our conference starts tomorrow!!

We head to San Jose tomorrow for our area pioneer pastor conference!! This is a real refreshing time...both in preaching and seeing the ladies I met a year ago!! The conference starts in the evening....so Thursday in the day we try to go someplace in the bay area!
I am so excited as tomorrow we are going into SAN FRANCISCO! We have been here 2 years and I drove by once, but haven't been in the city since we got here! I love this place!!!!
We are going here:We studied the how and why the people of San Francisco and Marin County built this beautiful bridge! Tomorrow we are going to drive across it, then park and walk across!! Not all the way...it is 5 miles long and a bit windy, and it sways! One side will be the Pacific Ocean the other the San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz!! So much history and excitement! We are all excited!
This is up at the north west side of the bay area, and just an hour or so from San Jose! We have packed a cooler full of fried chicken and snacks to enjoy in the city!

Goin here tomorrrow!!!!

Try not to miss me too much!!! I'll be back with some new things! and lots of pictures!! We were supposed to go to the redwoods, but it is coooooooooooold!!!

Concert Tomorrow!!

The Redding Church and the folks from Oroville are coming down to the wild Yuba City tomorrow! A morning of flyer pass out and inviteing more folks to the outdoor concert! In our parking lot!
My honey has been zooming all week, we have outreached our hearts out, and it is gonna be good! We even got a phone call! That always makes us happy, especially since it is just us and a few other ladies handing out the fliers.

I'm a glutton!

A few months ago, I applied for a CT position for Designs by Helly, I didn't get the pick, but I did become a fan of Helly! She gave a sweet gift certificate for kit of my choice, so I went and got this one: Haunted (by memories of you).I sat down today to scrap the kit. Yeah, she is having another call, and I really would love to be a part of it. I love the colors and way she puts a kit together. I applied AGAIN-hoping for points in persevering!I got the news I didn't get a spot at Jessica Sprague...so I figured...what is more rejection?~ha ha

I love this layout! If you look behind the picture and clusters, you see my scribbles from 1967! My letter to my dad. He was on a ship in the Navy.

My hair is all gone....

Saturday, after fighting my Rosanna Rosanna Danna hairdo, I called around to find a place that didn't want $50 for a haircut. I found a reasonable place and they had an opening for 3:30pm. I went in and one Asian lady, and one "senior" lady with dyed red straight hair. I figured, the Asian lady took the phone call, she was gonna do me. I was right. I showed her a picture in a book...she said, yeah, yeah, I fix you....you need wash and wear...fat cheeks, I fix you better.
I thought was she calling me "Fat Cheeks" or bringing the fact that I have fat cheeks to the forefront of our conversation. I am not shamed or embarrassed, I have had these jowls my whole life, my dad has them also. The older I get, I look in the mirror and chuckle about something funny my dad might have done. That is how I roll.
Anyway, back to the hairdresser. She laughs at my hair, that I have paint in it. She says, "How many kids your ages?" Aha, I am beginning to pick up her dialect...insane Asian lady. I tell her about my kids, she says, you need shampoo!
I got the best shampoo, I seriously could have gone to sleep, but she kept firing questions at me. I don't think I answered any of them right.
Then to the chair...where she combs out my hair and scoops the back up and cuts 6 inches off! My stomach flipped.
This is where the total acquiescing kicks in. Acquiese-To consent or comply passively or without protest. I now know that my hair is going to look nothing like the picture I showed her, and that I am going to a conference with my peers in 2 weeks and will be receiving many polite hello's and "did you do (as in what the heck did you do) something with your hair?"
This woman manipulated and twisted and cut and re-cut and pulled and cut more of my hair for the next 45 minutes.
I thought about time being saved, shampoo that wouldn't be needed...different ways to wear hats.
Then she finished and I loved it...it is all shaped nice and my jowls needed the lift! I like it and made a little layout last night to show it off! Julie. My designing friend is releasing the kit on Friday, but is cool about me showing it off! She is like that!

So, I am now sporting a new do, 12 pounds weight loss, and today did 3 miles in 50 minutes. Walking, running is a long ways away! I want to sweat, not die.

Comment Junkie-admit it..so are you!

Okay, I love to get a comment on my layouts, I admit it...but not the kind you solicited. I do play the praise game at DST, and so I get the "nice" and "tfs" folks but I ignore those...am I horrible? I leave comments that are sometimes long rambling stories. I write like I talk, although now that I am learning Grammar with my kids, I am trying really hard not to end my sentences with a preposition.
That was the lead in paragraph, here is the meat:Last week I saw this layout:Now I read the credits. I love to see the names of the designers (because alot were on CTs with me long ago). Plus I am a CT junkie and like to see designers work in action. I don't usually buy things. (long story, but lets just agree that I am cheap)
So I leave this comment: are you the cindy of the cindy's templates? this layout is so fantastic..
This turned into a hilarious back and forth PMs from Cindy. She is rather awesome. She pointed me to a freebie template to try:
Now, I am really just learning the fun of templates. I had a blast playing with Sine's when she was selling at Scrap Orchard. Sine had wild shapes and such. Cindy makes templates not confusing. If you have tried templates in the past and the layers (especially multi-photo ones) can be more of a pain. I played and really enjoyed the design and the layering is fun and so balanced. Here is the layout I did, using Julie. It is.' kit Tomboy:
The end of the story: Cindy gave me a gift certificate and my mouth hit the ground...I went to her store (Sweet Shoppe Designs) and used the GC and hold on to your hats, I spent money! She is that good!!
See what I got:I can't wait to play with them. I want to do a page or three for the homeschool yearbook using these.

Goin' to Grandparents!!

I'm rushing to get everything done!! We are going to my parents for the day! This is a big thing! Abby counts the days til we go, reminding me how long it has been since we last saw them. Anna promises not to eat everything Grandpa gives her, so she won't puke this time. Eric is non chalant, but he loves them so much. Then Gabriel is just happy to see what is on the TV, golf, fishing or his beloved Sponge Bob! ha ha
This week, Dawn Inskip made a beautiful kit about Grandparents, and called Grandparents 101, it is fabTABulous! You can pick it up at CatScrap or Pickle Berry PopI did two layouts, the first is my Dad with that face that my face seems to be becoming daily! lol I wish I could grow a beard! ha ha
He is teaching Eric how to fly a kite. This is the first time my parents had met Eric. I loved watching them as Grandparents!

You can see where I get more joy for life! My parents love life and this pic of my mom on the swing captures her perfectly! She was at the school park where I went to elementary school!! My girls were next to her and she was just kicking her legs back and forth swinging!
So-off to the shower and then await, my honey to get home from work, and then we are off to Napa!!! Enjoy your weekend, go by the kit and scrap some grandparent pics!

rearrange TIME!!

Those who have known me for years have seen me on rearrange time...rooms have been known to become changed completely and if I have paint...hold on tight! Our landlord's graciously reimburse us for paint. I had done the kitchen and what is supposed to be the eat in kitchen area. You can see where I stopped, as the whole house is flat white...ugh. I have creamy yellow now. I was using it as an office to scrap, homeschool and cook in! Bad idea...keeping the area clean was hard:

BEFORE

A bit of rearranging and new beautiful curtains changed my office into a fridge/counter and lovely dining area...will work great for school come Monday (we are on Spring Break). I finished painting the ceilings and all the walls! I love it so much!NOW!!

We were doing okay with the way it was arranged, but the hutch has our homeschool stuff, papers and everything else was waaaaaaaaaaaay away from my office area...and everything was becoming piles of piles. I don't do well in piles...I like organization and right thing in right place. This keeps me from twitching.BEFORE

So my office is right next to the hutch of homeschool material, books, papers, curriculum and my scrapping!! See that white blanket? That is the cat's, Lady Fluffy Pants sleeps there while I scrap late into the evening!

NOW!!

Eric's desk is inbetween where the 3 are working at the table and closer to us as a group! This was important, as one of the greatest perks of homeschooling is being with my kids!! The room absolutely glows now!!This is my view from my office area! I love it!
I scrubbed the floor and then put down 2 coats of wax, so it is glistening! Aaaah...all organized and ready for back to school on Monday!

My mean April's Fool

Okay, it was mean and cruel, but hey I'm the mom! ha ha...I told them after our "opening ceremonies" of school, I had an announcement. The announcement;
NO SCHOOL Today!!

Then I said,
April Fool's!!!
Gabriel's eyebrows are so furled! bha ha haoh of course I had the camera, that is what I do..it is with me pretty much everywhere!!
Look at my precious girls face!!! Such trust and joy! Only to dash it....
Can't you hear her little voice going "aaaaaaaw mom!"
We only did math and grammar, and then we were done...and they love school anyways, just are drama children along with me!!

How we begin school! Take a glimpse....

First we say the Pledge of Allegiance. I am dead serious...this is my country and I love it!

Then we have warm up body exercise, toe touches, jumping jacks and....push ups and choice of sit ups, crunches or leg lift. I do them too! Yeah mom!

Then we do out loud Bible reading, we have done 3 books in the New Testament so far and we are tackling Genesis right now...
One of the fun parts of homeschooling is having hot tea thru the morning while we do our lessons.
After bible reading, we open in prayer for the day. Everyone has a week then we change. This is also the person that tells us to Salute Flag, leads calisthenics and anything else I ponder that week and need them to do.

$20 - You can win!!

This is completely different challenge!You don't make a layout, you leave love!!
The winner (with the most comments) will win a
$20 gift certificate
forANYTHING
in
Creative
Victorian
Designs
store.
To play, you post to this thread
how many comments
you have
right now
with the date.

example:

AnneofAlamo-4/1/2010 -472 comments
This count is for post in the gallery and in the forum,
they all go together
...so the more you chat,
the more posts/comments you have.

The one with the most on April 30th
will win $20 Gift Certificate!
YEP $20...

I will check the final count for each person
that registered in this thread
with their beginning count
and figure out the winner!!

Now go
leave some love
!!

I got published! And forgot!

I didn't apply, so I guess that is why I put on the back burner of my brain! Sarah Barber of Sarah Barber Designs (pretty nifty name eh?) is one of the designers that lets me fiddle around with their designs. I babble....focus....focus....She is now going to be writing a monthly column in The Artisan Notebook. Sarah's column will be all about art journalling and all things vintage, so make sure you head on over to The Artisan Notebook site and grab yourself a copy. You can take out a 3 month subscription or purchase a one-off edition of the publication. And I believe you will find a discount coupon to Sarah's store on page 89 of the April edition and look out for Sarah's column on pages 22 and 23.My layout is with Irene's on page 23!! The aTc was made with Sarah's prompt in The Artisan Notebook, and using Sarah Barber's kit; For the Birds.

Sarah is uber talented! I am very happy on her team, I get a bit of a giggle and wow whenever I open her kits. aTc's are dear to Sarah's heart and her CT team..which I am on...lol we have a blog to help you play with aTcs!

The third challenge is up right now, and a beautiful aTc mixed bag v.3 has been released to help you in the challenge....you don't have to use the kit, but oh you will so want to, look at the colors:

Incentive: Sarah has just released ATC Mixed Bag v.3 into her Digiridoo Scraps store, and she's offering it to you for 50% off! Go to the her CT Blog; Beautiful Gems for details on the challenge and the coupon code!!! This is my aTc for the challenge! Simple Things! :)

Whew! That was alot of words..I gotta go.

Our Flyer for Easter!!