a little 2peas Meme

a little 2peas Meme
From Sophia's 2 peas Meme challege by way of Laura http://scrappisms.typepad.com/a_scrappists_thoughts/:
Your home meme: Ranch, Rambler, 2 story, More: Ranch with full finished basement.

Siding: composit, supposed to look like wood.

Garage attached or detached: Attached

Number of Bedrooms: 5

Number of bathrooms: 3 full baths

Best extra in your home: bonus room that is now my craft room

Favorite room in your home: Above mentioned craft room, closely followed by my bedroom

Last room you purchased something for: my craft room again

Worst piece of furniture: the old chairs to the table in the family room. My mom had them when I was a kid. OLD CHAIRS

Style (Country, Old Word, Pottery Barn, Primitive, Traditional, Hand-me Downs): Traditional with a hint of hand me down

Clean and Organized, Cluttered and Chaotic, Clean but lived in: Clean but lived in with cluttered kids' rooms

How long have you lived there: 9 years this fall

Your dream home or a step along the way: Not my dream home, but I'd be happy if it were my last home.

Photo of your favorite room: Since my craft room isn't completely done, I'll post my bedroom.

Allie Mallie

What a great kid. She's just finished her first semester at the University. She was so nervous to register and go through orientation and all that it entails. But here she is, fresh out of finals with top marks and so happy and proud of herself. She has already registered for fall classes and has her book list printed out. She's planning to buy books in the next week or two and spend the summer "getting a head start". I can not wait to see what she makes of her life. With her diligence and attention to detail and unwavering sense of responsibility, she'll be the best at whatever she puts her brain to. This is the kid that you never have to tell twice. Never need to remind or nag or pester about anything. Her chores are just done. Her homework is done. Whatever is on her to-do list is done. She's just that way. Nothing I did. She's wired like that. This layout is Allison and Miss Chloe having a snug on the couch. Chloe is devoted to Al and Al is equally devoted to Chloe. She takes better care of her than some people take of their children. Only the best for Miss Chloe. To think that Al wanted a little fawn pug forever and then Miss Chloe needed a home and found us. Miracles do happen, don't they? The other reason for this layout is to secretly document Allison's second round of orthodontic treatment. She had braces a few years ago, then got them off. A growth spurt sent her jaw out of alignment and she needed to go back into braces in preparation for corrective jaw surgery. This photo is taken a couple months after the surgery and before the braces came off for good. It's hard to believe that a milimeter or two can make such a huge difference in someone's life.

And The Winner Is......

No Freakin' Way!!! So every week I get a cheerful little email from Digital Freebies

http://www.digitalfreebies.com/ announcing their new digital kits and free add ons. So I got an email last week announcing Nathional Scrapbooking Day contest. It read:

Feel like scrapping this weekend? Then I have a contest for you! Digital Freebies is having a layout contest!Entries can be entered in 1 of 3 different categories: Digital Layout (fully digitally created), Hybrid Layout (layout containing digital kit pieces, printed and used in paper scrapping), and Cards (digital or hybrid). The majority of the papers/elements used on the layout/card MUST be CURRENT Digital Freebies products. This is a great time to go shop, as we are having a 50% off sale in the Boutique right now!Prizes???? Yup, we got ya covered:Digital Layout:Grand Prize: 1 year Digital Freebies Club subscription Second Prize: your choice of 1 kit from Angela Sharrow and Eva KThird Prize: Artistic Doodle-Do from BannerwomanHybrid Layout:Grand Prize: 1 year Digital Freebies Club subscriptionSecond Prize: your choice of kit from Jan Hosford and Leslie RaymondThird Prize: your choice of kit from Maria LaFranceCard: Grand Prize: 1 year Digital Freebies Club subscription Second Prize: your choice of kit from Lara PaytonThird Prize: your choice of kit from Maria LaFranceDeadline for layout submission is Monday May 7th at 11:59PM ESTHow do you submit?Just post your layout in the appropriate gallery! Digital Layout GalleryHybrid GalleryCard GalleryFine Print:Entries must be created mainly of Current Digital Freebies products.One entry per category per personEntries must be posted in the correct gallery by 11:59PM EST on Monday 5/7. Late entries will not be considered.Winners will be announced in the May 11th Friday Freebie NewsletterDecision of judges is finalContest not open to Digital Freebies Designers.

So, just on a lark I decided to enter. I had several layouts that I'd recently completed with Digi Freebie add ons and I loaded my current favorite, "The Cabin". I'd never posted on that board before and wasn't in the habit of visiting there regularly. So, I posted and forgot about it. I went back a couple days later and looked around and posted a few more layouts using their kit add ons. Then I completely forgot about it over the weekend. Last night I went poking around and I saw that the cabin layout had new comments. Its always fun to see what people have to say about your stuff, right? The last comment said "Congratulations". Huh? Congratulations about what? That I posted a layout? That I completed a layout? That I what? I shrugged my shoulders and moved on. Then I saw a thread announcing the NSD winners. Oh, lets see what's going on over here.

I had to refresh the page and look again. Hey, wait, someone made a huge mistake. That's the cabin layout in the grand prize spot. Uh, excuse me, ma'am, you've made an error. Hello, is anyone there? There's been a mistake. I'm sure its just an oversight on someone's part but......hello?

So the MU girls know that my initial reaction was to piddle in my panties. There was lots of silly giggling and jumping around. Grand Prize is a one year Digi Freebies club subscription. Freaky Deaky cool. Can you tell I never win anything. Well, I take that back. I did win a stone muffin pan at a Pampered Chef party once. Oh, and I did win "Queen of the crop" at Tammy and Ouida's Valentines crop. Ok, so I'm a lucky SOB. Want me to pick your Lotto numbers for you?

Mother's/Brother's Day

This has become a tradition at our house. Alex lets me sleep in and helps to make me breakfast in bed. This year it was a bowl of Capt'n Crunch with Crunchberries, a slice of left over pizza from the night before, and an assorment of dried fruits from the fruit and nut mix Thom buys at Costco. I got three banana slices, a piece of mango and several dried pineapple chunks. Oh and a piece of dried strawberry. Now I told Alex, the night before, that the coffee would be ready when he woke up, but he was all in a flap about not knowing how to make it. The girls said they didn't know how either. Hello....auto pilot. It makes itself, just pour and serve. Thankfully, Thom woke up to save the day and I had my coffee. I got started on my bowl o'cereal and then Alex came in to crawl in with me. This is the Brother's Day part of the morning. He coyly looks at me and asks, "is there anything you don't plan to eat?" I said, "you can have the pizza". So he wolfed that down. I said "could you please help me finish the cereal?" He was shocked. Who doesn't love a sugarladen bowl of Capt'n Crunch first thing in the morning? So he ate that. I had two cups of coffee and a couple pieces of dried fruit and I was good to go. He finished the rest. Allison cleaned the upstairs bath to within an inch of its life. Sarah presented me with a versamark pen and multi tool scrappy thing. Sort of a McGyverish tool. Very cool. Brittney didn't openly loathe me for several hours. Katie sent an ecard and then called so I could "talk" to Dani and hear about Katie's very first Mother's Day. I chatted with Mom who only just realized that you cannot talk on the cell phone while driving through the wilds of Montana on your way to see your baby boy and his betrothed. She kept going through dead zones and trying to call back.....for 2 hours. We did finally have a good chat and then they pulled up to Heather's house where Carl's truck was parked cozily in the driveway and I ceased to exist in her universe again. LOL Alex and I mowed the lawn. First time for him. He was skiddish at first, but finally was willing to push it alongside me. It'll be a while before he's on his own, but it was a good first step. All in all a good day. I hope everyone had an equally enjoyable time yesterday.

Sarah at 20

Alright, she turned 20 in January and I'm only just getting around to this layout and post. Sue me. Anyway, she's 20. She's excelling in college, loving her major (theater costume design) and has her first boyfriend. She's in and out and all over the place. She's really living the college life in the most positive way. She has been offered a summer job in another town with the Shakespear in the Parks theater company. She is so excited about this. Apparently, its nearly unheard of for a person just beginning her major to receive such an offer. She spent the last few days assembling her portfolio and writing cover letter and resume. Her attention to detail is nearly unnatural. She's just so "all that and a bag of chips." I'm having a bit of a hard time coming to terms with her leaving, if only for a couple months. How strange that will be. I rely on her quite a bit in the summer to drive people here and there and to work for me so I can be home with Alex. But more than that, I'll just miss her. The way she talks through every show we try to watch. The way she leaves the hall light on until the wee hours while she burns the midnight oil. The way her keys click in the lock and the necklaces she has hanging on her bedroom doorknob rattle the announcement that she's finally home for the night. She's 20. She's the full meal deal. Looks, brains, personality and talent oozing from every pore. She's Sar the Bear. She's 20.