Monday's prompt

How do you cope with a change in plans? Not very well actually. I like for there to be plans. I like for those plans to be followed. I like to have backup plans in case the first plan falls through. It does depend on just what the thing is. I'll roll with a restaurant being closed unexpectedly or toddler tales being cancelled for snow. I'm disappointed but I can work with it easily enough. But something big like a flight getting cancelled or other travel/vacation plans getting changed throw me pretty hard at first. I get upset (angry or sad) for a bit, but then I move on to solving the problem. I'll probably complain about it for awhile afterwards too. I have my spontaneous moments, but they are few.

Meals so far

Tuesday we had the leftovers
Wednesday we had pasta w/metballs (leftover mini meatloaf from last month, frozen)
Thursday we were going to have the chicken strips but it turned out they were fish strips. note to self - Label the stuff before putting it in freezer.
Friday we had Osaka carry out - steak & chicken hibachi plus sushi & miso soup
Today we had steak & spinich salad. Steak onthe grill. YUUMMM! and just enough left over for a steak sandwich for lunch on Monday.

Tomorrow I don't know what we are doing for dinner. Maybe we will go to the Chinese buffet place in C-ville. I'd assume most restaurants are open even though it is Easter, but I am positive the buffet place is. I have a Jewish friend who, when asked about what they have for Xmas dinner, says "We've gone out for Chinese since I was a kid" Maybe we'll make that our Easter thing.

Weekend stuff

Lots of random stuff this weekend. We don't celebrate Easter & Drake is just now getting old enough to realize there are Easter baskets. He doens't realize yet that most people get them & he doesn't. I suspect that will be next year. We do go to the egg hunts & things, and really there is nothing religious about an Easter basket. So I guess it needs to be an all or nothing thing, because I can't really explain why he can hunt eggs with his friends but not get a basket of candy. Tricky thing about being a minority religion. But, like Xmas, the fact that they re on different dates does help me keep a distance between religous & secular holidays. I guess it is just the former Catholic in me, but despite the bunnies & the eggs I have never really viewed easter as a secular holiday. Xmas, oh yeah, BIG secular holiday. Easter, not so much.

I have to go get new curtain rods, the big heavy (and expensive) kind that the boys won't be able to bend easily. They've been ones in the living room almost in half. They are not supposed to play around in teh curtains, but I have no business relying on that edict to keep a 2 & 3 year old from bending my curtian rods.

I have 2 layouts to finish this weekend for ScarpMommies, giving me 4 out of 12. But oh well. New Boot Camp challenge is up too. And I need to get my mini album together for 1hour scrap this month. But I need to check & see if I can do a trading card sized one & if they want 8 or 12 pages for it, since it is so small.

Friday prompt

It is to write about flowers. Flowers...not something I think about much or write about ever. So I think I am going to have go with randomness on this topic.

DH & the boys bought me flowers last week. White daisies that had been died blue by putting them in blue water and some purple flowersas part of the bouquet. I have no idea what sort of flowers the purple ones are.

I have every rose DH has ever given me, dried & stored in 2 large plastic containers. At some point I am going to make rose beads out of them.

I just had to spend as much in shipping as the cost of the bouquet to send my mom flowers for her birthday because I ordered them yetesterday instead of on Monday. Her birthday is tomorrow & they had tobe delivered today.

I used to work for 1-800flowers in a local call center as the telcom analyst & call flow director.

This is my latest layout. It ws done for Mission Possible on DSP, using Stacey Jewel Stahl's DSU295 gift kit & word art by Tina CHambers

Thursday Journaling

"This too shall pass"

I've been hearing this my whole life from the people around me. Often it is said of the good things as well as the bad, which I think is a bit unique among my friends. Most people just say it when something bad or a struggle of some sort is going on. But we also say it when something good is happening, as a reminder to savor the moment.

I did this for the baby book challenge at scrapmommies. Everything is by me, created from a wallpaper available at HIT Entertainment's Thomas site

Something funny?

Drake must have had an intersting dream last night

He told me this morning that a cat monster was going to visit us. Just a little baby one, but it was going to drive over to play with us. It lived a long way away. When we were coming home from teh gym he mentioned it again & I suggested maybe it would nap with him but he said cat monsters only sleep on pasta, not in beds.

Some of this I can explain. When Drake went through a phase of being afraid of monsters a few months ago I first told him that monsters only live in California (Dh adding that the whacky liberals out there have all these monster protection laws in place so the monsters like living there best of all places - DH is a little nuts sometimes) Later I told Drake that even if monsters were around here, they wouldn't stay because they are afraid of cats & our 3 cats would chase them away. He decided that Nefer was the cat who really didn't like monsters (Nefer doesn;t really like anyone) & that seemed to mostly end his monster problems. So I can sorta understand the idea of dreaming about friendly baby cat monsters.

not sure where the idea of sleeping on pasta came from though. And now I have this image in my head of a monsterous cat with a pacifier curled up on a plate of spaghetti.

Menu for the next 2 weeks

Chicken strips - homemade w/ginger soy glaze
Steak & spinich salad
Mini meatloaf (w/extras for ST's family on monday)
Pasta w/meatballs (leftover meatloaf)
Pizza
Shrimp Toast (maybe)
Grilled Polenta w/salad
Sweet potato & chicken salad
Braciole
Baked salmon
Roast Chicken
meatball soup

We'll probably cookout one Sunday & go out to eat on Saturdays. DH won't be home for dinner tonight, so I think we will have the leftover santa fe chicken couscous chopped up into chicken patties, breaded & pan fried. I'll add some spinich to it.

i have to plan the 2 week menu. Otherwise I spend way too much at the grocery store & end up wasting leftovers. It's really helped my budget & we eat better meals now. Before we had kids I was always planning dinner. It was a big deal for me. I'd ask DH at 10am what he wanted for dinner. After DS1 was born I had less tiem to cook. After DS2, and I was sick for so long, I just cooked at random. We ate a lot of crap & our grocery bill was out of control. I started doing this about a year ago, just for 4 meals a week. This year I am up to 6, though I don't always stick to it. The braciole, roast chicken & meatball soup are from the last 2 week menu. I bought the ingredients but never made the meals. Fortunately it all went in the freezer.

I've got about 5 layouts in the works for some challenges at Scrapmommies. They added bunch of new ones this month. I never manage to finish the 12 you need to win the whole prize kit every 2 weeks, but I don't really do the challenges for the kits. They are nice kits but 12 layouts in 2 weeks is more than I am likely to do, adn I know that, so going for the prize isn't really motivation. I just like doing the challenges & getting comments. A prize is nice, but not necessary. I'm working on the ABC, Baby Book, Daily Dish, Theme & Scrap Therapy ones right now. I have ideas for most of them & photos or kits picked. I just need to start assembling them, I've already got the Font challenge done. I may get to the Sketch & Scraplift as well. That would give me... 8 out of 12, which I think is a personal best.

This was done for another of my favorite DSP challenges - Mission Possible. It is also an entry in the Royal Challenge. It was made with Stacey's Little Prince kit & Tina Chamber's Charming Prince word art

This was done for the Boot Camp challenge at DSP - one of my favorite ongoing challenges, because I love the CC you get. It was done with Lisa Carter's Old World Charm kit & bits of Stacey Jewell Stahl's Shabby Treasures kit. This is the second version of the layout.

F?

Big F, little f, what begins with F? I had that as a journal title on Ovusoft for awhile, both because my week was sucking & my BG, the Freaks, were being extra Freaky that week, playing a guessing game using our childhood photos as avatars. Wow! that was like 2 years ago! F always does remind me of freak. Both because of the Freaks and because I say 'freaking' in place of a less appropriate word. I had a lot of fun with Freaks. We did let ourselves get tangled up in some stupid stuff because of a certain AW, and after SEW split we seemed to gain all the negative focus and then there was the whole Heffa debacle, but much of the supposed 'trouble' we caused was really in the minds of others. Especially the avis. So many of the avis that various people were about them we just us playing around. Inside jokes, nothing to do with anyone. Like the Peeps. We had no idea there even was a BG called Peeps. It was just Wonker & Jill playing around with Yahoo draw one night when they were working midnights & since it was Easter they were drawing peeps. We put them in our avis because theywere funny. But somewhere along the line some 'helpful' person told the Peep group we were bashing them. Fortunately that time the whole thought process behind the avis was there in the thread for all to read so it blew over quickly. But many others didn't. I don't miss the drama, though it was fun at times. Seeing how incredibly self-centered people can be, it *must* be about them. I miss the Freaks. We split up a year ago this month.

Scrapping

I've journaled ever since I was 10. I've taken photos since about that age as well. I've combined them in various photo albums oer theyears, the 'sticky backed' kind but I was never really a scrapbooker. I've always found paper scrapbooking interesting but I lacked the time & patience for it. The predone plopper pages were never quite right but I wasn't going to gobuy a bunch of stuff to make things the way I wanted. I've never been a paper crafty sort of person. Yarn, yes, paper, no. Digi scrapping was the answer to my needs. Once I discovered DSP and classes for PSP I jumped right into it. I like being able to tell the story that goes with the photo - what I was thinking, what the person was thinking, being able to convey atmosphere in my pages & express my creativity. I also like that I am saving memories. We have so many photos from my grandparents & IL's that have just a date or a name. Some of them have names but no one knows who that person was, a relative, a friend? I like scrapping because my grandchildren will be able to look at my pages & know details. "As long as someone remembers you, you will live forever". i want my family to be remembered.

Changes

There are not many going on in my personal life, because I make every effort to avoid them. I like routine. The biggest thing changing right now is Drake's Pull Ups. He keeps pooping in them, so I keep changing in them. He did really well pooping in the potty for a whole week, but the last 10 days he's gone back to pooping in his pants. He's been peeing in the potty for 2 months now. I hope whatever needs to change for him so he poops in the potty all the time as well, happens soon.

We are also anticipating a change. Saturday I go to register Drake for Pre-K3. The class starts in the fall. He'll be 4 in October. When did he change from a baby to a little boy?

Derek's is quite adament that he is saying "Bongo Bees" If you try to correct his pronunciatio of either word to something else like "Big Bird" he shakes his head & says "Bongo Bees!" even more firmly. I used the April freebie on ScrapMommies for this. It is called My Boy, by Traci Reed. The bongo & bee are clip art from Word.

Today's DSP blog challenge is to write about something you don't like doing but do anyway. I am actually working on a layout about this for the current Scrap Therapy challenge on Scrapmommies.com. It is to scrap something you are afraid of.

I don't like going to the dentist because I am afraid of it. Actually that sentance does not begin to convey just how I feel about the dentist. Terror & hysteria come closer. I had some really bad dental experiences about a decade ago that pushed a mild, slightly higher than average dislike of the dentist into outright fear. I have a hard time walking into the dentists' office. It's all I can do not to start crying with fear just sitting in the waiting room, let alone keeping it together while someone is poking around my mouth. I *know* they are going to hurt me. They may not do it intentionally, they even try to avoid it, but they always end up hurting me. Even cleaning my teeth, soemthing pokes too hard or scrapes a little funny & suddenly there is an abrupt, stabbing pain. It's worse with fillings & root canals because the lidocaine wears off on me so quickly & the only way to really tell is when they hit a nerve. This especially sucks with root canals. I've actually been avoiding the dentist for about 3 years now, except when too much pain forces me into it. But DH finally convinced me to get my teeth cleaned. I sort of expected needing about 4 fillings. What I need is one root canal. This will be my 4th. 2 were done when I was seeing the dentist regularly, so I don't really blame my lack of visits. I wish they could knock me out for it. Some dentists do, but none around here. My appointment is the 21st. I have been have flashbacks to previous root canal pain moments since I found out on the 30th. Like I am suffering from dental PTSD. I don't want to go. The tooth doesn't hurt. If they hadn't taken an routine xray they would never even know about it. You'd think at 38 I'd be able to cope with something like this better than digging my heels in and crying "I don't want to go." as if someone somewhere will give me a reprieve. That's one of the things that sucks about being an adult, there is no one to make it all better or to help make the scary thing easier. You aren't suppose to be scared. You are supposed to be able to cope & you re being 'needlessly dramatic' and drawing attention to yourself if you can't.

So i am going to the dentist, even though I hate it & they are going to hurt me. And the icing on this cake is that I get to pay $750 for the experience.

I did this layout for the current Scrappy Chat challenge at DSP. The challenge was to use at least 3 patterned papers in a layout. I used one of the pages of a QuickPage set I created for 1hourscraps. I used Christina Bartholomews Simple Gifts kit tocreate teh quick pages. This is the right side page. I am going to make the left side page about my grandfather, as soon as i get the photos from my dad.

Blog Challenge at DSP

Meg is running a new challenge at DSP to keep everyone journaling. Her topic this time was to write about your birthday.

I don't write about my birthdays often. As an adult they are generally nothing too special. We go out to dinner & I pick the place. We do this for the boys' birthdays as well. DH's is on Dec 31st & we have a party for him or we would go out to eat as well. I get nice gifts, almost always whatever I have asked for. Your birthday is *your* day in our house. You decide what we are going to do, what you want for breakfast, lunch, dinner (within reason), what we watch on TV. It is all about *you* on your birthday.

The only thing that I am insistant about is that we do the birthday celebration *on the day* of the birthday. Even if it is inconvenient. Ok, *especially* if it is inconvenient. See, my birthday is in July and when I was a kid my younger brother played Little League all summer. His games came before everything. Didn't matter what it was, the baseball game *MUST* be attended. My brother had made a commitment to it & it had to be met. This meant my birthday celebration was moved around to suit the baseball schedule. I really really resented that, especially considering just how many games they played in a season. One game a season could have been missed I think. I admit I still resent it today & I know that is petty, which is why I don't talk about my birthday much. It reminds me of a hurtful time & a less than nice side of myself. I've had lots of wonderful birthdays. I've had many more birthdays where Little League did not interfere than onces where it did. Those unhappy memories don't dominate my birthday in general. But they are among the first things I think of when people ask me about birthday traditions and I have a hard time not saying things when parents tell me they will be celebrating Child A's birthday a couple of day's afterward because Child B has some activity that night. I guess it is just a carry over from my childhood, but I think one specific day of the year you should get to come first in front of almost anything.

Finally!

It's only taken me 4 days of websearching, editing & trial and error, but I finally have this blog appearing properly in Firefox as well as IE. I don't know what it looks like in Mac & can't find out easily. Maybe if someone using a Mac stops by they will leave a comment & let me know. Not that there is any reason really for people to stop by. I don't have anything really interesting or exciting going on here yet. But eventually I'd like to do freebies & maybe contests from time to time.

But step 2 is to get the site looking ok in nearly all browsers (step 1 being the 3 column thing). Step 3 is just using the blog regularly. Step 4 would be the sharing of freebies (that I have yet to design, that being a step in a completely different list)