A year in the life....

Here I am! I am have doing this single mom gig for one year today. February 7, 2006 is the day that my ex-husband and I decided to seperate. In the immediate aftermath of the seperation I truly thought we would reconcile. We talked about it a lot and it seemed like we each just needed a break and that after some time we could get back together.

Obviously, that is not how things happened. If someone had told me that a year ago, I would have been devastated. Now....I'm okay. I wish I could say I'm great. I wish I could say I'm the happiest I've ever been. I can't say those things though. I can say that I survived. I stumbled several times a long the way. I have experienced depression so heavily that I did not want to make it to the next day. I have experienced a lot of sadness in this past year. More than my share, I'm afraid. But I made it. I'm here, really no worse for the wear.

In a sense, I feel somewhat empowered by that. I wish I felt more empowered by it. I wish I had made some great stride in the past year that would make me feel proud for doing it by myself. However, much of my year truly was just surviving. Just making it to the next day. Doing what I absolutely had to do and no more. I know that is an accomplishment, I didn't think I could do that much...by myself.

I wonder what the future holds for me and my boys. I know now, that is a good thing that we can't foresee our futures. We go through things in our life that we need to experience. We have no idea how it will change us inside. I try not to be afraid of my future. If anything, I know I'll be able to get through whatever life throws at me. I actually look forward to re-visiting this blog post one year from now. So many things can happen. One moment can change everything.

To celebrate my year of indepence everything in my stores at A Cherry On Top and Elemental Scraps have been marked down to $1 for 24 hours only!! Celebrate with me girls!!

I do have a couple of LOs to share with you! Here is one I did of my Tristan, I just love this photo. I often put off scrapping "favorite" photos for fear I can't do them justice but I love the ethereal feel this LO has to it. The papers from Jennifer Howland's Rendevous Paper Pack couldn't have been more perfect!! AND it's a steal at $2.50!!!!

Read Credits HERE

Here is another cute little girl! I have to hit my friends up for girl picks to scrap CT assignments with :P! This photo could not have been more perfect for Paula Duncan's Garden Party!!

Read Credits HERE

A year in the life....

Here I am! I am have doing this single mom gig for one year today. February 7, 2006 is the day that my ex-husband and I decided to seperate. In the immediate aftermath of the seperation I truly thought we would reconcile. We talked about it a lot and it seemed like we each just needed a break and that after some time we could get back together.

Obviously, that is not how things happened. If someone had told me that a year ago, I would have been devastated. Now....I'm okay. I wish I could say I'm great. I wish I could say I'm the happiest I've ever been. I can't say those things though. I can say that I survived. I stumbled several times a long the way. I have experienced depression so heavily that I did not want to make it to the next day. I have experienced a lot of sadness in this past year. More than my share, I'm afraid. But I made it. I'm here, really no worse for the wear.

In a sense, I feel somewhat empowered by that. I wish I felt more empowered by it. I wish I had made some great stride in the past year that would make me feel proud for doing it by myself. However, much of my year truly was just surviving. Just making it to the next day. Doing what I absolutely had to do and no more. I know that is an accomplishment, I didn't think I could do that much...by myself.

I wonder what the future holds for me and my boys. I know now, that is a good thing that we can't foresee our futures. We go through things in our life that we need to experience. We have no idea how it will change us inside. I try not to be afraid of my future. If anything, I know I'll be able to get through whatever life throws at me. I actually look forward to re-visiting this blog post one year from now. So many things can happen. One moment can change everything.

To celebrate my year of indepence everything in my stores at A Cherry On Top and Elemental Scraps have been marked down to $1 for 24 hours only!! Celebrate with me girls!!

I do have a couple of LOs to share with you! Here is one I did of my Tristan, I just love this photo. I often put off scrapping "favorite" photos for fear I can't do them justice but I love the ethereal feel this LO has to it. The papers from Jennifer Howland's Rendevous Paper Pack couldn't have been more perfect!! AND it's a steal at $2.50!!!!

Read Credits HERE

Here is another cute little girl! I have to hit my friends up for girl picks to scrap CT assignments with :P! This photo could not have been more perfect for Paula Duncan's Garden Party!!

Read Credits HERE

quiet little sunday

At least, I am hoping for a quiet little Sunday anyway! It's been a really quiet weekend. It's been ICY cold outside. There is snow everywhere. I have the grand intention of getting snow pics but the actual production of bundling the children and taking them into the winter wonderland is daunting and not all that appealing to me. A real dilemma, I tell you. Cute snow LOs versus ALL THAT WORK! I'll let you know what wins out ;)!

A little movie talk! I have been watching a great glick called The Covenant. Now it's not award winning cinema or anything but I'm really digging it. I say I have been watching it b/c I have let it play over an over again the last couple of days *lol*. So I haven't *actually* sat down in front of the tv and watched it from start to finish or anything crazy like that, but I have been seeing most of it and hearing all of it, while I'm working. Let me tell you, it's total eye candy! The guys in the movie are total hotties. It's got some really cool effects in it too. I know it's doesn't pack as much punch as Gina Miller, but I totally give it my seal of approval :)!!

I also finally got to see The Devil Wears Prada. I think I was the only girl in the western hemisphere that had not seen it. It was a cute little movie. I watched (read: sort of watched and mostly listened) to it a couple of times in between watching The Covenant repeatedly *lol* It was a nice little flick, it also gets my seal of approval!

Aside from these two movies, I have also been subjected to Blues Big Musical Movie too many times to count. Thank goodness it is filled with cute songs. Sadly, I know them all by heart *lol*. It's actually a fun little movie, the first 54684987564654654 y0u see it! After that it gets a little predictable ;P!

I've been a busy little bee this weekend. I've been scrapping and creating all kinds of stuff! First up, I have a mission for you! I have this nifty element pack that I have been working on. I'm totally in love with and I think it's just the neatest thing but I can't figure out what to call it. So, your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to name this element pack!!
Please send your suggestions to tabatha@tabathareed.com :)! It can be a cute suggestion or a functional/descriptive title. Whatever you can come up with :P! If I choose the name you suggest then you win the element pack!! Make sure you E-MAIL me! I do so love getting comments, it boosts my spirit, but if you leave your suggestion as a comment then I have no way of contacting you (unless you leave your e-mail address in the comment).

Okay, more fun element packs!! I've got some fun new goodies to show you!! I love these ribbon twirlies! I think they add a bit of fun and whimsy to your layouts! You can get these at Elemental Scraps and A Cherry On Top! Today is the final day they are 20% off! Grab them today for $2.00! I also have these AWESOME knotted ribbons!! These are like my favorite thing ever right now! Lately I have found myself wanting to put ribbons on every single layout, and I really wanted some nice knotted ribbons, so I made some!! These are available at Elemental Scraps and A Cherry On Top right now at 20% off. Grab these cool ribbons for just 2.40!

Okay I've got a few LOs to show you before I'm off :)! This is my most favorite LO I have ever created (right now, at least until I do my next page)! This is a very typical interaction between my boys! I even got to use my new elements!!

Read Credits HERE

This LO is a little introspective about my son, Tristan. He is a true boy! I have learned so much from him about all things boyish. Of course, Gabriel is also boyish but he has special needs and he is very much still a baby. Tristan is a true toddler boy!

Read credits HERE

And finally here is LO of Little P, she is the daughter of a friend of mine, what a cutie, eh?
Read credits HERE

Good Morning Bloggers!

I am not up early! I'm not! I am soooooo not a morning person at all. I'm up late *lol*. That is right I've never actually been to bed. Unfortunately that seems to be the way my schedule is going lately. It's made for an interesting week that is for sure. I am sooo tired right now. I would love nothing more than to crawl in bed and go to sleep.

However it is not to be. I have an appointment with Early Intervention for Tristan this morning. I have already put them off once. Luckily they come here! In between my scrapping and designing I've actually been cleaning. Don't want to scare her away!

Anyway, I had to make a pot of coffee to motivate myself to stay awake. This should be interesting. I also need to get out to the store but I think I'm going to do that later this evening. Gabriel isn't going to school today! He has been up all night. I'm not sure what was wrong with him but he wasn't happy at all. Much of my night has been spent trying to figure out what I could do to make him happy and to go to sleep. My efforts were fruitless. He is now blissfully asleep. There is no way I'm dragging him out of his crib so he can go to school exhausted and grumpy.

February is here! I have been slacking in the desktop scraps department the last few months. I have been too apathetic to actually scrap a desktop for myself so I have entertained various The Lost Boys, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Lords of Dogtown wallpapers. I finally got my acto together and scrapped myself a pretty little desktop for February. I used Dani Mogstad's Heartbreaker kit and Misty Cato's Chipboard Calenders. I just love that photo of the boys. It is so typical of how they interact with each other!

Here is another Lo I did of Tristan! I used Traci Reed's new Punk Love kit available exclusively at ACOT!

Read the Credits HERE

This is another cute little LO of Tristan enjoying his first cupcake!! I am so amazed at this LO! It got like 19 comments and I DID NOT put it in the praise game. That NEVER happens to me! Read the credits HERE

Finally this a LO of me and Naomi, my niece!
Read the credits HERE

I'm still hard at work on the Everyday Celebrations collection. I'm sorry I don't have peak for you today. I will try and remember to get one ready for tomorrow!

And one final reminder! This is the last day you can get my Clipped Flowers at 20% off. You can find them at Elemental Scraps and ACOT.