My First Freebie

Ok, it's not much, but I designed my first paper pack. I might dabble in trying to make some embellishments to add to the kit later, but for the moment this is it. There are 13 papers in the kit. If you have any suggestions or any ideas for elements you would like to see in an add on, I would love to hear them. If you send me your layouts and I will post them on the blog. Please leave some love if you download. :) *Sorry, this is no longer available as a freebie. You may now find this and other products available for purchase in my Blog Store.*
Download Paper Pack Here
*I changed the preview and updated the link to one download instead of two, because the files are not so big that they need to be split up.

Sally

My daughter introduced me to her imaginary friend "Sally" a few weeks ago. She usually joins us at meals, but sometimes she shows up to play dolls with BittyBit. Tyson thinks it is silly to have imaginary friends, but he probably never had one himself. When I was a child I had "Jamie-boy" and we got into all kinds of trouble together. I was more than a little jealous when my younger sister Robyn took over as Jamie-boy's best friend. I had kind of outgrown him, but I didn't want to share. Good times.

LittleMan learned how to wave goodbye this week, and he also learned how to sign "milk". He got so excited when he made the sign and we actually delivered a bottle. Now that he knows how to communicate, he gets extremely impatient waiting for us to prepare his food.

I finished my first digital paper pack today. I might make elements for it later, but for now I'm just going to package up the paper. I'm still getting the preview ready, writing up my terms of use, and getting ready to upload my files to the file sharing site, so it might be a few days before I post it.

Memorial Day Fun

First of all, I want to say thanks to Julie for picking me up for the second time in a week so that I could be part of the festivities. It is driving me nuts having to rely on other people for everything, but maybe the Lord is trying to teach me patience and humility.

Julie came by my house early Monday morning and helped me round up the kids and load them in the car. We camped out at her house in the morning while she prepared food for her BBQ later that day. The food turned out great and I had a wonderful time hanging out with old friends and meeting some new people. My daughter ran around with Shannon and Kelly and the other kids and managed to get completely soaked by a water gun, but it was so hot outside that I bet she was more comfortable than the rest of us. BittyBit and Shannon after a serious water gun fight.LittleMan chilled out most of the day, in spite of being tired.

In the evening we all went over to another friend's house for Jenny G.'s going away party. The gals who put the party together did a wonderful job and we all had a great time. It was nice to be able to get together for one last hurrah before Jenny & her family move far, far away. My only regret was that neither of my kids got much of a nap, and they both pitched fits for a good portion of the party. Especially my eldest child, who realized how slow I am on crutches and decided to take advantage. It is always humbling to have the worst behaved child at a party. Check out Missy's blog for some great pictures of the event (I mean the party, not the tantrums).

Last, but not least, I finished another layout. I've been trying to complete this one for weeks, but I couldn't find papers I liked that didn't clash with the page that will go next to this one in the album. The two pages are of different events, so I didn't want to use the same papers. I finally found a kit that has a similar feel to the other page I did, but isn't too much the same. As always, click on the layout to view it larger.

Credits: Template by Andrea Gold, Papers from Danielle Corbitt's Don't Be Shy kit. Font:CK Stenography. Atomic Cupcake action used on title.

How Firm a Foundation...

...at least it is after today. We had the foundation company who did the repairs 12+ years ago come back and adjust 7 of the piers, as well as install 5 new steel piers. The piers that they previously installed were still under a partial warranty, so we only had to pay 50% of what they cost to install twelve years ago. The other owners never had any supports put on the front side of the house, although the foundation needed them. Because of that the house shifted down several inches on the front side and slid off of the piers that were supporting one side of the house. That is what caused the pipe to burst under our slab several months ago. We are going to fix everything correctly this time, and hopefully we won't have to deal with any more foundation drama while we own the house.This is what the house looked like with all the foundation jacks sticking out from under it.
I thought these jacks looked kinda cool. They must be strong to be able to lift the house.

Rude Telemarketers

I always try to be polite to people who call my house, even when they call me when I am home by myself trying to get both kids ready for bed. I really don't like it when the telemarketers call. I have been getting tons of solicitations recently and only realized last week that it is because my time on the National Do Not Call Registry had expired, so I had to put my numbers back on the list.

I think most sales people take a speed-talking course before they begin the job. As soon as I pick up the phone they begin their sales pitch, not even pausing to breathe, and I am left listening carefully for an opening to tell them, "No thanks". I make an effort to be polite, because I know that they are just doing their job, but as Dear Abby once said, in response to a whiney letter from a telemarketer (I am paraphrasing) - "People have no obligation to talk to sales people on the phone. Hanging up on a telemarketer is not terribly rude, as the call was unsolicited and the caller often doesn't give the person a chance to disconnect politely."

I spent close to a minute listening to the guy who was trying to sell me a termite treatment package. When he finally took a breath I said,"No thank you, I'm not interested." At which point he promptly hung up. No mumbled "thanks" or "bye". So I've decided I'm tired of being polite. I'm not interested in torturing the poor people who try to sell me something(like my brother in law enjoys doing), but I'm not going to feel obligated to listen to their sales pitch either.

I thought I'd list some of LittleMan's accomplishments
words: Ma-ma, da-da, (He said his sister's name once, but he has yet to say it again)
talents: clapping hands - he just learned this skill last week
crawling, pulling up on the furniture, and a little bit of "cruising" along the furniture
giving kisses - the big, slobbery, open mouth kisses that babies give, but he does it on command
moving around on his ride-on toy, Mater (he can do this by himself, but prefers to ride around with his big sister)

He is very happy and laughs a lot. I can tell he's going to have a great sense of humor and maybe even be a joker like his dad.
BittyBit and LittleMan riding Mater

Dinner & a Movie?

Saturday morning Tyson and I packed up the kids and headed to a nearby park for a family picnic hosted by the Priesthood quorum. The guys (and a few girls) played softball while the rest of us watched the kids run around on the playground, then we ate hamburgers and hot dogs and chatted.

Saturday afternoon, Tyson and I asked Connie to watch the kids so that we could go to a movie. At least she thought that was why she was watching the kids. Tyson helped her reface the frame of her kitchen cabinets last fall and they built new cabinet doors together. Connie primed the doors months ago, but between her surgeries, social life, and Tyson's busy work schedule, the doors never got installed. Tyson headed over to her house and dusted off all of the cabinet doors, then lined them up to see which one went where. Then we fastened the hardware and installed the doors, assembly line style. Tyson drilled the holes for the hinges and screws, then I attached the hardware to the door and took the finished door inside and placed it in front of the cabinet to which it belonged. Then I would bring out another door and we would do it again. We had a pretty good rhythm going and finished the project in about 3 1/2 hours. We wanted to affix the knobs to the doors too, but the cabinet doors needed another coat of paint, and I knew if we spent any more time away, she would be suspicious of our "dinner & a movie" ruse.
This is the "before" shot.
Some of the openings are different sizes, so we lined up all the doors to see where they fit.
Tyson drilled the holes for the hinges.
I attached all the hardware - with a screwdriver at first, until I began to get blisters, and we hunted for a spare cordless drill.
I held the doors in place while Tyson marked where to pre-drill for the hinges on the cabinets, then we took turns attaching the doors.
Finally, after all our hard work, the doors were all in place. We couldn't find the drawer panels to go in front of the sink, and we didn't have time to make more this time. Later Connie told us that she already has the wood to make them, she just hasn't gotten to it yet.

We tried to put everything back where we found it, but we almost made the garage too clean. We had to sweep up all the sawdust and beat it out of some carpet runners that she has next to her car. I think I put one of them back in the wrong spot. She told us later that she walked from the garage into the kitchen and thought, "I don't remember leaving the garage this clean". But she was still surprised when she walked inside and was greeted by nearly finished cabinets, instead of open shelves. She was pretty happy that we'd gotten all that done for her for mother's day, but she also was a little disappointed that we hadn't actually taken time to go on a date ourselves. Connie is awesome that way, always looking out for everyone else. I think we did get our date, and it was a service date, which was somehow much more fun than a traditional date.

Haircuts and Treadmills

I got my hair cut again today. I love going to Erik to get my hair done. It always looks much better after he styles it than I can ever get it to look on my own. Tyson's mom was talking to him the other day about how male hairdressers usually make more money than females. If a woman cuts another woman's hair and tells her it looks good, the patron might believe her, or she might think that the hairdresser is just trying to get some repeat business. If a guy cuts a woman's hair, when he tells her that her new 'do looks great, she is more likely to believe him.

I don't know if there is any truth to that, or if it is one of those made up statistics, but I can see how it could be true. Assuming that the guy cutting my hair does a great job, I'll keep going back because I will take a little flattery wherever I can get it (I said flattery, not flirting). Tyson has always been good about noticing when I change my hair, and sometimes a few weeks later, he will notice if I buy new clothing. I think (especially after the relationship is no longer new) that sometimes guys forget that women need compliments. Once you get married, friendships with people of the opposite sex are mostly off limits. You are pretty much limited to your spouse's friends, and if you do remain friends with people you knew before you got married, the dynamics of the friendship definitely have to change.

I walked over five miles on the treadmill today. Tyson's comment that I looked pregnant in the sweater I wore to the wedding finally motivated me to either kill myself or start working out, and since everything else in my life is going ok right now, I guess I'd better start exercising. I watched a Cold Case episode and part of Northanger Abbey (thank goodness for DVR) to keep me busy while I walked. Now I am going to be hooked on all of these Jane Austen movies. I have already recorded over 30 hours of them from PBS's Masterpiece Theater. I wish real life were as romantic as the books. I think after reading enough of Jane Austen, no man will ever be able to measure up!

Here's another scrapbook page I finished yesterday. This page was the last of the June '05 pictures, now I am ready to tackle July.
Credits: Template by Andrea Gold, Spring Garden kit add on by
Mira Designs of The Digichick, Font - CK Stenography

No boots in the house

Last night BittyBit wanted to wear her cowboy boots in the house. We usually take our shoes off while in the house, and it was almost bedtime, so I told her that she could wear them to school tomorrow instead. She looked at me and said, "I don't want to go to school tomorrow". Most of the time she loves school, so I asked her why she didn't want to go. "I don't want to go to school tomorrow because I'm mad at you mom", was her reply. I had to fake a cough to cover my smile. I am glad that she can tell me when she is upset, and even gladder that she can be civil when she tells me. It just surprised me and the expression on her face when she said it struck me as funny.

I started the layouts below about a month ago, but I have not been able to get the second page to look right. I think I'm done messing with it for now though, so I will post it. I can't wait to start scrapping 2006, when I lost the rest of the baby weight. Those pictures are always easier to look at.

Credits: Sketches by Becky Higgins. The papers and elements are from Buzy Bee Scrapper Designs