It's Thursday ....

.... and I'm exhausted beyond measure!  It was well into the 90's yesterday and actually over 100 in the sun.  Someone in our house (obviously not me ☺) has not decided that it's acceptable to turn on the air conditioners yet.  Mind you, all they need is for someone to push the button, they are in and ready to go.  Anyhow, downstairs was around 90 degrees last night which means the upstairs was probably pushing 100 or more.  After tossing, turning, sweating and being more than miserable for a couple of hours after going to bed I finally gave up and headed downstairs.  I turned the fan on high and spent the rest of the night trying to get a little sleep in my recliner along with an ice pack wrapped in a kitchen towel.  I think I might have snoozed off and on for about 3 hours.  I am one very tired chickie today and sore from a night spent in the recliner instead of bed.

I don't get it, why suffer?  I understand it's going to be cooler over the weekend with the nights being much cooler.... so turn the air off then .... why is it always an issue?  Yeah yeah... I hear how we don't really need air, he grew up without it, blah blah blah.  Bottom line in my thinking is that life is too short to be miserable.  Call me a wimp, call me a wuss, whatever name you want... I don't like to be hot and uncomfortable.  It makes me miserable and unhappy.  I'm not into extreme temperatures and just don't handle them well.  I don't think that makes me a bad person, just not something I'm good at dealing with.  Unfortunately I'm not sure tonight is going to be much better.  It's not as hot out today but it takes forever for the house to cool off after getting that bad.  It was still 85 downstairs this morning.

Ok, done venting ...... I wish I handled temperature extremes better and they didn't make me so miserable.  Blah

In other news, the floor is almost finished! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Crown molding went up last Friday and was completed on Saturday.  It looked a little sketchy at first, but with some fills and touch up painting it looks gorgeous!  Hubby did a fantastic job and I know it wasn't easy.  I believe he said something about crown molding and NEVER EVER again!  Now that the floor is almost complete he just has to get it finished and the baseboard down.  I'll do the final touch ups and we can put everything back where it belongs.  It looks really really good and I know we are going to enjoy it for many many years to come.  In the end it will be worth all the hard work and the mess in the house.

Hopefully the next projects will take on the siding and we'll get a chance to finally finish what was started almost 8 years ago.  LOL... I think the neighbors would be happy with that too.

Ohhhhh I need to take pictures and post.  You should see our lawn.... it's gorgeous!  Hubby has been fertilizing, seeding and working very hard on it lately.  Between all his work and my flower beds which get better and better each year .... it's pretty nice and impressive looking in the Oliver yard these days.  My roses are blooming very nice too.  Started out the season with a little black spot which I need to treat.  Unfortunately some cold nights and hubby forgot he's not supposed to water them got us in a little trouble right away.  They are looking better though and I think it's going to be a good rose year.  Some of the blooms have been huge.  Hubby's garden is looking nice too.  He's growing tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow summer squash, green beans, lima beans, bell peppers (green, red and yellow), jalepeno peppers, basil, radishes and beets.  I can't wait for the fresh veggies!  We also have raspberries and strawberries. 

Here are a couple of pictures hubby took of some of my roses:

I'll have to get pictures of the yard... he really has done a wonderful job!

Ok, back to the grind.  I'm alone in the office this week and have been buried in work.  Trying to get some design time in, working on a kit that I'm really having fun with.  Doesn't have a name yet, maybe I should hold a "Name this Kit" contest.

Whew... long winded post.  Sorry for the novel today... LOL

Have a great day!

Wonderful Wednesday Sale ......

Hurry on over to check out my Wonderful Wednesday Sale!  Save 35% off EVERYTHING in my store today only.  That's 35% off even the kits and bundles I added yesterday.  The bundles are already discounted so with 35% off, it's a huge bargain.

Run, don't walk.... hurry and shop today!

Twilight Dreams Bracket Album & Bundle

I finally added the Twilight Dreams Bracket Album to my store.

You can find the bracket album here.

I also added the entire Twilight Dreams Kit, Alpha & Bracket Album as a bundle at a really good discount, you can find the Bundle here.

Spring Showers ...

I finally got Spring Showers added to my store. 

Spring showers are a reminder that all things new and refreshed are on their way. The wonders of spring, the healing qualities of rebirth and opportunities aplenty that arise when Mother Earth shakes off her winter coat and emerges fresh and full of new wonder. Giving you the power to dream of spring and new beginnings.



You can find the Kit in my store here.

You can find the coordinating Alpha here and the coordinating Cosmo Cricket Ethan Album here.

I also added it as a bundle at a really good discount, you can find the Bundle here.

Additional previews for the kit are in the store.

Jessie sleeping in my garden window. Using pieces of a new kit that I'm working on.

TGIF!!!!!

Great news in our house yesterday!  Ollie got a 1950 with his first attempt at the SAT.  That's super good considering the max is 2400 and average is 1500.  Super good scores and almost a perfect score in the critical reading section and an 11 out of 12 on his essay in the writing section.  We are sooooo proud of him!  He will study on any problem areas in the next couple of weeks and retake the first weekend in June.  Congratulations on a super first score Ollie!

Not great pictures, but here are a couple showing the new yellow walls in the dining room.  You really can't see how pretty the yellow color is in the photos.  Hopefully today is crown molding day and that the floor gets laid this weekend.  If it does and the baseboard gets put down, I can finally put everything back where it belongs and clean my house.  Believe me, you'll hear the shout of joy when that happens! ☺

Busy weekend ahead with work on the house and Ollie has two games tonight.

If I don't make it back here before Monday, I wish everyone a wonderful weekend!

Happy Humpy Day .....

Yep, I'm still here.  Just buried deep in work, stuff at home, etc.  I certainly could use more hours in the day, but then again I'm ready to collapse now so I'm not sure I could handle more hours in the day without a nap here and there.

Dining room has been torn apart for over 2 months now with all it's pieces and parts all over the house.  Most significantly the china cabinet in my very small hallway.  Passing through the hallway requires going down sideways and sometimes as a contortionist.  We also have the table apart so are eating in the living room which I'm not a big fan of.  Good news is that the walls are finally painted.  Next the crown molding goes up and then FINALLY the new floor.  It's the floor that started this whole process.  See the photo I took here where we took the subfloor down to the original tongue and groove and put a new one in.  The finished floor is a solid bamboo and is going to be gorgeous.  We put a new beadboard ceiling up and it's painted a semi-gloss white along with the trim, baseboard and crown molding.  The walls are a daffodil yellow and it's all going to be so nice when we are done.  Sooooo.... crown molding, new floor, baseboard ... touch ups and then the furniture goes back.  Hooray!

 
Don wants to start Ollie's room next (new ceiling fan and paint).  I think Ollie wants to wait until school is out.  He retakes his SATs in early June and has finals coming up.  Me?  I'd love to have the house back to "normal" and get everything cleaned up before taking on another inside project.  I'm hoping he will tackle the outside siding which has gone on way too long.  It's time to get it done.  After school is out and we come back from the beach we can get Ollie's room done in hopefully a few days.

Ok... back to the piles and piles of things to get done.

Happy Monday ....

WOW, Monday rushed up on me this week.  Weekend flew by with so many things to do.

Friday night Ollie had a spring hockey game.  He's on a scoring streak with goals and assists in the last three games in a row.  He's really working hard and playing well.  We are so proud of him.

He has two AP tests this week, AP Biology today and AP World History on Thursday.  They are scored 1-5 and if he gets a 3 or above he will get a college credit for the class.  Some colleges only accept a 4 or 5, but most will take 3 or above.  He took a practice Bio on Friday and got a 4 so we are hoping.  I told him this morning that I smell a 5.... hehe

Speaking of being proud of him, one of his best friends (Scott) is Jewish and his younger brother's Bar Mitzvah was on Saturday.  Ollie wasn't invited to the party because it was for friends of Jake, not Scott.  However, Scott did invite Ollie to come to the service on Saturday if he wanted.  Now most teenagers would have said NO WAY.  The service is hours long and if you aren't Jewish and don't understand Hebrew it can be tedious to sit there.  But because he's so close to their family (the mother tells me all the time that Ollie is her adopted son), he got up early on Saturday, dressed in a shirt and tie, picked up Scott's girlfriend for him and went to the service.  I'm very proud of him for being a good friend.  He was also invited to their house yesterday morning for a brunch.  While it was hard for me to share him on Mother's Day, I let him go to his "surrogate family" for brunch. LOL

Mother's Day was wonderful.  The boys gave me a Nook!  I love it.  I've been out of bookshelf space for a long time and have books stacked everywhere.  I love to read and will re-read books over and over if I like them.  This is a perfect solution for me and also makes it easy to take it with me on the go.  I see people reading at the gym on the treadmill, but I'm not sure that would work for me.  I still love printed books, but this is much more practical for me right now.  I will probably continue to collect my Stephen King books in hardback, but I'll purchase ebooks now for anything I would normally buy a paperback copy of.

Working on my next kit... it's too early yet to know how it's going.  I also have a bunch of kits in progress that I need to go through and decide what to work on and finish.  Also on the list is going through a lot of my old contributions to mega kits for stores I was in before.  I want to rework the pieces and add to them to put out some complete kits or mini kits.

.... time to get back to work!  Have a great day!

Fun photo ...

Ok, so it hasn't been a good Friday so far!  Boss man blew up his laptop and it now has the blue screen of death.  I've been through tons of diagnostics and even tried a re-format and re-install of the operating system and it looks like he's done it in good.  So his mission now is to get to Best Buy to buy a new one and get it back here so I can get it ready for him before I leave today at 2:30.  Yeahhhhhh ... not looking like I'm going to be leaving on time.  Blahhhhhh ... NOT the way I wanted to start the weekend.  Oh well, I do have to be out of here at a reasonable time. Ollie has a game tonight and I'm not missing it!

I've been trying to move everything from my portable drive over to the new one the boys gave me for my birthday.  I had maxed out the space on the old one (320 GB), so they gave me a cute little 1 TB one.  Of course it takes forever to move things around.  I want all my design stuff on it as well as all our photos so that I can design scrap no matter what computer I'm using.  I have a big external that I will keep it backed up to so that I don't lose anything.  So, long story short I've gotten our photos on the new drive and will start getting the design stuff there next.  I love looking through old photos.  I have a ton of them I need to do for Ollie's scrapbook.  Here's a favorite photo of him from 1998 that I need to do a page for.  He's such a cutie!

Ok, back to work for me.  Hopefully I get everything done and out of here at a reasonable time.  We have a busy weekend ahead.

Sometimes ....

Sometimes I wish I was a cat!

Wish this was me sleeping in the sunshine!  Doesn't she look cozy?

Blog Train BONUS ....

As promised here is a bonus just for stopping by each day for the blog train.  I originally created this album to be 8 pages so I decided to share the final two pages as a bonus.

You can download the bonus here.  Please note this link will only be available for 24 hours.  I will be putting the entire Twilight Dreams Bracket Album in the store later this week.

Thank you again so much for stopping at my station each day.  I hope you'll continue to visit my blog.

NSD 2010 Blog Train ~ The Story of Our Lives ~ Day 6

Welcome to Day 6 of the blog train.  It's the final day, BUT if you check my blog tomorrow you'll find a BONUS to the album I've been giving you a piece of each day.  Make sure you stop by and get it.

Today is the last day to pick up my grab bag for only $3.00.  It's a great bargain so I hope you'll take advantage of it. 

It's also the last day of the 30% off sale.  Remember if you are a member of my group on Facebook, there's also a special coupon there that also expires after today.  Don't miss out!

Here is a preview of today's gift:

You can download it here.  Please note that this link will expire in 24 hours. The entire album will be available for sale in my store at the completion of the blog train.

Your blog train gift was created from my Twilight Dreams kit.

  

May 2010 Wallpaper

Put together a desktop wallpaper for May using one of the pages from the Twilight Dreams Bracket Album and additional items from the Twilight Dreams kit.  Ollie had some fun times with his friends during spring break and e-mailed me a bunch of the pictures they posted on Facebook.  This is one from an evening a group of them spent hanging out, making a fire in the fire pit, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.  Fun times... fun memories!

NSD 2010 Blog Train ~ The Story of Our Lives ~ Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of the NSD 2010 Blog Train.


I've decided to go ahead and reveal the contents of my grab bag here today.  Be sure to pick it up for only $3.00 through May 5th.  After that it will go into the store and be a retail value of $12.00.

Here is a preview of today's gift:

You can download today's gift here.  Please note that this link will expire in 24 hours. The entire album will be available for sale in my store at the completion of the blog train.

Please leave a comment if you download, I would love to hear from you!

Your blog train gift was created from my Twilight Dreams kit.

You can find Twilight Dreams and the matching Twilight Dreams Alpha in my store.

Please join Dreams Ink! Digital Designs on Facebook to get information about my products and sales. You will also get special deals and can join in on discussions!

You can find the group here.

Thank you for stopping at my station on the blog train, I hope you will visit me each day. Here is a list with all the participants:

BLOG TRAIN PARTICIPANTS:

Alessandra Designs - http://www.alessandradesigns.blogspot.com/

Amanda Thorderson - http://flamingo-amanda.blogspot.com/

Beth Rimmer - http://www.bethscreativechaos.blogspot.com/

DeDe Smith - http://designzbydede.blogspot.com/

Dreamer Paula - http://designsbydreamerpaula.blogspot.com/

Georgia Oliver - http://dreamsinkdesigns.blogspot.com/

Juliana Gordon - http://www.julianagordon.com/

Kathryn Estry - http://kathrynsdigitaldesigns.blogspot.com/

Kristmess - http://kristmessdesigns.blogspot.com/

Lifesong Kreations - http://lifesongkreations.blogspot.com/

Nini's Notions - http://ninisnews.blogspot.com/

Sarah Meyer - http://blog.sarahbdesigns.net/

Scrap4Brains - http://scrap4brains.blogspot.com/

Silvia Romeo - http://www.silviaromeo.blogspot.com/

Tallula Moon- http://www.tallulamoon.com/blog

psssttttttt .......

Make sure you check the Facebook group today if you are a member. There's a special coupon there but only for the members. If you aren't a member, now is a good time to join. :-)

I can't believe it's Monday. The weekend flew by so fast ... I feel like I've been left in the dust! Ollie took his SAT on Saturday. Came home feeling pretty good about it. He also had a fantastic game on Friday night with a goal and 3 assists!

Renovations on the dining room are continuing but very slowly. We did get the crown molding for the ceiling this weekend and I primed it all yesterday. The ceiling is up and hubby was sinking the nails and filling. He also filled all the holes, etc. on the walls. Next is sanding and cleaning it up so I can get the ceiling primed and painted. After that paint for the walls and trim. Solid bamboo floor goes in after the bulk of the painting is done. Since it's been apart for well over a month and a half now, I CANNOT wait to put everything back where it belongs and get the house back in order again.

Crazy hot weather yesterday. We don't have the air conditioners ready for the summer yet so it was a miserable night last night. 85 degrees downstairs and probably about 95 degrees upstairs. When I was still awake at 1:00 a.m. and couldn't get comfortable I got a fan from the basement and spent the rest of the night in the recliner tossing and turning. I might have managed 2 hours of sleep total. My boss commented that I looked super tired the minute I walked in this morning. Hopefully it either cools off today or we get the air conditioning ready to turn on!

NSD 2010 Blog Train ~ The Story of Our Lives ~ Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the NSD 2010 Blog Train.

I hope you will join us at Digitals for all the wonderful things happening during our event from April 30, 2010 through May 5, 2010. There is a huge store wide sale for 30% off! Yes, that means all of my designs are 30% off through May 5th. I hope you will take advantage of the sale and stock up. I'm going to be retiring some of my products by the end of May.

Also, make sure you check out the grab bag sale! There are tons of great personal use and commercial use grab bags available. Be sure to pick up my personal use grab bag for only $3.00. This is a huge value and I'm sure you'll love the contents. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Here is a preview of today's gift:

I'm sorry this link has expired. The entire album will be available for sale in my store at the completion of the blog train.

Please leave a comment if you download, I would love to hear from you!

Your blog train gift was created from my Twilight Dreams kit.

You can find Twilight Dreams and the matching Twilight Dreams Alpha in my store.

Please join Dreams Ink! Digital Designs on Facebook to get information about my products and sales. You will also get special deals and can join in on discussions!

You can find the group here.

Thank you for stopping at my station on the blog train, I hope you will visit me each day. Here is a list with all the participants:

BLOG TRAIN PARTICIPANTS:

Alessandra Designs - http://www.alessandradesigns.blogspot.com/

Amanda Thorderson - http://flamingo-amanda.blogspot.com/

Beth Rimmer - http://www.bethscreativechaos.blogspot.com/

DeDe Smith - http://designzbydede.blogspot.com/

Dreamer Paula - http://designsbydreamerpaula.blogspot.com/

Georgia Oliver - http://dreamsinkdesigns.blogspot.com/

Juliana Gordon - http://www.julianagordon.com/

Kathryn Estry - http://kathrynsdigitaldesigns.blogspot.com/

Kristmess - http://kristmessdesigns.blogspot.com/

Lifesong Kreations - http://lifesongkreations.blogspot.com/

Nini's Notions - http://ninisnews.blogspot.com/

Sarah Meyer - http://blog.sarahbdesigns.net/

Scrap4Brains - http://scrap4brains.blogspot.com/

Silvia Romeo - http://www.silviaromeo.blogspot.com/

Tallula Moon- http://www.tallulamoon.com/blog

NSD 2010 Blog Train ~ The Story of Our Lives ~ Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the NSD 2010 Blog Train.

I hope you will join us at Digitals for all the wonderful things happening during our event from April 30, 2010 through May 5, 2010. There is a huge store wide sale for 30% off! Yes, that means all of my designs are 30% off through May 5th. I hope you will take advantage of the sale and stock up. I'm going to be retiring some of my products by the end of May.

Also, make sure you check out the grab bag sale! There are tons of great personal use and commercial use grab bags available. Be sure to pick up my personal use grab bag for only $3.00. This is a huge value and I'm sure you'll love the contents. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Here is a preview of today's gift:

I'm sorry this link has expired. The entire album will be available for sale in my store at the completion of the blog train.

Please leave a comment if you download, I would love to hear from you!

Your blog train gift was created from my Twilight Dreams kit.

You can find Twilight Dreams and the matching Twilight Dreams Alpha in my store.

Please join Dreams Ink! Digital Designs on Facebook to get information about my products and sales. You will also get special deals and can join in on discussions!

You can find the group here.

Thank you for stopping at my station on the blog train, I hope you will visit me each day. Here is a list with all the participants:

BLOG TRAIN PARTICIPANTS:

Alessandra Designs - http://www.alessandradesigns.blogspot.com/

Amanda Thorderson - http://flamingo-amanda.blogspot.com/

Beth Rimmer - http://www.bethscreativechaos.blogspot.com/

DeDe Smith - http://designzbydede.blogspot.com/

Dreamer Paula - http://designsbydreamerpaula.blogspot.com/

Georgia Oliver - http://dreamsinkdesigns.blogspot.com/

Juliana Gordon - http://www.julianagordon.com/

Kathryn Estry - http://kathrynsdigitaldesigns.blogspot.com/

Kristmess - http://kristmessdesigns.blogspot.com/

Lifesong Kreations - http://lifesongkreations.blogspot.com/

Nini's Notions - http://ninisnews.blogspot.com/

Sarah Meyer - http://blog.sarahbdesigns.net/

Scrap4Brains - http://scrap4brains.blogspot.com/

Silvia Romeo - http://www.silviaromeo.blogspot.com/

Tallula Moon- http://www.tallulamoon.com/blog

Grab Bag ....

In response to lorig's comment, yes the grab bag ad is a clue as to what is in it. ;-P

Who knows..... maybe a sneak peek will be given later on towards the end of the sale. You never know... wink wink wink

NSD 2010 Blog Train ~ The Story of Our Lives ~ Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the NSD 2010 Blog Train.

I hope you will join us at Digitals for all the wonderful things happening during our event from April 30, 2010 through May 5, 2010. There is a huge store wide sale for 30% off! Yes, that means all of my designs are 30% off through May 5th. I hope you will take advantage of the sale and stock up. I'm going to be retiring some of my products by the end of May.

Also, make sure you check out the grab bag sale! There are tons of great personal use and commercial use grab bags available. Be sure to pick up my personal use grab bag for only $3.00. This is a huge value and I'm sure you'll love the contents. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Here is a preview of today's gift:

I'm sorry this link has expired.  The entire album will be available for sale in my store at the completion of the blog train.

Please leave a comment if you download, I would love to hear from you!

Your blog train gift was created from my Twilight Dreams kit.

You can find Twilight Dreams and the matching Twilight Dreams Alpha in my store.

Please join Dreams Ink! Digital Designs on Facebook to get information about my products and sales. You will also get special deals and can join in on discussions!

You can find the group here.

Thank you for stopping at my station on the blog train, I hope you will visit me each day. Here is a list with all the participants:

BLOG TRAIN PARTICIPANTS:

Alessandra Designs - http://www.alessandradesigns.blogspot.com/

Amanda Thorderson - http://flamingo-amanda.blogspot.com/

Beth Rimmer - http://www.bethscreativechaos.blogspot.com/

DeDe Smith - http://designzbydede.blogspot.com/

Dreamer Paula - http://designsbydreamerpaula.blogspot.com/

Georgia Oliver - http://dreamsinkdesigns.blogspot.com/

Juliana Gordon - http://www.julianagordon.com/

Kathryn Estry - http://kathrynsdigitaldesigns.blogspot.com/

Kristmess - http://kristmessdesigns.blogspot.com/

Lifesong Kreations - http://lifesongkreations.blogspot.com/

Nini's Notions - http://ninisnews.blogspot.com/

Sarah Meyer - http://blog.sarahbdesigns.net/

Scrap4Brains - http://scrap4brains.blogspot.com/

Silvia Romeo - http://www.silviaromeo.blogspot.com/

Tallula Moon- http://www.tallulamoon.com/blog