Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Moving to Typepad

Well, I've been wanting to have a custom banner for a while now and after reading posts on Twopeas, I've started a new blog at Typepad. Susiescrapbooker.typepad.com - I just had to try it out. I don't want to give up my posts here, but I am going to move over there during the free trial and see how I like it! So if anyone is actually reading my blog, then I hope you'll come over there! At least check out my new banner! LOL! I've already started posting!

See ya over there!

Monday, July 18, 2005

Life is truly flying by!

So Cameron turned 13 last week! Wow! And all he wanted was a cell phone. So we got him one. Now maybe our home phone will not be ringing off the hook with girls calling him. LOL! What a time of life! I remember 13 - wearing matching CPO jackets with my best friend, Cindi! Going to Poplar Bluffs to cheer for our basketball team in a tournament! Hearing my 12-year-old cousin tell me about something called a "french kiss" where the boy stuck his tongue in your mouth - ewww gross! I had never heard about such a thing! And nothing sounded more disgusting. lol. Times were certainly different back then! Television and movies certainly did not go there!

Cameron asked me how old I was when I got my first cell phone. I said 46. He laughed. "Come on, Mom! Forty-six? Yeah, right." LOL! Yep, times have changed. And they're going to be changing even more for Cameron because he starts middle-school this year! A new chapter. Heady times, for sure. Ahhhh. Youth.

And so this morning when I walked out of the bedroom, Greyson sprung up from the computer and exclaimed "Mom, you've GOT to see this!" And he drags me to the bathroom and juts his chin out and says "LOOK!!!" with pride beaming from his eyes. I pulled down my glasses to get a better look (I don't have bifocals - yet) and there it was! No question about it. It was different. Definitely. Not like the peach fuzz on his lip. This was definitely a chin whisker. One. One single whisker. But definitely a whisker. About an eighth of an inch long and proudly sprouted right in the center of his chin. Well, his just couldn't contain himself. Every step of this process has been like this for Greyson. The first underarm hair. The peach fuzz on the lip. All of it. He rellishes it. He celebrates it. He points it out to anyone and everyone that will listen. Ahhhh, yes. The sweet bird of youth!

I grew up with two sisters and no brothers so experiencing all these "boy" things has been a whole new experience for me. I'm so thankful for such blessings. So thankful.

So we had a mad storm blow through last night! Right when I left to go pick up Cameron's friend to stay overnight, Clyde called (on Cameron's new cell phone) to tell us that the power had just gone out. The wind was fierce and I could see a wall of dust headed our way. It was a little after 6:00 p.m. We hoped the electricity would be back on by the time we got home but it wasn't. And it was already getting warm.

It's amazing how quiet it is when there is no electricity. And it's amazing how quickly it gets HOT! Boy, you sure don't feel like doing anything when it's hot! Clyde said "I don't know how they did it in Arizona before electricity!" I couldn't agree more! While we were laying around sweating and waiting for the electricity to come back on I felt like the mutants in Arnold's movie Total Recall when they stopped pumping in the fresh air. Just laying there, sweating. At least we still had oxygen. The good thing is we all realized how much we take everything for granted! Good reality check!

So I've been reluctant to post on any threads regarding customer service, but I can't help but notice that designers seem to be feeling attacked. I don't know what is up with that but there must be something going on behind the scenes to cause the comments I've noticed lately. I've heard mention of customers expecting too much. Scares me even more to think I'm really working on jumping into it myself! Yikes!

I would just like to take a moment to mention one bit of wisdom I've learned time and time again over the years. You cannot control the actions of other people, only your own actions and your reaction to others.

Speaking of designing - I'm so excited because I've really been working on getting some stuff done! I've finished a bunch of stuff on one kit and I'm starting on another kit. Well, I started on it a long time ago, but I didn't get really far with it, so now I'm going to work on it full force.

At this point I'm working night and day on designing kits. I am constantly thinking about them, dreaming about them, researching ideas for them and on and on. It's fun though and I hope that I am able to do something that people will like. I am learning more every day about the programs I'm using and that's been great!

Monday, July 11, 2005

Poor Blog.

Wow! I haven't posted for almost a week. I guess I've been pretty busy designing stuff for my kits. I want to post some pics but I want to wait until I'm closer to the launch date. It's pretty scary because I just don't know if people are going to like my style or not and that's pretty intimidating. : )

So Big Brother started and there's another show Tuesday night. I haven't gotten the live feeds though. But I don't know how long I'll be able to hold out. LOL! I wish they had a few older cast members, but oh well. It might be an interesting season. I can't tell yet.

I guess I'm tired. I don't really have too much to say so I'll sign off for now.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

The 4th

I forgot to write what we ended up doing on the 4th of July and since I'm kind of using this as a journal to record my thoughts and stuff so I can use them to scrapbook later, I thought I'd better get that down. (Another run-on....oh well.)

So we grilled hot dogs and ate potato chips and tortilla chips and guacamole. I never buy chips anymore, or I should say rarely, but again I'm still having the hormonal salt cravings so I indulged. Plus it was a holiday. Anyway, we did end up driving out to see the fireworks. We went out behind Desert Ridge Marketplace. If you park at the back of the parking lot there's a huge vacant desert area and beyond that is Rawhide where they were shooting off fireworks. Clyde had discovered it last year when he ran out to get something and saw all these people at the back of the parking lot.

It really was not as bad as I thought it would be. We got there about 8:30 or so and got a good seat. We backed the van in and opened the back and then we also brought some camping chairs. It really wasn't too hot. It was actually pleasant. And we saw three different displays. One over in Scottsdale, which was pretty far away but looked like they had some really good fireworks, and then two right next to each other. One was Rawhide and then one beyond Rawhide a ways. I had told Clyde that maybe we should try to get a little closer because they might seem small from farther away. He didn't think I had a point until the fireworks started and he was all like, "That's all the bigger they are? Hmmm.... maybe you were right." THANK YOU! They started out kind of small but there was some nice big ones before it was all over. And I was very proud that I had actually ventured out in the potential horrible heat and the kids liked it. I was relieved that the temperature wasn't bad. When I got back in the van I noted it was 94 degrees. It must have been close to 10 p.m. or so.

So it was a nice day. This is the first year that I've really felt like maybe we should think about a pool. Yeah, I know... how have we existed in Arizona without a pool in the summer? I have never felt comfortable about having a pool because I always had at least one baby or toddler. Jaiden is six now and I am not as paranoid as I have been the past (nearly) 14 years we've lived in Phoenix. Now I can see that it would be nice and since Jaiden is not a toddler anymore, maybe we'll start to think about the possiblity.

So now all that's left in the summer is to try to get ready for and make it to San Diego for a beachy getaway and then the annual school shopping for clothes and school supplies! That should take up the next five and a half weeks. This summer is going faster than any summer I can remember for a long time. I don't really know why. Maybe it doesn't seem quite as hot as it has been other summers, I don't know. I'm not aware of the statistics but it hasn't seemed too brutal to me, which is a very good thing. : )

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Big Brother Six

So Big Brother Six starts Thursday. I know that most people (including my husband) think these reality shows are a bunch of hooey, but I'm coming clean. I confess to getting caught up in the storylines of some of them. Not all, mind you. But some. Okay so I've watched it every year.

Not always three nights a week, mostly just the live Thurday shows where someone gets evicted. And okay well, an occasional live feed from time to time. Okay, I usually watch most of the episodes and depending on what's going on at the time I might be watching the live feed or reading Joker's Updates - where viewers constantly report on all the goings on via a minute by minute posts. Yeah, I know... no wonder I need to lose weight. ::::sigh::::

Anyhoo, they are calling it "The summer of secrets". I've read that one of the "twists" this year is that each of the houseguests is secretly paired up with another houseguest and if they keep the secret to the end and they are the last two houseguests, then the winner gets a million instead of the usual $500,000 and the runner-up gets $250,000 instead of the usual $50,000. Each secret team was told that they are the only secret team. Oh and they tore down the house from the first five seasons and have built a new two-story one on a CBS set.

If you're interested you can read about the details here. This will be the first year that I've had Tivo! So it will definitely be easier this year! I'll be tivoing it to watch at my leisure. Yeah, right - all my leisure while I'm trying to wrap my head around this website I'm designing. Haa!

I have started crocheting an afghan and I've been trying to do a little bit at night while I'm watching my tivoed shows before I fall asleep. I started three weeks ago (right after my birthday) and it's coming right along. I timed myself and it takes about 20 minutes for me to do one row. I figure it will take about 30 hours of work to complete it. I'd like to do one for each of the kids for Christmas, but we'll see. Ahem...

Today I've been working on putting my first kit into its "packaging". I still have some things to add, but I wanted to kind of get an idea about how it would look. I used all the papers and I finally had something I could show to Clyde and the kids and say "okay, here's what it will look like online." They like it! I was so glad! It kind of gave me a feeling of accomplishment to see it all put together - well, part of it put together at least. LOL! Can't wait to get it all done and get the website up and running and (hopefully) see someone make a page out of it. That would be a wonderful thing! :)

Monday, July 04, 2005

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Thanks Missy!


So here's one of the pics Missy took of Cameron at his dress rehearsal. He's the one dressed in black in the center. Thanks to Missy I have photos of his first performance! Thanks Missy! I can't wait to see the portrait pics we get in August! I'm still trying to talk Cameron into company but he really doesn't want to do ballet. I haven't convinced him that it is really good for improving balance and that coaches sometimes make their football players take ballet. I guess we'll see.

So I'm still working on my website. I'm trying to design my header and I thought I could get by using the design templates in the Webbuilder program at lunarpages, but I can't find one that is simple enough and I'm afraid I'm going to have to attempt to design the whole thing myself - yikes! Daunting task! The design isn't the problem but the other technical web stuff that goes along with it! Ah well, such is life, right? So here's the header I'm working on a the moment. I want something simple. I still haven't come up with the right tag line, though. I want something about postmodern or retro or something. If ya have any ideas, please share! Thanks!

{{Update : Well, I had the header uploaded right here, but Jussara thought that I should wait and uveil it when the website is launched so I guess I'll have to go with her idea.}}

I guess I'll try and work on some more papers for my digital kits. I am really nervous and I hope that someone will like them. Yikes! Okay back to work!

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Been a few days

Working hard on my website. Got my domain names registered at godaddy and decided on lunarpages.com for hosting. Thank you to all the gals on Twopeas! Your vast reservoir of knowledge and your willingness to help others so freely have helped me immensely! I don't know what I'd do without such incredible resources!

So I tried changing the name servers on godaddy, but must have done something wrong cause it's been 3 days and it's only supposed to take no more than 48 hours. I tried it again today and I think (hope) it might've worked this time.

I have been battling some kind of cold or allergies or something. No fun. Stuffy, runny nose, sore throat. Yuk! Drains my energy - that's for sure.

Warning: Vent on Tom ahead!

So War of the Worlds was Tom's best opening day. I guess most people aren't as irritatedt with him as I. I've heard it's a good movie, but Clyde said he heard it was very violent. I do like Steven Speilberg and I love science fiction so I really would like to see it, but I'm just not in the mood to support Tom right now. He may even have some valid points worth discussion but his ATTITUDE is do condescending and arrogant that I am just really turned off. I mean, he's an ACTOR for goodness sakes! His ego has gotten as big as Oprah's and I've been kind of over her for quite a while now.

Warning: Vent on Oprah ahead!

I had some issues when she first started her magazine and she put herself (and only herself) on the cover of her magazine every month, year after year. But when she had this hoity toity "Legends" ball to honor all the important and notable black women on the planet, where it was mandatory that you had to wear ONLY black and white, and OPRAH wore a LIPSTICK RED ball gown - well, that was it for me. I know that's a run-on sentence but I had to get it all out in one 'breath'. So the whole Hermes thing was just another straw on the broken camel's back for me. I know the whole story isn't out yet, and I'm sure Oprah will dedicate an entire show to it to tell her side of the story and maybe I'm being premature and judgemental and I guess I am unfamiliar with a world where you EXPECT stores to just cater to your every whim and reopen 15 minutes after they've closed - but MAN! ( I know, another run-on - please forgive me.) Come on! She's a TALK-SHOW host for goodness sakes!

I hope I'm not being too judgemental or controversial, but I just felt the need to vent. I think it's hormonal. I am craving salt and sugar and breaking out on my face. I even have one on the back of my neck! Yuk! Hope that's not too much information! I'm emotional and just kind of I don't know - depressed - a bit. That's the thing with PMS - even though I know that is what I'm going though, I can't seem to deal with my emotions logically. I can't really stop my feelings. Then when my hormones go back to nornal I go back to my upbeat, positive, optimistic attitude. Wierd, really.

There was this great article about PMS in Women's Health magazine. The author said some of her best decisions have come during 'Aunt Flo's" visits. She broke up with a guy when she was in a bad relationship, she quit a a bad job and moved on to a better one.. I guess I've never thought about the ways PMS could be a good thing, but I know that I've gotten the gumption to do and say a bunch of stuff that needed to be done or said simply because I was all riled up on hormones! Of course there have been times I've over-reacted to situations too. Maybe I just need to look into some kind of hormonal cream or something.: )

My dilemma on 4th of July. First of all I grew up in Missouri, when it starts to cool off when the sun goes dowm and where everyone is outside shooting off fireworks or laying on a blanket watching a town firework display. I now live in Phoenix where it is still well over 100 degrees after 10:00 p.m. It has never been appealing to me to drive 45 minutes to one of the local firework displays, try to find a parking space and sit in 100 degree weather waiting for the fireworks only to fight the crowds getting out. I know - Scrooge - bah, humbug. Well the other thing is that I always had a small child that didn't really like the percussion of the explosions. Now, they are all pretty much old enough to not be afraid anymore. Maybe we'll try the one at Phoenix First Assembly. We've been there before. It's pretty close. Maybe it won't be too bad.

The other thing is that my father died on July 1, 1975. So since that time it's been hard for me to be in a celebratory mood at this time of year. Hard to believe he's been gone for 30 years. Such a great man, so honorable and so much integrity. I wish I had had more time with him. I have so many qestions I've needed to ask him over the years. I had just turned 18 when he died. So thankful I had those 18 years with him. I miss him so much.