Whoosh!

Hear that? That's the sound of one week going by. Quickly. Practically without warning. Here I am again, early on Saturday morning, enjoying my morning coffee and surfing my favorite blogs, thinking about everything I need to get done this weekend. To-do list includes:

• Groceries (gotta eat!)
• Laundry (gotta have clean clothes!)
• Ironing (gotta have wrinkle-free clean clothes!)
• Shopping for new carpet for the upstairs (gotta get that wrapped up, as the paint guy comes June 22)
• Calling my sister(s) (or they may disown me soon)
• Visiting my mother-in-law (as I do every weekend)
• Buying new running shoes (mine died after 20 years - yes, 20 years - of use)
• Vacuuming (I could probably cover a little dog with the hair my big dog shed over the last 3 days)
• Uploading some pictures onto a flash drive and getting them printed (running out of inspiring pictures to scrap)
• Scrap (haven't done so in over a week!)

Hey, that's not such a bad weekend list. I may actually be able to carve out some scrapping time if I'm efficient with the rest of my time. Like I said, I haven't scrapped in over a week but last time I did, I did complete a layout which I can share with you now:

Hmn. Looks better in real life than in the scan.

Time to get my day started with a bowl of oatmeal and a wet walk with the dog. Have a good weekend everyone!

It's the weekend!!!

Finally. I know, I know, this was a short week; but for some reason, it felt like the weekend would never come. Things at work are busy, but mostly busy-good, which is better than the alternative (busy hell).

We don't have an overly busy weekend in store, just the usual stuff plus some landscaping/gardening.

Here's a layout I completed last week ... these pictures were taken on the day Lexi came home and joined the family. I can't believe how little she used to be. She's become such a major part of our lives; I never realized a dog could make such a difference. I think one of her biggest contributions is getting us out and walking - especially the husband and I, together. Lately we've been walking to Starbucks in the evenings (about 20-25 minutes each way) and hanging out on the patio. Time together + exercise. It's a good thing.


I actually "slept in" today; got up at 6:30, but lay down on the couch and fell asleep again til 7:20. I feel like I'm running behind now, so I better go and start my day. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Husbands - They're Good for Something After All!

Lol. Since the husband's been doing some blog stalking lately, I thought I'd put up a title that would catch his attention... :o)

Seriously folks, I don't think I could have fixed my scanner problem without the husband. I thought that turning the printer/scanner off and rebooting the computer would do the trick, but it didn't. The husband said to turn the printer/scanner off, UNPLUG it, reboot the computer, and plug the printer/scanner back in and turn it on ... and lo and behold, all fixed. Go figure.

Anyhow, this happy piece of news means I can share layouts with the world again ... so here goes. This is a picture of the girl and her friends ... one of many shots taken during a recent professional graduation photo shoot. These four girls have known each othr since the early years of grade school. They're all pretty different from each other, but have remained friends throughout. They'll all be split up next year (well, actually, two of them might end up at Ottawa U) and I hope that they manage to keep up their friendships despite distance and new interests. Meanwhile ... aren't they gorgeous? (Especially the curly haired one at the front, lol).


Let's see if I can remember my supply list:

Cardstock - Bazzill
Patterned Paper - Rouge de Garance, Scenic Route, Unknown
Journaling Block - 7 Gypsies?
Ribbon - Unknown
Flowers - Prima
Brad - Basic Grey
Other - Stickles

I know, I know, blog posts two days in a row ... hope y'all didn't fall off your chairs!

Have a great (short for some of us) week!!

Scraps of My Life

It's been so long since my last post (sorry, blog world), and there's lots to report on. I could probably do an entire post on each story/event but then I'd never catch you up. So here's a (somewhat) condensed version ...

1. May 3 - The husband builds my new scrap desk and I reorganize and set up my new scrap room. This event definitely deserves its own post (I have lots of pictures!!) but here's a preview - it's the 2nd (new) half of my scrap closet.

2. May 6 - I hit goal at Weight Watchers. Twenty-nine pounds lost! I can't believe I did it! Now I'm in the maintenance phase, which is 6 weeks of adjusting points etc. to figure out how I should eat to maintain my weight. I am really committed to keeping the weight off, but I think this will be more challenging than the actual weight loss.

3. May 7, 8, 9 - The boy starred in Aladdin Junior, a musical put on by his school. He was one of the narrators - a pretty big part actually. He did beautifully; we are so proud!!!

4. May 7 - We have a surprise party for one of my staff going on mat leave. I had spent a few nights that week making a baby album for her - she knows she's having a girl so I got to play with pink!! No pictures - Had no time to scan. She loved it (and someone actually enquired about paying me to make one for their grandchild - flattering, but when you count supplies and time it really isn't much of an affordable gift!).

5. May 9 - After a week of internet surfing, the husband and I drove out (sans kids) to the Rideau Lakes area to look at a possible cottage rental. Met the agent at a crossroads and followed him to the cottage. Joked that the guy would turn down the small dirt road leading to the cottage we rented for 10 years ... imagine our surprise when he did. The cottage we looked at is just a few away from where we used to rent, it's over on the next bay. It's a 4-bedroom with modern kitchen and bathroom, lots of conveniences, nice waterfront, comes with small fishing boat and kayaks. And best of all - pets are allowed. So we rented for the first week of vacation (3rd week in July). After visiting the cottage, we visited friends who live on Sand Lake.

6. May 10 - Mothers' Day! The boy got me two beautiful necklaces from Reitman's and a gift card to Black's. The girl gave me a gift card to Reitmans's (knowing that I need clothes desperately right now!). The husband took me to dinner, but technically it was not for Mothers' Day, as I repeatedly tell him every year - I am not his mother, and his kids are old enough to take care of MD by themselves, so he's now officially off the hook (I know, I know, most mothers don't share that sentiment).

7. May 11 to 13 - Feeling absolutely overwhelmed at work. Back to back meetings means I don't have time to actually do anything and deadlines are slipping. Everybody wants a piece of me. I feel overtired, cranky and beat up. I don't enjoy that feeling at all.

8. May 13 - Lexi goes to the vet. Nothing to worry about, I just need to get her heartworm/ticks/fleas meds and decide to get her tested for heartworm at the same time. She needs a blood test. As soon as she walks in the door, she clearly has a flashback to her spaying. Ever try to move a 65 pound dog that will not budge? It took 3 techs and lots of high-pitched excited talking, not to mention handfuls of treats, to entice her to the back for the test. Once there she was calm (aka terrified) and the boy cuddled with her while they did the blood test. Look how cute she looks with her doggie bandaid ... !

9. May 14 - fever, headache and general ickiness. Ah, so that's what May 11-13 was all about ... I was brewing something. Stayed home sick (and mostly stayed off the blackberry). Slept all morning, scrapped a bit in the afternoon, started feeling human again in the evening.

10. May 15 - went to work though I could have used one more day at home. Left early though, as we were invited to accompany the girl to an awards ceremony at Ottawa U, for a French as a second language contest she competed in two weeks ago. Being invited to the ceremony meant she won something but we didn't know what. Top prize was full tuition for one year at Ottawa U or Carleton. She won 3rd prize - $225 and some French books. Her school team also won the team trophy in their category (core French). We are so proud of her.

11. May 16 - yard work, rain or shine! And it was mostly RAIN. Stood in the absolute pouring rain at the nursery yesterday morning picking out flagstone for a little path off our patio. I mean it was POURING. The husband and I were drenched but kept on working out there til mid afternoon. The backyard is really coming together, and the front yard has really been siimplified!

12. May 17 - today we are going to the hunt camp with our good friends. Really looking forward to a day of relaxation. It's going to be cold, but at least it won't be rainy!

So I was going to leave you with a layout - but now my scanner won't scan. It'll print; it'll copy; but it won't scan. Argh! Next time then.

Ciao!!

Chaos

This is what my scraproom looks like right now. Last week I emptied out the desk and we put it in the boy's room ... hopefully we'll go buy my new desk (two drawer units and a table top) at Ikea this weekend. On the scrapping front, I have til Thursday to make a baby gift album for one of my staff who's going on mat leave ... I have all the supplies, and have done this twice now so have a good page formula which goes quickly ... but there's no way I'll be able to create in this room this weekend, so I'm going to have a couple of late nights next week! No complaints ... I love creating!

I found a really cool scrapbooking storage unit at Costco this week ... it's a 15-drawer paper cart (the drawers are big enough to fit 12x12 paper) but I'm using it to store my scraps. I have soooooo many paper scraps it's not funny. A few months ago I went through them all and threw out the ones that were (probably) too small to use. And I still have tons. I'm really pumped about this paper cart though, and I'm tempted to buy a second one to store the full sheets of paper .... The price wasn't too bad (well, a bit pricey at $57), but if I buy a 2nd one, what will I do with my cropper hopper storage thingies?


On the weight front, things are still on track. Twenty-six pounds lost so far - 3 to go. I cleaned out my closet last week ... there are barely any pants left that fit! I've gone from a size 14 to size 8 since January. I feel really good about what I've accomplished, but the real challenge is going to be keeping it off. I'm committed to continuing with the Weight Watchers meetings, maybe even beyond the six weeks of maintenance. I really need to stay on top of things, and never go back to man-sized portions and indulgent attitude towards food.

Well that's it for now. The dog is pawing at the back door, the husband needs to be woken up, the dishes in the sink need doing... ah, the weekend! :o) Have a good one, everybody!