Busy busy girl... (& other lame excuses!)

I know... I know... I am a slacker!? I was even thinking of leavin' a wee bit o' smack on 'others' blogs but I realized I hadn't really updated my own blogs so - here I am!?

I HAVE been busy... I worked on a Custom card order (some are featured here:)

...as well as several 'real' Layouts (featured here:)

...and some Digi's too! (You guessed it... here:)

The one thing I still have a love/hate relationship in DigiLand is when I find a typo... I had already merged all layers - so while theoretically it should be easier than a regular LO... it's not when you find it AFTER the image has been flattened?! sigh...

Anyway, I finished up those Poetry books and loved every minute of them... and I am happy to report that not only am I in the middle of a fiction book... but I just had a friend refer me to two new authors who have SEVERAL books that I have never read - so once again - my stack is growing! Once I finish the Debbie Macomber book I am reading now - I am digging into the book you sent me Darcie... did you read it too!? I'll have to let ya know what I think!

So - today I am working on my 'other' job - (office and graphic design work for a few local Realtors) and then I am working on another custom card order for a non-traditional bridal shower... I am looking forward to figuring out something fun for that!

I am still faithfully watching AI and could rewrite my opinion of last nights' episode - but I basically wrote it all out on Na's blog already... so I will just refer you to her blog and call it good!? LOL!? (http://nataliemyrwold.typepad.com/)

So... what are you all working on right now!? What fun projects or pictures are you playing with!?

Scrap Happy!
~Karrilee~

Thriving in the Quietness!

OK... I haven't read a book in weeks... What is up with that?! I mean, I am still working on the stack of classic poets I got last month, but to not sit down and read an entire book in a day or two - for more than a couple of weeks tells me that something is wrong?! LOL!? Our library just started letting us RENEW our books for an additional month, and I suspect knowing in the back of my mind that I have more time - well - it may have added to my lack of urgency to read through the current stack! (Spring Break is NEVER a great time for me to get into a book though - so that was an entire week that doesn't really count?!) I am however relishing this week in the QUIETNESS of my house!


I am LOVING the empty house during the day... have I accomplished much?! No, not really?! I haven't even napped or anything really great like that - but I am just somehow more aware of the blessing of being able to stay home and not have such a strict schedule! It is not always this way - and I keep thinking that I am appreciating it because it is quite possible that a busy season is just around the corner?! Part of me thinks I SHOULD take a week and just read... but I press on! I have a few new smaller custom card orders that I am looking forward to starting on tomorrow! Plus - there is that ever-present outline for my book that I am supposed to have ready to discuss on Monday!? I haven't pulled it out for over a month... I need to find an illustrator as much of the story will be told in the pictures but I really am at a loss... it's not necessarily my job, but I keep going back to that and it is holding me back from moving forward! So - having said that now, I need to just push through and work out some details of the book...


Anyway - so Kaye had tennis Tues/Fri and she loved it... picked it right back up and we are just so thankful for her coach! Thursday afternoon I went and 'played' tennis again with my sister, and then in the evening, I had Bunko (and won!) and Dave started a college Jazz Guitar class... At Bunko, I had to overcome the Garlic Bread talking to me and the Chocolate Cheesecake singing love songs to me! But - I overcame and stuck within my calorie numbers... a huge success given the fact that Cheesecake, and pasta w/Garlic bread would have to be my biggest temptations?!


Friday, instead of my usual workout with Millie (my lovely treadmill!) I headed out with my sister and my Dad to go 'hike' a short 2 ro 3 mile trail down Cowiche Canyon. It was a gorgeous day and I had never done it... so it was great! I didn't even get that winded or anything... THEN, I had a baby shower to go to... at El Porton!?! El Porton is my FAVORITE Mexican Restaurant in town... I have purposely veered far away from that area of town... I am in LOVE with their salsa and warm homemade chips... however I tend to black out when munching on them and I was tormented on how I was going to handle it. Well, God is pretty funny - let me just say - I was somehow seated next to the only two kids at the shower and they were - well, being kids with those chips and I will just say I was no longer tempted! LOL! Whew?!!! I made it home safe that night too!


On Saturday I worked on Mother's Day cards all afternoon, as well as working on a few Challenges - doing Digi's because they are #1) faster and easier with no clean up, and #2) I am out of photo's to scrap in real life?! LOL!? I actually had some printed today so I will have something to scrap at my Crop on Thursday night! (So yes - you will eventually see the same photo's but it's not like I am Bucket or anything... I scrapped 'em digitally, and I will scrap 'em in real life and then I will be done with them... most likely?! LOL?!) Anyway, here are a few samples:












We are still going to the Laugh Your Way marriage Sunday school class at church and loving it! Last week was all about sex... yeah... it was all good - but the guy did surprise by some of the things he said - I was glad the lights were all off! LOL! Just a little shock lingo to get his point across... hopefully it was effective!? He said a lot of very interesting things... of course, mostly it was geared at the guys putting in the work... it takes a lot more for us (in general terms) to be 'in the mood' - for them, we just gotta show up most of the time! (the times we don't need to show up are the times he was talking the shock lingo about! LOL!) But he talked about the sad misconception of porn ... how many therapists actually prescribe it to 'improve your marriage and sex life' when in fact, it is scientifically and physically proven to have the opposite end result! He also talked about how we need to tell our kids this stuff... they have to know that our sex-obsessed culture is lying to them about the 'benefits' of porn and multiple partners, etc. He said something I thought was very intriguing! He said that there is a hormone or chemical (I can't remember what it is - one of you probably know?!) that a female body releases that creates a bond... it is the same thing that happens when we breast feed - but this also happens when we have a sexual experience. (God is so stinkin' smart?!) However, if a woman has multiple partners, it tends to release less and less, and you do not have that bonding emotion happen. Isn't that something?! Anyway - he said other stuff too that was really amazing... the funniest part unfortunately was the couple behind us! LOL! The husband (when the speaker FINALLY got to the little section where he was talking about the woman's role and what she needs to do - which keep in mind - it was like 1 hour, 25 minutes focused on the husband, and 5 minutes on the wife!) ...anyway, the husband was uh-huhing and amening several times and the wife finally said "Shut UP!" LOL! Too funny! The service was great too and then we had lunch over at Dave's parents' house with his family. That was nice and relaxing, and way less tempting to black out?!


Monday was my Mom's b'day and my sister and I and our roommate Raini took her out for lunch to celebrate! We let her pick the place and ended up at Red Lobster. Great... !? It helped to have my sister Kim with me because we are doing this together... we ended up ordering the Waldorf Salad with chicken, no bleu cheese, no croutons, and no walnuts (good for you but high in cals and I don't really like them, so it was fine with me to skip 'em!) We still had room to have ONE Cheddar Bay Biscuit! Yum!!! I managed to get my workout in with Millie in the afternoon and THEN, LOL!? we were invited to Dave's sisters' house for dinner that evening. They were gonna make a roast... super! I can have that and choose my sides carefully and I should be fine! However, we got there and they decided to get pizza instead?! Yikes?! I ended up being fine - I had two small slices (and it was super yummy!) and lots of salad and enjoyed a small cup of coffee afterwards... I didn't go over my numbers by the end of the night which surprised me?! LOL!? I was SUPER CLOSE to going over... but not over!


Today I had my prayer meeting which was good... however I came home and was famished... I realized after eating lunch and still being hungry that I was really not so much hungry as I was feeling tricked!? LOL!? Some sort of attack of the enemy or something! I know that now... and it is after dinner - and despite surviving Bunko, and my fav Mexican restaurant, AND a birthday celebration, AND pizza, ...TONIGHT - after being home most of the day, I am over my numbers?! And it is only 7:30pm!?! sigh... well- it is only about 3 over, and only in one category (fat grams)... but I haven't gone over at all in months... and weigh-in is Thursday!? But, that's okay! It is... we all have our days and I refuse to give in or give up... it is a wall I have hit before, and in the past, I would have turned around and given up. However, I will press through, breakthrough, or climb over this wall if I have to!


So - I am off to maybe read a bit! That sounds like a great idea and it will occupy my mind for awhile (until AI is on, anyway?!) I need to preplan my pages for the Crop and pack up a bit, as well as plan out the newest Custom orders!


Scrap On!
~Karri~

The Big GIve, some Digi Fun, & Spring Break comes to a close!

Whew?! What a week... mostly really lazy and unproductive - but still!? I love Spring Break! I love the lazy sleep-in mornings, and I love the no-plans-today afternoons! I love being able to hang out with my kid... and allow her to have sleep overs and just chill! We are a one child family - and we are not full booked if you know what I mean! We are really into our 'down time' and are not big fans of over-scheduling... However, usually for Spring Break - we plan a short 2 or 3 day trip to family out of town or something... just a little get away - usually just us two girls! Poor Dave... he gets no Spring Break!? This year though- we didn't plan anything... and it was wonderful!

Kaye had Holly over for three days in a row and they LOVED it... I can't even really tell you that I saw much of them for at least 1-1/2 of those days?! They spent at least all of one day in the family room (where they slept) playing video games, talking, and watching movies?! Sweet?! Don't you all remember spending the night at friends and just being lazy together when we were teenagers?! Nice!

Then we went and did a tiny bit of local shopping... just a few must have items, and a few little surprise purchases at Kaye's new favorite store!? Crap!? She now LOVES Wild Lucy's... which is a Punk/Rock Boutique... it's so not Shopko!?!???! Sigh... I suppose I had it coming... I was the same way at her age?! I told her I would buy ONE thing and so after trying on several and weeding it down to three things - she was featured on the floor in the dressing room counting all her money! LOL!? I so wish I had my camera then! I can literally remember doing that exact same thing?!!? (sadly - for the exact same stinkin' shirts too!?) Whatever?!

So - have you guys been watching Oprah's Big Give at all!? I SO love the concept and have really enjoyed watching it whenever I remember it is on!? I am really not a responsible TV watcher?! The only show I remember FOR SURE is AI (which is on way too much for me to actually WATCH all of them!?), The Office on Thursdays and Project Runway/Top Chef on Wednesdays... (Oh, and Monk/Psych on Fridays when it is on... which is not for months now?!) Anyway - the Big Give - for those of you who don't know - is a Reality TV show where the contestants are each given a certain amount of money and they must accomplish a task or something and give the money away - or raise more for a charity or do something for a stranger (or strangers) all within a limited time frame with various rules. So fun!!! Anyway - we decided after a bit of prayer to do a Big Give of our own! Now - keep in mind - we do not have access to Oprah's money - or any of her sponsors either... just a bit of a tax return and a family in mind... so Kaye and I took a day trip and traveled out of town to give this family a surprise... what started out as a small amount, we were able to raise up enough to help them get current with their rent, fix their car, pay taxes, and even get some groceries too I think!? Wow?! I so wish I had more income to do this on a regular basis!?!! It was so fun!!! I highly recommend it if you can! We didn't have $10,000 or anything... something small can still mean a great deal to someone who really needs it! I think we have caught the bug... and we're now praying and looking for ways to do this again! So fun!

I play around quite a bit on IAmAScrapaholic.com and love the site... the kits are amazing and one day I know I will sign up to actually get them every month... this month is their 2 year Anniversary and so the whole month they are having games and prizes and RAKs and Challenges... so I did a couple more cards and a couple of digi's for the Challenges this weekend:

Check 'em out and play along... the kits/prizes/Deals are amazing!!!

On Saturday, my sister Kim and I decided that we wanted to change it up a bit... we have been walking once a week and missed our date (due to our out of town road trip) and so we rescheduled it for Saturday. Our husbands were off fishing together and we decided we would go attempt to play tennis?! OK - so - we KNEW it would not so much be a workout in that we could say we played tennis... but it DID involve a LOT of retrieving balls, running after missed balls, swinging (and mostly hitting), etc! We went to a somewhat abandoned fenced in court and spent over 1-1/2 hours playing tennis... well - I wouldn't say playing... as in keeping score... but it was fun - and we will get better the more we attempt it I am sure!?!! LOL!

Today - aahhh... yes, it is true! Today was back to school! Praise God! I love her - but I had a really hard time sticking with my workout routine while she was home... I only really missed ONE workout - but it felt like more because of changing the times, etc. Plus - my eating habits are WAY easier when I am home on my own and don't have to worry about what to feed someone else?! I didn't over eat - in fact, it was the opposite - I didn't eat enough calories and actually ended up weighing in to find I had gained a pound?! Um - no!? That is not the direction we want to go!? It's still crazy to me to think that eating LESS causes you to gain weight... but it does?! So - I am eating more of the good for you stuff - but still not getting in enough cals?! My sister lovingly told me to simply DRINK my calories then if I was still short after dinner!? (I am sure she meant MILK and such... but still... BRILLIANT!!!) LOL! So, anyway, today - I dropped Kaye off at school and came home to do a bit of computer work and then I walked with Pretty Millie for an hour or so and did a bit of my strength training... made my Grocery List and went shopping... came home and chopped up all my fruits and veggies for easy-access snacking through out the week and still had time to read a bit while blog stalking... ?! Nice!!! AND I even got to enjoy my playlist here on my own blog! I must say - it's a GREAT playlist! LOL!

So - I am off now to attempt a wee bit of laundry while Dave is out playing tennis with Kaye! She starts tennis lessons up tomorrow... it will be twice a week and she may help teach basic tennis after school later this month too... between that, and her Tues/Thur church groups - it's plenty!?!! Again... we are fans of that precious 'down time'... so when we get something scheduled for every night of the week we start to stress out and we know we said yes to at least one too many things?!

So - Chuck is in Hawaii... wonder how her knee is doing tonight?! I finally got to see Buckets' new do... totally Rock Star! (Thanks Na!) and I am needing to work on a few Challenge LOs and list a few more things in my Etsy Store!

Scrap On Girlies!!!
Scrap On!
~Karrilee~