randoms . . .

many thanks to betsy for another fabulous blog redo!  she even knew instantly where to find the cute flower graphics i wanted.  that betsy sure knows here way around the webosphere!

i am still absolutely 100% loving mowing the one acre lawn with my old push mower.  no sarcasm at all.  love it truly i do.  only problem is the neighbor boy.  he's in middle school, stuck at home most days with just a bicycle and motorbike to keep him company.  i'm not sure if he's super bored or just loves the riding mower but he is always wanting to mow my lawn!  and i want to mow my lawn!  i have such a hard time saying no to his puppy dog eyes every week when he comes knocking so i cave and let him finish up.  one week he actually beat me to it and mowed the whole darn thing!  that was a sad week.  this week i finally put my neon converse foot down and said no.  a friend was over and she laughed and laughed at me all afternoon because i felt so bad.  it's just a hard thing knowing that chivalry is not dead and i'm stomping all over it.

i will apparently do anything to stay out in the sunshine as i'm also enjoying hanging the laundry out to dry.  i've never bothered with fabric softener before as i'm no domestic diva, but i think i need to give it a whirl if i plan to continue with this energy conscious trend.  our towels are getting a bit rough.

have any of you ever seen pink edged queen anne's lace?  i hadn't, but i've found this beauty on my walking route.  i wonder if it's normal, a rare strain, or a mutant.

i've also been dabbling with a bit of crocheting lately even though my lap kitty tries to help a little too much.  are any of you yarn goddesses?  i'm wondering about some good places to shop online.  i really only like to work with cotton yarn and there isn't much of a selection of that at the local big box stores.

off to edit more pics!  i'm loving blogging in my freshened space!  :)

(semi) randoms

the common buttercup.  uncommonly beautiful.  we have a large bush growing.  right. in the middle. of our lawn.  since it's just me and g out in the country, we can do stuff like that.  it's our lawn, right?

speaking of our lawn.  i've been mowing it.  sort of.  thank goodness edward has nine lives.  i mowed the front half no problem, but the back half used to be a real live field of dreams.  the previous owner has planted some real deal baseball diamond grass back there and that stuff is thick.  so thick it killed my edward.  never fear.  nice neighbor man said i'd probably just corroded my spark plugs and fixed him while i was at work.  then i killed edward again.  egads!  i need to take lawnmower 1o1!  i ran out of gas, i bought a gas tank and gas and filled the tank, and nothing.  nada.  zilch.  wha?  i googled the situation and figured i'd gotten sludge in my fuel lines when i let him run out of gas.  i, of course, know less about sludge in my fuel lines than i do about corroded spark plugs.  i finally got up the nerve to go begging at neighbor man's house again on saturday.  he told me that he'd been meaning to come over and tell me what was wrong with the mower, but i interrupted to tell him i'd killed edward again and my theory on the cause of this death.  he finally got a word in edgewise and this is what he said, "you were out of gas."  out of gas!  out of gas?  really?  but i checked!  i swear i checked!  really i did!  being the southern gentleman that he is, he said, "yea, those older mowers don't have clear tanks so you have to shine a flashlight in there to be sure."  yea.  i just bet he got out the flashlight.  he laughed is what he did.  death #2, he said, was probably just a need for extra priming, something i was afraid to do since i flooded the engine last time.  apparently if you run completely out of gas and let the engine go cold, you have to prime it six times instead of the three times written on the side of the mower next to the cute red button.  who knew?  i mean, who knows these things?  nice neighbor man!  so i was all proud yesterday to mow half the back without chocking edward once.  i was all ready to finish today, but someone has mowed the lawn while i was at work.  people in the country are so nice.  :)

growing up in florida, we called boys "pansies" if they were lazy, squeamish, or afraid to get dirty.  pansies don't grow well in florida.  they can't handle the heat.  now i have a whole new respect for pansies after planting these last october and watching them bloom profusely all. winter. long.  wow.  they're still blooming now.  that's right.  seven straight months of cheerful blooming faces greeting me as i come and go.  i love them so.  i need a new word for "pansies."  pansies are tough.  they got the stuff.  they are awesome.

still wondering what this guy is.  looking any more like a watermelon?  are sweet cucumbers all got eaten (bunnies? squirrels? birds?) and the frost got the honeydew.  all that made it was the carrots and this mystery seedling.  g has already replanted with radish and lettuce.  i guess i'm going to have to build a cage if i want to grow watermelon.  i seem to recall having the same problem last year.

randoms

the gman received the gatorship award today (good citizenship) as well as honor roll again.  so proud of him!  he is so self-motivated.  seriously, so proud of him.  i was going to take him to lunch after the awards ceremony, but this morning he clarified that lunch is BEFORE the awards ceremony.  doh!  so i took him subway to school and then we went home early anyway (because good citizens play hookie?  ha!).  we did end up eating out for dinner though.  sherri introduced us to the big bad wolf.  now i've spent these last 12 years thinking the big bad wold was a tattoo parlor, but turns out it's an extremely tasty and popular mom and pop eating establishment.  who knew?  sherri, of course!

spring is finally here!  really it is!  i've meticulously checked the ten day forecast every day for weeks and gleefully checked it multiple times today.  the highs are all in the mid-sixties to mid-seventies for the next ten days.  surely it can't go back to freezing again after that!  surely!  i think i shall celebrate by removing the remnants of halloween black and painting my toenails a lovely pastel shade (or two).

when we got home from school we took a walk all around a yard exclaiming over all the lovely weeds.  the glorious purple ones, the carpet of blue ones, the eensy white daisy-esque ones, the dandelions that must go. g was the one who found the violets.  so precious.  he loves all these tiny flowers as much as i do.  yes, i know i'm taking him man-meter down a notch.  hey!  real men can be botonists!!!

there will be much gardening this weekend.  g made me dig up some wild onions so he could inspect the bulbs.  then he promptly cut off the tops and replanted them to see what they would do.  my little scientist is always thinking up the next investigation.  we have lots of baby plants to get in the ground.  pretty sure a lowe's run is close to the top of the list in the morning.

i got another project life spread done this afternoon.  february is finished!  hurrah!  i just wasn't motivated to do this spread at first.  the photos on the right were too drab and dark.  no fun, no fun.  and who wants to bother with photoshop editing on cell phone pics that are never going to be fabulous anyway?  not me, not me!  i noticed some of the cool kids using an app called vsco.  of course, turns out this app is only on iphone and we all know i'm not a cool kid.  i googled though and found a similar app for android called vignette.  it does some really neat stuff.  having lots of fun with it.  and lookie!  i finally finished february!

on this page:  just four more of my little haiku on 6x6 pieces of scrap paper.

on this page:  my kitties getting a little braver about checking out the country life, g learning to cook scrambled eggs, and one of his besties at our place then his.

one of the centipede challenges is to blog or scrapbook your bucket list.  i don't really have one of those.  i'm a live in the moment gal who feels pressured by too much looming on the horizon.  but i was thinking today that it might be fun to have a very small bucket.  like a few little things i'd like to get done in april.  things that i meant to do in december, january, february, march . . .

1. diy shower curtain
2. diy raised garden
3. closet organization
4. lego purge
5. mantel display
6. marathon in a week
7. mailings

i'll keep you posted . . .

finally, if you're into project life, betsy's started making journaling cards for jbs/jessica sprague.  this is the first set.  they're currently on sale for $2.62 and there are pdfs that you just download and print!  betsy makes those especially for me as i am a bit digitally challenged.  ;)

spreading a little sunshine . . .

oh look!  i have been blessed with the sunshine award from bev at black ink paperie!  how awesome!  thanks bev!

“The Sunshine Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers. The receivers of the Sunshine Award are bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogsphere.”

as a sunshine award recipient, i must share with you seven snippets of previously unshared information.  i am feeling the pressure to be witty now, not that these snippets need to be witty, but bev is SO witty; she is an inspiration!  and a very tough act to follow! here goes . . .

1.  it is difficult for me to be witty about my personal life as i tend to be a boring rule follower and have a poor memory for non-academic information.  i do remember skipping school once in the twelfth grade, however.  me and my fellow rebels went to the local gas station for tater logs and then drove to the local cemetery to eat them.  living on the wild side, locally speaking.

2. i also remember hiding the teacher's paddle in the 4th grade while she was taking her afternoon siesta during social studies class.  oh!  and in the third grade, i got paddled for talking during p.e.  these, of course, are isolated disciplinary incidents in an otherwise impeccable academic career.

3.  speaking of paddling, i feel i should also reveal that i hung onto my innocence much longer than the normal southern girl might.  to illustrate this point, in my mid-twenties i was dating a guy who liked artsy fartsy movies; the kind that win awards at the cannes film festival.  i decided i'd show my cultured side by renting one such movie all on my own.  i went to the video store and did just that, brought it home, and the summary looked so interesting one of my roommates decided to watch it with me.  now when our third roommate came home and found out what we were watching, well, she had a fit.  a FIT i tell ya.  demanded we get it out of the house immediately and tell know one we ever saw it.  what?  how was i supposed to know that "spanking the monkey" was inappropriate?  and i promptly told the tail to anyone and everyone.  innocence is nothing to be ashamed of and laughing at yourself is a healthy thing.

4. this same group of roommates eventually loosened up a bit.  why not too long after the monkey incident we all collectively got a wild hair decided to have a drink together.  i should mention here that we all went to same conservative religious establishment.  rebels that we were, we went to the grocery store and each picked out a wine cooler.  and none of us brought our house keys.  so we had to sit on our front steps waiting for deliverance as the rebellious spirit withered in paper or plastic, i can't remember which.

5. now i'm a bit of a control freak, so i've only actually been drunk once in my life and that was unintentionally.  i had a really bad cold and took a double dose of robitussin formula 44D.  i sat on the bathroom counter giving a discourse on square roots and tree roots.  it's probably a good thing that i am not prone to excessive drinking as i am apparently even more boring drunk than sober.

6.  i like to sing about drinking though.  my mom introduced us to a broad range of musical genres as children.  we watched heehaw and the lawrence welk show religiously growing up.  sometimes even both in the same night.  my mom's album collection consisted of cowboys, cowboys, cowboys, and ed ames.  our favorite was the son's of the pioneers rendition of "cigareets and whuskey and wild wild women!  they'll drive you crazy they'll drive you insaaaaaaane!"  my brother and i would belt out this catchy tune over and over and over . . .

7. and speaking of my mother, i think i get my large dose of naivete from her.  for example, she once stopped on the side of the road to buy a t-shirt for my teenaged nephew, because she knew how much he loved tie dye. image his complete delight to open the package and find a new tee from grandma with a huge rebel flag in the shape of a marijuana leaf emblazoned upon it.  "mom!  what were you thinking?!!"  innocently, and with self-righteous overtones, "what?  i don't know anything about that stuff."  indignantly, "well, didn't you at least study the civil war in school?"  her reply, "i was never good in geography."

now i must nominate some blogs to pass on the award. so, with out further ado here they are in no particular order.....

julie kirk from notes on paper
christy strickler from my scrapbook revolution
ashley calder from things that shine
betsy sammarco from just a pharmgirl
connie mercer from crafty goodies with a vintage flair
amy kingsford from creating memories
sharyn tormanen from tormville

randoms

i can't explain this one, but let me try.  my dad was a commercial fisherman.  my brothers are commercial fishermen.  i grew up on the gulf coast of florida, six miles from the ocean and across the street from the intercoastal waterway.  i do not eat fish sticks.  ever.  i do not eat at captain d's and such like.  i barely tolerate farm raised fish offerings from kroger.  tilapia.  why bother?  but a week ago monday morning i cruised through mcds for hotcakes, bacon, and my morning coke.  while waiting in line i noticed the happy meals had hello kitty in them.  i have a coworker who collects hello kitty.  hmmm.  perhaps i needed a happy meal for lunch.  don't judge.  then i saw the fish mcbites sign.  considering the processed fish aversions i've just discussed with you, this thought shouldn't have even entered my mind.  but it did.  maybe i want those.  sure enough i was right back at the same mcds for lunch.  i didn't want a burger.  i don't much care for mcnuggets.  against my will and better judgement i got the mcbites.  i've been biting them ever since.  i'm addicted.  i got them five days in a row from the onset.  i wouldn't kid you about something like this.  the batter is fine grained cornmeal and the fish i've heard is cod.  tastes almost like a florida fish fry.  if it came with a side of cheese grits i'd be too happy for words.  170 calories in the little box.  another 120 for the tiny fries and apple slices.  we won't talk about the coke.  mmm mmm mmm i'm lovin' it.  i've heard they're only around through the end of march for lent.  catch them while you can.

turns out i didn't accidentally erase those home to school and home again photowalk pics.  i found them on another flashcard once my brain function came back after the flu.  this shot made me giggle a little.  beware those seemingly placid killer cows calmly chewing their cuds.  you won't catch me hopping this fence.

i was photographing the jbs flea market the other day, and per usual, after photographing the outside of a set of books, i flipped one open to snag a pic of the inside.  everyone likes to see what's on the inside, right?  this particular set of books was a tiny set of educational books.  i chose mother goose to photograph as poems are normally nice.  the first page i flipped to was this one.  i was in a hurry and saw "there was an old woman" and immediately finished it mentally with "who lived in a shoe."  not so much, but after snapping the pic i noticed an awkward three letter word on the left side.  i took my glasses off to make sure i was reading what i thought i read.  i read the whole poem and laughed and laughed.  jenni wasn't there, but i went upstairs and read it to jared and laughed some more.  heck.  i took a picture and laughed all day.  i also took a picture of a more appropriate page for the website.

can you spot what's wrong with this picture?  teenagers parking in faculty parking is a pet peeve of mine.  grrrrrrrrrr.  don't get me started . . .

12 on the 11th, not the 10th

i enjoy so much looking back over my layouts from the year to choose my favorites.  i love the looking back at the stories i've told.  it's like reminiscing with myself.  ha.  anyhoo.  this first one i haven't shared here on the old blog yet, but it did make an appearance in the october jbs mercantile gallery and more recently was seen in an article on multiple visual triangles at get it scrapped!

another unshared on the blog layout (only five unshared ones left, well, except for the two new ones i made for january gallery updates and haven't posted yet, lol.  i'm getting close to caught up!)  this one includes the jbs digital cut file that made me buy the cameo.  oh how i love that cut. this one's was also part of the on trend seminar at masterful scrapbook design.

and now on to the ones you've already seen here.  i had to include at least one layout with the infamous oversized yellow flowers.  i cut those flowers from a sheet of basic grey paper and used them on three layouts!  yes i did!  and i'm hoarding the fourth!  yes i am!  and who doesn't love a beach babe brawl?  these photos totally make me laugh.  so fun to be an aunty and photograph the fights instead of breaking them up.

you've seen this one recently.  love that i got this story written down.

another that makes me laugh.  hilarious vomit splat.  thanks for the great idea louise!

adorable.  makes me happy.

sweet.  love the layering and the story-telling, and the softness.

another great story (i get lost a lot).  and so delightful to use unrelated photos to tell that story.

seriously cute.  that's me on the left.  hee.

still in love with the washi tape on the photo technique and still in love with my baby.

this one was pinterest inspired.  really love the arty feel and the title treatment.

a meaningful moment.  i love that scrapbooking adds so much emotion and meaning to the words and pictures.

so there we go.  2012 in review.  per usual, i am all over the place.  i think i used a bit more patterned paper this year?  i do see a penchant for using sentence length titles and older photos.  and perhaps i leaned a little toward soft blues, greens, and yellows.  but the chameleon scrapper is still alive and well.  here's to a great 2013!  thanks for visiting me in my scrappy world.!  :)

10 on the 11th: mustard post

well.  i figure you all were tired of my ketchup posts by now, so i decided i'd do a mustard post this month (please pardon my faulty sense of humor).  at least we have the lovely shimelle around to remind me to blog at least once a month.  sigh.

good news!  i got the jbs mercantile gallery updates loaded last night!  and i've added my two just now which brings the grand total of new fabulousness to 30!  that's worth a looksee for sure!

my sweet potato turned 9 in october!  his last year in single digits.  sniff sniff.  we're still planning his plants vs. zombies birthday party, so stay tuned for that.

i got to plant pansies into my own soil!  i've gotten half of them planted at least.  i need to invest in a trowel before spring that's for sure.  this rocky soil and a kitchen spoon make digging a bit tough.

we've had the most gorgeous fall foilage.  stunning really.  my toes are not stunning.  really.  it was actually g's suggestion to paint them black for halloween.  i thought that was kinda funny as last summer when i bought this bottle of polish he wanted to know why in the world would i ever paint my toes black.  i dunno.  i kinda like the emo toes.

big boy third grader made the honor roll the first nine weeks.  yay!  we actually have high hopes for this year as the times tables are MUCH easier for him that i ever thought they'd be based on his previous track record in the math department.

my pumpkin pie cookies were a huge hit at the cub scout bake sale.  yay!  the cute signs were decorated with some of lisa dickinson's new digital cuts.  fun times.

there has been lots of fort building and sleepovers of late.  you can see g's toesies bottom left and blakes socks top right.  hee.

hilarious, right?  g decided a couple weeks before halloween that he wanted to be a werewold instead fo the pajama king that he'd been talking about all year.  he told me i had to wear my animal control t-shirt.  the really funny part here is that's actually my latest faculty t-shirt from the high school.  ha!

g has started calling himself the cat whisperer.  it is THE most bizarre thing to me.  chichi, the one on the right, has NEVER liked g.  did the lean when he's try to pet her and would run off he he didn't take the hint.  since we've moved into the new place she actually LIKES him.  will even crawl in his lap OF HER OWN FREE WILL.  strange.  very strange.

g went to his first wrestling practice wednesday.  i was a bit worried, but he LOVED it!  raised his hand to ask the coach when the next practice was.  yea!  maybe we've found a sport for him finally. 

hope your week's off to a good start!  i counted.  i have 18 unposted layouts.  craziness, right?  i need to get busy!

10 on the 10th(ish): ketchup post

i knew i shouldn't brag about blogging.  the big move has gotten me so behind.  eeps.  at least i figure shimelle's 10 on the 10th post is a good opportunity for getting caught up here.  now getting caught up on life is going to take a lot longer.  sigh.

i've been a busy girl at get it scrapped!  there are tons of new articles up (daily inspiration!) including "ideas for using menswear inspired patterns on your scrapbook pages" which features this page.  the title on it actually came from the topic assigned.  this layout was also included in september's masterful scrapbook design, "on trend."  i'm currently gearing up for november's masterful scrapbook design, "scrapbooking old photos."  busy busy busy!

another amazing experience i've been involved in is get it scrapped's new guided-study critique groups.  our last group meeting is tonight, but yay! we've got another session starting the end of the month (i believe there are only 3 spots left right now).

i got the jbs mercantile gallery updates loaded late last night.  it's well worth a visit as there are 32 beautiful new projects, including four from our newest designer, karine cazenave-tapie.  i have 3 belated projects myself, but really need to make tons more with the super fab october kits.

we announced the new jbs ambassadors design team.  so excited to be working with these talented girls in the upcoming year.

onto a more personal note.  we're currently getting our christmas craft on, wrapping styrofoam balls with strips torn from old goodwill oxfords.  they're so pretty!

we're wrapping them while listening to tracie's christmas pandora station in sherri's cabin in gatlinburg.  good friends, good eats, and good fun in a gorgeous environment.  yes!

g has already had 3 playdates at the new house.  on this past one they played roblox irl with packing boxes.  fun!

we took a walk on the greenway right before the big move.  i love the watching the changing seasons there and took lots of instagrams.

we had a great cub scout campout at lannom farms.  g finally conquered his fear of heights enough to climb up on the big hay bales.  hooray!

g has started loosing his canines.  i was a bit nervous when they started wiggling until i googled it and realized he had another set he hadn't lost yet that were due out at 9 (which he turns in 9 more days).  of course, the tooth fairy wasn't prepared, so she had to write a check.  at least we had the cute tooth fairy pillow to stuff it in.  thanks bridgette!

and that's about it, more or less.  :)