Life in North Texas... by a Realtor®

Getting ready to leave for Idaho

I am getting my things ready for the Chatterbox designer retreat, as I leave this evening for Idaho. On a side note, Alex's dental appointment was rescheduled for next Monday, as we got there and the "sleepy juice" they gave him wasn't strong enough for him so they had to order something stronger. They said, "Well, we can always give him a half of a Benadryl to help him fall asleep before the procedure" and I told them no, that this is a kid that can take a whole Benadryl for allergies right before he leaves for school in the morning and he will be happy and alert all day long! So they decided that he will need something a lot stronger and they moved his appointment.

I am excited about going to Idaho today, but I sure hate leaving my family. I always feel like I am leaving "unfinished business" behind, and I worry like crazy! I am sure the girls will laugh their heads off at me when I get there and I am calling home all the time. LOL! We are going to have several workshops about photography, page design, tour Melody's home, the warehouse, and work on some other special projects. The schedule is really exciting! If I can update while I am gone, I will do so, but at this point I am not very sure if I will have the option to do so, although I will be taking my laptop with me just in case.

I finished up by BHG project yesterday and sent it off. Hopefully they will like it!  :) Well, without further adieu, I leave you for the great state of Idaho with a small thought:

• "Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth."
  --- William Faulkner

Worried about tomorrow.

Tomorrow Alex has to have a ton of dental work done. Of course, I know that kids get cavities filled, etc. all the time, but it still worries me to no end to think about him having to drink that "sleepy juice" and have this dental work done. I always worry that he might feel pain and they will continue working on him anyway. That has always been my worst fear about going to the dentist, and it scares me to death to think of it possibly happening to him. Irrational? Probably.

Here is one of my latest projects for Scrappers Bliss. One of the assignments gave us the option to choose someone who inspires us and "scraplift" them, or use them as inspiration for something of our own. I chose Keisha because her work and style are always amazing! Now Domonique wants to send this off to another friend of hers, and it pains me to create these things and not keep them for myself! Guess I will be recreating it so I can keep it! Anyhow, the papers are by Three Bugs in a Rug and the chipboard (I love these!) are by Pressed Petals. Tailored Tab by Scrapworks. You can find all of these things at Scrappers Bliss!

So I am thinking about this soup diet that Jill has posted on her blog! I would love to lose another ten or 15 pounds, and it looks really promising, so when I get back from Idaho this weekend I think I will give it a go. If anyone else tries it along with me, please let me know how it goes for you! I will post my results here!

Ok all you blog stalkers out there - leave some comments!  :) I want to hear from you!!

Shannon Taylor's challenge!

I will probably regret this, but Shannon posted a challenge to post our first scrapbook page that we ever created. Yikes. Well here it is, mine, in all it's sticker sneeze glory, complete with a little lock of hair and vellum (gasp!) journaling! Now I think I will run and hide to avoid the flying fruits and tomatoes that are sure to come my way! HAHA! This was a pretty funny challenge! Can you believe Alex's hair was that long? It go to a point where people thought he was a girl, so I finally broke down and let his Uncle Mike cut his hair. The crazy thing is that he was like a new kid with a completely different, ornery attitude - kind of like when you give your puppy a bath or haircut and they start zipping uncontrollably around the house and acting rambunctious!

Now I can tell!!

I am pretty excited! I was asked to teach on the Chatterbox cruise in May! I have never been on a cruise before, so this will really be a cool experience. Thanks to Amy Howe, they called me and asked me if I would be interested in teaching four different workshops on the cruise. Thank you, girl! We will both be in tropical places at the same time!!  HEE!

I wish I had a 24 hour Target close by. Anyone who knows me well knows that I sometimes get a wild "shopping" hair and like to go to the store in wee hours of the evening; however there isn't a 24 hour Target close to me, and on top of that, it is really COLD outside tonight! Yesterday, I swear, it was 82 degrees and tomorrow it is supposed to be a solid sheet of ice on the roads. Crazy weather 'round these parts! So I think I will stay here and maybe create something.

I love this kid!  :) It is hard to believe that in less than four years, he will be out of my house. It is so hard to believe that this year is my 15 year high school reunion, and that this kiddo was three weeks old at my high school graduation! He is such a great teenager. He is finally starting to "come around" and enjoy Texas a lot more. Here he was taking a break from homework and sprawling out on the dining room floor.  :)

Well, I am off to scrap for a while! I have Club 977 playing to keep me motivated!

Another letter to the media...

Ok, I know, I am really bad about this whole "going to the media" thing, but there is something else that has annoyed me and I took it to Anderson Cooper. LOL!

There has been a ton of new furniture donated for Katrina victims here in Texas, apparently, and now the city of Fort Worth feels the need to auction it all off for money, touting it as "unused" furniture - surplus, if you will. Now mind you, we have some furniture now, but still could use a few things, but yet there is a "surplus of unused furniture" and they are auctioning off DONATED items for CASH for the city? Pardon me if I am slightly annoyed! Since Anderson Cooper has professed his desire to continue helping Katrina victims, I wrote to him about it. Don't get me wrong - I am not annoyed because *I* need furniture, I am annoyed because I know there are LOTS of other Katrina victims out there (in general) that could be making use of this donated furniture!!

Rant over.

I picked up my glasses today. First of all, I think they actually look somewhat decent; however, I don't feel that they are very helpful! I see better without them on! Really, I do! I am still wearing them, since the doctor told me it would take a while to adjust to them, but I really feel like I see better without the dumb things. *sigh*

I got another assignment from BHG today! YAY! Now to get it finished before I go to Idaho next week.

What a day

First, I wanted to share a simple little project I made tonight in all of about five minutes! Domonique wanted a picture to give to her little boyfriend, since he has been bugging her for one, so I used a wooden "D" and altered it into a frame for him. I used some scraps of Pressed Petals paper and a metal tag, along with some ribbon from The Ribbon Jar and a tiny Prima flower. Very, very easy! Now I hope that when she wakes up in the morning, she will like it. I hate to make stuff like this because I never want to give it away - I want to keep it for myself!  :)

I spent most of the evening making 60+ rice krispie treats (pink ones) and individually wrapping them in rose colored plastic wrap.  In the morning I will make heart-shaped pink pancakes with strawberry syrup along with pink strawberry milk for breakfast. In the early afternoon, I will be volunteering at Alex's school for his Valentine's party.

So today I went for an eye exam for the first time in maybe 8 years. The verdict?

• *sigh*

Glasses.

Well, you have to understand. I have always had better than 20/20 vision! But lately I have had headaches and have been getting eye strain a lot, so I thought I had better get my eyes checked. The good news is that my vision is 20/20 without glasses, but that is making my eyes strain which is giving me the headaches. So, if I wear glasses while I read or am online, I won't have any more headaches. I don't have to have them, the doc said, but it will help with the eye stress. I pick them up on Wednesday. There won't be a prescription in the right side, only my left, as I have slight astigmatism in the left eye. Don't ask me why it bugs me that I have to have glasses; I understand it is a perfectly normal thing, but there was just something about it and I felt like a dork because I teared up a little when he started taking the measurements for my lenses.

On top of that, we paid our electric bill online and found out they charged our bank account THREE times! It was a nightmare to get fixed: faxed papers back and forth, blame-throwing on the side of the electric company and the bank, you name it. We ended up having to drive to the electric company to get it straightened out, and let me tell you: it may be a short distance as the crow flies from Frisco to Corinth, Texas, but it took almost an hour to get there! I felt like I spent half the day in the car! LOL!

Where is that case of Calgon???

Holy Guacamole!

What an amazing website - you MUST check it out! This is my dad's site that he just put up, and his talent (if I do say so myself!) is absolutely incredible! It is very humbling to scroll through the photos, as it makes me want to hide until I can acquire better picture-taking skills! Seriously, please do check it out and if you like what you see, drop him a line on his Contact page and tell him so! So if you are ever in Nebraska and need an awesome photographer, now you know who to call!  :)

So do you have any grand plans for Valentine's Day? None here, but since I got asked to be the room mother for Alex's class the other day, I will be helping with his Valentine's day party up at his school. YAY! I will probably send some balloons to the kids at their schools, then we got them some goodies to have when they get home. Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday! Every year I make them heart-shaped pink pancakes for breakfast on V-Day.

I love volunteering at the school! This afternoon was Matthew's band performance at the high school, and they asked me to be Vice President of Concessions on the Band Booster board for next year, so I am really excited about that! It is a big responsibility, though, as the concession stand is their largest fundraiser for band - they brought in $18,000 so far this school year, so hopefully I can do a good job! Wish me luck!

One of the Garden Girls at Two Peas sent me an awesome package of scrapbook goodies! She doesn't want to be named, but I just want to thank her so much! She is truly a sweetheart! So you know who you are and if you are reading this, THANK YOU!  :)

Happy birthday today to Andrea at Scrappers Bliss! I hope your day was special!

And in case you didn't know...

HAHA!

I was tagged!

Tagged by Michelle (Burberry Girl)

1. What is your occupation? Freelance designer
2. What color is your underwear? Pink and blue with flowers
3. What are you listening to right now? "Get Your Shine On" by Chamillionaire and Lil Flip
4. What was the last thing you ate? Pasta salad
5. Do you wish on stars? Only falling stars
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Salmon (that is the closest crayon to my favorite color which is coral!)
7. How is the weather right now? Windy and was sprinkling a while ago. Cold this evening!
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My daughter - I called her to tell her to come downstairs! LOL!
9. How old are you today? 32
10. Favorite drink? Diet Pepsi
11. Favorite sport to watch? College football
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Only lightened it - never colored it another color
13. Do you wear contacts or glasses? No, but I used to wear purple contacts just because I thought they looked mighty neato!
14. Pets? Yep - two cats and a puppy. Daughter has a gerbil.
15. Favorite month? June
16. Favorite food? I love Greek and Italian foods!
17. What was the last movie you watched? Yikes, I can't remember! At the theater I think it was the Cat in the Hat! Yes, I am sheltered. LOL!
18. Favorite day of the year? Valentine's Day
19. What do you do to vent anger? Clean like a madwoman!!
20. Hugs or kisses? Both when I can get them - especially from my kiddos!
21. Cherry or blueberry? Blueberry - especially with cheesecake.
22. Living arrangements? With my hubby and three kiddos!
23. When was the last time you cried? The other night when I was on the Make A Wish web site looking at the different wishes that kids have requested.
24. What is on the floor of your closet? In mybedroom closet it is rubbermaid containers and some shoes.
25. Who is/are the friends you have had the longest? Gosh, one of them would have to be Shad B. from high school. I still talk to him every now and then.
26. What did you do last night? Take a bubble bath and go to the grocery store! Not in that order...
27. Favorite smell? Eternity for men
28. What inspires you? music, weather, my kids/family, friends, signs/billboards, magazine pages/ads...
29. What are you afraid of? something happening to one (or more) of my kids
30. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheeseburger with ketchup, tomato, and pickle!
31. Favorite car? Ferraris - and I almost passed out - there is one in my neighborhood! I drool every time they drive down the road. *sigh*
32. Favorite dog breed? Pomeranians
33. Number of keys on your key ring? 3
34. How many years at your current job? Self employed - YAY!
35. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
36. How many states have you lived in? 7
37. How many cities have you lived in/name them? Oh my - too many!
38. What was the last book you read? Book? Who has time for books? LOL I read magazines - and too many of them! I suppose I could read a book in that amount of time... LOL!!

Ok, now go tag four people!

Two more toilet paper tubes thrown away...

Does the madness ever stop? Counting, now, as I have thrown away (and changed!) TWO more toilet paper tubes. Wonder if I could craft something from these things? As much as we go through in this house, we could probably save an entire forest by recycling them!

My puppy is so funny! Domonique took her outside yesterday to try to teach her how to walk on her leash. It was absolutely hilarious! Here she is showing her attitude by trying to yank herself away from Domonique! She kept yanking and jerking on the leash, defiantly trying everything to get away. It was cracking me up! She is certainly little Miss Attitude (hmmm, kind of like the person walking her, and... maybe her owner? LOL!) but she finally started walking like a good little doggie. So far I have been able to teach her to "speak" by bribing her with treats; now if I could just put her in some sort of obedience training! I have to teach her that it isn't very polite to chase the cats. I am sure the cats will thank me much when she finally realizes that they aren't their for her personal enjoyment.

No word yet on the actual date for Alex's limo ride, but hopefully it will be soon. If I don't hear a definite date by Monday, I will call them Monday morning. I am sure they will look forward to receiving my inquiring phone call. HA! They are probably thinking, "Oh NO, it is that WOMAN again!".

Today I got asked to be room mom for Alex's class which was so cool, considering how hard it can be in a new community to try to get involved. I went from being President of the PTA at his old school in Biloxi, looking forward to an exciting year, to barely knowing where his classroom is in his new school. It will be great to be involved again, and have the excuse to be up at the school all the time, seeing how things are going. Again, I will probably be the school's worst nightmare, because I am normally SOOOO on top of things, but it is so important! I get to bake Valentine cookies Monday night for his class, so if you have any cool ideas for cookies, please e-mail me!

*******EDITED TO ADD*******

Make that 3 tubes - I just got back from the bathroom. *sigh*

Happy Mardi Gras!

This month is Mardi Gras, and although many people have no clue what in the world it is, we have been accustomed to celebrating it every year in some way, shape or form.  Being married to a guy whose entire family is Cajun would be a great reason for us to know a lot about the holiday, and every year we usually go to the Biloxi parades for beads, food, and fun. We would start in the morning and go to the 11 AM parade, taking our bar-b-q grill along with us, staking out the perfect spot to sit and await the colorful floats. Next, another parade would roll around at 2 PM, and we would catch lots more beads, although we all anticipated greatly the night parade because the floats were full of lights and they threw the most beads. We would literally go home with TRASH BAGS full of beads! It was kind of funny, when we were walking through the neighborhoods in Biloxi right after Katrina hit, because you could see Mardi Gras beads EVERYWHERE!!!

This year, the kids still remembered Mardi Gras, even though we aren't back in Biloxi. Domonique wore a strand of beads to school today that she found in our heap of debris a few months back - her favorite strand of frog beads that she loved so much. They had a few mold spots on them when we found them, but I had taken them and soaked them in some bleach water and now they look pretty good! Her friends wondered what in the world Mardi Gras was, so she explained the meaning and they all thought it was cool. Of course, her boyfriend is from Louisiana (transplanted to Texas!) so he knew right away why she was wearing the beads!

Determined to still celebrate in some way, we bought a king cake and hid the little baby inside before the kids came home from school. They squealed with delight when they saw the colorful cake on the countertop, excited to know that we would still at least get a slice of the heavenly sugary goodness! We still have some cake left, and no one has found the baby yet. Maybe tomorrow! At least it was some sense of routine and normalcy for them, so that was nice.

I am working on a project for BHG and I am a bit stumped, so I thought I would take this opportunity to take a breather and just blog. I am pretty excited about the upcoming Chatterbox retreat. Chatterbox is bringing the design team to Idaho in two weeks for a weekend retreat! It will be like one big slumber party, and I think we will have a blast! I have never been to Idaho so I can't wait to take pictures. I have been told it is gorgeous!

PS... I have changed the empty toilet paper roll THREE times since I wrote about it! ;)