Black Belt Scrapping

Moving Day

2005-11-16T07:32:00.000-05:00

Well, today's the day. I'm moving to a new home.

You can find me here: Black Belt Scrapping

I really hope you follow me to my new site. I like it a lot, I hope you will too.

Thanks for reading my thoughts here and I look forward to seeing you at my new place.

Annoyed

2005-11-15T07:42:00.000-05:00

There just aren't enough days in the month of December, and there aren't enough hours in a day.

In five weeks, our parish is celebrating the opening of a brand new church. It's been a long hard road to get to this point for all of us. In keeping with tradition, there is a huge dedication ceremony where the bishop blesses and opens the new space.

Andy and I both sing in the church choir and we both really love it. Preparation for Christmas is challenging every year, but this year with the dedication, it's practically insane. Between now and the third week of December, we have three Saturdays where we rehearse from 10-3. We have double rehearsals in the evenings during the week between now and then.

If this, plus two of us in taekwondo training and getting ready for Christmas at home (which I'm hosting) isn't enough already, now there's this.

About two weeks ago I was called to participate on the committee that's been organized to design all of the decorations for the new church space for both the dedication ceremony and Christmas. I hesitated because I'm busy enough and already way over committed to things and other people. I can barely keep it together. I didn't want to join the group just to be another body to wire greenery and make wreaths. They assured me that the reason they wanted me was for my artistic vision and design skills. I was skeptical but said yes.

Well duh. Last night was the first meeting and sure enough, they didn't want any of my input, just my wreath wiring skills and assembly time. Because some of the committee members are also choir members, they want to set aside all Saturdays for choir rehearsal and all Sundays at the church for assembly. The week before the dedication, they want us there every evening for decorating. Oh, and toss in meetings every Monday night on top of it all.

I. CAN'T. DO. IT.

Something's gotta give. Everybody wants their thing to take priority over everything else. Well guess what? My eight year old needs to take priority. If I got a sitter for everything that I'm expected to be at between now and Christmas, she might as well go live elsewhere. We all deserve a little family time, a home cooked meal now and then, and just some down time at home. I'm not too shy to say NO to things, but unfortunately, a lot of people don't like to hear it. They're gonna hear it, at least in moderation.

I want to enjoy my family, my friends, and my house during the holidays. I want to watch football on the weekends. I want to bake cookies, wrap gifts, and get into the holiday spirit. Right now, I'm feeling like Scrooge. Humbug!

Okay. Rant over.

Now, on a totally unrelated subject.....I'm moving! Yes, after five months in the blog world, I'm stepping up to a new home. With my next post here, you'll find a link to my new blog which I know will be more visual and more fun. I've been working on it all week. Sorry that my regulars will have to change their bookmarks, but hopefully you will like it.

Today's photo is in keeping with my mood today! It's my favorite Target purchase of late.....

Purple People Part Deux

2005-11-13T20:22:00.000-05:00

Never again will I just assume that our belts are in our bags (when in reality, they are hanging on a hook in the laundry room, 30 minutes away). Thank GAWD my husband was home sick in bed. Normally he'd be in the office on Saturday mornings.

Testing was waaaaaay too much drama for my taste this time. Thanks to my good sport husband who saved the day, I think we passed.

Purple People Eaters

2005-11-12T06:24:00.000-05:00

Sing it now.....

One eyed, one horned, flying purple people eaters......

It's taekwondo belt testing day again. I can't believe how fast the time flies lately, it seems like barely yesterday I was writing this in September.

Although we both have two eyes and only the car has a horn, we purple belts will hopefully be flying through the air on our way to senior purple belts at 9am and 11am. Our school has more people testing this time than every before, which is really fun.

Since earlier this year, we test with the students from our sister ITA school, Michael Mershad's Taekwondo Academy. Over the last few months, we've all made friends from up there, so it's nice to see them all again.

This photo was taken at our testing in September by one of the students at our sister school. The guy can catch some serious air. Maybe I'll be able to do that someday. Ha!

I've Been Tagged

2005-11-10T06:58:00.000-05:00

...by the Shabby Princess! I guess in the blog world, that's something like being knighted by the Queen!

2 names you go by
Barb
Babs

2 parts of your heritage
German
Scottish

2 things that scare you
Heights
Cancer

2 of your everyday essentials
lipgloss
coffee

2 things you are wearing right now
flannel PJs
ugly slippers

2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment)
Gwen Stefani
Keith Urban

2 favorite songs (at the moment)
Oooooh, can't decide on this one!

2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love)
Trust
Laughter

2 truths
Lazy days are underrated
Life is too short to hold grudges

2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex)
Pretty eyes
Good sense of humor

2 of your favorite hobbies
Scrapbooking
Photography

2 things you want really badly
My black belt and instructor's certification in taekwondo
40lbs. gone forever

2 places you want to go on vacation
Tuscany
Egypt

2 things you want to do before you die
Enjoy my grandchildren (just not for a long while!)
Travel around the world

2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick
I like scrapbooking ~ duh!
I wear pink fuzzy clogs and lip gloss to taekwondo class

2 things you are thinking about now
I need a coffee refill
Today's To-do list (which is WAY too long!)

2 stores you shop at
Target
Steinmart

3 people I would like to see take this quiz:
Kelly L. , Kelly E. and Torm

These three women always have funny and interesting things to say, so I'm sure they'll have some fun and interesting answers!

Today's photo is a layout that will never be published, using schtuff from The Shabby Princess' Shabby Shoppe

Reflections on Third Grade

2005-11-09T16:19:00.000-05:00

I subbed in third grade today.

I like third grade.

Third grade is cool.

The kids are old enough to carry on an interesting conversation (and they LIKE to converse), but young enough to still have that naivete' of a small child.

But third grade can be annoying as well.

My observations:

third graders live to tattle on each other (it makes me crazy)
third grade girls think spiders are gross and scary
third grade boys think spiders are cool and girls are gross and scary
third graders think their lesson on mammals and mammary glands is something to snicker over
ADHD is not just psychobabble
third graders will pick lots of things....a favorite book, a favorite lunch, and their nose

Anyhow, all tattling aside, it was a fun day. I'm whooped however. Elementary school teachers need a big pay raise and stock in a good California vineyard.

My third grade teacher was Mrs. Griffin. I don't know her first name, teachers never have first names or real lives when you're a kid. When I was eight, I thought she was ancient, but she was probably all of 35 or so. She's probably dead now, her life shortened by the endless tattling of third graders. May she rest in peace, she certainly earned it.

Today's photo is MY third grader on the first day of school.

Hold Your Nose and VOTE

2005-11-08T08:03:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know you don't want to.

I know that you don't "get" the issues because they word them in such a way that Einstein couldn't understand what he was voting for or against.

Yeah, I know that all of the candidates are equally distasteful.

But if you don't vote, you give up your right to bitch about the issues and elected officials. So hold your nose and DO IT!

Looking Back

2005-11-07T07:38:00.000-05:00

My morning routine doesn't start with reading the newspaper like it used to. Now I get up, get my coffee, check my email, and read my favorite blogs. I don't know where I got away from reading the morning paper. I used to be addicted to it. Maybe it's because there's nothing worth reading anymore. The news sucks. Tomorrow is election day and the political pot shots drive me insane. It's all blood, guts, war, tornado deaths, violence in the streets, and politicians behaving badly.

Who needs that? I already listen to talk radio all day. I'd rather read about Ginger's Ultrasound, Kelly's breakthrough with night sports photography, or Pretty Boys with Eyeliner in the morning.

Today when reading both Kelly and Becky's blogs, they both listed a challenge. You're supposed to look back to your 23rd entry, fifth sentence and try to find some deep, hidden meaning in it. I was wondering if the challenge had some linked reference to the 23rd psalm, but who knows. I wasn't planning on writing about it, but when I checked out mine, I had to laugh.

My 23rd blog entry goes back to late July. Here it is: Testing Toes. My fifth sentence reads as follows: "I may fight like a guy, but I'm also the one who wears lipgloss and mascara to class, even if I do end up sweating it off." Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's a lot of hidden or profound meaning to be found in that sentence! It's pretty straight forward.

So as I get a chuckle about that Testing Toes entry, it's that time again. One of the things on my To Do list today is to make my Testing Toes appointment for this Friday. Saturday is Belt Testing Day once again. For me, it's belt testing number lucky seven. As I move up in rank, my toes get painted much nicer colors. This time it's purple again (since I'm moving to senior purple). Blue wasn't great. Yellow was ugly. Green was the worst. Nobody wants green toenails. The glitter polish made them a bit more fun, but this is better.

I'm really glad to be testing. A month ago today I blew out my foot and didn't think there was any way I'd be signed up to test this coming Saturday. But the foot is nearly 100% now and I'm off to my morning walk and I'll be back in TKD class four times this week. It's good to be feeling normal again.

So, for you bloggers out there....what's in the fifth sentence of YOUR 23rd blog entry? Today's photo was taken at the top of Aspen Mountain. It's one of my "Ansel Adams Wannabe" pics.

A Very Shabby Month

2005-11-02T16:51:00.000-05:00

I'm so thrilled to have been asked to be Guest Designer at Shabby Princess this month! I love the Princess's soft and lovely papers and digital elements. They're so easy to work with. Then there's the Princess herself who is so hip and cool and fun.

I've only been doing digital pages for a few months now, so being asked to showcase my digital work is such a thrill for me. Thanks Miss Princess!

Here are some of the layouts that I've done for the site so far. Please come over to Shabby Princess and take a few minutes to visit the The Shabby Shoppe while you're there and do a little shopping. Finally, you can read about her shabbby life at the Shabby Princess blog.

The Last Roses of Summer

2005-11-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

I have a brown thumb. While I look and sound exactly like my mother, I sure don't have her talent nor love of gardening. I've tried growing roses in the past and have failed miserably. In our hot, humid climate with mucky, heavy clay soil, roses just don't thrive. Until lately....

I've discovered the joy of the knockout rose. I was certainly a skeptic before. I'd sworn off roses for good, along with all of the potions and sprays and japanese beetles and such. So for a couple of years now I've been watching both my mom and my neighbors grow these gorgeous roses that seemed to be carefree. I still didn't buy it. Until this year, when the new pink hybrids went on sale at the nursery. I bought three, dug up some ugly shrubs that I hated, and plopped them into the ground.

I'm still amazed. They're so beautiful and I don't have to do ANYTHING except listen to the complements and admire them. It's now November 1st and they're still blooming, but probably not for long. Here are some pics that I snapped yesterday, before those last petals fall for the season.

Ghouls on Parade

2005-10-31T21:11:00.000-05:00

My favorite costumes: Garbage can ~ sixth grade, Marge Schott 1994, Sharon Osbourne 2003

Best Halloween Party: Paul Stegeman's 40th birthday party

Worst Halloween Party: Delta Delta Delta date party 1982 (don't ask!)

Favorite Halloween Candy: Almond Joy

Least Favorite Halloween Candy: "Circus peanuts", Clark bars

Worst thing ever put in my Trick or Treat bag: Math flash cards

Favorite Scary Movie: The Silence of the Lambs

To me, the best part of Halloween is the annual parade put on by the elementary school. Today I'll let the photos speak for themselves.......

Happy Halloween!

Football Sundays

2005-10-30T15:27:00.000-05:00

I really love football Sundays. I was telling my husband earlier this afternoon that these are some of my favorite days in the entire calendar year. Why? Here's why....

The weather is beautiful. Today it's 62 degrees and sunny. The air smells of barbecue grills and wood burning fires. While we may occasionally get a bad weather day, in general it's lovely out.
I love football! Good fun, good snacks, great friends, and this year we get the special treat of cheering for a winning team. Go Bengals!
Cooking....we seem to always have friends over on football Sundays and that means that I get to do what I love to do, cook for them. Today my friend B and her boys are coming over. B is going through a tough divorce and hasn't had a decent meal in a while, so I'm making turkey with all of the trimmings and pumpkin spice cake for dessert. Yum!
Hot tub ~ does that need any explaination?
Fires....football Sundays are a good excuse to build a fire in the fireplace, even if it is 60+ degrees outside.

FUN! I love football, I love fall!

Crime and Punishment

2005-10-28T07:03:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday we had friends over to watch football. It was a typical football Sunday...lots of food, lots of laughs, the Bengals lost.

On Monday, one of those friends called us back to ask us if we were missing any money. Evidently after bragging to school friends about being flush with cash, our friend's son confessed that he took the money from a drawer in our kitchen. A and I were puzzled because we're just not ones who toss cash into a drawer. Knowing what a mess my kitchen drawers are, I'd never ever find it if I did put it in there. There wasn't as much money in my wallet as I thought there was, but that's true on any day. It's true with my checkbook too. How does that happen? Anyhow, we could speculate but couldn't confirm that any money was indeed missing.

Fast forward a few hours later and the phone rang again. At this point, the boy revised his confession and admitted that he stole the money from a certain specific place that sounded remarkably like S's special hiding place. We talked to S, and she started to cry. Earlier that day she'd gone to that place to get a few dollars for something school related and discovered that all of her money was gone. She was freaking out thinking that she did something wrong, which wasn't true. She was also upset that her friend would steal her money. Anyhow, mystery solved.

Yesterday the young man had to make restitution and he was not having a good day. He had to come to our house, give the money back and apologize to all of us. From there, his dad was taking him to church to confess to his priest and on to the sheriff's department to speak with a law enforcement officer. He also had made the mistake of making things even worse for himself by bragging at school about how he earned all of the money doing lots of chores and how chores were really great and all. Guess what he's going to be doing a LOT of this week for no moolah?

It's been a bizarre "crime week". Earlier this week around our local area. On Tuesday, Wayne Bee, a local businessman also called "The Critter Gitter" shot and killed a woman, then fled. This is a guy whose done work for my friends in the past! If you listened to the news coverage during the day when they were looking for him, it sounded like CSI meets Larry the Cable Guy. He won't be 'gittin' anymore critters, as the sheriff found him and cornered him hours later and he took his own life. I bet for once, he got to see how it felt to be one of the hunted. Critter Gitter Kills Himself

Finally, you can't pick up the paper or turn on the television without hearing about the legal woes of people like Tom DeLay and Karl Rove. Yesterday Andy read in the paper that a man that he used to work with earlier in his career was going to prison for cocaine trafficking. The guy is a great criminal defense attorney. Hmmm. Maybe these men should have had the "opportunity" to make good on their bad deeds as nine year old boys, like the boy who took S's money.

Take Your Glue Dots To Work Day

2005-10-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

Must finish assignments....loads to do. It's design team crunch week!
Does anybody know what MAMBI ultra-violet paper is supposed to do? I'm really clueless. I keep slopping it with paint and waiting for the magic to happen. No magic, just mess.

Happy birthday Kelly! Thanks for lunch and the most fun trip to Sam's Club that I've had in a while. Mwah!

Lurkers

2005-10-25T07:11:00.000-04:00

Blogs are interesting things. You never really know if anybody is reading or from where. Sometimes you wonder if you're speaking to others or just talking to yourself. I talk to myself a lot and I get it from my mom. I have always liked listening to what I have to say to myself, so that's probably why I like this forum. It feels like I'm talking to myself, although I know I'm really not.

I have a list that I spin through in the morning and later in the day where some bloggers write an entry that is something like "my child burped today" and they get about 1000 comments like "Oh Bertha, that's just so adorable!" or "Oh Jennie, your kid is just the cutest thing on the planet!". I never get these kind of comments and that's okay. I don't have a huge fan club like some of the bloggers that I follow.

Recently I added a feature to my blog that allows me to see how many hits I'm getting per day and where they're coming from. It's really interesting! I've found out that I've got readers from not only all over the US and Canada, but some regulars from England and the Netherlands as well. The farthest away was India and I'm assuming that's where the crazy blog-spam is coming from. I know quite about computers, but I'm not sophisticated enough to figure out anything about IP addresses and such, so I don't have any idea who these people are, but by looking at locations, I can figure out who some people are. That's neat. I can also look to see where people are finding my blog from, whether it be a search engine like Google or Yahoo and what the search criteria was. Yesterday somebody put "Black toes" into a google search and found my blog ~ what's that all about?! Ah, the wonders of the internet.

I found that I'm getting a lot of hits coming from friends reading the Shabby Princess's blog. That makes me smile because the Shabby Princess herself is really great! Oh, and be sure to check into the Shabby Shoppe, SP has a free holiday kit available for you to download and it's beautiful as usual.

Finally, there's the low-tech way to find out who is lurking on your blog. Yesterday a friend emailed me to tell me that her husband mentioned a photo that I had posted a few weeks ago and she screamed "You lurk on Barb's Blog!". So here's a big shout-out to Scott, my lurker of the week. I'm so excited to hear that you are peeking in here to read what I've got to say. Hooray for the silent lurkers out there!

Today's photo is one that I took from a small village outside of Dublin Ireland and it's for the lurker who checked in yesterday from Dublin. Glad to have ya! Guinness anyone?

Cool and Creative Women

2005-10-22T16:36:00.000-04:00

Last night I had the privilege of going to a "business dinner" with five other fun and fabulous women. I put business in quotes because while it was indeed a dinner planned with the intention of discussing business, the business itself and the people involved are so darned much fun and creative that it's hard to even consider the project work. But it is work and it's absolutely a real business.

My friend Kate will soon be launching this new business. Some of you may have met her at Memory Trends in Las Vegas two weeks ago. The business will combine the expertise of her well established family business and add a new creative twist that will be marketed to the scrapbook and gift industries. She's put together a team of artists, both local and far away to take her product and add their own artistic flair. I'm proud to be one of those artists, especially considering that some of the people who have agreed to participate are some of the biggest names in the scrapbooking industry right now.

Our dinner was such great fun. We laughed, we talked, we ate fabulous food, we discussed business and we brainstormed. We learned that this endeavor will not only benefit Kate and her team of artists, but will also be giving back to our community in a remarkable way. I truly believe that women with ideas, drive, cretivity, and motivation can go a long way. I am so jazzed about being a part of this and getting started that I could hardly sleep last night and oooooh was I feeling it this morning at my 9:00am TKD class!

Anyhow, I'm not at liberty to spill the beans quite yet, but as soon as I can, I will. Be on the lookout for Where the Heart Is at CHA in Vegas in late January.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

2005-10-20T08:19:00.000-04:00

Where does time go? I can't believe that it's been one year today that I signed up and took my first taekwondo class at Cincinnati Taekwondo Academy. It's changed my life, it's changed our family, and it's all good.

Shannon started on Labor Day weekend in 2004. As I'd sit there and watch, the old jock in me thought it looked like a lot of fun but I never really entertained the idea of signing up myself. Then my friends T&B, who already had all four of their children in Shannon's class, signed up for the adult sessions. T and I were becoming good friends since we'd sit and watch our kids several times/week and she really wanted me to sign up as well, as did our instructor. I was starting to think about it, but I had every reason (excuse!) not to do it. I was too old, too busy, too fat, too inflexible, and I was already paying for a membership elsewhere.

Then my brother, who is younger than I am, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. That scared me. I've got a few friends who are in their 40's and diabetic and I certainly didn't want to go down that road just because I was too lazy and unmotivated to do something about my own health.

So on October 20, 2004, I signed up. My first class was a private lesson because I was the only one who came to the Thursday day class that day. I loved it from the first minute and have never looked back.

Since that day, I've accomplished more than I could have ever imagined.

I've lost 27 pounds and reduced my blood pressure.
I sleep better and no longer suffer from anxiety and panic attacks.
I'm more flexible now than when I was a cheerleader and tennis player in high school.
I've made some really great new friends.
I've gained a little insight into the mysterious world of teenage boys, which is a world that I'd never thought I'd see and found that I actually LIKE these young men.
I'm actually motivated to exercise for the first time in my life and I wake up in the morning with a smile on days that I know I have a class to go to.
I've found more focus and self-control, which have always been challenges for me.
I've learned that I can push myself to do things that I never thought were possible.
I won a silver medal in my rank at the World Championships. I still can't believe that one.
I have set taekwondo goals beyond just passing the next belt testing.

Taekwondo has really been a positive influence in our family life. My daughter's grades and self confidence have improved and she's made new friends outside of the regular school cliques. She loves it as much as I do, only for different reasons. What I've learned is that we all join for different reasons and we all get a lot out of training, and those benefits are different for all of us. Some of my friends still think I'm nuts, but I don't care.

Today my friend Chris is coming to our day class and she's signing up both herself and her daughter. I think it's really neat that she's signing up on the same day that I did. I hope that the experience gives her as much as it has given me in the last year.

Many thanks to Traci and Mr. L for not letting me fall back on my excuses. You two have truly changed my life for the better. I'm blessed to have you both in my life.

I wonder what I'll be writing next year on October 20th?

October

2005-10-19T07:52:00.000-04:00

I absolutely LOVE October. It's by far my favorite month of the year. The weather is great, the air is crispy, the colors are beautiful. I like seeing everybody change their outdoor landscaping to brightly colored mums, gourds, haystacks and pumpkins and put up some Halloween decorations.

That's what I'm going to do today. Put up the Halloween decor. Shannon has been bugging me to hang it and today's the first day that I think I'll have time to get it all done.

I like switching my cooking from my summer salads and grilling to soups and roasts and home baked breads. I pull out my Harvest Yankee Candle and it even smells like fall.

Then of course, it's football season, so that just ads to the best time of the year. This year football season is pretty odd with the Bengals winning and Michigan losing. What's up with that?

I wish fall and football season would stay all year around. If it did, however, would I enjoy it as much? I'd like to think so, but I'm not sure. I sure wish it lasted longer than it does.

Photos are from the Loveland Bike Trail.

******* just read this on Becky's blog from my friend Kelly, who writes "Becky, I'm so happy to hear that you had a wonderful experience. And, lucky you - you got to meet my friend Barb Hogan. She is one of the people on my MUST MEET in real life list. Poor girl, had to hobble around the show on crutches. " It's weird reading about yourself on somebody else's blog when you're totally not expecting it. Thanks for the kind words, Kelly and I feel the same. In fact, I'm all verklempt now, so go tawk amoungst yourselves.....

Good News!

2005-10-17T11:52:00.000-04:00

I just got back from the orthopaedic surgeon. Good news! While I've got a partial tear in the tendon, it's healing nicely on it's own. No surgery required and since I promised to do my exercises here at home, I don't even need to go to physical therapy. I'm so relieved! He said that I should be feeling fine in two weeks and better than before my injury in six weeks.

In the meantime, I'm told to hit the recumbent bike pretty hard and work into walking on a flat track or treadmill by the end of the week. No more babying my foot. I can go back to TKD as soon as I can do jumping jacks comfortably, which will probably be in ten days to two weeks. If that's true, I my training shouldn't get delayed!

I'm also officially off of the crutches, unless I feel that I need them (ha!). That means that I can start doing normal things again, like cleaning my house. The place is gross. The dog hair tumbleweeds have taken over. I'm actually LOOKING FORWARD to doing some housework this afternoon without any worry that I'm going to make my foot worse. It's amazing how much you take for granted, like the ability to push a grocery cart, when you're not hurt. I hope these crutches never see the light of day again.

Today's photo are some of the
Imagination Project team after our team dinner last week. I need some new pics!

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes, prayers, and positive thoughts. I really appreciate it.

Still Whooped!

2005-10-14T13:51:00.000-04:00

One thing I've discovered is that it's kind of a joke to try to do housework when you're on crutches. Aaaargh. I can't stand my house looking like a tornado passed through, but I can't see getting a whole lot accomplished until I ditch these stupid things. Hopefully that'll be Monday. If the news about my foot is bad, however, I'm going to have to find a way to do things differently. I suppose we'll all just have to adjust.

I'm still really whooped from Memory Trends. I'm glad I went, but it's really taken it's toll, that's for sure. I've got a million things I need to get done, but I'm instead going to finish this up and go take another nap. Maybe one of these days I'll catch up and start feeling normal again.

Today's photos are from the fountains at the Bellagio resort.

Back from Vegas

2005-10-13T07:16:00.000-04:00

Well I'm back from Las Vegas and despite the crutches, I think I survived just fine! A big thanks to my team members Ginger, Tina, Greta, Sheri, Morris and Janice for being so understanding. Without all of their help, I wouldn't have been able to get anywhere and I certainly wouldn't have had much fun.

The show was great, the Venetian resort was even greater, and Vegas was as over-the-top as ever. I'll post more later and add some photos, but I'm going back to bed to catch up on a little sleep first.

Bummed

2005-10-08T16:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I probably won't be taking a whole lot of pics to upload for a while. I'm on crutches for what will probably shape up to be quite a while. Crutches really suck. This is my first experience with them and

It.
Is.
No.
Fun.
Whatsoever.

I've had some heel pain over the last few weeks that I think was aggrevated by my daily walks with my friends Traci and Kelly. I'm going to miss those. Anyhow, last night at taekwondo class I heard and felt something in the arch of my foot POP. Popcorn is good. Baloons and bubble wrap pops. Pop is nice to drink. Feet shouldn't pop.

So this morning it was off to the urgent care where I've been informed that I most likely have a ruptured tendon in my foot. Unfortunately, I'm headed to Las Vegas early tomorrow for the Memory Trends trade show. I love Las Vegas...the lights, the sounds, the fun. All of a sudden four days at The Venetian Casino Resort and Spa sounds like a whole lot of work. The place is HUGE and I'm certainly not moving very fast today. :::::::: sigh :::::::::

I won't be able to get into see an orthopaedic surgeon until at least the end of next week, so I might as well go. Ginger and Tina and Greta and my friends will make sure that I stay off of it, just like the doctor said. I hear the pools are really nice, as is the spa, so I'll be taking advantage of both. That's a GOOD thing.

The worst part isn't needing surgery or hurting, or scaring Olive the Wonder Dog with my crutches, but not being able to train in taekwondo for a while. It could be a long while. I'm trying to be optimistic, but I shed a lot of tears today. I've worked really hard and it makes me feel so good on so many levels. I can't stand the thought of not training and pushing off my goals for a while. Hopefully the news will be good.

I hope the pool boy at The Venetian is cute.

Charge It!

2005-10-05T06:43:00.000-04:00

I'm getting dressed the other day and this infomercial comes on the television. It's for this flashlight that supposedly never needs batteries. You just shake the thing up and the kinetic energy makes it light up and hold a charge for ten years or something along that line. Yeah right. Then again, if you shake a pop can too hard, it blows up in your face. Maybe some clever Pakistani engineering student has figured out how to harness that energy and make your flashlight glow forever.

This leads me to my pet peeve of the week...all things battery operated. They annoy me to no end. Thanks to my love affair with everything sold at Sam's Club I normally have a large stash of batteries on hand. So why is it that I've never got the ones that I need? Why is it that even the simplest gadgets always need the charge that I can't give?

Last week S was going through the pile of abandoned toys pulled from the depths of hell that only exist in a kid's messy bedroom, she gets out her Kasey the Kinderbot. Kasey is a learning toy that is actually pretty cool and fun....when it works! The problem is, it doesn't work for long. It's not working now, which is part of the reason that it landed in toy hell. So I dip into my Duracell reserves only to find that there are three sets of batteries required to keep Kasey going and going. I don't know which ones are still good and which ones aren't. So after replacing four AAA batteries, four AA batteries, and two C cells, Kasey still isn't working. Kasey now lives elsewhere.

Then there's me and my watches. I like fun watches and I have about six. The problem is that I don't wear them on a regular basis. For some odd reason that I don't understand, mine always quit working. I've heard that if you don't wear a watch regularly, the batteries will die faster. Frankly, I think the watch shop puts the dead batteries from other people's watches into mine because mine never last. Every time I go to grab one of my watches, the batteries are dead. My husband thinks I'm an alien with some kind of strange kinetic energy that sucks the life out of watches. I just find it annoying!

This week that alien energy expanded to just about every battery operated item that I rely on. I grabbed my Canon dRebel to take some shots and the battery was dead. I put that one in it's charger and grabbed my Canon Elph instead, only to have the batteries die on that one at the very same time. Later in the day, I went to weigh my chicken on my trusty weight watchers food scale only to find out that the batteries were dead. I only used it the day before and it was FINE! My Sonicare toothbrush won't hold a charge. My LG Cell Phone needs to be recharged darned near every night. Then this annoying beeping down the upstairs hall could only mean one thing, the battery backup in the smoke detector has gone dead and needs to be replaced. This was a MUST DO NOW if anybody was to get any sleep. That is the single, most annoying sound in the entire world.

Last night I was out of juice. I needed some recharging. In the past two days I'd walked eight miles and did two very challenging taekwondo classes within about 12 hours of each other. I haven't been eating that much and I hit the wall. I recharged my batteries by sitting my rear in my chair and watching The Amazing Race, where apparently our local team ~ The Linz Family ~ is predicted to be the last team standing. Check out the scoop here. Yay!

So, what's one of your pet peeves? My list could keep on going....and going....and going....

Uninspired

2005-10-03T14:00:00.000-04:00

Today I'm really not inspired to write, but my blog entry is overdue and I normally post on Monday. So instead of making a lame attempt to be witty or wise today, I'll write about something that is near and dear to my heart....FOOD!

Today is day one of week three on Weight Watchers. I'm down five pounds, which I think is a good pace. My short term goal is to be down ten pounds by Thanksgiving and 15 by Christmas. At this point, I'm no longer dreaming about junk food or sweets (which I really only crave when my eating is really out of control). I'm trying to plan meals and cook well.

Tonight S and I both have TKD class, so dinner will be eaten in shifts. That means I need to make something tasty and healthy, but it has to be able to keep and serve easily over the course of a few hours. Ta-da...hello Crockpot.

I've decided it's Indian night. I used to eat Indian food at least once/week when I was living in London. My favorite place was a curry house right off of Covent Garden called Punjab. It was run by a Sikh family and they considered me a regular, so I always got excellent food and service and usually a few extra goodies with my meal. Unfortunately, good Indian "take away" isn't that easy to find here in Cincinnati, so I attempt to cook my own.

My friends Jonathan, Paula and Sally used to ship me Patak's Curry Sauces from England a few times a year. Now that we've got Jungle Jim's and Trader Joe's, I can try to cook it from scratch, which is good because I can leave out all of the heavy oils while keeping all of the flavor!

Tonight I'm making a chicken korma, which is a mild dish flavored with red pepper and a hint of coconut. It's also got tomatoes, garbanzo beans, green peppers, onions, and a bunch of other things that I'm going to just toss into the pot and hope for the best. I'll serve it over basmati rice or couscous, whichever the gang prefers. Either are fine with me. Don't ask me to share the recipe, however, because there isn't one. I just kind of throw things together when making Indian food and that's always worked for me, probably because that's how they always did it over there.

If only I could get the good Naan bread here, but alas, that wouldn't go well with day one of week three of Weight Watchers.

A big thanks to K and E for the great BBQ at their place last night! We all had a blast, some more literally than others ;-)

Winds of Change

2005-09-29T07:33:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, summer was still here. Everybody was still wearing shorts, your car was still roasting hot inside if you let it sit in a parking lot for any length of time, the air outside smelled of steaks on the grill and the Keebler factory baking the Pecan Sandies. Today, everything is different and fall is here.

We had strange storms last night. The Weather Stud predicted some severe thunderstorms that would be followed by a cold front that would lower today's high temperature to a crispy 61 degrees! Well, we did have storms last night, but it was more of a windstorm as opposed to a thunderstorm. We didn't get any thunder at all, in fact, just high winds.The wind woke me up with a startle and my first instinct was fear. As a child, I was terrified of the wind. I know it's bizarre, but I remember quite clearly walking to school one windy fall day as a fourth grader and being scared to death that the wind was going to continue to blow and destroy my home, my family, my security. My teacher had to call my mom, I was so upset. As an adult, I still get that fear occasionally from the wind and couldn't help but think of the recent hurricane victims. My worst nightmare became their reality. Last night when the wind was howling at about 40mph, I couldn't even comprehend what it must be like to experience real damaging winds.I also told myself that winds bring good things too. They bring waves to play in at the beach. They bring in cool air and crisp fall nights. I absolutely love fall and it's finally here. If only all the changes in our lives were this welcomed and easy to adjust to. That's a topic all in itself for another day.
These photos were taken about an hour ago as the sun was coming up and the storm clouds were breaking.

Shannon Times Four!

2005-09-27T07:16:00.000-04:00

Sorry for being so tardy in updating here. I've been swamped with September projects that I've really been procrastinating on, my wireless card has not been working properly (what's with that? My laptop is only 4 months old!), and I've come down with a cold. Ugh.

Anyhow, today it's all about Shannons!

Last week I was tagged to write five quirky things about me from my friend Shannon. I met Shannon at CKU Nashville in March 2004 and since that time she's taken her stupendous talent to the top levels, winning spots as a 2005 Memory Makers Master and 2005 Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame winner. It goes without saying that not only is she talented, but she's an all around top notch human being as well. Shannon, sorry I'm getting to this so late.

Anyhow, here are my five things:

I had just had a dream the other night and Shannon was in it. I woke up, read my blog list and there she had called me out. That was really crazy!
My college boyfriend was the university mascot and I had to make excuses as to why we could never go to a basketball game or football game together.
I have 51 stamps in my passport, and 35 of them are from London's Gatwick Airport
I love clogs ~ they're all I wear in the fall and winter. My favorite ones are pink suede.
I hate cartoons and have never liked them, not even as a kid.

Now on to other Shannons....This past weekend we went down to Paul Brown Stadium to watch the UNDEFEATED Cincinnati Bengals play. The team was away, but they open up the stadium at the club level and have about a gazillion big screen televisions. It was gobs of fun. The Bengals haven't been 3-0 since 1990, so for once we have something to cheer about. When we got there, we were greeted by two of the Ben-Gal Cheerleaders, Shannon and Shannon.Of course, they made a fuss over our Shannon. They let her do a cheer, they signed photos for her and they were just out-of-their-way friendly and nice to her. My Shannon was thrilled to pieces (so was my husband)! Despite a cold coming on, we really had a great time down at the stadium. Today's photos are from our football Sunday at PBS. The guy in the jersey is our friend Jason. He's single, straight and successful if anybody's interested :-)

Dis and Dat

2005-09-22T10:04:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I sit down to write and have a lot of little things, but nothing big. Today is one of those days.

I was reading Heather's blog this morning and she was writing about her great friend Shannon. At the end, she writes, "I challenge anyone reading this that blogs to pick a person they met through scrapbooking that they have become friends with and just tell them how much they mean to you! Pass it on! ;)" So I'm passing it on.

First of all, I have made so many great friends through scrapbooking that it's hard to know where to start. Some are local, some are far away. Many, I've never even met in person but have developed friendships with through the wonder of the internet (thanks Al Gore!). So I have to admit that I feel a weeeeeee bit bad when I single out one person, but I'm going to do it. As for you others, you know who you are and I love ya so much too! Mwah!

My nod today is for my great friend Ginger. Ginger is the Gin in Gin-X. Not a day goes by that this Amazon redhead doesn't totally crack me up. She keeps me smiling, she keeps my chin up when the cutthroat world of scrapbook publishing kicks me in the teeth. She gives me honest feedback on my work. She knows all of my silly girlie secrets. She even let me flip her at a self defense workshop. Now that's love, I tell ya. I got to be there when she found out that she was expecting and that was certainly a really special moment that I'll never forget. Love ya Gingy! The new stuff looks so great and we're going to take Vegas by storm next month.

Other notes for the day.... a big CONGRATULATIONS for my pal Danielle Thompson for winning a spot as a new Master for Memory Makers Magazine ~ yay! You're a ROCK STAR! .....two thumbs up for the new Apprentice Martha. Bummer for the people who "just don't fit in". ......my other friend Heather has a new digie kit available today. Yummy stuff ~ more digital crack for your addiction! .....was LOST bizarre last night or what? I hope this show doesn't jump the shark in it's second season. .....day four on Weight Watchers and I'm still in a good mood. Go figure! My friend Kelly signed on to be my WW buddy yesterday and it's really nice to have a partner to help keep ya motivated. Go Kel! We're going to do this together and we're going to be HOT! .....S and I got our new belts at the TKD awards night on Tuesday, that was a lot of fun. Lots of smiles, lots of fun, two new black belts (no, not us, that'll be in '06)!
.....Rita GO AWAY. I have a few friends in the Houston area who have already evacuated. I can't believe this is happening again.

Have a great day everybody! Thanks again for reading.

At This Very Moment

2005-09-20T10:15:00.000-04:00

Okay, I read a blog challenge today and since I have a spare minute in my VERY crazy day, I thought I'd take it. The challenge is to post a blog entry about what's going on in your life RIGHT NOW. Here goes!

I am sitting here with wet hair and wet clothes after taking a four mile walk in the rain with my friend T.
S. is at school ~ will pick her up early later today for a ped. appointment
Olive the Wonder Dog is at You Dirty Dog having a PET-a-cure
A just called and I was wishing that it was Memory Makers calling to give me a Master's nod
Right now I'm baking four coffee cakes for a bake sale tonight at the Cincinnati Taekwondo Academy. One of our students had a mishap at testing and needed a trip to the ER and has no health insurance. We're raising money to help him pay his medical bills.
When the coffee cake comes out of the oven in ten mins, I'm off to clean the TKD school with a bunch of other students. Tonight is awards night and we get our new belts.
I've got Mike McConnell on the radio right now (I'm a talk radio junkie)

Okay, the coffee cake is DONE and I'm outta here.......

Eating Right, Eating Light

2005-09-19T12:45:00.000-04:00

We really love food in this house, and unfor- tunately, it shows
:-/

While most people tend to lose weight over the summer, we Hogans find it at barbecues and pool parties and trips to King's Island and vacations at
Ocean Pointe and all of the other fun places to eat, drink and be merry.

So now school's back in session and we're back in the groove. I'm tired of eating crap. I'm tired of picking up carryout. I spent all morning planning good meals for the week and grocery shopping. As long as I've got good things available in the house, we all eat well.

I also got hooked watching The_Biggest_Loser last year and found it both inspiring and motivating. It takes a whole lot of courage and strength for those people to put themselves out there like that. Watching that show makes me want to hit the treadmill or run up a mountain. Go figure!

It's a pretty cool day today and I've got an instructor's meeting at the TKD school tonight, so it's the perfect day to make a great pot of soup. I love making soup. I love how the house smells when it's cooking. I love the cozy feeling that you get when you're eating it. Today I'm trying a new recipe shared by my friend Krista. Here's her recipe blog and I'm making the Chicken Tortilla Soup. Some other fellow CK Hummers (as we refer to each other) have already tried it and gave it rave reviews. I've got the stock simmering right now and it smells great. I can't wait to try it tonight. I'm going to try her frozen cranberry salad later in the week. Yum!

I'd like to lose 30lbs. before I get my black belt in May '06. That's a sensisble goal, even with the holidays in there. Today is the hardest day ~ getting started. I'm looking forward to looking better and feeling better. Oh, and eating some really tasty meals!

Testing Day

2005-09-17T06:54:00.000-04:00

It's taekwondo rank testing day again this morning. Wow, those weeks really fly by. Our toes are painted, our uniforms are startched and we're ready to go.

This is a biggie, especially for S., who will be moving to the advanced rank class if she passes. She's been waiting for this one for a long time, so I hope she does well. It's a LOT harder watching your kid test than it is to be out there yourself, that's for sure. Hopefully we'll both pass with no problems!

********* update 3:45pm *****************

Everybody did great! S. really stepped it up and looked really sharp out there. I got to fight a guy from our sister school who was 6'4" and must have weighed 275lbs ~ that was interesting. He was a real pushover! Results are announced on Tuesday, but I think both of us did great and have no worries. Whew!

Dirty Little Secrets

2005-09-14T10:27:00.000-04:00

It's time to come clean.

It's true, I've been in love with another man for nearly a year now. He's handsome, he's got big muscles, he's even got an earring.

He and I get together at least every other week, sometimes more. You'll find us in the kitchen together, sometimes you'll find us in the garage, or maybe even in the hot tub! He does great things for me in the shower and we've even been known to have a little fun up against the wall. I've been spotted laying a hand on him in public, but I don't think many people gave it much thought. On rare occasions, I get together with him even when my husband is home.

He brings peace and order to my world.
He always gets the job done.
He makes me smile.

Meet My Hunky Boyfriend. I bet he can do great things for you too. I'm more than willing to share.

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

2005-09-12T16:15:00.000-04:00

Every week my local paper does a "Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down" column. I always like what they have to say. I think today's as good as any to do one of my own. We'll start negative first.....

Thumbs DOWN to:

People who want to use Katrina to further their causes of hate, racism or political gain
My Michigan Wolverines, who didn't bother to show up for the Michigan/Notre Dame game
eBay sellers who take your money, then don't deliver what they agreed to sell you
non existant nursing care at the hospital where my dad is a guest
people in the scrapbook industry who have no problem stealing other artists' work, ideas and photographs and calling it their own
Big Brother 6, which has been a total snoozer this season

Thumbs UP to:

My fellow Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame Honorable Mention Winners
My neighbors for raising nearly $3500 in three hours at a garage sale for Katrina victims this past weekend (yay!)
My dad for walking down the hospital hallway one day post-op
Jamie Foxx....that dude can act!
My friend the Shabby Princess and her friend Gina for raising over $3000 with their digital scrapbooking kits to benefit Katrina victims.
Andre Agassi, who at age 35 still rocks my sports lovin' world. He may have lost yesterday, but he's the kind of loser that we all should be. He's what grace and sportsmanship are all about.
Sam's Club ~ they were giving out chocolate bars for free this morning!
My friend B ~ celebrating five years of sobriety today. God Bless Ya and stay strong.
Survivor Guatemala...the Big Dog of all reality television shows...it starts this week!
All of you who read this on a regular basis. Your reading keeps me writing and that's a really good thing!

Thanks for tuning in to hear what I have to say!

This is Doobers, our dog when I was growing up. Don't ya like the groovy 70's afghan? I still have it, although we lost Doobers about 17 years ago.

Are You Ready for some FOOTBALL?

2005-09-11T09:51:00.000-04:00

I know that we sure are! We're big football fans here in this house and college football Saturdays followed by NFL Sundays are just big fun around here.

Andy are team owners for our own fantasy football league at CBS Sports Line and we're starting this year off pretty well, with a 12 point lead over our opponents in the first week. We got into this several years ago when our local NFL team wasn't worth paying attention to. It was just too painful. Fortunately, those years are gone, the team is better and we're back watching again, even though we did give up our season tickets. In the meantime, we're former "Super Bowl" winners and have fielded some decent teams in the past few years, especially with our two superstar quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Daunte Culpepper who keep us in good shape darned near every week.

As a big Michigan football fan, I'm still hurting over yesterday's painful loss to the Fighting Irish, but if there's any consolation, all of the local OSU Buckeye fans are smarting as well after gettting hooked by the Texas Longhorns last night.

We love football Sundays and you can bet that we'll be grilling burgers this afternoon and cheering for our teams all day!

The Bionic Man

2005-09-09T06:40:00.000-04:00

My dad is having hip replacement surgery today. Yay! This is hip #2 to be fixed and he bounced back really quickly when he had #1 done, so he's really looking forward to it. I know he'll be back on the golf course ASAP.

Good luck Dad and I'll see ya in the recovery room!

Daily Routine

2005-09-08T07:27:00.000-04:00

I was reading a few other blogs this morning and got inspired. Heather mentioned how she's so often late, and Sharyn was discussing her kids' chores and her daily routine. Reading their blogs made me think about my daily routine, which gets more "loosey-goosey" every day.

There was a time where I was addicted to my Franklin Planner and my Palm Pilot. It's been six years since I left Convergys. I don't miss it. I certainly don't miss the days of working downtown and being in the office by 6:30am. Anyhow, while self employment hasn't been financially rewarding, it does have it's perks and my lazy schedule reflects that.

So, with that said, here's my typical day. It does vary a lot, depending on whether or not I'm painting for a client. If it is, take everything out that's between 8:15 and 3:00pm and substitute.....WORK! This is my day today. It varies some during the week, but not that much.

5:45 - Get up, say goodbye to dh and get coffee
5:50 - Start Artist's Way morning pages (still getting used to this)
6:20 - Get more coffee, get Shannon up
6:30 - check email, check boards, check blogs!
7:00 - get breakfast made, check backpack, etc.
7:30 - practice piano
8:00 - get S off to the school bus
8:10 - practice piano
8:30 - do sample boards if necessary
9:00 - make client calls
9:20 - do housework, run errands
11:30 - leave for Taekwondo class
12:00 - TKD class and lunch with my classmates afterwards
2:30 - in the shower
2:45 - scrap, do crafty things, fold laundry
3:45 - dd home from school, get dinner started
4:30 - off to dd's TKD class
6:15 - dinner and homework
7:30 - choir rehearsal
9:45 - watch Big Brother (yeah, I know!)
11:00 - nighty night!

That's my typical day! What's yours like?

Today's photo is a digie layout I did with the new LOVE SHACK kit from my friend Danielle at www.somethingbluestudios.com. Her kits and papers are gorgeous and inspired by all things European. Check them out!

Summer's Last Hurrah

2005-09-04T22:41:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that Labor Day weekend is nearly done! This summer went so fast. I really prefer fall over summer but there are some things that I'll miss and we spent some time this weekend saying goodbye to some summer joys likeour next door neighbor's swimming pool, entire meals cooked on the barbecue grill, fresh summer produce, especially home grown corn and tomatoes, the smell of roses and fresh cut grass, King's Island thrill rides, summer softball league games, late afternoon thunderstorms...
We've got a farm nearby that devotes a few of their fields to nothing but flowers. Today I took S. over there to shoot a few pictures before the flowers are gone and the fields are taken over by pumpkins. These are some of the shots I took.
Happy Labor Day! Enjoy the last hurrah of summer!

Tender Mercies

2005-09-02T07:49:00.000-04:00

All week as I remain glued to my television set, I can't help but feel so helpless when it comes to those in peril in the south. I feel like I should be doing something more. I feel more than a bit guilty that I'm going on with my life as usual, while life has changed forever for people just like me in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

On the other hand, while we watch the misery through our televisions, we tend to forget that there are plenty of people right here in our own communities that can use our help as well. There are people who are homeless, hungry, mentall ill, or just in need of a caring word or somebody to talk to.

Once a month I go down to the inner city to volunteer at a place called Tender Mercies which is a fantastic organization/shelter that provides support (food, clothing, shelter, medication, psychological services) for homeless people with a history of mental illness. Six of us prepare a full meal for approximately 80 people and serve it to the residents. We rotate which "course" we provide. In August, it was my turn to provide the entree. I ended up making bean and beef burritos for eighty people!

Entree month is always a challenge, but it's really fun too. For my meal, I ended up using

12lbs. of ground beef
8lbs. of cheese
14lbs. of refried beans
nearly a gallon of salsa
2 full cups of taco seasoning
nearly 200 flour and corn tortillas
5lbs. of sour cream!

I absolutely love Tender Mercies day. For one, it's a lot of fun. The people are so grateful, but really, it's them that fill me up. Many of these people are interesting individuals who have fallen on hard times due to substance abuse and/or just some really bad circumstances. I like getting to know them. I like listening to what they have to say.

For that one day a month, we serve up some decent food, some kind words, and lend an ear. It makes us feel like we're really doing something worthwhile to help people who are less fortunate. They help me in return.

Paint It Right

2005-09-01T08:21:00.000-04:00

I admit it, I was pretty cranky yesterday and I don't know why. Well, it was probably because I was glued to the television watching constant coverage of the carnage that was once Louisiana and Mississippi. I tend to do that ~ I've always been a total news junkie ~ and it doesn't always serve me well in the long run.

So today I got up and started doing some sample boards for a client. When I pulled open the one sample pack of Devine Color (which really IS Devine paint!), the founder of the company had a quote in the pack that said...

"Life is not a dress rehearsal --- paint it right."

I thought this was a good attitude to adopt for today. It not only keeps me on track professionally, but it's a decent metaphor for life as well. Certainly if you paint a wall in your house and you don't like it you can do it over. When I paint a wall and the client doesn't like it, it's bad bad bad. Doing it over isn't a good option, believe me. Not getting paid isn't either. Getting sued really isn't either. In life sometimes we get "do overs" but sometimes we don't. Certainly things can go wrong and a lot of times shit just happens and it's out of our control. I guess the best we can do is just try our best every day.

Here's to trying our best today, whether it be painting sample boards or just going on with our daily routine.
Photos are some taken at last week's big paint job and today's sample boards. Both are works in progress, especially the photo of me!

Perspective

2005-08-31T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today I'm not going to complain that we've had nearly four inches of rain. Four inches of rain in my yard is better than fourteen feet of flood water in my kitchen.

I'm not going to fret about the price of gas.
I'm grateful that I have a car, that I have roads to drive on and places to go.

I'm going to pay my gas and electric bill and be happy that the power that I take for granted is cooling my house,
lighting my way, and keeping my sump pump from failing.

I'm not going to gripe that my family isn't helping around the house enough. At least I have a house and I know that my family is safe.
I'm going to count my blessings for all of the everyday things that I tend to take for granted, like clean water, a functioning bathroom, laundry facilities, mail delivery, open schools, and state of the art medical and veterinary facilities.
I'm going to make an effort to help somebody less fortunate in my community.

I'm going to pray for all of those who are suffering and those who are worried about loved ones, and those brave people who are giving all that they have to help those in need.

It's unfortunate that sometimes it takes a national disaster to put a little perspective into your life.

Photos from AP and CNN

Solitude

2005-08-30T09:44:00.000-04:00

School started last week but I spent most of those first few days doing a large paint job. Today is really my first day to enjoy the solitude of a day by myself! Granted, I have TKD class at noon, but for the most part, my day is my own. Katrina is here now, dumping rain, so my house is dark and quiet. I can hear the rain on the roof and I like that. I'm looking forward to tidying up the house, getting a few projects done, and maybe even taking a nap. It's a great nap day!

Pics are from the first day of school last Wednesday.

The Weekend by the Numbers.....

2005-08-28T20:49:00.000-04:00

Love the "by the numbers" thing.

Here's the rundown on my weekend (Kelly, the bullets are for YOU!):

8 hours scrapbooking (yahoo!)
7 funny guys in "Dodgeball"
6 cups of coffee consumed
5 meals cooked
4 loads of laundry done and folded
3 design team assignments completed
2 hours wasted watching the Bengals attempt to play football
1 hour of piano practice
0 hours cleaning the house (sorry Heather P!)

That about wraps it up. I had a great weekend ~ taekwondo all Saturday morning, took a nap all Saturday afternoon, scrapped all day on Sunday followed by my inlaws cooking dinner for us. Bliss!

On a more serious note, for all of you in Katrina's path, please be safe.

Photo is one of my faves from August 1997.......

Hard to Handel

2005-08-26T18:25:00.000-04:00

Well, it's another Friday and that means another day with my boyfriends Johann Sebastian, Ludwig and George Friedrick. Bach, Beethovan and Handel, of course, and as usual, I was nervous before my lesson this morning.

I get nervous before every lesson and I don't know why. My piano teacher rocks. She's very laid back and really doesn't care if I practice or not, and really, why should she? She's getting her money regardless whether I'm brilliant or not. I never feel as if I've practiced enough. This week I certainly didn't. I didn't finish my big paint job until nearly 10pm last night. My lesson wasn't great this week. I guess that need to please never really goes away.

But I love to play. It clears my mind of all of the things that whirl around in there on a constant basis. If I'm stressed, playing piano takes me away. If I'm angry or nervous, it calms me down. It's a centering time for me. I think that it's because I need to focus to such a degree that there isn't any room in my brain for the other garbage that's normally floating around in there.

Today was my 68th lesson. I started in January of '04 and today I'm playing Beethoven and Bach and Handel. I'm cool with that. They may be dead, but they're still really cool guys. Oh, and they never leave their socks on the floor, or their dirty dishes on the kitchen counter.

Tag, You're It!

2005-08-25T09:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday there was a lot of blog buzz where people were posting five random facts about themselves, then "tagging" somebody else to do the same. I'm going to tag Ginger next.

Here are mine and if you leave comments, please leave five about yourself!

1) I was an exchange student in San Luis Potosi' Mexico in high school
2) I met Mick Jagger in a candle shop in London
3) I love peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches on white bread
4) The only "B" I got in high school was in typing class and it still irks me
5) I was on the "Pony Keg Killer" chug team for my sorority in college but I didn't like to drink beer. I just chugged well.

Here's my pretty picture of the day:

Painting my Arse Off!

2005-08-24T20:01:00.000-04:00

I painted ten hours today doing a commercial job and I'm still not even close to being done....will be taking pics, but for the next day or too, I'll be married Benjamin Moore and a three inch badger brush.

Got lots to say when I get done! Yesterday I made dinner for 80 homeless people, today was the first day of third grade..........

Here's my photo of the day. I picked it because I'm kinda crabby right now. Florida '05.

Riding the SOB

2005-08-22T18:37:00.000-04:00

Okay, today Shannon and I spent the day at King's Island and it was great because the weather was cool and nobody was there but us.

If you know me well or if you read my blog regularly, you know that

I DIG ROLLER COASTERS.

Yes I do. Meet Son of Beast. The SOB {giggle} is the largest looping wooden coaster in the world. It goes 78mph and is about a mile and a half long. It's a knocker for sure. If you have loose teeth when you get on the ride, you won't have them when you get off.

Anyhow, I tell my other full figured girlfriends that if you're going to ride the SOB, make sure you wear a heavy duty sports bra. I forgot today and the unmentionable happenned. Yeah, I bounced out of my bra. Fortunately nobody died and the rescue squad didn't need to be called in. Neither dd nor I got a black eye or a bloody nose. So what do we do when I get off of the ride and readjust? We ride it again, of course!

Six hours, 18 rides, 6 roller coasters (one ridden backwards), 2 coney dogs, 1 wardrobe malfuction.

When will I learn to take my own advice?!

Beauties on The Beast

2005-08-22T08:07:00.000-04:00

It's the last Monday of summer, so Shannon and I are off to ride roler coasters all day!

Coach Hogan

2005-08-20T07:53:00.000-04:00

Okay, today I start something new. Today is my first day as a coach and instructor trainee at my taekwondo school. I've been assigned to assist with the junior beginners for now, which should be a real hoot. The kids are so cute and so funny. We have one boy who is Japanese and doesn't speak a word of English, so that will certainly be a challenge.

I've been a jock all of my life. I played the junior tennis circuit as a kid and a teenager and played NCAA in college. I used to teach junior tennis lessons as a summer job, but somehow this seems totally different to me.

Maybe because I adore my instructor and I want to do a really good job. Maybe because I'm an adult now and as a parent of another student, I know what I expect from the instructors. Our instructor is so talented and such a gifted teacher, I don't know that I could ever measure up. He should be teaching in a school classroom, but that's a discussion for another day.

It's probably going to take me two years to get certified as an instructor and today is the first day towards that goal. My dad has been a coach all of his life, coaching football, baseball and tennis before he retired, and now he gives golf lessons. I hope I live up to everybody's expectations and make my dad proud!

Here's a photo of my dad and I back when I was playing collegiate tennis.....

I am SO PATHETIC!

2005-08-18T15:38:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I get up this morning at the usual time, around 6:30am. Normally my morning routine starts with letting the dog out, getting the coffee going (unless I was motivated enough to set it up the night before) and booting up my laptop for my morning dose of news, email and message boards. I love early mornings with my coffee and my internet friends.

So there I am in my "I Fight Like A Girl" taekwondo t-shirt getting the coffee ready to go when I hear this noise in the distance outside.....Buzzzzzz, BANG! Then the place goes dark. Totally. No power. No power, no coffee maker, no internet, no morning talk radio, no weather radar, no automatic garage door opener to free myself and my Jeep from my electricity-deprived dark house. Nada. Nothing but me and my Island Mango Yankee Candle and a low-tech box of wooden kitchen matches.

I could never live "off the grid". No freaking way. Until I master how to make "cowboy coffee" on the gas grill and manage to make it taste as good as my Melita Grinder/Brew, it's not going to happen. Until I master how to answer my email without a high speed internet connection, it's not going to happen. But thanks to cell phones, I managed to call dh and figure out how to release my garage door. S and I were then off to Starbucks armed with my laptop and my Starbucks card to suck down some good java and suck off of their wi-fi high speed internet. Salvation, thy name is Starbucks.

I wonder why all of my neighbors were in there this morning? Hmmmm. Maybe they can't live "off the grid" either. Anyhow, power was back around 10:30am and we still have no clue why it was out.

I'm so addicted to coffee and high speed internet. It's really pathetic.

What's THAT?

2005-08-17T11:37:00.000-04:00

I'm fickle. In the spring, I can't stand the sight of more rain. Rain, rain, rain, all it does is rain. Fast forward to August and I'm begging for rain. My flowers are already dead as is my back yard (see photo above!). Yesterday we finally had a fairly rainy day. FINALLY! A swim party that we were supposed to go to in the afternoon got cancelled and I couldn't have cared less. Today my grass is greener. I don't have to water today, yay! Maybe the weather is finally changing, but I'm not counting on it. I'm just grateful for those nice little drops from the sky.

the USA Today

2005-08-16T16:40:00.000-04:00

I was walking by this newspaper machine today and it caught my eye. Ah, our USA today, all summed up in a half page of the USA Today.

Thumbs up to my man, Phil Mickelson, for whom I rearranged my Monday schedule to watch win the PGA Championship. He normally chokes, so to have him win it outright at the very end was worth rearranging my day. Way to go Phil!

Thumbs down to gas prices. I filled up yesterday morning at $2.44. By the time I left for taekwondo at 4:30, it was up to a record high $2.67. I think the only reason prices are so high is because we all expect them to keep going up. When will it stop? I know I've started thinking twice about where I go and combining trips and I've quit using the air conditioner in my car. It already sucks gas, so a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Thumbs down to the writer dissing American Idol. What does he know anyways?

Then there's news of earthquakes, terrorism, and a plane crash where nobody survived.

My husband is really cranky today, one of my girlfriends is having pregnancy worries and yet I'm in a good mood. Is there anything good out there to report?

It's All About the O

2005-08-14T17:25:00.000-04:00

...as in OVERSTOCKED.

I'm Overstocked. There's too much junk in my closets. There's too much junk in my garage. There's too much junk in my trunk.

It's time to start paring down in more ways than one. My house looks good on the surface, but if you peek into the closets and drawers, it's a cluttered disaster. Sometimes I think that I'm like that too ~ things look good on the outside, but inside I'm a jumbled mess!

Last week I did a huge garage clean out and that was great. This week it's time to start paring down my craft supplies. I threw a ton of old ugly paper out last week and this week, I've got 31 stamp sets to go up for sale on Ebay. I figure if I sell them for even as little as $5 each, I can have a few $$$ to put toward Photoshop CS. We'll see how it goes.

Anybody want some cheap stamps?

EBAY Update / 5:35pm
I listed 42 stamp sets on Ebay today. So far I've already sold 14 via "Buy it Now". Yay! I love Ebay! Here's a link to everything that I've got up for bid Barb's Stamp Sets for Sale

'Nuff Said!

2005-08-11T17:04:00.000-04:00

It's 5:00pm and it's still nearly 100 degrees with nearly 100% humidity. I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE. My house won't get cool. My black car with the black interior won't get cool. I don't think it'll ever rain again, so my lawn and garden are desperate for water, but I can't stand going outside. I think even the mosquitoes are hot.

I'm so HOT, and believe me, not in an Angelina Jolie sexy kind of way. Is there no end to this crap? I really don't like August.

Thanks Meredith!

2005-08-08T15:14:00.000-04:00

A big hug to my friend and fellow Pea, Meredith for creating these layouts for me using my photos from CHA! The top photo is me with my friend Susan. The middle photo are Vicki, Greta and Tricia. In the third photo are Kathrine and Ginger. Great stuff (and all digital!).

Canine Craziness

2005-08-06T10:21:00.000-04:00

We have a houseguest this weekend. Meet Dixie. Dixie is vacationing at our house while her master is away on a trip. As you can tell, she and Olive the Wonder Dog look quite a bit alike. They act quite alike too and it's been positively hilarious having both of them together. Sometimes I have to glance at their collers to see who is who.

Olive normally follows me all around the house during the day, but now Dixie does as well. Olive is not amused. The dogs get along just fine, except when it comes to my attention and Olive is jealous. Well, she'll have to put up with it for one more day.

They crack me up, especially when I'm in the kitchen, where they both put on the "Please feed me, I haven't eaten in YEARS" look and beg as if they'll never eat again.

I love dogs! All they really want is for you to love them. Do you like dogs too? Tell me about your dog :-)

American Idolization ~ the Aftermath!

2005-08-04T15:14:00.000-04:00

The concert was SO GREAT! We had such a blast and our seats were incredible. We were so close that we could see not only Constantine's five o'clock shadow, but Anwar's too!

Everybody was teriffic, that's for sure. Constantine was really hot and super flirty. He sounded great, especially singing Bohemian Rhapsody! Bo was awesome, despite his poor broken foot. That dude can rock and even hop around on one foot if he has too. He was cracking jokes at his own expense and I liked that a lot. These two guys brought the house down.

Everybody else was great too. Nadia is Tina Turner part two, 'nuff said. Nikko is a hottie and man can he dance! Anthony is darling and if I were 15, he'd be my heartthrob. Everybody else was really fun too. Anwar has awesome hair and he can really play that piano. Vonzell sounds like Whitney Houston. Carrie is Carrie. I was never that big of a fan, but she's cute and sweet. I don't have photos of her because my batteries ran out while Bo was performing.

Anyhow, I'm still on Idol Cloud Nine. If you'd like to see the rest of my pics, email me at love2paint4you@aol.com and I'll give you a link.

American Idolization

2005-08-03T14:14:00.000-04:00

Tonight is the night! Me and two of my fellow middle aged moms are heading to the Nationwide Arena in Columbus Ohio for the American Idols concert tour. We have great seats in which to drool over Bo and Constantine!

We've been looking forward to this since early May. Right now I'm off to get all dolled up and even put on some makeup, as if they might notice me in the crowd ~ ha!

I can hear it now "Hey Bo! Look at those old chicks down there trying to pretend they're teenagers. I sure hope they don't toss their panties this way...."

Photos coming tomorrow...........in the meantime, let's ROCK this THING!

Photos, Ink and the Kitchen SINK!

2005-08-02T15:05:00.000-04:00

It's been a real scrap-happy day. My paint client rescheduled, so today I sat down and got busy finishing up my entry for Memory Makers Masters contest. I really hate contests, but being the crazy competitor that I am, I have to do it. I just have to!

I finished my "Comfort and Joy" themed layout today. Why do the themes always have to be so sappy? Why not do an NFL Tribute or Why I Miss The Detroit Red Wings theme? Well, as usual, I had to put a funky twist on the typical sentamental heartstring pull. I sure wish I could share. I managed to put just about everything but the kitchen sink on this 12X12 page. It's a good thing I'm doing digital layouts now too because I used up a LOT of supplies on this baby. Too bad once I mail it, I'll never see it again. And no, I'm not duplicating it. It was way too much of a PITA.

Moving on to another scrap-related topic, I got to invite a new DT member to the Imagination Project design team this afternoon. Yipee! Here SHE is! I love giving out invites. If you're reading and you're interested, keep in mind that we only pick from a pool of artists who have expressed their interest in being on our team. My email box is always open at love2paint4you@aol.com.

Since I can't share my C&J layout, here's one I did while I was on vacation. I was really into the fun beach umbrellas.

So Glad To Be Home

2005-08-01T07:35:00.000-04:00

Sure, I really love travel and vacationing, but it's SO nice to be back home again with no plans to go any farther out of town that the American Idol Tour concert in Columbus this Wednesday (yay!).

I feel like I've been gone forever. It was nice last night to sit in my craft room, play with a little paper and glue, goof off on my computer, and veg. I ended up staying up way too late last night, but it was fun.

I caught up on my summer junk food television by catching all of last week's Big Brother episodes. Ah, home sweet home! There's even food in the fridge, because we got home early enough for me to go grocery shopping. Kudos to my family for helping me put everything away. I'm so sick of eating out (and I never say that!). Back to fruits and veggies and lots of FruitH2O! Tonight it's back to the dojang for taekwondo.....I feel like I haven't been training for a month. Ugh.

Oh, speaking of taekwondo, I did pass my test. All of that paranoia for nothing. I should have trusted my testing toes. Note to self....don't test on the heels of vacation anymore. It's too distracting and ruins your focus.

I was somewhat connected to the internet while I was gone, but dial up is such a PITA these days. Yes, I'm so spoiled. I came home to sad news. Our design team at Scrapbook Central has been disbanded. Businesses change and I know that, but it's a sad day. Things have changed a lot in the last six months, since Bonnie died, really, and it just makes me sad. I hate to see great independent stores struggling these days.

Ah, but as one door closes, another opens. I've recently joined the design team at Coordinates Collections, a monthly kit site with ROCKIN paper and embellishment combos and a really talented design team. I've also been asked to be on the team for a new digital site, Something Blue Studios. Danielle Catalano-Titus is revamping this site to be all digie scrapping. She's got lovely kits and some great designers to show off what they can do. I feel so unworthy to be in there with all of the outrageously talented digital scrappers, but I'm so happy about it too! Danielle will roll out the new version of her site in a few days, so keep checking!

Today starts two weeks of religious ed day camp for Shannon, so I must run and get dressed. This is good training for school starting in three weeks, I suppose. I've gotten so lazy!

Did I say how glad I am to be back?

Snapshots of South Florida.....

2005-07-28T15:58:00.000-04:00

There are No Words........

2005-07-27T08:48:00.000-04:00

....to describe what it's like to witness a Shuttle Launch. Godspeed Discovery.

We've got Liftoff!

2005-07-26T07:05:00.000-04:00

Not much time this morning, we're going to the Space Shuttle Discovery launch at Cape Canaveral. When else would a bunch of yahoos from Ohio get to see something like this?

Pics are from the beach yesterday. It's great here as usual.

I'm So Tired!

2005-07-23T19:23:00.000-04:00

In eleven hours, we'll be getting on a plane to spend another week at our favorite home away from home at Ocean Pointe and I need it!

I thought once I got home from CHA, I could relax a bit ~ NOT! Since then I've had a gazilion more assignments, painted for two clients, stayed out nearly all night on Tuesday after the Earth Wind & Fire concert, tried to get ready for vacation, took a stab at catching up on housework, and completed my taekwondo rank testing this morning. It's all good, but I'm exhausted. I didn't finish all of the assignments that I needed to do either.

I wasn't at my best this morning and it showed. I had no focus. I wasn't nervous, and I've decided that isn't good. I felt like I was going through the motions instead of proving that I deserve to be promoted. I was tired and it was about 95 degrees in the venue that we had to test in, which didn't help. I also have a cracked molar and need a crown and that didn't help either, but it's no excuse. I wasn't at my best. I didn't bring my "A GAME". I was thinking about a million other things and I barely held it together. I hope I passed. I have the skills, but I sure didn't have the focus today.

I need a vacation. I need to sit on the beach watching the waves from Hurricane Fredrick crash on the shore. I need to dive into a new book. I need to take naps every afternoon. I need to indulge in my favorite poolside cocktail every afternoon at 3pm. I need to put on a tacky bib and whack crabs at Riggins Crab House and go deep sea fishing with Captain Rob at Reel Xtreme Fishing. I love our vacation place.

I'll be checking in all week via dial-up. I'm sooooo spoiled with high speed internet! And if you're reading, click on the comments counter below and drop me a line to say hello. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just talking to myself.

Hugs to all!

Testing Toes

2005-07-22T16:27:00.000-04:00

It's THAT day. It's the Friday before taekwondo belt/rank testing, so that means only one thing ~ it's off to the salon so that Julie can do my "testing toes".

It started as a joke and has become both a tradition and a superstition. Of course I'm the jock of my adult taekwondo class, but this girl still likes her girly things like makeup and pedicures. I mean, come on. I may fight like a guy, but I'm also the one who wears lipgloss and mascara to class, even if I do end up sweating it off. And let's face it. TKD is tough on your feet. They can use a nice pedi every few months.

Before I became a green belt, somebody razzed me in class about my pretty polished toes, so before testing for my green belt, I got a pedicure and had my toes done in the same green that my new belt was hopefully going to be. I passed. When I went for my senior green, I went back for the green polish with a black stripe. I passed. Same for blue. Tomorrow I'm testing for senior blue, hence the blue toes. I need to add the black stripe, but since I'm going out to dinner tonight, I think I'll wait until later this evening.

The fun part is that I've started a craze. Now most of the women at my school are getting their "testing toes" done as well, along with a bunch of the girls. We test with another academy up in the Dayton area, and even some of the women at that school have picked up on it too. It's fun and so far, nobody with the properly painted toes has not passed their rank testing. I tried to get my instructor to paint his toes black with four gold stripes last month, but he wasn't into it. His loss, I suppose.

I'm looking forward to my senior blue belt. I know I'll get it because my toes look really good. Hopefully so will my form, my drills, and my sparring :-)

No Rest for the Weary!

2005-07-21T06:13:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted anything new since Monday because I wanted everybody to get a chance to read about Ginger and the great story on my "Be Positive" entry. But it's Thursday now and it's time to move on. If you still want to read about it, click the link to the right.

I promised that I'd chat a bit about CHA, so here goes:

~ Here's to all of my friends that I don't get to see very often that I got to catch up with at the show. I miss you all and I can't wait to see you again in Vegas!
~ Here's to all of the new friends that I made, many of whom I've know through the internet but never met in person before. The list is long, but you know who you are!
~ Here's to the "scrapbooking superstars" that I got to chat with a bit, like Cathy and Ali and Rhonna who are really just fantastically talented real people in real life
~ Here's to the best design team EVAH! Without your time, talent, and senses of humor, we couldn't have pulled it off like we did. Imagination Project Rocks!
~ Here's to the best roomates a girl could ask for. When I said that there wouldn't be any drama in Chicago, I was happy to be wrong.
~ Here's to some really great stuff coming atcha. Too bad I didn't get to see more of it. I really wanted to go check out what Tim Holtz is cranking out, I hear it ROCKS!
~ Here's to the new world of digie scrapping. Look out world, there are a lot of really great bytes out there!
~ Here's to great new opportunities...that's all I can say about that right now!
~ Here's to Jen and Wendy who rocked the Pub party and gave a much needed ride to a bunch of sisters from Ohio in the middle of the night.

I could go on and on, but I've got work to do! Here, I thought I could slack off this week after the frenzy that I had getting ready for the show, but NO! GinX is going to be not only stocked but featured this fall in all of the Archivers stores and Kim Brock and I are creating the artwork for the displays. Since I'm leaving on vacation this weekend, I need to get cranking! I also have my other design team work to do and I have taekwondo belt testing at 8am on Saturday morning so I need to practice!

My CHA photos are posted Here if you'd like to see them. Now I'm off to scrap most of the day. This is the kind of work that I really like!

Be Positive!

2005-07-18T15:09:00.000-04:00

Whew!

I thought I'd be up early this morning posting this, but it's been all I can do to get some groceries this morning and SLEEP! I'm so whipped from CHA. It's a great tired, however.

There's just nothing better than making new friends and meeting up with old ones. Paper and products come and go but friends can last a lifetime and this weekend was nothing short of a Lifetime Movie Network movie just waiting to happen.

Let me tell you about my two roomates. Both have two five year old girls but have struggled with infertility all of their married lives. Both of them needed quite a bit of intervention to have their first children. At this point, G had totally given up. K hadn't given up and recently had an insemination done in the hopes for baby number two.

This week at CHA, G was feeling terrible ~ really terrible. Let's just say that everything was making her sick, including her toothpaste. She had classic symptoms but wouldn't let herself believe that it could be true. K was just hopeful that the procedure worked. After the Two Peas Night Out on Saturday, our angel with a minivan, Wendy, took the gang on a much needed, late night Walgreens run. Needless to say, the screams of joy were probably heard all the way back to Ohio when we got two of these at midnight:

Joyful tears are the best and there are no words to describe how honored I felt to be a part of that really special moment. Mother Nature must have been a scrapbooker, because this was a page just waiting to happen.

I'll write about the show itself tomorrow. Today is all about friends. Hugs go out to my roomate K, however, who found out today that her test was unfortunatly premature. :-( Again, it's one of those times where there are no words.

Lovies to all of my new and old friends that I saw this weekend.

Outta Here!

2005-07-13T21:21:00.000-04:00

Will post pics as best I can.
See ya on Monday!

Checklist

2005-07-13T15:22:00.000-04:00

Finish laundry ~ Check!
Start packing ~ Check!
Get to Target, buy new pajamas ~ Check!
Finish sample boards ~ Check!
Deliver boards to new client ~ Check!
Mail layouts to Memory Makers ~ Check!
Clean bathroom ~
Call Ginger ~ Check!
Print Mapquest Directions ~ Check!
TKD Class 8pm ~
Clean kitchen ~ Check!
Cook dinner ~
Put away laundry ~
Take dd to pediatrician ~ Check!
Surf net to find new Palm Pilot for husband @@ ~

Now...back to when life was much simpler (notice I'm standing by the PHOTO ALBUMs!):

The Need For Speed

2005-07-12T09:54:00.000-04:00

I love roller coasters! I grew up in southern Michigan, where we went to Cedar Point every season to endulge our NEED FOR SPEED. I come from a family of roller coaster fanatics. It's odd, given that I'm afraid of heights, but as long as the wind is blowing my hair back, I'm fine with it. The wilder, the better.

Last Friday my mom, my daughter and I spent the day at King's Island, riding roller coasters. We had a blast. I think my mom really got a kick out of being "the only silver haired old lady" riding all of the wildest rides. My eight year old daughter Shannon loves them too. She's glad to be tall because this year she's tall enough to ride everything in the park. My mom was telling me that my Grandma (who is no longer with us) used to love wild rides as well, so it's a four generation thing now. I love it that we have this unusual connection that goes back in time.

Here's a pic of the four of us taken when Shannon was a baby (1997) and some other shots I took while at the park. Believe it or not, these park pix were taken with a Kodak disposable camera ~ 3.99 on sale at Walgreen's.

Here Comes the Rain!

2005-07-11T13:55:00.000-04:00

It's been really hot and dry here in Cincinnati this summer. That's about to end, however, as what's left of Hurricane Dennis moves into the Ohio Valley later today.

I'm looking forward to it. I love rainy days. I love the smell of fresh summer rain. I love cracking the windows at night and listening to the dance of the rain with my windchimes below my bedroom window. I like how my house looks dark and cozy inside when it's dark outside in the afternoons. I love how I don't need an excuse to stay inside and scrap.

So Dennis, I know that you're no tough guy at this point. Come visit and stay a while. After all, I have a lot of laundry to do before I leave for CHA this week!

Here are some fun in the sun photos from this past weekend. I hope you had a nice weekend. We had a lazy one for a change and it was GREAT!

p.s. Props to the fantastic Tara Whitney for her great tips on B&W conversions. They're easy and awesome!

Alpha Females

2005-07-07T07:27:00.000-04:00

What is it with women? Do we really still feel so insecure as a whole that we need to tear each other down instead of celebrate each others' victories?

Yesterday I had the honor of selecting four talented women for the IP design team. In less than ten minutes, I had email from other women asking "why didn't you pick me?". What I wanted to answer was "because they have a good attitude, and they don't whine." Jeez. Fast forward to later in the evening when the congratulations thread that I posted on a major scrapbooking website got yanked for no apparant reason. This thread was great. It was so positive and full of good wishes for our teammates. I guess 200 congratulatory messages were just not acceptable in that forum, so it had to go without any explaination. Of course I have my thoughts and again, it boils down to competition, jealousy and money of course.

Last night in taekwondo class, we all had to spar each other. After going five rounds with teenage boys, I had to fight our school's senior student, who just happens to be a woman. I like her too. At this point my butt was dragging, but she felt the need to give me a warning about my contact level. She's started doing this all of the time. Funny, none of my other classmates give me warnings and she outranks all of them. Then, as usual, she proceeds to beat the living crap out of me. Now don't get me wrong, I like that and I like that she challenges me. She makes it perfectly clear, however, that she's in charge and she's calling the shots (literally!). I mean come on. I'm 40-something years old. I have nothing to prove. I'm never going to be taking her place at the top. I view taekwondo training as an individual sport that where we improve collaboratively. It's not a race. We all win when we challenge each other and I think that's a good thing.

I see this crazy Alpha Female stuff in dd's school already. I see it in the business world. It's crazy in the scrapbooking industry. Even Dr. Phil has done shows on the Mommy Wars and how parenting has turned into a full contact sport for mothers. Well count me out on that one. I don't give a hoot about how long other women breastfeed their babies or whether or not they work.

If you ask me, women as a whole will never make it to the top because they can't stand to see each other succeed and I think that's a real shame.

Here's one female who doesn't care about being the Alpha...she just wants her belly rubbed. Meet Olive the Wonder Dog.

And for my friends and former neighbors in London who are scared and hurting today, this is for you:

Cry Me a River

2005-07-05T17:22:00.000-04:00

Well, it's raining here in Cincinnati this afternoon, and not only drops from the sky. I swear I've witnessed more tears today than the Miss America pageant.

First tears from a tired eight year old who is cranky and hasn't had enough sleep. 'Nuff said.

Moving on to a girlfriend who told me that she and her husband are splitting up. It's not unexpected and it's been a long time coming, but the reality is still sad. I wish there was something I could do to help.

Then more tears from a dear friend who is lonely, rejected by his family, and looking for love with no luck. I tell ya, man tears from a macho guy are really hard to take.

Next, more tears from the eight year old. Our swim date got rained out. Sigh.

Fast forward to passing out Gin X design team invites....tears of joy from some talented scrapbookers. Now that's the good kind. I love my role as DT coordinator!

The eight year old is back and still teary after a two hour nap.

What makes me cry? Strong onions, scrapbook rejections, the last scene in "You've Got Mail", and friends who are hurting. I'm so glad I'm not dating anymore.

Hugs to all of you who are teary and sad and high fives for those who are teary from joy!

The United States of America

2005-07-04T09:43:00.000-04:00

I never realized how lucky I was to be an American until I was living abroad.

Here's to those who had the courage and determination to get this party started, and to those who continue to fight for our freedom and our liberties.

Babysitters

2005-07-03T20:39:00.000-04:00

Taekwondo has benefitted me and my family in more ways than I can count. I'm more physically fit, I've got more mental focus. I've made new friends and gained self confidence. The list is long for both Shannon and I.

There are some other hidden advantages that I never expected, however, like the abundance of available teenage babysitters. I already know them, I know their parents well, and most of them are black belts. Last night my friend D. babysat for us while Andy and I went to a dinner party. It's really reassuring knowing that you've got a sitter at home who is 17, six foot one, weighs about 225, and has a black belt. Now I know he's just a big ole' teddy bear, but that person breaking into my house doesn't know that!

I used to hate finding a sitter. Now it's easy-peasy. Here's to my booTAY kicking babysitters. They're awesome!

Bits and Bites

2005-07-01T15:09:00.000-04:00

My whole life is bits and bytes.

Unfortunately, it seems like lately, I've got way too many bites. I take too many BITES and my jeans are a BIT tight. I put too many photo BYTES on my computer and my hard drive is a BIT small. I have BITten the scrapbook paper bug and my office is bursting at the seams and that BITES big time. I BITE off more than I can chew and then I'm scared to BITS. Ugh. I always need more time and space. My life is a garage sale just waiting to happen.

My laptop is only six weeks old and today I had to purge a bunch of zip files off to CD. I need an external hard drive now that I've turned into a bi-scraptual (that's both paper and digie if you didn't know it).

I need a closet clean out. I need a garage clean out. I need to eat less and move my butt more, which if I do will result in even more clothes to purge.

Space. Is it really the final frontier? I think it's an unreachable goal.

Bliss!

2005-06-30T16:30:00.000-04:00

Oh, I sure hope that Shannon is having fun at camp. Don't tell her, but I think I'm having even more fun at home. I purposely loaded up Monday and Tuesday with obligations so I could really enjoy my two days alone at home. No kids, no clients, no chores. Tonight I don't even have to cook dinner. Friends are taking us out to celebrate his job change and my silver medal.

So anyhow, today has been BLISSFUL!

I got up pretty early and actually made breakfast for myself. Yum!

Then I got on my laptop and checked my email, read boards and blogs, goofed off a bit with Photoshop, which I'm trying to learn in rapid style, and made a few phone calls.

Then it was off to Sam's to pick up some photos from this past weekend and off to the taekwondo school. A lot of my fellow classmates are on vacation so my friend D and I were the only two in class, which is always great. It's "conditioning week" this week, meaning some serious cardio and strength training. Normally I hate it, but this week I'm motivated to lose a few more pounds, so I was loving it. None of us had anything pressing to do at 1pm, so we had an extended class then D and my instructor and I went to lunch. That's always fun.

I got home and was going to go swim next door, but there was lightening so I took a really long bubble bath instead. Mmmmmmm.

Now I'm back here again goofing off and tonight it's off to dinner with our friends.

I could get used to this. I don't even feel guilty.

Happy Camper

2005-06-29T08:56:00.000-04:00

Well, my baby is growing up. I'm home alone this morning because Shannon went off to girl scout camp yesterday for three nights and four days. She was a little nervous, but knowing her, that didn't last long.

It's pretty weird being home and not having her here. Last night the telephone rang and I hoped that the caller ID didn't say [[Blankville Ohio]]. It didn't. We aren't allowed to call, but we can write, so I've made a bunch of cute little note cards to send to her.

I loved camp as a girl, I hope she likes it too!

I Wanna Talk About ME!

2005-06-28T07:46:00.000-04:00

My favorite Toby Keith song is "I Wanna Talk about Me". I think it's why I have this blog. Today, Kristie, the Shabby Princess, has challenged us to share the following information on our blogs. Oh and props to the Shabby Princess who rocks the digital world....visit her at www.ShabbyPrincess.com.
Here goes mine:

Three screen names that you have had: Babsiam, Love2Paint4you, Awesomewalls

Three things you like about yourself: My artistic eye, my sense of humor, my ankles!

Three things you don't like about yourself: My size, my forgetfullness, my desire to be lazy

Three parts of your heritage: German, Eastern European, Irish

Three things that scare you: Car accidents (been there, done that!), heights, my credit card bill

Three of your everyday essentials: Coffee, email, taekwondo class

Three things you are wearing right now: jammmies, slippers, the coffee that I spilled on myself a few minutes ago

Three of your favorite songs: "I Wanna Talk About Me", "Memories of Us" by Keith Urban, anything and everything by Hall and Oates (warning: 80's flashback!)

Three things I want in a relationship: Laughter, love of professional football and hockey, somebody who "gets" scrapbooking.

Two truths and a lie: I don't like chocolate. I don't like gardening. I love my car.

Three things you can't do without: Coffee, my computer, mascara

Three places you want to go on vacation: Tuscany, Sedona Arizona, Alaska

Three things you just can't do: skydive, chip a golf ball on to the green, bungee jump

Three kids' names: I only have one named Shannon. Her middle name is Maureen. If I had another, he/she would be Charlotte or Thomas.

Three things you want to do before you die: Spend two weeks in a Tuscan villa, earn my fourth degree black belt in tae kwon do, win CK Hall of Fame

Three Celeb crushes: Tom Cruise, Constantine Maroulis from American Idol, and Snoop Dogg (just kidding, yo!)

Three people you want to know these things about: Everybody, of course!

Here's a photo from the ITA Worlds this past weekend with the gold medalist.

Precious Metal

2005-06-25T20:30:00.000-04:00

White gold, silver, platinum, it's all good. Today it was incredible.

I'm still over the moon and I truly cannot comprehend the fact that I brought home a silver medal at the ITA World Championships today in the Blue Belt Woman's Division.

Sure, I was hoping I'd do well and I was cracking jokes about bring home some gold, but I didn't really think that I had much of a chance to do so on a national level. I guess my instructor did, which is why I'm here in Alabama in the first place, but wow, just wow. I knew I always loved silver.

Our school did well for itself. My daughter didn't place in her division, but she got a good sportsmanship spirit medal. My friend A who tagged along with us to compete (he's a 14 year old blackbelt) scored big time, bringing home a gold metal and an additional bronze. In total, there were eight competitors from our school and all of us but one is bringing home medals.

That's it from Alabama. I'm exhausted! It's hard enough to be a competitor, but to have to sit and watch your loved ones compete is truly torture at it's finest. It's a lot easier to compete than to watch, that's for sure.

Thanks to everybody for your good wishes and encouragement. It got me here, for sure. And be looking for some really great scrapbook layouts coming out of this little trip "down south".

The Ox Rocks!

2005-06-23T07:38:00.000-04:00

There once was a woman named Gert
Whose laundry was covered in dirt
So she tossed in The Ox
To brighten her socks
Now her whites are so bright that it hurts

Okay, so Billy the Oxyclean guy on television is really annoying.

I.
Don't.
Care.

I love Oxyclean! With a love of white bath towels, white sheets, and several loads of tae kwon do laundry to wash every week, I dont' know what I'd do with out my Ox! I use it for laundry. I use it to clean my car. I use it to get the green slime off of my deck. I use it to clean stains out of my carpets. I'm a huge fan and I buy it in buckets at Sam's.

Just thought I'd plug one of my favorite products today since I'll be doing a lot of laundry. Tomorrow we leave for the ITA World Championships in Birmingham Alabama and those tkd uniforms need to be white and pressed. Maybe Oxyclean can polish up the gold medals that S. and I will be bringing home! Ha!

Lazy and Guilty

2005-06-22T11:21:00.000-04:00

I'm normally a pretty high energy chick. My to-do list goes on and on, as there's always SOMETHING or some project to work on around here. Heck, my dirty bathroom is a project in and of itself.

That said, it's 11:24am and I'm still in my jammies today. Should I be cleaning? Yep. Should I be folding the laundry that's on the floor? Sure. Should I be out watering my wilting flowers? Yes indeed. Should I pack for Alabama? Probably, I am leaving in less than 48 hours..... Should I finally attack that bathroom? Well, let's just pretend that it's clean.

It's nice to have a day were I'm obligated to nobody but myself. I suppose that I should take S. to King's Island and hit the water park, but I don't even feel like doing that. I just want to sit here and scrap. In my jammies. With my coffee and my internet girlfriends.

Don't tell anybody.

Is Anybody out There?

2005-06-21T13:07:00.000-04:00

If you're reading, drop me a note. I feel like I'm talking to myself (which I do quite often, actually).

Mondays

2005-06-20T15:35:00.000-04:00

I think I'm the only person in the world who likes Mondays. Well, I didn't back in my corporate days, but I didn't really like my job back then either.

Now I love getting up early on Monday morning. I drink my coffee in silence with Olive the Wonder Dog. I read the paper, check my email, and write out my to-do list for the day. I think about how much food I ate over the last two days and how today will be different. I look forward to taekwondo class after a day and a half out of the dojang. As Larry the Cable Guy would say, Monday is my day to Git-R-Done!

Today I got up early, even though I was up until 1am watching "Indecent Proposal" last night. I love Demi Moore! I did the usual. I finished three sample boards before 9am. My dad came over to drop off some CDs and books that I'm going to take on my trip to Alabama this coming weekend. I met a new client, took A's car in for an oil change, then cleaned it inside and out. I moved my new roses. I burned a few CDs. Now it's 3:30 and I have a whole hour to scrap.

I love Mondays!

Happy Father's Day

2005-06-19T11:45:00.000-04:00

Here's to all of the dads in our lives! When making this year's father's day cards, here are the quotes I used that fit the three days that are important in my life:

For my dad, Stan (who is a cat lover): Chances are that a man who can nuzzle a kitten is also open and caring in other facets of his life ~ Barbara Diamond

For my father in law, Don: No one knows the true worth of a man but his family. ~ Pam Browne

And for my husband Andy: For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison. ~ Theadore Roosevelt

Happy Father's Day to all of those special guys out there!

A 24-Hour Wow

2005-06-18T15:52:00.000-04:00

Twenty four hours ago I was sitting here with my trusty Dell (as usual) trying to get down to basics with Adobe Photoshop Elements3. I've had it loaded on my laptop for ever, but I never really spent the time to learn the software.

Then I started chatting with some of the other mega talented digital divas from our CK HOF "Bridesmaids" board. They've been encouraging me to take that chiphead training of mine and take a walk on the wild side of digital scrapbooking. They're very persuasive!

So for the past few days I've dove head first into PSE and came up with my very first two digital layouts. I posted the first on one the HMmers board last night and my friend April liked it so much that she encouraged me to submit it for publication to Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, an industry leader for the digital divas out there. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I emailed it in at 11:30pm last night.

Imagine my surprise when I came home from taekwondo class this morning at 10:30 to find an email from the founding editor. I'm going to be featured in their fall issue as their "Debut Artist". I'm floored and flattered! My paper friends will not be amused, I know that.

My digie friends tell me that digital scrapbooking is addicting like crack. I was up all night thinking about the possibilities. I'm in serious trouble, but it's good trouble. Enough of this, I'm off to download graphic elements off of the web!

Up and Moving!

2005-06-17T08:01:00.000-04:00

Well, so much for starting today in a lazy way. It's 8:00 in the morning and Olive the Wonder Dog is deciding to go nuts. As it turns out, the bug guy is here on his monthly visit to rid my house of the creepy crawlies that make me nuts. He's about the ONLY guy outside of Brad Pitt that can come into my house while I'm still in my robe and drinking my coffee (well okay, there might be a few more guys, but I digress...). Unfortunately, that's about all he and Brad have in common, but he's still a nice guy and I'm grateful that there are no more bugs in my house.

I guess all of this early morning commotion is good. I need to jump start my day. The weather is great and I'm finally feeling better after being sick with walking pneumonia for nearly a month now. I didn't take care of myself (as usual!) and it relapsed this past weekend, leaving me stuck in bed for about three more days. I've got some catching up to do in the house, with the laundry, in the garden, and in my scrap room. I have sample boards and estimates to do for a new client. What I'd really like to do is skip all of my chores and scrap all day, but guilt and great weather won't let me do that. I also have piano this morning and I haven't practiced....again. Why do Friday mornings always sneak up on me? Hopefully I can fake my way through another week.
. . . . .
Okay, the bug guy is gone and it's 8:23. I think I'll go get dressed and get my rear over to the garden center to see if I can find any knockout roses. It's late in the season, so I'm guessing that there won't be any. I ripped two shrubs out of my front yard yesterday and when the gardening motivation is there I have to go with it. I hate gardening, but I like the end results, so it's off to the nursery I go. Then it's home to practice piano before my 10:45 lesson. I'll never learn Clair de Lune this way .

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

2005-06-16T17:12:00.000-04:00

Okay, here goes. After reading the thoughts of a lot of other friends in this forum, I've decided to give it a go myself.

I've been tossing the idea around for a while, and finally figured why not? After all, I've always got something to say, people tell me I'm pretty funny and that they like what I've written in the past, and it's good practice. Besides, I think journals are good for the soul. The question is, am I willing to let other peek into mine?

I suppose the impulsive answer is yes, as I click on the "publish post" button below.
So here goes..........