Thursday, August 30, 2007

Baby's going to be 6!


Tomorrow morning at 5:54, my baby will be 6. I can't believe this! We've got the cookie treats ready for school. I can't believe I didn't make them myself as I never get storebought cookies, but with no sink and no countertop, I wasn't going to bake cookies. That and the fact I have no idea where my baking staples are. :( I also know enough to never subject a teacher to cupcakes and frosting. Anyone who has ever taught school cringes at the sight of cupcakes and frosting for 5 and 6 year olds. Or older kids, for that matter. Maybe the only thing worse is some nice grape juice or Hawaiian punch to go along with it.

Tomorrow, in addition to being my son's birthday is also countertop and sink day. This will greatly improve life in this house. We haven't had a sink or counter since mid June. It's getting really old. I'll be happy to use that laundry tub for its intended purpose. I'll be glad to not buy prepackaged foods and other ecologically problematic items any more. Sink!! Counter!! What more does a mom need, anyway?

I did another scrapbook page when I should have been doing other things. What's new? I did do 6 errands this morning, it's not like I was all that idle. I used up some older Imagination Project-Rawhide papers and those coaster rings I can't get enough of. I think every company should make those rings to coordinate with their paper lines. This particular page is from our Oregon trip and our visit to the Curry County fair, where Rob wanted to go meet Wilbur. Rob's favorite book ever, to date, is Charlotte's Web. The boy has very good taste. I was happy to share that story with him as it's one of my favorites.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Some like it Hot! (just not me)


So, it is HOT here today. It's only a 5-7 minute walk to the school but we were drenched in sweat by the time we arrived. The fact the air conditioning came on at 5 am was a sign of bad things to come as well. I just can't stand the heat. We've had it pretty nice this summmer, so i shouldn't complain too much.

I finally finished a layout I started 2 or 3 weeks ago for a glitter challenge I created at Scrappin Chicks. I like how it turned out. I finally finished another one as well. I didn't end up painting the window again today, Mr. Geek told me not to. I said ok. I didn't want the window open on a 100+ day anyway.

I'm going to have a six year old in a few days. Wow, almost 6 years of being a mom. Sometimes it feels like I've been doing this for 20 years and other times it feels like yesterday. I suspect this is pretty common.

I've got a a busy next few days getting things ready for Friday's installation, going to the post office, shopping for the party at various stores, etc. I also realized I don't have a gift for my kid yet. Nice! I just haven't been able to think of anything that he would really like AND would use a lot and needs. We have so many toys and stuff. He also has plenty of art supplies. I tend to buy them little things as they need them or at random times, so I don't feel too bad. I also know other people will give him things.

I can't wait for a sink and countertop! Then it will seem like a real kitchen and I can finish putting all the boxes of kitchen stuff away. Signing off for now...hopefully I'm more interesting next time.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

To wake or not to wake...

Mr. Geek decided to wake me up to see the lunar eclipse last night. I was sound asleep, of course. While it was pretty cool, I really wanted my sleep more than anything else at that point. I never did fall back asleep. And now today my head is humming and I feel kind of sick and crampy and spacy. I know a geek that's going to bed early tonight!

The worst thing about not getting enough sleep is that it's too hard to scrap!! I tried scrapping on just a couple of hours of sleep and it wasn't pretty. I had zero creativity. I did manage to paint some chipboard white without anything bad happening, I tried using a sketch and I was having a hard time using the sketch. You know you're tired when you can't follow a simple sketch. :(

I worked in my scrap room a bit, I'm still trying to figure out where things will go. I think I may actually have enough space for everything, it's a miracle. The problem is that I buy it faster that I use it. I'll need to scrap about 75 pages a month with my current supply income. There's just too much good stuff, it's hard to pass up a sale, etc. Let's face it. I have ENOUGH!

I want to figure out some projects using that new Sumner and Ashville papers by Scenic Route. Those are great! I say this about a lot of Scenic Route. Nothing, but nothing, will ever top the North Shore line, though.

I think my current faves are:

Basic Grey
Scenic Route
My Mind's Eye
Crate
Dream Street

Basic Grey and Scenic Route are ALWAYS in my top 5, it seems.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Me vs. Primer, etc.


Well, the kids are back to school. I was VERY disappointed to arrive at my youngest guy's school and discover his teacher WASN'T THERE. She may not be back. Apparently, she didn't pass a consitution test and because of NCLB, can't come back until she does. And apparently she has to take an entire class on it because she failed the test the first time. So my son has a sub in his class. Again. I wonder if he'll ever start a school year with a regular teacher in his class. We just love his teacher. On a good note, the sub seems very competent and the aides are the same, so I think he'll settle into class nicely. It's hard to get IEP goals met and worked on with the lack of continuity though. I'm trying to figure out what my next move should be. My first thought last year was to jump ship, but this year he has friends in class and knows the aides, so I'm not sure that's the right idea.

As for my eldest, he just gave me a hug and walked away to the playground. I'm thinking about him and his long school day and hoping all is going well. It sure was a busy scene over there this morning.

Ok, now for the title subject of my post today. I primed the darn Andersen window. I know you must be thinking, it's JUST a window. It isn't just a window. It's a very irritating, complex, moving pieces of hardware and inaccessible wood surfaces sort of window frame. I was cursing it, wishing we had put in one of those cheap plastic or aluminum framed windows so I didn't have to paint it. My hands are covered in primer. And I had no relief in thinking, hey, after almost 2 hours, I'm done. I will have to go through it all again tomorrow when I paint it with regular paint. :( Depressing. I'd rather be painting chipboard letters. I wouldn't mind spending 2 hours doing that. Maybe I can get a bumper sticker that says "I'd rather be painting chipboard." Or "My painted chipboard is prettier than your painted chipboard."

So, a bit of scrap talk to finish things off. Hmmmm, I am using some of the Imagination Project Rawhide paper and stuff to make a county fair page. I have some other projects I'd like to work on as well. Maybe I can get to one today. You can see one I did on Saturday here on my blog page. I scrapped some awesome pics of swallows at Redwoods National Park with the new My MInd's Eye Bohemia papers. I have quite the collection of Bohemia papers and embellishments. Please ignore the non-swallow bird that was printedon the paper. I think it's supposed to be some kind of wren or maybe a finch. Hard to tell exactly.

What kind of geek scraps pictures of birds? Me! I have also been known to scrap pictures of rocks. I'm waiting to find a good slime mold somewhere so I can photograph and scrap that too. ;) What can I say? I've already got banana slug pictures waiting to be scrapped, but nobody has come out with a "slimy things found in forests" paper line. I bet it's in the cards for Karen Foster come spring.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Welcome to my Odyssey!



Welcome to my Odyssey! This, the 26th day of August in the year 2007, seems like a good day for the journey to begin. I've been wanting to do this for a while. You see, I like to ramble. I also like to scrapbook. But there's one thing I do better than anything else: collect scrapbook supplies.

This week I acquired some new My MInd's Eye Bohemia papers and transparencies and new Basic Grey. I just feel so good looking at these papers. It's blazing hot outside, and the cool fall tones make it seem like it's fall outside. I have tons of beach pictures to scrap from our Oregon Coast trip, but I have new fall papers. It's an addiction, I'm allowed to be irrational. ;)

Today Mr. Geek and I took the kids to the beach. It was high tide, but we still saw harbor seals and plenty of birds. You see, we also like to watch birds. It's not something we've done much of since having kids. Our boys have this way of scaring off birds. They run ahead of us on the trail...yelling, shrieking, bickering...and the birds take off. Imagine. So we see a lot of birds flying away from us, and we see lots of birds faraway on the horizon. Eventually, we hope, we'll be able to actually watch them in peace again.

One final thought for the day-I'm positively giddy with excitement over tomorrow! My oldest son goes to first grade. That's right. ALL DAY. My 4 year old will be in school AT THE SAME TIME. I will actually have several hours to myself each day. Giddy, I tell you! Pure unadulterated scrapping hours! This is as close as it gets to nirvana for me. Never mind the cleaning, the work getting the kitchen prepped for Friday, the errands, etc. I choose not to think about that part.

Well, it's time to wrap this baby up. Back to the family and the dinner tasks at hand. You know, heating up stuff.