The best laid plans...

Well, I know that I declared today to be scrappin' day, but life had different plans for me. My daughter has been complaining that her mouth hurt for about a week now. I thought it was just molars coming in so I didn't think much about it. But she's been complaining so long that I thought I'd just take her to the dentist just in case. So we got a 10am appointment and I took her out of school. They took x-rays and we find out that she does indeed have molars coming in, but she also has baby teeth refusing to budge. Again. The dentist ended up pulling out two baby molars, one of which has a root that's about an inch and half long. She's sore, swollen and crabby.
Chipmunk Cheeks


I cannot find my wishblade software and I'm ticked. I can't find the case with all my software actually, but I'm mostly concerned about my wishblade stuff. I can't get the software on my new computer, so I can't use the freaking machine. I'm tempted to buy the new software, but that's $100 I don't have. *sigh*
And I am trying to put stuff together for the Jar of Whimsey swap I'm in. I'm kinda running into creative block. I don't have a lot of "stuff". Filling it with scrapbook stuff wouldn't be hard, but I don't have items just laying around. I'm going to take a day and go to goodwill n' such to see what treasures I can find. Of course I'm weary again because the person I am paired with has 2 posts on 2Peas. The person I was paired with for the last swap fell off the face of the planet. I didn't get anything, but then, I didn't mail hers either because she never responded to my emails. So I wasn't out anything, but I didn't get anything either.

I have been thinking about taking the kids to Tahoe this weekend. We went a couple of years ago and had fun, so I thought they'd like to go again. I'd like to do something since we haven't done anything fun this summer. I'd really like to go to an amusement park or something along those lines, but money is tight, and I couldn't afford the tickets if I wanted to. I was thinking about going to the crystal fields that Dawn told me about and we may still do that in a couple of weeks. I'm still brainstorming.

I'm not making any plans for tomorrow because if I do, they'll get messed up anyway, lol. But for now, I am going to read another little bit in my book and get comfortable. I am really going to try to get up early tomorrow. Really I am. ;)

What the heck just happened????

Today was back to school night. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm now on the PTA, signed up to be a Girl Scout leader and I need to be fingerprinted for volunteering in the classroom. I'm pretty sure I agreed to give my next born to Satan too. I don't even know what happened. One minute I'm meeting the teachers and the next I have a handful of sign up forms and t-shirts. Crap.
And while we were meeting in the Cafeteria, I was swarmed by stay at home moms. Apparently, my kids are in their kids' classes and we all need to get together for afterschool play dates and other stuff. Now, I don't have anything against them. They're all very nice ladies. But, that's not my lifestyle. I'm a simple worker bee. I don't like idle time and I'm not stay at home mom material. I've tried it before and it's just not how I roll. And don't get me started on the whole I dislike people in general thing. I have very few friends for a reason. I'm kinda shy and I find that I rarely have things in common with people. I know I lack "chit-chat" skills. And I'm remarkably inappropriate at most times. It's a wonder that the people I do know put up with me. Besides, if I'm gonna be a girl scout leader I'm going to need to save all my "good" for those times. Note to self: No potty mouth while earning badges. They frown on that.

Anyway, I didn't get much done today. I spent time trying to get answers from unemployment. That worked out well. It doesn't make any sense to me that if I EARNED a bonus way back in June and the company just got around to paying me for it today, why it should count against me. According to their handbook:

"You are considered "UNEMPLOYED" in any calendar week during which you performed no work and earned no wages...You must report any work performed or any wages earned during the week covered by the claim. 'Wages' means GROSS AMOUNT EARNED before deductions. Wages must be reported in the week in which they are earned, not when paid."

And I've been given three different answers. #1-report them as wages, like I worked this week. #2 - fax a copy of the stub to UE and let them decide and #3 - don't report it at all. I've been told all three. WTF!?!? The only problem is that if these "wages" are reported incorrectly to UE, it could come back to bite me in the ass. So now I have an email in to UE (get it in writing and CYA). We'll see what happens with that.

And I spent more time on the phone with the hospitals and Blue Cross. Hopefully, this will get those claims submitted and paid. The hospitals' billing staff are LYING and I've caught them in a lie and they don't like it. The lady at Blue Cross didn't like it either. I wish I could send her a nice thank you card with a starbucks gift card. But I don't know how I can get it to her. Although, I have her extension. I wonder if I could get a super to give me a mailing address. Hmmmm......

Oh and I had a personal accomplishment today! I walked 1.46 miles. Whoo-hoo for me! It may not sound like much but I haven't been able to do any exercise without my foot swelling up and breaking out in that nasty rash thing. And I was able to walk today, and I don't have any issues. I'm so excited! So tomorrow, I am going to go walking again. Start slowly and work my way up. I told my hunny that soon I'd be walking to his work to bring him lunch. He's about 3-4 miles away. That'd be a helluva round trip for me.

Alright I'm going to go check my blood sugars and take all my meds. And then I'm gonna read for a while. Man, this idle time is killing me. Oh, and I haven't forgot about doing some kits. I was too busy this morning and the afternoon got away from me. I think I'm going to try my mothers suggestion and get up at 5am so I stop throwing off my schedule. And if I do that, I'll have a couple of hours before the kids get up to do something. Plus I am declaring tomorrow to be scrapbooking day. I WILL complete a layout if it kills me. hehe....

I'm starting to sell....

I just listed some Prima Fancies on ScrapbookAddict. Here's the listing for those:
Prima Fancies

Tomorrow, I am going to list a couple of kits, probably at the same place. I'll be working on that in the morning.

Anyway, I haven't done anything all weekend. I spent all day Friday sorting through a big rubbermaid container of photos. I have sorted all of them into groups with index cards so I can scrap them. And I found a ton of old photos of my early childhood that I scanned into my computer and uploaded to scrapbookpictures.com to print off. I'm excited to scrap those. I have a few that are really damaged. I don't know where I'd go to get them fixed, but I desperately want to.



So, Saturday I dropped my kids off, and picked up my nephew so my mom could work. My brother went off again, but that's nothing new. I don't mind helping, but I'm not going to do it if I'm going to be yelled at for trying to do the right thing.

Today, I hung out in my scraproom and sorted through my Prima's and other stuff. And laundry. I did a ton of laundry, and I'm still not done. I also watched a movie called "The Dead Girl". It was actually pretty good. I liked the way the told the story. It was a little graphic, but overall I liked it.

And I just finished a book calledBlack Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis. It was interesting enough that I read it in two days. It's an investigative type story based on supernatural circumstances. It's a good read.

Right now I am reading Missy. It's period piece and it's set in mine boom Virginia City, so it's right up my alley. It's told by a 19 year old mullato "flash-girl" so it's simplistic, grainy and graphic. So far, I like it.

All right, my hunny's gonna be home shortly, so I'm gonna get the kidlets ready for bed. It's time for our "alone time", lol. G'nite.

What's on My mind.....

There is a lot on my mind today. It varies in range from important to trivial. I've got issues with my ex-husband and apparently with his new girlfriend. I'm still mad at him for not even bothering to help out with the kids, but I know that I cannot change him, so I'm trying very hard to work through my issues with that. His new girlfriend seems to think that I'm trying to "win" him back. And she's sending nasty emails and prank calling me to let me know she disapproves. I seriously thought we were all over 30, but I guess physical age has nothing to do with one's mental state.

I've been thinking about what to do about my job situation, or lack of job situation as the case may be. I am collecting unemployment, but I'm afraid I cannot live on that. Especially with no help coming in the form of child support. I was looking forward to being paid for the lien I had against my ex when the house foreclosed, but I guess I'm just SOL. So I have to work on plan "B". And I have no clue what that may be. What is really bad is that when I'm worried, I shop. Yep. I don't eat or get all depressed and gloomy. Nope. I go blow money I don't have. Not so good when I don't know where my next influx of money is coming in. I think I'm gonna have my hunny take my ATM card when he goes to work, lol. Just cut me off.

And I've been contemplating what to do about my health problems. I have diabetes, and I'm doing what I am supposed to, but somethings not clicking for my body. I guess I'm not doing everything I am supposed to, because I haven't been exercising. I need to walk everyday. But, it's hot by 8am, and I can't leave the kids alone while I walk. And since I got so sick being in the heat last spring, I'm afraid to do anything out in the sun. I'd go to the mall, but it's so far away and I'd end up spending money I didn't have. My option is to get up at 4am and walk before my hunny goes to work. I'm going to have to do that I guess.

My oldest daughter is only 2 weeks into school and she's already having issues. Poor thing. I want to help her out but I know she thinks I'm picking on her when I have her read an extra 10 minutes or practice her handwriting. For her I'm going to put together a small desk to put in her room so she can be in there alone without distractions. I hope that will help some.

I've been thinking about what I'm going to list on eBay and how to get motivated to do that. I've been working on grocery lists and menus. And I've been trying to figure out how to get motivated to scrap something, lol.

So as you can tell, my mind goes non stop. I even dream about some of these things. For just one day, I want to sip on umbrella drinks, read a trashy novel and not have to use my brain for anything non-recreational. Maybe one of these lifetimes. ;)

I've been working on kits for some projects I've been wanting to do, and I thought I'd share two of them with you. :) Take a look-see and tell me, would you be happy to get this in the mail? I'm still contemplating selling kits somewhere, somehow, but I'm not sure my taste is something others would enjoy. I made 2 kits, one for a girl and one for a boy. The girls is Crate Paper's KATLIN collection. I didn't have my cardstock out when I took the pics, but here's what I put into the envelope:



There are ribbons, buttons, Prima flowers, paperclips, little flower accents, brads, eyelets and other little accents.

And my boy kit is Basic Grays ARCHAIC line. I did have all the cardstock for this one . I used some specialty paper, a tan one with a "scale" texture and a green with with a "reptile skin" texture. And there are flower, ribbon, fabric strips, paperclips, brads, photo anchors, cardstock stickers, fiber, buttons and more...





I'm addicted to making these kits and sticking them in envelopes so they can sit on my shelf from here to eternity. LOL I think I really like this way of scrapping so I can get all of my stuff together for a project so I can actually work on the project when I have a chance.
Anyway, if these were for sale somewhere, what would or wouldn't appeal to you? Curiosity's got the best of me now....

Bored tonight

Challenge for today: How do you feel about house cleaning? Do you enjoy it? Loathe it? Do you hire someone to do it? Does your family help with the work?

I thought this was an interesting question. I hate housework. Always have. The number one reason? Because it never freaking ends. I've gotten better at it over the last couple of years, and now I am teaching my kids to be responsible for themselves. What's funny is that my ex-husband thinks I am punishing them. I lived with him for damn near 8 years, and his mothers maid service while he was growing up didn't do him any favors. So, I make the kids pick up their rooms, make their beds, take out the trash, wash dishes and help with the laundry. I'm teaching them to be responsible for themselves.
If I could hire a maid, I would. But what is funny is that I used to do housecleaning and the people I cleaned for would clean their houses before I came over. Call me silly, but I don't get that. My house would look like a bomb hit it, lol. If I'm going to pay someone to do it, they'd be earning it.

I finally got everything into my scraproom. (I think) Since I'm unemployed, I plan on actually getting in there and doing something. And if I don't, I'm selling it all. I've been thinking about it, and I think I'd be a really good kit maker. You know, monthly kits. I like shopping and putting things together. Okay, LOVE shopping. But I don't really use it. If I thought the world needed another kit club, I'd seriously look into it. But with the economy shakin' the way it is, I don't believe it'd be a wise business move. But man, those kits would be rockin'. ;)

So, on my next to last day of employment, I went to see HANCOCK. I have never been to the movies by myself, but it was a pretty good experience. The movie was good. And I wasn't left with the WTF?? look on my face like I was with I AM LEGEND. I'd recommend seeing it if you haven't. It would be a good date movie. Action for him and a little romance for her. (Or vice versa if you swing that way) Definitely a must see.

And yesterday, I took the kids to see WALL-E. It was cute. Kinda preachy, but cute. I don't think we'll be buying the DVD though.

So last week, I watched all of the Swingtown episodes I'd DVR'd. I think I'm hooked. I thought there'd be more reference to the actual act of swinging, but so far, that's been kept to a minimum. It's kind of a coming of age series, but for adults. I am actually waiting for the next episode. That never happens. I have lots of favorite shows, but this is the first in a long time that I am actually excited about new epsiodes. They'll pull it for sure. LOL

Man I hate going to bed alone. Hunny is out of town for softball. It's so weird to have someone that I want to be around. And I want to talk to. And touch. And I don't feel like I have to fight with. And I miss him, even for one night away.

My ex-husband reminds me every now and again that I didn't make the wrong choice in leaving. He actually had the nerve to tell me that he didn't have enough gas to drive to town to sign some papers to ensure his kids get a little child support out of him. He hasn't paid a dime in months. Then I find out that he took his latest "girlfriend" to dinner. Not only did he pay for dinner, he drove about 100 miles to do it. Nice. Shit like that just irks me. Don't tell me you don't have the money to support your kids, but you can wine and dine your fling. Of course I shouldn't be surprised because this is the same one that he took out when he was supposed to be spending time with his kids. He does nothing but complain about how he doesn't see his kids enough, so I offered up extra time. And he takes the kids and dumps them off on his parents and goes out with this hairdresser and stays out past 1am. My youngest daughter was ticked. I don't blame her either. Sometimes I wish he'd just fall off the face of the planet. But I don't get that lucky. At least they've got one parent that knows they come first.

Okay well, I'm gonna go open the windows and turn on the fans and try to bring some cool air into this house. And Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood is on. I have to watch some cute as a button Tori. You know, I thought she'd be a lot different. But I've watched their shows and she is someone I could really be friends with. She's down to earth and very "human". Not anything like the bitchy celeb you'd expect. I can't wait to read her book.