Tagged again!

Got tagged by *Cat*, my asterisk buddy...

What scrapbook lines/products, etc. do you dislike?

• Cheap cardstock--using the good stuff just seems to bring everything up a notch.
• Anything thick/3-D--I like my pages flat
• I tend to gravitate away from anything pre-made and expensive, though sometimes I'll pick that stuff for my DT work since it doesn't cost me anything! ;)

What is the hardest thing you have ever had to scrap?

• My kids birthday parties are getting to be harder for me to scrap, since I have 3-4 a year!
  

What technique do you use more than anything else?

• Uh...does inking my edges count???
• Lately I've been doing more with acrylic paint.
  

What is the smallest scrap of paper you save?

• It depends on the paper--with my FontWerks paper, no scrap is too small!!
  

Have you ever had any scrapbook related injuries?

• Not unless you count the headache that resulted from my dropping 500 eyelets on the floor, picking them all up, sorting them, putting them back in their container--and then doing it a second time.

Finish this sentence, "If I wasn't a scrapbooker/stamper, I would spend my money on..."

• Probably books--if I didn't scrap, I'd also have time to read!
• Clothes
• House stuff
• Gardening stuff
  

Give us your best storage or organizational idea.

• A clothesline-type curtain rod that hangs in my scrap area where I display my finished LOs. I also tie my ribbon onto it.
• Even better--I have 6 Generations Craft Keeper envelopes that I keep projects in progress in. I have one for classes, one for DT stuff, one for my wedding album...that way it's not all sitting in piles on my scrap area. Also, if I'm feeling so inclined I can plan out 3 or 4 pages at a time and put all the photos and supplies, along with a sketch and journaling in one envelope, I find that it's good for me to take advantage of "idea mode" once I'm there!
  

When you received your first publication/DT notification, who did you tell?

• I called Dan on his way to work, then e-mailed Cat and Sara.

After answering the questions, tag four of your buddies.

• I don't think I know 4 people who haven't answered the questions! :P

In other news...
Esther officially has a milk protein allergy. She's had eczema since she was about 3 months old, and it has been pretty severe at times, but we went to an allergist and the screening test came up negative for 16 different allergens, so I thought it would be something she'd outgrow. But then we started her on cow's milk and within a couple days had nasty diapers, really red cheeks and was grumpy, waking up at night, etc. I stopped the milk and then tried it again a couple weeks later (the first time we'd had a virus going through our family), and got the same results.

So now she's on a soy formula--just at the time I thought we'd be able to switch over to milk and decrease our food budget by $50/mo.! Instead it'll be going up, at least for a while until I get it all figured out....she can't have plain soy milk yet because the fat content isn't high enough. I'm pretty bummed--allergies are so high-maintenance, and I've really appreciated the fact that my kids are fairly easy (when it comes to food/sleep/health issues) since there are so many of them so close together. Ugh.

Update

Since you've all been waiting in breathless anticipation, I thought I'd let you know how I did with my list:

1. prep for birthday card class (did the prep, did the class)
2. clean scrap area (did it when I was waiting for Mariah to fall asleep so I could take a shower)
   
3. take pictures of Elijah and Esther (didn't happen, and now Esther is having eczema issues again, so I'm taking her off milk again and not taking pictures until her cheeks are no longer yucky)
4. make Thank You cards (HAHAHA! Told you that wouldn't happen.)
5. dust (DID IT!! woo-hoo)
6. develop a class concept I've been thinking about (this one is still stewing)
7. gussy up scrap resume (nope, still looks pathetic)
8. get a quote on a truckload of dirt ($120/12 yds., so now Dan and I need to decide if we want to do it now or later)
9. and one other thing (didn't do it, but made some progress with it).

So like I said, the list gets me moving, even if it never gets finished. I'd still like a finished list. But I guess it's good to know that the important things happened. As well as all the daily/weekly necessities that I do without thinking about, and (most importantly) being available to my kiddos.

To Do lists--what's the point?

I swear, I have a notebook full of to do lists. What they have in common is:

• they're all for 1 week at a time
• they all have about half of the items not crossed off
• they also have stuff added throughout the week
• much of what is on them isn't something I'm actually considering doing, it's just something I'd like to do
• did I mention that I never actually complete everything on one?
• some of them have the same thing on them 5 or 6 weeks in a row

Pathetic, I know. We're talking years of incompleted (uncompleted? noncompleted?) lists. Then again, I think I get more done with them than without them. Still, it would be nice to complete one once. I actually will add items after I've already finished them, just so I can have one more crossed off item on my list.

Anyway, this is what's leftover for this week (if anyone's interested):

1. prep for birthday card class (this one's non-negotiable, the class is tomorrow night)
2. clean scrap area (might actually happen, since it's in the dining room and I have to look at it)
   
3. take pictures of Elijah and Esther (this is one of those ones that I don't really have any intention of doing, but I know I should. We celebrated their birthdays this week, which means I have one week to do a photo shoot before I lose "good scrapbooking mom" status.)
4. make Thank You cards (another one that I don't honestly think I'll do. Yes you may send me to etiquettehell.com if you'd like. I suck at manners.)
5. dust (I won't go there)
6. develop a class concept I've been thinking about (this one is still stewing)
7. gussy up scrap resume (pretty pathetic to spend $20 on something that not only says "yes, I have no credentials", but doesn't even look like an effort has been made to doctor it up)
8. get a quote on a truckload of dirt (this might actually happen, if I can make the kids be quiet long enough to make the phone call)(because I really want to get some work done in the yard)(and if I don't do it now, my yard phase will run its course for the year and I'll have to wait until next year to make any gardening progress)
9. and one other thing
   

So there you have it. All the stuff I can't pull off. But that's ok! Because somehow I'll make it through this weekend having taught my class, and the other stuff will either get done or it won't. And if it doesn't, the dust will still be waiting patiently for me Monday morning, all my brilliant scrap ideas will have longer to simmer, Esther will get a 1 year old + 16 days picture, instead of a birthday shot, and the yard will just look unkempt a little longer. Work in progress, eh?

Whistling in the Dark

That was me on Friday, minus the whistling. Those of you who live in the PNW know that we had a *crazy* windstorm late last week, that resulted in Bonney Lake losing power for 15 hours. Which for me meant:

1. no vacuuming
2. no music
3. no internet
4. no light + no TV to occupy kids = no scrapping
5. no oven = no making b-day cake
6. no internet = no finding cheap printouts for the b-day party
7. no heat + drafty house + subfreezing temps outside = spending the night at Mom's

I'm sure you get the point. I'm not big on inconveniences, but when I have a scrapping deadline and a party to plan, they make me especially grumpy! However, the party ended up coming together really well and I had a blast that night at Ben Franklin. So apparently I didn't need anywhere near as much time to plan and prepare as I thought. Go figure. Maybe I should flip the switch on the fuse box every time I'm about to have a busy day and spend it eating fast food and driving around trying to stay warm in the car instead.

Anyway, I'll leave you with these words of wisdom from (who else?) They Might Be Giants:

A man came up to me and said
I’d like to change your mind
By hitting it with a rock, he said,
Though I am not unkind.
We laughed at his little joke
And then I happily walked away
And hit my head on the wall of the jail
Where the two of us live today.

There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark

Why is the world in love again?

Why are we marching hand in hand?
Why are the ocean levels rising up?
It's a brand new record for 1990.
They Might be Giants' brand new album:
Flood

Just in case there was any doubt about my being a dork, you all have proof now! I listen to TMBG Flood multiple times during the week! It's just so fun to listen to, and has the added bonus of getting me out of my computer chair to get housework done. And I think we've managed to convince the kids it's kid music, meaning we can put it on instead of Raffi!! Check back here for deep thoughts from TMBG every week.

So I'm 1 for 3 on the schedule this week. Not bad, eh? :P I'd be 1 for 4, but I have to go to Costco today so I'm not counting it as a failure. However, homeschooling took a turn for the much better this week when Shiloh started reading!! Strictly 3-letter words and short vowel sounds, but a huge accomplishment nonetheless. So nice to see the results of all of our hard work. And a friend from Ben Franklin said she'd give me her old readers, so we'll be able to start reading "real books".