Grats: Day 4!

Super quick today because I am FRIED! I worked my butt off at my mother in law’s mulching her gardens. They are coming out gorgeous! It feels great being outside and soaking up the last of the summer-ish sun. But now, I am wiped out.

1. Gary is making dinner and wow- it smells delicious!!!
2. I don’t have to cook dinner tonight.
3. I didn’t have to choose what to cook tonight.
4. Cait is happy even though she doesn’t like linguine with clam sauce because her friend is staying fo rsupper.
5. As soon as I am done posting htis, I can take my grimy contacts out.

Have a nice night!

Gratitudes: Day 3

I am hot, sweaty and tired so I am going to make this set of gratitudes kind of quick.

I am grateful:

1. Summer weather today!I was able to do some yard work today- Just some weeding and a bit of “stick gathering” so I can start raking leaves in a few weeks.
2. Summer weather and a bit of free time- I finally got my car all vacuumed out and “de-sanded” from the beach so it looks clean and smells yummy!
3. the feeling of accomplishment! That rocks!
4. that Gary was able to fix our TV, big sigh of relief.
5. the nice hot shower I am going to take this afternoon! Awesome!

Gratitudes: Day 2

So yesterday I was all warm and fuzzy and happy and grateful. Until both kids came home from school, fighting and bickering and driving me insane!!!

Instead of some mushy lovey-dovey gratitudes, I am going to have to dig a bit harder here.

For today:

1. My grocery shopping for the week is done, I didn’t spend too much *and* I got my coupon for 10% off my next shopping order.
2. I am getting my hair done today- roots are getting a quick touch up, and the dry and crackly end of my end will be trimmed off.
3. My remote start is going to get installed today! All I wanted for lat year’s Christmas was a remote starter for my car. All I wanted for birthday (in June) was to have it installed. Yay me! It is happening today!
4. Do overs and new starts- each day is a chance to start over. If the kids can behave, then we will celebrate Cait’s birthday tonight.
5. New Fall season on TV! DVR’d  House last night, plus NCIS/NCIS: LA tonight, I am ready to snuggle up on the sofa and have a TV marathon.

What 5 things am I grateful for today?

Today is a special day for me to start my gratitude blogging. It is my baby girl’s 11th birthday! In honor of that I am going to make all 5 of my gratitudes relate to her.

I am grateful:

1. that on this day 11 years ago I was given the best gift a mom could wish for, a healthy baby girl.
2. that even though we might have our up and downs (and all a rounds some days!!), we are still very close and have a strong relationship.
3. that she considers me to be a good friend, and I feel the same.
4. that she knows how to make me smile, to laugh, to cry, to scream! She makes me feel- good or bad, it is a good thing.
5. for her wit, her attitude and her strength. I see the woman inside that she will become some day and I know how proud I am going to be – as well as how proud of her I already am.

I love you sweetheart!!

Gratitude bloggin’ 2009!

My friend Sally, who has the blog Sally’s Pondering’s, is running another Gratitude Challenge. Sally is an inspiration to me. She has the best attitude and just oozes enthusiasm and love. Sally lives in Texas, and I was so fortunate to meet her, her wonderful husband and their oldest daughter Cora last year.

I hope that things work out for my family (and hers) and we’ll be able to meet up again next year at our gorgeous friend Cyn’s place in Cozumel.

Anyway, enough about Sally- I wouldn’t want her to get all stuck up or anything (I can so hear her laughing at that one!!). But gratitude is an amazing way to live. I find when I can focus on things that make me grateful, I can start my day in a better frame of mind.  Sometimes, the things I am grateful for seem small and somewhat silly (however, do not ever make the assumption that coffee is small or silly to me!).  Others will be much more personal and thoughtful. Both types, and everything in between, are important.

I am looking forward to starting this 40 day journey with Sally and many of my friends at Oscraps. I hope that you enjoy reading these, and maybe you’ll even like to take this journey with us!

2 More Design Tutorials for ACDSee Photo Editor 2008

Making Doodle Borders In PE 2008

Both of these are based on the Design Class I had mentioned in an earlier post, from RAKScraps

1. Open a New Document (Ctrl-N) Use 12×12 Scrapbook settings, 300 dpi and a transparent background.

1. Drag down horizontal guidelines.

1. Use your pen and tablet or mouse to create a border of dots and dashes, squiqqles, doodles, vines, or whatever else you can think of. You will want to use your marker tool rather than the paintbrush to draw lines. Use the paintbrush tool to stamp a border.
2. Setting should be set at the desired brush size, Spacing 1 pixel, and No fading.

TIP: I find that when I zoom on the page, I get more control using my pen and tablet.

1. When you have your rows finished, go to View>Guides> Off to hide them.
2. Save as a png file.

 

Grungy Papers in PE 2008

1. Create a New Document, using the 12×12 Scrapbook setting. Choose your color from the custom Color Button.
2. Download a grungy texture overlay  your favorite scrap site, or use one that you already have. I am using one from Vicki Stegall’s Lush 2 Collection available at Oscraps.com.
3. And I made my own in PE by creating a new file with a transparent background. Using black marker tool, I colored over the edges of the file, varying the opacity for variety. Then I used a soft edge eraser to soften the inner edges of the color
4.  
5. Drag overlay onto background and select Transfer mode Burn. In the first paper, I set Opacity to 20%. In the second, I used 50%.

 

Gratitude Blogging

I decided to read over my poor lonely and neglected blog. It has been a long time since I did any Musings or Gratitudes. I just  finished an End of Summer Musing, so I guess I should do a Gratitude as well.

Let’s think….. I am grateful for:

1. Always first and foremost, family and friends. I can never say enough how much you all mean to me. I would not be able to get up every morning without knowing that I have a wonderful network of the best people around.
2. My O-Fam!! I looooove my O-Fam. And for those of you who don’t know, my O-Fam is the group of ladies that are members of Oscraps who totally ROCK!!!
3. FLyLady- who is helping me get my house cleaned and organized, one baby step at a time. I also have to include my O-Fam who is “FLYing” along with me.
4. Xanax– because I need one right now!

Summer Over, Already????

Nooooo!!!!!!! It can’t be. I feel like the summer is just getting started. We had such cold and rainy weather in July, that August felt like July. Now here we are at the end of August and I still need another month of summer.

The kids are thankfully looking  forward to going back to school. Or at least, they are happy about getting back to seeing their friends. Homework, and bus schedules… yeah, not so much. I have to agree with them on that part. 5:00 am is going to come up real fast every morning. Thank goodness for coffee!

I have a feeling it is going to be a really good year It is hard to believe that this will be the last year for both of them in these schools. Next year, Caitlyn will be in middle school and Scott will be in high school. I am so not ready for that- good thing I have a year to get used to the idea.

So here is too all of the kids off to school and to all of the moms who will be waving (and rejoicing) as the bus pulls away!

Huge Summer Sale for ACDSee products!

Two for One Summer Sale at acdsee.com!

Get both ACDSee Photo Manager 2009 and Photo Editor 2008 for $49.99

If you are a subscriber to their email alerts you can find even more savings!
Get going and grab this deal, so you can organize and scrap all of your fun and fabulous vacation, summer and swimming photos!

Unjournaling: Fishy, but not Fish

(Caitlyn and I are doing a journaling project together this summer. We are using the book, “unjournaling” by Dawn DiPrince and Cheryl Miller Thurston for our writing prompts. Thanks Aunt Jenn for a wonderful gift!)

Tell a fish story. Use as many fishy words without actually writing about fish.

I have a daughter. Her name is Caitlyn and she is a shrimp. She thinks that is almost bigger than me, but she is not. She is a twerp, according to her Grandma, but only Grandma is allowed to call her that. Shrimp is cuter for her anyway.
And she is cute- beautiful even- beautiful as the smooth scales of a rainbow trout.

She is also as changeable as the tides as her moods flow in waves. Sometimes she is a placid lake. Other times, watch out, she can be a tidal wave.

No matter what her mood, no matter how she acts, it doesn’t matter to me. She is my catch of a lifetime.