Goodbye 2013

I've noticed a lot of people doing Top 13 posts for 2013, but I don't think I'm qualified to follow as that would be half of my posts for the year. Yep, this was a pretty lean post year. This is going to be my 28th and last post of 2013, albeit a small one.

The picture above is of our yearly and appropriately gifted ornaments from the Barefoot Contessa and Alison. Each year they manage to outdo themselves.

Can you tell what event these ornaments were inspired by?

Nailed it. Right down to the race numbers. Alison found an Etsy seller that handmade these ornaments based on this picture. Love them.

I love Peanut Head's sunglasses too. They look like tinted swim goggles.

We had a quiet Christmas in the Scott house. I was unfortunate enough to catch a chest cold on the eve of Christmas Eve, and I spent Christmas day on the couch reading and napping. Although it wasn't fun, I was so thankful that I didn't have to be at work or write sub plans in order to rest and recover. If I'm going to be sick, this is the time to do it. Sadly.

I think this is my favorite Christmas present. It's from Stinkerbell.

Number 3 is a little odd, isn't it? Since when is a kiss a chore? Well, the Stink loathes lip kisses. Especially after the giver has slept or eaten, as indicated by the addendum next to the check box.

I wonder if she'd notice if I erased her addendum and added fifty more check boxes instead.

Probably she would and then as a consequence declare the entire coupon null and void.

However, because I'm not beneath trickery, I'm going to collect on that lip kiss, and then I'm going to print out another coupon on account of I scanned the original for this post. I shall then approach the Stingy Kisser and attempt to collect on another kiss with my counterfeit coupon. Aaaaaand, don't tell the Stink, but before I collect on that kiss I'm going to eat a gigantic bowl of mashed potatoes (her nemesis) upon awaking from a long winter's nap.

I simply cannot wait.

This is the first Christmas vacation since I went back to work that we've had a two week long break. It has been awesome. I don't feel like I'm running out of time, although on Sunday I'm sure I will, and I've had a lot of time to do the things I want to do and relax.

One of the things I've been doing is working on my digital album. I'm up to 70 pages completed, and I now need just 30 before I'll be ready to print my next book. 

The layouts above are a new album I just started for myself and my siblings. I'm working on an actual album for my mom, and I decided that I may as well scan the pictures as I go and create albums for myself and my brother and sister.

Of course that meant I needed to buy a new digital kit. Since I'm using Becky Higgins' Digital Project Life and the templates, and my pictures are older, I chose the Heritage Edition.

This is just a glimpse of that kit, but you can see it better by following the link above. If you want to check out the other Project Life Digital Kits, go here.

Not that I'm advertising or anything. Becky Higgins has no idea who I even am. I just love the concept and I'm all about getting things done simply.

On that note, Happy New Year!

Doing Whatever I Want

The end of the year is fast approaching, and I keep thinking of things that I want to share with you, but I've been too lazy to get up and do something about it. I'm going to attempt to do a little of that in this post.

The first of those things is, at first glance, possibly a little boring. It's our 2011 Christmas ornaments from my Mother-in-Law, The Barefoot Contessa.

Every year, the BFC gets every single person in her extended family an ornament that is appropriate to the year they've had. Quite often the ornament makes light of a comical event in the person's year. My ornament this year is the cruise ship, and it is appropriate, although not comical, because Peanut Head and I went on a cruise for our 20th anniversary.

Stinkerbell's ornament, however, is a knee slapper.

The Stink's comical even for 2011 was the fact that she was assigned a mule at Girl Scouts Horse Camp. It's appropriate, it's ironic, and it's hysterical. The BFC gets extra points for this one.

Peanut Head's ornament had us all stumped until we asked The BFC about it. I had to slap my forehead, it was so appropriate and I had let it slip my mind.

His ornament makes light of this unfortunate event. I have to hand it to The BFC, she's good.

Zoe Bug's ornament was a horse, just because in her world it's horse, horse, horse, horse. I took a picture of it, but it was blurry so I left it out. I could retake it, but then I'd have to move. Not happening.

The BFC has a knack for finding the perfect ornament. She frequently procures her ornaments at  Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, just in case you need to know.

On another note, I'm on break from school this week and I am thoroughly enjoying myself. We don't have enough snow to play in and it's too cold to go outside just for the sake of getting fresh air, so we're hanging out inside. I'm not complaining either. I love being inside, in my sweat pants, doing whatever the heck I feel like, because I'm not constrained by any deadlines. It's pure bliss.

I'm taking advantage of the extra time by working through some Photoshop tutorials and learning how to use my new program. I've been staying up super late, and when I go to bed I dream about digi scrapping in Photoshop. It's awesome.

So I tapped into a bunch of tutorials over at JessicaSprague.com and there's so much great stuff there, that I'm going to be busy learning for a long time. Sadly, the tutorials aren't free, but the one that I've been working through has four complete lessons with five or six tasks within each lesson. I'm averaging about one lesson every other day. The lessons come with all the supplies you need to do each of the layouts too, so that's pretty nifty.

I figure I'll wait a few months before I buy another lesson because I need to give myself time to process all the new information and get comfortable using my new skillz.

I found the Jessica Sprague site in connection with Becky Higgins' Digital Project Life. One of my New Year's resolutions for 2012 is to make progress towards getting caught up on my backlog. Notice I didn't say I was going to get caught up, but instead make progress.

I don't want to psyche myself out with the stress of another unattainable goal. Not that it's unattainable, but I like to play head games with myself and set myself up for failure. This is how I outsmart myself and work around my self inflicted obstacles.

Project Life is going to help me with that, by enabling me to focus on the story and not spend so much time on the creative layouts. I'll still do layouts like the one above, but they will be scattered throughout my albums and not stressing me out with the pressure of needing a fabulous layout for every ding dang picture.

Or stressing me out because I only have one or two pictures for an event and I don't want to waste a whole page on a one-photo layout. I hate that.

The last thing I want to share with you today is the Christmas gift I gave to my students this year. I had good intentions of getting these up earlier this month, but I ran out of time. I you like the idea, you can pin it for next year. You are pinning, right?

If you aren't and you want to, e-mail me and I'll send you an invite. You must start today. Trust me.

I got this great idea that I was going to give my kids water bottles for the classroom. They drive me crazy with their up and down to get a drink every ding dang minute. I knew I couldn't afford really nice water bottles for the whole class, but I was able to score some pretty decent ones at the dollar store. I bought every last one and I was able to get exactly the number I needed. I was crawling around, digging behind plastic containers to come up with 27 cups, 27 lids, and 27 straws to make a complete set. I really lucked out. 

I cut the names out of vinyl on my Cricut and they went together surprisingly fast. Then I stuffed them with a candy cane, an Airhead, and a mint and left them on their desks for them in the morning. The best part was that my kids loved them and they were very surprised that I personalized the cups for them. That made me feel all tingly and lovey dovey inside.

I heart their sweet little hearts.

And I miss them, but I do not want my vacation to end.

Did you hear that, Father Time? Slow the bus down, will ya?

Girls Traveling Without Men

The girls and I took a quick trip to Colorado last week. It took us eleven hours driving each way, but we stopped a lot. When girls travel without men, they don't have to hold it. I think I should make a poster with that little message on it.

Only once did someone-who-shall-remain-anonymous have to pee in a cup, and that couldn't be helped. There was an emergency and we were in Nowhere, Wyoming.

When Peanut Head travels with us, there's an itinerary that must be followed to the letter. "We're going to be in Who Cares, Nevada, at oh-one hundred hours and we'll stop for rations there."  It's a military operation when he's with us. I've found a way to get around his itinerary though. I just program a Starbuck's stop into the GPS as a via point, and then it's the lady that lives in the GPS telling him where to go, and he can't huff and puff at me.

Anyway, we went to Colorado to visit my dad and step-mom. It had been eight years since I had been home. Sadly, it was my step-mom's first time meeting Annika. I should be flogged for that, I know. Keeping the grandkids away like that.

Frankly, I don't know how eight years passed without me knowing about it. Time passes quickly anyway, then you have kids and every year comes at you BAM, BAM, BAM, and you walk around in a  stupor, wondering what happened to that baby that you just had yesterday.

All that guilty conscience aside, I've been working on the pictures from our trip, and I actually sat down and digi-scrapped to put together a book as a thank you gift. Actually, I'm using the term "digi-scrap" very loosely here, because I just dragged and dropped my pictures into pre-designed templates. Then I tweaked them a tinsy little bit. It's cheating, for sure, but it's efficient. You know I like efficient.

This is Grandma and Grandpa's uuuuuuuuugly dog. I'd like to tell you that she's sweet too, but Girlfriend is moody like she's perpetually on her period. Click on the layouts if you want to get a closer look, but please, brace yourself.

We had a lot of fun in Colorado, and I made a promise that I won't stay away so long next time.

What about you, are you going anywhere fun this summer?

Spring Layout

I was in the mood to do a digi layout tonight, so I sorted through some pictures and came up with this. Of course I didn't work on any of my backlog because I wanted to do something current, but every little bit counts, right?

This layout was from a little road trip we took last weekend. I'm taking the PRAXIS exam Saturday so I can convince Idaho that I'm competent enough to teach here. You know, because my California credential isn't good enough. That just burns my butt, but what can I do? Anyway, that doesn't explain the road trip, does it? I have to be at the testing center at 7:30 a.m. and I'm not the most navigationally gifted person on the planet, so we drove to the parking lot of the testing center and then stored the location in my GPS. I am a cheater. Well, except on tests. Wish me luck.

Halloween Layouts

I know it has been forever since I posted a digi layout, so I sat my butt down and cranked out a few. Sorry about the Halloween theme this time of year, but you know I'm chronologically anal.

You've probably seen all these pictures before, but the layouts are new, I promise.

Have a great weekend!

Still Working on 2008 Layouts

I did a few more layouts for 2008. I'm desperately trying to finish so I can get my book made.

After finding out that I couldn't slurp my Blogger blog through Blurb anymore, I started the tedious task of cutting and pasting my blog entries into a StoryBook. I'm not going to be able to fit an entire year into one book, so I've decided to just get in what I can and then start another book where I left off.

I also decided, after much hand wringing, that I'm going to combine my digital layouts with my blog entries. So much of what's on my blog belongs in my digital family album, so it seemed silly to me to keep them separate.

Plus, the bonus for me is that I don't have to digitally scrap every picture. What a relief that is. It makes the whole project seem that much more manageable.


My book is chronological so I might have two layouts on facing pages, and then six pages or so of blog posts before I have another layout. I'm just copying and pasting the blog posts and putting them on a plain white background to set them apart (and make things quick and easy).

I'll be sure to share it with you when I get the finished product in my hot little hands.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I sure hope you all had a safe and fun New Year's Eve. Personally, I spent mine on the couch, in the famous Wii Fit Yoga pose of Couch Potato.

Today I'm sharing with you some of my recycled digi layouts, which I've regurgitated special for my 2009 calendar. The calendar that, because I'm such a procrastinator, I probably won't have in my hot little hands until sometime next week.

I'm okay with that because I'm on vacation and I don't know what day it is anyway.

Who cares?

I haven't made any New Year's resolutions, but I do love the fresh start that a new year brings, don't you?

I have some goals for 2009, for sure. One of them I told you about earlier. Remember that? I'm going to conquer the chin-up bar in '09.

And with that, I'm sure, will come some changes. But change is good, right?

Uncomfortable, yes, but good.

We got the Wii Fit for Christmas, so Peanut Head and I have started with some of that uncomfortableness.

When we walk down the stairs, we yelp "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow . . . ."

Just call me Jelly Legs.

I also want to declutter my house and get more organized. But don't we all? I've found that this is a lifelong process. I'll never be done.



I also want to take more time for myself to read. I love to read.

If I take more time to read, I can do more book reviews too. I could tell you which books have the word smolder in them. Wouldn't that be cool?



What I really need to work on though, is separating myself from my computer a little more. The problem is that I use my computer for so many different things.

Many of those things are productive, but others are not so productive.



Like constantly checking my e-mail. Why do I do this? I think it's just another form of procrastinating, and you all know I'm the Queen of that.

Anyway, I have a few things to work on, but I'm ready to get started. How about you?

Layouts of Playing with Cousins

I'm still plodding through the pictures of our trip to California over the summer, and I feel like I'm making progress.

I'm hoping that once I get past this trip, it will go super fast since I skipped ahead and did some layouts here and there.




The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins while we were in California. We don't have any family living near us, so they have to cram all their getting to know each other into short visits, which are sometimes more than a year apart.



This just means that they really appreciate each other when they're together. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

Santa Mailbox

It's hard to believe that Christmas is already over. It seems to have whooshed by, in spite of my no-stress attitude and goal of enjoying the season.

One thing that didn't get done that I wanted to do, was to take the girls to drop their letters to Santa off at the Santa mailbox in our town. Since they did get to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted, I didn't feel too bad. And since the Santa mailbox is always a good photo opp, we decided to take thank you letters to the Santa mailbox instead. That's what we did yesterday.

The Santa Mailbox was at the museum this year. There's a Christmas exhibit going on at the museum right now, so we decided to check it out while we were there.

We saw lots of Santa collections, nativity sets, and other Christmas collections. It was a nice display.



My favorite was the Gingerbread house exhibit. The room it was in smelled exquisite. This is a picture of my favorite Gingerbread house.



Isn't it amazing?



Here's a view of the back side.



And an up close picture. I wanted to touch it so bad, I can't even tell you.

I was wrestling with my conscience, "Would anyone notice if I ate just one teensy little shutter?"



This was another nice set of houses.



And a Gingerbread Teepee. Isn't that the coolest?

I'm in the mood to make a Gingerbread house now. I'm going to do it next year, for sure.



This is just Stinkerbell on a wooden horse.



And Zoe Bug on the same horse.



Yesterday we started writing our thank you notes for Christmas. This is the first year that I don't have to help the girls.



I just handed them a list of who gave them what, a stack of thank you cards, and I set them loose.

My only rule is that they have to write at least one thank you note each day until they're all done. That way it's not an overwhelming task.



We also hit the after Christmas clearance sales bright and early yesterday. Well, before noon anyway. We stocked up on goodie buckets for next year's bake-a-thon. We got 50 of them so we'll have plenty next year.



And we scored big time on the candy cups. For some strange reason, we had a very hard time finding these this year. The only stores that had them were K-Mart and Target.

And if you live in my town, don't bother lookin' cause we cleaned 'em out. Sorry about that. We're hoping 2,000 candy cups is enough to get us through the next couple of years.