Stephanie Ogren's Koodie Scraps

New products at SBE and a quick page for you!

2012-01-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have oodles of new products in my SBE store, my newest kit is Room for Living, a perfect kit for heritage scrapping or just for everyday.
All products are available here

And some products from the Treasures in the Attic collection:

Also don't forget my designer resources:

Here's what the quick page looks like for Room for Living:

And here is the download link. If the hyperlink doesn't work, just copy this to your browser: http://www.sendspace.com/file/qfd2eh
TFL!

Brand new products in my SBE store and free gift for you!

2012-01-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

The first item is my new kit Treasures in the Attic.
This kit is full of "attic" treasures given to us by grandma or found at yard sales or just plain finds in nature that we save for whatever reason. All treasures like this hold a special place in our hearts. This page kit is perfect for layouts about the past and its impact on the present and the future. This kit includes 12 highly textured papers, 1 bark, 1 basket, 2 birds, 2 bows, 1 chest, 2 figurines, 1 clay pot, 2 frames, 3 journal mats, 1 key, 2 leafs, 1 peacock figurine, 1 purse, 1 staple, 1 stick, 1 vase, 4 wordart strips.

It is available here

And here's more items from the Color Me Neutral collection:

And here is your free gift quick page you can get it here or just type this into your browser: http://www.sendspace.com/file/jv2124

New products at SBE and a QP for you!

2012-01-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest kit, Color Me Neutral. I have some add-ons coming in future week, so keep watching for them in my store at SBE.
Color Me Neutral is just that, colors that we probably consider to be neutral. Yellows, oranges and browns. This kit, because of its colors, could work as a masculine kit too. It's also great for heritage layouts. Includes: 12 highly textured backgrounds, 1 set of beads, 1 bookplate, 3 bows, 1 box, 1 brad, 1 bucket, 1 chipboard piece, 1 flower border, 4 flowers, 1 frame, 1 label, 3 leaves, 4 journaling mats, 1 ribbon, 1 stitched box, 1 tag, 1 tassel, 1 vase, 2 word strips.

And I also have some clusters available:

And some designer commercial-use blooms!

Here's the QP and here's the link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/cblhl8

TFL!

New kit today, and it's flowery! Also a new QP for you!

2012-01-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Do you like flowers? How about a kit brimming with them? I've put all sorts of different flowers in this kit for you to pick and choose from. There's natural flowers, fabric flowers and even acrylic flowers. There are some other elements in this kit too, to round it all out. Includes: 12 highly textured backgrounds, 17 flowers, 2 mattes, 1 cardboard, 1 diamond, 1 brad, 1 paper branch, 2 frames, 1 glitter leaf, 1 "real" leaf, 2 ribbons.
And the kit is on sale today! Get it here

And here is what the QP looks like and a link:

If the link doesn't work, paste this into your browser: http://www.sendspace.com/file/xva13r
TFL!

A new kit today at SBE, that means a QP for you!

2011-12-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

Here's another new kit at Scrapbook-Elements called "Every Season." My son actually came up with the name and I thought it fit well. You can find the kit here.

And here's the QP! And here is the link

If the link doesn't work, copy this into your browser: http://www.sendspace.com/file/afpyp4

New Christmas products in the store and a freebie too!

2011-12-18T10:45:00.006-07:00

Here's my latest kit at Scrapbook-Elements. It's called "Joy to the World" and done in beautiful purple. There's a lot of bling too. It's perfect for all of your Christmas layouts! AND it's on sale!

I also have some CU overlays too. Everything is on sale today!

Here's what the qp looks like ...

And here's the link for the QP. Enjoy!

Here's a link to paste into your browser too: http://www.sendspace.com/file/8m0q5n

Freebie for you!

2011-11-21T20:52:00.003-07:00

I have a new kit at SBE called Autym. I have decided to give away a quick page for all who visit here.
The kit is pictured below. It is available HERE

Here is the QP:

AND HERE IS THE DOWNLOAD LINK

New products at SBE

2011-07-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

I have some new products for you SBE. They are also on sale! So go grab them quick! I also have a new gift for you, using the papers from Tea Whimsy and one of my new clusters. The link is at the bottom, enjoy!

Here are the Tea Whimsy Clusters

Here are the ready-made papers

Tea Whimsy just the elements

Tea Whimsy just the papers

Available here

Here is the QP

And here is the link

Hi everyone, glad to be back!

2011-06-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

My new kit was released today at my new/old store Scrapbook-Elements. It's called Tea Whimsy and I worked really hard on it :)
Because I appreciate your business, I want to offer readers of this blog and any newbies that come here a free QP gift. The link is at the bottom of this post, just click "FREE QP."

First, a look at the kit:

And here is the QP:

And some other inspiration for the kit:

And here is the link to the QP, I hope you enjoy it!

FREE QP

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-01T10:14:00.004-07:00

GIFT NO LONGER AVAILABLE. Thanks for looking.

Palin on SNL, too funny!

2008-10-18T23:31:00.001-07:00

I know this link I'm about to give you if from Huff Post, but it was the only place I could find the SNL vids after a quick search.
PALIN ON SNL
Be sure to watch, she's too cute :)

More products, this time at ES

2008-09-08T21:19:00.004-07:00

http://www.elementalscraps.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=104

MORE overlays!!!!

2008-09-03T22:16:00.003-07:00

More overlays peeps!

2008-08-31T10:21:00.003-07:00

The thing about these is, you can use them for elements and whatever you want. You don't even have to be a designer to utilize them, so go crazy!! Get them at SBB. Link on the side by my picture.

More overlays at SBB!

2008-08-29T11:00:00.004-07:00

Hope you like them, I really enjoy creating them I must say, papers are so easy for me, don't know why I didn't do overlays for sale a long time ago!

A ton of new products at SBB!

2008-08-27T21:29:00.002-07:00

And I am finally dabbling in Professional-use products! How exciting!!
Anyway, here's some of my new stuff! Go here to grab it!

Newest freebie at FPD!

2008-08-15T16:27:00.003-07:00

Here is my work with clipart, hope you like and please leave love if ya download it! THANKS!
You can get the link here!

New Freebie at FPD!!!

2008-08-08T00:30:00.003-07:00

It's the extraction portion of evening! Here's my humble submission, go get it here!

I love a contest as you all know.

2008-07-31T21:31:00.004-07:00

And I have entered the FPD Teacher's Pets. Although it's not totally a contest, it's a teaching place also. It's open and fun! I have my freebie up now, feel free to check me out HERE!

Don't forget to register for the newsletter to be able to pick up freebies:
http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/newsletter/

One more thing ... Megs (Flergs) is offering a freebie on her blog, go check it out!
http://flergalicious.blogspot.com/

New Mango Tango Link

2008-07-19T23:53:00.002-07:00

For those who didn't get this (I received an e-mail that the other link no longer worked) here is a fresh link! Thanks! CLICK ME

Hello there! Here's your freebie!

2008-07-16T21:12:00.004-07:00

At long last, at 11 p.m. my time, here is my Sunshine Studio Scraps freebie, Mango Tango!
I hope you enjoy and stop my shop at www.sunshinestudioscraps.com on Friday!
Thanks :)
Here is your LINK!

A new look and kit

2008-07-09T21:59:00.004-07:00

It's call Summer Clothes and I hope you like it, I'll have some QPs coming for you soon! The kit is available here.
I created a layout of it too, of this silly photo of me :)

QPs for YOU!

2008-06-29T22:22:00.007-07:00

These coordinate with my new kit, Rising Starfish at Scrapbook-Elements. Don't forget the sale on all my SBE products from now until July 5th! I also have a grab bag for sale for just $2 loaded with goodies!

Here's your link, enjoy!

New QPs for you, free until link runs out!

2008-06-16T09:00:00.005-07:00

I won't pull these QPs! They are here to promote my newest kit, Almond Pudding, available at Scrapbook-Bytes.
Here's what these cute little pages look like below.

And here is the LINK!
Please enjoy them and by all means comment so I know you visited, I like to know who my customers are!
Thanks :)

Freebie no longer available

2008-06-09T20:57:00.001-07:00

Thanks to all who stopped by.

Free QPs for you!!!

2008-06-08T21:59:00.007-07:00

A gift for you! It's all to show off my newest kit, Nature Nurture at Scrapbook Elements. It's only on sale today and Monday, so be sure to nab it while it's hot! You can get it right here!

Thanks so much for looking and be sure to comment so I know you were here!

New kit and freebie for you!!

2008-05-21T21:04:00.006-07:00

I have a new kit coming out today at Scrapbook-Bytes! Which I need to update everyone on that. I am now selling at three stores, SBE, Elemental Scraps and Scrapbook-Bytes. Tomorrow is my birthday also! In honor of my birthday and Memorial Day, the kit is 50 percent off. Also I am giving you some free QP's just for coming here. Check out the new kit here
Also I have been pondering a newsletter. Would any of you out there be interested in that? I would most definitely give out freebies with it. Well I think that's it, enjoy your download and be sure to go get the kit before Memorial Day while it's still dirt cheap!

Here is the link for the quick pages RIGHT HERE.
Please be sure to comment so I know you stopped!!

COLLAB!!! By me, Misty Cato and Rina Kroes!!

2008-03-25T10:53:00.002-07:00

I'm so excited to bring you this. I have never done a collab before, I think this turned out beautiful!
Available at SBE!

Misty, Stephanie and Rina's "Whispers of Hope" Page Set
$6.95
This collaborative collection between Misty Cato, Stephanie Ogren and Rina Kroes heralds the dawn of new beginnings, hope and springtime in a fresh and colorful way that will lift your spirits and fill you with exuberance. In "Whispers of Hope" you will be delighted to find a plethora of exciting elements and beautifully blended papers as well as a full alphabet set. Hues of brilliant peacock blue, refreshing aquamarine, teal and rich purple blend together exquisitely, while delicate florals and graceful swirls, a sprinkling of glitter and shabby distressed elements all provide a dazzling way to decorate your pages.
Included in this download you will receive 15 beautifully coordinating blended and distressed background papers (12x12 inches); a FULL alphabet set (lowercase, UPPERCASE, numbers and various punctuation marks); a 49-piece element set which included the following: large torn edge paper; decorative floral border; large square swirly frame; 2 scalloped edge photo frames (one with stitching); multi-frame; 2 decorative swirls (with and without embellishments/shadows); glitter swirl; 4 assorted flowers; 3 assorted stamped flowers; a layered hanging heart embellishment; decorative jewel pendant; bow; wrapped ribbon with attached tag; embellished tag; 3 assorted journal mattes; 2 journal strips; triple journal strips with stitches and shadows; lined journal paper; word art; string of beads; 2 12-inch rows of stitching; messy zigzag stitching; satin ribbon; 4 decorative brads/buttons; cracked finish button; 2 metal hinges; 2 metal photo prongs; small silver brad; 2 metal ties; 2 staples with shadows.

All elements are created at 300 ppi for quality printing. Alphabet characters are saved individually so there is no need to cut them apart. Except where otherwise stated, drop shadows are only included where needed for added realism on layered objects. Sized 12x12 inches, the papers can easily be resized or cropped to suit your needs. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake for Photoshop actions used in the creation of this product.

Have you "felt" the love lately?

2008-01-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Last meal you cooked: pasta and sauce (tonight)
Good piece of advice: "He's not your friend, girl." My friend, regarding Satan.
Favorite pajama pants: Very soft ones I picked up at Sears, so warm.
Last item/person you took a picture of: My cat, Butters, sitting up on the bed like a human.
A good friend's name: Michal
Something you are excited for: The arrival of Sunday
Something you miss: Christmas
Last purchase made for yourself: Velvet suit at Tar-Jay
Three current hobbies: Scrapping, painting, jewelry stuff
Favorite piece of furniture: My youngest son's bed, most comfy
Something you want to buy, for kicks: new pair of skechers, elizabeth arden makeup set
Something you need to buy, out of necessity: cat litter
#1 cleaning product, according to you: Clorox wipes
Three things you have to do today: work, piano and cook dinner
When you need inspiration in your day, you go: www.drugawareness.org
Song you are playing on repeat right now: White Flag, Dido
Favorite dessert: French silk pie
Last bill you paid: Insurance
Are you keeping a secret from anyone: I might be... I might not be... I don't know. ; )
#1 pampering item, according to you: anything from Bath and Body Works
If not here, we can find you: at Dillards. I love that store, I wanna marry it.

Anyway here's your freebie, as you can see, it's a huge felt flower. Enjoy!
FELT FLOWER

Go ask Alice

2008-01-04T23:13:00.001-07:00

My Friday sample is a bit late because I work on Friday nights. But I slept all day today because I still don't feel quite like myself.
To quote Alice In Wonderland: "Dear, dear! How queer everything is today and yesterday things went on just as usual."
Well not quite yesterday but last Saturday at least.
Anyway, here is your new freebie. It's some samples from a kit and paper pack that I have. Enjoy!

SAMPLES

Hey there!

2008-01-03T20:55:00.001-07:00

How is everyone tonight? I'm tired. I hit my head on Sunday and cracked it open, taking several stitches. Now I just don't feel like myself. However, I noticed that I'm now amazingly prolific at getting these samplers together. Don't forget to watch for me at SBE next Sunday :)
Also don't forget about signing up for the Scrapbook-Elements newsletter here. You'll receive goodies and updates about latest creations.
Without further ado, here's your free sample, it's called "Space Between." I love Dave Matthews, don't you?
SPACE BETWEEN

Something for you again

2008-01-02T18:28:00.001-07:00

I have another gift for you, I hope to offer these quite a bit, because I love my customers! Enjoy this and let me know what you think!
Season of reason sample

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

And I am making some career changes. For starters, I have resigned from Elemental-Scraps to pursue other opportunities. Also I am returning to Scrapbook-Elements, so be sure to watch for me there! :)
Also, I have a gift for those of you who like my work. Enjoy!
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/sogren/flower-preview.jpg
And here's your link :)
FLOWERS

It's a sale!

2007-08-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Twenty of my kits are being offered at 20 percent off for SBE's Back to School sale, so hop on over. I know that sounds lame. Here's a sampling of what's on sale:

Been struggling with weight ... again

2007-08-17T05:10:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of it! I'm tired of dieting too! I've been exercising (does yoga count?) and I just wish my body would quit rebelling! Enough already!
I know my hubbo is less-than-pleased with my figure but like the middle-aged man on SNL said "I'm working on it!" I weigh 155 right now at a height of 5'6", so I'm not totally beyond hope.
OK. On to something more pleasant ...
I bought a space bag yesterday, and can you say AWESOME!

I put like an entire dresser full into an extra large bag and VOILA! Instant space. Hence the name I guess.
Soooo, I'm going to buy a whole boatload of these things and I will never have space problems again muhahahahha (manacial laugh).
I have a new freebie for you, it's a sampler from my new kit Lavendar Vivant. I love this kit soooooooooooo much I decided to use it for my blog header and my upcoming ad in the DST newsletter.

and here's the original kit, which will be available at SBE on Sunday!
Go to my store at www.scrapbook-elements.com

So enjoy my friends! Here is your link! Have a good weekend...
http://www.sendspace.com/file/5l77lx

I got the job!

2007-08-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

As of Aug. 28, I will be employed full time again. I'm excited and nervous. I know the job very well as I had it for six years before I quit in 2005. So, I'm not nervous that I won't know anything, just nervous that my routine will change. I'm going to miss summers with the kids, though :(
I did work it out so I can get off work to pick the kids up from school, so that's nice! That means more time with them. Anyway, I'm rambling here!
I'm working on papers packs for the store, here's what I have so far, I hope you like them. I love distressed solids with scratches and stuff.

I also wanted you all to be aware that a sale is coming up soon in the store and 20 of my products will be ON SALE! It's SBE's Back To School sale.
I am going to sign off for now, the kids are watching "E.T." I think they would watch that every single day if I let them. I told Max it was a lot like the Christ story.
Speaking of that, if you had some prayers to spare during this difficult transition in my life, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thank you.

Do you like it?

2007-08-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well I fixed up the blog and for once, I'm pretty satisfied with it. What do you think? It's another boring day here, we were going to go swimming, but now it looks like rain :(
The summer is nearly over :(
I may be going back to work full time at my old job at the newspaper. We are putting the boys into a new school that's a lot more expensive so we need some more cash flow. Designing helps but it's so iffy how much I can make. Bummer. But of course I will still design and blog when I get free moments, I'm not out yet!

Pardon the dust

2007-08-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I'm trying to re-do my blog with not much luck because I'm blog DUMB! But at least I have my pretty new header on there :)

Sample for you!

2007-08-12T13:02:00.001-07:00

I realize I haven't posted a freebie in a while and I wanted you to have a look at my newest kit, Babette, available at SBE! I you download this freebie, be sure to leave some love for me so I know you were here.

Here's your link (if one sendspace link doesn't work, use the other)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/fzi78s
http://www.sendspace.com/file/pbhove

(apparently you have to copy and paste links into your browser)

Go here to purchase the full kit: http://store.scrapbook-elements.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=100&products_id=11316

ENJOY and thank you for being my customers!!!

NEW STUFF

2007-08-08T13:23:00.001-07:00

Welp, it's once again been a month since I posted anything. I'm a nerd. Anyway, I have some new products coming out and wanted you to see them :)

This kit will be in the store on Sunday.
These items just came up for sale:

Enjoy. That's all I have today, I'm in a blah mood.
www.scrapbook-elements.com/stephanieogren

Another new kit ...

2007-07-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

OK, my poor lil' Daniel kit got NO RESPONSES at DST. GRRRR. I'm hurt *sob*
But, I have another new kit to show off anyways, Brokedown Palace, it's pretty cool I think!

Whaddya think?
I love those colors and of course the title. Designing is such fun!
Anyway, I have to work tomorrow, so I may not update until late again. I also might give a freebie soon, so keep your eyes peeled. Remember the days when I gave freebies like all the time???
That was impossible to keep up with. Plus I never put anything in my store.
Did you check out the DST newsletter? I'm quoted in it! Cool. My fave products are listed. They left out Ake though, probably because I wasn't specific on which product of hers I liked. Oh well, Ake, you rule!
*******
So, I have a killer stomach ache right now, yet I'm hungry ???? what's up with that? I think it's because I drank a cappuccino and lately those have been making me SICK (gas station ones, not "real" ones). So I think it's time to swear off gas station cappuccinos for awhile, lest my stomach fall apart. I actually have my own cappuccino maker, but absolutely no clue how to use it. Oh well, my brain is fried.
*******
My Barbies have not yet been delivered and I'm bummed. I can't wait until they arrive. I moved all of the boy's airplanes to the shelves downstairs just to make room for more dolls. Yes Virginia, I am a freak.
Anyway, have a good day and I'll see ya later, Happy Fourth of July!

Weekend thrills

2007-06-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

Well maybe not so thrilling, but fun at least. Today my friend is coming over. She moved a couple of years ago so I rarely see her. Her boys and mine are going to go swimming. My husband is going to help his dad cut down a tree. So I think we are getting the better end of the deal.
I have piles and piles of laundry and a house to clean.
Ugh.
My friend will be here about noon, so I have to hurry somewhat and look what I'm doing --- blogging!
I feel a little better today about the gossiping. I don't feel it was right, but my words have faded to mist on the wind now. Not that my resolve is any less firm.
I need prayers. Did I say that before? PRAYERS!!!
I realize I need to be a more gracious and forgiving person, and if you know me, you would know that is not a small task.
Soooo .... the boys are making toast right. Max just came in here all excited about his toast-making venture. Good. I'm glad they can do things for themselves. Yet they are growing up too fast. Sob.
So anyway, in addition to the new kit I showed you yesterday, I also have a bundle up for sale. And everything will be marked 20 percent off at SBE tomorrow, so get and there and buy. Not too pushy, huh?

I hope you like it!
I'm on a real cloth flower kick lately!
Switching gears, again. Last night on our obscenely large T.V., the fam and I watched "Thunderball" a James Bond movie. It was totally cheesy but I love Sean Connery and the '60s fashions!

Anyway, that's all for today, have a good Saturday!

Oops I did it again.

2007-06-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Gossiped that is.
Gossip has managed to wreak havoc on my life for the last 30 years or so. I'm tempted to blame others for my careless words, but I know it's all my fault.
Today I gossiped about a co-worker and said some rather harsh things about her. I knew it was wrong, but I just couldn't stop myself, and it's not the first time, not by a long shot.
It seems no one is safe from my gossiping tongue.
I'm going to make a declaration right now on this blog.
I am going to try VERY hard not to gossip anymore.
My reasons are primarly because putting down others makes Me feel better and plain old sinful jealousy.
If you are the praying kind, please pray for my gossip disease, because that's what it is. Please pray that I could learn to shut my mouth.
www.bacpage.org/messages/msg_gossip_073000.htm
The above site was helpful for me in prayer and maybe figuring out what do to about gossip.
I definitely need all the help I can get!

On to more pleasant things ...
My newest kit is called Daniel and will be in the store this coming Sunday. Be sure to check it out, here's a preview:

As usual, go to www.scrapbook-elements.com
TFL! Have a good weekend!

Dogs days of summer

2007-06-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Yes, it's been a looooong time since I blogged. It's June now. I've been busy! I'm still working two days a week, but next week I'll be working FOUR. Whoa. Don't think I can deal.
Tonight I pulled weeds in my back yard. Eeeew. It's like a forest back there because I have neglected it sadly, but it's looking much better now, I can actually SEE the ground.
I have also become an amateur filmmaker, here's a cool vid of my cats:

Check it out!
I'll have more to show you as well.
Also I have been working very hard on my designs and have several new ones to show you:

That is my whole Being series, soon all six kits will be for sale together! Watch for it!
Here's the link to my store (in case you forgot it ;))
http://store.scrapbook-elements.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=100&zenid=d4e25734e3c42e2dbad43d388ffc4639&main_page=index
On a personal note, everything is going great. I am over my depression and am slowly putting God back into my life. I'm so grateful He never left me, even though I left him. Please, if you are the praying kind, pray for me to have a better prayer life and relationship with the Lord.
My kids are doing wonderfully, my little Danny just graduated from kindergarten. The summer has been really busy with the two of them, but we've had lots of laughs so far.
Now switching gears from the serious, I have been bidding a lot on Ebay lately. Here are some of my latest wins:

I collect vintage Barbies and with a final price of $18, that was a steal for these beauties!
I have also been bidding on Toodles dolls for my mom who collects them. I love Ebay! Today the fam and I went to the Air and Space Museum and then to an antique store, I was surprised when my husband wanted to continue looking at the "junk."
Maybe he will start going antiqueing with me? I hope so ;)
The boys complained endlessly and wanted to go home even though there was some cool stuff there that they liked as well!
One final thing: I am on Meredith Fenwick's news crew now, so look for my article in her upcoming July newsletter!
Hugs to you all and thanks for waiting for me!

Please. no. more. snow.

2007-02-26T09:53:00.001-07:00

I have had just about enough of snow and cold and rain and …
Well, you get the point. I had to cancel my poor little boy’s big birthday bash because of the weather on Sunday.
Needless to say, he was bitterly disappointed.
Of course we did postpone it until next week when I’m sure another snowstorm will hit. I also haven’t made it to church in six weeks because of either illness or snow.
I just want life to get back to normal, to be able to get into my car without worrying what the road ahead is like, whether I will perish because of black ice or unplowed roads.
Actually we all were rather spoiled by the mild winter beforehand. Now it feels like we have all lived in Siberia foreva!
Enough already!
I hate wearing coats, I can’t stand my hair standing up because of static, I loathe slushy boats. I despise wet, dirty rugs.
Dry skin annoys me, cold floors make me want to cry, taking out the trash is like a trek across the frozen north.
O r the land of Hoth from “Star Wars.”
I keep expecting some snow monster to jump out at me from behind the pines in my yard.
Not to mention that my car is one giant pillar of salt.
And if my windshield gets hit with another burst of gunk from a passing semi, I may never be able to see out of it again.
Oh how I long for the car wash again, which I visited when we went through a spell of 50-degree weather, which tricked us all and made us think the spring had sprung.
Ha! Nature and the car wash owners had the last laugh.
What good is a spot free wax if it get obscured by salt and grime?
Another thing that bugs me about winter are the mountains of dirty snow piles in large parking lots. Can’t they be disposed of in some way? They and eyesores to the extreme, big dirty sullen globs of snow, there to mock us and remind us that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, or in the part of the country, in like a lion, out like Chewbacca.
The weather is cold and blustery clear up until June, then it becomes blisteringly hot.
OK I’m just asking for a happy medium somewhere, please!
Although I would prefer 90 plus degrees to snow and ice.
I guess I’m just a child of sun.
I need sun. I need grass. I need to open the windows.
I need to run freely through the valley wearing a flowing white robe and a wreath of daises on my head!
Well not really, but you understand what I mean.
Don’t mind me today. I’m just huddled near my clattering space heater with frozen feet and dry skin.
And I’m not wearing a flowing white robe.

I loves me some Mickey D's

2007-02-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

McDonalds.
Yes, I know that have the market cornered literally in the fast food market.
Yes, the food is fattening.
Yes, a study was once done about McDonald’s food and the health problems that can occur if one eats McDonalds everyday for every meal.
But you know what? I don’t care. I love McDonalds. McDonalds is my BFF!
When I was a kid, my mom was a supervisor at the brand spanking new Mickey D’s in Shenandoah.
My brother and I got to eat there ALL THE TIME.
So, I guess you could say I was raised on it. Unfortunately I can’t eat there a lot now with my boys, as they are Burger King lovers.
And so is my husband.
I’ve totally lost out.
I guess they prefer crispy fries to soggy greasy ones (which are my favorite kind of fries I might add.)
The boys in their not so subtle way always say “McDonalds is crap.” Hmm. Where could they have picked up an idea like that? Maybe it’s because our favorite clown and his restaurant get a bad rap. The food won’t kill you, you know! Well at least not right away.
If so I would be dead right now. I’m very much alive.
Case in point: Whenever the boys are at their grandparents and my husband is out of town, I totally splurge on McDonalds food. I order a 10-piece McNugget value meal and an M&M McFlurry. It’s pure bliss. Pure, greasy, fattening bliss.
The only thing that rivals the 10-piece McNugget is when the McRib comes back. I could eat at the big MD three times when that sandwich makes it’s annual appearance. I don’t. But I could.

Hit us baby, one more time

2007-02-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Although I usually can take or leave celebs for the most part, I find myself somehow drawn to tell-all tabloids. Case in point: The Enquirer. I could read it all the time, but I. must. stop. myself.
Lately I have been following the odd antics of Britney Spears, from pop starlet, to matronly mommy, to party queen and now her latest incarnation, Sinead O’Connor. Yes, Brit decided to go bald. Not only that, but she went and got some tats as well. Odd. The oddest element of this whole new “do” of Britney’s (there are so many odd elements, it’s hard to choose one) is that she did it herself in a salon.
The hairdresser refused to shave her, so Brit grabbed the clippers and did it herself, in front of a throng of photogs I might add.
Publicity stunt?
Yes probably.
Will it help her floundering career?
Probably not.
As most columnists and talk shows alike have been saying, jilted ex-husband Kevin Federline, once maligned by oh, well, everybody is now being known as the “good parent” to he and Britney’s two small boys.
I’m inclined to agree, although really it’s six one way, half dozen the other.
Neither one of them really are fit to raise children. I mean, they couldn’t even take care of Britney’s dogs! I don’t know why celebs even bother procreating. Most of the time the children are treated like little ornaments anyway. Then these prize offspring grow up embittered and write tell-all books about their wayward parents. In Brit’s case, though, that’s probably the least of her worries.
If she even has any.
Now to top it all off, she's in grave danger of actually losing her children. It's funny that Federline is looking more and more competent all of the sudden, who woulda thunk it?

Backpack, backpack, yeah

2007-01-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

We thought we lost Max's backpack forever.
We searched all through the house at the 11th hour this morning, hoping the ratty red Star Wars bag (new at the beginning of the school year) would turn up. No such luck.
I thought it was in my car, but hubbo looked and couldn't find it.
Then Max, 7, said he thought he brought it in with him to piano. Great.
Soooo, I called the piano teacher, she said she didn't see it anywhere. OK.
Now what?
After my husband and boys left, I did some more searching, it plain just wasn't in the house.
My husband arrived home a short time later, telling me that while on the way to school, five-year-old Danny piped up from the back seat of the truck saying:
"I think I saw in the back window of mom's car yesterday."
So my husband turns around and sure enough, there's the backpack in the back window, practically shouting "HERE I AM!"
Ugh.
******
I'm working on some new stuff, a boy kit this time, though. I haven't done enough boyish things. Odd because I have no girls, maybe my desire for a girl comes out through my work. Who knows?

Anyway, here's the first paper:

You likee?? Well, I have been known to abandon a kit, so we'll if this one makes it to fruition.
Anyway, that's all for now, gotta go to work today :O

Let's Get Physical

2007-01-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

Well I was tagged yesterday by the lovely Petra, so here's my list of seven songs.
They are:
Redeemer: Nicole Nordemann
Sexy Back: Justin Timberlake
Ring the Alarm: Beyonce
Follow the Sun: Beatles
Light of the World: By I can't remember
Too Old To Rock and Roll: Jethro Tull
Man In Me: Bob Dylan
There, yes, it is a strange list, but y'know, that's me! Anyways, I also saw a post yesterday at DST (no, not he pissed one) about being a little girl in the '70s. It totally cracked me up as I used to wax poetic on the bus with my friend, Jill, about the Duke boys. She got the blonde (forget his name now) and I got Tom Wopat.
Whoo!
Anyway, for those who didn't see it, here's the list again, the bold answers are mine and what I did personally:
You had that Fisher Price Doctor 's Kit with a stethoscope that actually
worked. YES!
You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with
flowers on it. Hellooo, who didn't
You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that had
metal wheels. YES, YES and YES. My grandpa worked at the skating rink and I hung there all the time! My skating sucked, tho.
You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (admit it!)YES I DID
You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island. Yes, I did :(
You had rubber boots for rainy days and Moon boots for snowy days. Yes, my rubbers (lol) were red.
You owned a "Slip-n-Slide",on which you injured yourself on a
sprinkler head more than once. I didn't but friends did.
You owned "Klick-Klacks" and smacked yourself in the face more than
once. Nope
You had either a "bowl cut" or "pixie," not to mention the "Dorothy
Hamill". People sometimes thought you were a boy. Amen, I need to get ahold of my second grade picture, it's a scream I tell you!
Your Holly Hobbie sleeping bag was your most prized possession. No, but I had the doll with sleeping eyes.
You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers. I still do.
You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon. Yes I did and I still loooove that game.
You had the Donnie and Marie dolls with those pink and purple satiny
shredded outfits. Oh yes, there is even a picture of me somewhere with my Donny and Marie dolls in front the TV while the show was on. My Barbies were present too as their glam guests. Nerd alert!
You spent hours in your backyard on your metal swing set with the
trapeze. The swing set tipped over at least once. All the freakin time!
You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color. Yes, I had many hair things, I also used the pink curlers at night, so I had Nellie Olson hair.
You had a pair of Doctor Scholl's sandals (the ones with hard sole & the
buckle). You also had a pair of salt-water sandals. I had the Scholl's man.
You wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder really bad; you wore that Little
House on the Prairie-inspired plaid, ruffle shirt with the high neck in
at least one school picture; and you despised Nellie Olson! YES, YES and YES, althought secretly I wanted to BE Nellie Olson.
You wanted your first kiss to be at a roller rink.! Uh, Yeah! But all that was there were pedophilles.
Your hairstyle was described as having "wings" or "feathers" and you
kept it "pretty" with the comb you kept in your back pocket. Yes, I had the comb and the wings in third grade, I thought I was waaaay coool!
When you walked, the "wings" flapped up and down, looked like you were
gonna "take off" I'm not sure, probably.
You know who Strawberry Shortcake is, as well as her friends, Blueberry
Muffin and Huckleberry Pie. Oh yes I do! I had all of those darn dolls.
You carried a Muppets lunch box to school and it was metal, not plastic.
With the thermos inside! I don't think it was Muppets, but yes to the metal and thermos
You and your girlfriends would fight over which of the Dukes of Hazzard
was your boyfriend. Mentioned above, lol
YOU had Star Wars action figures, too! Leia, baby, I also had a HUGE Leia, like Barbie doll size.
It was a big event in your household each year when the "Wizard of Oz"
would come on TV. Your mom would break out the popcorn and sleeping
bags! Yes to all but sleeping bags.
You often asked your Magic-8 ball the question: "Who will I marry. Shaun
Cassidy, Leif Garrett, or David Cassidy..?" No, I asked it if I would marry Christopher Reeve.
You completely wore out your Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Fame
soundtrack record album. My aunts had the Grease album, I looooooved it!
You tried to do lots of arts and crafts, like yarn and Popsicle-stick
God's eyes, decoupage, or those weird potholders made on a plastic loom. Uh, still do.
You made Shrinky-Dinks and put iron-on kittens on your t-shirts! YES! Shrinky Dinks were coool.
You used to tape record songs off the radio by holding your
portable tape player up to the speaker. Yes, my brother and I also made a habit of going around taping ourselves doing various things. Riot!
You had subscriptions to Dynamite and Tiger Beat. No, but I bought them at Woolworth's
You learned everything you needed to know about girl issues from Judy
Blume books (Are you there God, It's me, Margaret.) YES, AMEN. I still learn a lot of stuff from Judy Blume. ;)
You thought Olivia Newton John's song "Physical" was about aerobics. Yes, I did. I loved her outfit (for shame)
You wore friendship pins on your tennis shoes, or shoelaces with heart
or rainbow designs. Yes, I wore them ALL!
You wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer. No, I wanted to be Andy Gibb's co-host.
You drowned yourself in Love's Baby Soft - which was the first "real"
perfume you ever owned .. . YES I did, I got a gift set for Christmas one year. I thought I was ALL THAT!
you glopped your lips in Strawberry Roll-on lip gloss till it almost
dripped off. Uh yeah, sounds kinda digusting when put that way!
Anyway, that's all from me, as you can see I was a typical '70s child. But weren't those the days??
Yesterday I was helping Max, 7, with his schoolwork, he had vocab words, I said something and he was like "Mom, these aren't vocab words like you had in the '80s." Uh, OK.

A new diet. I know.

2007-01-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Today I am going to clean. This place is a horrible mess!!
So lately I've been trying this new "diet." It's a diet that consists of three tablespoons of coconut oil a day. I have been doing this in the form of smoothies. It's not bad! Now I'm becoming like a organic loving freak, because I checked that area of the grocery store today and picked up some organic chocolate chip cookies, too (Newman's Own). And you know what? They aren't half bad!
So anyway, the coconut oil is supposed to do something for your metabolism, althought what I haven't figured out yet. But don't eat it by itself, it's like eating lard. Yeech.
I heard about the wonders of coconut oil from the director at the boy's school. She said her BIL had lost 20 pounds just from his coconut oil consumption, that he hadn't really changed anything else. Sooooo, of course, since I'm a freak for dieting anyway, I decided why not? What do I have to lose, except for about 20 pounds of blubber.
Which reminds me, remember the Enquirer I said I read the other day??
Well in it there were pictures of Cher. She's put on 26 pounds. Oh no! Anyway, now she weighs a whopping 145 pounds. Do you know what the lead in the article said? "I've got you, blubber!" Now c'mon, I weigh more than 145 and I'm not even as tall as Cher. I must be a little toad.
I guess that serves as a good reminder of why I don't like to read mags. They make me horribly inadequate.
Well, I will keep you posted about the coconut plan, as I'm calling it, and let you know if I've gained or lost. We'll see ...

Did I mention how much I hate snow?

2007-01-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Sorry I didn't post yesterday but honestly I mostly slept. For real. I'm so tired! It snowed and snowed yesterday and I think the weather just makes me want to sleep even more. My MIL picked the boys up in the morning for Sunday school and church. I opted to stay home. Then I took a nap on 5-year-old Danny's bed. I love his bed, it's the most comfortable in the house. I kid you not!
Before I knew it, I heard the doorbell, it was already noon and they were back from church. Wow. Time flies when you are in a nice cozy room with a space heater lying on a comfortable bed.
OK, now I want to go in there again.
I just made myself tired.
Anyway, so if that wasn't enough, I got up, tried to clean, did some laundry and went into the boys room to hang with them. I no sooner got on Danny's bed and I was sleeping again.
That bed is evil!
My boys just kept on playing. Sometimes I would feel them climbing on me, or hitting me with something, but I ignored that. It was lovely just to lay there.
Anyway, the long and short of it is, I got nothing done yesterday, I needed to get gas for the car, shovel the driveway and other things.
I did all of that this morning. But I'm still alive and here to tell about. The drive to school (can you believe there was school?) was dangerous at best, but the interstate was fine.
Now I'm debating about going to work, it's a long ways away (45 miles) and I'm not sure how the weather is up that way. If not, I can make it up tomorrow. But today is the day we actually put the paper out.
So, I don't know ...
Anyway, got some new work to show ya. These are my newest additions to SBE. Of course as you can see this is my LOOOOOVE KIT:

Anyway, so I've been really busy with the element pack and the papers. The papers are in the store now, and I just sent the elements last night.
Well, I think I'm going to go lay down on a certain bed and wonder about whether to go to work. CYA!

Snow tires me out

2007-01-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

Chello! Well it snowed again today. Whoo. I hate driving on snow, it's horrible. I really don't feel like dying on an icy road somewhere. The thought makes me cringe. I know "they" say to turn into the skid, but what if you're skidding toward a phone pole? Then what? Sorry, but I ain't turning into the skid then. Nope. Or what if you are skidding toward a semi? Anyway, ponder all of these scenarios for a moment ...
Anyway, so I had to take the kiddos to swim lessons. It worked out pretty well. Five-year-old Danny's lesson was at 9 a.m. (I must stress this is waaay too early for me to get up on a Saturday) but we were there on time, snow and ice and all. The class for Max, 7, was at 9:35 a.m. So basically I felt like I was making a freaking day of it there at the YMCA. My cup of coffee was clinched tightly in my fingers and a newspaper tucked under my arm. I was ready to "watch" the kids swim.
Danny did wonderfully. He didn't pass "Pike" the last time, so he has to retake it. This time around, though, his swimming had much improved.
But he wore a scowl on his face nearly the entire time. As usual.
Max of course was totally gung-ho as always. I was sitting behind a glass wall on some bleachers watching his facial expressions. He was animated as always, chatting with other members in his little "Polliwog" group.
He's such a talkative little stinker.
It felt as though hours had passed when it was finally time to leave. When froze as we were walking to the car, the boys' wet hair sticking up in little peaks.
I slowly drove my car out of the precarious spot it was in with snow around the tires and was able to break free. But I insisted that there was no talking in the car. I needed to concentrate.
I decided to go to my parents house. I spent the rest of the day there. My original intent was to drop the boys off there while I stocked up on groceries (because of course "they" are predicting more snow), but I ended up staying. It was a carefree afternoon. I read an Enquirer, talked, watched TV and ate pizza. My brother was there too! Pure bliss! My boys love to spend time with their uncle.
When I had to leave the warm glow of contentment, I dreaded driving in the snowy weather again. Ick. But by some miracle I survived. And I am here to type about it.
So how was your day?

On the heels of holiday comes a dangerous toy

2007-01-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated for a couple of days. We have been BUSY. Here's what I did yesterday ...
Max, 7, has decided what he wants for his birthday, besides the moon, I mean this literally.
He would like a pair of “Heelys.” For the un-hip (like me) these are a brand of shoes with a wheel in the heel. For what purpose? So one could skate everywhere they go, I guess.
So we pounded the pavement, or rather, the mall walkways for the said shoes. We checked Target, the hub of all things cool and trendy. No dice.
I guess Target isn’t worth their hipster salt.
Then we looked in Foot Locker. Nada.
But the employees at Foot Locker and a security guard that happened by both suggested we check out another store near Panera Bread.
We practically ran to this exciting locale, brushed past the Doc Martens and looked around. Where were they?
I made Max ask the clerk, after all he’s the one who must have these skate shoes or whatever they are.
“Uh, do you have those shoes with the wheel in the heel?” Max asked nervously.
“Heelys? We sure do!” She said proudly and led Max to a display with different colors and sizes of the crazy footwear.
Max was hog-shoe heaven.
“Oh boy, I want the black ones!” He said excitedly, “can I get them today??”
“Well, why don’t we wait,” I said, as they were about 60 bucks.
Max was clearly bummed. We went home empty handed, well except for 5-year-old Danny’s “Cars” shoes. He all but ruined his old pair of shoes, so new footwear for him was an absolute necessity. Plus he really loves the Pixar movie, so it was fitting. Plus they were only $16.99. A much more uh, comfortable price. And no wheels.
So, Max anxiously awaited his dad’s return from work. He wanted to tell him about the Heelys.
“I want those and telescope!” He chirped. He’s not spoiled or anything, though.
Long story short, dear old dad put he kibosh on the trundling tennies.
“He’ll fall down and crack his head open,” he said with knitted brows.
In spite of our exhausting search, Max wasn’t exactly crushed.
“OK, I’ll just take a bow and arrow set,” he said.

Check this out!

2007-01-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Got the coolest bow action ever! See? I, Stephanie Ogren, have made this bow! I love it! It's going into the Love Fool kit straight away. I am going to make many more bows, too. It's so easy, I got the action right here www.renderedmemories.com .

Anyway, I'm still going to make 'em from scratch too, but it's nice to have an action for when I'm in a hurry and stuff. Uh, which is all the time.

Oh well.

Max and Danny are safely at school. Today is Taco Tuesday there. So I didn't have to pack lunches this morning. Cool. Gotta love that. The boys got themselves ready (it's nice that they are older and can do that) but when we got to school, I noticed that Max had his shirt on inside-out. Maybe it's the lighting around here, he can never get his shirts on right. They are either backward or inside-out or something is amiss.

Although I don't see how that can be the lighting, when my hubbo has installed really bright lights all the way through the house. Oh well, Max sometimes has a short little span of attention and gets in a hurry. Hmmm, I wonder where he gets that stuff from?

********

Anyway, I love the movie "Cars." Have you guys seen this flick? It's so darn cute and I love the tow truck Mater. The boys got it for Christmas and we have watched it over and over and over. But I don't get sick of it, it's like "Finding Nemo."

Well, I better get to cleaning now, this house is beginning to fall by the wayside again, I feel my resolutions slipping. Save me from myself!

The key to getting the police to your house

2007-01-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here is my lovely pre-holiday story about a door, a broken key and the cops:

It happened one Christmas, or rather two days before Christmas.
My husband was in Colorado.
I was just returning home from a family Christmas party. My door lock was stuck, with all my might I turned it. Then I had my dad try it. He cranked the key back and forth.
All to no avail.
Then it happened. The key snapped in half.
And so did my mood.
“Oh no, now what?” I said picturing a night on my parent’s sofa. Not that that was a bad thing, but I would much rather enjoy the comforts of home.
“Well,” my dad said, “You can stay the night with us.”
Then I heard the dog. He bellowed loudly from the back yard.
“Oh no, I forgot about Sam! I need to let him back in!”
My parents had no place to put him for the night. This was a problem. I said a quick prayer.
Then I went home with my parents. I opted to call a locksmith. I figured $50 was worth a good night’s sleep.
I decided to leave Max and Danny with their grandparents. My dad took me home to meet up with the locksmith.
We waited in my dad’s running truck for the locksmith to pull into the driveway.
He arrived seconds later and immediately went to work, before long we could get into the house.
The locksmith was right in the middle of telling me that there was nothing wrong with the lock and how easy it was to get in (what a relief for me!) when a police officer came to the door.
I opened it and said hello to the imposing man in the blue uniform.
“You live here?” he asked, a menacing tone in voice.
“Uh, yes,” I said, gulping. I figured he was going to tell me that neighbors had complained about the dog, that at this point was totally losing control in the back yard.
“Well we just got a report of a burglary in progress,” I’m sure my mouth dropped open.
“This has happened to me before,” said the locksmith, shaking his head.
“No, no, officer,” I said, “my key broke, see?” I showed him the small gold key that was split in two.
“You got some ID?” the cop asked.
“Yes.”
I brandished my driver’s license. The officer glanced at and looked satisfied, he did another run on the address.
The officer then explained that our neighbor across the street reported the “crime” and that she said the locksmith’s son, who was supposed patiently waiting in his truck wearing a jolly Santa hat, was a lookout.
“Isn’t he in the truck?” the smithy was incredulous.
“No, but the dog is.” Said the cop.
Which is probably part of the reason why Sam was going nuts, he could smell another dog nearby.
“Well you are lucky you have neighbors that watch out for you,” said the locksmith, the officer shook his head in agreement.
The key master then left and took his dog and lookout with him.
The officer stayed and looked at my dad.
“You Corey?” he asked.
“No, I’m Ernie,” my dad answered.
“He’s my dad,” I said.
I wasn’t sure if the officer looked totally convinced. But he went back and got in his car nonetheless, I looked at the window after him and noticed at least three other police cars there.
“Back up!” I yelled to my dad. “They called back up!”
He laughed and stayed for a bit. But after awhile, when the officers still wouldn’t leave, we wondered what they could possibly be waiting for.
“I think they are waiting for you to leave,” I said to my dad.
“Maybe.” He shrugged.
Turns out we right because as soon as dad left the driveway, the cops left too.
I guess they were making sure my dad wasn’t holding me hostage or something.
Maybe they had itchy trigger fingers and were just waiting for something to go down.
Or maybe they were just talking over if they should eat at Dairy Queen or Runza.

The rain the park and other things ... again

2007-01-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Remember the paper pak I was working on?
Well forget that, I decided to make it a part of (Barry White voice) Love Kit.
I worked until 12:30 a.m. last night. Not only was I working, but I was talking to Amy and also looking for Gina's shoes. Gave me the wants really bad because I have a real soft spot for shoes.
So I was in bed LATE, so much for resolutions, BUT I have been reading my Bible everyday and exercising too! I'm proud of me (ding, that's the sound of my sparkly smile). I think I've come out of my funk a little bit and I'm glad of it. Depression SUCKS.
Today hubbo has to go on a trip for his recurrent training. Bummer. He'll be gone for about four days *cry*
He leaves this afternoon so the boys and I are going to their friend's house. I love their mom and her and I are becomming very good pals. It's always nice to meet someone that you hit it off with.
Speaking of hitting it off, Amy Musgrave, my bestest scrapping buddy is going to be my CT team leader because quite frankly, I really suck at CT management and marketing. That's why it took me so long to get a team andthe marketing, well, it's nonexistant.
But Amy is extremely gifted in these areas so I'm leaving it all up to her. She can be the brains of the this outfit.
Anyway, enough business ....
I'm going to my old church again today. We left because the pastor was waaaaaaay liberal. But my MIL goes there and she really misses us. Also it's a lot later service than the other church so hubbo can sleep in. And I can type to you guys!
After we get home from the service we will probably just bum around here for awhile, then DH is off into the ... well not the wild blue yonder but to the wilds of Kansas. Ugh.
Then we will head to our friend's house and mess around there and eat cardboard pizza (lol). Then home and put the kiddos to bed and I can finish my (BW voice) LLOOOOVEE KIT.
Actually I'm going to call it Love Fool, cause I like the name. I need to send that TODAY too, because at SBE, they upload on Sunday. "They" meaning Sunni and her hubbo, John. They are awesome people to work with and UBER professional. I just love that place! I'm so darn lucky.
So, I'll talk to you all tomorrow, be back here pulease. When no one comments, I feel like an utter LOOOOOOOSER (said like Ace Ventura).
CYA, (wouldn't wanna be ya). Kidding. I kid!

Alone again ... naturally

2007-01-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all! It's Saturday and I'm all alone again. Naturally.
My kids and hub are at the in-laws. I'm going to clean (allegedly). But of course here I am on the computer. But I need to update my blog RIGHT, RIGHT? Anyway, I was over at DST and read this weird thread about Mo Jackson. I don't know who that is really but I've heard various stories while I've been in the digital biz. Anyway, the thread has its own life now, with no mo talk of Mo.
I have decided to remove myself from DST before I waste anymore time!
Anyway, I have started designing my LOOOOOOVE kit (said in Barry White voice). It's turning out pretty cool. Here are some pics of what I'm working on.

SPARKLE HEART:

Yes anyone can make this using AC actions, BUT (and that's a big but) I'm not quite done with it yet.

Well, that's all I can post for now, Blogger hates me again. Curses.

Anyway, I am going to go clean now and eat some chocolate and soak up the sun. BYEEE!

The Road To Nowhere

2007-01-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaaaack.
No, I don't have the holiday story I told you I would have yet, I wrote it at work and have yet to go in to retrieve it.
I'm being lazy I guess. Dang it! I need to stop that. Anyways, I think I'm going to do a Valentine's Day kit. I'm so excited about it! I wish I had more time this morning to work on it but alas, duty calls. But at least I'm updating the old blog. I really need to revamp this thing but I don't know how. Anyone out there proficient in blog revamping? Let me know, I want to pick your brain! Or just give you my PASSWORD and let you do it for me. That's the American way. I want people to do the blog updating I won't do.
Anyway, I forgot to tell you all that I won four journalism awards from the Iowa Newspaper Association. I'm so excited! One of the awards was Master Columnist. Cool. I have wanted to win an INA writing award since birth. I mean it.
My hubbo says I should write a book. If I do, I want it to be an Erma Bombeck type book. But I think I'll forego that for now, if the book sells as well as my kits do, I'd be in the poorhouse in NO TIME.
Sometimes I feel like I'm on a the treadmill of life. Ooops, I'm speaking in a metaphor. You know what Jack Nicholson's character in "As Good As It Gets" said about people who speak in metaphors, something about shampooing his crotch. Yeah.
So, to sum up my life, I'm reminded of an Ozzie Osbourne song:

Ozzy Osbourne - Road To Nowhere Lyrics
[Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, Randy Castillo]

I was looking back on my life
And all the things I've done to me
I'm still looking for the answers
I'm still searching for the key
The wreckage of my past keeps haunting me
It just won't leave me alone
I still find it all a mystery
Could it be a dream?
The Road To Nowhere leads to me
Through all the happiness and sorrow
I guess I'd do it all again
Live for today and not tomorrow
It's still the road that never ends
The wreckage of my past keeps haunting me
It just won't leave me alone
I still find it all a mystery
Could it be a dream?
The Road To Nowhere leads to me
Ah Ah
The Road To Nowhere I gonna pass me by
Ah Ah
I hope the never have to say goodbye
I never want to live without you
The Road To Nowhere leads to me.

Beware, you may see me scrap this soon. Well, I should be getting on to work now. I'll post again here later today. CYA

Ah, you're bringin' me down, man!

2007-01-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

OK, so another "goal" of mine for this year is to TRY and update this blog everyday. Yeah. Right. Well today was a crashing down day for me. I don't want to go into it all but it felt as thought everything I've tried to accomplish is nothing. Whoa. Don't listen to me! I'm a downer, man!
Anyway, I'm working on a new paper pak. It's called Shadowing Eyes. It's named after .... you guessed it! My eyeshadow. Man, my uniqueness scares me, it really does.
As I told Terri Walsh, my next will be called "Potting Coffee." I love the mundane, ya know.
So here is a sample of the papers.
Do you likee?? I hope so. Anyways, I'm off to bed now. I am totally depleted. Catch ya tomorrow with a holiday story. Bye!

You say you want a resolution?

2007-01-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I haven't been on for awhile, sorry about that. Anyway I wanted to give you all my New Year's resolutions. Here we go .....

1. WORKOUT AND WORKOUT SOME MORE. Who doesn't have this one on their list? Huh? I hope to shed 30 pounds. Yeah. Right.

2. Not to give up chocolate in order to get my dream body. This may be a bit of stretch, but I figure I can do it! Willpower, y'all, willpower.

3. Reset my priorities. Typically in life, there is no reset button (I heard that on a commercial once) but I intend put God first, family second and career third (I learned that when I was an MK consultant, only now I intend to do those things without scamming people out of money in the process).

4. By resetting priorities, I plan to be a much better wife and mama. But where am I at right now? On the computer. Sheesh.

5. Give it all to God. Yes, whether He wants it or not, he's getting all of my old luggage and dirty laundry. Here's the whites, God!

6. Read my Bible EVERYDAY. I have already started this of course. I have a one year Bible that I had last year, too. I read until about July 23. This year, I'm gonna read THE ENTIRE THING. Even Leviticus. I mean it.

7. Get more organized. No one, and I mean NO ONE, is more disorganized than me. Seriously. I have bills from 1999 in my car. Time to clean up my act.

8. And speaking of cleaning up my act .... I also intend to keep my house clean consistently. Yes, you heard right, no more Digi Shop Talk til all hours. Time to clean. And I mean clean.

9. Put others first. By this I mean, forgetting my own comfort zone for the greater good. This is tough, that's why it's so far down on my list, but a leopard can't change its spots overnight.

10. Promote my designs more. Yeah, watch out, I'm gonna be making you all sick. This is really far down 'cause I'm lazy. Oh yeah, I wanted to work on that, too. And going to bed earlier. Yeah, um it's 11 now.

At night!

Anyway, here's some promotin' for ya. I also intend to post at DST to tell ALL about my blog, so if you are here from there, hello.

Here are my two newest kits, A House In Logan and If You Wear That Velvet Dress (for you Fran B). They are actually old kits of mine that I have revamped. HEEEEERE they are:

NOW PLEASE BUY THEM. Thank you. End of promoting.

Danny has a Christmas meltdown

2006-12-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Five-year-old Danny was having a hard time.He itched, he had a cold, and he had got out of bed at 3 a.m. I suppose with all of the factors, I would have had a rough go of it, too.
But, I know he’s a trouper so the three of us, along with 7-year-old Max, decided to go Christmas shopping after school. The boys have a gift exchange on Friday and it was the perfect time to buy presentsy.
I picked Family Dollar for my one-stop Christmas shop. I bought toys galore. Not for my boys mind you, but for schoolmates, cousins, teachers and friends.
For the first 30 minutes, the boys were fine with buying presents for their friends, but as time wore on, I could see them getting highly annoyed.
There was a restlessness to their personalities, not unlike natives coming in for the kill.“Moooooooooommm,” Danny whined, “let’s goooooooooo!” He was pulling on my pantleg.
“Just a minute,” I said, looking through the clothes racks. Hey! I can’t leave a store without taking a peek at the fashions, that’s just me! And my boys SHOULD know this, but nonetheless, they acted surprised when 10 minutes had elapsed and I was still rifling through racks of blouses.
“MOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!” Danny whined again, this time stationing himself under the clothes rack, so all I could see when I looked down was his shoes. The clothes swayed as he said “Can we pleeeeeeeeeeeeease leeeeeeeeeeeave?”I spoke sharp. “Daniel Wyatt, you need to behave.”
He didn’t care about my rather flimsy parental warning.
He began to go in and out of all of the clothes racks, and Max began to chase him. It was a free-for-all.
“Boys!!!” I hissed, “Stop it!”They ignored me and continued to run through the store.I decided to take the path of least resistance approach and ignore them, but as I’ve found in the past, that only compounds the problem.
Once they started putting ladies underwear on their heads, I couldn’t let their behavior slide anymore.“Boys!!! Get over here, now!!”This lasted for quite awhile as I kept remembering more things that I had to buy. My spending had reached a fever pitch, or so I thought.
Danny kept throwing more stuff into the cart, such as Pop Tarts, candy bars and Zoo Pals.
“Mom, I want this Santa hat,” he said, stuffing it into our already bulging cart.
“OK,” I said absentmindedly, as I was looking for other Christmas presents. I forgot that I had bought Danny a Santa hat just the day before.Finally, our shopping was over. By this time, Danny was holding himself and jumping up and down. “I have to go potty reeeal bad!”“Can you hold it for a bit, we’ll be home soon.”“Yes,” he said, grabbing a grape pop from the cooler.
So much for going potty. The clerk rang up everything. It came to $92.92. I was pleasantly surprised and told her so.“You forget where you are,” she said, “you can get a lot for your money here.”I smiled. “You take debit cards right?” I asked.“We sure do.”
Then I realized that I didn’t know my PIN and credit unfortunately was not an option. I told her this and tried to laugh it off as I searched through my purse in vain for a checkbook. I never carry one. I always pay with my debit card. I just push “credit” on the keypad.
So I was stuck, with a bulging cartload of STUFF.
So you probably know what comes next. Yes, I had to go home and grab my checkbook. We live way across town from that Family Dollar so it was quite a trek. The boys had already opened their drinks so we had to take those. The clerk said rather annoyed that she would pay for them if we didn’t come back.Well of course we came back.And Danny still had to go to the bathroom.And this was making him even more cranky. “Now we don’t have time for dinner and we don’t have time to wrap presents!” he wailed. Of course he screamed this in the parking lot of Family Dollar and everyone stared at me.
We drove back home.
Danny finally got relief but that didn’t help in his next ordeal. We bought presents for his teachers and I told him that he could wrap them while I made dinner.
He had a complete meltdown.
He screamed for the tape.He hurled objects at his brother.
He begged Max to help him hold the paper down so he could tape.
“Max hurry up, I’m wrapping a Nutcracker here!!” It was frightening to watch.
When Danny used up all the tape on one tiny Nutcracker, he decided to use band-aids. That is where I drew the line.
However, the pressent eventually did get wrapped. But unfortuntely my holiday spirit was as gone as the scotch tape.

'Tis the season to be generous

2006-12-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

I am always in awe when my husband does generous things.
Take Sunday for example. In church, the pastor was talking about the Gifts of Love program going on. He said that 72 children were still in need, and more families needed to be adopted.
I felt sorry for them but really didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t really think we had the money to help them with Christmas coming and our bills stacking up.
Not to mention thousands of dollars in presents that we are buying for two spoiled rotten children.
After the sermon was over and benediction given, we filed out of the church into the lobby.
My husband turned to me and said, “Should we give some money to the needy families?” “Oh yes!” I said.
We went over and stood in line behind others who were ready to give.
To my astonishment, my husband pulled $100 out of his wallet and popped into the donation basket.
My eyes were as big as saucers I’m sure.
I don’t know why I was so surprised – he’s a very decent person. And even compassionate.
I guess I just figured that he really hadn’t given 72 needy children another thought. I’m glad he proved me wrong.
Speaking of Christmas, Max, 7, and Danny, 5, went to see Santa over the weekend. Max has known for two years that Santa is, well, a nice idea.
He’s also been telling his brother that as well.
Danny refuses to listen. “He IS real!” he screams.
My husband and I decided not to fill Danny in on the secret because we wanted him to feel the magic just a bit longer. I felt bad for not sharing, because as Christians we believe that Jesus should take center stage this time of year.
But of course we want our kids to be kids, too.
But Max is so mature – we knew he could sense that St. Nick was a ruse.
So we filled him in and didn’t regret our decision in spite of opposition from grandparents on both sides.
Fast forward to this year, Danny is all excited about his visit to Santa. Max is less than enthused.
We trek to the mall, stand in line for about half an hour and finally get a glimpse of the man in the red suit.
Danny began to get shy, but Max ambled over to His Jolliness.
My big 7-year-old plopped on Santa’s lap. Santa commented that both boys had really grown this year and were much taller than last year. A nice touch, I thought. Very authentic.
I felt like pulling Santa’s beard at that point.
Anyway, Max began to tell Santa about his desire for a Polar Express train and Danny was still silent, although he had managed at this point to sit on Santa’s other knee.
“Danny, tell Santa what you want,” I urged. Danny meekly said, “I want a Star Wars fold-up ship.”His voice was so small I wondered if I had grabbed the wrong kid by mistake. I repeated Danny’s order to Mr. Claus.
“Oh OK,” Santa said knowingly, “anything else?”
Both boys stammered and didn’t quit know what else to say.
“Do you like surprises?” Santa asked.
“Yes!” both answered.
“Well then I will leave you some surprises, does that sound good?”
“Yes!” Santa then gave the boys coloring books and candy canes.
Walking away from Santa’s lair Max startled everyone by saying. “You know what? I’ve been wrong this whole time. Santa IS real. I believe now! I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you Danny.”
I didn’t correct Max later on.
After all, there are worse things to believe in.

NEW BOW

2006-12-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I still didn't get to bed at a reasonable time. But I made a hot new bow, check it out!

Also see above for how I feel most of the time, no coffee, Stephie no happy. (coffee blinkie by Gina Miller).

Bow Intervention

2006-12-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm updating AGAIN. Please leave the looooooooove. I love love.

Anyway, enough of that. I'm a tired today because I didn't get to bed until 2 a.m. last night. Yes I know I'm totally stupid, but I was working on a tied ribbon. And it sucks. Here it is:

See what I mean? Total suckness. What am I doing in this business?? My stuff sucks. Anyway, enough of that. I need some serious BOW INTERVENTION. That what's Amy said. She's right. I think I'm just gonna do the scanning thang. It's easy and fast and more fun and I don't get to bed at 2 a.m. when I scan stuff. My DH is probably reading this and shaking his head. He's away again and probably knows that I have spent too much time working on things like ugly bows. Anyway Hi Honey! I never call him honey but the purpose of comedy material I am calling him that today.

We don't even have any pet names for each other come to think of it. Unless you count bitch as a pet name. Kidding.

Anyway, on today's agenda is finishing stuff for church (graphic stuff), cleaning and maybe a little designing, don't know. Who am I kidding? I can't stay away "everytime I think I'm out ... they puuull me back in !!" That's a Godfather reference for those who aren't movie geeks like me. Actually I'm not a total movie geek per se, my dad on the other hand has thousands of movies, alphabetized on shelves ready to watch. Uh, nerd alert!

Anyway, I'm off now to read other blogs. Did you see Terri's post at DST? Give her blog some love, too! And Toni's and Tabetha's. We all need the LOVE.

Sunshine of your love ...

2006-12-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

Well, since I picked up some catnip bags at PetSmart my cats have not left their bed.

Look at the pics above and see for yourself. Kitty Bobo is now sportin' a bandana and claims to have a love of Harleys. I think I saw her with a pack of camels. Py thinks she's Marilyn Monroe. Or Marilyn Manson, don't know which. Maybe Freddie Mercury.

The drug-addled felines stay in their basket, huddled together, catnip close by.
It's like an opium den over there.
I could have sworn I heard the faint sound of "In the Sunshine of Your Love" playing in the bathroom where their baskquito is.
Yes, it's on the bathroom counter. I know, weird, but that's where they want to sleep, in a laundry basket now filled with two old blankets.
They love it. They can escape the dog that way.
And now they love it even more because they can trip and sleep.
So I think it's time for the catnip bags to go bye-bye. I don't want stoned cats. Kitty Bobo now wears John Lennon shades all the time. All this must end.
**************
Anyway, Max and Danny have asked for more trains for Christmas. I can't take it. Now Danny wants this Christmas train that has presents on it and Santa figurines.
OK. When did these children become so spoiled?
Of course when I was little my heart's desire was a Cabbage Patch Doll, which I received. It was

the year NO ONE could find them, but my mom totally lucked out and happened to be in the right place at the right time. This tiny store in my tiny hometown got a shipment of THREE.
My mom was right there and said "Could I please have one?" They took pity on her. It was even a redhead like I wanted. That was a great Christmas. Thanks mom!
****************
For those you lovely ladies asking about my Divine Digital kits, the answer is I've scrapped those. No not that way. I've tossed them. I'm making all new kits for SBE, because I'm a NEW WOMAN now. LOL. I may revise the kits and resell them there, but I will never sell those original ones. :) Thanks for asking though. I love you guys *sigh*

In search of The Polar Express

2006-12-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well today was the great search for the Polar Express train for Max. It is the boys favorite Christmas movie. So in our seach we scoured two hobby stores and found it for a cheaper price at a place called Hobbytown.

But the first place we hit was a small shop that had that smell. You know what smell I'm talking about. It's a combination between attic, must and old food. Anyway, the guys in there knew everything there was to know about old trains, and talked at length about it to one another.

They ignored us.

For a moment, I thought I had walked into a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young reunion, only there was no Stills. It was odd.

I found a rather interesting Brooke Shields doll from the '80s, but it was on a very high shelf and I didn't want to ask Crosby to get it down for me.

We pretended to look around some more in the stink shack and got the heck outta there.

As we were leaving I heard Crosby say to Nash "I can't believe Lionel would make a train that you couldn't hook cars too, and they did that for three years ... "

The second store, Hobbytown, was much nicer, bigger and didn't smell like old food. But there was a man in there who was talking so loudly on his cell phone that I knew intimate details of his life that I did not want to know. There are some things you just can't "unhear." Let me just say this: His car had a bumper sticker on it that was rainbow colored and said "Embrace Diversity."

We got the train bought and paid for before "diversity guy" could finish his convo.

It's really cool. I'm sure my husband will enjoy hours of fun with it.

*******************

Now for some scrapping news. I showed you all of my kits at SBE, but here is one that isn't even in the store yet that I will give you a sneak peak of:

Like it? I can't wait until it's in the store. I'm so excited about it.

Anyway, I have to go help out at the school so I guess that's all for today.

Hey everyone!!!

2006-12-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

I'm back, it's been awhile, so many changes!!! I am at Scrapbook-Elements now and I'm so darn excited I can't believe it! Me, little old me, at Scrapbook-Elements. I feel like Eliza Doolittle (I edited this because I had "Liza Doolittle" DUH). Or Cinderella. That's me, the Cinderella of scrapping.
I have two kits in the store, all new, brand new!
Check them out:
Of course Image of Amy is dedicated to my good buddy, Amy Musgrave. And My Christmas Past is based on, well, my Christmas past. I loved making the doodles for that one. It was really fun. Here's the link: MY SBE STORE
I know a lot of you guys were concerned about me, don't be! I'm back and I'm going to post regularly now. So please don't leave me!! Anyway, I have been so totally busy designing new kits and just trying to be the best I can be. I also have started working at my boy's school in the afternoon, which has taken even more precious time from me. But I get a break on tuition so it's all good.
I've been hanging out at DST a lot. So those of you who are wondering, you can usually catch my ramblings there. That no one responds to. LOL.
Man of man am I giddy typing to you guys! I feel like I haven't seen my friends foreva!
I hope the holiday was good for everyone. The Thanksgiving holiday I mean. I gained back five pounds that I lost. :(
I still haven't taken it back off. But you know, Christmas is coming and Stephanie's getting fat, please put a penny in the old man's hat.
Oh well, I love chocolate too much to miss out on Christmas goodies ....
***********
Moving right along, my dog, Samson, has a new name now. My husband decided to call him "Steve Perry" because he's a Journey fan, I think the dog realizes he has two names because he responds to it, but we still call him Sam of course. Can't totally change it! I wish we could get a new cat, I was at a pet store the other day and animal shelter cats were there. I wanted to take every single one of them home. It's so sad when they grow up and aren't adopted yet. *cry* I think I successfully talked my mother-in-law into taking one though. She's whacked. She already has a nutso Siamese who I think makes racecars out of his own feces.
************
I made a Christmas card, with my kit no less, here tis.

Aren't my babies cute?? I orded it from Winkflash. Check out the error on it. And me an editor too! I put a darn comma in The Ogrens. AAAAAAH. Well hopefully no one will notice. Well I'm off now to design some. CYA tomorrow.

Snarky waters ahead

2006-11-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

This song has been on my mind lately ....

Positively Fourth Street
You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was downYou just stood there grinning
You got a lotta nerve
To say you gota helping hand to lend
You just want to be onThe side that's winning
You say I let you down
You know it's not like that
If you're so hurt
Why then don't you show it
You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it
I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You're in with
Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don't know to begin with
You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, "How are you?" "Good luck"But you don't mean it
When you know as well as meYou'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once
And scream it
No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I'd rob them
And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand
It's not my problem
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you

Might as well face it I'm addicted to EVERYTHING

2006-11-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I stayed home from work today because Danny was sick. He had a bunch of green stuff coming out of his nose. Basically he didn't ACT sick. So, I took him to the doctor and she promptly gave him and antibiotic and some decongestant.
He's at my parent's house now along with his brother and of course my hubbo is in L.A., so I'm alone again ... naturally.
But I've really been in the mood to scrap today. I've also been in the mood to peruse the Internet. A story on Yahoo today alerted me to the fact that I am an Internet addict. Seriously.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061102/tc_afp/afplifestyleserbiainternet_061102114414
I need to stop. Well maybe not stop, but just surf in moderation. I don't want to delve any further into this non-stop posting and chat room usage.
It's weird. I just can't stay off the computer it seems like. Household chores get pushed aside in lieu of my strange habit.
Time passes by so quickly.
And Digi Shop Talk will be my undoing, I swear it.
So, how to stop surfing so much when being a digi-scrapper/designer REQUIRES it?
Hmmm. Dunno.
I wish I could just bring balance to the force. But balance is definitely not one of my strong suits. Or patience. Or any of those other virtuous things.
I'm kind of an all or nothing girl, unfortunately. Today I saw chocolate liquor in the store and nearly had a heart attack.
I just cannot handle temptation. At least I didn't buy the stuff, but I was thisclose.
I also was coveting the new Ghirardelli Limited Edition Peppermint Bark here.
Oh man, why does everything that tastes good be so darn bad.
It's the cruel joke of life. And I'm the one the joke is being told at the expense of. Seriously.
I'm so addictive that if I'm not on the Internet I want to eat. Shame, shame.
And if I'm not eating I want to shop, and if I'm not shopping I want to gamble. Just kidding.
Anyway, enough on that. Off to post some more ...

Wanna see something really scary??

2006-11-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't do a Halloween post yesterday because I busier than a one armed paper hanger in a ... I never remember the rest of that saying.
Anyway, the boys lived it up last night and got a whole load of candy, as if I needed that! My MIL brought cupcakes over also and my parents gave the kiddos huge popcorn balls. Stop the insanity!!! I can't take it! I can't go over 42 grams of fat per day people! Ahhhhh!
Sooooo, anyway on to the photos, you guys asked for it, you get it. Photos of me, DH, my dad and of course the kiddos on Halloween. Brace yourselves.

Aren't we just so adorable? Not! I did opt to be a dead flight attendant, which I thought was pretty darn funny since hubbo is a pilot. And of course Max and Danny, above, with my dad, were cute as buttons!
Anyway, the haul was great for the boys, they wanted to eat candy until they threw up and Danny nearly did.

I know what you're thinking, I'm a bad parent.

So basically last night and today were just nothing but torture for me having that candy around, I did splurge a bit and have some unfortunately :(

Well, I guess there's always tomorrow to fast ...

The holidays really suck.

Today was also a special day because I ACTUALLY SCRAPPED A PAGE! No way, you say. Oh yes, and here tiz:

It's my little crabola Danny. I made it with Heather Melzer's Thankful kit, a gift for DST goldmembers.

Goldmember. That still makes me crack up.

Hopefully I can post earlier tomorrow. See ya!

It's going to be a cold day in ....

2006-10-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

It's cold again!
I can't believe it.
It's been so warm the past few days, the boys and I went to the zoo on Sunday and it was - no kidding - 70 degrees! Of course I heard that tomorrow for Halloween it's supposed to be way cold and windy.
Bummer.
At the zoo we rode the train to see the animals. It was also the zoo's Halloween day so a lot of kids were dressed up in costumes. Not mine. I think the boys felt a little left out, but my MIL had tickets for the train and had been talking about going for about three weeks (we kept putting it off because of the weather, go figure).
Anyway, in spite of being costumeless, the boys had fun anyway.
When we passed the cheetah, some kids behind us yelled, "Look, there's a tiger!"
Max turned around a bit and looked at them out of the corner of his eye.
Then he said to me in his loudest voice, while still looking at them, "Mom, that's a cheetah, not a tiger, because tigers have stripes!"
I love how subtly he corrects people.
We ate a place called King Kong after our zoo excursion and I ate a gyro. I couldn't eat anything else for the rest of the day because the gyro was over my daily alloted grams of fat intake.
Man, who knew that a frickin gyro is 44 odd grams of fat??
I guess that's why they called the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
We also went to the nursing home that day to visit my husband's great aunt, Grace. She's 102 and can't see or hear very well, but she's still quite lucid. The boys really like to visit her but sometimes they get a little freaked out. Not by her, but by her neighbors who tell the boys to "be quiet!!" They are not used to being quiet so they get a little weirded out. Here's a picture of them with Grace during the summer.

***********

The boys and I were busy all day on Saturday too. As you read already, we had a costume party to go to.
Well, I was about the only adult dressed up.
Figures. Luckily I brought along a change of clothes so I didn't feel too ridiculous, but I did look cute for awhile as a flight attendant next to Max's pilot.
Maybe I'll wear the costume again tomorrow night while giving away candy. My hub is home so he's taking the kids treak-or-treating.
Maybe I can be a dead flight attendant. Would that be in poor taste being married to a pilot and all???
Speaking of candy ... I lost two pounds!!! Yeah! Pretty soon I will be that svelte 123 again.
Yeah, right.
I was pretty excited about Halloween but not now. I can't eat my beloved chocolate, but I just have to remember, size 6 ....
The boys, however, are pretty excited. Max of course is going to be a pilot and Daniel will be SpiderMan. Like anyone is going to see their costumes when they are all bundled up because it will be a gazillion degrees below zero but oh well. At least I will be safe in the house ;)
Happy Halloween everyone! (not the evil part of it tho)

Friendly skies?

2006-10-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I have an update. I didn't get the princess costume, *cry* because it didn't fit. Way too small, it was a size 6. WHAAAAA! I tried it on right there in the middle of the store, but it was pandemonium so no really cared much. I didn't strip or anything! Just took off my over shirt, (had a T-Shirt on underneath) and asked Max to zip me. People were walking in and out of the aisles, just glancing at me.

"Mom, I can't zip anymore!" Max said, after tugging on the zipper for quite a while.

"Bummer, well I guess it's the flight attendant costume, then," I said.

The flight attendant costume is actually perfect because of course my hubbo is a real-life pilot and Max is going to be a pilot for Halloween. I guess it was fate that the princess and the flight attendant were the only costumes left in the picked-over adult costume section.

Again bummer.

Why do I have to be so dang large now? I year ago I could have fit into that size 6. No prob.

Grrrrr.

Then Max proceeded to lecture me right there in Target.

"Mom, you could wear this stuff if you would stop eating chocolate!"

"I know Max."

"Chocolate is what makes you fat!" he said, loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Some giggled, some kept on walking and didn't glance our way. Embarassed for me I'm sure.

The weird thing about the flight attendant outfit is that it is a wrap around dress, so I don't even know how in the heck to put it on.

I'm sure I will look like a well-fed flight attendant, I be sure to put pics on here later, but for now I gotta go change and look ridiculous.

Toodles!

I'm a beautiful princess - not

2006-10-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

OK, I asked for everyone's blinkie at DST (in the designer conference room) and check it out over there, it's so awesome, and don't I look so dang popular? Oh yeah. That's what I wanted, to give the appearance as being like way hip and stuff.
Anyway, today I worked, worked, worked, hence posting so late, but lately I haven't posted at all, so it doesn't matter.
I wanted to go shopping for my Halloween costume today, but I didn't have time. There's a party tomorrow night that I'm invited to and I'm too large to wear any of my old ones. Just kidding, I'm not uber large, but still ...
Anyways, I saw this cute princess outfit at Target and wanted to jump on it. But it's like a kabillion dollars so I can't buy it until it's on the 80 percent-off rack, which of course is AFTER Halloween. So I guess I'll have to check out what's at Wal-Mart.
Bummer.
Anyway, it's actually a Halloween party for my kids, but adults can dress up, too. I'm just a kid at heart after all.
Speaking of large - well I wasn't but I did a couple of paragraphs back, I'm now eating really crummy non-food. I hate it. It's pure crap.
But I think I'm losing weight.
I just can't stand food with no flavor or fat. I love fat. Fat is good.
But, unfortunately fat is the last thing I need right now. Even though the princess outfit comes in a size 10. Go me!
So, I will probably go shopping tomorrow, either that or make a costume here, any ideas out there? Remember, I must be pretty, not gross or hideous.
I must be a pretty witch or a beautiful princess ... I don't like to be anything dead or whatever. Although one year I was thinking about dressing up as dead Carmela Soprano. Her character is technically still alive, but I thought it would be interesting and no one else would be dressed like that.
We used to have a Halloween costume contest at work. Every year I went all out. I never won a darn thing.
But one time I did win $50 for the best carved pumpkin! Fifty bucks! Whoo hoo.
I think I just spent it all on junk though. Which is pretty typical of me.
Too bad I don't have that money now, then I could buy that princess dress.

I'm spooked.

2006-10-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

OK, so I know I already posted today and I actually did get some cleaning done.
The reason for the SECOND POST is that I want your opinion on something.
I'm a Christian and we are not supposed to believe in ghosts. Only angels and demons.
But as much as I don't want to believe in ghosts, my co-worker (an avid "ghost hunter" in her spare time), insists that they are real!
And judging by some of the photos she has shown me, I tend to believe, too. So I'm torn. During this time or year, Halloween, there's a lot of talk of spirits and the like.
Before I became a Christian, I totally believed in such things, now I'm not sure.
I don't want my faith compromised by believing in ghosts, because next thing you know, I'll be reading my horoscope and buying freaking Tarot cards.
So, what's your take?
Ghosts? Demons? Pure bunk?
What are the messages whispered that ghost hunters call EVPs?
What are the mysterious spots and eerie human forms captured in photos?
I give you total permission to freak me out here, and me being a baby Christian I need guidance too.
So go for it ...

Various things

2006-10-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

OK, I should be working right now, but all I'm doing is postings/reading posts/blogging/reading blogs.
Not very productive.
I also should be cleaning.
I just went to the grocery store. I hate doing that. I bought a whole pile of diet dinners, but I just blew it by eating three mini snickers bars. I'm pathetic.
Since I've packed on the poundage, why am I not warmer? I'm still cold ALL THE TIME. I have my space heater pointed at me right now and the furnace on too.
My husband is gone today so I'm all by myself right now, which is pretty cool. I really like being alone. Don't get my wrong, I love my family, I just like it when they aren't here.
So, with this time, you think I would be praying or something productive, or finishing the painting I started in the living room.
Nope.
Don't feel like it. Maybe I'll work on it later today. What am I saying? No I won't.
Anyway, I don't have a freebie for you today, but keep checking back cause you never know. :)

A weighty issue

2006-10-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hey girls, don't leave me again! I'm going to post more, I'm kinda sick tonight. I found out yesterday that I now weight 157 pounds. Yuk. I haven't weighed that since I was pregnant, seriously. So I didn't eat much today, hence feeling like crap.
That's the way I diet. I don't eat.
Anyway, I want to get back down to 130 at least. It's so sad to gain so much. I really don't think I look much different, but I probably do to someone who hasn't seen me for a year. Anyway, I must stay away from the Halloween candy.
That is my mantra this week ... "must stay away from the Halloween candy ... "
Ugh. I hate dieting. Double ugh.
But, I cannot keep gaining weight or I will be 200 pounds by the time the year is out. I must be stopped!!!
Someone slap me!
I must use my powers for good and not evil!
Christmas is coming too! The horror. I love Christmas treats.
*cry*
Anyway, pray for me and wish me luck.

If you look up there, you will see my newest addition to the store at Divine, it's called, if you can't read it, Distress Me Out and it's a paper pack. It has the distinction of being my first ever paper pack, isn't that just darn exciting???

TFL!!

I'M BAAAAAACK

2006-10-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

OK, so it HAS been awhile since I've posted something on my wonderful blog. I've really missed you guys a lot! I have been so busy!!! I don't like being so busy as I'm basically lazy.

Anyway, a lot has been happening in my life.

If you look over there, you will see a preview of my newest kit at Divine Digital. Do you like it??? Please say yes.

I'm totally insecure, yo. Especially with all the amazing talent out there in digi land.

So, I dropped out of the ScrapArtist challenge. I just wasn't "feeling" it anymore. But I still love the site and maybe someday ...

(dramatic music and fade here)

But I really wanted to concentrate on DD. No, not Dungeons and Dragons, Divine Digital.

This weekend is All Diva's Eve and I have a challenge that I'm in charge of. Hee hee. It's a Scripture Challenge. As if I should be hosting that one. I've been a baaaaad girl. I didn't go to church today and right now I should be praying but I'm not. :(

But I did get some cleaning done, so that's cool.

My husband and kids are gone right now so I'm all alone, muhahaaaaha.

I can't do that laugh right.

So, I found out that both my kids are geniuses. I can't spell that. They don't get it from me.

Yes, tis true, a challenge center teacher that used to work exclusively with TAG kids told me this after talking with both my boys.

If they are such geniuses why can't they pee in the toilet? Hmmm.

I guess it's the old "geniuses have no common sense thing."

I was reading Gina Miller's blog (yes I'm jumping on ye olde bandwagon again) and she was talking about her Emily being super smart. It makes me wonder, what is with all these amazingly smart kids? Is it something we ate when we were pregnant? Is it Nutrasweet? Maybe a secret ingredient in Hershey candybars? It just seems as though kids are a whole lot smarter these days then children of my generation.

But that was the '70s.

When you have to watch things on TV made by Sid and Marty Croft, that would lower anyone's brain cells.

It's marijuana smoking by proxy, ya know?

Their shows were like one huge acid trip (not that I would know ... see my halo?)

Anyway that's enough for today. I'm outtie. I always wanted to say that :)

Hey, check out Divine Digital and buy my kit. Blatant enough for ya?

And here's a SAMPLE, cause I love ya! It's my ScrapArtist round 2 papers. I know a lot of people liked them, so they are all yours, I didn't change the preview either, everything is UNTOUCHED. LOL.

As always don't forget the Luckybug link coming later.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/1wdv8v

http://luckybugscrapbooking.com/digital/freebies/stephanieogren/index.htm

Can't get a bathroom break

2006-10-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: This story was written two years ago, but I wanted to share it with you :)

Lately I have been confronted with an onslaught of bathroom faux pas.
It’s like the boys have forgotten their don’t-soil-your-pants etiquette.
So no matter where I am, I can’t seem to get a bathroom break. Pun intended.
Case in point, my husband the boys and I decided to stop at Dairy Queen one evening after our little family had gone swimming.
It was a hot day so we decided to get a cool treat.
I waited in the truck with the kids while my husband went inside. The drive thru line ended at about the No Frills parking lot, so he thought going
in would be “faster.”
“Where’s Daddy going?” my oldest, Max, asked.
“Inside to get the ice cream,” I said while looking at my pool hair. Next time I would have to take a brush along with me, I thought, as I looked like Meg Ryan’s ugly little sister.
While I was fretting about my hair, Danny, 3, began shifting in his seat.
“I have to go potty,” he whined.
“Just hold it,” I said, “Daddy will be out soon.”
He continued to wiggle.
“Can’t I just go outside?” He asked.
“No. Just hold it,” I looked at all the cars and businesses around, because I seriously considered it for about five seconds.
He was quiet.
Then he said, “MOMMY I HAVE TO GO!”
“Danny, just wait a little bit longer …”
I was cut off mid-sentence by the odor.
I turned around and Danny had wet his pants all over the car seat.
“I sorry mommy,” he said, feeling true remorse.
So, I guess I know not to wait when Danny says he has to go, right?
Well, yes, I learned with Danny but apparently not with Max.
Again, we had just finished swimming. Always swimming!
Only this time it was after the boy’s swimming lessons.
My husband was on a trip, so I was going it alone with the two youngsters.
We all three went into the girl’s locker room to change, which is difficult enough with two boys, because the little girls kind of freak out.
“Boys in here!” They yell and point.
I try to ignore it.
I don’t really need to help Max get dressed but he forgets that he can dress himself and was running around the locker room in his underwear.
I was busy trying to get Danny out of his wet trunks and putting clothes on him.
“Mom,” Max yelled from the other side of the locker room, “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Now there are like four stalls in the locker room.
“Just go,” I said, struggling to remove Danny sopping wet trunks while he was dancing around.
“Mom, I have to go,” Max yelled again.
“Go,” I said.
He must have taken me literally, because I looked over and there was Max, urinating all over floor, thankfully not on the carpeted area.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” I was frantic, yet grateful that no one else happened to be in the locker room at the time.
“I couldn’t make it, mom,” Max said, while at steady stream was falling to the floor.
I forgot about getting Danny dressed and ran over to Max.
“Stop!” I said, but it was too late. The damage had been done.
I angrily went over to the paper towel dispenser and grabbed about 50 of them.
And the boys still hadn’t dressed themselves.
I told Max in the car on the way NEVER to do that again. He was truly remorseful.
You’d think that would be enough, first Danny then Max, both in public.
Nope. One busy morning, I brought the boys to vacation Bible school. I woke up late that day anyway and the whole day thus far had been rush, rush, rush.
The boys are lucky they actually had shoes on that day.
Picture us, running to the car, the picture is about what you would expect except that I didn’t have curlers in my hair.
It was about 7:40 a.m., I had to have the children at the church by 7:30. Oh well, I thought, 10 minutes isn’t going to hurt anyone, I’ll drop them off and still make it to work on time.
Now, mornings are always bad for me, as I am not by nature, a morning person. Plus, I have the added bonus of the newspaper deadline being 10 a.m., so the whole morning is an exercise in stress.
I dropped the boys off and I was on my way. It was about 7:50 a.m. by the time I arrived at work.
I sat down, turned the computer on and the phone rang.
“Stephanie,” said Judy from church, “Danny has wet his pants and we don’t have a change of clothes for him.”
“Oh …” I said, not really comprehending what she was saying because I hadn’t had my coffee yet.
“Oh!” I said, the water slowly sinking into the concrete, “I’ll be right there.”
I decided in my infinite wisdom to go home and get a change of clothes for Danny. Instead of picking him up at the church, which was on my home, I was too worried about ruining another car seat, I guess.
So, I hurried and grabbed Danny a pair of underwear and shorts. I got to the church. I spied Danny in the cafeteria. He was soaked from – I kid you not – head to toe.
The kid needed a new shirt, socks, underwear, you name it.
I swooped down and picked him up. I put him in his underwear and he rode home like that, good thing it’s summertime.
He, of course, felt remorseful.
“Sorry mommy.”
“That’s OK,” I said smiling but inside I was screaming.
The screaming was far from over.
My husband was gone again, he been pretty lucky to have gone for all of the above, this next incident was no exception.
It was nearly midnight and I was just thinking about going to bed because I’m an idiot who likes to stay up and read and listen to the radio.
I got into bed and felt my eyelids getting heavy, and then I heard a muffled cry.
I listened for a minute; because sometimes Danny will wake up, cry for about a second and go back to sleep.
It hearkens back to his babyhood, I guess.
But that wasn’t the case.
I went to the boy’s room and Max was getting into Danny bunk minus his underwear.
“Max, what are you doing?”
“I don’t know,” he slurred.
Danny was whimpering and standing up.
It was then that it hit me; they had both wet their beds at the same time.
And not just a tiny spot on the sheet, either. We’re talking blankets and everything else.
I grabbed the two boys and moved them into my room, I removed all the wet underwear, and I wiped the tiny bodies off. I put new clean dry underwear on them.
Then I put them on the floor and told them to wait.
Then I got to work changing sheets and blankets and pillows. On a bunk bed, no less, in the middle of the night.
The boys were both crying in my room, just a constant wail. I had to work quickly.
I was up to my elbows in – well, I won’t say it.
Finally I was finished, they were all tucked in and I got to bed around 1 a.m.
So much for potty training.
And the boys were too tired to be remorseful.

Think I'm just too white and nerdy.

2006-10-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

This song is awesome, it's by Weird Al, one of my all times faves. I loved him since I was a kid :)

They see me mowin'... my front lawn
I know they're all thinkin' I'm so white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Can't ya see I'm white & nerdy?
Look at me, I'm white & nerdy
I wanna roll with... the gangstas

But so far they all think I'm too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
I'm just too white & nerdy
Really, really white & nerdy

First in my class there at MIT
Got skills, I'm a champion at D&D
MC Escher, that's my favorite MC
Keep your 40, I'll just have an Earl Grey tea
My rims never spin - to the contrary
You'll find that they're quite stationary
All of my action figures are cherry

Stephen Hawking's in my library
My MySpace page is all totally pimped out
Got people beggin' for my Top 8 spaces
Yo, I know pi to a thousand places
Ain't got no grills, but I still wear braces

I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise
I'm a whiz at Minesweeper, I could play for days
Once you see my sweet moves, you're gonna stay amazed
My fingers movin' so fast, I'll set the place ablaze
There's no killer app I haven't run

At Pascal, well, I'm number one
Do vector calculus just for fun
I ain't got a gat but I got a soldering gun
"Happy Days" is my favorite theme song
I could sure kick your butt in a game of ping pong
I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on

I'm fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon
Here's the part I sing on...

They see me roll on... my Segway
I know in my heart they think I'm white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Can't ya see I'm white & nerdy?
Look at me, I'm white & nerdy
I'd like to roll with... the gangstas
Although it's apparent I'm too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
I'm just too white & nerdy
How'd I get so white & nerdy?

I've been browsin', inspectin'
X-Men comics, you know I collect 'em
The pens in my pocket, I must protect 'em
My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored
Shoppin' online for deals on some writable media
I edit, Wikipedia

I memorized "Holy Grail" really well
I can recite it right now and have you ROTFLOL
I got a business doin' web sites

When my friends need some code, who do they call?
I do HTML for 'em all
Even made a home page for my dog
Yo, I got myself a fanny pack
They were havin' a sale down at The Gap
Spend my nights with a roll of bubble wrap
Pop pop, hope no one sees me... gettin' freaky
I'm nerdy in the extreme and whiter than sour cream
I was in A/V Club and Glee Club and even the chess team
Only question I ever thought was hard
Was, do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?
Spend every weekend at the Renaissance Faire
Got my name on my underwear

They see me strollin'... they laughin'
And rollin' their eyes 'cause I'm so white & nerdy
Just because I'm white & nerdy
Just because I'm white & nerdy
All because I'm white & nerdy
Holy cow, I'm white & nerdy

I wanna bowl with... the gangstas
But oh well, it's obvious I'm white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
I'm just too white & nerdy
Look a' me, I'm white & nerdy

New site and Py gets a bath

2006-10-10T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm gonna let you all in on something ...

I've switched sites again. I know. "Again!" you may be saying.

"What about ScrapArtist?" Well, I'm going to keep trying at ScrapArtist.

Don't worry about that. I won't make it past this next round anyway.

Anyway, my new site, without further ado, let me doing the unveiling (removes cover from hidden object)

TA-DA!

Yes, it's a sweet little angel, and the site is Divine Digital.

Are you shocked?

I am! I'm always shocked when people like my work! So I'm ready to dive in and start designing. You may have noticed that I'm not offering samples everyday.

Sorry about that. I love giving you guys gifts, but right now I'm so over-worked that I may have a nervous breakdown.

But I intend to keep giving gifts every so often, so be on the lookout!

I might even give away a sample from my newest kit.

Anyway, enough of that.

Wish me luck. Again.

__________________________________

I gave my animals a bath tonight and let me tell you, I may never be the same.

Have you ever washed three hyper animals in one sitting?

Don't do it! It's scary. It's horrific.

And it's wet. Very wet. I was drenched by the time I was done, and my husband and I had more than a few battle scars.

First we started with Sam, the dummy, the part Lab, part Collie wonder dog.

He was filthy.

And he knew something was up because he ran for his hideaway under the table. My husband picked him up and carried him into the bathroom.

"He's like dead weight!" he said.

He put Samo in the tub and the dog fought to get out. But he did not prevail, and soon he calmed down and enjoyed the soft spray of water down his back.

I had put several towels on the floor for the moment of truth. When we would get him out and he would do the dog shake thing.

Which he did about eight times.

After I wiped wiped down the bathroom, I went to find Kitty Bobo. She knew something was going on, too.

She thought she could find shelter behind the chair, but of course my husband was too quick for her. He took her to the tub and she began to squirm, after we soaked her, she resembled a rat. A rat with huge feet.

I wrapped her in a towel, she was shaking.

I started to dry her off with the hair dryer and she squirmed some more and finally broke free.

She proceeded to start licking her while giving my husband and I the dirtiest looks a cat can give. "Don't let her out, she'll warn the other one!" my husband said.

Next it was HER turn. Yes. Pywacket. The you-know-what, the ill-tempered one, the black cat.

She is very nimble and kept us on our toes trying to catch her as she darted from chair to chair and under tables. (see photo)

We surrounded her finally under the kitchen table, she growled and spit. She knew.

From the moment my husband grabbed her, she was trying to get away. He put her in the tub. The cat fought more fiercely than a prizefighter. She jumped up high to get away from the water. She howled in a low, guttural tone, it sounded otherworldly.

Her eyes shone bright and glassy.

Of course she was behind the shower door so she could not escape.

Does that sound mean? Well no not really. My husband said she should have a minute to calm down and get used to the water.

Which she finally did, but now without howling and giving my husband one fierce bite on the arm. She drew blood.

Well, she did finally get clean, she calmed down just enough and afterward, I dried her with the blow dryer. She seemed to like that a lot. After all she's my "cold" cat, the one who likes to sleep huddled up in the laundry or right over the heat vent.

My husband thought the bathing fiasco would ruin our relationship with Py. But right now she is enjoying some faucet water.

She's just a drama queen.

Orange crush

2006-10-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

My youngest. My baby.

My little impossible baby.

I look at him now and think all this madness can be traced back to one life-changing event.

It was a beautiful spring day.

Full of promise and pollen, I was out at my in-laws with my husband and my oldest, then 2.

My little boy loved to go for rides on my father-in-law's mower, it was a magical instrument to him, a vehicle that allowed him to see first-hand the grass that was taller than he was and the whole lay of the land.

And there was and is quite a bit a land, believe me.

So much land, in fact, that my father-in-law has two mowers.

The day in question was a Tuesday, and I was nine and a half months pregnant. I was to be induced the next day.

A week before, my father-in-law said, "You need to learn how to drive one of these." He gestured toward the mowers.

"Me?"

Now, everyone knows that I can barely drive a car, let alone some other object with four wheels, a motor and some kind of weird stick shift.

"Sure!" There was such glee on his face, I couldn't say no. I picked the not-so-ominous orange one.

"This one is really easy to drive," he said.

He showed me the particulars, and I was off.

This is easy! Why was I petrified? This is like a moped, although I've never driven a moped, either, but still ... I drove around the yard feeling quite important. You can probably picture me, looking a lot like Moby Dick, a smug look on my bloated face. Look at me, I'm on a tractor! I can drive a tractor, ha. Everyone thought I was hell on wheels, and look at me now - soon I'll be driving a tractor all the time, then a bus ...

I took my little boy for a spin and I could see the respect in his eyes.

"Look at my mommy. She's so awesome, so uninhibited. I want to have her strength someday."

Not that a 2-year-old would think a word like "uninhibited," but you get the picture.

I drove the tractor around a tiny space of yard a couple of more times and shut the motor off. I felt like a pro, next to a NASCAR driver or something.

My husband, Max and I went home, and I kept thinking about the next time I would be in command of the orange machine, or "orange crush" as I secretly called it.

That fateful Tuesday came upon us. Nine-and-a-half months pregnant. Mounting orange crush.

"I'm ready!" I said to my father-in-law.

I took my little boy for another spin again and kept thinking about a song from "Toy Story" that was totally unrelated to what I was doing.

The baby in my tummy kicked, and I felt its respect, too.

Tomorrow, you'll be out to congratulate me on my tenacity!

I stopped orange crush and shut off the motor. I let my small passenger off. He went to join his grandpop on the other, more formidable tractor, the one with the bucket in front.

I told them I would be on orange crush driving around, if they needed me.

They went in one direction and I went in the other, unaware of what was to happen next.

I turned orange crush around and around.

This is such fun. I wish that "Toy Story" song would get out of my head. Wow, this grass is pretty tall, now how do I stop? Like this? How do I accelerate? Oh well, I'll figure it out. Where did the boys go? I can't see them anymore ... oh well, this is really cool, I'm doing fine. Do I pull this stick back to reverse? Wish I could remember. Hmmm, maybe I'll turn and go in this direction. OK, now I'm heading toward the house, I'll go up on the hill a little bit, wow, what a steep hill, I never realized what a steep hill this was before ... I better head back down this hill ... oh! it feels like I'm going to topple over, I better stop, how do you stop? I need to stop! OK, there's the pine tree ... stop ...

Well, I did stop, the pine tree helped me, thank God, and the best part? I accelerated into the pine tree. Finally figured that out.

My father-in-law came running over to me to see if I was OK. I was fine, but shaky. I apologized to him for denting his tractor.
"You'll have to apologize to her about the tree!" he said, referring to his wife and pointing to the now scarred pine.

"Oops."

The rest of the day, my father-in-law and my husband enjoyed each other's company and made many jokes about women drivers. And if that wasn't enough, they also made jokes about pregnant women, too. And of course, they combined them to make the jokes about pregnant women drivers. They even made a few cracks about "going into labor."

We went home that evening and I felt fine.

Well, as fine as you can feel with something pushing really hard on your bladder.

I went to bed and didn't get much sleep, I just felt really uncomfortable the whole night.

This is because of that damn tractor, now I can't get any sleep and I won't be fresh to be induced tomorrow.

So, I got up at 5 a.m. so we could be at the hospital by 7 a.m.

Long story short? I was already in labor, and by the time 5 a.m. rolled around, in some huge pain.

Darn, darn tractor. And now I have that REM song in my head.

I guess my youngest son’s demeanor, unpredictable and explosive, like that ill-fated ride on orange crush, comes honestly.

The Day the Dirt Devil Died

2006-10-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

This following is a true story, be afraid, be very afraid.

“When are you done, mom?” my oldest son yelled over the whirring sound.
“Soon,” I yelled back, I glanced down at the spinning brushes.
My youngest son was spending the day with his grandma and my husband was away on a trip. It was a sunny Saturday morning toward the end of summer.
My son, who then was 6, was straddling the arm of the couch, brown sandals in front of him, watching me as I used the scrubber as a weapon, attacking a rather obvious spot in the middle of the floor.
I was cleaning the carpet in the living room with a tiny upright that was a hand-me-down from my mom and dad. I was determined to get every speck of dirt.
My big boy was a not-so-silent witness to my mania. I say this because he would put his fingers in his ears and yell “la, la, la, la!” every time I turned the cleaner on.
“It won’t take very long,” I shouted over the whirring, “then we can go for our walk!”
“What?” he yelled back, taking a pause from his “la las.”
He liked to have time alone with me without his brother. The cleaning was eating up that time. Today was the day I had set aside for scrubbing the living room. It had to be done!
I never liked the carpet in that room. It was a putrid green color, a cross between lime sherbet and vomit. It had been a permanent fixture since we moved in five years before.
Every spot on the rug made itself known to our guests, practically screaming “Look at me, I’m chocolate syrup from the spring of ’02!”
I also didn’t like trying to find matching accessories, such as pillows and throws.
But that was my cross to bear, I guess. Being the owner of an ugly carpet.
My husband had vowed to put flooring down one day, but other projects always came first, so the carpet and I continued to carry out our day-to-day battle of cleanliness.
The age-old fight between us was about to heat up.
Literally.
It was on this bright weekend morning with my impatient son looking on that the brave carpet cleaner died while fighting the dirt battle on enemy territory.
Our lives would never be the same …
In addition to scrubbing that day, I had also planned to tackle and cupboards and work my way through a Mt. Everest pile of laundry.
I was thinking way ahead to these other tasks when I heard a “pop.” Then the high-pitched squeal began. I took no notice because of the extreme amount of racket the machine produced in the first place. I should have listened. The machine was running a bit sluggish, too. I just pushed harder on the same spot.
“Grape juice,” I muttered, “always grape juice!”
“WeeeeeeeeWeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,” the scrubber wailed. It was foaming a bit more, too, kind of like a rabid dog, then it began to sputter, like a bad cough.
I turned it off and back on again, a sure-fire fixing method that always worked with my computer.
“What’s the matter with it, mom?” my son asked.
“Grape juice,” I answered.
I started it up again.
“Whiiiiiiiirrrrrreeeeeeeeeee.” It didn’t sound much healthier.
I suppose I should have given up, but being the perfectionist that I am, I couldn’t help but to go back the stain, which was faint by now but still visible. I couldn’t rest until it was gone. My eyebrows furrowed, I growled and gripped the handle tighter, pushing the machine forward and back again and again. Maybe treating it roughly will make it work better, I reasoned.
“Come on! You are a disgrace!” I yelled like a drill sergeant, “I’ve seen Swiffers that can do a better job than you!”
My mind was working a mile a minute, focused on the stain with an estimated age of two weeks old when it happened …
“POP! Screeeeeeeech!” went the machine. I jumped back in horror. My boy took his fingers from his ears to stare in my direction, his eyes filled with terror.
Smoke began to billow from the cleaner. After a strange hissing, flames rose up from the bottom, and rushed up the backside, a hot streak of orange.
I was frozen, not able to do anything. I pictured my house being set ablaze. I could hear my husband scolding me.
“Well, you’ve burned down the house, now what are we going to do about dinner?”
It seemed as though everything was in slow motion.
My son screamed and ran out the front door, slamming it loudly behind him. “Waaaaaaaa. Fire! Fire!” I heard him yell.
The flames died as quickly as they had risen. I could still hear my son. I pictured him sitting in the front yard yelling, fingers stuck in his ears, and neighbors surrounding him with puzzled looks on their faces. Not to mention the police, who I’m sure would stop by to investigate a report of a child alone in his yard, hysterical …
In a quick moment of damage control, I carted the charred heap of a carpet cleaner to the end of the driveway, it was still smoking so I grabbed the hose and doused it. With a sizzle and a crack, the scrubber was finished. It died honorably.
I wiped the sweat from my brow and pulled off my bandana.
“Just let go,” I whispered to the dying Dirt Devil.
Then I looked around for my son, who wasn’t in the front yard after all. I found him crouched beside the car, praying. I could hear his pleas before I even got to him. I walked over and bent down to his level. I still felt badly shaken, but I wanted to look tough for him.
“Sweetie, are you alright?” I said, looking down at the terrified boy that did have his fingers in his ears.
“What?” he yelled.
I removed the fingers.
“Mommy, I thought you died.”
“No I’m alright, the cleaner isn’t in real good shape, though,” I said, motioning toward the smoking pile at the end of driveway. It popped again as if to affirm my statement.
“I’ve been praying,” he said, “I prayed that God would save you.”
“Well, it looks like He answered your prayer,” I said, smiling at him. I reached over and smoothed out his blonde hair, which was matted with sweat.
“Can we get out of here?” he asked.
“Sure,” I answered.
He stood up and dusted himself off.
“Well, I guess we should call the fire department,” he suggested.
“Why?”
“The house is still on fire,” I looked into his big blue eyes on his tear-stained dirty face. I hugged him.
“The house is fine, the flames died down as soon as they shot up. Everything’s fine.”
We decided to go back into the house so I could prove to him that everything was intact.
When he saw that the living room looked as it always had (which isn’t necessarily a good thing), he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he took a whiff.
“Phew, yuck!” he said.
It was true. The only thing that was different was a horrible burning rubber smell. A haze still hung in the air. I opened some windows. After I sprayed some air freshener, we both agreed that now would be a good time for our walk.
We started up our street hand-in-hand. Everything was tranquil. We talked about our “near brush with death.”
“Mom, why did that happen?” he asked me.
“Well, mommy didn’t listen. The machine was sick, but I just kept going. Kind of like we do in life when God is trying to tell us something and we just keep doing our own thing. You see what happens when we stray? We get into trouble when we don’t listen to the warnings.”
“Yes,” he said, his expression serious, then he grinned, “hey mom, I almost wet my pants when that happened,” he began to giggle.
“Me too, son, me too.”
When we walked back home, we went into the house and cautiously stepped over to where the cleaner had scrubbed its last scrub to survey the damage.
To my surprise, there was only a tiny scorch mark.
“It doesn’t look so bad,” I said in astonishment, pointing to the mark, I bent down for a closer look.
It was amazing that the fire didn’t do any more damage.
I was so lucky.
I felt that the mark had been placed there to remind me to always heed the warning sounds, or the cleaning process might get a little rough.

I've been down so long, it looks like up to me

2006-10-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I've kinda got the steadily depressin', low down mind messin', digital scrapping blues.

That's right, even though I have my kit in the store at godigitalscrapbooking.com (see left) I feel as if I'm spent and my MOJO is gone, baby.

Maybe I should find a quieter hobby, like knitting.

Maybe I should chuck this blog. I just got the Blogger Beta and I'm sorry, what's so much beta about it? So far it's been a large pain in my ---.
Speaking of blogs, do you like my new header that I cannot center for the life of me? Yes, it's a pre-made header by Shabby Princess. I will probably make another soon, but I've been too lazy lately.
Hey don't mind me, I'm a bit grumpy tonight.

I think I'm sleep deprived, yet I continue to stay up way past my bedtime.

The boys have to end up making their own breakfast in the morning, which is very scary. Thank goodness for uniforms otherwise who knows how they would dress themselves, because their zombie mom sure can't dress anything at that hour.

We were all late the other day. I slept in until 7:45 a.m. The boys have to be at school at 8:15. We didn't make it to school until about 8:30 a.m. I got to work at 10 a.m.

I felt I was behind all day. I just couldn't catch up to save my life. Then I came home, made dinner as if on auto pilot, gave the kids the a bath and got back on the computer to stay up until at least 1 a.m.

I'm just insane.

When will I learn?

Maybe I like looking old?

Maybe I like sleepwalking through life and ignoring laundry? Well, yeah that is true.

So, I guess something good that I can report is that I feel as though I have lost weight. So running yourself ragged does have its benefits.

Whoo hoo size 10!

If I keep this up, I may just waste away into a size 9 and a half.

Anyway, I do have a freebie for you and I had big fun making it, the doodles are hand-drawn and scanned, so if they look like crap, that's why. Anyway, it's called "Into the Mystic" based on one of my fave songs by Van Morrison. http://www.sendspace.com/file/vc46gz

LUCKYBUGBABY

By the way I'm still looking forward to the outcome of the Scrapartist contest Round 2, I think there are some that are pretty sure they are going on to the next round. Not me. I can't believe I made it as far as I did.

Anyway, enough of that, be sure to check out www.godigitalscrapbooking.com (man that's a long title) and check out all of the lovely ladies there. They would love to have you as part of the community.

I can tell I've been on Hello too long because when I type the word "love" I expect a heart to fall across the screeen. Sheesh. I'm off to bed now. Really.

I'm a reject - maker that is

2006-10-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

As the frenzied Scrapartist Apprentice Challenge dies down, I'm sure there will be a lot a rejects out there. No I don't mean people, I mean papers. And that's my freebie, my rejects, you know the ones I DIDN'T submit to Round 2 (for obvious reasons). I have decided to leave the original titles on them so as to give you a good laugh and let you in on the mess that is my desktop and life.
I also wanted to share with you while I have your attention that I am now selling at a new site. It's called godigitalscrapbooking.com.
I like the name 'cause it has God in the title. Anyway, it's a way cool site with some funky graphics on the home page. Check it out! It's brand new and very speeeeeeecial. And the best part? I'm selling there, yo.
All kidding aside, it is a nice refreshing site and I hope to see you all there.
My first kit is not in the store yet, but soon will be. I stayed up until 2 a.m. again last night working on it. So right now I can barely keep my eyes open. If there's misspellings and bad grammar, now you know why. Know what i meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaannnnnnnnnnn..................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2d0edr
LUCKYBUGOLA

They don't call it 'roughing it' for nothing

2006-09-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

In a whim after I got home from work, my husband and I decided that we should take the kids and go camping.
Now mind you, I haven't been camping for years, not since the days of beer and bonfires. So doing a family camp thing was quite foreign to me.
We had to buy all the provisions, like a tent, sleeping bags and a pocket knife.
Check.
We had everything ready to go, including extra-warm clothing in case the temperature dropped, which it did, but that's another story.
Anyway, we headed toward our far away destination, which was my in-law's back yard.
Yes, we "roughed it" in their yard, which is seven acres, but we made sure we were close enough to the house so as to be able to go to the bathroom when we needed to.
My husband gathered all the wood and had a nice roaring fire blazing for us by 7 p.m. We looked at the stars and tried to find the Big Dipper (my in-laws live outside the city limits).
We also tread warily so as not to step in dog crap. Yes, we brought the dummy, Samson.
He enjoyed running all over the expansive yard. My mother-in-law brought her dog out too, and we visited with her for awhile, then my father-in-law came out too.
Hey, when you're roughing it in the mean wilderness, you gotta have visitors.
Soon it began to get darker and colder, so we decided to head into the tent.
We all sprawled out in our sleeping bags and realized that the ground sloped down, so it felt as though we were going to roll to the other side of the tent if we made one wrong move.
The boys began to talk about their video games.
My husband told them to "listen to the sounds of nature."
Just then a car with no muffler sped by on the highway, which was located down the hill from us.
"Not that car," my husband continued.
The sounds of nature continued all night, i.e. loud autos and motorcycles. My husband whispered to me at about 1 a.m., "I wish the bars would hurry up and close so people will go home."
It's really amazing how many people are out at all times of the night, and in the suburbs, too.
Such as it went, and Samson of course freaked out at every tiny noise he heard.
We would all be drifting off when ...
"Rawff rawwfff! Grrrrrrrrr."
And then the dog would begin to pace, no doubt wishing he was outside so he could sink his teeth into or bat around whatever was causing a "ruckus."
The dog in his fervor walked on top of my head more than once.
I began to wish a mountain lion might happen by, then I could throw caution and the dog to the wind.
By 6 a.m. the next morning we were all tired, cold, hungry and had to go to the bathroom, and I misplaced my sock. It's like the tent was one big dryer.
I imagine I'll come across the sock someday, crumpled up inside a sleeping bag, or maybe the dog ate it.
With some of the things I've seen him eat, I would not be surprised.
No, I don't want to talk about it.
Of course our little band of weary campers gathered everything up and loaded it into the truck, we said goodbye to my in-laws, who had had a decent night's sleep, and headed home.
Maybe next time we'll go camping in our own back yard, that way we can get in our own beds when the going gets rough.
And the dog can stay in the house.

Anyway, here's your freebie, it's called "They All Fall." Remember the many the hardships I had to endure to bring it to you. No Clinque for a night and no DST either. *cry*
sendspace
and LUCKYBUG!!!

Lying lips sink ships

2006-09-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

Well today Max pulled one over on me.
He said he was sick, so I decided to let him stay home.
So while Danny and I bustled around, packing lunch and eating breakfast, Max, 7, was plotting his next video game strategy.
I had planned to get together with my mom and go to Panera Bread, so I told Max to call and tell her that plans had changed, he did and sounded very cheerful and of course, not sick.
"Are you really sick, Max?" I asked, my eyes searching his.
"Mom, feel my head, don't I feel pale?" was his reponse.
So, because he felt so "pale" I decided that maybe he really was ill.
His brother of cource freaked out.
"No fair, I want to be sick, too! Feel my head."
I didn't feel Danny's head, I just blew my stack.
"All right, I don't want to hear anymore about this! Daniel, you just get your coat on this instant!" I had my best car alaram "mom voice."
Then a small voice behind me said "Mom, I'm gonna go to school."
Of course it was 7:50 a.m. when Max decided that he could no longer be dishonest with me. And he took 20 minutes to change out of his play clothes back into his uniform.
"Max why did you change your mind?" I said as we were driving away.
"Mom, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord."
Ah, Christian private school money well spent.

Anyway, here's your freebie, it's called "All My Clothes Is Camo." Based on Josie's of Iron Orchid Designs, see right (isn't that stuff cool?), post on DST under pet peeves. What she said made me LOL and I thought her comment was the perfect name for my kit.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qmtuh5
LUCKYBUG

Today's freebie will be ...

2006-09-27T23:41:00.000-07:00

"All My Clothes Is Camo" inspired by the lovely Josie of Iron Orchid Designs.
Be sure to check back later for the links and of course my witty, hilarious post. Oh wait, I guess it will be me writing not Dave Barry. Sorry.

Oh yeah, I can shamelessly toot here in my own "home"

2006-09-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

So be warned.
Anyways, I was chosen to go to the second round at ScrapArtist. Uh, can anyone say "WICKED?"
I'm absolutely on the floor, for real man.
Anyway, just cause I'm all in the second round and all DOESN'T mean you don't get a lovely freebie today.

So I gave my mom my blog address so she could check out some of my freebies and use them for scrapping projects and so forth.
She checks everyday (yo mom) and said that she loves the designs so I thought, cool.
She showed me something she made from one of them and to my astonishment, it was the preview.
I didn't say anything at the time, but she mentioned it today on the phone and I said "Uh, that's what I wanted to talk to you about, um, there is a link at the bottom of my post and you can get all the papers and stuff and full resolution."
Well, she was pretty stoked naturally. After all, it's tough to make cool stuff out of a preview that's, well, really small. And 72 dpi and has a headline on it and now a stamp thingy too.
So mom, don't forget LINK down there, bottom of ye olde post.
Anyway, I have to help out at Max and Danny's school in about 30 minutes. I have to put kiddos to bed. Yesterday I was on fire I tell ya! I put at least three kiddos to bed, plus rocked a baby. It was cool, I haven't held a baby forever.
When I put her down I still had that "baby smell" on my arms. Makes me want to procreate again, I tell you. But then I remember that my boys drive me absolutely out of my mind and I rethink the whole thing. After all, when you are babysitting of whatever, you can give the kid back to the parents.
Speaking of parents, here is an LO I made a long time ago of my parents and me. I'm the baby. I know, that was not necessary to tell you that.
That was back when I had natural red hair. Sigh.
I went back to my natural color recently, it's kind of a "dirty blonde." Interesting name, huh? Anyway, I've never liked the color and used to dye my hair several different colors. No, not like punk or anything, just red one day, brown the next. I always wanted to be a brunette, but no such luck.
Once in my frenzy, I accidentally dyed my hair green. Needless to say I had to visit the salon the next day. I snuck in donning a hat and unveiled my mistake. The stylist laughed.
That's the story of my life. I've shaved off my eyebrows in attempt to make them look like Drew Barrymore's (had to use a pencil after that for about a month) . I've cut too much off my bangs and walked around looking like Emo Phillips, I've snipped off too much of hair and had a hair emergency at 8 p.m. when I had a job interview the next day.
So many stories. Maybe some day I will tell you all of them, but for now, here's your freebie.
It's called "Painted Love." Enjoy! Also I have a new e-mail if anyone wants to drop me a line: koodiescraps@yahoo.com.
Sendspace was faster today http://www.sendspace.com/file/ajry5i
Don't forget my pal Luckybug, tho LUCKYBUGOLA
MOM, THEY ARE RIGHT HERE!!

First at 34

2006-09-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: Girl talk in this post.

OK, I'm laughing today because I saw the post on DST about the girl who got her nose pierced. I thought it looked way cool, don't get my wrong, I'm not laughing at her, I'm amused because I got my ears pierced in the fourth grade and stopped wearing them shortly thereafter because they really hurt!

In my fourth grade school picture it is clearly visable that the cutest little gold disks are implanted in my ears, but I think that's the only time I ever had them in, seriously I just took them out and let my ears close up.

In 1994 I toyed with pierced ears again, and to my delight, the holes still worked! Of course the initial placement of the earrings wasn't fun. Then I enjoyed earrings again, I had big hoop peace signs and thought I was the coolest. Then it happened again. The pain. The infection. My already huge ears getting bigger and redder.

So I once again shelved the earrings.

Then last year when I was selling Mary Kay I won some earrings so of course I had to show them off at the unit meetings (those of you who sell know what I'm talkin' about). But the ear accountrements, along with my makeup career were short-lived. Must have been the dancing I had to do. Until now. Now I wear earrings everyday and my pain has not returned. Odd. My ears must have decided that it was OK to finally be adorned. So at 34, I feel like an excited fourth-grader again wearing little pretties. I feel like passing notes to my friends about it!! I feel like writing about it on the bathroom wall!

Another first for me this year (ready?) is the wearing of well, I hate to say it on a family blog, so I'll just post a pic. See them? Amazing right? Even more amazing is that a picture actually posted on my freaking blog. This pic probably strikes fear in the hearts of men everywhere. Avert your eyes Bill! So anyway, I never wore them. My friends did. But I just couldn't bring myself to give it a go until now. I guess I enjoyed feeling like a penguin.

But I must say I like them a lot. I am no longer wearing an adult diaper.

I don't know why I felt compelled to share that, I guess I thought you would get a kick out of it. So, I'm just a 12-year-old mentally. Hey! The 80s were rough for me! I better dispense (no pun intended) your freebie before I tell you some more uber personal stuff about me.

So I'm all up in it now with my new hoops and my tampax. Oops, said it. Anyway, next I'll probably get a pink phone for my bedroom and a poster of Fergie. Sahweet. The singer, not the duchess. I learned that the hard way.

Anyway here's your freebie, it's called "My Burnt Apple Pie" ENJOY my brothers and sisters (said in WKRP's Venus Flytrap voice). I hope you likee because I turned 50 years old waiting for sendspace to get my file ready. Sheesh. A watched sendspace never boils, I guess. But never fear, shortly it will be available on LUCKYBUG!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5ep3zz

LUCKYBUG

Cold, tired and hungry

2006-09-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

Well today was a very long day.
We went to the air show, it was bitterly cold. I was so glad I brought a blanket with me. I wrapped it around me the entire time, the hood on my sweatshirt was pulled way down. So if you saw me from far off, you might think I was Obe Wan Kenobi.
Obe Wan lugging around three chairs and a video camera.
We searched for what seemed like years to find a place to rest.
We finally did and my husband asked me to hold down the fort while he and boys went to spend $50 on something to drink.
So I was alone, huddled in the blanket, arms folded, head down, oblivious to what was going on around me, except for the sound of planes taking off of course. I was cold, tired and hungry. Not a good combo.
I also could see my breath.
I was thinking about all these things when I got the urge to go potty. The potties were close by, so I knew no one would make off with the chairs and I took the camera with me.
Once in the bathroom I found out that the porta-potties, although foul smelling, are quite warm and toasty.
If I had a radio in there I would have had it made. I could have stayed in there forever - but I kept having this nagging thought that spending a lot of time in a porta potty was extremely disgusting, not to mention weird.
Speaking of digusting, Danny, 5, threw up twice today, once on the way to the air show and another on the way back home. Both times in the truck. We had to stop at gas stations both times to do clean up and damage control.
During the clean-up phase, Danny pranced around and asked for sweets as if nothing happened. His dad and I were up to our elbows in human waste, trying in vain to make everything spotless with our little Clorox wipes.
Kids.
After we got home, I was unable to function for about an hour. My hands were still numb from and my stomach was weak for obvious reasons.
I laid on the bed while my husband popped in video we had taken. That's the real way to watch the air show, in the comfort of your own bedroom.
Watching it like that made me appreciate how good the show was. The Blue Angels were spectacular as always.
So I guess I can sum up my day like this: Don't go anywhere. Ever.

Here's your freebie. It's called "Mine Is The Sunlight." Enjoy!
sendspace
luckybug

Seven songs, yeah I thought of 'em

2006-09-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Donna has tagged me. That crazy lady. I will list my seven songs, but I'm way bad with group names so just go with it ...

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to."

"Sexy Back" - Justin Timberlake
"The Streak" - Ray Stevens
"St. Stephen" - The Grateful Dead
"So Long Self" - Mercy Me
"Ocean Floor" - Audio Adreneline (I didn't spell this right, and I'm too lazy to look it up right now).
"Wheel In The Sky" - Journey
"Killer Queen" - Queen
"Your Eyes" - Peter Gabriel/Nicole Nordemann

Whew, I did it. That was grueling. I like a lot of different stuff and my taste is weird.
Anyway, I'm supposed to tag seven more people but I honestly don't know who to tag, so I'll pick on my ladies that I have on the side:
Miriam. Amy. Kim. Hilmarose. Khristy (who probably isn't aware my lil blog exists). Vj's Scrap Room (just cause I remember her catchy name). And one of my other regulars: Dean.
There you have it.
You ladies can do this cute exercise of ye olde grey matter if you want, if you are like me, you have a ton of useless information floating around in your head that needs to be released into the wild.

Anyway, here's your freebie, it's called "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" and I hope you likee!! It's part of a new kit that I am working on for an undisclosed site. Just wait and see where it is! I'm excited to share it with you all. And I'm being a huge tease and I really hate when other people do that, but you know I'm a total follower and stuff. Whew, you better download the freebie now.
http://luckybugscrapbooking.com/digital/freebies/stephanieogren/index.htm
http://www.sendspace.com/file/y557z4

I'm jumping on ye olde bandwagon (again)

2006-09-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

Yep, I did it. Like so many scrappers I know (well one anyway that I know personally) I sent my work to Scrapartist for the apprentice challenge. Where's Donald Trump?
Yes, the work was grueling. Yes, it was going to be a freebie for you at first, but I figured, I'm not getting any younger so what the heck? Why not send it in and be totally put the shame by the awesome talent on display.
I felt like being humble today anyway. I was thinking way too much of myself.
Here it is: entry. So far it only has 10 comments. Humph, the girl next to me has 15.
*crying shamelessly*
Anyway, I am really getting into designing stuff and seem to have found my groove. Just call me Stella why don't ya?
Well, actually don't.
Anyway, at first I was trying to copy everyone else, not literally copy, but copy the elements, like I had to do buttons and grosgain ribbons until I puked. But now I'm sick of 'em!
You'll get no more buttons from me!!! Well, except the one in today's freebie, but I don't count that as a button. It's a .... bauble, if you will.
My point in talking about buttons was to say that I am finally designing the way I want to. This is the real me designing, not trying to fit in so much. And I like it so much better! I learn something new everyday. I thought I knew it all about Photoshop, but there is so much out there. It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma. It's Richard's burrito.
But in spite of my breaking out of the grosgain mold, I really don't think I'll be the last one standing on the island in that group (talking about Scrapartist again). Which is good, cause I don't want to eat bugs or whatever or bungee jump thanks very much.
Speaking of eating ... I have gotten well, a bit larger to say the least.
I can't believe it. When I first quit my job last year I was wearing, I kid you not here, a size 6. Now I'm a bit larger at size 10, but a size 11 feels so good I buy a size 12.
So anyways, up six sizes in a year, not bad. Maybe I should have another chocolate, huh? I gathered a buncha my "skinny" clothes and put them in bags for Goodwill. After all, I've read that you should become used to your size. I think I'm a bit too used to it if you know what I mean.
Also I like to eat. What's fun about not eating? Uh, nothing, I agree.
And chocolate, that foul temptress that has followed me all of my life, giving me extra arm weight, laughing at my inability to walk by the candy aisle at the grocery store, she's to blame. But I just can't stay away from her, especially now that my fave DARK CHOCOLATE has become GOOD FOR YOU! I want to die happy anyway.

Here's today's freebie. It's called "Brokedown Palace" and I hope you like it! Keep coming to see me, I miss you when you don't :'(
http://luckybugscrapbooking.com/digital/freebies/stephanieogren/index.htm
http://www.sendspace.com/file/1cu270

Here she is ...

2006-09-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a scrap page I did a while ago of my little Kitty Bobo. She was probably ready to shoot me after I left her on the deck I'm sure. She's not a cat to be messed with.

Also another interesting fact is that this is one of my very first attempts at designing a kit. It was called "Multitask," and had a lot of stuff wrong with it, but I showed it to Miriam Lima, who gave me my first designing job at 2BScrapped.

I owe it all to the kit and Kitty Bobo. LOL!

It's rough out there

2006-09-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

My poor little lady. I got home from work on Friday and went out onto my deck to watch my little boys playing on the swings below while their dad tore up our screened in porch (long story).
Anyway, my little grey Kitty Bobo followed me out, and I let her because I've let the cats play on the deck before with no trouble. I usually let them back in about a second later anyway. She was sniffing around and seemed to be enjoying herself.
My boys yelled up at me to come down to watch them swing, so I left without another thought.
While in the back yard, we decided to go out to dinner, so we came in, got ready and away we went.
We stopped at a store afterward and came home rather late.
We all got ready for bed, well except me of course, I'm a night owl, we all know that.
I designed for awhile and thought I heard the faintest meow. Thinking it was my other cat, Pywacket, who never shuts up, I went back to doing what I was doing.
The wind blew and the rain fell.
We heard trees blowing and the howl of a big storm.
I went to sleep hearing these noises and slept like a baby.
________

The next morning, I gave the cats some water and realized that I hadn't seen Kitty Bobo since I woke up. Usually she beats me into the bathroom to get a little hit of water off of the faucet, but not today.
"Max, where's Kitty Bobo?"
"Dunno," he answered while concentrating on his video game.
Then all of the sudden, it hit me. Like a ton of bricks.
I ran for the deck, hoping she would still be there.
I opened the sliding door not knowing what the other side held for me.
Pywacket followed me as if to tell me where her friend was. She could have told me before that moment.
"Kitty Bobo?" I called timidly after going out onto the deck. Then I saw her, she was huddled in the corner, alive and well.
"Oh, poor baby!" I said, I picked her up and brought her in. She meowed loudly for about an hour after being safe inside, as if cussing me out. I probably deserved it.
I'm sure she told Pywacket of her experience. "Don't go out on the deck, man. It's rough out there. I've seen things I never thought I'd see ... like stars."

Anyway here is your freebie for today. It's called Time Has Come Today. N-JOY!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/tz73xr
http://luckybugscrapbooking.com/digital/freebies/stephanieogren/index.htm

Back in black, yeah I'm back in blaaaack

2006-09-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm a tid bit late, I know.
Big day at the office, that's all I got to say.
And we ate dinner at Subway, we got home and Max wanted to watch "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
No, you didn't read that wrong.
I told ya he's a crazy kid.
Anyway, so I'm hurrying cause my hubbo has to work tomorrow, so I need to spend some HQ with him before he goes. It seems like my life is always rush, rush, rush, rush, let's add one more .... rush.
So ... a BIG STORY broke at work today about a cold case file. Can't tell you any more than that or I would have to kill you.
Needless to say at a paper with the circulation of about 800 people any big story is pretty darn exciting. Typically the size of produce makes the front page, or someone's Christmas light displays. Not even kidding here.
I'm am definitely not used to such as small town paper. My hometown was about 5,000 people, so our paper was fairly big. That's the quaint little publication that I got my journalistic feet wet, by the way.
And of course the paper I quit a year ago was about 50,000 circulation, cause it's a "big city" paper and I live in the "big city" now. LOL!
Big difference, eh?
But I like small-town life and small-town newspapers.
The Iowa town I work in is like Smallville or something. It's really old-fashioned, it's like the villa that time forget and that's actually pretty refreshing.
I hope that all made sense, as I'm pretty spent from tracking down the hard news.

Anyway, here's your freebie, it's call Back In Black, inspired of course by the hit AC/DC tune from the very early '80s. I'm an '80s child, by the way, I graduated in 1990. Which would make me about ....... yeah ... you guessed it, 34. I'm darn old. But I still know how to party! Well, actually I don't. But I'm still hip, darn it!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ud9i8a
http://luckybugscrapbooking.com/digital/freebies/stephanieogren/index.htm

Keep checking back

2006-09-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I'm going to work at my part-time gig today, but I'm in the process of creating something for you for later, so be patient because I'll be posting it later in the day! Thank you so much for your kind words yesterday! You guys are the best! I intend to keep bringing you quality freebies!!!!!

Let's spend some quality time ...

2006-09-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

So I've seen a lot of talk lately about quality in one's work.
It makes me wonder about the quality of mine. How do I rate? I know this is a dangerousssssss question.
Seriously tho, I would like to know, just don't be mean. And don't tell me what you think. Oh yeah, and don't put down my stuff.
LOL. Nevermind. In fact don't tell me. Let me be blissfully unaware of how much I suck.
Remember my love language is Words of Affirmation.
I'm only doin' freebies at this point anyway. I haven't designed a kit in like forever.
And freebies are too cool, right?
I really love creating this stuff. It's a challenge and it's giving me carpal tunnel.
Seriously.
So I better work fast before it totally sets in. Is a first sign of that your wrists going numb?? Or is it lack of desire to do anything but sit on your butt?
Anyway, hopefully my husband will be back today and save me from myself.
The dishes and laundry are calling me! I told them to call back later, tho.

Here's a sendspace link for now. Thankfully it doesn't talk about hot girls in my area. I only see one of those anyways, and it's me. Just kidding.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/kd1ipx
and don't forget LUCKYBUG. Props to Bills for getting these freebies fast to you so you can download them FOREVER. Seriously. I think more designers should jump on the Luckybug bandwagon. You can't beat the freebie hosting. http://luckybugscrapbooking.com/digital/freebies/stephanieogren/index.htm

Cell phone whereabouts

2006-09-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Thanks for your warm wishes yesterday! I'm feeling a lot better today although I still have flashes of "down" moments.
Anyways, I have been on the computer all day long. No kidding.
It's been fun, but a bit maddening.
The kids are home now and there's nothing but fighting going on.
My husband is gone again, but just called me and wants me to call him back on my cell phone.
Now there's something to write about, cell phones. For one thing, I'm always losing mine.
It could be anywhere. I put it down in the most silly places and forget my number so I can't call myself.
Then if by some amazing chance I DO remember, the phone just happens to be on vibrate so I can't hear it. If my purse begins to move on its own, then I know the phone is somewhere in there. But, if it's in a drawer, forget it.
Today I actually found it hiding in the bottom of my purse, aka "The Black Hole." I swear my purse is just like the dryer, where one sock disappears. The same phenom occurs when I put my phone or any other important things in my bag.
One time I lost my debit card for three weeks, replaced it and the whole nine yards. Where did it finally turn up after it's long journey to the Third Dimension?
Yep, you guessed it. My purse.
Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, here's your freebie, it's called "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." Enjoy!!!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/vm3zyv
http://www.luckybugscrapbooking.com/digital/freebies/stephanieogren/index.htm

A little on the sad side today

2006-09-12T06:43:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am at the keyboard again.
It's funny, but today I'm extremely down in the dumps.
It's not because the kids are gone or anything (although I miss them). I think it's more that the house is a mess, my husband isn't here and I feel really fat.
I go through times when I feel like an awful person and I beat myself up and wallow in moods of black self pity. It's during these time that I need Jesus most of all.
After I post this I will probably pray and clean. And maybe design. Although I was up until 2 a.m. last night designing.
I know, that makes a lot of sense, huh?
Probably isn't helping with my overal mood is it?
I forgot to tell you guys, I've decided to work more at my current part-time job.
So I will get out of the house a little more and make money, too. Now that's something to be elated about right?

Here's your freebie. I hope you enjoy!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ixw01t
http://www.luckybugscrapbooking.com/digital/freebies/stephanieogren/index.htm

A Sept. 11 story

2006-09-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

I know everyone says they remember what they were doing on the day of the terrorist attacks.
I'm no different.
My youngest, Danny, was four months old. He received his shots the day before, so he was running a fever. I decided to call in sick that day. Sept. 11.
My husband, a pilot, was on call that day, which is why I called in. If he had to fly out, we'd be in a bind.
I was giving Danny his bottle when the phone rang. It was my father-in-law telling me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. He said it was a small plane.
I didn't think too much of it. It thought it was strange but that was that. I made a mental note to tell my husband about it when he woke up.
I put Danny in his bouncy seat and did some chores. My husband finally opened the bedroom door and he and I made small talk. Then I said "oh, your dad called, he said a plane hit the World Trade Center."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, reaching for the remote.
"Didn't seem important to me." I answered. Being a newswoman, stories like that didn't really have much of an impact on me anymore. Basically I had seen and heard it all. Or thought I did.
Well after my husband flipped on the television, tragedy unfolded in front of us. I couldn't believe my eyes.
It was horrifying and stunning.
"This is big, Stephanie," my husband said, looking very somber.
I went to the phone and called work. No one could talk there. Not surprising.
My husband was grounded, no planes would fly for while.
I suppose people at work had figured this out, because they called me to come back in and put together a second edition that day.
The rest of the afternoon was like a blur. Tears, sadness, anger, digust.
We called area churches. We talked to local people who had relatives in New York. We asked the schools what they would be doing.
The edition came out eventually and I drug myself home, completely depleted.
My husband had been watching T.V. all day and my 2-year-old, Max, was jumping up and down saying "Smoke, smoke, fire ... airpwanes!"
I held him close and watched T.V. too, still numb.
Still trying to figure it all out.