No, Really... I'm Still Here!

Dang... I didn't realize that I hadn't blogged in nearly two weeks! I guess in looking back at the time, it makes complete sense. Between finishing the patio (seriously, we did finish! Pics coming soon!), Paul's family being here and celebrating the big 4-0 with them all, topped off with the official back to work official mark of summer's end, yeah, I guess I had other things going on. :)  I promise to get some pics of all of it up soon. Just stick it on the list of things that still need to be finished!

I actually did check off some stuff from my list today. Last month I remembered to submit some work to Scrapbook News and Review (and was fortunate enough to have them pick up both layouts I sent in!). But I had also been meaning to get back into submitting to the paper mags as well. So, today I finally sent in submissions for about a half dozen layouts to Scrapbook Trends. Now I remember why I don't do that more often. It takes a LOT of time. No, really. If someone out there in ScrappyLand had a better strategy on how on earth I can not spend the better part of my afternoon doing all of that, I seriously need to hear it! Anyhow,  we'll see how it goes. I think it's usually a couple of months until you hear. Ugh. I hate waiting. Patience is definitely something God gives me many opportunities to practice with.

In between all that's been going on outside of my craft room, I have been able to work on a few things. The projects are going into a few new DT calls though. Bella Blvd. is the big one I'm working on. All items must be "never-before-seen," hence the lack of reveal here! Once I hear, I'll share them with you all. Besides that, there are a couple of others I'm gonna give a shot to. Wish me luck (and patience!) I'm working on that whole "glass is half full" idea. I'm tired of the cup getting empty, so I guess it's my job to start filling it up if I want anyone else to fill it :)

Thanks for stopping by- til next time,
~ <3

Monday?? Hmmm... Yeah, Monday

I'm pretty sure it's Monday :) That's one of the funny things about having the summers off. You often aren't quite sure of what day it is. I haven't completely decided if that's a good or bad thing! It must be Moday though, since yesterday was church and our first meeting for our mini book club on the book Grace Based Parenting. It was a great day yesterday, filled with friends and conversation. We didn't get too far into the book, but it was so nice to talk about our own upbringings and how those affect how we are/did raise our own children. I'm truly looking forward to where this all heads. I know it won't give me all the answers to millions upon millions of questions I have, but having something to force me to slow down and think about what and why I do what I do will totally help.

The patio work continues... I don't know if it looks like much work has been done, but it certainly feels like we've been working non-stop on it.

This is where we began- cutting about 20 square feet of sod, relocating some, and bringing some to the dump.

Then the retaining wall started going up. LOTS of leveling going on here. Blechh... so time consuming! And talk about feeling like you're getting nothing done!

Then all the walls were up and packing gravel started going in. (This is where we are currently- we didn't get enough gravel ordered, so working has stopped for now since the local landscape material place is closed today.)

Since the patio plan included a firepit, the kids had been asking for days when they'd get to make some s'mores. So who would we be to deny them of that treat when the pit itself was finished?? We simply put the camp chairs on the dirt and roasted away :)

Wish us luck that we can finish it all up by the big party Thursday! I'm off to do some more party shopping. Patio or not, I should probably feed and water these people who must love my dear hubby!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me some love- it makes my day to read your sweet comments!
<3  C

Some Randomness for Wednesday

Not a ton going on around here... P has already headed back to work for the school year. And me... Well, I'm just in complete denial that we are now less than 1 little bitty month away from the first day of school. Wow. It always goes SO fast. Camping trips have been put on hold the last several weeks, and it appears as if it may stay that way until Labor Day. We've started a rather large yard project that's sucking up a good amount of time and a HUGE part of our cash flow. (Do you even know how much $$ it costs to take sod to the dump?? More than we thought!) In hopefully under a week, we'll be the proud owners of a beautiful brick patio, complete with firepit. We're having a big "40" birthday extravaganza next week for the old guy, er... my beautiful husband, and we hope to have it all done by then. We'll see how it all goes. Some of our family may have to be sucked coerced bribed into helping a bit to make it happen.

There's a ton of cleaning to be done today. I think we're going to have someone out soon to clean the carpets, so I figure I need to get a few rounds of vacuuming in before the appointment :) Once P gets home, it'll be back to the patio work. The temps are a little cooler today and tomorrow, (low 80s) so that will bring huge relief and make the work loads easier. Once the first round of vacuuming is done, I'm hoping to get a lil' scrappy again. I'm still waiting on my latest Punky Sprouts box to come, but in the meantime, I figure I'll play around a little with some Jillibean Soup and Bella Blvd.

Speaking of Jilllibean... Here are a couple of layouts I did recently.

This one is extra special, as it was one for my PageMaps assignment for July. I love Becky's maps, and it is such an honor to design for her. Once again, I was especially honored as one of her top picks for the newsletter! The background is Punky Playground (currogated cardboard) that I exposed and then painted. The rest of the papers are Jillibean Soup Watermelon Gazpacho from my PersonalScrapper kit for June.

I love this one too! Something about those papers just makes me swoon and think of everything summer. I'm going to have to buy some more of this paper soon, cuz I'm not sure how much more of my PS kit is left :(.  This was based on a Sketchy Thursdays sketch. Since we'd been on vacation, I missed the deadline to qualify for the week, but I'm planning on spending some more time over there soon!

Well, the vacuum is not magically turning itself on (anyone got one of those cool Roombas?) so I suppose I should go take care of that. I just need to remind myself that I can play, er-um. work, in my craft room when I'm done :)

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to say hello! (I'll go surfing some of your blogs tomorrow, I promise!)

<3  C