5 Days Off

And I couldn't be happier! William has to work today, but then he is off the rest of the time. I'm staying home with the little one today; she wants to play Candy Land and Chuttes and Ladders. :) We'll probably scrapbook some too. I have some cleaning I want to get done in case the in-laws come over tonight; William ordered all his computer parts to be shipped to them and if they come in today they're driving them up. I want to continue cleaning out and getting rid of things too. Amanda has a great little challenge on Lifetime Moments going on with a quick layout challenge and cleaning challenge everyday to help us get ready for Winter Scrapfest. Those challenges have been just what I needed; I have cleared out and straightened out so much of my scraproom already! They've gotten me in the mood to clear out things in the rest of the house too.
I want to get our dinning room finished this weekend too. All we have to do is clean the floor and move the furniture around. Then I want to get all this Christmas stuff down and put away. I may work on that some today and just leave the tree until New Years. I always love the first of the year because I'm ready for changes. :)
I got my Christmas pictures back from Fototime yesterday; they look great! I think I like them better than ClarkColor or Winkflash. And, since the .06 per print special is good until the end of the year, I'm frantically trying to upload all my fall pics and get them printed too. I sent them twice now to ClarkColor and both times there was a problem. I can understand that, but what I don't like is that they just let my order sit and sit both times until I emailed them about it. That's when they proceeded to tell me there was a problem with the upload. They should have let me know that as soon as they tried to process my order. Anyway, it's Fototime for me from now on.

Day 18 - Dinner

This was a great subject for me to write about. We stayed home just the three of us this year for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and did our traveling before hand. I wanted us to have a special dinner Christmas Eve and we did. I wrote the journaling as it had not happened yet and didn't go into the details of the items that we had last minute. We ended up having a great Christmas Eve meal and night together.

Day 17

Another quick one; just trying to get caught up. Lots of Jen Wilson here. Ribbon is from A Whimsy Holiday kit I credited earlier, but everything else (besides date) is from Jen Wilson. Can you tell I'm a huge fan? :)

So Far Behind - Day 16

What a week! William and I both ended up with the stomach virus early last week. Luckily Rylie never got it. I was pretty sick and even missed work last Tuesday. William was a little better off than me, but not much. At least I didn't gain weight over the holidays. :) With being sick and then traveling for Christmas I fell really behind on my Christmas journal. I'm hoping to get caught up in a few days. Here is my entry for Dec. 16. Really simple using mostly the Holiday Sampler by Shabby Princess. The word art is from the Holly Jolly kit and the tree is by Jen Wilson. Off to do more pages...

Getting Caught Up

I had fallen several days behind on my Christmas Journal. With trying to finish up shopping, making cards for the Holiday Mart at work and other just general tasks to be done, I had not had much time this week for my journal. I had been reading the prompts each day and checking out all the beautiful work everyone has been doing. There is so much talent in this class! Everyone is doing such beautiful journals!!
I got some new goodies by Jen Wilson this week and I have been using some of them on these pages. Jen is one of my favorite digital designers. The glittery alpha, papers (except the pink one), charms, tree, notepapers, presents, off white snowflakes and tag are all hers. The red ribbon on the visitors page is by Shabby Princess. Everything else is from Holly Jolly or A Merry Season Kits that I have been using throughout this journal.
Day 13 - Presents; we do it differently in my family and in dh's family. In mine, the little ones have always played Santa and passed out all the gifts. I have fond memories of my cousin and I doing this at my grandparents' home when we were little. Now it falls to my youngest nephews and my own dd. There are so many people on my family that we open our gifts all at the same time. Once everything is opened, we go around and show off what we received. My dad then gets out his notebook he keeps every year with his list and calls out everyone's name and their gifts to make sure nothing was misplaced. We get a big laugh out of Daddy doing this each year. At dh's family, my dd is the only grandchild so she gets to help pass out the gifts. She will pass one out, then it gets opened while we all watch, and then she will pass out the next gift. It takes about as long to do this as it does in my family to get everything passed out and opened because there are so fewer people with him being an only child.
Day 14 - I love Christmas songs, but especially the old classic ones. My absolute favorite would be "White Christmas" sung by Bing Crosby. I love his rich, effortless sounding voice. A close second would be "The Christmas Song" sung by Nat King Cole. There's something about the nostalgia these old standards evoke in me that makes me feel all warm inside.
Day 15 - We are the visitors at Christmas time. We have to travel to both sets of families. I journaled about how we make sure we see as many people as we can, but we don't always get to be at every family celebration so we don't get to see some cousins that often any more. It's sad in a way, but the families are just too large for everyone to see everyone.

Day 12 - Looking Back

Today was all about reflecting back to those Christmas celebrations of long ago and those of today. Our families have always been pretty flexible and so our celebrations may be at different times each year, but we all get together and that's what's important. We're the only ones that have to travel in both of our immediate families and we're always home with our daughter on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning so depending on the year, we celebrate with our families on different days. Both sides have grown and expanded so much that only on dh's father's side do we still get together with the extended family, and each year it's different people that can attend. I miss those times with the ones that aren't here with us any longer and those that are, but are too far away and busy with their own families to see any more. I guess that's just part of growing older though.

Day 11 - Ornaments

I've been thinking about this one all day. I already had the photos taken when we put the tree up and knew what I wanted to say about them. I just wasn't sure about my design. I did this one in a hurry, about 20 minutes, but I really like it. It seems like sometimes the more I think about a layout the less I like the outcome. Easier on the brain, lol. And speaking of brain, my CT scan came back normal and my sister was impressed that not only did I have a brain but my head was normal. Such a comedian!
We have such a wide variety of ornaments on our tree; nothing matches, but almost every single ornament has some meaning. There's the ornaments from when dh and I were kids, Rylie's ornaments, ornaments from vacations, lots of cat ornaments, ornaments with my college mascot and crocketed snowflakes my MIL made. It's always fun when putting up the tree to reminisce about each one.
Credits are the same except the journaling stamp is by Katie Pertiet.

Day 10 - Wrapping Paper

I did this earlier today, but I've been having problems with Blogger today so I'm just not getting this one up. Today was all about wrapping paper. We were supposed to use some of the actual paper we're using this year so I decided to take some pics. We have a wide variety of papers this year as usual. I did buy some really pretty matching ones at Target to use in our Christmas card photo. Maybe the day or two after Christmas I can get some pretty paper cheap for next year. I also took a photo of our paper holder full and the mess that William left in the living room floor last night after wrapping gifts. :( I wanted a random mix of elements on this page to go with our random mix of paper patterns. This one was fun.

Today's prompt was to talk about our traditions. Our artistic side was to use some hidden journaling. Since I'm doing this digitally, I couldn't very well hide my anything to be pulled out later. Once my page is printed, I may go back and add a few photos showing more of our traditions that I can slide in behind the layout.
In my journaling I talked about several different traditions: getting a live tree each year - when and where we get it and when we decorate; baking during the holiday - what we cook and our favorites; our holiday meal at my in-laws - always homemade waffles with fresh strawberries, peaches and cream; and driving around the homes at the country club in my parents' town to see all the wonderful decorations.
The only thing I added to this layout besides my two main kits was the Stamp Act font for the title.

Here's a few things I was working on yesterday. I'm on the creative team for Tracy Collins (Retrodiva - www.retrodiva.net) and I was behind on some kits. I love her style! It fits so well with mine. The first one is from her Oktoberfest kit, the middle one (also for my 2P's and LM Elsie #17 challenge) is from her Inspired kit and the last one is from her Fill Your Heart Kit. Besides this journal, I hadn't done much digital scrapping lately. It seems to come in spurts for me whether it's digital or paper. It's felt good to so come computer scrapping again!

Day 8 A Day Late

Finally got this one finished this morning. I was off work yesterday, but Rylie and I baked for several hours, I didn't feel well and I had several digital layouts that I was behind on to create. I just love being on Tracy Collins' team; she makes some gorgeous kits! I will post some later.

Anyway, I did so much journaling on this one, but that's what this is about right? It is a journal. :) This is my favorite time of year and I just adore all the decorations so I wrote about that and about when we decorate and how I would like to add to our decorations in the future. I'm loving all the details in my holiday this journal is allowing me to dig into and get out on paper. Such fun!

I added the wood slide squares from Thankful kit by Jeanine Baechtold.

Day 7 - Shopping!

I really had fun with today's entry. I adore shopping for friends and family. I love to see their faces full of delight when they open up the perfect gift. I don't like shopping at the mall, however. I much prefer to sit on my computer and shop by the internet - such a wonderful thing! I can shop in my pajamas and not have to fight the crowds and traffic. I took a couple of pics tonight showing several wrapped gifts and some needing to be wrapped under our tree and also a photo of a few shopping bags. I wanted to do a really fun layout to go with today's theme. I'm really loving the bling right now so there's a lot of glitter and shimmery stuff on this one. So girly! Added to this one is A Merry Season Add-On kit; Notebook paper by Shabby Princess; Letters and holly from A Whimsy Holiday by EvaK Designs and Shelle Pukas.

William's parents came up this evening to see us and our Christmas decorations. This is the week for Granny Martin to stay with them, but she has been feeling good lately and thought she would be fine by herself a few hours while they visited. We had a great meal that they of course brought and a nice little visit. Rylie really loved them playing in her room with her. She even tucked Sherra into her little toddler bed. It was quite a site to see a 60-something woman all cozied up in a toddler bed. :) Anything for a grandchild I guess. G.W. brought Rylie a new sled too. It's larger than the previous one so it will be better in the long run. He got it at some antique shop and it was in good condition and I guess easier than fixing the old one. Now if we could just get some snow this winter so we can get some use out of it.

I was hoping I would her from my CAT scan today, but I never did. Maybe I'll hear something on Monday. The steroids helped a good bit the first couple of days, but now that it's the end of the week I'm starting to feel bad and really tired from the week again. My head is really stopped up with lots of pressure again tonight.

Tomorrow afternoon is my boss, Greg's surgery. He has colon cancer and is having to have his colon removed tomorrow. He is only 44 years old. Please remember him in your thoughts and prayers.

Dec. 6 Entry

I really had to think about today's entry. We were supposed to think back and reflect on a bad and a really good Christmas. I tried to think about this one off and on all day and really couldn't remember a bad time. Finally I remembered the few years my big sister had just gotten married and lived across the US in Seattle and couldn't make it home for Christmas. Those were the worst ones, but it had been such a long time ago I had almost forgotten. I'm thankful for today's prompt though. If not for that, I probably never would have documented anything bad about Christmas. I don't have pictures from those year although I'm sure my parents do somewhere. It really made me think and reinforced my feelings from the other day that all it takes for a perfect Christmas is to have the family all together. Each Christmas since has been great and for that we are very fortunate!

I'm very happy with my journaling today, but not so much with the layout. I just couldn't seem to get very creative tonight. That's alright thought because the memories and the journaling are documented and that's what's most important. I used a scan of an older paper layout I did of a Christmas celebration back in 2003 when all the family was together to symbolize the best Christmas times. Used my Shabby Princess jewels again. The alpha, glitter ribbon and glitter accents are from A Whimsy Holiday kit by EvaK Designs and Shelle Pukas at Digital Freebies. Glitter buttons are from A Merry Season add-on by Tracy Collins. Font in the title is MA Kulot.

Day 5 - Advent Calendar

This is how we countdown to Christmas. I got this little guy at Target several years ago and we just love him. Now that my daughter is old enough she helps us change the dates on him.
Extra credit on this one: journaling stamp by Katie Pertiet.

Dec. 4 Journal Entry - A Perfect Christmas

I really had to think on this one. My first thoughts for a perfect Christmas were the perfect home and wonderful food. But then as I thought some more, I realized that none of that would mean anything without my family there to share Christmas with me. I already have the perfect Christmas each year! I found these pictures from Pottery Barn online and used them on my page to show the perfectly decorated home.

I was still feeling pretty bad today so I called the doctor and got in this afternoon. My breathing test was good (but the asthma hasn't been bothering me lately), but he said my nose was really inflammed. He put me on Prednisone and scheduled me for a CAT scan on Wednesday afternoon. He said if it was an infection the antibiotics the other doctor gave me should have cleared it up easily and he's thinking all this junk in my head has been there a long time. I've never had a CAT scan of my sinuses (or anything for that matter) so he wanted to check it out and see what was in there. :) Hopefully this Prednisone will start clearing some of this mess up and I'll feel better in a couple of days. I sure don't want to be sick Friday when I have off with Rylie like I have been the last several times I've taken off of work. :(

Dec. 3 Journal Entry

I had so much fun with this page! I love coming up with a photo for our Christmas card each year and love having them all on this page together. The layout itself was fun too. I just kept throwing things on there...so much not my normal clean style, but I like it. I don't think I could ever be brave enough to try this on a paper page. That's one of the great things I love about digital; it's so easy to experiment! Besides the normal kits I've been using on my journal I added sequined flowers by Jen Wilson, jewels by Shabby Princess and journaling stamp by Katie Pertiet.
Thanks for all the comments on my entries! I love getting comments and have been trying to leave them as much as possible for others too. :)

Dec. 2 Journal Entry

I got my second entry finished this morning. I
plan on doing today's entry sometime today. We
worked around the house all day and night yesterday cleaning up, trowing away and decorating for Christmas. All that dust from the attic and decorations did me in. I woke up this morning to a really bad sore and swollen throat again. I felt bad Friday, but was better yesterday. I guess I tried to do too much too soon. I was able to get this page done and get my Christmas cards done and ordered before I went to lay back down earlier. Journaling on this page says:
Oh how I would love it if my Christmas mornings looked like this photo. Unfortunately, I have rarely had a white Christmas. Living in the South all my life means I have had a variety of Christmas weather. Usually it is cold enough for coats and fires in the fireplace. Sometimes it has been quite warm. But rarely do we get the white Christmas that I dearly yearn for. For me, a white Christmas tops my wish list each year. I can remember just a few in all of my 33 years. The year I got my little red wagon as a child we had a white Christmas. Also, a year or two after we were married we got mostly ice, but it still made our Christmas white so I wasn't disappointed. I look forward to the day when Rylie can wake up to a white Christmas morning.
Credits: paper and snowflakes from Holly Jolly kit by Nancy Rowe Janitz; date from A Merry Season by Tracy Collins (Retrodiva); brads from Seasonal Sampler by Shabby Princess. Font is LB Angela.

5 Things I've Enjoyed Today

1. Not having to work since Rylie's school is closed for the state championship football game this afternoon. Go JCS!
2. Having lots of time to get started on my journal (see posts below and photo in this post).
3. Cooking Cinnabon cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Yum!
4. Honey-lemon flavored cough drops. Help to nurse this sore throat I woke up with.
5. Cold temps. Much better than the hot days we've had lately. It's December; it's supposed to be cold. Too bad we didn't get any snow to go along with it.

I finally decided what I wanted to do with the outside of my journal for Shimelle's class. I got this scrapbook in a set of books at Hobby Lobby with their last 50% off sale. It was already green and black with the ribbon and I thought all it needed was a little red. I used Artic Frog letter stickers and some older Paper Bliss stickers I had laying around and voila!

Dec. 1 Journal Entry

Here is my entry for today. Very simple, but it gets the point across I think. Credits: paper, swirls and snowflake brush from Holly Jolly kit by Nancy Rowe Janitz; Happy Holidays word art from Seasonal Sampler by Shabby Princess; number stamp and staple from A Merry Season kit by Tracy Collins (Retrodiva).

Manifesto:

Here is my manifesto for my Christmas journal. I'm so excited about this class and look forward to creating this art book. I am doing my pages digitally and will print them out and put into my album. I am using a 6x6 scrapbook album that I already had. I'll post it once I get the cover finished. Credits: paper, stitches and button from Holly Jolly kit by Nancy Rowe Janitz; Note paper from Holiday Sampler by Shabby Princess; Christmas tree from A Merry Season kit by Retrodiva. Font is LB Angela.

Manifesto says:
Manifesto: Noun. A declaration of one's intentions.

Starting December first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every
day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present and dream
about the holidays of my future. To some, this will be a stack of papers and trivial
scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas, I am letting it be something I
relish and, most importantly, I am giving at least fifteen minutes every day to myself no
matter how crazy this season becomes. I hope you will share, encourage and understand
as I make something with my own hands, my own words and my own memories.

I may post some or all of my entries here. Other artists are doing this with me, and you can see their work here. Or you may
join us.


Above all: enjoy the season. I will.

Jennifer Childs
December 2006

Go Figure

I took yesterday and Monday off of work because I had the time and really wanted a couple of free days. I had such great plans of getting lots done around the house and scrapping some too. I woke up yesterday morning with a really sore throat. No fever, but just pain. Good thing I had planned on sending Rylie to preschool anyway. I mainly layed around all day long. I took some prescription decongestant last night and knew I would wake up so much better this morning. Well, I'm a little worse if anything. Now I can't go to Rick's tonight for the weenie roast and hayride. William and Rylie are going without me, but I hate that I'm going to miss it. There's just no way I can spend outdoors this evening with our high only in the 40's today; I'd be sick as a dog then. At least Rylie will still get to go. I hope I feel better tomorrow and can at least enjoy a couple of my off days.

Water Woes

After being up till 3:30 am last Monday night trying to get the new waterline ran, we thought we were about through. However, fate was not on our side. As I was walking through the kitchen earlier I see what looks like "Old Faithful" out by the shop...a water leak. Of course William was not home yet; he was on his way home from Memphis and visiting Scott since he had surgery a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea how to turn the water off at the street so it will just run until he gets home. By the time he gets here, it will proabaly be too late for him to get it totally fixed before night so I expect we'll have a night without water. This really sucks because we actually had plans to go out with Jenny and Steve tonight without kids and Katherine was going to babysit for us - our first adult couple night without kids since Rylie was born! Oh well, I guess we can always reschedule. At least our water pressure is good enough now that I can still run the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, get a shower and run one more load of laundry before William gets home and we have to cut the water off. And we will still go out tonight, we'll just have Rylie with us and that will be fun too. Too bad; she was looking so forward to going to JoAnn's to hang out tonight.

Preschool Is Here

Today was orientation at Rylie's new preschool. I took the day off of work and William took a break from work to meet us there. We met Rylie's teacher Ms. Kim and her assistant Ms. Kristie. They both seemed really nice. The room looked too old for my baby, like a real classroom. :( There were 3 other children there from her class at the same time we were. We let the kids walk around the room; Rylie quickly found the table of dried beans and loved playing with them. After a little time with the beans, I talked her into going to the other side of the room where the other kids were so she could get used to being around them more. Ms. Kim then took us to the playground so the kids could see it and of course it was a hit! Rylie checked out every piece of equipment there. Being on the playground really helped put the kids at ease and play together some. Before we left Ms. Kim gave everyone a ring pop so they were thrilled! Rylie seemed to really like her room, teachers, and fellow classmates, and William and I did too. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about the preschool so I think she's going to have a great year!

After orientation we went to Target and shopped a little. Trying to stick to our new budget, I only bought a new hairdryer and a pair of brown winter shoes for Rylie. I was hoping to find her a blue jean skirt, but found no decent clothes for her there. Since she needed a skirt, we headed to Old Navy and I found one there. We stopped on the way home and picked up Wendy's (Rylie's choice - how does the child even know Wendy's anyway?) and brought it home for lunch. When we got home, William's parents were there working on shelves for the shop. Before they left, they came in to eat a bite and see Rylie for a minute. I let Rylie stay up till about 1, then I put her down for a nap and before long, I was ready for one myself. I laid down on the couch at about 2 or 2:30 and I woke up around 4. It took me forever to get up, but I knew I couldn't sleep all day. Boy that nap sure did feel good! Rylie finally woke up about 4:30. Right after I woke up, my stomach starting hurting. I had had a bad headache all day anyway, but it was worse after my nap. I was feeling pretty sick so I was glad when William got home soon afterwards. I even ate just cheese toast for dinner because I still felt sick.

William and Rylie went outside for a bit after dinner to let Rylie play with her new wagon. They didn't stay too long because a storm was brewing around. William would load the wagon up for her and she'd carry stuff to the shop for him. It was quite cute and of course I got a few pictures.

May Ad Challenge Freebie
I've had all kinds of computer issues this weekend. Thankfully William can take care of all of them for me. After having to disconnect my wireless connection because it wouldn't work, getting a new keyboard, and doing something to make my computer run cooler, it's working quite well for the time being. I was finally able to use Photoshop and finish my May Ad Challenge Freebie for The Daily Scrap. There's a little preview above. You can check out the ad here:
http://www.thedailyscrap.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1174
There's still time to post your layout based on the ad in order to get the freebie. All the posting bonuses for the May challenges use the same color scheme so the more challenges you do, the more of a kit you get!

All About Poop

"We can't go in the water because Fish poop in there. We don't poop in the water, we poop in the potty."

Just a random thought by Rylie on the way to daycare this morning. She said Karen told her that. :) Karen said she told her the water at the waterway was dirty the other night at the concert, but she never said it was dirty because fish poop in it.

Gotta love the mind of a 2 year old!

I Pledge Allegiance...

Last night we were sitting down eating dinner when Rylie starts saying the Pledge. She was about half-way through it before William and I really realized what she was saying. When she got through we looked at each other (both shocked). I said, "did she just say the entire Pledge?" She had indeed said the whole thing word for word. I guess they have been saying it at school, but she has never ever said even part of it to us before. What an accomplishment for a 2 1/2 year old!

Sunday 2Peas Bloggin Challenge

I haven't updated in a week so I thought this would be a great way. Thanks for the pusth!

What would you do if you won a million dollars? First, I would give to the church, and pay off our house and other debts. Next, dh would get a new truck. A good chunk would go into savings and towards college for Rylie. I would do some more fixing up of the house and maybe add on some. Other than that, I would quit my job and then basically just live the same.

What would you do if you have no children? (for those who doesn't, just think reverse) I think I would be happy, but my life would not be complete. I would have some more free money, but not have the joy I experience on a day to day basis from being a mom now.

What would you do if you are the president of the United States? There's no way I would ever be elected president. I'm way too conservative and I'm not going to base decisions on what others think I should or want me to do rather than what I know is right in my hear.

What would you do if you skip a meal? That would not be a bad thing. :)

What would you do if you are in your ideal weight? (let's face it, who ever is?) I would probably just waste more money on clothes.

What would you do if you could meet anyone you want and who would that be? I think I would like to sit down and talk with a great inventor or scientist. People who come up with new revolutionary ideas facinate me, but I probably wouldn't be able to understand a word they said.

What would you do if you are famous? I would have someone do my shopping for me so people wouldn't harrass me all the time when I was out.

What would you do if you are a "scrapbooking celebrity"? Just think of the friends I'd have!

What would you do if you could change anything in the world? I would wipe out poverty

What would you do if you don't scrapbook? I would have a cleaner house, lol.

 

Gottcha! 

 

Me and my creation 

Hugging Frosty 

Frosty himself 

Snow 

A broken collar bone won't stop me. 

Hi Frosty! 

A little Snow

Just when I had decided that we would get no white stuff this winter, we had a good little snow Friday night. We ended up with about 3 or 4 inches; not a lot, but a good bit for around here. Rylie left early that afternoon to stay the weekend with William's parents because we were supposed to go to Nashville Saturday. Ended up the guy William was supposed to meet and buy a transmission from was snowed in and couldn't make it. I was happy because I didn't want to be out in that mess anyway. We ended up playing out in it a little bit Saturday. William rode his 3 wheelers despite his cracked collar bone; I made a snowman despite my bad sinus infection I've had for weeks. I guess we're both a little stubborn. We kept the gas logs burning most of the weekend and ate junk food and made snow cream. It was really nice even if we were at home the whole time.

This morning before we left I took Rylie out and got a couple of shots of her with the snowman. She loves her "Frosty".

2 Peas Saturday Bloggin Challenge

This was posted by Michelle (burberry girl).

- What are your favorite songs/band/album to listen while you scrap? Why?

I like to listen to something that gets me rockin. Something with a good beat and songs I already know so I'm not trying to really "listen" to the words. Right now I'm listening to a lot of BTE (Better Than Ezra) and the new INXS. During Christmas I'll listen to radio stations on the web that play Christmas music. I have to turn it off when it comes time to journal though. I can't journal with any noise distractions.

What a week!

It started out with me going to the doctor for another sinus infection Monday. He gave me some antibiotics (biaxin) and sent me on my way. I left work early that afternoon after I had gotten done the things that had to be done that day. Late that afternoon, William calls to say he had a wreck riding his mountain bike after work and fell on his shoulder. When he gets home he's in a lot of pain. I tried to get him to go to Convenient Care but he'll hear nothing of it (men!).

By Tuesday, the medicine is really making me sick to my stomach. I still feel bad and have nausea and diarrhea to boot. William is not any better at all so I stay home from scrapping to take care of Rylie since he can't pick her up.

Wednesday I stay home from work because I get sick again when I get up out of the bed that morning. I called the doctor's office and got a new prescription. William is worse but still is adamant about not going to the doctor. He says he'll go the end of the week if it's not better.
Since, he still can't pick Rylie up she stays home with me. I thought about taking her to daycare myself, but I didn't feel good enough to get ready and get her there myself. She was really good though; we watched movies on the couch and she slept for about 3 1/2 hours in the afternoon.

Thursday, I'm better stomach wise, but my throat is killing me now since I've been off of any antibiotics for 1 1/2 days. I get a new prescription of antibiotics. This time it's Amoxicillin 875 mg twice a day! William is still in pain and still refuses to see a doctor. I won't bring it up again. He now refuses to take anything for pain because his chest has been hurting and he says it's the pain medicine; all he's had is OTC tylenol and advil! I tried to tell him he's probably got the same bug that's affecting me and Rylie. No, it's the pain medicine. STUBBORN!!!

Friday, he makes it through a little easier finally, so he's even more convinced now that he's done nothing to his arm. (there's that stubborness again) I'm a little better, but coughing now. Thankfully I have some cough medicine here that I take at night. I promised Rylie that we'd camp out on the couch bed for the night so we sleep there. I finally get her down a little after 9 and she sleeps until around 7:30. A little less sleep for her than usual, but good for me because I think I was asleep by 10 myself. :)

That's one week I'm sure glad is over!

Meme Challenge for 1/25/06

I got this off two peas and thought it was a great question.

When you're feeling creative, what colors do you usually go for - when creating something? List your 5 most-used colors, and explain why you choose them. What feelings in you - do they evoke? What emotions/feelings do they represent to you? Share why you choose the colors you do.

I try to mix things up. I use a lot of greens and browns because I take a lot of outside photographs. I usually use color photographs and draw my colors from the pictures. I have been branching out some lately and buying bolder papers I like and converting my photos to b/w if I need to. Usually in my digital scrapping, I go for brighter colors. I just did a paper layout earlier this week with brown, pink and light green and I LOVE that combo! I think it's my new fav. It's so fun! I do try to think of the feelings the colors will evoke on my layout. If it's a layout of serene landscape photographs, I use the earthy tones, but if it's a layout of a party, I usually brighten things up.

They're Gone

William and Rylie left just a little bit ago to head down to Corinth. Granny Martin is still in the hospital and not doing too well so William wanted to see her. Since I'm sick (bad sore throat) he took Rylie with him. Of course he wanted me to keep her so he didn't have to deal with her. Men! She can't go in the hospital so his dad is going to keep her at his house while he visits.

I do feel some better today. It's steadily raining all day so I plan on getting a little scrapping done while they're gone.

When he went outside to leave, he found a box outside drenched in the rain that Fed-Ex had brought yesterday. Why couldn't they have left it on the covered front porch or knock on the door when they delivered it?!?! It was clothes from TCP and luckily each piece was in a plastic bag. The bad part is that he found it and opened it and had a fit about me spending money on clothes. Granted, Rylie is really well-dressed, but that's about the only thing I spend money on besides things we have to have. He's constantly getting bike parts or whatever is his hobby at the moment off ebay and just bought Rylie a BMX bike (SHE'S 2!!) and that's ok, but I spend too much money on her clothes. Let's just say I was very happy to see him leave and hope they have a LONG visit!!!

OK, vent over now.

Bragging

If you are as wonderful as you tell everyone you are, you wouldn't have to tell everyone all the time. I promise people will pick up on it by themselves.

I just don't see why some people have to do this. Insecurity I guess. It really grates on my nerves!

Snowballs!

We finally got to see a little of the white stuff today. If snowed most of the afternoon and pretty good too. Too bad it was so wet or we would have had a decent accumulation. We only got a little dusting. I guess I'll have to go to work tomorrow. ;) When I picked Rylie up this afternoon it was coming down pretty good in large flakes. Rylie said, "look momma, snowballs!" I love being a mommy! :)

Tagged by Mely

Four jobs you've had in your life:
1. Babysitter - I did this off and on in my middle school and high school years.

2. Lab gopher - Gilmore Memorial Hospital. Not really my title (lol) but I did whatever they needed me to do. Basically, they just gave me a job because I had volunteered for them the previous year (my senior year of high school) so they hired me the summer after I graduated. I worked there until I went off to college. My first real job. Minimum wage. Woohoo!

3. Phlebotomist - Gilmore Memorial Hospital. After my first year of college, I worked the next summer (and every one after until I graduated college) as a phlebotomist. Finally, during my senior year of college (while I was in Med Tech school), I was able to work as a MLT after my first rotation. I thought I was rich making over $8/hr. then, lol.

4. Marketing Representative - Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. I got this job right after I graduated college. In fact, I graduated one week, took my national boards the next, moved to TN a few days after that and started work in a few more days. I've been there for 9 1/2 years now. I do enjoy my job because I get to do so many different things. Now, I'm doing some technical consulting too and it's so good to use the technical side more.

Boring, I know. I've always known what I wanted to do.


Four movies you would watch over and over:

1. It's a Wonderful Life - My all-time favorite movie. The relationship between George and Mary is just so romantic!

2. The Music Man - Boy, did I want to be Shirley Jones, lol! I love her in this movie.

3. Gone With The Wind - A true southerner through and through. What can I say

4. The Lost Boys - Never cared for Corey Feldman, but Jason Patric and Keifer Sutherland were very hot vampires.

Four places you have lived:

1. Amory, MS - born and raised; moved away when I was 22.

2. Henderson, TN - DH and I lived here for 6 months when we were first married.

3. Jackson, TN - moved here in 1996 and have been here ever since (except the 6 months I lived in Henderson with dh.)

That's it unless you count college (Oxford, MS)

Four places you've been on vacation:

1. Victoria Canada

2. Out West

3. New England

4. Smokey Mountains (too many times to count)


Four websites you visit daily:

1. Gymbohaven (gotta check the lasted Gymbo outfits and sales)

2. Yahoo - I get most of my news here

3. I Love Photography - if I have time

4. Scrapbook sites - if I have time
Four of your favorite foods:

1. Just about anything Mexican

2. Lasagna (only my mom's recipe)

3. Ham and Egg Pie (need to make this sometime - old family recipe)

4. Pancakes


Four places you'd rather be right now:

1. On a warm beach

2. In the bed sleeping

3. Shopping

4. Scrapbooking

Four bloggers you are tagging:

I think pretty much everyone's been tagged that I know.

I sure hope this week is short.

Don't get me wrong, I love going to visit my family, but we do so much when we're down there that I come back so tired. Then, I have to go back to work on Mondays. We don't get the holiday off today so there was no rest for the weary. At least it wasn't too bad of a day at work.

The really bad part is that we're going back on Weight Watchers today. Not that that's a bad thing at all, but I just hate diets. I know, it's a lifestyle change not a diet. Blah, blah, blah. William went to get groceries tonight and spent $150! Why does it cost so freaking much to eat healthy?! That just isn't right! As you can tell, PMS, dieting and being tired all combined don't make for a very happy Jennifer. 4 more days until Friday now...

Much Better Today, Thanks

I am out of my little funk I was in yesterday. My throat is still sore some, but overall I feel much better. Must have been the cookies or buying the camera. ;)

William went to Rick's house this afternoon to work on bikes. When he got home we all went outside for a couple of hours. It was just beautiful here today and I wanted to take advantage of the 70 degree weather. Rylie rode her car, we played, she swang, and we walked a mile up and down the driveway.

I even had some time to get a little scrapping in. Not my favorite layout, but some Christmas pictures are done. I hate doing layouts of family get-togethers. It's not Christmas in general I don't like to scrap, but it's the same people at the same places doing the same things year after year. This way I was able to get William's extended family gatherings all done in one layout. That, I'm very happy about.

In all of my camera doings online this weekend, I found a photography site that is wonderful. www.ilovephotography.com . It has so much information and the talent there is amazing. I spent a lot of time today and yesterday reading the forums. I feel like this will be a regular site of mine to visit.

Christmas 2005 

I just treated myself.

After studying for several days, I found out I did not have to have new lenses for the dRebel so I bit the bullet. William and I talked about it and with the $75 rebate going on right now we hated to pass up that deal. With my Christmas money and STD refund check the other day we're not that short of the total cost. I just placed my order with Beach Camera and I'm so excited! My chest hurt a little placing such a big order, but I can't wait to play with my new toy! I sure hope it comes by next Friday so I can take it to Amory with me and show it off. :)

Yuck!

That's how I feel today. Nothing really hurts too bad (throat is a little sore and head is stopped up); I just don't feel good. Maybe I just need a lazy feel sorry for myself day. I took some Aleve a couple of hours ago, but it hasn't helped. I just took some Health Bar cookies out of the oven; maybe that will help ;) .

I really wanted to get a few things done around the house today and maybe scrap some, but I just don't have the motivation. I've been on the internet most of the morning just reading my message boards and looking for a great deal on a DRebel. William cooked lunch for us and will fix dinner too. I just can't get off my butt!

I feel lucky

I found out at work today that Unim has been over charging us on STD for years. They are refunding us with 6% interest for that time. I heard about people getting all kinds of different refunds; JoAnn said hers was $90. I didn't know how mine would pan out since I was on maternity leave during the time and took STD time for it. I got home and received my check of over $550! I was so surprised!! William wants some of it to put with his Christmas money but the rest I'm going to try to save and get myself a digital Rebel. I've wanted one for so long and just haven't spent the money on it because it's so expensive. I'm like a little kit at Christmas I'm so giddy! Now just comes the hard part of waiting until I have the rest of the money. Ugh!

One last look back at 2005

I saw these questions posted by Nadine at 2 Peas and thought they were great:

1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before? Traveled for business

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I dont remember if I made any or not. I did make some for 2006 (see post below)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? no

4. Did anyone close to you die? yes - my Grandfather died in September at age 90

5. What countries did you visit? stayed in US

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005? a paid off truck

7. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? not a particular date, but spending the whole month of Jan. and Feb. arguing with the insurance company and the repair shop after my wreck at the end of Dec. 2004.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? making the design team at The Daily Scrap

9. What was your biggest failure? not losing weight

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? flu! I thought I was going to die and really didn't care if I did because I felt so bad

11. What was the best thing you bought? baskets and containers for organization

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? ??

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Tom Cruise

14. Where did most of your money go? clothes for Rylie

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? going to CK convention in March with Beth and JoAnn

16. What song will always remind you of 2005? "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? about the same
iii. richer or poorer? about the same

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? exercise

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? spend money

20. How will you be spending Christmas? we spent it with our families and just the three of us here at home

22. Did you fall in love in 2005? over and over every day with my dh

23. How many one-night stands? uh - no

24. What was your favorite TV program? Grey's Anatomy

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? no

26. What was the best book you read? I don't think I read one

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? BTE, I always liked them, but never owned a cd until now

28. What did you want and get? a vacation

30. What was your favorite film of this year? I don't think we went to the movies once this year

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 32 - I was on a girls' weekend with my sisters, mom and niece

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? nothing

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? basically just work clothes

34. What kept you sane? scrapbooking

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? ??

36. What political issue stirred you the most? Teri Schiavo

37. Who did you miss? Kim

38. Who was the best new person (people) you met? my internet friends at the CK convention

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005: That my job is not always secure

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Will have to think on this one.

Bring it on 2006!

Another new year. Sure seems as like the years go faster and faster these days. I used to always be a little sad to see a year ending, but I'm taking a different approach this time. I say bring on 2006! I'm anxious to see what the yaer has in store for me. I sure hope it will be a good one!

In celebration of the new year, I decided to try something new. I've made resolutions before, but never wrote them down. This year I made a layout with a few things I'd like to try and do in 2006. Hopefully they will help me be a healthier, happier, more fulfilled me. We'll see how it goes!

2006 Goals