This post was a dup of “My first LO for Anja J”

I’m deleting this post, because it was a dup of the one above it!  WordPress was being a pill, but we seem to have fixed things now!

Meat made, moving on!

Well, I couldn’t get a good “after” pic of the meat, because it all got done at different times. But I ended up with three meat loaves, four quart tubs of shredded roast beef, two containers of pork fajita, plus we had hamburgers for lunch and I also cut out a 2 lb roast and left it uncooked for another day. So now we have at least 7 meals already made and ready to reheat, plus that roast and some other meaty items sitting in the deep freeze. Needless to say, I was beat at the end of the day, and yesterday all I did was sit around and do this LO! Oh, and I played some Dream Chronicles 2, that game is addictive.

What do you think of my FIRST OFFICIAL Lo for Kim’s CT? I love it, but then I’m it’s Mommy! LOL. That’s a hanger Jenny’s holding to her head. All my kids did this. Quinn was the only one who made up words for things, and he called hats a “Yi.” Pronounced with a hard “i” Like “Y-eye.” So he’d hold something on his head and look around saying, “Yi? Yi? Yi?” and that was his first official joke. Now he’s running for Mr. Manhattan High School.

Speaking of Quinn, he and his friend spend all weekend making a truly horrible movie for their AP English class, boy do I hope their teacher has some very creative criteria for grading. It is Act 5 Scene 2 of Hamlet (Or is it Act 2 Scene 5? I forget) done as Harry Potter. It’s Hamlet Potter. They were all reading, so everybody is facing the same direction. Also they did all of it in various kids’ living rooms, so the continuity is horrible, and the costumes are worse.. but parts of it are screamingly funny. I’ll post the YouTube link when it gets on there.

Hey, it seems I’ve made it to AnjaJ’s CT as well! WOW! I responded to her call just on a lark right after I quit designing, didn’t think I’d make it, but I did! Wow! Now I’ll be busy, but happy!

Um… I’ve had some terrible news over the past week or so from online friends. From death and immolation, down to piracy and blasting a child for his looks. I have friends who need prayers, friends who just need a hug, down to friends of friends who need a whole lot more. I’m doing what I can, which isn’t much. But I found this prayer today, and I really liked it and thought I’d pass it on to everybody. It sums up the way I’d like to live, and the way I’ll try to live at least for today, which is really all I have for sure, right? Found it on Beliefnet, it’s their prayer of the day.

With Every Breath

With every breath I take today,
I vow to be awake;

And every step I take,
I vow to take with a grateful heart–

So I may see with eyes of love
into the hearts of all I meet,

To ease their burden when I can
And touch them with a smile of peace.

I’ll leave you with that.

MEAT

Okay, I’m gonna cook all this meat today.  I am hoping to post you a pic of what it all looks like cooked at the end of the day, maybe tomorrow morning at the latest.  If you don’t hear from me, sent kitchen help immediately!  The idea is to make some meals while I have help here on the weekend, and this way if nobody’s up to cooking on the weeknights, we have something we can just pop in the oven instead of ordering a pizza or going for fast food.  I think I’m gonna make three meatloaves, and some BBQ tips, and maybe some pork fajita strips.  We’ll see what comes out.

Here’s the part where I talk about being a bad blogger, owing people emails etc etc.  You’ve heard it all before, and I promised I wasn’t going to talk about not feeling good anymore.  So I won’t!  I didn’t blog for a few days, but here I am now!

Hey, guess what?  I’m on another CT!  Permanent-like this time!  It’s KIM B’s CT!  YAYYY!  When I stepped down from designing at DSO I was like, “Man, now I have to PAY for Kim’s stuff!” and then I thought, hey what if she let me be on her CT?  So now I am!  YAY!  And all the ladies on it are crazee just like she is- well, not JUST like she is, but well, it’s fun crew, let’s just say that.  Neat!  Here’s my blinkie:

Also, I finished this LO last night and wow, I’d been working on this puppy for a couple of days.  Well, except for the times that Vince kicked me off the ‘puter to play his danged hidden object games, he loves those.  Anyway, it’s for my lyrics challenge at DSO.  This is Vince’s and My song, and this LO was just really hard to make, maybe it’s cuz the song means so much to me.  But I finally got this done.  I think it looks okay, but it doesn’t convey the mood I wanted.  Maybe I’ll rescrap it someday.

Here’s whatcha got:

Click on it to see credits, it’s almost all Heather.

Okay, I’m off to cook meat!

An Update, Big News, and a FREEBIE!

Whoo hoo, a Wednesday freebie! It’s at the bottom of the post, so if that’s why you are here, go ahead and scroll down.

Okay, first, I’m feeling much better than I was a couple of days ago, but still not great. The docs say my immune system is compromised in some way, but we don’t know what it is. It’s not any of the obvious things, cuz we’ve checked those all recently. But until we know what’s wrong and can treat it, I have been ordered to cut out stress (LOLOLOL) which means that

I’m no longer designing for profit. I have stepped down from designing for DSO, but am staying on as a Pixie there so I’ll be able to keep my challenges, which I dearly love (YAY!) and I’ll be contributing to the monthly mega kit. I’ll also still be designing freebies and whatnot here and there, and I’ll probably be applying to do some CT stints. (In fact, with all the craziness, I haven’t told you all yet that I’m a FEB GUEST CT for HEATHER!!! YAY)

So that’s that. I’m keeping my spirits up, and am actually feeling great about taking this positive step for my health. That said, I’m probably not going to talk about my health much anymore because I don’t want to.

But I hope to get back to posting more, and to just being positive.

Here’s your freebie! It coordinates with my challenge posting bonuses this month. (Click here to get to my Book of Me challenge) (Click here to get to my lyric challenge). I got the swatch I’m using from Colour Lovers- it was already called Muses Mistake. I copied it to my hard drive months ago and when I went to use it at the end of January I searched Colour Lovers for a username to credit them I couldn’t find one. So if this was your swatch, it’s genius, I love it. I also used some fun brusheezy brushes, have you been there? It’s cool.

Click on the Preevie to get your goodies.  For your payment this time, please do something good for yourself.  Sit and meditate or pray, relax if you have a minute.  Give your body some loving thoughts.  You’ve probably been working hard for all kinds of other people, loving them, and now you deserve some time to tell yourself just how much of a miracle YOU are.  So do that.

Some Layouts

My nephew, Spencer Pheasant, has Ventricular Septal Defect, or VSD. This is a very treatable condition that is basically a hole in his heart. If the hole doesn’t close itself, he will need open heart surgery. So this is my prayer for him. Everything here is by Heather except for the little heart, which is by Ztampf. Click on the image for more detailed credits.

This is for my Step dad’s birthday. Click on it to see the credits. He was born in Amsterdam in 1942, hence the WWII stuff. He’s a history nut, especially WWII history. Unfortunately, most of the old folks on his side of the family have passed away, but man did they have some stories. Just as bystanders during the war. Some of them were in forced labor camps, his father fled. His mother was forced to be a servant for the nazis, and she will tell you about how one of the “good Germans” gave her some chickens to bring home and eat- live chickens, and she had to smuggle them home like 5 miles and she was on foot. She had to hide the chickens in her dress, and go through all of these nazi checkpoints where if they found the chickens she might have been “punished..” I hope that made sense. It’s a pretty crazy story.

Still sick, going in for tests tomorrow. I hope they find something, but if they don’t, I’m working hard to fix myself. I’m drinking my green drinks again, and have started taking Elderflower extract, which is an immune system booster. But for now, I am still moving sloooooow.I’m going to try to have a Weds freebie for y’all, however. Because I like ya!

SICK

Hey guys.  I have been trying to ignore this, but now I can’t.  Seems like whatever was wrong with me before is back, with a vengeance.  I kind of thought I was just feeling dragged out since we got back from Pennsylvania because of all the action, but the last few days all my symptoms are back- joint pain and weakness, headache, dizziness, nausea, pains in my abdomen.  I spent all day yesterday trying to make a doctor’s appointment, but couldn’t get through, and finally when I did there was nothing available till next month.  That’s one of the problems with military healthcare.  I’m TOTALLY grateful that we have health care, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that it’s Sooooo difficult to get appointments, and you get whatever doctor you get, so each time I go in I have to explain my symptoms to somebody new, and usually what happens is there’s a flurry of activity and some tests and then they all come back negative (thank God) but then we never find out what’s happening.

Sucks, but, you know, it could be much worse, and I’m doing my very very best to maintain a good attitude, and just to take care of myself.  I’d quit drinking my green drinks regularly, so I’m back on them, making sure I drink lots of water, etc.  Doing my best to do my best, ya know.

So I’m gonna  take it easy this weekend and I really think it will help me a lot.  I’ll check back in with y’all on Monday!

Finally, my freebie is posted bright and early!

Check it out!!  Isn’t Kimmy’s swatch BEAUTIFUL this month?  I made six papers, three frames, two buttons, a ribbon key and a caps alpha.  NEAT!

Alpha and elements 

Papers 

Your assignment is to surprise somebody.  Do something completely unexpected for someone.  I think you’ll both get a kick out of it.

Also, here’s a LO I made last night.  Click on it for credits.

My connection was horrible today probably due to the snowstorm, so I ended up finishing the Rosamunde freebie, and also working on backing up my stuff and putting stuff on the new EHD I got with taxes.  That was my extravagant tax expenditure.  That and a deep freeze.  Did I already say that?  Huh.  I’m a little unfocused here.  Anyway, I am up to 12 CD’s full of scrapping stuff, and that’s just kits, mostly freebies and things I got on CT’s.  Dang.  My hard drive is on a diet!  COOL!  Also, I spent a couple of hours on the phone with Corel trying to figure out why I couldn’t activate PSP on the computer downstairs.  Finally figured out it was because the copy of X2 I have is an upgrade (of XI, which was an upgrade of X) and so the download I have listed on the site was only working as a free trial.  Once we got that figured out, the very nice Corel lady just sent me full download links for free.  She was awesome, saw I am a long time customer and not a pirate, LOL.

Anyway.  That was my day!  Pretty exciting, huh?  The Jehovah’s witnesses came by.  They are nice.  I should probably tell them that I don’t intend to become one of them.  Maybe it’s rude not to.  But they seem to like coming by, and I don’t mind talking about God with them.

Oh, did I say we have like 4″ of snow?  It’s insane because yesterday it was SUPER nice outside, and now we have this snow.  Quinn stayed in Manhattan (KS- I should mention that each time.) so he could go to the Democratic caucus, and we called him and told him not to come home because of the roads.  However, Vince is out there driving around.  He had to go tell a soldier about his duty tomorrow.  He’d been calling the guy all day long, and couldn’t reach him.  Actually, the soldier is Trevor Gluhm, a friend of ours.  Apparently he’s sick and confined to quarters today, and wasn’t answering the phone.  Anyway, Vince had to go tell him what he’s got to do tomorrow, and they all have to be at work at 6am.  Knuts.

Speaking of the Democratic caucus, Obama took ours.  Isn’t it exciting that this is Quinn’s FIRST presidential election??? I think it’s awesome!  What a big year!  One of his best friends gets to be a delegate for KS, too, which is awesome, I think.  How very cool for them all.

Okay, I’d better get the girls in bed, it’s 10:30.  Dang.

Hey!!! Don’t forget!  BUY MY KIT!!!  You know what I want, more than anything when it comes to designing?  Just to be respected, and to take part in people’s memory making.  I want people to appreciate my art, and I want them to be able to use it to preserve their memories,  commemorate their emotions and their lives.  I’m not trying to make a living here, that would be silly.  I just want to be able to make art that people can use to make art.    That said, I would get a huge kick out of one of my kits being really successful.  So, BUY MY KIT!! LOL!!

Patty’s Warm Hug is on sale NOW

Check it out, kids!  It’s fabricky!  It’s textured!  It’s fun, interesting, eclectic!  I think it’s the best thing I’ve made yet.  Right now it’s on sale for 37%off (I don’t know why, I just pulled that figure out of the air) which makes it $3.15  So snatch it up now while you can for the sweet low price!

Please kindly go check it out at my STORE! 

Here’s a LO I made last night for my own Book of Me challenge at DSO.

Click on the photo to get to my flickr page for the full credits.  The paint dawbs swirl comes from one of my posting bonuses this month, I forget if it’s for the Book of Me challenge or the Lyrics challenge.   I made a pretty little mini kit called Muse’s Mistake for the posting bonuses this month, so if you do both of mine you’ll have the full mini.  Plus if you do ALL the challenges at DSO this month, you get a really really big freebie mega kit.  So go do it!

My back is out.  I picked up Jenny last night, just like normal, and I felt this.. pinch.. that just got worse.  Vince used this goofy back massager thingy on my back (it looks like an octopus, and when he bought it I was like, “What the heck is that?”) and it did feel nice while he was doing it, but it didn’t last.  So.. dang.  Oh well, no big deal.  It will pass.  I think I have some percocet left over from when Jenny was born if it gets too bad.  LOL.  Shows what a druggie I am, huh?  Jenny’s  going on 15 months old.

Well… it was a weird weekend.  We got our tax money, and it’s gone.  Makes me feel sick to my stomach, but here’s what we did with it: first we PAID OFF one of our cars, which is huge.  This will not only free up what we were paying for the car payment every month, but now we can reduce our insurance premiums because we no longer need full coverage for it.  So that’s good.  Also, we bought a new deep freeze so I can  do some bulk cooking, and I can buy meat and stuff in bulk when it’s cheap.  So that’s awesome too.  And we paid some bills.  But still,  last year I was able to keep our refund for like 8 months and just use it to live off of so that we didn’t end up having any emergencies like what happened during the ice storm.  So.. well.. just remind me that we did the right thing paying off the car.  Okay?  REMIND ME!  LOL.

I’m going to do some more challenges today. Cate, I’m working on the coloUr challenge!  LOL!!  Aren’t Kim’s colors beautiful this month?

Alright, I’m OFF.

Color Your World Contest at MGL Scraps

This blog post is my shameless attempt to win the giant, pretty mega kit on MGL scraps

Check it out, it’s massive, and very colorful, you know I likes me some COLOR!

No time, I have to make posting bonuses for next month’s challenges.  And oh yeah, next month is TOMORROW!!

NOw go check out that contest, you’ll be blogging about it too!

Technically, it’s Still a Wednesday Freebie

So I’m kinda cleaning out some things in my Design folder here for your freebie pleasure.  I used one of these papers for Mike’s memorial, and I was thinking at the time, Gee whiz, some of these papers are beautiful.  I should really get back to this kit.”  So today I opened up the folder again, and … well, I like the papers.  So here you have them.

Click on the Preview to get em.

By the way, I still want you to commit some kind of a RAK in exchange for my freebies, even if I don’t mention it every time.  This time, I want you to just love on somebody.  Just sit there and love somebody.  They don’t have to be around.  Somebody did that for me today, and you know what?  It worked.

Thanks, Beth.