Just Make Stuff

Two things that have changed my life...

I'm ready to head out the door in a few minutes to have tea with a good friend and I thought that called for a polka-dotted skirt.  I also now know that Sean's mirrored closet doors desperately need to be cleaned.

Not to be overly dramatic or anything about the life changing, but I have two recent discoveries I have been wanting to share...Google Reader and Curves...things that have nothing to do with each other besides the fact they have each been a part of my day for just over a month. 

The whole Curves thing started because I know myself too well...I need routine and a sense of accountability.  And with being at school two days a week I knew I'd end up sitting on my ass three days a week not wanting to exercise.  Now there's no excuse...it's right on the way home from taking Mac to school and within a half hour I basically levitate off the driver's seat on my way back home since I feel so good from working out.

I heard about Google Reader from here...I am an avid blog reader (you wouldn't know since I barely ever comment on any) so this is a whole new world...open up one program and there they all are and I immediately know which ones have new entries....best thing ever.

That's all for today...oh and a new banner for March...had to use a little bit of the Irish Blessing...and figured that photo from last night's post would be a good side bar one for now since I'll be doing a lot of school work for the next month.

Off to tea... :)

Who wants to give me money?

photo courtesy of McIntosh Photography from back in November

So this will be me this weekend...sitting at the computer searching for scholarships...I didn't get the chance to try for them for this semester since my application was processed so late...thankfully the some of our tax return money paid for my tuition today...but now it's game on.

Now it's time to dig up my high school GPA...it's time to figure out articulate ways to explain why I currently have a 2.11 cumulative GPA...and now it's time to tell stories...who I am, when I've failed, and how I plan to succeed.

And then I will cross my fingers hoping that someone believes in me enough to want to help...with money...a lovely, supportive chunk of money. :) 

The beginning...again...

My next door neighbor's trees are just barely starting to grow leaves since it's been way too hot here the last couple of days.  Most people in Southern California think this heat the best thing ever...I think we get plenty of hot weather as it is, so the cozy cloudiness and rain makes me happy.

Back to the leaves...it's a new start...every year...a cycle always starting over...which is a ironic metaphor for one important aspect of my life...my weight.  Just like the trees I have grown and lost and grown again and lost again...and grown yet again. 

I fell off the wagon...actually I've basically been drug behind the wagon.  Through the fall months and Christmastime and the two months after Christmastime I have managed to gain back every pound I lost last year...oh and by the way, every one of those 17 pounds I lost last year I actually had lost and found the year before too.

So I took my sorry 167.5 pound ass back to Weight Watchers today and wallowed in my failure and wondered what the heck it would take to get me to lose these 17 pounds...lose about 17 more and then keep it off...forever.

What's so different about now than it was this time or this time?  I am good at starting and going for about 7 months and then I slip...in the last six years I've slipped FOUR TIMES.

It's probably not a good thing to start out feeling this defeated...but I just am. 

So maybe one day...in seven months...when these 17 pounds are gone again I can come back at look at today...and learn from today...and never have another "today"...just have tomorrows...skinny, skinny tomorrows...

Like mother, like son...

Mac's bed...

My bed...

Clearly we both have some serious straightening-up to do.

While were on the subject of my dear McIntosh O'Kane let me fill you in on something momentous today.  He didn't kick the the nurse.  He called Sean, my mom, his dad, and my sister to tell them that he got two shots (immunizations at his way over due physical this afternoon) and he "didn't kick the nurse and he didn't scream...well not too much".  We have had our share of issues before when it's come to shots so today was a major victory...that was properly celebrated with an Oreo milkshake. :)

On a completely unrelated note I had to share the world's simplest thank you card that I want to make a whole bunch more of now.  This one is for my dad who brought me back a beautiful pearl necklace from his trip to the Philippines a couple of weeks ago...

 

love this stamp on the back too...

Okay off to put some clothes away...night...

Layouts...

One I made this past weekend and photographed since my scanner is being a royal pain and I haven't been able to get it to work all morning...

The one I made as the page kit for the Oasis CHA crop this past weekend...

and the three others that I never shared that were made at the end of the summer for a kit Scrapbook Oasis sold...

Sharing...

So it's Monday morning and I'm not being as productive as I need to be...I have a couple of layouts to share later but for now I wanted to share my two favorite television moments from the weekend...

Tiny Fey hosting Saturday Night Live and talking about Hillary Clinton being a bitch...but as Tina said, bitches get stuff done...

And from the Oscars...I couldn't find a video, but Marketa Irglova's acceptance speech for Best Song from Once that Jon Stewart brought her back out to give when the orchestra cut her off before she had the chance to speak...I couldn't find a video but I did find her words on the Oscar website...

"Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you."

"Fair play to those who dare to dream"...I just think that is an amazing sentiment.

Today...

-I made a bunch of phone-calls...for instance finding out where to get a gi for Mac since he has started Karate classes, checking in with Sean who was finding out for me if our insurance covers acupuncture, and calling the UPS store to ask hypothetical questions about over-nighting Wienerschnitzel chili-cheese dogs to my father-in-law for his fiftieth birthday this week...they are his favorite and are often taken up to Oregon in a lunchbox when we are flying up there or Sean's mom is visiting and flying home...unfortunately it costs way too much ($70+) to try to surprise him with some shipped ones

-Ran by Paper Source for some essentials...

paper, envelopes, a couple of fresh new ink pads to replace ones that have been loved and re-inked dozens of times...and stamps...because stamps are essential :)...by the way I've also realized I have an addiction to their botanical design stamps...I still want this one and really want this one

-Picked myself up a cup of Cheddar Broccoli Soup for lunch because I basically want to eat it everyday

-Went to Scrapbook Oasis to drop off a couple of things for tomorrow's CHA crop page kit and had to get more new patterned paper...HAD to :)

-Went to see Mac's mission project presentation at school...

which he did a really great job on after practicing all week.

-Went to Armstrong Garden Center and wanted to buy everything...

but only bought a few things that I had coupons for...

-Brainstormed with my mom about various things we could get my nephew for his first birthday next week

-Had dinner with Sean...or I will be once he gets home with take-out in a few minutes

I'm a wimp...

because I miss him...he's just at work late since it's some 6th grader night something at school...but I'm just sitting here moping (well moping while I'm writing out a bunch of flashcards)...counting down the minutes till he said he'd be home...which makes me sound relatively crazy, but I'm just going to think of it as loving. :)

Not much to talk about...

A shot of part of my white-board calendar for the month...love the empty days like today...except today hasn't been all that empty...I've been working on that Sexualities paper that's due tomorrow and another assignment for Social Inequality and I still need to get started on this semester's first batch of flashcards for my Research Methods test next Tuesday.

Okay now you have my list of current school responsibilities...captivating stuff, huh?  It's because I really have nothing else to talk about...unless you wanted to discuss the complete lunar eclipse that I was looking forward to viewing but couldn't see because of clouds...and by the time it happens again in 2010 I'll have completely forgotten everything I learned about eclipses in last semester's Astronomy class...but that means I'm still sort of talking about school.

So we'll move on to other random aspects of today...I made a pile of note cards...

which means I was recycling this same idea yet again.

And I'm addicted to Trader Joe's Decaffeinated Irish Breakfast tea (or I'm addicted to the pile of sugar and gallon of half and half I put in it) and I love keeping the tea bags in a covered Pyrex dish I found during my trip to Oregon

There you have it schoolwork, eclipse, note cards, and tea...that's all I've got for today.

Three years ago today...

I made this thank you note for a friend today and thought I'd "use" it to thank all of you too...three years ago today I started this whole blog thing...three years of me talking...a lot :)...about scrapbooking and my family and my house and school and organizing and obsessing over good food and trying to lose weight and dealing with infertility and venting frustrations and remembering things that make me happy...and just three years of me rambling on. 

Thank you so very much for taking your time to read it all...never would I have guessed three years ago that my own little place on the internet would become an amazing opportunity to record the various aspects of my life and that people would be kind enough to actually want to share in it...thanks.

Just enjoying...

a weekend at home...spending hours playing Mac's new Wii carnival game that we gave him for Valentine's Day...recovering from eating tons of fondue...getting a pedicure on Friday afternoon with my favorite red nail polish...and making a mess on my desk...

which turned into a couple layouts...

In a little bit we're off to dinner...and then we have another day off tomorrow...which is a good thing considering I sort of haven't studied much at all for my first test on Tuesday...

Recycled...

It occurred to me yesterday morning to recycle an idea I've done before for Sean...ten years ago he and I were celebrating out first Valentines day...he made me pancakes in the morning spelling out I love you and then had to be gone for the rest of the day at an away basketball game...I worked hard through the afternoon to decorate the apartment with streamers, balloons and hand-cut hearts lining the walls of my teeny-tiny apartment with various reasons I loved Sean written on many of them.  (P.S. check out the scrapping prowess I had back in 1998)

So yesterday when I was at the Oasis while Lisa, Moriah and Lisa's mom Donna shopped I frantically die-cut as many hearts as I could...56 of them that have been slapped up with blue tape all over our headboard for Sean to discover when he gets home...

I'm sure those ten year old hearts are around here somewhere...it'd be cool to see how many reasons are similar and what's changed over the years.

Happy Valentine's Day! :) 

Preparations...

Getting ready for the big day around here...not that it's that big a deal, but Mac has his valentines ready to go (that are pretty much just like last year's), we have our contribution to his classroom ice-cream party themed sprinkles and a pan of brownies finished ,and we've gathered together the recipe and supplies to make fondue for dinner tomorrow.  Sean and I have our tradition of making something for each other and I totally half-assed my gift to him but thought of a little something else I could do that I'll share tomorrow...

Trees...

I have been ALL about trees for the last couple of years so I was super excited to see them popping up more in scrapbook stuff...here's the tree stuff I loved...

I should have taken a better close-up photo, but the Magpie collection from Scrapworks had cute little tree prints...

Fontwerks new tree stamps...I think I only asked fourteen times when these were shipping since I was so excited...oh and I might have even asked if they'd just give me the stamps directly from the display...thankfully they knew I was kidding...well hopefully they knew I was kidding...but if they had said yes... :)

And today's last tree discovery was October Afternoon...they have great cursive letter stickers too that I didn't get a photo of...

I'm off to bed so I can be ready for the show again tomorrow...   

Last night...

I "worked" at McDonald's for about two minutes and stole a french fry...you can see a little more of what the heck I was doing here...I'm going to go get ready for CHA and try to stop thinking about that fact that my fat ass and droopy cleavage are officially posted on the internet...

You guys are going to hate me...

but I have to share my excitement with someone...Sean's a great scrapbooking husband and all but he doesn't get quite as giddy as need be about new supplies...so I turn to you my fellow crafty fiends who truly understand. Oh and that's not a typo for "friends" I mean "fiends...a person extremely devoted to a pursuit or study"...since I think that aptly describes the level of dedication to the pursuit of new scrapping supplies. :)

I was helping out at the store last night and was able to get the new Scenic Route, Jenni Bowlin, Fontwerks and a few other super cool things.  I am just a lucky, lucky girl.

Of course the torturous part is I won't be able to play with it now that it's all organized and put away just waiting...I am out of here for the night and then gone all day for the next three days between CHA and school...did I mention that it's torture??? :)

Birdie Boy...

That was his official title last night and he was awesome up on stage...I cannot tell you how much I love that he loves this. 

My mom went all out to make sure Mac looked the part...she found the royal blue Converse high-tops (that he's laughing about when she wanted to show them off in a photo) in his size on E-bay and had them over-nighted from across the country (I was going to be a bad mom and have him wear the black low-tops that wouldn't perfectly match everyone else) and she took him for a fancy haircut and perfect 50's style last night, then to dinner and got him into his costume and make-up...all Sean and I had to do was show up for the show...heck she even stopped by our house to grab our tickets that I foolishly left behind...gotta love Mom/Grandma. :)

It'll be a busy few days with CHA and helping out at Scrapbook Oasis so hopefully I can check in here at some point...I'm so looking forward to seeing my friends and running into people and checking out new scrapbook supplies and all that fun stuff... 

Love this...

Found this on the table by the front door waiting with his bag of costume supplies for his last dress rehearsal tonight...granted he wrote this list instead of studying for his science test like he was told, but I still love that he thought to do it.

So I got the clothes put away, the calendar stuff done, my desk is clean and I did play with paper...what didn't I do?  Reading for school...so that's what I'm off to fall asleep doing...hopefully I'll get a few pages in before my eyes shut.

Hopefully...

I will get my reading done for class.

I will get the massive pile of clean clothes at the foot of my bed put away.

I will get all the tasks on my desk cleaned off.

I will finally get my calendar organized for February.

That way I can maybe play with the new American Crafts I was able to pick up at Scrapbook Oasis on Monday...

Hopefully. :)

I'm sure I broke a law...

or something but I HAD to record this today right before I started to fill in my ballot...standing in the voter's booth down the street at the fire station earlier tonight after I got home from school...I really think walking through our neighborhood to vote there is one of my very favorite things to do. 

I have cast a ballot in every election in all 13.5 years that I have been able to vote and am the type of person who more often than not can be found in bed Sunday morning watching Meet the Press.  In all those years today was the first time I didn't know who I was voting for...I didn't decide until today.

I love that I can be part of something like this...today reminded me once again about all that I learned in my Women in History class last spring...how hard and how long women fought for this opportunity...I've mentioned it before, but if you ever get a chance watch Iron Jawed Angels (and not just because Patrick Dempsey is in it) I thought it was such a powerful depiction of a true story.

So now I'm cozy at home in my pajamas after my long day at school...sitting in front of the television watching it all unfold...

Busy doing nothing...

Can you see them? I tried to capture the snowy mountains on my drive to school this morning...I love this time of year when it stays relatively cool and you get a few days of a panoramic view after it has rained.

So I haven't posted since last week...which is unlike me...and I don't really have an excuse other than the last several days seem to be flying by and I have had nothing to show for them...not busy with schoolwork in fact I barely did the reading for this week...not busy with any projects or scrapping...not busy cleaning the house it's actually a total disaster...yet somehow my day's have been filled. I'm counting on tomorrow to get caught up since it'll be a busy weekend again with CHA stuff and Mac's musical.

Gotta go...class is starting...

Paper...

I just got this whole new pile of it at Scrapbook Oasis...

How springlike and fun does that all look? :)

The paper I mentioned on Wednesday goes to Susan Lew, Lori Walker, & Fran Heupel thanks to the trusty random number generator...please e-mail me your addresses since it's sitting on my desk waiting to be sent out.

Between a sorority event I'm going to (with about a hundred tea sandwiches on green and purple bread) and hosting a little Superbowl party on Sunday this is going to be a busy weekend...

Oh and had to make it all lovey dovey around here for Valentine's Day so I'm sorry that means you have to be subjected to the Sean and Nora PDA profile picture for the next few weeks...but I just LOVE that photo from last year...