Jane's World

2008-02-17T10:13:00.002-05:00

hey all, been really busy lately with a flooded house due to a burst pipe if you can believe it. Everything is ruined of course, but I am sticking to my new way of looking at life and finding the good, (well , yes i had a moments breakdown...wouldnt you??) and i'm looking at the fresh start im going to have, as i was talking about redecorating at some point anyways. Finding the good. Finding the good. And I have made another decision-----I will never again say these words "what else in the world could possibly happen to me?" -----as those words came out of my mouth about 4 hours before. And now I know. However, I am actually laughing about it now, as there is not much else for me to do...and finding the comical side...and there is one. I even grabbed my camera and started taking pictures, of everything. My dad running around hair all mussed up in knee high rubber boots, victoria sitting on top of brookes toy car trying to get from place to place, and brooke in her rainboots thinking it was the most fantastic thing and that water fairy's must have come to the house and wasnt it nice to have rain puddles she can splash in? And, depending on the insurance settlement, maybe i can exchange my drowned computer for the mac I have been wanting. Lots of upsides to this, and thats what im stickin to.
hope everybody had a nice valentines day, and was able to share some love! be back soon!

2008-02-06T11:27:00.001-05:00

Just a few pics of my girls over the weekend. I just realized that we live near some woods, (yes i know, not very observant, lol) and decided to take the girls on a nature hunt of sorts. They loved it and it was so much fun watching them trying to climb every tree, picking up the most common twig and being amazed by it. It was like snow, and trees, and twigs all seemed to look different to them because we were in the woods, lol! We spent the majority of our time there trying to hunt down the bunny whose tracks victoria found....and we found one, but he moved to quick for me to nab a photo :( I guess the term quick like a bunny definitley has some merit, hehehe.

Anyways I took tonnes of photos, and got so many good ones, I was thrilled. I even got to practice a bit of photography technique, so am keeping in line with my goal mentioned in my last post :)
Jess took Victoria ice skating again, and she is getting so much better! That time together is really helping them reconnect! It is really good to see.
Other than that, Victoria and I had an arts and crafts day. It was "hundreds day" at her school. That means for those that don't have that, that on the 100th day of school, each student brings in 100 objects with the same thing...example 100 pennies, or anyting that they want and they trade them to the other students. At the end of the day each child is hoping to have 100 different objects and none of what they came with. Victoria hasnt done very well with that the last couple years so we decided to get creative and make some rock pals. Doesnt sound real interesting, lol, i know, but we painted them with glitter and paint, and put little googly eyes on them, and they ended up looking very cute!

hundreds day ended up being delayed due to bad weather the day of, so I am excited to see how she does this year. Otherwise she is going to come home with 100 rocks, lol!
Anyways, that is all for me! Only other thing is that Jesse is in interviews with an amazing job opportunity, and has made it through almost all the stages of interviews. If he gets it it will mean an end to alot of our work difficulties, as I won't have to work so hard, and it won't matter financially if the centres are sold. Really sounds too good to be true, so i am trying not to get too excited, but am keeping my fingers crossed. Heres hopin :)

2008-01-31T01:01:00.001-05:00

hey all, I'm back and still blogging strong! yeah me, lol. Can you believe the month of january is almost over already? I am literally floored at how quickly time has flown over this past 6 months. Really crazy how we can get so busy or absorbed in what we are doing that we don't notice until the times gone. I havent been doing a whole lot on my end, still working on the deal to rid myself of the centres, and keeping busy with that as well as work odds and ends, and my girls of course. I made a new resolution this year. Not for the new year, just because I feel so guilty, that I have a wonderful camera, love everything about photography, photographs, and just the basic concept of it, yet I cant really use it to its full potential. So that is my resolution! To learn my camera inside and out. (it is a rebel xti if you were curious). Now I have a long way to go as I have always allowed myself to rely on photoshop for fabulous photos, lol, so getting the great photo at the get go is a completley different concept. I have been thinking of enrolling in some photography classes and have been scoping around, but I am not really sure if i would have the time to carry it out. So I have also been looking at some online classes, but wary, as I am not sure how beneficial that would be. If anyone has any input on that I would love to hear it! Anyways, I am teaching myself for now, and really trying to come to terms with aperature. Again, I have a long way to go, but I do love this photo I took of Victoria the other nite either way
I think she looks lovely, and so "her" if you know what I mean. It is rare these days for her to let me near her with a camera, and if she does let me she just gives me exasperated expressions, hehe. I am sure all scrapping moms get that same reaction as their children get older. Ilike the next one too, tho I did apply an action I made on it, so it is not just the photo. I am so used to playing with photos in ps after taking them that is going to be a hard habit to break.

This weekend, we tried for some normal behaviour and family time, and Jess is trying to make up for some of his missed time with Victoria, who really needs it from him right now, and he took her ice skating. She loved it as it is not something she really knows how to do well, and so he is teaching her. I dropped in to take a few photos, and then took Brooke down by the river (see new blog header, lol) to spend my quality time with her.
We walked around and looked at the big chunks of ice, and a few geese that she thought were frozen to the lake,(which gave me fits of giggles, as she was so worried for them, lol) and then she played hide and seek behind all the trees at the park. Fun was had by all...tho it was very cold.
Today it was so cold that I was literally a prisoner in my own home. The front door, back door and the garage door were all frozen shut! Victoria had to leave to catch her school bus and we couldnt get out! It was really quite funny as I am using all kinds of props to try to pry the doors open, and finally after 20 minutes, I did it! Of course then, i couldnt get it closed. I pushed, lifted, shoved, slammed, and nothing would work. Finally, the wind was so terrible it flew the door out at me and I reached out and pushed to save myself from getting slammed, and the door slammed closed. Ihave never had that happen before, but one of my centres had the same problem this morning, and then several people I know also complained of such things. At times like that I so wish I lived in sunny california. Winter is truly beautiful, and I love to watch it from my living room window. I just don't like to participate in it, hehe.
Anyways, that is all for now! Be back again soon :)

good day

2008-01-20T22:48:00.001-05:00

this has been a very up and down week for me. It is hard to keep things normal and uneventful in life when you are "cleaning out your closet" so to speak. One minute, I'm feeling positive, and excited about turning things around, and the next minute I am bogged down by all the stress and complication of it all. One of the steps I am trying to take is to simplify my life. With that in mind, I am trying to sell my businesses. 5 years ago, when I was pregnant with Brooke, I had an opportunity to purchase the franchise that I worked at. Thinking of job security at that time, and having a second baby on the way, i thought it would give me more time with my girls, my family, and help with finances for sure. A year later, still thinking of financial security I opened my second one. The next year, I purchased four more all with the expectation to work my fingers to the bone for a few years so that I would be able to give my little ones a good start in life, things I never had, and then be able to relax and not work so hard.
Unfortunately, things dont quite work out the way we want. In the last few years, all that has happened is that i work 10-15 hour days, am stressed with work all the time to the point that I cannot enjoy the time I have with my family the way that I should, and I am tired all the time. Yes, financially we are fine, but is it really worth it? My family has always been the most important thing in the world to me. It is why I worked so hard...but do my girls really care? Answer is no they do not. They would rather have a more relaxed mother who is not on edge half the time thinking about all the things she has to do. Unfortunately my husband was not the most helpful, though he thought he was...and when we started having problems....not just due to work, but it certainly didnt help.....I decided I just couldnt do it anymore. I dont know if we are able to fix our problems, as again they do involve more than work hours, but I know that my girls definitely need a bit more time with mom. So I have been in negotiations to sell 4 of the 6 franchises for the past few months. I have met with a gentleman who is considering, and am keeping my fingers crossed that we can arrange a deal. At this point I am ready to give them away, and really need to get back to basics.
I just kinda needed to "say" that out loud, so for those of you that are reading this, thanks for listening, lol. There is nobody around here that is aware of the difficulties that I have been having with family, or work except for those effected by it, and it has become difficult not to scream it from the rafters.
now i feel better, lol. It is days like today that put it all in perspective for me...the need to get back to basics, being normal, and just slowing down to enjoy the good things in life...which for me are my girls, and today was my youngest daughter Brookes 4th birthday.
sigh, 4 already...all mothers can relate to the big sigh i make when i say that with pride. She had a great day, and loved being the centre of attention so much that I was unable to get her to sit for barely a photo, but i snagged at least this one of the bday girl before she flitted off

and it seemed there was a theme this year, tho it was by accident. She received a trunk of princess costumes, a princess tea set, which is her favorite game, a princess puppy, etc. etc. It kind of fits with her personality right now, lol.....so she loved it.
and the cake!....talk about effort, and made for a princess, lol! Now, I am not much of a chef, nor much of a baker no matter how I try, so this was quite a feat! and a family affair! My husband, my oldest daughter Victoria, and myself all co-operated in making Brooke a princess castle cake. It took hours, lol...but I dont think it turned out that bad at all, and she just loved it! Never again will i do it, hehe...so i had to take a pic for darn sure!
We were all very proud of ourselves, and brooke just loved it! and that is what counts!
She changed into about 4 different princess costumes before she decided on the purple one being perfect for cake time.
I definitely needed that day, in so many ways. And now I have a four year old. sigh. :)
Starting school this year, and so sassy. So much more assertive than my oldest ever was at that age. She is the one that is going to give me all my grey hair.
I have started taking more photos again, since I had really fallen off, and already I am feeling so much better. Scrapping them shouldnt be too far behind I am hoping.
Well, I am off for the nite, thanks for listening to me gripe, lol! But hey, 2 posts in one month! I am being such a good blogger! hehe

forever and a day!

2008-01-06T00:20:00.001-05:00

Yes i know it has been a very long time for me since my last post. And i know that nobody probably even checks over here anymore, but here i am. I have been, and am going through some very difficult times of late, and honestly have been unable to keep up with most anything going on or of intrest in my life. But after months of being beaten down, i have finally said enough and have started to take control of my life once again. No longer reacting to situations but acting by choice, if that makes any sense to you. Things are still tough, but at least i'm taking a stand. Anyways, have been extremely uncreative, and unmotivated for anything lately, but the last day or so have been trying to push the issue, and this is what i came up with

I wouldnt exactly call it a layout, more of a photoshop experiment. This is brooke, a very bad photo of her actually (my fault not hers :) ), wrong setting lots of noise, blah blah blah. So i was basically seeing what i could do with photoshop to fix her up and then grabbed 4 or 5 stock photos to put her in to make up for the terrible background scenery she was really in.....my downstairs playroom, toys everywhere, moms, you know what i mean im sure. Anyways, i kinda like how it turned out tho i want to give it a different frame/edging.
hopefully this will get my creative juices flowing again!
hope everybody had a great holiday!! tatat for now!!

2007-04-04T22:52:00.000-04:00

Hey all!!...no i have not fallen into a ditch somewhere, I have just been soooo busy!! I couldnt possibly catch up on everything all in one post....so i will start simple :)
Gettin the work stuff out of the way...I am down to needing only 3 more girls!! yeahhhhh!, and most of the girls i've been training are turning out wonderfully! (knock on wood). I had to make a few changes with them at the centres, which caused major upheavel, but it is so far all turning out for the best!thank goodness, lol! I had a work conference in Banff Alberta last month...it is soooo beautiful out there! I took sooo many photos...some of which iwill upload in a different post. Even tho it was a work event, jess and i managed to sneak away when ever we could and get some quality time in. We get so little of it, it was nice to even have a day or two.
Annnnnddddd.......my really big news, which i have as of yet only told a very few people is that jess popped the question! Down on bended knee and everything!

This is the beautiful ring he gave me. He told me that he dreamt that we got married and this is what the ring looked like. He then went and had a jeweller create it for him. Pink is my favorite color and so he added two pink saphires on either side to represent both our girls Victoria and Brooke.
Aint he sweet? It was a total surprise!! And it took him alot of courage too, cuz since i met him i have told him steadily that getting married wasnt something i felt i really needed to do. Truth is im terrified to actually walk down the aisle, but even tho we have had our problems together, I really dont think i will ever find another person who will ever blend together with me more than him. So..of course i said yes, lol! He wants to have a wedding as soon as possible, but I think we should wait til next year. We will see who wins, hehe.
More good news for me, though not nearly as life changing is that I got published!!!
Twice!! I was really excited! and in two of my fave magazines!...well Simple Scrapbooks is my fave magazine, but the digital scrapbook magazine is new..so that cant really be my fave yet now can it?, lol

and then again in an australian magazine called For Keeps. I really love this one cuz it is one of my favorite photos of Victoria

.

Well, it's getting late, and i have more interviews again tomorrow so now that i have shared my good news, Im off to bed. I only just got my computer back yesterday, after it was left in jess' car and taken off to the mechanics from the car accident he got himself into. Wont even go into details on that, but he is fine and it is good that he has a hard head. So below are two layouts i made in the last few days trying to grab back some creativity. I didnt have any kits on hand to use, so i just played around to see what i could come up with myself.
This one is of Victoria. Some of my fave pics taken on her 10th bday last year. Her 11th bday is on monday. This year just flew by!! And now she is double ones!! eekk!!

This is my Brooke of course. Was tryin to use alot of whitespace here....largely in part to not having any kits, lol!!

Well tata for now! ill be back soon!!

post op

2007-02-11T23:21:00.000-05:00

well, brookes surgery went smoothly. sorry kim...i thought that i had posted about it earlier....forgot what a bad blogger i have been and i have talked about it so much i thought everybody knew by now, lol!..It was nothing serious, it was dental surgery. Serious to me of course, but not in any other way. It turns out that she has a special type of enamel that erodes very easily. Her teeth are a MESS! We almost had to pull two of her teeth out, but really fought to keep them so that her adult teeth wouldnt grow in badly. The doctor told us that the surgery would take 1 hour, but they were in such bad shape, that it ended up taking three. I was going crazy! She woke up at 5 in the morning, and was in great spirits tho. She got to play in the huge toy room they have for child patients, and didnt start to get too worked up until it was time to hop up onto the bed to be rolled into the pre-op area. At that time we gave her some medication, (not sure how i feel that we gave it to her, but it was highly recommended) called versitat?..and what that does is calm her down, keeping her aware of everything, but makes it so she doesnt end up screaming and being upset prior to going in. It even causes mild forgetfullness, so some children that may otherwise be traumatized, wouldnt be. I dont know if it was the right choice to give it or not, but it worked wonderfully, and honestly i dont know what i would have done if they had rolled her away crying and screaming and scared. As it was, she was smiling and going "weeeeeeeee", as the gurney carted her off.
When she came out of it i was the only person allowed to see her.....one parent at a time they said. Jess was outside, pacing, and when i saw her i thought i was going to cry. She still had blood smeared all over her, and her face was soooo swollen and puffy. She was crying and trying to get her bandage off her arm where the iv was connected. I dont think i have ever felt so helpless in my life. The nurses had to let me pick her up to calm her down, and when it was time to bring her to her room, i carried her up. Can i just say i was utterly heartbroken?? But she is such a trouper!! About an hour later she had woken up and i was able to put her in her bed, and then about 15 minutes later she was giving her first puffy swollen smile.

We told her that she now had "treasure" in her mouth (the 2 silver caps that were put in), and since she is showing everybody her teeth and her special treasures. After popsicles etc. etc. we were able to take her home, where i spent the next 5 hours cuddling with her on the couch. After that she was up pretending to be a ballerina and dancing and jumping, and you would never have known what a mess she had been just a little while before that.
Victoria had never been sick before, not even a little so this was my very first jaunt into any scary parenting health issues. I hate it!
Other than that, i have become an auntie! Jess's sister had a little girl named Ruby, he is pretty excited, but disappointed i think that he wont' be able to see her for a bit.
We hired a new girl last week, and the verdict is still out on whether she is going to work out or not. Please please please let her work out!!! We still need 3-4 more to be properly staffed.
sigh.....i dont think it is ever going to end!
I also did a little upgrading to my blog. Not quite done with it yet, still playing so we will have to see how long before i actually get it done, lol! Does anybody know a good photo hosting site besides photobucket?..It seems they only let you goup to 800 px wide, and i was looking for something a litte larger.
Okay, i have to run off to bed now!, i have a looonnggggg day tomorrow, and the rest of my week doesnt look to pretty. But maybe i can swing something last minute to let me have some fun!!!

2007-02-05T08:59:00.000-05:00

well ok!, i certainly havent been back blogging as often as i have meant to now have i? what a bad bad blogger i am! Just popping in to say a quick how ya doin and play quick catch up.
We have Brookes pre-op appointment today and i have to admit, that with it getting so close to the date (Friday, eeekkk) I am getting slightly wiggy. Yesterday, we went to the hospital for a pre-pre-op so that Brooke could see the hospital, and play with puppets and see what she was going to be in for. She had a great time, and i can see how that would be helpful for older children,--but for a just turned 3 year old, i dont think she put it together, that everything the puppets were having done to them would be happening to her in just a few days. But hopefully it brought her some familiarity with the hospital and that is what they were trying to do. She had a good time playing "doctor", and will be able to recognize a few of the instruments that will be used on her so maybe that will be helpful. I of course brought my camera :)
Here she is learning how they will clean her wrist before putting her "straw" in her hand.

Here she is learning how the medicine will be injected in to her arm....tho she did keep trying to use it as a thermometer, lol!

I have to admit, i was pretty impressed with their set up here! They call it a childrens medical safari, and i think that it is a great idea! i have never heard of it before, but i hope that other hospitals do it too, cuz it has to be beneficial.
So today we have two appointments with her doctor, and find out a bit more info, and then we are to wait patiently for friday. I know it is so routine, but my stomach isjust churning at the thought of it! Im trying not to think about it, and the dh is such a baby about these things, that that means that I of course can't be worried at all cuz i have to reassure him. Men are such babies, lol!
Besides that, I have hired 2 more girls, and they are turning out wonderful! Still 4 or understaffed, but we seem to have all the negative workers gone and the group i have right now are really fabulous! so positive, and enthusiastic, that for the first time I too am feeling positive about work! I now truly believe that some time soon all will be normal!! We had some corporate bigwigs come down and help me do some re-training and refresher courses and that helped get everybody motivated again, and the new girls learned alot! And I actually hit it off really well with one of the trainers. She is busy like me, and finds it hard to stay in touch with people on a regular basis, so most of her friends get tired of waiting around for her to find a spare moment to "play" with them.
hmmmmm.....sounds familiar, lol! And since we both understand our schedules we seem to match well. It has been quite awhile that I have met someone and really hit it off with that hasnt been in the scrapping community and living days of travel away from me, hehe. She lives only and hour and a half, lol! But really, i forgot how great it was to meet someone with a "like" mind......as scary as that may sound to some of you who know my mind, hehe!
Well i have to go and get Brooke ready for her appointment!! Have a great day!!!

HERE I AM!

2007-01-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

okay everybody!! no i have not disappeared off the face of the planet!! tho it certainly feels like i have. Everyday i keep meaning to find time to get my blog up and post, but there just are not enough hours in a day! Work is worse than ever, and my days are about 14 hours long in that department, and it has been soooo crazy i really want to just break down and cry i tell ya! But, chin up! (that is what i keep telling myself!, lol) cuz there is no possible way for things to stay like this forever! Statistically impossible!!
So, besides work, what has been going on with me?.....well, the holidays sure kept me busy, and for the first time in years, it was actually a really good one! All family got along (surprisingly, hehe), and everyone seemed in genuine good spirits! I had 2 whole days off!! whooo hooo!! And watching Brooke help put up the christmas tree was wonderful! She fell in love with it and had to give each ornament a hug, and at bedtime had to come over to the fully decorated tree, and hug it goodnite. Soooo sweet! Victoria, had a fantastic holiday, loved everything she got, not that she really cared. She is a bizarre child that genuinely loves the holidays, becuz it involves love and family and would gladly give up the presents if it came to a choice. Where she came from i dont know, but what a treasure!!
My father recently had an operation, but he is doing fine, but that kept us busy over here too. He was out of commission for a few weeks, so there was alot to keep us busy. He has had sooo many operations you can play tic tac toe on his stomach. I keep telling him to start taking better care of himself, but he just refuses to listen. I just have to shake my head, and keep tellin him i guess. Maybe one day he will hear what i have to say....but i doubt it....he is stubborn and irish, lol!
I was in a car accident, not long ago as well...car damaged, but otherwise all is good. i was a bit stiff for a few days, but nothing serious....and noooooooooooo!! it was not my fault, hehehe. Everyone always teases me about my driving, but never once have i ever been in an accident that was my fault!
And this month, my sweet little baby girl brooke turns 3. Three whole years old!! I just cant believe it!! This is a layout i did about a month ago...(the last time i had time to scrap....and yes im whining, lol). I really love this photo!! She just looks so happy, and always makes me happy to see it!

I was soooo happy the other day! i found the most perfect little camera store...RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM ME!! and i never knew it was there!! It carries all my ink cartridges, and all of my favorite paper, and everything that normally i would have to order away for...but he keeps it right in the store!!!! at all times!!! I did such a happy dance, and told the owner that he was now my new best friend, lol!!
Well im at work, so i have to run, i just wanted to touch base, and wish everyone a very belated merry xmas and the best of possibilities for the New year!!!!!! I WILL be posting again!!!
tata!!

playstation 3

2006-11-19T22:27:00.000-05:00

okay!! so everybody has heard of the craze about the playstation?? well, do you know that that dh of mine is right on the top of list of crazies that succumbed to commercialism!
Do you know what he did?? After waiting for hours outside a mall, (which i told him he was a lunatic to do) he got cheated out of a playstation 3 by a couple of police officers. Feeling rightfully annoyed, you think he would come home and just be miserable about it. Nope! he comes home and then goes downstairs to his puter and speends too much money and buys one on ebay.
Now...we have spent sooo much money on our business', and then buying a new house, and all the fix ups that are needed, going into christmas this is probably not such a good idea.
So, i told him we are going to have to get rid of it. A bit much right now for a game system for us i thought if we are going to have a good holiday...and we stil have to get our roof fixed.
So..relatively miserable, he has agreed to the idea that the ps3 is going straight back to the ebay auction, or anybody he knows that will buy it for what he did.
Did it end there???
of course not, lol!
Sooooo, last night, he calls me from standing outside another building. And what is he doing?? Waiting overnite for the Nintendo Wii to come out.
sigh.
Now, I am not a total shrew, so, i said, hon, if you want to wait outside AGAIN for a system you may or may not get, you go right ahead. Im going to snuggle up with my warm pillow and blankets, and watch some tv before i hit the sack.
You see, we have nintendo game cube...and a zillion games that are not going to go to waste with a Wii system, and it is half the price. So, okay...i thought Victoria really would like one of those for xmas, so no prob.
But!
Did we really need TWO! OF THEM???? that's right people!! that plum loco crazy man bought 2 darn game systems. WHY??? i ask you! what comes over men?? Is it the whole competition thing?..of getting there first?
So, in summary, we now have 1 playstation 3, and not 1 but 2 nintendo Wii's. And only becuz somebody somewhere said, that everybody should want them, but nobody should be able to get them.
Well, then. sigh. Does anybody want one???, hehehehehhe. Anybody else have some crazy husband or son that is going crazy trying to get their hands on one?? C'mon!, mine can't be the only lunatic one, lol!
k, that is my rant for the nite! Other than that, i am sooo on top of the ball!! I got my December mega kit done soooo ahead of time! whooo hoooo kimj! did you hear that?? im totally psyched, cuz this next month will be killer. 2 christmas parties, another girl gave her notice at work to move up and work for our corporate office (sigh...do i have any employees left???) and all the stuff that didnt get completed this wkend due to game fever!
but will try to stop in here in a day or so....im sure i will have another game system by then i will need to let off steam over, lol!

2006-11-17T22:51:00.000-05:00

quick postin tonite, but i wanted to pop in before headin off to bed! and post some layouts too!! I did a few sponsor layouts for the rakscraps newsletter...which is really awesome this month i thought! (more so than usual ;) And now that it has been released..so pop over and get it!! i can share my pics!! this first one is using the collaborative kit over at Scrapdish.com. My Brooke running along the water the first time she ever went to the beach! i have sooo many great pics from that day!

This one was for a joke on the dh, lol. He hates when i do layouts of him (or used to hate....he is used to it now i think and protests out of habit, hehe)...and he is always worried which photo is going to end up online, lol. And to tell the truth...I am EXTREMELY snap happy right now, and the poor guy is handling it pretty well! I used Rachel Dickensons Dare kit found at Scrapdish.com too!
This next one is using Correen Silke from Silkescraps kit. I really really loved this photo of brooke!! but the photo was sooo blurry and pixely it required an awful lot of work! i still see a few touchups to be made, but im pretty happy with how this one turned out. Im going to change the font and the journal placement too. For some reason i always have a hard time deciding where all the journaling goes. Am i the only one??
So....we lost ANOTHER girl at work this week....but we hired a new one too. does that mean that we are breaking even??? sigh. Can't wait til we pull ahead, and dont have to worry anymore! I have a work christmas party coming up but to tell you the truth im thinking of ditching it. really not looking forward to celebrating a holiday with people that arent very "true" ya kwim?
We are throwing one for our employees in a few weeks...but we want to keep it fun and not mandatory. Too many people go to those work things just cuz they feel they have too. We are going to be casual and just have a real good time! no work talk at all!!! yeahhh!!, lol.
On the childrens front, Brooke has been replaced by her evil twin. We miss Brooke. Her twin screams and yells, and kicks. yup. kicks. She jumps up and down on her bed just like those bratty kids do on the tv shows, which you always think no kid of mine would ever do. I dont know where it came from, but sheesh. That girl has a strong will....and we arent going to tell her, but i think it is stronger than mine and jess' put together, lol! I will pray tonite for missing little brooke to come back for a visit!
Starting xmas shopping tomorrow...i dread it!! but im looking forward to getting some new xmas decor for the new house!!! that part will be fun!
ok, im off for now!! tata!!

finally! a layout!

2006-11-12T22:39:00.000-05:00

Well it just seems like forever since i have done a layout just for me. With being busy at work, and sponsor layouts, and then the switch to cs2, which is taking me a little bit to get used to let me tell ya, i have had no time what so ever to just sit back and relax and make a layout just because i was in the mood. So heavy sigh,,,,i finally got a minute, hehehe. These layer modes, and masks i tell ya are something else! The difference between cs2 and dip is amazing! I just wish i knew everything that i NEEDED to know in cs NOW!! I am so impatient, lol!! But here is my first real layout done with this program. Still trying to figure out the different blendy styles.

One of the reasons im totally stoke about cs is actually for the photo touch up capability. I was able to do a whole lot in dip, but cs just totally blows it away!! This next layout was done a few weeks ago, and I started it by picking the most terrible photo of me i could find, lol. Not too hard at all since the only time jess grabs the camera is when im too sleepy to do so and am still in my comfy cozy clothes, hair not brushed etc. cuz it is a lazy day. I wanted to see just what was possible with my limited knowledge in cs to repair. Jess had snapped my photo looking into the bathroom mirror while i was getting ready for work a few weeks earlier, and the mirror was completley covered in spots. (my 2 year old brooke likes to flick her toothbrush, hehehe) We hadnt washed the mirror in about 3 wks, and there were so many spots i couldnt even tell you, lol . (i told u before i am a terrible house cleaner). Anyways, my face was blotchy, and since this photo was actually my reflection in the mirror, the spots were all over my face. I literally had to recreate my eye, and do sooooooo many other touchups i can't even list them all. By the time i was done, after all that work, i just had to do something with the photo, so I made my zoolander layout. Jess had also been making fun of my makeup face while he was snapping my photo, hehehehe. It is just a simple one, but the photo corrections are what i am really proud of. Im driving people crazy talking about everything that i am trying to learn in this program, lol. And since none of them scrap, or have any photo sofware, they just look at me like i have some crazy obsession and shake their heads. hehehehe.

Let's see...what else has been happening??. I hosted my first chat at rakscraps on friday. Way different being a hostess let me tell you. Almost never made it cuz Bell had shut off my internet due to an error on their end, and even tho they promised me that it would be back up in an hour or so, it was an hour before the chat that it came back on. I was ready to run down to one of my centres to borrow their computer for the nite. Bell is not my friend this week, let me tell you.
Why can't they ever get the darn bill right?...and when you call to talk to them..why do they keep passing you along to 5 other people where you have to retell your story each and every time right from the beginning???
Ihad a meeting at work, this wkend where i had to go over everything that had been slacking and where we want to improve etc. uggghh. I really hate those. And i had to take one of the employees aside that i really like, and lay down the law with her. It was really terrible for me!! I felt awful and it has stuck with me all week giving me an ugly feeling. I know it all needed to be said, and i was as nice as possible, but i just hate being that person. All the employees think im such a STRONG boss, and that i dont take anything from anybody. But if they knew how terrible i felt after every not good conversation, or how much i dread confrontations of any kind i think their mouths would hit the floor. I guess that is the way it is supposed to be tho. it is still icky!
I also finished my december prize tonite..way ahead of schedule!! yeahhh me! All my sponsor layouts were done for november!!! and i got all my november kits in on time too! What a Roll i am on, hehehhee!!!! whooo hooo! No whip from KimJ this month, hehehe!!
Been taking care of jess all day today cuz he is not feeling well. :( poor big baby, lol! grown men that get sick are funny. But, there he is yelling for me now, so i have to run.
tata for now, be back soon!

2006-11-06T00:04:00.000-05:00

have you ever wondered which celebrity you look like?...saw this in the forum by another lady, and thought i would give it a try cuz i was bored......well...actually i tried it twice, hehehe...using two different photos wanting to see if any of the same people came up more than once...and strange enough...4 of them came up both times! And in truth...none of them look anything like me, lol!!!

I did the dh too...i ran him thru some "any" matches. That means male and female and it comes up with the closest matches. He matched 3 women. I put me through the "all" as well, and this is what i got. whew!! was nervous to see what men i would have "looked" like, lol!

Well that is all for me tonite...just a short post. Spent the wkend either doing ppr work, or doing nothing, lol..well i did play with cs2 a bit....still trying to figure it out! But i dont want to kick it as much as usual, and have done 2 actual layouts with it so far!...cant upload them tho cuz they are to go in the Rakscraps November newsletter i believe, so i have to wait. Other than that, don't forget to pop on over to Rakscraps.com. We are all Rakabrating like crazy fools celebrating our 2nd anniversary!! Lots of challenges, and about 200 prizes from some pretty awesome sponsors! Should be quite the hoot! I am even going to host my first chat on Friday nite! Should be a loud mess, lol!

O...and i have to share......Brooke noticed that her baby bottom has a baby bottom crack this week, lol. Now she is coming up to me every day all day telling me "momma, my bum is broken. Will you fix it?"

hehehehe, kids are awesome!...tata for now!

halloween at my house!

2006-10-31T23:58:00.000-05:00

First off, i have to say that i just switched over to the new blogger.....has anybody else?...i was so frustrated at trying to upload my photos that i finally did it....and they all uploaded in less than 10 seconds. So far so good blogger!!!!
Second thing i have to say, is that i am finally going to get serious about learning to use a camera......and not just digital photo touch ups, lol!! And to celebrate I had to go and get myself a new camera!!!! So check it out!

I have been needing to get a new one for work, so this was killing two birds with one stone. I was looking at getting the 30d, but this had a higher pixel, and as we do alot of enlargements for advertising, i thought for now this was a better way to go.....especially cuz im still learning. But i am sooo stoked! and even Jess was getting involved in trying to learn. For a minute, lol, but it was a start!

So last night we carved our pumpkins! This is Victoria, being as serious as she ever is when she is "creating" anything!

And this is little brooke. She took forever to actually stick her hands in the pumpkin, and kept calling it ewwwwwww!!! goooey! And then just like last year she tried to clean her pumpkin back up and put the seeds and goo back inside as we were taking it out. Victoria finally convinced her to "goo" was just like playdough, and then she said "oh it is?" and then jumped in two fisted, lol! Way to go Victoria!!!

Jess and i spent extra time this year carving out the pumpkins and tried to get creative! I made a spider (darn hard to do those spider legs i tell you),, and he made a devil face. I was pretty impressed with the two of us, as normally we botch them. Victoria's is theone in the middle.....she wouldnt say what she was making, and i didnt want to ask in case i was already supposed to know, lol

And then of course, tonite was halloween nite!!! Victoria wanted to be scary, not pretty this year.....and brooke liked that idea too. Which was too bad, cuz i had gotten her the cutest snow white costume...which i made her dress up into anyways at least for pics, lol...and now it is in her "tickle trunk"
But i have to say she was an awesome witch! I got some awesome photos for layouts! and she had fun, cold as it was. She gave hugs to those that gave her candy....ran everywhere....and tried to spook people as she passed them. Waayyyy cute!!

And this is Victoria as a mummy! I wasnt able to get very many great photos of her, as Brooke was done up first and was very impatient and wouldnt give me time to snap her. And by the time we got home, she was already unraveling, lol!.....but before we left, she really did look awesome! her hair was everywhere and she kept up her role all the way through the nite--she loves to throw herself into the part!

So the girls had a fun nite...and the parents got cold. I guess that's the way it is supposed to be, lol! End of the month already, sigh. This one went by fast!!! Here is hopin November is a good one!!

On a side note....we are back to needing another 3-4 employees....no longer 2-3. That bites the big one!!!!

Hope everybody had a nice halloween!!!!!

my blogger hates me

2006-10-26T22:06:00.000-04:00

well here i am with photos to share, but my blogger hates me! will not let me upload and if i could i would kick it.
however i can't, so i will just wish really really hard that it will stop this uncalled for dislike of me and be my friend.
soooooooo...lots of new stuff here with me. Busy as usual. We finally hired 2 new girls, and i was really thinking at least one of them were going to be ok. I am still keeping my fingers crossed, but i am not hearing good things from the other employees.
Am i jinxed I ask you?? Am i destined to always never have enought people to work with me??
Im going to start looking under every rock that i can to find me some great people!!!! it WILL HAPPEN!!
So guess what happened? some of you already know but sheesh.
A few months ago, i posted about a crazed rampant deer that came rushing thru a busy city and straight into my store window smashing it to bits.
Yup....a deer. In the middle of a city. And of course it was my window, lol
Now, about a month later we were sitting ever so nicely looking at our nicely repaired window when what happened? some crazed lady drove thru my window smashing it to bits.

soooooooooo....wanna know what happened last week??? A crazed man, jumped thru my window that was repaired none to long ago while trying to see if we had anything that would look better sitting at his place.
sigh.
I just shake my head and laugh. Really. What else are you going to do? The window gods are fated against me. It was suggested that i invest in a brick wall or steel encasing and forget windows altogether. Not lookin like such a bad idea, lol.

Jess made it back from his hunting trip.
figured he would.
He had arranged to send me flowers and a present 3 times while he was gone. All of the girls at work thought he was sooooo sweet.
but i knew the truth.
He was trying to bribe me. He knew that he would be coming back........did he really want to come back to a crazed woman who had been stuck with a crazy schedule and 2 children and everything else he left on my shoulders and deal with her?
nooooooooooooooooooooo!
He wanted to come to a girl that had been bribed with flowers and thougthful presents and sweet cards.
guilt presents is what they were.
But dont you worry girls!!!! I did not fall for it! not one little bit! And now he knows that i can't be bribed. Of course i did make sure he knows that i still like presents. I am not that silly.
Well tomorrow is Friday, so im very happy about that!...lots of pumpkin carving to do this weekend and if we are lucky we will get lots of pumpkin hunting pics!!! yeahhhh for the wkend!!

Happy Thanksgiving All!

2006-10-09T20:30:00.000-04:00

okay..so it has been forever and a day since i have blogged...but i have been B-u-S-y!!! Jess went away on his hunting trip and left me with everything in the world to take care of work wise and i have been just swamped!! Not gonna dwell on that, but suffice it to say that i am very disappointed in my man right now, and if he brings home his rifle i just may use it. But i'm not bitter or anything. Just cuz everybody gets to go away on vacation except for me doesnt make me bitter. Just cuz when i plan a vacation, and then something breaks at work that makes me have to cancel it doesnt make me bitter. Just cuz i cancel it and they dont......really...no bitterness at all. Just ask anybody. Not to mention that this is thanksgiving here in Canada and believe it or not that is Victoria's favorite holiday because it involves spending time with family. But just cuz he aint here to share it...really..im ok with that. Im soooo not one of those girls that hold a grudge or anything. really. :)

Anyways....cuz it was thanksgiving here, i made dinner for just me and my girls and we had fun just the 3 of us. I made my first turkey...and it wasnt burnt...and i dont think it was raw...and is it really cheating if it came from Butterball???? The girls ate it and they are still kickin so i think i did all right!, hehehe.

Brooke who is two, had her first dentist appointment. A bit young i know..but she is having problems in her one molar so i thought the dentist could take a peek. Ever since Victoria lost 4 teeth in 2 weeks, Brooke has been going around telling and showing everybody her loose tooth. hehehehehe. sooo cute. So I actually thought it would be no problem at all for her to open up her mouth and say awwwwww.
duh me.
Here she is showing Dr. Machina her loose tooth. Doesnt she look happy?.....lasted for all of 2 minutes, hehe.

And here she is two minutes later. That was the last of that, lol. but the doctor did say that she did have a cavity, and that she will need to ahve it looked at by a childrens dentist.

Now that just gives me the heebie jeebies cuz for the childrens dentist to look at it, they have to give her something to make her go to sleep before hand. I ahve neve been put under myself, and i really dont feel comfortable letting that happen to Brooke either. I know I am probably way being weird about it...lots of kids have to go under, but it just makes me nervous. :( my poor baby.

So I have made a new challenge for myself. A few weeks ago i got photoshop cs2. I have to tell you that me being a dip girl....i opened it...hit a few buttons...looked at it...and then closed it again really quick. Then i happily went back to my dip. :) But then, i was over on my hero :) Denise Docherty's blog and saw a demonstration of a photo done with one of her kits, the altered photo kit, which is about the only kit of hers i have not bought, because it had a tut in photoshop and i dont use that. Sooooo....it was late..and I was shopping on line cuz i was bored and the dh went hunting and left me here by myself so i bought it..as well as her get organized kit which i dont know how i missed that coming out earlier.....and i gave the kit and tut a try.

Now....keep in mind...to say I know NOTHING about photoshop would not be an exaggeration...lol...and i grabbed a photo that looked like it might be wing worthy....considering that i have hundreds of photos on my hard drive...i grabbed the very first one i saw, cuz it was just practice and me checkin it out, but overall I dont think i did all that badly!
Here is the original photo...i had to get rid of victoria and our dog lolly in the background...and if i was really thinking i would have spent the time finding another photo cuz this one didnt really leave me any room for a halo, lol.

And here is the after....see what i mean about the halo? hehehe....ok..so there were some mistakes...but hey...What the heck is a mask??, lol...i had never used one before...and brushes in a non png form???? never never never, lol! I caught a few errors after i was done on inspection, but i have to thank denise for showing me that photoshop aint all bad!...And i think i will catch on quickly...once i figure out all the stuff i DONT know and dont realize exists in this program :)

So other than that, nothing new going on....still working a zillion hours and have got about 12 more interviews lined up this week...so who knows???..maybe this is the week we find some good ones! wish me luck!!!!!!

2006-09-24T23:16:00.000-04:00

just poppin on to say a quick how do to everybody. I have been such a bad blogger lately! shame on me!
well...another wkend bites the dust...leaving me begging the weekend gods...please oh please! just one more day!!!!!! but nope! denied again!
My week was pretty busy and I was soooo glad when the wkend came...I spent saturday catching up on work til my dad popped over to see the girls. He had just got back from his trip to Ireland visiting his family and he when i told him that Brooke had been missing him, he of course came right over, lol! And when Brooke saw him she ran to him and gave him huge hugs and said "yeahhh...im not crying anymore! papa's home now i'm happy!"
now if that aint a way to a papa's heart i just dont know what is!!
Tomorrow is Jess' bday! Since we are going to be having another insane week of course, we celebrated it today. Jesse's idea of celebrating his birthday is to have me cook. (which i hardly ever do, lol). And it is always the same bday meal. Breaded porkchops and scalloped potatoes. The only problem with that is that i'm no good at cooking anything in oil.....and never once have i been able to make scalloped potatoes properly. Martha stewart has nothing to fear from me! But he eats them happily anyways, lol. Tomorrow when we get home we will have cake....mainly for brooke, ...she keeps thinking that if there is a bday....then 'where is MY cake??'.

On a totally other topic...has anybody not read or seen the davinci code yet? well...if you like puzzles of anykind, or just want to boggle your mind so you can go to sleep...did you know that there are a zillion clues on that books hardcover that leads you in a chase all around the internet to find clues and drive you crazy???? I spent the last 2 hours with jess on the computer trying to solve those darn riddles. I guess there originally was a prize of a trip to paris for the first winner...but us not knowing that spent forever trying to figure it out...and you really need your thinking cap on too...thinking there would be something kewl at the end.
but nope.
just a congratulations way to go...sorry the contest is over. lol...i had no idea it was a contest...i just thought the end would be something neat. Anyways, it is a time killer, and a bit of fun trying to figure it out if anybody is ever bored. It is kind of interesting the amount of time they must have put into it as the clues lead you through the book...the cover...the web.....but then i am a geek for logic puzzles.
okay...im off now. Lots of ads for me to make tomorrow! :)

2006-09-18T22:29:00.000-04:00

another manic monday. this one was soooo dreary, i really had a hard time starting off the week! And it wasn't just me...everybody was like that today. I hate those grey weather days!
So we had the health and wellness expo this wkend. Not a huge turn out but we got a good response and alot of inquiries so it was definitely worth the while. would have prefered nicer saturday weather tho. can't control those darn skies no matter how much i try!
Had a bit of a scary moment on sunday. Jess has been having some difficulty with his ears being plugged lately and we have had to put drops in his ears most nights. Well, sunday morning he woke up and he literally couldn't hear anything. I was standing right in front of his face not an inch a way and he still couldnt hear me. He was pretty freaked out, and brooke was trying to talk to him, and i dont think i have ever seen him look so helpless. He went to the hospital, and the doctor did soemthing to him, which hurt alot, but at least it cleaned him out so he could hear again. We have to continue with these special drops, but hopefully it will clear up soon. He was pretty spooked, and he hates to admit when he is feeling like that. poor baby!!
I worked today and then i had to rush and go to Victorias school for meet the teacher nite. I have to admit, i was not overly impressed with the teacher herself. Kind of stand offish, and mildly rude if you ask me. I'm hoping we just caught her on a bad night, but she wasnt overly talkative except to tell me that my daughter victoria was.....talkative. Well that i already knew, but really. Is that really one of the first things you say to a parent when you first meet them? I live with her for goodness sake. You think i don't know she talks alot??? I got a gabber! I know it. But a hello nice to meet you would have been nice. Or even a smile.
Anyways...here are a few of my sponsor layouts. Nothing too fancy, but i was trying to stay pretty simple, due to time and jess saying i make my layouts too...toooo....something he says, lol.
So this is my darling brooke enjoying the sleep of angels :) I used Doris Castles' Pure Love kit found at Scrapbookgraphics. That doris really is talented! always has such a unique style. I have so many of her kits, but for some reason, i buy them, but never make the time to use them. I think i will make an album with just her kits, as she is pretty versatile!

This is a layout of one of my fave photos i took of Victoria on her 10th bday. Aint she pretty?? So hard to remember her as a little girl. This one i kept simple too, but also because i just really wanted the picture to stand out clear and loud! I have scrapped this photo a few times in a few different styles....and i will again in a few more different styles, lol. Here i used Ms. Tracy Blankenships Daddy's got the blues kit! I love Tracy! and was glad to be able to use her kit!

I would have posted these earlier but i had to wait til the Raks newsletter came out....hoped you nabbed it! if not, you can check it out at raks!
Well, jess brought home some new kind of funky chocolate ice cream bar tonite that i have never seen before...so i must go give it a nibble before i head to bed. Nite all!

IT'S HERRREEEEE!!!!!!

2006-09-16T09:39:00.000-04:00

All right everybody!!! It is here and it looks awesome this month!! The Raks mega kit is out and links one and two are up!!!! Each link will only be available for approximately two days so make sure you rush over and grab it!! I'm link one!! and here is my contribution to this months Friendship themed kit

THis is my favorite mini kit that i have done so far. So i hope that you all hop over to rakscraps.com and grab it!!!!!
So today is Saturday and i am sitting at work right now looking outside at this extremely cloudy icky day. After im done here I have to go to a health and wellness expo that we are involved in for work down by the detroit river and take my shift. Sigh. I wasnt supposed to be involved in this expo at all and really liked it that way, lol. But got roped in anyways!
Nothing really new is going on here...worked 12 hour shifts at work all week, went home and crashed after spending the 2 minutes i have when i get home with the girls before their bedtime. :( Brooke has beeen having nightmares lately and is waking up everynite and She won't let anybody but me put her to bed anymore. I am hoping that it is not because of my schedule and it is just a phase that she is going thru. I dread to think that it would be effecting her so much.
I watched the first Survivor this season. I know they were trying something new this time, but it looks like they are dealing with the same stuff as always so it doesnt look like their racial division is really going to effect the swing of things anymore than usual.
And yeahhhhhh!!!!! for lucas on supernova!!!! he won lead singer! He really did rock and totally deserved it! so i was glad!!! (how bout you tania???? you glad to??)
I watched, i dont know if it was the season opening or the season finale last from last year of Ghost Whisperer. I have to tell you i am really beginning to get into that show!! Havent been a big tv show goer much over the last year or so, but this season looks pretty good so i mite have to move my laptop to a desk downstairs in front of my tv, lol!!
K, gotta actually go do workstuff now. Hope everybody has a rockin Saturday!!!

darn! wkends over!

2006-09-10T21:57:00.000-04:00

well! that weekend sure went quick! it has been so long since i have blogged i think my fingers forget how to type! Hectic hectic round here lately. short version is...workwise, crazy as ever! but our one new girl dina is just fabulous! so much energy and enthusiasm she really makes my day seem so much better! hopefully she is someone we can rely on. We are still looking for 2 more with very little prospects. :( I'm keepin hope alive tho!!!
Victoria had her first day of school! Grade 5!!!!! She is getting so old i just dont think i can take it!!! She is really loving her new school and already i have noticed the difference in their procedures from her old one, so i am loving this school tooo!! She has made friends she says and so far has no complaints! which is huge for her!
I did a little shopping this wkend thinking that i deserved it, and bought some new mags, some new albums and a couple misc. items i didnt really need. I even bought jess a book...by a comedian who he just loves Ron White. He is definitely pretty funny and jess was downstairs laughing for over an hour. I dont know how he reads, but if you ever get the chance to see this guy on tv or in person you definitely should! He has a great delivery and gives me a giggle.
I hopped over to denise's new store today (Designer Digitals if you didnt know she moved from sbe) and bought her fabulous new kit and quick page!! i was so excited as i do most of my online shopping in the morning and at her new store it was all up and ready to go and i didnt have to wait til nite time to see if she had any new stuff. Yes, i know. Small things make me happy, lol. Anyways, thanks Denise!!! the new kit rocks!!!
I got some of my sponsor layouts done today...the first layouts i have done in 2 months!!! im going crazy!! I can't upload yet cuz they were for the newsletter at raks, but i will upload them in a few days.
hmmmmm......what else?? Jess is still planning on going hunting in a few weeks with his dad. A real bone of contention with us right now, one, cuz i dont want him to be gone over the holidays(thanksgiving here in canada), but i could get over that cuz he doesnt see his dad much. But reason number 2 is that WHAT ABOUT ME????? Am i to be left running our stores that are understaffed and totally needing attention right now 24/7 all by myself? It seems that i have made plans, and then due to work, have had to cancel. But never anybody else. Im feeling mighty upset about it right now, but when i try to tell him that im feeling overwhelmed by all that will have to be done, with work and the kids....i mean there really couldnt be a worse time right now with the way the centres are....all he thinks is that im trying to manipulate him out of going cuz i didnt want him to go in the first place. arrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh!!!! men
ok...venting done.
on to new topics. Is anybody else as disappointed as me with the turnabout on Big Brother All Stars???? I am a big will and janelle fan, but i got up and yelled hoorahhh!! when she kicked him out...cuz he did deserve it after all. But now that she got the boot and that Erika of all people are in the final 2 i wanna pull my hair out. She is driving me up a wall. I had the live feeds, and i cancelled them when i heard her talking about how she had been responsible for everyones eviction...not chilltown. I mean really! I would have cancelled it anyways cuz i was just trying it out, and who wants to watch her and boogie for 4 days by themselves???? not me. But that just made me make a point of it. I just really dont like her. Sigh. The life and disappointments of a reality tv buff, lol!!
I think that is all that is new....im sure i missed a bunch of stuff. Was going to upload some awesome photos i took , (subject awesome...not awesome photography, lol), but jess is yelling at me to help him carry something heavy. will try to tomorrow!!
tata for now!!!!

jibber jabber

2006-08-30T23:26:00.000-04:00

well i havent been blogging a whole lot this past 2 weeks..mainly because I have nothing happy to say and am just tired of hearing myself whine,lol. But i dont want to break my habit so here I am yappin again.
Been training the new girls all week. One is a true super star and is sooo amazingly awesome!! I'm going to put her in the one store where we just lost a manager and promote her in a month if she keeps it up...that is how impressed i am! Of the other 2 I'm not quite sure. I'm pretty sure one of them is not going to work out, but one may be trainable. I sooooooooo have my fingers crossed!!!
We did end up losing another employee in our "family" group but as we were expecting it, and it was one of the really negative ones, it is not really a loss, just incredibly inconvenient. Even a chair filled at this time by someone like her who at least knows her stuff is better than an empty or an untrained one in that store. But, i gotta figure it can't get worse, knock on wood!!
So i got a few emails on my last post surprisingly enough of people not believing that i truly had black hair so i dug up this photo. Forgive the I'm going to bite you expression, lol....i was in my first trimester with Victoria here and had just had a bout of morning sickness....and had another one immediately following his click, hehe. I dont think thephotographer liked me any much,lol.

What a difference eh? Even I forgot how different i looked. Hmmmm....maybe I will wait a bit longer before i revert to the au natural look, hehehe.

We finally made the big step yesterday. We moved Brooke from her crib into her big girl bed. :( I'm sooo sad. She hasn't as of yet realized that she can get up out of it on her own yet.....and I am praying that she doesnt anytime soon. I can just imagine the mess she will get into if we don't get to her in time. I did my first layout in weeks today, but it was kind of depressing, so i decided not to upload it. Really trying to take a positive look on things right now. I know. Kind of stupid to make a depressing layout then huh. hehehe. Never said i was the smartest bunny in the hutch.

k...i promised Jess that i would not stay up into the weee hours tonite and would hit the sack at a reasonable hour. I was working on a new look for our business cards...not quite finished yet. I can't belive how hard i find making a very simple looking business card, when i play with layouts as much as i do. I will try to upload it tomorrow when it is finished and i would just love some input. I do the ads for work, but for some reason this simple task is very difficult for me. Would you listen to that??? Jess' ears must be burning cuz he is now yelling at me to turn off the puter and go to bed, lol. ( but on a side bar-yeahhhhhh Danielle is on the block on big brother!!! yipppeeeee!!!!!! and boooooo to supernova tonite!!! i so can't believe they booted off the dark horse!! i thought he was extremely talented!! so surprised by that, i thought for sure Storm was leaving.....k..im done this time for sure.)

TAG!! I'm it!

2006-08-26T23:44:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged by KimJ!!

rules:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Then tag 5 friends and list them. Then those 5 friends need to state their 5 weird things on their blog, listing the rules and then tag 5 more people. Don't forget to let the person know in their blog that you tagged them or we will never find out their weird attributes.

Well....i only just got my dog lolly...and tho im sure she has many weird bizarre attributes..i havent figured them all out yet. I however have many many weird attributes.....but having been asked the question, i found it really hard to think of a single one!! And that is weird in itself, cuz i tell ya, i have sooooo many, hehehe.
So here is what i did come up with:

#1::::::: I always feel so awesome, in control, happy organized and have a general good sense of well being when ever my house is clean and organized....weird thing is even knowing this...i am a terrible housekeeper..hate doing it, and half the time the dh is the one with the vaccuum in his hand.

#2::::::: I am one of the few women who either refuses or just doesnt care about accessorizing or whether or not I match in my wardrobe. Jewellry, earings necklaces, hair doo dads, nail painting...what a bother. Jess (the dh) got so mad at me (he is the accessorizer and very high maintenance in matching coordinates) cuz i bought a pretty nice brown skirt, wore a very nice white blouse that i bought the same day, and then topped it off with a pair of old black high heels that have definitely seen better days. He looked around for half hour for a different pair of my shoes for me to wear, while i played on puter...but me not caring, i have only 2 pairs of high heels, lol! I know.....i give women a bad name!

#3:::::::: I absolutely love photography! I carry my camera everywhere! I bought one that cost a pretty penny...and am ready to buy another one as soon as the dh turns his head....but all i know how to use on it is the auto button. One day I have every intention of learning everything there is to know about it, but for now i thank the lord for digital software, for without it i would have the worst pictures anywhere in the whole wide world. I dont think i have ever taken a photo that hasnt needed at least a zillion touch ups!

#4:::::::: I dont like mint...but my favorite chocolate bar is chocolate mint...and my favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip...go figure.

#5:::::::: I'm kind of whacky...loud (like you couldn't figure that out, lol), always a chatterbox...i laugh out loud and often, and most always am in a pretty darn good mood. But yet people always think im grumpy. I dont get it...but i think that is pretty weird.

Sooooooooooooooooo! those are my 5 weird attributes. That i could think of on the spot. I swear to god i have some wierd doozy's but this is what I came up with!
And now I have to tag 5 more people. hmmmmmmm. who should it be? who would i love to hear 5 weird things about????? How's bout...

Tania, Melissa, vicki, danny, and jennifer??
Sorry you guys!!! If you didnt want to be tagged, you are going to have to blame KimJ. She made me do it!!! lol

So here is what I have been doing lately. No scrapping unfortunately. I hired three new employees...and then another one quit. This is a real disappointment as she is the only one with a good head on her shoulders and with out her manning the one store leaves me really fumbling around with untrained employees tha will not be able to work alone. Jess and I have been scrambling trying to figure out how we are going to move people around just to make sure all the stores are covered. I literally almost had a breakdown. I mean, this last month has been by far one of the most difficult that I have ever had, and work is just killing me. When we bought these stores from our corporate office, I had no idea that the staff had been treated soooo badly. It doesnt even matter that we are good to them and treat them respectfully and give them raises etc etc. They even tell us how much better boss' we are. It has been 6 months and we are still bearing the brunt for everything that the corporate reps did to them and i just dont know how to fix it. What makes it worse, is that half our staff is related. So if one leaves...it will be more than one. So we have to hire 3 more just as a precaution since our one manager is leaving. At this point I just dont know what to do, and poor Jess is trying to help, but since he cant work in any of the centres yet, it all falls on my to be in about 4 places at once . but enough crying. Whenever i feel like this....what do i do to make myself feel better?? Well i shop of course, hehe. I went into the states and when scrap album crazy!!! So much better selection there. I bought some books from autumn leaves, that you can't get here in Canada, and then since Brooke has been growing like such a weed we went looking for a new bed to get her out of her crib. I think I found a nice one, but we are going to check out one more place tomorrow, and then decide. And then if there is time i might get the rest of Victorias school shopping done. After that I should feel much better, and hopefully refreshed and ready to take on what is sure to be the first week of a 2 month trip to he double hockeysticks.
I have to tell you guys tho..when i was shopping in the good old USA I was sooo jealous of you guys! You have all the great scrapbooking stores! With all the awesome everything! including magazines!! I finally was able to get my hands on a Scrapbooking Trends magazine. We so dont get that over here. Sadness.
I've been thinking of doing something pretty drastic to myself lately. Letting myself go natural. And what I mean is I want to go back to my natural color. Im pretty blond right now, but would you believe my natural color is black? The only reason i havent done it yet is that jess has never seen me except in photos with dark hair, and he is sooo against it. But i have to tell you I really hate having to sit in a chair for 2 hours every couple of months to get foils in my hairs to touch up roots. I'm too lazy. One day he is going to come home and see me and my dark locks and have a complete melt down, lol!! Im so going to make sure I have my camera ready, hehehehe!!!
k,...gonna go check out what is going on around the boards, let the dog out, and then off to bed I go! Busy shopping day tomorrow!!

Interview day!

2006-08-22T18:12:00.000-04:00

wow! what a day that i have had! Today was interviewing day and talk about crazy! Jess and i worked late last nite, so never got the chance to brief over the prospecting employees, so we had to get up nice and early and read through there applications and make up direct questions, etc, etc....the usual preinterview stuff. Interviews started at 9:30 and proceeded every 15 minutes and are still going on now at 6 oclock. I abandoned jess, hehhehehe...and left him there to deal with the rest. I was done! (poor jess tho, lol.) The first 2 interviews were awesome!! and the other ones all bombed with one possible exception. We had the smart idea to do all the interviews in one day to get them all out of the way. We are silly, but now know better!!
And, to top it off 5 minutes before the first interview, one of our employees call us up crying her eyes out so much that we couldnt even understand what she was saying. So i had to run over to see if she was ok, and it turned out she was bothered that one of the other employees got a raise and she didnt.
sigh
soooooo glad this day is almost over.
I feel bogged down by work..hehe...tomorrow i have to head over to the states to discuss radio advertising with one of the stations there, and with the traffic over the detroit bridge it will take forever.
ok, enough complaining from me. for now. hehehe
Im going to do something completley relaxing and nice for me this wkend and nobody is going to talk me out of it!!!!!

Just wanted to give a big CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!! to Denise D!!!!! who is bringing another beautiful little baby into this world!! sooo happy for you!..

now im off to make some dinner for my hungry children..and get in some scrapping before big brother comes on at 800..and then hopefully i will scrap some more.

i hate mondays!!

2006-08-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

I'm sooo totally dragin today. Woke up this morning with my cell phone ringing off the hook, and a zillion work things to do right from the get go. sigh. mondays have to be the worst day ever. Got 3 ad copies done, and altered a few others. Looked over a few radio promotions, etc. blah blah blah.
Got my shopping started yesterday...not even close to being finished, and spent a fortune on victoria already. I just can't believe the price of school clothes! It is crazy!!!!!!!!!! Gonna try to finish the rest on wednesday work permitting. Scary visa bills!! I never even got me anything :( . ah well...i spose the kids have to come first, lol!!
Watched Big Brother last nite and was wayyyy psyched!! i actually got the live feeds on a whim so knew what was going to happen already, but watching the edited version is still kewler, as there is no possible way to catch everything that is happening on the feeds unless you are glued to it for the whole day! insane!!.....but it sure gives you a better idea of what the people are actually like!!! I love what is going on right now!!...won't tell you what it is cuz i dont want to spoil it, but if you love janelle like me, things are looking up!!!!!!!
Going to do my very best to get some scrapping in tonite! it has been soooo long, im going thru major withdrawels, but i just dont feel normal or creative for work unless i get a layout or 2 done.
k...hi ho, hi ho....it's off to work i go..........

Need another sunday!

2006-08-20T11:06:00.000-04:00

Today is sunday and the wkend is over :(. This wkend wasnt anygood for me at all and i really think we need one more sunday before the week starts! Don't you hate starting a new week feeling like you never got a break? Jess and i have been arguing most of the wkend...we don't argue very much but the times we do it is extremely straining and it is always about the exact same issue. In the years that we have been together we only ever argue about one thing, which i suppose is good, but it just never seems to get resolved. I am just tired over it all and mentally exhausted. He is sorry...just like he always is....and he really does mean it...but the next few wks are going to be very trying I think. For the first time he has acknowledged the root of the problem and is ready to face it, so that is a start..but it is going to be a long road, and i'm just going to have to pray and hope that I am strong enough to help him through it (and me too). It was very difficult for him to admit why this issue keeps popping up, and it just tore at my heart watching him go through it. But it gave me hope that we may actually for the first time have made some progress this time. It was the first time he was actually able to talk about it out loud, since he has such a difficult time admitting and showing his insecurities. Okay, enough about that, just keep your fingers crossed for him please, and im gonna pray that this is not too difficult for him.

So today I am taking Victoria shopping for new school clothes. She is going into grade 5 already. Sheesh! where does the time go??? She is starting a new school this year, and as she is not somebody that adapts to change very well, i'm a little worried for her. She is soooo wary that no one will like her. :( I keep telling her that everything will be all right but at 10, it never really seems like it will does it? But shopping always puts her in a good mood, and me too! So Im gonna make sure i pick up a few things for everybody today! and give us all a happy.
Our cute little puppy is still refusing to be potty trained!!!!!!!!! Anybody have any tips??
So guess what I watched last nite to cheer me up?.....and dont laugh! But I am a total Buffy the Vampire lover, lol!! She rocks! So I watched Buffy the Musical, which we have on dvd. Victoria and I kicked back and had Buffy and popcorn nite,, hehehehe. I really miss that show, lol!!
Well I'm going to pop over to a few blogs and sites and then run off and shop til I drop!...Then i'm going to come back online and check out the shops to see if any fabulous designers have any new kits for me to purchase today! My motto today is spend spend spend, hehehhe!!

a question for women everywhere!

2006-08-19T00:16:00.000-04:00

why is it that men are born needing a boot to the head? should we actually give them one? would that make a difference ya think??
inquiry minds would like to know!

Layouts and some gabbin

2006-08-17T22:27:00.000-04:00

Just popped in to upload a few layouts i did using some of the sponsors at Rakscraps kits this month. The first one is using paper from Elizabeth Lanes Journey kit.

I sooooo love these photos of brooke!! She is sooo melodramatic how can i help but giggle?? she will do anything to get a sucky hug from mom sometimes...course other times she wont let me near her of course, lol....kids are flippy arent they?

this is brooke playing peek-a-boo on our patio stairs. she is just getting so entertaining to watch!...well she always has been but such a personality she has gotten!! I used papers and flower element from Raks sponsor Lynnie Smith..her funtastic kit. Seems forever since i actually had time to scrap, but i did these last week for the newsletter and am able to upload them now that it is out.

Any body see Big Brother tonite????? I was sooo glad that Chicken George won HoH!! I soooo don't want Janelle to go home yet so this was just perfect!! How awesome if James got his but kicked out?? I am way tired of hearing how season 6 is abusing his trust when all he has been doing for a month now is lying to them and trying to find a way to get them voted off!! Keep your fingers crossed Boogie doesnt use his ulitimate power card!!!

Got a few more applicants in today...only 2 look promising so we set up some interviews for next week...that will give us time to hopefully receive some more. I just found out that my one employee will only be able to work 2 days come fall....this is the centre with the new worker that isnt even fully trained yet or looking to be anytime soon by the way that she is going. When it rains it poors i tell ya!

I tried to get myself way ahead of schedule this month, so last nite i made my contribution for Septembers mega kit, lol! Talk about wayyy in advance, hehehe. Even got the prize for next month all done and waiting to go. Feeling kind of proud of myself for being so on top of things!! (patting myself on the back here).

K, gonna go grab a nice warm shower! The kind that feels all warm that when you put on your big pink fluffy housecoat after you feel all drowsy and can't do anything but go to sleep!! ta ta for now!!!

mega kit!

2006-08-17T00:12:00.000-04:00

yeahhhhh!!!!! Rakscraps newsletter is out and that means that the megakit is now available!! whoo hoooooo!!!! And since my link is up first I thought I would give a preview of my contribution so of course you can run over and grab it, lol!!! It will only be up for a few days so dont wait to long! All the designers at Raks did a super job this month!!
Hope ya like it!....this was my first school kit.
Been pretty busy the last couple of days with work. Been advertising for help wanted and have gotten some feedback but i'm not totally thrilled with any applicants yet :(.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!! work gods send me a couple good ones!!!!!! i neeeeedddd!!!!!
We took Lolly to her first doggy groomers today! She is all fluffy and soft and cute again!! But boy does she smell strong! I am a big fan of vanilla...it is my favorite, and coincidentally that is what they used, but they used sooooooooo much of it i don't think i want to smell that again for awhile. Lolly is still not potty trained and this is making me very sad!!!!!! How long does it usually take?? I thought they caught on alot sooner than that! sigh.
Well, it is late here and I have to run, early day tomorrow! Here is wishing Friday would hurry up and get here!...or better yet, Saturday, lol!
nite all!

ok...so it was a small fib!!

2006-08-13T21:43:00.000-04:00

well last time i posted i said i was back...turned out that was a small fib, lol. This time i mean it!!! I am back! i spent the last two days just cramming on sponsor layouts and my contribution to the rakscraps megakit. I have to tell ya...I have seen the sneak peak at all the contributers kits and it looks like a good one this month for sure! Like to tell ya more, but i cant, hehehe. Just make sure you pop into grab it! It should start going out next week i think? Mine is usually one of the last ones given out :( . Does that mean they save the best for last???, hehehehhe...just jking.
I have had no time to do any scrapping this past month. I really find that when my scrapping gets set back, i really lose all motivation to do anything at all. My creative juices disappear and have no enthusiasm for work. Jess (the dh) even notices that.....so of course that means that he should pick up my share of the work load so i can scrap so i wont' be completley useless. dont ya think??, hehe.
Lolly is driving me batty. (our new puppy). Brooke always wants to play with her...and then as soon as lolly looks her way brooke starts screaming and running away. But no more. Lolly is frisky...so Brooke has learned "the voice". As soon as lolly looks her way she bellows in the voice and the dog listens, hehe. It is kind of funny. I cant get her to listen to me and i thought i had a pretty good "voice". guess i will have to work on it.
Spent today printing out more of our photos and trying to get the frames filled on our wall. So far it is looking pretty good. I did a whole collage of Jess and me along our wall border and got a couple beautiful ones of the girls that the grandparents are just drouling over. Going to make them an album this year I think.
We even started cleaning out our garage today...well jess did mostly...i watched and told him what NOT to throw out, hehe. The whole point being that once the garage is cleaned out we will have the space to put boxes that are downstairs in what is supposed to be the kids play room so that we can finish building and painting that out for them. I have it painted right now with all clouds sky and green grass, and it is a pretty huge room too. I painted it just after we moved in. Now however we have decided to totally redo the look, and paint it in sections. We are going to set up a dance area for Victoria to practice so will paint a ballerina theme...an arts and crafts area will have an artists theme and a cozy knook for the reading area...with either a reading theme, or some kind of cozy princess throne room , lol..or a combo. I cant wait to get started......well, i mean i cant wait to get finished, lol!!!
K, jess bought me a cheesecake today...and i soooo need a bite, lol!!! he was very sweet today. gotta go munch!! mwah!

I'm Back!!!

2006-08-05T09:34:00.000-04:00

okay, so i know it has been awhile since i have been blogging but i can't even tell you what i have been doing since it would take soooo long. So suffice it to say...it has been very stressful, incredibly worrying and time consuming and hopefully now at an end with everybody involved having a happy ending. So I will skip all that stuff and move on to the good stuff!!! Here is our newest family member!!

Her name is Lolly...short for Lollipop, named of course by Brooke, lol! We picked her up when we dropped our godson off who was staying with us for a little while on Wednesday. She will be 8wks old on sunday, and she is such a hoot! Victoria has bonded soooo much with this puppy, and is a bit sad that Lolly follows Jess all around the house and not her. But she is still a bit timid with her whenever the puppy wants to play so we are trying to explain that to her. Brooke however is a complete terror. sigh. Did anybody see finding Nemo?? Rember the little dentist's niece that was going to get the pet fish? Well that unfortunately is Brooke. She is going to love this puppy into extinction i think, lol. Although in 2 days she has already made alot of progress and the term gently is used quite a bit more now. The whole litter that the breeders had was just gorgeous, and Jess almost talked me into getting 2 as there was a beautiful white one left to be sold. Jess didnt want Lolly to be lonely, hehehe. He is such a sap. But commen sense prevailed...mine not his, lol...and we drove away with just the one. She really is a beautiful pup and in 2 days has already changed so much! Jess has even taught her how to fetch already! He is convinced she is the most clever dog ever, and Victoria thinks she was always "destined" to be ours. hehehehehe.
So while I was otherwise occupied, i noticed that one of my fave designers Anna Aspens has now relocated herself from Scrapbook graphics to Designing Digitals. I was kind of surprised as I really liked how the sbg turned out, but am happy that she has found a place to sell where she will be happy. Kudos to her for making such a brave move like that!
Have you seen what has been going on on Big Brother??? I can't believe how truly manipulative it is this season!! I feel really bad for Janelle who i love! I think she really shot herself in the foot this time! Keepin my fingers crossed!!
Other than all that we have been fully occupied computerizing my centres. I tell ya the staff just hates me!! They are giving us soooo much stress and problems are popping up everyday! They have been installed for 2 wks now, and every single day at least 2 centres have screwed up, crashed or otherwise broken the computer in one way or another. Jess is running around all over town and county trying to put out the fires, and i am not much help either. I have no idea what so ever how to work the software that was installed. And as soon as he gets all the staff up and going on it, he is then going to have to take the time to teach me as well, hehehe.
Feels good to have things getting back to normal out here.....we are trying to get caught up on what we let lapse over the last few weeks and it is hard! But here i am sitting at the puter blogging so it is definitely getting better!!!

Saturday griping!..beware!

2006-07-22T16:12:00.000-04:00

happy saturday afternoon to all!!! I am sittin outside in the sunshine with a vodka cooler in one hand, and my laptop on my patio table enjoyin the nice summer day!! :) It is sure warm out but today is the first day when there is actually a nice breeze!! We (I) spent the morning cleaning the house top to bottom since we are having a few friends over for a bbq. Just a couple employees from my fave centre and their hubbies. Should be fun! The dh(jess) forgot to grab the pinacolada mix when he was out so I made him go out and get more, lol. He wasnt impressed! But i dont care cuz you know what he did to me??????? Well im going to tell you!!
Last nite he worked late setting up puters at one of the centres...we are getting all computerized and it is a time consuming pain!! Anyways...at 11:00 i told him to start driving the half hour home..it was late enough...he said ok. TWO hours later i call him and he says he is sitting on the side of the road waiting for caa cuz he ran out of gas. Im like, ok, that bites..but thanks for callin to let me know (sarcasm there). Sooo...i wait around for another 2 hours and call him again...no answer...again...no answer...and again...but no answer. I start to go a bit daft.....i drive all over the place looking for him...and then again this morning....cuz he still wasnt home at 10 am. FINALLY!!! at 11:30 he calls me as im driving down the road looking for him...and he tells me that he was sooo tired that he pulled over into a little cubby and fell asleep in his car.

I am still wanting to kick him so hard that i will knock him into next freaking thursday!!!!!! Tell me you wouldnt do the same! But i am keeping it to a minimum until our guests leave....and then look out!! A phone call sure would have been nice dont ya think???
K, im done griping for now...guests should be here any minute so I will be back to yip later

humpday banter

2006-07-19T11:54:00.000-04:00

good early afternoon all!! first off i have to tell all of you to go HERE . I was directed there earlier on a thread over at Raks and thought it was totally kewl how some people do the quirkiest things and get such awesome results!! Be sure and check it out! It is pretty funny and interesting!
I am getting soooo frustrated at work i just can't tell ya!! i need some good staff! So...if you live in the Windsor area in Canada and are looking for work, please reply, lol!!! what, ya think im joking????? even if you wanted to move to the windsor area and want to have a job waiting....please reply.....did ya hear that Tracy B?????????

Wanted to point everybody to the layout design challenge DebsAngels23 is hosting over at Raks....the theme this month is repetition....and the prize is one i made so of course you have to go check it out, lol. Here is the LINK and here is the prize i made for it

I still kind of suck at the whole preview thing, but here it is such as it is. :). (and for those of you who forgot the date....remember that the megakit giveaway has started!!)

I have spent the morning trying to come up with an anniversary ad layout for work. I used to love doing the ads for work but i have to admit i wish the designers at the actual newspapers would start doing there job. Getting really over it.....having to do ads for about 9 or 10 newspapers a week ...because i HAVE to is not as much fun as doing it because i WANT to. And the proofing process makes me think that all their heads are filled with cheerios. okay...enough griping...for now, lol. I have started using my brand spankin new printer and i have to say i loooovvvee it!!! Not just cuz it prints out so fab, but me being so impatient the fact that it does it in no time flat gives me a real happy!!! I am going to have to play with the settings some cuz what printed out the first tiem didnt look anythiing like what was on my puter screen....then we fixed it and it got way better...but im sure i can improve on that some too. It comes with a software to "match" your computer screen. So once i have that set up it will automatically detect the image on my screen and print out as seen. Neat huh?? Course that means i have to read the directions and i hate that so the dh and i made a deal. He reads the computer screen for me, and i make him a logo that he can have lasered into these knives that he is making. Need a name too.....we have come up with some crazy arse names for these blades of his let me tell you....gave us giggles into the wee hours. The most boring one is BT Blades. Pretty dull huh? That was his choice...mine were much more colorful! :)

DID ANYBODY WATCH BIG BROTHER LAST NITE????? Can i tell you how much i want to kick Kaysar the big scaredy cat right in the arse???? What kind of nominatiions were those he put out???? for somebody as smart as he seemed to be, that certainly didnt make alot of sense to me. I was so ooooo hoping that Erika would use that darn Veto and take one of those girls off and then see Boogie nominated...or jase...I kind of like will cuz he makes me laugh so i want to keep him around for a bit. Tomorrows eviction nite...then we will see, and unless one of season 6 win hoh, one of them will be going home i think. sadness. hope it is kaysar, since i like janelle and am even starting to like James again. K, done for now...have a happy wednesday all!!

We got a Horse!! not a Puppy!

2006-07-17T12:51:00.000-04:00

So the nice man Frank whom we bought our puppy from sent us some more photos and said that we can go and pick her up on August 2nd. The girls are very excited. Me...I'm getting worried, lol. When we went up to Marineland a few weeks ago we stopped into see her....and i was sneezing and had watery eyes for the next 4 hours. I totally had forgotten that I might actually be allergic the puppy. I never used to have animal allergies..they just kind of popped up all of a sudden...and only sometimes, with some animals. Weird. So now everybody is looking at me expecting me to say we are not going to get her. Im so gonna sterilize this place to high heaven, the kids and jess are so excited, there is no way i can tell them no now. But what worries me even more is the size of her!!!!
We only saw her 2 wks ago and she has already doubled in size and doesnt even look like the same puppy anymore!!!!! In the back of my head i just assumed she would be a nice medium size dog but now this little heffer is starting to make me nervous, lol!! I think she is part horse!!! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I am not allergic, and if anybody has some name suggestions for a female puppy I would love to hear them!!!
Jess wants to call her Lucy....... short for Princess Lucy-Furr. get it, lol? He thinks he is very witty, hehe. We are also kicking around the name Molly, and Brooke has decided that she should be name Lollipop. Or Hi.
Everytime we ask her what she wants to name the puppy she says "hiiiiii". Or she says Lollipuppy. hehehe.
I spose we could call her heidi or Lolli for short if it comes down to it.

I Bought It!!

2006-07-15T12:38:00.000-04:00

So i did it!!! I purchased a new photo printer on thursday! yeahhh for me!! I was told that it would be in the store yesterday, but the purolator man was late of course so now i have to wait til monday probably. :(
I chose the Epson stylus R1800. It turns out that it DOES print out at 12 by 12...so after that it was an easy choice. I definitely noticed that Epson seems to rock when it comes to the hardware for digital scrapbookers. (cept for cameras of course). So as i was scrolling through all the kewl things the epson website had to offer I started looking at some scanners. Now i do have a scanner already, but i have soooooooo many photos with no negatives to be found anywhere, from my mom's stash...things dating back from when cameras were first invented, lol....that when scanned in even at the hightest dpi still come out extremely bad. Next to starting scrapbooks for my family this was the main reason i started scrapping....to put these to layo

uts print etc. but have never done it due to the bad images i get through scanning. Sooo....to make a long story short I bought a wicked kewl scanner too!! It is a V750 from the Epson Perfection Series and has all kinds of kewl new gadgets etc. I spoke with the dealer located by us and he explained all about digital ice technology, and dual action lens and after doing my own homework decided that even though it was kind of expensive would definitely be worth it!! Even for the photos that i do have negatives for, with the cost of printing photos these days by the time they were all printed out I probably would have spent wayyyy more than what the scanner costs...since it scans negatives too. There is a wait of 3 wks at least on that one tho but im really excited to get started on all my heritage albums that i have beeen waiting to do!!!
I was all excited to see Big Brother tonite!! GOOOOOO KAYSAR!!!! sooooo happy that he won hoh! Otherwise Janelle wouldn't be around very much longer i dont think. And has anybody noticed how weird Howie is being this season????? I will just leave that comment at that, lol!! Anyways just found out that it isn't going to be on til tomorrow :( Very sad. I hate waiting, hehe.
Not much else going on around here...The guys are STILL working on the wall....supposedly, lol. I dont hear any banging going on, but i spose i should give them the benefit of the doubt, hehe.
Here is my latest layout....something wayyyyy different for me. I wouldnt really know what you call it since it was me just playing, and then i picked up my wacom tablet and started doodling....I do that alot but normally I don't keep the layout, but Victoria thought this one was "way kewl mom", lol...so i figured why not.

I used Rak sponsor's Theresa Hernandesz' bg paper from her Mother and daughter Tea set...those weird squiggle doodles and stuff are me and my playtime, lol. k....im all yipped out for now....be back to gab later....and not that is not a threat, hehe.

Advice Really wanted!!!!! Pleasssee!!

2006-07-12T22:18:00.000-04:00

So i finally started to unpack some more boxes from the move.....i know, bout time, lol. Im no where near to being all unpacked, lol....but at least i restarted workin on it! Anyways, i unpacked some photos of ours, and was totally disappointed! They had already started to fade and turn yellow!! :( I had printed them out on Epson glossy photo paper, and I thought that that was known for being good...and i had used a canon printer...now i know it wasnt the ulitimate in canon printers but i was under the impression that it was a pretty good one. So now I am in the market and trying to buy top of the line. I have never bothered to try to find top of the line however so don't know if im in the right direction or not. I figured since i do alot of 12by 12 layouts that i would find one that prints that size, and so far, these are the ones i have come up with.

Obviously one is an epson...and tho this one does not print at 12 by 12 it has 8 inkcartridges, two of them being red and blue, and one being a glossy finish. This was recommended to me by a client who is a professional photographer and it is the one she uses. The other one is a canon...it does print at 12 by 12...actually prints 13 by 19. It too has the individual ink cartidges, but no glossy finish.
There was also a hewitt packard i was looking at that printed out 13 by 19 had eight inkcartridges, 2 being red and green.
So really I am confused! How do you know which is the best one???? Are they all the same? One uses more dots to print...the other puts more ink in its dots, and the other uses an overlapping dot of some kind.
arrrggggghhhh!!!!!!!
Since this is something i would use and depend on all the time, i dont mind spending the extra money on the right one, but i just cant figure it out, and all these sales people are driving me absolutley nutty....not a far hike for me to begin with, lol....giving me different stories!!!! So pleassseeee!!!! opinions are so wanted!! What is everybody's most desired printer if it were to land on their doorstep tomorrow??? and what kind of paper would be the ultimate?? Any and all comments are sooooo welcome, lol!!

Other than that....most of my girls at work are back from vacation....but 4 of them went home sick today.
sigh. sigh.......sigh......heavy sigh.
Got some sponsor layouts done...under the wire, lol yesterday, Uploaded my version for the megakit at raks to the server....now this tho seeming simple is a hugggeee feat for me!! Just ask poor KimJ who has walked me, talked me and chastised me through it each month since i started on the creative team, lol! Talk about a helpful patient lady!!! love you kimj!! Those servers just confuse the heck out of me! But i did it for the first time this month with little hassle....except i almost forgot to do it, hehehehe. Never said i was the brightest bunny in the hutch!
And does anybody know why this darn blogger will only let me upload photos some of the time??..is there a trick to it? Are you only allowed to upload 2 and no more? I have seen some with a zillion in one post, and me if im lucky I can upload one. Once again advice is welcome. wink, wink! ;)
I went shopping today at the new and improved Scrapbook graphics, and totally cleaned out Anna Aspens and a bit of doris' stock. Cuz you know why?? I got my paypal back up and running!!!!!!!! Yeahhhhhh for me!!!
but shhhhh! don't tell jess, lol!! well that and i just love their stuff!!! The whole group of girls they have over there just rocks!! Carrie Stephens too!! all my favorites all in one spot!! All they need is a spot for the ever so talented Denise Docherty and I would be in absolute heaven and my charge card would be shot!
K, nuff babbling tonite....got to pull a 10 hour day tomorrow so i should head to bed....well check out my new kits, pop into a few of my fave blogs....and then head to bed, lol!!

just catch up

2006-07-11T21:43:00.000-04:00

been a little bit since ive been bloggin...well, actually i had put a blog up the other day...i thought, but it turned out that I saved it as draft instead, lol. Since all that info is days old, and really not all that interesting, i decided to just let it lie.So has anybody been watching Big Brother??? I just got done, and i have to say, that i am really hating Alison this year. I had thought she was funny the first time she was on but she is just driving me batty right now! Go Janelle go!!! I totally think Janelle is going to be the one to go in the next week or so....such a target on her back!Works kept me pretty steady the last week or so. The new girl is training ok....real nice girl but still a little young i think. Hopefully she will come along beautifully :)Jess is out taking a test to get his hunting license.....everybody say BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I so hate the whole hunting thing and being the kind of person I am :) am giving him a totally hard time about going away to hunt on what will be thanksgiving wkend!!But hey! Get this! we actually got most of the downstairs wall up!!! You know..the one they started only about a month and a half ago?? Can you believe it??? Still got to be finished, but there is drywall and everything!!! I am way excited! Quicker than i gave them credit for. Way to go guys!!!Soooo, i got bored yesterday...quite late at night..and there was nothing for me to do. Until I looked over at my sweet little 10 year old who should have been in bed already and decided that her hair was such a mess, she definitely needed a trim. So i got my scissors, sat her down, and pretended I was a hairdresser who knew all the kewl tricks of the trade. Well it turns out, hairdressing is soooooo not my calling, and she got a little more than a trim. I couldnt stop laughing and Jess thought it was hysterical, but i couldnt get those darn scissors to do what they were supposed to!! Victoria, to say the least was not very happy with mommy.

she was really not a happy camper, hehehe...but i do think her hair looks alot better than it did!! She will get over it and love me again soon, i know!

CAN YOU BELIEVE MY LUCK??

2006-07-05T22:55:00.000-04:00

ok..so get this. Does anybody remember a month ago when a deer...in the busiest citiest part of my happening town of windsor..went running through the window of my business?? Well i get a phone call today, and this is a car that ran through the exact same window in the exact same place. Can you believe that? I am just shaking my head, thinking that this has to be the most unlucky centre in the whole world, lol! I have 5 other centres that dont give me as much hassle as this one little window. sigh. what can you do?? I guess i will just make me a layout about the trouble with deer and automobiles, hehehe.
Another busy day today at work. Havent had time to do any scrapping :( . I now know that it is work that sucks my creative juices out of me and can't wait til Jess is able to take over for me!! (hehehehe...wonder what he's gonna think about that when i tell him, lol!!)
K, I have to finish some advertising but i just had to let you know about my crazy window issues.

oooo...and dont forget!!!!BIG BROTHER STARTS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT A WEEK!

2006-07-04T16:00:00.000-04:00

This week has been just crazy!! all kinds of things keeping me busy!!! Im workin 10 or 11 hour days, and training a new girl here at one of the centres. Spur of the moment on Friday at around 10:00, crazy people that jess and i are we decided to drive the 4 hours to Niagara Falls, and Marine land to celebrate my oldest daughter Victoria getting 7 A's in school on her report card! yeahhhhh Victoria! The most she has ever had has been 3 up til now. Great way to end things at what is now her old school! thank god too, cuz Jess was going crazy having to drive her the hour to school every day. Made us wish we had switched her in the middle of the year to a new school closer to the new house! Soooo.... we had a good time at niagara, but as a tip to others....never ever ever go down there over the long wkend!! Really not a very good idea.
We also got to see our new puppy!! she is turning into a real heffer. and is only 3 wks old. One more month til we get to bring her home. We have been trying to think of a name, but are completley stuck. I guess we actually need 3 names for her registration....so Jess wants to name her Princess Lucy-Furr. .......get it?, lol
He is so warped, but now he has got Victoria wanting to name her that too, lol!!
Well im at work right now, so should probably get back to that...just taking a breather! Can't wait til everybody is back from vacation!! May be bloggin tonite with some fun photos if i dont get home too late! :)

Troublesome Tuesday.

2006-06-27T08:40:00.001-04:00

gonna make it short and sweet today. This is how my week is going. One of my employees quit,-no notice - the one to cover her shift is on vacation...the one to cover her shift is on vacation...the one to cover her shift is on vacation...the one to cover her shift is on vacation....o...and guess what??...the one to cover her shift is on vacation. So who here thinks im going to have a good week trying to be in 2 different centres at once??? uggghhh. I need a vacation!!! off to drink more coffee!

My Life Layout

2006-06-26T01:03:00.000-04:00

This post is strictly to upload a layout I finished today. I thought it was a pretty kewl concept!...The look I was going for didnt quite carry through however ...I think the idea was better than my implementaition..but im

still pretty happy with it, even though it doesnt quite look the way that i would have wanted. It definitely took me longer than any other layout in my life to do, lol!! I was thinking of printing it out on some sort of canvas to put on the wall...tho i may change the color tone a bit before i do that so it will match better.

Okay, that is it...2 posts in one day is good i spose!....now i have to go read everybody elses blog, lol!!

tata!!

To Blog or not to Blog??

2006-06-26T00:42:00.000-04:00

This is my question as i sit here at twenty to one in the morning, lol. The answer????? Well of course im gonna blog, hehehe. First im givin an update on my wall that the dh has been building...or has not been building as the case may be, hehe. We have progress. We actually have a wall frame up. ....it is quite exciting to see that here is proof that sometime in the next , oh, say......2 months??? we wil really and truly have a full upstanding working wall. go team.
So I finally scrapped some of the photos from Victorias dance recital. Well, not from the recital itself as we were not allowed to bring cameras...but i went camera happy as soon as i got home..took like ahundred!! The only problem is i am not a professional photographer, and for background, all I had was our wall in the living room. So, the lighting was bad, the bg was bad....so there was alot of photo work to be done, hehehe. But she was so beautiful, I was happy with the way i got them to turn out!! Here is my layout i called Ballerina, and I used elements from Sara Amarie's kit Refreshing Paisley found at 3 Scrapateers if anybody is intrested. :)

Isnt she a hotty?? Can you believe she only just turned 10 years old????? Im gonna be in big trouble, lol. We watched her recital again today with my dad and stepmom, and they were pretty impressed with how well she did. I wish i could figure out how to make my fonts stand out better through an upload. Anybody??????? suggestions welcome!!!

Well we didnt end up going away this wkend obviously....so what did we do??? we did nothing, lol. We did go see The Davinci Code, tho. And let me tell you i was a bit disappointed with how they altered the movies plot line, and left out alot of the human interaction goings on. Disappointing. However i am no Siskel and Ebert but i do give it a big thumbs so-so. Wait for the dvd. And those are my words of wisdom for the day, lol.

Fantastic Friday!

2006-06-23T11:58:00.000-04:00

Soooo happy that today is Friday. This has been just a wasted week. Missed alot of work, and ignored alot of phone calls. This insomnia thing is just driving me crazy and sucking my will, lol!! Since everybody is going away this wkend, im thinking we might too...go down to niagara falls or something with the girls and take a peek at our new puppy we get in 6 more weeks!!! We will have too see how much catch up we have to do tho. House still needs unpacking and am totally feeling guilty for just letting it sit there. Need to paint still....sigh. Im the queen of procrastination!
On a good note, im getting back into the scrapping groove!! I did a layout that a started last night, and then opened it up this morning and completely revamped it and it doesnt even look the same anymore....that always happens to me. I shouldnt even bother going into a layout with a certain idea in my head cuz never once have i stuck with the original thought. Brooke looks so happy in these photos!! she always makes me smile. I used Jeannie Papai worn out kit for the layout. Speaking of designers, thanks to Carrie Stephens who gave out the coolest alpha freebie to go with her new kit!! Very nice surprise comes with it too!! If you dont have it yet....run and get it!!
Now...has everybody been making their votes on the Big Brother websiste????? If you dont vote, how are we supposed to have the best season ever??????? VOTE PEOPLE!!
k, im off now. be back later for more chit chat!

2006-06-22T16:30:00.000-04:00

Just have to say yeahhhhhhh!!!!!! The books I ordered from IdeaBooks4u.com arrived today!!! And wow! was that ever fast!! only took about 3 days to get here in Canada!! Talk about scrapbooking eye candy!! I got both Clean and Simple books from Cathy zielske, Freestyle, and the one that i know im going to go crazy for, Designing with Digital from Autumn Leaves!!!, ....k, gotta go read, absorb, and maybe get some inspiration back since ive been such a creative dead head lately!!

Layout for Me and Jess

2006-06-22T01:56:00.000-04:00

Well my insomnia is back so here I am at 2:oo in the morning trying to scrap. I have had a major hard time lately putting a layout together. Im not happy with the photos that Ive been taking and just cant find the right idea for them. I cant find a single kit, and i have a zillion and tonnes i have never used before that will go with anything. I am totally in a scrapbooking funk!!!
dont ya hate that???
So tonite I went searching back 3 years of photos on my computer...brand new baby photos, photos of me and jess, and i was just looking for something to inspire me. Normally i just skip over the photos of jess and i cuz they are all just terrible, lol. Mostly me jumping up behind him when he is busy and snapping a photo of the two of us together before he can tell me to get away, lol. But that is what i decided to go with! We had a "moment" not too long ago that caused us a rough little bit....one that i am not completley over yet.....but we made it through it and are still kickin! So i thought i would do a layout for me, to get back in touch with "us" and of how he has helped me change the way i live and look at life. A bit different from my usual style, but I've been thinking that Im going to try to go a little deeper with my layouts a bit....instead of just playing with computer graphics and trying to make a pretty layout that can hang in a frame. I think my layouts need some more meat on their bones, lol!! Well at least that is how i feel at 2 oclock in the morning anhow, haha
k...off to try to sleep now....got my handy book just in case...am finally reading The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. I heard that the book was so much better than the movie so i wanted to read it first since i would rather ruin my movie experience andnot my reading experience!!

Wednesdays news!

2006-06-21T16:57:00.000-04:00

Good late afternoon all!! Actually got some work done today!! whooo hooo!!!...well not really whoo hooo, but it had to be done and i've been slacking like you wouldnt believe, so good for me! Had to upload this photo of brooke and jess that i nabbed last night. It's our nightly game that we have...cept this time daddy didnt play by the rules. Every bedtime, as soon as jess grabs Brookes blanket, he goes lookin for her and then she runs to me and yells "hide! hide! hide!" and jumps under a blanket....makes me get under with her...and listens to daddy search for her. This time jess jumped under the covers with us and scared the heck out of her....I had just been taking photos not 5 minutes before that so grabbed a photo right quick. Didnt even check to see if it was aimed properly or not, just hit the button on the camera, lol!!!

I finished my contribution for Rakscraps July Mega Kit this afternoon. (patting myself on the back for staying ahead of schedule in at least one part of my life, hehe). It is the first one that I have done that i have actually liked! Hopefully others do to!!
Went shopping at ScrapArtist today! I'm going to have to stop opening my mail in the morning before i have had my coffee, cuz when i open it up and see in big letters, the word SALE!, with my mind all cloudy all i can think is ...MUST SHOP...MUST BUY THE KEWL SCRAPARTIST KITS THAT ARE ON SALE!!!, hehehehe.
I am still waiting for the Books I ordered from IdeaBooks4u.com. The book on FreeStylin, a style that i have never even attempted before so that should be interesting, And 2 of Cathy Zielske's Clean and Simple Books. This is the first time i have ordered from there and am curious to see how quick they deliver to canada!! Gonna have to move to the States just to have quicker deliver on all my shopping orders, hehehe. Woondering if anybody has seen the ad for the new Autumn Leaves mag called All ABout Me?...Curious if it was worth a second looksy or not. I dont really do about me layouts unless i have to, so i spose i dont need it, but maybe it would inspire me to start an about me album for my girls...ya never know!!
Jess is at this very minute yelling at me about last night and how when this HUGE monstrous noisy fly was in our bedroom I woke him up and distubed his slumber in my efforts to kill that nasty bug by chasing it around with a newspaper and banging the walls and tables and lamps etc. Took me half hour but i got him!!! now jess will never let me hear the end of it.....Can he not understand how annoying a very very VERY loud fly can be when it is buzzing around your head while you try to sleep?? It is certain to be the most annoying thing in the whole history of the world!he is droning on and on and on about how tired he is. He is a cutey but he sure can whine, lol!!! Now before i go i have to remind the few people who read this what special nite this is!!

it is BIG BROTHER NITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

everybody say yeahhhhhhh!!!!!! So my nite is all planned....i have a raspberry swirl cheescake in the fridge, and my fave reality show is on the tube! Don't get no better than that!!! Can't wait to see who the All Stars are going to be!!

STORM WATCHING PHOTOS

2006-06-20T22:19:00.000-04:00

okay, here they are...dont know why i had to repost to upload however! just weird! :) Anyhoo! First one is her looking up at the clouds in the sky and telling me how "cool" they are (don't know where she gets her words form,lol...) and the second one is her looking out at the really dark sky further out.....The sky was actually a really dark blue, but since i can't use my camera very well, i had it on a bad setting, and used a flash and it just brightened up everything there was too see. I was actually sitting under our dining room table on the floor taking these photos, hehehe. Jess came upstairs and called me a weirdo, lol, but i have done way more uncomfortable things to get a photo in my life, and will again!!!!, k, off to scrap now!!

LOOK AT YOUR NIECE DAWNE!!

2006-06-20T21:43:00.000-04:00

well, Canadian Idol pulled a double header tonite, but i just couldnt sit thru it twice....love the show but i prefer it when it gets down to the top 20 or less. So, since my dear sister said she was going to pop a look at my blog today, i thought i would show her what her niece looks like this very day since she hasnt seen her in awhile. Brooke is getting so huge, and i have totally been dwelling on that fact lately...and repeatedly, lol. I need a pause button. She is also standing beside the gate that jess finally got up...sort of....you can't tell but just where the photo cuts off is where the gate stops, hehe. He still needs to put the top on. Maybe he will get it done this weekend.
could happen, lol.
Gettin more excited bout Big Brother....You better watch it this year Dawne!!!!!!!
Didnt get much work done today, my dad didnt get back from his doctors appt. til late. He has to go back in for more tests cuz the ones he got back hinted at diabetes.
eeeekkk!!! let's hope that is not the case! So being at home i of course ignored the tonnes upon tonnes of work I had to do and worked on my portion of the Mega kit for Rakscraps....wayyy much more fun than work, and i have to admit im totally loving creating my own kits!! Who knew it was going to be so much fun??
And is anybody else getting crazy curious as to who the new Studio Girls are gonna be?? We know who 2 are, but i'm still waitting and waiting!!! only a few more weeks til we find out!! Im glad to see that Anna Aspens is going to be one of them! She is definitely one of my top 3 scrapping heros!! Sooooo talented and i can't wait to see some of her new stuff over there!!
We went outside to see how much damage that spur of the moment storm caused, and besides breaking poor Brookes Disney patio set we were all good!! I snapped some pics of Brooke looking out the window, just as the storm was starting to roll in, before it got tooo bad.
She was sooo enthralled! .......and i would show you but for some reason blogspot is once again not lettingme upload!!! arrrgggghhh!!
sigh, im sure it is not the blog but the user, lol!! still havent quite figured out the system yet!!
well jess just went to bed so i am going to scrap!!! (and i will try to upload those photos in another draft!

TUESDAY MORNING TWITTER

2006-06-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

Holy cow!! i can't believe the storm we had here yesterday!!! it lasted for about 3 hours, but there was hail bangin on the windows, everything in the backyard was tossed and thrown, kids stuff broken, it was just crazy. the rain hitting the ground sounded like a warzone! Crazy!!!! So, first off...noooooo i am not playing hooky again today, lol....due to a doc's appt. for my dad im just getting a very late start!!
Last night i started reading the Davinci Code. I know i'm probably the last person left on the planet who hasnt read it, but i want to go see the movie and the book i've been told is sooo much better, so i didnt want to spoil my reading by seeing the movie first...seems to be a good one so far and i keep trying to imagine Tom Hanks playing the star character as i go, hehehehe.

IS EVERYBODY EXCITED???????

Big Brother All Stars start this Wednesday!!! I know that the fact that i love that show somehow diminishes my IQ im sure but i am soooo addicted and can't wait to see who is chosen ......cuz we get to choose!!!!....to be on the show this year! I await with baited breath!!!
I'm still playing with my blog, and I'm not quite happy with the look of my header since i just kinda threw it together to see if i would even be able to make one at all....so tonite if i'm not too beat after Canadian Idol (Jess's favorite show and he likes me to watch it with him ) then that is exactly what I am going to do!!
I will probably change it like a zillion times just for the heck of it til i get bored with playing, lol!!
Well i should get my butt off to work now!! Will be back later for some more gab!!

Monday's Babble

2006-06-19T09:25:00.000-04:00

okay, so it is Monday morning. Can i tell ya how much i hate the beginning of a new week?? Especially cuz the weekend just seemed to fly by and i didnt really get anything accomplished. Sigh. So it is just past 9:00 and already I have had 2 phone calls from 2 different girls at work with problems they are having with clients or showing up on time. What a way to start the week!! But I'm sitting here with my Tim Hortons (canadians know this is the best coffee alive) and am hoping to feel better after a few huge gulpfuls!
K, plans for the day...pay bills for work that haven't been paid (definite necessity), finish up some of the advertising that i let slack last week, and come up with a new radio slogan. Check in on the new girls training, and pull together some mia paperwork that will be needed for gst.
BLECH! Sounds totally unfun!! Then i will get some scrapping in (hopefully) and hopefully get some tidying up done around the house in between popping into rakscraps!
Here is the photo that wouldn't upload for me yesterday

Didn't she look beautiful? this was from the nite of her actual recital....we did get some photos of her at the rehearsal by an actual photographer, but I didnt realize we were supposed to fancy them all up for a dress rehearsal so tho they looked good, this was what would have looked better. So after her dance was done, i took about 100 photos in our living room, and then i cropped out the awful living room background and shined her up and it turned out pretty good i think! I was pretty proud of myself too cuz i did her hair, and had never done an updo before! (patting myself on my back)

(okay..just received yet another problem phone call from work...sigh, gonna be one of those weeks!!)

I got a dvd in the mail today...i dont remember ordering it and i know i definitely didnt pay for it from something called digital innovator.com. Anybody ever heard of it? Am wondering why they are sending me free stuff, lol. I spose i will check it out later tonite unless i go to the chat at sbb....which i kind of am hoping to do. I bought some new mags yesterday, from Legacy (love that one!!), Scrapbook Answers, and Simple Scrapbooks. The dh never made one comment about the price of them either, lol....am breaking him in slowly!! It has only taken 2 years, hehehe.

K, my coffee is almost done, gonna go get a home brewed batch now (yuck) . Will be back to babble later!

Sunday Morning Chit Chat

2006-06-18T13:09:00.000-04:00

okay, so of course i'm going to be over blogging for the first little bit..you're just gonna have to bear with me. So my day so far has been pretty uneventful. I sent Jess out golfing with my dad....mainly cuz i hadn't gotten him a father's day present yet, and that makes him think i'm doing something nice for him today...and also cuz it would give me time to scrap, and maybe even go shopping if the babe wakes up in time. Unfortunately there was no scrapping for me......well there was, but no productive scrapping. I am really getting sick and tired of my darn dip closing down on me everytime i go to save my layout!!! I worked for about 2 hours on a layout of brooke, and when i went to save it, my puter froze, and it was gonedy! Can you imagine how loudly i was cursing??? It was a layout that turned out exactly the way that i meant it to too and that doesnt happen very often so boy was i hoppin. Do ps users have that problem as well?..or maybe it is not even a dip problem but a computer problem since those seem to follow me around so much. Anyways, after that layout went to pot, i tried scrapping a layout of Victoria on the day of her dance rehersal --which i just tried to upload to my blog and it wont let me.....darn computer!!!- but did you ever have photos that you think are so great, but yet you have a difficult time scrapping them?...it seems that the more i love a photo the more difficult it is to scrap. Maybe im scared i will just ruin it, and not quite do it justice, but let me tell ya it is a pain in the arse to have a bunch of your favorite photos just sitting there cuz you dont know what to do with them!!
Has anybody seen that new Freestylin book out there?...I just bought that as well as the book from autumn leaves....I didnt want to get them...well, i mean of course i did want to get them but i really didnt want to order them and have them shipped over the border. Being in Canada makes getting all those kewl things just sooo much harder and more expensive. Sigh. Ah well, i'm really excited to get them and can't wait! I bought a few of Kathy's clean and simple 1 and 2 as well. The dh is going to bug when he sees the visa billl, hehehe...but when i lost my paypal, I was so disappointed to realize that I couldnt shop that when i found a store that took Visa i just had to assert my online shopping skills, hehehehehe. I wonder how long it takes for those books to ship? I am very impatient!
well im off to be a mom for a few hours...brooke is starting to grumble in her crib, and Victoria wants to go shopping to buy her dad something special!

Big Thanks to Carrie Stephens!!

2006-06-18T00:12:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to say thanks out loud for all to hear to Miss Carrie Stephens from Fishscraps! She helped me get my hands all over her beautiful BabyCakes kits when my paypal was down! She is such a wonderful person! I don't normally like quick page albums mainly because i like to do them myself, but her kit is so fab, and the premade layouts so cute they were a definite must!!! (they are both on sale right now too in a combofor those that are intrested!! Run while you can!!) I was going to make some really cutesy albums for the grandparents of the girls, and tho i still think im going to, this is a layout I did tonite of my cute little unnamed puppy using one of her quick pages and now i think i'm going to do the puppies first album with it too! I really have to figure out how Carrie comes up with all those colors that she uses...I have played around both in photoshop and dip (my program of choice), and I can never get shades or depth of color like hers! Talented lady!!!!!! I will have to practice practice practice i guess and then one day I may stumble upon the trick of her color scheme!.
So the night is over and I swear this is my last post, but get this>not one bit of wall went up today in our basement.....but we do have the very very early beginnings of a new fence gate in our backyard. What goes through mens minds do you think??? I think i'm glad I dont know, hehee
I'm off to Raks now before i head off to bed

Thanks to Frank!

2006-06-17T19:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Frank for the pic!! Just had to show you the new puppy photo that Frank (the dog breeder), sent me today. I wish it would have been a right close up of the face!!. Frank says we will be able to go see her next week, but it is 4 hours away and the dh doesnt want to.....but then i said, but HONEY!!, how else are we going to get baby puppy photos of our newest family member??? I mean, we can't NOT have photos of our puppy when she is first born can we?? Think of all those empty pages in our scrapbook!!!
so of course we are going to go!!!, hehehehehehe. The dh knows how much i love my scrappin and he tries to humor me, lol. (plus he kind of likes it now too)

BIG THANKS!! to AmyK and KimJ

I spent the day watching the dh not set up our wall ---it is 7:39 and still not done.....not even started --so do i know the male time watch or what??--- and working on the set up of my blog! And thanks to Kim for pointing me in the direction of Amy's perfectly put post at Raks that explained everything just right for me! I managed to get a header and links added no problem!! There are still some more things i want to add, but i figured i did enough for today. I'm just so glad that thanks to amy and kim that i dont have to learn html to do it, hehehe.

Today's Chit Chat

2006-06-17T11:10:00.000-04:00

So today is going to be quite the interesting day. The dh (jess) has brought his dad over with the idea that they are going to have a wall constructed in our basement that will separate the kids play room from our home office. What makes this interesting is the fact that they are planning to have it constructed by 5:00 this evening. welllll.......it is 11:00 now, and they are off at the home depot to get their supplies. They left about 2 hours ago and are like most men im sure...lost in the aisles and looking at every tool that has absolutley nothing to do with the job they are to be doing and having a great time. I'm sooooo dreading the mess they are going to make, hehehe. (which i soooo won't be cleaning up!!) So my day will consist of much laughing at the 2 of them i'm sure in between playing on my computer!!
I'm so sad! I hopped over to Carrie Stephens site Fishscraps today (think she is awesome) to buy her duo combo of quick pages she made, and kit that goes with it that is on sale...then i find out she only takes paypal :( I had to cut up my card i was using for paypal in order to meet the mortgage requirements when we moved a few months ago, so im totally out of luck. sigh. She makes such awesome stuff im going to have to get a new card for that pay pal soon!!!!! I never paid that much attention to how many sites just accept paypal before, having always had it. I do hope there is not many or my shopping online days will be limited for the next little while. Jesse will be happy about that, lol!

our puppy

2006-06-16T14:30:00.000-04:00

okay...so, im back bloggin, and am going to make the time to do it more often!!! So i will start with my goings on today. Im not doing a whole heck of alot, lol. Am playing hooky from work, and i had the intention of getting the house in order, but who are we kidding?? that was just something i told myself to make me feel better about staying home and doing nothing, hehe.
Anyhoo, now that we have moved, and we have a house with more room and a pretty good backyard with a fence, jess (the dh) and i all of a sudden feel quite domestic and have decided to get a puppy for the girls. We called up a couple that were expecting puppies, and they had a huge waiting list, so we never thought that we would stand a chance, but they called today, and low and behold, there is a female, that is wanted only by us. And this is her below!

I think she is very cute, and tho we cant see her face im going to believe that she is good hearted and wont eat any of her shoes, or clothing or baby toys. She is a pretty golden retriever! Im pretty excited for victoria and brooke(my girls, if you dont know). Victoria has wanted a puppy for as long as i can remember and i think it will be awesome for brooke to grow up with one. So now we have until the first week in august, to unpack all of our things (yes, i know, we suck and should have had all that done a month or more ago) get our work stuff organized so it is not all over the office floor, make sure every knick knack has a set place so our little puppy wont be able to get into it. And we need a name!!!! yes we do... if there is anybody reading this i would love some ideas!!!!

well i should go pretend im organizing or cleaning or something, as brooke will be up from her nap soon!!

2005-07-04T20:47:00.000-04:00

2005-07-04T15:24:00.000-04:00

Well today is not turning out to be much fun. :( My coworker called in sick so now i have to fill in for her and work double time for the next week. Very bad timing. However, i dont like to dwell....much, hehe. Me jess and the kids and i went down to london this weekend to spend some time with alex and go to storybook gardens. They had a good time but boy was it ever hot!! Then we went to a drive in and watched 3 movies...not adviseable with a 17 month old with you by the way. It was nice, but certainly not exciting which was just fine by me, since i would just have stayed home. But we are trying to get out and about wtih victoria since school is done, and with no friends close by i dont want her to be too bored. Then i came home to a house that was a complete disaster, and cleaned for 2 hours, had a small spat with jess...cuz lets face it, he was wrong!!!!!! and then went to bed. Pretty dull for a long wkend i know. This week wont be much better except for the fact that there will be lots of arguments about who is babysitting the kids while i am at work....everybody has plans to golf and nobody wants to give them up. Acting like a bunch of children they are..but should make things colorful at least.

2005-06-30T23:57:00.000-04:00

This is a layout i did of me and jesse last nite. (kit is from denise docherty)I always try to make a layout of the 2 of us whenever i feel like kicking him in the shins to remind myself why i keep him around, hehe. By the time i am done im usually over it and ready to give him a hug. Not as weird as it sounds, i saw a post just yesterday where somebody says they do the same thing.

So i got my first day of doing absolutley nothing today, ignored what work i had to do at home, didnt go to either of the clinics where i work, and i just played on the computer thinking i should really be doing somehting constructive. But i just couldnt do it. sigh. ah well.

Tomorrow we are going to see if we can come up with some spur of the moment something, that we can do for the long wkend. We were thinking Niagra Falls, then we were thinking London, and now i think we have no idea, lol. $20 bucks says we end up staying home for the wkend. ah well, if we do i can hit the 2 crops that are going on tomorrow :)

My daughter

2005-04-01T01:15:00.000-05:00

victoria

this is a picture that i just adore of my oldest daughter Victoria. I used a kit from denise docherty for this layout. She is my all time favorite designer in the world. This was taken at the zoo just outside of toronto. She was so sad that she wasnt allowed on the other side of the fence to play with the giraffes.

what is a blogger ?

2005-04-01T00:48:00.000-05:00

This is my query for the day...i have a blogger..but what exactly is it??? how do i use it??? this is confusing me which is not difficult to do in the first place. I just thought i would share my confusion with....my blogger?