Life, today.

I had a crappy day and I don't really want to discuss it. Let's just say there is a layout forming in my head titled "The Wisdom to know the Difference" and on one side is a pic of me with the caption "The things I can" and a pic of another certain person outside of my inner circle with the caption "The thing I cannot change." That tells pretty much the whole story right there, minus frustration, tears and screaming.

So what better to do that blog about BS?! Love it! Did you notice I decorated my blog for Halloween? It is pretty cool. The different elements come from several digi kits like the iron gate on the banner (Rustiron kit from www.jennilyndesigns.com), papers (Anna in the Fiesta kit from Oscrap, I believe, as well as most everything else from Jan Crowley's Macabre kit (Oscrap?) Anyways, I will make it more autumn next week but this is cute for now.

We went to the beach this weekend and stayed at a beach house Karen and Paul (in-laws) rented. I relaxed a lot and learned a whole lot about digi but there were too many people (Granny and Paul's parents also stayed there, and there were only two bedrooms and then foldouts in the living room) and too early of bedtimes (9:15 one night, no kidding). But there were some cute pics to be had and by Monday night a cold front came through and we had cool weather. We waited for over an hour and a half in said cold weather in the car for the ferry Monday night to leave and that really sucked, but I liked the trip overall. Some pics to leave you with:

(the ocean almost looks pretty here -- this is after the storm with the tide way out and the water eerily calm)

(I learned to play Rummy Tiles with everyone and I really liked it)

(relaxing)

(Granny and Karen laughing at Paul)

(Dylan's corny new "cheese" face)

(the closest I got the ocean was using my zoom lens on the deck for this shot!)

Other than that, nada much going on here. I would like to try and scrap now to sorta chill out, but we will see. See, blogging did make me feel calmer. Serenity now!

Yayayayayayayayayayayayay!!!!

I just got an email from Scrapbooking Trends saying they want to put my "Don't know why" LO in their March 2008 issue!!!! Too bad it is a million years from now, but hurray! I suspect I will be among good company for that issue too...pretty sure I am not the first to toot. (**EDITED - HEATHER'S IN THERE TOO!!!**)

I actually deleted it the one place I had posted it in the first place, but here's my graphic for galleries in case I need it in the future...



I've never been much for submitting in the past and I can't remember why I did this one but it is a very good feeling and I will totally try again in the future. Oh yeah, and it is 8 1/2 by 11 -- who knew that was the format for me?

Checking in...

and with nothing much to say. Stuff we've done lately:

- The Dexter Season Premiere promotion: I think they chose like 16 cities and filled their fountains with faux blood. I went to the wrong fountain at first, but then the family went to the right one. If you haven't watched Dexter, you are truly missing out. Season 1 is out on DVD and while you are catching up on Showtime goodness, check out Season 1 and 2 of Weeds, also awesome.


- Going big boy: Posted these on Simply Obsessed, but we did put together Dylan's big boy bed and he has been a pro at sleeping in it. He doesn't realize he can get out of it himself in the morning, so he just yells "Hello? Mama? Dada? Helloooo?" until someone comes



- Preparing for autumn: Went to the pumpkin patch this weekend with Mary, Richard and Will and shooed in the fall season by posing for pics in the pumpkins and taking a hayride. My favorite is the last one because while Dylan is on a pumpkin, you can see the Christmas season sneaking up behind him, both figuratively and literally.




And finally, to all the ridiculous people who are organizing to burn issues of CK - you are lame. You are sad and jealous and if you were named HOF tomorrow, you would be singing a different tune. What is saddest is that all those stereotypes of ridiculous, crazy women are being fulfilled on MB's all over right now. I've always liked this craft because the focus was on the good things in life and on building relationships of fun and support with other women, and what has come out of that whole debacle is the complete opposite of that. Please stop. If you entered the HOF contest, I understand your frustration and you are given a two minute pass to complain. And the two minutes are up...

Rained out

All the anticipation over the craft fair and I know everyone wants to know how it went...let's just say the whole thing was a bust, but I say that with wet hair and a smile. Started at 11 and it was nasty overcast, but the hope was that the weather would pick up and the people would show...that didn't get a chance to happen. Around 1:30 or 2 it started thundering, but it was sort of a hostage situation to try and get out since cars weren't allowed in the area. At some point, the heavens let loose and it poured insanely. We tried to get everything under the tent, and under tables but it was flooding and nuts. I suspect quite a bit of my stuff was ruined since paper + water = pulp, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Here are some pics from the day -- Shana's bibs and burp cloths were absolutely amazing. We're bringing all the surviving stuff to a mama craft fair at the end of the month, and that should be a lot more promising (no fee and indoors!) I made just enough to cover my half of the booth and a couple of bottles of water, so that's that!





That last one isn't New Orleans post-Katrina, that's this afternoon in the Heights!!!

Have to vs. Want to

Yup, obligations have taken over my life and that sucks. It is one of the pitfalls of the holiday season, doing things because you have to instead of doing things because you want to and sometimes it straight up sucks the joy out of activities. This weekend it is the craftfair with Shana. I don't know why I agreed to it except that the prospect of making money off of this craft seemed nice. Now I would settle for my sanity. I have been obssessed with producing volume and with a toddler attached to me 24-7, it hasn't really happened. I am irritated because I have a sneaking suspicion that my altered clocks no longer run, that people aren't even going to want this crap and that I just can't seem to get it all done. Doesn't help that Dylan woke up about five times last night, keeping me up between 1-3 (I thought Jason magically slept through this but he said he dealt with it before he went to sleep) and I could break at a moment's notice. Karen is taking Dylan this afternoon so that might help me out, but I could possibly be too far off the deepend to help at this point. Ugh to the infinite power.

As a superficial happy ending to this, here's my 12 on the 12th, which was actually 12 on the 19th because that's when I finally did it and I haven't shared it because it was in this issue of RSC. Clearly it was a really exciting day, but it is what it is...this also means I've updated my scrap blog at http://brandyproductionsscrap.blogspot.com/ if you want to make sure you are caught up on anything I've made in the last couple months. Between all the teams, a lot slips through the cracks...