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20 August 2008

Brushes and Another Digi Layout

Another Digi Layout I have to admit that I am loving the whole thing. I am glad that I can get some photos on layouts and get them done. I love it.  I also understand why it is so easy to drop and drag photos.

I have been in front of this computer for the past few hours trying to work with these colors. Then a friend just told me to get over myself and turn the photo black and white.  DUHHHH!!

Oh how I love my friends.

I still have not figured out how to change the color of a brush. Yes, I know I know.  I told you I have sat here for hours trying to get the colors to change. I just decided that tomorrow is another day. 

I love the layout.  We went to the Chattanooga Aquarium two years ago and I just love this picture of all the kids in front of the large water tank.

It was perfect. And that picture was taken with my cheap, now Chi-Chi's world, camera.

This is going to cause me to have to buy a large format printer. I thought the purpose of digi-scrapping was to stop me from spending so much money.

My frugal friend Amy Wood will kill me if I come home with a large format printer.  I just won't tell her... YET!!  (Love ya Amy)

until we meet again,

19 August 2008

To all the powerful women in my life...

I got this in my email when I woke up from my nap this evening.

It is just perfect!!
===========================

To all the POWERFUL women in my life:


Live your life in such a way
that when your feet
hit the floor in the morning,
Satan shudders and says:


'Oh Shit - she's awake!!!'

===========================

until we meet again,

14 August 2008

On the Road Again...

Well, it is a great day!! 

I am getting ready to close another chapter in my artist adventure.

This is my last CKC.  I have mixed feelings.  I am glad that it is over and I can move on.  But I am going to miss all the wonderful smiles that so boldly tell me why I do what I do.

I know, I know, there are going to be other wonderful times that make me smile.

I know that they are going to be different.  I am just going to miss the ones that I have begun to expect.

I am going to take my lap top with me this trip.  I have so much to do and so little time to do it.  I just need to take advantage of every waking moment. 

I will admit, I am so fired up!!!   I am going to hang with my girls from North Carolina. 

Somebody?!  Anybody?! I may need bail money because these ladies have been know to drive all the way to Atlanta for a laugh.  So I am not sure what they will do in their own stomping grounds.

I have my flip camera, my digital camera, my iPhone.  I think I have it covered.  Well, let me get this show on the road. 

until we meet again,

08 August 2008

MY FIRST DIGI LAYOUT!!!!

My First Digital Layout Oh My Gosh!!!

I just sat and did my first Digi Layout Ever!! 

Yes, I paid to do the online class with Jessica Sprague. I have no idea who she is.

I was told to take the self-paced class and I am loving it.

Oh, I can scrapbook like this again. 

I not only did a 12 by 12. But look, it is a picture of me and my hubby.

A first.  I have never done any pictures of us.

I may be able to get my wedding album done if I keep this up.  I am going to have to scan in over 1500 photos to get it done, but I am feeling a digi album coming along.

I have to say that the basic skills that I have and now understanding the easiest way to push this rock up the hill is really not so bad.

I can't believe it!  I digi scrapped!  Holy Moly. Watch out Hybrid, here I come.

Did I mention that I used some color!  I am just grinning from ear to ear. 

until we meet again,

05 August 2008

Revisiting my past life in Philadelphia...

I lived in Philadelphia on South Street right before I moved to Boston to go to Harvard.

Oh, I love Philadelphia. I even planned on moving back before I met my wonderful husband.

I love a city that can keep you busy even in the winter time. They always have activities.

When I was taking Leann through the City... Oppps, I need to digress.

Leann is from a land locked state where they do not pollute and she has never seen a trash heap with cars stacked as high as a building. She is use to clean air and no floro-carbons.

philly cheesesteak Being from the suburbs, I need my floro-carbons and a nice amount of ozone pollutants or car exhaust fumes in my lungs.

So anyway, I was driving around the city and she kept saying "do you smell that?" I am looking at her and saying "smell what???"

So I took her down to Jim's for her first authentic Philadelphia Cheesesteak. I made her get it with Cheese Whiz. Yep, they keep a can on the grill so that it stays melted.

Leann was really quite impressed with how tasty a greasy steak can taste when made in Philly.

my old apartment And on the way down there, we passed by my old apartment. I have to admit that the memories came flooding back and the life that I have now was never something that I cold have expected with what I knew then. No regrets. I just love where I am and where I am going. Love it Love it.

I must admit that I have been thinking about how much my life has changed in just the last two years not even the last 15 years.

Well, it is all good and I would not change it for the world.

Well off to make my first YouTube video. Finally got the desk cleaned off and now off to make some art.

until we meet again,

04 August 2008

Spread the Sparkle Tour with the Crafty Chica!!!

Spread the Sparkle TourCrafts... Drama... Glitter!

The Crafty Chica aka Kathy Cano-Murillo has a new line of craft supplies out with Duncan! 

For all of you who do not have enough Sparkle in your life, Cathy has made it easy for us all to get it. 

Cathy and her husband Patrick, a super talented artist and her number one fan, will be making appearances starting next week!

If you get a chance to meet her, I promise it will be well worth it.  Her energy is infectious and her smile is a beam of light that is never ending.

When you get there make sure that you tell her we are waiting for her in Georgia!!!

If your home town is not on the tour schedule, make sure that you check to see if you are one of the lucky Selected Micheals.



until we meet again,

03 August 2008

I'm home!!!

I love being home.  I love hanging with the kids.

My Dad had so many stories to tell me about all the crazy things that the kids did this weekend.  He cracks me up.  I think what is most exciting about it all is that I watch him go back to when he had me and my brother and the amount of time that has passed.

He is a different type of Grandfather. He is not, NOT the same type of Grandfather that he was a father.  I am not sure if it is age, time or just the simple fact that he knows I am coming home so why not spoil them rotten and let them think that he is the greatest.

They cried the whole ride home.  They did not want to leave.  They wanted him to stay and "hang out".  My Dad said that he needed some time to get it together before he could do another "round" with the kids.

Mom ran to early morning church service and left my Dad with the kids today.  She found a way out and took it.  I love her.  She is a woman who knows her limits.

Well, I am off to hang with the kids some more.  I need to put them to bed and get myself ready for the rest of the week.

I have so many projects and plans n the cooker.  Just need to wait and see what happens.  I have so much work to try and get done that it makes me laugh to think that in only a few more days I will be up to my eyeballs in adhesive.

I had a great time in Valley Forge!!!  Thanks ladies for making my next to last show a great one. 

Rebbecca, I could not have done it without you!  You are the bee's knees.  Ladies, she is the poo take a whiff. 

until we meet again,

31 July 2008

I am outty here

Well, I have gotten the kids planned for the weekend.

I will have all the laundry done before I leave.

Instructions are printed.

Supplies are organized and ready for the suitcase.

All is good on the home front.

I promise to tweet all weekend!!!

until we meet again,

30 July 2008

I am all out of sorts today...

Now, y'all know that I am a half full glass kinda girl.

Well not today.  I am just a stick in the mud.

So let me tell you how it is...

The kids threw up all over me this weekend.

I love my husband, I really love him.  He is my best friend. 

But he cannot do throw up. I mean it is bad. He has the worst gag reflex. So I would have to clean up for two.

My son came in the room on Saturday and he said my name and then threw up right in my face. My husband could not hang. So he ran to the basement.

Then after the shower, change of the sheets and new pj's My darling husband says to Ziggy, what is the rule? He says without missing a beat. "If I feel sick, I throw up on Mama not Daddy."

Are you feeling the love?

So Sunday rolls around and I decide after the night I just had, I am running away from home. If for no other reason than the fact that my house is full of people and I do not have the energy to deal. And to be honest, I did not know that they were coming in the first place until Saturday afternoon.

I made sure that all the bathrooms were clean and that there was enough toilet paper and paper towels to keep the masses happy and off I go to B&N for the day.

I then decide to give my parents a call, why oh why did I think that was a good idea. I get there and my Dad immediately puts me to work on his new idea to get his closets organized. So with screwdriver and directions in hand, off I go to help with his new work detail.

I could have gone home to work on my own house, had I known that this was going to be how I spent the evening.

I get home and in the bed and son number two comes into my room and says Mama...

You guessed it, he threw up all over me!!  OMG. I am done stick a fork in me. I am now on my third set of sheets in less than 24 hours. My darling husband is no where to be found. If I had only put that intercom system in, I would not have had to scream to the basement for the clean set of sheets out of the dryer.

So I keep the kids home with me on Monday. I am beat, I am beat up, I am just plain exhausted.

I finally get them all to my happy place, a long needed three hour nap!!  Wooo Hoooo!!!  I may get some work done. NOT!!!  I fall asleep because I cannot keep my eyes open anymore.

Oh, let me not forget to tell you that I am going through the change. Yes, I am about to morph into a Troll.

I am sweating all the time!!  I have been bleeding like a stuffed pig for 13 days. I have called the OB/GYN and she gives me the run down of the process.  Since this is the first time that it has happened, she really wants me to weather the storm and see if it happens again next month.

NEXT MONTH!!  By next month, I would have died from external bleeding.  I would have bled out by then. You must be kidding me.

So I call up every person I know who has some form of a uterus left and start asking questions. I call my mother.  Oh why Oh why did I do that!!

She proceeds to share with me about how it was when I was younger and how she did not get a break so what was I whining about. No sympathy there. I should have known better.

Well, I wake up this morning and decide since the kids have not puked on me in the past 24 hours, they are going to school. I whisk them off not to be seen for 8 hours and then the day starts.

I get absolutely nothing done. I had the best of intentions and got nothing done.

I take a nap, still feeling like I have had the very life blood drained out of me...  OH I HAVE!!

I go get the kids, bring them home and realize that I have a meeting at school of Kindergarten for my daughter. What happened?!

Last time I looked she was preemie in the NICU and weighed only 4 pounds and could fit in the palm of my hand.

Then they tell me that I have to get her to school by 8am.  8 o'clock in the morning.

Who made that rule up? Yikes!!  I have twin boys, who are they kidding. Basically, they have now told me that I need to make two trips to school everyday.

So I put on my big girl panties and suck it and sign on the dotted line that she will be there on time. 

I come home in the rain and my husband, the man that I love, the father of my children has left the top off of the Jeep and it is pouring down raining. I mean pouring, wind blowing, lightening and thunder.

I come running in the house and he tells me that he is too tired to put the top up.

At this point, I have my epiphany. I am married to a new fool. I mean I finally get where my kids get it from. HIS SIDE OF THE FAMILY!!!

I throw my hands up in the air and run to my dungeon thinking that I am finally going to be able to get the laundry done and craft, when I realize that I have to get ready to go to Valley Forge for the second to last CKC.

My husband comes downstairs, gingerly and says that he is not going to be here this weekend and that I need to watch the kids.

WHAT THE (@)*)*_)*(!_&(&^^%%^!^

Oh hell no, I have had this schedule since February, over 5 months ago. No, you make plans for the kids. He can't, he has to leave. Leave!! Where are you going? What do you mean leave?

And can I send two emails and notarize something for him. Remembering that he is the father of my children and I need to pay the mortgage in 48 hours, I dutifully do my job.

He leaves and then I remember that I am having lunch with my mother tomorrow. Thank the heavens that I was not my usual grumpy self and I said yes.  Especially since she is paying.

So now I am thinking I can do this.

Well, why did I drink those two 5 hour energy drinks. I have 4 days of frustration and no mojo.  I have the jitters and I cannot seem to rap my hands around anything meaningful. 

Yes, I did think of his neck, but then again, he is the father of my kids.

So needless to say, I am not having a "the cup is half full day".

So I am now off to bed, hoping for a new beginning and some feminine relief.

until we meet again,

29 July 2008

How do I define success??

How do I define success?

In the beginning it was what I scored on the SAT. Then it was what school I attended.

For years it was how much money I made. Then for a while it was how many committees I sat on.

Then it was how big my house was and if I had the right car and the right accessories.

Yes, I have all the right accessories. Now, I still do love my electronic toys.

Then it was making sure that my children had the right accessories. Then it was making sure that they went to the right school.

And mind you I have always had my heart in the right place and I have always wanted to make sure that I gave it my all.

I have always lived for the cause, whether it is HIV/AIDS, political disenfranchisement, unnecessary human suffering or working for less in order to give more.

I have never had simple dreams. Always the more complicated the better. I originally wanted to be the first African American Woman Supreme Court Justice.  See nothing too big or unattainable.

So now today, I am sitting in B&N just realizing that I do not have the institutional machine cranking behind me. I am my own well oiled machine. I am my own best friend and my own worst enemy.

I am just amazed at how much I don't know. 

So I am calling anyone and everyone who knows and asking all the questions that I can think of and then hoping that they will take another phone call from me in the next few days because I will be asking even more questions and possibly needing a reminder.

So I have realized that the skills that I learned in my other life are transferable to this life.  I have not gotten off the path. I have just realized that I need to use everything that God has given me and make it work.

And yes, I am still changing the world. Just one piece of art at a time.

So to answer the question, How do I define success? 

By my ability to lay my head on the pillow at night and sleep in my own skin.

Some nights there are regrets, but there is always a plan for tomorrow.

Some nights it is with tears and fears of what the future holds.

Some nights it is with just the simple of smile of my kids saying to me "Mama I love you and it will all be OK". Out of the mouths of babes.

It all begins and ends with me loving me and then loving everyone around me without conditions. Yes, it is harder than it sounds and some days I fall short.  

And tomorrow the definition of success will be different.

So I pray that I will be given a chance to pay it forward in some meaningful way and I will be the better for it.

until we meet again,

28 July 2008

i am knee deep in ...

every germy thing that kids can throw at you.

One does not go anywhere without the bucket. I just cannot let him throw up on another spot on my carpet.

I have been washing sheets and pillow cases two and three times. I just finally go to the point where I am coverng the bed in towels

I was thinking plastic bags, then I realized that was not a good idea.

My daughter is just sleeping and eating crackers. She cannot put anything on her belly. She is just grateful for a few sips of ginger ale and some Gatorade.

And oh my gosh, if I have one more bout with the runny poop. Oh, that is the worst of all.

I can do anything but the poop. I have actually run out of laundry detergent. In my house that just never happens.  I always have toilet paper, paper towels, wipes and detergent.

Oh, I was so excited thinking that I had missed this round with the roto virus. I was so glad because the last time I heard someone having it, the bug was in AZ.

I even had the kids helping me wash the walls this morning. They loved it...  Until...

I had another bout of the push me pull me's.  So they have had a nap and they are now just trying to kill each other.

Well, I wish that the world was as deep and self absorbed as last night but nope... Sick kids, and laundry up to my eyeballs.

Don't you love how reality just steps in and gives you a swift kick in the behind to remind you that in the end there are days when you are covered in shit.

until we meet again,

A post from 2005...

I had started a blog back in 2005 on Blogger and found this entry.

I was watching an episode of The West Wing where Jimmy Smits delivered this speech and oh my it is so relevant three years later...
=================================

I find myself on days like this asking for someone to blame, I blame the kid, he stole the car, I blame the parents for not teaching him better, I blame the cop who had the need to fire, I blame everyone I can think of and I am filled with rage…

And then I try and find compassion, compassion for the people I blamed, compassion for the people that I do not understand… Compassion… It does not always work so well…

I remember listening on the radio to Dr. King in 1968, he asked for compassion, and we responded not necessarily, because we felt it, but because he convinced us that if we could find compassion, if we could express compassion, and if we could just pretend compassion it would heal us so much more than vengeance.  And he was right it did, but not enough.

What we have learned this week is that even more compassion is required of us, an even greater effort is required of us, and I think that we are all, every one of us, tired.  We are tired of understanding, we are tired of waiting, we are tired of trying to figure out why our children are not safe, and why our efforts to make them safe seem to fail, we are tired. 

But we most know that we have made some progress, and blame will only destroy it.  Blame will breed more violence and we have had enough of that.  Blame will not rid our streets of crime and drugs and fear and we have had enough of that.  Blame will not strengthen our schools or our families or our workforce.  Blame will rob us of those things, and we have had enough of that.

And so I ask you today to dig down deep with me and find that compassion in your hearts.  Because it will keep us on the road and we will walk together and work together, and slowly, too slowly, things will get better.
============================
until we meet again,

27 July 2008

I have done it again!!

Yes, I have run away from home again!!!

It is wonderful. I did not have to go very far. I am just around the corner, but boy does it feel good.

I have some work to finish on my blog and I have some busy computer work to do. 

Oh, but the peace and quite. 

I have to admit that it kills me every time I leave the kids at home. I cannot wait until they are just a wee bit older and they can come and run away with me.

Oh, then I guess that is not running away, that is family time.  Opps, for a hot minute, I was confused.

I am glad that they are going to hang out with family and friends.

But there is just so much work to be done and so little time to do it.

Oh My!!!  Well off to work on stuff.

until we meet again,

26 July 2008

Still trying to re-coup!!!

I am so exhausted. I am still trying to recoup from CHA!!!

I have three shows left to teach at and then I am passing the baton. That is such a good feeling.

I am looking for the Mojo Fairy. She has not been back around this way since I came home.

So when in doubt, stitch a book.  I am going to make a book for my new friend Donna Salazar of Prima.

She bonded with a piece that I had a CHA and when I mean she bonded, she slobbered all over my arm for it.

So I have read her blog, found out what she loves and now going to sit down and get it done.

Then I probably will clean up this mess that I call a craft room and hopefully find the energy that I need to keep keepin' on.

My in-laws and all of their children and my kids and extended family are coming to the house tomorrow for a party.  No reason, just to hang out and eat and drink and let the kids play all day long.

So I think that I may run away from home after I have said all of my hellos.

Yes, I think I might just go and sit in the Barnes & Nobels for hours and catch up on some reading. 

I have not read a James Patterson book since my daughter was born. And there is a new Alex Cross that just came out. 

Oh how I miss reading just to read!! 

Yep, that is my plan for tomorrow.  I am running away from home and going to read the day away.

Who knows, I may come home with the Mojo Fairy.

until we meet again,

25 July 2008

I have been nominated!!

Brillante weblog Ok, so LK Ludwig nominated me for this award. 

What a blast. 

Thanks!!

So here are the rules:

  1. Put the logo on your blog
  2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
  3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
  4. Add links to those blogs on yours
  5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs 

So this one is much easier than the last one about all the facts...  Yikes, that nearly killed me!!! 

Oh, but I digress. 

So here is my list of wonderful people
LK Ludwig
Jen Cushman
Sara Hodson
Edie Simmons
Crafty Chica
Carla Shauer
Valonda Leichty

Rebecca Peck

Donna Salazar

I could go on forever, but I just need to stop and get back to making stuff.

until we meet again,

August 2008

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