Some new pages

Here are a few recent-ish pages. :) I've made several others recently, but, they are awaiting kit release, so keep your eyes open!

Oooooh yeah!

So, so happy today. :) Liz of Paislee Press Designs asked me to be on her CT last night. Over the moon? Me? I'd say so!!!!

Check her stuff out, if you haven't already. She is one talented lady.

She has an amazing kit coming out on Monday, and I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it was to play with today!

http://paisleepress.blogspot.com/

New pages

Here are some recent pages. :) Check out my My Scrapbook Art gallery for credits. The July Faves page is a lift. :)

New recipes this week

I love to cook. I love trying out new recipes. I'm pretty lucky because Eric is a great taste-tester, and is relatively open to new stuff. So far I've only made like 2 recipes that failed.

I adore www.allrecipes.com. I have found some killer recipes there. This week I'm trying a new enchilada recipe. I have a recipe for chicken enchilada casserole, using creamy sauce. I prefer red sauce, and this new recipe - Layered Chicken and Black Bean Enchilada Casserole - uses it. We are trying that one out tomorrow night.

Tonight I'm making kabobs. I haven't made them in forever. I'm using chicken, whole mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes. Yuh-to-the-UM. Now ... what to marinate the chicken in? My favorite marinade is Yoshida sauce, but, we're out, and it is only sold at Sam's Club and Costco. So, I need to find a new one. Maybe just olive oil and salt and pepper on the chicken tonight.

Also, I made stromboli last night. We love stromboli at our house. Last night I made it as usual: Frozen bread dough (thawed, of course!), a little pizza sauce, pepperoni, black olives, shredded mozzarella. Then melted butter and garlic salt on top. But, I added fresh mozzarella as well. Holy crap. SO good, so worth it!! I am in love with that stuff. I'm making salad tonight and gonna add fresh mozzarella and tomato slices. Yum!

Still unhappy

Why, why can't I make a decent blog header? Why does it look blurry and distorted and pixelated and silly?

Why?

Bleh.

So, seriously. What is wrong with people sometimes? Why would you take your kid to the pool and let him wreck havoc on other people and their children, while you sit on the bench in your nice little suit and watch? Why would you sit by and not say a word while he splashes little kids, takes their toys, and pushes little girls until they go under? Ugh.

We took the kids to a public pool yesterday. We rarely do this, mostly because we have our own pool, and it is kind of a hassle to drive 1/2 hour to another pool. But, Eric wanted a change of scenery, so we did it yesterday.

This kid was obnoxious. His mom pissed me off. Eric ended up yelling at the kid after the 3rd time he pushed Ella and made her go under. This kid took our kids' toys, splashed us, threw our own beachball at me several times (smacking me in the face each time) and then started hanging on Eric's legs. Ridiculous. Finally his mom made him apologize to us. But, it was too late. We left early, all because of one kid and his pile mother.

Randoms

I am going to hack out a Favorites For Now layout sometime tonight, so I want to keep a quick list of stuff. ;)

• Bon Iver
• Avocados
• Hydrangeas
• Brownies
• Anything gray
• True Blood
• Orange toenails
• Pepsi on ice
• Boden's monkey impression
• Ella's stories
• Jacob's cow impression
• Birthday cake

Preserving Memories

Back in October, with the help and support of my mom and Eric, I decided to start a scrap for hire business. I got a few jobs, mostly wonderful friends. Then, nothing for months.

I'm not a super motivated person - and I honestly don't think my work is good enough to charge enough to make sense of having a business. But, it would feel really good to contribute to my family.

So, with the push of my friend Marj, who is an amazing photographer in Cali, I am revamping my website and trying to get things going again.

I just need faith in myself, I guess.

My amazing friend MiYon is helping with website issues and some professional help, which I am incredibly grateful for. I don't have much website know-how.

Klutz

I am a huge klutz. HUGE. I am always injuring myself. Eric pokes fun at me all the time. Yesterday alone I dropped his big metal thermos on my big toe (nice bruise) and also got a grease splatter in my eye while cooking omelets. I melted my contact!!

Anyway - I had to do a scrapbook page on this. I mean - this is part of me, just as much as my kids are, really. So, here ya go. :) As always - credits can be found by looking at my gallery.

New Kit from Creashens

This has to be one of my top 3 favorite kits by Shen. I adore the colors - it is such a fun kit - packed with elements. :)

Lulu & Rocko

Here is a page I made with the kit. :)

Ella's dance photos

Ella's dance instructor had a photographer come in and do photos of the girls. Here are a few of the photos I got today - I had to mess with them, of course. :) I got the disc and the copyright info so I can make prints as I please. Man, I love that!!

Photos by Capture Photography - Leah Niemeier:

I broke myself

I am such a klutz. Horrible. I am usually covered in bruises and I don't remember where they come from. I walk too quickly and don't look where I'm going, so I'm always running into something or stepping on something and hurting myself. Today was no exception.

So - Ella is in this phase where she builds "houses" out of our furniture. She takes our chairs and her toys and her little table and chairs set and this doorway Fisher Price toy thingie, and makes these houses. Today she made one in the hallway. I normally don't care, but, today's house was in between me (the living room and kitchen) and the bedrooms and bathroom in our house. So, at one point Boden was crying (they were all playing in Ella's room while I did dishes) so I went hauling ass to go see what was up. Instead of moving the doorway toy, I tried to jump it. Yes, jump it. Because I'm a damn Olympian hurdler, that's why. This is the thing I tried to go over:

So, to go over it, I lifted my right leg and was going to go over that way, with my left leg following. Instead, I whacked my right knee on the corner of the wall.

Long story short (well, not too short) I said some bad words, and layed on the floor awhile, having a pity party. No one attended.

Anyway, it hurts like hell. My knee is swollen and bruised and I can't really bend it. It has a nasty lump on it. I am pissed.

So, that's my story today. I'm icing this sucker like crazy, hoping that tomorrow I won't have as much trouble chasing down the wild trio.