making a list...

and checking it twice... or two hundred times. and it has nothing to do with santa claus.

we had the opportunity to visit with matt's mom for a few hours yesterday, and as always, the house was brimming with the latest photos of all of the grandbabies. there are 7 now total. and they're all so cute. even on video camera, i'm enraptured by these little babies.

and so baby-fever is high. and i'm not afraid to admit it.

matt and i talked all the way home last night about where we want to be when we have kids. we're planners, dontchya know.

i told him that the only way i could feel satisfied with the fact that we're not yet ready is if i knew we were doing something to strive towards it... but what could i do?

he suggested we make a list. mmmmmmmmm. list. so we did. we talked through where we want to be in every stage of our lives... we want to be living healthier, more active lifestyles; closer to our goal weights; in our own home. matt wants to be in a job that he feels secure in, that he could actually support a family on; i want to be far enough along in my photography that i could shoot part time, and maybe even sell some of my images. we want our debt paid off, and to have purchased a second car if our living situation deems necessary. we want to have a savings account.

so no, it's not exactly the same as trying now to have a baby... but preparing for the future, making wise decisions now - the outcome of which will influence our future - is never a bad thing. i know that emotionally, we're not ready, but i also know that preparing for such a thing can often spur that kind of growth.

and it's fun to think about. now, if only we could agree on names. ;)

i'm baaaack!

when you last left your heroine, or rather when she last left you, she was nearly on her deathbed and crying out for a knight in shining armor (or at least in a white lab coat) to save her... tune in now for another rousing edition of ... of ... well, just tune in.

miss me? i missed you! i missed blogging. i missed writing my own, and reading the list of blogs i peruse on a daily basis. looks like i missed some good stuff while i was out.

so the final diagnosis was "tonsilitis + allergic reaction to penicillan". smart huh? they issued a prescription for pen. on monday, and when i had a rash by wednesday and the sore throat was worse, my husband was in the background shouting "i think she might be allergic to penicillan"... me?? "nooooo, i'm just dying." but i'll be darned - he's right. it's a shame my doctor couldn't figure that out herself, but had to send me to a specialist who pretty much laughed in my face. if i ever encounter that specialist again, i have a good swift kick lined up for his shins.

so life is nearly back to normal. today's my first day back at work - i'm sure i'll have no trouble keeping busy. i'm behind in nearly everything - work, housecleaning, ebay, scrapbooking, school. pretty much everything fell by the wayside for the longest 10 days of my life. it's too bad i couldn't muster the courage to actually accomplish something during those long days.

ah well, back in the saddle. and glad to be here. thanks for sticking around. :)

i'm alive... mostly.

sorry about the unusual silence. last friday, i noticed some soreness in my tonsils and it's ballooned into a medical anomaly. between the fever, chills, sore throat, little voice, chest pains, head aches and tonsils coated in something that resembles mold, (TMI, i know.) i haven't had much interest in sitting at the computer. i've been off work all week, and i'm downright desperate to go back. very lonely - my mom and stepdad have been doing their best to drop in and visit or take me to their house every now and then so that i can see some new scenery, and my poor husband can have a break.

my poor husband. in sickness and in health, i suppose. he's been to the grocery store at least 7 times in the last 4 days, washed who knows how many loads of dishes, cooked, cleaned and waited on me hand and foot. and he's been a pretty good sport about it too... mostly. ;)

on the up-side, i've lost 9 lbs in 5 days. if i can keep this up for like 2 more days, i'll weigh what i weighed on my wedding day! too bad it'll all come back when i'm able to eat something other than chicken broth and popsicles.

so the doctors can't find any trace of strep, mono or diphtheria (yeah, they tested for that too) so they're affectionately referring to me as "tonsilitis + ?". i have a 1:45pm appointment with the entroscopy clinic... apparently they intend to send something down my throat to look around. eeew. *gag* eeew.

the weekend upon us...

i love this time on a friday afternoon... things are winding down at work, i'm tying up the loose ends of my week, and planning the weekend ahead of me. i have quite a bit on my plate this weekend:

• pack up ebay stuff from the last couple of days and take to the P.O.
  
• run to kinkos to have my new business cards printed up tonight.
  
• interview for a teaching position at the Big J tomorrow. {and find something to wear for said interview.}
  
• run matt around to the things he needs to do tomorrow, so that i can have the car inbetween.
  
• shop for groceries.
  
• usual weekend chores.
  
• prepare for sunday's lesson at church with the kids.
  
• teach the kids on sunday.

i get kind of worn out just thinking about it all!! but most of it's fun, and should go well... so i'll survive! reeeeally looking forward to grey's anatomy on sunday. the last two episodes were so fantastic - can't wait to see where they're going with it. lost has been great too, though i'm a little befuddled by the stranger...

random philosophizing...

{is that a word?}

i heard of a woman - a stay at home mom that makes her living {and a good living, too} on ebay - who sold a ratty old pair of levi's from the 1970's for $60. in the same fashion {pun intended} that that bellbottoms and 'fro hairstyles, bobby-socks and saddle shoes have come back into style, it just goes to show that our life seems to occur in seasons. winter is gone, but it will be back.

but my thoughts today actually have nothing to do with winter, or the fashion industry. believe it or not, they're scrapbooking related.

see, about three years ago, when i first dove into this lovely hobby, i - like many others - bought every pair of decorative-edged scissors i could get my paws on. and then about two years ago, when i grew as a scrapbooker, got really into the industry, and realized that they were *so* "last year" {hahaha} i got rid of them {sold them on ebay as a matter of fact, but i made nowhere near $70 for them!}.

well, guess what's back "in style". yep, decorative-edged scissors. i've seen a handful of really great ideas {and i'm not talking oval-shaped photos, cut with a scalloped-edge, here folks!} and i'm dying to fiddle!! i have decorative-edged blades for my monster-trimmer, but those are a bit of a pain-in-the-tail on cardstock and of course you can't cut shapes with a straight-trimmer!

i know the Big J sells a generic brand, and i'll be there tomorrow for a teaching interview, so i might just have to pick up a few pairs!

v-day re-do

{say that 5 times fast.}

so i posted yesterday about our not-so-hot valentine's day. i also mentioned that we'd probably do something else this week to make up for it. well, tonight's the night!

matt wants to take me out to a relaxed dinner {applebee's!} so planning accordingly, i snagged a friend from work yesterday and together we ventured out to my favorite little stationary shop, Blu Canary, in search of something a) valentine's-ey and b) suitable for a man. didn't have to be anything terribly exciting, just "something to open" because i like gifts.

i ended up with a little box of whiskey-filled chocolates. yummy huh? i'm not so sure myself, but he'll like them. also found the prettiest v-day card {well, prettiest storebought card, that is} and a cute little gift bag. i'm happy with it.

so, tonight it is, our big v-day re-do. this sounds like a layout waiting to happen, huh? i guess i'll have to drag out my camera. :)

today i feel very blah. i don't mean to whine, but prepare yourselves anyway.

valentine's day didn't go exactly as planned last night. we never go out on valentine's day. the one day of the year when everybody *else* in the city is eating out, why would we want to be there too? but i got home at 5:30 and matt dangled the name of my favorite neighborhood diner in front of my eyes...

aaaapplebeeeeeee's.

after some back and forth, not being able to make up our minds, we went. what WERE we thinking?? we were thinking, i suppose, that on the most romantic day of the year, most couples are at fancy shmancy places that require reservations. we were NOT thinking they'd be at applebee's.

but i kid you not. the entire city of lynnwood was at applebee's. so we didn't even bother to park. it was clear from the line at the door that we shouldn't even ask what the wait was... i pouted. matt suggested my other fav - red lobster. we drove a few blocks over to the location of my favorite crustacean, only to discover a traffic jam in the parking lot. who are these people and why aren't they eating at fancy shmancy places that require reservations?

so we headed south, back toward home. we threw around a few other ideas... red crane steak & sushi {nah, probably too crowded}, old country buffet {blech, i'm not that desperate.} and guess where we landed. denny's.

in the parking lot, i cried about how typical the evening felt. not special. there were no gifts to open - i had taken him shopping for his to make sure i got what he wanted {nothing says "i love you" like a new dremel tool.} and he'll be making a generous contribution to my camera fund in honor of the big day - and dinner was going to be denny's, of all places. after getting over myself - sorta - we wandered in to get a table.

i kinda feel like children should be left at home with a babysitter on valentine's day - even if the parents only go to denny's. or at least, keep them quiet. the shouting of a three year old overly excited by an arousing game of uno hardly lends itself to a romantic atmosphere. even at denny's.

good thing our waiter was amusing. while discoing to a Prince song broadcasting through the restaurant {yes, disco}, he offered to don his ass-less pants as a part of the evening's entertainment. i'm not kidding. he said 'ass-less pants'.

after dinner, we headed home. totally unexciting celebration. i pouted for the rest of the evening {and as you can see, i'm still pouting today}. matt mentioned that he "knows me better than that" and that he should've gotten me something to open, anything, really. {he's right, but i don't hold it against him - i told him all i wanted was a donation to my camera fun.} and we'll have our nice homemade dinner and our bottle of wine another night. and maybe next year, when we get a wild hair to go out instead of staying in, i'll come across this blog entry and be reminded of how unexciting and depressing it is to spend valentine's day at denny's. even with a waiter in ass-less pants.

happy valentine's day!

totally wasn't expecting to wake up to snow this morning... they threatened a little thursday/friday, but i assumed they meant in the mountains. so, we were quite surprised to see a good half-inch built up. so pretty.

it's been quite a day. i was out sick yesterday, hence lack of post, and have recently discovered that i can no longer drink carbonated beverages, hence being out sick. i'll spare you the details.

about 20 minutes ago, a fistful of men walked into the office in black suits and asked where ted was. {ted is our CEO; he and his wife own the company.} i almost asked if i could tell him they were here, assuming they were in for a meeting i wasn't aware of, and then i noticed the matching ties... with hearts on them. a singing telegram. cute, huh? so i walked them back to conference area where ted was meeting with our development team. {my boss was on speakerphone. when the group finished singing, he said "wow, that's a hell of a ring tone."} they were *so* good. {and they did two of my favorite songs: "let me call you sweetheart" and "dream a little dream of me".}

and just when i thought it didn't get much cuter than that, a coworker's wife gave birth to their first, a little girl. on valentine's day. cute, huh?

no big plans for us. we try to avoid the crowds on v-day, so matt requested my special alfredo sauce (read: bertoli's, out of a jar, with broccoli and mushrooms added in) and we'll be having red velvet cupcakes for dessert. yummy stuff. tomorrow, we'll go out to celebrate a year and a half of marriage. :)

yesterday, i took advantage of feeling good for longer than a half hour and some nice natural light that came in through our dining room for a little photo shoot. i was pleased with about 90% of the photos, and i am feeling more confident. here are my favorites:

{check out my cute kitty. from day 1 he's loved the guitar.}

{i love the reflection of his right arm in the finish of the guitar.}

{wanna hear a secret? matt doesn't know how to play the guitar. he knows two chords - the two i taught him yesterday for this shoot. he really wants to learn. he's a natural though, huh!?}

ok, that's it for me. happy valentine's day. :)

a few things that make me happy...

• the sun shining. it's actually warm enough that i can get by without a jacket. (long sleeves, of course, but no jacket.
  
• spending $50 at PaperZone and only having to pay for $25 of it. (thanks to gift certificate received as payment for demoing in-store yesterday.)
  
• new chatterbox paper. yummy.
  
• a new book. i *heart* donna downey. this woman is brilliant.
  

  

  
  
• we're working on the garage, together.
  
• a box full of primas.
  

  

  
  
• my sweet kitty cats. (wish the photo were properly exposed. those tubby kitties were blocking my only lightsource.)
  

  

  
  
• a pile of new american crafts ribbon.
  

  

  
  
• talking again to someone i spoke with yesterday, who gave me the distinct impression that she didn't like me, and feeling as if she is a whole different person today. (wheew!)
  
• taking a properly exposed photo on full manual mode in low light, of something i love... (which is my ribbon stash.)
  

  

ok, back to the garage with my hubby... he just walked in to "show" me an axe. guess i'd better go. :|

wild hair...

my stepdad asked us the other night about our vacation plans for this year... (mostly, he just wanted to rub in the fact that they're going for two weeks to visit my aunt and uncle in england, with my grandparents, and leaving us kids at home...) and i thought "what?? people plan their yearly vacations this far in advance?" huh.

i guess it would make sense, since we need to be saving up a bit of money. and since we're not exactly "well to do", we best start planning. so anyway, this morning, my wild hair arrived. i'm thinking a small road-trip, newport beach, OR, and look at this terribly cute little hotel on the beach: Sylvia Beach Hotel. all of their rooms are named after authors, and their dining room is called "Tables of Content". too fun.

i guess i should talk to matt before i get too attached!

hello thursday!

i like thursdays for a multitude of reasons... CSI is on tonight... tomorrow's friday... etc, etc.

my studio's a mess again, but nothing terrible - just enough that i don't want to scrap until it's clean, but i have no motivation to actually clean it. painful isn't it?

really wish i could find myself a project to work on that i *want* to work on. my existence these days has been rather limited to working, cooking, cleaning and listing stuff on ebay. (canon drebel xt, here i come!)

i have quite the little to-do list, so it's certainly not that i'm lacking things *to* do. i just lack the interest to *do* them. :)

OE.

my mom and i share this term "OE". it stands for "operator error". it's our way of telling eachother (or someone else) that they (or we) are the reason behind the problem...

(side note: computer geeks have another term for this - we call it "PEBKAC" - literally pronounced "peb-kack" and it stands for "problem exists between keyboard and chair").

anyway, remember how i was frustrated yesterday about my current submission method corrupting my attached images in my email? well, i'm glad to say it was OE. or PEBKAC, you choose. i'm not sure WHY it behaves the way it behaves, but i now know how to work around it.

wheeeeeeee. i don't mind being the cause behind OE if the solution ends up being easier that way. know what i mean!?

wow!

i think i mentioned that saturday, after my class at PZ, i checked out a few new kits that the store wants me to teach, and that i was all over them... well, the asst manager of the store just called to ask me what i thought, and if i wanted to demo them in store too. the demo of the last class was the reason that it sold out, so i said YES! my schedule is filling up, and i can't believe it. it's a good thing my hubby is so supportive. i'll be demoing (3 hrs) this saturday, teaching (2 hrs) on sunday, and then teaching again (2 hrs) next saturday. i love being busy with this kind of stuff, and blissfully, this sunday is my week off at church, so i won't have to go straight from teaching kids to teaching adults (that would be exhausting!). these should also be the last kits for the month, so i think i'll have the last weekend off completely, which is good - everybody needs a little time off, even from something they love!

i really need a new method for submitting my work... i first used a popular online tool, but there were too many issues (like lost data, and randomly converting my jpg files to gif files...) that got to me, so i moved on to my own little homegrown system: when i complete a project, i create an email in yahoo that i save as a draft, including a message to the recipient, then all of the details for the project, with the image(s) attached. this works mostly okay... except that saturday morning i spent an hour, at least, uploading images for 12 or so new projects, and today, yahoo tells me that there is a problem with 11 of the 12 new attachments. this is painful.

a while ago, i started developing my own tool to store my stuff in a database, and i suppose that if i finished it, i could eventually make money off of it, if other scrapbookers wanted to purchase it to use for themselves... but i just don't know if i have that kind of energy right now.

but this email thing is driving me crazy, and i won't go back to the old method of reinventing the wheel every time i need to drive to the store. know what i mean?

hmmm. something for me to think about, i guess. :) thanks for listening to me ramble.

maybe next year...

our guys lost the big game, but they sure were humble about it, and for that i'm very proud of them. two very weak calls from the ref's lead to a bitter end of the seahawk's dream season. i'm so disappointed for them - all of them. for holmgren who's worked his tail off with this team, for max strong who's spent his entire career with a losing team - he deserved this. everybody on that team deserved this. each time we got close to something, a call was made against us. it felt fixed, and i don't doubt that there will be rumors of this flying for weeks.

so, maybe next year. we did it this year - we could do it again. it's all felt very surreal to me - surreal that we're suddenly one of the best teams in the nation, and that we even made it *to* the superbowl. no, we didn't win last night - but we still made history.

still love those guys.

wanna see more pictures?

so, here are my four favorite cards from the class i taught today:

the classes i teach are planned by the corporate office, which means i have very little work to do. (and i'm really ok with that.) while i am bummed that i don't get to design, i'm also relieved. in designing my own classes, i would invest a LOT of time: planning, creating the project, packing supply kits, setting up, teaching, tearing down - all to teach a great concept just ONCE. by teaching the corporate classes, i only have to: create the project, set up, teach and tear down. i know that our store management will give me some flexibility as well - if i want to incorporate a few of my own classes down the road, i will be able to. but now i don't have the pressure of coming up with two great class ideas each month.

i also checked out two other kits that corporate sent our store, to see if they were something i'd want to teach... one is a terribly cute tag album (10 things i love about you) and the other is 2 layouts (2 pages each). tons of fun stuff. SEI, KI Memories, rub-ons, alphabet stickers, great patterns, lovely ribbon. yummy yummy yummy. and because they're both valentine themed, that's a total of THREE classes in february. wheeeeeeeeeee! i'll be calling our manager monday to tell her yes, yes, yes!!

aaaand a few things i did this evening...

{mini valentine's cards - about the size of the storebought ones you handed out to your friends in elementary school - but waaay cuter. ;) }



{a card i made using scraps from today's events}

well, that's about it for me. i don't have much to do now, so i'm kind of biding my time. it's rough not having a project to focus on (...yeah, really rough...) and i'm out of photos to scrap for a while. i guess i'll go make my hubby dinner. :)

so, what do you think of my new digs?

a new year, a new website. i just felt it was time. so i've been agonizing over every little bit of this website for the last two days, and i just love how it's turned out. have a look around. i left the navigation bar off the blog page here, but click on the big banner at the top of the page. that will take you to the homepage, then you can navigate around. :) i'm especially fond of the colors, which were inspired by a set of plates at crate & barrel.

whew!

what a week! i'm glad friday's here - but it sure did feel good to get a few big things crossed off the ol' to-do list this week... namely, my HOF entry, but a few other things as well.

now... what *shall* i do with myself? this weekend is looking a little like:

friday:
*prepping for valentine's day card class at PaperZone tomorrow

saturday:
*valentine's day card class
*drop by P.O. to mail a package that really should've been sent like 2 weeks ago...
*housecleaning
*scan & upload recent layouts
*submission work

sunday:
*church (teaching this weekend - lesson: fairness. Lord, help me to be a model of fairness...)
*groceries
*superbowl, of course
*ebay listings

wheew... i need a nap just thinking about it! :) that's ok, i like busy-ness.

gone postal!

yep, it's true. i've gone postal ... or at least MY HOF ENTRY HAS!!!!

woooooohoooooooooo!

ok, let me just say that i'm so very thrilled to be finished. i have improved leaps and bounds in the last year and while i'm not 'confidant', i am proud of myself i really *would* like to win, but i recognize that my chance is somewhere around 1 in 1200, and that there are enough people out there that are better than i am to fill the 75 winner and honorable mention slots and then some. so, i try not to get my hopes up, but let's face it: no one can put that much of time and energy and soul into something and not get their hopes up. so, i shall just prepare to be severly bummed out come march 15th. ;)

let the agony of waiting begin.

woohoo, look at me go!

all is well on the HOF front. matt was so helpful last night - he drove me over to kinko's, helped me photocopy my layouts (and did a darn good job, if i might add) and then took me to dinner. then i spent the evening assembling my entry - i just have three minor details left: printing the photo of my 'memory keepsake' assignment and of the inspiration for my 'trendwatch' assignment, then adding those to the entry, and adding the assignment labels to the entry. i can't believe i'm so close!! that bad boy will be postal tomorrow, and i couldn't be happier about it. :)

then we get to wait until march 15th... (beware the ides of march...) to hear the results. could someone hit 'fast forward' on my life please?? :)

i really have no idea what i'll do with myself after my entry is mailed... i want to work on my photography, i want to finish my purging & reorganization tasks at home, and i have a few miscellaneous scrapbook projects i could be finishing up... but i don't have any "new stuff" to work on.

i'm thinking i'd like to make a mini-album about the superbowl. no i'm not a huge fan, no it won't be cheesy, i just really want to document - for myself, for my husband - something we may never see again in our lives. (sorry, hawks, we love you and all, but really - what are the chances you'll be back in the big bowl next year??) there are few things that can bring the people of a city together - sports and tragedy. and it's been very cool to see everyone in seattle in agreement. suddenly, perfect strangers have something to talk about. i love it. this is just huge for us.

anyway, those are my thoughts this morning... happy thursday!

*ugh*

i'm having one of *those* days...

taxes are done. not good.

customers are being difficult. not good.

but my import finished. good.

haven't told hubby about our taxes yet. he'll be most unhappy. not good.

i have some cleaning to do at home and i really don't want to. not good.

i had vegetarian corn dogs for lunch and they get kinda leathery when overcooked. not good.

there was no ketchup or mustard to drown them in either. not good.

twopeas is having a sale. good.

i'm trying desperately to save my money for a camera, which means i can't partake of the sale. not good.

i already have about 1/8 the cost of my camera saved. good. doesn't sound like much, but it helps for me to see it starting to stock up a bit. :)

this week has been light in terms of email... i need a few project requests or something... or something to cheer me up... sorry for the whininess. i guess i'm just "gwumpy" as we call it...

a list...

• i have not scrapbooked in three days.
  
• the amoxycillin is working already. yay for the good people behind amoxycillin. i can breathe. i can think. and the headache is tolerable.
  
• lost is a re-run tonight. grrr.
  
• but it's wednesday. happy hump day!
  
• i get to do our taxes today. yay for the good people behind turbotax. now let's hope that the good people at the IRS are going to be easy on us this year...
  
• we came in early to celebrate the birthday of one of our nightshift guys, so it feels like 10:30. but it's only 9:30. grrr.
  
• wednesday is coffee day. yay for the good people at starbucks.
  
• today's payday. yay for the good people ... uh ... no, just yay for me.
  
• i am working on another import-gone-awry. i can't handle any more of these. is it too much to ask for one that goes perfectly? just one? to restore my faith in the import system.
  
• i'm really enjoying some of the sneak peeks that are coming back from the CHA tradeshow... wish i was there... some yuuuummy new stuff coming down the pipe.

ok, well, thus concludes my rambling thoughts for the day.