Fun Weekend Coming and March Layouts

While I have been gone there have been even more changes around the house - most notably a new furnace. So although it has been pretty quiet around here for a while it is about to get pretty exciting! There are several new releases coming from my favorite designs this weekend and GG Digital Designs is kicking off a month long birthday celebration! There will be a blog train and lots of freebies so be sure to pop back in on Friday.

Most of my March scrapping was spent doing a little purse book of our Disney Trip but I still got some other layouts done as well - so here they are:

Getting ready for the fun!

Making some changes around the house

Wow - it has been awhile since I blogged. See what happens when I try to be a good wife and mother? Less time for blogging. It didn't help any that the princesses got hit with the flu-like bug going around school and were home all of last week. But they seem to be getting better and Sarah was well enough to perform in her Little Theater production of The Trial of the Knave on Friday and Saturday night. She played the Dormouse and was fantastic (not that I am biased or anything). This is where I should insert a photo of my adorable Dormouse ... except that I don't have one. Can you believe it? I seriously fell down on the job here and forgot my camera when I went to the performance last night. Hopefully another mom will have some and save me from losing my Mother of the Year title ('cause I am sure that I had a lock on it up till now right).

Anyway, with all the effort to get the house in better order there have been a few changes and more are coming (along with a truck full of my Grandmothers furniture sometime in May). The, first big change is that I have made the decision to quit carrying inventory for my Creative Memories business. The business has changed a lot in the 9 years since I started, with online ordering and more of my clients going digital like I am, and there is little need to carry inventory. I also have fewer workshops since I started working at the hospital on Friday nights negating my need for a permanent workshop space. So this weekend I am having a huge sale to move all my inventory (I hope!) and then I can re-purpose my workshop room into a space for the kids to do homework and an office area for Drew. I am really excited for the change and will post up pictures as we get it set up.

The second big change is our new kitchen table! We just bought it today and they were able to deliver it this evening - isn't it beautiful??



I have had my eye on it for about 2 years and the store is going out of business at the end of the month. I figured if they still had it and I could get a good deal than it would finally be mine! Between this and my grandmother's furniture, our house may actually look like someone lives here soon.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I have a lot of work to get done this week prepping for the inventory sale so I better get to bed!

Making Changes -

Been Busy ... and February Layouts

Well, it has been a busy week-plus! I FINALLY got all my inventory and business paperwork done - whew! It always takes so much longer than I think it will - which is probably why I put it off as long as possible. With that done I completed another fun job - the tax planner for our accountant. The kids were off school last Friday and Sarah is in the home stretch of play rehearsals for Trial of the Knave so that has kept us busy as well. And we got a new rat!

Ok, the rat story. So you probably know that we had a rat death a couple of weeks ago. Well, it seems that it was all in the plan, because just as we lost Teddy a neighbor needed to find a new home for their pet rat Lucy (due to some terrible allergies). Lucy came over for a meet n great last Friday when the kids were out of school and she and Rosie hit it right off. By mid-morning they were in the same cage and have been together ever since. Rosie seems very happy to have another cage mate and Lucy is a very sweet rat.

In other exciting family news - Sarah moved up to Level 2 at gymnastics tonight! She has been working very hard on her kick over so that she could move up and finally nailed it tonight 4 times! I am really proud of her for sticking with something and working to get better.

Now, I haven't posted any layouts for quite a while even though I have been meaning to. I noticed on a blog I frequent - Plum Dumpling Designs (a fabulous new designer!) - that Mary does a slide show each month of her new layouts. I thought that it was such a great idea that I am stealing it! So, a little belatedly, here are my February Layouts (there aren't a ton since we were in Disney for a couple of weeks!).

That's it for now - I am still working on my Lenten resolution to stop procrastinating. Some days are good and some days aren't but I guess it is all growth!

Chugging Along -

Lenten Reflection

So we are in the season of Lent – a time of preparation before Easter. Although for the past 7 years my family has attended a non-Denominational Christian church, I was raised Catholic and still observe some Catholic traditions. One of the things that I remember from my childhood was giving something up for Lent – usually candy as a little kid. Now, as an adult, I don’t so much give something up as take a look at areas of in my life that are areas of disobedience to the Lord - and work to correct them. One of those areas is that I am a HUGE procrastinator (I mean hello – Lent started last Wednesday and I am just getting around to this!) and it leads to a slothful nature. Everyone who knows me is aware that I am not the best housekeeper in the world and it is something that weighs on me – I wish that I did better in this area. Yesterday in church our pastor was speaking on service and he said something that hit home. He talked about how the Lord gave Adam a helpmate when he created Eve and at times I am not a very good helpmate to Drew. So this year for Lent I am going to work on being a better helpmate, and the biggest way that I can do that is to do a better job keeping up our home. I figure saying it out loud will keep me honest and I started today by cleaning our downstairs. I do this every couple of weeks but then I tend to “let myself of the hook” for the rest of the week and not do anything else. However, tomorrow I tackle another project that I have been putting off – my year end Creative Memories inventory. Yep – it is March and I haven’t done my year end paperwork yet. So tomorrow is the day for that project and from there who knows - but I have the rest of Lent to become more obedient to the Lord and a better helpmate to Drew.

Getting my butt off the couch -

And then there was one ... rat that is ...

Today we buried Teddy the rat. It was a pretty sad day for Abbie and I think that she is going to be a little broken hearted for a while. Teddy was a good pet and now Rosie is all alone and seems a bit lost. We have flushed a few fish but this is the first "real" pet that we have had to bury which is made a little more difficult because these rats are truly Abbie's and she loves them a lot (so much so that she requested them on her birthday cake). Any advice on how to make this childhood rite of passage easier on her would be greatly appreciated.

Goodbye Teddy ... you will be missed...

Wearing Black -

We're Back!! Just a few quick Announcements ...

We are back from Disney World!! We had a FABULOUS time and it is hard adjusting back to "normal" life. I am wading through all the pictures and ordered our PhotoPass CD yesterday so pictures (and I am sure lots of layouts!) are coming. I am also going to start writing a trip report on TourGuideMike - is anyone interested in reading it? If so, I will post it here as well.

Alright - now for some digi-scrap announcements! My favorite designers have been busy while I was gone so I will catch you up :)

First up is a new kit from GG Digital Designs - The Happy Place!!! Don't you just LOVE this color palette?? It makes me happy just looking at it!

I used it on a layout I did for a Grand Theft Layout Challenge at ScrapMatters (this is what happens with three little girls get a-hold of the camera!):

GG Digital Designs also did a Twice as Nice with Happy Scrap Girl - Fairy Princess!

I thought that it was perfect for documenting Sarah's first visit from the Tooth Fairy! I did this layout at the evening Speed Scrap this week - it was a monochromatic-ish theme and I really like how it came out.

Next up is a new kit from Haynay released today!! She took my FAVORITE paper pack and turned it into a full size kit - yea!!! And of course she has a coordinating freebie for you on her blog.

Here is the layout I did with it.

And lastly - you will not want to miss the new Daily Download starting on Monday at ScrapMatters!!! Haynay was one of the designers on this one so I was lucky enough to get the full kit all at once and you will want every piece of this fantastic kit!! Be sure to visit the forums at ScrapMatters everyday for a piece and get this entire cool kit for free!

Whew!!! Didn't I tell you that they were busy while I was gone??

Well, I better get motivated - these suitcases aren't going to unpack themselves!

Nursing a Disney Hangover -

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E .... See ya real soon!

The time has finally come to fly off to Walt's World in Florida - we leave in just a few hours!! I can't believe that after planning this trip for over a year that it is finally here but I am READY!! I won't show you all the spread sheets that have been printed out (you know you love a good Excel spreadsheet!) but I did make a few cute things for the trip to share.

This is the contract the girls will sign tonight at dinner before we leave - The Princess Royal Rules! Has things on it like: The servants did not come with us on this journey so therefore I am responsible for keeping my area picked up and my things in order. And of course the most important princess rule: Princesses don’t whine. I won’t whine or throw a fit while at Walt Disney World.

These are a few things I did using my digi-scrap supplies. There is an altered mini M&M tube that holds quarters and nickles for pressed pennies, a stroller ID card for our rental stroller and each of the girls are getting a journal to write in with some activity pages (these came out so great!):

Ok, ok ... so I didn't make this one but I did have so how off my Minnie Mouse pedicure!! This is as closed to dressed up as I get.

Well, that is it! I may or may not post while we are there but I will definately be doing a trip report when we get back and there will be LOTS of pictures to scrap!

See Ya Real Soon!