A Scrap of Life

So today on ScrapAddict someone posted a challenge - try to take a "glamorous" self-portrait. Well I am about the least glamorous person in the world. A lifetime of jeans and t-shirts does that to a girl. But I thought I'd give it a try anyways, so I set up a place in our newly painted bedroom before we moved in (which also means you can see the new color of our bedroom, an outdoorsy green called "rejuvenate". See the middle photo for the truest color). The suggestion was made to use a fan for a "windblown" effect, but my tons and tons of thick hair didn't really respond to that. Nonetheless, I am pretty happy with what I was able to catch. There were some serious ... some not-so-serious ... and even a few totally off the wall for me (go ahead, yuck it up). Well, I think that's plenty of sharing for today. If you didn't spit coffee all over your monitor you can go back to work now. :)

So I'm all happy and excited because I'm getting A's in all of my classes. I worked hard and got them done and was so happy about it ... until I looked at my grades online. I see a "C" and just about scream. What the heck?!? So I do a little more research only to realize that it was MY FAULT! I didn't turn in an assignment at all. Why, I have no idea. I just forgot to put it in the assignment dropbox. And that one little assignment drops my grade from an "A" to a "C". GRRRRR. This schoool thing is for the birds!

Things are changing in our lives and I have to say that I'm hating it. My house is just a MESS and I can't stand it anymore. Here's the scoop: We moved into this house almost 2 years ago. One of the reasons we bought it was because it was a 4 bedroom, meaning that the kids could each have their own room. And that was great for a while, but about 2 months ago the boys decided that they had enough of their own rooms and wanted to share again. And they've been sharing for 2 months and have loved it. But the extra bedroom has just gone to waste ... it wasn't a very usable space for the treadmill and extra TV and such. So now we've decided to change around the house. The boys are staying in their shared bedroom which will eventually be painted. They wanted red but I think we're going to end up going with a blue, as red is such a dark color. Carissa is moving into what was Tristan's bedroom. She, of course, can't have a blue room so we painted it ...

I did not win HOF. Or an honorable mention for that matter. But here are some of my entries from the contest ... my favorite one of each of the kids. Thanks for your support and well wishes through this process. Annette

I have completed my first term of classes! I took my last final yesterday and I'm relieved to have it all over. I'm getting 3 A's though, which makes me feel good. But I'm looking forward to next term and only having 2 classes to take instead of 3. Yesterday was Brian's birthday. His parents took us all to dinner at Tacho's, one of our favorite mexican food restaurants. They, of course, did the huge sombrero, song and dessert number which embarassed (and I think secretly delighted) him. Brian turned 32 years old. It's hard to believe that we're getting this old. I still remember him when he was 19 our lives were wrapped us solely in each other. Not much has changed in that respect. Sure, we have kids that are wrapped up in our lives too, but we're still pretty wrapped up in each other. We're so blessed to have one another and as we get older I appreciate that more and more. So happy belated birthday Brian. You are my everything and I love you.

Today was the scrap convention and I came home feeling so energized. It wasn't the convention itself, which was fairly disappointing in my opinion, it was the company. And it was the fact that I got to spend some time with only myself to think about. I have to remember to try to do that more often. It's good for me and the family when I feel happier and more relaxed. So today I got to hang with Becky for 4 hours with *gasp* no kids! Just us girls enjoying some much deserve girl time perusing (OK, so we bought a little too) the scrapbook stuff. Then Brian picked me up and we went to a lunch with *gasp* no kids. We did a few errands afterward then I headed back to the convention. I shopped for a little longer and then waited to meet with one of the other ScrapAddict designers, Catherine. (See photo here ---> What, you don't see the photo?!? Oh, that would be because I was an IDIOT and forgot my camera in the van. I'll insert the photo when Catherine emails it ...

Well, I didn't win HOF. The calls were made today and I didn't get one. I'm still holding out hopes for an honorable mention, but we'll see...

I've never gotten so psyched up about a contest before, but right now I'm really on edge about Hall Of Fame. It's the big contest put on my Creaking Keepsakes magazine. Each year they choose 25 of the best entries and award them each with $500 and the honor of being a member of the Hall of Fame (HOF). This is my first year entering this specific contest, but last year I entered similar contests for both Memory Makers Magazine and the now-defunct PaperKuts magazine, earning honorable mentions in both contests. I'm hoping for another honorable mention, or better yet being in the HOF. The calls are supposed to go out this week and I'm jumpy about it. Everytime the phone rings I jump. I know it's probably rudiculous, but I can't help it. I will say that I met a personal goal by entering this contest. I planned on entering each of the magazine's contests and I have done so (except for the new Scrapbook Answers magazine... I may have to try that one next...

2 weeks until this term of school ends and I'm feeling the crunch. I have 4 assignments, 4 quizzes and 3 finals to take. I have barely cracked a book since vacation and am just not in the mood to do so now. I HAVE to do some studying tomorrow night so that I can have 2 assignments done by midnight. Then I have a final to take on Monday or Tuesday and, to be perfect honest, I have't read most of the reading. It is open book thank goodness so I'm just going to wing it and hope that I can get through it. Then it's more reading for quizzes I have to take by Wed. evening. Thankfully there is a bright light on the horizon - Friday is the Oregon scrapbook convention which means mucho shopping for me. I lucked out, as it's a day off from school for the kids so they are going to spend some time at Grandma & Grandpa's house. YEAH!!! I'm looking forward to a little "me" time.

I apologize for my absence, but I think I needed a break from my blog after my marathon blogging session during vacation. We are home now and things are somewhat back to normal. Brian returned to work today and the kids have been to school since Tuesday. I'm still drowning under piles of laundry (what else is new!) that I swear I'm going to fold tomorrow. And my house is still recovering from the oodles of stuff we brought home with us. I've been looking at my Disney photos (all 1000 of them! LOL) and printed a few off today, but I'm *trying* to ban myself from all things scrapbook related until I finish these 2 quizzes that have to be done by 8am. (In other words, I'm going to wing it on the quizzes and go scrap! LOL) I have the awesome new kits from www.scrapaddict.com that I've been DYING to break into and I have the urge to scrapbook! Only 2 more weeks of school and then I get a break. YEAH!!! I am only doing 2 classes next term so my workload should...

Yesterday we were in California. We were basking in the cool winter sun and enjoying the freedom of our vacation. Today we are back in Oregon, basking in the comfort of our couch and wishing we were still in California. First things first, here is the rundown for yesterday, our final day in California. We slept in a bit and then checked out of the hotel. Wow, did we have a lot of stuff! It didn't seem like we bought that much on vacation, but we sure had a hard time fitting everything in our suitcases, even after we had totally emptied one suitcase that was filled with cereal and snacks on our way there. Somehow we managed to fit it all in suitcases and then managed to fit all those suitcases (12 checked bags and 7 carry-ons in all) in the minivan filled with 7 people. It was a bit of a tight fit! We headed to Downtown Disney to do some last minute shopping before leaving California. We stopped by World of Disney, a HUGE Disney store. I've been shopping there 5 or 6 times durin...

Today was our 5th and final day at Disney. We had seen nearly everything at Disneyland and California Adventure so planned on making today a "best hits" day by visiting our favorite attractions at both parks. We came armed with a list of the places we wanted to go and things we wanted to see. Our only mistake was in judging the number of people at the park today. WOW ... Saturdays are busy! And with Mom in a wheelchair it was sometimes hard to maneuver the park with all those people. But we made due. Our first stop was Adventureland and the Indiana Jones ride. Tristan, who was too frightened to try it yesterday decided that he was brave enough today. He rode it and loved it, claiming he wasn't scared one bit (although he sure jumped at the giant snake, just like I did). We headed towards Splash Mountain next but wisely thought it through and decided that being wet at 9:30am probably wasn't the best idea. Instead we jumped on the Disneyland railroad and rode it to Tomo...

Since rain was due in the area today we decided to head down to San Diego to visit Sea World. Again, I'll say that once you've experienced Disney you find everyone else lacking. I'm sure part of it was due to the rain also, but Sea World just wasn't what we had hoped for. We started by leaving early in the morning and arrived at the park just prior to the 10am opening. Our first stop was to see the Budweiser Clydesdales grazing outside their paddock. We then visited the Dolphin Encounter. We purchased a tray of fish and let each of the kids feed the dolphins a fish. They got to pet them and really were quite thrilled with the interaction. We then headed to find a seat for the Shamu Experience. There were 5 killer whales in the show, including one who was just 1 year old. They jumped, flipped, waved and splashed. This was the highlight of their animal experiences today. After the Shamu show we stopped by the Forbidden Reef where the kids got to touch huge bat rays. These...

Another perfect day at Disneyland. It was Brian’s Mom’s birthday today and everything seemed to cooperate. The weather was beautiful and she liked what the kids did for her birthday. We even got her a birthday sticker so Disney Cast Members kept wishing her a Happy Birthday all day long. We had early entry into the park this morning so arrived nice and early. We rushed into the park and headed straight for Dumbo. Not only were we the first on the ride for today, the kids also got to ride in the golden Dumbo. As part of Disney’s 50th Birthday celebration they have outfitted some rides with golden one golden vehicle. The kids were lucky enough to get the golden Dumbo and were thrilled. (See photo.). I rode Dumbo also, but sat alone as Brian and his parents were apparently too cool to ride Dumbo (OK, to be honest no one was thrilled with going round and round and round and up and down … they have no sense of adventure! LOL). Immediately after Dumbo we ran to Peter Pan’s flight, as the li...

We returned to Disney's California Adventure today and were so happy to be back in the magic. Our first stop in the park was Paradise Pier. We returned to where we left off when the rain hit us on Monday. We rode the Golden Zephyr, Jumpin' Jellyfish and then a twisty coaster called Mulholland Madness. After those we headed to the Maliboomer, which bullets you 180 feet into the air. It rose so quickly it felt like the blood drained out of my legs. Brian, the boys and I rode together, then Brian's parents went with the boys. The boys loved it and would have ridden it again if we let them. Carissa couldn't go, as she was too small (and again, she was so disappointed!) so she rode King Triton's carousel (again) and played a game in the midway, where she won a stuffed dolphin. Another trip on California Screamin' for Dad, Brian, the boys and I (did I mention how awesome this rollercoaster is ... the biggest one I've ever seen and SOOOO much fun!) and then we deci...