Kits and Pieces--designers call

Call for Freelance Designers

Kits and Pieces is a brand new kit club, launching our first kits in September 2007. We specialize in offering "expandable" kits--kits that are as flexible as you are. Members start with a base kit and can add on a little or a lot of several key elements, making it a truly individualized kit club experience. Our kits are a great value, come with a wide variety of embellishments and consistently offer your favorite new products on the market.

We are looking for freelance designers to provide us with excellently designed, creative scrapbook layouts and papercraft projects for our website and newsletter. Kits & Pieces will not be using a traditional design team; instead we prefer to offer a flexible working arrangement for us and for our designers.

Kits & Pieces is looking for designers who:

• are able to work with a wide variety of products
• are good at connecting with other scrappers
• are good at getting their work seen
• meet deadlines consistently
• can provide brief articles and/or step-by-step directions (not essential, but helpful)
  
• are friendly, fun, supportive and hardworking
  

If chosen, we intend to use you at least once in the next 6 months. You can turn down any kit for any reason, and we have no specific message board or recruitment requirements. When called upon, if you choose to work with us, you will be given a specific assignment, tailor-made to your strengths and our needs that month. It will be in the neighborhood of 3 1-page layouts, 2 layouts and 2 cards, a 2-page spread and an article, etc.

Benefits for Kits & Pieces designers are:

• a kit to work with on the months you design for us (to see examples of our kits, go to mykitsandpieces.com our sister site, creatingpages.biz)
• the ability to purchase kits at our 6-month subscriber raate on your off months
• 20% discount on already clearance-priced merchandise at Creating Pages
• access to our freelance designers forum
• your bio on our featured designers page
• referral program benefits

To apply, please send the following to mykitsandpieces@gmail.com:

1. Name, address, phone #, and e-mail
2. A brief bio and headshot (which will be used if we select you)
3. A link to your online gallery
4. Your blog address and any forums in which you are active
5. List your 3 favorite products to work with, 3 strengths as a scrapper, and 3 reasons why you would like to design for My Kits and Pieces.

Sorry, US scrappers only at this time.

The deadline for this call is Wednesday, August 15. Callbacks will go out until the 22nd. At this time we are looking for about 8-12 designers.

We look forward to seeing your work and getting to know a little bit about you! If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail Rosy at mykitsandpieces@gmail.com or post a question on our message board (follow the link from mykitsandpieces.com).

Chat with Layle Koncar!

Creating Pages is, as we speak, hosting a chat with Layle from Scenic Route. If you'd like to come by and say hi, go to creatingpages.biz, click on message boards, and then click on chatroom at the top of the page. Hope to see you there!

Friday night...

And of course I'm at home, at the computer. What else would I be doing?

Actually, I've been scrapping, using my July kit from the Nook, realizing how many non-summery things I can do with non-summery papers. Because I'm not sure what happened last year, but I have NO summery summer pictures. Some random, quick-get-the-camera, dark background, slightly blurry ones though. But those weren't doing it for me.

So I did these instead:
Tomorrow is the last day of soccer...and I've been going back and forth on whether to do T-ball....but I'm leaning toward it now. The program is great and Elijah talks incessantly about wanting to play baseball, but practices and games are on Saturdays. So we can pretty much say goodbye to weekend trips, unless I can talk Dan into taking a day or two off during the week, which probably wouldn't be all that hard.

I'm getting tired now...and I need to be fresh for my chat with Layle K. (I don't want to butcher her last name) from Scenic Route at Creating Pages in the morning....so if you happen to be up at 8am PST tomorrow, come and join us!

For now, good night.

Chat with Dena Coe!

If you're a reader of my blog (which would be next to impossible, since I don't actually update it) you know that I recently began designing kits for Creating Pages. It is really fun work, and my first kits will be available on July 1st! I just got them in the mail a few days ago and have been beside myself, making some of my favorite pages ever and getting to see what the other DT members are doing with the stuff I picked is SO fun!

Anyway, to promote the kits, we're having Dena Coe, Fancy Pants DT member, come and chat with us at CP today! I met Dena at a 2Peas dinner a little over a year ago, and she is an absolute sweetie pie and a fabulous designer! Here is one of her layouts we'll be sharing today:Isn't that absolutely adorable and summery?

Anyway, stop by CP at 12 noon PST today for a fun time! :)

Long time no blog....

In case you hadn't noticed, I've been in somewhat of a non-blogging phase of late. Debated whether to stay with it or not....but it is nice to have my own little spot.

What's been up with us? A few things...

• I finally got a copy of The Well-Trained Mind from the library, and finally feel like I have the direction with homeschooling that I've been seeking. The WTM philosophy and methods are structured but flexible, academically rigorous, and the book really spells out why Classical Education is important and how to carry it out. Anyway, it definitely helps me to have somewhat of a game plan for the next 15ish years. :) We have all our books, Shiloh spends hours poring over the animal encyclopedia which is to be her science text for most of next year, and Elijah and I are working through his phonics primer--with any luck he'll be reading soon!
  
• I seem to be at a good place with balancing my jobs as wife, mom, homeschooler and scrapbook designer. I actually made this color-coded schedule that plans out how to get it all done in the 50 hours a week that Dan is away. Not that things are easy, or even that I stick to this elaborate schedule all that well, but I'm feeling better about the time when Dan is at home--I'm not expecting him to be on kid duty and I'm more willing to set aside my stuff and watch a movie with him or spend time with him....I should even be able to start going to bed and getting up early soon.
• We've had at least one car out of commission for over a month. One week they were both basically unusable....so we're buying a van. Not the timing I'd hoped for, but I'm trusting the Lord with that. We're hoping for a 2000(ish) Toyota Sienna with relatively low miles but we'd go with a Ford Windstar if we found the right one.
  
• Still designing for Ben Franklin, Creating Pages, and the Home Scrap Club.
• I suck as a gardener this year. I never did start a veggie garden (the spot still needs to be weeded out, and I think I'll pass this year), and my flower beds are pretty sad. Especially since we got our windows put in--apparently our plants were right where the guys ladders needed to be. And I haven't put in anything new because we're hoping to do some landscaping....so hopefully next year.

That's us in a nutshell! Have a great day!

Yay me!!

I get to design kits for Creating Pages! I'll be starting with the July kits, I've already got the products picked out and they are FABULOUS!! I think it will be really rewarding to see what everyone does with products I pick out, and I'm counting the days until I get to see all the products together!

In the meantime, the May reveal at CP was today...here are my pages:

Finally!

I get to upload the work I did for Creating Pages with their April kit! This kit was super fun--featuring Three Bugs in a Rug products! Now, I'll admit the papers are very different than what I'm used to working with...but asking myself "what can I do with these?" definitely pushed my creativity, and I'm thrilled with the results!

(I don't know why the above text is blue and underlined???)





Hope you all are doing well!

I'm twitterpated.

It's funny to me that, as much of an anti-materialist as I used to be, I can be so completely obsessed with a product. Created by someone for the purpose of making money. 10 years ago I would have rolled my eyes at myself and extolled the virtues of a simple life, free from the love of shaved legs and spending money needlessly. After all, there are hungry children in China that would love those stamps of yours.

Can't say that I blame them, either.

I bought these little sweethearts about 3 weeks ago, and haven't had a chance to play with them until now. I used them to make the scalloped white strip behind the title. It's probably not that noticeable, and probably not even that cool when it comes to some of the amazing stuff some scrappers do, but for me, there's something about using a product and having it work out exactly the way I'd hoped, and realizing how much potential there is in it, that is so satisfying.

And it helps that I got 3 hours of virtually uninterrupted scrap time this afternoon. I can't remember the last time that happened. As soon as I'm done on the computer, I could probably squeeze in another hour or two before bed.

G'night all!

Come croppin'

I'm at Creating Pages this weekend, having a blast at our online crop! We have games and challenges and prizes and tons of fun planned...a good time will definitely be had by all!

Count it all joy...

1. In 2 1/2 weeks I get to drink coffee again!
2. I'm on the verge of losing another 10 lbs. (though so far I've only lost 2 or 3 since I started back up).
3. Tomorrow I should be able to scrap
4. Tomorrow night is date night!
5. I have a new QuicKutz!
6. I'm enjoying my Bible lately, more than I have in months.
7. Shiloh's healthy again.
8. Elijah learned a good lesson about putting his toys in the closet instead of putting them away.
9. Mariah and I have been bonding lately.
10. Essie is settling nicely into her big girl bed.
11. Dan's been enjoying work.
12. Homeschool group starts a new trimester on Friday.

I could go on, but it's harder to count my blessings when I'm overtired at 7:00am. So I'll leave you with a photo instead:

Maybe green poop isn't so bad after all.

This was the thought I had Tuesday afternoon.

Rewind a few hours. It was an uncharacteristically nice late winter day. I'd just gotten back from a couple hours of kid-free time, so I was in a good mood. And I had primroses to plant. So I took the kids outside. In the past, taking the kids outside and getting yard work done were somewhat of a contradiction unless they were in our little pen with the door to the house locked. However, the pen has been disassembled to make way for a bigger pen (by "pen" I mean "small fenced area outside our back door that was once a dog run but now is just there so I can get the kids outside without having to accompany them"). No problem though, right? Because the older kids are responsible now, and Mariah follows Shiloh around, and Esther sticks close to the house.

At one point I ran in to get my camera, and then spent some time taking pictures of Essie...I've been bad about taking pictures of late, since they all have dark backgrounds and half aren't correctly focused (not my fault). So we were overdue. Then spring fever started to bite, and I decided to take some pictures of "signs of spring" for a layout. I take about 5, and then turn around.

Esther's gone.

I quickly scan the front yard, she's not here. I peek through the gate to the backyard as I'm running out to the road, nothing. She's not in the road either, or near the road. She's nowhere. I get Shiloh to start looking around the yard--which of course is useless, because I don't trust her, and if she says Essie isn't in the backyard, I still have to go look back there. I'm getting more and more frantic by the minute. I'm running around the neighbors backyards, looking up and down the road, around the corner, wondering if I should run down to the playground. A neighbor drives up and says he hasn't seen her. He offers to drive around the block and look. I decide that I'll call the police if he comes back empty-handed.

I circle through the backyards again, finally deciding that I should call her, because even though she won't come, someone might hear me calling...and another neighbor asks if I'm looking for a little girl. She's safe and, of course, completely oblivious that anything might be wrong. I thank her, wait for the other neighbors to get back so they know she's ok, and we go home.

And that afternoon, when she removed her diaper during naptime and I had to go in her room and clean up a yucky mess, I thanked God for the mess to clean up. It's so much better than the alternative.

Here she is 5 minutes before I wondered if I'd lost her forever:

I never want to see green poop again.

When I used to talk about parenting to non-parents, I would tell them (among other things) that diaper-changing is one of the easier aspects of being a mom. That it doesn't even begin to touch sleep deprivation, self-doubt, the sacrifice of one's freedoms and pleasures, etc.....none of which is really that significant when compared to the joy of loving and investing in the most special and wonderful people you've ever known, blah blah blah...

My position on diapers is changing, however. Maybe because I'm so close to the end. Maybe because I've changed a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 20 diapers every day for 2342 days (6 years and 5 months, exactly). Maybe because even though 3 of my 4 kids are potty trained, 1 wets the bed and 1 still has "accidents" that I'm not entirely convinced are unintentional.

Esther, the last, resists wearing a diaper with everything in her. She takes it off within 5 min. of my putting it on her, every time. She takes it off in her crib, every night and every naptime. First thing she does every morning? Remove the diaper. If I can convince her to wear it during the day, she takes it off the second she poops or pees. Which can be quite messy.

So on my list today is bringing out the potty chair. And spending some time on my knees, begging the Lord for a quick transition for her into big girl panties and for me into a diaper-free existence.

More HSC stuff

Good Friday night, all!

I thought I should inform you that you all have 1 week left at the 6 months for the price of 5 deal on the Home Scrap Club kits at myscrapbooknook.com. Here are more examples of what the March kit can do (and I still have a bit left):



































Have a great evening!

No, Beccy, my coffee abstention isn't what has caused me to neglect my blog for the past couple weeks.

I've just been busy. Thanks for the reminder though. :)

Busy doing what, you ask? I had the opportunity to demo the coolest scissors in the world last week at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup. It was fun doing something different for a few days, and Dan did a great job holding down the fort. He even took the kids to homeschool group on Friday, an activity which is not for the faint of heart.

So we're back to "normal" at home now. Doing school, wearing jeans (instead of "dress-up clothes"), folding copious amounts of laundry, chatting online with babes all day. My list is a mile long and I have no idea how I'm going to get it all done and still raise 4 kids and have the house just clean enough that Dan doesn't want to turn around and walk back out the door when he gets home. But I know it'll all get done, it always does.

Here's a new layout using the March HSC kit:



















Leah does an amazing job of picking products that go together without being too matchy-matchy. Being the tightwad that I am, I never liked the idea of monthly kits...until I started getting them! I tend to be very picky about what I spend my money on, and never liked the idea that I might be buying something I didn't want. But it turns out that getting a pre-selected kit of products not only saves the time and hassle of deciding which products to use, it actually inspires creativity. I get 16 photo corners and think, I can't use them all the same way...what's something different I can do here with them? AND it keeps me from dragging out every product I own, which keeps my scrap area much cleaner!

And speaking of kits, I was recently asked to join the team at Creating Pages! The great thing about that is that their kits tend to have lots of bright colors and geometric patterns...the perfect counterpoint to the lovely muted, distressed tones in the kits at HSC. The best of both worlds!

Off to tackle the list....

Boy noise and sacrifices

I'm sure God knew what he was doing when he gave me Elijah 5 years ago tomorrow, but I don't know that I fully understand it. Ever since we left my mom's house yesterday, my life has been a cacophony of light saber swooshes and Transformer gun noises and everything that goes along with them. I think the part of my mind that processes such noises is broken. It makes me think that I could easily take a vow of silence and move into a monastery, if I were only a man. Though I guess I couldn't do that and be a parent at the same time....so here I am.

In other news...

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. My church tends to be pretty non-liturgical, but lately I've been thinking about the concept of holidays as holy days. While I understand the desire not to suck the life out of our worship by ritualizing it, I do think that traditions play a role in facilitating worship. And I find that cutting out the time of preparation for holidays means that I'm not prepared for them spiritually when they come. And they end up being just another day. We've never done much to celebrate Easter, and I think that we need to. After all, what is more worthy of celebration than our salvation? So my hope is to institute some of the traditional Christian liturgical practices back into my worship. Like celebrating Lent....

Yes. I'm giving up coffee for 40 days. :0 Starting tomorrow. Not today.

Unslumping yourself is not easily done

...but I'm working on it! With sick kids, sick Dan, sick me, and other stuff (I'm not even really sure what), it seems like I've gotten out of the groove lately with lots of stuff--scrapping, homemaking, school, working out. I haven't talked to my mom in weeks, our schedules don't mesh well (her best time to talk is in the evening, when Dan is home and we're knee-deep in dinner + bedtime). And poor Elijah's b-day party is next weekend, and I still haven't mailed the invites! I think I've told most of the people who are invited, but still.

An object at rest tends to remain at rest. I'm trying to give myself a little push to get going again.

I did have a couple fun classes recently. One only had one student, but she signed up for next month before she left that night, and has friends who want to come! And the students for the other class were advanced scrappers--my first time teaching people who were that knowledgeable about products. Talk about self-conscious! But I came to an important realization with regards to my classes--it's ALL about the finished project. Teaching is secondary. That runs contrary to my process-oriented nature, but from talking to these ladies, and then some other people who take classes, I realize that's the way a lot of people think who take classes. And I'm happy to oblige. :D

Still doing the Make Room for MORE! Challenge at myscrapbooknook.com. This week it's all about brads. I got these square brads at a garage sale 2 summers ago, I've been wondering what on earth I was going to do with them until 2 nights ago. Before I got all the stuff in the corners I hated it--it looked like a dog collar to me. All the random bits + pieces seem to balance it out though. And I got to play with my Mod Squad stamps, which made me happy.

Have a great, slump free day--I'm going to go do something productive!

Let's talk about something other than scrapbooking.

Right now--

1. Dan and I just finished watching Lost. He's watching The Simpsons. I'm here.
2. Lost being on at 10 now instead of 9 means that we don't have to miss the first 10 min.
3. Shiloh went to bed with a 102 temp. She will be beyond devastated if we have to miss the Valentine's Day party at our homeschool group on Friday.
4. Elijah's birthday is in 14 days. He loves the stickers we got to make his invitations. He's been talking about his birthday presents since March of last year.
5. Mariah is obsessed with Esther's new toy.
6. Esther's new toy is called Noodle the Poodle. Unfortunately, my creativity doesn't extend into stuffed animal names.
7. Watching someone light up when they've used a rub-on for the first time is exhilirating.
8. Sorry, that was about scrapbooking. Sort of.
9. I'm in the process of determining what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. Besides parenting, marriage, and you know, other stuff.
10. Staying home alone is the best thing in the world. Especially when the house is clean. I do love going to church, but I don't mind missing prophecy videos. Videos put me to sleep at 7pm.
11. Lost doesn't put me to sleep though...neither does 24.
12. 5 years ago I would have thought you were nuts if you told me I would someday have 3 must-watch TV shows per week.
13. I have 3 friends that I need to call. Hopefully tomorrow.
14. My life would truly be better if I used my crockpot most days.
15. Good night.
    

A yard of ribbon

It sounds like a lot, but when you're determined to streamline your stash, it can go pretty quickly! Dan wanted to rescan the layout...but I'm lazy and decided to post it as is. More to come, hopefully.

Photos by emages photography. You have no idea the pain and suffering we (me, my sister, and the photographer) went through to get some decent shots of Mariah. She was a total brat for almost the full hour. Then we got the proofs back and probably at least 20 of the photos were beyond perfect. I'm telling you, they're miracle workers.

Have a great day!

Making room for MORE!

So, one night at dinner at the Schlitzkus house, the dad says to the mom, with an idle wave to the corner of the room, "I'm really tired of looking at all that stuff. We should get a cabinet, so it's all behind closed doors." Since she knew it was more of a direction than a suggestion, she aside her own desires to have all her stuff out where she could see it and let it pile up at her convenience, and picked out a new pantry cabinet with the dad. This pantry cabinet cost about twice as much as the catalog said it would...but that mattered not to the dad. For he had a vision of a clean, clutter-free dining room.

So I'm mostly moved in now, and at first I thought I'd be miserable for the rest of my life, having all my scrapbooking stuff packed away, having to move 3-5 objects to get to one thing, and not having a good place to leave my stuff out when something isn't finished (which I think was the whole point), but now it's growing on me. The cabinet is pretty, and well-organized (for now), and I have a good place for my gift wrapping stuff, which had been in the shed--necessitating my going out in the cold and digging through a trunk, surrounded by tools and lawn equipment, to find a gift bag.

But I did have a point when I started this entry.

Now that I have specific space confines, it's imperative that I keep my stash under control. So I'm challenging myself (and anyone who wants to join me) to make room for MORE scrapbooking supplies! I have a long list of things I want to buy from the most recent product releases, as well as my monthly HSC kit and supplies for classes and store samples at Ben Franklin. And I'm committed to NOT outgrowing my space--no more paper holders, no more ribbon cards, no more embellishment containers. I have more than I can use already, so I need to use what I have or get rid of it.

And in case you're wondering, I'm NOT giving up shopping! I'm just trying to get the revolving door to revolve a little faster. :)

Anyway, if you're with me, I've started a challenge on the HSC board--this week the goal is to use at least 1 yard of ribbon on a layout or card! There are RAKs involved...but if you don't want to participate over there, you can post a link in my comment section to your ribbony goodness--I'd love to see it!

Black, red and cream--for Valentine's Day???

Oh, yes.

I probably wouldn't have gone there on my own, but Mary Anne at Ben Franklin suggested it. I like the key one the best.

February HSC kit

This last week has been a terrific scrapping week! For those of you who have belonged to a kit club, you'll know what I mean when I say that this is a terrific way to scrap using up-to-date products without the "what do I do now" factor. The most time consuming part of scrapbooking for me is always deciding on which supplies to use. Cutting out that step makes it so much easier to enjoy the process of working with my photos and recording my story, which is what makes scrapbooking meaningful to me. The act of creating something that is based on love and memories, that will allow us to look back on this part of our lives and remember what it was really like.

Anyway, here are my pages from the kit:

This is my most recent one...I had put everything away, then drug it all back out to make this page! We're doing a challenge based on it (sanding + numbers) on the MyScrapbookNook forums. You're welcome to come check it out! Photo by emages photography studio in Auburn, WA.












If you know Mariah (or if you have or have known a sassy 3-year-old), you will be able to relate to this one! My husband, who is a much better graphic designer than I could hope to be, didn't like the letters all squished up on the side. I like it though and decided to override his opinion this time.













The kit comes with a tin of Maya Road chipboard. The tin itself is adorable, and the chipboard hearts are enough for about 5 Valentine's Days! 36 circles, and they each have 2 or 3 nesting pieces, so you end up with a LOT of hearts!









My dear friends Ben and Jana, who if they heard me whining about the NW weather of late would probably disown me. As we speak the sun still isn't up in Fairbanks and won't be for hours, and it's probably at least -20 degrees. We just got to see them last week, it's so neat to see them so happy together despite the challenges of living where they live and doing what they're doing.













And a card. I loved this little guy so much, it seemed fitting to give him a place of honor.







Have a great day!

Got a case of the Mondays....

I'm feeling a little blah this morning, I think mostly because it'll be a busy week for Dan. He'll be in Seattle 2 days this week directing a video for a client's upcoming trade show. Cool for him, long days for both of us though.

So....this is what I'm looking forward to today:

• Watching the snow melt--it's supposed to get up to a balmy 38 degrees today!
  
• Playing with new(ish) foof-a-la papers for some store samples at Ben Franklin.
• Uploading a new weekly challenge at My Scrapbook Nook.
• The next chapter of Charlotte's Web.
• A couple organizing projects.
• Maybe taking the kids to the play area at Top Foods and loitering in the magazine aisle.
• A nap this afternoon.
• Getting back into my Exodus Bible study...I think lesson 8 has been cancelled 3 times now for various reasons, which works for me because I still haven't finished it.
• Seeing whether the band-aid on Esther's thumb prevents her from sucking it. We're not actively trying to get her to break the habit, but if it happens we won't be disappointed. Sensitive skin + constant moisture = not good.
• Watching Jack Bauer save the world again.
  

Have a great day!

Weather drama

One of the reasons I've always loved living in the Pacific Northwest is because of the lack of weather drama. Things are usually pretty low-maintenance here. No extremes. I don't have to do anything out-of-the-ordinary to make sure my home and my things are protected from summer or winter weather. I love that 95% of the time, layers work--I'm almost always comfortable in a hooded sweatshirt and don't even own a winter coat.

So *all this* is getting a little annoying. Ok, a lot annoying. My tolerance for not being able to drive and having to dig out the snow clothes and knowing at all times where the flashlight and butane lighter are is wearing thin. I didn't sign up for this. Rain for 90 days straight, sure. But not this. And it doesn't help that the kids "want to play outside", but Shiloh is the only one who will actually stay outside for more than 10 minutes...but she doesn't want to play alone...so if I locate all the snow clothes and get everyone dressed to go outside it will take at least 45 min., and they'll only play for 10 before they start whining. But if I don't, I have to live with the guilt of being the mom who made her kids stay inside on a snow day.

Anyway, on the list today....

• Finishing a couple Home Scrap Club projects...I've already met my requirement, but I just can't stop using this kit!
• Finishing up some class samples that were due yesterday (I guess there are a few benefits to limited mobility)
• Another chapter of Charlotte's Web
• A little schoolwork
• And yes, digging out the snow clothes, getting everyone dressed, and playing outside for 10 minutes will have to happen.

I'm also hoping to hook up with our babysitter at some point. She was supposed to watch the kids tonight, but I'm not sure we'll want to go anywhere. However, she lent me her copy of Gilmore Girls Season 4, minus the last DVD, and I watched the others in an embarrassingly short amount of time (call it lack of self control). And if you're a fan of the show *coughcatcough*, you know that the last episode of Season 4 contains The Moment We've All Been Waiting For. How do I know that? Well, after finishing Season 2 I couldn't stand the thought of waiting 3 or 4 or however many days until Netflix brought another DVD and decided to go to GilmoreGirls.org to get some hints as to what would happen next (again, call it lack of self control)--and got WAY too much information without intending to. Anyway, the last two nights I've woken up in the middle of the night because of dreams about The Moment We've All Been Waiting For. Seriously. So I need to get that DVD from our babysitter so I can start sleeping at night again.

Have a great day!

Monday Monday

...so good to me...

I do love Mondays. The house is (usually) clean (it is today), usually I can get away with a little extra quiet time in the morning before the kids melt down, and I'm rested. And in one week, Monday night will be 24 night again.

Right now:
*Elijah's going to save someone from the fire (there's a car alarm going off in our neighborhood). He has his "fire jacket" and Spiderman fire boots on. Oh, wait. Now I guess it's too cold outside for him to save someone. Ah, the self-preservation instinct.
*Esther's running around without a diaper. She likes taking it off these days. I'm wondering if she'll get used to the diaper-free life and learn to use the toilet. One can hope, right?
*Shiloh and Mariah are playing quietly.
*I'm making my mental list for today. Gilmore Girls, school, scrapping, lunch, more scrapping, more Gilmore Girls, testing our phone line, updating the budget, possibly teaching a class tonight...
*And Dan is at work, no doubt working hard on someone's tradeshow booth or someone else's promotional materials.

Have a great day!

Reading

After months of seeing it in the side column of Sara's blog, I finally got my hands on a copy of The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. If you are a parent, a grandparent, or someone who has regular contact with children, there is no possible way to recommend this book highly enough. I'm feeling like I'm taking on the world by reading to my kids every day. I hope we're able to continue the practice of reading together long into their teen years, and I'm grateful for the many opportunities we have to do so throughout the day.

Happy Thursday!

Did you hear that?

That was the sound of me letting out the breath I've been holding for two days, since Leah called me to invite me to be a part of the Home Scrap Club DT at myscrapbooknook.com!! HSC is a super cool kit club that is undergoing a major transformation, and I'm really excited to be a part of it. The message board is super friendly and they have some fun crops and contests planned.

This is a sneak peek of my first kit...should be arriving Friday or Saturday! But who's keeping track? Certainly not me. There's no reason for my mailperson to feel uncomfortable or threatened when they come by. Nope. (Yes, that is Maya Road chipboard!)

Anyway, if you're interested in subscribing to the kit, mention my name at checkout and I'll send you a RAK! A good one too, not just some old paper I've been meaning to get rid of. :)

Happy Humpday to you all!

Real Men

If grace is getting what we don't deserve, than I have truly been given grace through my husband. Before Dan and I got married, I knew he was open to having a big family (maybe not the 6 kids I wanted, but that in and of itself is evidence of God's grace as well!), and I knew that he liked kids and was good with them, but I didn't know that he would truly enjoy our family time, that he would enjoy the zoo and the children's museum and kid movies--and mostly, that he would be willing to sacrifice so many of his dreams and goals for the good of our family. God truly does give good gifts.