I just got Janna Billman's wonderful new kit My Valentine!! Can't wait to start scrapping with it. Aren't the vintage items adorable? I'm sure I'll be posting some layouts using it within the next couple days.
Here's a layout I did with the kit I bought with the coupon I got from yesterday's lifts with a twist. It's Little Explorer kit by Dianne Rigdon from Shabby Elements. I just love it. And I couldn't help but use another(!) cat picture to make a layout with it. I think it's kinda cute except I wish I could have thought of something more clever to say in the little thought bubble.

A layout I made for this week's Lifts With A Twist. I was going to upload to DST and link the credits but I keep getting a server busy message from DST so I'll credits here so I don't forget.

Papers (background and little squares) are from Dianne's Rigdon's Little Buckaroo kit and also the rope is from that kit

doodles are from Ida's Doodles at Catscraps

brushes from Meredith Fenwick and Jamie Rousselle

I learned a new Photoshop "trick" today. So I made a layout with it. I used the awesome new Noah's Ark: Two By Two Mega kit from the Kathryn Balint Design Team. It was fun but I definitely need to practice some more and try working with different backgrounds other than the black, but for my first time I'm pretty happy with it.

I got a beautiful bouquet of yellow tulips at work today for my birthday. I caught Ping sitting next to them and snapped a quick picture before I shooed him away.

For this layout I used Katie Pertiet's Botanist's kit #7 and word art is from Anna Aspnes both available at Designer Digitals.

Here's a layout I did today using Lynn Grieveson's Adventurous kit from Designer Digitals.

The journaling reads:

As a child I remember my mother saying she had always wanted to visit San Francisco
and ride a cable car. When I visited San Francisco I made sure I enjoyed every minute
of the trip and especially the ride on a cable car. Whenever I start feeling sorry for myself,
I will try to remember that I’ve been fortunate enough to do things in my life that others only
\ dreamt of. So I am dedicating this page to my mother, who never got to ride the cable cars.

Another scraplift for Lifts With A Twist. This layout is something new for me and I had a lot of fun with it. Credits for C is for Cat:

Mouse and paper inside the C are from Rebecca Myer's Cat's Meow kit; the frames and the star are from Ida's Happy Colour Doodles and the brush is from Karen McCombes For Eli kit.

I have been doing some layouts using a kit from Anna Aspnes called Wander. I thought it went especially well with some black and white photos I took in New Orleans a few years ago. I finished one fo the layouts with the b/w photo and then did one with some pictures I took at Big Sur. I'm hoping to use this kit for more of the b/w pictures and others.

This is a layout I did as part of the contest at Diesigner Digitals for the month of January. You can find credits here.

The weather here is still balmy. Can't believe it's been so warm. The trees were blooming in Murfreesboro! We took Alex back to school yesterday. He was very happy to be back in his dorm and to see his friends again. He'll have a new roommate this semester. When we went and got the key for his dorm at first they said he was still alone but when we went into the room someone stuff was there. Alex went and asked and they said someone had switched dorms and would now be with Alex but as of late last night the roommate still hadn't shown up. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Another layout using the trapezoid technique. I used Katie Pertiet's Magnolia Kit.

I did this layout as practice. I attended Jessica Sprague's Photoshop chat at Designer Digitals. She taught how to make the trapezoid layout. the hardest part about doing this layout was finding 3 vertical pictures I could use. I guess I take mostly horizontal pictures. I will have to make an effort to mix it up a bit. I ended up just snapping these three pictures of Ping to use for the layout. I will use this technique again when I have 3 vertical pictures that need scrapping. This is just a simple layout but I wanted to practice the technique and once I had the 3 pictures I needed to add more and turn it into a layout.

The kit I used was from Rebecca Myers' Cat's Meow.

I did this layout as part of the weekly scraplift at Lifts With A Twist. You can find credits here.

Hooray! It's a 3 day weekend. We're taking Alex back on Sunday. It's bittersweet because I'll miss him but I won't miss the rumble of tanks all night (he stays up way too late playing video games that involve tanks and shooting and such and no matter how much I tell him to turn it down I can still hear it). Nor will I miss having to track down all the glasses and cereal bowls that get left in his room. Nor the 2AM refrigerator raids. Well, I guess you get the picture.

Here's a layout I did for the Scrapper's Guide Week By Week Technique. The technique for January 8th was slide mounts. I'm happy because I have been "blocked" for a couple of days. I started countless layouts and dumped them because nothing looked good. It's not spectacular but at least I liked it enough to finish it. I guess I'm suffering from a form of writer's block. I know it will pass but it's tough until it does.

Guess how I spent my weekend? Hint: it wasn't cleaning my house! I really need to do that one of these days.

Here's credits for Year in Review
and
My Garden
and
Work in Progress

Another kitty layout using Mo's new kit. The photo of Kitty White Shoes was a great catch of her but the background (my son's messy unmade bed) was not very nice so I extracted her for the layout.

I've been busy! The credits for these two can be found here.

I saw two deer on the way to work this morning. No one was behind me so I stopped and watched them for a minute. I was hoping to get a picture since I had my camera but they ran off into the woods before I could get the camera turned on. Oh well. I did enjoy watching them. I remember when we first moved here, I told some people we lived in the country and they asked where and when I explained where we lived they all laughed, called me a city girl and told me I definitely did not live in the country! After having lived here for almost 10 years now, I can understand why they said that but the sight of deer in my neighborhood is still an awesome moment for me.

Here's another layout I did using Mo Jackson's Kitty 2 kit. I uploaded it to the gallery yesterday and when I signed on today a thumbnail of the layout was on the front page where you navigate the galleries! I was very honored and excited.

I did this simple layout using a template from Maya at Scrapbookgraphics. The scene beyond the frosted window is Disney's MGM Studios.

I just realized I messed up the icicles. The frost on the glass needs to be under the icicles! Duh!!! Why can't I see this stuff BEFORE I upload? I know I could take it down and re-do it but I don't feel like it tonight. LOL!

Here's a very simple layout I did of Michael using a technique I learned from Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Fridays. If you haven't visited Jessica's blog, go now! It's awesome. This photo was originally a color one and I turned it into a high contrast black and white one. The papers and flowers are from Katie Pertiet's SunPrints kit.

Whoa! It's been a long time since I uploaded or posted to my poor blog. Maybe now that the holiday madness is over I will have more time to visit. I got a wonderful new camera for Christmas so I wll definitely be taking lots of pictures. I hope to even learn how to use the advanced features of the camera! It has all the bells and whistles. It's a Canon Powershot S3. Not quite a digital SLR but an upgrade from my old digital camera.

Here's a couple of layouts I've done. I had fun with the template from ScrapGirls that looks like a magazine cover.
The picture is one I took (with my old camera) at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

And the next picture is from the fountain at Downtown Disney.



Credits for the layout below can be found here.

Wow!! What a great sale!

Sorry I've been away for so long but blogger was giving me trouble and then I got a new computer (Yippeee!!) and have been reinstalling everything! Wow, that's a lot of work. Reinstalling all my fonts is a full time job in itself! LOL!!

In addition to the new computer, I got a pretty new monitor too. Double yippee. It's a 19" widescreen. I went from a 15" crt to the huge LCD and it's heaven.

Also upgraded my Photoshop so I'll be back to post all my wonderful layouts. And as if that wasn't enough, I was chosen by Kathryn Balint as one of her guest CT members for November. Me-a CT member!!! I am really excited. I will post upload all my layouts. That is, if blogger cooperates.

Alex has been home on Fall Break so I've been busy but I did manage to get a layout done. This is a picture of a butterfly I took this summer in my yard. I used Autumn's Song by Betty Jo Martin. She sells at Scrapbook Elements. The brush was from Brandie Valenzuela. Alex goes back to school tomorrow so I should have more time for a longer post.

I learned a cool new technique in Photoshop. I know making curves is not exactly an advanced technique but it's one more thing I can use in my layouts!

Budd asked me about Bob Corker since I live in Chattanooga so I thought I'd give him my perspective.

This is in no way a political endorsement. In fact, this is one of those times when I wish "None of the above" was a choice on the ballot. We moved to Chattanooga 9 years ago and I admit I haven't paid too much attention to politics or politicians. But I do vote so I guess that makes me the worst kind of voter--an uninformed one!! And I took my son to vote as soon as he was 18. Told him it wasn't just a right it was a responsibility. Told him I didn't care who he voted for just that he vote. You'd think with that sort of attitude, I'd be more involved but after having lived in one place for 40 years, it was difficult to adjust and politics was the least of my worries.

But, I do want to say this. There's a Bob Corker commercial featuring Chattanoogans saying how wonderful the city is and all the fantastic things he did as mayor. What Chattanooga do these people live in???? My property taxes have not decreased, they've increased. As for crime, I haven't been impacted but the local news is about the same as it was when I moved here 9 years ago. The only difference is the names of the people being arrested or victimized.

I'm not slamming Chattanooga--it's a great place to live. I'm just saying that I can't recall any difference in my personal quality of life from when he was mayor or all the other mayors we've had since we moved here.

Anyone who has seen my other blog, Chattanooga Daily Photo, will know what has been going on. That blog has the Reader’s Digest version. This is a little more detailed but I’ll try not to get too boring.

Friday morning I got a call on my cell phone while I was at work. It was one of my kids and all he said before the call was dropped, “Mommy, I’m in the hospital.” It was like a B movie or a cell phone commercial. I have to admit that I wasn’t even sure which kid called me and the caller id just said “unknown”. I felt like a bad mother but they sound alike on the phone and I didn’t even get a chance to say anything. My first thought was that it was Michael but after verifying that Michael was in his class at the high school I knew it was Alex. Trying to find out about your college son is vastly different from the high school one. The best they could do was give me the number of the hospital in Murfreesboro. I called that hospital and found out from the ER that Alex had been there but he was being transferred to a hospital in Nashville. Not what a mother wants to hear! Now that he’s 18 he’s considered an adult and because of HIPAA they refused to tell me anything. I had called my husband at work as soon as I knew it was Alex. He works 40 miles away from Chattanooga in the direction of Nashville so he left and was making his way there.

I was on my way to get Michael out of school so I could leave for Nashville too when Alex called back again. I told him to tell me quickly what happened in case the call got dropped again. He had fallen out of his top bunk in his dorm and fractured his skull. He has no memory of what happened so we can only speculate. He had his PSP in bed with him and he last remembers playing with it. He found it on the floor and the screen was destroyed so Alex wasn’t the only one to fall.

Alex was in the hospital until Monday and he’s making a full recovery. No permanent damage. He’s glad to be back “home” in his dorm and I’m glad to be back home too. I’m still playing catch-up with everything including my blog.

I've been practicing with Photoshop. Here's a new technique I've learned - how to make a realistic folded corner. I still have to practice more on the dodge and burn tools but I'm happy with my first effort.

I used Kathryn Balint's Velma's Lemon Soda kit. Available here.

Cats hate closed doors!

Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows this I'm sure. Ping (above) especially hates closed doors. So much so that I'm considering getting some of those cat doors--not for the exterior door but the interior ones. Ping isn't as vocal as his Siamese cousins except when it comes to a closed door. This wouldn't be too much of a problem except when it happens at 2AM. Michael claims he can't sleep unless his door is shut. Do you see where I'm going with this? Yup!

Michael often keeps his computer on at night so he can download stuff. His computer has a glowing blue light on it which shines under his closed door. Ping sees the light and figures Michael is awake and since everyone else in the house is asleep he wants in. I wake up and let him in. Of course he realizes Michael is asleep and wants back out. Michael sleeps through the noise so I get back up and let Ping out. I leave Michael's door cracked open enough for kitty traffic. ?Now noise doesn't wake Michael up but he has some sort of radar about his door being ajar and immediately wakes up and goes and shuts it. Ping realizes Michael is now awake and wants back in but Michael is fast asleep again and doesn't hear him. But I do.

So Ping ends up spending the night shut in the laundry room. I'm not sure if I can hear him or I just imagine I hear him--that mother's instinct thing because I know he's crying.

And that's why I want kitty doors!

Happy Fall, Y'all!! Sorry, couldn't help myself. lol

Don't these look yummy? I was inspired by the weather finally cooling down a bit and made a batch of candy apples this week. This is what is left of them. I should have taken a picture the day I made them. They always look best the first day. Oh well, at least there was a few left this morning to snap a picture of.

I can't believe it's been so long since I updated this poor blog. Wish I could say it was because I was busy doing all sorts of exciting stuff. Unfortunately, I've been busy but I can't say what I've been doing. Notice I said can't--I didn't say "Won't". I can't because I don't really know myself what's kept me so busy. It's certainly not because I've been productive with doing layouts or anything. I've actually had a bit of "scrapper's block". I guess that's like writer's block or for digiscrapping. I've been looking at layouts on the web and in magazines hoping for inspiration but none of the layouts I start look right and I end up closing Photoshop without even saving. It's strange how sometimes I'll start a layout and the colors are perfect and the elements exactly what I wanted and the page turns out almost as I had envisioned it. I say "almost" because nothing ever seems to turn out as perfectly as I see it in my mind's eye. But lately, nothing seems right...colors don't look good together or I can't find an element that I could have sworn I had. Oh well, I know it will pass. But when??? I guess I need to practice what I used to preach. When Michael was younger, he would be all excited to start a special project for school and have all sorts of wonderful ideas but once he started working on it, he'd get very frustrated. I can't count how tears were shed over some stupid diarama or poster or whatever. Thank goodness the school psychologist was able to help--to an extent anyway. She explained that Michael could picture in his mind what he wanted to do but because of age. motor coordination, etc. he couldn't make the project turn out the way he envisioned. There was still frustration and tears but at least I knew why and that helped me cope.

I'll try not to be so neglectful of my poor blog!

CALLING FOR A BAN ON ALL LOCAL BUSINESSES THAT ADVERTISE ON THE CHATTANOOGA FOX AFFILIATE CHANNEL 61!!!!!!!!!

Since, in all their wisdom, our local Fox affiliate has chosen to broadcast their high def signal to Comcast viewers only, I am asking that everyone--especially satellite subscribers --in Chattanooga boycott local advertisers. If channel 61 doesn't want our viewership, then why should we patronize anyone who does business with them???????????

And since channel 61 denies all requests for waivers, this is the only recourse we Chattanoogans have! So please, before you do business with anyone--BE SURE THEY ARE NOT FOX 61 ADVERTISERS!!!

Henry Winkler signed the shark he jumped!

More autographs.

Alex and his roommate, Don, came home this weekend so I spent the weekend washing clothes and shopping. Alex went back home with 108 cans of soda and a giant shopping bag full of microwave mac and cheese, pudding cups and other snacks and a laundry basket overflowing with clean clothes. We all went out to supper on Saturday night to Carrabba's. One of our favorite places. Later in the evening we went to Clumpies for ice cream.

But the highlight of the weekend was getting to see Henry Winkler. He gave a really great talk about overcoming learning disabilities and don't let anyone ever tell you your goals can't be achieved. One of his messages was that "everyone has greatness in them". My two boys and Don all agreed Winkler gave an excellent talk. I guess that's something when someone can capture the attention of adults and teenagers!

After, he took questions from the audience. My son's roommate has purchased a stuffed shark and they asked Henry to "jump the shark" and Winkler good-naturedly jumped the shark. The crowd loved it. We found out after that Howard Stern has been trying to get him to do that. LOL! They got him to do what Howard Stern couldn't! Afterwared people were asking Don if he was by any chance a Stern intern. LOL! Winkler even autographed the shark. As you can see in one of the above pictures.

Why Henry Winkler?

I found out that's why Alex and his roommate came home this particular weekend. Henry Winkler is speaking at a Family Health Expo tomorrow at one of our local malls. Of course he wanted his clothes washed and to re-stock his dorm room with soda and Easy Mac but he and his roommate both want to see Winkler. LOL! The dh couldn't believe it. I said that Michael will want to go too and the dh scoffed at the idea. We told Michael about it and he got excited and said he hopes to get his autograph. LOL!! The dh asked him if he even knew who Winkler was. Michael said "yeah, he's the attorney on Arrested Development"

So, we're all going tomorrow to see "The Fonz"!!!

I'm still practicing using black and white pictures with a touch of color.

Well, Alex is coming home this weekend...he said something about some dirty laundry. I guess I know what I'll be doing all weekend. He must not be planning on staying too long because he said he wasn't bringing his computer which is probably good since I partially dismantled his desk (it's a huge L-shaped computer desk) so I'd have more room for my stuff. LOL!

Did anyone watch the season premiere of House this week? I liked it. I loved it when Wilson told Cuddy not to tell House he was right and she protested and he said, "Everybody lies." I love Wilson, he's as important to the show as House. I can't wait for the rest of the new shows especially since Monk is already over till January. I hate to say it but I don't think Monk is as good without Sharona. It's like with House and Wilson, she and Monk had some sort of chemistry where they played off one another. And I don't mean sexual chemistry...just some sort of friendship chemistry. Having said that, I have to say I also love NCIS and I like the Ziva character as much or more than Kate. So killing off a character and replacing them isn't always bad. I'm not adverse to change. Hey, I like Law & Order and that's a veritable revolving door for characters. LOL!!

Enough for now, I have to get ready for work. Have a great weekend!

I guess I'm a little behind since it's already on season 2, but I just started watching The Closer on TNT and I love it!! Why didn't I know about this show before? It's my own fault because TNT has certainly been promoting it. I have heard of it but didn't even know what it was about and the title didn't grab me or make me want to watch. But this weekend my TiVo was almost empty (getting ready for the fall season to start!) and I was checking out the suggestions it had for me and I watched The Closer just to see what it was before deleting it. And now I'm kicking myself for not watching sooner. It's smart, funny and I think the actors are perfect in their roles. I watched the 4 TiVo had for me and now I want more! I see the first season is out on DVD...I may have to make a trip to Walmart or Sam's Club! LOL!

I'ved be experimenting with black and white photos with a colored element and I decided to make a layout with one of the photos.

Not much going on this weekend. It feels strange without Alex. Letting go is hard. Not knowing where he is nor what he's doing. It's like one day he's a kid at home now he's of legal age and not exactly living on his own since he's in a dorm but he's still living outside the home.

Sorry to have disappeared for so long. Spent the weekend getting Alex settled into his dorm. We packed on Friday and I took him up on Saturday and unloaded his stuff, then I came home. The dh and I went back on Sunday for convocation and to bring Alex the stuff he forgot or didn't fit in the car on Sat.

He seems very contented so that's good. I just feel tired right now. Probably from spending the weekend going back and forth to Murfreesboro and the emotionals of Alex really being out of the house.

A layout I did of myself and my 2 sons in the first grade.

I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles today. Wait! Where's everyone going? This is a rant about the DMV--I swear.

I had to take Alex today for his driving test. Yes, I know he's 18 and going off to college in like 2 days, but he still only had his permit and we told him it was time to get on the stick and get his license. Anyway, they take appointments now so we made one for 9AM. The e-mail they sent said to arrive 15-20 minutes early so we got there at 8:45 AM. The first surprise we got when we walked in was they had totally rearranged the place...it's more like a bank. You wait in one line and the next available person helps you. Well, we did the paper work, Alex took the road test at 9, came back did more paper work, got his license and we were out of there at 9:30 AM!!! I still can't believe it. When I took each one for their permits we were there each time for a minimum of 3 hours most of it waiting in endless lines only to be waited on by people who took customer service lessons from the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld. This time, however, the people behind the counter smiled and talked and joked. It was--dare I say this--a pleasant experience!!

All of Alex's friends have had their licenses for at least a year some 2 years and they all told him to expect to be there for around 3-4 hours. So I guess it was a good thing he didn't get his license before now.

All I can say is thank you FedEx!!! A while back they had a thing on the news about the DMV hiring FedEx as a consultant on how to improve service and speed up the process. Well, it worked!

Busy weekend but I did get some layouts done. This one is my first grade class. I found a bunch of old class pictures and I want to do an album of mine, the dh's and my kids and we can compare them.

As I said in a previous post, we went to see Snakes on Thursday. Alex went again Friday night with a bunch of his friends after work. So Michael wanted to go again. So yesterday I took him and his best friend. His best friend wanted to see it but his dad wouldn't take him--not because he didn't want him to see but he just didn't want to see it himself. He's the one who went when we took the kids to see Silent Hill. I guess after that movie he wasn't up for this one. But I made sure and talked to his parents when I picked him up. We went to the special matinee so it was only $5. The showings that are between 4-5 o'clock are cheaper. Plus this theater was showing it in all digital--picture and sound. The digital is soooo much better than regular.

Not much else but running around this week getting Alex ready to leave. There's a list of things he still needs since we seem to shop in increments of 8 minutes (see previous post).

Here's a couple more New Orleans layouts.

Things are pretty quiet here this weekend. It was a bit cooler this morning so I mowed the lawn--or should I say weeds since they are the only thing that's grown this summer. Horrible weather...hot and very dry. It's rained just enough to keep things alive but just barely. The only place anything looks decent is next to the central a/c units where the water runs off and that's out in the back corner not visible to anybody but us.

Alex went with a group of friends to see Snakes again so now Michael is bugging me to take him again. He can't go alone because he's not old enough. Is it just in Chattanooga or does other parts of the country not allow under 18 for rated R. According to the official movie rating people, R rated movies are under 17 not allowed. Anyone know why the discrepency?

Okay, I admit it! The kids and I went last night to see Snakes on a Plane.

All I can say is...GO SEE IT!!! Just don't take it seriously! The filmmakers sure didn't and that's why (IMHO) it worked. I can't remember when I've laughed so much during a movie...even Talladega Nights wasn't this funny or as much fun and it's a comedy.

I feel compelled to put up some sort of SPOILER WARNING although I'm not really revealing any plot twists or anything because there really isn't any. It's pretty straightforward--there's Samuel L. Jackson, a plane and some snakes.

At first I was worried. I was afraid it would turn out to be another 15-18 year old boy movie like Silent Hill and my kids would love it and I would be wishing I could get a refund. Or, I would end up falling asleep since it was a work/school night and it was the 10 PM showing -- nearly past my bed time. Both fears proved unfounded. I still laugh thinking about some of the dialogue. Of course everyone was waiting for Samuel L. Jackson to say the now famous, "I'm sick of these bleep snakes on this bleep plane." and the theater errupted with cheering, clapping and laughter but I thought it felt like it was just tacked on. And if the internet rumors are true, it was added on later. But that doesn't matter when there's other gems like when the co-pilot tells Jackson that such and such on the plane isn't working and Jackson asked what will happen if they can't fix it. The co-pilot replies, and I have to paraphrase since I don't have perfect recall. He said something like "we're in a metal tube 10,000 feet in the air--she'll go down quicker than a Thai hooker." Or when the stewardess heaves a big sigh and says, "I don't believe I'm saying this but ... can anyone here fly a plane?"

I admit the first 5-10 minutes I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. I mentioned it to Michael and he said, "Yeah, I thought maybe they were showing the wrong movie." All I could think of was that old tv show CHiPS. It was endless scenes of a guy riding his dirt bike with music blaring in the background. But as soon as Sam showed it was like he was saying "I'm here now. Let's start having some fun with this movie!"

I don't know yet what the critics will be saying but if they understand that this isn't serious filmmaking, I think they'll like it. There's a very high cheese factor...but in a good way.

Well, that's my take on the movie. Would love to hear what others think.

Oops, I forgot to put the link in for the credits on yesterdays layout. You can go here for credits.

A layout for another sketch challenge. I'm hoping to create an album of some of our New Orleans trips. For credits go here.

Remind me again why I get teary eyed thinking about Alex going off to college? Yesterday, I rushed home after work so Alex could get some shopping done for his dorm room. When I got home we had about an hour and 45 minutes before I had to pick Michael up from school. Of course Alex was still sleeping (it was 12:45 PM) but he did get up and took a quick (for him!) shower. Okay, we still had an hour and a half. He's out of the shower but why isn't he coming? Well, before he can leave the house he has to convert some songs he's got on his computer so he can put them on his PSP. Twenty-five minutes later the songs are ready. Five minutes to put onto PSP. I guess we still have enough time. But before we can get out the door he has to hunt for his glasses. Finds glasses but before he can go out the door he needs to go back upstairs and look for his wallet. Are we ready to go out the door? As soon as he finishes getting his PSP headphone wires untangled. Okay we make it to the car! Yippee! We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to look for sheets, etc. We go in and find some sheets. Do you like these? What? I can't hear you, Mom, I still have my headphones on. We finally establish that he likes those but the paper that tells the mattress size is in the car. No problem, I tell him, I'll run and get it. I ran to the car and grabbed it and went back into the store. Where is Alex. He's not where I left him. I look around. No Alex. It won't do any good to call him because he's got the headphones on. I circled the store three times and had a clerk searching for him. I'm ready to give up when he finally appears. Now we have to rush to pay for the sheets so I can pick Michael up.

That hour and 45 minutes I had...I think in the end we had about 8 minutes to actually shop. And that was only 1 item!! He still has a list of things he needs.

I did this layout for the August song lryics challenge at RAKScraps. For credits go here.

Well, we survived first day of school yesterday. 3 out 0f the 4 teachers Michael has this semester had Alex as a student. Michael said that worked out good because they automatically liked him because of Alex. Michael said good thing they don't really know me yet!

Recently Budd was talking about "Evil Genius" on his blog. An incident yesterday made me think of that--only I don't know if it's a case of evil genius or complete idiocy. As I said, yesterday was the first day of school and someone chose that day to close the road and dig up the railroad tracks on the main route between the middle school and the high school (and between my house and the high school). There are other ways to get from one to the other but you have to go all the way around. No to mention that the buses take that route. They had to go around and tie up traffic especially since there are a lot more sharp turns and the buses have to wait for the oncoming cars to pull out so they can make the turn.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Several years ago they talked and talked about extending the sidewalks in front of the middle school. They talked about it all summer. When did they start? You guessed it! The first day of school. Talk about a mess! Half the road was closed for several weeks.

Who in the world makes these decisions?

Back to school tomorrow! Unfortunately, that also means I have to get up at least 1 hour earlier. Two more weeks and Alex heads off to college. Feeling nostalgic I did a layout of his first grade picture. I love the gap tooth grin. I used Kathryn Balint's The Alphabet Book Kit.

Not too much else happening this weekend. We went to the local Chinese buffet last night and got another questinable fortune cookie. The first time it happened I got one that said "Enjoy life while you can." Maybe it's just me, but that sounded more like a threat than a fortune. Last night Michael got one that said something like "You're creative and personable. Prove it." What happened to "Help! I'm trapped in a Chinese fortune cookie factory."

I was going to upload a layout but Blogger won't let me. I hate when that happens. I finally learned how to properly save my layouts for the web. Thanks to Kelly at Kathryn Balint my layouts will look better when I upload them. If Blogger lets me....

We went to see Talladega Nights yesterday and I have to say I liked it. It was typical Will Ferrell --sophomoric humor and Will running around in his undies-- but it was fun, funny and entertaining. Not all the jokes/gags worked but enough did so I'm not complaining.

After the movie we went to pick up Michael's schedule for school. He's got English the first semester so we also had to pick up a summer reading list. He was hoping he'd get it 2nd semester and could put it off even longer. No such luck! He has to read Farenheit 451 but we told him since he liked Animal Farm he'll probably like it too. He can also read either a Grisham or a Mary Higgins Clark. I have some of each so he can pick what he wants.

Alex had good news from MTSU--they're changing his roommate assignment and putting him with his friend from high school. The other kid called yesterday before he knew about the switch but Alex told him he might be switching. I told Alex he'll probably run into that other kid and he'll be like "so you're the one who didn't want to be my roommate!"

Another Animal Kingdom layout. I love looking at the tigers. I think they're so beautiful.

Tennessee is having Tax Free days (Fri-Sun) this weekend so I've been shopping and taking advantage. Tax free is for clothes, school supplies and computers. With sales tax at 9.25%, it's definitely a savings. Alex has been working lots of extra hours this weekend. The money will come in handy since he'll be leaving for school in about 3 weeks.

The kids and I are planning to go see the new Will Ferrell movie tomorrow. Talladega Nights. Not my first choice but they really want to see it so I figure I'll tag along.

Back from vacation!

Despite some bumps in the road, we had a great time at Disney World and now I'm trying to catch up on everything plus get ready for the new school year. Michael picks up his schedule this Monday and starts the following Monday (8/14). Alex will be going soon after.

Disney was hot and crowded but that's summer at WDW. Didn't expect anything different. What I didn't expect--and this is totally naive on my part--was that someone would try to snatch my camera from around my neck. We were in Epcot heading for the exit after the nightly fireworks and someone came running by me and bumped into me. I felt a tug and next thing I knew my camera was gone--all I had left was the strap it had been hanging from. I yelled and ran after her. Some guy saw it and yelled too. I ran after her and she either dropped or threw the camera down. I got my camera back but the way it hit the ground I seriously thought it was ruined. To my surprise and relief it still works. Park employees asked if we wanted them to call security and fill out a police report but I honestly couldn't describe the person who did it except she was female. It's true what they say about witnesses. Michael thought she was wearing a red shirt and I thought she had on blue and the guy who yelled was wearing red. I was super careful with everything after that.

Unfortunately Alex had bad news from MTSU when we got back. He and his friend thought they were going to be roommates but when they got their letters they were assigned to different people. They've been making plans for the past 3 months and coordinating what each one would buy and bring for the room, etc. With such limited space, no sense in having 2 of everything. The part that makes me mad is that we asked--repeatedly--about roommate assignments and were reassured each time. If we had been given correct info to begin with we could have been working to correct it. Now they're saying it's probably too late. Grrr.

I fired off an e-mail to the people running the orientation and told them they need to give correct info and not paint a rosey picture if it's not true. It would have been better to receive dissappointing news back then. What they told us (at orientation) and what people in the housing dept. told us when we called were totally opposite. Alex and his friend are trying to get their assignments changed but don't know if it's futile or not.

One of the admin staff gave a speech at orientation and basically said if a student (or parent) came to him with a problem he would make it his problem until it was solved even if it wasn't his department. I told Alex we need to make this his problem! LOL! Of course he could have been just blowing smoke too.