just miss kim

happy Halloween

Today's the big day. Chesney has been so excited that she has a paper chain countdown going. She has been anxious to wear her Gabriella costume (from High School Musical, in case you're not a parent of a tween ager). I'm sure I'll have pics to post this weekend.

In the meantime, Dan has the day off today, so I decided to take a personal day, too. We're going to go do some Christmas shopping and eat a nice lunch together. Want to get the bulk of the shopping done before we go on our Thanksgiving trip because we need to know how much we can spend over Thanksgiving. Doesn't matter what the budget is, though, I'm getting that Haygoods Ultimate DVD collection for Christmas.

Tonight will be incredibly exciting. I think Dan and/or Mykiah is going to take Ches out and around. They are to be home and in bed by 8 because that's when the live Ghost Hunters investigation starts. I actually contemplated taking off tomorrow because I know I'm going to stay up too late watching GH, but I can just deal with it tomorrow. There's always caffeine.

The adorable graphics in my little greeting up there are by the great Kay Miller. Hope you have a wonderful day!

football on a fall afternoon

carving pumpkins

a little chat

I had a really nice weekend. It started on Friday after work. For the first time in... oh eight years or so, I went out to dinner with a friend. No kids. No husband. Just a lot of talking. And a little shopping afterwards. Dang that Bath and Body Works sale!

My relaxing weekend was punctuated by fun calls and text messages from Annette, a fellow Haygood fan who was in Branson for the weekend. Her messages never failed to make me smile and feel enormous amounts of jealousy, especially when she called to tell me she was "My Girl." Positively green with envy. Can't wait until Thanksgiving so I can get her back.

Spent the weekend at my parents house. You'll be seeing the photos over the next couple of days. For now, here is my favorite photo from the past 48 hours.

I miss

my Haygoods. Isn't it funny how a piece of music can really get into your soul and brighten your mood? I've had their CD in my van the past few days, and it sure does make me happier.

I think this clip is from Shelby, who is a huge Haygoods fan. Even bigger than me, if you can believe it. This is one of Dan's favorite Haygood songs. I just like watching Dominic sing it.

freebie alert

There's a great thread at DigiShopTalk about the history of digital scrapbooking. I started over 3 years ago, and haven't looked back. I love to talk to people about this hobby, and am always willing to help those who are just starting and learning. For one of the first layouts I created, I used a free kit by Shabby Princess. I'm pretty happy to say that all these years later, she's still out there creating gorgeous kits and giving them away for free. And I'm also pretty happy to call her a friend, and get the chance to play with her stuff before it's released to the public.

Here's a layout I did using her newest kit:

Download the kit here. If you're not a digital scrapbooker, but are someone who just stops by my blog and has been tossing around the idea of digi-scrapping, feel free to download it. I know many great digi-scrappers got their start playing with the Princess's freebies. If you need some help, feel free to drop me an email. I might not have all the answers, but I can probably direct you to the right place. :)

Last day of parent-teacher conferences today. It's a good day.

stepping outside my box

Lately, I've been really outside my box when it comes to scrapping style. It kind of started as a way to amuse myself after browsing the galleries. For a long time, I've stuck fast to my "paper style" scrapbooking. I like for my digital layouts to look as if I made them with paper (but without the glue and mess of paper). However, it seems like the trend in digi-scrapping is away from that and more towards doing things that can only be done in digital. So I decide to play, and I've sort of been playing for the last 2 weeks. It's kind of fun to do something different. So here's some of my recent blended/digital looking layouts:

What do you think? Should I go back to my old ways, or keep mixing it up?

yes, we need a little Christmas...

For the second week in a row, I bought Christmas apparel. I couldn't help it. Target had just put out their girls' holiday shirts/leggings and I like to have the pick of the litter.

I know, you think I've lost my mind.

I haven't really.

In just over four weeks, it will be Thanksgiving. And we'll be in Branson. Where the Christmas season starts on November 1.

So, you see, I need Christmas shirts for my family to wear to the shows that week.

OK, not my whole family. Dan and Brady won't go anywhere near a Christmas shirt. The girls and I will definitely be wearing them, though. 3 shows = 3 Christmas shirts, right?

Anyway, Target has super cute and sparkly girls' Christmas shirts, in stock right now. Do what I did... buy 'em and then hide them away in a closet for a month or so. JCPenney had some fun adult shirts, too (I really liked the one with the mixed drinks that made reference to Christmas spirits, but I sort of figured I couldn't wear it to work, so I went with a "celebrate your inner elf" shirt).

I promise. I'm not totally crazy. And my girls and I will be way cute during our trip.

Sometimes, that's all that matters.

P.S. Eye Candy is Jake Gyllenwhatever. The guy that was in "The Day After Tomorrow." That's the only movie I've ever seen with him in it. But he's not bad on the eyes, and I'm running low on eye candy ideas.

another project...

I think I mentioned awhile back that I had won a Shutterfly calendar and that I used the Shabby Princess 2 page wall calendar kit to put mine together.

Again, my photos are blurry. But I'm too lazy to go get the lighting right and retake them. You'll get the idea.

So here's a glimpse of our 2008 calendar. Shutterfly will let you enter speical dates, so I went ahead and entered all our birthdays, etc., plus days when the kids and I don't have school. I didn't put our vacations on there, and it's a good thing because I think Dan is already changing his mind. I kid you not. The man is giving me serious gray hair.

OK, back to the glimpse... the cover:

And a couple of inside pages:

I just used the tops and made sure they were cropped right for the page. It was only $6 with shipping (because I had a free code), so the price was definitely right and I'm happy with the finished product. Hope it gives you some ideas!

come to my window...

I believe I mentioned last week that I was going to ask Dan to rearrange our bedroom. Until Saturday night, I was sleeping looking right out a window. I kept waking up in the middle of the night convinced someone was standing outside, looking in at me. I always managed to convince myself it was shadows (because there was no way I was opening the curtain), but I was so frightened that it would take me awhile to calm down and go back to sleep.

Saturday, he did rearrange, and I thought I'd share a (slightly blurry) photo of our bed. Cuz I think it says something about me.

That pink quilt at the foot of the bed? The grandmother of a former student made that for me.

We have piles of pillows because I am a pillow freak. I buy a new one every month or so. Doesn't matter if I buy a $50 pillow or a $5 pillow. I only like it for about a month and then it's time for a new one. I usually pass them on to the kids, but while rearranging the room, Dan just collected our castoffs and set them all on the bed. And then Sunday we went and bought new pillows. I should start an adoption center for Kim's castoff pillows.

In the middle of the bed, you can see my two stuffed animals that perch on our bed. Because I'm still a teenager at heart. That's Sully Monster, who I bought at Disney this summer, and my Haygood hug bear, which Tim Haygood tossed to me at a show in July.

Our actual quilt is red/white/blue patchwork. Bought it in Branson, and love it. You can also see my stuffed to overflowing bookcase, and a hint of the lotion I keep by my bedside. Every night, I have to lotion up my feet. I have dry feet. And when I do it, Dan says, "It puts the lotion on its skin" in his best Silence of the Lambs Buffalo Bill voice. There's also some Carmex next to the lotion. Have to do the Carmex before bed, too.

My favorite new addition to our room is this photo:

When we were at Disney this summer, there was a watercolor of this same scene in the Riverside gift shop. I wanted it so bad. Every time we went in the gift shop, I'd look at it and covet. I didn't buy it, but when I got home, I took my own photo of the scene and ran a watercolor action on it (I think it was one by Kim Hill, but I can't find it in my actions palette, so I'm not completely sure). Got a rough wood frame for it on Friday night and finally got it hung. It's not blurry in real life, that's the photo and me not using flash. But you get the idea.

So there's your little sneak peak into my personal life. No designer prints, everything is not in its own place. It's a comfortable room, and well lived in. And it's mine.