My Weblog

Red, White, and Blue

I love this color combination. It's been really high on my list for years. My entire college wardrobe was red, white, and blue. When I started this kit, I knew I wanted to use these colors. I thought of doing a Swedish kit, but couldn't find enough graphics for that. Then I thought of the Union Jack and thought of doing a British kit. Then I decided I didn't want to limit it. I wanted a kit that would work for any country, for nautical themes, for whatever. I love it and I hope you do too.

The kit is on introductory special, 30% off. You can find it here.

If you prefer, you can buy just the elements, just the papers, or just the alphas. Let me show you those.

These packs, elements, papers or alphas, are also on sale 30% off, exclusively in my A Cherry on Top shop, at the same link as above.

We got a little carried away with the word art and stackers. The ideas came at us so fast and furious we just kept creating.......... So, you get the benefit of our mojo "hot flash". Seven word arts for the price of four. Five stacked paper sets for the price of four. And we were still silly enough to put them on introductory sale. Yes, I know, the guys in the white coats are probably coming to take me away.....

We also have a template pack created in the same colors as this kit. Of course, you can use the templates with ANY kit. We just do the colors to make 'em look pretty, LOL. Yes, they're on sale too. They're available in both .psd and .tif formats.

Now, you may have noticed that while all these goodies are in red, white, and blue, there's not a lot of "patriotic" stuff except in the word art. I really didn't want to limit the kit to "patriotic" because I thought these colors could be used for so much more. And, when I created it, I had no idea I'd be releasing it on Memorial Day weekend. To get the free mini kit, just go to the HotFlashDesigns page on Facebook, "like" it, and click on the exclusive tab on the top right. You can find the HotFlashDesigns Facebook page here. (If you are already a fan of HotFlashDesigns, you can skip the "liking" part. Just go grab your freebie.)

Rotating my toys...........

My books, books I love, have been packed in boxes and stashed in the garage since November, 2008. As I dig through those boxes, I rediscover old favorites and I'm like a kid half of whose toys have been stashed on the top shelf of the closet for 6 months. I have "new" "toys". I have been re-reading some of my books and, oh boy, what a joy it is.........

The book I am re-reading at the moment is one that was given to Joe some time ago. I read it after he did because he wouldn't stand for me NOT reading it. He just nagged and nagged. It is a truly amazing true story. And it's an easy read. And it's cheap. It's called 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper and Cecil Murphey.  You can find it at Amazon.com here. That link will take you to an opportunity to purchase the book, new, for $3.18. You can also buy it used for $1.99 or for the Kindle for $6.39. It's a true story and it will rock your world. I have never doubted such things happen and I have read one other testimony from a man with a similar experience. And I am very careful about reading books like this, remembering Satan is called "the angel of light" and is the "father of all lies". I believe this book to be authentic and......... I can't describe it. If you've ever wondered about the hard times we go through and why God allows those in our lives, if you've ever wondered if Heaven is real, if you've ever wondered if God still performs miracles, if you've ever wondered whether God is really personally involved in our lives, READ THIS BOOK. Piper's theology is much tamer than mine, but you really need to read the book.......

79 is too high....

I have been trying to exist with the air conditioner set at 79. I don't think I can do this. It's miserable in this office in the afternoons and since I have to do other stuff in the afternoons to help out with the kiddos, I can't go hide in the other end of the house in the afternoons. Try to cook something and the kitchen is unbearable. It's west facing. The a/c vent is kind of small. The refrigerator throws heat when the motor runs. It backs onto the garage and might have some heat gain from that. AND, then you turn on the stove. I just went out there to do something about lunch. I was heating water for pasta and then I discovered I had no iced tea so I needed to heat some water for that. Even though I had opened the kitchen door and propped the doggy gate across it, it was still stifling out there........... I can probably do 79 degrees in the mornings when the sun is on the other side of the house. And, I can certainly do it in the evenings when the sun is going behind the western mountains. But I just don't think I can maintain that temperature in the afternoons.

Did I ever tell you my dogs can a) count, and b) understand German? If the kitchen door is open, they are allowed to have two paws in the kitchen. But, only two. My kitchen is very small. My dogs are big. If I don't want to walk on dogs or fall over dogs, I just can't have them in the kitchen. Sometimes I tell them "out" and they know what that means. Sometimes I tell them "two paws" and they go stand in the doorway with just two paws on the kitchen floor. And, sometimes I tell them "raus" and they even know what that means. Such smart puppies........

Well, I am down to doing journalers for this doggy kit and I'm done! I know what I want to do. We'll see if I can accomplish it in the time allotted. I really do want the design work on this kit done today!!!!!!! I've been picking away at it for almost a week now. It's time. I try to keep an inventory of finished kits on hand. I may not pre-plan in as detailed a manner as some folks, but I do pre-plan. If you keep putting kits in the store, but don't create as many kits at the same time, your inventory goes down when what you're working toward is having your inventory increase! When one of my 3 jobs materializes, my design time will be substantially lessened. I know I can do some mini kits and during weeks with holidays I can eke out a bit more design time, but time for housework will also be lessened and........... So, I keep trying to build that inventory.

So, lunch was some pasta with pesto. Now that I've learned to limit the pesto sauce, I'm enjoying the stuff. I don't know what it is, but that sauce seems very rich. Too much and I'm done after only a few bites. I remember I was doubtful about spending $9 for that pesto sauce. As it turns out, since you only need a very little bit of sauce, it was an amazingly good investment. I have lost count but I think it's safe to say I've had at least 9 servings from that jar and it's still half full! The way I figure it, I should end up with about 18 dinners at $.50 each plus the cost of pasta. Surely that is within my budget!

Okay, I have to get going if I am going to get the last remaining elements done before I leave for the afternoon roundup of grandchildren. Maybe later, if, by the time I get home, I can still formulate coherent sentences.........

Momma Bear's Momma Bear

It's gonna be a hot one in Vegas today, tomorrow, and so on. I just checked and it's 90 degrees outside at 9AM! We'll be over 100 until Monday when it "cools off" to 99! I'm pretty sure we can officially declare that we've moved past spring........

I will spend most of the day in design. I am close, very close to finishing the puppy kit. I still need journalers, ricrak, and a few other things and I'm done with the puppy kit. Although I've had lots of compliments on my previews, I've never liked them much and I think this kit has been harder to build a preview I like than most. The kit now has an extra patterned paper and 86 elements! Then I suppose it will be time to a little bit of catch up work on kits that are "finished" and I will go back to the "collection" I've started.

I have no clue what I can get done around here. I have lost 9 hours in the past two days to driving around town and picking up grandchildren and delivering them to various destinations plus spending a few hours with them to make sure things at home go according to plan. I can't just knock  off design and clean. I have to keep the design engine running........ So, maybe I'll get something done and maybe I'll just be crazy like I was yesterday.

Thank goodness, I don't feel any symptoms of whackiness at the moment. I certainly don't need another crazy day. However, in looking at the kit I'm working on, even in the middle of my crazies, I seem to have managed some design work yesterday.

One of the problems is that I seem to be pretty useless in the evenings when I get home. Tuesday night it was after 8:30PM when I made it home. Last night it was after 9:00PM when I made it home. And then, I mostly just sit here....... Spent from the heat, the drive in traffic, and that time of day when spending time with kids is the hardest. We all know that children are hot, hungry, and tired by the time the evening commute is over. They don't know they are hot, hungry, and tired. They just know that their world is a miserable place, they're miserable, and consequently they make life difficult for everyone around them. They're clingy, whiny, and unhappy little beings. So, yes, I come home and stare at the walls. Not very helpful!

When I was speaking with DGS1 about the state of the bedroom he shares with his little brother, one of his "reasons" was that he needs hangers. Well, Joe just loved those plastic hangers and I just hated them. But, if you remember that I took 9 garbage bags to the charity drop off with just Joe's clothes in them, you now can deduce that I have tons of plastic hangers. DGS1 also made a point of telling me that his mom needed hangers too. Well, when I left here yesterday, I took (guessing) 30-40 hangers with me. When I asked DGS1 to get the hangers out of the car, he picked up about 10 of them and said that was all he needed and started to walk away. I reminded him that he had told me his mom needed hangers so he finally picked up the rest and took them in and threw them on her bed (along with the baskets of undies). I hope she's not tired when she gets home because she can't go to bed til she finds it!

My DD may know how to sue school boards, but I'm not too bad in a pinch myself when it comes to defending the little ones. When I got to the Day Care yesterday, DGD had been outside playing in the water and the "teacher" had just lifted her up onto the changing table to put her back into her clothes. As soon as she saw me, she decided DGD must want Grandma to dress her, thereby delegating her job to me. So, I dressed DGD, helped her put on her cute little sandals, and, at last, I told her to gather up her things--lunch box and backpack--so we could go get her brother. I asked her if she had everything and she said "I want my bgtmfdisomw". "What?" I said. She repeated "I want my bgtmfdisomw." I had no clue what she wanted. I asked her if she could show me. There is a big plastic bin in the classroom which seems to be full of blankets. Maybe that's where they keep the things they use for nap??? Anyway, she marched straight over to the bin and stuck her little forefinger out and pointed. I dug. It wasn't this, and it wasn't that. Finally I pulled out something small. I didn't look at it closely but it seemed to be a stuffed frog with a bit of blanket attached. The blanket was blue satiny stuff on one side, pastel flannely green print on the other and the frog was covered in the flannely green print as well. So I handed it to her and we were ready to leave. At this point the "teacher" decided that she, personally, had no idea whether that belonged to DGD or not. So, she wasn't going to let us leave with it. Well, I wasn't certain either, but I was pretty sure DGD1 (age 12 and a great big brother) would know. So, I just basically told her we would check with DGD's older brother and if it wasn't hers, we'd bring it back in the morning. No, that wasn't acceptable. It might be Aubrey's. So she goes to the door of the classroom and yells outside for the other "teacher" and Aubrey. Then she tells me she needs to ask Aubrey if this little "lovey" is hers and "Aubrey wouldn't lie". We wait for Aubrey and the other teacher to wander from the far side of the property into the classroom. (In the meantime, I still have DGS2 to retrieve at the Day Care and DGS1 and "the girl" to pick up miles away, so I'm stewing.) When they finally get there, the "teacher" points at the toy DGD is holding and asks Aubrey if it is hers. Well, first of all, Aubrey isn't even looking at DGD. She is not looking where the "teacher" is pointing. And the "teacher" keeps asking "Is that yours, Aubrey?" Now that is just a stupid question to ask a Toddler. We've all seen those rules of Toddlerhood:

1. If I like it, it's mine. 

2. If it's in my hand, it's mine. 

3. If I can take it from you, it's mine. 

4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine. 

5. If it's mine, it must NEVER appear to be yours in any way. 

6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine. 

7. If it looks just like mine, it is mine. 

8. If I saw it first, it's mine. 

9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically
becomes mine. 

10. If it's broken, it's yours.

But, surprising to me, Aubrey says nothing, does nothing. Finally she turns and
pulls something similar to what DGD is holding from her little pigeon hole. 
Difference is, hers is pink. So, finally, with the clock ticking and ticking and 
ticking, I am allowed to leave the classroom with DGD and the "bgtmfdisomw".
And I am angry. The "Aubrey would't lie" thing is sticking in my craw. I go pick
up DGS2 and the three of us have to head past DGD's classroom. The "teacher"
comes out, stops us and asks DGS2 if the toy belongs to DGD. Now, DGS2 is 5. 
He might know if the toy is DGD's and he might not. And, if accosted out of the 
blue by a "teacher", he might not even respond. I had had enough. I looked the 
b&%$( straight in the eye and said, "Of course it's hers. DGD (insert name) 
wouldn't lie." I'm afraid I was VERY pointed in the way I said that. The whole 
point of the "Aubrey wouldn't lie" statement, as far as I'm concerned, was to 
imply that DGD WOULD lie. Torqued me off! The kids stop by the Administrator's
office every evening before they leave. She loves on them and everyone gets a 
gummy bear and then they go home for the night. I had to have a little sit down 
with her and tell her about my experience with that "teacher" and the implication
that DGD is a liar. Truth be told, at 2.5 years old, I am quite sure DGD doesn't 
really know how to "lie", meaning purposely say something untrue with the 
intent to deceive. 

I have come to realize that I have only a little patience for truly stupid people. 
What the woman SAID was stupid. Even worse, it (and her subsequent actions)
shows how very little she knows about the nature of toddlers with whom she
spends her day! Some parents would have been so offended, they would have
been out looking for a different day care today...........

Well, let's do eye candy. I need to get my mind off of "Aubrey doesn't lie" 
before I get mad all over again!




Lori did this page with Looks Like Home, the kit of the week. She used one of 
our word arts, created to go with this kit. I loved the cluster on this one which
balances the word are really well.




Jen, aka SarahWhithers, created this page. She used one of our templates and
one of the word arts as well. I like how she added the cat's names to the photos.
I also think it is just sweet that she felt she could use this word art with photos
of her pets. Shows me she really loves those kitties.




Christy created this page with Looks Like Home. I like the way she has all the
photos linked together with staples--sometimes its the little things on the page
that mean a lot. I also like the way she incorporated the cub scout/boy scout
insignia on the page. As a designer, I can't do a scouting kit and use those
insignia. They are copyrighted. But, she CAN, for her personal use on her
scrapbook page. It adds a lot of meaning on this particular page.

So, today, we've seen this kit used for a military/patriotic page, a cub
scouting page, and a page about kitties. Pretty darn versatile if you ask me.......

Gotta scoot. It's already 10:30. I need to get moving on something 
besides this blog! YOU be BLESSED today!

Valium, I need valium!

I am a total whack job today. I can't begin to tell you how fragmented my day has been and it's all my fault. I have not been able to pick one thing and stick with it for more than 5 minutes. At the end of the day, I fear I will look back at the day and decide I have finished NOTHING. Normally, when I get like this, I tend to think maybe my blood pressure is up. But, I just used the blood pressure cuff and it's not. Another mystery in the drama of life........

I have less than an hour til I have to blast out of here on my driving duties. Pick up little guys at day care, pick up DGS1 and the girl (yes, the girl has a name and I know it. I just am trying not to use names on the blog because of the weirdos of the world). Then it will be up to us to try to keep everyone amused and not allow any sibling to hurt another sibling for a period of about two hours, in the car, til we can head home. DGS1 has a guitar lesson today............ The way I've been behaving today, I'll probably be running laps around the van......... Oops, it's 96 degrees out there. No laps.

I did the morning blog post. I've worked on the doggy kit. I've worked on the "collection". I've taught myself a new and better way to make plaids. I may have figured out the answer to a design question I've been mulling over for months. I've written a long e-mail to a CT member, complete with illustrations. I've written an e-mail to DD. I've advertised the layouts I posted on the blog today on Facebook, both my personal and HotFlashDesigns. I've color picked a new color palette from a photo. I've carried in dog food from the van. I've carried in empty boxes from the van. I've carried plastic hangers to the van--DGS1 says he needs some and, oh boy, am I glad to get rid of some. That's just what I can think of. And there's been no order to any of it, jumping from one half-finished project to the next.

On the day DD moved, someone got my keys so they could pack things into my van for transport to the new house. Then they returned the keys saying they weren't going to use my van after all. Okay. DD has been saving boxes for me. I need small boxes for these darn books I'm trying to sort through and pack up and carry around. So, yesterday, while I was at DD's house, I asked DGS1 to load some small boxes in my van, just 3 or 4. I had to remind him several times, but he got it done. They were piled up so high I had problems driving home because I couldn't see out the rear window. I knew I had to get those out of the van before I went to pick up the kiddos today. I opened the rear of the van and there are two very nice fabric-lined baskets full of DD's unmentionables. I wonder what she's been wearing for the past month? I also wonder how DGS1 missed seeing them and remarking on them. They were quite a surprise to me. That rear area is more or less designated as the place that stuff goes between trips to the charity drop off place. Groceries go in on the side door behind the driver's seat. Good thing I got those boxes or I'd have been driving around with her undies in the back of my van for who knows how long!

I have to start gathering things together for the trip. Bye for now.......

Thank God for the "undo" button.........

So, just before I ripped out of here to go get the tribe, I found this rather large floral print I wanted to use for the "Black and......" collection. I first tried it with green flowers on a black background and almost hid under my desk. It was way too intense and you know I like contrast!!! So, I substituted white for the black background and that looked really good. But I wanted some black in there too. After all this collection is supposed to be all about black combined with other colors....... Well, the large flowers didn't have any sort of centers so I decided I'd use my round brush and just do a black dot in the centers. And that's where the trouble started. 99.5% of the time I work with the grid on to make sure my dots or whatever are exactly where I want them to be. However, I am using a floral print created by someone else and the spot where the dots should go doesn't line up on the grid. So I made a bunch of dots and every single one of them tried to go to the closest intersection on the grid rather than where I put them. I ended up having to turn off the grid. Now I was stuck with eyeballing it, AND my hands twitch. I often say they shake, but really the proper word is "twitch".

So, it goes kind of like this: position the dot just exactly where you want it. Twitch. Reposition the brush so the dot will be where you want it. Click. Position the brush so the next dot will be where you want it. Click and Twitch. Reposition the brush. Undo. Reposition the brush. Twitch. Undo. Reposition the brush so the dot will be in the right position. Click. I does slow things down a bit and makes extractions fun too!

Speaking of extractions, I have had a volunteer to photograph that dog food. Praise be. I don't mind the photographing, but because of the "twitch", extraction is even more time consuming than it is for most people. Thanks so much, C. You are now my best friend as only a best friend would do something like this for me!

So, I am so darned distracted this morning I have started about 4 or 5 different projects relating to design. Holy Toledo. I am a mess. And I've started all 4 or 5 of those projects in the middle of this blog post. Of course, I've had to click over to look at incoming mail and check Facebook as well. It's a lot of fun being me, let me tell ya! A true adventure.

Given the excessive state of ADDness which is upon me today, I'm going to post some eye candy and then try to get sensible.

This page was created by Karen. Remember her "nautical" page from yesterday? See I told you my CT went overboard with this kit! This page uses one of our templates and also one of the fabulous word arts. The photo and memorabilia are from her father's time in the Navy during WWII. Karen resized the photo blocks to fit the photo and memorabilia. I was pleased to see Karen try one of the templates. She is SO precise about her layouts and takes great pride in them. It's a compliment that she used this template because I honestly don't think she's ever used a template before! You can leave Karen some love here.

This lovely layout is by Lori. Day before yesterday, I showed you her "Hot" layout of her son-in-law grilling. And here she is again with some gorgeous photos of her DGD. Two such different pages from the same kit. I LOVE how versatile this kit is. I was literally awed when I saw the many many ways my CT found to use it! I love the little glitter spots Lori has created around the photos! Wow, this is a fun layout. And aren't those photos adorable? You can leave Lori some love here.

Okay, I'm going to sign off and either a) see how many additional projects I can start or b) see if I can finish any of the projects I've already started, LOL. YOU be BLESSED today and say a little prayer for my lack-of-attention-span!

 

Cobwebs..........Help!

What do you use to clean cobwebs? I'm at my wit's end (okay, I admit it, it didn't take me too long to come to the end of my wits). I've tried the FlyLady feather duster. It has done a magnificent job inside, but is useless on the rough surfaces of the stucco and the wood around the door. If it DOES manage to pick up a cobweb, you can't get the darn thing to shake off. Next I tried the rubba sweepa. It was pretty useless too. It kind of rolled the cobwebs up in a ball and left them stuck to the stucco. Third weapon: the FlyLady mop, dry. This did the best of anything, but the results are not anything to write home about. My next try is the FlyLady mop, wet. In the past I've used the hose, but that didn't work either. Suggestions, anyone?

Well, I've folded a load of clean clothes. And I've tried to do something with those cobwebs outside. Next, I'm going to wash that entryway floor. And, I haven't taken time to eat yet today so I'd better do that soon. I am thinking I have to leave here a bit earlier than planned, more like 4:30. My tires could stand to have some more air put in them. I did that recently but ran out of quarters to feed the air machine before I got the deed done. Since I try not to drive more than about 3 miles one way, I don't worry too much about it. But, now that we're into hot weather, and I am going to be driving about 25 miles today, and some of those miles will be at high speeds on the freeway, and I am going to have the grandchildren in the car, I think I had better do something about that.........

I washed my hair this morning and ended up blowing it dry with the "bangs" flipped back ala Farrah Fawcett in 1980 something. Then I very carefully sprayed them with a LOT of hairspray. The truth is I need a haircut. But, I am thinking that instead of a layered style, I might go more towards a bob. So, I've kind of been letting it grow for that reason and for budgetary reasons. But I hate the ragged "fringe" at the back where it's longer than on the sides, and the front part, the part I referred to as "bangs" is constantly in my eyes and making me nutso. (Hey, stop with the smart aleck comments. So what if I'm usually nutso? Who gave you the right to say so?)

I need to report that it's only Tuesday and that bathtub did finally drain. It is certainly no great achievement, let me tell you. I've poured two cups of that "organic" drain cleaner in there so far. This morning I dumped about 18 ounces of water into the bathtub. It was draining one small drop at a time. It may have been draining one small drop at a time a bit faster than last night, but that is certainly not enough to get excited about.

I haven't done anything at all on the doggy kit. Hey, there's nothing ADD about me! I have had an idea for a while now for a collection. And, I have just kind of shoved it aside. I want to do a collection of various colors each mixed individually with Black. Blue with black, Hot Pink with black, coral with black, and so on. Today I have done 16 papers with the green and black color scheme. One of the things I LOVE to do is to take a small, tight color scheme like this (I'm using gray, black, white, and green) and see how many ways I can use those limited colors to create different looks. And, of course, I love the high contrast of the one color with the neutrals. After my tirade the other day about recolored papers, I have to admit to you that I have recolored papers in this pack of papers. For example, I have some green dots on black and some black dots on green and like that. I do love positive/negative type designs....... But, a collection like this is the ONLY time I would do the recolor thing and the papers will number at least 20 prints, possibly more, so there will be plenty of unique prints.

For me, it is great fun to see the different looks I can achieve just by artfully mixing the same very limited colors over and over, in different ways, in different patterns. Yes, Virginia, for me, designing is truly all about playing with color. Love it, can't get enough of it.........

Alright, I need to find something fast and edible and then tackle that entryway floor.

I don't want to wake up.......

I am not a little ray of sunshine when I wake up. It takes a while. I do get more sunshiny once I am fully awake. But, the very idea of crawling out of bed did not please me this morning.

I am not looking forward to this week. For the next 4 days I have to drive to what I would call "mid" town, gather up the various small bodies of my grandchildren and drive them home. The worst of it is that I'll be inching along in 5 o'clock traffic and I'll be doing it in a van with a lot of windows and high temperatures of 96 to 103. Ugh! Most cars don't do their best air conditioning job when they idle. Here it is not heat and humidity that gets us--it is just plain ol' heat. The intensity of the sun's rays. Yes, I have film on the windows of the van and I know that helps, but I'm not sure the Japanese know how to build engines and air conditioners when the temps top 100. And, of course, I'll need to leave here by around 4:45 and I won't be back til around 8:30, so there goes 4 hours a day. And, finally, there's the extra gasoline. I figure I can kiss somewhere between $28 and $32 in gasoline costs goodbye. I surely do hope one of the 3 jobs I've been promised comes through soon.........

It is the pits being on a tight budget. Have you noticed that I think of most everything in terms of $$$? I hate that, but before I do anything I have to analyze it in terms of dollars and cents. And, I have a whole lot of buyer's remorse even after the smallest expenditures. For example, my hot dogs and ice cream dinner, in honor of Memorial Day, cost me $4.39. The bad part of that was the $1.99 ice cream. I could have skipped that, had $2 more in my pocket and more chance of burning off the calories. And, yes, those were exactly my thoughts on the 1 mile drive home from 7-11. Without extras, like sprinkler repairs, extra gasoline, and, yes, even ice cream, I am in the hole every month. So, yes, even these small expenditures matter as my stash isn't getting any bigger.......

So, what will I do between now and 4:45PM?

Well, on the design side, I'm pleased with what I have so far (after replacing the one paper I hated). However, I still need more flowers, frames, journalers, and more doggy-elements as well. So that's what I'll be working on in my design time, along with some advertising chores.

Around here, while I vacuumed and vacuumed til I was about to drop yesterday, I did not get that entryway floor cleaned. I remembered to turn off the beater bar as I vacuumed the hard surface but somehow the vacuum cleaner still managed to leave a visible layer of fine dust particles on that floor. So, I need to get that washed.

Also we have reached that stage where I can see the dust on the coffee table from here, so obviously I need to dust.

Every time I have gone into the garage the last few days, I have carried in another armload of books to be sorted and packed, either for storage or for donation. You would be hard put to determine the color of the top of the dining room table......

And first thing this morning, I am going outside to make a guerilla raid on the cobwebs around the front door entryway. I'm going to try the rubba sweepa and see if that works without harming the stucco. We shall see.....

I think there's not much chance I'll get beyond all that, but, I need desk time. I still haven't made much progress on that.

Eye candy......... I need to have some eye candy to cheer me up.

This page was created by Laurie, aka letumom. I love that she used this kit which some might think of as limited to patriotic for a set of photos of a child playing in the backyard. In fact, a layout about everyday life. When I created this kit, I did not intend for it to be "patriotic". I intentionally kept a lot of patriotic stuff out of the kit for that reason. I wanted this to be a kit people could use with an unlimited variety of themes, even though the colors are red, white, and blue. It was not until I realized I'd be putting it in the store on Memorial Day weekend that I created the freebie add-on (at facebook) with a bit more in the way of "patriotic" stuff. You can leave Laura some love here.

Nautical is one of the themes I thought would work well with this kit. I didn't fill it full of anchors and sailboats, but the colors are traditionally used in nautical stuff. Karen, aka Eyes for Beauty, did this lovely layout. She comments about how often she creates this style of layout. However, these are pages made using old slides her father took and then, a few years ago, had turned into digital files. They are all going to end up in one album. Using the same style on all the pages is a great way to create some continuity in the album which is chock full of memories of many different occasions and many different years. Karen took her cue from the journaling cards in the kit and created her own journaler--that very pretty embellishment in the center--and created a plaid that is not in the kit. I really like this page! You can leave Karen some love here.

Okay an hour ago, I thought I had about 8 hours to work on design and this house before I needed to leave. Then I worked on this blog post some more and answered an e-mail. Since I'm now faced with an hour less time, I need to get started. YOU be BLESSED today!

 

 

It's a great life, if you don't weaken.........

I'm weakening. Soon, I will be between the sheets of my big yummy bed. I've gotten all the trash out of the house and to the curb. I've vacuumed all the floors twice--took me a multitude of tube clean outs and 3 bags. I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I've sneezed in the process, presumably from the dust that's been stirred up. I ran the vacuum over the entry way floor but I haven't washed it yet.

I also took another run on that hall bathtub. I bought this big jug of "organic" drain unstopper. I'm not too sure about this "organic" stuff sometimes. I don't want to put harsh chemicals down my pipes any more than anyone else does. BUT, I do want the drains to run free without multiple applications and hours and hours of waiting time. Besides all that, the "organic" stuff ain't cheap! So, I poured another cup full of these "organic" crystals down the bath tub drain. There is probably an inch of standing water at the deep end. Then I sat there. Nothing happened. Finally I was able to discern the tiniest bubbles escaping from the drain. I mean pin head sized bubbles. I actually sat there and counted, onethousandone, onethousandtwo, onethousandthree. In what I reckoned was about 60 seconds I saw 3 of these itty bitty little bubbles. I figure that water will have gone down the drain by Thursday or Friday. Maybe..........

Then I came back out here and happened to look around. This morning we had bazillion little crumblets of dirt/mud carried in here on puppy paws while the guys were working on the sprinklers. The yard had more or less dried out during the day, except, perhaps in one area where the sprinkler was really befouled. However, the automatic sprinklers came on again this evening. And, as I looked around this room, wanna guess what I saw? Yes, you're right--more dust/mud crumblets. Nowhere near as bad as this morning, but, still, I just finished vacuuming this room TWICE a few hours ago.

Now, if there are any insurance adjusters reading this blog, please don't get excited. I wouldn't REALLY do this, but sometimes I think the only hope for this place is to burn it down. You just cannot believe the clean up/fix up mess I am looking at. For example, to save money, when we had the place re-roofed in 2006, Joe told the roofers not to paint the wood that is the underside of the eaves. It's still not painted. You know about the abortive painting project in the living room/dining room. Almost 4 years later and all that's been done is 2 coats of primer. After all this time, what good is the primer? I doubt it's any good at all. And, who is going to move all this furniture around so I can paint when I finally get the place cleaned out?

So much of this stuff I am dealing with I am dealing with because Joe refused to listen to me. I had kept the place in running order by myself for a good 10 years. Some of what I'd learned, I'd learned in the school of hard knocks, but he assumed I knew nothing and disregarded everything I had to say. So, if setting the sprinkler heads to a certain level was good, setting them even higher so that they hit the block walls or the stucco every time they ran certainly had to be better. No, letting them run a bit longer might be good, but hitting stucco day in and day out with water is not good.

I tried to get him to use bath and shower products that were formulated for hard water. He just ignored me. He used Irish Spring and soaps of that nature that do just what has happened--they form clogs in the pipes in areas with extremely hard water like we have here.

He insisted I was not supposed to paint. But, of course, he hated it and just never seemed to find his "roundtoit". And he was a very messy painter. He loved to load a roller with as much paint as he could get on it which resulted in drips and spatters everywhere. At some point, I'm going to have to paint a set of 15-pane french doors just to cover up the paint spatters. There's paint on my piano, paint on the carpet, and so on........

Thinking about all this could lead me to despair. I am on a very tight budget; I can't hire help. And I'm not a sassy thirty-something anymore. A lot of this I can't do myself. This room desperately needs a) the walls washed and b) paint. But I can't move the furniture in order to paint it. And, I can't hire anyone to move the furniture. Somehow I have to narrow my focus and just look at one mess at a time or I will be totally overwhelmed and just go sit in a corner and cry and pick fuzz from my navel.

Well, here's hoping it will all look better in the morning because I refuse to look at it any more today. Goodnight.

Memorial Day Celebration.......

Well, I have had my Memorial Day Celebration. I ran down to 7-11 and bought two hot dogs for $2.22. It was more than I could eat so the dogs have each had a good sized bite of bun and hot dog for their Memorial Day Celebration. Later on, I have a Snickers Ice Cream bar which I don't intend to share with any of them!

So, how do I look? Do I look $80 poorer? That's what it cost to get the valve thingie fixed and the 4 or 5 sprinkler heads that were fixed this morning. I am pretty unhappy about it but I would either have had to pay the yard guy or pay the water company. I think I'd rather pay the yard guy. I'm certain he needs the money more and works harder to earn it that the water company. Thank God, I had the money.

I am not sure if this is the good news or the bad. The good news is that the yard is certainly much better watered today than usual. You can't test sprinklers without turning them on. On the other hand, I know I'll pay for every gallon......

The good news is that the kit I'm working on now has all 14 patterned papers, even though I threw one away and started over. And, it now has 51 elements. Progress!

I've also managed to vacuum the office and the living room/dining room. I put a new bag in the vacuum and didn't make it out of the office before the bag was full. At $2 per bag, this is no fun at all.

Well, that's all I know at the moment. I still have to get a trashcan out to the bin outside and drag that to the curb. Tomorrow is trash day. I doubt they'll be early, today being a holiday, but I don't want to take a chance. Maybe later, maybe not.

 

PPPPPPP, spelling, zoom and magnifiers, and a freebie

"Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance." So one of my former bosses was famous for saying. When I'm creating a kit, I don't necessarily plan out the papers. I know what I think the mood of the kit is and if it's a theme-y kit I know I want a few theme-y papers. If it's not necessarily theme-y but it is "masculine" or "feminine" this will also dictate my patterns on papers. I created one paper with the puppy kit that I don't like. I didn't "plan" it, I just knew what I wanted to use in terms of the graphics and went with it. When I finally got to 14 papers, I decided I'd try to "fix" the paper I didn't like. I decided it was too dark and I wanted to lighten it up.

Here's where zoom and magnifiers come in. I started by trying to turn a bunch of brown dots into white dots. These were TINY dots. And because of my failure in the Proper Prior Planning department, I couldn't do it the easy way. I guess I should have known ahead of time, as I was creating the paper, that I was going to hate it. So, shoot me. I didn't know. So, I have been sitting here with my magnifiers perched on the end of my nose and zoomed way in close in Photoshop, pouring white paint into brown dots. 684 brown dots to turn white. Believe me, without zoom and magnifiers, this would be impossible. Even with it being possible, it's incredibly time consuming. And, the epitome of the failure of Proper Prior Planning--when I got all done with the "fix" it still didn't work for me and ended up in the trash! I'll be unhappy with myself over that one for a while!

Now, as to spelling..... Sometimes my fingers don't know how to spell. My brain is an excellent speller and rarely makes a spelling mistake. I mostly ignore spell check even where it exists because it's just not a feature I need. But, I could sit here and "cluck" all day over other people's spelling. Not long ago I was reading something written by someone I know had a decent education. However, somewhere along the line, apparently no one taught her "i before e except after c". I had occasion to learn that rule really well when I blew top place in the Sixth Grade Volusia County Spelling Bee by spelling neither "niether". I suppose my friend should have participated in more spelling bees........ And, the number of people who can't figure out the sound-alikes floors me. For example, their and there. The other day I was reading a blog of a person who is actually compensated for blogging. One would look for a certain degree of professionalism there. I just loved reading about how they had "waisted" their time. That's one sound-alike I've never seen screwed up before. And please don't get me started on grammar. Yes, on occasion I end a sentence with a preposition. Mrs. Wright, my 8th grade English teacher, who made me diagram sentences til I wanted to shoot her would roll over in her grave if she saw that. But, most of the time I realize I have done it and elect not to fix it because I want what I've written to sound more like the way people actually speak. Here's one from a recent Facebook post by a person who shall remain nameless: "I have several people's newsfeed blocked......." If it's several, it's newsfeeds not "newsfeed". I am very much in favor of immigrants from other countries learning English; I just wish Americans would do the same.

As you know, if you've read the top post, I have a very nice mini kit up for grabs on the HotFlashDesigns Facebook page. However, it's Memorial Day and I wanted to do a bit more. So, I decided to make a freebie for here on the blog. I just did this this morning. I might otherwise have done a prettier preview, but in the interest of time and getting this to you today, it is what it is. Here's what it looks like:

and here's where you can grab it: http://www.4shared.com/zip/DF0wmLs9/HFD_LLH_Freebie_Alpha.html

I hope you're having a great Memorial Day! Eat a burger from the grill for me!