Life in North Texas... by a Realtor®

Random meanderings of a scrap-obsessed night owl!

I don't usually do two page layouts,but I created this one for Chatterbox for a Michael's project. I like how it turned out. It is on the simple side, but that is how the project was supposed to be.  :)

This week has flown by! I can't believe it is almost Friday already! I am so excited about CHA coming up next month, and celebrating the 4th of July. We don't have any special plans for the 4th, but we will undoubtedly watch some fireworks somewhere and have some great food. Frisco has been having a horrible drought, so hopefully people will heed the warnings and not set off fireworks with these dry conditions. Send us some rain vibes, will ya?  ;)

So do you have any great scrapbooking goals? I have one really big one and a few smaller ones. I have been working hard to make those goals happen, so wish me the best of luck! Tell me what your goals are so I can help cheer along with you. Along with the rain vibes, send me some good luck vibes, too! HEEHEE! ;)

Just got my layout back from the July BHG issue. I adore this issue! So many terrific pages by some amazing artists! I especially loved Dana Smith's layout of her two boys on page 102 and Leah's page on page 103. If you don't have this issue, you GOTTA get it!

Jamming out to the iPod...

• Holiday by Madonna
• Be Without You by Mary J. Blige
• Amber is the Color of Your Energy by 311
• Anything by Rascal Flatts

Wide variety, there. LOL! I listen to some strange variations, sometimes. Throw in some Pavarotti or Bocelli and I am good.  :)

New Chatterbox papers today!!

Wow oh wow!! I got my new Chatterbox paper in today. Holy cow, the box was heavy, and had about 8 inches of glorious new papers! I already have them all neatly put away (getting better about organizing this crazy scrapbook room!). If you want a sneak peek, check out Christy's blog!

So, a sad note. My stepdad passed away three years ago, and both my mom and stepdad owned a home in Norman, Oklahoma that I actually lived in for a while when Matthew was small. Well, since he passed, things got difficult for my mom and she was forced to put the house on the market. As of Sunday, she has found a buyer for it, but it has been pretty hard on her because it is the last thing left that they both owned together. She has been pretty down about it, and I really am sad to see the house get sold, since I have lots of memories for it myself. It isn't really anything special as far as the house itself - just a 5 bedroom, two story, big blue house that holds lots and lots of memories. Even Matthew remembers living there, and he was really young. So while it is a good thing that there is a buyer for it, it is still sad to see it have to sell.

Anyhow. LOL

Speaking of sad (hahaha) my 15th high school reunion is coming up! UGH!! Did I say UGH?? I am not sure if I will go. It is only a two hour drive or so for me, but still, I am not too sure that people would recognize me anyway! LOL! Still thinking on that one. I was listening to my iPod earlier tonight and heard a couple of songs that really remind me of high school. "You Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer, "Bust a Move", "Don't Want to Fall in Love" by Jane Child, "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd, etc. Can you tell what kind of music I listened to? I will kindly leave out the Too Short, 2 Live Crew, and NWA. HAHAHA!  ;)

Back to work! Sorry - no interesting photos to accompany my banter, but I will post this amusing picture of me when I was three. Anyone remember Holly Hobby? ;) My mom scanned this one for me a while back. Look at the squareness of those little people toys!!! Cracks me up!

Have a great night!

Love summer!

I just love summer! Things are busy around here right now, so be patient with me on my lack of updating (or at least, updating with something that is actually interesting enough to read! HAHA!). Today we get our CHA assignments for Chatterbox - YIPPEE! The new stuff is amazing, as always! Can't wait for you to be able to see it all!

I took this picture of Alex in the pool, as he was showing us that he could swim! He has overcome his fear of swimming and water and just jumps right into it. I am so proud of him!

The other two have been spending their vacation just hanging out at home and on the computer/phone with friends. I swear, Domonique has a plastic growth attached to her ear! But they are doing well and that is the best part.

Ok, folks! I know it was short and boring, but I have to run to the PO to mail a BHG project and makes something to eat for the little house apes around here.  :) Feeding them once a week just doesn't cut it for some reason! HAHA! JUST KIDDING - so no one turn me in to the authorities - I promise it was a joke. LOL!  ;)

A lot going on!

Hey everybody! I have a lot going on this weekend, so I may not be able to update as much as I would like, but I wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten you!

A huge congratulations to my friend Andie who took some incredible photos to accompany my upcoming article in BHG! I wish I lived closer to her so I could get her to photograph my family! Amazing work, I tell you!

Chatterbox has a new blog! If you haven't seen it, you gotta check it out! Some really inspiring posts, there.

Now hopefully these two sites will give you something to look at in case I don't update until tomorrow or Sunday. HAHAHA!!  ;)

Thanks again for all the wonderful posts, comments, and e-mails. You are all so inspiring! I love to hear your thoughts and stories!

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

• Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.
  Jawaharal Nehru

Have a great Friday!

Perfectionism can be lonely.

• Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.
         - Robert Schuller

I was browsing around the internet tonight and I saw this quote on a motivational web site. It really got me thinking.

There are many things in my life that I have missed out on because I was afraid of trying something and not doing it "well enough". For instance, when I was at my 15th birthday party (which I had at the bowling alley), I was so afraid of making a fool out of myself because I wasn't good at bowling that I wouldn't just try it. Instead, I played it off and acted silly, rolling the ball "granny-style" between my legs and poking fun at myself. I was too afraid to hold the ball correctly and just let it fly down the lane; too fearful that it would head straight for the gutter and that my friends would laugh at my obvious lack of skill.

I tend to be a person that likes to do things that I feel like I am good at. Instead of taking risks and trying new things, I tend to be fearful that I won't be good at it, and I end up sitting out on the sidelines watching others have all the fun.

I am working on this. I am learning to open up and try new things, and accept the fact that I am not perfect. I have made a promise to myself that it is ok to fail at something; it is ok to make mistakes. I am a staunch perfectionist, but I am learning to play; to experiment; to dance, even though I may stumble in the process.

How about you? Are there things that you haven't tried because you were afraid to? Think of something that you have always wanted to do but didn't because you made an excuse not to. Challenge yourself to do that very thing; to give yourself the chance to make a mistake.

Let me hear your thoughts! And in the meantime, tomorrow, I plan to try a new recipe instead of sticking with the old standard dishes that I normally cook. If my family doesn't like how it turns out, we will order pizza.  ;)

Thank you to everyone who posted a comment after reading my last post! It is great to know who is reading. Each one of you are so important to me - even the ones who don't post!  :) It means the world that you are here with me, reading what I feel.

Peace out.  :)

"I always feel like somebody's watching me" - HEHE!

Do you remember that 80's song by Rockwell with the cameo by Michael Jackson? If you are a true 80's fanatic like me, you will be singing it throughout this post because it will now be stuck in your head. But I do feel like somebody is watching, because I just checked my stats on Sitemeter and HOLY COW there are lots of you reading! I am so glad that someone out there is interested in my incessant babbling, but I would love to know who you are and be able to say hello! So if you would, next time you get a chance, post a "hello" on here so I know who is reading!

Wow, I finished up two big magazine projects today and cleaned the kitchen pretty thoroughly! I feel a nice sense of accomplishment today! Do you ever feel like you have the messiest house in the world? I always worry when my kids have their friends over that one of them will see something and go home and say, "OMG, you should see the Hanback house! It is a mess!". Now when I look back on my own childhood, I don't really recall thinking that about any of my friends' houses, so I don't know why I worry so much, but a clean house is so important to me (although you probably cannot tell by looking at it! HA!). I do, however, remember this one friend of mine whose parents were the worst housekeepers in the world! One day I was eating lunch at her house and I recall that there was a knife full of peanut butter on the tile floor underneath the table, covered with ants, and I can clearly remember thinking, "EEEEEW gross!!"! So aside from something really outrageous like that, I guess I never really paid attention to what my friends' homes looked like. Now maybe I can keep that in mind about my own kids and their friends! Matthew always tells me our house is much cleaner than all his friends' houses, but I am just like, yeah, sure! LOL! So I will continue on with my cleaning obsession and hope for the best!

I wanted to share this special note that I scanned back before the hurricane. I lost the note, but am so glad to have the scan. It is a constant reminder that my husband loves my scrapbooking and the thought behind this is so precious. He is the sweetest! I found it lying on my scrap counter one day after I had stayed up all night working on a project. It meant the world to me.

Going to get back to work! Writing some pieces for the BHG Scrapbooks, Etc. web  site!

Thanks for reading!

Domonique and Alex (not OUR Alex!)

Love this picture, even if it was taken in the worst overhead lighting conditions ever. When you have two preteens like this who like each other, it is very difficult to convince them to let you take their picture as it is without having to ruin it by asking them to move into the shade! So, I took what I was lucky enough to get. This is Domonique's latest boyfriend, and he is such a cutie! Very polite and sweet, too. His little brother is great friends with our Alex and attended his pool party last weekend.

So I redecorated around this blog. Hope you like it! The ocean waves in the banner are very significant. I took that picture the day that Hurricane Katrina destroyed our home. We were evacuating to Florida and I stopped in Destin to take a picture of the giant waves that the storm was bringing in. That picture represents change to me, so I incorporated it into the blog. Hurricane Katrina taught my family to take life one step at a time. So there you have it - the meaning of my blog banner and why it is named what it is.  :)

Here is another layout I did for a design team assignment at Scrappers Bliss. Let me know what you think! Not my usual style - a little more grungy, but I like it! I tinted the picture purple to match the papers. Turned out kind of wild-looking.

Alrighty folks, it is hot, sunny, and the pool is calling me!  :) See you later tonight, as I have tons of stuff on my mind and I will post more later!

Melody has a blog!!

I am so excited! Melody Ross has a blog! WOOT WOOT! Now everyone can see first hand what I have been lucky enough to know for the last three and a half years - that she is an incredibly amazing woman - brilliant, beautiful, intelligent, and so much more.  :) You have to check it out!

Blog neglect again! Update on the week...

Ok, a layout post!  :)  I finished this one up for Scrappers Bliss. Yeah, I know, another bright one! I have another one I need to scan tonight, but it has fabric paint on it and I have to wait until the paint dries. I have made that mistake one too many times where I got impatient to scan a layout with something that was semi-wet on it, then messed up my scanner bed over it!

Man, have I been busy! I love to be busy!! Got two more projects to work on from Scrapbooks, Etc. this week and will be starting CHA layouts soon for Chatterbox! The great thing is that now that the kids are out of school, I have more leisure time to do other things. Did I just say MORE leisure time? Yes, believe it or not, I get more done during the summer when my kids are HOME, and not when they are in school! During school, they have a hundred and one things to do and I get to be a taxi quite often. Now that things have calmed down, they just chill out at the pool, ride their bikes, etc. so that is less chauffeuring for me. HE HE Other than some board meetings for school, we don't have too much on our personal agenda, and that is nice.

HOW ABOUT THOSE MAVERICKS? One game down so far, tonight, in the NBA finals! WOOHOO! Now if we can give Dirk a kick in the butt for the next game. Terry totally owned that game tonight. I loved it! Poor Stackhouse with getting his snoot stitched up. I am sure Shaq's elbow didn't feel too good. Can't wait until the next game! Now when football season comes, sorry - I am not a Texas fan. LOL! Some things can't change, ya know. LOL!

Alex had a great birthday last weekend. He had a pool party and had 7 or 8 kids come. They ate cupcakes and drank Capri Suns by the pool. He enjoyed the day so much! I will post a few pictures soon. I am so bad about actually downloading pictures off of my camera to my computer.

Well, I am off to check on Domonique - she has a friend staying all night tonight and I have to make sure the popcorn she took to her room actually makes it back downstairs. I hear lots of giggles, so I know they are still up!

Peace, y'all!