It's been a hard day's night...

....and I made a ton of money for being born...

Paul McCartney's Birth Certificate was auctioned in March 1997, for US $84,146. It is believed to be the world's most expensive Birth Certificate.

There's my random birthday trivia for you...for Sweet Shoppe's From Our Blog To Yours...If I had that kind of money laying around, even being the fan that I am, I still don't think I could have spent it on that ;)

The One With The Best Day Ever

SO happy to have him home. Some other kid...and I do mean KID (David and I were talking about Operation Desert Storm and realized the kid didn't remember it because he was in diapers!) needed a ride home from the airport...he had gotten through school and was coming home to be in the National Guard. It took us an hour out of the way to get him home so I didn't get in till two this morning. Really tired but we have an out of state doctor's appt today so I gotta get off of here and get ready! have a GREAT day!

The One With A Great Day

Today is going to be a great day. Bravo is running a marathon of Top Chef New York all day...and I've missed most of the episodes so that makes me happy! And...David called last night and said he's coming home TODAY! Now I'm just not sure if I'll get to see him today. He has a briefing this morning (he's probably in it right now) and then he'll know more. If he flies of course I'll see him today but if they send him by bus, I probably won't have him here until tomorrow. Either way, it's going to be a great day :)

The One With The Imminent Arrival

and a much needed break!

So Parker was 7 weeks when David left for Basic Training. We'll call him 2 months. Parker was 9 months last week. So David has been gone a little longer than 7 months. That makes me so sad, that he's missed Parker's entire first year (almost!)

Well he has been going through the rigamaroll of being chaptered out of the military (he messed up his ankles which means running is kind of out of the question). That takes a long time (I remember when my ex got out it took months). Every day I wonder when he's coming home and I field questions from others about when he's coming home.

Looks like it will be the end of this week or beginning of next! He tentatively thinks Friday, Saturday, or Monday!

I've been preparing for this for months...I've paid all of our bills ahead for atleast 5 months, some longer. I've been hoarding money in our savings account like a nuclear holocaust is coming. I have a stack (no kidding!) of cases of diapers and cases of wipes that nearly reach the ceiling. Counting through it I realized it's about 4 months worth of diapers and wipesI bought hundreds of dollars worth of laundry soap, trash bags and other household necessities that we could need. We are literally as prepared as people could be to be unemployed.

When David returns home he'll immediately begin looking for a job and I'm 100% confident he'll find one in no time. He's qualified and the job market isn't too bad here. But it never hurts to be prepared.

I'm over the moon that he's coming home! And I already have plans for a 24 hour sabattical for me. I'll disappear one day next week and won't come home for a whole day...I'm staying at a hotel, going to see a movie alone, eating meals without being interrupted, scrapping my little heart out, reading a book, and sleeeeeeeping. I can't wait. After 7 months of going it alone, I will not feel guilty for one second. Okay maybe for one second.

The absolute best part about him being home is that he won't have missed Parker's first year in its entirety. It may only be months 9, 10 and 11 he can enjoy but at least he'll have that! I'm thrilled for him!

Alright well breakfast isn't making itself. Gonna go make waffles for the kids.

The One With New Release Monday

Aaaah, I like Mondays again. Tabatha and I work so hard all week to design pretty things and then we have to wait until release day to share it with you! It's dollar day, so we have lots of yummy goodness for you, for only one dollar each!


We created this new kit, Home Grown...perfect for your little sprout!


We also created some great Commercial Use items this week!

If you're feeling bold, grab our Blind Date grab bag...it's full of brand new date products perfect for finishing up your layout!

These templates are not part of Dollar Day, but they are new, which means they are 25% off!



Well that's enough advertising for me...click HERE to go to our store at Elemental Scraps and check out the goodies!
I hope you had a great weekend and I hope you have a fabulous Monday :)

The One With The ScrapDay!

So I had a scrapday on Friday...just buckled down and scrapped all day long... (I had to get up and down to work on house cleaning as we had a birthday party yesterday to prepare for) but overall, I spent my day getting caught up...It felt great! It's not always that I can do five pages in a day, but when I can, it's nice :)

Hope you're having a great day! Check back tomorrow for lots of great deals in Dollar Day at Elemental Scraps...including CU products, a grab bag, and a whole kit for only $1!!

FOBTY What does your Birthday mean?

For the From our Blog To Yours challenge over at Sweet Shoppe Designs :)

You Are a Traditionalist

You're a pretty traditional person. If it's lasted, it's probably good. You seek stability - both in your career and your romantic relationship. In return, you're very loyal and predictable. Which is usually a good thing. Without a partner, you feel lost. Being with someone is very important to you. Your strength: Your dependability Your weakness: You hate being alone Your power color: Midnight blue Your power symbol: Shell Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

The One With The Update :)

Thanks for the well-wishes the other day! I have an update for you. Naomi's allergist appointment went well. They said that they had tested her for tomato allergies in August and they came back fine. It appears that she isn't allergic to tomatoes, but her skin sure thinks it is! I can feed her tomato based products as long as I keep benadryl on hand and make sure she doesn't smear it on her skin ( like she did the day of the reaction )

And...it looks like Parker has asthma. You could have knocked me over with a feather on that one, because he's been fine until a month or so ago. But he has a consistently runny nose, and excema....since allergies, asthma and excema all go hand in hand, it makes sense. So now on top of his Zoponex inhaler he's also taking Singulair every night. It's granules that I mix into yogurt and he took it very well last night! I also noticed less coughing overnight! I had asthma as a baby only, so I hope he outgrows it like I did :)

That's all from here for today. Been working on some designing (have four new products for Monday) and trying to get the house in order for a birthday party tomorrow! Have a great weekend!

The One With The Mom Post

Being a mom is hard. That's just a no brainer. It's not something that I even think about most of the time. But times there are clusters of tough times that really test me and teach me patience.

I had to give Naomi two baths yesterday. Before noon. Which meant a total of 3. It's hard to describe but she is just a very messy child and needs a bath every night, no questions asked. Her first bath yesterday was because of a particularly icky diaper she had made overnight. She's potty trained except for nighttime and she had had an icky diaper in the middle of the night that needed more care than a baby wipe.

About 10 a.m. it became very quiet and I found that she had gotten ahold of a brand new tub of Eucerin for her excema and polished all of the wood on the headboard and footboard in Tristan's room with it.

Bath #2.

In the afternoon, where she found a marker I have no idea. I just know what she did with it. Drew all over her face and arms.

But, I waited till after dinner because inevitably that's our most needed bath of the day :p

Naomi has an allergist appointment this morning because she apparently has an allergy to spaghetti sauce/tomatoes? She got ravioli sauce on her skin last month and it caused her to scream and it to boil up. So, hopefully we'll get to the bottom of that.

Parker only slept a few hours last night so I need to take him in as well to find out what's wrong with him. I had to sit up with him for hours while he just cried and cried. I wish David were here.

The One With The Busy Week

Good morning Bloggers! It's Monday again, which means we have new releases at Elemental Scraps! Only this week we were REALLY busy creating! This week is Free With Purchase Week at ES, so every second item you see here is free with purchase!!!


If you buy :

you get these free:



If you buy:


you get these free:



if you buy:



you get these free:




if you buy:



you get these free:




if you buy:


you get these free:



and, last but not least, if you buy:



you get these free!




Yep, we teamed up with Amanda Heimann to bring you this great boyish kit, we had tons of fun making more date products for you, and created two soft and sweet kits with free templates to boot! All of the FWP items are available in the shop for sale if you just want to purchase them, too. But head on over and see what you could be missing out on! We sure do appreciate it :)

The One With My Bundle Of Joy

Ah, yes, my new shiny bundle of joy! I wasn't exactly in the market for a new laptop. My HP still has factory warranty on it, it's only 7 1/2 months old...but the poor thing is falling apart. I ordered a new keyboard for it after last week's keyboard debaucle. And, I ordered wrist and cover decals (skin) that are coming from China so they should arrive in September or so....I did that because my wrist spots were really scratched up from me *gasp* using them as a mouse pad. Note to self, that's a bad idea. Well now they'll be protected.

And last night, the power cord went. I've ordered one online, because my trusty old HP will be handed over to DH. It's still a newish computer with 3 gigs of ram and a 100mb HD (tiny, huh?) so it's a nice machine but just showing some wear and tear.

I can't wait 5 days for a new cord to use the computer...and a new one was sort of in the works (just wasn't planning on getting it today)...so this morning I scoured sale ads and went shopping.

I settled on this Toshiba ... I'm excited about more ram and a larger HD...plus it's running 64 bit windows so that's a good thing too...I got a great deal at Office Depot, I paid the MSRP that Toshiba recommends but I got a $75 rebate which I will be mailing in tomorrow :)

So my day has / will be spent reloading all my software, transferring stuff from my HP via EHD and getting everything else to my liking. Had to go scouring for my mozilla add ons and such...I'm off to spend quality time with my new baby :)

The One With Peace

Your Word is "Peace"

You see life as precious, and you wish everyone was safe, happy, and taken care of. Social justice, human rights, and peace for all nations are all important to you. While you can't stop war, you try to be as calm and compassionate as possible in your everyday life. You promote harmony and cooperation. You're always willing to meet someone a little more than halfway.

What's Your Word?

The One Out Of The Box

The top layout is using Libby Weifenbach's Spelling Buzz at SSD.


I wanted to try and step out of my box just a tad so I made this layout yesterday...I used the frame from the kit to frame my entire layout (obviously the frame isn't square so a bit of white space was cut off the left of the layout but I like how it turned out overall :)

The bottom layout is using Shawna Clingerman's Waiting for the Rain. You should go buy it and make a layout just like this one :P



Both of those layouts are made with templates by Bella Gypsy *waves* coming to ES on Monday!

It is the dreaded grocery shopping day as soon as the sitter gets here...no taking 5 kids to the grocery store...so I'm off! Check back tomorrow to see sneak peeks of all of our new kits going into the store on Monday! Toodles!!

the one with six things

i've been tagged by luann....and oh the pressure....she claims to have tagged me because i'm incredibly interesting. hmmmm, i don't know about that but i'm to tell you six things about me.

1. i'm generally one for capitalization and punctuation. but....i've had many incidents with my laptop in the last few months leaving my keys to be sticky and annoying. so....last night i sat and popped every key off. and used canned air on the board. and cleaned each key with a q tip and alcohol. i should have skipped all of that and just imbibed some alcohol. it was torture. me and my computer guy sat here and completed the task, only to leave me with a non working left shift key, my f5 and f11 keys won't pop back on and my fn key is only partway there.

you're not supposed to have leftover parts. :o

of course it was after all this that he told me i could just order a new keyboard and he could remove this one and screw on the new one. the new keyboards are $25.

w.t.h. he's fired.

i ordered one first thing this morning and it's coming from silicon valley so hopefully it will get here soon.

okay, he's fired after he puts the new keyboard in.

just kidding. if i had known how freaking inexpensive a new kb was i would have done much more exciting things with my evening yesterday.

like watching the grass grow.

2. i tell long stories.

3. i'm scared of nearly everything :p. esp. knives, fans, train tracks, railroad crossings, changing lightbulbs, falling out of the car (really? really.). i have no idea why i'm so squeamish.

4. i find visiting family incredibly relaxing because i don't take my laptop. yet i won't put the laptop away when i'm at home.

5. i'm really smart but that doesn't matter when you get older. i was a national merit finalist in high school, had a 4.0 average, had a full ride scholarship to college. i'm still pleased that i'm bright, but how does it really help me be a sahm? (wow, that was a bit cerebral for 8 a.m.)

6. i like using words and phrases that are lesser heard. not big words, just lesser used ones. words that often grace my vocabularly just because i like them are cerebral (see above), esoteric, diametrically opposed, mental acuity, presence of mind...i don't know why i like them, but i do. i also have a love of enunciation. i think all of this stems from my love of communication...i guess i can say a hobby of mine is talking ;)

7. i don't like following rules. so here are the six things about me :P

The One With My Boys

Just a few layouts of my boys to share with you today :)






And a month in review in photos from me :) I think this is what I'm going to do to replace my P365...just doing a layout of 81 photos from the month (I always have hundreds of photos every month..just not necessarily one from each day!) Then I'll print a 20 page 8x8 photo book, with 12 months and then 8 of my favorite photos in large format. I'm excited about my new plan! :)

The One With New Loot!

Hi Friends!

It's Monday which for many people means BLAH...but for us it means we have LOTS of new goodies to share with you, including some amazing sales!!!

First, I'd like to show you some fantastic templates we have in today's Dollar Day for ... you guessed it, $1 :)

We also teamed up with the amazing Jennifer Barrette to create this beauty...it's 25% off today only!





Our creative team made some pretty pages with it!



We also have Slowpoke! It's a kit inspired by Gabriel, my nephew...he has special needs but he is a slow and steady kinda guy! Tabatha wanted to make a kit that reminded her of him...and share it with you for only $1!



Our team made some great pages with it!



We also created Flightless Bird, a soft and pretty kit for your scrapping pleasure :)...also a steal at only $1! (inspired by one of our favorite songs!)



And here is what our fantastic team created with it!

Click HERE to go to our shop and take advantage of these great deals! And while I'm being bossy, have a great day, okay? :)

Musing on birthdays...

Sweet Shoppe's From our Blog to Yours for February 5th was to blog about your birthday memories.

Even though growing up we were never poor or rich, gifts just didn't come between birthdays or Christmas. Having a July birthday meant it was midyear for my parents. Between August and December I was told, "wait for Christmas", and between January and July I was told, "wait for your birthday!"

That being said, my mom always went out of her way to make my birthdays so special. I could have parties, I always got everything I wanted and more, and around the age of 10 I really began understanding how much work it took for her to make everything happen. I remember that year, not only did I get spoiled but I marveled that mama had had everything professionally wrapped. Now, really that was probably because she worked outside of the home and didn't have time to do it herself, but I remember gazing at the beautiful packages that graced the formal diningh room table for the whole week before my birthday, just salivating over my future loot. It is a very pleasant memory to think about :)

The One With A Peek!

just a peek of things to come on Monday! ;)

The One Where I Quit!

So yeah, I'm a quitter. I quit project 365. Is that awful? It's not fun for me anymore...and the part I dislike the most is doing the weekly layouts. I'm a one photo layout kinda girl. I can do two or three, it's doable...but putting 7 photos on a layout isn't my bag. I could do a double page but that's not something I enjoy either. I did a layout with 7 photos I liked, but they were all small! And the point of this project is the photos...so it just didn't make sense to me. It was all fun and games till I got behind and dropped out :P

Onto other news, if you've stopped by my blog today you're in for a little surprise!

Here's a coupon code that you can use to go shop from our store at 50% off. You can, in effect, make your own sale! But...it's good for today only!!! So, enjoy!

code is blogsurprise

And, the linkie to our store is HERE.

Have a great day! I'll be back tomorrow with sneak peeks of our new products for Monday...there are FOUR!

The One With No Title!

A little catch up on my project 365 (though I've got one day, the 31st, that I still haven't posted). We had thai chicken and it was my first experience with it...I was worried it was too spicy but it was really just fine!

And, that's all from me because I'm off to have my taxes done. I'm not thrilled about it-----bo-ring......but atleast a few weeks from now I'll be able to pay off a few bills and have some extra spending money!

Have a great day :)

The One With a Contest!

Happy Monday, fellow bloggers!

Just a quick note from me today as I still have sick kiddos in the house! I just had to drop in and make a quick post about our new kits that are 25% off at Elemental Scraps today! I know, I know, there are tons of girlish and boyish kits out there but Tabatha and I worked really hard to try and make a "go-to" kit for each gender...one that is versatile and easy to use...so we really hope you enjoy what we came up with!

So we have a little contest for you...scrap your son or daughter using Boyish or Girlish, and email your layout to lenabrandenburgATgmailDOTcom by February 15, 2009...for a chance to win a $15 GC to our store at Elemental Scraps! Good luck, and happy scrapping!