I've been tagged 2x in one day!

Thanks Maria & Kryss at ScrapMommies!

What were you doing 10 years ago? In 1996 I had recently moved to this area with DH. I was working as a hostess at the Aberdeen Barn restuarant a few mornings a week & was not dealing well with the earliy hours. I was also trying to find a full time job in my field.

What were you doing one year ago? Same thing I am doing now. SAHM, surfing the web for fun. I didn't know about digi scrapping at this time last year. I was working on a cross stitch project.

5 favorite snacks - pretzels, chocolate, cinnamon toast, cereal & cookies

5 songs you know all the lyrics too - Down to the River to Pray, Southern Cross (Crosby, Stills & Nash), Galileo (Indigo Girls), I Want it All (Queen), Written in the Stars (Blackmore's Night)

5 bad habits - swearing, late night snacking, fidgeting, leaving dirty dishes on the counter, using a new glass every time I get a drink

5 things you like doing - digiscrapping, reading, playing with my kids, going out to dinner, sitting in the quiet

5 things you would never wear, get or buy again - bell bottom pants, clothes that are orange, a modem card from WalMart, high heeled shoes, the steak bites at the Pub

5 favorite toys - computer, tv, ipod, sewing machine, camera

5 tags - jenny, steph, critter, porn & wonker all at Live journal

I haven't done a new layout in a week. I'd've thought with SM being down I would have taken advantage of the time & gotten on it, but no. I instead posted a bunch at DSP and decided to stop lurking at DigiChick, plus got caught up at SBB. And I had to finish the primary mini kit for 1hour. Then there is the drama on the fertility/parenting board I frequent that I wanted to keep up with. Plus I agreed to write a tutorial for PSP for 1hour & my back has been acting up so shame on me for not making better use of my time on the computer since my back limits it.

DH is going out of town for the week tomorrow. This does not mean more scrap time for me. It means I am single parenting & will be so exhausted from the 5:30-6am wake up, with no break until bedtime at 8pm (unless Havoc surprises me & naps) that I will not get any scrapping in. I have to finish my contribution to the group kit at SM & do the preview by Tuesday & then I have to finish the tutorial, oh and then there is the DSU homework. I'm taking this coming weekend & just scrapping. He owes me.

my first paycheck

My first tru paying job (where they took out taxes & FICA) was at Wheeling Park in 1980. I was 13 years old. I made $1.20 an hour & could only work 12 hour a week by law. I worked at a concession stand near the playground that also rented paddleboats for the lake & clubs for mini golf. It was a natural transition for me. I had attended summer day camp at that park from age 4 until age 12. I would continue to work there every summer until I was 20 years old. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of that place.

I spent the money mostly on books that first summer, though my folks made me put part of every check into a bank account.

I'bve been tagged

By Maggie - sandersmr - at Digitalscrapbookplace

4 Jobs I've held:
Telecom analyst
office manager of local LD company
manager of cell phone sales office
loan approval data entry

4 Movies You Would Watch Over and Over:
Clue
Star Wars (original)
Ocean's 11
Blazing Saddles


Four Places You Have Lived:
Wheeling, WV
Morgantown, WV
Fairfax, VA
Culpeper, VA


Four TV Shows You Love To Watch:
Good Eats
What Not to Wear
Mythbusters
Battlestar Galactica


Four Places You've Been On Vacation
England
Holland
Florida
New York


Four websites you visit daily:
www.digitalscrapbookplace.com
www.scrapmommies.com
www.ovusoft.com
(the others are private boards)


Four of your favorite foods:
chocolate
coffee
yaki hamachi hand roll
applejacks


Four places you would rather be right now:
in bed
visiting my parents
London
on a cruise


Four bloggers you are tagging:
JennyWLS
wewantmore
harleybabe
itscrittle
~ all on livejournal~

so far

I used my PC time yesterday to finish the prize kit for the chat tonight. Fortunately i had a bunch of the pieces made already for a layout I did a week ago. I also picked out some photos to scrap for a couple challenges, checked my email, got caught up on my message boards (Seriously think I just need to drop 2 of them) & started MP3 conversion of some audiobooks, which doesn't require me to sit here.

I spent my additional off PC time, the past 3 days, pulling the layouts I like out of the stack of Scrapbook mags I have, getting caught up on the past 2 months of Gourmet magazine & have started read re-reading Anne Perry's Pitt series. (I hav a couple on audio) I have also cleaned out the boys' toys & have a stack to donate.

Today I am going to try to get one layout done in small bursts. I've worked out what I want it too look like, what quote I want to use & what kit. I'm just not sure about the effects & fonts & I'll have to actually see them in action to decide. It's just so hard to get up 20-30 minutes into something if you are not finished. I need to plan out segments. First one will be positioning everything. Second one will be color & effects. Third will be fonts. Hopefully none of thsoe will take more than 30 minutes, since I already have a good idea of what I want to do.

I have a chat tonight I need to be at. It's an hour & I think I can mange that if I get up every 10 minutes or so...maybe I can borrow DH's laptop & sit in my recliner. I wonder how much work he'll have to do tonight?

my back

bad news for my digi scrapping & time online. My back is whacked. I went to the chiro today for some ongoing pain in my mid back & shoulders. everything is extremely tight. We talked about my posture & my activities. A lot of my problem is this desk & the chair. The desk is just all wrong. It is too high for the chair I have so my elbows are too low when I type & that puts strain on my shoulder & neck muscles . The opening between the drawers is too narrow for a chair with arms to fit in it (it a circa 1940's desk, given to us free), plus I cannot angle myself correctly to the right to be comfortable because of the drawers on each side. I need the drawers for storage, but I think a newer, better designed desk & chair is in order. however we have no money for that. Possibly after we figure out our tax refund, but that is at least a month away, assuming there is enough. So, unless I want to undo the work that the chiro is doing, I need to spend less time at the desk.

on vacation

I brought my PSPX disc with me to play with while on vacation since I never seem to find the time to experiment with it at home. Forgot to bring the serial number as well though. So much for that idea. I'm just going to have to sit down & make myself use it. But when I am home I want to get scrapping, not figure out a new version of my software.

I want to get scrapping now. I found a site that has 2 page layout blueprints & I printed them out & am looking at some to adapt for the quick pages. I've got several other ideas as well. Bought a graph paper notebook today & started writing them down so I don't forget.

Totally missed the chat today. Lost track of time while DH was napping & i was dealing with the boys. Mayhem very clingy today & Havoc being standoffish. I think he is having nightmares or something because he is talking about 'scary things'. Then Mom says dinner is ready & I realize it is almost 6pm. I never heard back from Amy to my PM so I wasn't sure what was going on with the chat.

Getting Organized

I went through my installed fonts & moved 70% of them to my new My Fonts file & categorized them. I have a couple dozen serif fonts that are the EXACT same thing under different names.

I reorganized my scrap folders to include website under the kit folders & then moved kits into the right folders

I've visited the 6-8 websites I've been checking out & posting on for the past couple of weeks & made a list of each site's challenges & chats that I like. I've got them all arranged on a calendar now. I plan to spend the rest of the month visiting the sites, checking out the stuff & seeing what I end up doing regularly. I've already dropped a few sites. I don't want this to get out of hand. DSP, DSD, 3S & Scrap Mommies seem to be the ones I like most, though RAK & POTH have possibilities.

I think I may sign up for 3 classes at DSP this October - Intro to PSP, Layout Design & Creating Word Art. This will set me back $65 when DH's job is not all that secure but if I don't take them now, who knows when I might get the chance. DH & I have talked about it. We're both more of the 'live the high life while you can' sort than the 'start saving now' sort. This is not good in the long run but the loan the business was hoping for has come through so I've decided to be an optimist and take the chance.

Now I need to wade through all my PSP links & sort out what is actually useful & what i have already printed out & what can be saved to my PC & clean the whole folder out. I don't know how Gizmo does it. She always has the greatest links & several times I've discovered I already had them too. I need to *use* them. But i want to get organized first.

Then I need to organize the crochet & cross stitch & quilt stuff. Someday...

Just for this Day

This is one of my favorite works. It always makes me cry when I read it. Ihave seen a shorter version of it attributed to Sally Meyer as a work about autism but I am not sure where this longer version came from.

crochet woes

I have unravalled the scarf 3 times so far. First I realized about 8 rows into it that I added a stitch on the second row, so I unravalled to that, fixed it & got about 8 more rows in when I realized that I had also added a stitch on the begining row & that is where the funky bow in the bottom came from - not changing tension like I thought. So I unravel all 10 rows, readjust & crochet about 20 rows. Last night I looked at it & realized it was too wide for what I wanted. So i unravelled the WHOLE THING.

I started over with the base chain & the first row (sc) done in just the purple yarn & then added the fur to the second row (dc) and will do both together in dc until the end, when I will finish with one row of just purple in sc.

I like the grey fur wiht the purple now that I have gotten used to it.

bought yarn

WM was having a sale on Fun Fur. So I bought a few skeins & a skein of Plush red heart. I am going to make a scarf. Simple. Just 25 dc across until it reaches 72 inches. The plush is purple & the fur is black/grey. it seems to really overwhelm the purple. I may have to switch to purple fur....

I need to crochet more in teh evenings. Or do XS. I have been on teh computer scrapbooking mostly & it is not helping me sleep at night. Crochet & XS as a form of mindful meditation for me & that relaxes me. Scrapbooking energizes me.

Mayhem's kilt made

That went faster but I'm still not too sure I've got the elastic right.

I ironed the pleats down in place. the thick hem keeps them from looking too pleaty & I hope the ironing will help.

I'll put them in onsies under them. I made them some belts out of leather strapping.

Havoc's kilt made

Pleating it to the right size was a bit of work & then I had to readjust the tension in the elastic but it turned out good. A bit long but oh well.

I need to come up with a kilt pin to hold the fabric in place over his shoulder

bought fabric

Bought plaid fabric for the boys kilts. Nice tan/burgandy pattern & only $2 a yard. I'm going to put a good 3-4 inch hem all around the fabric before I make the kilts so there is room to grow. I got 2 yards each. Both boys have 20 inch waists but Havoc is 5 inches taller.

I hope I can get the front elastic waistband idea to work

digital scrapbooking

My friend Steph turned me on to www.digitalscrapbookplace.com The have tutorials for PSP. I've been wanting to DS for awhile but didn't know where to start & wasn't sure I had the right software. She has recently down a bunch of great pages & told me she was taking lessons at this site. I have to wait until October for a class in PSP but I can do the tutorials until then & see what I come up with

bought more patterns

I bought some new patterns for XS. I gotthem from Witches Stitches. I don't knwo why I bought them. I'm almsot half way done with my current project but I have been working on it off & on for 3 years. So it isn't like I'll need them any time soon.