Maybe some interesting posts coming up

I think I may have hit on a fun subject to blog about for a while--our new church calling as the 11-year old scout leaders.

We had our first meeting last week with five of the eight boys in our patrol.  I was a bit nervous because this is not an age-group I have ever particularly liked but all of the boys were actually really great.  They cleaned out the rice crispy treats I made in nothing flat and absolutely loved learning how to tie knots (Jeremiah rewarded them by teaching them how to tie a hangman's noose--on the strict provision that they never ever use it on anything living).

We are still trying to figure out exactly how to do this so that they can all have their First Class badges by the time they turn 12 and leave us for Young Men's but I think it's going to be pretty fun.  Part of our meeting last week was to determine a patrol name and flag.  After much voting, debate and sketching, this is what they came up with:

We are officially the Night Furies (from the movie "How to Train Your Dragon").  My Photoshop skills came in handy for finalizing the flag after they came up with design ideas.

Stay tuned for more adventures with the Night Furies.

Love Free Stuff

I just found out about a promotion Shutterfly is doing for people who write a short blog on their site.  I just have to talk about one of my favorite online vendors and I get 50 free holiday cards, woo hoo!  Not that I didn't just spend 3 hours the other day designing my own...but did I mention these are free?  And our friend, the very talented Natalie Cannon Malan has designed some of this year's new cards.  I've always been super happy with all of my Shutterfly products, so I'm sure I'll love my free cards (and you will too, if you're one of the lucky 50 to get one :).  And I know I'll love the new photo book I'm going to have printed soon.  I just love their quality and their prices are great!  So, if you're looking for a place to have some prints done or have a memory book printed, check them out!

A Working Woman

As you know, I left my job as a speech therapist for Nebo School District at the end of last school year.  I've really enjoyed being a homemaker but we decided it would be nice to have a little more money coming in to the house, so I am now working from home as the scheduler for Pioneer Appliance, Heating and Air here in Utah Valley.  Jeremiah has worked with the company for years and they are great at what they do.  So, if you live between Saratoga Springs and Santaquin and need any appliance, heating or air repair, give me a call at 801-373-0249.

Good-bye, Mac.

No, not my computer.  My beloved Toyota Corolla was demolished by an evil BMW two weeks ago.  Here's a plea to all drivers (but especially those on construction-choked I-15 in Utah County) PLEASE look in front of you when you are driving!!  I had stopped to avoid an accident that occurred directly in front of me but apparently the driver behind me was paying more attention to the lanes next to him than the one he was in.  If I sound a little bitter, I am.  Not only was I not ready to get a new car for at least 2-3 more years, but the driver who hit me, while very nice and solicitous at the scene, didn't have the courtesy to keep his insurance current so now our insurance is dealing with everything (and going after him).  It could have been worse; I'm currently under chiropractic care to deal with some neck and back issues caused by the accident but other than my car and my spine, I lucked out.  Thankfully we were just getting on the freeway and traffic was heavy enough to keep us going relatively slow.  If he'd hit me at standard Utah freeway speeds, my car might not have been the only total loss.

You wouldn't think this kind of damage would total a car, but he hit me in the perfect place to bend my frame, break my wheel axle thingy and do all this body damage to a 10-year old vehicle that some (impersonal insurance adjustors) people don't believe is worth fixing, merely because some Blue Book says it's not "worth" as much as the repairs.  They don't take in to account the reliability of the vehicle over the last decade, the fact that it did not need to be replaced before being assaulted by some German import and that I was very emotionally attached to my first and only car to date (having paid for it all myself).  That adds at least $8K to it's value, in my unbiased opinion.  Grr.

I made it on a CT!

If you know me (and you should, if you're reading this), you know that I kind of enjoy digital scrapbooking.  Just a little.  Well, I finally got brave enough to apply to be on a CT (that's creative team, if you don't speak digiscrap) for a digital scrapbooking materials designer...and I made it!  I'm helping to promote the lovely designs by AnnaBV Designs at ScrapOrchard (one of my 2 favorite scrapping sites).  I'm super excited about it and now maybe I'll be posting more, since I"ll have more to talk about.  :)

Working on it...

My goal today was to finish...anything.  While I didn't finish the things I had originally set out to do, I did manage to finish:

1.  Editing the real estate photos from yesterday so Jeremiah could post them and make $$$.

2.  Going through the magazine rack, tearing out the recipes I want for a binder and recycling everything else.  I'm going to try and use at least one menu or recipe from every cookbook or collection I've got by the end of 2010.

3.  Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse.  The books are definitely better than the movie.

4.  30 minutes working out on the Wii.  I like the yoga exercises and step aerobics.

5.  Editing what I have for my grandmother's biography.  I am now gathering additional information through email interviews.  She had quite an interesting life, going through WWII in Nazi-occupied Belgium and Czechoslovakia.

6.  Sending a birthday card to my cousin who was born when I was 21, making me feel old.

7.  Addressing Jeremiah's birthday invitations.  It's gonna be fun!!!

8.  Holding out hope that I would make Jessica Sprague's design team.  :(  Really disappointed about that one.  I would have gotten access to all the store content plus her awesome classes, for free!  Guess I need to keep honing my scrapping skills.

9.  A blog post two days in a row.

Arg

Two days...two miserable days was all I was able to do of a 30-day challenge.  So, apparently I need to do baby steps.  I'm going to try and post every day for the rest of this week.  And I'm going to count this new resolution as my first blog.  Exciting, huh?

So, maybe I'll do a daily review if I don't know what else to say.  Today I took pictures of four properties for Jeremiah's company and acquired several gorgeous new scrapbooking kits from a designer I really like who is quitting designing for a bit and had an amazing sale on her entire store.  I should be pretty well set for anything anyone would like me to scrap for them...just need to find people to scrap for now.

That's about it for today.  I forgot to get the sheets out of the dryer (I've been very excited about my new digi materials and some things just slipped my mind, like eating lunch and checking the mail) so I should go help Jeremiah put them on so I can go read "Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse" in bed while he plays on his computer.  Exciting life.