Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Happy Tuesday to Ya!

Hi! just came in from outside. wow! it's beautiful here. hard to believe it's february! i had to bribe lauren in order to get a few snapshots in. this is one
of them. she looks so grown up. it's hard to believe she starts school next year.
i took several other pict. w/ my 35 mm...so MIL's if you're reading this, fear not, i'll have copies made :)
well, i should really be working on some projects or maybe laundry or even a few other "chores". the girls are busy coloring so i should take advantage of my uninterrupted time.
oh, almost forgot about my exciting news... terry and i are going out on a date saturday. lauren was pretty stoked! our babysitter is such a sweetheart and so good with the girls. we don't go out often enough and when terry calls and says, "call maggie, we're going out!" i'm all over it! not sure what the plan is...maybe chinese. not my favorite but terry really likes pf changs. i'm just game to get out of the house and be ALONE with my husband. ok, off to get some more work done. xoxox

Monday, February 27, 2006

I made it!

wahoo! made er' to the 3rd round (of scrapbook survivor that is)....but boy oh boy 3rd round is going to be a killer! i'm so not a journalist and this next challenge is about journaling something/someone that you normally wouldn't journal about. so kind of 2 challenges all wrapped up into one. good thing is we have 2 weeks before it's due.
oh, some fun news...i threw an idea at one of the editors at Scrapbook Answers a few weeks ago and today i found out they liked the idea and want to use it in their Step-by-Step article in the magazine and on their disc. i'm soooo excited. my first official assignment. i'm a bit nervous though. the pressure is on.
not sure i have anything else to blog about. think i'll close up for now and maybe check back tomorrow. night night....

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Not so orderly!



oh my heavens! how does one function with such a huge mess? i think of myself as an organized, somewhat anal person (my family would tend to agree w/ this statement!) ...but when i scrap all hell breaks loose. i have yet to figure out how i accomplish anything. as you browse the photo is there something that is out of place, by chance? so the vicious cycle continues. i was sharing this with nichol just the other day. if you're a scrapper you know this all too well....clean/scrap/clean/scrap! it's never ending.

but as odd as it may sound...this makes me happy! i scrap in our unfinished basement. as you can see the walls are a nice shade of cement. i do have the modern day luxury of a large carpet remnant under my feet. BUT i'm gearing up for a scrap-area makeover! but getting my husband to get me some new shelves is a task in-and-of-itself! i drive a mazda 6 w/ a hatchback....hmmm i'm thinking i'll have to swipe the van and go get em' myself! not much i won't tackle alone!!! so someday i'll have a pretty pictures to share with all of you. terry gives me a hard time about how much "stuff" i have....behind this table are more organizers, an awesome paper rack i got from michelle (wishing now i had 2 or 3) and some additional shelves....BUT when i see photos of other scraprooms and the plethora of supplies that others have....i'm in aw!

i'm just rambling now...waiting for cheryl to post the winners of the scrapbook survivor week 2 challenge. this has been a super fun contest. the 2 challenges we've had so far have really made me think outside of the box. not techniques i normally do on layouts. so hopefully i'll be moving on to week 3 :)

hope the weekend has been good to you! hugs!

Friday, February 24, 2006

Spoiled Secrets & Undie Stretchers?

alright...here's the scoop....(on my inability to keep a secret) you know i knew i would end up blowing the secret....normally i'm a good "secret keeper"....so i found out what REALLY happened...this isn't what i originally had thought. but when i signed up at yahoo for a new secret e-mail address i put my REAL name in the first name, last name...when i should have made up a name. i'm such a dork! i had sent nichol a few other e-mails (which should have been a secret) but i know they had my name attached and she was just too nice to say anything or didn't notice....but i can't imagine that. so anyway, that's the saga! it will be fun anyway!
ok, onto this cute little story....on valentines day i had picked up some new underwear for lauren. the next day we're going through her drawer and she says....
lauren: "mom, why did you buy me new underwear?"
me: "cuz your other ones were getting too small."
lauren: "well, someone really needs to come up with an "underwear stretcher".
omg! i laughed so hard....ya, if only someone would come up with that little contraption. ya gain a few lb's. ah, just put the ol' grundies on the stretcher....works like a charm. too funny. the stuff she comes up with! scares me to think of what she'll come up with when she's 10?
weekend plans=nothing! terry is heading out of town on sunday so i think we'll end up hangin' low. although, i've been hinting to him that i'd like some new shelves in the basement. so maybe a trip to lowes is in the works? oh ya, i have to paint our mud room. i've been putting it off for 2 days. i have the trim taped off...the builder used flat paint so i'm slowly redoing the entire house. it kills me to NOT be able to wipe handprints off the wall. i'm just sick of painting. so what are you doing this weekend? whatever you do have a good one! hugs kori

Thursday, February 23, 2006

A New Post for my Pal Michelle! :)




sorry it's taken forever to post....didn't have much to yack (is this a word?) about!

here is my week #2 challenge for scrapbook survivor. the challenge was to slant at least 3 photos. not an easy thing for me to do. i'm not a slant girl! all photos must be arranged in an orderly fashion! but i think i got it to work for me....their small enough to not bug the living day lights out of me....:)

on to other news....we're doing a little secret bunny game at Creative Xpress...well, i decided that i would head up the game and be in charge of drawing the names so everyone would have a secret bunny and posting the info etc....(the object of the game is to remain a secret and to spoil your bunny with goodies....one big package at the end of the game is what we decided) sooooo wouldn't you know that i was the first one to give it away. yup, no longer a secret. well, i might as well show you the notebook i embellished for nichol...i still can't believe that i was the first to blow it. ok, yes i do believe it!

finally started moving terry's office stuff into his new office today. he's still waiting on his desk but at least his phone lines etc are in and now i have the spare room all to myself. no more sitting on the floor to check my e-mail. we now have a nice flat spot in the carpet from my butt nesting there so often!

ok, so i think that's it...can't think of anything else to chat about and the girls are in the tub screaming so i guess it's time to check on them before blood is drawn! good night....ps. michelle, i promise to post more often. :)

Friday, February 17, 2006

Random Stuff




CHEESE! the girls and i were out just the other day when it was 63 degrees here. and as you can see by their expressions they're saying, "cheese".

ok, so i've had this hot little photo now for a few weeks and wanted to share... michelle took this pict. for me when she was in vegas for cha. this is leslie ayers...the EDITOR in chief of SCRAPBOOK ANSWERS! saying HI to moi! unfortunately i haven't met leslie in person and she only knows me through the design team and my layout submissions etc...BUT regardless it still made me all warm and fuzzy inside!

so i bought this water jug that holds 72 oz. of water. evidently this is the amount of h20 one is supposed to drink in one day. i've gotten into this terrible habit of grabbing a diet coke instead of drinking water. so i'm trying to restrict my diet coke intake to one can a day. (lord help me...and those around me!) yesterday i managed to drink all but maybe 1 cup. i have never peed so much in my life. and why is it that once you've given birth to children you NO longer have the ability to "hold it"?

watched a good movie last night...well, a good chic flick. "In Her Shoes" i cried like a baby! it made me realize just how much i miss my sister!

told you it was just a bunch of random stuff! hope you have a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

"Got Flowers"


i was totally shocked to see a beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting on my front door step last night at 8:30 pm. funny thing is i was downstairs working on some projects and didn't want to answer the door. you never know who it is and i couldn't think of anyone who i knew that would be ringin' my bell at 8:30! so then the phone rings. i refused to get that too. i wait a few minutes then head up to listen to the message. it was jared? he left the flowers...not from him of course, i don't know jared. terry had ordered them for me knowing he wasn't going to be home. he hasn't given me flowers for mmmm, 5 years now. i used to get these HUGE beautiful bouquets sent to me at work, back in the day when i "worked". (cough cough cough) anyway....my kitchen smells like a floral shop and i'm lovin' it!
i entered this on-line weekly scrapbook survivor challenge, hence the layout. this was the first weeks challenge and we only had 3 days to complete it. the challenge was to create a layout only using one piece of paper/cardstock and then the only thing that could touch the paper was the photos themselves. so all of the embellishments had to be on top of the photos. fun challenge! i had a feeling most people would use only one large photo cuz that would probably be the easiest. so i had to go a different route. the scan is awful. the cardstock is a nice red but this scan doesn't do it justice. let's just hope i survive this weeks challenge :) later....

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Sending lots of LoVe your way!


Happy Valentines Day!
Hope everyone enjoys the day...possibly with lots of chocolate, flowers and someone special! Terry is out of town so the girls and i will have to celebrate. not sure what we'll do. i'm sure if i were to ask them what they'd prefer i would end up at mcdonalds and the mall with all of the "kids stuff". which wouldn't be such a bad thing being as there is an archivers there...ha ha (scrapbooking store or otherwise known as a "candy store" to those of us with the scrap supply addiction) lauren also has a few valentines that she has to deliver today.
so we'll see what the day brings.
hugs to all! love you!

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Thank Heavens...

For Little Girls! when we lived in alaska the majority of lauren's friends were boys. which is all good, except i was starting to feel like she really needed some "girlfriends". she has never been a real girly girl by any means but she has always liked girly stuff. so we moved and guess what...except for the girls in her preschool the majority of the kids near our house are boys. UNTIL tonight! we met our new neighbors who just moved in across the street. and thank heavens they have 2 little GIRLS! ages 4 & 6. couldn't be more perfect. super nice people and their girls are sweet! i guess earlier in the day we were outside and the 2 girls saw us playing and begged their mom to come over to meet us. they had been itchin' to play with girls too! what a blessing!
office report...all is good. just have baseboard touch-ups to do (they ripped em' out during the construction and had to nail them back on which means wood filler and me repainting! terry bought a really nice rug and a hutch of some sort to fit along the larger wall (not pictured in the picture below, it's to the right of the wall unit). i'm going to guess it should be complete in a couple of weeks. he still has to find a chair or two? and his desk is still being made.
and... just a quick thanks to wendy who sent me a nice little package of scrappin' goodies :) love it wendy! thank you!
ps. thoughts and prayers to michelle and her family...her mom underwent kemo the other day but is doing considerably well. hugs my friend! i think of you often!
enjoy the rest of the wk. end...

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Yogurt = Lotion

funny thing happened tonight....i was in our bedroom putting some lotion on my legs. just so happened that both of the girls were right there so of course they both had to have some lotion. they were both wearing tight jammies so i could only put lotion on their feet. so we get all "lotioned up" and head downstairs for a bed time snack. i put kati in her booster seat w/ a tray and get both of the girls a snack. kati wanted yogurt.... she does really well with a spoon now so i just let her have at it. i glance over at her to see that she had dumped a huge spoonful of yogurt on her foot and was rubbing it in. OH MY GOSH! it was too stinkin' cute to get after her. even tho' i had yogurt all over the cloth covered chairs (their treated, thank goodness). thought you'd get a bang out of that! :)
so i'm almost done painting the office. yup, we finally went with a color that i had picked....i love the color. it's not mustard, like terry says it is....but it's not gold either. it's kind of in the middle....looks great with the dark floors and dark wall unit. i still have to paint above the wall unit, which is going to be a huge pain....but i do have 2 coats everywhere else. we're thinking of getting a sitter on saturday and possibly doing some shopping for a rug, chair, desk chair yata yata yata..... tons of cool stores here!
i think i'm hittin' the sack early... you just never know how out of shape you really are until you paint! i keep telling myself it's just because it's so repetitious...has nothing to do with being out of shape. ha ha keep telling my ass that! :) Good Night!

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Highlights & Paint!



morning...ok, so i attempted to take a picture of myself so i could share my hightlights with my girlfriends! i realized i'm not so good at taking a picture of myself in the mirror, like so many other "scrappers" (people who scrapbook) do. it took me like 20 shots to figure out that i had to look at the camera in the mirror vs. looking straight ahead. but i looked goofy standing there grining at myself in the mirror. so hence the photo of me looking down. i love the girl who does my hair! she works in a salon but also works out of her home a few days a week and is in our neighborhood. so it works out really well.

ok...on to the paint story. geez....who knew picking a paint color could be so difficult. well, not so much for me but for terry. he finally chose a yellow. i knew what he wanted and the color he chose wasn't that color. BUT not to be a "know it all" i agreed. he brought the paint home last night and i opened the can and it looked like the skin of a banana! oh, and you know once you put it on the wall the color is a bit darker. it was awful! but i painted a wall anyway so we could see just how yellow it was going to be. needless to say terry ran back to home depot and picked up 2 small cans of the 2 paint colors i liked...i painted several sample spots on the walls and we still can't agree on a color. which is ok for today, i have too many other projects to work on. terry is heading to kansas city for the day so that will give me time to do what i have to do before i have to start painting.

Have a Good Day!!

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Just touching base...

can't say i have all that much to blog about. but it's been a few days and thought i should say, "hey". anyone have big plans for the superbowl? terry is on his way home from lexington so later on today we'll head over to some neighbors for a big shindig. the girls will go to a different neighbors to play and do their own thing. which is always a bonus for us. we can actually visit and enjoy "adult" time without wondering what their (kati) getting into. we really can't complain though, they're pretty well behaved girls...well, when we're at someone else's home. not all that interested in the "game" in fact i'm not even all that sure who's playing. steelers vs. seahawks? sound right? just looking forward to some time with terry and good friends. oh, and let's not forget the food & beverages! i made a taco dip that kim gave me the recipe for. mmmm!
haven't been real successful yet with kati and her "broken" binky. although, today when we were out running errands she didn't ask for it. so i think we're getting somewhere. i keep the broken one in my purse so if she does ask for it i take it out and give it to her and she wants nothing to do with it.
sorry no new pict. to share. lauren has a cold, again....so that means a huge red mark under her nose from wiping it...which means no picture taking for a few days. i did get some b/w taken at the park the other day but they are on my 35mm. i'll share some soon, i promise. i have been working on some layouts but unfortunately i can't share those as they are assignments and have to turn in. :)
i'll close with this...yesterday lauren and i were talking about god....here's our conversation...
lauren: "mom, god is only in church ya know."
me: "no, sweetie god is everywhere, he can see us and hear our prayers from anywhere."
lauren: "ya, i think he has like this really big "speaker" in his ear so he can hear us really good from everywhere."
ha ha ha ha she cracks me up! i think she meant a hearing aid! ha ha
take care....

Friday, February 03, 2006

Finally...


Well, a lot of you (family) have been wondering about Terry's office. We can finally say, "we see the light at the end of the tunnel!" The men came last night to finish the staining and sealing. The upper portion doesn't really look that dark in real life. I took the photo at 6:30 am so there wasn't enough natural light in the room. The overall color is more like the bottom half. It's beautiful. As it should be, it wasn't cheap! Terry is having a desk custom made to match the wall unit. Surprisingly enough, it was CHEAPER to have one built than to buy. Now we just need to agree on a color. We're thinking a yellow of some sort. I'll have to share photos once it's all done. It will be a nice space for Terry to work. Although, I don't know how "private" it will be. He's been warning the girls already...he tells them there is an imaginary tape line and once the office is complete they can't cross that line. Ya right! I can picture it now....he'll be on a business call and Kati will be on the other side of the French door screaming to get in...
Speaking of Kati...I'm trying to wean her off of her binky. The only time she was allowed to use it is for naps, bed time and in the car. ( I can't drive when she's screaming) So yesterday was Day 1. I cut the tip of the binky off so there really wasn't much left of it. When it was time to take a nap I layed her down and gave her the binky and told her it broken. When I left the room she fused for about 10 min. I could hear her saying, "It broke". But she fell asleep without throwing a huge fit. So bedtime rolls around. Well, that was a whole different ball game. She screamed for an hour!!! I finally gave in and brought her into bed with me (Terry is out of town). She still had her "broken" binky in hand but was content. Probably too content...she talked for 30 minutes. I tried to ignore her by rolling over. Well, I'd feel this little hand scratching my back. It was so cute. I couldn't help but laugh. Long story short....I caved!!! I had a huge headache from smelling the stain fumes all night that I just couldn't listen to her gabbing or crying all night. I found a spare binky (no holes) and put her back into her crib. She was out in seconds. Oh the power of a binky!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Testing...


so, i have to at least TRY to post one photo before i go to bed. so far this blog stuff has been pretty painless. i'm always a little unsure of myself when it comes to "techy" stuff. ok, here goes with the photo....
tada!!! it worked. holy crap.

ps. this is my nephew....stinkin' adorable, isn't he!

A Blog...For Me?

Holy Smokes! I can't believe I actually made this happen. I created a blog. Not that it was difficult...I mean they couldn't have made it any easier. I'm just not that computer savvy. I guess the real test will be when it comes to posting pictures and what-not.
It has been so quiet...seems like when CHA rolls around the scrapbooking world outside of that function comes to a halt. Very few e-mails, no one is "blogging", very little traffic on the sb'ing sites (ie. CREATIVE XPRESS). I'm itchin' to get busy with assignments for SCRAPBOOKS ANSWERS too! If you haven't checked out the magazine, it's a must! It caters to everyone. And if I do say so myself...the design team is amazing. So many talented girls! Can't wait to work with all of them.
Ok, I don't have much to chat about for the time being...but just wanted to see if I could actually get this puppy to work. Maybe I'll take a walk on the wild side tomorrow and try to post some pictures. That aught' to be fun. Not.
night....