The lake

We spent three days at the lake this week with my inlaws. It was good. We stayed in a rental house that was okay. Let's just say it would have been perfect if we were all college age drinking buddies. I'll leave it at that.

This week is going to be sooooooo busy. I need to finish getting the school stuff ready and get all that set for the first day of school on September 2nd.

All the fall church stuff starts week after next so there are MORE meetings. Ugh.

Junior has decided that now is the perfect time to increase his skills and he tries to escape every time the gate gets left open. Or a door. Or a cabinet. He's started making word sounds too. You know what I mean? Sounds that really sound like words? Like at the lake - he would point (another new skill) and say "DUH!" (duck) and "KAA!" (quack).

Maybe I give the kid too much credit?

Anyway, back to the school thing and prepping for that. I am looking forward to being in a groove again. As much as I enjoy our breaks (and I really need them too!) I like having the schedule too. I like knowing that from 7:30 to about 12:30 we'll have plans. After 12:30 it usually all goes to pot, but we're getting better. This will be the first year with a toddler in the house. It should be interesting to say the least. I'll let you know how it goes!






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It's a BLOG CARNIVAL!

Other

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Hump Day Hybrid: Recycle your cans! posted at These Chicks, saying, "Great hybrid project"
Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Technique Challenge - Swirly Arrows posted at Hummie's World.

Trends

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Wednesday Inspiration - dizzy about circles posted at scrapstreet.

Tutorials

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Bethy's Tutorials: Using Masks for Selective Color posted at Beth Nixon Blogging {Finding Joy & Choosing Happy}.

Fall Must Be Getting Closer...

It must be getting close to "fall." I say "fall" because here it stays HOT until it just one day get COLD. We really don't have a real fall. Anyway, it must be close to fall because I feel liek my life just shifted into overdrive.

We start school back up on September 2. So I am in the middle of getting our year all settled and planned and organized.

I agreed to head up our church's AWANA program. It's a huge job and I have now 20 days to prepare for the first meeting. I'm not in it alone, but that doesn't mean it's any less work! It just means that I don't have to do EVERYTHING! Thank goodness. Whew!

Bible study promotion is in a week and a half. We're in the midst of planning a great kick-off activity. Gotta get that all organized.

There's tons of trainings, meetings, prep times, cleaning, etc. for all associated activities.

In a word? SWAMPED.

On the bright side though, it does mean a return to routine, which is nice. I am looking forward to that.

How is your fall shaping up?

I have a fun announcement!

Okay, so I stepped out there and threw my name in the hat to be on a Digi-Scrapping Creative Team for Dielle's Designs and guess what?!?! I was accepted!! How exciting is that?!? I love working with Dielle and her stuff is a dream to work with. I am so very excited!!!

So anyway,  I did a couple of layouts with Dielle's stuff (and some stock photos from stock.xchang):

This one is all stuff from Dielle's Spangled Kit. I love the colors and the alpha is so much fun!


This one is from her Teacher's Pet assignment Afternoon in my Garden Mini Kit at Funky Playground Designs (the little butterfly is from a Shabby Princess Kit, Promise, and the mat under believe is Anita Stergiou, Strawberry Iced Kit, and there's that Spangled Alpha again!) Just a note - Afternoon in my Garden is a Freebie, but you need to register for the FPD Newsletter to get the password.:

Wild Week Ahead!

I wanted everyone to know that posting may be sparse this week because we are having Vacation Bible School this week!! How is it that I can work a 3 hour VBS and come home feeling like I have done hard labor for a 16 hour shift?!?

My goodness it's just exhausting!

MOTS is loving her class and Hollywood is next door to me, which is fun because her class and my class are teamed together so I get to see her quite a bit during VBS.

PBJ is okay being in the nursery, although he can't sleep through the crying. On the plus side, cutting his naps in the morning to 20-30 minutes has meant that he naps for almost 2 solid hours in the afternoon. This is a good thing except that I am too exhausted to take advantage of it.

So, enjoy your week and I will update as I can based on schedules, etc.

~C

Summer Jobs

I was a lucky kid. I never had to find a summer job. I know, I know...brat.

Most of my summers were spent sleeping in, although Mom would call around 10ish "to make sure we were up." HA! We watched many, many reruns - The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, The Munsters, The Addams Family, Green Acres, etc. - and game shows - The Price is Right was a real favorite!

But there was one summer when a job fell into my lap. I was a receptionist for the company that did our senior pictures. It was miserable. See, as many of you know, senior pictures are kind of a big deal, so when things don't go well people (especially parents) get really upset! And who gets the earful? That's right, the receptionist!

I spent most of the summer addressing mass mailings, fielding phone calls from people "that never got the appointment card," and listening to disapointed mothers complain about the picture proofs (that they would try to steal!).

I also had to babysit the other receptionists. Cause, you know, like, they would "forget" their shifts, call in sick (to go to the water park), and disappear (to flirt with the guys that were in studio). Ugh.

When school finally started I was so relieved, because with marching band season starting up I was able to quit. I don't think I have ever been so happy to start school. On the up side I did get a paycheck, if you can call it that. And on Memorial Day I got to spend the day in the office answering the phone (3 calls I think), reading, and watching the entire Indiana Jones series. I got paid double for that day! Woo-Hoo!

Summer jobs aren't all bad I suppose. I'm just glad I didn't have to ever worry about it. Thanks Mom and Dad!

How a Free Tool Can Actually Bankrupt You.

WARNING: You should read this post at your own risk. I can not and will not be held responsible for your wallet flying open and money that comes flying out of it because of my pointing you in the direction of Kaboodle.

See, Kaboodle is this VERY nifty tool for shopping online. You are browsing the internet, looking at all the cool things that you want/need/must have and it never fails, always find more when you don't have any money!

Kaboodle to the rescue! Now when you are flat broke and want to browse you can! Just add your stuff to Kaboodle. Then when you have saved up the nickels and dimes (incedentally, are you finding that nickels and dimes are all you have left after filling up the gas tank lately?) you can browse your Kaboodle and find someone else to take your money!

Spending your money just got easier courtesy of Kaboodle. Don't you feel richer for knowing this? In the metaphorical sense of course since in reality Kaboodle is going to make you poorer... I'm just sayin'.

Anywho. go forth and find the decorations for your dream house, photography equipment for you aspiring photogs, digi designs for you digital divas and let's fill those Kaboodles! You can organize by topic and create wishlists... the possibilities are endless.

And all of you lucky Firefox users can add sweet little browser buttons that allow you to add to your Kaboodle with the click of one button. You lucky thing!

But don't blame me okay? I mean, you would have eventually spent that money on something right? Even if it was something as mundane as groceries, or toilet paper....