Busy, busy, busy

This has been such a busy week for me. It seems like there has been an endless supply of stuff to do! I finally sucked it up and dived into some major spring cleaning projects. I'm happy to say the house is sparkling! It is nice to have a clean house. Send me motivation vibes girls, hopefully I can maintain it! I'm trying to work myself out a daily cleaning schedule so it will be easier. Between scrapping, CT's, designing and advertising sometimes I feel like I'm chained to the computer!

I'm hoping to pick up a new hard drive today! Wish me luck finding a good deal on one! Tim is going to go shopping with me for one. He is my expert computer hero! Not sure how big I'm going to go. Just looking for the best deal, I think!

I've got a few dreaded errands to run today. It's stuff I have been continually putting off. Unfortunately, I think I have reached the point of no return! Sometimes being a grown up sucks!

I'm trying to get stuff done for my debut at SBB! I'm still reeling from shock! I have some stuff ready and I've got some idea floating around for some more stuff. Hopefully the execution of said ideas will come easily. Especially since DST is supposed to be down tomorrow, one major distraction taken care of!

So girls, I don't really want to share the details but if you can spare any prayers, send'em my way, okay! I would really appreciate it!

Before I depart, I shall leave you with my latest creation! This is another photo from little outdoor photo shoot with Tristan a few days ago. I got some really great action shots. I couldn't wait to get this one scrapped!!

Read full credits HERE!

Someone pinch me....

I still can't believe it. It feels like a dream. It literally IS a dream come true for me. I still keep checking my e-mail compulsively. I keep waiting for someone to say "Oops, we didn't mean you! Sorry, better luck next time!" It feels so surreal.

I just wanted to give a HUGE congratulations the other designers that have been announced so far: MissTiina, Michelle Bradley, Lawanna Desjardin and Amy Bleser! Announcements are still being made and I'm so excited and anxious to hear who else the lucky ladies are! If I feel this anxious with anticipation I can only imagine how the ladies still waiting to hear are feeling! You are all awesome and I'm pulling for you!!

This is a short entry today! I've been procastinating a ton of stuff that I really need to get done today! So I shall leave you with my latest creation! Another set of photos from my photo shoot the other day....

Read the full credits HERE!

It's the BEST day E-VER!!

sung in my best Spongebob Squarepants impression...

I AM GOING TO BE A NEW DESIGNER AT SCRAPBOOK-BYTES!

I can't even tell you how much of a dream come true this is for me!! I started out at SBB when I first got into digiscrapping. I have long felt it was scrapbooking home! I used to attend EVERY chat they held! Every night I looked forward to the midnight chat! Of course, as life got busier I didn't have time for the chats anymore. I still miss them! SBB is home to my largest online gallery too. My very first pages are in that gallery.

Excited, elated, ecstatic, thrilled....none of it can describe how I feel. Over the moon, on cloud 9....doesn't even touch it! It's really my dream come true. It is the BEST day E-VER!!

I was feeling so great I decided to scrap a fun and silly page! An tribute to....ahem...my girls!

Read the credits HERE!

BTW, Drop by my stores at ACOT and ES for an impromptu sale that turned into my celebratory sale!

The spring of things...

It seems like Spring is finally here. The weather can be so weird in Kentucky. I hate to get my hopes up. It has been so nice the last few days. In general, I'm a winter person, I love chilly weather and snow and curling up inside with hot cocoa. It's just so hard to play outside much during the winter. I mean we do but it's a concerted effort to do so. The fun of spring and summer is we can just run outside whenever we want!

I can't tell you how much it helps with our schedule too. Tristan is so full of energy, it seems endless! I love being able to take him outside for a couple of hours and just let him run himself ragged! I take some toys out with us and he covers every inch of our yard. I'm finally not hating the daylight savings thing so much either. We got to go out and play for a while last night around 7 pm! Still nice and daylight and warm. I got some great shots too, one of which you'll see momentarily!! I look forward to spending many afternoon/evenings like this, at least until it gets too hot to stand! I'm a creature of comfort, I don't "do" really hot weather!

I have to go grocery shopping today. Not one of my favorite things to do but no one is going to do it for me! Oh well, at least I'll get to do it by myself! Even though the kids are out of the house for a few hours a day, several days a week, I very often find myself needing to go the store when they are home so it becomes a major outing. At least, today I'll get to go out and take my time and get what I need without two kiddos demanding that I hurry up and get what they want! Hopefully, I'll have the energy to get everything done today! Wish me luck! I'll need it!

I shall leave you with my latest creation! This is one of the shots I got of Tristan running outside. The lighting is beautiful!! I knew that this new 2Scoops kit, Earthborn, from Paula Duncan and Zoe Pearn would be PERFECT!

Read the full credits HERE

under the weather...

Ugh. I have felt so funky for the last few hours. I'm not exactly ill but not exactly well either. I just feel icky. I have zero energy. It sucks because I have SO much I need to be doing. I feel like I am chronically running behind on everything. When can a girl catch a break?

I'm up in the wee hours of the morning again. No good excuse, just can't sleep. I hate insomnia. Amazingly, my children are asleep and have been for hours. I have been asleep intermittently but I kept waking back up and finally gave up a couple of hours ago.

Do you have any idea how many sleep aid commercials they play in the middle of the night. I'm tempted to keep a running tally of just how many I have seen. In other news, I'm thinking of asking my doctor for some Lunesta or maybe Rozerem *lol*. I'm just kidding ;). Or maybe I'm not.

Since I couldn't sleep and my kids were sleeping I decided to make good use of my quiet time. I designed! I have all the papers for the 5th Everyday Collection kit done!! I am super happy with them. If I'm lucky you all will finally get to see this collection by next week!

Well, I'm drawing a complete blank about what to blog about next. Really, a very dull day. Oh well. Check back tomorrow for more interesting banter *lol*.

Before I depart let me leave you with a sweet LO I did. This is Gabriel when he was 15 months old. I use Melissa Bennett's Mud Tracks kit and her Itty Bitty Dotty Blooms. I also used some HAWT little goodies from Micheline Martin!! Be sure to stop by and grab her Bead'Em Up alpha collection. There are 34 sets of alpha beads, perfect for all your LOs! You'll be reaching for these babies over and over again! The cardboard is from her Cardboard Basics, you know you want'em!!

Read the full credits HERE!

and the song remains the same...

Yep, back up in the middle of the night again. I guess it's not all that shocking. They both fell asleep majorly early. I just wish I had followed suit *lol*. I should have known better. Oh well. You live. You learn.

Thursday was a pretty uneventful day here in Bella Gypsy Land. I really need to be kicking butt on my collection but instead I scrapped. Sometimes you just need to follow your instincts, ya know? I'm also super paranoid about my computer. I hate to start working on something only to crash and lose it before I can get it backed up. The fear already has me backing up EVERYTHING like crazy! I have burned to more discs in the last two days. I'm afraid to turn the computer off becuase it wants to run checkdisk. Most of the time that wouldnt' scare me but I know the reason it wants to run it is becuase it saw those bad blocks on the HD.

I can get a new hard drive BUT I can't get it right at this precise moment. It will next Friday before I have the resources to fund a new drive. I AM getting a new drive. I am sufficiently freaked out that something will happen to this one. Tim is going to work some magic on it tomorrow I think -- well actually today, for those of you on normal schedules lol! My only solace is that IF I crash this time I won't lose anything.....

Of course, my paranoia is starting to set in and now I'm feeling really compelled to check all my backup discs *lol*! In fact, I'm pretty sure that is exactly what I'm going to do. A girl can never be too careful ;)! Ugh, I wish I could just get a whole new computer!

Before I depart, I shall leave you with a LO I did yesterday! I'm one hawt mama, eh? No really, I hate photos of myself. I'm just not photogenic. However, I'm really pleased with this one that Tim took of me. I used Traci Reed's Joyful kit!

Read full credits HERE

It is a conspiracy....

It is. I am telling you. I am not crazy. I am being conspired against. My children have banded together to ensure that I never receive another decents night sleep again. I can't even begin to tell you how exhausted I am. I guess it's only really been 4-5 nights now but it seems like an eternity. Up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down. Finally ending up being UP at an insanely early hour. This sucks, big time!!

My computer decided to go crazy today. It was scary and frustrating! Everything got really slow and Norton freaked out. It said it encountered a fatal error and needed to be re-installed. Okay, simple enough. It refuses to re-install though. No matter what I try it won't uninstall. So I run Spybot which finds nothing major, just a few tracking cookies. I start an online virus scan and nada!

Thank God, my hero, Tim comes to my rescue. I swear I AM the luckiest woman on the planet. He manages to get Norton uninstalled and reinstalled. Norton didn't find anything wrong but it was weird, nonetheless. Also, it looks like my computer was finding "bad blocks" or "sectors" on my hard drive! SCARY STUFF. Everything seems okay now. Tim said it may have corrected the problem itself but I'm scared anyway. I did a big backup a few days ago, thank goodness. I went and backed up the few things I have purchased and photos I have taken in the last few days.

This hard drive has no right to die. It doesn't period. It's really not that old. I'm sufficiently freaked out about it though. Luckily, I can afford a new hard drive. Tim and I looked around for one and I can get a 500 GB Seagate (or was it Maxtor, can't remember) for about $145! I mean, I don't want to buy a new one but it's not out of my reach. Even if this hard drive IS okay, I think I will spring for a new one anyway, just to be on the safe side. It will be nice to have all that extra space anyway.

Before I depart, I shall leave with a couple of pages!! I just did this one this morning. It's jam packed with oodles of goodies! So arm your paypal!! I used Kathy Moore's Essential: Backpack No 1 kraft paper. I also used Micheline Martin's Love Notes clipboard template and her Split'ems! Those awesome Tin Roof Rusted Stars are by Melissa Bennett!

Read the full credits HERE!

Finally a page about my man, my sweet guy, Tim! Isn't he a handsome fella! I used Traci Reed's Mellow kit! This awesome kit is jam packed, don't miss it!!

bippity bloggedy boo

I didn't feel up to blogging yesterday. I barely feel like it today, actually! Murphy's Law was in full throttle yesterday morning. A number of small catastrophes befell me yesterday morning all before 9:30! I honestly can't even begin to tell you about it. Some of it is too embarrassing to ever be uttered in a public setting..EVER. Just rest assured, be glad you weren't me yesterday!

The day wasn't ALL bad thankfully. I did get my tire replaced which I was in desperate need of. In fact, I didn't realize how desperately it needed to be replaced. It was pulling hard to left but I didn't realize that was a tire problem. Then the tire started having trouble keeping air so I had to get a new one. Imagine my surprise when that completely fixed the 'pulling to the left' problem.

I never did make it to the school with Gabriel's cupcakes. Part of my too embarrassing to speak in public trauma prevented me from being able to pick up the cupcakes in time to get them to the school! Tim ended up picking them for me that afternoon. What a sweetheart I have! He even refused to let me pay him back for them. I'm a lucky girl!

I also finally finished the fourth kit in the Everyday Celebrations Collection. I'm hoping to finish the whole collection up soon. I really love how they are coming out and I can't wait to share them with the world!!

Today has been strange. The cupcakes finally made it to school! I ran a couple of important errands. Then I came home and crashed. I mean crashed!! Tristan decided to wake up at 2 am and refuse to go back to bed, so I had been up a looooooong time.

Then Tim and I met at my aunts house to try and help with some computer troubles. After hours of trying he still wasn't able to resolve the problem :(. She has some nasty UBER virus. I guess Tim has to wipe her system and start anew. Thank goodness for Tim!!

Before I depart I shall leave you with an adorable LO I did of Gabriel in the wee hours of the morning. I just had to giggle at this photo. I used Rose Farver's Kaboodle kit!

Read the full credits HERE

shock and awe....

At this very moment, four years ago today, I was still married to my husband Marshall. I was still pregnant with my first child, Gabriel. I wouldn't be pregnant much longer. I was in the hospital undergoing an induction. My contractions were very mild at that point but often and uncomfortable to prevent me from sleeping. I remember glaring at my sleeping husband all night long. To this day it still ticks me off.

My labor eventually ended in an emergency cesarean section. Moments after my water broke, the room filled with people. Gabriel's heartrate had plummetted. It was terrifying. All of these people doing all kinds of stuff to me and the machines and no one told me what was happening until a clipboard with for consent to the c-section was pushed into my face. I sobbed uncontrollably. I was told I would be put under general anesthesia and my husband could not be in the delivery room. My family, who had all been at the hopsital anxiously waiting with me, had went off to eat lunch at the dr's announcement that I would be in labor for many, many more hours.

When I got into the OR, the anesthesiologist offered me a spinal block instead of general anesthesia. I gladly accepted the thought of being out for hours was too much to bear. The anesthesiologist stayed right by me the entire time. He comforted me and assured me that everything was going just perfectly. Gabriel was born at 1:42 pm. I still remember the sound of his cry and the relief that swept over me. I only got to see a quick glance of him before they took him off to the nursery. It was love at first sight.

He was sooo tiny. He only weighed 5lbs 1/2 ounce. He was only 17 3/4 inches long. I was fairly out of it in the recovery room. My family and friends kept coming in to see me but I was very incoherent. Shortly after I left the recovery room the emotions hit me. I was a basket case. I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't see Gabriel b/c I had just had the c-section. They could not bring him to me because he was sooo tiny that he was unable to maintain his body temperature if he wasn't under the warming lights. My family was telling me he had webbed fingers and toes. I was shocked and it upset me so much. We had not been prepared for anything like that and the hormones and the traumatic birth and not being able to see my baby was just too much. The drugs from the c-section were so awful, my face wouldn't itching, I kept throwing up and I was so hot I couldn't stand it.

I finally got to see Gabriel that evening around 7 pm. I had a lot of trouble holding him because every time I sat up even a little bit I threw up and and became super dizzy. It was so frustrating. He looked so tiny and so perfect to me. I remember staring up at the television. The news said the U.S. had begun dropping bombs on Iraq. They were calling the campaign Shock and Awe. I can't really describe how I felt. I remember thinking the title seemed very appropriate. It described the experience of giving birth to my first child very well. It seemed so surreal that he was born on the very day we went to war. It's even more surreal to think he turns 4 today and we are still there.

The next weeks of my life were such a blur. I'm sure most mothers would agree that those first few weeks are a blur. I had never been so scared in all my life. Gabriel was this tiny little baby and I was so unexperienced. There were problems too. He wasn't perfectly healthy. We were told there were genetic problems but no clue as to what they were. He failed his hearing screens. He had something that seemed like reflux. It got scarier though. It was soon evident that it was more than reflux. He started having 'episodes'. They were later diagnosed as seizures. His body would seize up, he would stop breathing, he would LITERALLY turn blue, he would go completely limp and we had to resuscitate him so many times in those weeks. I can't even describe it.

After a 10 day stay in the NICU of our local Children's Hospital, Gabriel was diagnosed with hypoparathyroidism. His calcium levels were dangerously low and causing hypocalcemic seizures. We had so many different tests and doctors. In the following months he was diagnosed with a hearing loss, exotropia, a severe developmental delay and a rare chromosomal deletion. The deletion was so rare we had no idea what to expect.

We still really don't know what to expect. Things are more clear than 4 years ago but no clear picture of the long term effects. We do know Gabriel has mental retardation but the severity in uncertain. I have always thought Gabriel would walk but he was recently diagnosed with his achilles tendon being too tight. I'm sure there is something they can do about this but it is scary and disconcerting to hear.

One thing I can say for sure, Gabriel is the sweetest, happiest little boy you will ever meet. He is such a blessing to everyone he meets. He is ray of pure sunshine. I am the luckiest mom ever.

tired tired tired

Oh. my. God. I am soooooo tired. I have been fighting with insomnia for about a week now. I managed to get to bed a little bit earlier last night BUT I had to get up earlier today. For some reason that is inexplicable Tristan woke up early. Maybe being forced to get up will help combat the insomnia. Tristan is so grumpy and whiny right now. Maybe a nap is in my future?

So how was your St. Pat's day? Mine was okay. We all slept really late yesterday. I mean really late *lol*. Tim and I had hoped to have a date yesterday. We sort of did but it was more of a family outing than a date *lol*. No one was available to watch the boys so we took them out with us. We went to this great little Mexican restaurant and then grocery shopping.

Tim did the sweeeeeetest thing ever! I fell in love with this big floppy white lamb and he bought it for me :)! Expect a LO coming soon ;)!

Not much planned for today. I'm sooo tired I would be suprised if I accomplish anything!

I shall leave you with a layout of Gabriel. This is my most favorite photo of Gabriel ever!! I used the fabulous Kathy Moore's Sunny Side Up kit!

Read full credits HERE

TGIF?

Boy, I have had some creative titles this week, eh? Friday was a pretty lazy day here. I got up and started cleaning straightaway. I have found that cleaning before I hit the computer is smarter. I always have to check my e-mail though. First of all, I'm an e-mail junkie and second my inbox only holds so much!

I intended to do some designing this afternoon but it just didn't happen. I became overwhelmed with the urge to backup files. I have managed to recoup a lot of my stuff since my HD crash and I have zero desire to ever experience this again. So I finally sat down and did a backup of all the important stuff.

I also got in a nice nap, I was very surprised my boys were willing to take a nap this afternoon. It must have been the dreary weather. I mean it's nicer than it was yesterday but I miss Spring! The weather in Kentucky is so wonky and unpredictable. It will be late April before it ever gets predictably nice.

Tim came out this evening and we went to visit my aunt. We had actually planned to go out and see a movie but my aunt didn't feel up to watching the boys so we just decided to hang out for awhile. Tim tried to install her DSL for her but there was a problem with the phone lines. I think we may be on for a real date tomorrow though! Cross your fingers for us! We have been hanging out every day but it's so nice to go out!

Before I depart, I shall share with you a LO I've been forced to sit on!! The divalicious Kathy Moore debuted her new store at Scrapbook Graphics today!! I love love love this kit. It's so bright and fun and funky! You must have Hang Your Star today!!

Read the full credits HERE!

Dreary, dreary, dreary

Thursday was unbearably dreary here. It was cold, overcast and rainy all day. I couldn't muster the energy to venture out at all. The day has also seemed unusually long to me. I'm still adjusting the to new daylight savings thing, I guess.

I got a bit done around the house today. I am really a terrible cleaner. I hate it. I'm sure the people that enjoy cleaning are few and far between but I really hate it. I know I have to clean but it just seems like such an extraordinary waste of time to me. I did get some stuff done though so I'm proud of myself :). I also got all my bed linens washed. I love sleeping on freshly washed linens, it is sooo comforting and welcoming. It's heaven!

I have great news!! I get to stay on Micheline Martin's CT!! We exchanged some e-mails back and forth today and she invited me to stay. I am SO giddy! It really made my whole week honestly!! I love her stuff so much and she is the absolute sweetest! Consider me on cloud 9! Stop by and check her out today!! Scrap Outside the Box and One of A Kind Scrapz!

I know I haven't been very chatty lately and I'm sorry. I have just been so tired and I'm struggling to remember my meds every day. Sadly, in the last week or two I have forgotten them much more than I have remembered them. That is sooo not good, I'm going to suffer the consequences if I'm not careful!

I'm back to work on the Everyday Celebrations Collection. Not sure when it will be done but I'm thinking no later than next week. I still haven't decided where it is going to go! Look for it somewhere soon though *lol*!

I shall leave you with my latest LO! I needed to scrap something deliciously springy today. When I came across this photo I knew this kit would be absolutely perfect!! Stop by The Digi Shoppe today and check out Rose Farver's A New Day!

See the full credits HERE!

My humps...

Again, I couldn't resist!! I know it's wrong on so many levels but Tristan loves that song *lol* I'm sure it wont' be quite as cute when he's 14 and singing something even worse than that, but now I'm going to enjoy it!

I had a moderately productive day!! I got a little bit of light cleaning done around the house. Really more maintenance than anything. My major feat was getting these awesome ribbons done!!
I am sooo happy with the way these turned out. These were a true labor of love! They make an awesome addition to any page, especially all those hot freestylin' layouts rocking the galleries lately. You can find these in my ACOT and Elemental Scraps shoppes. They are 20% for 2 days only! Grab them for $2.40!!

I couldn't wait to try them on a page so I whipped this one up, featuring some of the amazing designers I have the honor of CT'ing for!! I used the Once Upon A Pond kit by Paula Duncan and Christy Lyle at Sweet Shoppe Designs. This layout also features hot Cardboard Flowers and Split'Em's by Micheline Martin!

Read the full credits HERE!

Tuesdays gone....

...with the wind! Sorry, I couldn't resist. Have I ever mentioned that I sing ALL THE TIME. I do, ask anyone who has ever had the pleasure of my company. I am very likely to randomly burst into song *lol*. I think it's one of the more loveable things about me :P!

Tuesday has been a busy day here in Bella Gypsy Land. I had a bunch of errands to run and finally got the grocery shopping done. I'm so glad I finally got that behind me, I've been forced to eat out for days and as much as I enjoy it, boy does it get old!

I have some great happy news! I'm on Micheline Martin's guest CT! I love these guest gigs! I just hate the thought of giving them up *sniff sniff*! Micheline has some awesome awesome stuff!! You don't want to miss out on here. Check her out at Scrap Outside the Box and One of a Kind Scrapz!

I have another fabulously girly LO to share today!! This was taken at the same time the other photo was taken of my cousin and I. I'm such a cutie patootie aren't I? I used Traci Reed's Black Lace kit from the Natural Woman Collection!

Read the full credits HERE!

Monday, Monday...

It's been a desperately quiet Monday here in Bella Gypsy Land! Again, I'm sad to say, my day went under accomplished! I did manage to get more done today than I did over the weekend but still left feeling frustrated with what didn't get done...ugh! There simply aren't enough hours in the day I'm having a rough time adjusting to our new Daylight Savings Time. Why did it move up 3 weeks again? *argh*

I did manage to get one big thing done that has been bugging me. I mopped my kitchen floor. I can't express to you enough how much i *H*A*T*E mopping! It is absolutely my least favorite thing to do. Give me dishes or laundry or anything else but don't make me mop! I'm glad that it is finally done but I would have rather taken a beating than to do it!

I spent a good part of my day trying to get my living room tidy. This room looks like a cyclone hit it most of the time. Probably because a cyclone did hit. A 3 foot tall cyclone named Tristan!! I never could have imagine that anyone or anything could be quite so destructive as Tristan is. He can lay waste to a perfectly tidy room in minutes. I feel like this rather large part of my day was ill spent because you literally CAN NOT tell that I did anything. It's a complete disaster area again. I can't even fathom what it would look like if I hadn't cleaned at all!!

Tomorrow should be a busy day here. I've got about 2.1 million things on my list and I'm sure more than half of them will get pushed until Wednesday!! How is a girl supposed to find time to design with all this stuff to do!!

Before I depart, I shall leave you with another LO I did. I'm so stoked I found this portrait of my cousin, Teia and I! We were about 7 when this was taken. It's a looooooong story but Teia and I are no longer in contact with each other. I wonder about her sometimes. As kids we were pratically insperable!! We were T-Squared!! I knew that Paula Duncan's Teeny Bopper kit was *perfect* match for this photo!!

Read Full Credits HERE

Boring Sunday and a Toot!!

Hey bloggers! My Sunday wasn't vastly different from my Saturday *lol*. Kinda of boring *yawn*. Sadly, the day was once again unaccomplished. I felt better today but developed a case of the crampies late in the afternoon. No idea what that was all about!! Thankfully a little dose of Ibuprofen fixed me all up!

Mostly, I scrapped today. I had a ton of other stuff I needed to be doing but it just didn't get done. I completed like 4 pages though! I promise you'll get to see them over the next few days. I like to space them out for maximum CT exposure. I figure that is the least I can do for all the fabulous ladies I represent!

Speaking of CTs I have FABULOUS NEWS!! Make way for a MAJOR TOOT!! I was accepted to the fabulously talented Kathy Moore's guest CT!! I'm sooo excited! Kathy's stuff is just OUT OF THIS WORLD!! Look for her delicious designs at Scrapbook Graphics very soon. You don't want to miss out on Studio Kathy!!
Wanna drool a bit? Check out the yummy stuff coming your way here in the Inspiration Gallery. I wonder how much bribery it would take to get her to keep me *lol*!

I had get my scanner reinstalled today! Thank goodness I still had the software installation disk, I'm so scatterbrained it really is a miracle I had it! I had a few scrumptious CT kits to use that called for pics of a more feminine nature. I prowled through my photo albums and found some girly pics to scrap!

Thank goodness for my guy Tim! When I was ready to throw it out the window he walked me through the installation process and got it working. Then my sweetie brought me a yummy veggie pizza tonight. Am I a lucky girl or what?

Here is one of the layouts I did today featuring a freshly scanned in photo of my sister, Lena (Brandenburg). This was taken at my 19th birthday party!! Isn't she cute!! I knew Traci Reed's Strappy Sandals kit from the Natural Woman Collection would be perfect!

Full Credits can be seen HERE

blech...

Blech. That pretty much sums up my Saturday. Another day, I feel like I accomplished nothing. I guess because I actually didn't accomplish anything. So frustrating!

I have felt icky today. Just plain old icky. One minute, I'm freezing so I put on my sweatshirt. A minute later, I'm burning up and the sweatshirt comes back off. It has made me feel so yucky today. I can't seem to get comfortable.

Thankfully, Gabriel has felt much better today and Tristan has been really well behaved (for a 2 year old *lol*). We even all took a nap this afternoon which was much needed. Despite sleeping late this morning I was overcome with tiredness and could barely keep my eyes open!

I hope I don't pay for my nap by not being able to sleep tonight! That would be just my luck. I am having a rough time with sleeping lately!

Well, I wish I had more exciting stuff to share but I've just had a super boring day!!

I did get an awesome LO done last night! I used Paula Duncan's Teen Rebel kit!

not enough hours in the day

Ugh, I am beginning feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day! Do you ever feel that way? I feel like no matter how hard I try I still don't manage to get everything I need to do done! It's so frustrating! I keep thinking I just need a day or two of major productivity and I'll manage to get a handle on things!

I got some cleaning done today, my kitchen majorly needed it. I've done a couple layouts over the last few days. I still haven't managed to do any designing since getting things back up again! I really WANT to design but I keep having to put it off for other things. My house and my kids. My computer being down for a few weeks also got me behind on my CT layouts :(. So I'm struggling to catch up. I think I'm going to have to give up on some sleep or something LOL!

Gabriel is feeling much today. I think he'll be all ready to go back to school on Monday!! I'm so glad. I have enjoyed having my snuggly little guy home all week but I'm sure we will both be glad to see him go back to school!! My weeks are vastly more productive when I have time away from my little angels, if you know what I mean!

I just realized I have been tuned into Nickolodeon all day long!! I do like the channel, Tristan really digs Nick Jr and some of the other cartoons they play in the afternoon. I enjoy the old sitcoms at night too. I'm not really into Teen Nick though. I mean it's okay but it's just not my thing. I must be getting old! This is sad, unless I can find my remote I'm stuck with it on lol!

Anyway, here are the layouts I did in the last couple of days. This one is about my little man being under the weather!

Credits are HERE

Here is one of my little spotlight-stealer!
Credits can be seen HERE

like what you see?

I hope you like it!! This is a little...well a big...sneak peak at one of the kits in my Everyday Celebrations Collection! The design is taken from the Comfortable Silence kit! Despite the fact, I have barely seen my blog in the last month I felt it was time for a change *lol*! I find this new look very comforting!! I hope you do too!

I just have to say, don't you love those lovely little feelings you have when are first into a relationship with someone? The sweet affection and warm fuzzy feelings. The hopefulness and excitement, all the possibilities, the unknown future laying ahead of you. It really is a nice way to feel. I am enjoying it very much! My guy is a sweetie!

On a sadder note, Lena (Brandenburg) -- my sister, is in the hospital! I don't have all the details but I know there is something wrong with her heartrate! It's soooo scary. Please send all the prayers and positive thoughts you can spare her way.

The swing of things...

I am trying to get back in the swing of things. I honestly don't know what crashed my hard drive. Perhaps it was a virus? Maybe my HD was just old, I've had this pc since December 2002. That seems like a long time for a computer.

When it crashed, obviously, I was bummed and went into immediate scrap/dst/blog/e-mail withdrawal. I wasn't devastated though becuase I had a second hard drive. Most of my important stuff was safely tucked away on the second drive. My uncle is something of a computer guy and he assured me it should be just fine. So, I figured, at least most of my stuff is still there.

Of course, I was wrong! The primary hard drive is good and dead and the second drive decides it isn't formatted. Obviously, that isn't true but nothing would work. So I lost it all. Every single thing. Talk about devastating. Pictures I had lazily put off backing up, kits, alpha, element packs and *shudder* LOs :(. All gone. Just. Like. That.

BACK UP EVERYTHING OFTEN!

I do have one last remaining gleam of hope. The vast majority of my photos were on my primary drive. The guy I'm dating is a computer genius. He feels fairly confident that he can retrieve my photos from the crashed drive. I may marry this guy ;)!

I have to offer a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to all the stores that so generously allowed me to redownload my lost stuff.

Scrapbook-Bytes, Sweet Shoppe Designs, Design by Dani, The Digi Shoppe, Gina Miller Designs, The Lily Pad, The Shabby Shoppe and A Cherry On Top.

I do have a few other places I still need to contact and some designers that have moved. I guess I need to contact them personally but I keep putting it off. I know it's my fault for not having a better backup system. I just hate to bother the designers for something that was completely my fault. I may just suck up my losses.

In other big news. Gabriel has the flu!! My poor baby. He is feeling quite a bit better now but he was a pitiful site Sunday and Monday. He also had a double ear infection!! Triple Whammy!! I can count on one hand the number of ear infections he has ever had so I was really suprised! Tamiflu is a miracle drug, I tell you!! Tristan is also taking Tamiflu as a preventative measure. So far, so good. He has shown no signs of getting/having the flu, so please keep your fingers crossed for me!1

I am trying to get back to scrapping and designing. My computer crashed in mid project! Remember my Everday Celebrations Collection? I was nearly done with the fourth kit. Thank goodness, I had uploaded the first 3 kits for my CT so those aren't lost. I just have to start over with the 4th kit. I also lost those nifty bow/ribbon things I showed you. I will be working on those again too.

I started a page last night but was too tired to finish it. Hopefully, I'll get it done today. I was in shopping overdrive mode to compensate for all my lost goodies *lol*. I've got some neat new stuff to try on the page. I'm currently stuck with the title. I *know* what I want the title to be, I just can't get it situated right on the page. I'm going to keep playing around with it until I find the right look.

Catch ya tomorrow, bloggers!

I'm alive....I'm alive....

Want this nifty template for those cool new playtex sippy cups? Well it's yours!!!

Sippy Cup Template from Bella Gypsy and Lena Brandenburg!!

My sister, Lena, and I teamed up to create this awesome template just for you!! Hope you enjoy!!


I DID NOT fall off the face of the earth! I just had MASSIVE computer problems!!! I'm all fixed now and fully functional again!

Look for a more complete update and news coming soon!!!