my baby decides at 5:30 AM that now would be a good time to come wake up the family. She throws herself out of the crib and announces to the world that she is awake. NOT a good start to my day. I need at LEAST two hours of sleep beyond this to function fully. And oh, there she goes again right now. It sort of rattles the whole house when she does it....Ok she's ok.
So anyways - i woke up a LITTLE grumpy to say the least. But Kealey is such a sweetheart and tries to help me so much - she is really becoming a little girl instead of my baby lately....sniff sniff....but she is a totally fun age and I can't wait to see her reaction to Christmas this year. She got into my "prize closet" today, where all the toys are (I thought) pretty well hidden. Then she comes into my room all pouty pouty puffinstuff going - "but momma, I wanted my OWN magical pegasus...." I am not sure if she thinks the 45 magical pegasus dolls in the closet are for the homeless children or what...maybe she thinks I am hoarding them for myself. I AM a rather large barbie fan i must say.....(gag)........she is so weird sometimes I do'nt know where she comes up with this stuff!
Ok you may be asking yourself, WHY do I have 45 magical pegasus dolls in my closet? (You would also need to ask why there are three or four leapster systems in there and 3 aquadoodle mats...) It is because I cannot decide. I kept finding better bargains at each store I went to, so I kept getting more! So if anyone is needing a full Magical Pegasus barbie set, or a pink leapster or a leapster LMax - let me know! Reasonable prices and shipping! (Let's just say I get a pretty darn good fedex discount)....
anyhoo....
My darling sister and I have decided to get our selves back into shape and to do so with the encouragement/reminder of a little scrapbook about our weight loss journey. I think this will be lots of fun and am excited to start this project.
I am also going to be in a circle journal in january and am excited to put that together, except I need to narrow down my subject. Any suggestions????
And THEN - the kicker to the first half of my day...a lady from my mom's church called and wants me to make a whole scrapbook of the last 14 years of her business!!! WHAT???? My mother must have been a LITTLE too complimentary on my scrapping skills cause I can't imagine this lady would actually just call me out of the blue to help her! So i am sorta scared and pretty excited about that one. Now to figure out pricing, etc.
Sorry for the somewhat mundane and boring entry today...but i am just trying to keep the house from falling apart and stay on somewhat of a schedule here today! I have lots of interesting stuff inside my head to chat about...but it will have to wait till I have done some work first and the kidlets are sleeping. PRAY that they sleep!!!! PLEASE!!!! i need all the help i can get with this!!!

Note to Self...

2005-12-07T12:37:00.000-08:00

It is always recommended by the manufacturer to TURN THE OVEN OFF after you have completed your use of it for the time being.
SERIOUSLY - I must be losing my last few precious brain cells to the extreme cold or something cause HELLO!!! Got my bread out the oven - just walked away! Then wondered why my candles were all melting on top of the stove - oh yes, that would be because it has been on for almost two hours!
Ok did I get way deep in the last post or what? Where did that come from? I am so not usually that much of a downer, but it just really got me thinking today. Are we really GRATEFUL for what we have? And how we have it?
Ok - leave that in the past post.
Ok so today i was SOOOO very proud of myself. It was the last day for Kealey's little "almost" preschool class, and i got this brainstorm like literally fifteen minutes before we have to leave of what I can make her teachers for a little Christmas/thank you gift.
Message Board Tiles!!!
I had these old flooring tiles downstairs - like ceramic - large, entryway type tiles, maybe 8x8 inches. I stamped a flower and "Messages" on them in STaz on ink, colored the flower in with sharpies (I am a colored sharpie marker addict) - grabbed my digi cam, loaded everyone up to go to school, snapped a few pics during drop off time of the kids on the story circle, ran to Meijer and developed them, then sat in my car and modge-podged the pics onto the tiles. Attached a dry erase marker with some raffia, wrote a note from kealey on them and VOILA - instant gifts! So you can set it by your phone to take messages or leave a note or whatever - cause the marker (dry erase) wipes right off.
So I got all my martha stewart=essness right out of me right off the bat. I am spent!
I have some warm beer bread fresh out of my (now turned off) oven...and my shows to catch up on ffrom last nite. And my fingers to warm up since they are so cold i can't even type right!
Maybe I will be funny tomorrow.
Thanks to all who read here - hope you all enjoy your day!

terra

Never Forget...

2005-12-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

I am gonna take it down a notch here to just share what is on my heart right now. We were driving home, going about our business, busy busy little bees - when we passed the village hall. There is a large beautiful holiday display out, and a flagpole, which I have never paid much attention to before. But today I noticed there were seven or eight older gentlemen gathered around it. It was a few minutes before noon. And then it hit me - Pearl Harbor Day.

I pulled a quick Uturn and parked behind the flagpole. I cautiously approached the group, and they were quick to welcome me when I queried whether they were observing Pearl Harbor Day. They performed a moving little ceremony paying tribute to their fallen comrades and thanking God for the freedoms we enjoy in America today. I was moved to tears. It was five degrees outside so I left the girls in the car, but I wanted them to see this, and to know what it means to live in America, and that we have ALL that we have, because of the sacrifice of so many.
They offered everyone there a chance to make comments and I just wanted to tell them all - thank you for your service, your sacrifice and for remembering this day. I think it is sad that more people of my generation DON'T know about Pearl Harbor Day, and DON'T know about the deep sacrifices that have occurred at so many levels in this country JUST so that we could have freedom. How many mothers lost their sons this fateful day almost 50 years ago? Did they all go camp out at the president's house? No - they bore their loss like strong women, women who KNEW what the sacrifice meant. Pearl Harbor was a horrible horrible day in america, from what I have been told by those who lived through it. But it was the turning point in the war, for America - cause we got involved and we fought back and we WON our freedom again, and freedom for so many others.
I do'nt want this to turn into a history lesson.
I just want to offer some food for thought.
If you are alive and well in America today - whether or NOT you agree with the current war america is fighting - if you are living here today and can freely speak your mind and worship how you want and work to build a good life for your family - then hug a veteran today. OR at least stop to offer up a silent prayer of thanks for one today.
Our generation will always have 9/11. We will always remember that, but if we do not remember ALL of the times that have made this country great - how will our children know true appreciation of their freedom?
In my little corner of the world here on my blog - I do thank each and every veteran of each and every war - and especially thank those who are still serving today all around the world.

" I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All."

terra

2005-12-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

You're a girl power mommy! You love to be girly,
but you're no pushover. Your kids are learning
that gender differences don't have to mean
gender inequality. You've taken back pink, and
you don't care who knows it!

What kind of a freaky mother are you?

brought to you by Kim Hill's blog - she's a rockin' sweet digi designer. Also took a fun quiz today at Shannon's blog - see link to the right. About what kind of princess I am. apparently I resemble a Native American independent spirit named Pocahontas. Which is sort of funny cause in college I ABSOLUTELY loved that movie, and I had the soundtrack to it and everything (ok i still do) - and if we had had a dance at our wedding, our song would have been the last love song on there - If I Never KNew You - excuse all the typos today my fingers are NUMB.

Dear Santa -
for christmas I would like some pediatric sleeping pills for my children. PLEASE. I am desperate. you have NO idea. They are both upstairs running around right now SUPPOSED to be taking a nap. I am going to pull my hair out by the roots. Threats of you not visiting our house in a few days are not working. THEY MUST SLEEP. MUST. The little one has learned how to crawl out of her crib. Where or how she learned this trick I do not even want to think of (but I am pretty sure it has something to do with her older sister). Older sister still needs a "bubba" (bottle) in order to go to sleep, and now wants two tylenol every bedtime. I am a failure as a mother. Please help. before I completely go off the deep end.
I promise I have been a pretty good girl this year, other than screaming at my sleepless children.
Love,
Terra

What am I going to do with these children???? Seriously, WHAT is so wrong with sleep that they both try to avoid it like the plague?
Anyways - the high points of today:
Kealey grace got PROMOTED at gymnastics today! No more newcomer class for THAT chick - watch out {can't think of names of last olympics gymasts} - but here comes KEALEY!!!! watching a bunch of leotard clad three year olds trying to run down the runway to the jumpboard cracks me up. good times. I am proud of that little bugger. She was one of only like two or three to graduate in her class. MASSIVE amounts of tears after class today - we got dressed and bolted.
I figured out how to send layouts to Costco! So now I will have some rockin 12x12s to put into my new rockin albums i bought at costco. Not too sure of the quality, but they are kealey's album color, and at two for $15, who could resist? I am SOOOO not into quality. Probably should be, but give me QUANTITY any day! (Not to ruin the high points portion of this little entry, but i go to pick up my prints, the photo center chicks are OBVIOUSLY hassled by the millions of customers loitering around, and exasperatedly tell me my order will not be ready for another two hours, they haven't even started it. So all sugary nice i say no problem proceed to do some shopping, then get the kids back in the car and head home. I get the kidlets undressed, sit down to check new messages, and AS I OPEN EMAIL a new message pops in from, you guessed it - COSTCO PHOTO CENTER - your pictures are ready to be picked up!!!! I could have shot someone right then. But I didn't).
I get to go out with a good friend tonite to celebrate her birthday. Haven't spent good quality time with her in a while, so am definitely looking forward to it. We have no plans, we will just see where the frigid sub-zero wind blows us!holy crap i just realized i totally didn't get her gift yesterday like i thought i would! i am the horriblest friend.
ok high points high points - focus on the high points...
oh my gosh - the children are doing something upstairs that sounds like a herd of elephants running through - gotta go check on the structural integrity of my house - more to come later!!!

terra

FREEBIE ALERT!

2005-12-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

Ok that is sort of misleading - I do'nt actually have a freebie like a digital download...like COOL PEOPLE have on their blog. But I do have something to give away for FREE!!! I wo'nt even charge you shipping! But it is limited to the first oh...we'll say ten people. I doubt I even have ten people who read this blog, let alone ten people who are interested in this blog, but ten is a good even number and it gives me something to shoot for! Are you ready????
The awesome, must have, get it before it is available to most other people freebie of the week (month, season, whathaveyou) is................. (remember on that one episode of the office where he doesn't have a bonus surprise for everyone and he does the ridiculously long drumroll???? insert that image here....)
a FREE BRAND NEW HOT OFF THE PRESSES Close to My Heart Spring Catalog/Idea Book. These really are more like idea books than catalogs. At least I always get cute ideas out of there...
So - if you want one - let me know! Let's just say I ordered WAY more catalogs than I have the customer base to support...but i just love this stuff so much! It is so fun to play with! Ten people - i wonder how long that will take me to get to? a week?
Anyways - today's big news...in my "mystery fake dr. appt" today I lost THREE POUNDS!!! I am SOOOO close to my pre-karissa weight I can TASTE IT! Not that pre-karissa weight is anywhere near where I truly want to be, but still - it is a milestone I will feel proud to accomplish! My fat jeans are getting DANGEROUSLY close to sliding off my volumptuous hips and the day they no longer stay up on their own - i do'nt know, I will definitely be doing a happy dance! Maybe they will become the blog freebie...
i did three pages last nite! I am not sure if the almighty blogger can handle that much of an upload, but i will sure try it! speaking of -- i am toying with the idea of possibly upgrading to a typepad account, but am not sure if forking over all the money to hear myself type outloud is going to be worth it at this point. Gotta talk to my technogeek brother about that one...Or if any of my plethora of blog readers have any opinions on that....please feel free to let me know.
Ok on to the pages from last nite...

Paper and overlay by Jessica Bolton, Eclectic Scraps. K monogram (recolored) and princess doodles by Shabby Princess, word charm from digital freebies, beautiful little girl - by ME!! journaling is thoughts on her being three and a half. not sure if it will enlarge to let you read it.

ummm ok it won't let me change my font placement - weird - so the above page is using a background page from the awesome Digital Memories Mag premier issue kit - the adorable stamps and alpha are from Gina Miller (Christmas STamps and Holly Berry Alphas kits sold separately at the Digi Chick). Fonts are CK tailored sloppy and CK Holiday Script. Stitching is by Heather Ann in her Fabulous Fall Kit. The edging - a very basic little button I push in DIP. Wish it were some fancy technique, i would be tres cool then, but alas, it is so simple my toddler could do it.

ok it will not let me post my last layout - it was pretty cute too. I will link it. Some of you have probably already seen it - it is my cool dude layout (me pouting with my arms crossed)...shoot! Anyways - here it is

cool dude layout

And on that note- i bid you farewell. If you live in the midwest - stay warm. fricking 6 degrees below zero. I left California for THIS????? I GOT ROBBED.....

Random "name that tune" music quote of the day: ( a new fun feature here at terra's blog)

"Well Maybe I'm the faggot America, I'm not a part of a redneck agenda, now everybody do the propaganda, and sing along to the age of paranoia".

I have to think of a prize...but first one to beep in with the correct song title and artist wins,,,, my utmost respect! and a prize after I think of one!

merry monday!

Gotta love the randomness!

2005-12-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

I was just realizing how random I am with posting to this thing. I do two on one day, then none for like a few days. guess that is just my natural ebb and flow of funny witty creative things to say!
bummed bummed bummed - cause I WANT to go out and do some more christmas shopping *not FINISH cause I HATE when it is finished and done* but just shop some more. At some point i am probably going to need to return some of the five sets of magical pegasus dolls and two extra leapsters i bought, that might give me a little more money - but mostly I just want my PAYCHECK!!!! gotta wait for the bank to get on its horse though.....stupid banks!!! December 15th - that is the day - then two to three more days for mailing...then I am GOLDEN baby!
ok - anytime now it can start snowing! I want it to snow so the gym isn't so busy so I can go workout for the first time in like two weeks! It sucks not going regularly - but some days it is just SO HARD to drag both kids over there - i want to go to RELAX not worry about what strange diseases my children are picking up or whether one of them is going to have a poopy diaper! Because that NEVER fails - karissa SAVES it i swear till the best part of yoga class - the relaxation part at the end - and then i get the five hundred angry pages to get my fat a** down to the childcare center. GOOD LORD people - you work with children ALL DAY - would it kill you to have to smell a poopy diaper for five more minutes????
the lack of work ethic among some people, i swear....
but that is a whole other blog topic i will save for later.
i want to jazz up my blog a little bit - want some funky music like Shannon has, or a better color scheme for the whole thing or to figure out how to size the stupid banner right. I have done it before, but this template is just not a lot of fun to play with! I want to take some better cuter pics to scrap with, but the lighting in our house sucks, especially when it is so dreary and gloomy outside.
Gotta go make something cute to post on my blog so it has SOME color and life to it...sorry nothing funny to say today... i am in a very funky mood. what will spark me up a little???

terra

a little creativity in an otherwise pretty boring day

2005-12-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

ok the christmas card - yes - it is a shameless lift of about 592 cards on twopeas, which were all just lifts of a card in scrapbooks etc. SO I AM NOT INGENIOUS!!!! the point is, I have a design. I am not real happy with the picture selection/placement. Any hints on what it is missing would be appreciated. I need to sit the chicklets down and have an actual photo shoot to get some better shots I think.

The messy marker face page. Just wanted to try a little something different than my typical grungy inked up sloppy page. I like how this turned out. LOVE gina's new beaded alpha freebie at her blog - if there's any left!!! She is one amazingly talented designer! I am happy when i break out of a font rut - I could never in a thousand years do what her and other digi-designers do! THANK GOD FOR SMART PEOPLE!!!! otherwise I would have some pretty lame-ass boring pages.
I am full on in the mood for red lobster tonite. I think red lobsters in the middle of the country freak me out. I mean, HOW far away exactly are we from the nearest port of seafood???? mmm hmmm - THAT far! gotta love it when your "fresh seafood" comes hand delivered by the fedex man earlier that day. I have worked for fedex. I see what happens to boxes. But does this stop me from eating there???? abso-smurf-ly not. I am a glutton for all things processed and preserved. But i doubt darling husband will share my affinity for fake seafood tonite. So i gotta dig out some salad supplies and the pre-made beef pinwheels i picked up at auntie Jewel's the other nite.
WHY aren't my pictures uploading? have i hit my limit for today or something?
this is recockulous.

if they don't post today - first thing tomorrow you get to see them!

oh joy - it posted twice. Ok - you get to leave with one last parting shot of my baby with green marker all over her mouth!
I cannot for the LIFE of me get it to delete.
Someday i will get the hang of this blogging thing. By then it will be a long gone thing of the past - but by golly i will have it figured it out!
have a good nite everyone!

LEAVE ME COMMENTS - good bad or ugly - i want to know if you are actually reading this! someday i will bribe someone into giving me a freebie to give away here, then i will know how many of you are just lurking....

hasta luego.
terra

TGIF!!!

2005-12-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

although I am not sure why - it isn't like i have a REAL job or anything where I actually get a weekend off....hmmm...guess I just like the anticipation of it being friday!
anyways - i finally finished my AAM page for Gina's creative team link. going to attempt to share it here. It ended up being such a huge file cause of the three hundred sixty four different fonts i used! hope this works!

ok there it is! Nothing too special, but i like it cause it reflects ME - cluttery, too much stuff jammed into the space, it makes no real sense, but it is who I am! i wish i had a better pic of me that I liked though. I toyed around wtih the idea of using like a pic of say ashley judd or catherine zeta jones but thought that might be a dead giveaway that those pics were NOT ME... shoot I forgot to put under my picture - all papers and elements are from Gina Millers BEEEEE autiful "vintage poppy flowers" kits available at the digi chick. I LOVE love love this kit - shabby, girly, and great colors in it!

Someday - i will like pictures of myself again. When I get back down to having only one perfectly sculpted little chin instead of three or four like I do now! I was very intrigued to learn that miss Gina also has a baby teeth issue. (see above regarding my medical anomalies). I sorta feel gypped by that - i mean, everyone else got visited by the tooth fairy like what - 20 times? I got it maybe 4 or 5....i am out like seriously $7. I want my money back tooth fairy!!! I want it all back!

We actually have friends coming to play with us today so I suppose I should do something to make myself, kids and the house look a little more presentable. But it is oh so much more infinitely fun to just sit and veg on the computer and find cool random digi-freebies! I gotta catch up on my apprentice from last nite then i will have some thoughts to share on last nite's awesome round of reality TV.

be the change you wish to see and all that happy horsesh**....

till next time - me

TOO....MUCH....DRIVING....

2005-11-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

The ONE (ok there's more but this is the only one I am complaining about right now) - bad thing about the chicagoland area -it takes for-fricking-ever to get anywhere!!! I have been in the car for probably over 8 hours today. I could have seriously driven to like, there is no place cool around here....ummm.... if i was still in CA i could have driven to disneyland and halfway back by now. EIGHT FRACKIN HOURS!!!!!
And i have TWO MORE TONITE!!!!
good thing I have comfy heated seats in my big motha trucka... but still....
So i got almost everything done on my list today - preschool, returning the horse head to walmart for a price exchange, going to get lunch for the kids, pick sister up at her house, drive to the ghetto to drop her off at airport, gave a homeless man money (he didn't even wash my windsheild with the newspaper - i gave it to him for FREE!!!!), drove home through stupid traffic on the Stevenson,got BACK in the car, drove to the mall for Santa pics (which thank the good Lord above took all of ten minutes except I FORGOT to get them on STUPID CD, so i had to take a digital picture of a digital picture), then over to ARchivers to get my mom her fastenator stapler thingy, then back home in more stupid traffic.
Now we get ready for Awana, I give my lesson tonite to a bunch of , i am sure, hyped up fifth graders, then another two hours up to my mom's house to spend the nite so we can go to MOPS tomorrow then to my dr appt. Not really a dr. Too gross to discuss on my blog though. If you are truly interested in what sort of "dr" I have to go see tomorrow - leave a comment, I will email you the info! It is not pretty, but is sure helping me feel LOTS better!
On that front - I KNOW i am getting healthier cause there is no way I would have been able to do what I did today even four weeks ago. I feel FANTABULOUS with energy. I need to scrap a thanksgiving layout about getting my health back - note to self - SCRAP THANKSGIVING/HEALTH PAGE...
And the best part of all that driving today? I didnt swear, not even once!!! THAT is how I know I am feeling MUCH better....but that is true digression right there.
exciting news of the day? I got an email from Donna Downey!!! I left a comment on her blog responding to her going to QVC for her training blah blah blah - I told her to make sure she gets her makeup airbrushed by their stylists and to say hi to my uncle Dan Wheeler. She wasn't sure who Dan was so she emailed me to ask about it - BOWLED OVER WITH SHOCK - i got an email from a real scrapping celebrity!!!!
Is it asking too much to hope that my awana kids are all like sick or very subdued tonite? I am soooooo tired and all i really want to do is eat a nice taco from chipotle and SCRAP. I am dying to scraplift Jenn's adorable Christmas Wish page...cause I am not that creative myself...but alas, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to recolor inking in DIP> bueller, bueller, anyone? anyone? any and all help in this area appreciated...

ok - my creative layout from yesterday that I FORGOT to post...let's see if i can do this again...

This is from Gina Miller's Be- Bop Kit, available at the Digi Chick. The Decorative Edge is from her Decorative Edge pack, and the enamel ornament charms at the bottom are from her Enamel Christmas Charms kit. It is all VERY adorable - check it out!
you gotta love that 3-6 month sized dress on my almost 17 month old. That Hanna Anderson is a load of crap - you can't wear these year after year!!!! ( i am only kidding - I realize they mean you can wear them year after year IF THEY FIT)....

anyways - what else did I want to blog about???? Can't think of much right now so I will sign off. More fun to follow tomorrow!!! STay tuned - same bat time, same bat channel!

SEacrest out. Atkinson too.

Yay I got to be creative today!!!

2005-11-29T13:24:00.000-08:00

praise-alluia I was able to do a whole layout today! I am not totally impressed with it, think it is missing something still....but i was able to be creative like I wanted! It feels good. I wish I was as prolific as SOME people who whip out three or four layouts in a day...but...i will get there someday.
Why won't my children sleep? They NEVER sleep! Even my baby, the GOOD sleeper - fights me on naptimes and sleeps for MAYBE ten hours a nite. Do'nt even get me started on my three year old. She is the reason they put the "may cause excitability in some children" warnings on bottles of Benadryl. I hear moms all the time say - oh I just gave him a half dose of benadryl on the plane and he slept the whole way to {germany, hawaii, new york, fill in the blank}...ok if I even HOLD a benadryl bottle in front of my children i might as well just pour sugar down their throats!!! How did I get on this tangent????
oh yeah - my kids are awake from naptime already and want to make a craft, eat a snack, SUCK MY WILL TO LIVE!!!!!! just kidding...
ok - so my happy adult life has now ended for the day. I am off to catch the last few hours of noggin before it turns into teenybopper drama land for the nite....give me a Moose A Moose SHOUT OUT if you know what i'm talkin 'bout!!!

peace out homies - catch ya on the flip side!

terra

Ahhh the Title Bar...

2005-11-29T07:42:00.000-08:00

I finally got it to work. And then can't think of anything cutesy to say as my title. Figures.
Anyways - today - too busy to think about. I have to do work (ughhhh), take Kealey to gymnastics, home for lunch and naps (this is when i SHOULD do my work, but will probably play on the computer with my new Gina Miller goodies~), clean up the house, and get dinner ready. And then get ready for tomorrow - a REALLY busy day! preschool, take sister to airport, shopping with mom, preparing my lesson for my Awana kids, packing for an overnite trip to moms for me and the girls....
ok my head is spinning.
Focus on the now - one moment at a time. There is just such a disparity between what i WANT to do, and what i HAVE to do!!! I WANT to be lazy and just play all day and be creative - I HAVE to get work done, be technical, be focused. someday I will find a balance....someday.
At least my energy is returning. Reminds me I need to drink some more yerba mate tea. that totally helped yesterday!
I need to work on my AAM page for Gina's CT page. It is probably going to take me a while to get it just so. Ok i am going to go try to be creative REAL QUICK - on a deadline! I will post whatever I get done here!

2005-11-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

Wow - It has been a while since I blogged! I went to my old blog and lo and behold - they are shutting it down! I got there in the nick of time - they are destroying them all on Wednesday! So i transferred everything over to this new one...I hope I got it all and that it worked.

So much to catch up on...
What do I blog about?

my every day life (boring....)
My health (like anyone cares)
annnnnnnddddd I think that's it!

Why do I blog?

It is my online journal - a place to get thoughts out , to organize my day a little.
To keep a record to look back on of all we do as a young family.
To try to learn from my mistakes in the past.
To meet new people by sharing my blog with them and reading theirs.

Why am i categorizing things like this?

trying to figure out what to catch up on first, what direction this NEW blog should go in....

so i will just write what is on the top of my head and catch up on other stuff later.

I was inspired to restart my blog by my NEW fellow CT Member for Gina Miller - miss dancingirisheyes - Shannon Bieger. Truly a talented scrapper, writer, and from the looks of it, mommy. I cannot wait to get to know her, and the other CT members better. I finally have a fun little group to be part of! We can be like The Plastics!!!
anyways...

So - I figured, if I am going to be all professional and stuff, I better have my blog act together! Who knows? REAL PEOPLE might actually be reading this now!
I am SOOOO utterly excited about being on the Creative Team for Gina! It is STILL a total shock. I feel like the poor backwoods girl invited to the popular girls' slumber party - total pity invite, but hey, I will take it any way I can! So go ahead girls - freeze my bra, draw a sharpie mustache on me when I am asleep, call all the boys and tell them i have a crush on them - I do'nt CARE!!!!! I am just glad to be part of the group!
I gotta frickin figure out how to link layouts into here....

oh my gosh it worked.

i guess what they say is true - you really DO learn something new every day!

alrighty - my new kit from Miss Miller herself just arrived - I gotta go play with that!!! woo hoo!!!!

hopefully i will be more inspired and inspiring tomorrow....

stay tuned for more!

seacrest out.

(me too)

2005-11-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

Testing to see if I set this thing up right or not....this will be like my fourth attempt at blogging. They all say pretty much the same thing!

2005-11-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

It is thundering outside right now - what the HECK does that mean in the first week of NOVEMBER for crying out loud? Weird stuff.
It is a very dark and gloomy day outside - went to a b=day party for next door neighbor little girl. The girls had fun and we got to stay for most of it. I love her (sarah's) parties - cause her and I are usually the only white girls there - it is great to be exposed to different cultures and to see the girls playing with kids of literally every color. I didn't really have that growing up in small town america. It was pretty white bread. Which was great - do'nt get me wrong, I am not saying i wish my childhood had been in some third world country or something - but I am glad that my own kids are exposed to the differences and the similarities that people have early on.
Anyways - not a whole lot else going on today. Finished another scrap page - I am really starting to dig this digital thing! maybe i will switch over to a paid blog sometime soon, to actually be able to post them and what not, but not for a while. This is good for now.
I am feeling pretty ok today. Sad that I missed yoga, but the b-day party was lots of fun anyways, and maybe i will get to go work out on my own tonite after Ben comes home. I am going to try to go with more cardio than I normally would believe in, because maybe that is the kickstart that I need. We will see how that goes. I want to start being much more disciplined about getting over there at LEAST three times a week, preferably four, but I will take 3 right now over NONE!
Well I feel a little more creativity coming on, so I might try to go finish up another page or a mini book.
Be Happy!
terra

2005-11-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

I mean seriously, doesn't EVERYONE have some randomness in them somewhere? I think I feel the most unlike myself when I am not connected to that randomness. it is what makes me me. Otherwise I have become my worst nightmare -the dreaded suburban soccermom with my huge gas guzzler, cell phone, and drive thru coffee drink in hand. And while some of those things are unavoidable sometimes, is that who I REALLY am?
I think not, I hope not.
Tonite I get to go on a date with darling hubby. i hope it is a good fun time. I cannot believe the turn around that man has made in the last few weeks. Almost like a whole different person. In a very good way. Not that he was so bad before, but just so much was missing from the day to day relationship. I guess that happens in all marriages, and at some point you either realize it, and give up, or you realize it, and fix it.
I have posted my first digital layout in jasbeanie's gallery, http://www.jasbeanie.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1&pos=5
ok i can't figure out how to be cutesy and hyperlink it.
anyways - that was a good feeling of accomplishment. I have a good base for my new app coming up due in January. Wow - 8 weeks. Better get mcCrackin on that! enough of sitting in front of the computer! I think i tell myself that every day - look how good it actually works. HA! I think we are going to attempt a lunch with Auntie Poopface today, perhaps a trip to Archiver's if the kidlets are cooperating. I am lusting over some VERY large chipboard alpha's that I hope are in stock. Don't know what it is about them, but I MUST HAVE. And a few new idea books.
I am dying to hear back from a magazine about an article i pitched. It would be a ton of work, but the chance to actually be creative with my writing - i would be on my way to my ABSOLUTE dream job.
I can't wait for snow. I truly can't. Hopefully it is soon.
Pray for organization. I need it desperately!

2005-11-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it is NOVEMBER already. Halloween went well - the kidlets were adorable if i do say so myself. If i weren't deathly afraid of exceeding my bandwidth here, I would post more pics. I am having my brother help me with a website where I can post pics to my hearts content, but until that day, I have to figure out how to get them into my blog without eating up all my allotted webspace.
Healthwise - doing a lot better. I can tell things are slowly starting to turn around. If I had any sort of willpower to stick to the diet a hundred percent I know I would be a whole different person right now too! But for now, just getting some energy back, feeling the fog lift a little more each day - that is progress. When I meet with the dr. again next week, I will ask specifically regarding the weight loss with all these supplement, and maybe i can start heading in that direction a little faster.
I am sort of tired right now - and while my brain is screaming - MAKE COFFEE, i KNOW that that is not what my system really needs right now. I need to just throw out all this dang halloween candy, drink more water, probably take a nap, but I crave my alone/creative time too much to actually do any of the above. My floors are almost done, and that is a lovely thing. Only a few more loads of laundry to catch up on.
I hate that feeling when you swallow too many pills at once and they try to expand back up your esophagus. totally hurts and sucks.
ok i am going to try to finish up a halloween page while i have a few more minutes of quiet, then go sealcoat the floors before girls wake up!
(ps - thought i would change up the color today - this color just spoke to me - i am in sort of a lavender mood....sorry if its hard to read!)

2005-10-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

WHERE did this come from? I am like a raving psychotic lunatic bitch today! I was dead tired last nite too - was asleep by 8:45. ASLEEP. I am usually not even remotely THINKING about bed at that time. Something is way off - blood sugars...cortisol...other hormones...no idea. I suppose it COULD be pms....but something else has to be aggravating it. I have GOT to get to yoga this morning. I am waking up the baby if i need to, but I need some sort of balance to this sheer frustrations i feel looking at everything around me. The messy house that I feel like I get NO help in keeping clean, the STUPID plant that I never even wanted making more of a mess than it is worth, the cat litter that i need to clean out as soon as i go get more litter to fill the box with, this ridiculous tile floor that takes SO MUCH to keep clean. GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr - I just want to scream out loud!!! See??? something is seriously wrong, this is totally not me. I need to just stop thinking for a while. I am going to go get dressed, head to yoga, chill out in the steam room for a while, run my errands, then come home and start all over again. Just typing that brings a sense of calm and order to my day.
ohhhh i can't wait to stretch out in the steam room..... i hope it isn't crowded - it probably will be - all these suburban moms and their kids have to get there on saturday morning..... ok that is another frustration i won't get into right now.
better go get my yoga clothes on !

2005-10-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

WHAT is this world coming to? I am posting twice in one day. I can definitely tell energy is returning. I haven't even taken my afternoon meds yet!
I am itchy with this compulsion to CREATE or to make a list and check the things off, I am BORED with the mundane tasks of life/mommy'ing/housekeeping..Not that I don't love all my roles, do'nt get me wrong, I am just BORED with that stuff at the moment. It is not what I want to do with my newfound energy. Imagine waking up from a coma and instead of everyone being happy for you and asking what do you want to eat or do or watch on TV - you are told to sit and fill out paperwork or complete your multiplication tables ....BORING right? You are filled with a desire to LIVE, to connect, to breathe in fresh air to grab life in both arms and give it a hug...
that is where I am at today. I frequent these creative boards and see the creative genius everywhere all around me and think - where is mine? What do I do that is creative? i get up to start something fun and creative and instead am sidetracked by the pile of laundry or the dishes in the sink or (dread) my real work.... And i know,i know - just DO those things, they do'nt take THAT much time, then they're done and you can do the fun stuff....but doing those things takes the little energy i have built up thus far. Someday, someday I will have my energy back...and then i can tackle that question of who am i now compared to who was I before this "coma", and those two people can meet and merge into me. Just me. Uncreatively, sometimes homely, but nonetheless wanting to live life out loud, me.

2005-10-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

which is actually like monday morning around here due to our family's schedule. just sitting at the computer when i should be cleaning, or folding clothes, or even starting on work. Having blood sugar issues the last few days - do'nt know if all the pills I take every day have anything to do with it - or if it is a good sign or a bad sign. Should probably call someone at the dr's office about that. When will I get my discipline back, my focus, my drive? Will I ever be "that person I used to be" again? Or am I just supposed to become this new person? I hardly even remember what it was that I used to be that I am so desperately wanting to achieve again... I guess we are always changing (evolving, mutating,morphing, growing) - but is it always in a positive manner, and upward reaching to better ourselves...or can we "de-grow" and become worse human beings. i guess that is why when we are sick, our bodies are not functioning optimally, and rather than be in a state of growth, they are in a state of death, of putrid stagnation. I feel like I may be slowly emerging from that state, towards one of health and growth again...but I cannot shed that coccoon fast enough, I cannot run far enough away from that state of dying. I want to live - to BE ALIVE. Maybe that is why I take so many pictures of my daughters - trying to capture their aliveness, their health, their vitality, their beauty. They are everything I could ever hope for or hope to achieve. I am blessed and humbled by their presence in my life. They are how I know there is a God - they are my miracles.

2005-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Once again - a thousand and one ideas of things I would like to do are pouring through my head,
and yet I feel totally unmotivated to get up off the chair and do any of them. I would love to schedule an OAMC cooking day with a few friends, i would love to go scrap, i would love to take pics outside (if there were any leafy trees near our house that had colored leaves)...I would love to wink my eyes and twitch my nose and have the house magically cleaned - POOF!!! I would love to be able to breathe normally again. I can't tell if I am just fighting a chest cold, or if it has actually triggered my asthma or what, but it sucks. I want to be cute. I want people to read my blog and think - yeah I want to be like that too!
I wish I had a group of REALLY TRULY good friends. You know the kind you can totaly call in the middle of the nite, or the middle of a crisis, and just say - hey, lets get some ice cream. Sure, I have a few friends, who, depending on the circumstance, I could do that. But I do'nt have the kind of friendship you so often read about - I do'nt have a ya=ya sister, or a traveling pants sister. Maybe someday, if we ever live in one part of the country for longer than 23 months at a time.
I want to hang pictures and make my house look cute. I want it to be cleaned so people can come over at a moments notice. Maybe as part of my daily photos I will have to take a daily photo of my house as well, and be forced to post it on here (not that anyone reads it really), but knowing it is there, I want it to be cleaned, I want to see the progress.
Ok I am off to find some steroid medication for my slowly closing bronchial tubes, help deflate the pool for the year with darling hubby, and then, for added fun, I might unload the dishwasher and reload it. WOO HOO!!!! watch out world, here I come!

2005-10-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

If I could only figure this out, marriage would be SMOOTH sailing, huh? I am once again in trouble for spending too much of my money on things that, granted, probably aren't real NEEDS in our household. And truly, sometimes I do feel guilty for it. but other times I feel like I definitely earn every penny of it, and I do pay my share of the bills...I do'nt know. I would like to be able to contribute more to the family income, yet not go insane. I really really really would love to get an article published. I need to sit down and execute a plan for this week, fill up my hours so I am not aimlessly wandering the store buying mindless junk, and so I am being productive toward that goal. I need to just write a few outlines for articles, send query letters off, and then sit back and wait. It is a long process I know.
I feel like I am slowly regaining a sense of energy and balance into my life. The fog seems to be slowly lifting, although there are still quite a few days that are under that fog. but sometimes I can see patches of clear sky and it gives me hope and strength to go on. I need to make a plan, stick to it, and execute it. i need to be better about journaling the process and getting out my feelings and thoughts here, instead of letting them fester in my sick head.
I need to go to yoga today. This means a lot of crazy running in the next hour, getting dressed, cleaning the house, playing a game with Kealey on the computer, hoping that 50 minutes of a nap is good enough for karissa. I need to clear my mind, do some exercise, and get back to whole. Then I need to come home, list all my stuff for sale on my websites, make a plan for the week, and figure out how to live till next payday without spending any money. I think I can do it.
More to come later!

2005-08-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to the doctor's office yesterday.
They are still running a bunch of bloodwork (and - gag me - saliva samples!!!) to try to pinpoint exactly what my problem is, but based on Dr. Go's initial exam and my written history, it seems to be some weird mix of :
Adrenal Stress Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Insulin Resistance, PCOS, and oh yes, Hypothyroidism
I think that is it. What they are trying to figure out now is which disease is sort of the chicken hatching all the other eggs, as they are all sort of interconnected. Basically I am screwed up and falling apart. But thank God for naturopaths otherwise I would be on some SERIOUS medications with all of that going on! I am still trying to sort it all out in my mind. My upcoming appointments are with an emotional therapist, a muscular therapist, and a nutrionist, so we can start fixing the root cause of all of these things. Mostly I just want to LOSE WEIGHT. at least there seems to be a medical reason though, for it just continuing to pack on in spite of anything I did or didn't eat. I just want results and I want them yesterday. I am ready to make a big committment to this program and go for it gung ho, but honestly I am too tired to even think about it. The house isn't the cleanest right now, I haven't even begun to unpack from my trip, or the kids' suitcase, cause I am too wasted to get them up the stairs. I am wasted right now. Just sitting and typing. I want to stop thinking.
This tiredness/fatigue just hits you like a wall. I have been tired before, I have even been EXHAUSTED, but nothing compares to this.
peace out
terra

2005-08-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

Today i am supposed to call my dr. back to find out the results of my bloodwork to test for thyroid levels. At least a doctor finally listened to me about my symptoms, agreed that it sounded like a problem, and is at least willing to start me on the path towards fixing the problem. I have been trying to research online about hypothyroidism, and really try to educate myself on what I can do to restore total health to my body - to get rid of the emotional roller coaster, the excess weight, the lethargy, the dry skin - all the other oh-so-fun little things we have been dealing with as of late.
I hope I can find a good doctor who will use a good combination of both traditional and natural approaches to fixing this. I really do'nt want to be on synthetic hormones for the rest of my life, opening myself up to a whole other array of issues. The doctor I am thinking of going to though, is about an hour north of here. Not too bad of a drive, but with gas prices....it could get ugly. There is a solution to this problem. I will work tirelessly to find it, as long as I can gather up the little energy I still have.
I think what is most poignant to me about this journey is that I was looking at pics from high school the other nite, and realized, I am a totally different person than that girl. And while some of that is ok and part of the natural progression of life - shouldn't you retain SOME of who you were as a youth? Some of that vibrance, those dreams, that innocence? I think you should. I don't know what robbed me of mine - I used to think I was still like that girl in those pictures. But somewhere I lost her.
I think this last year of my twenties will be a long trying learning year. I think it will be one of the defining moments of my life - how and what I do with this year, these mountains I face now.
I will write more about how I feel about this whole health issue once I have talked to the doctor.

2005-08-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

So, it starts off when we walk into the store. Kealey IMMEDIATELY has to go the bathroom - what else is new? That child has a bladder the size of a pinhead I swear it. I think we have probably visited EVERY public restroom within a ten square mile radius of home. No joke.
So anyhoo - the dang cart doesn't fit in the bathroom but at least it is a private one, like only one person at a time type, so I fiercely guard the outside entrance while she is in there singing her ladybug song and yelling - "don't flush it mommy! I do'nt want to flush it!" Fine.
So we leave the bathroom area and lo, before us, the pimp daddy of all grocery carts - the FIRE ENGINE CART!!!!! (trumpets blaring) Of course this just SCREAMS "ride me ride me" to my children who are both falling over themselves to get to it (lest any other child DARE THINK of riding in THEIR cart). So I get baby buckled in, put up with a minor fit from kealey about her lack of a seat belt (are you kidding me? like that would keep you strapped in anyways!) and off we go. They proceed to make fire engine noises and play with the @!(*&$ horns that some well paid idiot decided to put in those things (although I should thank my lucky stars that at least there were two steering wheels and two horns - the ensuing racket from fighting over only one would have been much louder than the horns/beep beep noises we were already making.) Ok have i mentioned the SIZE of this cart?
It is approximately the size of your basic Yugo. yes the car. I kid you not. COSTCO carts, while extremely large and oversized and bulky to push, are smaller than this thing. I am surprised it didn't need its own power supply. Forget joining the gym, if you want a really good workout, go load up the fire engine cart with a few kids, a couple hundred bucks worth of groceries and push it around the store. Both muscular and cardiovascular benefits included. I digress...
So anyways - we tool around the store getting the things on my list (it was a very short list - a normal person could have been in and out of the store with all my items in under 15 minutes, tops.) Well eagle eyes from her vantage point in the fire engine drivers seat sees a bottle that looks familiar and proceeds to NEEEEEEEDDDD a drink she is SOOOO thirsty. I am looking at her like, you are off your rocker. That crap comes from a GOAT. No way am I buying you that. (she wanted a bottle of flavored Kefir = ok the fact that they have to FLAVOR it to get you to drink it should tell you something.) Anyways, I figured out what she really wanted, one of those dang portable smoothie thingies. So i get her one. Take the cap off, give it to her, instruct her to please share some with her sister. I guess I can't pinpoint where the mistake started....but it ended up with "I can't give her a drink in her MOUTH!!!" and a cute little trail of pink dairy creation from karissa's head, body, extremities....all the way back to the dairy case. I can only assume that the thought bubble in kealey's head went something like " - well if I can't aim it into her mouth I might as well just bathe her in it"...
Cut to us heading back up to the front of the store to the cutesy little "Sanitize Your Cart" station. The two jumbo packs of sanitizing wipes they have up there are not enough sanitizer in the world for this cart, but hey...neither here nor there. I proceed to empty out one canister trying to move the yogurt around on the baby, eventually get it good enough for government work, and back to shopping we go. Well now we are at the fun part - the real aisles!
Karissa apparently realizes as generic brands of all things food are whizzing by her eyes that she can now TOUCH the stuff! (I think this may have been her first experience in one of the pimp daddy biga@@ carts...not sure) Anyhoo - she decides to stick her arm out and try to catch as much of this fun as she can, much like a dog would stick his head out of a speeding car window - we will never know the reason...
So after knocking over a nice display of salad dressing bottles (thankfully all plastic - LOVE plastic), we whip around the store collecting the remaining meager items in my cart. At this time, in her own inexplicable way, kealey has proceeded to get her finger stuck in the clip belt that "protects kids from falling out of the gaping large window through which they are designed to enter said fire engine truck cart". I mean honestly, why there is even a clip belt THERE I do not pretend to know. But she is playing with it, ensuring her sister's safety I presume, and it builds " my fingermyfingermyfingeRMYFINGER MY FINGGGGGGEEEEERRRRRRRRRR" - seriously you would have thought that I had taken a dull butter knife and chopped it off the way she was screaming about this. EVERYONE in the store is staring at us by this point.
So we FINALLY make our way up to the check out line, I unload the cart behind a thankfully short line, and then realize it is the EXPRESS LANE. 15 item limit. I am near tears. The kind soul at the checkout obviously realizes this and tells me it is ok not to worry and just starts quickly scanning things to get caught up in her line again. I am mortified. I mean I HATE it when idiots do that kind of thing in front of me, and here I am a first class express lane OFFENDER! So as the line builds and builds and builds behind me, I am pushing with all my strength to get the Yugo sized cart through the narrow little lane. It fit - like a fat man fits in an airline seat- but we got her through by gosh! Can I just tell you I had no less than FOUR cart/bagger boys ready to help us out? They were pretty much all like - get this crazy woman and her obnoxious children OUT of this store before she causes more clean up troubles!
So - there in a nutshell is the grocery store incident.
If anyone is reading this, and has been there done that - PLEASE tell me I am not a bad mom. We all just have bad days...
or choose our carts poorly.

2005-08-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. Well, I guess if your definition of "good" includes pretty much being FORCED out of the grocery store and then dropping a gallon of yogurt all over the floor, and having a massive breakout on your face and almost passing out from mixing cleaning chemicals when trying to clean the bathroom....if you include all that in your definition of good, then yes, it was a good day.
I guess it really is all in the attitude. I just determined to have a better attitude today! I got the bathrooms power cleaned, except the floors and reorganizing I need to do. and it doesn't even bother me that in less than 48 hours it will look like i never did it at all! Kealey is responding very well to my change in attitude as well. I guess I took my cue from her. She is a very smart little kid. She knows way more than she should at her age. It is scary sometimes. Then we went to the grocery store. That in itself is a whole other entry. Which i will make once I get some of the rest of this out. So after grocery shopping we came home to nap time. Ahhhh the blessed sound of silence in this house. So rare...so precious....
I got dinner started, it smells good, chaos is under control.
I still feel like something tickles at the back of my mind - an unrest, or an uneasiness just sitting and enjoying. Maybe that is just my brain readjusting, or trying to adjust to a new mindset.
I slept good last nite too, after having a GREAT talk with an even GREATER friend. Just getting out some of what has tumbled around inside this head the past few weeks was very cathartic. Our words are powerful. Giving voice to our thoughts makes them more real and we are forced to deal with them. How does that saying go? shit or get off the pot? I think that is it - that is how it was getting those feelings out - either be depressed and get on meds, or take CHARGE of your life again and move towards the promised land. I am still not quite sure what that promised land is for me. I am figuring that out. I think I get glimpses of it though, on good days, hearing the laughs of little girls, seeing their adorable smiles, feeling a sense of pride in what I have accomplished that day, no matter how insignificant it may seem to someone else...I think I am headed in the right direction.

2005-08-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

i dont know why a regular old paper and pen journal just doesn't cut it anymore. maybe cause i am 29 now, not 19, and i feel like i have so much more to say. plus i can type faster than I can write...but who can't these days?
I feel like i am finally getting my life back after having family living with us for FOUR MONTHS!!!!!! I am slowly putting things back in order and cleaning up from the complete disrespect other people have for my house, my things, my order, my cleanliness quotient.
But I still feel this sense of - floating ness i guess.
So here is a little about me in this introductory post to my blog -
I am 29, hard though it is to say. Most days I feel like my 18 year old self is trapped somewhere in this flabby, mom of 2, out of shape, sickly old body. All those physical ailments are my own fault. Somehow I just kept gaining and gaining, through pregnancies, breastfeeding, sitting on my booty at a desk job, eating WAY more than my fair share of fast food, and a hefty addiction to regular coke...(the drink)...
Like i said - I am the mommy to two beautiful little girls. They are truly the bright spots of my days. Even on my gloomiest, grumpiest days, they can get at least ONE smile out of me! I smile now just thinking of some of the funny things they do. Where do kids learn how to make others laugh? I am blessed with two wonderful healthy children.
My husband of 8 years is Ben. He is my best friend, and as such, we have times of great closeness, and times of utter frustration with one another, but overall, he is my soulmate, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
We live in a great little neighborhood in a great little town outside of Chicago. We are lucky to live by lots of family now. It wasn't like this a year ago! God has blessed us with some amazing things this past year. I hope I learn to recognize those more as His blessings and not great circumstances.
today has been a good day. I made a conscious choice for it to be in spite of a horrid headache. I got a new pack of cute scrapbook paper with some birthday money. the challenge now will be to actually USE it, not just add it to the ever-growing collection.
someday i will have a schedule, and a semblance of organization to the chaos. Till then I will just keep plugging away.
Be strong,
terra