It is way past the point where I normally reboot, but I'm afraid to. I honestly don't know if it will start up again. I'm thinking I should wait until Monday to give it a shot so I can take it in right away if I have problems. Hopefully though, it just starts right back up. I've reset my computer to back-up automatically every night, so I'm safe there. I just don't want to be without a computer for a week while it's being fixed. Oh what a dilemma!

Here's a layout I just did about the HOF contest. Truthfully, I'm really proud of myself for not letting it get to me. It was a lot of fun, and I definently did my best.

Journaling:

This year I entered the CK hall of fame contest. I didn’t win, or even get an honorable mention, but I did receive an awesome prize. I have 10 layouts I just love.

I’m someone who can easily get caught up in things like contests, and put my worth on winning a prize. This time I didn’t though. When I look at my layouts I still love them. Can I see areas where I can improve, of course, but right now they are the best I can do. I stuck to my style, journaled what was in my heart, and even made the deadline. I’m proud of myself!

When I entered I didn’t know the competition I would be up against, and after reading some of their stories, I’m so glad they won. I’ve only been scrapping for a year and a half, and I think I’m doing pretty well for a newbie.

Supplies Used:

Moods CD by Digital Scrapbook Memories (except for all the little layouts, but you can get information on them in the gallery)

That's how many cell phone minutes I used last month. I used to be someone who would use at least a thousand minutes a month, but now that I'm a stay at home mom with a home phone I don't-- obviously. I've decided to take a step back into prepay. Today I get to go plan and phone shopping, and hopefully I can keep my phone number, but I don't think I'll be able to from what I've heard.

A little while ago I decided to take the plunge into heritage/family history scrapbooking. What an incredible task too. Very overwhelming, but exciting at the same time. This past weekend I talked with my grandma for a little while about our distant relatives, and I think it raised more questions than answers. She also gave me a couple boxes of pictures. She has a couple of cedar chests too, just full of interesting stuff. Most of the pictures are labeled pretty well, thankfully, but today I came across some pictures. In our family history books we have no record of anyone by the name "Muriel", the name on the back of the pictures. She's such a pretty little girl though, and I can't wait to figure out who she is.

Anyone that knows me is well aware of the fact I'm a messy car person. I have a neat and tidy house, but my car is my dumping ground, and it's very lucky to get a bath. Well, this weekend I gave it some loving. I cleaned it out, vacuumed it, and washed it.. Of course, today we've got nasty weather and it's supposed to snow later on this week I think; it's all my fault.

On a scrapping note, I downloaded ACDsee last week and I'm in full swing reorganizing. I was previously using digitalscraproom, but I think Cheryl was wise to discontinue work on the software. ACDsee does a great job, and it's faster too. I loved the simplicity of digitalscraproom though.

Another interesting thing to note, Ali Edwards is in the lead at sixdegree.org! If you haven't taken the time to donate a little to her cause, go take a look at her blog.

Since I didn't win I get to post my layouts on my gallery page.

Goodnight Blankie (technique)
Caught in a Cute Storm (photography)
Done (journal passion)
Predictions (favorite)
SWAK (favorite)
Together (favorite)
Unphotogenic (favorite)
You Crack Me Up! (3 4x6)

I think I'm going to hold of on posting a couple of them.

When I got home tonight I thought I'd turn on my computer just for fun to see what would happen, and it worked! I don't know how many times I tried it before I left, but I guess just sitting for a couple of days helped whatever it was. I think I should work on getting more air circulating around my computer, because I know heat isn't good for it, and maybe that's part of the problem.

Tonight I get a second chance though to make sure everything is backed-up, and I'm going to reset it so it backs-up automatically every night like it used to. Peace of mind at last!

Yesterday we went to the park/zoo with my parents and my goal was just to get a good close up laughing face picture. It just didn't happen, but we did have a great time. Oh, and I finally snapped and just had to edit some pictures, so I downloaded GIMP. Still trying to figure it out but I did manage to do some basic adjustments and things. I'm not quite motivated enough to do a layout right now because I want to go hiking before I leave, and I'll probably be heading back home later today.

We're at nana and grandpa's house for the weekend. My computer is still dead (probably a motherboard issue), but I get to use my parents computer while I'm here. Unfortunately, I don't have photoshop here, but I guess I'll survive. I'm also slightly freaked out because I wasn't as diligent about backing up as I thought. A couple of weeks ago I filled up my ehd, and so I deleted everything off of it so I could organize it a bit and reback-up. Well, I did a pretty good job, but I missed my completed layouts folder when I was doing the back-up. There's nothing quite like the uneasy feeling of having a computer that isn't working, and no back-up. At least I have all the pictures though :)

I'm excited though to just have a nice weekend with my parents. I also hope to have a chat with my grandma about some of her old pictures, so I can get them scrapped. I'm anxious to get started with my heritage scrapping, but it's definitely overwhelming.

I didn't get a call, from Lisa or Fred. And although my tender little spirit is crushed a bit, I can't say I didn't have a good time. I love competing in contests, and I think they really bring out the best in my scrapping; which is why I entered in the first place. I'll be honest though that I was really optimistic, but I've since seen a little more of the talent that is out there, and I am seriously blown away.

I think seeing all the talent and experience that a lot of the 2peas scrappers have (yes, I peaked at few resumes) made me realize just what I have to look forward too. Many of these scrappers have been scrapping for 5 years or more, and I've only been at it for a little over a year. I've already had one layout published in Simple Scrapbooks and I have 3 more pending publication in Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, which I think is just awesome. Am I a consistently incredible scrapper, not yet, but in a few years, if I keep working at it there is no doubt in my mind that I will be at a whole new level.

So with this thinking, I am going to enter the SOY contest. Not because I think I'm worthy of the title of scrapper of the year, but because I want to force myself to put together the most incredible entry that I am capable of.

***on a side note, my computer has crashed. I am a faithful backer-upper though so no need to fret, but I won't be around as much as usual. I'll try to check my email daily though :)

Today is the day calls go out for the CK hall of fame contest. I've got so much nervous energy right now! I started digging up my backyard yesterday, so I've got to finish that project today, so hopefully that will keep me busy enough I don't go CRAZY!

In the winter I don't listen to Jimmy Buffett much, but in the summer there just isn't anything better. I used to race sail boats with the local yaucht club, and although I wasn't really that good at it, I just loved it. I haven't been for a four years though. Wow, has it really been that long?! This year I'm going to make it a goal to get on a sail boat.

So why all the sailing talk, well, I turned on the window's media player and Jimmy Buffett was all cued up, so without really meaning too, here I am listening to Mr. Buffett and wanting to go outside and play. We've got record warm weather here for another day before it snows again, so today we're going to enjoy it!

Oh, I just added a freebie template, so click on the freebie link

It's official, I'm going nuts waiting for the ck hof call announcements. I'm trying to keep my cool, but with no success. I've managed to convince myself that I'm not in the running, but there is always the hope I guess.

On a lighter note (was that really heavy?) I am going to start working on some projects for Bill. He wants me to redo his brochures, and also make a website for him. Should be lots of fun! We'll get to see how much I learned with my in design book. I'm not through it yet, but I'm anxious to put what I have learned into practice.

Since this is supposed to be a scrapping site and all, I figured I'd post about my scrapping for a change.
This layout is for the next Birthday bash challenge at oscraps.com. The challenge this time is to use more than 6 photos on a layout. I chose to scraplift a layout I just fell in love with for this one.
Eclectic Tastes by mamacrina Of course, like every scraplift I try, it's not even close to being as good as the original, but it was fun to try a different style.

Journaling:
Wow! The past 6 months have just soared by, and I can’t believe you’re already a year and a half old. You have blossomed into such a sweet little girl. You give hugs and kisses, and show affection, and you have gone from a wild little thing, into someone who is cautious around strangers and heignts.

At night you sleep like a dream, although you like to go to bed pertty late. When you’re ready you’ll grab your blanket and binki and run down the hallway. You sleep in your own room and don’t make a sound in the night. I can’t believe the difference from just a little while ago when you were up constantly at night.

You’re still as active as ever, and now that the weather is warming up, you love to play outside. You think its really fun to go running down the big hill, and your little legs go as fast as they can. You make me laugh constantly, as you are always making strange sounds, or being just plain cute. What a fun adventure these past couple of months have been!

I used the You've Got Personality Mini Kit Collection 2 by Jeni Cantrill
and the All you need is love page kit by Michelle Coleman.
Fonts: Adobe Caslon Pro and pristina
Photoshop CS2

I'm happy to admit, I'm all better now. I finally got the tire fixed (ended up just getting a new tube) and I went strollerblading. How on earth could I have such a miserable time on such a beautiful day, after all, it was at least 70 degrees today!

This evening I went flying too, and although it was just a quick sled ride down to the bottom of the hill (tandem with Bill) I just loved it. This summer I am definently going to fly a lot more.

Now I'm off to enjoy some TV will Bill and Marilyn :) don't you just love happy endings!

I hate the world today
You're so good to me
I know but I can't change...

You know the song. A few years ago it was my theme song on days like this. I would blast in on my car stereo and I would begin to feel a little better. Yes, it's probably just a bad case of pms, but I seriously want to just throw stuff!

To start out, it's a Tuesday morning. Why are Tuesday's bad you ask? It's garbage day. I did remember to take my cans out last night, so today is better than most Tueday's, but at 7:30 am, the garbage truck comes by. I don't think there is anything quite as noisy as a garbage truck in the morning. I live in a compact neighborhood too, so every five seconds it stops. Then, as soon as I get back to sleep it comes down the other side of the street. The recycle truck follows about 30 minutes later.

I know some of you are thinking 7:30 isn't that early, but when you have a night owl daughter, it is. Then, to get out of my foul Tuesday mood I decided to go strollerblading. But the tire goo didn't goo up the tire and it was flat again. So I added more tire goo, filled it up at the gas station up the hill, and by the time I got home it was somewhat flat again. At this point I decided to just patch the dang thing, so I took the tube out, and found the hole. I immediatly found the hole (was easy to spot with the bright green tire goo coming out of it) and it was much smaller than the 1/8 inch max for the tire goo. Now that I have the tube off of the tire though, the leak has been fixed by the tire goo, and it seems like I'll be able to fill it up again and go strollerblading afterall.

Problem is, my gas tank is now on E. I think I can make it to the costco to fill up, but if I take any more trips to the gas station up the street, I'm not sure. I might just have to fill up a little with the gas from the station up the street in case. Had the tire goo worked the first time, none of this would have happened (did I mention I'm pmsing, and writing this out actually made me realize how silly this really was)

The next major crisis of the day was what Marilyn did to my taskbar. I'm not sure how she did it, but all the icons were gigantic. I googled the issue, asked for help, tried ever little option I could find, but with no success. I finally did a system restore, and although it fixed the icon issue, my antivirus stopped working, so I had to undo. Another system restore did work, but not without making me go crazy first.

I skipped a day, oh so bad! I'm trying to force myself to write at least something everyday because I definently need practice writing. I did get a couple of good pictures the other day while at the point, and I've got a layout in progress. Here's a peak at one of the pictures though. Marilyn is in a very timid phase right now.

Today I plan to finish the layout I'm working on and post it for the challenge, yes, it's another Oscraps birthday bash challenge, so get ready for more fun! Check in later today or tomorrow.

Marilyn has been asleep for 3.5 hours!!! I think I should probably wake her up, or she's not going to sleep tonight! It's kinda nice though to have a chance to get caught up on a couple of things(she just woke up) Now were going to go find daddy at the point, and maybe take some pictures :) I'll post them later if I get any good ones.

(Yes, I made up the word strollerblading). We went again today, but it was a little chilly and very windy. At first people assume it's some super risky and daring thing, but when you think about it, it's really tame. Not only do you have a hand brake, but you have something to hold onto too.

Today we also got a bit of an update on ck's hof. They are going to make the announcements on the 19th, so only 10 days to go. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I really did give it everything I've got, so I'm just going to be crushed if I don't make it.

Also, I've got company coming tomorrow, so I'm gona spend the rest of the day working on the house. It's amazing how dirty your house suddenly is when you know someone is going to be staying with you!

Another one of my layouts is going to be published!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's one of my favorites too, so I just couldn't be happier. This makes 4 now! It's still on my gallery page probably till the end of the day, so take a look if you want, it's the orangy one titled "Bill".

I'm also working on my layout for the 2nd Birthday Bash challenge at Oscraps.com. I should be posting it by the end of the day.

I just love Costco! I've only had a membership for a month, but I've really been missing out. We go every couple of days, for milk, paper towels, batteries-- you know, that kind of thing. We always use the stroller instead of a cart too, because Marilyn just doesn't like carts much. She refuses to sit, and we always have a little melt down because I won't let her cart surf, but in the stroller she's happy as can be.

I couldn't help but get excited at all the spring stuff at the store too: the fertilizers, little trees, flower bulbs. How exciting! I really want to get started on my backyard project, but I guess I have to wait for all the snow to melt first before I can start planting flowers. I do have a couple of tulips poking through in the front though. At my old house I used to have crocuses (I think that's what they're called) and I loved having blooms in February. This fall I'll have to plant some because I am sooooooo ready for some color.

Shameless plug for Oscraps:
I'm hosting a series of challenges this month, so if you want some motivation, and a cool prize, come scrap with me!
Birthday Bash Forum at Oscraps.com

I've got a busy day ahead of me! Tomorrow I am finally going to clean the carpets. They desperatly need it, so I'm renting a machine from the grocery store. My friend Lori is going to watch Marilyn, so it'll also be a nice break from her. Not that I don't love chillin' with her all day every day, it's just that sometimes it's nice to be alone, even if I have to clean the carpets.

I'm also working on a series of challenges at Oscraps. This month Oscraps is celebrating it's first birthday, so we're having a party, complete with cake! So check in at oscraps later today or tomorrow for the details on how you can win a great prizes, just for doing challenges and scrapping layouts!

We just moved into our house in December, but it's very clear our front yard is the doggie toilet of the neighborhood. I have yet to see a dog do their business on my lawn, but they've left plenty of evidence. Every couple of weeks I can fill up a grocery sack with doggie dung (it's been snowy or I would be out there more) and I'm tired of it.

I need solutions!

That seems to be my question of the day. I've been working on my site all day, and I keep having little problems. Luckily Diane (ladynred from DSP) has been helping me out. She has the patience of a saint! Designing a page is really quite fun though, but I think I've had enough for one day, lol. On to better things like laundry and housework. I must get this house in order before I go nuts!

You know, I honestly suck at blogging. I am not a" do something regularly kind of gal", at all, but I think it's good to just sit down every day and write a little so I'm gonna try a little harder. Most the time I think I just don't have much to write about, and that's probably true, but maybe the fact that I am going to write about something every day should be motivation enough to find something to write about.

Today I went through chapter 3 of my "Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book" it's terribly boring, but informative at the same time. I'm starting to think that I'd like to switch over to InDesign for my scrapbooking. There are so many really cool things you can do with text, that you just can't do in photoshop. I'm sure I'll discover some more cool stuff soon. I also got an offer to do some freelance graphic design stuff, and I'm really excited about that. So I'll really need to know my stuff in InDesign for that. Nothing like a little motivation to get the wheels rolling.

I haven't scrapped a page in a week now, and it's kinda weird actually. Maybe tonight I'll finish the page I started last week, we'll see!

if you haven't noticed, I'm making a website. Please bear with me through the construction process :) To integrate my blog into my site I had to start a new blog (at least I think I did), so this is once again my first post. (not that I really had a lot of blog followers, lol.)

Just in case you were wondering, I made the header bar with a paper from Lisa Whitney's Urban Baby kit and a brush by LindaGB (from the Scrapartist aprentice challenge)

Check back in a week or so and hopefully I can get everything up and running!