I’ve been having a long streak of the blahs for scrapbooking, but still wanting to do something artsy. Just in time I read Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s blog and ran right out and got a nice big watercolor book from Hobby Lobby.

I used the watercolor pencils I already had and cut out parts of a Target ad from Real Simple. The best but most time-consuming part was doing the text with many different stamp sets. Finally put some of my many, many old foam stamps to use. It was really fun because there were no rules. Felt like Kindergarten again.

My book is huge so now the thing is to fill that sucker up!

I must have been running the latest version of “Delusions of Grandeur” because I had myself thoroughly convinced that I was going to be happier once summer finally arrived…no schedules, no cold feet, less clothing.

What a gigantic dumb-ass I am. Our a/c is not the right size for our house + the addition, so we decided to close up the addition since the floor isn’t done anyway. Moved all my scrap stuff and the TV and xbox back to the dining room, which really sucks.

Boys out of school=boys doing nothing. Steven hasn’t been able to find even a part time job. What’s the plan. Man?

I promise the universe that I will be one happy camper once the temps get below 90 again. Meanwhile, I’m hiding in the house.

Alarms are turned OFF! Man that feels good!

I found this website and recently, this book was on the main page and I remembered how much I LOVED this book because:

1) I looked just like the girl on the cover.

2) I wore clothes just like the girl on the cover.

3) Kindergarten was EXACTLY like the book, to my great relief.

4) I thought the name Katy was pretty close to Stacy, so that was fun.

I would love to buy that book, but $15.00? If it didn’t live up to my memory of it, it would be so sad.

Look for your own memories at: http://www.vintagechildrensbooks.com/

There’s nothing like taking a big biff to make you feel young and stupid again…though some might think that doing a swan dive into a metal trashcan would indicate a great leap into the aging process…anyway, I digress.

What made me think I could straddle the baby gate, which I had set up super-high to accomadate Tiger, the super-fat cat, with crap in both hands and while wearing house shoes that were a little to big? It might have been the 72 hours of breathing deadly skunk stink from whatever was hiding under our house. (thankfully gone, Hooray Bri!) It could also have been the euphoria of finally getting the kitchen and laundry room under some kind of control after the move. or I guess I am just a dork.

I am so used to protecting my hands in any situation that when I fell, I pretty much let my face take a big hit. Bruises and swelling from cheekbone to jaw, but not a scratch or scrape on my hands or knees. It really doesn’t look too bad, though the whole side of my face feels like concrete. I tried taking a photo, but it just doesn’t look like anything. I need a rainbow of contusions to accurately describe that fall!

So much going on here… we are finally moved in, though the repairs and renovations have barely begun. Everything was taking too long and we just would not sign a new rental lease, so here we are, in the middle of a construction zone. The dust is never ending. After just one full day, George was so filthy, he looked like he had been rolling in dirt. (well, I guess he kind of was!) All of our clothing is in baskets on the dining table because the closets aren’t done and our furniture is in storage!

We adopted a big orange kitty named Tiger. He seems to like us alright, me the most since I feed him.

Off to find today’s project; there are so many now!

It’s pretty hard to remember the highlights of this past year when there are so many more bad times.

Good things:

Savanna lived with us for 10 weeks this summer and it was so nice to have her back.

We moved out of the drafty, spider infested, musty-smelling double wide. Good riddance!

Santa (aka Grampa Hamby) brought us a 50″ plasma TV. He had spoiled us forever and now watching our old TV is impossible.

So, I guess it wasn’t too bad. Buh-bye 2009!

Since I take a bath 3-4 times a week, I guess it was only a matter of time before I blogged in the tub. It is the only peaceful place I have in this tiny little condo and my baths are getting longer and longer…

A couple weeks ago I found a lovely old IBM Selectric on craigslist for only $20. I snapped that baby up and now I’m on the prowl for more elements for it. (most particularly, a script font) Aren’t you jealous?

kind of like little George here, I took a nice break from blogging. First, because nothing really exciting was going on and Second, just because I wanted to!

Trying to gear up for the school year and it isn’t really happening. Probably just as well, since it’s going to go down no matter how much I “prepare” for it.

Also took a serious break from photo-taking which is unusual.

On the list of things I did do is: got completely caught up on The Tudors and yes, it is still interesting post-Ann Boelyn, put up some much-needed curtains in the condo to keep the heat out, and had quite a few headaches, which contributed to the non-blogging. I think the cause is stress and neckaches because they have all been radiating from the right side of my neck. I had a 5 day break from them and I’m trying to figure out what I did differently.

Time to start our spaghetti dinner and get rid of this headache!