It's almost May!

Here is my design team work for Scrap-tastic for May.

Most of these goodies were created with the fantastically springy May kit.


ETA: Cannot believe I forgot to say this the first time . I can't take total credit for the next LO. It was totally inspired by one of Em's LOs that were chosen by CK as lay-out-of-the-day.

4 Now, 3 Later

Miss Natalie celebrated her birthday this week.

This conversation happened many times over the past week.

Any Adult: (to Natalie) How old are you going to be?
Natalie: (with confidence) Four.
Any Adult: Really? I thought you were going to be three.
Natalie: (with indignant disbelief) Nope. I four. I be three later.

Well. We were all relieved when Natalie proudly displayed three fingers (her actual age) while we sang to her tonight. She's growing up too fast already. I can't imagine wishing away an entire year.

I took many, many pictures of every detail of the festivities. But, for tonight I will just leave you with these shots. . . Natalie with Maggie (her beagle) and Memphis (our dog). As she made the guest list for her party, she included all of her three and four year old friends and Memphis; it was, apparently, imperative that Memphis attend her party. We obliged.

Natalie is not the only one who is growing up too fast.
Miss Katelyn is laughing and smiling and walking.
Yup. Miss Katelyn - age 11 months - is walking.

How'd we get so lucky as to have these two as part of our lives? Who would have guessed that lots of beers with their parents in college would lead to this later!

Legs

So. . . from the title of this post I imagine you are really frightened that I might talk about my incredibly white legs (which I revealed only partially today in capri pants).

But, what I am about to talk about is actually far more disgusting than my white legs.

Millipedes.

We are in the middle of an amazingly intense millipede invasion. There are more legs around my house than there were in Boston on marathon day earlier this week.

Millipedes are everywhere in our house. Brad killed five at one time yesterday.
Yup. Five.
(Poor Stephanie even had to kill one when she was here for our scrap extravaganza a few weekends ago!)

I am dreaming that they are crawling on my bedroom ceiling.

I wake up completely positive that one or more of them has crawled down into my throat and is headed straight for my stomach.

It is out of hand.
(Both my neurosis about the millipedes and the actual number of millipedes.)

What does one do about this problem? I'm off to Google.

Here's what I found.
Plus, Brad just confessed that he has the "hebee jeebies" and couldn't fall asleep last night until 12:30 at night after killing the five bugs (which have actually turned out to be centipedes and not millipedes).

Yum.

Yesterday I made a grocery list - a grocery list filled with spring food.

Are you like that? Do you have spring food and summer food and winter and fall food?
Around here spring food has lots of color and smells great and is kind of light-tasting. It is probably cooked on the grill. It's not quite summer food (lots of fresh produce and not cooked at all). It is a big contrast to winter food that is heavy and cooks for a long time and probably goes in the oven.

Anyway. . . Saturday's spring meal was a great pasta dish with grilled chicken and some chilled Riesling.


Ziti with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzarella, and Prosciutto
(Compliments of Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis)

8 oz. dried ziti
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut in 1" pieces
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 oz. smoked mozzarella, diced (about 1/2 C)
3 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into strips
3 Tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil

Bring pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ziti and cook for five minutes, stirring often. Add the asparagus and cook until the pasta is tender but still firm to the bite, and the asparagus is crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain the pasta and the asparagus, reserving 1 C of the cooking liquid.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over a medium flame. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add the pasta, asparagus, 1/2 tsp. each of salt and pepper, and the 1 cup of reserved cooking liquid, and toss to coat. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the mozzarella, prosciutto, and basil and toss to combine. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Makes so much that you will be able to eat it for two nights.

My work is weird.

Reason # 1
Only one person (a sixth grade boy) out of 600+ students and 60+ staff members noticed that my hair was a drastically different color today than it was yesterday.

Reason # 2
There was a beagle in our library this morning. Yup. You read that right.
Before there were students or teachers in the building, someone found a beagle (a real, live beagle) just wandering around the library. No idea how it got there or who it belonged to. Someone just corralled it, took it to the health room, and left it there. I never did find out if its owner came or what.

My work is weird. No?

My Inner Blonde

Elle Woods.
Barbie.
Marilyn Monroe.
Hillary.
Charlize Theron (one of Brad's favorites).

There are lots and lots of great blondes, right?(I do realize I'm not nearly as blonde as any of the blondes listed above, but this is pretty blonde for me. I'm much more of an auburn or red kind of gal.)

And, we can just think of this as "Summer Babs." I even wore flip flops (and bought a pair of sandals) today.

He loves me.

He really loves me.

We have a favorite ice cream place. It's an hour away from where we live now.

Brad has been out of town for a few days.

He borrowed a cooler from a friend, made a special trip to the favorite ice cream place, and brought a special treat home for me. . . a banana foster brownie flurry made with chocolate ice cream.

After last week's debacle, I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve such treatment. But, I'm one happy gal.

A little more scrapping. . .

I made a mini last weekend and haven't had a chance to share it with you until now. . .

I can take zero credit for the design. It's a copy of a Kristina Contes album. You can order a kit to make the same album here.

Also, I developed the pictures through Scrapbook Pictures. They have lots of different sized pictures available.

Scrapping Adventures

I seem to be finding a million reasons right now not to make anything.

But, I do have a scrappy date with Stephanie tonight and am hoping to kick the non-creating streak in the butt.

Meanwhile. . . here is what I made with the Scrap-tastic April kit.

Becky is keeping the store stocked with some great stuff. . .
Pink Paislee
Hambly
Making Memories
Jenni Bowlin
. . . to name a few.

I haven't made a card in ages. . . totally stole this idea from Ali Edwards.


Another idea stolen from AE. . . painting over KI lace cardstock to create a background. (It's actually one of my favorite techniques right now.


A two-page 8.5 x 11 spread. Crazy talk, huh? I whipped this up while scrapping with the Studio Calico girls in Chicago. Sigh. That seem like so long ago.


Last, but certainly not least. . . I designed a project kit to accompany the main kit for April. You can make (of course!) a mini with it. (Shhhh. This is a gift for Nicky and Christ for Natalie's birthday. There is one picture from each month since Natalie's second birthday. She's going to be 3 in just a few weeks. Too bad she's totally convinced she's going to be 4. But that's a different story. . . )

The last two pages are blank because I still need to add pictures from March and April 2008.


Off to read about professional learning communities.

2008: Wife of the Year

I wasn't even trying to compete, but I'm afraid I inadvertently have earned the illustrious title of Wife of the Year--2008.

Reason 1:
On my way out the door Monday morning, I realized I only had a key to the Fusion and no keys to the house. I ran in, grabbed the house key, and skipped off to work.

Too bad the house key was also attached to the Escape keys - the very same Escape keys that Brad needed if he planned to leave the house at all yesterday (he had the day off).

So, after leaving a few frantic messages on my cell phone and a few more with my secretary, Brad hitched a ride to my work to pick up the keys. He was not very happy.

This earned me my nomination for Wife of the Year 2008.

Reason 2:
Brad went for a run at the YMCA last night after dinner. I promptly fell asleep on the couch (didn't even get to see The Hills or The Bachelor!).

I was awoken by a ringing phone. The caller ID wasn't working, and the phone wasn't within reach of the couch. I decided not to answer. The person hung up right before the answering machine.

But, the phone immediately started ringing again. Hmmmm. That's strange. But, my sleepiness got the better of me, and - you guessed it - I decided not to answer.

Well, then the phone started ringing again. I was really honked off now. I mean, really! Who needed to talk to me so badly?!!??

Turns out the YMCA needed to talk to me so badly.

Brad had some kind of a bizarre allergic reaction while running, was covered with hives, itching like a mad man, seeing stars, and feeling like he might throw up. Pretty serious, actually. Would I come to the YMCA and bring some Benadryl?

So. . . I went to the YMCA. . . in my pajamas and without a bra on.

There was Brad, sitting on a chair, looking miserable surrounded by four female YMCA employees. Each and every one of them was staring at me real slow up and down when I walked in.

One of them said (in her very best judgy Clueless voice), "Oh. I assume you're Brad's wife. We called six times."

Yup. That's right. They called six times. I slept through the first three and opted not to answer four or five. They also left a message on my cell phone.

You can go ahead and imagine the rest of things they must have been thinking about me.

ETA: Brad is completely fine. He is going to see an allergist sometime soon.

This solidified my position as Wife of the Year 2008.
Or. . . it might just mean it will be a miracle if we make it through April without filing for divorce!

(It - especially the second part - also means that I will probably be forced to cancel my YMCA membership, as I'm sure all the employees now know me as the woman who wouldn't come help her husband! The second part also solidified what I've always known - nothing good comes of running!)

Dear Diary (Part Quatro)

6 April 2008

Dear Diary,

I'm in love!

But, I shouldn't be.

I should be mourning the loss of my dear, sweet Ranger. Brad and Barb showed me the pictures as soon as they got home today to try to break it to me gently.

It wasn't good.


Then they introduced me to him.
I forgot about Ranger instantly.

He is shiny and black. He has an iPod jack. He has a soft, beige interior.
He is a 2007 - younger than me, but age is just a number.

He is simply irresistible.

His name is Fusion.
He parks right beside me.

I'm going to bat my headlights at him all night long to see if he notices me.

Escape Fusion. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

More later, Diary.

Dear Diary (Part Tres)

4/2/2008

Dear Diary,

I sure wish Barb loved me just a little more. I mean, really. Who takes their beloved vehicle to the CarX man and expects it to actually be fixed well?!!???

So, I had no choice. She made me feel cheap and neglected.

I had to break down again this morning, and I had to do it at a far more dramatic time than the last incident. I had to really get her attention.

So, just as Barb was pulling on to the highway to go to work, I started chugging and chugging and chugging. I threw on my engine light. I flashed it a few times. Then, just for the dramatic effect, I started running fine again. But, at the very last moment before Barb could exit, I took a huge chug. She veered off the highway and took me straight to the mechanic.

Barb didn't take any chances this time. She took me to the Taj Mahal of mechanics. The kind of place that doesn't even smell like a mechanic. The kind of place that they wash you up and vacuum you out after they fix you. I mean, you never want to go to the mechanic. But, if you have to go. . . this is just the kind of place you want to go to.

But, boy. Barb was angry. She had to have the mechanic give her a ride to work, and she was late. She hates being late. Plus, it cost a lot of money to have me fixed. I needed a new coil and new spark plugs. Oh. And the mechanic fixed that pesky recall on my brakes that Barb's been getting tons of notices about.

The mechanic did give her a whole list of other things on me that need to be fixed. . . I have a burned out light by the license plate. I have a little exhaust leak. Some of my fluid is burnt. I need to be flushed. Overall, though, I'm feeling pretty great right now.

That's more than can be said for Ranger. I heard that he is in pieces right now. I even heard that the mechanic might just toss the pieces in Ranger's bed and let Brad have him towed away instead of having him fix. Oh! The Horror!

But, the upside is that they might only be able to afford to get a Kia. I know that I will be the favorite car if a Kia is parked me next to me in the garage.

Dear Diary. . . (Part Deux)

4/1/08

Dear Diary,

Turns out I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. It is possible - just possible - that I might have flashed my check engine light prematurely yesterday. I have always had a flair for the dramatic.

The Car X man poked around under my hood for awhile this morning. I felt a little violated at first, but luckily it didn't take him long to figure out what the problem was.

My fifth cylinder decided to take a vacation and wasn't firing at all. Mr. Car X gave me a little TLC, wiggled some wires, did some cleaning, and sprayed some grease. Then, he took me for a spin. I was running perfect. He sprayed water under my hood (thinking it was sitting all day in the rain that may have caused the problem). I still ran perfect.

I left the shop completely healthy after Mom paid a small bill (way less than she spends at Studio Calico each month!). I'm tucked in for the night in my spot in the garage right next to the Jetta.

(I still haven't heard anything about Ranger yet. I overheard that the mechanics in that other city spent all day looking at him and still haven't given him a diagnosis. That doesn't sound like good news.)

Gotta go, Diary. A whole day at the mechanic really tires a girl out!

P.S. She got a call today about scheduling my spa (aka auto body) appointment. Turns out I will get an entire week's vacation and come back good as new. Ahhhhhhhh. Take me away!