Sunday, December 31, 2006

New Year's Resolutions

So I sit here at 1:00 in the afternoon and I am listening to my son play what I call the "Who do you love more?" game. He gives us "for instances" and tries to get an answer as to which one we love more. You would think that after years of doing this he would realize that the only answer he will get is "We don't love either one of you more - you are different children and therefore we love you differently for different things - but no more and no less" Oh well, eventually it will sink in.

Meanwhile what I had been doing was trying to decide what realistic resolutions I could make for 2007. I'm not quitting smoking, that's just not happening anytime soon but I think I can manage the following:

1. Become more organized (quite honestly, I couldn't be any less organized lol)
2. Help Charles even more to get up to speed faster and learn the plethera of information for school.
3. Resign myself to getting up at a decent hour, 7 or 8 am instead of 9 or 10
4. Going to bed by 12:00 or 12:30 instead of 3 or 4
5. Design a minimum of 3 kits per week plus two freebies
6. Scrap goal of 200 pages for the year (I seem to create more than I actually scrap)
7. Get my businesses up and running and actually making money.

I think these are reasonable goals, not too crazy or so off base that they are unreachable. I actually started yesterday and my son's eyes nearly fell out of his head when I popped up by his room - not only dressed in "street clothes" but with my makeup on and I wasn't going anywhere lol. I usually don't bother with the makeup lately if I am not going anywhere and I sit around in lounge pants and a tank top or t-shirt.

Just a little heads up before I go, I have several kits and elements lined up for freebies starting tomorrow. As of tomorrow all freebies offered up until now will be gone! Be sure to grab whatever you like now before they are all gone!

Saturday, December 30, 2006

AT&T and Bellsouth??? ARGH!!!!

Well that explains it I guess. Once again we lost internet today. Alex calls them up and he gets a recording that says something to the effect of "Welcome to the NEW AT&T now joined with Bellsouth"!! ACK!! No wonder we have been loosing service. So I am guessing there will be further interruptions of service which is really annoying. I yelled in the background while he was on the phone - scheduling a service call with them FOR TOMORROW - We should get a credit, they took our service away for almost 8 hours two days ago and now they don't want to come out until tomorrow? They better credit us. I was livid. We are not calling them either, let them go look around outside since they say it's nothing in their systems there. Maybe it is a loose cable or something out here since they are putzing with the services.

ANYWAY, I have been working on a Valentine's Day Kit and already have over 100 megs! That's ok though because I will sort through and pull whatever I don't feel should be given out. I'm not even done yet. There are already 14 papers and about 20 elements lol.

While Alex runs to the store I am going to go and straighten up and take a quick shower. See the time....ugh. Plus I have taken out steaks for tonight, he needs a steak poor man - he is so good but so stressed right now. Sigh.,... I hope next year is better.

Cya later ;)

Friday, December 29, 2006

New Freebie Kit!!

Happy New Year!! This is a little mix of my Asian kit and a New Years kit lol. The Chinese letters say Happy New Year. There are 7 papers, 10 elements and 4 Wordarts. All 300 dpi in either JPG or PNG format.



I hope you enjoy it, please remember to leave a little Comment if you download it. Have a GREAT New Years (nah this won't be my last post lol just figured I would say it in case you didn't come back before then ;) )

Thursday, December 28, 2006

BIORUST - Visit -- NOW!!


You haven't heard of them? Well now you have! they have GREAT Photoshop resources for PS6, PS7, CS and so on! Actions, styles etc and all FREE!! Give them a look-see and have fun! Be sure to stop by their forums as well!
There should be more links for fonts, actions etc on the right side of my blog by the end of this week so keep checking back!!

DAZ FREEBIE THIS WEEK!

Yep another great freebie from DAZ! Here ya go!





Great Summer Love Poses for V4, she was free but is now only $1.99 for Platinum Club Members! Have I mentioned that I LOVE this place? Well I do lol. They have finished their 24 days of Christmas but I believe the freebies are still up there in the forums too ;) Go, look around and I bet you're gonna love it too!

LAST CALL FOR FREEBIES

Ok last call. All of the freebies posted on my blog up until yesterday will be removed as of January 1, 2007. This is the last week you can grab them. Just hit my Freebie link in my Label cloud on the right and it will bring up all the freebies I have posted. The freebies are hosted by me so you will not run into any problems downloading them. You can see my freebies in my Slide Show also on the right side of my blog. Get 'em while you can because come January 1, 2007 they will be removed and not offered for free here again!

Murphy's Law getting in his last few.....

licks for the year. Yesterday, lost our internet for most of the day and night and I was exhausted so I got nothing done really. I did most of a layout of the boys but that was it. I layed in bed and slept on and off for most of the afternoon and evening and finally passed out for good around 2 am. When I was younger, I would work all year and go out etc. But one weekend a year I would buy a bunch of food - quick stuff sandwiches, soups etc, I would rent a bunch of movies and would stay in bed all weekend. From Friday night until Monday morning I would only get out of the bed to use the bathroom, take a shower and eat. In between I would watch a movie and sleep. It was my regeneration weekend lol. I haven't had one of those in about 15 years. My point is that is probably what happened yesterday - my body said ok woman time for regeneration lol. I cooked dinner yesterday I made pork chops and rice and beans and a salad (Alex made the salad lol) but after that, I was toast. I also hadn't taken my meds yesterday because I got up late and then I forgot - then I remembered but it was already around 2pm so I said, I won't take it today. I have taken my pill today and obviously we do have internet so hopefull today will be more productive. I also have to get Charles' geography work uploaded so I am off to get in gear. I'll probably be back later, maybe with a freebie or two.

**Just realized I didn't give the rest of Murhpy's little adventures lol. I went to put on my favorite green khaki cargo pants - size 4 - yeah ..... uhhhh....NO. The button and the buttonhole are about 1/2 inch away from each other! ACK! Now you must understand I used to be a size 16, I lost 56 lbs in a year so for me to put weight back on is a little scary - especially since at my age it's harder to lose weight.

I go to hook up Charles' Pay as You go Phone (Yes Pay as you go by Cingular because the last time he ran up $400 bill and I am not paying for another one - if he wants to use his minutes, he can do his chores and buy his own minutes) Anyway it didn't want to let me hook it up online instead it gave me a toll free number to call. I called it - yep sure did 16 times! And all 16 times it hung up on me! It rang for so long that I got a pre-recorded message about how the person wasn't answering and I was going to be disconnected! Finally I get a human - by using a different toll free number - and we get it set up. Now we are at the stage to go ahead and add the $10 for free that came with the phone and guess what? Charles got so excited he had ripped open the packagaing and threw it away......ARGH .....sigh. So now he has a phone and no minutes. I refuse to give the minimum $15 because he threw out the $10 starter amount. I told him when they were ripping threw everything to be careful and not throw everything out, they didn't listen.

As for this last thing, I wasn't going to air it out here but I am so royally ticked off about this I have to. Everyone here has heard it already and it upsets Charles & John so maybe here I will get some relief. We went to Beths for Christmas as you already know by reading my previous posts, and what is one of the first things Charles sees? HIS Nana giving Nick $40 for Christmas - that didn't bother him UNTIL a little while later she gave him and John $10 each. Excuse my French but what kind of shit is that? Charles and John are her grandsons - sons of HER son (who passed away almost 4 years ago now) - and they get $10? If he was here there would have been a war. I am trying to figure out how to do this diplomatically but I don't know if I can. Either one of two things is going to happen, either she is going to say that Charles didn't see it (Nick showed it to him as he walked away) he's lying etc OR that she feels that since he and Uncle Jim are fighting that he doesn't deserve more than that. (John did a big NONO several weeks back and has been grounded ever since) Follow this up with some Nana tears and everyone will be against us no matter what -therefore nothing gets resolved. So I am caught between just skipping the whole thing because it's not going to get solved anyway and standing up for my children. So yes, welcome to my world - Kick Murphy in the shins as you enter and exit ok?

Monday, December 25, 2006

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

OH MY! What a day and night. We didn't get to bed until 6:30 this morning. Between the baking, last minute wrapping, Alex putting the new Hard drive into Charles' computer etc etc we just couldn't get to bed. The boys woke us at 7:30.....ugh. Then it was open gifts, have the big breakfast, more baking lol then off to my sister-in-laws. We ended up with 13 dozen of my special cookies - which now according to Beth and her son Nick are a family Christmas tradition lol. We also had 6 dozen chocolate chip, 2 batches of espresso brownies, 1 marble brownie and one regular brownie and batch of maccaroons lol. We only had 16 people this year - sigh it figures. The tension between my oldest son and my other sister-in-law and brother-in-law continues.....big sigh. She and I "discussed" it on and off, we each got a little snippy at times but in the end we were ok. As for the 3 of them, it still isn't worked out. My ex Mother-in-law pissed me off (excuse my French but she did) but other than that the day was really nice. Really, we had a nice time and some great laughs and we got some really good pictures. I have pics of me with my nieces and nephew and then pictures of my other nephew with his girlfriend. I can't wait to scrap them all. Except for Nick - who is only 6 weeks older than my son Charles - they are all 18 and older now. I feel so old lol. Hopefully either tonight or tomorrow Alex will get the pics off the camera and I will post some here then scrap them - I can't wait. I'm going to go for now I'm pooped lol. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Almost Christmas

I can't believe it. It has come up so fast .... again lol. Well I guess maybe a little faster this year because of the way everything is here. Stress, stress and more stress, who needs it? LOL

So I am now NOT happy with the way this blog looks lol. Poor Alex, you should have seen the look on his face when I told him I wanted to change the background.....again. Well, it's really not too bad. It's just the background .... and my blog banner lol. It just doesn't look right to me when it's up here. I think I will go even more basic this time and just use some accents.

We have gotten 6 batches of my infamous cookies made and need to go out later to get more ingredients lol. I figure we need to make at least 4 more batches of them. So at 2.5 - 3 dozen cookies per batch that's what? 300 or more cookies - of just that kind. Then we are making chocolate chip - at least two batches, white chocolate and chocolate chip one batch, then 2 batches of the raspberry chocolate chip, One batch of regular brownies, one batch of espresso brownies (maybe two) then one or two batches of the marble brownies. I will probably also make a pumpkin pie and maybe a key lime pie as well. Oh and I wanted to make the guava pastries. I can't do the brownies until Monday morning. Or maybe I can do them tomorrow and bake them tomorrow, get them out of the way. We are definitely going to start baking the cookies tomorrow. Charles heard that and said "Oh then I 'm not going anywhere tonight, I'm staying home!" I can't believe it! He didn't trim the tree with us :(, he didn't help with the village :( but at least he is going to help with the cookies. I know, I know it's only because they are cookies and he is going to snatch as many as possible along the way but hey.... a Mother has to take what she can get sometimes lol. He's at that age - 13 - he wants to be with his friends and has no interet in family. Also there has been some stuff going on and he's not happy with alot of them soooooooo..... He is his Mother's Son - Poor Kid lol. It's funny though because when he's with his friends he will still tell me he loves me on the phone and if he's with them but around me he will kiss me hello or goodbye. He doesn't care - he told his friends that I'm his Mother and he loves me so deal with it (when they teased and said "Ahhhh Momma's Boy" he said "That's right... you don't like it?")

So tonight is baking and getting ready, then Alex and I have to go ahead and get the presents all wrapped up. Oh too funny he just walked in behind me with the wrapping paper lol. Are we on the same wavelength or what? Well I have to get myself together right now so we can go run out and grab the last minute stuff. Please feel free to rumage through my FREEBIES but PLEASE also remember to leave a comment ok? I need a little extra LOVE this year lol.

Happy Holidays!

Friday, December 22, 2006

Freebie New Year Kit


OK as promised, here is the mini kit for New Years that I promised last night. You know the drill, click on the image to get the download!

PLEASE, if you download, leave a little comment, it only takes two seconds and it's really appreciated. Comments or suggestions are great. I always welcome constructive criticism. :)

Some Freebies and a few other little tidbits

Good Friday to all of you! I am now just waiting for Charles' Language Arts teacher to give us a call so he can take his oral exam. I'm more nervous than he is. He was up till 6 this morning...... argh. He and his best friend (well he has two but this was the female one lol) made up yesterday after a fight they had last week so they were on the phone all night. I love her, she calls me Mom lol. So we had to fight to get him up this morning and I handed him the whole kit for the Semester for him to study. If he doesn't pass this with at least a B (he should really get an A) I am going to scream Bloody Blue murder. ANYWAY............

I stopped over at Digital Freebies this morning and grabbed their Friday Freebie. Very cute kit waiting over there for you. I don't plan on doing this all the time - giving you direction toward freebies - but I go to AmyW Scrap-A-Lot every morning and she gives out some great links. Stop over by her if you can she gives out links and freebies just about every day!
My store deal - well, we stopped over at CVS to pick up a couple of cards and milk etc. In their Hallmark section - every year - they have "Buy 3 Cards and get this XXXXX for free" Well this year they have the kissing dogs but we only needed 2 cards and it just isn't worth it for me right now to buy an extra one for no reason. ANYWAY what they did have was a Scrapbook for the Holidays which was $5.99 with ANY Hallmark purchase. Check it out:




It has 10 voice recordings available, 10 pages for scrapping and 10 pages to do your journaling. I thought it would be cool for this year to have and do a paperscrap for the holiday. I already have the pics of trimming the tree and setting up our village, last night I took these pics of Johnathan making a batch of the cookie batter for Christmas (There's a story about these cookies which I will tell you after the pics lol)




Of course the whole time I am taking these he's like "MOM!" but look at that face lol. He is just eating it up, the little ham. Sigh I LOVE MY BOYS! They make me crazy and want to rip my hair out sometimes but I don't know what I would do without them. They are both good people, kind, generous and VERY compassionate and PASSIONATE. Sometimes that can be a problem. Charles - my oldest - is just like me and when he sees something that's not right - he speaks up and will get right in the middle of it. I have a story about that too but let me give you the cookie story first lol.

I started making these cookies about 13 or 14 years ago. The batter is based on a Pillsbury recipe - which is the book that is in front of John in the pic. But instead of making them into regular flat cookie types I turned them into thumbprints and use Raspberry Jelly in the center. Another thing that makes them special is that they use cream cheese in the batter so the cookie is always soft and moist. They are awesome! (Even if I do say so myself lol) Anyway when we first moved down here to Florida in 1996 I made them for Christmas. We always have a full family gathering - 40 people and more. I made 6 dozen of these cookies, plus brownies, plus one of my sister-in-laws brought a bunch of pies and cakes etc. The cookies were gone 10 minutes after I put them on the table! So now 10 years later, our gatherings are a little smaller - usually between 25 and 30 people BUT I have to make at least 10 dozen cookies for everyone to get one. People get crazy and just start snatching them up. I only make them during the holidays. My brother-in-laws Mom (can you follow that? lol) get's her own tin for Christmas every year and she hides them in the back of her freezer and takes one or two out at a time and has them for a few months lol. She is like a grandmother to my kids - we aren't extended family we are all just family. So anyway, I spoke to my one sister-in-law the other day - Beth. The conversation went like this:

Beth - I don't know what I'm making yet but you guys are coming Monday right?

Me: Yep we'll be there and you know I will bring the desserts

Beth - Cookies right?

Me: Yep lol Cookies, Espresso Brownies, Cream Cheese Brownies .....

Beth: The jelly cookies right?

Me: LOL Yes the jelly cookies. Picture me showing up with no cookies! LOL

Beth: No, that would NOT be a good thing lol

So yeah, the cookies are on the list and John has already started making the batter for us and we will make more today and tomorrow so that we don't have to make all the batter on Sunday. We are also making chocolate chip cookies and three different kind of brownies. Usually by the time it's all said and done we will have made 4 or 5 batches of brownies and literally about 30 - 40 dozen cookies.

ACK! I am going to kill Charles. He just took his oral exam and got a freaking 60. ARGHHHHH. Thing is, I spoke to his teacher and she knows he knows it and with all of his other work he still comes out with an 87.50 for his final grade. If he would have gotten up and woke up AND studied this morning to review he could have had a high A instead of a high B. BIG SIGH.

OK this post is long so I am going to go. Will be back later with more stuff and my FREEBIE!

FREEBIE lol

OK I am feeling in the Holiday Spirit here so I did another freebie for you. This is actually just a QP I did to comemorate the 2007 ball in Time Square (I am a Native New Yorker afterall - I don't care if I have been living in Florida lol) Anyway I hope you like it, I did it in Black and White - obviously and it has Doves and Triangles because of the glass in the ball. This year they are adding the triangles and they have 3 dove like etchings in them (on them?) So if you want to snatch it up go ahead and click on the image!








I left it at 12 X 12 300 dpi and in png format so that it would be easier to fit the photos in. The center of each triangle is empty so you can just slide your photos in no problem. I have also done another mini kit for New Years, but I just finished it and Alex has already gone to bed so it will have to wait until tomorrow. Here's a sneak peek though:



There are four of these "Fireworks Flowers" in four different colors of course, as well as two papers you see here, balloons, a metal header, ribbon and a frame.

Well I gotta get to bed. Charles has an exam tomorrow with his teacher between 11 and 12 and I need to drill him in the morning to make sure he doesn't trip over something silly. He knows it but right now his head is on Christmas, Tenkaichi 2 and girls lol. Have a great night! (or morning as it is)

Thursday, December 21, 2006

FREE at DAZ!!!

Ok for those of you who are not familiar with DAZ3D (where have you been hiding?) every week they give away an item for your runtime! This week it's this little cutie:




Isn't he just the cutest little thing? I LOVE him! Run over to DAZ and snatch him up because he is only free until 12-28-06! Just click on this picture of him or on the banner in my left sidebar! RUN RUN!!! Oh and btw ....... did I tell you that they are also having the 24 days of Christmas where they are giving away one item per day? Everything from dresses, to characters, props etc. I snatched up the most adorable little ragdoll. Isn't she cute?




I LOVE her. So run over to DAZ and check them out. Oh yeah and remember when I told you about V4 being free? Well she's not FREE anymore BUT if you are a Platinum Club Member she is only $1.99!!! Come on get moving on over there!! I fell in love the first time I visited there and you will too!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Merry Christmas Freebie

OK here we go, hot off the PS7! This kit has three backgrounds, 2 ribbons, 2 trees, 2 snowflakes and a doodle angel.


The pic blurs my little angel but that's because she has a gold trim effect to her, she is fine don't worry ;) Please remember that if you download this kit to leave sum love ok? Makes me want to make more to put up here! Clicking on the pic will get you the download! Enjoy and please if you want other people to see this or have it send them here to get it ok? Thanks a bunch!

As promised Village and Tree pics

OK, we have been home for about an hour or so, each of us was already on the phone, the kids are fed and we figured out a few things lol. Stress is at it's max right now too but hey....what can you do? We have each other and our kids are happy and healthy, who could ask for more? So here are the pics of our village and our tree. The tree is smaller this year so we ended up leaving off some of the ornaments lol.



No, the tree is not leaning lol. It's beginning to look alot like Christmas NOT lol. We just went shopping and I was wearing sandals and capris lol. Oh well, ok going to go finish the freebie and will come back to post it up for you in a little bit!

So what do you think?

FINALLY, I think this is pretty close to the way I want the layout to look. The background images loose some of their definition but....what can ya do? The little designs are actually little pearls. Anyway, I like this better. So now, I owe you pictures of the Village and our tree, some more previews of kits and .....ummmmm oh yeah A FREEBIE!! LOL I am working on a little kit for Christmas for all of you but first I am trying to finish up my contribution for the December Mega Kit over at DSC (link to the left lol) So seriously - honestly everything should be posted up here by tonight. I have to take a 45 minute ride to the doctors to get my prescriptions for our meds. Adderall is considered a controlled substance and is therefore not available for refill. What a PITA. It's real fun come hurricane time, try making sure you have enough when it's too early to get another script but the doctor could be closed for as long as two weeks. It's also not available for the free gift cards they give out at grocery stores and pharmacies can you believe that? I pay $110 for each of the 3 prescriptions per month since we don't have insurance and yet I am not eligible for a freaking gift card. Plus the doctor runs another $100 when we go to see him. ANYWAY, I have to go shlep to do that and get the scripts filled and get John from school then go out again to get his big Christmas gift. I have no idea what to get him. He has a list but he isn't asking for anything big so I will have to wing it. We also have to pack up the stuff for Alexa and for New York and get more stamps for the cards. Nevermind dinner and stuff. OK gonna go get moving and I will be back later with some goodies!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Oh my look at the time!

So my son didn't wake us up until 1 pm! Which is actually good because I went to bed at 6:30 so I needed the sleep. but my whole day is pushed up now. I got some of the laundry done, seperated the Christmas decorations, sprinkled all the carpets with that smelly stuff lol, posted a little here and there, grabbed some more freebies, did a little in PS and now am going to make my way into the kitchen where I have had ribs in the crock pot since last night. All I need to do now is make the rice, a vegetble and salad and VOILA! Then it's onto decorating, Alex still needs to get the lights on the tree though before we can do anything with the tree. (Insert one eyebrow up emoticon here) OK will be back later on with some pics.

I did a QP Layout


....with my new kit (of which I am almost done making lol) I used this QP and added a couple of the elements I made and a little bit of journaling and boom done. LOL I really love the colors in this. I have a thing for the rich colors. Every once in awhile I will get on a shiny/pastel kick too but when I see a kit with rich colors I go nuts lol.
OK my bed is calling me and Alex has been asleep for about two hours already lol. My luck my son will get me up at 8:30 again lol.
Have a good one!


A little Preview of my new kit

OK Here is what I have been working on, the kit that Alex has inspired me to do (he's such a good influence lol)



As of right now there are 25 elements, 8 backgrounds, and 4 quickpages I'm having way too much fun with this kit lol. I love the color combination in it.

We have also been working on a new look for this blog, I'm just not happy with it. The layout will stay the same but the background and other images are going to change. Poor Alex, he's been working his butt off trying to get it to work just right. So hopefully tomorrow or Monday it will be all done and up. I can't wait ;)

We finally got the envelopes printed and they came out so cute. The only thing now is to add the silver ink to make it sparkle, then we can fold the edges over to complete the package look and address them and get them out already lol.

Tomorrow is finally tree trimming time. The branches are taking forever to drop so we'll just do it tomorrow and whatever happens, happens. I also have to make the wreath and the table centerpiece. Will have pics of all I promise. It's been really crazy here. We haven't even started wrapping yet and we have to ship the presents to Alex's daughter still. UGH. Tomorrow is going to be insane, I hope we get up early again.

That's it for tonight, have a good one!


Saturday, December 16, 2006

My New Project ....

Like I really needed something else to do. Anyway, we printed out our Christmas cards and got the list together, we knew we were going to have to get envelopes but we figured no big deal right? WRONG. Sigh....... the cards are 4X6 and all of the enveloped were either 4x6 - which of course won't fit the cards, or they were 9.5 inches long or they were like $10 for 18 ... yeah .... uhhh..... NO. We need 40 of them and I am so NOT paying $30 for envelopes. So instead, we went to WalMart (I know it's supposed to be the poor man's mall but ya know what, most of the time you just can't go wrong there) We found a box of 50 colored, self sealing envelopes FOR CARDS for under $6. SOLD. So we get them home, I put a card in one nd it disappears lol. It's too wide and it's just about 1/5 inch too short height ways to flip the card. So Alex says "Ut oh" and just gives me the big silly grin as if to say "I know you're already aggravated but I love you, please don't kill me" So I stared at it for a minute then slid the card in again, flapped over the seal part and folded it right where the card ended. Voila! A perfect sqaure! A little ribbon and some stickers and we will have gift styled envelopes! I am just not going out and looking for more envelopes. Will take pics and show you the result tomorrow or Sunday. It should be cute.

So to answer the common question, I ended up being up for 64 hours with no sleep. I finally went to bed Thursday morning around 1:30. I guess I got alot done but it still feels like I have alot more to do. I am almost done with another kit, it's actually a nice sized one too. It started out as red and black in one genre and ended up with gold added in a totally different genre. I named it for Alex. He was my inspiration for this kit. I am not quite done yet. Actually I am typing this while waiting for one of my background papers to run it's course so I can save it and move onto the matching QP for that design. As of right now there are 5 background pages, 3 QPs, 18 elements plus 5 large elments and 3 wordarts done in 3 different styles. I really liked doing this kit. Nope no preview till tomorrow when it's done. It's already late/early and I know I won't finish it before then. This weekend is decorating the tree and making the wreath as well as the Christmas cards being done and mailed out. I have to go through the pictures from when we were doing our little village too.l It should look really nice once it's all completed. John is all excited and can't wait. He's been asking everyday, can we decorate tonight? By tomorrow the branches should be dropped on the tree and ready for decorating.

Well, I am going to go finish up the kit for tonight. Tomorrow .... or rather today - is another day.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Got XBOX for $1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we went to Aarons Wednesday night because we got a postcard that said "Rent any item for $1 and make no payments until January 15, 2007!" My computer is almost paid off and by January 15, it will be. We went, I asked the guy if this deal applied to XBOX 360 and do they have PS3? No to the PS3 but yes to the XBOX! Woohoooo, so we got it as one BIG gift for both the boys. Now it really comes out to $450 BUT this package was for two controllers a memory card and a game as well as the system so by the time you get it and add in the extra controller, the game and the memory card it works out to the same thing. We went to Wal-Mart and Toys R Us armed with a list of games from the first XBOX that work on 360 and got two of them for $7 each!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Is it really Wednesday already?

Oh Egads, for some reason I thought the last time I had posted was at least Monday. So very sorry, it's been a madhouse here. First of all my internet has been messing up big time, which of course affects me posting here and on my favorite sites, then of course the biggest thing is it affects me being able to upload Charles' work for school. We can't figure out what the problem is yet but we have seemingly fixed it for now anyway. SIGH. So I woke up at around 9 or 9:30 on Monday and have not been to bed since. Here's a little peek at a big part of why I have had no sleep for 51 hours lol.



I have been busy making the ornaments on this wreath as well as backgrounds. I have been working on about 3 or 4 different kits at one time lol. Tbing is I haven't learned all the tricks yet so I am learning as I go. To make matters worse, I am working on PS7 while most people are working on PSP or PSE. I have PSE3 but I tried it once or twice and really don't care for it. Sigh ... again. I really want to sell kits, I have been unemployed for over a year and now that the creeps let Alex go as well in August we are really starting to struggle. What makes it worse is that it's Christmas and it will be the first time my kids are going to get stiffed. Usually it looks like a department store exploded, I'll be lucky to spend $100 between the two of them this year. Ugh, I shouldn't write when I am overtired lol. ANYWAY..........................

So I have a bunch of stuff finished and a bunch of stuff not yet finished. One of my kits is going up in the freebie section over at Digi Scrap Central. If you check out the My Freebies Widget on the right side of my blog, you will see the Holiday Kit - that's the one going up at Digi. I already have my recipe kit over there too. I love it over there, really. Very nice group of people to deal with, drop over there if you get a chance, you'll have a nice time ;). (Links on the left side of my blog)

Now, I still have to finish the kits, start scrapping two albums, one for my sister and one for our Dad. In addition I am doing 8 - yes 8 - family recipe books as Christmas gifts. I am including a photo of each person who contributes recipes along with a little bio and then follow that up with their recipes. I already have the albums and we bought Chef Towels which are like one step below the glass towels. I took them all and antiqued them with tea and herbs etc. Once the books are personalized for each person it will get wrapped in the towel and tied with twine. Then they each get topped off with a stick of cinnamon, a plastic sprig with like cranberries or something on it and some ribbon and VOILA! instant gift! My youngest son and I are also going to make homemade paper to use for the tags, so they should look nice when they are all done.

In addition to all of that we have to go pay bills in a little bit, go pick up Guiness Book of World Records for John for Christmas - thank God I have my Members card and a discount certificate on top of it lol. He is always asking, "What's the World Record for this.... what is it for that?" and he mentioned that he wanted the book but stopped once he realized how tight things are. His big brother only asked for one thing for Christmas as well. Kids can be great and I LOVE mine to death.

Well, I gotta get going because we need to be back in time to get John from School. Elementary let's out at 2:20 here so it doesn't leave much time. I should be back on tonight with a FREEBIE! I just need to figure out which way is up and which stuff is going where lol. Till then...... have a good one!

T

Almost forgot! FREE FREE

If you haven't gone by DAZ3D yet to check out V4, ya better get there by this evening! She is FREE until midnight tonight! If you are into scrapbooking, 3D, even just playing around check them out. They give you FREE software for rendering and setting up scenes PLUS FREE CONTENT!! They offer freebies every week too! I LOVE being a member over there.

Saturday, December 9, 2006

Some really great freebies!

Just a heads up for those of you who haven't clicked on my Blog links on the left side. These Blogs all have freebies! And right now with the holidays the kits are massive! There is a Mega Kit to be had just click on HM Scraps or Dea Spina etc and they all have a piece of this kit! It's over 100mgs! Then over at Elkas, she just released her Natal Kit which is 115megs! Be sure to check them all out because there are alot of freebies that are well worth downloading. Roselli is one who posts almost everyday and her kits and QPs are great! Oh, and don't forget to grab my little goodies here as well! Just be sure to leave us all some LOVE if you snatch up the goodies ok? Makes us want to make more and post them up here for everyone.

Friday, December 8, 2006

V4 RELEASED AT DAZ STUDIOS!! MEC4D Going OOB Everything $1.23!!

Well thank God. I was just about at my ropes end waiting for her to get here and she is awesome! Go over to DAZ3D and check her out... she's FREE!!! They already have a ton of content for her including clothes, morphs etc. Go check her out!




Last night we were at the chat over at Artzone and the featured guest was Jonathan Cummings. For those of you who don't know he is a very famous artist and is particularly well known for his work with Bryce. Anyway one of the other programs he says he likes to use is Twisted Brush and BING! I had forgotten that I have Twisted Brush so I opened it up last night and started playing with it again. It is definitely going to make for some interesting textures and designs for my scrapbooking, will preview some of them later. If you have the chance to get Twisted Brush, by Pixarra, definitely do. It is well worth it, I can't believe I forgot I had it.

Well and now one more piece of news, for those of you interested in the 3D world. Mec4d is closing up shop as of tonight. All of their items are on sale for $1.23 in USD. We spent $12 and got some great items so you might want to get over there and check it out before they are gone forever!

How's about a freebie?


I made a LO kit and used it over at DigiScrap (link is on the left side of my blog) it's called Our First Christmas. Anyway I loved the colors in it so I made a few more pieces than what I needed. If you like them, click the pic and download! ;) PLEASE if you download this mini kit - don't forget to leave sum luv ok?




Here's the original LO I made with it - well some of the pieces here:



I am really pooped out so that will be it for tonight. Will be back tomorrow with some more fun stuff I am sure lol. In the meantime since you are up anyway, why don't you head over to DigiScrap and maybe stop off at DAZ3D? Both have great free stuff ;)


Thursday, December 7, 2006

Gotta love the kids

Yesterday I woke up ok but one little thing set me off and I was rip roaring. (I just know I'm starting my changes ugh) Just everything catching up I guess. Bills, working here, trying to make sure Charles gets his work in on time - without him fighting us every step of the way - "wait, hold one , in a minute" you know...., and every other little thing. So I just sat at my desk after my blow up and wouldn't talk to anyone. Then John came home in some sort of attitude so after I had asked how his day was and stuff he was fine but about 5 minutes later, he's inside annoying Charles who was trying to do his schoolwork. Long story short, I ended up yelling at everyone by the end of the day, disconnected internets, took away the game boy etc. So this morning we all woke up late. John was an angel the whole time, hurrying to make sure they got there on time and grabbing a baggie of cereal to take with him to school. Alex said they pulled up to the school and he told John to have a nice day and be good. Johnathan's response? "You too, try not to get grounded by Mom!"

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Just a little More dust then we should be good

I'm sneaking in here while Alex is doing something else sshhhhh lol. He's been making all of my requested changes because when I went to do them, they didn't like me lol. So now we just collaborate and he initiates the changes for me lol. We still have a little more revamping to do then the dust should settle lol.

Anyway went to Michaels and got some stuff - there wasn't much left there but they had a sale on the "sticks" that you use to decorate wreaths and stuff so we got a bunch of those for our new wreath and a few ornaments etc., We went to Bed Bath and Beyond and Joanns too and got two more houses and a train and some misc little figures to go with them including a group of people for near the lighthouse. We almost got another lighthouse and then said " Uhhh I don't think the town needs two lighthouses lol" so we put it back.

So now here is the LO I did for my Nana. This photo was taken when she graduated High School back in 1928. The Cameo is hers I just adjusted the color to match the LO:



She was a great part of my life, I miss her. Anyway..............

Hmmmmmm... how about a freebie? This time we will go for a paper. I loved this one even though it's notusually my type of thing. I just started playing around with the flowers and added the green background to be silly and I ended up liking it lol. Anyway here ya go if you want to snatch it:


As usual just click the image and your download should start right away! Now, I have to go I am working on my Christmas Recipe cards and New Years ones too! Gotta get going on the Christmas gifts and get the freebie cards out to everyone!

Have Fun and scrap like your life depends on it!

Sunday, December 3, 2006

So much for my deadline lol

Well it's Sunday and I don't think I completed anything. I did get alot done though/ This blog seems to be taking way longer than I had originally anticipated. Today though is set up for Christmas day. The four of us put on the Christmas music or a Christmas movie and decorate. We have a large entertainment center with the center ready for a big screen tv so that is where the town setup will go. This year we bought one of those large Science fair project boards to put under the town so that we can glue styrofoam and other items onto it to similate mountains and hills etc. This way next year we don't have to do all that again. We did it with the Halloween town this year and it worked out quite nicely. I think that we will definitely need two boards though since the town is much larger than our Halloween one. We have 6 large Rubbermaid tubs and about 3 or 4 misc boxes of Christmas stuff ready to go lol. we won't get our tree until at least next week though. It's very hard to keep the tree alive for a long period of time. We have used the food for it and we water it everyday and still they dry out so quickly. We don't use fake trees no way no how. Bad enough it's not cold here and it doesn't feel like Christmas, no one is taking my tree from me too lol.

This was last years tree, almost 8 feet - actually it is 8 feet but I hate it when they include the foot of one branch at the very top lol. Hoping to get another one like it this year. And actually it was wider than this, we had just put it up so it hadn't dropped it's branches yet.

Well I gotta get moving, we need to go to Michaels and see about getting a couple of more little pieces for the town and we have to pick out our ornaments for this year. Every year we pick out an ornament that represents what we are interested in or what we are doing etc., There are some interesting things on our tree lol. Anyway, have a good day/night and I will try to get back to you all later and show you what we got!

T

Saturday, December 2, 2006

Oh Boy, Nerves are shot lol



So let's see, so far it is almost 9 pm on saturday night and I have only accomplished about half of what I wanted to by my Sunday morning deadline. The thing that has been giving me the most problems? This Blogger ARGH. It refuses to let me use a 3 column template, or I can use it but my third column falls under the middle one And now the photos don't want to work either. And I have a freebie for you. It's a fleur paperclip but this stupid pic isn't working. Well if you look at the pic of Papas Attic a couple of posts down, you will see it clipped on two pieces of stationary which gives a description of the LO.


I have more things coming up but like I always say - not enough time in the day. I really have to get this blog all straightened out and working and get the Christmas cards made as well as the kits. Gonna go for now and leave you with the freebie - I hope lol. Maybe I'll stop in later, leave me some love or a heads up if you have a problem getting to the freebie ok? Just click on the pic (or little red square lol) and you should get the download no problem.




That's how it is for now...............




T

Friday, December 1, 2006

Please excuse the dust

This thing is making me nuts. it doesn't want to let me add multiple banners for the blogs and it's really ticking me off ARGH!! Anyway, I am changing the background again lol. I really thought the one I have now is too big but I was so tired that I just left it. So I will be making more of a mess here over the next couple of days so please bear with me.

I ended up going to bed around 4:30 this morning, I had enough lol. Now I am up and kinda running again. Still have alot to do I can't believe the time already too, oh well just gotta keep going.

Papa's Attic

Well as of right now I have been up for 42 hours straight. I have a ton of stuff to do, kits to make, Christmas presents to put together etc, etc. I will probably still be up till sometime early afternoon. Being unemployed really sucks lol. Sorry am getting into a foul mood lol.
Anyway, Alex took some photos for me of my Grandfathers Shakespeare Club of NY City SCRAPBOOK! It is literally falling apart as it was started in 1927. I made this LO for it and called it Papa's Attic. It's posted over at DigiScrap Central as well.





Let's see what do I have in the works? Well I am going to be making some Holiday recipe cards to go along with my Recipe Kit Freebie (forgive my spelling if I miss a typo ok? LOL Am really beat ugh)) I have three Baby Kits that are almost done and am working on two different Christmas ones and a New Years one. Am also pulling out a few freebies as I go along. If there is one Christmas ball in my kit you can bet there are at least 5 more to match the kit in my files here lol. Of course there are also the 7 Scrap/Recipe Books I am putting together for Christmas. My niece got me the pics from Thanksgiving so I can start with some of those and of course there is always my recipes to add into the book so I have some work I can do on those. I just don't want to be making LOs and printing them and putting books together on Christmas Eve lol. Oh Geez I forgot that I am also doing a Wedding/Baby Album for my little sister and a family one for my Dad. Gotta pry the pics from my Sister though lol. They are all still up in NY so it's not like I can just snap pics all the time. OH and I have to do our Christmas cards, update my C4STNA.com site especially the sale section. Damn Yahoo Sitebuilder made all my banners slide so I have been having to go in and resize them all. sigh

Ok, well Alex wants something to upload lol I think that's Alex speak for I am going to bed. hee hee.

That's the way I see it .....................

T

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

New Freebie!


Here's a snowflake that I made today.... literally lol. It was fun and I think it came out quite nice. ;) It's 8 inches and doesn't have the black background I added it so that it was easier to see. Of course it's saved at 300dpi or ppi lol. So if you would like to snag this little baby you can click on the pic ;)


So I have been busy building kits trying to get as much done as possible. Tomorrow and Thursday will be spent on helping Charles finish up his two classes and starting studying for his finals. I gave myself a cutoff of Midnight tonight to be off and make sure that I have his lesson plans all straightened out and ready to go so I have to go! That's less than 3 hours before I have to give up my photoshop!!

Till next time ... That's how I saw it!!

T

Monday, November 27, 2006

Why are people so greedy?

I must have downloaded at least 30 or 40 gigs of freebies just for scrapbooking and I know I am not the only one who has gotten freebies. Why is it so difficult for people to leave a little thank you or comment? At the same time, how is it that when you belong to a certain site-especially one that you get free stuff from - it is SOOOOO difficult for people to help out a little? It annoys me to no end. Like the world owes them - gimme gimme gimme. Better yet the low lifes who join up and because they have to have X amount of posts before they can download the freebies - they go in and reak havoc on the forums just so the computer registers them as having met the quota? I hate these people really because if they are going to be that low, lazy and underhanded for a stupid little freebie - what must they be doing in the world with the important things?

OK I am done ..... for now lol

That's the way I SEE IT

T

Friday, November 24, 2006

Still Stuffed?

Well I am lol. No, not really but I was until about 10 or 11 this morning. I ate like a pig then the dessert came out. Oh boy, that was the end of me. We got home around 11 or so I believe, then I stayed up all night. Haven't gone to bed yet. Well, come on, it was Black Friday, had to get in some shopping. Didn't do too bad either. Well we had a nice time and took some pics with my nieces camera because we left ours home! [img]http://www.websmileys.com/sm/mad/1461.gif[/img] Sigh... ANYWAY we used my nieces camera but now I have to wait for her to e-mail me the pics, I am hoping she doesn'y forget and sends them tonight. I also asked everyone for their recipes. Guess for now I can go ahead and start scrapping mine. We went to Bed Bath & Beyond (One of our FAVORITE stores) and got 7 photo albums so I am ready in that aspect anyway. Gotta go try and stay awake for awhile then pass out lol.

That's the way I saw it.........................

T

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Mini Vacation - Long Holiday Premise??

Egads, so we were up until 6 am this morning working and designing etc. At 9 am my youngest knocks on the door and announces that it is time to get up....... yeah.... uhhhhh NO lol. We ended up getting up at 12 and my oldest left with his best friend to go somewhere "really quick" As of now he is not back lol. We are waiting on him now so we can go run our errands. He doesn't have the keys so if we go and he comes back, he is stuck. Argh. I need to run out and get things done before people who are working get home and start running their errands. I am not in the mood to fight crowds. I am going to get my nails done (have been saving my pennies - literally lol) run to the bank, get the car filled up with gas (we have a 45 minute trip each way tomorrow to my Sister-In-Laws house) get some marshmallows for my sweet potatos. Then I need to make the sweet potatos - I'm making about 10 lbs worth since there are at least 25 of us for Thanksgiving every year and two batches of brownies. That's my contribution every year. Sometimes I make my special cookies as well as a prelude to Christmas but this year I don't have the time nor the patience to make some early. So it will be one batch of Espresso brownies and one batch of marble brownies and the mashed sweet potatos with marshmallows. Guess I will get some other stuff done in the meantime so I don't get crazy. Then later this evening I have to work with Charles to get his schoolwork finished up so he is caught up and get it all submitted. I already told them I am not cooking tonight, it's leftover night. There's sauce and pasta, chicken, and some veggies and what not in the fridge. We usually have leftovers on Friday but this week is different, that's why there isn't a whole bunch of different choices left, still there is plenty to eat.

So I am off for now, go get some work done and wait for Charles to get back.

That's how I see it...............

T

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

ARGH Stupid Blogger

Ok am really getting frustrated now. Why is this thing posting like all of my posts are from Monday? And to boot it is posting the wrong time. I live in Florida UTC -5, it's posting the times at 4 hours earlier??? I changed the date on it to reflect today and the proper time but it is still coming up as being posted on Monday. sigh....ssiiiiggggghhhhhhh. Nothing goes easy for me, always has to be the long way around. I wanna go from point A to point B easy right? Uhhh NO, FIRST I have to go to Z, then D, then back over to R and S then MAYBE I can get to B. Anyway, eventually I will get it and then I will be happy.

Monday, November 20, 2006

OK My First Freebie!!





So here it is, my first freebie being offered up. This is a small kit 21mg out of the zip file 14 in it lol. It'cs called Recipe Kit and contains 4 papers, 6 different recipe cards, one layover, 2 wooden spoons and 5 different Chef Hats. All done at 300 ppi jpgs and pngs.

This year I wanted to put together a family cookbook so I made this. After gathering all of the recipes you can scrap them, print them out onto photo paper and place them in a pretty (or rugged - depending on who you are giving it to lol) photo album. I find that the albums which hold 4X6 photos are the best ones. Two photos per page and you can seperate it according to recipe or according to whose recipe it is. Say you have Grandma's recipes for sauce, roast beef, etc. Make a printable 4X6 scrap of her photo and place it in the album. In the slot below it, put a small bio about her. Follow this page up with all of her scrapped recipes. When you are done with hers and ready for the next family member repeat the process! It's a nice way to keep memories and the recipes! They make great gifts too!
Anyway, here is the link for the zip file, ENJOY and Happy Holidays!

Still playing with the html

Ok so while this blogger allows me much more fleibility, I am still having issues trying to get things aligned the way I want them. I want three columns not two but I can't find another template similar to this one. So now that means I am going to have to go into the html, change the code in there to allow for another floating column on the right AND readjust the margins on this thing. I am NOT in the mood for that lol. It's also not allowing me to put my vertical slideshow on the left side which is why it is temporarily listed in my postings. I don't know why it works there but not in the column. I have too much to do though right now to sit here and play with it. So for now please excuse the condition of this blog it will get better, I promise.

My Renders and WIPS

Sorry if you feel lost

But, I had to change my Blog. I had started it on my own website but the free blog I had gotten just really drove me nuts so I decided to post here instead. All of my Freebie links will point to my website and should just open a direct link for you. That's right - NO WAITING TO DOWNLOAD, no "You have reached your maximum amount of downloads" none of that pitb stuff. Freebies should start going up next week. I would go on and finish setting up this blog but it is already 2:36 am and my brain just can't handle html coding right now lol. So for now it's buh bye and CU l8tr ;)

That's the way it IS for now.....

My LO's

It must be me (From 10-28-06)

Ok so my 10 year old son has made a new friend in the neighborhood. We live in an apartment complex so usually he makes a friend and within 6 months, they are gone because they were just staying here until their new house was built or whatever. Anyway, nice kid, a little talkative lol and very intelligent. Very polite, shakes your hand and keeps you laughing. So I say, ask his Dad if it’s ok if he goes with us to the book store later. OK fine, yes he can go cool. While we are in the bookstore it becomes “Can he stay for dinner?” Ok sure but oh wait - he’s Jewish and I had taken out pork chops for dinner! ACK. Ok fine, no biggie, we’ll stop at the grocery store and grab one of those rotisserie chickens and save the chops for tomorrow. By the time we are done at the book store and stopping for dinner and get home, it’s just about 10 pm. Now I am putting the food out and making some veggies to go with the chicken and it becomes, can he have macaroni and cheese? Excuse me? Do I look like a freakin restaurant to you? I already changed the menu once, now he wants something else? Then he is on the phone with his mother and she wants to know if she brings over pasta, can I make it for him? I was unaware of the fact that it is Friday and he is not allowed to eat meat on Friday. There was no school today so I keep thinking it’s Saturday. OK fine, now I am making the pasta and the chicken dinner for the rest of us is getting cold. SIGH. So I tell him, “Honey you are an outspoken individual” (YES you can talk to him and he understands, he is 12 and talks like an adult lol) I said instead of getting me annoyed, you should have said “It’s Friday I can’t eat meat” So he laughs and says ok next time when something like this comes up he will say something instead of skirting around the issue. Ok fine. So now it’s about 11 pm and I say honey what time do you have to be home? He says (as he folds his arms and grins ) “Well that’s the thing, as long as I don’t wake up my Dad or come home drunk or bleeding I can go home anytime.” EXCUSE ME? AND HE WAS SERIOUS!!!
So now Alex and I just look at each other like uhhh ok. He lives in the building behind ours literally about 40 - 50 feet away but still…….. Wait it get’s better. So now it’s after midnight and my son comes in and says “He has to go to his Mom’s house now, drive him” Again I’m like “Excuse me?” He says please drive him. Where’s his Dad? Sleeping, once it hits 10 he’s out cold. ??? I’m like uummmm not our responsibility and I thought he was going to his Mom’s house tomorrow not tonight. I said to the kid, “Honey I know it’s not your fault or whatever but we aren’t responsible for taking you back and forth between your parents.” Alex took him. I have been sitting here shaking my head and just amazed ever since. I mean WTF? 12 years old and then Alex gets back and says that he and the kid were talking and Alex said something to the effect of I’m not going to let you walk because someone your age being out this late at night alone just doesn’t sit well with me. Know what the kids response was? Are you sitting down? “It’s ok they have a $5million policy out on me anyway” (Insert wide eyed and fuming emoticon here) What must that child think? It’s ok if I die cause my parents will get a ton of money? I have a 13 year old who is allowed out till 10:30 ONLY when on Friday he goes to Church or he goes to the movies and either one of us or one of the other parents I know well is picking them up. Other than that home by 9 I don’t give a flying fig what is going on. He’s on the phone till unGodly hours and online but he is home. I speak to all his friends - most of them call me Mom - I have the Kool-Aid house lol(for lack of a better term)
So now , of course, I tell John he has a snowballs chance in Hades of sleeping over there and he gets all ticked off at me. Too bad, there is no way I am letting my son stay somewhere where I know there is no supervision. When kids stay by us, they stay up late, I usually buy a dozen Dunkin Donuts, and pizza or McDonalds and there’s always snacks here, they have free roam on the phone and play Playstation or whatever till they pass out. So - God willing - the worst thing that will happen to kids that stay here is they get a sugar and junk food overdose and are exhausted lol.
So is it just me or does this seem just a little dang strange? I just know that this kid is going to become a semi-permanent resident lol. I really don’t mind that part - it’s the reason why that annoys the heck outta me.
Oh well, it’s late, gotta do some work here I have a million ideas running through my mind for scrapbook elements, pages and Christmas gifts lol.
Have a great night/day!
T

Florida Schools ARGH (From 10-20-06)

I had to take my oldest out of school here because they were a bunch of so and so’s. So now I have been homeschooling him since April. It was a little rough going in the beginnning and I hadn’t been able to get him into virtual school until June. Finally we got going and his grades have been between B’s and A’s but because he was behind in the classes he actual marks for each period were D’s and C’s. But that’s ok he is caught up and should be completely on track within about a week now.
My youngest had a rough time last year because he didn’t like his teacher (the school ended up transferring her out because apparently my son wasn’t the only one complaining) Now that he is in 4th grade he is starting to have trouble. Partly because he sees his older brother home and partly because of the school. I will tell you why.
I have been asking for them to teach him how to spell and write correctly for two years. His handwriting is atrocious to the point that he can barely read it. We have sat with him just about every night to get him to write correctly and it just isn’t working. He has NO spelling words this year and they didn’t start science class for about 7 weeks. Forget that the notes teachers sent home are LOADED with grammatical errors and some are not even signed by the teacher. Wait it gets better.

I see him trying to study for his test in Math so I said to him come on we’ll study together. He gives me the paper that he is supposed to “study” Know what it says at the top of the page? “TEST” I flipped and called the parent of one of his friends. Yep she confirmed it. They give them the damn test to study “but they change the questions around” NOT change the questions, but the order of the questions. SO FREAKING WHAT? They are giving them the answers. So I say to John “blah blah blah blah” and he answers “Blah blah” I said Why is that the answer … his reply? Because that’s what it says on the paper! ARGH!!!!!!! He knows the answers but he doesn’t understand one blooming thing they are telling him. He has no clue in any of his subjects why the answers are what they are. And there have been “Study Guides” which are the actual tests in all of his classes. So now we are trying to actually teach him the work and he fights us tooth and nail. “All I have to do is remember the answers I don’t have to know all this stuff” I am ready to flip out. The whole school system here is ridiculous. I blame the FCAT and the school system. If they don’t have X amount of eligible passing children they loose funding, bonuses etc. So instead of teaching them the info they teach them the answers. I have even heard rumors of teachers giving out the answers DURING the FCAT! No Child Left Behind, there’s another one to blame. The good intentions are there but it leaves way too many variables open for misuse.
So I have an appointment with the teachers next week. The Principal and others know me already and we have a very good repoire but they are not going to like me next week. I am a hothead but I can be very diplomatic and contained when I need to be so I will present my case and wait to see what the end result is. They have no idea that one of the things I want to discuss is the “Study Guides” they are in for a wild ride. If I don’t like the end results I will go to the Principal, if she bails on me too, I will end up at the school board. It’s only a 20 minute ride from my house. Still no satisfaction? I believe I still have a friend over at channel 5. If I don’t, I’ll make one.

Sometimes I feel like such a ditz (From 11-6-06)

Ok so all this weekend I am racking my brains trying to get some resources and ugh - how do I do this? I need glitter, where’s that…… Sigh. It suddenly dawns on me - this morning after the weekend in purgatory/hades, that I have about 5 art programs of which I have yet to use. And that’s besides the fact that PS7 has Plugins and actions etc for making other stuff as well. So I broke out a couple of my other programs and started sifting through them. I have Bryce and DAZ Studio of course lol. I also have Poser 5, Apophysis, Genetica, Carrara, Hexagon, Shade, Twisting Pixels …….. sigh and MORE. So I finally went through an pulled some of them out and started playing with them again. Of course Alex rendered out some flowers for me to use in Shade. I have tried Hexagon and Carrara for modeling and it wasn’t too bad - save for the fact that I have no idea what I’m doing lol, but when I opened Shade - a vein in my head popped - my eyes bulged out of their sockets and I stopped breathing lol. I closed it right back up. LMAO, Thankfully, Alex has had experience using Archicad so the interface didn’t scare him off.
So I have created some backgrounds of glitter and fancy patterns etc. I have a few unconventional ways of doing things I guess. I will be putting up a list of things I do to make my life easier (don’t worry it won’t be long lol) Maybe some of them will help you. They will probably be listed in the About Me section of this blog. I am still trying to get it all organized. For now, I need to get a few things straight here and do my regular post for today then I am off to teach my 13 year old son Haiku. I am going to be using his music to teach him different types of poetry. Thank Goodness I listen to Rap/Hip Hop too, I know the beats and the words so figuring out what is Haiku won’t be too hard and hopefully he will understand it better when he get’s not only a visual but an audio as well.

11-6-06 My Weekend was Insane how was yours?

My oldest slept over his friends house from Friday until Sunday. Sounds great right? I mean seperating the two boys for the weekend should be great but nooooo there’s a catch. See when he is gone for the weekend that means he doesn’t take his medication so when he comes home he is literally bouncing off the walls. Then my youngest had his friend sleep over here on Friday, they were up making Halloween candy experiments and bouncing off the walls in their own rights until around 4 am. Then we were off to my sister-in-laws because it was her birthday. Sigh, needless to say with Charles not on his meds he was ……. cocky….after two slips of the mouth he and his uncle got into it. It was not pretty.
I had 5 kits I wanted to complete plus 4 other projects, this Blog, two 3d renders and about a million things in the house. I think I was able to complete three things. I did get a sketch challenge completed for DigiScrapCentral, and I got a button banner done for them as well for my blog, hope you can see it. I really love it there. I am almost done with my Blog banner, and managed to make some textures and elements. I like to do an element and all of it’s variations in one shot. I may still need something different later but at least, for the most part, the elements are ready to go. I still have a mountain of photo’s to scan and my niece is supposed to be e-mailing me pics from when she, her boyfriend and my other niece went to Disney. I have photos to take of my antique books which were my grandfather’s. One of them is a Bible from around 1890. It’s absolutely beautiful and will be useful with the antique page I want to create. also I have started on a Vintage kit for my Mother who passed away in 1995. She was born in February so her birthstone was the amethyst and she loved silver so the kit, of course will be primarily purple and silver tones. I have also started another kit for Popi. He loves fishing so I am building a kit geared toward that.
Well, we finally got Charles up so I can get going with his schoolwork. Late day today, he was drained from last night and the whole weekend. He sleeps like a brick wall anyway. I know, usually it is sleeps like a log, nevermind the log, he sleeps like a brick wall LOL. It took over three hours to get him up and he just took his medication. So at 12:00 we will start his English class and I have to teach him about poetry. Haiku, rhyme and verse, iambic pentameters etc. I can hear his response already but oh well. I am teaching it to him with music lol. And not that cheesy stuff either. I have taken a bunch of rap songs that he likes and am going to have him pick out the different types of poetry within the songs. Gotta be creative when you teach lol. Kids these days don’t want to learn the way we did and some of them can’t so you have to adapt and teach it to them the way they can understand it. Poetry is still poetry.
Well, that’s the way I saw it.
T

Daily Rambling 11-12-06

So I had my whole day planned out and - as usual - things just didn’t work out that way. It started going downhill the minute I realized it was already 11 am and my son was knocking on our bedroom door to tell us to wake up. Sigh. Half the morning was gone already and by the time I got up and running we were already into the afternoon. Then I got sidetracked on reading blogs and doing the daily download routine. I have a list of about 6 places that have daily downloads plus regular blogs that I read and get freebies from, then I started making my own patterns in between and as I ran an action in photoshop, I would return to the blogs and go around in there until the action was done. Then of course there was the laundry, stopping the boys from killing each other and dinner. Add in the fact that my son’s screen fell out and landed between the second floor and the tree and that his brother thought he would be helpful by throwing books out of the window at it to help knock it out ….. well, need I say more?
So anyway at least I managed to get about 5 gigs of downloads and made about 750 megs of my own designs. I really want to try and use the downloads for my own scrapping and then get my designs out there but I always seem to end up wanting to use mine. I guess because they are a little more personal that way. But there are sooooo many beautiful and adorable kits out there ……. decisions, decisions lol. Alex asks me everyday “So did you manage to download the internet yet?” My response is, “Did you manage to get me a Terabyte for my computer?” I only have a 200 gig external drive hooked up so I can only manage about 5 gigs a day lol. Of course I am burning just about everyday at least 1 -3 dvds full of stuff so I can get it off my drive. I get nervous when it says it’s already down to 50 gigs of available space lol.
So tomorrow it’s off to the eyeglass place to pick up John’s glasses then a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a CD holder (probably 120 capacity one lol) then back home for cleaning, more laundry and dinner etc., Then it’s back to the computer again. I managed a button for my blog so I have to get that uploaded and out there.
We are almost done with my art site so that should be up and running soon I hope. We have been close countless times over the past few months and then boom some other glitch decides to rear it’s ugly head.
I am also working on some freebie kits and embellishments for here so keep your eyes peeled. I am still trying to get the images to show under my links here, I don’t know why it’s not working but hopefully that will be corrected soon. Until then I will just keep adding the sites as text.
Well it is late and I need some sleep so until tomorrow……………….
that’s the way I saw it

11-13-06 Daily Rambling

November 13, 2006 by tsanzone.

Yeah, I know, I hate Mondays too lol. Just figured it was as good a title as any for today’s blog lol
We managed to get our errands done yesterday. Got John’s glasses he was so happy. He kept saying, “I can read that …blah blah, oh and I can see that …blah blah and Oh when did that get there?” It was so funny. This child is on about his 10th or 11th pair of glasses ….sigh. They say the titaniums are indestructable ….. my eye. They used to say that about Tonka Trucks too, they obviously never met my boys lol. Oh well, another pair of glasses another $100. I told him if he breaks this pair the next pair comes from the Dollar Store lol. They have glasses at -150 prescription. Might grab one or two for him when he goes out to play, if he ever gets off punishment. Seems like he never will though at this rate. We used to have a little sign in the house that said “Be sure brain is in gear before engaging in mouth” Think I might need to get another one. Even just the part that says be sure brain is in gear would be sufficient because it’s not just his mouth that gets him into trouble. Oh well, this too shall pass. “It’s just a stage”
Anyway, we got the glasses, picked up a cd case that holds 208 and transferred all of our backup DVDs to it for both 3D and scrapbooking. We had a bunch of holders that had like 20 DVD capacity and they just weren’t cutting it. Now we will use those for other things like helping to seperate magazine DVDs and other miscellaneous CDs.

We also made our pitstop at Office Depot to get ink. Between my customer rebate card, a $10 off $50 or more coupon and a “Return an empty ink cartridge and get $5 back” coupon and finally the “If you buy more than one the price drops to $9.89 instead of like $11.89″ we paid $29 for $80 worth of ink! Thank God because I can’t keep laying out $80 for 6 cartridges. This printer won’t print if it is out of one color. We do alot of printing with Charles’ homeschooling between the assignments and lessons and then his work. We have two big binders full of stuff so, obviously, we use alot of ink. Printers are cheap enough sure, but they get you with the ink. Like saying oh yes you want a printer here ya go! Oh, wait you want to USE the printer…well the ink is going to cost you!

Today Charles does Math and in between we need to work on this blog and see what we can do about getting pics to show, I am making a kit for Christmas that I will probably put up as a freebie My son just told me I have no life because I am always on the computer working and we never go anywhere. I said “I have a life, I’m just not living it right now” lol

So I am off to work on the kit, update my website and work on getting the other one up an running. First I need to post in my RANTS section - because , well what would a day without me complaining be? BORING! Have a great day!
That’s the way I saw it….

11-13-06 Rant

…or whatever the term is for them. You know which ones I mean, 4Shared, RapidShare etc. I don’t claim to know alot about these sites but I find them annoying as anything. Lately they have gotten worse. Bad enough that when you go to download you have to wait X amount of minutes if you don’t have an account with them, ok fair is fair and they want you to join their program, I can deal with that. I can even deal with having a limit to how much I can download in a specific amount of time … IF I know what my limit is. Lately though I have been running across these issues:

1. It will say “Your file is ready for downloading click here. I “Click Here” and it says file has expired. Well why didn’t it tell me that before I went through the whole waiting process and clicking here?
2. It will say please wait X amount of seconds then finally it says download you click download and it says “Users downloading limit reached please try again in a few minutes” Ok so if I exceeded my limit, what is my limit? What exactly constitutes a few minutes. I downloaded one file this morning and went for the companion file which was part of a kit, the first file was about 16megs and I reached my limit?
3. Click here to access the file you wish to download, click here and I get a page that says I must be logged in to access the file? Don’t have a loggin, join now! WTH? I am NOT joining fifteen million sites to get files. Sorry, not doing it. I already have reached about half my file room on my hotmail account and am definitely not giving out my other e-mail addresses for this stuff.

I understand the problems with offering up freebies and trying to keep them free by not having to pay for storage but the love of Mike (whoever Mike is, I don’t know but it sounds good lol) There has got to be a better way. I am running this blog on a website, my website and I have 100 gigs of disc space and 1 terabyte of transfer volume. I got it for $22 for 6 months - they bill in 6 month intervals. Not bad. I figure that should be enough room to run what I want to off of it. If I decide to venture out into eBay territory then I might consider one of the alternate downloading sites but I really don’t want to. I don’t know yet, just trying to get up and running at this point.

Well, that’s the rant … for right now.
That’s how I saw it……
T

Daily Ramblings 11-14-06

So today was my day with Charles again, we had to redo a bunch of English work because the original stuff got caught up in a fight between a thumb drive and a magnet……. need I say more? Well, thankfully even though he didn’t listen to me and COPY his work to the thumb drive instead of TRANSFERRING it he has now learned that lesson. Also he finally got the idea of why I keep telling him, make notes, write it down, use scratch paper for your ideas and notes THEN type it up. If he hadn’t had notes, he would have had to redo everything. This way he looked through his notes and was able to “rebuild” his work. ANYWAY lol Part of assignment was to compare poetry to a painting or photograph, the original ones are gone - because he didn’t write down the urls from where he found them or their names. So I was searching through the internet looking for paintings having to do with solitude and came across a great one which was located on this blog that I am going to give you the link for. If you go to the link and scroll down a little more than halfway down just past the white rose there are some really cool trick photography pics there. It is in French so I have no idea if this person did them or if they were something that - like me- they came across and had to share. They are really cool though and I thought you might enjoy them. So here’s the link:
http://brikkabrak.canalblog.com/archives/p60-10.html
Anyway, we have most of his work redone and I have just uploaded a bunch of it for him. Tomorrow morning we will finish the rest then i will finish up compiling his review sheets so he can take the test for this module, then mmake the sheets for him to study for the Semester test. Then he can take a break and move on. It’s like Murphy’s law around here all the time.
I have worked more on my Christmas kit as well and had a couple of cool ideas so once I finish them, I should be able to offer it up. The person we spoke to at our hosting company didn’t seem to know his arm from his elbow and thankfully Alex was speaking to him. I would have asked for someone who knows what they are doing. I have no patience for this type of thing. When I call for support, I want support, I don’t want to have to draw pictures for them and tell them how to navigate they are supposd to tell me. Ugh, anyway, they are supposed to be sending me an e-mail to let me know how to get the banners to show up instead of the text because for some reason my banners and other images aren’t showing up on the side bars. I haven’t been getting into my communities at Digi Scrap or DAZ and it’s making me crazy lol. I just can’t get the time to get in and post. Hopefully tonight I will be able to pull away for a little bit and go see what’s going on. For now, I am going to end this entry, finish up what I can on the new kit, make some dinner, do some more laundry, maybe clean up our room a bit and then see what else I can multitask lol.
That’s the way I saw it……………..
T

Originally posted 11-14-06

OK, I live for music. I listen to everything from AC/DC to Barbara Streisand to Ludacris. I LOVE everything except Country and Opera. But for goodness sake, stop putting it on your blogs and sites. I hit a site and out of nowhere comes this music blaring through my speakers and half of the time it’s something corney. How about, if you want music on your site, then add it but set it so it doesn’t play unless the person wants it to? The have the players that have the play button so if a person wants to hear the music they can, some are even like a little juke box where they can pick a couple of different ones. I hate being jumped by music when I hit a site. Just had to get that out there because I just got assaulted again for about the 5th time today.