I have nothing to say

I sat down to blog and reaized that nothing has happened! Well, that's not quite true. We went for a cookout at Lydgate Park last night with Jackie guys, Tonia guys, and Lindsey and Alisa. It was SO much fun. Got some pictures taken with the girls, had an all kid photo taken on the beach, can't wait to see those.

Trent tried some ahi poke, which he suprisingly liked! I cannot do raw fish. He, evidently likes at least that kind! Ewwww. But good for him. Just makes it that much easier for him. That stuff is at every single cookout ever! I tried Mahi mahi, which I actually liked too! Julia likes fish anyway, so that was a given. But it wasn't bad, even just plain with some soy. I think I would like it much better with some other flavors, like a fruit salsa.

The surf was pretty rough. I have never been to this beach before. But it was nice. The kids got in some big floaty chairs and had a blast! Trent got tossed in the surf a few times, which was funny. he was having such a good time.

Speaking of Trent..... I am realizing HOW much I coddle him. I knew he was a mama's boy. I know I am a bit overbearing. Yeah yeah, spare me. I have 2 kids. I can't have anymore. Kids aren't replaceable and I want to make sure that mine are safe and happy. But in the meantime, I have made Trent a whiney quitter. I am so worried he is going to drown at the beach. Yes, it happens all the time. I know he's never going to learn to swim unless he does it, but I don't want him to get hurt. I"ve really had to take a step back. Sometimes to the point of letting lindsey or alisa watch him and I either bury my head in a book or keep my back to him because I worry so much! Julia is so independent. Even as a baby, she really didn't need me much. She always wanted to dissapear and play on her own in a corner somewhere. at our house in Louisiana, she has a walk-in closet that she turned into a girl cave! Filled it with stuffed animals, blankets, pillows, dolls, and books. If I couldn't find her, she was in there. But Trent, he needs the interaction, the attention, the affection. guess he's more like me and Julia is more like Luke.

At karate, Trent cried and bawled and gave up. Sense was trying to get him to do it right. He wasn't getting it, got indignant, and shut down. He started crying, then bawling. The guy didn't give in to it, which Trent needs. Thank goodness Conrad and Alisa were there to distract me! It was hard listening to him so upset and begging to go home. He needs to learn that if he just follows directions, he will be great. And crying doesn't get you out of doing what you need to do. He wanted to do karate, he's going to do it! Made me feel better that everyone said most all the little kids that do karate there cry at some point!

Pretty much, it comes down to me needing to let go a little. Let him be a boy. Let him grow up. Let him fall a few times. Julia, on the other hand, ROCKED IT! She did so well. She is so mature in some ways. And taking criticism (from someone not related to her ;)) well is something that she is learning. Sense showed her, made her do it again and again, and she did SO well. The adults in the class all commented on how well she was doing and how quickly she was picking it up.

Ok, so much for having nothing to say huh! Maybe someday soon, this blog will get back to being about photography. Maybe that should be on my agenda tomorrow. Grab the camera and go out. It's hard when the sunlight is SO harsh all day. Maybe there will be a few more clouds or maybe I should just shoot some high key stuff... No excuses eh?

So officially

Luke and I are separated. Many of you already know, those who don't know that something has been up. But officially, that's why I am in Kauai. Things have been heading that way for a while now, years I would argue. I really am not sure what is going to happen, I will spare you all the details, cause really they don't matter.

I am seeing a therapist here to try to help me get myself squared away. Over the years, I have become someone I don't like anymore. I have lost my passion and have become a very negative person. And I am done with that! I need to be happy. Not blaming Luke, I am solely responsible for the choices I have made and the path I have taken.

So now that THAT'S done...! I am sitting in Starbucks looking fruitlessly for a job. I have been looking for WEEKS. I am getting very discouraged. Turns out that stay at home moms are not in high demand. And 10 years of verylittle working has done me more harm than I thought. Makes me sad. My kids are better off for it, I know that. Just is hard to swallow. I am smart, I am good at everything I have ever done. EVERYTHING. I have never failed at a job. Just wish I could get someone to believe that and PAY ME!

I really need to get my camera out, I haven't touched it since I've been here. BAD me. BAD BAD ME! Hopefully that will be part of the outcome of therapy. getting some of my creativity back. I miss it. I miss the fire in my gut that makes me stop on the side of the road to shoot something. That makes me RUSH home to grab my camera to capture the light. I need that back in my life. I'm pursuing it.

Also am pursuing a good tan ;) My sister (who is so freaking brown it makes me sick) commented last night on how my tan was coming along. That was nice! It's nice not being pasty. Not that I will ever become a sun worshipper, but it's so good feeling the warmth on my skin as I lay in the sand. And it's nice not sticking out like a tourist fresh off the plane, although I am sure I will for quite some time, if not forever. Haole is as haole does.

Done for now, will try to be better at bloggins, especially since I have so much free time right now ;/ Kids are in a summer program. Lindsey tells me to explore. I just want to explore a paycheck!

So the summer goes

Had a great weekend. Lindsey and Alisa had Friday off for King K. day. Saturday was regatta at Hanalei. You should google it. It's awesome. They have a few there. Lots of people, had a really nice time.

I sat under the tent or layed in the sun on a towel and read a novel, start to finish. Called Good in Bed. Written by the same lady that wrote In Her Shoes. Very good read. About a fat girl that breaks up with her boyfriend, struggles with her weight, ends up pregnant, becomes BFF's with a super famous actress, sells a screen play, falls in love with a doctor who loves her even though she's fat. So this book really spoke to me right now, the whole fat girl thing anyway. Don't plan on getting famous or pregnant ;).

Got a little bit of a sunburn, not too bad considering I didn't wear sunscreen again. I really tried hard to flip every few minutes (when my body started getting hot) and stayed in the shade most of the day. We got there at 9:30 and left at like 6:00! It was a crazy long day. I never ate! I was so into the book. The kids, however, had a blast. Spent most of the day in the water. Trent made a little friend, which was GREAT! But what wasn't great was the sunburn they got on their faces. Trent got a blister on his ear and Julia got blisters on her nose. I feel like SUCH a bad mom. While they got sunscreen reapplied to their bodies, I forgot about their faces. I HATE when they get hurt. I always take it as a failure on my part as a mom, like I am an unfit mom because they got a sunburn. A little unreasonable, I know. But as a mom, (and you reading this are mostly moms) you feel responsible for everything and hate to know your kids are hurting and you could have revented it. So enough about that.....

Julia was over playing in the water alone (since trent was with the boys and Jackie and the girls left early) so she crawled into a beach chair, put a towel over her completely except her face, and fell asleep. For LIKE AN HOUR! I finally woke her up and made her come into the shade and drink some water. She then went back to sleep for another good half hour. Trent, on the other hand, only came back for food or when required. He took his rash guard off, then went back on the boogie board for like 2 hours. That was a bad idea. He came back for more sunscreen and had a HUGE rash all over his bely. Lindsey sprayed him down with sunscreen and he SCREAMED and cried. Poor guy. On one hand, I was like "well, if you had left your rash guard on while you used the boogie board..." but I really felt bad for him cause I know that hurt!

Ok, enough of the play by play! We had a good time. It was a nice break from reality. Cause reality was rough that night, just sayin. Things have to get worse before they get better right? Feeling really really confused after a period of extreme clarity. I felt so sure for a day or two, now I am back to confused. Stupid emotions. Whoever invented them was obviously not a debater. It would be much better if my rational mind was allowed free reign.

Feeling a little out of sorts

You ever have one of those days where it feels like someone put a blindfold on you, spun you around in circles until you puked, then gave you a stick and left? Yeah, I kinda feel like that. I havent had anything that even looks like a lead on a job. I am going to go see a councelor on friday, hopefully that will help. I have not been myself for a long time and hopefully talking to someone will help me get back to happy.

I sat and had a good cry with Lindsey last night, thanks sis. Sometimes you just can't hold it in anymore. Or you don't even realize you are holding it in. You just open your mouth and everything comes out. Things you didn't even know you were feeling. It's kinda scary. Cause once you say it, you're like DAMN. where did that come from?

My best friend in the whole wide world has been noticably absent, he is going through some stuff right now too and is focusing on that. It's hard to feel like you are drifting farther away from the people who matter most to you. I've been really bad lately about just shutting people off. So for those of you I've done that to, I'm sorry. Kinda hard to have friends when you don't really want to talk to anyone cause you don't know what to say.

So I am trying to not be a debbie downer. I am trying to not burden everyone else with my problems. I know, that's what friends are for. But there is only so much negative your friends can handle before they don't want to be around you anymore. So I am trying to reserve my bitching! Right now I am just trying to enjoy time with my sister and my kids. Hopefully the weather will be nicer this weekend. While it's not cold or consistently raining, it is super windy.

I need to get my camera out and start using it. Just really feel incredibly uninspired. Maybe soon. I'll try to be better about posting, although most people visit this blog for scrappy purposes. I didn't bring any scrapbooking stuff with me at all this summer. Yep, DEPRESSING. but I was packing a ton of bags anyway and really didn't feel up to scrapping, so why go through the hassle of bringing stuff with me, just to have it sit and take up space where there really isn't any.

Hasta for now.

No Pictures...

Just an update. My friend that usually emails me and says "hey hun, you're slacking off on the blog. You need to post SOMETHING." hasn't emailed me in a while.

The kids and I are in Kauai staying with my sister. Yes, I have been intentionally vague and will remain that way until such a time when I feel like I need to say something. So for now, we are here. We got here last wednesday, coming up on one week. It's been fabulous the whole time. Avoiding major sunburns so far, only tiny ones where sunscreen application has been funky.

Got to go out on Lindsey and Alisa's 2 man OC for the first time. Just went out a little ways in the bay, it was fun. A little scarey. You always feel like you are going to flip over. I have retarded shoulders, so paddling for me can be rough. But I had a good time, sucked a little bit of air.

So just looking for a job. No luck so far. Never have had such a hard time finding gainful employment. Usually, I get the job I want. So this is a bit different for me. In a week, I have had no real prospects. Thought I may have a job at a bakery, but don't think that is going to work out. Guess the people applying for a job just outnumber those of us looking. Maybe I just need to give it more than a week...

Well, I guess that's it for now. Coming up on my Dirty Thirty at the end of the month. Feel a little torn about that. Not going to be with MY friends to celebrate, which sucks. I want to do something FUN. Kick off my thirties with a bang. But I have family, so we'll see what we end up doing.

Swamps and Such

Last week I took an afternoon to drive around. My intent was to find spanish moss to shoot. i LOVE it. But of course all the swamps/bayous I found were awesomely absent of the stuff. So here are a few pictures I made while out running around.

Thanks for looking. I enjoy sharing with you all.

My Future Secretary of State

Yep, it's that time of year. school is out tomorrow. Another year has flown by with not much to show for it except a few new teeth, 2 garbage bags of clothes that don't fit anymore, and a noticable lack of kids plates and bowls. Where does it go? Seriously? This year has gone by faster than any other to date.

Today, Trent had his Kindergarten graduation from Timmons. He had a good teacher this year, we were very lucky. She suited him well. He really thrived in her class. he made new friends (not like that's hard for him) and has grown in his little personality. I know it's not really a big deal to make it out of Kinder, but most kids I know that are held back, it happens this year. So I'm excited! It's more of a rite of passage than a real milestone.

He spent the year LOVING to wear a shirt and tie, all the time. We're talking 3 days a week or more all year. They have a school uniform which is basically navy or khaki trousers/shorts/skirt and a hunter, burgundy, white, or navy polo. Since he loves to dress in a shirt and tie so much, I asked the principal and she said he could, as long as the shirt colors were in line with the dress code. So he has worn a white or chambray dress shirt all year! He would always tell teachers that he had a meeting with President Obama on the days he wore his tie. They asked him to talk to the president about increasing teacher's pay! It was kind of a running joke all year, but trent took it very seriously.

I tell you this because at graduation, they gave out certificates to each kid, and each kid had a special talent or trait that was recognized. So there were kids who got "best smile" or "most atheletic" or "best math student". My kid, yep, he got the "Secretary of State" award! Awesome right! I was so stoked. The teacher told basically what I just did, about his dress and his meetings with Obama. It was the cutest thing ever and he got plenty of applause! I was very proud!
Ok. well, that's about it for now. I do have some photos to share, of course and later this week will have another post sharing some photos I took on a little swamp excursion Trent and I took. Things have been a little hectic around here as of late. Some personal stuff going on, that always complicates things. And the end of school, and the kids and I are heading off for Kauai again. can't wait. I'll try to be a little better about posting, heavens knows I am not scrapping. Trying to make plenty of pictures before I leave Louisiana.

suffocating

Ever have one of those days when you feel like you are suffocating in the open air? I am having one today. Feeling a bit panic-y, a bit trapped. To pass the time, I got out of the house and just drove. I haven't been many places here, No good reason, just haven't. It's too easy to get stuck in this house and let the days RUN by me. Here it is May and I have made a couple of friends, but I haven't explored my new home at all. So today I drove to Elysian Fields, then to Marshall Pottery. While I Marshall, I met a man who is a member of some Cattlemen's group out on tours of ranches all over the state. He was nice, we sat and visited while watching a potter at work. It was calming, I feel much better.

I had a whole big post typed out, then decided now is a good time to use my filter, what little I have. While I want to share, I don't know that I want to share that much with so many. It is the internet, once you post it, you cant take it back.

I did scrap today, I will post that sometime soon. Just need to shoot it. Feeling a bit BLAH right now, no telling what those photos would look like. Off to the end of the driveway to check the mail. Tomorrow is the kids' field day and I have to attend. Not happy about that because I was supposed to be working. oh well, I really didn't want to have to miss it, just don't like being told by the teacher that I need to be there. Don't they know that people have jobs? Really. Guess I am just on one today, maybe that is the problem!

coming to the end

of my temp position. The girl I am replacing is supposedly coming back tomorrow. they ahve asked me to stay on "through the middle of the month" but i think they will see once she is back that there really is nothing for me to do. So I will be able to get back to my old antics.

I keep going to sit down at my craft desk, but there is either limited mojo, or too mmuch that needs to get done. I applaud you working moms who keep a clean house and still have time to craft. I just don't have the time management skills or energy to do it.

Working has been a very good thing for me. I have made a new friend. I have met new people who, although I don't see myself hanging out with, have made my day a bit brighter and more fun. I am useful again, for something other than housework and babysitting. I know, I know, it's an important job, blah blah blah. But when i tell people I am a stay at home mom, they look at me like "oh, wow. so you aren't smart enough or ambitious enough to have a real job." the conversation slows, like i wouldnt be able to hold my own because i take care of my kids. If you aren't a SAHM, you can't possibly understand. Just trust me when I say that it's not a good feeling.

It's been nice to earn a little money in my own name for once. Not that I make enough to make a dent, but enough to feel like my days have been of use. My first pay check I took out, bought groceries, a birthday gift, and some stuff at sams club and came home with $60. A whole weeks work, chaos at home, and I made grocery money! but in the grand scheme of things, we all have to eat right.

So consider this my salute to you women who work full time jobs. It's difficult, and I am looking forward to going back to simpler times. being able to just pick up and meet luke for lunch, going to the school for things like eater egg hunts and christmas parties... I am going to miss the kids' field day later this week and that makes me sad. very sad. But it's worth an extra couple hundred bucks if it's the only chance I have to make it for a long time.

Well, all things considered, it's been a good experience. got me out, got me moving, made me realize that although my situation isn't ideal, it could be much worse. I do need a vacation from my kids. I haven't been without them for longer than they are in school since last june when i came down here to look at houses with luke. we need another getaway. I NEED ANOTHER GETAWAY! when we lived in Wyoming, I got to go to Salt Lake once a month and got out of the house for at least 18-36 hours. I miss that very much. I miss my sanity breaks.

Maybe again someday. Maybe I can talk luke into letting me take a solo road trip around the south soon for photos and junking.

Will try to play again soon, I was doing so good with this blog for a long time, and now I am a bad bad blogger. Remind me, i'll try!

Some People...

I really really want to just vent, but knowing the internet, I don't need anymore drama. So instead, I will share good things. I scrapped! Only one page, but I did it. Gotta start somewhere eh? It's trent's turtle shell. And some glimmer mist, and new webster's pages, primas, a bingo card from my friend Jamie, and graphic 45 ruler strip. It came together fairly well, I had fun doing it, but I am uninspired again.

After that, there hasn't been much in my world. Looking for a job, avoiding the reality of our new situation. Dealing with drama from people who profess NOT to be that kind, but in reality are the epitome of "that kind." I am realizing that I surround myself with people who never grew up, never want to grow up. Maybe it's because I don't want to grow up. I DO, however, expect a certain level of maturity in someone of my age. One day I hope to find people who can match wits with me AND stand by their word. Until then, more dissapointment is on my horizon I am afraid. So I will plug along with one less friend, adding that person to the "acquaintance" column. And I will shed a tear in my beer, wait I won't. Job interview tomorrow for a temp job. here's hoping.

Bad, Bad, Bad, blogger.

I know. I have been busy, but not. Mostly I have been uninspired or inspired at the wrong time to post it. I have done NO scrapping. I bought a bunch of stuff from Blue Moon, then mom and dad came for a visit. So it is still in the box, although thoroughly rifled through. I did, however, make this page for the True xoxo girls blog. You should go. do the challenge. win a prize if you're lucky!

I have, however, been posting photos on facebook. So if you are not my friend already and you are reading this blog, you should become my friend so you can see what I am working on. And I promise to try to get back int he habit of blogging. It's so easy when you do it all the time to keep doing it. But once you stop, you are screwed! this photo I took and LOVED. It's my duck shoes in the permanent swamp that is my front yard. I messed with the saturations a little to get the color I wanted, but I just love the way my flash shimmers and sparkles off the water. Yep, I'm a photo geek.

And one more photo. this is from a few months ago but I don't know if I shared it. It is now framed 8x10 in my living room, along with the boots, the shot of my neck, some new flowers, the coke series posted on facebook under midgets and random shiz, and a few others. Maybe I will take a picture and show that some day. But a tiny frog somehow got on my kitchen window and hopped along and left these SUPER cool prints on the outside. I love it. LOVE it. All time top 10 photos.

Other things of significance in my life... Luke blew out his knee once and for all. We already knew he would need surgery, but it looks as if the time has come. He has been off work several days now and his boss said don't come back till it's fixed. That has left me scrambling for a job. I have appointments with temp agencies monday. Pray for our marriage. With Luke at home, things will be rough for a spell. We've been through rough patches before, but this will rival them. Luke with no income and at home all day is more than he can handle. Guess we will see how the cards fall. I will have to just get some pretty thick skin.

Well, that's it for tonight. See everyone later! Sooner than later I hope!

Happy Monday!

Yep, It is. I got almost no sleep last night, and yet, here I am blogging away! I made this card this morning for the tuesday trigger over at Moxie Fab World. If you are reading MY blog and NOT Moxie Fab, you need to be! So here my take on this past tuesday's trigger...

I used a bunch of Sassafras (my FAVORITE!) Hog Heaven stuff I had left over, Prima flowers and E-line gems/pearls, a Maya Road branch, and a piece of Jenni Bowlin music paper, and some glimmer mist, of course! From the Trigger, I just really loved the candy pink and that's what really stuck with me!

I also decided why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone. So Becky Fleck is having a Sassafrass Nerdy Bird (which I MUST have and have already ordered some of it) contest over at the Page Maps Blog. I liked the sketch, so I molested it and here ya go!



And these are just some random junk jewlery pieces I found at the flea market yesterday! That broach is missing the center, so I figured I would doctor it up! And I found a meat picket! Luke had no idea what it was! So funny! And that heart has a mermaid riding a seahorse! SO COOL!

BONUS post!

It's been a GORGEOUS day. 70 degrees, perfect humidity, not a cloud in the sky. Julia had a friend over last night and I decided after she went home, we needed to take a couple photos. Of course nothing really struck my fancy. But the COOELST things happened today!

1. We found balloons in the woods! Remember when we were kids and our classes would release piles and piles of balloons into the air with our names and addresses on them hoping SOMEONE would find them in like Egypt and send us a letter? Well, we got to be those people today! A kindergarten class in Big Sandy, Texas (about 75 miles away) released these on their 100th day of school! I think I was more excited about it than the kids because they don't do that much anymore. it's TERRIBLE for the environment. Basically it's school sanctioned littering and animals get tangled in the mess or eat the balloons. But it is really cool in theory! So we brought the whole stash of balloons, strings, and tags home. We took this photo of Julia and will send a copy along wih a map of our road and where the balloons were found to the school on monday.

2. The kids found a turtle shell in the woods! We have seen ONE turtle across the street a while back, Luke messed with it a bit. Bit the kids were making "forts" in the woods and ran across this shell. Julia's friend took the green shell off the boney part (grrrrrrr.) but they kept it, so right now it's being held on by Glue Dots! SO cool. OK, score one small one for the south.

3. Julie FINALLY learned to ride her bike consistently! She has been so afraid of falling that she never would even try without Luke holding on. Not only is she now riding, but steering on gravel! She decided she needed to ride up and down our road, which I didn't agree with. Not that it's busy by ANY stretch of the imagination, but the traffic that does make it down here is often oil field equipment. Not a match for a girl on a bike.

4. While I don't have flowers or green grass or anything spring like, we do have these TINY little purple flowers. They are so tiny and delicate and the bees were all over them. So I stopped the car at the end of the driveway when we came home, broke out my camera, and caught this bee. I HATE bees. The end of the driveway is a good place for them.

Well, that's it for this evening. Hopefully something worth blogging about will happen tomorrow! See you then! I think I will try the flea market!

Are there really more than one way to skin a cat?

Crafty I have not been. I pulled out my new CC Earth Love kit I just got in the mail from PC magazine (I won it from their blog!) and cut all the strips and journaling cards apart with the intention of using them. Yeah, that's as far as I got. It's not even 7:30 am on Saturday and the kids have been up for an hour already! Why is it that on week days when they have to go to school, 6:30 seems like the beginning of time. They have such a horrible time getting up. we made bed time earlier (7:30) to help them get more sleep, but the morning still eludes us. So when they have a friend over, they stay up past 11 and are up 5 minutes earlier than the regular school day alarm?

So I am laying in bed and my cats decide its time for Kitty Smackdown. This is a regular occurrence in our house and occassionally includes Napoleon as well. I like watching smackdown, it's entertaining. I do not, however, like smackdown ON ME AT 6:30 AM ON A SATURDAY! Then, one of them calls time out to go take a giant crap in the litter box, which is in my bathroom. YUMMO! End result is scratches all down my arms and a room that smells like pumpkin spice.

Complaints over. I got a ton of photos scanned yesterday from a million years ago. That was fun. I have about 50 more to scan but am going to do many of them collage style because they are all cut up so small. Why did I do that? I ruined pictures by cutting people out of them, cutting them in stupid shapes, cutting them to fit in my magnetic album, which is now in the rubbish. Had a very enlightening chat with Vicki. She is such a kick. Love that girl. I also got to talk to Scott for a bit, which was wonderful. I miss him. I was sooooooo in high school love with him! And he's every bit as awesome now as I thought he was then, probably more. Shana is a lucky woman, hope she knows that.

This weekend is debate national qualifying for the Wind River district of Wyoming. I have my fingers crossed. I have so many kids there that I am still very much attached too (Not not mention my very best friend in the whole wide world) that I am queitly rooting for. I don't know how the standings are after last night. This tourney is different than regular meets. Instead of going to semis (after 4 rounds) and finals based on your record and power of op, you get an "UP" or a "DOWN" every round. Two downs and you are out. So you can be down and out by round 3, making your tourney VERY VERY VERY long while you sit for another day and a half waiting for the rest of the team. It's a very inspiring tourney, very emotional, very intense as both a kid and a coach. I miss debate with every cell in my body. Maybe when the kids hit high school I can coach again. Maybe if I am lucky, I will find a junior team for Julia and she can start in middle school!

Kitty smackdown has relocated to my legs, and now includes only Black and Napoleon. Tan is asleep on the other side of the bed. I have no plans for the day except to wash the supper dishes from last night. Dishwasher is running right now, just need to wash the pans. I made chicken enchilada soup. If you are one of the lucky few to have had it, you know how happy of a night it was last night! If not, just know that right now you should be drooling. Yep, it's that good. Good enough to brave an ulcer for. I was pretty uncomfortable last night, but man was it worth it!

Here is a photo from the WAY back machine. This is from Triangle Lake. Not the camp, the community. It's hard sometimes for people who only know one side of my life to distinguish! My grandparents LIVED there, so I have friends and family FROM there, as well as all my years as a camper. So this is from vacation bible school, I am going to guess in 1987 or 1988. From left to right- Chrissy Mac Farland, Jenny Applegate, Karey Larsen, me, Sarah Goetsch. Then there is a picture of Scott Donaldson and I. Sigh... Aren't we a cute couple? "low" and "kneehigh", those were our camp names. And lastly, this was part of our loyal group. Me, kate Schori, Jason Asher(not always with us), Kyle Phillips, Jennifer Souka, and David Otterman. We ended up together more often than not, insert about 30 others. This photo was intentional mouths full... crazy how we all ended up together all the time! Miss those kids so much! Thank God for Facebook. Moving so much, I lost touch with many of them.

{Insert bitchy rant here}

You know when you have one of those days where NOTHING goes the way you want? Yep, that's today. It's rainy and crappy, which I normally like. I woke up sweating my butt off. Like my sheets were WET, my clothes were WET and sticking to my body. GREAT! I get up, take the kids to the bus (I had to take Brandon's dog to the bus stop with us because he wouldn't go in the house and started chasing the car down the road.) Get home and go back to bed because I am so woosey I cannot stay upright.

Wake up at like noon. Power is out. Awesome. Our power goes out at least 2 or 3 times a month out here. I have never lived somewhere with such unreliable service. Power comes back on. I lay in bed for another half an hour, trying to get up the energy to get up. I let the dogs out to pee. Next, I go into the bathroom to take a shower. Turn the water on to warm up and start brushing my teeth. Power goes back off. Water shuts off. Awesome. cause when you live in the country and have a well, no power means no water and you are thrust back into 1880. Awesome.

I go back and sit on the bed and pet the cats. Power comes back on. I turn the water on and jump in as fast as I can. Carefully washing as fast as I can ONLY one part at a time. I have a gallon of water on the counter just in case. I get through my entire body and get done. I stay in and try to warm up, when the phone rings. Awesome. I am always afraid that if I don't answer the phone, it is going to be the school telling me I need to come get one of the kids or Luke saying he has been in a wreck. So I jump out with my towel and answer the phone. It's a telemarketer. Yep.

I get dressed and decide that I am NOT going to sit down, I am going to shampoo the rug. I have a puppy who still has accidents. His favorite place is in the hallway. So I decide to take care of it today. As I am shampooing, I feel very very weak and end up leaning against the wall to finish. I also clean a 6' section of the living room before I run out of clean water. I stop, drink a big glass of chocolate milk, and sit down. That's the end of my productivity for the day.

Luke is by this time almost home, when he lets me know he is chosing NOT to come hom. Instead, he is going to go to WORK! Yep, he's been gone for 7 weeks for school. I have seen him during 5 weekends during that time. So it's not as bad as it could have been. But still. Really? Beyond that, there is a SLOUGH of bad wrecks all over the parrish. So he already knows he would have a hard time gettign home.

Brandon shows up to get his dog, who has been a terrible pain in my ass all weekend. We sit and visit for almost 2 hours. At this point, my kids should have been home. They normally get home around 3:30. The finally show up at 4:30. They spent an hour and a half on the bus. Awesome. By that time, I had tried calling the transportation department and the school twice with no answer. So happy about that. Brandon leaves with his dog, my carpet shampooer, and my vacuum. he is moving out of his apartment this weekend and has to clean it.

Now Luke is telling me crap about work that isn't really good news. The phone won't stop ringing. Brandon is calling me to whine about the traffic he is stuck in. Luke is texting me complaints about work and his intended route home, which I know from the info I have been given, will not work any better than any other. It's 5:45 and I have nothing taken out for supper, no extra money for supper out, and no patience to cook anything anyway.

The kids are fighting and wrestling and screaming and whining and tattling and throwing toys. I don't have the attitude left to deal with them. This is my blog and I can bitch if I want to. I don't have anyone else to complain to! I have had nothing to eat today. I need to go grocery shopping. My gut hurts all the time with waves of overwhelming nausea in between. I need a break. i need a break from these kids, from being broke all the time, from the stupid crap that seems to happen all the time, from selfish people who swirl all around me. Seriously? I know I am not the most selfless person in the world. But sometimes it just gets to be too much. I am over it. I am shutting down the emotional bank of rachael. So if you want/need something from me in the near future, TOUGH CRAP!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled cheerful crafty rachael.

Royalty coming through...

Ok, so it's wishful thinking. Moxie Fab World is having their stamping royalty contest going on now through March 8th. So I figured what the heck, it's not like I am doing anything else, may as well use of some stuff I have laying around to justify my recent scrappy purchases. I also did the Tuesday Trigger for this week. I will probably be adding more cards later this week, so keep watching!
CTMH stamps and ink, AC green alphas and ribbon, MLS sticker alphas, GCD pp, CI black die cut paper, BG pink paper, green smooch paint.

Cosmo Cricket boyfriend paper, CI die cut black paper, Maya road chip girl (cut out of paper and the negative image used as a mask)and acrylic wings, Glimmer Mist, MLS alpha stickers, MM rubon alphas, prima flowers and pearl, AC black ribbon, MME skull, white ribbon from packaging!

Oh Oh Oh. I also did my DT layout for XOXO girls for next month and I am in LOVE. I used some of the new CI wood veneer. SO excited about that stuff. There may be a tutorial coming soon on it. I found some fun stuff to do already! Wishing I would have bought some more! Plus it has a self portrait which i LOVE! I manipulated it a bit and am SO happy with the results. I can't wait to share it.

More cards soon!

And the Winner is?

Not the person who ran the fastest! But trusty random.org says #19. So Michelle, you are the lucky contestant on...wait. wrong show. Ok. Just etsy convo me and we will get you squared away! Thanks to all the girls that participated in the TES blog hop! We love you guys! Hope you got way inspired on your way.

And as a small aside, yes those were Mardi Gras beads! We had just come back from a parade, I off loaded those from my neck, and got to work! I probably have 20 pounds or better of beads between the 2 parades we went to. So much fun!

Time to fix supper for the midgets. Its chunky raining outside (rain snow mix) and I just found out today that all my pain and suffering is from an ulcer. I am starving but afraid to eat because the pain is worse when I do! So wish me luck! I found quite a bit of fabulousness this weekend in Houston with Arcalee so I am hoping to feel up to crafting soon!

The Everyday Scrapper Goes On The Run!

Well, technically it's a hop. But I would rather run! Know why? Cause I know that we have some pretty awesome girls and they will be sharing some pretty cool stuff for you! Giveaways from several of us as well as a prize on the main site! Cool right?? I happen to think so! This is our first ever blog hop, and we are super excited about it! After you are done here, you will be finishing up the last couple stops from our contributors and sketch team members. So pin an "S" on my chest and away we go!

I do random things on TES, but a lot of what I do is tutorials. So along those lines, I would like to share a little tip about "Point and Shoot" cameras with built in flashes. We all have them, we all know how unpredictable they are and how horribly washed out the photos can end up when using them.

I went to school (briefly) for photography and learned lots of things. Not once did they teach us about controlling a fixed flash! The worst is indoors. So this is what I figured out! Are you ready???

Paper towels and scotch tape! You can control the amount of flash by the thickness of the paper towel. This is how I do it. I take a paper towel and hold it just over the flash single thickness, then take a photo. Look at the result. Then decide whether you need to double it. I usually end up with a triple or quad thickness. Then simply scotch tape the piece of paper towel over your flash! Basically, this is buffering the amount of light.

Here is a sample I did, using a single, double, then quad towel. (Just so you know, my sofa is actually the color of the third! That's what happens when you buy a dry clean only sofa and move to the country with 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a little boy! Yep, it's embarassing!)

This is one thickness of paper:

This is double thickness of paper towel:


This is quad thickness of paper towel:

See how much difference there is? Now depending on your photo and light conditions, you can adjust this very quickly. If you are doing a portrait shoot, you can easily do this before hand. If you are jus taking snapshots, take one, then adjust. everywhere you go, you can find toilet paper or a napkin! Hope you try this out! So easy!

Now the part you really want... the goodies, right? I am just starting out with an Etsy store. Right now, I am really into making scarflettes and cowels. So why not give one away. But it will be custom, just for you! So check out my shop and let me know which strikes your fancy! If you are the lucky winner, I will get with you about the particulars. Check it out here.

And from here, you are running to Jennifer Priest!

If you get off track along the way or are starting at my blog, here is the complete list of the blogs you need to make it to. In order to be entered for the TES RAK, you MUST leave a comment on all the blogs.

1. The Everyday Scrapper www.theeverydayscrapper.com/?p=2828 (if this doesn't work, just go to www.theeverydayscrapper.com and scroll through the recent posts!)
2. Catherine www.dance-the-tide.blogspot.com
3. Anneliese www.queen-of-the-crop.blogspot.com
4. Jewels www.joy-n-jesus.blogspot.com
5. Karen www.countrygirl-karen.blogspot.com
6. Jennifer L www.jenniferlongenecker.blogspot.com
7. Mia www.makepositivechanges.blogspot.com
8. Rachael www.rachaelwoodphotography.blogspot.com
9. Jennifer P www.hydrangeahippo.blogspot.com
10. Sharon www.sharonbertolino.blogspot.com
11. Ana www.anazelia-myscrapbookaddiction.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by! I will be announcing a winner Next Tuesday (the 23rd), so be sure to check back in!

XOXO Feb challenge is up

Just wanted to let you all know that the new challenge is up at True XOXO Girls . I am on team "O". This is our second month up and we are getting more and more girls playing along with us, which is awesome!

This month, my project is an altered Doorknob plate. I used a Bombshell stamp, Websters Sweet Cherry Pie paper, and a bunch of Prima e-line rhinestones and pearls. Hope you enjoy, can't wait to see your lifts.

Gone Etsy!!!

Yep, I jumped on the band wagon for Etsy. For two reasons really.

Little Bits of Insanity

#1, I am obsessive at times. Once I start something I like, I keep doing it over and over until I have just scads of it. Right now it's been making jewlery and crocheting scarfs of varying styles. I started out doing it for myself, but I had plenty left over to make more, so I did. There's something about sitting and crocheting while watching TCM that makes me happy. I don't ever intend on having a business or making any real money, just recooping some of my spending! I think Luke will appreciate it.

#2, It will give me a bit of freedom to try new things. If I can make a few bucks, it will allow me to buy more! And that way I won't have to feel so bad for asking Luke for MORE craft money! It will be nice to be able to say that I make a little bit of money of my own to buy what I like.

So for right now, I don't have a ton of stuff up, several of the things I had made I ended up giving away as gifts to people who admired things of mine. Sucker! But I really do love being able to do that! And one necklace I am keeping for myself! Cause I just love it!

If you want something, let me know and i will do my best to make it. Otherwise, go look! Tell me what you think! I tried to keep my prices as low as possible. Considering an average scarf takes me 6 or 7 hours and the yarn is $8-$10 per scarf, less than $20 is CHEAP! Thanks so much for all of your support! Love you all!

It's Mardi Gras!

I am not a fan of the south, that's no secret. But if I have to live here, it may as well be some place that embraces the "Lets get drunk and screw" anthem I have always been fond of. Shreveport has a pretty active Mardi Gras. This weekend, we hit up 2 parades.

The first one put on by the Krewe of Gemini was the better of the two. The floats were all themed after fictional characters. VERY COOL. Everyone is in costume, all throwing TONS of beads, dubloons, balls, cups, and random toys. The parade was about an hour and a half long, but we waited over 5 hours to see it! We were in the no drinking zone. The city designates this whole park as a family zone, so it wasn't as crowded as some of the other areas. This meant little competition for goodies and easy access in and out. We had porti potties near us, so that was good. Luke spoiled the kids, buying them cotton candy and trent a confetti gun. That thing was super cute! As much as he hates people, I think he had a good time. The kids were just beside themselves. We do NOT have parades like this back home! I have NEVER seen anything like it. People were camped out in trailers and tents, BBQing to save their places. That was insane. These people go big! Next year we will just tailgate too!

Today, Luke had to head back to Houston. When he left we loaded up in the car. We grabbed some lunch, parked right where the parade was staging, and walked about 5 blocks to the start of the "throw zone." We only had to wait a bit over an hour, which by comparison seemed like a breeze. There were throngs of people. By the time the parade actually started, we were 5 and 6 people deep on the street and sidewalk. Further down the route, it was much worse. We also didn't get nearly as much STUFF as the other onem but better beads and cool little toys and candy. But the coolest thing? Well, really 3 things. #1. One of the BBQ places threw HOT DOGS! #2. One float threw MOON PIES!!! Trent and I each got one. #3. Crawfish beads! They are red with a 4 inch crawfish on them! So freaking cool. This was by far a community parade. The floats weren't as good, more kids groups, and many more people there. We had a great time chatting with the folks around us. One man even gave the kids half of what he caught! He gave the other half to his niece... so I guess we can't fault him! We gave him one set of the crawfish beads!

I was thinking about taking the kids to the children's parade down on the boardwalk tuesday evening, but after giving it some serious though, I gave up on that. The fat tuesday mess will be REALLY bad in downtown on the other side of the river, where all the clubs are. And there is only ONE tiny entrance/exit for the freeway by the boardwalk, and just around christmas time it would take me 20 minutes just to get from the exit 1/4 a mile from parking! It was rediculous. So I will just keep them at home! Maybe I can appease them by buying a king cake.

I will leave you with a couple of photos from today, nothing special. Just what I snapped real quick between or during getting whacked in the FACE with beads! Yep, and I didn't even get the beads that hit me! Awesome! Can't wait till next year...

Hell Officially Froze Over!

We woke up this morning to 3-4 beautiful inches of snow! The kids are outside playing, even my Napoleon is bouning through the chest deep snow. Freeways are closed because Shreveport has only 2 now plow attachments for the front of city pick-ups. Obviously school was cancelled by 2 yesterday!

The kids were up bright and early, like 6:30! Don't they know the rules of snow days??? We lost power briefly, I am sure the cause was a limb falling on a line. The trees are so weighted down. All of our small trees are bent over to the ground. The snow is still lightly falling, but its supposed to melt by this evening as the temperature flirts with 40. We'll see. Luke is supposed to come home tonight after he gets out of school, but I don't know if he will be able! I really hope he can. Mardi Gras parade tomorrow and then Valentines Day, it would be nice to have my husband.

I will leave you all with a few pictures I have a feeling I won't get again as long as we live here. I hope those of you with REAL snow problems are faring well.

Who me? Sassy??? NAW!

Well it seems there is a lot of SASSYNESS going around this week. Over at Moxie Fab World (one of my favorite blogs for inspo, by the way!) issued a challenge. To use Anne Taintor's tongue in cheek style of 50's ad girls on a project. Yeah, I have been doing this for a few years! I didn't even know who Anne Taintor was! But anyway, I digress. I was flipping through an old 1950n edition of Look magazine that my girl Jamie sent me a few months ago. Several of the ads popped out at me, so I cut them out and made a few cards out of them. So thanks, Cath, for the challenge! I needed another excuse to ignore my housework!

This card is using some Cosmo Cricket pp, some Prima e-line gems, a MM snowflake, and my favorite fiskars punch.

As if I needed an excuse to use of more of my sassafras scraps... The trim is from Joann's and the flowers and gems are all Prima (cause who doesn't love some prima!)

And my other favorite, MME! This is some of the leftovers from the Breaking Free collection I used this summer on our Kauai trip. Rubons, frame, diecuts, all of it! It's a little difficult to tell from the photo, but the frame is popped out.

Thanks for dropping by my little blog! I love sharing my craft with you all and finding new scrappy friends all over the web!

Sassafras, will you be my Valentine?

I took a challenge posted over at Sassafras's blog. Basically, the challenge is to use up your current stash of Sass to make room for your new stash! And you have to make something for someone you love for valentines. So I did! Cause Lord knows I have enough Sassafras! I bought at least part of every collection released at the last 4 CHA's! Yep, I am a Sass whore! One of my favorite lines of all time from them is "fawned of you too". I love the vintagey colors, cool patterns, and how well they mix with everything else!

So here it is, the piece d' resistance. I added some random crochet trim, a bunch of Prima e-line pearls and gems, some MM cork letters, vintage buttons, and smooch. (lovin me some smooch!) I have NO idea who will get this, maybe I will give it to B! I already made Luke a card... Julia would like this too though.

TGIF!

So I did the Tuesday Trigger over at http://www.moxiefab.com/ . I posted about it over at TES, so I will spare the details. But thought I would share it here too! Luke is home tonight for the weekend, I am stoked. I have had a migraine since I woke up and it won't let up, so I am not doing much. I need to finish up laundry and pick up the kitchen, so we'll see how far I get. Going nuts waiting for news about Purple cows. Supposed to hear today. Still have my fingers crossed, although trying to be realistic!

Since i am not good enough..

For the design team I applied for, I will share a couple of the projects I had to make new especially for the call. Kinda bummed I didn't make it, but at least I got some scrappy projects done!

This card is for my bff Jason for his birthday. Fits him.

I used a cork coaster from Ikea for the card, then some Pink Paisley paper, Maya road bird and branch, Bella Blvd houndstooth paper, paper reflections key and keyhole.

Kaiser Craft papers, Bazzill swiss dot cs, AC blue letters, MLS small white and black letters, Kaiser rubon. Napoleon has the WORST overbite and these crazy shark teeth. He just never lost his baby teeth because they came in SO far up in his gums. He is such a unique little puppy!

I took these photos of the kids in the cemetary near our house. Its very small, maybe 25 graves total from half dozen families. we found out recently that we live on an old plantation. The graves date back before 1900-1950. I shot them in their costumes before we went trick or treating and in black and white with my Olympus Evolt E500. I used so much random stuff on this. Daisy D's halloween postcards, MME cat and skull, AC bat, Doodlebug gems, LYB ghost chip, and hand cut trees, CK hat pin, OA Journaling sticker.

Look ma, I scrapped!

Yeah, Yeah. I was doing so well before Christmas with posting. And then I got lax. And now i am trying to get things posted. I HAVE scrapped, I promise! But some things have been for DT work, some for applications that require non-published ANYWHERE stuff. So here are a few projects from the Project Runway crop over at Serendipity Scrapbooks. If you have never been there before, you should go! They have a very active board and some really really talented scrappers. and GREAT sales! Kristin always has a ton of product.

This Kindergarten layout is using a bunch of the stuff from the October Afternoon Report Card line. I LOVE this owl paper SOOOOOO much!

This was a punk challenge, so I glimmer misted some cosmo cricket paper from the boyfriend collection. I also used a few pieces of thickers, some MM alphas, prima pearls, and BG rubon. The zebra paper is from GCD.

And last but not least, this rad card! Sassafras Me Likey paper, some felt flowers cut on a regular die cut machine, thickers, a graph paper notecard, and bazzil swiss dot paper. LOVE it! It's my favorite project of the crop.

So there are a few projects, not everything! I am working on some stuff now, so I will post more next week! I love you Carolyn! And if you are reading this, please go vote for me at purple cows

I am a semi-finalist!

Over at purple cows! They have a design contest going on and I entered. I can't say what I entered, it's supposed to be a blind poll. But I can say that it's ME. it's all my personality which is why I am so surprised to be int he position I am in! I really appreciate all of you who come visit my blog and say nice things and encourage me. That makes it that much more special when I get recognized in something more significant. So please go to the blog and vote for your favorite, I hope it's mine!
www.sadiepurplecow.blogspot.com

New liftables are up at XOXO!

Just so everyone knows, the second set of liftables is up for this month! I am on the "O" team, so my layout "tan" is up! This new venture for me is very very fun. I am really enjoying myself. With that said, I am completely without mojo right now! Usually when Luke is out of town, I scrap my butt off. But the crop I will be doing over at Serendipity Scrapbooks is not until this weekend, WHEN HE COMES HOME! AHHHHH! Maybe i will get to do a few challenges while he is hunting saturday morning or while I am waiting for him to get here friday night. we will see.

In the meantime, I have been working on some tutorials over at The Everyday Scrapper, so keep your eyes out there too! Just some fun stuff. Cause that's how I roll!

In other news, we escaped damage by a thunder storm/tornado storm last night. A friend of ours lost some windows and there was a tornado about 7 miles from our house, but we

had almost nothing. Not even much wind or rain. Awesome! Guess God was listening! Having lunch with a lady from green River who also got transferred down here with her husband. We didn't associate back home, but could both use another familiar face. So hopefully this will go well! Be back hopefully soon with more productive scrappy news.