Got Mother's Day plans?

If you're in the area and you're a scrapbooker, I'll be teaching a "Mom & Me" scrapbooking class at Ben Franklin in Bonney Lake! It's on Saturday, May 13th at 10:30, and I'm so excited about it! I love the project we'll be working on, and I think we'll have a great time!I'm also happy to announce that I won an honorable mention in the recent design team call at Leaving-Memories.com! I'll be a guest designer some time in the next few months, and I'm totally excited. They have great kits, talented designers and a super friendly message board. Stop in and say HI sometime!

In a related vein (sort of), Dan has freelance work coming out his ears! I think he's got 5 different projects going right now. All stuff he's doing evenings & weekends. Crazy. I will say that it's much easier to pick up the slack now that I'm not pregnant and don't have a little baby.

Finally, if any of you has heard of a potty training school that I could send my daughter to until she's fully capable of using the toilet, I'd be willing to pay good money for it. Or even if you'd like to hang out in my bathroom with her. I'm not picky. I just don't want to do this!! I think she'll get it pretty quickly once she figures out the connection between her bodily functions and the potty chair, but that hasn't happened yet. Seriously, I think a potty training boarding school would be a great idea.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Not really a Monty Python fan...

...though I probably could be without too hard of a push. But the guys I hung out with in high school quoted it ad nauseum, so I picked up some stuff by osmosis. And I did see this hilarious sketch about Olympic Hide-and-Seek that wouldn't be nearly as funny if I tried to explain it, so I won't.

Just sharing that so you understand the context for this layout. It's inspired by a song that wouldn't be funny to you if you weren't already familiar with it ("Always look on the bright side of life", since it's small and hard to read), but I was pretty proud of myself. Especially for including the whistling little birdie.

Have a great day!

A pre-mid-life crisis???

Maybe because I'm 30, maybe because I'm tired of being broke all the time, maybe because I read all these professional designer mbs...don't know exactly what the reason is, but I've been thinking more lately about pursuing our goals. I think in the past when Dan and I have talked about his dreams of doing his art full-time, we've said things like "now isn't the right time" and dismissed it. But it hit me the other day that Dan could build his comic book career on his graphic design skills. Now, we're still years away from him being able to quit his job, not to mention that there's no possible way he could put in an 8-hour day at our house. But I think our focus is shifting. We're preparing for the next phase. Thinking about it, saving for it, talking about business plans and marketing and all that good stuff. The American dream, eh?

It used to bug me that I was married to a man that couldn't just work his job, come home, hang out with the family, and be happy with that. But I've come to appreciate his ambitious nature. He always wants bigger and better things. He's driven to achieve, to grow, to chase his dreams. And I've come to love that. I know some marriages where the wife feels the need to be the voice of reality. I want to be the voice of encouragement. To say "you can do this", not "you can't". To be his sail, not his anchor. And he's told me many times that he wouldn't have taken some of the steps he's taken if I hadn't believed in him.

Anyway.

Today's my "day off". Our babysitter comes for a couple hours and I spend the rest of my time at home doing as little as possible. Sometimes I'll pick up a movie at the library to watch in the afternoon. Or I'll scrap. Wednesdays make the rest of my week bearable.

Happy Wednesday to you all as well!

And it comes full circle.

Some of you may know that Dan and I dead set against anything having to do with TV. We didn't own one, didn't watch at friends' houses, I still to this day haven't seen an episode of Friends. I fully expected to live out my days this way.

But then Dan started seeing movies with friends again.

Then when we lived at our church, we would borrow their TV and watch movies.

Then we got a DVD player for our computer.

Then, after 5 years of marriage, we had our first movie date (LOTR Return of the King).

And so it goes. Now we own a TV, we have rabbit ears (no cable) and watch 24 twice a week (Monday + Saturday reruns). The kids watch PBS daily. And it does nag at me some. As much as we limit the content of what they watch, I feel that the act of watching TV is somewhat detrimental. And yet, the time of quiet it gives me every morning makes it so much easier to handle my day.

So it makes me happy to see this:


To some degree, it lost its appeal, and they'd rather draw or color or play outside. They still like to watch it, but they haven't lost their ability to entertain themselves doing things of value.

Hope you all had a great Easter. He is risen indeed!

Wow, has it really been 13 days???

Sheesh. I'm such a blog slacker. Would that be blacker for short? Or slogger?

Hmmm...ok, here's a recap of the last almost 2 weeks.

*Held down the fort while Dan showed his work at the Emerald City Comicon. He got some great feedback from some editors and met many interesting people.
*We had his friend Dusty spend the weekend as well. Any single 30ish girls out there who are looking for a guy who's kind-hearted, sarcastic and a bit off-color, Dusty is definitely the guy for you!
*Took a few much-deserved breaks after doing double overtime while Dan got ready for the Con.
*Weeded my flower beds, planted a few new beauties and some veg seeds.
*Took the kids to the zoo and brought my sis home to spend the night.
*Kids got sick.
*Mowed the lawn.
*Ran out of money.
*Watched my cousin get married.
*Applied for a great design team.
*Taught a card-making class.
*Made a layout for a Mom & Me class on May 13th. If you're in the area, bring your son/daughter, your mom, or any other special person--I'd love to see you there!
*Had a few blissful moments where I was alone in my house and it was clean! There is nothing better than that in the world.

Don't have any deep thoughts about any of those, so I'll end with a song...

Particle man, particle man
Doing the things a particle can
What’s he like? it’s not important
Particle man

Is he a dot, or is he a speck?
When he’s underwater does he get wet?
Or does the water get him instead?
Nobody knows, particle man

Triangle man, triangle man
Triangle man hates particle man
They have a fight, triangle wins
Triangle man

Universe man, universe man
Size of the entire universe man
Usually kind to smaller man
Universe man

He’s got a watch with a minute hand,
Millenium hand and an eon hand
When they meet it’s a happy land
Powerful man, universe man

Person man, person man
Hit on the head with a frying pan
Lives his life in a garbage can
Person man

Is he depressed or is he a mess?
Does he feel totally worthless?
Who came up with person man?
Degraded man, person man

Triangle man, triangle man
Triangle man hates person man
They have a fight, triangle wins
Triangle man