This & That!

Shout out to my good friend Kari, who just got out of the hospital yesterday after spending a couple days getting tests. She was rushed to the hospital is intense pain on Sunday night. She had her gall bladder out almost two years ago and she has had some complications from that. Anyway, they don't want her eating anything acidic for a month and then they'll do more tests. Poor Kari, she loves cooking and sauces and tomatoes and lemons and limes. But I know she can do it! You go girl!!

So I can't believe that it is already the end of June! Wow! Just six more weeks until school starts. It's actually going pretty fast. Jussara is already talking about how she is looking forward to it and they are all looking forward to getting new clothes! Yikes! LOL! Outfitting four kids for school is not cheap, but it is fun!

I am looking forward to heading to San Diego for a few days in July. We all need a break! Especially Clyde! He is working so hard and rarely gets any time away! I really need to make some reservations! Better get on that!

I've been working a little more on my kits. I've got to go ahead and settle on a host for my website. I hope to post my kit here soon just to see if there's any interest in it! Now I'm all paranoid that no one is going to be interested or want it! : ( Hope I'm wrong!

Later!

Last night's performance

So just Clyde and I went to last night's performance. Cameron was more relaxed this time and seemed to enjoy it more! I can't wait to get the dvd. The whole thing was quite a culmination! It's not like sports where you have games regularly. This is the one performance for the whole year. I guess the company groups have competitions but for the recreational kids, this is pretty much IT! Kudos to Cam for such a good job! They dedicated this performance to Mario, Cameron's hip-hop and break-dancing teacher. He was diagnosed with and has been battling testicular cancer the past several months. He was there last night (he wasn't on Friday) and it was very moving. Our hearts and prayers go out to him and his family.

Cameron's Recital

It was very exciting! And Cam was only in two dances! The whole family went and loved it! It was a little long though and Jaiden had a bit of hard time during the middle. She was ready to go home. It was a long night for her. Waaay past her bedtime. It wasn't over until about 10:40 I think. So we were there for more than four hours.

I was so proud of Cameron! He is such a good dancer. I'd really like to see him go into company, but he really doesn't want to do ballet. I can't blame him, but I'd love to see him really expand his dancing skills. But we'll see. Maybe he'll change his mind. Too bad there isn't a school of krump in Phoenix. That's the next thing he wants to learn. He can't wait until Rize comes out in Phoenix. Dance is changing in many ways. It was interesting to see ballet performed to more rock and blues style songs. Very interesting to see traditional ballet moves combined with more hip moves. Fascinating.

I was amazed at how well they all did! How these little ones (and even the big ones) remember all these difference dances and all the steps - it was really amazing. It really brought back memories! And a kind of a sad one. I always wanted to be a dancer, but I was very small and I was told by someone - I can't even remember who now - that I was too short to ever be a dancer. And the saddest part is that somewhere deep inside it lodged within me and I never really even tried to pursue dance because I believed him. I thought that ALL dancers were tall. And this was even in spite of the fact that my parents were every encouraging and always told me I could do anything I put my mind to. They supported me thoroughly! I even got a got a scholarship to college for cheerleading and at that time we also did all the dance routines, but I just didn't think it was an option to pursue more. I've taken dance classes over the years from time to time, but after I started having children I just never got back into it. (Well, except for that dance troupe at my church when Cameron was a baby.) Maybe this will spark me to change that! Lose some weight and get in shape! I wonder if my body can do it. I've been watching "Dancing with the Stars" and I've always wanted to take ballroom dancing! I love all kinds of dance! Hmmmm... Thing is - how am I ever going to find time to develop my website, design digital kits, maintain my website, take care of my family, lose weight & get in shape, take dance classes and organize my home? Oh boy!

So Jussara loved the recital too and she wants to take dance lessons, but she's worried Cam won't want her to. He feels like dance is "his" thing and he wants it to stay that way! lol. I think that all our kids have rhythm and that they should all have the opportunity to express themselves physically in dance. It is one of the most liberating things you can do.

Oh, and I'm so excited because I saw Missy and she said that she got some really great pics of Cammie at dress rehearsal! So glad! Now I can scrapbook the whole event - which is a very big event in Cam's life!!! Thanks Missy!!!

On to other subjects...

I got three new magazines yesterday. I LOVE magazines! Home Storage and Organizing, domino - The shopping magazine for your home, and Women's Health. Can't wait until I have a chance to check them out! Like I have the time! I just need to organize my time better! Like right now, I am spending waaay to much time writing this post in my blog! lol! Gotta get ready for tonight's show anyway!!!

Later on...

Dance Recital

So last night was dress rehearsal for Cameron's recital. This is our first year and wow! I had no idea! Cameron didn't want me to stay but I ran into my friend Missy when I was dropping him off, so I ended up staying for the whole thing. Cameron was pretty bummed out when he found out because he wanted me to see it with everyone else tonight, but I think he got over it! It will be a surprise for the other four members of our family! It was really great and I can't wait to see it again tonight and tomorrow night!

I was soo grateful that my friend Missy took some pics of Cameron at the dress rehearsal! He didn't want me to stay and that was the only time I could have gotten photos of his performance! Thanks Missy!

This all started for us last year when Cameron went to see his friend Hunter's dance recital. Cameron loves dancing. He was already dancing at home all the time. He could do all the Usher moves to all his videos. So he asked if he could take breakdancing and hip-hop classes. So we enrolled him and he loved it! I think he would like to do company but he doesn't want to take ballet - it just isn't Cameron. So, we'll see.

I have a feeling when Jaiden sees the recital tonight and all the pretty dresses and tutus, she will want to take dance next year. She's always loved to dance and would move her head up and down to the music on commercials before she could sit up on her own. Now that she's six I think she should be in classes. We'll see what she thinks tonight.

I remember my recitals - now so many years ago. Modern Dance. Every time I see Bing Crosby's White Christmas where Danny Kaye does the modern dance number with everyone in the black leotards and Danny wearing a beret it makes me think of my dance classes. I remember one recital costume stood out because I felt like a princess. It was all frilly in these beautiful colors and we wore those tall pointed hats with the tulle or chiffon or something beautiful floating out of the top. It was magical. I remember being nervous and being up on stage in front of everyone - but boy was it exhilarating! Wow! And I was probably about Jaiden's age when I started. Jussara might even want to do it, but when we had her in dance several years ago, she quit because her friend quit. I shouldn't have let her but the teacher wasn't nice anyway and didn't have any patience and she just did not want to go any more. I guess we'll see about her too.

I've been researching the website stuff and it is pretty complicated. I should spend some time designing since I enjoy that so much! My friends at TwoPeas have been so helpful - I would just be lost without them! I so appreciate the time they take to help. I just hope that I can pull this off. I don't want to lose all my time working on the website and not getting to design! Maybe it won't be so bad after I get it set up! We'll see! Well, gotta take in Cameron's pants!

Later!

Starting a Website

So I'm discovering how intimidating it can be to start your own website. Yikes! I am so thankful for Twopeas and the wealth of information that is shared on a daily basis. So nice to have an internet home where I can go and know that I will find answers to just about any question I could imagine!

I did get my domain names registered! I am very excited about that! Now I need to find hosting. I've been told that lunarpages is a good choice (thanks Holly) so I have been checking them out, but of course I feel kinda lost. Naturally I posted a question to the digitial board at 2Peas, so hopefully tomorrow I will get some helpful info! : ) I'm just not sure what size of website I should get and what kind of 'shopping cart' I should look into. I know one comes with lunarpages but I don't know if it is the best choice. I guess I could just dive in and find my way as I go, but I'd hate to make some huge mistake and regret it later. Ahh.... At the rate I'm going I'll be lucky if I'm 'live' (I think that's how you put it) by the end of the year! Gosh! I hope not! But it is a whole lot to learn. I've done a little html about six years ago for a pta website and I remember how long that puppy took me! LOL!!!

Well, we live and learn, eh? Plus there's the designing of the kits I need to get on with! Now THAT I enjoy!! I hope that I can bring something a little unique to the table. But who knows?! We'll see! Better get to work!!!

What a guy!

Here's one of my favorite layouts of Clyde!

My children are so blessed to have such a wonderful, loving, strong, devoted father. As am I to have such a husband. And what an amazing man, who feels like every day is Father's Day and tells us so all the time. We've been so incredibly blessed with four wonderful children and we both know it and are grateful for them!

He doesn't like a lot of fuss and so it was a quiet day just spent together with our little family. I didn't even take a photo. Thank goodness for loving fathers and the legacy they leave for their children. Thank goodness for my Clyde. He is such an example for our boys. His guidance and wisdom is so reassuring to see. He is such a loving father to our girls, an example of what a husband and father should be.

I am constantly amazed at how hard he works to take care of our family of six.... at how patient he is with the children.... at how he never tires of watching cartoons and children's movies with them.... at how he makes special time for each of our four children.... at how he sets the example of a strong, hardworking, loving father - each and every day.

I love him so very, very much.

Queen for a Day!

So yesterday was my birthday! My 48th birthday! My party is going to be Saturday at Kari & Del's. We're just going to swim and grill out and have some dessert. But yesterday Kari called and wanted to take me out to lunch. So Kari and Teresa took me to Benihana! I have never been there. It was fun. We did have an 'experience' with our waitress, tho.

I wanted to try the sake. I've never had it before and I thought it would be fun to just try it. They had a sampler with three different sakes you could try for $12.00 so we were talking between us and we decided to order one and we could share all of them. Well, when the server brought it out she brought us three of the samplers! So that would have been three for each of us! $36.00 worth of sake! Just to taste it! I don't think so! So we explained to the server that we just wanted one of the samplers (which like I said had three sakes). I felt bad about the misunderstanding but our waitress could barely speak english so I'm sure it was hard for her. When the waitress came back (she was not the same one who served us the sake) she saw that we only had one sampler and she thought we needed two more and I said, oh no we only wanted one sampler. My goodness she got mad at us. Clearly. Mad. At us. Ooops!

After that when she did finally come around from time to time, we realized she really didn't understand much of what we were saying at all. Or maybe she just didn't care at that point. I felt bad for her, but she really seemed to take the whole thing very personally. She really didn't seem cut out for the whole waitress thing.

So I found out that straight sake is definitely NOT my thing. Good thing we didn't end up with $36.00 worth! But the martinis that we all got were very good. And they did have sake in them. But it's very different on it's own. I guess alcohol is like that. The filet they prepared was excellent. It was very flavorful and very tender. The chicken was good, but couldn't compare to the filet. I hadn't had sushimi for probably 15 years, and I just wanted to try some again. So Kari & I had the tuna and whitefish. With a little soy and ginger the tuna wasn't bad. I didn't care so much for the whitefish. Still, it wasn't as good as the sushimi I had years ago back in San Diego, which isn't surprising. Anywhere that's on the ocean I figure is gonna have fresher fish. And I do remember it being very, very fresh! But we did have a lot of fun and it was a very nice lunch, but it wasn't very filling so we headed over to Tommy Bahamas.

I love Tommy Bahama style. I mean my husband is from the Caribbean. We met in St. Thomas. I love the Caribbean. Tommy Bahama is caribbean plantation style all the way. So the atmosphere is already great. The goat cheese appetizer is sooo good. And the peach cobbler dessert was pretty good. But I was disappointed in the drinks this time. They are usually very good, but this time they weren't so great. Kari's lemon drop was incredibly sour, tart and bitter - even with a sugar rim. And my tropical twist was very strong. I couldn't drink it. Teresa squeezed her juicy pineapple wedge into hers and added some raw sugar and that helped but Kari and I had to send ours back. I hate to do that and I normally never do that, but I just couldn't drink it. I think they must have had a new bartender or something. I got a mango martini than was better than the first but still not outstanding. Kari got a Pinot Grigio that she really liked. We had great conversation and a couple of really good belly laughs. You know the kind where you start to cry. It was fun! Expensive, but a lot of fun. I feel kind of bad when I'm being treated and it seems so expensive. But if you feel bad, then it kind of ruins the fun for the people who are treating you. So Kari said she knew I was going to have a hard time with it and she basically just wanted me to get over it! So I did!

Kari gave me a great card that I can't wait to scrapbook! Queen for a Day! It's a popup card! I'll take a pic and upload it to this post! It was so nice to spend the afternoon with two really good friends, good food, good drinks, good laughs and good conversation!!! A good 48th birthday!

Knitting!

So we got Jussara a "How to Knit" kit for her birthday (technically it was from Greyson). She had been fingerweaving for a couple of weeks and was asking for a lot of yarn for her birthday (which Cameron got her). I thought it would be a good idea to expand her skills since there's only so many things you can do with the fingerweaving. lol.

It has been many, many years since I've knitted. And even then I never really finished anything. I did finish an afghan that I crocheted in the seventies, but never knitted anything to completion. Of course after I started having my children, I never really found the time for it anymore.

But now that Jussara has turned 11, I figure it's time for her to start learning some of these skills! So I got out the book and I was really trying to go by the illustrations, but man... I couldn't seem to 'get it'! Well, I kept coming back to it again and again and lo and behold I FINALLY got down the knit stitch and the purl stitch! Granted it took all day - but we did it! And Jussara actually got it down too! I'm even thinking about knitting up some winter scarves for the family for Christmas!

If only I could knit and type at the same time! Heh heh!

Who am I talking to here?

Okay, this is the funny thing. Here I am typing into this blog on and off for a few months now and I haven't told anyone about it. So it's wierd to be talking to myself like this. In fact I just changed the name from Notes to Myself to An Inside Look! LOL!!!

I've been tempted to post on some of the TwoPeas threads asking for blogs, but haven't had the guts! What a chicken I am! LOL!!

Well, tomorrow is my birthday! Wow! Time sure flies! I can't believe I'll be 48! I remember almost 20 years ago when my aunt turned 50! Wow! It's sure is different when it happens to you! And it sure came around faster than I anticipated and the years just go faster and faster! It's truly amazing! I keep telling myself I'm going to get into shape before I turn 50! Well, I'd better get on it because it will probably take me that long! SOOOO many things to do every day, so little time, right?

Maybe in honor of my birthday I'll come out of my blogging closet!!! Tee Hee!

Off to post at twopeas!

Trying to post a photo!

Okay, last time I tried this (which was probably five months ago or so) I really couldn't get it figured out so I'm going to try again! Thought I'd post the graphic I've been drawing for the past two days!!! Here goes!



Hey! It worked! Alright!!! Sweet!

Designing

Anyone remember the "big-eyed" kids from the sixties? I had these two big framed paintings that my Aunt Ginger and my Uncle Ronnie brought me from Mexico. They were painted on black velvet and one was a girl and one was a boy. They had green outfits on. Their eyes were huge.

Anyway, I've been seeing these avatars all over the place that remind me of those. They are really cute and lots of people have them. So I decided to try my hand at drawing me! LOL! I drew a big round face and I took my current avatar and traced my lips and hair. I had to make my hair a little longer because that photo is over a year old. After fiddling for two days and a bunch of tweaking I now have a new avatar. It was so much fun to do! It's not as good as a lot that I've seen, but it'll do for me!

I love Adobe Illustrator! I drew most of it in Illustrator and then did a lot of the tweaking in Photoshop. They are such great programs. I really want to start designing fonts. I've wanted to do this for so long. Illustrator takes my scratchy little drawings and just smooths them out sooo wonderfully. I almost feel like an artist! Ha Ha!!!

I've always had a DESIRE to be an 'artist' but I've been more of a 'crafter' you know? I've always had the creative urge within me. After college I always considered myself a graphic 'designer' rather than a graphic 'artist' but Illustrator and Photoshop are so awesome that they take me farther than I ever thought I'd get on the 'artistic' end! LOL! And I am really only scratching the surface on them! I know they can do sooo much more! There's always so much more to learn with them!

Thank goodness my wonderful DH is being so understanding about the time I've been spending designing lately. He has been soooo supportive and I am so thankful for that! He works so hard to support our big ole family of six! I can't believe what a hard worker he is and it would be so wonderful if I could pull in a little extra income to supplement!

It's a really scary thing for me to actually start designing digital kits! You know, kinda putting yourself out there! What if nobody likes them? What if someone starts a thread making fun of or being critical of my designs? Or me? It could happen! Oh well, I guess that's the chance you take!

I am very excited about some of the papers I've been doing though and I really would LOVE to see what scrapbookers would do with them! THAT would be a very exciting thing so I'm just going to concentrate on that and not worry about anything else!

I am actually pretty intimidated about trying to start a website with downloads and stuff! I don't even know how to zip a file! The great thing is that there are so many helpful peas that are more than willing to share their knowledge that I know I can always ask for help! I'm just not a really FAST worker, so between designing kits and working on (and learning how to) design and run a website I have a feeling it will take a long time! Maybe I should get to work! Hee Hee!!!!

Scrapbooking

I've been wanting to design digital kits for a long time now. I actually started wanting to design traditional papers a couple years ago, but I never really pursued it. I was really wanting to do retro before it was being done but then a lot of companies started doing retro lines so I kind of gave up on the idea. Now that digital kits have gotten popular, I thought I might try my hand at it. I think it would be fun! And it would be a blast to see what other scrapbookers would do with my designs. It's great because there's no huge overhead to worry about like there would be with traditional products.

So I took the plunge and I have started on a few ideas. It's hard because I LOVE so many different styles of design and I am inspired by so many different things, but I wonder if anyone would want something I came up with. That would be awesome if they did. I guess I have a lot to figure out like how to zip the files and how people would download them! Surely I can get that information on the internet.

I am nervous but hopeful that I can come up with some fun stuff! I guess we'll see!!!!!

Jussara's Birthday

Well, Juju finally talked us into a "Castles N Coasters" birthday party. Yesterday she turned 11! So we took the whole family plus six of her girlfriends to the amusement park. She's wanted to go for the past few years but I was always hesitant because it can be pretty hot in June in Phoenix. We gave in this year and it was a good year to do it because it was a really nice day. There was a really nice breeze all day. It was only in the mid-90s. They rode the rides for four hours and then we had 45 minutes in the party room. She got lots of nice stuff and all the girls really had a lot of fun. Jaiden rode the kiddie rides and Clyde took her on the bumper boats. Greyson and Cameron went off on their own and rode rides. Everyone had a reate time. I was exhausted after it was all over. Samantha stayed all night. It was a good day. Ahhhhh.....