Freeze. Underdog. TV.

TAG!

I got tagged by Lara... so here goes!

What scrapbook lines/products, etc. do you dislike? I can tell you that I'm not a huge fan of anything overly commercial or too "done"... like the Disney stuff, M&Ms, NFL, NASCAR, etc. I'd rather create my own look if I had pictures to go with those themes (and that's a big IF).

What is the hardest thing you have ever had to scrap? I scrapped the story of my miscarriage for a contest at Praisebooking.com - I had to be careful that I didn't cry on my LO and smear something... but it was worth the cathartic effort.

What technique do you use more than anything else? Hmm... I'm not usually very techniquey - I like to get things finished. I stamp with paint... does that count?

What is the smallest scrap of paper you save? Depends on the paper... usually I'll only save scraps that are at least 3x5. I try to make cards with my scraps pretty quickly - or they'll get lost in the scrap heap.

Have you ever had any scrapbook related injuries? I think I am developing a new repetitive stress injury that I like to call "QuicKutz thumb"... kind of like tennis elbow or barista wrist...

Finish this sentence, "If I wasn't a scrapbooker/stamper, I would spend my money on..." clothes probably... and little stuff for the house.

Give us your best storage or organizational idea. I love my ribbon baskets from the IKEA kitchen section - they hang on a rod that is supposed to be wall-mounted, but I mounted it to the underside of the shelf above my scrap desk. They also have hanging cups that I use for my journaling pens and scissors.

When you received your first publication/DT notification, who did you tell? When I got the call for the Scraptalk DT I jumped up and down squealing in my kitchen - so I guess my girls got the news first. I think I called my dh next. Then I called Rosy.

After answering the questions, tag four of your buddies.
Lisa/Gluestick Girl
Sara*W
Rosy
Lisa/13Lisa

Is it any wonder???

As I was watching the Winter Olympics these past 2 weeks, I was reminded of how much I love to watch sports that I would never try. I'm pretty sure that I will never try the giant slalom... or the luge... or aerial jumps. But, man, I really love to watch those crazy people. Go BIG or go home!

Of course, I'm such a sappy predictable girl... so I love figure skating. I love the drama - the behind-the-scenes stories - the comebacks - the surprise darlings - I love it all. I was beaming right along Sasha Cohen after her victorious short program...

And then it hit me.

The reason that I was drawn to Sasha Cohen. Not for her grace on the ice - which she has in spades - but because...










she looks like Rory from Gilmore Girls!

Children slightly better, How's Mom? Pain in the neck

Not the most captivating lead in journalism, I'll grant you that. But I did have the worst stiff neck and ensuing migraine headache yesterday. And it all started with a trip to Pottery Barn. Which is SO strange, because Pottery Barn should have the opposite effect. Go figure!

Did manage to scrap a few things before the headache set in...

This last one is actually an 8x8... don't let the perspective fool you - I did not scrap a gigantic photo of myself. This was for a swap on 2peas.

Happy Sunday!

Coming off one of the worst nights of my life...

and it was after one of the most pleasant days in recent history, too. That makes it doubly bad.

First - my day - yesterday. Monday. Back when things looked rosy, pure, and hopeful. I went to Karly's - which was great. Her house is SO cute and put together and always makes me feel inspired to get my act together and put together my unfinished rooms. The kids got along well... they adored baby Nolan... who is the cutest thing... Karly went to the grocery store and got me all my favorite things after reading my blog post from a couple of days ago... we spent at least 2 hours just drooling over paper crafts projects and Donna Downey's book. It was heavenly.

But poor little Ms. R was coughing all day long. And once we got home, it just got worse. She was doing okay until she got overly tired... and then the helpless crying, vomiting, and restless non-sleep-filled night began. I felt so helpless, I couldn't do anything to comfort her. And believe me I tried. It was a 6-hour Caillou marathon (thank goodness for our cable DVR thing that has allowed me to accumulate 6 solid hours of Caillou playable upon demand).

We went to the doctor today - and of course, there's nothing more I can do for her but sit tight and ride it out. At least she's been sleeping this afternoon. She's running a high fever, even after taking the Motrin, but I guess her body is conducting it's only special warfare on this virus.

I hate it when they're sick.

Let's pretend that we're artists and we have this really cool studio...

These are the words straight out of my little girl's mouth this morning. They are happily sitting at the new desk in their room and coloring together. Sharing crayons. Dividing the coloring books equally and peacefully.

It's one of those rare Mommy moments that I revel in. They are getting along. They are sharing a dream. They are copying me!

For a while now, they have been creating little cubbyholes around the house, surrounding themselves with art supplies, and calling it their "studio". Sometimes they scrapbook. Sometimes they just color. Sometimes they create "fashion books" and design dresses for Hilary Duff to wear in her next video.

Have I mentioned that they are 3 and 5?

But I know that they watch and absorb so much. And since Mommy spends long hours in her studio... that's now a beautifully fun part of their pretend-play too. I am so thankful that there is one gift that I feel that I can give them... art. In whatever form and medium they choose to create with.

I get art. I may not get jazzed by volleyball or running or jujitsu or skiing... but I get jazzed by art in so many forms. Yeah, okay. I can do this inspirational Mom thing. I will be remembered. Art will be our thing.

Aren't people done with these e-mails yet?

Got "tagged" from the non-blogging world (by my pal Shelley) with this:


1. What time did you get up today? 7:00 AM

2. Pearls or Diamonds? Diamonds are a girls best friend!

3. What was the last film you saw? Glory Road - I *heart* Josh Lucas... he went to my high school and I feel compelled to see all of his movies - this one was truly a great film!

4. What is your favorite TV show? If you have to ask that, you don't know me very well. I will condescend to answer... Gilmore Girls. Hands down. Without equal.

5. What did you have for breakfast? Bagle and cream cheese... just like every other morning for the past 20 years.

6. What is your middle name? Maria

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Right now... Greek. yum!

8. What foods do you dislike? Can't say that I'm a huge fan of brussel sprouts or oysters...

9. What are your favorite potato chips? Tim's Cascade - or any other of those really crunchy kind

10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I've been digging the Herbie soundtrack... I'm a sucker for soundtracks.

11. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Sienna minivan

12. What is your favorite sandwich? Turkey and havarti... but if a Gyro counts as a sandwich, then I'll switch my answer in a heartbeat.

13. What characteristics do you despise in people? Meanness

14. Favorite item of clothing? Zip-front hoodies... pick a color, I've got a few.

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Someplace tropical.

16. What color is your bathroom? Contractor white... still. My towels are pale lime green.

17. Favorite brand of clothing? Style & Co usually captures my attention... I like the I.N.C. designs - but since I'm not a stick, they don't usually look right on me.

18. Where would you retire to? A lake or beach house.

19. Favorite time of day? Late at night when everyone else is asleep.

20. What was your most memorable birthday? 19

20. Where were you born? Virginia

22. Favorite sports to watch? Husky football, Figure Skating, Snowboarding, Ski racing... anything Olympics

23. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Pepsi

24. Are you a morning person or night? Night

25. Do you have any pets? Not right now, if we had anything, it would be a cat

26.What did you want to be when you were younger? I'm assuming this means "When I Grow Up" - the answer is teacher

27. What should you be doing right now? hmmm... should is a strong word

28. What are you currently reading? Like Water For Chocolate

29. Your favorite color? Pink

30. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate Chip Mint

31. Red or white wine? Yuck! I'm uncultured... I know it. If I drank, I'd rather have a beer.

32. Do you have any tattoos? No

Holy Butter Yellow Paint Batman, she blogged....

Do I? Do I actually blog? I think lately that could be a valid question. Is it that I have no thoughts? Not likely.

It's more like I have no time. None. No me time in the past week. And it is starting to show.




On a brighter note, we have plans to paint this weekend. The color - only the 5th color tested, mind you - is Restoration Hardware Butter. It is still not quite perfect - but it is, more importantly, good enough. Kind of akin to the Mr. Right Now of paint colors. Can you actually write "kind of" and "akin" in the same sentence? I'm sure they're probably synonyms and I'm breaking all kinds of rules and my angry English 210 prof is rolling over in his grave. And he's probably not even dead. But I digress.

I will leave you with a bit of heavenly dialogue from the show most worth watching on TV...

Lorelai: You are stubborn.
Luke: I’m stubborn?
Lorelai: Yeah, you’re stubborn.
Luke: You’re Miss Flexibility over here?
Lorelai: Hey, I can be flexible.
Luke: Please.
Lorelai: I can. As long as everything is exactly the way I want it, I’m totally flexible.

If you have no idea... I will just say this: Tuesdays on the WB at 8:00 pm!

Tickled PINK???

Romance. Bliss. Emma. Precious. Tutu. Rosey. Blush. Lipstick. Princess. Cupcake.

A pink by any other name is not the same.

Stocked up on some Bazzill pinks yesterday. Can't bear to put them away yet. Rolling around in them isn't really an option - I'm heartbroken that I bent a corner on one sheet. WAIT! Don't call the funny farm yet... I am vaguely in touch with reality and do know that it's only paper.

*GASP* the blasphemy!

Now, if I told you what happened to my Rob & Bob... you might have more sympathy for me. hee hee.

Cure for the blahs...

Family Portrait by 3 year old

They say "Laughter is the best medicine"... well, smiling must come in a close second. I just love how little people draw people. And I love that my daughter says eyeballs instead of just eyes.

A little photo shoot...

A fun little collage of some shots that I took the other day.

Note to self: Iron the white sheet before using it as a backdrop.

Mr. Clean is my Lex Luthor...

I did not inherit a cleaning gene from anyone. Possibly because it is missing in our genetic code - is it the Swedish side? I don't know. But I am not a naturally creative cleaner. I can see a product and think, "Hey, that sounds good" but it doesn't actually work like it does on the commercials. It must be partially operator error.

I remember how shattered I was when I found out those Scrubbing Bubbles guys didn't actually come out of the bottle. *&@#% Fraudulent advertising. Because I still had to do all the scrubbing - and there were no sparkles residing in my tub. Just the dull gummy ring to scrub over and over and over and over... well you get the picture.

I was mildly interested in the whole organic thing - vinegar, baking soda, club soda, etc. But that requires a major chart of where to use what. Again, the genetics conspire against me.

I will say that I have found my secret weapon. Microfiber. I don't know how it works - but I spent maybe 15 minutes on my glass shower walls last night - and they, dare I say, sparkled. We have hard water, so that's no small accomplishment.

I *heart* microfiber! If I have another child, I would seriously consider naming them Microfiber. Well, at least as a middle name. Jehosophat Microfiber Campbell. Has a certain ring to it, don't ya think?

UR 2 Cre8ive!

Taking this class from Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking... liking it a lot so far. One of our assignments is to paint our toenails in a fun way. My girls LOVED this assignment!!

The flowers are Heidi Swapp rub-ons from my friend, Susan... they stuck better to my toes than to the layout I tried using them on last night - LOL!

Now... I'm not sure yet what the candy is *for*... but as if I needed an excuse to try the new Hershey's Kissables. Aren't they cute? They look like little SORRY! game pieces. I don't think they'll be replacing M&M's any time soon, though. The glass vase is pretty cute, too, I think... it's part of the King Street Trio from Southern Living At Home. Love that stuff!!

It's Official...

I am now in the Custom Invitation business. My neighbor, Rachel, who secretly covets all my scrapbooking supplies, asked me to join her in this venture a few months ago. It's kind of like when you see the kid who owns the basketball and you have to ask them to join your game...

Thanks to my uber-talented friend, Sara, for drawing this logo for us. We still need to add a web address - but that's after we actually create a website.

We just had our first gig - 35 invitations for the Cardiac Health Symposium. To quote Rachel "Sounds like a yawner to me."

I think we may have actually made $70 or so on the job. Of course, if you back out the actual man hours - it would mean that we made about $4.33/hour. While that is more than I made making clown cones at Baskin-Robbins in 1986 - I don't think that this is going to be a fast-track to the Millionaire Club. But we can chalk this one up to learning experience.

Things I have learned:

• An HP Photosmart printer is NOT the correct printer for a high-volume utra-thick metallic cardstock job (but if you leave the printer settings for Automatic paper - you get a really cool grey ink color over silver metallic paper - probably couldn't have produced that effect if I had meant to do it that way)
• You can charge 3.50 per invitation and a corporate client won't laugh at you
• Some people have no idea how to word an invitation - thus the need for professionals like us
• My children don't really care about the Cardiac Health Symposium either... they just want to play Candyland NOW

The next American Idol?

Just a quickie - but I had to write this down somewhere...

After waking up, Riley proceeds to take off her night-time diaper and put on a Pull-Up for the day... this is her theme song today... (I am not making this up!)

I'm wiping my bottom, whoa-oh!
I'm wiping my bottom, whoa-oh!
I'm wiping my bottom, whoa-oh!
And don't it feel good?
Yeah, all right now

If you're having trouble with the tune... it's from "Walking On Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves.

That kid cracks me up.

They say it's your birthday...

We celebrated little R's 3rd birthday today! She was so cute in her yellow dress - yellow is her favorite color, you know. She was SOOOO excited when people started arriving, she was a fabulous hostess and a good time was had by all!

On a lesser note (HA!) the Seattle SEAHAWKS won their playoff game - so it's off to the next round. Go Seahawks!!

Thank goodness for technology... the guys were able to record the game via DVR and still sing "Happy Birthday" and watch her blow out her candles. I guess this ain't your Mama's birthday party no more.... tee hee.

I am exhausted. It was a whirlwind. The girls rooms are utterly destroyed. But the toys and dress-up clothes can wait for another day to be picked up. I'm going to cuddle my 3-year old darling baby girl and marvel at how *old* she's getting. *sniff*

Tagged!

I got tagged by Karen... *smooches* to you, friend...

4 Jobs You Have Had in Your Life:

1. Baskin-Robbins clown-cone designer
2. UW Athletic Dept gopher
3. Receptionist/office assistant
4. IT Manager for Office Furniture Dealership

4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:

1. Pride and Prejudice (A&E original miniseries)
2. Chocolat
3. How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days
4. The Princess Bride
   

4 Places You Have Lived:

1. Norfolk, VA
2. Seattle, WA
3. Gig Harbor, WA
4. Covington, WA

4 TV Shows You Love to Watch:

1. Gilmore Girls
2. Crossing Jordan
3. Alias
4. CSI
   

4 Places You Have Been on Vacation:

1. Hawaii
2. San Diego
3. Europe
4. Greece
   

4 Websites You Visit Daily:

1. Scraptalk
2. Two Peas In A Bucket
3. Creating Keepsakes
4. Various blogs (notably Karen’s)
   

4 of Your Favorite Foods:

1. Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Teriyaki Steak
3. Taco Del Mar burritos
4. Showering Rama (Thai Peanut Sauce, bok choy, and chicken)

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:

1. Anyplace sunny and warm
2. Hawaii
3. San Diego
4. Did I mention Hawaii?
   

4 Bloggers You are Tagging:

1. 13lisa/Lisa
2. jennylilac
3. Lara
4. Rosy

That's it! I am finished... off to clean my house for my 3-year old's birthday party tomorrow!!

Soundtrack of my youth...

Like gag me with a spoon...
Totally tripendicular...
He's such a babe...

If you recognize any of these phrases, then you might relate to the song list below.

Mirror In The Bathroom... The English Beat
Ship Of Fools... Erasure
Oh L'Amour... Erasure
Love Plus One... Haircut 100
What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)... Information Society
The One Thing... INXS
Too Shy... Kajagoogoo
I Melt With You... Modern English (still my FAVE)
Always Something There To Remind Me... Naked Eyes
Ceremony... New Order
State of the Nation... New Order
A Million Miles Away... The Plimsouls
Love My Way... Psychedelic Furs
The One I Love... REM
Blues Before and After... The Smithereens
Blister In The Sun... Violent Femmes
Don't Go... Yaz
Only You... Yaz

My best friend from high school, Shelley, just sent me a CD with all these songs. How is it that we spent nearly every waking moment together and I have hardly any photos? Well, at least my girls will have photos aplenty to document their embarassing hairstyles, poor fashion choices, loser boyfriends, and other teenage memories. Hmm... on second thought, maybe less is more.

To my favorite Valley Girl, I send my undying love, and like, come back soon, ya know?

I miss you, Shell! I've got to fly South for the winter and come see you!!

Doos and Dont's

Me (trying to soothe fussy girl): We can write Mac-n-Cheese on the grocery list. We can even get the Scooby Doo kind if you want.

Fussy girl: First we'll get the Scooby Doo and then next time we can get the Scooby Don't.



Even in the midst of tantrum... she's still got it.

Mindless drivel - or should I say drizzle?

Perhaps it the rain. Perhaps it's just that my brain is fuzzy from holiday overload and persistent lack of sleep. Perhaps it's something deeper, more existential, stemming from some long-awaited angst resolution, or even the solution to the sock-disappearing-from-the-dryer-mystery.

No, I'm pretty sure it's the rain.

If you have never been through January in Washington, you may not have an accurate picture of the pure torture of 27 grey and dreary wet days in a ROW. At least we cleaned out the garage and I can get in and out of the car in relative comfort - it's just unloading the cart and doing the carseat thing at the grocery store that leaves me with that limp, slightly crumpled feeling.

So - I made some cards today. With bright fun Lollipop Shoppe paper. Just looking at them makes me happy because A) they're such fun colors and B) hey- I got to make some cards!




Book club tonight - the annual *Selection Party*. I think we should create some brackets, make it a round-robin tourney or something. Maybe throw in some darts? Or arm wrestling? How does a group of rational, overly polite (because we don't know each other very well) women, start with 50 or so book choices and end up with 11 finalists? It's a mystery. (movie reference thrown in for Karen's benefit) Here's a wish that we will end up with a really fun list of books for 2006! Fyoooooooooooooosh!

Back to life, back to reality...

back to school you go! I hope T has a good day back at school. She was a little hesitant to leave, we've gotten into such a lounging routine around here, it was work to get dressed and get out the door this morning for R's tumbling class. Good thing my friend Rachel called me and woke me up - or we wouldn't have made it.

This photo is of T and her cousin, Paris. The cousins came from California for Christmas... I can't even believe how quickly they grow up when you only see them once or twice a year!

On a completely different topic...

There are good and bad things about your kids being able to read... yesterday, in the check-out line, T was reading the tabloids (and I include People and Us in that category) and informed me that the baby may keep Britney and Kevin's marriage together.

Oh, good.

Just what I wanted my 5-year old to be thinking about.

A whole new realm of teaching opportunities has arrived. Gotta get in the game - and fast!



And something else - completely unrelated... my little R in her favorite Hanna dress. Those curls are so cute (if I do say so myself!)

She's potty-training... which means some days are better than others. Today, we're not bringing our *A-game*, unfortunately. Definitely 3rd string prospects at this point - with a load of laundry to prove it. Oh well - that's what I get for blogging!

She will be officially 3 in 13 days... and we already have the temper tantrums and irratic behavior to show for it! Hooray! But on the flip side, she's got a firm grasp of language, is starting to learn her letters, loves to sing and dance and play... and is usually pure joy to have around. Except during those tantrums. More teaching opportunities. All I can say is... keep those Hershey kisses coming!