I'm baaaccckk!

I know the page I shared on Sunday was cool, but over the weekend I did some scrapping that certainly put the CRAP! right in scrapbooking. (Thanks for the joke, Reagan). We're talking horrible use of stickers and themed patterned paper. It was bad. It was a total throwback to my early days as a scrapper. The only thing that was missing was lots of pictures cut on circles and ovals with matching mats. I was having serious doubts about my future as a scrapper.

But, thanks to a last minute job on the CJ of the fabulous Ms Angela Oh!, I have made an amazing recovery. I am not a one-hit wonder and have many fabulous pages yet to come.

Maybe my creativity was so alive because my craft room (aka my studio) was a total disastor by the time I finished my fabbity Barbie creation. It's killing me not to be able to share it. For now, this pic of the cover (and my messy room) will have to do.

Scrap-a-ganza

Spent last night in Green Bay with Angie and her cousin, Darla. We scrapped all night long taking breaks only for tacos, fruity soda, and PB eggs (my favorite spring-time candy).

I'm worried that all of my scrapping energies have gone in to making purchases lately rather than actually scrapping. I got a lot done last night, but am only super-pumped about a few of the things. I have TONS of new paper (BG, Cherry Arts, Sassafras Lass, Urban Lily, Scenic Route, Junkitz, Chatterbox, American Crafts). I need some serious ideas for some cool pages. What are your thoughts? What should I scrap?

Altered Journal. I've been looking at so many cool new products that I needed a place to keep track of what I want to buy. Lovin' this cutie-pa-toodie paper from 3 Bugs.

Snow Day. Yummy little clipboard was a great addition to my new Junkitz. I'm digging the orange and green and blue lately. My apologies for the bad scan. The clipboard and the bottle cap were too lumpy to scan well.

P.S. You have to check out the AWESOME stuff Ang made--especially the Grape Soda LO.

Suck It Up: Bad Vacuum Experiences

I'm teaching my students about instructional manuals right now. The manual I was demonstrating with today was for a vacuum cleaner. It totally reminded me that I have some very blog-able vacuum cleaner moments.

When I was about 12, I sucked up a pair of clean underwear with my family's vacuum while cleaning my room. I was mortified/scared of getting in trouble, so I just put the vacuum away like there was nothing wrong. Later that day, my mom discovered the vacuum wasn't working. My handy dad took it out to the garage and discovered it wasn't working because my underwear were clogging it up. He walked my underweark pinched between his thumb and pointer finger through the yard to the house. Totally mortifying!

Apparently at the ripe old age of 25, I still didn't know how to use the vacuum.
About a year ago, Memphis had a horrible barfing incident in the middle of the night. He threw up a big pile of dog food. It's commonly agreed that Memphis is 70% Brad's dog and 30% mine. I firmly believed the throw-up came from Brad's 70%; it was his job to clean it up. He refused to get out of bed. So, I turned on the vacuum thinking it would make him get up. It didn't. So, I was forced to use the vacuum to suck up the huge pile of half-eaten dog food soaked in stomache acid. Good job for a shop-vac; not such a good job for our cheap-o Kenmore vacuum. Brad had to take apart the entire vacuum that night and carefully clean and sterlize each and every part. We don't have that vacuum any more.

Needless to say, my track record with vacuums isn't very good. I probably won't be investing hundreds of dollars in a Dyson anytime soon.

Questions, Neons, and Scrapping

Okay. The "ask me question" post was a total bust. But, I'll answer those that were asked.

Michelle W. asked about my scrapping style.
I'd actually have to say my style is very organized and a little cute. I love buttons and ribbon and flowers. I have to have a plan before I start. I like working with sketches. I wish I was a little more artsy (I love Ali E.). Guess that's why I'm missing the Effers or Darers or what-ever they're called now so much. They made me think differently.

Ang asked why she's my favorite friend.
It's because she's so confident, yet humble. I won't elaborate much more than that for now.

But, Em (my Internet stalker) just asked for more info. I will tell a quick story.

Since we're also talking about why Angie is my favorite friend, it will must be about Angie. When Ang and I were about 18 or 20, our friend, Scott, drove us to Chicago to see a show at Second City. Along the way we brainstormed jobs that would pay us to travel around the country. Angie is always all about coming up with some kind of a grand plan. I love it!

We happened to be driving past the Neon factory in Illinois when we decided that Neon should give us a car and pay us to drive around the country for the summer. We would take pictures and make postcards for an advertisement. This was when Neon's slogan was, "Hi." The postcards would say, "Hi, from . . . " and have a picture of us standing by the Neon where-ever we were at the time.

Scott actually let us stop a the Neon plant and try to pitch our advertising ideas to the guys (or women) upstairs. It was a bust, as the not-so-friendly security guard wouldn't even let us through the doors. But, we did pause long enough to take a picture outside the factory.

The picture eventually became part of a graduation scrapbook that Angie and Nikki made for me. You get an excerpt below. Guess we've been scrapping for quite awhile. We've come a long way.

Randomness

I don't have a very large audience for my blog, but they certainly are demanding. Both A. Amy and Ang pointed out that I haven't posted for a while and suggested/demanded I do so tonight.

Since I can't come up with anything really blog-worthy tonight, I decided to list my discarded topics.

• Dislike for librarians and my belief that I should become one to re-vamp the image of the profession.
• Grey's Anatomy. McSteamy vs. McDreamy. Need I even say more?
• What kind of car we/I should get when we/I trade in the Escape
• Why the mechanic should be referred to as the "Car Spa"
• Lessons I Learned from Television or Why Fat People Will be the Next Target (2 topics inspired by an ultra-fun dinner in sub-zero temps with Ang and Mike on Saturday)
• How much I wish I was on vacation (just like Emily and Kat) Sorry, Em. I think I'd choose Kat's vaca over yours.
• What I would do if I won the lottery
• How I haven't been keeping up with New Year's Resolution to read more
• My obsessive scrapbook purchasing (Every time I think it can't get worse, it does)
• Strange quotes from Brad: "I stopped using my face lotion. I think it's making my throat hurt." He actually thought the lotion was soaking through his skin and into his throat to make it hurt.

All right, loyal readers. Post your questions for me, and I will answer. It seems I need some inspiration.

P.S. The picture is part of the randomness. It's me on my birthday in second grade. My parents got me a big ol' upright piano as a surprise.

Too much snow

I know there would be plenty of you out there who would be totally jealous about my Snow Day today, so I spared you the early morning "Na, Na. I have a Snow Day!" post. And, I won't even brag about all the fun-filled things I got to do today (lunch with Nicky & Natalie and a fabbity new hair-do that includes bangs from a posh Aveda salon).

But, I do want to point out just how much snow we have. It's CRAZY! I came home between watching General Hospital while at the Y (I was the practically the only one there) and my haircut to find the hugest snow drift ever in my drive-way. The real-estate agent didn't mention that our driveway becomes a wind-tunnel with blizzard-like conditions when we bought the house in the middle of summer. The drift was as high as the tires on the good ol' Escape. Even with the 4-wheel drive, I decided not to risk it. If I had gotten stuck, I would have missed my hair appointment. I tried to shovel my way through but was wildly unsuccessful. I had to just leave the Escape in the middle of the drive-way to get covered with snow.

Anyway, the snow is still coming down like mad here. Add to that crazy winds and cold temps and it's no fun. Brad is at the gas station getting some fuel for the snow blower. Crazy cats that we are, we forgot to fill it after the last snow. Bet that won't happen again.

I'll leave you with a little known fact about mailcarriers (compliments of Brad) . . .
If your mailbox is right on your house, it's in the mailman protocol to walk through your lawn. It saves them literally hundreds of steps a day. We always think we're helping so much by shoveling our sidewalk. We'd actually be helping a lot more by shoveling a cute little path through our lawn! So, love your mailcarrier. Shovel your lawn.

English Nerd and Grey's Anatomy

I always knew I could have a full-time job related to scrapbooking; however, I never anticipated that it would need to be as a proof-reader.

Here's the story. . .
I've been on a bit of a card-making binge lately. I found this sheet of stickers (from a company that shall remain unnamed) when looking for fun card stuff. I had to buy it because it's loaded with typo-s. What company actually manufacturers stickers with one of the most common typo-s of the English language all over it. YOUR means something belongs to YOU. YOU'RE means YOU ARE. Has our language evolved to a point where these different forms are used interchangeably?!? Oh no. Say it's not so! The English teacher in me is searching frantically for a red pen wanting madly to mark the mistakes and send it back to Sassafras Lass. Ooops. Did I mention their name?!

The worst part might be that they got it right one time on the sheet and messed it up three other times. What does "your spot on" mean anyway? Maybe that one is not an error.

Now I have this whole sheet of stickers, most of which I will refuse to use! (Unless I send them to my other English teacher friends as a strange kind of joke.)

I've always been kind of a freak about things word related. One of my biggest pet peeves is when words are purposely spelled wrong in advertising or company names. For example, the city I lived in for awhile had an advertising campaign that said, "It's Funn." Why the double "n" in fun?!?! Your guess is as good as mine and that of the many people I've asked since first seeing the advertisement.

On to other interesting things. What are your thoughts on Grey's Anatomy? I seriously think that Meredith and Derek need to get back together. He clearly loves her much more than Addison. But, will they get back together? Part of me thinks I should stop watching if they won't re-unite.

Tagged

Got this great list of questions from Emily's blog. Enjoy!

1. What is your occupation? Teacher

2. What color is your underwear? Today it's red

3. What are you listening to right now? Furnace

4. What is the last thing you ate? A GROSS sandwich for lunch. I have this horrible phobia of deli meat and refuse to eat it, but it was my only option.

5. Do you wish on stars? Only shooting stars

6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? Red

7. How is the weather right now? Coldish, but tolerable

8. Who is the last person you spoke to on the phone? My Mom. Even when she's here to visit, she still calls me!

9. How old are you today? 26 years, 2 months, and 8 days

10. What is your favorite drink? I'm very into fancy martinis lately. I prefer the chocolately ones.

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Not really a fan.

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes.

13. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Nope, but I should wear glasses.

14. Do you have pets? Memphis.

15. What's your favorite month? September. Although back to school is beyond stressful, I love the fall.

16. What is your favorite food? Pasta

17. What was the last movie you watched? This horrible crappy movie on Lifetime. My mom picked it. I think it was adapted from a Barbara Taylor Bradford book. HORRID!

18. Do you have favorite day of the year? I have to agree with Em. There's no feeling quite like the last day of school before summer vacation.

19. What do you do to vent anger? I'm a world-champion bitcher. I also handle anger with a lot of sarcasm. All of that is usually followed by some tears. Don't I sound like a great person to know?!

20. Do you prefer hugs or kisses? Hugs. They're easier to come by.

21. Which is better, cherry or blueberry? Cherry.

22. What are you living arrangements? We live in a house described by a real-estate agent as "a cute little dollhouse." Our garage has almost as many square feet as our house, but it's very homey.

23. When was the last time you cried? Wow. I think it's been about a week.

24. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes.

25. Who are the friends you've had the longest? Angie

26. What did you do last night? Went to PDP training (ever the consummate professional) and hung out with my parents.

27. What is your favorite smell? Baking bread, especially banana

28. What inspires you? Other people's creativity

29. What are you afraid of? Getting attacked, abducted, etc.

30. Do you eat plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Cheese

31. What is your favorite car? I'm a sucker for an SUV. I'm not having the best relationship with my Escape right now. I've always been a fan of the Jeep.

32. What is your favorite breed of dog? Labs (of course!)

33. How many keys are on your key ring? 2 for my car (although only one actually starts the car) and one for my house. My key ring also includes a "Don't mess with Texas" keyring altered to say, "Don't mess with Barb," several key cards for local grocery stores, and my YMCA membership card (complete with awful picture).

34. How many years have you worked at your current job? This is my third.

35. What is your favorite day of the week? Saturday

36. How many states have you lived in? One

37. How many cities have you lived in? 4ish

38. What was the last book you read? Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

HOT stuff!

My new meal this week was cashew chicken from a Rachael Ray book. Holy man! That Rachael should put a warning on the spicy recipes. My mouth is still on fire. The recipes had lots of cumin and a bunch of chipolte in adobo. Note to self: chipolte in adobo is SPICY! Must go eat some ice cream just to cool it down.

I might be MIA until Sunday. I have some training Friday and Saturday and my 'rents are coming for a weekend visit. MUST clean tonight.

Signs from Above

Strange things were happening today.


First--I bent over to pick up a piece of paper in the hallway this morning. It was a picture of McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy torn from a teeny-bopper magazine that had fallen out of someone's locker! After all the controversy on Angie's blog about McDreamy vs. George and the plot of the show in general, I totally knew it was a sign. He's soooo not a slimeball and soooo should be with Meredith. I sooo suggested to Brad last week that he should grow his hair out to look a little more like McDreamy. The picture is soooo hanging on the board in my classroom. And I soooo need a life!

Second--went to the Y tonight after taking a hiatus last week due to the reading convention. Was actually psyched for a work-out. Until. . . I discovered my gym shoes were actually not in my gym bag and were actually somewhere at my house. Hmmmm. I either need to go back to the Y later tonight or fore-go the ice cream I had planned for after dinner.

Thanks for the suggestions about the dirty-word Scrabble players. They got a stern talking to and a detention during which they will write an apology to the sub. You totally made me laugh with your suggestion though, Em!

This would be so funny, if only. . . .

Y'all know I was away from work last Thursday and Friday. I can't imagine how scary it must be for a sub to walk in to a day filled with 115 14-year-olds. The woman who agreed to take my room for two days must be some kind of a saint. I never want to be a sub, especially not in middle school.

But, I'm afraid she won't be coming back anytime soon. I don't know what happened, but some of my kids did the exact opposite of everything they ever do when I'm around. Besides the normal middle school stuff (talking out of turn, laughing when nothing is funny, flirting, hormones, etc.) they decided to turn an innocent day of Scrabble in to Dirty-Word Scrabble, and I'm not just talking spelling fart or butt; I got a few kids to confess, and I'm talking really dirty.

Okay, now what do I do? Not only did some of them desecrate the sacred game of Scrabble, but they were so disrespectful that I actually had to call the sub to apologize (totally embarassing!). I made them journal about it today (Aaaahhh, yes. Reflective writing is a cure-all). Is that enough? Do they need to be punished? What is a meaningful punishment for disrespecting a stranger and being inappropriate? How do I decide which kids to punish and which to praise for being good? An ethical dilemma. Readers, what do you think?

Feedback

I want to submit some pages for a design team entry for 3 Bugs in a Rug. These are what I have done so far. I need to narrow it down to two. Which two would you choose?
LO # 1 Silly Sippin'
LO # 2 Imagination
LO # 3 Wedding
LO # 4 Lil' Pumpkins

Blogging: It's a Family Thing

I've never considered myself a trend-setter, but I do need to point out that each and every member of my immediate family has started a blog within the past few months. If that's not a trend, I don't know what is.

MommaSue and Dad (the newest blog)
Rob
Laura

For those of you that haven't met me, I think investigated their blogs will explain a little about why I am the way I am.

Questions from Reagan

Reading Em's blog today reminded me that I've been slacking on Reagan's weekly 5 questions. So, I'm answering 10 questions today.

1. What stresses you out the most?
Waiting. HATE it. Am completely impatient.

2. What is the first thing you do when you start working on a layout?
Match my pics to way more paper than I could ever possibly use on one page.

3. What is your favorite kind of cookie?
Chocolate Chip.

4. What age was your most memorable birthday?
For my birthday in second grade my parents bought me a big old upright piano as a surprise.

5. What is the most recent non-scrapping thing you have used on a layout?
Do staples still count as a non-scrapbooking item? I'd have to say staples.

6. Do you have brothers or sisters?
Bro (Rob), age 24. Sis (Laura), almost 22.

7. What is your favorite type of food?
Pasta.

8. Scrapbooking technique you are scared to try?
Doodling by hand. Plus, I'm still trying to love my handwriting.

9. Are you a messy scrapper or a tidy one?
Believe it or not, I'm relatively tidy. I can't work in my craft room unless it's clean when I start.

10. What was your favorite kids book?
Current fav is Ish by Peter Reynolds. As a kid I loved There's a Monster at the End of This Book and tons of others.

Like-Minded Ladies

So, I've been way distant since Wednesday because I've been at the WSRA convention. Imagine thousands of reading professionals all gathered together in the same place to talk about what's good for kiddos. I even got to be part of two presentations with an awesome committee that I'm proud to be part of. WHAT A BLAST! I've spent tons of time with some awesome ladies from my school and visited with some of my favorite colleagues from around the state.

You better bet I'm busting out the "Reading is Sexy" t-shirt tomorrow, the grand finale day of the convention.

Happy B-Day Dad

• 
  I know the day is almost over, but I need to say happy 49th b-day to my dad. So, here's a list of odd (and little known) facts about my daddy-o:
  
• He's terrified of packing peanuts

He almost cut his toe off with a band saw over the summer

He loves green olives with swiss cheese

My dad has phases of obsession. When I was in middle school he was totally into grunge and even subscribed to Rolling Stone. After that he was into cigars. He's also dabbled in gardening, car repair, and sailing.

He likes to walk around the house in his underwear. And it makes no difference who happens to be in the house. This was the cause of much humiliation in my teenage years.

When I was a kid, my dad taught swim lessons. I think he might have thrown me off the deep end and taught me to dead man's float far before I was ready.

We had a nice chat this morning, We will see him to celebrate next weekend. Until now this card will have to do. He's a big Sponge Bob fan. Happy birthday, Dad!