Digiscrapping with Erin

someone believes in the power of tithing just a little more now because of me

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:54:00 +0000

Today I took the day off of work so I could get an early start on my Thanksgiving holiday. When I arrived at my parent's house I noticed a little stack of mail. Usually it's just credit card offers, but today it had a notice from the Salt Lake parking people. They're claiming I parked my car in a handicap parking place by the Gateway one day a couple of weeks ago. I was at work at the time the ticket was issued, and I haven't been to the Gateway in a least a year, nor have I ever parked in a Handicap place.

I called to complain about the ticket, and they told me I could go to a hearing. Lovely. Then they inquired about whether or not I had all of my plates--so I took a look at my car, and I don't have my front plate. I went down to the DMV and got new licensee plates, and I reported this to the police in case there's someone in Salt Lake parking in forbidden places with my plate. I figured I was just being paranoid, but being thorough is a good thing when dealing with government institutions.

Anyway, I have a theory about what happened here. Whoever is out there with the license plate USG, (mine was VSG) went into the parking people to pay their ticket and was told there wasn't a ticket for their car. Considering this ticket was for $180 they were probably feeling pretty darn lucky, or blessed. I'm sure at their next testimony meeting they're going to tell everyone about how God was looking out for them by taking care of their ticket. God can be such a pain in the ass sometimes.

Somewhere between real blogging and twitter blogging is blackberry blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:18:00 +0000

I really miss blogging, so I decided that I'm going to give it another shot. For the time being, my only readily available internet is my blackberry. So writing a blog post is going to be as efficient as texting, but hey, short is good, right?

I'm loving life lately. I'm feeling settled in my new place, and I think Marilyn is too. She's getting used to the routine, and I think she's developed a new appreciation for her mother. I think its a little hard for her not to have all her friends around. She did make a new one yesterday though. She and another girl were out on the balconies tossing bread to the ducks. We all went down and collected pretty leaves together for a bit.

I scrapbooked a page this weekend too. I'll post it eventually. I've got to transfer it to my phone I guess. Actually I probably won't because that sounds like a lot of work. The important thing is I actually scrapped! I was actually inspired too.

I'm missing all of my friends because I feel like I haven't seen anyone forever. One of these saturdays I'm going to plan something. A little holiday get together would be nice...

another laundry day, another blog post

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:35:00 +0000

It seems that laundry day has become my official internet time. Tonight I wasn't really expecting to have time for laundry because I was planning on spending the evening voting. When I got home from work I grabbed a camp chair and a book and headed for the polls. I was shocked there wasn't even a little line, so my evening quickly opened up.

I tend to jam pack all my not-so-fun-to-do-with-a-kid activities into my Marilyn free days, so they're always really busy. Laundry is at the top of the list because waiting around for clothes to dry just isn't her idea of fun.

Let's see... this week Marilyn and I had some good halloween fun. We both went as kitty cats-- her idea. We carved pumpkins (well I carved them and Marilyn hacked at the cut-outs with her little knife), and on Friday I got to take her to my work for trick or treating.

Hi, I'm still alive

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:21:00 +0000

I decided it's time to be frugal, so I don't have internet in my new home. Tragic I know. Most of the time I'm too busy to miss it, and I do have it on my phone, but I feel so incredibly out of touch with EVERYTHING. Today I was going a little nuts and decided it was time for a good quality internet fix.

Anyway, I moved out at the end of September, so I'm officially on my own and I love it. Sharing Marilyn with Bill is a little hard, but so far I've been so busy with things on the days I don't have her that the time flies by. I also think the break helps me be a little more fresh for her and we've been having a great time together. For the most part I think she has adjusted well. For the first week she was acting a little funny, and the concept of having a "mommy's house" and a "daddy's house" was a little difficult. My place also doesn't feel like too much of a home yet because I still haven't found a couch I love enough to buy, and there's still boxes everywhere too. On Sunday when it was time for her to leave though, she threw a fit about it, and I'm taking that as a sign she's starting to like my place too.

Anyway, I miss everyone, but I'll come out of my little cave soon and be social again. :)

almost there

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:01:00 +0000

Bill took Marilyn for the day so I finally was able to make some real progress. For now I'm out of boxes though, but I'm almost done. There's something about putting all of your possessions in boxes along a wall that really makes you realize how much stuff you have. I've tried to get rid of as much stuff as possible while packing, but it all just adds up.

Winds of Change

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:00:00 +0000

It seems like forever since I’ve blogged. I know part of the reason is because I’ve just been busy with everything, but part is also because I’ve been avoiding a certain topic because I just didn’t know what to say about it; for the most part I still don't which is very apparent by the number of times I've edited this post...

Anyway, on Friday I will be moving out. I feel like I’ve been packing forever because I’ve spent the past month doing a few boxes here and there. The apartment I’m moving into is also really small, so I’ve had to downsize a lot, and Marilyn seems to always get into trouble or want to go outside when I get started too. I’m almost finished though (I think) and I’m excited to unpack and make myself at home in my new place.

on vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:02:00 +0000

Every year my family stays at Bear Lake for a week, and so I'm up here for a couple of days with them. Not only does this place bring back all sorts of wonderful childhood memories, but I'm having a lot of fun sharing them with Marilyn now. As a kid I don't know how many hours I spent playing on the beach here, building sand castles or finding sea shells. I was allowed to be independent and do pretty much whatever I wanted, and I'm enjoying giving Marilyn just a taste of that same freedom. She's off riding her bike and I'm watching her from a distance. Every once in a while she'll go a little further than she's supposed too, but she'll come riding by and say hi. She's a very fun kid to watch.

Here's my latest layouts of her...

sailing again

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:50:00 +0000

We went sailing again yesterday at Bear Lake. Good times were had by all, especially because we won the race.

Marilyn fell asleep right after the race. She slept while the rest of us swam and played for a bit, and she woke up right as we finished getting the boat cleaned up after the race. I just love taking pictures of Marilyn sleeping; she holds still!

it's 3:46 in the morning and I just finished a layout

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:46:00 +0000

I have yet another cold, although this one is pretty mild. I did take some sudafed though, and I think I'm going to blame that on keeping me up. Inspiration struck while lying awake in bed though, so I just finished one of those in the middle of the night layouts. Luckily I don't have many because really I should be sleeping in the middle of the night.

I might just take another look at this in the morning and wonder what I was thinking, but here is my first layout since April.

some more pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:22:00 +0000

Here are a bunch of my latest flower pictures.

I also realized I haven't posted any pictures of the candle holder I was making back in May. Here it is all finished.

and this is what it looks like illuminated.

and here's my latest favorite shot of Marilyn. She's asleep of course.

sorry mom, but her recipe is better than yours

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:56:00 +0000

I think I've always enjoyed lasagna, and who doesn't really... maybe vegans who are trying to make it with tofu and funky non-dairy cheese I suppose, but lasagna is basically really yummy. I've always used my mom's recipe because that's what daughters do, but I found another one that I'm afraid I like better.

Every month a few of us in the neighborhood get together to share recipes, and I chose to make lasagna for the main dish tonight. Of course, yesterday all day long I was thinking it was Thursday, so I rushed home after work and whipped the whole thing up. I made it to the host's house before I realized it was only Wednesday. Then I had to come home and figure out where to put the lasagna and clean up the kitchen. This made tonight a lot simpler though, so it all worked out for the best I think. Lasagna is always better the second day too.

Anyway, the recipe I followed is one from The Pioneer Woman. I've loved everything I've made so far from her site, and this was no exception. Yumm!

------> Link to tasty lasagna <-------

stripping in public

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:23:00 +0000

Today I had what could have been the most embarrassing moment of my life. I usually get dressed in the dark, and this morning I guess I was a little more tired than usual, or perhaps just my shirt was a little more complicated. I dress in layers for work because it’s a bit chilly in the morning, and in the afternoon it warms up.

Well, today at work I took off my sweatshirt only to discover I wasn’t entirely in my t-shirt. I ducked behind some boxes as quickly as humanly possible and fixed the problem, and luckily no one saw my mishap.

This of course brings back the memories of an elementary school program. We were all dressed up like penguins for some reason, and afterwards I decided to take off my oversized, black button-up shirt. I really thought I had put something on underneath it, but I hadn’t. I managed to escape this episode without humiliation as well, but the fear of accidentally stripping in public has stuck with me ever since. That fear has now been intensified.

Sailing, and some pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:28:00 +0000

This past weekend we went up to Bear Lake to race with the Yacht Club. I used to race every race before I moved to Salt Lake. I honestly don't know what it is about sailing that just soothes my soul, but I love it-- absolutely love it. I really enjoyed bringing Marilyn along with me, and although I think it was a little tough for her to sit still during the race, she had a blast. Whenever we tacked (changed our angle into the wind and the sail moves from one side of the boat to the other) she though it was so fun to lie down on the deck and watch the sail go over her. She's still talking about tacking! We took second place in the race, but we still had a good time.

Afterwards we hung out on the dock for a while, and I think Marilyn was in heaven will all the attention she was getting. I'm a bit amazed she didn't fall off the dock into the water. I figured I could choose between hovering over her, or letting her figure out for herself why she needed to be careful. She was in a life jacket of course, but there were a couple of times when I thought for sure she was going in. She discovered a tub of ice and I think that was the absolute coolest toy ever. She would eat the ice and spit it out in the water. She's usually not permitted to spit, so this was a real treat for her!

I promised some garden pictures, so here's a couple of my latest favorites. I think some day Marilyn is going to look back and ask, "Why aren't there any pictures of me from 2008?" and I'll just have to remind her that the flowers didn't run from the camera.

Happy birthday to me! (and a little wee update)

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:42:00 +0000

So I can't believe it's been over a month since the last time I've blogged. I went back to work right after Memorial Day and since then I've been in a bit of a cave. Just as I was starting to my job search in May, I got a phone call from a staffing service. They found me on Monster.com, and they wanted me to come in for an interview because I happened to have the experience they needed. I wasn't too excited about the position, but I decided turning them down would be a little on the stupid side. I was pretty impressed with the company when I went in, and although this isn't what I anticipated doing with my degree, I am working for a marketing company, and hopefully I'll be able to move into a more "creative" position with time. Right now I'm really enjoying having a stress-free job though.

Marilyn absolutely loves her babysitter. I found her through a friend, and I think knowing Marilyn is having a great time where she's at has made the transition easy. On Friday's we've been going to the zoo after work, so if anyone wants to join us, let me know!

Overall, life has been great the past month; it's a little crazy getting used to the new schedule, and I'm having a hard time getting to bed on time, but that could just be because it's still light outside. My garden is starting to bloom, and watering my flowers is still my favorite part of my morning routine. I'll try to post some pictures soon, but it could be another month :)

As for my birthday... My parents are coming to town to take me out for dinner, and that should be nice. I'll be working, but after taking a few years off, I really enjoy working again. Maybe I'll stop by the store in the morning and pick up a cake.

this post is all about puke

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:57:00 +0000

On Fridays a bunch of us get together for play group. We adults get a chance to chit chat with someone who can actually keep a conversation going, and the kids get a chance to have screaming contests and plow down their friends. It’s wonderful. This past Friday the topic of throwing up came up (no pun intended). That’s when I realized Marilyn hadn’t vomited since she was a baby. The last time was July 4, 2006. She just wouldn’t stop eating that day, and even though I knew better, I just kept feeding her. When we went to sleep that night, she curled up in my bosom and puked down my shirt. For some reason she always threw up down my shirt when she was a baby.

My stomach is quite strong, and the last time I actually threw something up was the summer of 1989. I was starting to think she might have my stomach, but last night she tossed her cookies. There’s no call to action like vomit. We were immediately mobilized, spraying her down in the shower, changing out the bedding, washing the blankets, opening the windows. Kid puke is a lot grosser than baby puke too. There were actual chunks, and the smell! At least it wasn’t down my shirt though.

Look how clever I am!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 17 May 2008 21:28:00 +0000

I'm on a bit of a decluttering mission right now. The past year of being in school has meant that I've neglected some of my duties at home. I was sorting through an old bag marked "to scrapbook" and I found some foreign currency. I knew chances were slim I'd ever adhere them to a page, so I decided to turn them into something useful instead. Magnets!

I cleaned them up with some silver polish and hot glued them to strong magnets. While I was at it I made some more magnets with some of my paper scrapping stuff too. One can never have too many magnets on the fridge.

allergies

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:47:00 +0000

I'm an allergy sufferer. Allergies are just plain gross and annoying too. I don't like them one bit. Luckily for me, I am not allergic to trees; everything else though causes me great suffering. Basically around here, trees are early spring, grass comes next, there's a bit of a break through July, and then weeds until we're covered in snow. Things like pet dander and dust mites are year round.

Well, for the past couple of days I've really been feeling the symptoms starting up. For grass, itchy eyes seem to really get me. I've still got all the regular sneezing of course, but the eyes are what drives me nuts. It also kicks my other allergies up a notch, like the dog fur. I really hate having a dog for the majority of the year--not because I hate dogs or anything, but there are some really cute ones, and my dog is definitely one of those. I think if I didn't have allergies (or a partially dead back lawn) I would really love having a dog. Unfortunately I have to carry an inhaler during allergy season just so I can keep breathing. It's wonderful.

Anyway, I decided to check to see if grass was "high" yet. Nope, it's still low. And then I had the sudden realization that this is the first year I'm really going to suffer the full brunt of allergies in a long while. Basically no medications work for me. My allergist told me I'm a great candidate for immunotherapy-- a treatment where they inject you with what you're allergic to a couple times a week, until sometime 3-5 years later you aren't allergic to it anymore. I'm not ready to make a commitment to that yet. Last year I participated in a study for a new type of injection, and it seemed to have an impact on my allergies. When that comes to market, sign me up! The year before that I was breastfeeding and before that I was pregnant. One of the coolest perks about sustaining another life is the lack of allergies.

Allergy treatment: pregnancy and breast feeding
Side effects: nausea, heart burn, weight gain, swelling, tender breasts, back-ache, frequent urination, fatigue, a baby.

Nope, not worth it. Although maybe with a new baby I'd actually be able to scrapbook again. At least until she learns to scream NO PICTURES. I was thinking a stream of creativeness would come flowing through my brain once I was finished with the semester. Nope, no desire whatsoever to scrapbook, and Marilyn still refuses to be cute in front of the camera. I've already scrapped a few tantrum layouts, and a "photoshoot gone bad" layout. I don't really know what else to do here. Maybe I should order that telephoto lens now. That might help.

I had almost forgotten...

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:45:00 +0000

what it was like to learn photoshop. Well, I don't think it's possible to stop learning how to do stuff in photoshop, but you know, the beginning phase type of learning.

I purchased myself a copy of adobe design suite premium CS3 this week while I was still able to get student pricing. My biggest reason for doing this was so I could learn how to use dreamweaver and flash. This morning I decided to take the plunge into dreamweaver, and 2 hours of video tutorials and 100 pages in my book later, I can make a really boring webpage! This is not unlike switching to digital scrapbooking from paper. I can definitely see the potential though, and I'm excited to actually make a page without hand coding.

this is the "I'm looking for a job" post

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:55:00 +0000

Well, now that I've graduated it's time to find a job. I was tempted to get one of these shirts from blackbird tees, but then I think I'd look a bit desperate. Give me a month or so, then I'll get the shirt.

What kind of job do I want? Well I want to work as a web designer, but I've got a bit to learn first. My degree is in liberal arts, and at this point, I'm open to anything. I've never had a job I didn't like, so I figure there's a lot more out there to explore.

So if you know of anyone within 40 miles of Draper, UT, who is looking for an extremely bright and talented liberal arts major, let me know!

static

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:02:00 +0000

I've actually never seen Marilyn with staticy hair like this before. Her hair is so curly and just doesn't stick straight up. I don't know what generated this bit of static, or what made her hair stand straight up like this, but isn't it cool!

graduation

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:39:00 +0000

What a crazy day! My dad and I went up to the first ceremony in the morning. Nana and I decided that forcing Marilyn to endure 2 commencement ceremonies was just plain cruel, so she stayed home with her. The weather was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was a little chilly, but sunny. As you can clearly see by me squinting in this picture :)

All of us graduates walked across campus in the procession to the first ceremony. I really felt like a stranger to be honest. The last time I attended classes on campus was 2003, and even the people who were freshman then have graduated. I also started thinking about how many pictures I was probably in that I'll never see. And these people that are in mine--who are they?

After the first ceremony we went back to my parents house (they live a block away from campus) for lunch. Then we all took naps, well, except for Marilyn. She finally crashed though when it was time to wake-up :) The afternoon ceremony was for my college, and this was when I "walked". It's a little blurry, but here I am receiving my diploma (cover).

Marilyn sat with my family during the ceremony and was a really good kid. She's been really into my "hat" and I think it was pretty fun for her to see these strange things on everyone else's heads too.

My parents, grandma, and brother all came too. My darling brother took most of the pictures, and he chopped my mom in half in this one, but I love him anyway :)

And here is me, Marilyn, and my brother.

This is my favorite shot. My brother was teasing me because apparently I have a verbal tic. I couldn't stop saying "ok" every 2 seconds, and him pointing it out just made it worse.

All in all, it was a nice day. We might go back up to campus for more pictures because no one was in the mood for it today. Eventually I suppose I'll even scrap this, but I really suck at "event scrapping" so we'll see :)

my first post school layout

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Can I just say it's really fun to scrap without feeling guilty about it! Anyway, I'm loving this picture from the other day. I used Karen Foster's latest digital kit, which is available at pclayers.com.

Go me!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:37:00 +0000

I took my last final this afternoon, and I just submitted my last paper, ever. (Well at least I think ever but that may change someday)

You know how at the very very end of Finding Nemo when the fish from the tank all roll into the ocean in their bags, and then one fish says “Now what?” That’s kinda how I’m feeling right now. I really do like learning, especially when it comes to stuff I like learning about. I guess that’s why 98% of the books on my book shelf are how-to books. The idea of ending my formal education is a little sad though.

I finished off with another great semester too. Juggling parenthood and schoolwork is actually great for your GPA in my opinion. As long as my ungraded papers sort of made sense, I’ll be getting all A’s again this semester, and I will officially be graduating cum laude. It really isn’t all that, but it’s kinda cool, right? My mom is proud anyway, and you know what, I am too!

The problem with taking 10 years to finish one degree is that for 10 years school is hanging over your head. Tomorrow I will actually get to clean the house without thinking that I really need to finish my schoolwork. I will actually get to surf the web without feeling guilty about it. But when will I ever blog? Will I be able to write anything if I’m not trying to write something else? I hope so, and maybe I’ll even be able to journal on pages, because that just hasn’t happened since sometime last August I think.

Because I didn't have enough blogs to read

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:37:00 +0000

This is hilarious!
Photoshop Disasters

me on a soap box

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:00:00 +0000

So today I was at Ikea with Lindsay and her adorable kids. We stopped for a bite to eat in the cafe, and when the kids were done playing, we let them play with their little touch screen monitor computer game thing for kids. Another kid (around 4) started chocking Lindsay's son, so naturally I told him to stop.

The kid went crying to his mommy of course, and instead of the mom reinforcing this was not appropriate behavior, she yelled at me for not coming to her first. Now she was on the other side of the restaurant, and I had no way of even knowing which parent this child belonged too. Her back was also towards the kids, and she had no idea what was going on. Seriously though, did she really expect me to calmly approach all the patrons in the restaurant asking if the child was their's, and if so, could they please redirect their child from Sev's throat!

This really made me angry. First of all, there are certain things kids just shouldn't be doing to each other, like chocking. The way I see it, hitting, biting, kicking--those are all natural things kids do when they're frustrated or upset. They obviously need to learn not to do these things, but kids this age do have a hard time being nice sometimes. Choking though is a learned aggressive behavior, and in my opinion a whole lot worse.

Secondly, I realized parents like this are what's wrong with our country. If Marilyn was chocking another kid (or even hitting or kicking someone, I'd be apologizing to the other parent for her behavior. Marilyn would also be saying sorry to her poor victim. Instead this kid just learned that chocking other kids is okay, and he doesn't need to respect adults. I can understand we all have our own ways to deal with our children. In this situation though, I saw a behavior that immediately needed to be stopped and no parents were around. I didn't yell, I just told him in a firm voice to stop--If Marilyn was hurting another child and I wasn't around, I would certainly expect other parents to do the same.