Friday Question #3 and Photo Friday

  Yo, yo everybody. Hope all is well in your world. My world is...itchy. The weather may be beautiful, but the mosquitoes are still out in full force. Maylee and I are bitten all up. I ordered a yard mosquito go-away thingy; it should be here Monday. I hate not being able to go outside and play just because we're so sweet and the mosquitoes like us so much! Stupid bugs.

   You know I'm doing that online backup? I'm glad I'm doing it, but the initial backup is taking FOREVER! The site said the average initial download was 1-2 weeks. Well tomorrow is two weeks and it's nowhere near done. So I went to the site and they evaluated my status and said it would take 28 days from the day I started! Geez!! I know I have a lot of files to backup on my computer, but I had no idea!! Oh well, it's usually okay. It makes things run a little slower with the backup going on in the background, but nothing I can't handle.

   I finally started reading that book I mentioned yesterday, Mockingjay. I actually had to MAKE myself stop reading so I could get this post up. It's great so far. I hope I sleep tonight. When I have a book that I've waited a long time to read and it finally comes in, I have a tendency to want to stay up all night and finish it!

   Well, for my Friday photo, I was looking through my stuff trying to decide what to post. I'm going to try hard not to post pictures of my kid every week. That's too easy! I have bagillions of them! The first Photo Friday I posted pics of my wonderful husband. Last week was a picture of my kid. So this week I'll post a picture of another member of our family...one of our kitties! Her name is JellyBean and we got her as a little kitten about 5 years ago. This isn't the best picture, but I'm in a hurry folks! I got a book burning a whole in my couch, which is worse than money burning a hole in my pocket for me!!

  So, for my Friday questions, I'm taking a little help from everyday life.

How long does it take you to get ready for work in the morning, and why?

   This is kinda a cop out for me, because the answer is so easy. It takes me about 10 minutes to get ready in the morning. I'm not one of these people that has to look like a million bucks every time she steps out the door. It would take a miracle to make me look like a million bucks, anyway! LOL! I have professional looking clothes, and I wear them. That's it! I get up, brush my teeth, throw my hair in a ponytail, put my clothes on and I'm ready! Nope, no makeup. Nope, no spending forever on my hair curling it or straightening it (my hair is straight as a board). I DO put on deodorant! I usually try to remember to spritz a spray of perfume on, but I usually forget. Nuttin' special!! What you see is what you get...that's me for sure!

(I do wear makeup and do my hair if I'm going out with my hubby or friends, but it's not a daily thing. Just FYI.)

Tackle it Tuesday fail and other failures

   Yeah, I didn't do Tackle it Tuesday...at least not on Tuesday. I did get something done this past weekend that I've been meaning to do for a couple of months now. I got Maylee's Pack 'n Play, stroller and car seat w/ bases, took pictures of them and got them online to sell. I posted them on Craigslist and on my Facebook page. Guess where I got a response from faster? Yep, Facebook! I tell ya, I love Facebook!

   Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been doing so well with posting! I've been feeling quite stressed this past week and not really sure why. Work is going fine; I love when I'm home...I'm just kinda in some kind of funk. I want out!!! And this weather we're having just might snap me out of it! It's been gorgeous and I'm so glad since we were having such a horrible heat wave that I thought was just miserable. We played outside for a couple hours yesterday and the only bummer was that the mosquitoes were still out. I wish those stupid things would all die horrible deaths. I hate them!

   I do have some inkling why I'm kinda in this funk. I found out Monday morning that a kitty I recently gave away, that I had for more than 8 years, passed away. It made me so incredibly sad. It hasn't even been a month since I gave her away, so I really wasn't over that yet, and then to hear that she had died hit my like a truck. Now if you're wondering, I'm a cat person. If you don't like cats or have never owned them, they are very similar to dogs as a pet, though they don't have a reputation of being that way. Mine greet me at the door, come to their names and love to snuggle. I love my cats. So why did I give her away? Plainly, she wasn't happy. Ever since Maylee's come into the world, she hasn't gotten the attention she was so used to having. I could tell she wasn't happy and all I ever want is for my pets to be happy. That's why one owns pets, for pleasure, for both pet and owner. Heart wrenchingly enough, the people I gave her away to said they think she died of grief. I've heard of that happening to cats before. I don't regret many decisions I've made in my life, but if I had it to do over again, I would not give her away. ***tear***


R.I.P. my beautiful girl, Topey. You and your motorcycle purr will be so missed. I love you.

   Now onto things not so sad. On the home front, Maylee is pretty much home potty trained! Yay, yay, yay! What that means (to me), is that she is potty trained while she's at home. We haven't tried going out with just big girl undies on yet, nor has she gone potty at anyone else's house yet. That's our next step. Right now, our plan is to do the potty chair for two more weeks and get her REALLY comfortable with it and to the point where it's just habit to go in the potty chair (that's what potty training is, though, huh!). Then we'll put the insert thingy on the actual toilet in the bathroom and have her get used to that. Then of course we'll remove that and have her going in the regular toilet. While we're doing this transition, we'll try out going potty at Grandma's and maybe a trip to the grocery store with big girl undies on. I'm so thrilled she's taking to this potty training so easily. We're going to take it nice and slow, because I wasn't even going to start "pushing" the potty training issue until she is 2 1/2 and that's not until November, so she's ahead of "schedule." (That made me laugh out loud! Yeah, like you can schedule a two-year old. Hahaha!)

   My favorite summer shows are coming to a close. Last episode of Burn Notice and Royal Pains tonight. The Closer has one episode left, I think. We love Covert Affairs and that's got a couple of new episodes left, I think. But the new fall season starts in a month, so I'm excited to see my favorite shows come back! I haven't been reading much, really. Suzanne Collins' new book Mockingjay comes out this week and I can't wait to read it. I would highly recommend the Hunger Games trilogy (of which Mockingjay is the final installment). It was such a cool series. 

  Now onto scrapping. I guess this next page I did would qualify as a Tackle it Tuesday project, too! I've been wanting to scrap Maylee's major holidays since...well, since they happened! LOL! This is Maylee's first Christmas Eve at my in-laws. She had a great time! I used Summer Driggs' Believe kit for this.

 This next scrap page was kinda fun. I like it, but I feel like it's missing something. Not sure. I just finally saved it and said okay! This was done with High Four Designs' Behind the Hill kit. I wanted to put what ages Maylee was at the different stages, but couldn't figure out how to put text in and it fit with the aesthetic of the page...you know that kinda magic-y feel? Dunno.

  Hope you all have a great day! I will be posting Friday pic and question tomorrow, so stop back by!

Friday photo & question deux

  It's Friday again! And I couldn't be happier! I've had a normal week at work, not too stressful, so that's good! On the homefront, Maylee's been doing better and better with potty training. I tried a new Crock-Pot recipe out on Tuesday (for Tackle it Tuesday) and was a little disappointed with how the meatballs came out. I know what I'll do next time to make the dish a little better. Needed more spices and less water and less green pepper! I only put one green pepper in it, but because I was slow cooking it, that flavor permeated into things so much that it was like I was biting into a green pepper with every bite. I like green pepper as much as the next gal, but that was a bit too much! I like red and yellow peppers better, anyway (though they're more expensive...what's with that?)

   I haven't done any scrapping this week. Blah. I've just felt like sitting on my butt and watching TV in the evenings. I haven't even been reading in the evenings! Oh well, I get this way sometimes and have to get back in the groove. I have been taking pictures, though! That's one thing it hard NOT to do because Maylee's always doing something that I want to take a picture of! So here's my Friday Photo:

We've been teaching Maylee to kick with her feet. She's getting the hang of it. She'll lie on her belly and try to do the swim arms, but we're going to have to work on that more. She loves being in her little pool, but she also loves to get out and play in the yard. Then she gets filthy and stuff sticks to her and I have to rinse her off with the hose! I know she'll miss summer, but I am ready, oh so ready, for fall. Fall is my favorite time of the year anyway, even years when we're not coming out of a horrendous heat-wave summer. I love crisp evenings and warmer afternoons. If I had my way, it would be between 65 and 75 degrees all year. Okay, it could get up into the lower 80's on REALLY hot summer days. Yeah, if only!

   Okay, time for my Friday Question!

What's the worse injury you've ever had?

  I'm lucky enough to not to have broken any bones in my body...until 3 months before my wedding! Then I did a doozy! I was wearing big chunky shoes (the kind that were popular in the early 2000's) and fell down the stairs at Jefferson College. I was in a back hallway in the Fine Arts building (it was right after play practice...we were doing Quilters and I was one of the singers) and I fell down about 10 (concrete) stairs and broke my ankle. Come to find out, I shattered my ankle! It broke in about 20 places. And since it was in a back stairwell, I laid there yelling for someone to come help me for like 20 minutes. I almost passed out and all that jazz. And as I mentioned before, this was 3 months before my wedding. I almost had to go down the aisle on crutches, but I MADE myself get walking before then.

   I thought of this Friday question because last night I burned myself on a skillet I had just gotten out of the oven. Dummy, dummy, dumb, dumb! And I've done that before, too! My fingers feel much better this morning and I can even type with no problems!

   Hopefully I'll do some scrapping this weekend and have some pages to post next week. Have a great weekend if I don't "talk" to you before then!

Tackle it Tuesday #1

  So Tuesdays are going to be "Tackle it Tuesday" for me. I'm going to try to get something done or accomplish something I've been meaning to do. These things can be as little as painting my toenails or as big as remodeling my house (I actually need to do both of those things...I think one is easier than the other).

   For the first weekly Tackle it Tuesday, I have started using my Crock Pot to make dinner. I came across a slow-cooker cookbook I really liked a couple weeks ago and bought it. It had east-to-hard recipes that were healthy and sounded yummy. I love me some yummy food, and this went well with my new goal of eating much healthier. So this morning I woke up early and made dinner to cook all day for us and be ready and yummy when we come home from work. Sounds great! I'm making spaghetti and meatballs. It was an easy recipe, was switched up to be much healthier and sounded yummy! It used ground turkey and pork instead of beef which saves fat and calories right there. For the extra-easy part, it used a box of low-sodium Stove Top stuffing as the breadcrumbs and of course an egg as a binder. Because the meat is so low-in-fat, the recipe called for a cup of water for moistness. It made about 30 1 inch meatballs. I layered them in the Crock Pot, sliced some green pepper, onions, mushroom and garden fresh tomatoes and put that on top. Then, for more easy, I dumped a jar of spaghetti sauce over the top. When I get home all I'll have to do is boil up some whole-grain spaghetti noodles and dinner is served! Easy, healthy and hopefully yummy! That will be determined tonight.

   I hope to use the Crock Pot a lot more often, as sometimes when I get home from work the last think I feel like doing is cooking dinner, though I do it anyway and then get grumpy, etc, etc, etc. You know the drill. Anything to make life more simple, and of course healthier is a GREAT thing!

  Feel free to do Tackle it Tuesday, too! Together we can tackle the world!!!!

Photo Friday & Friday question

   Hi everyone! We've had blazing heat here the last couple of days (weeks, really) and I'm ready for a cool down! We had a little rain yesterday (pop-up heat storm), so Brandon, Maylee and I went out and played in the rain. I got a few pics of my sexy husband:

Yes, he's a dork. MY dork. He makes me laugh and he DEFINITELY makes Maylee laugh. And he needs a good shave, too (I'm happy to report that he's since shaved).

   I've had a couple of really busy/hard weeks at work. A co-worker took a week off (last week), so I had to do two jobs last week and had to play catch-up this week. I feel like I've done a month worth's of  work in two weeks. I'm GLAD it's the weekend!

  I think to make sure I blog more often, I'm going to do some memes. If you don't know what a meme is, they're basically just questions you answer and hope people answer them with you (at least that's my definition). So my Friday meme is going to be: Friday Question. So without further ado...

Friday Question:

When you were younger, what did you want to be "when you grew up?" What are you actually doing now? Do you still want to be something when you "grow up?"

  This is actually a kinda hard question for me to answer. I knew what I DIDN'T want to be, and that was a teacher. I've always felt that it takes a special kind of person to be a teacher, and I don't have that special something. But I've always loved education and learning and literature, of course. So the natural evolution of things made me turn to libraries. When I was in high school, I thought I wanted to be in either social work or advertising (could I pick two more different fields??!!) I'm so thankful now that I didn't go into either of those. Social work is so sad and advertising is so fake. I find that I'm exactly where I want to be now and I am what I want to be when I grow up...a librarian! Lucky me! Not everyone has a job they love. Hell, most people don't. I don't take it for granted.

   Feel free to copy my question into your blog and comment me a link to your website. Let's have some fun with this!

  I've been putting together this scrap page for a couple of days. Actually, I had one almost done and my PC rebooted to do Windows Updates and I lost it. My fault for not saving it...I know better. So I started over and liked what I came up with the second time even better. 

 The backround and elements are from Penny57 Designs Traisors kit and Cajoline's Rustic Garden kit.

I have so many pictures that I want to scrap and am feeling a little overwhelmed. But I was so excited because this week I won kits from two different designers just for leaving comments on their blogs! I got the Bohemian Chic kit for free from Modern June and bought her Happiness Is... kit for only $1! I won the Diary kit from Mystique Designs. Love, love, love all those kits! And free is great ($1 isn't bad, either)!

   That's all for now. Hope to hear from some of you on my Friday Question. Let's have some fun!

Another day in Paradise

   Another day in Paradise? Yeah, if paradise is 100+ degree temperatures, enough humidity to make your ears sweat and not a beach in sight. Doesn't sound like much of a paradise to me. I feel so sorry for my husband on hot days like these. He works in a factory that doesn't have air conditioning. Doesn't seem legal! Last week when it got so hot he said 6 people passed out from the heat, and 2 of them were supervisors! He says the heat doesn't really bother him any more after almost 11 years of working there, but I don't see how it couldn't. Sounds absolutely, positively miserable to me.

   Speaking of Brandon, he had quite a bad day yesterday. Without going into specifics, he got into an accident at work and now has a different job (within the same company). He's only had this particular job at work for about 6 months, but he says he's okay with it, as long as everybody involved (including him) is okay and he still has his job. It was scary to see him so upset and rattled over what happened. I'm just glad it turned out alright.

   I haven't done much scrapping the last couple of days. I'm still trying to get all my scrapbooking kits filed the way I want and organized so I can get what I need without too much hassle. It's harder than one would think! I'm also going to subscribe to an online backup, because the thought of losing all my pictures and scrapbook stuff makes me sick. Even though I have a new computer, @&%^ happens. If I got a virus or something and lost all my stuff, I would be inconsolable. I'm going with Backblaze, which is $5 a month or $50 if you buy a whole year. Seems like nothing for the peace-of-mind it will give me.

   Well, big news around our house is that Maylee is going potty in her potty chair!! She's been doing it pretty consistently for about 2 days now, and a couple of days before that were pretty good as well. She hasn't worn a diaper except for nap and night-night time for two days! I am ecstatic! I'm ready to be diaper-free and Maylee's ready to be a big girl, so all involved are HAPPY! Here's a picture of her getting her treat (M&Ms) after going potty.

I can't wait to scrapbook this picture! I tried to take this picture about 10 times, and finally got the shot I wanted. Too funny & cute! I'll spare you the pictures of the actual pee in the potty. Yes, I took a picture of the pee. I'm a proud Mommy! Can you blame me? And check out that curl! Her hair is so curly. I wonder if it'll stay that way? She's still got her fine baby-like hair, so I tend to think she won't have curly hair, but Brandon thinks it'll stay curly. I kinda hope she does.

  Just one more quick thing...I got one more follower on my blog. And it's not just any follower, it's a scrapbook designer!! I know my blog's way boring for someone like her, but it's nice that she followed me! And I have another person who commented that they read my blog, but I didn't recognize the commenter's name so I have a little mystery on my hands. I probably know them, but...So if you're that person, give me a shout-out so I know who you are!  And if you're new, welcome!!! I love making new friends!

Sizzling summer

   Hey everyone. Hope you're enjoying this wonderful Saturday. It's days like these that make me miss living in the country. I miss being able to just walk out the door and be in wide-open spaces and enjoy the summer breeze, but usually I'm very satisfied living near civilization! I come from a town where it took 30 minutes to get anywhere, so I find it nice to be able to run and get a gallon of milk just 2 miles away!

   I got to drop Maylee off at her Grandma and Grandpa's house this morning and have a little me time! It was really nice. I also got some birthday money from my in-laws, so I stopped at Cato on the way home and got myself a new outfit off the clearance rack! It's really pretty, and I very rarely get myself new clothes, so I'm excited!

   Speaking of my in-laws, their house is like a huge playgound/game room for Maylee. My mom-in-law has been collecting toys for her grandkids since before she had any! Not only does she have a toy room where she has huge collections of toys (all very organized), but she has a whole detached garage that is nothing but a huge play area. She also has a fenced-in yard with all kinds of swings and climbing/jungle gyms. It's a kids dream to go there! I'm so glad I have such a great mother-in-law and Maylee has such great grandparents! And I don't have to worry about anything, because she keeps everything so clean and she keeps an eye on her so well, mainly because she's right there playing with her!

   I was looking through old videos today and trying to organize some stuff on my PC today and came across the funniest video that I hadn't paid too much attention to the first time I saw it apparently. To set it up a little, Maylee (well, all of us really) just love The Laurie Berkner Band and we have all her music. She's a children's music artist. Most times, when we're singing together, Maylee really gets into it and dances and does all these different moves and stuff. But, of course, when I turn on the camera, she stops doing all of it. So in this video, we're in the car, and I'm prompting her to lick on her imaginary ice cream cone while we sing the song Ice Cream Cone. I'm driving, so I just kind of sat the camera on my shoulder and hoped for the best, so that's why the video kinda sucks, but check out what happens at about the :21 mark:

 

  SHE ROLLED HER EYES AT ME!!! I swear, the first time I noticed it, I just about peed my pants laughing! That is sooooo funny! She was one month away from her 2nd birthday in this video, so she's already rolling her eyes at me before she even turns two!! I've watched this about 20 times today and laugh out loud every time!! (Oh, and P.S., this is the first time I've ever loaded a video in Blogger. After previewing it, I'm gonna have to find another way to do it, like upload it to YouTube and embed it or something. I don't like how small the player is. Now back to regular programming....)
 
   So I was a little productive today with my alone time. I scrapped two pages. I think I'm gonna search for some kind of speed scrap or scrap competition tonight (if I don't end up going to be early...I'm really tired for some reason! I guess NOT having my kid all day wore me out?). But these are the two pages I did:

  I used a combination of Delicious Scraps Cherries on Ice kit and Scrap Orchard's designer Julie Bullock's Birthday Girl kit. Oh, and the "P" in princess is Alpha from the Scrapping Sisters' Chic kit.

  Next page I did was from a collab kit from Digi Scrapbook Mania called One Fine Day. One of the designers on that kit was one of my faves, Modern June. The Alpha is from Julie Bullock's Trixie kit.

 I just LOVE scrapping pictures of my little girl. I'm going to have to do some of me and Brandon soon, though.

   Hope you guys have a great rest of the weekend. The heats coming back full force in the next couple of days. They said the high on Tuesday is 101, and that's not with the humidity factored in (heat index). Yuck, yuck, YUCK! I don't like the heat! Now if I had a pool, that might be a different story...

Normal day

   Hi everyone. Just got home from work and thought I'd put a quick post up. I always love coming home, for obvious reasons, of course, but also, when I walk through the door, Maylee runs up to me and says, "Mommy!! I missed you!!" I just love that. My Mommy heart melts. She does so many things that make my heart melt, I'm sure all you parents can relate. A new thing she does is put her ear on my chest and say "Mommy, I hear your heart!" She's just amazed. And I am too, because SHE amazes ME.

Here's my July page of all she's done this past month. We had a full month with my sister and her kids coming down from Washington state to visit us.

 
   So the local news today was a horrible, horrible accident on Hwy. 44. Two buses, a semi-truck and an SUV had a pileup and the driver of the SUV and one child from one of the buses was killed. The local news played it over and over and showed things on the news that I don't think they should've. The picture they showed online to go with the headline made my physically ill. To be a loved one of someone in that accident and then see those pictures would be horrifying. I just think the news goes too far too often just to get a story or to be "the first" with the breaking news. Have a little tact, people!

   On a much lighter note, I've realized I like summer for the simple reason of there's a lot less TV that I watch. Now, two of my favorite shows are on in the summer, The Closer and Burn Notice. I also love Royal Pains and So You Think You Can Dance. But I watch way less TV in the summer and have more time to do things I love, like scrap and read. But this time of year also means I have to decide what new TV shows I'm going to watch for the upcoming season. I try not to pick up on too many new shows, but I don't want to miss anything great, either. That's why I LOOOOVE DVR! So convenient. I can record whatever I want and watch it whenever. Anyway, I haven't decided what I'm going to watch, but I usually go along with whatever Michael Ausiello suggests. He's a TV reporter that used to be with TV Guide and now he's with Entertainment Weekly. I've been following him for years. He's got great taste and he's funny!

  I've been toying with the idea of entering some scrap challenges. There are so many to choose from in the scrap community. There are speed challenges, where you have a certain amount of time to come up with a layout. Then there are kit challenges where everyone has to use the same kit and make a layout. Some sites even have prizes like iPads and iPods! I'd like to get in on that action! But time is always the biggest factor me. Boy, a kid really takes up a lot of time ☺!

Hope everyone has a great day!

New blog design

   What do you guys think of my new blog design? I whipped it up real quick, but think I'll do a little more editing and try to get that white background to be something a little more exciting.
   I came home from work a little early today. My mom needed to go somewhere, and plus I had some phone calls I needed to make anyway, so I came home! I got my stuff done, so I sat down to do a little scrapping and decided to re-do my blog header. It was fun. I hear Maylee waking up from her nap...she's only been asleep for about an hour. I guess I better get used to her taking shorter and shorter naps. I got a lot done in an hour! Anyway, let me know what you think!! I'll leave you with a kiss from my rotten angel:

EDIT: I've been trying to do some stuff to the blog, and now I can't get my header centered!! It's really annoying me...Just FYI.

EDIT2: I figured it out! A little Google search of the HTML coding, and I figured it out...

One new follower!

   Since my pathetic plea on Facebook yesterday, I've gotten one new follower. Thanks Jen!
   Yesterday was my birthday, and I had a great day. Once again I'm so thankful for Facebook...it makes staying in touch with friends so easy! You get to be a part of their lives in such an easy way, and it makes planning things a breeze, too! Anyway, I got like 75 "Happy Birthdays" in Facebook yesterday and that makes me smile!! I even got a kidney stone named after me by one of my friends in honor of him passing it on my birthday. How...nice. And then he posted a picture of said kidney stone. Yuck!
   Anyway, Brandon barbequed and we had a nice relaxing day. He took Maylee to the park for a while in the morning and I got to do a little catch-up on computer stuff, since Maylee will NOT let me be on the computer while she's up and about. She says, "No Mommy, come play" and it makes me feel so guilty! Of course I should be playing with my daughter and not messing on the computer! After Maylee went to sleep, I watched one of my obsessions, Next Food Network Star. I could not BELIEVE Brad got kicked off! Well, we were down to the last 5 and whoever got kicked off would have been a shock to me. It's so brutal!!
   I also scrapped a page real quick after Maylee went to bed last night. I've had this idea for a while now, to scrap pictures I've taken on the same day for all the years Maylee's been alive. In case you don't know, there is rarely a day I don't take a picture of my kid. She's almost 2 1/2 years old and I have over 10,000 pictures of her. Yep, you read that right! So here's the page I did with Mel Hains Oh Happy Day kit. Cute!

Have a great day, everybody!

Lamest of the lame bloggers

   Okay, so the last blog I posted I said how lame I was for not blogging for so long...and that was over a month ago. So this time I'm really, really lame and horrible and stupid and all that stuff. I think, in my mind, I need more followers to make this even worth it, so this may be my last-ditch effort at blogging. I really like sharing my stuff, but if no one is interested (and I totally get that no one is, why would they be, I'm just a normal person who does normal, boring stuff. It's not like I'm a circus performer or anything!), then why even bother? When I was blogging regularly, it was nice to have a kind of release for crap going through my mind. So, anyway, here goes the regular blog stuff.
   I mentioned in my last post (a month and a half ago, I know) about Google Reader. I'm probably really late in the game with this one, but I really love how it can organize all the blogs I follow in one easy place. I was bookmarking all these sites and checking them everyday to see if they had new posts or not. STUPID!! Now I just subscribe or follow the blog and they all show up nice and neat in my Reader! How so very convenient! So if you read my blog, get a Google Reader account and you can be a happy blog reader like I am! Too bad I don't have paid advertisers on this site...I just did a wonderful commercial for Google, huh?
    A lot has happened since my last post. My sister, brother-in-law and nieces came to visit for a week or so. They live in Washington state (about as far away from me as they can possibly get...maybe I should wonder about that?), and I only get to see them once or twice a year. It was awesome to see them and it was the first time that Maylee was actually old enough to enjoy the visit. She had a great time with her cousins. They got along like sisters, annoying and loving each other! Of course, my mom loved that they were here. She misses her other two granddaughters like crazy. I guess it was pretty nice to see her daughter, too, but she lives with her favorite one, now doesn't she (ha!)? The house was a complete disaster for a whole week, but what can you do with 3 girls under the age of 7?

The only picture I got of all three of them was in the tub, so I had to do a little cropping to make it internet-safe. Maylee's having more fun that it looks like...
    It has been crazy, miserable hot here. I really don't enjoy summer, but Maylee could care less how hot it is outside, so I try to let her see the sun every once in a while. Speaking of Maylee, it is just amazing to me how much she has learned. She can pretty much say everything now and communicate anything she needs to. She has even picked up the art of talking back to her parents. Fun. We're trying to nip it in the bud, because I'm not good at dealing with it, so I want her to get over this phase! She's generally a pretty good girl, but she likes to say "No, Mommy, I will not!" Then she usually comes over and says "I'm sorry, Mommy." She knows it's not "nice" to talk that way, but she can't seem to help herself, so she says it and then apologizes. AAhhh! I'm really trying to be patient.
    Let's see...in the past month I've read, of course, and I even went to the movies. I saw Eclipse with a girlfriend. Yes, I've jumped on the Twilight movie train. The books were okay, I read them way before they hit such popularity, but these movies....you have to admit, ladies, they have some VERY pretty boys in them. I mean, like, humina, humina!! As far as reading, I read the greatest book. It was called The Passage by Justin Cronin. It was a post-apocalyptic novel and it was HUGE and a great read. The apocalypse was brought on by vampires (or virals, as they're called in the book), but is far from your typical vampire novel. It was a great read. I highly recommend it! I also read the latest Janet Evanovich book, Sizzling Sixteen. It was hilarious, as usual for Evanovich. She's really the only bestselling author I read and she is so funny!
  Okay, on to scrapping. I haven't done a lot of scrapping, but I've been working really hard on organizing my kits and such. I know I've mentioned how bad I am about crediting scrap kits I've used and I've been working hard to remedy that and make it easier for myself when done with a page. So here are my recent pages, with credits!

This is a first for me because I learned how to blend a picture into the background! I took a tutorial from Misty Cato and she provided the clipping mask and the background paper in the tutorial! How awesome is that?! The elements are from Delicious Scraps Into Spring kit.

 These were Maylee's first pig tails. I know, I can't believe I waited until she was 2 years old, because they're heart-breakingly cute! She's just now letting me do her hair without too much fuss. This was done with the Stuff to Scrap April blog train, Simple pleasures. Blog trains are awesome. At the CT (creative team) members of a store get together and make one huge scrap kit. With everyone contributing a little, a huge kit can be made. It's great for us freebie-hunters!

This was done with Modern June's Cool Pool party kit. She has great freebies and great sales on her kits pretty often.

I used Raspberry Road's Fruit Salad kit for this page. I really like their elements. They have a real graphic feel that I like.

Next I made my usual monthly page. These are done with Cuddle Beez month pages. Unfortunately, Brenda is taking some time off, so we won't get freebies from her for a while.

This next one I whipped up really quick and was so pleased with how it turned out. I taught myself how to change the color of elements in Photoshop, and I've been playing with that. I made everything blue to go along with her beautiful eyes. This is the only page I won't be able to credit because I got all these elements here and there. Sorry!

The next page is probably my favorite page I've ever made. A lot of scrapper do this style of scrapping. I call it "reality scrapping." They use actual graphics instead of scrapbook elements to make pages. They've always intrigued me, but I feel like I'm not creative enough to do them. I've been practicing my extractions in PS (that's cutting out something from a picture), and I thought it would make a great reality scrap page. I used Raspberry Road's Nature retreat to do this page.

So that's all I've got! If I keep up on this blog thing, my posts won't be so long! I'll try for that next time.