Seminar Displays

In July, I created a bunch of cards, scrapbook pages and projects for my upline's annual Stampin Up Demonstartor Seminar. Several of the cards/projects/pages were created by those who attended the seminar. The Skittle Purse was based on one that I received from my friend Kelly. I will be posting a tutorial soon b/c there is a lot of interest in it. (Thanks Kelly!)

Challenge Card

Here is a card that I made for yesterday's sketch challenge. As soon as I saw the layout, I thought of this idea. Of course the inside reads:

"Kick up your heels with a Halloween squeal!"

Where have I been!

Here...in my house...doing the mom/housewife thing! haha.

I don't know why it has taken me so long to post. But I am going to go back to updating several times a week!

Last week...

Actually a week and a half ago...

I have this cabinet above my microwave where I store my cook books and other "so important things that I don't want to lose them, I'll stick them here so they don't get lost, oooh that's a lot of super important things up there." Yeah, you know that cabinent...well... A week and a half ago, my cookbooks fell out...a paper landslide b/c of all the "super important stuff" shoved in there. I decided that last week, I'd clean it out. Mostly b/c I had to. But somehow when I started cleaning, I was in the family room and cleaned it...every where. The whole entertainment center...under couches, under cushions. I even found a neighbor boy's library card under a cushion!

After that, even though the kitchen is between the family room the front room, I went into the front room and did a hardy clean there too. Under couches, under cushions, dejunking and rearranging furniture where ever I went! I did eventually get to the "super important cookbook" cabinet. haha...I think a day or so later. My dejunking/cleaning would not stop. I was in a cleaning frenzy! Each room led to the next. I couldn't stop. The kids' rooms were dejunked.

Last Wedneday, I even stopped watching tv to go dejunk/clean DD's room...and boy did it need it. By the end of evening, her room was clean and rearranged.

The next morning, when I went upstairs to start the boys' room, my youngest son said, "Mom, I want a cool room. Like M*'s." I was like "cool... like clean?" He said, "No with the bed moved." Ah Ha! He wanted the furniture rearranged. So, all morning long, I endeavored to clean, dejunk and move their furniture around.

That afternoon with big brother and sis and friends arrived here after school, there was so many shrieks of delight and surprise!! haha.

So, needless to say, my house is lovely. I moved furniture up from the basement and put some furniture down into the basement. I turned the piano to a new direction...and it hasn't been moved in 6 years! I love how my house looks and now...I have a list of "needs." I need new window treatments for several rooms, new lamps, new paint on several rooms, etc, etc. hehe.

And, my cleaning/dejunking frenzy puttered out...just before I got the the basement (which isnt' too bad) and I still have 1/2 my bedroom to finish...um...it's not going to get done any time soon!

While it is nice having a spotless house for a few days...you know it isn't going to last... and it hasn't! The new table in the front hallway is where C* tends to lay all his pokemon cards, books, papers and cub scout stuff. M* has shoved a pile of "treasures" in behind/next to the tv. And while he has a "cool room like M*," E still claims he has nightmares as he climbs into my bed! haha.

On being miserable

Have you ever been miserable? Just totally and utterly miserable?

Many years ago, I was a Girl Scout. I was probably in 5th grade and our troop was going somewhere to learn about selling cookies...probably the GS Council. Now, I had attended this Saturday training the year before and I was the only one in my year that was going again for some reason. Everyone else was younger. It was a dreary Saturday. I remember not wanting to go, having an uneasy feeling as we pulled out of Forestlawn Elementary's parking lot. I wanted to just jump out of the car. But nonetheless (and probably b/c of my personality to always please and to do what I'm supposed to do), I went.

And I was MISERABLE. It was one of the worse days of my life. I sat through the exact same and rather LONG presentation I had listened to the year before. So very boring. Then coming home, I drove in this older blue station wagon. A mom and her daughter were in the front seat, I was in the back with 2 other Scouts. I didn't know any of these girls b/c they were a year younger than me. And there must have been something going on between the mom and daughter in the front and the girls in the back that I didn't know about. But the 2 girls in the back seat starting singing Beach Boys songs. And they would sing them in parts too..."Ba, ba, ba...Ba, ba-berann." Which got the mother very upset. She turned on the radio to a classical station. The girls would sing louder and the mom would turn up the radio louder and louder. It was so incredibly loud...and I was so utterly miserable. I realized, far too late, that I should have gotten out of the car before it left the school parking lot and walked home.

But that's me. I get into a track and it's hard to jump out of it.

Today, I sat through a meeting here in my house and was totally and utterly miserable. And again, I couldn't pinpoint any one thing in particular. I was just miserable. And I couldn't shake the feeling of being upset for the rest of the afternoon.

A few minutes ago as I was emailing a friend about this miserable feeling, the memory of the trip to the Girl Scout Cookie Sales Presentation flooded my memory. It was a reminder that feeling miserable, for me, can mean that I am in the wrong place.

So while I am still in this track...you can be certain that I'm going to try to find a way to change routes!