a bag of chips

Introducing...

THE NEWEST KMA DESIGN TEAM MEMBER!!!  I can't freakin' believe it.  After all those layouts I've submitted for publication or design team gigs.  Wahooooooooooo!  Doing the booty dance in my freezing garage, hollering quietly enough so I don't wake anyone.

I had QUITE the long day.  Out of my front door in San Diego up to Long Beach's Shoreline Village for a visit with my aunt and cousins (hi, guys).  Then down to Huntington Beach for visit with another aunt.  And then to my mom's house in Costa Mesa before heading home.  Over four hours in the car with two toddlers.  Nearly 12 hours away from home and all its comforts.  Thank GOD for portable DVD players and Two Buck Chuck is all I've got to say after a day like today.

Feed and bathe the kids.  Drink some wine.  Watch a movie.  I think I'll go check email before heading to bed.  Then BAM!  Here's this congratulatory email from Liz at KMA and another from a friend who'd seen the announcement.  LIKE I CAN SLEEP NOW!!!

I'm really looking forward to working with these folks, and my fellow DT members are all a bunch of hugely talented gals.  Okay.  Now I'm feeling so not worthy and scared to death that I'm going to be a major disappointment.  Postive thoughts.  Positive thoughts.  Breathe deep.

(Giggle.)

Yay for me.

ETA:   KMA is Keeping Memories Alive and can be found at www.scrapbooks.com. 

Merry Christmas

From us to you!

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

I'm it!

Dear Cynthia tagged me.  Unfortunately, I don't have too many friends who blog so I'll name the ones I do know and then I'll tag by default the next three visitors to my blog. 

Dear Three Random Visitors:  If you don't blog, please include your response to the questionnaire in the comments section at the bottom of this entry.  If you do blog, please post a link to your blog in the comments section.

Thank you,

The Management

The rules for this particular tagging are as follows:
Remove the blog name in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add yourself to the bottom slot.

1. Beth
2. Deanna (View of Life)
3. A Scrap of Life (Annette)
4. i am a coconut (Cynthia)
5. a bag of chips (Tina)

Then you get to select five people to pass the love on to.

1. Karen
2. Christy
3. Random Blog Viewer
4. Random Blog Viewer
5. Random Blog Viewer

And now, the questions!

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Just started a new job, languishing in a dead-end relationship

What were you doing one year ago?
Getting ready for Christmas.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. anything chocolate
2. tortilla chips with plain sour cream
3. vanilla ice cream sandwiches
4. oreos
5. celery with peanut butter

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:

1. Hotel California by The Eagles
2. Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt
3. Peel Me a Grape by Diana Krall
4. Crazy Love by Poco
5. The Lighthouse's Tale by Nickel Creek

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Hire a live-in housekeeper.
2. Buy a bigger house in La Jolla with an ocean view and living quarters for the housekeeper.
3. Buy a beach-front lot in Grenada and build a big house.
4. Pay off my parent's house.
5. Travel all over the world.

Five bad habits:
1. Not exercising as much as I should.
2. Not doing the dishes when I should.
3. Chocolate.
4. Starbucks.
5. Not doing the laundry when I should.

Five things you like doing:
1. Getting nekked with my hubby.
2. Being a mom.
3. Reading.
4. Singing.
5. Photography.

Five things you would never wear, buy, or get new again:

1. A Ford - total crap.
2. Red lipstick
3. A bikini - see the oreos and the ice cream sandwiches above?  'nuff said.
4. A fondue set - got one as a wedding gift five years ago and it's still un-opened.
5. Eyelash curler - a satanic device if ever there was one.

Five favorite toys:
1. My computer.
2. My Canon Digital Rebel.
3. My new Honda minivan.
4. My newish sewing machine.
5. My flatbed scanner.

The rules for this particular tagging are as follows:
Remove the blog name in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add yourself to the bottom slot.

Beth

Deanna (View of Life)

A Scrap of Life (Annette)

i am a coconut (Cynthia)

a bag of chips (Tina)

Things that make you go hmmm...

Today while driving around San Diego, I found myself stopped at a red light at an intersection where on one corner is a sex shop.  This intersection and its residents are in a more, um, liberal part of town where just about anything goes.  But the thing that caught my attention (no, this time it wasn't the walrus-sized, battery-powered, man-that's-gonna-hurt phallus) was that this place was DECKED OUT for Christmas .  The window display was crammed with Merry Christmas signs, holly and poinsettias, Christmas trees with decorations and lights, Santas and fake snow.  Even the mannequins modeling the latest in crotchless leather underwear, nipple clamps and studded corsets had on Santa hats.   

The display seemed a contradiction in every sense of the word.  "Let's sell whips and chains, handcuffs and fluorescent condoms but while doing so this time of year, let us remind our customers about the upcoming celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," the store manager surely said.   "That'll be $34.95.  Here's your porn.  Have a merry Christmas," the clerks say with a bright smile.  "Would you like this gift wrapped?  We've got the holly-jolly elf paper or the "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" paper."

Hmmm...

Park. Swing. Fun.

Today the kiddies and I went to the park.  I'm very ashamed and embarrased to say that this park is just a few blocks from our house yet it seems like we're there but four or five times a year, and that, when we do go, we drive.  And when we're there I always wonder why we don't go more often.  The kids love it and I love that they love it.  Sure, I hate the sand that gets everywhere and that there are sometimes kids who don't share.  But it's a great place for them to burn energy and for us all to make new friends.  So, here are a few pics of the kids having fun and a photo of a new friend.

Some recent layouts

Here are a few layouts I recently completed.  I've found that my scrapbooking mojo waxes and wanes and, unfortunately, most of my inspiration comes in the middle of the night when my mind and my body are at odds about exactly when to sleep.  I average about two or three layouts a week which is pretty good considering my crazy life of toddlers, chores and a budding photography business. But when I think about the thousand-plus scrappable photos I've taken in the last 9 months, the overwhelming feeling of being, um, overwhelmed, can sometimes put a bit of a damper on the creative process.

Right now my goal is to just scrap one layout at a time, using whatever photo(s) ignites my creativity.  And I'll try not to think about how at 3 layouts a week it would take me 333.33 weeks or 6.4 years just to scrap the photos I've taken up until now.  But I'm trying not to think about that.

Another photo shoot

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking pictures of my friend Teresa and her family.  Teresa is a beautiful and amazing woman - I think she speaks four languages.  Her husband was very patient and even seemed to be enjoying himself - I think I caught some of that.  Their girls are so beautiful and full of personality and I hope I captured their unique selves in these photos as well.   

Teresa, I hope you're pleased with your photos.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Read to me.

My favorite books as a child were the Curious George books and "Where The Wild Things Are."  I don't remember a time as a kid when I read these books myself, though I assure you I did learn to read.  But my memories of these books are when they were read to me.  And these books were some of the first I bought when we were preparing for our son's arrival.  I couldn't wait to share these treasures with him and I hoped they would become as meaningful to him as there were - and still are - to me.

I've had the pleasure of being read to again recently.  My car broke down (that flippin', floppin, son-of-a-mechanic piece of crap) and I had at least an hour's wait in a mostly deserted parking lot until I would be rescued by a knight in a flat-bed tow truck.  So, I did what any girl would do - I made sure my doors were locked and then I called my mommy.  She had been telling me about the new Amy Tan book she was reading and one thing led to another and she started to read it to me.  I was mesmerized.  I had forgotten the pleasure of being read to.   I was a kid again.  I could almost feel her breath in my hair and and the warmth of her body as she was reading to me.  My imagination played with the words she read in a way that doesn't quite happen when I'm reading silently to myself.  Being read to brought the story more fully to life.  She read to me for about 30 blissful minutes. 

A few days and several hundred dollars later (thanks, you freakin' Ford losers), she and I talked again about being read to, and about the other times in our adult lives where one adult reading to another has brought comfort and love, help and healing.  When my mother was very ill in the hospital about ten years ago, I read to her "The Book of Ruth" from beginning to end.  She remembers the connection to the world through my voice and I recall being able to feel useful while she recovered.  Seeing my usually happy, cheerful mother lying in a hospital bed and barely able to move was horrifying and I welcomed the reading to escape the ache in my heart.  A few years prior to this, my brother was in the hospital recovering from one of his several death-defying events, and she read to him from a John Steinbeck book.  I'm sure her reading to him made her feel useful while escaping the reality of my brother's injuries as well.  And then, just a few years ago, my grandfather fell and broke some bones while vacationing in New York.  My mother flew back there to be with my grandmother and help with arrangements and logistics for travel back to L.A.  My mother and grandmother shared a trundle bed for a few days - grandma got the bed with the reading light and my mom got the roll-out trundle without.  So, grandma read to my mother "Huckleberry Finn," complete with character voices.  I tell you, I'd give anything to have that scene on video and it would a most prized posession.

Now my son is three and my daughter is almost two.  They both love books and Curious George is one of their favorites.  Sometimes they'll even choose reading a book with mommy over watching a movie - how cool is that?  But I must admit that sometimes this crazy life gets in the way of my reading to my kids.  There are things to do during the day, and laundry and chores that need to be started once they're asleep and sometimes story time doesn't happen.  But this recent experience with my mother reminded me how valuable and meaningful being read to is, especially when it's the voice of someone who loves you, like your mommy or daddy.  Being read to is an intimate link between the voice of the reader and the imagination of the listener.  Being read to is a gift of time, love and attention.  So, thanks, mom, for helping me get back in touch with what's really important.  I love you.

The end.

Yuck.

We're all still sick around here with the grown-ups getting the worst of it.  (Yes, I'm considered one of the grown-ups around here.)  I thought I was feeling better over last weekend and then this gunky, junky, yucky, green-and-yellow ick came right back on me BIG TIME.  I swear I've blown the entire volume of the Colorado River out of my nose the past week.  Okay, maybe that's a very slight exaggeration but only a very slight one.  Sheesh-oh-man it's nasty. 

So, my little nose miners, take your vitamin C, your Airborne, your zinc lozenges, your herbs and get lots and lots of rest, and I'll try to keep my crud away from you and yours.

Happy

Well, we're all starting to feel a little better today.  We've had quite the lazy weekend, but we've earned it.  The last month has been CRAZY, man.  Crazy.

My friend, Cynthia, tagged her blog's viewers to complete the following list: 

Five Things That Made Me Happy This Week

1.  Feeling better.

2.  My fifth anniversary and my sweet hubby.

3.  My son's awareness and innocence:  Since feeling so icky this week, I've taken it upon myself to go bra-less while at home.  On Thursday evening I had to go to our adoption support group and I figured I'd spare folks the wiggle and jiggle of my free-swinging girls.  So I donned a bra, got dressed and was kissing Aidan good-bye when he said, looking right at my chest, "Mommy, your boobies are feeling better now?" 

4.  Doing some scrapbooking.

5.  Taking these pictures:

Thanks for tagging me, Cynthia.