Bad habits

It never fails, it is just my pattern. I have an obsession with purging my collection of ugly stuff, and so I tend to try and use it and get rid of it resulting in many LO's in an ugly pattern and pretty paper left to rot in my stash. Smart, Bran. Anyways, I was at Heather's the other day and she had a pack of Bazzill that she couldn't recall the origin of. I recognized it as the Feb kit of Center City Designs that I was not crazy about. To put it in perpective, I had used it once, which is pretty unlike me. Some of the patterns aren't that bad, but some are ugh-a-roo. So of course the mission is planted deep within my heart to purge my stash. Among the things I have made today, several more things will be posted tomorrow though, and sorry about the crappy copies, they look all uneven and bendy:
(a redo)
(redo too)
(grad card)
Also felt like embarrassing my small child, so here are these photos of Dylan reading on the potty... we interupted a good part of story I bet...

Rent this LO

I was watching the film version of Rent before I was scrapping and I thought the lyrics to "Seasons of Love" were perfect for a LO on NYE 2005. The lyrics:

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?



Those are the lyrics in white all around the LO, thanks to Heather for the superfly pen!

Ho ho ho

It's about time, but I am finally working on my 2005 holiday pics. I went over to Heather's today and though I had great intentions for scrapping, Dylan was cutting a monster tooth and he lacked the good attitude to let me be. I got home and finished up, but not before Heather had a chance to tell me how god awful ugly this paper from Arctic Frog is. She was pleased to hear it was an old Trusty Red Wheelbarrow kit and not something I intentionally sought out at a store.

Jason gave me the idea about the ornaments, and I did a little bit of doodling that didn't make me want to barf. It is done, yay! As for Dylan's tooth, I think we are in for one loooong night. Luckily, my mom has tomorrow off and so if I am teetering on the edge of insanity, she can take the boy. Either way, we are hanging out and that means she'll hog him anyway and I am sure by tomorrow I will let her

Muchas mas

Here are those cards as well as the altered cigar box and birthday card I did for Cate. Jason says his friend has a ton of the cigar boxes, so I may do some more. For now I will go rest my weary eyes...

You should see the other guy

Here's something for CPS, Dylan's first shiner. In this instance, the other guy was the bathroom floor. We bought this baby toilet a long time ago because Jason's grandmother said they trained his cousin really early by having a baby one next to the big one and having the kid sit on it while they use it. I couldn't see any harm just letting him sit on it, so I started letting him hang out on it while I go really quick. TMI, maybe.

Anyways, he loves the toilet and when no one is going he sneaks in and tries to get on it. I saw him do it and helped him up and after a minute he acted like he wanted up. As I was trying to get him, he made a super push to get up and suddenly his face was flat on the hard tile. He cried for less than a minute and moved on, but I got to explain to every cashier and my mother why the boy had a red forehead and blackeye. Fun!

Crap Crop

There is no better way to trim the fat off an ample scrap supply like having a Crap Crop. That's what I am calling my little weekend of using up the remnants of kits or stuff I bought that are wasting valuable space to make room for whatever extras I piled into my cart. This weekend I worked on getting rid of some old Chatterbox, KI, some Granny's Kitchen, Grandpa's Attic and pics of stuff from the Urban Lily kit are on their way. I made these 4 LO's and a crap-crop-load of cards that I will have to make pics of later.




The last one is cool because I used the computer to print journaling around the grouping of pics. Pics of cards are to come later...

Breaking News: Target still sucks

Couldn't even hold up my side of the grudge, and was repaid for that. I went to the same awful one and they still don't have size four diapers in the box. They had moved all the Pampers to their place as if to say "We know we aren't keeping our stuff in stock, but try these $7 more a box ones instead." I said something to the woman working the department about when they would get more and she said they come in all the time. I said, really because I came here Monday and there were none and here it is Thursday and you've moved the Pampers there as if you've given up on ever stocking them. She said they do that so it doesn't look empty and I said, you mean it would like you are out. Oh, wait you are. At least they got the little packs in, so I grabbed 4 of those and the girl left to cut on herself for having to deal with me. To my credit, I did at least preface my statements by saying "I know it isn't your fault but..." I am sure that helped brighten her day. Maybe it kept her cuts smaller and not so deep

Jesus rose from the dead and all I got was this stuffed bunny...

We had a classic Easter celebration on Sunday, went to brunch at the Cumberlands and then lunch and Mom and Jim's. Now I love my brother, but he is testing everyone's limits these days. After weeks of hearing the confessionals on his baby mama MF (those are her initials, though the other thing MF stands for could easily apply as well), he seems to be getting back together with her. A recap of the top three reasons why my mom told him in no uncertain terms that she wouldn't be supporting that decision:
1. She's a skank. She cheated on him before she got pregnant and told him Christmas day when they were out in Colorado. The icing was that I think it was at a party they were both at and it was in the back of a car. Class. That's the one example we know, I assume others are forthcoming.
2. She's mean to him. She never had anything nice to say to him and nags and goes on.
3. She had a baby when she was 15 that was all messed up because he was early. While we can forgive the fact that the paternal grandmother took custody to care for this challenged child, we cannot forgive the fact that she seldom if ever sees him and most importantly that the paternal grandmother isn't really the paternal grandmother because MF lied about who the father was. Grandma got the memo too late and I guess was either too attached or knew no one else was going to take care of the baby so she kept him.

So my brother asked my mom to please support him in his decision, she said she couldn't and he couldn't believe her. He shouldn't support himself in this lame decision. The whole day he had still been going over all his legal papers from the custody agreement he had spent about $3500 on since Megan wouldn't let him see the baby on his own. Yeah, she's a keeper. He called the lawyer on Easter Bloody Sunday and the lawyer actually picked up. I wish he would grow up, ideally neither of them would have custody. I assume at some point I will have custody anyway, so it is a matter of waiting.

Meanwhile, somewhere in West University is a well eastablished professional couple spending hundreds of thousands on in vitro because they can't get pregnant. Oh God, your sense of humor and irony is lost on many of us.

In honor of our risen Lord, my mom dressed Dylan and cousin Matthew in matching outfits and gave them their bunnies (let's face it, babies under 1 just don't get any of this). Here you all are:

Target is comatose to me

The one at San Felipe and 610, anyways. Not dead to me, because let's face it- I will be back, but they are on alert. I am cheap and we buy all the baby stuff there. They were completely out of Target Diapers in 4's (boxes, jumbo, maxi jumbo) except one little package all by its lonesome. I made them check the back and then I asked if they do anything to discount the others when they run out, of course they said no. So now I will still have to hit 290 because they were out of 4's in Luvs too and the Pampers and Huggies are too expensive to bother with ($7 more a pack and I needed two -screw them and their tactic to make more money- I will spend that money on gas just to show them and go to another). Finally a, "mmm, sorry" mumbled as Minimum Wage Mary ran off.

Then I did a social experiment with the cashier where I didn't speak to her until she spoke to me. She was quite animated with her pal, Casey Cashier, until I rolled up at least. At the end of the order she finally spoke asked "You want a Target Visa?" and I had to fight not to say,"No Shaquanda, despite your excellent selling techniques and wonderful demeanor, I will have to pass on that well sold offer." No thank you, but I did get a mumbled "Have a nice day." You too, Shaquanda, you too.

At it again...

I am, as always, obsessed with finishing a kit and getting it out of my ever growing supply of papers. Since BG Color me Silly started out well, I am stuck on it and wanting to finish it up - and getting pretty darn close. Here's a LO I did of some pics of Dylan from Nov. He looks like a pudgy fat boy there, he has really thinned out some, but he has been moving a lote more since then. It amazes me to think of how much fun he has become and how much he has changed, I think he is the best kid in the world, but I suspect I might be a little biased.

We went to the park today with Jason's dad - Richard, his wife - Mary and brother Will. I never would have known this place was there and there was a great nature trail and a learning house. Dylan was way overdue for a nap but never complained, here he is on Jason's shoulder where he kept falling asleep. Tell me he isn't adorable...

here's a great one of Will...

and all the boys...

This is how I roll

I am on such a roll, here's something else I have finished tonight

If my mini album had turned out well that I started instead of peeling apart, I'd be almost out of paper! Shocked that I've done so much with this kit, BG usually paralyzes me.

Chickee Habitat

I bought this birdhouse at Michael's like four months ago and finally altered it. Yay.

I am on a roll with this line of BG, shocking...

Some bunny loves you

I got these nifty ears at Target for a buck, who could resist? I know not Heather because I spied a pair at her house too. Anyways, last Sunday morning while Jason was sleeping until 10:30 am, I was delirious from having been up since 5 or whatever and I decided to draw on my child's face so that Jason wouldn't have to witness the abuse. He has been showing the picture around as proof that I am "gaying up" Dylan, to which I say good. I think we both secretly want him to be gay so we can never worry about him having baby mama drama. He and his life partner Joe will have little Asian girls instead, and once you get them they are yours. I guess unless he and Joe break up. I guess I haven't thought this all out yet...

Anyways, here's a quick little LO I did with the pic, the light is making stuff look more washed out and you can't read the "some bunny" on the tags as a result, but you get the gist.

A serious note...

For those of you who noticed that suddenly there were a month's worth of posts that weren't there before, don't bother checking to see if your computer is okay. It probably is, except for all you myspace stalkers. If you are on myspace, your computer is a cookie monster and your computer will self destruct. But back to my point, all apologies for the fact that I tried to be sneaky and post a month's worth of stuff in one night. If my j-o-b hadn't been sucking quite so bad, it would have been done in a more timely manner, but I will try to keep up in the future. Thanks for noticing though, it means you like me, you really like me. Or you are fascinated by me like a grisly accident. Either way, thanks for the attention. It provides validation that my childhood could not provide.

Jack Bauer, my higher power

Am super pleased to hear that Kiefer Sutherland signed on for 3 more seasons, whoo-hoozers! I heard 8 digit dollars too, wouldn't that be a minimum of ten million? Sounds like I should be hooking up with that if I am not going to be working for a little bit- just kidding. I have to say I am kidding for Jason, but if KS is out there, I'm here for you!

Here's KS kicking a little more boo-tay...

Halloweenie

Yay! I got this finished for my 2005 Holiday album!

I was using the BH Creative Sketches Vol2 as inspiration and ended up adding an extra picture in the middle there. I really loved the pics I took from Halloween, Dylan wasn't much into the smiling mood and more into the crying mood, but I got some pretty darn endearing pics as a result

Drink it up!

Me and the Winrock crew hit Drink last night to celebrate my freedom from enslavement and here are the highlights:
-Leprechaun Man: I saw him get off the bus and was pleased to see him at the 80's place dancing. He was short with a frizzy mullet and a big rectangular belt buckle and a green top hat. He must have thought the pot of gold was hidden inside the nifty Rubix cube atop the 80's dance floor.
- Sandeep: We decided to sit in the Karaoke part of the place because we could put enough seats together. You gotta know that there are certain types of people who do karaoke. There are the super talents who are looking for any random showcase, there are the drunks who want to be silly and finally there is Sandeep. Sandeep is probably fairly new to the English language and karaoke is a great place to show off his new skills. When he went up for his second performance, he did Enrique Iglesias' "Hero" and I thought I would have to tear off my shirt and throw it at him in a fit of groupie support. It was that or pee on myself from uncontrollable laughter. I tried to record it on my cell phone, but I couldn't hear my phone because it was so loud. Cue to my devestation when I got home and hadn't gotten it. Saaaaaaddd!!
-Good times such as the following...

Wave bu-bye!

Twas my last day at the big bad bank! Everyone at the branch made me feel so special all day long, I got a couple vases of flowers, balloons, lunch and even my favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream from Baskin Robbins. I made a commitment to not read the cards until I got home because as soon as I started reading "You're the best manager I ever had..." I got the glob of sentiment in my throat that threatened to leak from my eyes and I would not have that!




There was the obligatory happy hour afterwards with some of the district folk. Since I refuse to view this as retirement, I never mentioned anything about it to anyone outside the district, so it was just the usual suspects. I had an okay time, but in all honesty I was dying to have the day be over. When I got home, Jason took me up on my offer to watch the kid so he could go out so I could read my cards and cry in peace. Aw sad!

This is for you, Megan

Had to go to Bryan's custody thing today, here's a pic of Bryan with Dylan. I would like to think that Dylan intends that middle finger for Megan since she sure has wasted everyone's time and energy on with all of this. Bryan thinks that suit makes him hot stuff, but he needs more than a good suit to make the baby mama drama go away

Aching to be inspired...

I am trying so hard to find some game, but I am severely lacking. In my attempt, I came up with these cards: