Digital Scrapbooking Anyone?

There once was a time that I looked forward to scrapbooking. I was completely caught up with my photo albums and I loved showing them off. I would spend quiet weekend nights with my BFF, Tressa and we would "parallel scrapbook". We had such a great time looking for the perfect magazine quotations to cut out...Yes, that's right, in 1988, I was the queen of scrapbooking and totally up-to-date.

Times have definitely changed; I am currently 9 years behind in my scrapbooking- that is if we're only considering pictures since I've had my own family. As far as scrapbooking my life before marriage and kids, I still have Junior and Senior year of college and backpacking through Europe to do. Somehow, I don't think my hubby would appreciate me scrapbooking about my college boyfriend...just a hunch! And it's not like I don't have ALL the supplies to finish any project...I've got enough shoved in a closet to finish 15 books! I just can't wrap my head around where to start, plus I am a world class procrastinator. I've had a "heritage" album that has been needing to be finished for about 5 years now....Urghh! The last time I went to a crop was before Jack was born...I'm about ready to throw in the towel with "manual scrapbooking"; okay may be I already did that 3 years ago....

Which brings me to my question: Is anyone into the whole digital scrapbooking thing? I am so tempted to do this, I have so many pictures on the computer - transferring them into ready-made template would be so easy! I don't know what the hold up is...it should be a no brainer right?! May be I'm just feeling guilty because I've got $$$ in product rotting on my shelf. I've got to do something...I know that Apple has a product, so does Scrapblog and I just found out tonight that Creative Memories has one. I've seen the bound albums first hand (they are beautiful) and it looks like it costs about $30-$50 for printing....Historically, I would have spent more than that on the supplies to complete one book.

So what do you guys think? Any opinions? Any experience with this? Any advice? Will someone make up my mind for me?....Please?

My heart is melting...

That crazy boy of my is responsible....

Let me fill you in on a few Jack-ism...Jack is very verbal which is a huge change from Emmy when she was this age (she had chronic ear infections which delayed her speech). I think I have memory problems brought on by sleep deprivation because I don't clearly recall Cameron being so verbal either. Anyway, the things that come out of this child's mouth just amazes me...he says the standard 2-3 word sentences (let's be honest, the kid isn't giving any soliloquies), but I am amazed about how his little mind works.

I don't know where he picked it up, but he knows Mommy and Daddy's first names and out of the blue will start calling: "Bill!" "Bill, Where are you?!" He gets corrected that he calls Daddy, "Daddy", but the little guy has a mind of his own. Then seeing that he's getting Daddy's goat, he starts in on "Kelly!" "Kelly!" it's too funny and I can't help but laugh - which is probably why the behavior continues!

Jackson is also a very polite little guy...he says, "No Thanks" all the time; for example, when you go outside to bring him in or you put him down for a nap, he starts crying, "No Thanks!, No Thanks! No Thanks!". He will say sorry if he's hurt you; he will say please, excuse me, etc., etc. We are trying to get him out of his bad habit of acting like "Rainman" and repeating himself ad nauseum until he gets something: "milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk" you get the picture.

Tonight we were getting the nightly serenade from his crib, "book, book, book, book, book, binkie, binkie, binkie, binkie, milk, milk, milk, milk, ,milk" when I hear, "Momma?! I Love you!" I was a big puddle of mush...this was the first time he ever has said that to me unprompted by me saying "I love you" first (to which he usually responds, "Too"). Hubby was unimpressed and called him a Little Suck Up.

Isn't it great?

Okay, this post may be a little Pollyanna-ish, but I'm feeling that way and that's me...

The girls were off from school on Monday and Tuesday of this week and on Wednesday, I guess Emmy's class learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. Emmy was enthralled with his story and told me all the little tidbits she could remember like:

"We're white!" to which I replied, yes we are, what did you think we were? She ignored me of course

"Martin Luther King, Jr was black and black people weren't treated well"

"They had to sit in the back of the bus!"

"So they stopped taking the bus and the bus company went out of business" Uh, not quite, but go ahead

"Martin Luther King, Jr made a speech about having a dream"

"Then black people got to sit in the front of the bus!"

"Black kids couldn't go to school with white kids!"

"Martin Luther King, Jr is dead now"

Okay, a little piece-mealed from a 6 year old, but some of it may have been from her excitement about this history. I got the impression that she thought this happened a long, long time ago (although 10 years ago is F.O.R.E.V.E.R for her!). I shared with her that Mommy and Daddy's generation was the first generation where desegregation was tried (she wasn't impressed).

My Pollyanna-ish feeling comes from the fact that this is new knowledge to her; she and her sister are growing up not feeling that delineation that we knew growing up and our parents lived with. They don't see color the way we grew up seeing color; to them it's just a feature like blond and red hair. Isn't that great?!

Then I realized, they are being told that this is such a historic election and inauguration and they don't truly get it...again...how awesome is that?!

BTW, this guy's name, not President Barack Obama....

per Emmy, his name is Obach O-Hama...It makes me giggle each time I hear it and she WON'T be corrected on it...she insists on this pronounciation!

Sucker Mom

Okay, not truly my title, but it should be....It's officially "Cookie Mom". My husband feels it should probably be the former. What I am referring to is my role in Emmy's Brownie troop. We are in the midst of the cookie bombardment. I'll probably spend half the night entering our troop's cookie order. The GS are going electronic and "green" with their cookie sale this year, however, I recently found out that not only do we have to enter the order electronically, but also fill out PAPERWORK and hand deliver to the cookie chair (aka Führer) by Thursday. I think I need to educate these people about what being "green" means. When I questioned the practice (how dare I question!), I was informed "this is what council requires".

I was informed by a worried parent the other day that she was at a Boy Scout meeting with 2 other GS moms - one new like herself and the other a "seasoned veteran". Well when the seasoned veteran heard about how we were going to be doing money etc., she exclaimed, "You can't do that! It's against council rules! What is your troop number, etc, etc, etc" I just need to repeat....IT'S JUST COOKIES PEOPLE!!

Did you know....

That CNN is airing the inauguration online today...so all of us working schlumps or those without "adult" t.v. access (read: not Noggin, Nick Jr, Playhouse Disney) throughout the day can watch history being made....

"Watch live streaming video of Obama's inauguration on CNN.com/live on http://cnn.com/live.

On Tuesday, January 20th, watch President-elect Barack Obama become the next President of the United States on http://cnn.com/live. You can watch the live video online from anywhere with broadband access. Coverage begins at 8am EST, with the swearing-in ceremony at 12pm EST, followed immediately by Obama's inauguration address.

Whether you're at the office, at home, at the library, or anywhere else, you can share this moment in history, as it happens. Don't miss this historic inauguration!"

copied from group invitation on facebook ( ;)

My famous relatives

My girls are really into those "Ripley Believe it or Not" and "Guinness Book of World Records" books which I find really funny 'cause I was into the same stuff when I was their age decades ago. I guess some things never go out of style or my kids have inherited my quirky definition of entertainment (my husband would say the latter).



Cameron was gone most of the weekend with a girlfriend which gave me the opportunity to have some one-on-one time with Emmy. We decided after our Chick fil a (love that place!) lunch we would hit the library. First stop, the non-fiction section to find one of the aforementioned titles. The Guinness book was all that was on the shelf so that's what we got.



Fast forward to back at home...Jackson's taking a nap and I suggested Emmy that we get into my bed, snuggle, and have some quiet time (read: sleep ;) - Well, Emmy was perusing through the ginormous record book and I decided to share a bit of news....I have relatives that are in the records books. That's right folks relatives...such overachievers in my family!! I quickly scanned the index and came up with the page:



That's right, the world's heaviest twins were my grandfather's cousins...

Well Emmy went through the roof when she learned that we are related to someone "famous". She went on and on about how she couldn't wait to tell her friends and her sister that we had relatives in a "world famous book". I couldn't help but laugh...my sister and I had the same reaction when we found out.

I'm procrastinating

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes; we are all feeling much better. I think I still have the old version of Nyquil in my house (you know the one that still comes with crack in it) 'cause I woke up feeling better the next day.

I just needed to post really quick so I could get rid of the most recent picture of myself with tissues shoved up my nose. So enjoy this one...

I have to go clean now - double yuck!!

Aaah! The wonderful noises in my house

*Sneeze*

*Cough*

*Sniffle*

*Moan*

*Snore*



My house currently contains:



1 - Perfectly well 10 year old (albeit bossy and mean to her sister)

1 - Exhausted Daddy who only got 2 hours of sleep last night

3 - Snotty McSnotnoses



It's time once again to play "pass around the cold" in my domicile...We have this game so down pat, it only takes 12 hours for the germs to jump from person to person. Emmy is patient 0 - She started coughing, sneezing, snotting 2 days ago. Today she added wheezing back into her repertoire. I made my monthly contribution to the Pediatrician's kids college fund and she's back on steroids...anything is better than going back to the hospital. Little man started sneezing, coughing, and snotting last night which made for such a restful sleep!! (sarcasm very much intended). And now me...I woke up this morning with a lovely head cold.



So, I don't have a lot to write about tonight because it isn't easy to type and blow simultaneously. And this look just isn't good (however it does work well)





Nyquil here I come!!

Pull up a chair and let me tell you a story....

My mind has not been overflowing with things to write about of late (and I'm sure I'll lose readers if I do a week long dedication to the Gators...Can I get a Whoop! Whoop! ?!!!!) Anywho...I've been kinda doing my own thing, but I keep getting a persistent commenter telling me to write more regularly...who is doing this you ask, why none other than Tressa (American in Norway). Then it hits me....I've got years of Tressa/Kelly stories I can share....oh, the blog fodder!
Right now across the ocean a certain blonde TexanChicagoanDelawareanIllinoisanMissorrianNorwegian is going, "Oh S*&^^t!!!, what is she going to share?!?!!"

Relax Tree, I'll save the embarrassing stuff for later. This one is a classic and may seem far fetched, but I SWEAR all of it is true (or at least what I can recall from my fuzzy memory bank)....



Hey kids of the 80s, do you remember this?!:

Tressa and I certainly didn't see this movie together; it came out before we met. But, as I'm sure it was for teenagers all over, it was a ready made classic; the model for the "perfect day". Antics that don't get you in trouble, but work out in your favor producing fun times and good memories. I don't know about you guys, but it seemed like we were always trying to compare our adventures to the Bueller litmus test...We had a lot of close calls, but this one is definitely the closest (in my humble opinion).

Tressa moved to Delanowhere my Junior year of high school. Tressa was the epitome of cool (again in my humble opinion); she came from Texas via Chicago, had her own car with a PA system (another story), and she had a much later curfew than my miserly 11 pm - 12:30 am (I think). So guess where I was most weekend nights?! It only took a few weekends cruising around Newark, Delaware's Main Street for Tressa to realize that Delaware was not the best place to have fun...lucky for us, Tressa had 2 older siblings who shared tales about Philadelphia's South Street. South Street became our Holy Grail; we plotted and planned about what we would do when we took the 45 minute pilgrimage to Philadelphia. One night we took the plunge and headed to Philly. We got lost; we thought we could drive to Philly and just happen upon South Street - the mind of a 16 year old! At last we found and experienced South Street for all of about 20 minutes before we had to get in the car and travel back home to meet Tressa's curfew. 20 minutes was all it took for us to be hooked; I don't know if it was the smell of pizza mixed with urine, the hoards of Navy men, street performers, drunks, or homeless that drew us in, but we knew we could definitely always find entertainment there! Pretty soon we became South Street junkies and escaped to Philly anytime we could (which was most weekends).

One particular weekend, I guess we were having tons of fun with some people we had met, but the time to curfew was ticking closer and closer. Tressa and I hatched a plan; we'd drive to Tressa's house with the boys we had just met, check in with her Mom, set up in the basement (where we were sleeping) and then sneak back out. So we drove back to Delaware and did exactly that. We checked in with her Mom and went through the facade of getting ready for bed. After approximately 1 hour, we snuck out of the house to the boys that had been tucked away in the car (I believe it was winter at the time and we made them wait in an unheated car...nice!). We drove back to Philly and stayed out all night. What we did all night, I can't honestly remember...and before you all start thinking the worst, we were crazy and adventurous, but not in that area.

Now I had been allowed to spend the night on the condition that I knew that Tressa had to get up early and help her Mom and I would have to leave....no problem. We get back to her house about 6:30 am...there are no lights on in the house (obstacle #1 passed). We creep along the side of the house to the basement door. We look up and see her parent's bathroom light is ON and we hear voices and a shower running. We immediately think we are SO busted...and I start panicking about what I am going to tell my Mother when Tressa's parents call her and tell her we were God knows where all night! Tressa tells me not to worry; if we get busted, they'll just yell at us and my Mom won't be called - still a scary concept to get yelled at by other people's parents!! We quietly open the door and the basement is dark. We quickly change and jump under the blankets....No more than 5 minutes later Tressa's Mom yells down the stairs, "Tressa! Tressa! Come up here"...Sh*&t!!!! So Tressa goes up to talk to her Mom; her Mom gives her instructions for the day (including me leaving) and that was that. They never knew about the stunt we just pulled. We had gotten away with our Bueller-esque adventure and lived to tell about it.

I hope you enjoyed the first of many Tressa/Kelly stories...thinking back always makes me laugh and miss my girlfriend....Love you, Tree!!

Why the fates are against me working tonight....

So with my recent 60 hour work weeks, I've begun to try to organize things a little. I've separated some of my extra duties into things that need to be done in the office and things that can be done at home. 2 of the activities that I am assisting with are things I can bring home. So after dinner, after the kids are in bed and after 33 minutes on Wii fit, I break out the work....Only to discover

1. I forgot to bring home all the website usernames and passwords
2. I can not log into the work computer via "gotomypc" because the work computer was disconnected today.

I think that the laws of fate are aligning to make me go to bed at a decent hour (read earlier than 1:00 am). I don't know if my body will know what happened to it!!

Represent

Tonight I dedicate my blog to this:

GO GATORS!!!

Really?!

I'm a huge fan of "The Biggest Loser" on t.v. and watched this last season faithfully (or as faithfully as you do with a dvr). Michelle was hands down my favorite person on the show; she was real and didn't play games. I was so happy for her when she won.

I read this article today...and I thought, "Girl, do you have a brain in your head?!"

'Biggest Loser' champ to tie the knot - MSN TV News

May be I'm just being pessimistic (which is odd for me 'cause usually I am a sucker for a good love story)...Here's the scenario: You meet this guy 4 months ago; you win "The Biggest Loser" and take home 250K, you're enjoying your 15 minutes of fame, and then Mr. New Boyfriend pops the question....kinda convenient. Guess what Michelle is going to be spending the 250K on?! You guessed it, the wedding, etc. I predict we'll see a follow up story in about 18 months where Michelle gets dumped on her butt after the $ runs out!

Something that touched me...

I received this via e-mail yesterday and it spoke directly to my heart.  It may have been around eleventy-billion times already, but it's such a good reminder to Slow Down!!!

Can I Borrow $25.00?


A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'

DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.

SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'That's none of your business . Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know.. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities. '

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.

'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills..

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

Vent Session

I need to vent so that I can go on and be more productive at work today.



Ever since the evil incarnate got her walking papers, my friend, Brenda and I have been picking up the slack in running the office. Part of that job and what I am finding to be the most challenging is hiring and firing employees. The worst position to hire for is the front desk...we are VERY upfront about how busy our office is and the demanding position we for which we are hiring. The people nod, agree, and tell us they can do it, but do they? NOOOOOOOOOO!!



We had our new "super star" call out on Friday and then leave a message on the machine this morning that she would not be returning. Thanks for doing that on a Monday morning when all 5 providers are here in office! Oh, and thanks for that 2 week notice and helping us out through yet another transition....Much appreciated!! So now we go back to the drawing board....again....Urghhh!! The employees that are here and loyal are getting frustrated with working understaffed; I'm afraid if we don't get some stability, there will be more positions for which we will be looking to hire!



I hear people complaining that employment rates are escalating and no one is hiring. We are hiring, but the biggest issue we're running into is a lot of people no longer have a decent work ethic and it's difficult to find a loyal and good employee.



URGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! *Pulling out my hair*

Survival of the fittest

The fact that I'm writing this is proof that I made it through the night.  At times I believe we broke the noise level ordinance, but all-in-all it went well.  We went through a lot of the preplanned activities in the first hour (I remember looking at the clocking and it being 6 pm for what seemed to be hours!).  Hubby had the foresight to get a movie which occupied the kid's attention during dinner.  The Wii tournament turned out to be an activity and noise accelerator and had be shut down after about 1/2 hour of play (my ears felt like they were going to bleed from the noise level!).  We then played some oldies, but goodies: Duck, Duck, Goose; Red light, Green light, Freeze dance, and my personal favorite, Twister.  

Jackson and Emmy LOVED having all those kids here; they were practically vibrating by the end of the night.  Emmy is a bit confused by the whole co-op idea; she thinks they're going over to the next family's house today.  

The nice thing was is that all the kids got along very well and all look forward to the next get-together.  I, being the eternal optimist, know the other parents will uphold their end of the bargain.  My only pessimistic thought is after all the parents experience the "fun" will they want to repeat it?

Hubby is already trying to plan our first night out activity...he wants to come home and enjoy the silence of our house for 3 hours!

Are we crazy?

My husband thinks so...I think we're brilliant; only time will tell...

I created a babysitting co-op with 2 other "Brownie" families; the inaugural event is tonight at my house.  The plan is simple...we trade kids for a couple of hours every three weeks so we have "scheduled" adult time.  A total of 8 children (including my own) will be descending upon our house between 5-6 pm and leaving at 9 pm.  

I am trying to be as organized about this as is possible for me...we have personal pizza making for dinner, Cameron is in charge of the craft project (which I have no idea what she has planned), and of course, we have the tournament of champions playing Wii.  I'm just hoping we don't go through all our activities in the first 1/2 hour!!

Hubby keeps shaking his head and getting indigestion just thinking of 5 extra kids in our domicile.  I believe he secretly hoping for a call out tonight!  I keep reminding him to keep the big picture in mind...we don't have to do this for 9 more weeks and we get 2 kid-free nights owed to us in the next 6 weeks.  He believes that this will be the only time this happens and we're the suckers....time will tell.

If anyone has any good activity ideas for the kids, send them my way!!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun NYE...

We spent a quiet night at home (which was perfectly fine with me)...We had junk food (yup the WW restarts tomorrow with the other eleventybillion people), had Wii tournaments, and just lazed around. A very successful night in my book!!! The girls stayed up until midnight, but very quickly fell asleep thereafter.

Today, we are planning on organizing, putting Christmas toys away, and just continuing to take it easy.

Have a great one!!