Thursday, April 27, 2006
If this is drama now... LOOK OUT!
But now I know who will have the last laugh.
As those boys slowly mature into laid-back, easy-going young men... my girls will be coming into their own birthright as the next generation of Drama Queens. At the slightest provocation Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde and the whole family is sent into uproar.
They are only 3 and 5. THEY ARE ONLY 3 AND 5!
Riley had a complete meltdown on the way to school because it got too late to walk to school. Taryn was out-of-sorts as well and stomped away from me without saying goodbye. *sigh* I shudder to think what 13 and 15 will be like. I can only hope that they will be making a stronger form of Prozac by then and it will be available in an auto-injection belt like insulin for diabetics.
Even now, as the older is at school (sorry, Ms. Borgmann) the younger is flailing Barbies around in frustration because the tiny clothes won't slide on correctly and the tiny matching shoe is missing for Princess Annelise. Please, oh please, can't we just have a few Matchbox cars and a homemade cardboard ramp and call it good?
I love my girls. I really do. And I know that parenting isn't for the faint of heart. I just wish that my energy level would keep up with the ever-changing demands. Food for thought. Better living thru chemistry. Stop the world, I want to get off. And now I'm just babbling....
Gonna suck it up and help with those @#%$ Barbie clothes. Ciao!
Friday, April 21, 2006
Tiptoe....

Or risk being yelled at by the Tulip Police. Which happened to us a couple of times... but the shots are so great when the kids are out in the middle of the rows. I couldn't help but bend the rules a bit.
We're so blessed to live 2 hours away from this miraculous site near Mt. Vernon, Washington. As you drive along the country roads, you suddenly see a field ablaze with red, yellow, or purple. It seems surreal that the earth would be painted with such vivid color. It really is one of the coolest things about Springtime!
All photos taken with Canon Digital Rebel - mostly with 50mm lens - in Creative Mode with white balance set to Sunny. I tried to give myself a crash course from Brian Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" - and discovered that I definitely haven't mastered the A-DEP manual focus exercises yet! Oh well...




Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Taking the Scenic Route...

I LOVE these new papers from Scenic Route. Rosy and I are going to do a project with these at our Women's Retreat in a couple of weeks... we'll see if the ladies from church are ready for advanced paper crafting or not - hee hee.
Spring is here... and while opening our barbecue tonight to throw some chicken on the grill for the first time this season... I found MOSS growing inside the barbecue. *gasp*
We had baked chicken instead.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Some new favorite things...

I just love looking at these coasters from Gin-X by Imagination Project. I don't know why - I don't own any of these... yet. But they are fun, fashion-forward, and my eye candy du jour.
In other news... we're getting the final piece of our new sectional couch today! Only 4 weeks late - but hey, what's a few weeks here and there? I feel bad for the saleslady who ordered it incorrectly - I hope she didn't do that to all her orders. She was re-entering the work force - I kind of got the vibe that she was newly single and really needed the job. I guess there are just some things you have to learn the hard way.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Susan in MD in WA
Friday, March 31, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
What a week!
Was trying to scrap for the goodie bag challenge in the Pub at 2peas. Didn't exactly work out as I had hoped - there were appointments, shopping expeditions, school conferences, etc. etc.
But I did take advantage of this and do a double-purpose project... this has some red-hot not-available-in-stores "ribbon" Impress-ons from Creative Imaginations. And I used Making Memories letters (the DAD charms) and some Heidi Swapp ghost hearts. The Ribbon Impress-On Swatch Books are available at ScrapTalk this month. They come in 4 different themes... overall, a really cool product!
Friday, March 17, 2006
My Pink Lady pal 13Lisa tagged me...
- For my children to grow up safely and stick to their beliefs
- A clean house (shallow, I know)
- Happily Ever After... so far, so good
3 Things You Would Do To/For Yourself If There Was No One To Judge You (…or if you had the guts to do it!)
- Get a full-body spray tan
- Have a little plastic surgery here and there
- Go live in another city (my heart longs for The Outer Banks - minus the hurricanes)
3 Bad Habits You Have
- Being overly sarcastic or negative
- Too much time on Internet instead of reading to my kids
- Spending too much money
3 Insecurities You Feel
- That people pretend to like me.
- My face is always really rosy... okay, it's really red.
- I'm not good enough at scrapbooking.
3 Talents/Skills you wish you had
- Sing like a rock star.
- Cleaning
- Play guitar or piano - or both!
3 Things That You Would Do If You Had More Time
- Scrapbook!
- Clean and organize
- Balance the checkbook (this is my reality today...)
3 Things That Bring You Peace/Relaxation
- Having the whole house to myself.
- Prayer/Doing my Bible Study lesson
- Sitting down and reading through a magazine or sometimes even a novel.
3 Things That Spark Your Creativity
- Getting new scrapping supplies
- Looking at magazines
- The gallery at Scraptalk or Two Peas
I'm tagging Lara, Rosy, and plualum...
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
{Make Room For Family}

Check.
One major thing to cross off my To-Do list.
Okay - well, it's not completely finished. We still need to find the bookshelf, the lamps, the rug... the remaining 1/3 of our couch that was evidently ordered with a LEFT arm instead of a RIGHT arm... but, I still have a major CHECKMARK on this item in my head.We have painted - with the somewhat elusive Butter paint. It changes color in every corner at every different time of the day - but I like it most of the time - so it's staying.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Monday, March 06, 2006
{Pure Genius}
Just had to share that quote from Gilmore Girls. That was said by the older rocker named Gil to the overly sensitive former lead singer Zack when Zack went to talk to him about getting the band Hep Alien back together.
If you don't watch this show - none of this will remotely make sense to you. But I was watching the episode from last week that I had recorded and just had to get that comment in writing somewhere.
Happy Monday
Friday, March 03, 2006
Let's Go Fly A Kite...

up to the highest height. Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring,
up through the atmosphere,
up where the air is clear,
oh, let's go fly a kite.
Word to the wise: Works better with wind.
Luckily for a happy-go-lucky 3 year old who's willing to fly it with sheer willpower, speed and determination... a small kite will still provide some diversion on a non-windy day.
Thanks to Rosy for organizing our little outing.
You can see that Taryn was having a better time babysitting Rosy's little cherub...
alll in all, it was a great day!
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Top 5
5. The Bissell Spot Bot - got kids? got stains? the answer to your problems lies in this wonderful gadget.
4. American Idol - I missed last season, so I'm happy it's back. The whole family enjoys watching it together.
3. CI Studio Basics 101 - Lush collection. It makes me happy.
2. Sleep Comfort Beds - my sleep number is 35. I think we're going to order one of these - I almost fell asleep in the showroom the other night - it was a great bed!
1. Juice It Up! Tropical Tango smoothies. Got one yesterday - with the Immunity Boost and I feel better today.
It's a completely random list, I know. But those are all little unrelated things on my mind. Okay - have to go sort out the disaster zone upstairs now. I took everything the kids had brought downstairs and just dumped it in the hallway. Time to sort, stash, and consolidate.
Happy Thursday!
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
CI Studio Basics 101 - Lush
Post a layout per day to enter... the only catch is that you have to use their new Studio Basics line. I'm lucky because we got a little jumpstart over at Scraptalk when we reviewed the products last month! One of the very few breaks I'm ever going to catch in this business!
Here is my entry for today...
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Freeze. Underdog. TV.
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
Monday, February 27, 2006
Is it any wonder???
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!
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Children slightly better, How's Mom? Pain in the neck
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!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Coming off one of the worst nights of my life...
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.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Let's pretend that we're artists and we have this really cool studio...
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.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Aren't people done with these e-mails yet?
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



