document life now

Conquered

I have a blog. I'm on Facebook, Twitter, and even Google+. I use Chrome. I have an iPhone.

And now I've been a guest on a podcast. 

I've pretty much conquered the digital world. Now if I could only be half as cool in real life.

If you'd like to listen to the podcast in which we discuss all things digital scrapbooking and travel (especially Disney), you can listen here:

The Digi Show

Steph, Katie and Peppermint are some of the coolest digi-scrappers around and it was so fun to talk with them. 

Have a wonderful weekend! It's staycation weekend for us... we're hitting the mall!

Friday playlist

Lately I've been buying songs for Mykiah and sending them to her. You know, there's a whole "It Gets Better" campaign out there. I'm trying to give her a similar message. She's full on hitting adolescence and that whole wash of hormones and questioning her self. I speak better through music than I do with words. Here's what I've sent her.

 

Beautiful by Christina Aguilera was the first one that came to mind. Even though.. it's Christina. Not my fave. And Kiah loves it. Score.

Then one night we were listening to music and I thought of a really good song I should share with her:

 

How did I wait this long to introduce my girl to TLC? Of course, listening to this song led me to say that Lisa Lopes passed away, and of course, that's a great subject for Mykiah right now so then we had to talk about how she died. 

Guess where I went then. You'll never guess.

 

That's right. I went all Wilson Phillips on her. Unexpected, but uplifting.

I'd like to leave you with a song that's the top of my own playlist right now. My favorite Disney movie is the little loved "Hercules." And this song is my favorite Disney song. Is there any better way to hear a song performed than hearing it in acapella?

 

another layout

Did this one of Chesney a few day ago. One of my favorite photos of her (because I'm the kind of person that has my kids sit on deserted dirt roads) and I loved being able to capture her summer.

don't forget

I am retiring at the end of this month to focus on teaching (in real life and online) and actually creating layouts. In the meantime, you can pick up my stuff for 50% off at two little pixels.

I really have no plans to sell at any time in the future so please get what you want now, as it won't be available after the end of the month. 

some recent layouts of Kiah

My girl and I have been having a rough summer. We're bonding over Disney trip reports and anxiety. 

When I open PSE to scrap, I find myself pulling photos of her. It's scrap therapy.

She helped me with this one (with some assist from the trip album I did back in 2007):

This one was because I wanted to do something clean and simple:

And finally a Cathy Zielske template:

I think we need to go do a photo shoot again. But first... cool weather would be nice.

an update on my summer

It's flipping hot here (as one of my students would say). 

Here's an interesting read about surface temperatures outside: Infared gun finds surface temps

We're entering the second stage of our summer this week. For the past seven weeks, I've either been teaching extended school year classes or on vacation. That's all over now.

It's time to think about next school year. It's only three weeks away. Up this week is preparing for enrollment and working enrollment. I'm dying to get my classroom put together, but since it was used this summer, it's going to be a bit. We weren't the neatest people this summer. But, oh, we had fun.

My kids are thinking about their year ahead. My high schoolers will attend school in a brand new high school. Chesney, who should finally be heading out of elementary and into middle school, gets to move to an intermediate school instead. Our district did some major moving and reconfiguring and there she goes. Next year will be junior high. Where in the heck did my babies go? Did I mention Brady is a senior? In high school?

Now it's not about the summer stretching ahead of us, but the weeks before school starts. We love them so much at my house. Buying school supplies (for everyone... I got the cutest little hanging file storage), finding the perfect first day of school outfit. Buying more contacts, last minute dentist appointments. 

We love back to school. Are you thinking about it yet? 

we're off to see the boy wizard

I am really not a fan of crowds, so we decided to wait until today to go see Harry Potter 7.2. 

I love the books. I didn't start reading them until the first six were out, but I still remember my joy in getting the 7th book and staying up all night to read it. Four years ago, almost exactly. 

Today we shall watch it end.

My kids are Harry fans as well. Brady's the only one who has actually finished the seventh book. Mykiah started but never finished (I can't imagine not finishing!), and Chesney is on book 6. She'll finish them. I have faith. 

I'll cry. I love Harry and his world so much. 

In preparation, my children and I spent the week leading up to my birthday watching all the previous Harry Potter movies. Even Azkaban, which I don't like at all. 

Triple digit heat, and we're cool in our living room, watching an epic unfold.

my life this week

My children are gone this week. Staying with their grandparents. After work, I'm home alone. Just me and Doodles the dog.  

My routine has become this... come home, change clothes (because you don't want to know the slime those clothes have on them), make lunch (or go through the drive thru cuz I'm too lazy to make it). Eat lunch. Turn on Bones on Netflix streaming. Open laptop. Scrapbook or edit pictures. Watch Bones all afternoon. Monday, I waited for Dan to get home to eat. Tuesday, there was no point. He was going to get home way later than my dinner comfort zone. So I made my Stouffer's stuffed peppers (which would gag him anyway), grabbed my kindle and a cup full of Sonic ice and water, and sat down to eat dinner by myself. 

It's a little sad. I miss my kids. They're my companions. I miss Brady's snark, and Chesney's enthusiasm about everything, and even Mykiah's worrying. 

I've had to put the dog out and feed him. Get my own refills of water. It's been a trial. A trial, I tell you.

They come home on Friday. I'll be glad to see them. 

Cuz I won't have to find the remote by myself again.

recipe: parfaits

Mykiah is really developing an interest in cooking, and I'm really trying to foster it... while not totally giving up the cooking duties because strangely, I like it too. Kiah's a very health conscious eater, so when she said she wanted to make a dessert, I encouraged the idea. Let's make a dessert that almost borders the healthy line. You and me, my girl.

 First, you make the pudding. Ignore my slightly grimy blender. I've always made pudding in a blender. Put that baby on low and walk away for 2 minutes. Then pour equally into 5 styrofoam cups (or however many parfaits you want to make). Put in the fridge for an hour or so to let it set. By the way, if you make the pudding with skim milk... healthy! Even if it is white chocolate pudding. Oh, and I used instant obviously. I like instant better than cooked. Always have.

After the pudding sets, it's time to add the cool whip. And maybe your choice of chocolate chips, berries, or both. You can decide how healthy you want to make it.

And then... the piece d'resistance. Graham cracker crumbs. Totally yummy.

Then repeat the process (we only had to repeat it once, if you use a taller cup, you may need to repeat it twice). 

Then you get to eat and enjoy!

my birthday gift

Because it wasn't enough for me to make my own birthday cake, I also bought my own birthday gift.

Dan's not real big on picking things out for me. Apparently, I'm a difficult person to buy for. I say, hey, just read this blog for a few days and you'd get a good idea what I like. 

But Dan doesn't get on the internet. Unless it's football season. So he doesn't read this blog, which means I can talk about him as much as I'd like.

Anyway, I sort of had an idea what I wanted and one day I searched to see if I could find what I wanted.

I got my ears pierced back in March, and soon discovered that I can pretty much only wear 14K gold on a day to day basis. I'm very bored with the earrings that were used for the piercing, so I wanted something new and fun.

14K gold post earrings in the classic three-circle Mickey style.

Found 'em for a not bad price at QVC. They're not real diamonds, but they are real gold. 

They arrived one day, and the kids promptly took the package and wrapped. Even though I ordered it, no opening my gift until my actual birthday.

Brady was inventive with the wrapping paper. He's a big believer in upcycling.

And inside were these...

And a quick model shot...

Wow. These were exactly what I wanted. How ever did my family know?