So, I believe I have experienced something new...

I can never think of a Christmas that I haven't spent in the state of Arizona. I know that sounds impossible, but its true. Whether it is at my parents' house, my house, or my husband's family I have always been in Arizona for Christmas. This year is different. OK--I have to admit but I am a little excited to spend Christmas where we might even get snow on Christmas Day. Where it is actually cold, and no one really spends time outside...quite a different concept for a desert girl.

One thing that I don't appreciate in this mad rush and flying back east is the idea of shipping presents for Christmas Day. I am leaving my gift-giving ability up to unknown people that "assure me" that my gifts will get to their destination on time. That is quite a leap of faith for this control-freakish type of girl. And UPS, regardless of their very cute delivery men, has caused me issues today. The gift that was to put Aunt Karent (he always puts a "t" at the end of my name) and Uncle Chris on the gift-giving pedestal for the day, went AWOL. UPS's little tracker system said it wouldn't arrive to Indianapolis until December 27. I stared at that little piece of information on my computer screen for several seconds before realizing my problem. How can I give a little boy the "best gift" ever on Christmas Day, when the package wasn't going to be there until two days later?

Well the total control-freakish girl I am, called UPS and told them they needed to deliver the package before Christmas--no excuses. OK, so that didn't go over very well. So a few hours of panic, a couple of scenario building sessions later, I went back online and discovered that the package was upgraded, and will be there tomorrow. Fantastic, my "queen & king for a day in a little boy's life" was just made possible by my no so friendly or convenient friends at UPS. But its getting there, and that's all that matters. Now, this better not jinx it.

Otherwise, this is probably it for posts until next week when I back from the great space known as the mid-west. Until then, have a wonderful Christmas.

So, it happened again

Another two weeks flew by, and its all a blur to me. Mainly because I had a HUGE project submittal that needed most of my attention. Now, it over thankfully, but its left me with a head cold. I started feeling not so good last Tuesday/Wednesday, but willed myself to keep on going. And I made it through it all.

We leave for Indianapolis on Saturday where it's a high of 20 and a low of 4. Found that out this morning watching Al on the Today Show. Right now I am asking myself, why are we going where it is FRIGID, and do I dare tell my husband how cold it really is. (He was in the shower during the weather on TV). My family will be there, so yes we are going, and I don't think I will tell him.

Do you remember...

Before I begin...yes Carrie do plan for a visit next year!! Either the whole family or just you--we will have a guest room + my scrap room to play!! YEA!!

OK--onto my topic for the day. My dad passed away over eleven years ago now, and rarely do I dream about him anymore. Memories, no matter what, typically fade all too quickly over time. And my memories of my father are very precious to me, so when I start dreaming about him coming back into my life it's bittersweet. It's wonderful having his memory come flooding back to me but those same memories tend to leave me out of sorts for the next few days. I rarely mention to anyone when this happens, as I am not very good about opening up with these things. Anyway, didn't mean to depress anyone, and this will end on a happy note--promise.

I love soundtracks, and my latest one I purchased was "The Wedding Planner". You know the cheesy girl movie with JLo and Matthew McConnahey (spelling not my strong suit--People magazine's 2005 Sexist Man Alive). Well this soundtrack has an equally cheesy song by John Denver called "Annie's Song." For some reason I chose to put that on my iPod. Listening to it last week, a memory came flooding back to me about my Dad. I remember sitting in his boat of a car (blue Cadillac Coupe de Ville circa 1976) all pimped out with the latest 8-Track player and his John Denver 8-Track. I have no clue why Dad had an 8-Track of John Denver, but that's not the point. I think I was between six and eight years old, and I remember making my Dad replay that song over and over again because I thought it was such a pretty song. He must have grown so sick of it. I had completely forgotten this until last week when after hearing the song for a few days, then memory popped back into my head.

The mind is a wonderous thing...lots of my memories of my father are fading away, but one obscure song, by John Denver, caused my brain to go into overdrive and not only bring that memory back to me in vivid color, but triggered my dreams about him. I miss him still to this day so much it still hurts to talk about him, but Dad and I will still have this funny, pretty song together.

So many interesting things out there...

I decided to add a few new links to my blog--for inspiration. I followed links off of Carrie's blog, to Marirosa's blog, to someone else's blog...and then lost into the great big world of scrapbooking blogs. So many things to see and read about. I am missing tons, and would love just to sit here at work (6pm) and search through everything, but I do have to head home soon and dinner is calling. I started this whole thing because my CAD program I was working in decided to throw me out, and I didn't have the energy to go right back in. So I figured where I was ended up being good enough for a day. So blogging was an answer I thought I would enjoy.

I found a blog called "Self-Portrait Tuesday," SPT for short. What a cool idea--you post a photo of yourself on every tuesday and every month has a theme. It's reflection this month. I think I might just join in on this.

I also found Angie Pedersen's blog. She is the woman who published "Book About Me." I started one on myself about six months ago. It's difficult at times to do, but it will be worth it. and the SPT might help with that as well.

Gotta go home now. See ya all later.

Holiday Week

Well, I did what I said on Monday--sort of. I took Wednesday off, but didn't scrap at all. Instead, C didn't do any work either and we ended up shopping the morning away. Go figure--I have a husband who enjoys the "Pottery Barn" look just about as much as I do--just not the price tag. But, occasionally we walk in to see what they have, and wouldn't you know it but they have a coffee table on sale that's wonderful, and goes with our game table we bought last year. So we splurged, and bought it. It looks great at home, and I am excited to have more hiding spaces for magazines, remotes, and everything else that clutters a family room.

I did get around to scrapping a bit on Saturday morning in the form of finishing my sister's housewarming gift. Yea!! One thing down of about a half dozen that I want to complete before Christmas. Next up...Christmas cards. Ugggghhhh....

Pre Holiday Monday

Hi--

So its Monday--half the office is gone on PTO--and I don't want to work. Its after 5pm--I am allowed to say that now. It something to do with the short week--I want to make it way shorter than three days, say two days, and just scrapbook for a day. Sounds wonderful doesn't it? I was able to scrap a bit yesterday--I am trying to finish my sister's housewarming gift. It's a book for her to keep all the important house information in one place--like utility information, neighbors' phone numbers, take-out menus and reservation numbers, etc. Its just a little 8x8 book, and I am going to bind it using the wire GBC comb and my new-to-me binding machine. I hope it turns out.

Other things going on, not much. We get to see the plans for the addition hopefully by next week. I am looking forward to having more space. Especially since C is seeing where he went wrong by offering to vacate his computer stuff out of the extra bedroom. Somehow I knew that wasn't going to last for too long, but hey got almost a year out of him. So, once the addition is complete, our bedroom now will be turned into the office for both of us. My next idea is to get him this really cool desk that will fit his computer, paperwork, etc. but leaves me the majority of the space for my stuff. If I am able to find a desk that he likes, maybe he won't notice I am only giving him a quarter of the space we have set aside for our office. hmmmmmm......

To keep up...

I have been reading a lot lately so no blogging lately, but I will keep trying. The reading thing goes in waves. My recent trip back east got me started on my latest "binge". I just finished reading the second of the two latest Patricia Cornwell books with her re-occuring character, Dr. Kay Scarpetta. LOVE those characters. There is one more that I have to read, and then I am all caught up. I just read the reviews on the last one, and they weren't glowing, so I may have to wait for a paperback in that one.

Then I will just resort to switching to one of my other favorite writers, Elizabeth Peters. Her characters are eyptologists in the 1920's through 1940's (so far). They are mysteries with a touch of romance. Stories pull you in...and the new book is called "Serpent of the Crown." So I may just have to pick that one up.

Otherwise, it's eight days to the new Harry Potter movie.

New Links

OK--thanks to my friend, Mara, I have linked to a couple other blogs from other well-known scrappers. You know the likes of Donna Downey and Heidi Swapp. I am hoping by reading their blogs that a little creativity rubs off on me. I love all their items, and each one has such positive force as you read their entries, how can the good creative karma not rub off.

I had the pleasure of meeting Heidi Swapp last spring at the CK Convention here in Phoenix. I will never forget what she said over the microphone, "I go all out, and I don't know what is appropriate at these things (meaning crops) but I tend to overdo things..." She had such electricity, and she did "overdo" it for the good--Everyone ended up walking away with product, or project that they worked on with her, or some other memory of a fabulous night. Her blog is the exact same--you can feel that energy coming through.

Donna Downey's blog has challenges to her readers, which I think is great--that should get my creative juices flowing. She is another one that you can just feel her energy. I keep saying energy but its true--I love to scrapbook, and you can tell these women do too; therefore it's easy to pick up on--now if just the immense creative talent they have will transfer the same way. Ha-ha.

TGIF!

So, we have reached another end to a week. When you are little you think the weeks drag on and on; but the weekends go fast. I am convinced that as you get older the weeks fly by, and the weekends are just a blur. Where does time go?

For instance, we are interviewing contractors for our major home improvement, and I keep saying to myself, "Next week, I will get it done then. Hopefully, have a contractor on board by Christmas." Now, I will be lucky if it happens by February. Time should go as fast as you want it to, not as fast as it is. Right now, I would like it to slow up just a bit, so I can get a little more done.

My purchases 

Coordinating Papers with Basic Grey! 

Bazzill and Basic Grey...what a combination

Found the following matching bazzill papers to Basic Grey collection on a post somewhere, and thought this could be useful to everyone. The reason for posting is that I went to the Phoenix CK Convention yesterday, and I did quite a bit of damage to the checkbook. It was fun. I also found out that Sissex has released its adapters for QuikCuts for use in the Sidekick. (This might be old news to most, because I am always a step or two behind. So, I bought the adapter, "emily" dies, and tomorrow I am going to buy the Sissex sidekick. See below a picture of the other things I found at the convention, and the packet of matching Bazzill for Motifica which I am going to use on the wedding album.

Black Tie - scout, camouflage, chloe, dusk, mystique, dark butter, whirlpool, tropical rain, lilac mist and stonehedge

Lollipop Shoppe - lavendar twilight, dandelion, chablis, red hot, true teal, pistachio, green tea, teal, raindrop, maraschino

Vagabond - nightmist, sapphire, buttercup, honeycomb, fern, dark taupe, yukon gold, curry spice, windy, leapfrog

Phresh & Phunky - cucumber, light house, mauve ice, waterfall, celery, fern, jacaranda, ivy, petunia, stonewash

Sublime - java, lakeshore, light rosey, brick road, leapfrog, ruby red, grenadine, sea salt, pinenut, bon bon

Motifica - haley, mocha, celery, java, sea spray, witch hazel, missy, barkley, forest, nordic

Sophie - dark black, purple sage, pinata, lemonade, dark tangerine, chablis, daisy, contton candy, light tangerine, lipstick

Dawson - dark sky, glacier, lemonade, light black, dark tanderine, hazard, tapioca, splash, skylar, dark black

Jack - dark sky, light sky, dark spruce, light spruce, light butter, kevin, spring breeze, french vanilla, lemonade, aloe vera

Alyssa - aloe vera, pear, dark rosy, dawn, light butter, piglet, pinkini, honeydew, cotton candy, light tangerine, lipstick

page 2 

Pages 

Finally

Attached are the pictures of the layouts that I completed from our trip to California. Enjoy.

I was inspired...thanks Carrie

I was looking at my friend, Carrie's blog, and she has spent some time doing some unique things, adding interesting links, etc to it. By looking at hers, and the interesting blogs she has linked to hers, I have been inspired. It was about time I tried my hand at editing the code, just a bit. I am not going to get too wild and crazy now, but I need to get a little more creative with this, if I am really going to take advantage of this type of communication. So, hopefully I will continue to add to my links, and add some pictures (as I have promised in the past), and help fuel my creativity.

OK--so no one ever said it was going to be easy

So, for months I have been waiting for my company to be purchsed by the new company, and terribly excited that I was going to be able to work with an engineer that I think is one of the best out there again, then why am I totally hating my job this week, and its only the second week?

Where does it say that after ten years of doing my job well, that I can get treated poorly, and as my close group of friends at the office would say, a become a whipping post again? "WP" for short. I respect him and what he can teach me, but why does he treat me like someone who is completely clueless, and has zero knowledge?

I thought we had worked through the struggles of our communication issues when he worked at my old company. I learned "less is more" and noun-verb. If he wants to know more, then he will ask. I haven't forgotten those lessons; but he has forgotten, or maybe never really learned how to communicate with me.

The latest things that really have bothered me is the lack of communication. Sending out emails that directly relate to the project that I need to know every detail (because in his point of view, that is my job), but forgets to include me on the email, or have meetings about the project and doesn't include me on that invite. He taught me to be pro-active, get the client what he is asking for ASAP, but then chastizes me for doing what he has taught me.

Part of me is thinking I should just realize that maybe I made a mistake in coming here. I should have left when I had the chance. The other, bigger part of me, wants to continue to learn from him, and get past the WP stage. My problem is that I can't remove myself enough to calmly talk this out with him. I am getting way too emotional about this, and that sucks, especially when I am living in the male dominated world I am living in.

Didn't mean for this to be such a depressing blog today, I just had a bad week. Thanks for listening to me rant so much. Any advice on how to detach myself from this would be appreciated, any tricks or tips are welcome.

Yes, I am still alive

Hi All--

I am all comfy in my new surroundings at DMJM Harris. OK, so I don't have the great view anymore, and basically I don't know what is going on outside (no window seat), but I still have my same old computer and chair (they wanted to take the chair away because it didn't totally match the whole office color scheme, but I told them everything goes with grey, and I needed to keep it).

Lots going on, but its late, and C is losing patience with my horrible work schedule. I am going home now, but I will write more over the next few days. And BTW, I did complete a Girlfriends layout of our March trip. I will bring my camera in and upload the picture of it.

I love reading your blogs, because I don't feel so disconnected from you guys eventhough I haven't spoken to either of you in over a month at any great length.

More to the point...idiosyncracies

OK--so I have had a bit more to think...I have another. It absolutely drives me insane if the sheets on the bed and the towels in the bathroom don't match. They need to be all the same color or coordinated correctly. And when C uses one of our burgandy towels when I have the creme or tan ones out, and hangs it up to dry...I try not to freak, but I do end up changing it out with one that matches. Go figure.

I've been tagged...twice

Carrie and Korie have both tagged me, but I am only coming up with five. So, here we go...

idiosyncracy: structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. Write down five of your idiosyncracies, then, if you widh, tag five people, so here we go:

• I absolutely dispise people who drive down the street with their blinker on for blocks and blocks and blocks. I want to scream at them, don't you hear that incessant "ding, ding, ding". Turn it off!
• On the religious thing, thanks Korie. I don't understand why people say "it was God's will" that this happened to me. OK, so God loves you because something good happened to you, but hates me because something not so good happened to me. I don't think so. But we won't get into a discussion that C loves to have, "...but does God really exist? Prove it to me."
• Stupid people. Or should I just say people with no common sense, but somehow still think that the world owes them something.
• IKEA on a Sunday afternoon. Period.
• My new game. After almost eleven years with C, I found a new game that absolutely drives him batty. If you see a reporter or anchor on TV with a peculiar face tick, or misproportioned body part, I tell him, look at that reporter's lip as she talks, it droops to one side the more she keeps going. (ie the reporter for NBC news that is in Aruba following the Natalee Halloway dissappearance, her lower lip falls to the right as she is talking), and all he can now focus on is that "lip" and he forgets to listen to what they are saying. Then we can't watch anymore. I just giggle to myself the whole time.

OK--that wasn't so bad. I could go on, but I will wait for another day.

To find the time...

I love writing entries in my blog, and I adore reading my girfriends' blogs, so why does it take me forever to make an entry in mine? I am going to try and place something in here at least once every two or three days, and then I will feel better. So what's new with me? Working way too much, and having a difficult time deciding over this whole bankruptcy/asset purchase with the other company.

More importantly though, I hate my face. The whole non-birth control thing/not pregnant thing is making my face break out horribly, and the no-acne teenager years are paying a toll on me again. I buy everything under the sun, OTC, that I come across to rid my face. I try it for two weeks, and if I don't see an improvement, throw that out, and try again. Forget the meds that I have from the dermotologist, because of warnings on the labels. I seem to be getting better with my latest purchase, either that or I'm pregnant. So let's all cross our fingers for my face, that my acne-hell is over soon!!

So many things...

So many thoughts running through my head that I can't get a moment of peace and quiet. My question is how does life get so busy and complicated so quickly? I can remember when I was 21, completely anxious and wanting my business life to begin with meetings, appointments, and things to do. Now that I have all that--can someone take it all away. Isn't life funny, as you get older you begin to realize just how some of these old sayings are true. This one comes to mind, "Be careful of what you wish for, it may come true." I still love what I do, but I would love to do less of it. Maybe its just an adjustment period, because I am evolving into my profession, and expanding my responsibilities in management. But still...

I would just love to stay at home for a solid week and get my scrapbook room organized. I have been needing to solve some major organization snags for a long time. So this weekend I broke down and went sailing into IKEA with my brand new 2006 catalog determined to get a room fit for a scrapbooking queen (economically.) So, I purchased three bookcases, some containers, and lights for my remodeled room. When I got home, C put together all the bookcases, and I attached the lights (side note: I used an drill for the first time, and it was fun), and set up the bookcases up just like I had imagined in my head.

Ican't believe I started on it, and want to continue this weekend. Hopefully, by the end of August I will have my dream scrapbook room. I will post pictures when I am finished.

What we take for granted...

Just wanted to drop aline to say that I had a relatively new experience on Sunday night. We lost power for a LONG time. Now I am not talking 2 or 4 hours, but almost 24 hours. Electricity is a fundemental thing in life, and when you don't have any, life in today's world becomes extremely difficult, and not to mention horribly HOT. So, our house was without electricity from 6:45pm on Sunday evening to 5:30pm Monday night. Also, yesterday was one of the hottest days on record, topping off at 116. Which brings me to a topic that I have been thinking about for awhile. Wouldn't a good mini-scrapbook be titled..."What things in life I take for granted, and why I probably shouldn't." After yesterday, electricity in the desert would be tops on my list.

Harry Potter

OK--

I will admit it, I am a Harry Potter addict. I love the books. They provide an escape into another world and put me back to being eleven reading all day long in the summer time. I am such the addict that next weekend when the book comes out, we will be in Prescott for C's annual golf tournament. I have already called the barnes&noble store up there and reserved a copy for myself to pick up on Saturday afternoon. So, if you haven't already done so, reserve your own copy today, and we all can be eleven again together.

I can't believe its July

So, here we are its already July 7th. Can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I am doing reasonable well. I am teaching my husband how to truly clean. Have you ever known a man that calls cleaning the act of removing trash (or hiding it in a drawer so you can't see it) cleaning. I know every one of you has one. So, I have helped him learn how to use a mop, taught him what dusting is, and yes you really do need to vaccum. And I am here to tell you it was a success. C is very good about cooking dinner if I am home late, doing the laundry, but when it came to actual cleaning he never got the hang of it, until now. Its a huge help. I am very glad he does not complain too much, and I always make sure that I compliment him on his effort.

Well, I need to go home now. It's been a long day. Hopefully, I come home to a clean kitchen. That would make my evening.

Life as I know it this week...

So, today is the first full week of June. You know I have decided that I am tired--and work is just way too stressful. My company is being sold, so maybe there is an end in sight. I will most likely lose my 150 hours of sick time, so I am thinking I need to take some time off for mental health, and spend a week (or two) decompressing prior to the sale. Call it a time away for myself. Doesn't that sound absolutely fabulous??

Onto other items, C and I have decided that moving to a bigger house might not be the best solution. As bigger houses go, that don't cost at least $350,000, they are all at least 45 minutes away from work by car and huge amounts of traffic. So as an alternative, we are going to look into expanding ours. Picture it, a large master bedroom, my own bathroom, and a walk-in closet--and that's just for starters. Houses in my neighborhood are starting to go over $225,000 for approximately 1200 sf. Can you believe it? I want a closet that I can walk into, and actually say, "Now that's a closet." The way I figure it, the house will be better suited for more than two people, and cost much less than anything we care to move into, and much closer to everything.

I have basically gotten over the robbery, and we will get our money out from any improvements we do, as I think Phoenix housing market is quickly becoming out of control like CA.

I like having the ability to make your dreams come true. I think that's the best perk about being 30 something.

So, we all know about a technician (I'll call him dumbass) at work here that is a little off balance, goth, skinny, greased back hair, (double this vision and you have our tech). He is the one who says he's doing OK when he is ten of thousands of dollars in debt and can't seem to scrap together two quarters for his daily Mountain Dew or pack of cigarettes, but he and his wife want to have kids yesterday, can't afford birth control and believes a baby would be much less expensive. And views himself as successful because he compares himself to his brother who has no desire to work, wife works part-time with two kids and all are on ACCESS... And so are the days of our white trash tech!!

Yesterday, dumbass got to attend a baseball game (for free, in a suite owned by one of the richest people in the US). Our runner (I'll call him G) here is a close friend to the family. This dumbass decides he is going to smoke a cigarette in this suite, below the "no smoking" sign no less, and then proceeds to get thrown out of the game by security. In this suite were not only the owners but several of their company's execs. I guess the wife was horrified and very angry at G for the degenerate and his family that they were all exposed to, and asked if everyone that G works with is as looped. Not only did the dumbass blame G, but claimed that he had to calm his lazy brother down over the incident, and prevent the idiot from kicking G's ass.

So, girls the lesson for today is: If you ever feel like what happened to you today was completely embarrassing or you feel you are in the white trash twilight zone, just remember this story and laugh til it hurts.

Memorial Weekend

Well, as one of my dear friends stated, "at least I got to go to Mexico. She just gets to play barbies and Light Sabre battles this weekend." This weekend I would give anything to avoid what I need to do--work. Yes, I promised myself that I wouldn't mention the "w" word, but it didn't last long. I have decided I am tired. I have been trying to make up for our dwindling staff for about seven months, and I am just plain tired. If by chance things around here change in a drastic manor, I will be happy completing project work, and not worrying about the other BS associated with my current position. Everyone, keep your fingers crossed for my sanity.

One of my getting very fat cats! 

OK--so I am glad I did this. Let's try and save the little sanity I have left by giving myself a creative writing outlet. Above is a picture I snapped of my very big fat cat sunning himself in the front yard. Thought it was cute, and I wanted to spice the blog up a bit. We went to Rocky Point this weekend with some friends and had a great time. By Sunday though, we were ready to come home and sleep in our own bed. Didn't get too sunburned, and the heat wasn't too bad. We would go again, but as C put it, "Eventhough you can just about do anything except get in a fight, or drive without insurance in Mexico," we were happy to return home.

I have also decided we are getting incredibily old. At 11pm each night, we were tired and went back to the hotel room and went to bed. Exciting old couple are we.

Here it goes

OK--so in order to part take in this adventure that Carrie has so happily introduced to us. I have joined the ranks of blogging. So here it goes. We will see how much I update--I might surprise myself.