Digital Scrapbooking

I've decided it's time to come out and admit that I have a problem.  I'm a bit addicted to digital scrapbooking.  I love it!!!!  I scrap everything about our lives (it's a bit more fun than writing in my journal) and I've been putting together albums for family too.  I'm seriously looking into the possibility of making this a profession; it would be wonderful to have a job that I totally love and meets my creative needs.

When it comes to scrapbooking, I'm super picky about my kits.  I only have about three places I buy from, one being Shabby Princess Designs (http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/homepage.asp).  I love their light vingtage-y but still modern designs.  Check them out if you're interested in getting started, they have tons of adorable free kits to start your collection.  Or if you're too overwhelmed with the thought of scanning in all your pictures and scrapping them, let me know.  :)

Home again

I feel like we've barely been home since school got out.  On June 10th we drove up to Washington for a quick trip (so quick, I didn't even tell my friends I'd be there because I knew our time would be too short for a real visit with anyone outside family.  Sorry.) for my brother's graduation from Eastern Washington University with his master's in computer something stuff.  It was a nice ceremony, much better than his undergrad graduation with 2400 other students in the scorching out sun.  This one was cooler and much shorter.  We then spent two days celebrating my birthday and gushing over my nephew before driving 10 hours back home so I could take more pictures of Jeremiah's rental units and try to get into some kind of routine (which so far consists of going to bed really really late and that's about it).

I'm excited to be home for a few weeks straight and have people come see us for a change.  Here are some pictures from our quick trip.

Jeremiah and I after a water fight.  I won.

Phoenix likes the way Jeremiah tastes.  Or he's getting teeth.  Take your pick.

The original 5.

Phoenix exploring Uncle J's face.

Summer's Here

I have been so excited to be done with work.  The day after it ended, Jeremiah and I booked it down to San Diego and spent a very lovely four days relaxing by the pool and reading at his parents house.  I did take a few hours to drag him up to Julian, a little old mining town that is famous for their pie, to take pictures (and eat pie, of course).  I also got to "pan" for gemstones in the old garage--they give you a bag of dirt with rocks in it, pour it into a wire screened box and turn water on in a little trough.  I actually found some pretty cool stuff, like an Apache tear and a cut, polished amethyst (1 in 5 bags has a cut gemstone worth at least $10.  The owner didn't like the contents of my first bag and gave me another for free.  :).  I read 2 books while we were there and Jeremiah got pretty pink, what with all the swimming and shirtless putting he did in the yard.  :)  It was also really nice to spend time with his entire family (it's been a year since we were all together), including his aunt Susan, whom we have seen since our reception in Virginia almost 3 years ago.

I think Jeremiah wants one.

We came back on Tuesday, bypassing all that nasty Memorial Day traffic (I know I complain about his job, but I do love that he can make his own schedule) and I've spent the last few days trying to go through all of my work stuff and declutter some of the rooms.  It's slow, boring work but I have all day ('cuz I'm not working anymore) so I have plenty of scrapping and reading breaks.

We spent all of yesterday at the Parade of Homes with our friends the Cooley's.  I was really bummed that I forgot my super wide angle lens at home (darn my desire to be organized and put things away!  I should have left it in the traveling case.) Jeremiah's favorite was the castle, naturally.  I admit, I liked the library, indoor swimming pool and cinema with snack bar but $2.4 million is a bit outside our current budget.  I did get some ideas for redoing our bedroom and bathrooms.  :)

The "house" Jeremiah wants.  All 15, 000 square feet.

That's about it.  I've been staying up way too late every night, gonna have to nip that in the bud if I want to get all of my projects done but I think I'm still savoring the fact that I'M DONE!!!  Hee hee.

School's Out!!

Woo hoo!!!  I finished the school year for the last time!  School isn't officially out until tomorrow but since I'm part-time I got to be done early!  I spent most of the day packing up my office and leaving detailed notes for the new therapist.  I've turned in all of my keys and realized that I had more school keys than personal keys.  It was a little hard saying good-bye to all of my co-workers but I'm so excited to start a new adventure--whatever that will be.  I have lots of options but right now I'm just looking forward to a few days in San Diego, then a week-long house cleaning and organizing gala before heading to Washington for my brother's graduation from EWU.

It hasn't really sunk in yet that I'm done, partly because this weirdly cold weather makes it feel like we should have another month or more of school and partly because summer vacation never sets in until you've had at least a week of not having to use the alarm clock.  :)  That'll be so nice.

Brookside Elementary, my last placement in the schools.

With my friend Mary Patterson on my last morning of work.

I Love Free Books

Since I'm leaving the school system, I needed to use up all my Scholastic Bonus Points before the end of the year so I spent a couple hours on the site, very carefully making my selections and this is what I got!  I'm so excited!!

• The Hunger Games and Catching Fire-a new series I've heard great things about and got in hard back.
• Inkspell and Inkheart--another fun series
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians Books 1-4
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--my favorite book in 3rd grade
• Ramona the Pest and Ramona, age 8--I love Beverly Cleary!!!!
• Fudge-a-Mania, Double Fudge and Superfudge--another series I loved growing up
• Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing--Judy Blume is spectacular
• Charlotte's Web--a classic every library should have
• Woolbur--a cute little story about an ADHD sheep
• The Tale of Despereaux--I thought the movie was super cute and I only had 38 points left; it was 25 so I got it.  :)

I've already read The Hunger Games and LOVED it.  I'm trying hard not to read Catching Fire until we leave for San Diego on Thursday so I can savor it.  The third book is due out in August.  I love it when I come across a great series just before the last book comes out so I don't have to wait very long.  I did the same thing with Twilight and Harry Potter (book 4 was almost out when I started reading it).

I'm looking forward to a great summer of reading, photography and looking for a new job.  Hope you have something great going on too!

One week left!!!

So I'm not a lot better about updating this blog.  I can't believe it's nearly the end of May--and the end of school!!  Tomorrow is my last full day with kids.  I am somewhat sad but not really.  :)  Too bad I have a lousy cold, again.  Maybe that's why I'm not too sad, I know it was one of 5 kids that had colds that I worked with on Friday that gave it to me.  It's a little nerve-wracking to be giving up a job in this economy but I'm hopeful that good things will come.

As for what has been going on here, that's going to have to wait until tomorrow.  My foggy brain is begging for my bed.  :)

A Good Day

It was quite a productive and relaxing day today. I went to the chiropractor in the morning and got some of the knots in my shoulders worked out with ultrasound (don't ask me how it's supposed to work), then after going to Costco, mowing the lawn and doing laundry, I went to The Retreat Full Service Salon here in Springville for an amazing 75-minute massage as part of their Teacher Appreciation Week package for only $25, with a free haircut thrown in!  It was quite lovely and I think I may have to go back again--soon!  I've had knots in my shoulders that are hard as granite since I was about 2 and now they've softened up to a really tough leather.  :)  It's progress.

After I was pampered at the salon, I got home to find that we had been invited over for dinner by the Cooleys.  Not having to cook dinner on top of a massage?  Priceless!!  I did make cookies to take over in order to test out my new baking stone (I think I'll stick to using it for bread and pizza, you have to pre-warm it and that's difficult with cookies) but baking yummy, melty, chocolate chip cookies is not an onerous chore.

Now I'm all set to go to bed early and read my weekend book deal--The Wrath of Ezra (Book 4 in the Leven Thumps series) for $4.99 in hardback and signed by the author!  I have books 2-4, all in hardback, all purchased at Seagull Books from the clearance table, all for $9 (I got super lucky and the first 2 were only $2 each).  I just need to get Book 1 and I'll be set but it's not showing up on clearance (apparently when they get in the first of a series in clearance, they sell out pretty fast) and so far I have not been able to talk myself into paying full price, even though I've already saved like $30 on the other 3.  Some day, I just know it'll be sitting there, with a big red sticker saying $3.99...