The one about the ledger calendar

I have been hibernating. Hibernation mode. It is hard to get back into things after Christmas and birthdays and stuff. Tomorrow is Bobby's 14th birthday. He's so excited he can barely stand it.

I haven't been up here in my studio for almost a week. I haven't felt like working or doing much of anything. I see that Amelia has been up here, though. She left her blankie next to my desk and my lint roller is in my ficus tree pot.


For Christmas my sister gave me this really neat calendar I have been wanting. When I opened the present I said, "how did you know!!!" Duh. Amazon wish list I emailed her in October.

I know someone mentioned this on her blog a while back, but I can't remember who it was. She had the idea to alter this book. I wanna do that to. Try to do some artwork on one page a week kind of thing. Each spread has a neat bird quote and that could be something to go off of. I could also write a few things that happened that week. That's about all the journaling in actual words, that I can stand to do!


I learned something new today. The term "the big cheese" refers to a person who could afford the whole wheel of cheese, instead of just a portion. Back in the days when you bought cheese in a wheel, of course....

The one about art

I create because I must.

The one about Zumiez

Okay, so I try to be a nice person. But when someone messes with me or I get the shaft, I can get mean. I you wanna see what I'm talking about, let your dog poop in my yard. Ask one of neighbors. He don't like me no more!

I called Zumiez to cancel my order for the back-ordered t-shirt for Bobby. I asked to speak to a supervisor and got his voice mail---he was off today! I left a message letting him know of my frustrations. (I was pretty nice--I realize this guys wasn't personally responsible. I just let him know what happened and how it messes up things here for Bobby, and steps should be taken to prevent it from happening in the future.) Today I got a call from the supervisor. They had found one of the shirts in a cancelled order this morning and are shipping it to me overnight for FREE! I felt so much better after that. Seriously, all we had for Bobby was an electric shaver and a couple of the Giant Microbes he wanted! The rest hadn't arrived.

Bobby's K'Nex rollercoaster is still in limbo. I can't get the company to answer my emails or phone messages. I also cancelled the other shirt I ordered for him. They won't answer my emails, either. What is up with that, anyway?

The one about Christmas stress

I can feel the Christmas noose tightening.

I had everything under control.
until this week.
There are several packages that haven't arrived from online companies. I am so mad at Zumiez-----they waited until I asked about my order (on Monday) to tell me (on Wednesday) that the t-shirt for Bobby was backordered. I can't order from somewhere else now...its too late. Of the 5 packages that are late, 4 are for Bobby. I am so mad. All but one hasn't even shipped! Come on people!! I gave them plenty of time!! jerks. whatamigonnado?

The one about my birthday

Yeah! its my birthday! Having a December birthday so close to Christmas sucks, but my parents always made sure I had a good day when I was growing up and my family now does, too. Rob had the day off and pretty much took care of the kids and did the dishes.

I got tons of birthday wishes from internet friends and some e-cards. Austin knows how much I appreciate help around the house and gave me some coupons that he made (above). He had that planned for months! He can be so cute and tenderhearted. :) I am also all loaded up with CGs from Amazon---yeah!! My sisters know my likes by now. One gave me a calendar...just for the images...vintage botany illustrations... and another gave me this book.

Mmmmmm...this cake from Cold Stone Creamery! It doesn't have frosting--it has a rich fudgy ganache layer.

The one about the four main food groups

The one about the secret sister swap

(click to enlarge)

A gift for a friend.

I used a page from an empty old photo album that my little sister gave me last Christmas. I added pictures, buttons, scrapbook paper from Basic Grey and Scrapbour, paint, and stamps. I stenciled the stars onto the top. I sewed a little copper star above baby Jesus.

We did a Christmas gift swap in my Yahoo group Creative Journeys. Here is what I received from Hope!

The one about the Christmas program

Aren't they cute?

Amelia's Christmas program was Thursday at Willow Springs clubhouse.

I never think to curl my girls' hair until the last minute. I hurried and used the hot rollers on Amelia's ponytails. Hot rollers and me don't mix. I hate those things and have never been any good at using them. So, I got a little bit of a bend to her hair and got her to the clubhouse. Her preschool teachers had made these cute costumes for the kids and it covered up her hair anyway!
Amelia sang songs I didn't know she knew! She slouched the whole time, though... and clapped after each song. :)

Then we had doughnuts!

The one about metal

Theme for the art deck challenge was metal. I used some aluminum tape from Home Depot behind each of the three sections. I also used metal embellishments, which I love! I have a couple jars of junk metal to use.

The one about Hope

This is Hope.
I made her for a Paper Whimsy group challenge. The theme is Pink Hearts--for breast cancer awareness. Everyone who makes one of these for the month gets a chance to win all the cards made for the challenge. Although, I think this time they are all being donated, which is really cool.

Little girl image is from Paper Whismy. Seriously, her images are the best. Nice and clear.

The one about the Christmas tree

Okay, here it is: The Slappy tree, because Slappy won't leave it alone. Just the other day realized I forgot to put the tree skirt underneath. Duh. Oh, it does look better with the lights turned on; it evens out the uneven-ness.

...and the little ornament artist herself! (picture taken on Halloween)

The one about Birth

This is for Trudy McLauchlan's folder for the spirit card swap. I chose to do the card she labeled "birth". It sorta looks birth-y; even if it's only apparent to me.

I can't stop using light blue lately!

paper by: Scrapbour
rub-on by: Foof-a-La
stamps by: Above the Mark, PSX
image by: Tuscan Rose

The one about being lame

I don't have anything exciting to say lately. Also, I have been bad about replying to comments this past week. I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings. I didn't mean to!

I think I should post a picture of our worst-ever Christmas tree. That's pretty funny. I could do that tomorrow.

Oh, we found the long lost TiVo remote that we thought Amelia had thrown away. And...her preschool CD-ROM game was also found....shoved into Rob's computer. I'll give you two guesses as to who did it, but you're only gonna need one.

Now that I think about it, it's also Amelia's fault our tree is pathetic.

It's my birthday in 15 days. I want a day off and someone to come give my bathrooms and blinds a cleaning.

Amelia 12/2003

The one about the blog blinkies

I love that word; Blinkies.
I have slowly been adding images (blinkies) of my friends' art to serve as links, to my sidebar. I have a whole line of them running down the side of my blog--they look so cool, I think. Heee. I only wish I had room for bigger images. Their artwork is just the best! The list is long and will get longer. I am still adding more all the time.
Now if I could just figure out how to get rid of all the extra separation lines at the bottom of my sidebar.

The one about the doodle

Savannah's little drawing.

A while ago, I found this on some scratch paper on my table upstairs.
She has a cute little style and her drawings are a lot more creative and free than mine ever were when I was a kid. This is just a small sampling of all the drawings she leaves around the house.