Life... One Step at a Time

A new Chicken Soup for the Soul call for stories!

I just received a new call for stories for Chicken Soup for the Soul - High School. Details are as follows:

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk High School to be published Fall 2008

We are looking for true stories and poems about your high school years.  We prefer stories written in the first person and no more than 1200 words.  We would like to include stories and poems on the following topics, among others:
. Regrets (lessons learned from making bad choices)
. Sports (making the team, or not.  Winning the game, or not.  Social aspects of sports).
. Clubs
. Music
. Religion and faith - its place in your life
. Dating and sex
. Embarrassing moments
. Humorous moments
. Issues, good and bad, with instant messaging, Facebook, texting, cell phones, emails, the web in general
. Self image, self acceptance - would include coming out, eating disorders, different body types
. College applications
. Grades, SATs, ACTs
. Military decision, trade school, or other non-college plans for after high school
. Family relationships - siblings, parents, other family members
. Puberty - early, late, being a short boy, being a tall girl, etc.
. Friends - best friends, losing friends, cliques, support of friends
. Tough issues - divorce, cancer, suicide of friend, death, drunk driving death, pregnancy
. Failures and rising above them

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book.  You will also receive a check for $200 and ten free copies of your book, worth more than $100. 

If your story is published by us, we will copyright it in your name and you will retain your rights to resell the story to another publication.

SUBMISSIONS GO TO http://chickensoupforthesoul.com/form.asp?cid=submit_story
DEADLINE IS June 15, 2008 although we may accept stories after that date if we have room.

I have been published in a Chicken Soup book and the authors are a pleasure to work with! Best of luck!

Wow, that's a long time.

Well, it really has been a very long time since I posted! My sincerest apologies for not updating, as my life has been crazy hectic for the last... 8 months or so? Most of the hectic stuff has been good; a few bumps in the road along the way but that is to be expected in this crazy game called life.

I am still scrapbooking like crazy, although the recent changes in the industry (and individuals involved in the industry) have caused me to be much more cautious about the choices I make in regards to whom I design for, whom I associate with, etc. I will try to post some recent work very soon!  :)

Life with teenagers in the house has become very interesting. There is never a dull moment to be had with a new driver, an independent 14 year old girl, and a talkative 9 year old that keep me on my toes. I got my insurance adjustment in this month after adding Matthew to it (he got his license in December - look out Frisco!) and HOLY COW it is nuts! Good thing he is getting the good grades discount, drivers ed discount, etc. or else I am afraid I would have to get a second job just to pay the additional premiums!

Here is a layout I did a while back highlighting the kids' first day of school this school year. Unfortunately the picture is a little wonky and a scan wasn't possible, due to the lumpy junk I added, but you get the idea. I wanted to take several photos on the morning of their first day back and form them into a collage with notes about each photo, so I came up with this.

Alright, I know this is a short update, but it is late (early? Y'all know me!) and I need some ZZZZzzz's. I promise to update more often!

Peace.

Sorry for my lack of updates!

I have been so busy lately, but I wanted to pop in and give some updates about me and my family.  :) Matthew had all four of his wisdom teeth taken out on Saturday, so he has been in a lot of pain for the last couple of days. Today is the first day of school that he has missed this school year, and he won't be going tomorrow, either. Luckily next week is Spring Break for the kids, so he will be able to heal. No trumpet for him for the next two weeks.

I remember having my wisdom teeth removed a few years ago. I never got any wisdom teeth in until I was 27 and oddly enough, I only had two! Both teeth on the left side of my mouth - one on top and one on bottom. The surgeon said it was very strange that I didn't have any on the other side, and they even did extra x-rays just to be sure. So at least I only had half the pain, but I would gladly endure childbirth all three times before ever going through the pain of having wisdom teeth removed again. That was terrible, but I am a complete wimp when it comes to pain.

I received a wonderful box of American Crafts goodies! Here are a few of my favorite items from the shipment:

These felt letter stickers are awesome! Here is my favorite sheet of new patterned paper:

And these ribbons are pretty cool, too:

I also got a box of new CherryArte! I am in love with the "Alien Invasion" paper - it looks like Space Invaders, and of course the Retro lover in me thought that was the coolest ever!  :) Here it is:

The color scheme is awesome. There were many others that I loved too, so just check out all the new releases if you haven't done so already. Can't wait to dig into their new stuff!

I am finalizing my projects for the Canada Crop for Kids event in October. I finished up another project for BHG last week and have a few other surprise things that I have been working on, so I will share more with you when I am able!

Before I go, I will share yet another deal with you for free prints! You know how I love those free photo deals! CVS is offering 30 free prints, just click here! Order your prints and pick them up at your local CVS store in just a few hours. Offer is good for existing CVS photo members as well as new members, so go get those free pictures!

Random things going on around here!

First, I am so proud of Domonique. Yesterday was her first cross country meet in Frisco and her school took first place! I was worried that her asthma might act up - and - it did about halfway through the 3 mile event; however she said that she just kept going and breathing deeply and then everything was fine. The weather was absolutely beautiful! It was around 72 degrees after school when the meet started, and after having a bit of cold weather the last few weeks, the warm weather was very welcome. Then today it was 42 out and drabby gray! Ah well, we certainly enjoyed the gorgeous sunshine yesterday while it lasted!

Domonique wants to try out for cheerleading in May at her middle school, so we are enrolling her at a gymnastics training center here in Dallas so that she can work on back handsprings, tucks, and other stuff for cheerleading. She is pretty excited about starting next week.

I just took some tuxedo brownies out of the oven for Alex to take to his school's silent auction tomorrow night. They smell really good and I wish I could eat one! Yes, I am up baking brownies at 3 AM! LOL! Seems like all my creative energy comes to me very late (or early, depending upon how you look at it!) and that is when I get the most projects finished.

Many of you have e-mailed me and asked me where I find some of my good deals that I post here. Finding bargains has always been a hobby of mine, and I actually have an e-zine that I send out periodically with great deals, freebies, bargains, etc. so if you would like to join (it's free, of course!) you may sign up here: Oustanding Deals list

Ok, I am off to bed!

I love Clark Color prints!

I guess I lied.

I really do have one resolution that I made, thanks to my dear friend Melody Ross at Chatterbox. Last February, when all the Chatterbox designers went to the Chatterbox retreat in Idaho, Melody really inspired me with her discussion about digital pictures. Many of us who are strictly digital (myself included) can probably identify with this, but she really hit home with me. She spoke about how it doesn't do us any good to have all these archives of photos sitting on our hard drive unless we get prints of them so that our kids can look through them. Now don't get me wrong, I realize that some of you may be superwomen and can scrap all of your photos, therefore eliminating the need to just have prints made, but I am not a fast scrapbooker, so I have literally thousands of digital images sitting on my hard drive, with no way for my family to really view them. So Melody inspired me to resolve to get prints of my images (even all the less than stellar ones!) and put them into simple acid-free photo albums so that I can leave them out for my kids to look through whenever they want to.

That being said, Clark Color online had a great sale last week on digital prints (and they send great sale offers periodically to their customers!) so I took advantage of the deal. I had several hundred photos printed (just of Christmas and New Year's alone!) and they came in yesterday. The quality of the prints is outstanding! I knew it was worth it when my kiddos came into my office and saw the stack of photos; immediately asking me if they could look at them! I saw smiles on their faces as they remembered the events from the photos. Priceless to me, to say the least!

So get some digital prints made and don't keep those pictures stashed away on your hard drive! To get you started, try Clark Color! Click here to register - New customers get 20 free prints! Shipping was fast and inexpensive, plus my photos came carefully enclosed in a sturdy box mailer to keep them safe during transit.

Thank you, Melody! You have changed my life in so many ways!

Need decorating help!!

Alright, why is it that I can create a piece of art on scrapbook paper (art - if you want to call it that! HAHA!) but when it comes to decorating my house, I am at a complete loss??

Here we are, a year and a half after Katrina, in our new house, and my walls are still white. Yes, boring, plain white. Even the kids' rooms are still white! So I need some serious suggestions on painting this house, and hope that you can give me some ideas.

Let's start with the main family room. Here is a photo of it in all its bareness, and you can suggest what color to paint the walls. Please keep in mind that my furniture is a soft camel color and I am thinking about accenting the room with cranberry and sage green. Does that sound ok? If so, what color should I paint these walls? The family room is open to the kitchen and I want an Italian theme in the kitchen (with grapes, wine motif, etc. so the cranberry will carry over nicely). The family room has a two story vaulted ceiling and tons of windows. I want the mantel to stay white.

Help! Any ideas for me??

Love these cookies!

I adore these cookies! We make them every year around Christmas time and now they are all gone, so I might make some more! So tasty! Here is the very simple recipe:

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

1 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2/3 c. jelly or jam

Soften butter. Add flour and sugar; mix well. A small amount of water may be added to the dough to facilitate mixing. Roll into 1/2 inch balls. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Indent center. Add 1/2 teaspoon jam or jelly. Bake at 350 degrees until slightly brown. Makes 3 dozen.

Have an awesome cookie recipe? E-mail it to me! I am looking for some more really good recipes!

Mountains of laundry.

This is what my laundry room is beginning to look like. Nope, not out of laziness, but because my washer is BROKEN! The stupid thing stopped draining water, so we called out Maytag and the pump went out! This thing is only a year old! And that, my friends, is why we buy the three-year extended warranty! So it won't cost a dime to have it fixed, but because the parts are on order, my laundry is piling up in the mean time. More time for scrapbooking, right? HEHE!

Here is a page I did for the December issue of BHG. I used a dingbat that I found online for the gingerbread "cookie", then mixed artist's gesso with acrylic paint to make the "icing". I sprinkled glass beads onto the gesso while it was still a bit wet to mimic the cookie sprinkles, then let it dry before adhering the gingerbread man to the layout.

I am starting on some more projects for the May/June BHG issue and some layouts for Chatterbox for CHA! Whew! When I can, I will post some more projects!

Happy New Year and some ornaments for you!

Happy New Year to all of you! I hope that this is your best year ever! Here at the Hanback house, we celebrated at home by making tons of snacks, toasting with juice at Midnight, and throwing lots of confetti while we watched Dick Clark on TV! It is what we do every year and I wouldn't have it any other way! I have to admit, though, that when Dick Clark started speaking, my heart fell and I almost cried. It is just so strange hearing his voice the way it is, after his stroke, especially since we have all grown up watching this guy do the New Year's thing every year. I guess it is almost like a realization to me that an era is coming to an end. When he is gone, our kids will hear someone else do the Rockin' Eve. I don't know, I am strange. It just brought tears to my eyes.

I haven't really made any New Year's resolutions; I try not to do that because I feel like every day is a reason to try to be the best that I can be - I shouldn't have a specific "day" to try to decide to make positive changes, if that makes sense. I am always trying to find ways to improve myself, my relationships, my life.

Here are a couple of Christmas ornaments that I created for the December issue of BHG. I hope you like them!

(above) This one is my favorite! I used Chatterbox grafik rub-ons and adhered a round one to the top of the glass ball, then another round rub-on from the bottom of the ball.

(above) For this one I used Pearl-ex inside the ball and then swirled it around, turning it upside down in an empty egg crate to let the excess drain out and to dry. Once the inside was dry, I embellished the ball with Chatterbox grafik rub-ons and a jewel.

(above) This one was made by punching out lots of 1/2" circles then adhering them to a glass ball ornament using Mod-Podge. Once the ball was completely covered, I gave the entire ball a good final coat of the Mod-Podge to seal. These can take some time to dry thoroughly, so let them sit (or hang) for a few days to eliminate any tackiness from the Mod-Podge. Then, I embellished the top with a ribbon, a brad, and some colored wire spirals.

(above) This ornament was so simple - I just cut 1/4 inch x 6" strips of patterned Christmas paper and inserted the strips one by one into the glass ball. Once it is filled to your liking, just put the metal collar back on the top then add some ribbons. I also adhered a "Merry Christmas" button with a glue dot. See? Easy peasy!

(above) This one would look better if I had taken the time to iron the wrinkles out of the ribbons. *ahem* Anyhow, simply cut strips of cardstock into 1" x 6" strips and roll them up tightly, then insert the rolls into the glass ball. Embellish with a rub-on and some ribbons and Voila! An ornament in maybe 2 minutes tops! The cool thing about making these is that you can color-coordinate them to match any theme, etc.

I am working on several different projects for BHG right now, but will continue to post here! I hope to share some more stuff with you soon!

And would somebody please take away this bag of pretzels I keep eating?!? Good grief, I am gonna gain a ton because I keep snacking on them!!

I am alive and breathing! HAHA!

Hey everybody! Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! We had a special day full of food and fun. We stayed here in Frisco, but we enjoyed opening presents, eating way too much food, and just being thankful for having full stomachs and a roof over our head! What a great day! I will post some pictures tonight.

I got one of these for Christmas:

I am so excited - I have been wanting a Wishblade for the longest time! It is backordered, so I don't actually have it yet, but it is supposed to be shipped on the 29th so I can't wait to get it. Now I won't have to end up with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from all the hand-cutting of letters and shapes using my exacto knife. YAY! LOL!

The kids had a great Christmas. They are upstairs playing with all of their goods and I haven't heard nary a peep out of them since they opened their presents! It is so funny how kids open their gifts then hibernate in their rooms with all the goods.

I bought Noel a Playstation 3. Yes, I know it is frivolous, but he is a big kid at heart and loves to play video games! He lost his PS2 in the hurricane, so this was a cool gift. I found a guy who had bought one for his family but then needed the money for Christmas so he decided to sell it. It had never been opened and he had the receipt too, so I bought it. He has been in the living room playing Call of Duty.

I am really excited about the upcoming Scrapbooking Crop for Kids in Canada next October! I will be joining some other really fabulous teachers and will be teaching for this fundraising event. If you haven't already checked it out, please do so. It is a very important fundraiser and I cannot wait to be a part of it!

Ok, off to clean up some Christmas mess and work on some projects for BHG! I will post some pictures here in just a bit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We certainly have lots to be thankful for, and we continue to appreciate all that we have with every passing day.

We had a feast! We had ham, dressing and cranberry sauce, candied yams, potato salad, broccolli casserole, pumpkin pies, fruit salad, and more. Talk about stuffed! We usually have a ham and a turkey but we like ham best so this year we decided to just have the ham.  Matthew made the pies, Alex helped make the dressing, and Domonique helped with the broccolli casserole and she made the fruit salad.  My mother in law made the dressing (it is oyster dressing - she is Cajun!) and it ROCKS!! So we ate until we couldn't eat anymore then ate again. HAHA!

So I had a really great birthday! The kids got me a gorgeous Coach purse that I have had my eye on for a while and Noel bought me a beautiful topaz and diamond necklace and some comfy pajamas from Victorias Secret. HEHE! We ate at PF Chang's for lunch, then later went out for Cosmic Bowling and ordered pizzas and cokes. We really had a blast. My mom sent me some amazing flowers and I got the best card ever from my girls that scrapbook at The Scrapbook Warehouse in Lewisville!

So it has been a fun week. Thank you to all my friends for the wonderful birthday cards and wishes. Oh yes - I must not forget - my dear friend Lin sent me tear sheets of many magazine pages with my layouts on them! It was so awesome because I lost all mine in the hurricane, so it was definitely a wonderful package to open! Thank you, Lin! It was a terrific surprise!

Extreme blog neglect and I am sorry.

So much going on around here! Noel has been doing many shows and I have been scrapbooking like a fiend! I know that I haven't posted in forever, but I will work on that.

I went to Oklahoma City to see my mom a few weeks ago as she was in town visiting a sick friend that she has known for years, so it was really cool to be able to visit with her. I won't get to see her this week for Thanksgiving, but we plan to drive up to Nebraska during Christmas Break to see a bunch of my family so that will be cool. It is very difficult not having any of my family members here in Texas! I got to take a few pictures of my old high school in Oklahoma City before they demolished it (they built a new one right next door to it and demolished the old building) so that was bittersweet. Lots of memories!

Well, tomorrow is my birthday. 33 years old. UGH! Can it really be true? Time flies by so quickly. Ok, I really don't mind this birthday, though - it isn't a big deal. Even 30 wasn't too hard for me. 27 seemed to be my worst year and there really isn't any rhyme or reason for it, but it was.

I will write more later, but I thought I would at least hop on here and let everyone know that I am still alive and buried under patterned paper. HAHAHA!  ;) Please leave me a comment and let me know how you are doing!

Begin with the end in mind!

Lately I have done so much reflecting. Much reflecting on what I have learned from my past experiences, what I want for my family for the future, where my priorities lie (or where they SHOULD lie), and lots of other things. Next month I turn 33 and I guess that as I get older, I start to realize the blessings that I have and the things in life that are important to me. I realize that I have life goals that I want to achieve and that I need to be working every day to do something, even if small, to achieve those goals. I have goals for many things - personal relationships, business, family matters, and my faith. As I think about my goals and what I want to achieve, I am reminded of this quote:

• "Begin with the end in mind." - Stephen Covey

I know where I want to be in my life; now I start working from my end goal to make the decisions now that will lead me there.

Can you relate? Are there people in your life that you have taken for granted? Are there dreams that you have given up on because "life" got in the way? It is never too late to make changes.

I have made some phone calls and e-mails to some very important people in my life.  :) I have also begun to analyze exactly what I need to do to reach my "end result"; to put into motion my plan of action to achieve my goals. I hope you will, too!

Wow, it has been a while!

Goodness, I didn't realize how guilty I was of blog neglect! I am so sorry! Things around here have been somewhat chaotic, but have calmed down drastically now that Matthew's homecoming week is over! Wow, what a week it was last week! First, he came home on Tuesday and asked me if I knew how to make "mums". I am like, "Mums? For what??" and he said that in Texas, it is a big tradition to make (or buy - hehe!) the biggest, gaudiest, trinket-filled mum you could possibly fathom to give to your homecoming date on the day of the game. I had not ever seen this "giant mums" so I quickly relied on the old friend Google and did a search for the elusive mums that he spoke of. Holy cow was I ever bowled over! There was NO way I was making one of these bad boys myself, so I found a shop in Addison, TX that specialized in them, and off we went to choose the trinkets, ribbons, etc. for the mum. When we got to The Mum Shop we were quickly overwhelmed by all the styles and choices for these things! After about an hour and a half, we created a pretty mum for Lauren (his date-but-not-girlfriend) and were told that we could pick it up on Thursday. Now let me tell you, I was NOT prepared for the cost of these things! This mum was $99.10!!! I almost fainted clean away! So here is a picture (although not a great one) of the mum he gave to Lauren. Yes, that is a toilet behind the mum - please forgive me for shooting this thing in my office bathroom! LOL!

So he gave her the mum last Friday morning and of course, she was instantly the envy of all her friends because the thing was danged-near as big as she was! She is a cheerleader, so we chose a megaphone to put in the bear's hand on the mum. I am not sure how she managed it, but she wore it all day at school, cheered in it at the pep rally, then wore it to the game Friday night. Also, it is tradition for the girls to give a "homecoming mum garter" to their guys on the day of the game, so Matthew came home on Friday with his own matching mum garter - and was pretty proud of it! Here he is holding it, although reluctant to have his picture taken. Please excuse the horrible quality of the photo - I took it inside a dark room with flash (bad, bad Jlyne!) and had to lighten it up quite a bit for you to even be able to see his face. With reluctant teenagers, sometimes you just have to be thankful for the shots you can get and just deal with the lousy quality later! I am lucky he posed long enough to snap THIS one! LOL!

So Saturday night arrived, and Matthew and Lauren went to the Cheesecake Factory to eat prior to the dance, then we chauffeured them from the mall to the school where the dance started at 9 PM. Here they are before the dance, and this is Matthew's first "date". I think they looked great! He was so excited, and I was such a nervous wreck for him that I couldn't even eat dinner. I am such a worrywart!

They really had a great time. After the dance was over at midnight, they went to IHOP with some friends to have breakfast then came home. Everything went well and I worried myself for nothing. LOL! It is just one of those things where you know it is a memorable event for your child and you want everything to go just right for them! Oh - and the football team won their game, so that was even better.  :)

OK, I am getting ready for the celebrity chat tonight at creativecraftsandstickers.com so I would love to chat with you since I am the "celebrity" guest! *coughnotsosureaboutthecelebritypartcough* but it sounds like fun! The chat starts at 8:30 ET, so be sure to stop by, register for the forums, click the "Flashchat" option in the upper right corner, then say hello!

WOW, lots of new mystery shoppers!

What an amazing response I had to my mystery shopper list! I have sent out the list of sites/companies to everyone who has e-mailed me or commented, so far, but if I accidentally missed you, please let me know so I can send you the list! I have had a few questions here and there, so I will try to address the most common ones here:

• Does it cost anything to become a mystery shopper?

Answer: NO, not if you are working with/for a legitimate company! You should never be expected to pay a fee to become a mystery shopper, nor should you ever pay for a "list" of mystery shopping links/sites. There are far too many free resources out there, including my list, that I will happily send anyone who is interested!

• How does compensation work?

Answer: In my experiences as a mystery shopper, most of the time you will be expected to pay for a particular product or service upfront, then you will be reimbursed for that product/service once you turn in a completed and approved report to the mystery shopping company. For instance, a few weeks ago, I did a mystery shop for Bennigan's restaurant. The shop required me to go for lunch and I was asked to order an appetizer, a beverage, and an entree. I was required to pay for the meal, but I was reimbursed for the entire cost of the lunch (up to $50 for two people, so hubby got to eat free too!) plus I was compensated an extra $25. I simply had to submit my receipt, my completed mystery shop questionnaire, and that was it!

• Do you get paid often?

Answer: Most of the shops pay (or reimburse) within two to four weeks. Some are sooner; some only generate checks once a month.

• They want my social security number. Is this normal?

Answer: Most legitimate companies ask for your social security number because although you are working as an independent contractor, they are still required to report your earnings to the IRS at the end of the year and you will normally receive a 1099 with your earnings. Make sure you claim all expenses on your taxes, such as mileage, etc.!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me! I hope this has been helpful to you!

Mystery Shopping!

Want to earn extra money and free stuff?

Someone posted on Two Peas about how they were looking for legitimate Mystery Shopping web sites. Since this is "right up my alley" and I have an extensive list of reputable companies, I will be more than happy to share them with anyone who requests the list! Just leave me a comment here on my blog with your e-mail address and I will send you the complete list that I have.

I have worked for many Mystery Shop companies, and still do here in the DFW area. I often get free tanning, free lunches/dinners, free movie tickets, free hotel stays, free amusement park visits (water parks, Six Flags, Celebration Station, etc.) from these companies. Payment is always pretty quick - sometimes within several days.

Please let me add that you do NOT have to pay to be a mystery shopper! If you run across a company that asks for money, pass them by! You should also never have to pay for a list of companies. There are too many free resources out there, including my list. So if you would like to have it, just let me know!

I will wait a few more days for entries to my challenge that I posted here about using magazine ads for inspiration for a layout, then I will post my favorite and choose a winner! The winner will receive a cool goodie package, so if you haven't sent in your entry, get it in!

Peace!

Look at this mess!

And this is how my scrap studio looks after I have created a layout. Pretty messy! I confess to being a "piler". Sometimes I even create pages on top of piles of paper and embellishments! Usually, I will clean up completely before starting a new project, because I dislike working in a messy area, although from the looks of this picture, I am sure you will beg to differ with me. LOL! I have been working on several projects this past week, including my first assignment from BHG as a Creative Team member, an article and layout for Chatterbox, and a few other surprises I have up my sleeve! One of those surprises involves travel to a place FAR away, so I am really excited about that!

I am waiting for pizza to arrive so I don't have to cook tonight (bad, lazy mom! LOL!) and I keep staring at this mess on my counter top, knowing I should clean it up. Maybe after a couple slices of pizza I will be more motivated. Alright, who am I fooling?

I am going to be a guest designer for a kit club web site next month, so that will be fun! I love kit clubs, although I don't belong to any of them. Leave me a comment and let me know who your favorite kit club is! You can be my enabler!!

I got some really good scrapbook related news today from a dear friend of mine and I am so excited for her. I can't spill the beans, but she should be able to, soon! When she does, I will link you to her great news. You know who you are - I am SO PROUD OF YOU! You are going to rock the house with your work!

So how was your Labor Day? Mine was great! The weather here in Texas today is gorgeous and it hasn't been as hot as it normally is. I was told that it actually rained here over the weekend! We haven't seen rain in what seems like forever. Fall is my favorite weather, so we are finally getting close to the crisp, cool days that call for sweatshirts and sneakers. My favorite!

Matthew came home yesterday with his latest "dilemma" - he has 3 different girls wanting to go to Homecoming with him! He has given it great thought and has finally figured out who he is going to ask, so cross your fingers that she says yes! I will keep you updated. This year is going so well for him so far. It is nice to finally see him genuinely happy and feel "at home" once again.

Ok, I really am going to clean up this mess, now. I will update again later!

Ciao!

Made it through the day!

Finished up a layout for Scrappers Bliss tonight so I thought I would post it.  :) This one is about the pink Converse shoes that Domonique got from my dear friend Thena last November for her birthday. If you click on the layout, you can read the journaling.

Well, we got through the day! We did not turn on the TV. Thank you so much for the calls and e-mails; it really warmed our hearts. We were going to plant a tree today in our back yard, but when we went to Home Depot to look at the trees, most of them were dying from the extreme drought we have been having, so we decided to wait. It was a gorgeous day, here - clear skies and the temperature was in the upper 80's. We took Alex to the park, Domonique went to a football game with some friends, and Matthew played in a community band up at the high school (he gets community service hours for it, too!) so we all had something to do.

I am working on my first assignment for the BHG creative team, so I am really excited about that! I am also working on an article and layout for Chatterbox, so when I can, I will post them here.

Peace!

Here is the newspaper story!

Here is the link to the newspaper story I promised. I forgot all about it. LOL! Sorry! There is a photo in the actual print copy of the paper, but not online.

• Resident Published in Scrapbook Compilation

Thanks for all the hugs and encouraging words. Definitely counting our blessings, and praying for those in the path of Ernesto.

I am sorry.

I am really sorry, y'all. We have been having a really tough week around here. I just want this whole Katrina anniversary to be over and done with. Probably sounds bad, I know. Anyhow, just a down time for us in a lot of ways and I haven't felt much like posting/updating/creating - haven't felt like doing much of anything, to be honest.

Anyhow, don't give up on me. I will try to get myself together.

Peace.

A few deep thoughts

Ok, this may seem like a simple layout, but I created it for the sentiment and wanted to keep it clean and graphic. The "swirls" are dots of white puff paint. If you click the layout, you can see the journaling better. Again, I am a firm believer in flowers for boys/men, too. HAHAHA!

Tonight I had a great talk with Matthew after he got home from the mall/dinner/movies with friends. First of all, now that he is in tenth grade, he has really started settling in better, here, and is making all kinds of new friends. I am so relieved that he finally seems happy again. I know that 9th grade was a tough time to go through losing your friends and changing schools, and that changes can be very hard to accept, but let me tell you - our whole experience has really taught us a lot about accepting changes, learning tolerance, and not passing judgment against others unless we truly know what it is like to be in their shoes. This was a good portion of our heart-to-heart talk that we had tonight, and it is one of those conversations that you hope to have with your teenager; one that makes you walk away and feel as though no matter what has happened or will ever happened, you have done something right.  :) He really is a great kid. I am very blessed and I don't take these three kids for granted for a second.

My mom just left after stopping through on her way to Nebraska. When my stepdad passed away, she put most of her things (and his) in a storage building. Here it is three years later, and she finally felt as though she had the strength and means to go through the items and get rid of a lot of stuff that she was ready to part with - you know, things like his old clothes, tools, and just general things that she doesn't want to haul around and store anymore. She brought me some things that she wanted me to have, but one of the best things of all - a huge stack of framed pictures of my kids that I lost in Katrina! I had given her copies years ago when the original portraits were taken, but she selflessly gave me hers so that I would have them again. I cried. It is the most incredible thing! Also, she had some of my things such as a copy of my senior announcement, some of my childhood letters, toys (my original Care Bear!), school certificates, one of my old diaries, and numerous other things. She gave me letters that I had written to her when I was little, cards I had made her, and so many other priceless things. This time I want to scan them and scrap them and not sit around wasting time like I did before!

When I was in Idaho, Melody (Ross) told us Chatterbox girls about how she makes prints on a regular basis of the snapshots she takes of her family. The ones that she doesn't scrap right away, she puts into albums and leaves out where her kids and others can look through them any time they wish. It made me feel horribly guilty, as ever since I went digital I have just been hoarding all these photos on my hard drive; not sharing them with my family or making them accessible. I swore when I got home, I would start ordering prints as I could and do the very same thing. Well, you know how time can slip away and our intentions fall aside to make way for other priorities. Alas, I haven't yet ordered any prints. However, after this visit with my mom and looking through her photos/mementos, I realized (again) how important it is to have these photos out where my kids can view them, laugh about them, relive the experiences, and just reminisce - good times and bad. So this week, I am ordering prints.

• And I urge you to do the same.

Oh - and the Tahoe - well, we got it out of the shop but it is still blowing hot air worse than a crotchety old lady so we are taking it back to the mechanic Monday morning. They think it may be a "bad compressor from the factory". LOL Whatever! Just fix it already! So there is the vehicle update. Thanks for all the hugs! I sure needed them! Y'all rock. Again, I am so blessed. Thank you.

Never a dull moment around here.

Wow, was today ever a nutty day.

First, our SUV has been in the shop for the last two days because the air conditioner belt keeps breaking and even after we had the tensioner replaced, it would still make a hideous racket and then the belt would shred to bits. Come to find out, the entire compressor and A/C system had to be replaced, because as it turns out, Chevy has had many problems with our make and model of vehicle, but they refuse to issue any service bulletins or recalls. So, $1100 later, we borrow my mother in law's car to go and pick up our SUV. On the way, we pick up Domonique from school, since she stayed after to try out for volleyball.

So we pull out of the parking lot of her school and then *sputter cough* comes from under the hood and the car dies. Evidently, the gauge on MIL's car was broken and we were OUT OF GAS! At this point, we are in the middle of the road, with Domonique's friends passing us in their cars with their parents, looking at her! Of course, a typical 7th grader in true spirit, Domonique is mortified! Noel got out to push the car so we could pull off the road safely, and we decided he would walk to the nearest gas station (about a mile away). Would you believe nobody stopped until he was way down the road, then 6 different people (including a taxi, two police officers, etc.) stopped to see if Domonique and I needed help. By this time, Noel called me and said some very kind guy gave him a ride to the gas station to get some gas to bring back, then he came back and we were on our way. To make matters worse, Domonique's friend's dad stopped and asked if we needed help, so Domonique was naturally even more embarrassed. She was a trooper, though, although I told her to feel free to duck down in the back seat, that I would not be offended! LOL! The car was a convertible, and we had the top down, so she kind of slumped down as cars passed for fear of being embarrassed. LOL!!

We finally get to Goodyear to pick up our SUV a few moments before they close, and once we were down the road, we realize that the air conditioner is still blowing out hot air. No cool air whatsoever. So needless to say, the stupid car is NOT fixed and we have to take it back up there in the morning to have them check it out.

I am so stressed today! It has just been crazy. At least Domonique got a real-life lesson in problem solving as we tried to figure out what to do about being out of gas. LOL! Poor girl was exhausted by the time she got home and ready for some air conditioning. It was still 101 degrees out while her and I were waiting in the convertible.

I think we are all a little stressed over the impending Katrina anniversary. I think we all agree in this house that while we would love to stay in bed that day and cover our heads with our blankets, that we must move forward and hold our heads up. Things are so much better for us now, but the emotional scars are still very fresh and painful.

If you have read this much, I commend you! I try not to have a whiny blog, but man, today was just a doozy! So send me a virtual hug and a few positive vibes.  :) I could sure use them! I hope your day was much better.  :)

First day of school in Frisco!

Well, school has officially begun in Frisco! Today was their first day, and everything went pretty smoothly except that Domonique missed the bus (didn't have enough time to finish her hair AND put her mascara on - what a tragedy! HAHA!) so we had to drive her! The bus comes about 15 minutes earlier this year, so she has to boogie a little bit faster in the morning or else get up earlier. Seems like no matter how early you wake up a teenage girl, she WILL still be running out the door last minute, still not having quite enough time! Matthew spent almost two hours on the bus on the way home because the bus now picks up at his high school and the new high school, so by the time he got home he had about 5 minutes to shovel down some food then head right back to school for marching band practice! If tomorrow takes as long, we will just pick him up. It is ridiculous to have to spend almost two hours on the bus.

So we took "normal" (is my family normal?!?) shots and silly shots! The above are my favorite pics of Matthew and Alex. Domonique couldn't be in the picture because she was still off in the bathroom somewhere running a hair dryer. Geesh. Below are my favorite two pictures of her - again, one "normal" and one silly. They are growing up too fast.

Today I got an e-mail from my 5th grade gym teacher! It turns out that she moved to Frisco in 1995 even though I had her as a teacher in Oklahoma, and I saw her photo/bio in the local newspaper so I e-mailed her. She wrote back, remembered me, and we are going to try to meet for lunch! She just retired this year from being the principal of Anderson elementary right here in Frisco! It can be such a small world sometimes.

Speaking of the local paper, I got asked by the Frisco Enterprise newspaper to be interviewed about me writing for the "Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker's Soul" book! I thought it was really cool, although I am still wondering how they got my telephone number! I will post more details as soon as I know them.  :) Wish me luck!

OK, I have to throw in my music for the day! HAHA! I love the song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (yes, I warned you that I am an 80's nut!) so if you also like that song, you should listen to "Relax" by Powerhouse 5000. It is a great version of the original with an alternative edge. I blare it regularly.  :)

Thanks for reading.  :)

The products are rolling in!!!

Ok, it has been like Christmas around here! Stuff has just been rolling in from various manufacturers every day! So here are a few cool new things I received from the wonderful folks at Imaginisce:

These are just some of the different goodies they sent me! Then I received a terrific package from Piggy Tales, a huge stack of paper, stickers, and ribbons from American Crafts, and here is my favorite sheet of new paper from American Crafts, by the way:

Isn't this the most yummy piece of paper ever? I love the colors!

I also got a huge box from Krylon that includes almost every single paper crafting paint/paint pen/enamel that they make! Everything from webbing spray in various colors, sheer stained glass colors, the "Make it Stone" sprays, leafing pens, and much more. I can't wait to play with all of it! Click this Krylon link and you can order a free idea brochure so you can brainstorm on including their acid free products in your scrapbooking!

Got some school shopping done today for Alex since they all start back to school this coming Monday. Went to The Children's Place and found some great duds for him! Such cute clothes there. Found him a great pair of OP shoes at Rack Room shoes (can youbelieve this generation wears OP? Like I wore that in 8th grade!) so I have just a few more things to pick up for him and I will be finished. I braved the mall the other day and purchased some Abercrombie and Fitch shirts for Domonique. She is hilarious - she was "in love" with the cute guy on the shopping bag. *sigh* So not ready for all that! I still have to finish her and Matthew's shopping before Monday. At least the school supplies were bought early!

I received a request to be spotlighted by Scrapscene (a "who's who" industry blog) so please check it out in the next week or so. It is a great listing of celebrity scrapbookers and their blog sites.

Someone send us some rain! The other day, we had storm clouds and some lightning, and can you believe not a drop of rain here in Frisco! It has been so dry. Tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny and hot with a high of 104. I think we moved from one extreme to the other. HAHA!

Downloaded a cool song - if you like Kylie Minogue, download "Red Blooded Woman". It rocks!

Ok, off to finish up a project I started about three days ago. I have got to be the slowest thing ever, lately. Peace out!

A breakfast surprise from... Link??

So Noel and I were in the office working on some projects and there was a noise coming from the kitchen. Next thing we knew, Alex came around the corner carrying this "tray" (cookie sheet!) containing two slices of toast with cinnamon butter and two glasses of ice along with our favorite beverage - Diet Pepsi! Yes, that is a Zelda hat he is wearing, albeit a homemade version. he loves the game Zelda, and he asked his grandma to sew him a hat just like the one that Link wears in the game. This kid wears that hat everywhere - even falls asleep with it on sometimes! So here is our breakfast surprise from Link himself. What a lil' sweetheart! The caffeine was just what we needed to start the day.

Summer is flying by. Matthew started band camp this morning and will practice twice a day for the next two weeks, in order to get ready for marching band season. Alex and Domonique are busy trying to squeeze in the last few weeks of summer by swimming, socializing, and sleeping in late.

I received a phone call tonight from one of my lost long best friends! I haven't talked to him in nine years, as we lost contact. It was awesome to hear from him and see how he has been doing. I had so much to tell him about things that have happened over the years.

I have been thinking a lot lately about karma. Yes, that old adage that pretty much says what goes around comes around.

• "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." St Paul, Galatians 6-7

I firmly believe that you should do unto others the way you wish for them to do unto you. If you wish ill will toward someone, I believe that it will r