The Art of '-ING'

Designing....

2011-04-27T11:26:00.003-06:00

Apparently, when my little sister was young and had dreams, she dreamt of being a famous fashion designer. Now, if you know us, you know that Lesley is 12 years younger than me - so it's not like we huddled together as children telling each other our dreams and aspirations. I mean, when she was 9, I was already killing it at hot spots like Sports Column and Jackson's Hole.

So you may wonder how I know this secret of Lesley's. Well, recently, I came across some of her first works as a young Donna Karan...

This one is nice. It shows school spirit and an eye for hairstyling as well as fashion... Being that it is on lined school paper, I picture Lesley in her obviously boring math classes, doodling away...

Next we come to the swimsuit line. The model in this photo is expressing my own thoughts on the swimsuit. Her "What the H*@!?!?!" posture is correct. I mean, if you're going to be wearing a sailor bathing suit and three scrunchies in your hair, you certainly shouldn't be wearing heels at the same time, right?!?

Now - evening wear. I fear, with this one, that there could have been some inspiration from a certain pink dress that I used to wear. Too bad I can't find a photo. But I promise, I never wore a huge pink bow on the top of my head like I was a puppy just back from the groomer. (This model will be getting lucky later on. All those holes in the dress? Totally asking for it.)

This last one is my favorite. The outfit alone, while a sign of the early 90's, is outstanding. Anytime you pair Salt N Pepa high top sneakers with a high-belted overall jumpsuit, you're batting 1000. Throw that outfit into a pizza parlour, and BLAM!, it's shoop-time!!!

Well done, little sister! I'm proud of you!

Joking...

2010-08-22T16:08:00.004-06:00

I recently was listening to the radio in my car and Uptown Girl by Billy Joel came on. Seriously?? Uptown Girl - you know I can't afford to buy her pearls... But maybe someday when my ship comes in. She'll understand what kind of guy I've been. And then I'll win. Terrible, terrible lyrics. And I was laughing to myself at how bad that song really is (Sorry Billy Joel, but it's pretty bad.)

Anyway, being the sarcastic idiot that I am, I texted my sister "Why is Uptown Girl your favorite song?" Eagerly awaiting a funny response, all I got was "It is?" Boo.

Then I got to thinking that I should test that and send the text to 10 more people and see if anyone comes back with a good response....

I got one "It's not." Really? It's not your favorite???!?!

I got two "Huh?"'s Guess they didn't quite get my sarcastic tones coming over the text message.

Then I got a "Hahaha, what?!" OK. At least they understood the humor I was sending out, but didn't volley it back.... (Disappointed in you, Brendan.)

Finally... the brothers both came through with a "It just is." and a "Why would it NOT be?"

And another big FINALLY!! My good friend Tracey responded with "I don't understand the question." (At first, I was thinking she didn't get it.) "Isn't it everybody's?" YAY Tracey!!!

So that was it for the day.

Until the morning.....

Ahhh, Kristen.... Love you! I have to preface by telling you that Kristen's favorite movie is Dirty Dancing. So perhaps I should have expected... "Loved Billy Joel as a kid bc of the singer/songwriter/piano thing, and it's such a feelgood song. Actually like For the Longest Time even more. :)"

So I thought it was over with Tracey winning the best response. Until today when my friend, Bill, who has the worst cell service on the planet and can't get messages unless he's standing on top of his house or something, replied. He made me laugh with...

Sorry, Dave. I went way over my daily text quota for the day!

Reflecting...

2010-08-11T17:49:00.002-06:00

My mom saw this video on Facebook and it really struck me - and made me cry. Worth the 10 minutes to watch it and be grateful for the time you get to spend with your loved ones nearby...

Enjoying....

2010-04-10T09:35:00.007-06:00

Colorado Rockies Home Opener...

No tickets, no attempt to get tickets, Denver was crazy crowded. Beer and sunshine all around!!!
SWANKY'S...

FROZEN VODKA LEMONADE STASHED IN MY PURSE...

FREE ADMISSION TO PT'S????? HOW CAN WE PASS THAT UP????

ROOFTOP VIEW....

BRIAN OWNING THE HAT....

SOMEONE ELSE OWNING THE HAT (HELP ME WITH THE NAMES, PEOPLE... I MAY HAVE HAD A LITTLE BIT TO DRINK...)

KAREN OWNING THE HAT...

ME. OWNING THE HAT.

KELLY OWNING THE HAT...

ANOTHER FRIEND OWNING THE HAT....
CHRIS OWNING THE HAT. (KIND OF)

Trying...

2010-02-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

I'm trying again! Yes, I know. You've heard it all before. But I'm very tired of being at the bottom of everyone's Updated Blog list! But don't hold me to keeping this up.

I'll try, but I'm a very busy person! ;-)

So, I'm sitting here at home.

Annie is at her theater practice - it's 3 hours tonight and 6 hours tomorrow! It makes me really sad and a bit nervous. I have a knot in my tummy when I drop her off because it seems so long to me for her. But we'll just evaluate this after this play is done and decide if she wants to do it again... Her play is the first two weekend in March - three times each weekend!

Ryan is downstairs with two of our neighborhood kids. One of them is almost 8 and is helping Ryan unlock levels in his Star Wars Wii game. I would help, but I would bet that Ryan is probably better than me at the game!! I'm exchanging babysitting so their parents can have a Valentine's dinner tonight. Then Dave and I will go out next weekend.

Which brings me to Dave - who is gone and has been gone since Super Bowl Sunday! I have survived! He comes home tomorrow and the house is still somewhat in order, I had one child's doctor appointment which included 4 shots (one for me), one 1st grade Valentine party to put on at the school, one day of helping at the preschool, two batches of cookies to make, and lots of Sussies stuff to keep me busy. So I'm pretty pleased that I didn't lose it completely!

I even managed to make a batch of chocolate covered Ritz Bits with peanut butter. I had the chocolate and Ritz Bits and figured I would just do it. I added a Valentine M&M to the top of each. They turned out super cute. Unfortunately (but fortunately for my neighbors) they were too easy to pop into your mouth, I would have devoured the whole lot of them. So we made little plates and tied them up with bows and delivered them to the neighbors!!!

Snowing...

2009-10-28T18:29:00.002-06:00

WOO HOO! I just love it when it snows! And, boy, is it snowing today!! There is at least a foot outside - which is just crazy for before Halloween! But it's been fun. Kids still had school - which was also crazy. So I had a few hours at home when I got to work on some more of the Christmas Advent Calendars!! That was fun.

During the day, I took some photos of our Halloween decorations out in the snow. I sent them in to our local Channel 4 TV Station! While I was talking to my mom on the phone around 5:15, she freaked out because my picture and name popped up on the TV! She had tivo'd it - so she rewound and made a video of the mention with her camera. Here it is...

(They did spell my last name wrong and mispronounced my first name, but still...)

And here's the photos that I sent in...

I wonder how long it's going to last!!

Creating...

2009-10-25T17:52:00.004-06:00

I did some fun things this weekend! It felt good to be putting some of my creative juices to work. The first thing we did was to make this cute, little pumpkin. Our neighborhood was having our annual Halloween Parade with all the kids in costume and one of the activities was a pumpkin 'carving' contest. We haven't gotten our real pumpkins yet, so we had to make due with a foam one from Michaels. We didn't win the contest (I think the judges were crazy!), but the kids had fun helping me with this... I call it 'Fancy Dallas Pumpkin.'

Then, while I was perusing etsy, I found an adorable muffin tin Christmas advent calendar. I have a little craft show coming up in a few weeks where I will be going with all of my Scrapbook Sussies stuff. Craft shows in the past haven't always been the best for me - mostly because people want to take something with them (and, at past shows, I've only had subscriptions to sell.) This time, I have lots of kits, add-ons, and extras to bring to sell, but I saw this and knew I could make these and they would be a hit!

I plan to make 6 different ones - each with a slightly different color scheme - and sell them for $35 each (Including the adorable little stand that it comes on!). Then, I plan on having an 'add-on' which will include everything you need to fill the 24 cups - hershey kisses, shiny $1.00 coins, little pieces of paper and ribbon for them to write an activity for the day on, and other fun things. If you have any ideas of what might fit in the cups, please let me know! I need to be on the lookout for the next two weeks!!

If you're interested in one, I'll gladly take your order! (And 20% of the proceeds will go to my kid's school!!)

Snoogling...

2009-10-18T10:53:00.000-06:00

Snoogly! - Watch more Funny Videos

Remembering...

2009-10-13T09:21:00.000-06:00

In July, I attended my grandmother's funeral. I had the pleasure of going out to take care of her for several days a month before she died. One of my fondest memories was that of the lemon pie I made while we were there. I didn't know that it was one of her favorites. I simply made it because I could recall the ingredients from memory while I was picking up things at the grocery store. Over the next few days, Grandma and I ate the whole pie! I joked with her that we weren't going to be sharing that pie with anyone! And, after we polished off the last piece, we took this photo of us with the empty pie plate....

At her funeral, there was a slideshow of all sorts of pictures of Grandma. I fell in love with this one. It was so artsy and special and showed my grandparents so full of youth. It's going to be a fun one to scrap!!

Celebrating...

2009-10-08T09:08:00.000-06:00

Annie had her birthday party this last weekend. It was a slumber party - Rock Star style. There were 7 girls coming over and one little boy to hang out with Ryan. So we had 10 kids here!!

When the girls arrived, we did their hair and make-up. Big Thanks to Grandma Kathy for coming and helping! I know I couldn't have done it all without her! After their makeover, they took sassy pictures (for their backstage pass) and then got to sing Karaoke - lots of High School Musical songs! (I even got in on the action!!!)

We had pizza, cake in the shape of an ipod, Hannah Montana movies, popcorn, pancakes in the morning, and lots of fun!!! The girls did great - no big issues. And it was very easy to get Annie to take a nap the next day!!!

Drawing...

2009-10-05T18:03:00.000-06:00

I found this paper in Annie's backpack yesterday. I realize that it said 'Do Not Open' and 'Freaky Picture Inside', but I was prepared to take my chances...

There's been a girl at school who has been a little bit mean to Annie and her friends. I did have a talk with Annie to tell her that it wasn't very nice to draw pictures like this because it could hurt someone's feelings if it got into the wrong hands.

But I, personally, think it's hilarious and worth posting! It makes me laugh! If you can't read what Someone In Jail is saying, it's "MMMMMMMM..... Poop is good!" (I think Annie takes after her Dad!!!)

Singing...

2009-09-29T21:55:00.003-06:00

I just love this video. Every night, I sing to each of the kids. Ryan always wants us to sing "Jesus Loves Me". It's so cute because he always sings along. I got this video of him singing one night...

Scanning...

2009-09-23T19:29:00.005-06:00

Whew! I finally did it! I went through all the layouts that I did over the weekend in Dallas and then also all the layouts from pictures from the year 2008. (These are all pics that haven't been put into albums yet so they were the easiest to scan.)

I do have plans to do all of my pages that I've done, but this will have to do for now!!! I've posted them here in a slideshow, but a lot of these can be found on the Scrapbook Sussies Design Gallery page as well as in the Scrapbook Sussies Member Gallery!

Thanks for looking!!

Reflecting...

2009-09-23T19:22:00.003-06:00

The weather has been rainy and cold lately. Today, Annie had indoor recess at lunch - which means that they usually show a movie. At dinner tonight, I asked her what movie they played. Here is how the conversation went...

Me - What movie did you watch at indoor recess?
Annie - Guess.
Me - Madagascar?
Annie - No.
Me - Toy Story?
Annie - No mom. It's a classic.
Me - Oh. Ok. Sound of Music?
Annie - No.
Me - Wizard of Oz?
Annie - No.
Me - Ok give me a hint.
Annie - It starts with N and ends with O.
Me - Finding Nemo?
Annie - Yes.

It just makes me smile to see what she consider a classic and what she doesn't! Kids these days!!

Smurfing a cake...

2009-09-22T15:16:00.003-06:00

Annie has been a big fan of the Smurfs lately and even wanted to have a Smurf Birthday party. It was a debate between a Smurf party and a Rock Star party. For her actual birthday party, we decided upon Rock Star - because most of the other kids don't know the Smurfs. However, she was still sad that no one would sing 'Happy Smurfday to You.' So I made her this cake today to bring into her class tomorrow for a treat.

This is my first time doing one of these shaped cakes with all the little dots for the icing. (See. I don't even know the cake lingo because I'm sure they're not called little dots for icing..) Anyway, I think it came out great and I can't wait to surprise Annie with it!!!!

Dodging...

2009-09-17T10:07:00.000-06:00

"If you can dodge wrenches, you can dodge balls..."

Oh, the quotes were flying from Dave the week before the big Dodgeball Tournament! You can imagine how we all got a little lesson about techniques, etc from Coach Dave the night of the game! Whatever he did, it worked! Because we were the Champions!

Rewind...

It was back in March at the Wilder Elementary School Silent Auction. We had signed up for this tournament to help raise money for Annie's school. After a few cocktails, everyone thought it would be AWESOME to play in the tournament. So we paid our entry fee and made sure to request that 6 of us all be on the same team (with our friends, the Raabs and the Svendsens). Dave even managed to write a little note about how we were going to clobber everyone on the sign up sheet...

Fast Forward...

September comes along and it turns out only the Raabs and the McClendons can make it (The Svendsens chickened out - or they had a really good reason - I can't remember). Each team is made up of 10 people and we got placed with two other random couples. So our team was short handed. It should be really easy to knock us out, right? It really didn't matter. Dave and Mike (and the two guys placed with us) were a force. I didn't do much except for shuffle around, hand balls to Dave and Mike, dodge a ball or two, and jam my pinky finger (ouch). We played four games, won four games, and took the championship hands down.

Our prize? $10 per couple to The Gorilla Room - a little dive bar in downtown Littleton that I'm sure has never been as busy as it was when 60 adults (all in 1980's gym class attire) showed up to celebrate the tournament. I also happened to win another $10 for having the "weakest throw". It was really part of the master plan - I mean, if I'm not going to win strongest throw, may as well go for the weakest, right?

Anyway, it was a really fun night and we met lots of other Wilder parents that I can see us hanging out with more often in the future. And we won. Did I mention that already?

I told everyone to look tough... (No one listens to me, I guess.)

Kelly & me with our girl, Mo

Mike & Dave

Winning...

2009-09-15T10:00:00.001-06:00

Saturday! Game day! First game day of the season! It was a bit odd to be in Seattle for Game Day - didn't quite feel right. It was rainy and overcast when we got up - none of that crisp, fall air to feel. But that's OK. We had a plan...

And that plan was to join 400 of our closest friends on a yacht for a tailgate party two and a half hours before the game!! We boarded the Spirit of Seattle and it took us all over Lake Washington. It then brought us right up to the stadium.

Dave and I had tickets in the middle of the Huskies seats. The fans were tremendously nice. The only person who threw their drink at us was Dave when he got so excited after a great play that his soda cup hit the guy in front of him while he was jumping up and down, spilling on us... The Washington fans were very spirited. The stadium was loud and rowdy and fun. At the end of the game, the LSU fans looked like their team lost because the team didn't play as well as expected. The Washington fans were cheering to the last second and looked like they were the fans of the winning team.

I think a wise man once said, "If you had fun, you won." (Not everyone will get that.)

Photo of those NOT dressed to the hilt in purple and gold... We were the only ones who didn't look like either LSU fans OR Washington fans - whose colors also happen to be purple and gold. The CU shirt may have also thrown people off!!!

Nice, David! ;-)

First cheering "GO Tigers" for the Tiger fans, then easily moving on to 'Tiger Bait' the Washington fans...

THE STADIUM...

WINNING....

Back on the boat after the game... Goodbye Seattle! It was fun!!!

Sightseeing...

2009-09-13T10:00:00.000-06:00

About a year ago, we found out that LSU was going to be playing Washington in September of this year and that a lot of Dave's college buddies would be making the trip. Now, when most people say a lot of college buddies, I don't know what that means to them. When Dave says it, it means like 40 or 50. In addition to this, I had never been to Seattle, so we deemed this a must-attend road trip.

First things first, we had to get there... Some old friends of ours, David & Colleen, were nice enough to wait up for us and pick us up at the late hour of 11:30 pm at the airport. D & C used to live in Denver and were our camping / hiking / drinking / hanging out buddies. They had been in Seattle since Wednesday for a few days of hiking up by Twilight Territory (They didn't see any vampires, but they did eat a Bella Burger.) And even though we made them stay up halfway through the night to pick us up, they had a beer waiting for us in the car and hung out in the hotel bar for a bit when we got to the 'busiest hotel in the world' - The Westin in Seattle). (Thank you Doug!)

Friday was spent all over Seattle - we hit Pike Place Market, the first Starbucks, a Brewery for lunch, and Snoqualmie Falls for a quick hike, and finished the day having dinner in the Space Needle. It was insane to see the number of people wearing LSU colors around. It's a funny thing to me how the LSU crowd brings not just one outfit of school colors to wear to the game, but three or four to wear on the days preceding and subsequent to the game as well. They sure are proud of their school! One lady even offered to let me wear her LSU jacket when they were taking a picture for us since I didn't have anything with the school logo on! I politely declined - I was at least wearing a gold colored shirt!

Pike Place Market - you have to see it if you go just to say that you did, right?

I happened to catch this awesome video of the guys throwing the fish...

Very first Starbucks - Guess what?! It tasted like the soy latte that I get at the one 5 minutes from my house!

After seeing a ton of Dave's buddies at the Brewery, we headed off for a hike down to the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls!

Notice this is the only picture of our 'dinner'. While the rotating restaurant was cool, it took CC and me a bit of time to get used to it. The food was phenomenal!

And I'll leave you as we walked home from the Space Needle on Friday (You'll have to wait to hear about Game Day.) with a pic of something you don't see every day.... Hmmmmm......

Losing...

2009-09-11T17:03:00.004-06:00

Annie is about to turn 7 in a few weeks and has been very much bemoaning the fact that she hasn't lost even one tooth. She's been very dramatic. She'll get a phone call from a friend who just turned 6 who lost a tooth and, while she is very happy for them while she's talking to them, begins crying immediately after she hangs up. It's so important to her, but one of those things that she just has to be patient with.

This last weekend, when I was in Seattle, I got a phone call from her.

"Guess what, Mom. Good news!", she says.

"What is it, hon?"

"I LOST MY TOOTH!!!"

She lost her first tooth while she was still six while she was staying at Grandma's house! WOO HOO! What a story!! She was so excited and so animated when she was telling me about it. Of course, the tooth fairy had to wait one night until we got home to come because 1) she didn't want the tooth fairy to become confused about where she lived and 2) I didn't want to explain that the tooth fairy doesn't always give $100 bills (which I was worried my mom would do!).

I asked my mom to email me a picture and this is the one they took. You can just see how excited she is!!!

WORKING...

2009-07-31T16:58:00.000-06:00

So I just got back from CHA in Orlando. They moved it from Chicago to Orlando. Which is good and bad. I loved having a fabulous excuse to go to Chicago - one of my very favorite cities - at least once a year. But it was awesome to go visit my brother in Orlando (and lay by the pool by myself and soak up the sun! - even if it felt like a sauna!!)

CHA was very productive. I felt like I got a lot of great deals this time and will have lots of cool things to offer up to my customers in the coming months!

After a few late nights staying up to get all the calculating, figuring, ordering taken care of, I had a chance to have some fun at the show.

My favorite booth is the Doodlebug Designs booth. It's always set up like a little candy house. It would be the type of place you would love to have as a playhouse for your kids (or yourself!). Here are some shots of it with one of me 'in the kitchen, baking cookies'!

Also, the one and only shot from the night I went out with my brother and friends....

Unless you consider these two 'photos from the night...' (First is the front cover of a great newspaper in the Orlando area. Second is a shot of my brother's friend, Brendan, which may have been manipulated to look as if it was in the newspaper. I don't know. You'll have to ask Bennie / Brendan for the truth...)

NEW KITCHEN!!!

2009-07-20T12:06:00.001-06:00

Yes... it's my quarterly blog entry.... I know that I need to be better about this, but this summer has been crazy with a capital C! Along with several vacation trips we made in June, my grandmother passed away. So I had an unexpected trip to Viriginia in early July as well. On top of all that, the kids were home and we were spending time doing fun things AND we were getting our kitchen remodels.

Seven short, stress-filled, fun-filled weeks later, we have three small things that need to be done in order to completely finish the kitchen (dimmers put on two lights, a valence put over the cooktop, and to get that darn oven actually working.) Aside from that, things are put away, organized, and we're absolutely loving it! Dave and I spend time in the kitchen in the evenings just enjoying it. We're looking forward to having people over to break it in!!

For now, here's the before and after shots!!!

BEFORE #1

AFTER #1

BEFORE #2

AFTER #2

BEFORE #3

AFTER #3

BEFORE #4

AFTER #4

BEFORE #5

AFTER #5

BEFORE #6

AFTER #6

So there it is!! Who wants to come over??

Sledding!!!

2009-03-28T14:26:00.000-06:00

We took the kids sledding this morning. It finally snowed here, but you could tell that it was going to melt quickly. So, we got up and hit the 'slopes' early. Dave decided he was going to hit a jump and 'get some killer air'. Here is what ensued... (The last one makes me laugh hard every time....)

Cowboy Day & January Sussies

2009-01-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

So, if you didn't already figure it out, I have an online Scrapbook Kit Of The Month Club, Scrapbook Sussies. We just started the Year of the Sussie - a great, new loyalty program that is going to give out lots of fun free stuff!

The January kit is loaded with fun stuff (and there still are a few January kits left!). Here's a layout that I did with one 'side' of the kit....

Also, today was Cowboy Day at Annie's school. It was fun to see them wrestling, wrangling, and yee-hawing! Of course, we had to get an outfit for the day and she fell in love with these boots.... (They were a huge hit and she looked so cute in them!!!)

Will this be my year???

2009-01-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Should I be better about blogging? YES. Should I get more scrapping done? YES. Should I reorganize things to make more time for my family? YES.

All of these are things I should be doing and vow to do. In fact, I just got an item that has been on my to do list ALL LAST YEAR off of my to do list yesterday. It was just one of those things that, because of how busy I was, just getting pushed down to the bottom. But, after two days of working on it, it's gone!

Still, I haven't made as much time for the above things as I could be. INSTEAD... I'll give you a little video of how the year started off.

This is what happens when you go off on a weekend with some friends WITHOUT KIDS...

(We will not be auditioning for American Idol or any other singing / talent show.)

1st Day of Kindergarten!!!

2008-08-21T21:25:00.000-06:00

It is finally here! A day that I both looked forward to and dreaded! For the past several weeks, I would burst into tears as I was filling out the mounds of paperwork or as I was reading Kindergarten books to Annie before bed. (I would at least wait until I was out of the room!!) My little girl is growing up and it is so bittersweet!

I knew she would be fine. I knew she would love it. This morning, she ran into our room while we were getting ready shouting a la Finding Nemo, "First day of school! First day of school!!" It was so cute! She was ready! But was I???

On her way...

Kindergarteners at the bus stop...

We headed down early to the bus stop which is only a few houses away. 14 kids are at that bus stop! It was a crowd this morning, with moms, dads, siblings, and the kids who actually had to get on the bus! The bus arrived and the kids crowded on - three to a seat! Annie was on, no looking back! That's when the tears started for me!

Getting on the bus...

I followed the bus to school to make sure she got to her class. (This will not be a normal thing for me, believe me!) She got in just fine. More tears for me!

Annie's two best friends...

The girls getting ready to go in...

How cute is this? Can't you see them in 10 years???

Then the rest of the day was fine. It did seem awfully long for me. I'm so used to picking her up at 1:30, that 4:15 (when she gets home on the bus) seemed to take forever to arrive! But it did, and she had a blast. And I survived! And I am now hoping that the rest of the days seem as long as today. Because I know it won't take long for me to get busy busy busy again and have those moments when I am wishing for one more hour!

But tonight I just hugged her and tucked her in - as she was telling me she couldn't wait to get on the bus tomorrow!

Camping!

2008-08-10T15:11:00.000-06:00

We finally did it! We've been talking for the past two summers about taking the kids up to the mountains for their first real tent camping trip. We've been to the mountains before with them, but always stayed in a nice cabin or condo. So they've experienced the mountains, but never full-on camping!

This summer has been so busy that I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to swing it. Last year, we ran out of time and had to tell the kids we would take them the next summer. I didn't want to do that again. So I spent Friday pulling together all of our old camping stuff, running to REI, Target, and the grocery store. I packed the car and was ready to go when Dave got home from work. We left around 2:30 to go up there.

We arrived at an old campsite that we used to camp at to find it closed. They were doing a lot of removal of the pine beetle destroyed trees. The next campsite - closed, too. The next one looked like it was only a camper site. Fortunately, it had five tent sites, one of which was open for us and PERFECT! We had to make several runs of equipment since the site was several hundred yards from the car, but that was OK. We were right next to the lake, secluded, and had enough trees for me to hang up the camping hammock (a must-have tradition from camping with Dad).

After setting up, and playing around a bit, we made dinner.
(This pic is for Kristen - see how intent I am on the corn?!?)

We roasted marshmallows and had a few beers. Then the rain started, so we got ready for bed. Then, the RAIN & WIND started. Dave had just gotten us a new HUGE tent with a big front screen room - which promptly pulled itself out of the ground in the wind. After Dave fixed it, we had to pull all gear into the screen room. It was a little bit chaotic.

Once in the tent for the night, we listened to the rain and wind. The kids fell asleep. Dave and I did not - until about 4 a.m. We were keyed up from the storm, a little bit worried that the kids would get cold, and quite uncomfortable. Apparently, we're not as young as we used to be when we would easily sleep on inch thick air 'mattresses'!

The next morning was fine - a bit chilly, but the lake was beautiful - smooth as glass. We were a bit tired, having only 2 hours of solid sleep in our system. We took the kids for a hike where Annie got to feed some chipmunks. We checked the weather and it was supposed to rain again. So, we had lunch, packed up the car, and went home. A day early, but we had a fabulous time! We made it up to the kids by having pizza and game night that night instead!

I kept checking the weather. It turns out it was 43 degrees and rainy from about 3:00 pm until 9:00 pm. Then, it was rainy and cold the next day, too! So we definitely made the right choice to come home early!

It's time to be back...

2008-08-06T23:38:00.000-06:00

So...... long time, no update. Very long time.

I look at the date of my last post and it's very hard to believe. My last post was made right before I heard the news about the terrible car accident that my brother's family was in. If you're reading this and you know me, you know all about what happened. There's no need for me to recount it now. Maybe someday I will, but for now, I'll leave it.

I miss Michael and Cora so much.

But, now I'm back and intend on updating more often. For those of you who are interested..

Update on that Orlando Trip...

2008-01-27T19:46:00.001-07:00

Still waiting on little sis to get those pics to me. Someday I'll be able to tell you all the stories....

Sharing one of those Forever layouts!

2008-01-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to scrapbook much more this year. Last year, I only did 1/2 as many layouts as I did in 2006. So I need to set aside time this year for it! I've been doing OK and getting them done. I've been trying to focus on getting them done quickly and not taking FOR-EVAH to do them.

This one, however, took me FOR-EVAH! First, the painting of the arrow / question mark / and word the. For some reason, it took a long time. I changed my mind on what font of letters to use and had to paint the word 'the' twice. But the longest thing was the brads! That's a lot of brads there and it took quite the time to make sure I had a good pattern going and enough brads to keep the pattern up all the way around! (I ended up with four brads left - love it when I use up packages of stuff - makes me feel less guilty about having all that stuff! See! Someday I might use up that gallon jar of blue flowers!!!)

I always ask Ryan, "Who's the best?". And he always shouts out, "RYAN!". If you look closely, you'll see that I raised up the letters R Y A N on the bottom of the page. Good thing his name is what it is or that part might not have worked!

Anyway, thought it was worth sharing! Here it is...

Getting the house together feels sooo good!

2008-01-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm loving my living room these days! After a disaster with a leather couch that didn't fit and has now been put into the basement, Dave and I picked out another couch for the living room. Our old one was done. It had tears, spills, stains, you name it.

We looked and looked for the right one. When we found this one, it had really ugly sage green paisley pillows on it (in addition to the big brown ones). It looked quite formal and icky. So.... I used whatever creative instinct I could muster up and found some other decorative pillows to put on it. Once I did that, we LOVED the look. (Well, I loved it. Dave may not have had the same passion that I did.) Anyway, the look of the pillows matched us and really made the couch.

Dave was a little worried about the size of the ottoman and the size of the coffee table, but I think it works and I absolutely adore it!

We also bought a couple of bookcases for the guest room. I have now moved the books out of my office and into that room.

Here are pics...

Next stop - my office!!!

Christmas Morning

2008-01-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know. It's been ages since I have posted. I have been insane! Here is a portion of my to-do list from the past several days...

-Taking down the Christmas tree (if you remember, I take it down ornament by ornament per the lists that I keep!) (400 ornaments!!)
-Taking down the Christmas Village that covers three scrapbooking tables!!!
-Painting Ryan's bathroom. We're starting potty training and thought a new bathroom would help him. He and Annie have always shared the bathroom in Annie's room. 'His' bathroom has always been disgusting. Old wallpaper half torn off the walls. The kitty box in there. Blech! But now it's beautiful.
-Painting the guest room. Same as above. It's always been so blech. I painted it 'Iced Tea' and got rid of some furniture. I'm going to buy some frames and put pretty scrapbooking paper in them to decorate!
-Learning this new Mac and trying to get things transferred over.
-All the usual After-Christmas return shopping
-Getting all the January kits shipped out
-Getting a new battery for my car
-Getting Emissions testing on my car
-Still trying to get the stain out of the carpet from the water leaks that we had
-Taking care of Annie who has strep.
-Actually getting a couple of pages done

And those are just the bigger things! I have had a little bit of fun playing with the mac (more on that below). Here's a little 'movie' that I created.

It is from Christmas Morning. Christmas was soooo nice this year! We spent the evening of the 23rd with my stepmom. We usually do this on the 24th, but the kids always end up overtired from all the excitement. So, this year, we did it early. Which left us the 24th to just relax. That evening, we watched the Elmo Christmas Special that was on TV, put out cookies for Santa, and got the kids ready for bed early!

The next morning, we woke up to the most beautiful snow! I had no idea that it was supposed to snow so the surprise made it even better! The kids were wide-awake, not a grump in sight! We enjoyed the morning, had a great dinner at my mom's! I was especially surprised when my mom (who, mind you, had already given us all of our presents) handed over a brand new mac power book for me when we got to her house! That (and the new iPhone) are keeping me very busy. They're the coolest inventions EVER!

The ball is rolling...

2007-11-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

So, you all know that we just painted our family room and our entryway. (BIG THANKS TO KRISTEN RAY IN TEXAS FOR INSPIRING ME TO DO SO!!!! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!) Anyway, if you look in the previous post at the pic of the entryway, the lamp that hangs down is totally heinous. Glass and brass - very 80's. So, we ordered a new one from Pottery Barn! I can't wait to get it and put it up. The only question is how the heck we're going to get up there to do so... (Enter Gordon Hayes - handyman extraordinaire)

Here's a pic of the new one...

Take a look at it and picture it in the entryway in place of the other. WOO HOO!

Surprise Trip to Orlando....

2007-11-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

POST COMING SOON. AS SOON AS LITTLE SISTER CAN GET THE PICS TO ME!!!

Funny things for you to look forward to reading about...

1) Recognized on an airplane
2) Surprise to Doug
3) Lesley lost her license
4) Boy almost drowned
5) Bad Jokes at Disney
6) Snoring

Send me your blog addresses!!

2007-11-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

I may be really lazy in asking this, but if you know me, send me your blog address! I'd like to add more people on my 'blog list'! Hopefully, if you're really the friend that you say you are, you'll add me to yours!

The smell of fresh paint...

2007-11-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Last Christmas, I got Dave a big LCD flat screen for the family room. It's been mounted on the wall ever since, but all of the bazillion cords were just hanging down from it. Being that it has been over ten years since we both were in college, I thought it best to finally pay a little bit more and have the cords installed behind the wall! And then, because the cords being behind the wall would prevent us from ever taking the TV down, I convinced Dave that we needed to paint the walls now.

I've been wanting color on the wall ever since we moved in. After much eye batting, I finally got my wish!

One and a half days of having painters at the house and my entryway and my family room are now so pretty! The entryway is stone brown and the family room is sunset cloud. We also painted the brick in our family room an off-white. It was a hideous pinkish color before! While the pictures don't show the two brown colors as very different, they actually are and they complement each other nicely...

Happy Halloween!!!

2007-11-02T21:32:00.000-06:00

So it was a good several days of celebration for the McClendon household. Gabriella from High School Musical (Annie) and Woody from Toy Story (Ryan) had several parties to attend. There was the neighborhood Halloween festival in which Annie won a cake during the cake walk! There was Trick or Treat Street at Columbine High School that Grandma and Grandpa took them to! There was their parade at their school. And there was, of course, trick or treating. Annie is full on into it now. She asked why everyone doesn't run more when they trick or treat! And Ryan did a courtesy 'Yee-Haw' to everyone that gave him some candy!

Johhny Cash (Dave) & June Carter (me) also had some fun parties to attend! Lots of fun! We even performed!

A small break in the action...

2007-10-22T20:15:00.001-06:00

Last Thursday, I had a chance to go over to my friend, Heather's house to scrap for the evening. There is a big group of us that try to get together on a monthly basis to scrap, but this particular night, it was just Heather and me. We had a nice time, chatting and making fun of all the ladies that weren't there (again, people, joke). I got about 5 pages completed with this one being my favorite.

It's from February of 2007 when Dave and I went to California for me to run in the Pacific Shoreline Half-Marathon. I call it 'Goin' Back To Cali' because I had just been there less than a week earlier for the 2007 CHA Winter Tradeshow.

Busy being busy...

2007-10-22T20:04:00.000-06:00

So much to do, not enough time. I have been a complete airhead lately. I forgot a birthday party that Ryan was supposed to go to. I forgot to bring snacks to Annie's school when it was her day. I forgot to bring my niece and nephew their birthday gifts. My house is a mess. My office is a mess! Not like a pig-sty mess, just cluttered. It's cluttering my brain, now too! The biggest deal is just the Stuff (with a capital S). What do you do with it all?

I'm telling ya! I need organization! So I'm determined to turn over a new leaf!

So far, it's been going OK. The kitchen has remained clean for about a week! SHOCKER! The stuff isn't accumulating quite as quickly. But my office needs an overhaul and that will be the next thing. And, my dear friend, Alex, gave me a weekly planner! Now, it's not the one I will use forever (as it's a 2007 one and is only useful for another 2 1/2 months. You'd think if she was going to get me something, she would have at least sprung for a new one! (That's a joke - for those of you who don't know me.)) That's helped quite a bit. I mean, don't get me wrong, I had a calendar. But it was only a wall one.

So there. While the kids are at school tomorrow, I am going to clean my office. Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll take before and after pics!

But for now, I'm going to go write Annie's thank you notes (from her birthday part that was almost a month ago!) Sheesh!

GUTEN TAG!

2007-10-03T22:17:00.000-06:00

The best party ever!!! Our friends, Alex and Brian hosted an Oktoberfest Party - and they did it up right! We got there around 7:00 to find the backyard set up similar to the real Oktober fest - long tables under tents, German music in the background, brats and sauerkraut served, beer flowing.

Before long, the Jagermeister started getting passed around as well!

By 1:00 a.m., the remaining guests turned the outside into 'Club Muhal' dance party. The music changed. According to Dave, we were still listening to German music because he put in 'VON Halen'!

We took 125 pics, but these are the few I have uploaded!

Sehr Gut!!

2007-09-07T22:48:00.000-06:00

I am sooo very excited about Scrapbook Sussies right now. I have just ordered product for a bunch of upcoming kits. Every day, I anxiously wait for either the postlady, the UPS guy, or the FedEx guy to come by the house. It's the best when the doorbell rings or when I pull up to the house and see that brown box waiting there on the front porch for me. Even more fun to open it up and look at what's inside.

So... technically, I'm not supposed to be revealing what's in the kits. I'm not sure where this little tradition started. Is it to keep people in anticipation? Is it to keep other kit clubs from stealing ideas? (Which, to be honest, is silly because it's not like these same products weren't available to all kit clubs at CHA...) In any case, I started taking Sneak Peek pics and I just adore how they look. I WANT TO SHARE!!

So I'm do-ING it! The following show just little tiny amounts of upcoming product in future Scrapbook Sussies kits and Add-Ons. http://www.scrapbooksussies.com/index.html

Don't they look pretty???

AND! I've got some fun Special Edition kits in mind. Think Santa Sussies, Sassy Sussies, and SUPER-SIZED SUSSIES!! Thanks for look-ING!

Best Family Trip You Never Took

2007-08-28T23:11:00.000-06:00

I've been planning a big Back East trip for a while now. We spent 12 days on the East Coast this month. We packed 6 suitcases, 2 car seats, and 8 carry-ons. It was crazy!! But the trip was lots of fun! When I told my little sister about all the fun things we had planned, she told me it was the 'best family trip that she never took!'

We arrived in DC at my Grandmother's / Uncle's house in Arlington. Annie's favorite thing was the neighborhood cat that would come around...

It was nice to just hang out on their back deck. Unfortunately, the first night, we didn't use bug spray. BIG MISTAKE for Ryan and me! He got about 15 bites - poor little thing! I got about 30. Dave and Annie got zero!

The best part was getting to hang out with my grandmother. She's 92 and still gets around great. She taught me how to make her best Norweigan cookies (which suits me just fine!) Watching her with the kids was wonderful. Here she is with Ryan, teaching him about how good cookie crumbs and blueberries are on ice cream!

We visited the memorials...

I love this pic of Annie. She is standing at the bottom of the Washington Monument looking up to the top...

So, I was taking this picture of one of the flags that surrounds the monuments...

And I looked down and saw Annie standing in it's shadow. I thought it was pretty cool....

On our way to Hershey, PA, we stopped to pick blueberries...

At the Hershey Chocolate World, the kids got to be part of the production line and make their own box of Hershey Kisses...

That evening, we made s'mores by the campfire at the resort.
So, off to the Crayola Factory....

The Crayola Factory was OK. A great spot for the locals, but very similar to a lot of Children's Museums. They did, however, have this really cool room where a computer took your image as you moved around the room and put it on the screen in different colors... Here's Annie and Ryan...

The next day was Sesame Place. Annie rode this rollercoaster FIVE TIMES!!! Dave and Annie are in the very front...

My favorite part was the area they had built to look just like Sesame Street
Ryan took a while to warm up to the characters. He had to have me with him at first...

We got rained on on our beach day. We had a bit of beach time, then had to run for cover into a diner. Annie acting the movie star role...

AAAHHH! NYC!! Times Square! (Waiting for Toys R Us to open)

It was a bit chilly in the a.m. in the shade of the buildings with the wind going. Our NYC Starbucks stop! (And there's only hot cocoa in Ryan's cup, not coffee!! ;) )

One of my favorite shots. We stopped at a little pizza place to eat lunch. The only spot left to sit was at the counter at the window. I went outside the shop to take this pic. So it looks cool with the kids in it, but also the NYC reflection

Annie and I got to go to her first NYC Broadway play!

Don't even ask!

Annie was crazy for all the taxis...

We stayed with our friends, Bill & Dana Fleming one evening. Annie and their daughter, Mia, share the same birthday (one year apart). After 2 minutes, you'd think they had been friends forever!

There was so much more to share, but these represent the gist of the trip!

Well, here I am...

2007-08-28T22:48:00.000-06:00

So, with the help of a fellow Willow, I have started a blog! A big, big thank you to Liz (lizscraps) who came up with the brilliant title of my blog. It suits me so perfectly.

A lot of my friends tell me that they are amazed at how much I can get done in one day. And I've always said that I feel so much more efficient when I am busy, busy, busy. I actually enjoy being busy. It forces me to get organized and allows me to make lists of all the things I need to be do-ing!

So, when she suggested the Art of Ing for my title, I couldn't resist. It was perfect for me. Absolutely perfect!

So an official thank you to Liz is in order! Here it is... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! (And an unofficial thank you will be sent your way, full of lots of fun scrapbooking goodies!)

I'm so excited to finally have a blog out there in cyber-space. I hope it will be a fantastic way of shar-ing my thoughts and my life. Hop on board - it'll be fun!