Have you signed up??

You have heard me rave about this class before and I will be again very soon because Sketchapalooza 6 is right around the corner!!

Have you signed up yet??

You don't want to miss this amazing class full of fabulous sketches and inspiring talent! Feeling Scrappy's Sketchapalooza 6 begins May 3 and runs through May 31st.

Here are the details:

• 20 Amazing sketches (5 a week!)
• Digital templates if you are a digi-scrapper
• Private class forum filled with support from the design staff and class participants.
• A wonderfully talented design team - Jayne, Lee, Tracy and Becky - all who I consider my friends. They will inspire you like no other.
• All for just $25!!

So what are you waiting for?? Just click HERE to sign up now!

See you in class!!

Owning a Challenge

I have blogged about my weight before. Many times actually.
I even "committed" to losing 35 by 35 one time. Well...I am 36 and that didn't happen.

Clearly.

I have talked about low fat recipes.
I have talked about exercise.
I have talked about a lot of things.

Especially my stance on "owning it".
Whether it be giving an opinion, making a decision in life, whatever the choice - OWN IT

I seem to have faltered on my very own stance.

I may talk about my weight and what I am going to do about it, but since I didn't have to be accountable to anyone other than myself, I never owned it.

Well, today I am.

And every thursday after I will.
I am starting my own challenge that I will own.
I call it TATTLETALE THURSDAY
Every thursday, I am going to tattletale on myself right here on my blog.

I have posted my weight on here before and received many gasps.
Now I am taking it one step further - to really own it.

I will take a picture of my scale every week.
And I will post it here.
For all to see.

GASP!!

And all comments are welcome!
The shame on you’s, the kudos, the tips, the "are you crazy?" - all comments.

So here is my first thursday weigh in.

Am I crazy?

Well, I think we all know that answer.

Want to join me??

Really??

Sean and Jonah had their annual doctor checkups.

As usual, weight is measured.

Sean, my husband who has defined muscles and washboard abs says to me in astonishment, "Wow, I have packed on the pounds! Guess what I weigh now!"

Tip to men: Don't play the weight guess game with your wife!

I gave him my "are you really asking me this" look.

"160 pounds!!"

Really?? Is he really telling me this??

He weighs 160lbs. Tragic.
Right there in the doctors office waiting room, I wanted to THUMP him.

Then again, I have an additional 40 pounds on him. I think I can take him.

The Newest Addition :)

As some of you know, my Canon G9 - affectionately known as Candice - was not feeling well. Of course, it happened when I wanted to take pictures of Jonah at a school trip. Sigh. Murphy's Law I guess.
Candice was a gift from my very good friend Mark. Lucky for me, he also bought a warranty on her!! So I took her in to the camera doctor to get her fixed.
At this time, it was mentioned to me that if they do not fix Candice, then she will be replaced. Since they no longer make the G9, I would get a G11. It was also mentioned that I could just pay the difference for an SLR.

**whhhhrrrrrrrwhhhhhhhrrrrrr*
(that would be the wheels in my head spinning)

I was INTRIGUED! I would never be able to afford an SLR on its own. Paying the difference was an awesome opportunity. I began my research on SLR cameras.

The front runner was the Canon Rebel T1i. For the reason that I figured I would stick with Canon. Some of my scrappy friends told me to check out the Nikon D3000 or D5000. As did my friend Sheri, who researches items like I do :)

After MUCH reading of manuals, reviews, opinions, many trips to various camera stores to fondle the SLRs; I had made my decision.

Then I got the phone call.

"Your camera has been fixed. Please come in and pick it up."

Goodbye SLR fantasy. I was still happy because Candice was all better. I really loved my G9.

I show up at the store to pick up my camera. They took it out of the bubble wrap and I immediatley noticed something was not right. I told them it wasn't my camera. They confirmed the name and serial number, but there was something not right! I asked to see the camera. I was shocked to see that the corner of my camera had been damaged, banged in actually. And the lens front was chipped and scratched! I did not bring it in this way.

A manager was called over, she typed something into the computer and then said, "I'm sorry, it appears that your camera was dropped."

Dropped?? Would they even have said anything to me??

The manager called the camera dept and asked them to bring up the G11.

**happydancehappydancehappydancehappydance**

I requested a gift card for the replacement as I wanted to investigate the SLR option further.

So....without further ado......please meet my new addition:

DAPHNE!!

It is with many thanks to Mark and many thanks to Peter that I was able to get the Nikon D5000. I am so happy with my choice. I am so grateful for generous friends, clumsy repair people and warranties!

Next step......learning how to use her!!

Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a happy and blessed Easter!

This is a pic of Jonah with all his loot. Easter Bunny was clearly on crack this year when it came to chocolate.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Calling on the SLR pros

I am looking for some input from my blog readers :)

I MAY (fingers crossed) have the opportunity to get an SLR camera.

I currently have a Canon G9 and it went poopoo on me. Luckily the person who bought it for me also bought me the warranty. Warranty says they have to give me the equivilent if they can't fix it. Since they no longer make G9s, I would get the G11.

BUT - heres where it gets interesting......the camera guy said that instead of taking the G11, why not go for an SLR. I said that is not in my budget. Then he said, they will give me the value of the G9 with NO depreciation and I would only pay the difference!! That means, I would only have to pay about $120 to get a Canon Rebel Xi1!!!!

So now my wheels are turning! What a great chance for me to get an SLR without breaking my very poor bank! LOL.

The ones I am looking at is the Canon Rebel Xi1 and the Nikon D5000.

What SLR do you have? Do you LOVE it, DO you hate it? What do you recommend??

I never thought I would say this because I lalalaLOVE my G9, but I am kinda hoping they don't fix it!

I Wish You Enough

Some Randomness

I have been quiet on my blog and I am sorry for that. Not that there was any one specific reason for the quietness, I just was. Needed to handle some things and just didn't have the pep in me to blog.

After having the hysterectomy, I am feeling great. I know this will sound weird, but I was struggling with the "feeling good" part of me. I guess I was so used to feeling like shit in "that department" that I didn't remember what it felt like to have no pain. Weird.

Many people warned me that I would drive myself nuts.....in lots of ways! LOL. I was focusing so much on NOT driving myself nuts that, well, I drove myself nuts! ARGH! I ended up being so bored, I couldn't read anymore, shows were no longer funny, there was only so much of movie watching I could handle. Then there was dealing with the emotions. What a ball of fun that was!

I was annoyed that I couldn't sit at my scrapbook table, I couldn't get things organized for back to work, I couldn't clean - not that I like to, but needed to. I couldn't just get up and go somewhere or do something. It was very restricting.

When I was on the mend, I decided to conquer Jonah's room. The kid turned 7 and still had baby things in his room. We re did his room in Transformer theme and a new loft bed. That meant packing up the baby stuff. What a brilliant thing to do after a hysterectomy.

Sigh.

While I was off, I was also dealing with having my character attacked. Not something that I will get into here, but it was spirit crushing. I was in a vulnerable state and didn't know how to handle it. But I figured it out with the great support of friends and I am moving onward.

I admit, I went into a black hole. I was looking at the sad side of my surgery, instead of the blessing it brought upon me. My tests came back and there was no cancer. I am ecstatic don't get me wrong, I just had a hard time centering on that instead focusing on the fact that I could not have anymore kids. It didn't help that I was being told that I was "selfish" for only having one kid and that I "should have taken care of family planning before my issues came about" WTF?? Don't get me started on that!

Like I said....Onward.

I am back to work now. I had to get back into the routine, get that brain working. It feels good! I had been inquiring about a change in roles at work and that has come to fruition. I am so very happy about that. I have a new challenge ahead of me and I plan to take it on full force. Wish me luck!

So there you have it. Bare with me while I get back into the swing of things.

I missed you all!

Stay Tuned

Lots of things going on, and I have the WORST head cold ever. Not the best thing to have as I am now back to work.

I will be back soon!

Hope you will hang around!