Computer Craziness

So Mike's computer started "smoking" the other morning.. not exactly smoking but smelling like burning electronics.... this began the journey through new computer adoption and the fun games that go along with it... I've spent most of today working on tweaking and setting up his new computer to mirror his old computer... I don't like the new design of Office!!! it is too distracting... so I'm going to try and locate the Office cd's from the old computer or simply move it by hand... What a Pain!!!
The boys have now been with out their Fisher Price Insta-link game for 3 days now ( they are 2 distraught little men...) so Mommy has been doing double duty to keep them entertained.
Other than a couple of emails and the 2 blog entries today, I haven't seen my computer much... I so wanted to spend some time digi scrapping but doesn't look like it is going to be today... Maybe tomorrow...

I hope to share some of my creations here this week as well as lessons learned in my ladies' Bible Study...

For now , I'll call it a night and put these poor computers to bed..

Welcome to my enchanted journey.

So as I am reading through some blogs and doing house work today, I realized I hadn't posted in a while and my blog was looking pretty dull... So I'm fixing it up a little. I hope to share some o f my passions along the way...

I love living in the Willamette Valley! This was a couple of weeks ago (it looks like snow, but they had just sprayed the orchard up the street.... We actually didn't get any snow this year, so far... But the beauty of nature is so pure out here that I had to share...

hmmm, didn’t realize I hadn’t posted in a month....

Wow, where did the time go...

I've been trying to keep my head above water, busy with the boys, business, and begining tax work... So I guess I should bring everyone up-to-date...

January was crazy, missed a day of school for snow, although we never really had any here but everything around us got it...

Celebrate Portland for all you scrapbooking friends was a blast! We crossed teh 1800 count this year! The pages have gotten better, the classes kicked but (I taught one of them), the displays rocked and everyone got tons of pages done... (even my little sister got something like 17 pages done,,, Way to go Beth!!!)

The boys are growing faster than I can keep up!! Nathan is using sentences now and talking up a storm...

Last week I taught Sunday School and carried the lesson through this week. We did "Helping Hands" in our lesson so the boys each picked a job for the week. The deal was if they did their job every day without whinning or arguing we would go to the aracade (Chucky Cheese or Fun Center...) on Saturday... Well they did it, so we are spending the afternoon at the arcade (I'll post pics tonight).

I've been slowly converting all my scrapbooking to digital; have I told you all how much I love StoryBook Creator Plus?? Well, this week I actually designed my own digital kit including papers and elements... What a trip!! I'm uploading a bunch of pages to Costco to print today... I love the fact that I can scrap for a while and walk away from it, come back later and not have a mess to worry about and not have to worry about the boys messing in it...

Last week we started a new Bible Study, "Living Beyond Yourself" by Beth Moore. It explores the Fruit of The Spirit and has been a challenge and a blessing. We had 10 women Thursday evening for the 1 hour session.. It is great as we can pick up where we left off or someone can join late in the game and still get a lot out of the lessons...

Let me think... School, scrapbooking, the boys.. That just about sums in up... I haven't been writing much, but I've been trying.. hopefully as I get a couple mroe household things done I can focus a little more on the words...

Digital Scrapbooking

So some of you know I'm a scrapbooker... I love taking photos and love to put them in my albums. Actually some people think it is an obsession... well it is...

I'm alsoSo some of you know I'm a scrapbooker... I love taking photos and love to put them in my albums. Actually some people think it is an obsession... well it is...

I'm also a computer geek under it all so the idea of mixing scrapbooking with my computer, I'm all over it...

I've been playing with the new Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus software and creating pages, invitations, cards (I have the Christmas cards made and printed doesn't that count for something...), and generally having fun exploring the digital world... I've tried other programs over the past 2 years and was never really happy with one... so I took the CM program with a grain of salt when I started... Now I love it... It does everything I was doing with the other programs and I have figured out ways to tweak the program to my liking...

Yesterday during our trip to Costco (that could be an entire blog in itself...), I ordered and picked up a set of 8 12 x12 finished Scrapbook pages... I LOVE THEM!!! Even my husband who isn't the biggest fan of said hobby liked them and compared several of them to works of art... WOW!! that was an ego boost...

So I am combining all my passions and accomplishing something at the same time... Heck, I even get to throw in some writing (journalling) and a little bit of poetry (corny at times, but meaningful...)

I want to share this new passion with everyone as it is so fun... It is so much easier and even more flexible than traditional scrapbooking (not that I will be giving up the traditional right away)... I even get to teach a class at our upcoming All Day Crop at the Portland Expo Center the end of January... I'm psyched... a computer geek under it all so the idea of mixing scrapbooking with my computer, I'm all over it...

I've been playing with the new Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus software and creating pages, invitations, cards (I have the Christmas cards made and printed doesn't that count for something...), and generally having fun exploring the digital world... I've tried other programs over the past 2 years and was never really happy with one... so I took the CM program with a grain of salt when I started... Now I love it... It does everything I was doing with the other programs and I have figured out ways to tweak the program to my liking...

Yesterday during our trip to Costco (that could be an entire blog in itself...), I ordered and picked up a set of 8 12 x12 finished Scrapbook pages... I LOVE THEM!!! Even my husband who isn't the biggest fan of said hobby liked them and compared several of them to works of art... WOW!! that was an ego boost...

So I am combining all my passions and accomplishing something at the same time... Heck, I even get to throw in some writing (journalling) and a little bit of poetry (corny at times, but meaningful...)

I want to share this new passion with everyone as it is so fun... It is so much easier and even more flexible than traditional scrapbooking (not that I will be giving up the traditional right away)... I even get to teach a class at our upcoming All Day Crop at the Portland Expo Center the end of January... I'm psyched...

hmm, scrapbooking....

So , I figured out that I really haven't worked on my albums in almost a month.... UGH!! if you know me , you know who insane that sounds.... I did 15 pages for my Mother-in-laws Christmas gift album (there is a pile of photos and pages ready to work on ...) ... My budget has really put a damper on my creativity and my scrapping... so, I decided I would do whatever I could as far as planning goes and go to an All Day Crop till you Drop in McMinnville tomorrow... These are a monthly thing, but I haven't been in a long while... (since before she moved her store)... This is also my only chance to crop and not work as I am usually hosting the events and helping my customers (I love them but I miss my albums)...

So, tonight I planning out approx 100 pages (4 different albums) and stacked the photos for Mother In Law's album.... In hopes that I get a babysitter (Thanks to my Mom) for the day and can go hang out and work on my albums...

I have been planning the journalling and thinking about using lyrics from songs related to the holidays and some of my own poems in at least a couple of the layouts...

This should also help my mood.... My birthday is just around the corner and I'm not finding much to celebrate so I'm hoping a day out will help the over all mood...

Glitz and Bows or NOT

So this week has been a rollercoaster... but, tonight I realized the season is more than just the glitter and bows we all put on for the holidays.

The Christmas Season is about families and friends, the people we really care about and the greatest gift of all the birth of the Savior.

I've been rehearsing for a solo at Church this coming Sunday and fighting a cold as well... That said, Mike has been a supportive guide through the struggles of getting ready to put it all on the line in front of family and friends. It is said, "Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord," but sometimes I feel like it is more Noise than Joy... It is frustrating to me as we use to practice and expect perfection in our music and now with life and family it is hard to achieve that.... Don't get me wrong perfection was never attained for me, but I always put my best foot forward where my music was concerned... That said, I am going to put it all on the line and get up their and sing, in my heart it is Joyful and the meaning of the words is really more important to me than the notes...

So on that it really isn't about all the glitz and glam of the lights and bows, it is about the strength that God gives me to conquer my fears and give it all to him...

There are moments in your life when you realize this is not a game.

There are moments when you see you future and well it ain't pretty.

There are moments when you look back on life wishfully thinking, What if?

There are moments in your life when you really have to wonder, WHAT THE.?

There are still moments in my life that amaze me,

but mostly

There are moments in my life I simply miss