And... it's about at the end...

This week... it's been dragging along, slowly. I have only scrapbooked one night this week. Too tired, I guess. Work continues to be overwhelming. The end of the quarter is in 2 weeks and I'll find out if we have to repeat this temporary layoff thing for another quarter. I worry about it but I am still so thankful I have a job - even if I am completely exhausted all the time.

To relax, I've been reading instead. Finished 3 books since Saturday. They weren't earth shattering literature, just chick lit or suspense... but sometimes you've got to take a break from your habits to renew that creative streak.

I do have to say though that last night, I did a truly great page. My friend Tracy is going to be excited because it's for her. She routinely gives me her pictures to scrapbook. It's helping to "catch up" those memories she wants to record and it gives me some variety in what I scrapbook. I can't post it just yet though because it's my layout for Pink Sketches. (Sorry, Tracy - you'll have to wait until Sunday!)

Instead, you'll have to enjoy a 2 page layout that I did on Sunday instead... It was about Annde "searching for Santa"... from receiving a webcam message from him to leaving oats outside and cookies/carrots/milk instead... Annde was super excited about the jolly Santa.

That's all for now.. Have fun, folks, and thanks for checking in!

How much do you know about St. Patrick's Day?

Me - not much... in fact, I know so little that I REALLY flunked this quiz. I know, I know... I'm appalled and probably should lose parent points on not knowing the origin of the holiday. (Although I'm German and Czech so I'm at least not disregarding my heritage!)

Try it for yourself and see how you do:
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/quiz/quiz.aspx?QuizID=306

I sure don't have the luck of the Irish, eh? :)

Pink Sketches #23

I had a lot of fun scrapbooking with Tracy on Saturday night... Jessica came over too and it was good to see her. I didn't get a ton done but I did do a couple of layouts. I just spent too much time obsessing over one layout.

Sunday was Zoe's birthday party at the pool. We had a lot of fun - Annde and I swam for over an hour. I think that the temperature of the water makes a HUGE difference on Annde's willingness to participate. I also think that trust comes into play as well. She is still balking at putting her face in the water and jumping off the side. If anyone has an ideas on how to overcome those two things, let me know... She's so stubborn and I am running out of ideas.

Here's my Pink Sketches layout of the week:

Products used: paper (Reminisce, Scenic Route, Heidi Swapp), stickers (Reminisce, Jenni Bowlin, 7 Gypsies), die cut felt filmstrip (Prima), chipboard (Scenic Route), adhesive (pop dots, Kokuyo), and pen (Zig).

Well, off to make the lunches. Have a good day everyone...

Rounding up for Kindergarten

So, this week was Kindergarten Roundup for the parents. We were very excited to go and see all the fun things that Annde will be learning next year. They showed us a movie about what a typical day involves and talked about all the fun things that they will be doing this year. I have to say that I am very happy with our choice! They really focus on writing, reading, and art in this class, in addition to Science, Social Studies, and the typical specials (art, music, gym, computers, library, and Spanish). They also do a lot of things with the 5th graders, which I think is really cool (book buddies, lunch buddies...) I think that Annde is going to be very happy there. Especially since she already knows several people in her classroom. I really hope she gets put in a room with Zoe. They play so well together.

Well, I am off to scrap tonight with Tracy - Color Me Daisy is having a Dr. Seuss Cyber Crop - and just relax. It should make up for my frustrating morning at swim lessons. If she didn't need to learn to swim for the boat... Man! She can be sooo stubborn!

Here's a sneak peak at my layout that will be up tomorrow at Pink Sketches...

Transformer Hoax in Detroit

For all of those of you who have heard the following tale of Police Transforming vehicles, please know that this is a urban legend. Trust me, this state doesn't have the money to pay for these fancy vehicles! Besides, one of the news channels confirmed it was a hoax with multiple police forces and the State Police....

Spring is Coming!
Operation Yellow JacketLook out for MI-DOT trucks parked along the road or suddenly appearing behind you pacing you - it could be a Trooper driving the truck. Called 'Operation Yellow Jacket', each Michigan State Police District has a truck cleaned up and ready to go! These trucks have specially modified engines that can virtually catapult the truck from snow-plow speed to intercept speed in seconds. And when the engine boost kicks in, the warning lights automatically change from flashing yellow to the dreaded red and blue! Starting March 1, 2009, Michigan will launch a 31 day speeding ticket frenzy. The state estimates that $9 million dollars will be generated in speeding tickets, with an additional $3.5 million in revenue for failure to wear a seatbelt. $1 million will go to pay state troopers overtime. There will be 47 state troopers on duty at all times patrolling the main intersections and highways with the highest rates of speeding. They are the following:
I-75, especially from the Ohio line north to Woodhaven, and again from Auburn Hills to Flint
I-96 east and west in its entirety
I-275 north/south
I-675 north/south
I-94 east and west from Battle Creek to Jackson
I-696 east and west in its entirety
I-196 east and west
US-131 north and south
I-69 east and west from Lansing to Flint and again from Flint eastward to Port Huron.
I-69 north and south from I-94 to Lansing
M-14 east and west from I-94 to I-275
M-39 from I-94 to I-96 going to and from Dearborn
M-59, especially from Pontiac to Utica , and from Utica east US -10 from Midland to Bay City
US-23 from I-96 to Flint US-27 from Lansing to Mt. Pleasant
Quotas:
5 mph above the limit can justify a ticket and every state trooper is supposed to pull a car over and write a ticket every 10 to 20 minutes. They have issued 30 brand new unmarked Dodge Charger Police cruisers and canceled all vacation time. In addition, they are bringing in all of their part timers on full time for the month. This nonsense will conclude on April 1.
Driving Ticket fine increase in MI: Starting on January 15th, the price of a ticket for violation of MI Law 39:3-29 (failure to show your driver's license, registration, or proof of insurance card at the time you are stopped) went from $44.00 to $173.00. Please make sure your vehicles have the proper documents in them. If you jump in the car to run to the store and forget your wallet with your license in it and you are stopped.... Oh well... you just spent $173. And the fine for not having all three documents is $519!!!

While we should all be following the traffic laws which would prevent you from being pulled over to begin with, please note that these transforming MDOT cars don't exist, to the sadness of children all over Detroit who believe in Transformers. Besides, the highways listed are pretty much every highway in the Metro Detroit area - where do they plan on getting all those cops based on reduced budget, layoffs for officers, and the normal crime rates of a major metropolitan area? It is also miraculous that this list is identical to the last speed trap hoax from last year...

So Sketchy again...

So, Ally gave me this sketch and some great images by The Cutting Cafe to do a page... I surprised her and did TWO, very different pages...
So, here's the start point:
And, here's my first page. I didn't take any pictures on Valentine's Day this year. Instead, I took some pictures of what we exchanged to show our affection. There was a really great quote on the card that Annde gave me so I used that as my journaling... I mimicked the sketch in that there are 3 pictures and a journaling block, but I didn't use round. Then, I took the the 3 circles and mirrored it into the diamonds at the top. I used both the round sentiments and the heart cupcake by Cutting Cafe to jazz it up.Products used: Paper (CTMH, Doodlebug, Glitz, American Craft), Heidi Swapp diamonds, Kaiser pearls, Thickers, Stickles, Jenni Bowlin stickers, Creative Imaginations flowers, Cutting Cafe images, misc gel pen, and Kokuyo adhesive.

This second page is about me. There's this list going around that you answer your feelings in. For example, it has I love..., I cry..., I sing..., I wonder...., I wish..., and so on. I filled the list out and put it on the blog back in November of last year but always thought it would be a cool topic to do. So, the circles just gave me that ability. I spaced them (there's about 35), into 4 journaling circles and then used some wallet sized pictures and this FABULOUS Doodlebug flocked paper as a background. Sorry, there's a lot of reflection in the picture but I wanted to show the irridescence in the butterflies. Trust me - the colors are REALLY bright on this page. Products used: Close to My Heart paper, Doodlebug paper, Cutting Cafe image, DMC floss, Making Memories letters, Craft n Craftin stickers, Oriental Trading arrow brad, Glaze pens by Sakura, Microsoft Word, and Kokuyo adhesive.

Also - I'm hosting the challenges this month at Coordinates Collections... Head on over there and see all the fun you can have for free stuff! There's a guest design team contest, a March contest about using Green, and my 4 challenges.. All you have to do is upload into the gallery in the right folder and post a link in the message board thread for the contest and you're entered! Check it out here: Coordinates Collections

Well... I'm off to get stuff done. Have a great day!

It's a So Sketchy start to March

My layout just happened to be picked to lead out the month of Sketches over at So Sketchy. Here's the sketch...

... and my layout:

Don't worry! All pictures were taken while sitting at a stop light. Annde and I spend a lot of time together in the car and she can be very silly at times when I check on her in the rearview mirror at stop lights. So, on this day, at each of the 3 stop lights, I took a picture of her face in the mirror... It says a lot about her personality...

Products used: Paper (CTMH, Sandylion, Bazzill), Ribbon (Basic Grey, misc), Thread (DMC), Hearts (Heidi Swapp), Pins (CTMH), Arrow & Tags (Little Yellow Bicycle), Ink (Zig, Uniball, Sharpie, Sakura), Stickers (American Crafts) and Adhesive (Kokuyo, Popdots)