Southern Verisimilitude

2010-01-14T08:14:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you ask a redneck for new bathroom addition? Yep, I sure is proud, the newest terlet on the block and how thoughtful my ole redneck is... right there on the curb for the whole neighborhood to enjoy. Actually I think we kinda got our wires crossed, I asked for an addition on the back of the house with a full bath and garden room, he thought I wanted a cabana. Oh yeah, the jokes are endless on this one but the sad truth is this lovely green box, 10 non-English speaking men and 2800 cement blocks cost me what that full bath addition would have. The cement blocks have now replaced/supplemented the pilings under my house, the men are gone and the only visual proof of this costly adventure is the porta-potty that they seem to have forgotten. Jim has insisted that the shoring is what has held up the whole walls, ceiling, floor thing....so, shoring done, let's see where we go from here.

2009-09-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to prove that I've been productive... 4 cards, 3 mini albums and a 1 creepy cat, spiffed up and waiting for Miss Kylie to pick him up this weekend. A girl does have to have her own decorations for her room afterall, hhhmmm, thinking she might need a banner to go with that cat. Kinda got sucked into "research" (def of research: hours spent recreating things you or your friends have found on the internet but refuse to pay for and it's also way more fun to figure it out), which then led to serious scal play, that darn thing is just addictive!!! And just for the record, yes, that is the U2 site on my 'puter, gotta check on my little Waldo.

2009-09-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

The calendar pages are way to quickly flipping over and what used to be my favorite time of the year is just about here. Every September in days of ole, I frantically did my fall cleaning, all in anticipation (love that word!), anticipation of the holiday season. Around here, the holidays started off with my favorite, Halloween. I always decorated on October 1st and spent the month planning and making treats and happies for the kids' school parties and our party here at the house. Yep, any surprise that I was one of "those" moms? School parties called for spiders on a stick. The kids and I would make our trek to Metairie playground and gather pods from the gumball trees, come home to a table of balloon sticks and pipe cleaners and create what now would be a lawsuit waiting to happen but hey, back in the day, kids loved those darn things. I most loved our party at home though. I spent beaucoup time on the tablescape for the buffet and trying to find a new "freaky" food to delight my babies, can't tell you how many versions of graveyard cakes I did. And just for the record, so my children will bow down with appreciation when they read this...do ya'll remember your first "after party"? it was not easy to convince Daddy that renting the roller rink from 10 to midnight was a much needed expense, think I ended up lying and telling him Aunt Jane footed the entire bill, of course she told Michael Mayonaise that I covered it but whatever, if I have to say so myself, that was the most supreme, kickass Halloween celebration that any kid could ever want! Um, yes, even if I did fall and bruise my coccyx and had to sit on a pillow for the next 2 months. Anyhoot, excuse that tangent and back to my point...I am totally chomping at the bit to create in black, orange, purple and green. A trip to Michael's this week has created a mass of bags in the corner of my scraproom, all filled with the makings of holiday projects and new things I wanna try out. My intention is to be wildly productive and come back next week to share. Fingers crossed that my "experiments" go well cause I have promised a Christmas craft party and I have to have something really great to teach my little chicklets.

As for the past several months that I've been mia, as usual it's been a wild ride. I've stuck my toe back in the sewing arena, made several aprons for Mamp and Kylie, a twirly dress that has to be hidden from Kylie or she'd wear it everyday and even have a LSU smocked dress almost completed (just have to make sure she has her hair down when she wears it so nobody can see the flubs on the back).

The scrapy highlight was the escape Heather put together for us. A long weekend at a scrap house in Lake Charles with some dear friends that we've met on our travels and don't get to hang out with nearly enough. Throw in sisters of friends, daughters of friends and friends of friends and a perfect mix was made. Only problem was the long weekend wasn't nearly long enough, so we're thinking a week in the Houston area for our next escapade. And I have to admit, I left Lake Charles thinking it might not be so bad if Jim drug me to TX for a while, the time spent with HoHo just left me wishing that I could schedule a playdate with her once a week...think she's my new hero, she scraps like a dream, was a smocker for hire and of course she's funny as hell. Lucky for her that she's in Houston cause I'd so be beating on her front door with boudin in one hand and a margarita in the other. Both HoHo and Glo left me kicking myself that I didn't sign up for CE this year. Forgot the point of scrap travel isn't about the classes you take but about the time spent with farflung friends. Leaves me on the lookout for what events I want to attend next year.

2009-02-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

woohoo! It's Carnival time and I've decided to celebrate my way ~ fridge is stocked with no cook fare, vodka punch is made anda yep, I'm on my second glass, George Michael's kicking outta the Bose and I'm gonna do nothin' but play til Ash Wednesday. Figure if my only Mardi Gras loving child is a 1000 miles away, snots on the rest of'em, I'm at least gonna get buzzed and dance and scrap. Sniffle, sniffle, sure makes me miss Lynn though, we had some great Fat Tuesdays....think she's the only one who doesn't mind the Wham marathon.

2009-02-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

Aaaaarrrgggg, it's da debil's work I tellya. Be forewarned, vent comin' on and hmm, maybe a tiny little lesson in courtesy!!! People, I bow to those of you who spend time spiffing up your blogs. I delight in the fabulous headers and creative use of color, layout and font usage, some blogs are just pure eye candy, waiting to awe and inspire and many are filled with great recipes or hysterically funny views of life. BUT for the love of all things gracious, please please please do not inflict the pain that is audio. I listen to internet radio, classical in the morning and an eclectic mix ranging from big band to techno in the afternoons and it's really quite annoying when Yoyo Ma is suddenly competing with some random country song or right smack in the middle of "Faith", Celine Dion's caterwauling jumps on board (no offense to to Celine fans but she kinda scorches my ears, maybe I'm not quite old enough to need those high notes to pierce my hearing loss). I'm just thrilled that you have an appreciation for music, I respect your choice in music but please reciprocate. Really, it's a damn shame the number of blogs that I'll never ever visit again because of that freakin' playlist box, only a handful were worth preceding the blog name in my fav list with the word "mute". Just for the record, there are a couple of blogs that I actually enjoy their playlist (cough cough Jess & Paradise cough cough) and I do appreciate song or video suggestions, following links from blogs have led me to some great stuff but it's all about choices here people. If you want repeat visitors to your blog, scratch the auto playlist. Snort, it's not just me either, I've had friends tell me that it doesn't go over very well at work or the library when they sneak off to check out a blog and some hideous song comes blaring out of the speakers. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm off to crank up my Culture Club and get my house clean.

2009-02-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

My poor child... Mamp's newest tour has thrown her right smack dab in redneck central, she just called from the Daytona 500 qualifying rounds. She wanted to tell me that she'd be having a fried bologna sam'ich for lunch, was keeping her eyes peeled for her uncle and staying entertained by reading the passing t-shirts, her favorite so far, "You have to believe in something, I believe I'm going hunting". She had to get off the phone fast cause she spotted Hamburger Helper Man and couldn't let that once in a lifetime photo op slide. Sadly I can't find the picture of her decked out in a pit crew jumpsuit. Back in the SOBE days, her club hosted Dale Jr's b'day party and of course every event deserves a costume. Sigh and to think, if she had accepted his request for a date, she might'a been at Daytona today, sitting pretty in a private trailor, surrounded by the royal redneck court of the Nascar Nation, having her fried bologna delivered on a silver tray. LMAO. I love my little chameleon.

2009-01-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

Think this must be the month of "supposed to", maybe it's the January thing, kinda thinking it's just me but only a few of my intentions have actually been checked off the list. Put my nose to the grindstone yesterday and did manage to order Kylie's summer wardrobe for Grammie's house ... her closet at home is filled with perfect little dresses, Meme takes care of that but I kinda think that 4 yr olds need comfort clothes, shorts and tops that they can wear to dig in the dirt, catch lizards and climb trees, Gymboree fits the bill perfectly so Pops takes a hit to his bank account a few times a year. LOL, of course Meme kinda has issues with "clothes that everybody has" but sorry Meme but our girl sure loves her chihuahua shirt and we've gotta keep her happy.

Knocked out the laundry, grocery and JoAnn's. Fridge is stocked with soups and sandwich meats and I'm planning on a long weekend of playtime ~ my goal is to actually make the window treatments for my sanctuary and figure out what to do with one of these old picture frames I have. Real toss-up on bulletin board, chalkboard or picture collage. Might be nice if I finished off the picture grouping I have planned for Jim's office to. Fingers crossed that I do actually get some things checked off the list.

Of course January does stand out as Jacob's birthday month.In celebration of "the baby" making 22, Jerry took half the day off and we followed tradition with shopping, lunch at Dixie Chicken and Ribs and the movie "Bedtime Stories". Our arrival home was met by the delightful sight of Jim cooking birthday boy's favorite meal, steak and chicken cooked fajita style but served on a bed of wild rice, boiled new potatoes and roasted corn. Josh, Kristie and Kylie decided to stay the night turning it into a slumber party and yet another opportunity for Kylie to watch her new favorite movie, "Labyrinth". Snort, you can sure tell Kylie has uncles that are concerned with her artistic tastes. Both Jerry and Jacob were worried that "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" was her current fav and they are horrified at the thought that she lives in the same house as a copy of "High School Musical", so they have set out on the mission to educate the little one. Sigh, I was not a happy camper when they first introduced her to "Labyrinth", especially since she called it "the goblins take the baby" but no nightmares ensued and she now calls it "David Bowie and the goblins". On a brighter note, for Christmas I did order 2 copies of Samantha's favorite childhood book, "My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes", one for Samantha and one for Kylie and sure enough, Kylie loves the book and quickly had it memorized. Guess I should just be thankful that she's not running around singing Tube Snake Boogie, Unc had Samantha singing that constantly when she was little.

Off to play, wish me luck, I'm going to cut the fabric for my valances and hold my breath while I tea dye it. Oh and thought I'd share the recipe my poor frozen little bunny called form

Chicago wanting, Baked Potato Soup.

2 large baking potatoes
2 cooked chicken breasts
1/3 cup butter
1/4 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup shredded velveeta
8 green onions
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups milk (I use half milk, half cream
4 slices crisp bacon (I use jar bacon bits)
shredded cheddar for garnish
Directions
Bake potatoes in microwave, let cool, peel and dice.
Cube and cook chic or use leftovers.
In large pot, cook green onions in butter til tender. Stir in flour, dill, salt and pepper, blend. Add milk all at once, cook while stirring well for one minute more. Add velveeta, stir til cheese melts, add potato and chicken, simmer til heated through. Garnish with bacon, cheddar and additional green onions if desired.

2009-01-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

Guess I should at least post some pictures of our holidays and not just bitch.

Merry Christmas

and Happy New Year!!!

Don't you just love the passing on of family traditions. This was the year for Joshua to introduce Kylie to the wonderful world of pyromania.

2009-01-05T11:27:00.001-08:00

OK, that's it, New Year's, fresh start, new beginnings, baahumbug!
You're gonna need the back story on this one... it was yet another quiet redneck Christmas. Kinda hard to have an open house or sit down meal when you still have no walls, the table is in pieces and the chairs are in the garage holding boxes of new flooring. So out again came the "salute to yats" aluminum tree, the decorations stayed packed away and we gathered around the coffee table. A small semblance of evil satisfaction was had when Jim attempted to help in the kitchen and dropped his whipped egg whites for the eggnog AND the string bean casserole straight out of the oven, he just hasn't been in the kitchen enough in the past 16 months to get the hang of balancing pots on top of the coffee pot or propping the cookie sheet across the sink to use as counter space. Samantha stayed in the frozen north where they evidently live like humans. Jerry, Jake, Jim and I spent Christmas Eve playing boardgames and getting a tad silly on eggnog (good thing I bought extra eggs) and Poma. Josh's little family finally made it over for presents and a late Christmas evening dinner. Kylie was to wound up and excited over her new doll house so insited on staying the night. Which meant a day of giggles and playing and wearing Grammie and Popsy (her new nickname for Jim) out.
Saturday I woke up energized and excited, Jim would be staying home for the week and I planned on rearranging the scraproom around my new desk and making curtains with my new sewing machine and just really giving the top floor a good cleaning and putting some finishing touches on the decor while he finished up the wiring, insulated the walls and put in the much anticipated call to my dream man Harold. Sigh, how I dream of the day that Harold graces my doorstep, Harold, the man of my fantasies, Harold, the sheetrock installer. Um, nope, a strange kinda malaise sets in when your husband spends day in and day out, sprawled out on his recliner watching football games. So I bided my time and took xanax and naps and whoomping big glasses of wine. And this morning, Jim went to work. Eleven days off , he installed one outlet, filed 1 yr of back taxes, watched countless football games and checked out all local places that have been featured on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives. I just kinda hung out and waited and waited and waited and today, hopped out of bed and attempted to capture that enthusiasm for making 2009 a wonderful, productive new year. My first load of laundry turned undershirts, socks and underwear pink...totally missed Kylie's pink satin fairy slipper that found it's way into that basket. While cleaning the antique desk with Murphy's Oil Soap, caused some kinda reaction that entailed 45 minutes of squirting, scrubbing, drying and repeat and repeat and repeat, now just leaving the desk kinda sticky feeling. Decided to clean the windows. Haven't done the top floor windows in years, all the rooms were inhabited by kids, all had shades and curtains so just never gave the top floor much thought. Well now that my bedroom and scraproom are upstairs, I can't escape the fact that the windows are disgusting. Humpth, kinda forgot that these were the old windows, installed about 25 yrs ago, when all you worried about was double paned and used to, I paid neighborhood college students to clean the windows every spring. Did the inside just fine, was able to manage the top pane on the outside without falling out the window and killing myself but how the hell do you do the outside of the bottom pane??? I have a power washer but sorry, just doesn't do the trick like vinegar and newspaper and I have no intention of climbing a ladder outside and we don't have anymore desperate college students in the neighborhood. GGGrrrrr, think I'll go make a martini, climb in a bubble bath and maybe shift my 2009 goals more in the direction of improving my mind....I can sit on my arse to do that.

2008-11-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

Nope, I haven't been commited, Jim hasn't killed me and buried me under the house, nor have I thrown up my hands and run away to Provence. Just been busy, no snickers, I get enough of those from my children. Yes, middle age women with no job and no walls can be busy thank you very much.

I'm taking Cathy Zielske's design class (LOL, along with half the scrap world) and I'm loving it. Not only is CZ entertaining as all get out but she seems to be a miracle worker, not only am I scrapping but I've actually done several layouts with the focus on me. Who woulda' thunk?

One of the first lightbulb moments from the class is to mix layout sizes in the same album, seriously, how cool is that? So in my quest for what to scrap on a one page, 8 1/2x11 layout, I realized that I wanted Samantha to know how much she inspired me last year when she was home. Inspired me, put a foot up my butt, jumped my case, however you want to put it, I got off my arse and actually made a list of things I wanted for me and proceeded to work through the list. I tackled the garage... purging, organizing and painting my way to a space of my own. I bought a cell phone, got my hair cut, started going for regular mani and pedicures and had lasik surgery. As I worked on the layout, I realized that I need to continue with my "list", it needs to be an ongoing thing. Hard lesson for an old mom, after thirty years of raising kids, everybody is now grown, employed and only the baby is still living at home, no more school, practices, clubs, lessons to run around to, no more prom dresses, cleats, jazz shoes or trips to Mexico, no more financing a small fleet of cars, trucks and vans, no more excuses. Scarey stuff but with renewed enthusiasm, I'm up for the battle. Jim left town last Sunday, he returned today to find two of the rooms switched. As our renovations continue, we had moved our bedroom and my scraproom/den upstairs, so that the bottom floor can be gutted soon. Our bedroom will be moved back downstairs when the renovations are complete but my scraproom will stay upstairs. With that in mind, it just didn't make sense to me that the bed was in the larger room, so I kinda fixed that. I had forewarned my dahlin' redneck, told him that the timeframe was in his hands so the placement was in mine. LOL, I did have the lamps on, candles lit and fresh sheets on the bed in the tiny bedroom (that way he might not notice how I kinda scratched the new wood floor a tad). Still not finished completely, have to order the rug, figure out window coverings and decide if I want the infamous Target desk. But in the meantime, just to prove to Cori that yes indeed I did it, here's how it looks tonight.

Do ignore the window casing, can't do the casings until the new windows are installed and that's not going to happen until the interior is finished. Sigh, finished, such a beautiful word. The closet in this room is packed with china and crystal and half of my entertainment unit is being stored here, as soon as that's outta here, all my paper and carts will go in the closet and I'll have plenty of room for a big comfy chair and ottoman, sheer bliss.

As long as this post is, I can't go until I send huge hugs and beaucoup thanks to a dear friend, Renee. As so many know, Renee has the most thoughtful and generous heart in the world. She's found her passion and has totally immersed herself in creating amazing art pieces, to call it jewelry just doesn't do justice. Last week I went over to help her clear out space for her new studio. I was thrilled that her Wishblade and Silhouette are coming to stay by my house but I really had no clue what else she was putting in my car until I had my new space set up and started unpacking the boxes. I felt like a 5 yr old at Christmas! The Clip-it-up is just perfect for my acrylic stamps, the Bind-it-all will beautifully finish off the cookbooks I'm making my kids for Christmas and the Cuttlebug is just to much fun...I had to stop and spend an hour embossing everything lying on the table. And wow, imagine my surprise when I discovered that the MM's tag tool set punches like a dream, LOL, I talked so many people out of buying that thing and just setting the tag frames with the eyelet hammer, little did I know. I'm also now fully stocked on grungeboard and cat eyes and just can't wait to play with these ColorMists and silk. New space AND new toys, it's gonna be a fun week.

2008-08-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

Maxine says it all..... thanks for the smile Lynn. And in honor of my Granny's b'day fast approaching, her very favorite joke, made extra special cause she allowed very few people to see the risque side of her (very risque for the Southern Baptist pillar of the church)
3 old ladies were sitting on a park bench
a flasher runs up and exposes himself
first old lady had a stroke
second old lady had a stroke
third old lady wanted a stroke
but her arm wasn't long enough ;-)

2008-08-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

"Back to life, back to reality" (yeah, yeah, Soul II Soul's is the classic but this cover makes me smile, a really really big smile) .... we're back from our private mini retreat and we had such a great time that I'm still carrying a cushion of warm fuzzies. Heather went way over the top, borrowing her mom's lovely home, setting up everything we could possibly even think of wanting scrapwise, filling the fridge with all things yummy, a stack of chick flicks, courtesy of sweet Shane and just cause she's Heather and alway goes above and beyond, a beautiful fleur de lis slate, bedecked in happy paper and ribbons awaited each of us at our table.

Amidst laughter and gossip and creative playtime, my cell rang beaucoup with Mampi taking full advantage of a housefull of opinions... from "what does it take to shave down a door?" to what ingredient makes brownies more cakelike?". She was playing Martha, complete with apron over a shirtwaist dress. Her accomplishments for those two days were far more impressive than my measly couple of layouts and progress on a mini book.

Her friend Anne was celebrating a birthday and Mamp just had to create something special.

Two days of work and countless trips to Party City, JoAnn's and several groceries produced a pirate's booty of cupcakes. Not shown are my favorites, the pirates themselves. The treasure chest boxes were filled with golden coins, jewels and regulation eyepatch before a cupcake was nestled in each. All I can say is that's my girl and she did Martha proud once more. Geez, between Cori kicking out a buttload of fabulous layouts, Heather being the hostess with the mostess and Samantha conquering a new skill and doing it with such flair (she's never baked before), I'm totally surrounded by wonderfully creative women... maybe someday some will rub off on me. Just to keep those warm fuzzies rolling along, Jacob, Jerry and I spent today shopping and tried out a new Chinese place. Not a whole lot of success, Jacob didn't find his book, Jerry didn't find his game, I didn't find my rubber stamp and the restaurant was just alright but that's perfectly fine cause the day was spent together and filled with their good natured fussing. Wish I could have had all four of my babies with me but I'll take what I can get, when I can get it. Gotta run clean the kitchen, Jim will be home from TX in about an hour and I don't want him to think that I've done nothing but play while he's been gone .... play is all I have done but what he doesn't know, won't hurt.

2008-07-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

AAAArrrrgggggg!!!! A week, a week I tell you and I'm going bonkers with what I thought was going to be pure happy. That's what I get for trying to outwit my universe (aka family).
Jerry had a flat last Saturday, on an overpass where he couldn't pull over, by the time he got to the bottom, his tire was ruined. Dear Redneck bought Jerry a new import last year for a grad gift, dear redneck did his usual massive amounts of research concerning makes, models, etc, dear redneck did not however check price and availability of parts... see where this is going? Jerry's new tire would be a week til arrival.

Wonderful, thoughtful, clever mom that I am, offered the use of my much loved, zippy little CRV. Figured I'd come out looking like the good guy AND have a perfect excuse to stay home, hunker down in the scrapcave and reorganize the boxes, bags, bins and racks of scrapcrap. No grocery, no errands, no babysitting, even got to cancel my dr's appt, what could screw this up??? HA! Renee called with an invite to come see her newfound creations, Lynn emailed that Tina was romping around the Quarter, Heather called that she was hanging out at the lss for the day. And here I sat with no car.

Adding insult was the fact that I caved to peer pressure and attempted to follow Cori's lead with the theory of "organization by color". Didn't admit what a huge mistake that was until I was half finished (THANK GOD I had not started on paper yet!). The system is working great for Cori and she's getting tons more scrapping done but not only do we scrap way differently, we evidently shop way differently. Cori spends buttloads on big items (the silhoutte and bind-it-all her most recent), I spend buttloads on little crap (entire paper collections, books and strange bits and pieces that I think have "play" potential). Yesterday morning I gave up, dumped all the crap out again and started over. After huge amounts of thought and angst, I'm sorting crap out again, going to give a weird combination of manufacturer/technique/mood/theme a shot. Not a clue if this will work, just know I have to get the piles off the tables and floors and put away somewhere. And then I face the paper. It's really bad when I have 4 full verticle files of paper marked "new/unsorted", plus a foot tall stack and that lovely big black and white bag from my visit to By Design last month, just sitting on the pattern cabinets.

I do have to say though, while sorting and purging, I've found tons of cool things I didn't realize I had, makes me wanna play. Now if only I can get a semi handle on it in time to pack up for Heather's slumber party next week. LOL, we had one here 2 weeks ago and had such a great time that we decided to try to alternate between houses every month or two. Course it's looking like I'll be heading to Chicago later in the week to see Mampi's new flat and I did kinda google her neighborhood and I did kinda stumble across the fact that she has 1 paper store, 2 lss and a stamp store, all within 1.4 miles of her place. Sigh, the only thing worse than me running wild with the cc is Mamp and I running wild with the cc.... "amuck! amuck! amuck!"

2008-05-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

Being forced outta the house on wedding related errands does have some perks...like a visit to Scriptura. I always make it a point to stop in when I'm down on Magazine but always forget about the Metairie location. Not today, stomped on my brakes when I passed and spent a much needed 30 minutes of happy time. Picked up several little happies for Samantha's Easter basket (couldn't mail it to her cause she's on tour so it just keeps growing and growing, course I have eaten all the freakin candy out of it, gotta replace that before she gets here for the wedding). But anyway, such beautiful things, everywhere you look, handbound journals, moleskin notebooks, amazing stationary and notecards. Couldn't help myself when it came to several sheets of paper, don't know if I'll actually work with them or just admire them but what's new about that. The real kicker though were the pens at the register, all kinds of great colors and cheap, I grabbed 5 for Samantha...well Samantha's butt isn't getting them!!! Lov'em, they write like a dream, perfect tip for journaling, happy colors, comfortable ~ geez, guess I'll have to go back, just dawned on me that a few of these would be the perfect b'day gift for somebody that's entering my decade this month ;-b

2008-04-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

WOW, It doesn't get any better!!! Last week was just fabulous. Old friends, new friends, friends from near and far. Laughter til tears poured down our faces, warm hugs and happy faces. Memories to hold close and revisit often. I've come to understand Renee's enthusiasm for traveling the country's scrap events....the event itself was wonderful, some of my favorite teachers and the classes were terrific BUT the true joy was having the opportunity to spend time with some pretty amazing women. We've learned that you have to go to these events a couple of days early to get in some playtime before the serious scrappin' begins and geez we had some playtime. The shopping tour was beyond hysterical, only catch is , when you're running with scrapbookers, everybody has a camera and every moment of insanity is captured, LOL, maybe not always a good thing. Shopping the SIS TV "warehouse" was great and Jeanette

and her family are just the cutest (that was kinda evident with their "informercial" from last year), so sweet of them to welcome us into their home. The Nash Trash tour was a hit but think the Jugg sisters were a tad taken aback at the level of trashiness that scrappers can achieve. LMAO, yep, good thing ole Bubba didn't have false teeth, he'da lost'em for sure with his mouth hangin' open like that. All that fun and the event still awaited. An absolute highlight was getting to spend some time with Brenda. Ubertalented, scrap accolades beaucoup, a wordsmith that can make weeding her garden a delight in verse but best of all is just Brenda herself, warmth and grace just shine from her. And then there were the classes... old favorites like Heidi Swapp, Angelia Wiggington and Jenni Bowlin. New discoveries for me... Vanessa Hudson, Gretchen McElveen, Monique McLean and the gal who has to be the cutest stinkin' scrapper evah, Wilna Furstenberg. I do have to admit that halfway through Monique's class, my phone vibrated, snuck out of the class and burst into tears when I answered it cause it was my precious Samantha singing "Everything She Wants" at the top of her lungs. Little did she know that I had been in a class that was pulling the raw mother emotion out of all of us and here she was singing a song that brought back memories of her at 6, modeling for Penney's, smacking me upside the head that I haven't seen her in months and how quickly the last 22 years have flown by. Thankfully the emotional rollercoaster quickly veered around the bend and I was riding the scrap high again. The mountain of scrap goodies growing in our room helped. Before I left, I swore I wouldn't be buying much but paper and stamps have a way of sucking me in, add to that the class kits, prizes, gift bags, swaps, happies and raks left me fighting to lift my carry-on bags, not to mention the 100 lbs of luggage I checked.

classes

happies

shopping
I am so not going to touch what awaited my arrival at home, that's for my "other" blog, suffice to say that I'm more than ready to hit the scrap trail again. LOL, we're already starting to compare calendars and try to figure out where to hold our reunion crop, think we're all just about needing a retreat from the retreats. Did have a seriously wonderful time and rediscovered paper's allure but feeling a bit overwhelmed. The piles of unfinished projects, unopened kits and product overflowing baskets everywhere just seem to mock me at the moment, I just need to step away from the classes and buying, actually put some energy towards scrapping my kids pictures... geez, novel idea, scrapbooking to organize, document and preserve pictures... damn, haven't thought of it that way in years. LMAO, now pass along my mojito, crank up the music, don't get in the way of my atg gun and let's scrap (btw, leave some room next to my chair... fat girls like to dance to).

2008-04-12T00:18:00.000-07:00

"I haven't had this much fun in such a long long time" Yeehaa, sure took long enough but it finally kicked in...the excitement of heading out for the Scrap Etc event, anticipation abounds!!! We'll be heading into Nashville a couple of days before the event and have a few little "activities" planned....Tuesday will bring a dear friend back into the fold, haven't seen her in eons and we have so much to catch up on. Wednesday is Megan's infamous shopping tour, 12-9, a limo bus with fully stocked bar and 27 women, hitting all the lss and specialty boutiques. LOL, really a dangerous combination but now that my 26 happies are made (everybody brings small gifts for each other), think I might be looking forward to this the most. Fingers crossed that the Chicago dynamic duo will be able to meet us for dinner that night. Thursday brings The Nash Trash tour (think Peg Bundy goes country), this was Heather's project so we all know that she had to make it over the top, a page swap, prize baskets that she had donated from several of the manufacturers and a couple of hours at the market when the "official" tour is over. Then back to the hotel for the event registration. From registration through 10pm Saturday night they have us fully booked, we're gonna be totally whipped by the time we get home Sunday. And I do have to say, while I wasn't really keen on doing the page swap for the Trash tour, I just finished up my pages and enjoyed the process more than I can believe. While the layout doesn't look like much, it has a few techniques, either new or some that I haven't used in

awhile. The light teal is actually sheer mist fabric , LOL, dug way

back to the days of padded picture frames on that. Then used the

silver paint pen for a clean edge around the black cardstock,

using the ink pad just didn't give me a look I was happy with

and since the pen was already out on the table, used that sucker

to color in the back of the acetate beneath the stamped title. The

rhinestone flowers were off of a sweet little headband that I bought Kylie and she refused to let me anywhere close to her with it. BTW, I was so pleased with my title, thought that was the best

part of the layout, but screwed up the last 2 layouts and just spelled "trashy", guess that's what I get for scrapping at 3am. Need to get to bed, in just a few hours I have to drag Jim and the boys to be fitted for their tuxedos, then get my laundry and ironing done so I can start packing. As Cori would say, "3 more sleeps".

2008-03-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

Please Note~ Important Clarification
In making my list of 7 random things about me, I seem to have been a bit vague on #6.
6. When my children were young, I'd celebrate the start of school every year with a picnic brunch at the park with friends. Always done with china, crystal and mimosas. LOL, the secret life of sahm's.
Which then lead to my dahlin' friend J.P.'s comment, "You had picnics with your kids with mimosas? Girl, if I managed to drive through McDonald's, we were living high on the hog! Don't tell my kids how deprived they were!"
Now I don't quite know if the confusion comes from my old, rambling, unorganized brain or the fact that J.P. is a blonde and still has itty bitty babies at her feet during the course of the day but I didn't want to take any chances and have people think that I was frolicking in the park with drunken children (my children have fallen into the lagoon way to many times without alcohol being involved and BTW only when they were under their father's supervision). But I digress...
I had a circle of close friends that were SAHM's and while we all dearly love our children and fully embraced the decision to be SAHM's, it can get rough. You sometimes feel like life is a continuous cycle of fish sticks, mountains of smelly laundry and hearing the same knock knock joke 372x a day. We all dreamed of real conversation, actually using the wedding china instead of color coded tupperware snack sets (hey, I have 4 kids, color coded made life easier!) and to hear something in the background other than Raffi's Baby Beluga and Sharon, Lois and Bram's Elephant Show. So we started a tradition, on the first day that ALL of our children were in school every year, we'd meet at Lafreniere Park ...9:30am, backside (before W. Napoleon was cut through), behind the shelter, on a gentle rise that overlooked the lagoon. We'd each come with our contribution, menu always the same, coffee, mimosas, fresh fruit, cheeses, croissants, REAL butter (this is when I gave up margarine forever) and the tiny jars of the most exotic jellies we could find (NO Welch's grape allowed), all served on crystal, china and silver, always on the quilt my Granny handpieced for my wedding gift. NO children in sight, wonderful, rejuvenating, a much needed reward for making it through the summer months and always giving me renewed energy and enthusiasm for my chosen life path. While I'm reminiscing about the good old days, guess I could also share something else we used to do, Friday afternoons...those were special to. No homework was a cause for celebration, my kids' treat for the week was always a video rental for Friday night and either pizza or sandwiches so with no cooking and no homework, our afternoons opened wide up. The moms would head straight to my house when they picked their kids up from school, we'd throw them all in the backyard and sit out on the deck with coffee or margaritas and relax. LOL, it was always a mass exodus at 5, giving me just enough time to erase all signs of our leisure before Jim walked in from work. Snort, he always thought me waiting for him on the deck with a glass of wine and nibbles was "HIS" special treat, little did the poor man know that he was getting the leftovers. I am so busted if he ever reads my blog but remembering makes me smile and also makes me miss Deb, Lula and Johnnie. Course those were the ones that were always here, every week, others came when they had the chance and the laughter and commotion generally drew some neighbors into the mix. Makes me realize just how much has slipped through my fingers over the years, think I'll have to make it up to the redneck and surprise him with our old Friday evening tradition but before he gets home, I'm going to dig out Deb's number and give her a call.
LOL and I have to add...poor dear J.P. so drug out my old soapbox when she brought up the funding...Girlfriend, it takes no money to live with a touch of grace! Believe me, my wallet would have laughed at the thought of McDonald's for 4 kids. People used to be amazed that my kids grew up only using cloth napkins, geez, I couldn't afford paper towels!!! And once a week we had dinner by candlelight, not only did it have a calming effect on my wild tribe but it also made the third straight night of chicken thigh quarters less noticeable on the plate and an added perk was Jim didn't notice if the house wasn't quite up to snuff that day. Guess it just boils down to making an effort to slow down, enjoy today, use your "good" things, don't live "waiting" .....damndamndamn, Jeanne, girl, I so have to thank you! Wow, I sat down to just explain our back to school picnic and was hit by so many precious memories and the huge epiphany that I certainly have not been living what I believed so strongly about when I was younger. LOL, sonofagun, this blog thing is way better than therapy, course I always knew friends were, just didn't realize that the blogging lessens the physical distance between friends. Might not be the same as us sitting on the deck together but I'll take what I can get.

2008-03-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Heather... 7 random facts about me...snort, where do I even start???
1. I have hugely eclectic taste in music. The stack of cd's sitting on my desk right now include Fats Domino, Paul Potts, Cowboy Mouth, Louie Armstrong, Chris Daughtry, Guns&Roses, Tom Jones, Rosemary Clooney, couple of 80's mixes and an Aquabooty mix (gift from dahlin' Tomas).
Just can't deal with country or the growly screaming crap, no clue what that's even considered.
2. At the age of 12, wrecked a motorcycle, was in the hospital for 2 weeks, leg brace for 3 months and had plastic surgery for the scars...done by Dr. Colon (LOL, it's a small world Heather!).
3. Once sang Maggie May in front of Rod Stewart. The look of horror on his face still makes me snicker, his bass player thought it was hysterical though.
4. My father owned a working farm and made me pick cucumbers during the summer for spending money, really quite tramatic for a city girl.
5. Met my hubby the day after my 14th b'day and been with him ever since, that's 32 yrs and counting.
6. When my children were young, I'd celebrate the start of school every year with a picnic brunch at the park with friends. Always done with china, crystal and mimosas. LOL, the secret life of sahm's.
7. All through school my nickname was ___, geez, like I'm gonna share that! We'll go with this one instead....Beaucoup years ago I really wanted to start quilting but went with scrapbooking because I thought paper would be cheaper and take up less space. Ha, little did I know!

2008-02-21T15:45:00.000-08:00

Yeehaaa!!! Highlight of the week was a phone call from an old friend. She was blown seven hours away by Katrina and we miss her beaucoup. What a wonderful surprise that she'll now be joining us at Scrap Etc. How fitting that we get to introduce her to the world of serious scrap travel since she was the one to organize and host our first private scrap escape years ago. I'm sure that we'll be able to convince her that she needs to join us on all of our cross country escapades. LOL, of course she's going to be a dangerous addition to our little group....I so can't wait!

2008-02-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

I know, sheer audacity on my part...had to make a Target run for the darling wire basket that the peas were raving about and couldn't resist a pack of the $1 paper. Sure none of ya'll are surprised at the thought that I'll use any excuse to buy paper but the amazing part? I came home and actually scrapped with it, how perfect that the cheapo paper exactly matches redneck weekend attire? Did a 2 page layout and more than enough paper left to do the other 2 pages featuring Miss K tooling around in her jeep.

Monday brought quite the big step for chicken me...over the river, through tunnels and drawbridges, all on the interstate I went, all to spend the day with Cori. LMAO, only took 3 cigarettes to get there and 4 to get back. Gotta say, couldn't have done it without both Cori and Samantha's faith. Only problem is the amount of times I've wanted to run away from home and figured I could only get to Kenner (and who the hell wants to go to Kenner?), now that I'm tackling my fear of the interstate my butt might actually, really run away. Anyhoot, Cori and I spent the day sweating what we'll do for the SBE Shopping Tour...gotta have 24 happies to pass out. I finished up my charms and started the packaging and Cori kicked out her dahlin' swap pages for the Nash Trash tour. Oh and we managed to talk bad about Heather cause we're obviously no longer her preferred crop companions since we make her fry her own damn bacon. Think the next time we manage to get away, we'll just have to ply Heather with doubles on Cori's pomegranate martinis, that way she'll have a hangover and not want to think about bacon. Humpth, we do hate tax season desperately, miss Barbie's sunny disposition beaucoup when she can't come out to play and jealous that her schedule didn't jive with ours when she did manage to get away.

And back we come to the acquisition of toys. Had to have Tim Holtz's new ruler so took the opportunity to also order some of his other products that I've played with in his classes and also in Heidi Swapp's canvas class last year. Already have all of the alchol inks,
dabbers, spray mist and grungeboard, now just have to find TIME. Today isn't going to give any up though, it's Valentine's Day and have to get rolling around here. Candy, music and gc's to buy and package, plus a special dinner to cook and would be a really nice touch if I moved enough furniture, tools and plywood around so that we could all have somewhere to sit together and eat dinner. On a sidenote, I'm left scratching my head at the products released at CHA, never ever have I had a wishlist so small. Really shocked at the amount of lines that are absolute copies from years past, just buffed up with felt embellishments. And the whole embracing of fabric into scrapbooking, kinda the industry shooting itself in the foot. I am socking away my nickels, figure by the time we hit Nashville, most of the new product will be out (that shopping tour does include 5 lss) and hopefully I'll be blown away by the stuff when I get to fondle it. Just a little Valentine's happy thought...my child was contacted about his resume by Hobby Lobby (sniff sniff, he told them no) looks like we'll be getting one soon. YEAH!!!

2008-01-27T06:38:00.000-08:00

Really crappy pictures here, gotta get a lesson on glare from my Cori but in a hurry and they'll just have to do. Let's just say best laid plans of mice and me...my scrap escape has been cut short. Jim's father's widow is packing up and moving to Tupelo, so the town is giving a reception in her honor this afternoon and we have to make an appearance. Of course that meant that all the layouts dancing in my head were put on the back burner because I realized that I didn't have any pictures in my purse. I hang my head in shame, what kinda scrapper am I? That led to 2 days of sorting and printing recent pictures, then making a mini album for them to go in. And of course, strange and rambling

minded me, decided I had to have a couple of soldered charms to go on my camera bag. LOL, ok, those of ya'll that know my evil side realize that it's all just an excuse to show my SILs that I'm

just as well rounded as they are (damn it, I heard that snort! I wasn't refering to my body type!!!). I'm talking about their skills of jelly making, deer gutting, tennis playing... you know, all the charms that go into being a well bred MS lady. Much to Jim's sorrow, I won't clean a fish, much less gut and dress a deer, so gotta make up for it in some way. Hence the tatting I had to do for the front of my mini album and the soldering thrown in for good measure. And just for the record, the pictures?, proof positive that my kids are cuter than their's. On a sidenote, gotta play more with the soldering thing, figure out which metals work the best. The little hangers on the top are just not my forte, bought a buttload of things to replace the wire but either they wouldn't solder or I couldn't manage to make them sit flush on my piece while I attached them. Hhhmm, sounds like I need a weekend off to figure that out ;-b

2008-01-24T17:49:00.000-08:00

You know you've been doing to much internet shopping AND been really busy when the boxes sit piled in a corner for a week before you even get to open them. But wowzers, the wait was so worth it...I'm wild about the Cropodile Big Bite!!! This thing is more desktop than handheld (making exact placement a breeze), reaches to the middle of your page and is just cool beans. I hemmed and hawed over buying it on the HSN but the "today's special" pricing and immediate gratification got me. Figured that the 350+ grommets would just get thrown in the drawer alongside the million eyelets but even these are different, larger in size than a standard eyelet and you don't have to punch a hole for them, can't wait to use them with the Crafter's Workshop templates. Ha! now I get to go open my order with the 7 Gypsies spinner. That purchase made me very happy as well, scored that puppy for under $15, makes it all the more fun!

Last Saturday's torrential rains found their way into the back of the house downstairs (no clue how) so spent today putting my scraproom back together. Thankfully I didn't lose that much but to be on the safe side, I had pulled the shelving and cabinets away from the walls, bleached everything down and put fans up to dry it all. All the laundry is done, cooked a huge pot of chili and as of tomorrow morning, Mom's off duty. Gonna sit on my butt and scrap all weekend.

Hhhmm, think I need to make a quick run to the grocery for provisions though, a couple of bottles of wine and since it's so cold, maybe we'll try a new flavor of tea. LOL and I am out of hot tamales!

Last week I actually started getting excited about scrapping again. Sat down and whipped a page together in record time for me. Not my usual but thinking that might be a good thing. Cori asked if I was going to post it so....

2008-01-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

For a couple of months now I've been struggling with that "the thrill is gone" scrap malaise. Shopped til my cc has whimpered, surfed the net til my mouse needed new batteries, whined til my friends ignore my cries. BUT now, maybe, possibly, dare I say it? I wanna scrap! Think a couple of things just clicked into place and hopefully the dust will get blown off my paper. First off Cori pointed out the other day that we have less than a 100 days until the Scrap Etc event in Nashville. Didn't click immediately but kinda simmered in my head all weekend, really making me want to climb out of my slump. So I sat and stewed, really asked myself what inspirational ingredient was missing and realized that while I enjoy looking at the work of quite a few scrapbookers, only a couple can I really relate to. That sounds so hokey but it is kind of a Goldilocks syndrome, each chair has something that I enjoy but very few feel "just right". So, headed for the computer and did a search for Brenda Arnall's work and was thrilled to find that she has a blog. Right off the bat, her sharing of a fabulous planner has me wanting to pull out product and start creating. I have always loved Brenda's work...multi photo, very clean and balanced but in no way stark, great use of embellishments and her attention to detail is over the top. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to actually spend some time with one of her albums in my hands...I can honestly say I learned more in that sitting than I did in all of CKU-Atlanta's regular classes combined (LOL, gotta add though, Lance Anderson's album class more than made up for that! worth the entire cost of the trip). And of course Brenda being so warm and gracious, just makes her work even more of a pleasure to admire. I told Cori that I had something that would make her smile, hope that link to Brenda's blog did the trick! Now I'm all pumped, going to dig around in these boxes and attempt to find Brenda's books, then scraplift until the furnace is fully fired.

2007-12-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

Gggrrrr, not especially thrilled with these pages for Cori's Scrap Etc swap but guess I'll just let it slide. I was the happiest of campers though when God smiled, miracles happened and Cori and I were able to sneak off to Heather's in Baton Rouge for 2 days of playtime. We did miss Renee but she just couldn't pull the quick trip off. Good friends, scrap time, a little wine, a bit of shopping, nice dinner...just guarantees a wonderful escape. Of course being with those two, you do run the risk of feeling a wee bit unproductive. Both of them can just kick out fabulous pages at the drop of a hat and throw in a few cards made from each set of scraps. LOL, of course while they were toiling away creatively, I was shopping, hey, you do what you're good at. The time just flew by to quickly, we didn't even get around to ironing out the details on our trips to Nashville and Mesa. Both trips booked and paid for, spaced just perfectly. We just have to pencil in a couple more "private" retreats and then I'll be able to open up my 2008 calendar to Jim, just in case he might wanna book me for a week or two. LOL, gotta set my priorities.

2007-11-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

Whew, cards for Heather's swap are all done. Now on to Cori's swap and then the charms. Maybe next week I'll get to those. Not exactly like I have a house to decorate or cookies to bake, snort.

Actually got a lot accomplished in the scrap dept this week. Finished up a baby album for Scott's child, really fun because the baby's name is Lawson (dad is a policeman and mom a dispatcher), hence Law-son. LOL, love it and used it as a loose theme, plenty of stars and badges, all in baby blue, pale yellow and white. Brenda was thrilled, feels good to have your work appreciated. Started on Kylie's b'day pictures but still have a zillion to work through. Just makes me miss her though. Had a quick visit yesterday but not near enough time. Hhhmmm, kinda makes me think I should go check into a hotel in Slidell for a few days...spend the days with Lil' Bit and darn, guess the evenings would just be me, a book and room service. I so would if I thought I could get away with it but Kathy would be insulted. Woe~

2007-11-21T05:45:00.000-08:00

Oh so much to do but the last couple of weeks have been more about collecting more crap than actually scrapping. Of course I had to rearrange and reorganize so Jim wouldn't notice all the new stuff piling up. Gotta say, I was hesitant about choosing the garage over the spare bedroom for my lair but it's quickly become the most used room of the house, snort, even before the gutting of my second floor. Jim and the kids all congregate in here and Chuck and Pixel each have their "special" spot to curl up. And this room being on the ground floor makes it so much easier for everybody to drag stuff in and out for crops, now if only I had walls back in the bathroom down here...Cori would be so happy! No sharing of this rest of the room til it gets clean, if that ever happens.

Haven't much to share right now, haven't scrapped in over a week. The Halloween favors for Kylie's class came out cute but I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of them before I sent them off. Cori and I stamped, scored and cut for a whole afternoon getting enough for both Kylie and Cooper's classes. The mini books for her teachers were a success, even prompted a frantic call from MeMe (her other grandmother), that she had to have one for herself. Ha, kicker is figuring out what to do for Christmas now.

Also did a quickie board book for Kylie with some of her WDW pictures. Lots of bling cause that girl loves her "jewels" (MeMe's influence showing!). Had to do a rush job so I could give it to her before her surgery. Yep, Grammie figured we'd need distractions and the little book worked great. MeMe bought her balloons but Kylie informed her that "I don't want it" and gave them to the little girl in the next bed. LOL, that's my girl!

2007-11-19T07:07:00.000-08:00

verisimilitude \ver-uh-suh-MIL-uh-tood; -tyood\, noun:1. The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true.2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real.

Love the word, it just speaks to me, has since that day in jr high when it showed up on my vocab list. Just keep in mind, this blog is my verisimilitude, my perception of truth, regardless of how skewed that might be, it's mine.