ROFLMAO!!!! I have a new blog. Wear your hard hats! Rigdonia Blog

Ahhhhh......that's better! Now off to figure out MT!!!

DOESN'T MY BLOG LOOK *H*O*T* ?!?!?

Hehehehe...bear with me. New host::bad timing. I'll work it out next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Well my plans have changes. Instead of bloggin' it on over to Brandi's, I am going to move my whole site on over to Crystal's! It is a sudden decision made because I can't do what I want with my site at my current host and blogger stinks. Thank you Brandi for starting me in that direction and for being so gracious about it. Thank you Crystal for hosting me! Big hugs all around.

Brandi is awesome! I'll be moving out of blogger real soon - watch this space for the linkiepoo. Ok but don't hold yer breath or anything!

Let me start by saying:: I loathe blind forwarding. It is like the dorkiest online activity. I do get some pretty sweet ones from an aunt, so she's forgiven{{hugs}} but otherwise, UGH! However, this one made me giggle. For anyone in a email discussion group, does this sound familiar? Enjoy!

Q: How many internet mail list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: 1,331:

1 to change the light bulb and to post to the mail list that the light bulb has been changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs.

53 to flame the spell checkers

156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list.

41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames.

109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take this email exchange to alt.lite.bulb

203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling and alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be stopped.

111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we are all use light bulbs and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this mail list.

306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique, and what brands are faulty.

27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs 14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to post corrected URLs.

3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this list which makes light bulbs relevant to this list.

33 to concatenate all posts to date, then quote them including all headers and footers, and then add "Me Too."

12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy.

19 to quote the "Me Too's" to say, "Me Three."

4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ.

1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup.

47 to say this is just what alt.physic.cold_fusion was meant for, leave it here.

143 votes for alt.lite.bulb.

A day in the life ....

I just got back from taking all three kids to Costco for lunch and shopping. Ate too much (have you tried their hand dipped ice cream bars? Anybody....don't. They are disgustingly delicious. I'll be paying for that for awhile - and we all shared just one!) Came home with a toy after declaring as we walked in "We are NOT looking at toys. We are NOT going to buy any toys today." Sigh. Well, I was able to justify it because one of the kids had birthday money coming to them (it was in my wallet and got spent - sheesh!) and the toy came with two, so we are saving one to give as a Christmas present. Anybody buying my story? And I wonder why my kids argue with me --- They know I'll cave! All the while the baby is teething on top tooth number two and so pretty much had to carry him through the store. Thank goodness he's so cute!

So am I good or what? - -InspiredHeart: Burst Into Song...

Blogger stinks.

So anyway, I went to michaels last night Sara! They didn't have the 3/4 whole punch, so I figured I'd either cut them out (horror of horrors!) or try the 3/4" flower shape I have. It might look ok. We'll see!

Sheesh! It's been a really long time, and it ain't much, but I posted another linkware set. Take a look. It's my first Christmas set ever!

Amazon.com: Electronics: Segway Human Transporter -- First come, first served for delivery starting March 2003

Hehehehe does this make me a terminal nerd? I want one. Can't you just see me zooming out to the mailbox now? LOL!

You have to check out this craft idea I saw again at Sara's place. I want to do this!!! Maybe I'll find the time to head to michaels in a day or two. Ooh how about on the way home from choir on Tues - maybe they'll let us out early. Let's hope!

So my good friend called last night. Jenn, you're so shaggadelic! Although some might call you stupid for sitting outside in 30 degree weather with a cold coming on just to chat with me! LOL! Naughty girl! (Glad Tim 'The Snakehandler' is feeling a bit better!)

Got this in an email the other day and thought it was pretty funny, albeit 'politically incorrect'....

Cowboys & Muslims

At a small terminal in the Texas Panhandle, three strangers are awaiting their shuttle flight.One is a Native American passing through from Oklahoma. Another, a local ranch hand on his way to Ft. Worth for a stock show. The third passenger is an Arab student, newly arrived at the Texas oil patch from the Middle East.

To pass the time they strike up a conversation on recent events, and the discussion drifts to their diverse cultures. Soon the Westerners learn that the Arab is a devout Muslim. The conversation falls into an uneasy lull.

The cowpoke leans back in his chair, crosses his boots on a magazine table, tips his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face. The wind outside blows tumbleweeds and the old windsock flaps, but no plane comes.

Finally, the Native American clears his throat and softly, he speaks: "Once my people were many, now we are few."

The Muslim raises an eyebrow and leans forward, "Once my people were few," he sneers, "and now we are many. Why do you suppose that is?"

The Texan shifts the toothpick to one side of his mouth and from the darkness beneath his Stetson says, "That's 'cause we ain't played Cowboys and Muslims yet."

So tomorrow is kaitlin's 5th birthday. I can still remember her looking like this. It is almost 6pm and I still need to go clean in the kitchen and make her cake. I'll decorate tomorrow. I hope she has a special day - I am so schlumpy right now. Hope I can pull it off. Also sad about fil being possibly ill with cancer - we won't know for awhile but he gets so depressed. :-( Happy news is that the tile guys are almost done with our new shower woohoo!

How boring am I? Don't answer that. Please. I didn't even do the dorky friday five last week. Did you vote? I normally do and care but I didn't want to support either dork for Cal governor so I didn't this time. Sue me. It was pretty interesting to see the republicans sweep up the nation. Control of the house and senate and whitehouse. An interesting statement on the current disposition of the country. Mr. Tom [refraining from calling him some deserved degrading name] Dashle pretty much said in a tv interview that the only reason this happened is because the American public is too stupid to keep more than one issue in mind at a time, blaming President Bush for keeping their minds (ie brainwashing he might as well have said!) on the war on terrorism. As if! What a dork. Ooops there I did it anyway. Oh well. I just hate how it has become about party control instead of the actual issues that affect our lives. Buttheads all of 'em. Democrats, Republicans, anybody with that good ol' boy mentality that takes precidence over how this country is run. It is NOT a club, boys! OK who am I kidding but that felt good.

Well I have said it everywhere else - I might as well post it here. The November issues of Graphic Goo and Image-Cafe are fabboo! And I practically need a new hard drive to make room for all the schtuff I wanna download/create due to the inspiration. If everyone would just leave me alone for alongwhile!!! Argh!!! AndI should mention the November Pixelitas downloads, as they are awesome too! Now I am gonna go play.

Friday Five (.org)

1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
Several - Mormon, followed by newage psychic crap.

2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
Nope - Born again Christian and that is why.

3. What do you think happens after death?
My body dies, but my eternal spirit lives forever, either in heaven or hell, depending on my salvation. I believe I am saved because, even though I am not perfect, no, no even close, I can see God's healing and love manifesting itself in my life. God continually draws me to Him although I do not deserve it.

4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
Well, I am concerned with this phrasing. I will just say that my favorite activity that celebrates Christ is singing religious songs, either in church or wherever - especially Handel's Messiah at this time of year. Music is an integral part of my relationship with Christ - it opens my heart to hear. I sometimes get a glimpse of what it must be like to be an angel, perpetually singing His praises. I am often blessed beyond words during these times.

5. Do you believe people are basically good?
No, I do not. I believe that since Adam all are born in a state of sin, punishable by death, which is why Christ came, died, and rose again to pay for our individual sins as well as our sinful nature.

1 Peter 1

Living Before God Our Father
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."[3]
17And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.


The Enduring Word
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit[4] in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,[5] 24because


"All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man[6] as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
25But the word of the LORD endures forever."[7]


Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

Sometimes I am just overwhelmed with a sense of loss - it just hit real hard. I hate to whine about it. I miss my mom. That's all.

1. What is your favorite scary movie?
Used to love all the Stephen King stories - must have grown out of that. Nowadays, I don't care for movies that are just scary and nothing else. However, I do enjoy a story with a good spin.

2. What is your favorite Halloween treat?
I love candy corn. Seriously, I o.d. on it about once a year. That and Sweettarts. Seriously.

3. Do you dress up for Halloween? If so, describe your best Halloween costume.
Don''t dress up - don't decorate - it's just a "holiday" I prefer not to celebrate. Partially due to the ancient pagan meaning behind it, and partly because people tend to act like idiots - like I need another excuse for that lol! (I am referring to egging of the cars, etc here)

4. Do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events?
Nope. Trying to keep up with the dust in my own mansion is spooky enough.

5. Will you dress up for Halloween this year?
Like every other year. My momma costume just gets better, more realistic with age. (eek!)

Well the house has been turned upside down in the last few days. We got an a/c unit installed which included new duct work etc and found out we have termites! Yay and Yuck, in that order! Very exciting to see work going forward on the house right now - excitedly picking out tile and cabinets. Hopefully before Christmas we'll be able to move into the new wing. Then we can finish up some old repairs in the old part of the house and hopefully in the spring get to fixing up the landscaping. Wahoo! I may have to go on an internet hiatus in the spring and give that my attention for awhile. We'll see how everything goes. Anyway, that's my thrill for now.

Ian now has two teeth and Kaitlin spelled her first word all by herself - bat! And we moved on to cat and fat and hat etc. Cute.Henry's birthday was a blast and he got loads of great goo for his special day - star trek paraphernalia (sp?) and bionicles and money! Woohoo!

Mostly a crazy day - Henry is 10 today! My little baby is so grown up. Big, yes, but also witty and mature and silly and goofy and sweet. He is beside himself not knowing what he will get. To keep Kaitlin quiet, I turned keeping the birthday secret into a game. When Henry asks, we make up a silly word - gigglehoffen or something. The other day Henry asked and Kaitlin said she'd tell him. She went into the kitchen, got a large fork and came back. "Henry," she said," We got you a dinglehoffer!" [Those of you familiar with The Little Mermaid might get it. You have to be 4 and a girl, or a mom to a girl who is 4 lol!]

1. How many TVs do you have in your home?
Three - Living room and bedroom plus a kitchen teeny one for the am news.

2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week?
Myself, I watch a few hours some evenings - used to me more but now I play on the computer more.

3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children?
No. But too much or the wrong programming is bad. Commercials, for instance, should be banned.

4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you're heartbroken?
Not much lately, although I really like CSI and ER. Oh and Enterprise for the diehard trekker in me.

5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like?
Ahem. No commercials shown at inappropriate times. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer during Martha Stewart, etc. Lots of fun designing and crafting and well, alot like lifetime, but morphed with tvland.

SO it's saturday. Woohoo. I coulda worked all day, but if I did, the kids would have just sat in front of the tv, so when the baby woke from his am nap, we made pbj's and headed to the park. Nice walk and had a pleasant time. On the way home we ran in to some sadness. A home that a nice older gentleman lived in is looking unkempt. That can only mean he is ill or worse. ;-( I feel bad that I don't even know his name. He was often outside when we would go to the park and just say hi to the kids. That's all.

Then, we went another block and wonderment! There were at least 20 or more butterflies hovering over the fence draped with some kind of flowering vine at the back of this one house. We stood there for 5 or 10 minutes just hoping one would land close by so we could see clearly. They were orange and black and white - like tissue paper flying. A couple of them buzzed us - flying all wonky - I am thinking they were freshly hatched! Wished I had a camera with me.

Good but stressful news: I have three potential clients on the line, and an article due for Graphic Goo and one for Pixelitas. What was I thinking? That'll be it for new stuff until after Christmas, I think. I need to concentrate on things here for awhile - birthday season and choir happenings and Thanksgiving and Christmas and finishing the house. We came up with the money to finish it early and so we are putting a rush on that to hopefully get done before Christmas! That is good then FIL can move in. Can't wait!

1. If you could only choose 1 cd to ever listen to again, what would it be?

This is really hard for me, but it would probably be GLAD: Acapella. It's inspirational spiritually and musically.

2. If you could only choose 2 movies to watch ever again, what would they be?

These are too hard. Little Women for the sheer poetry of it and Jackie Chan's Shanghai Noon because it's so stinkin' funny

3. If you could only choose 3 books to read ever again, what would they be?

Again with Little Women, the Bible for sure, and maybe and maybe a book of Robert Frost poetry.

4. If you could only choose 4 things to eat or drink ever again, what would they be?

chocolate, water (seriously), fresh albacore, and apples.

5. If you could only choose 5 people to ever be/talk/associate/whatever with ever again, who would they be?

Too easy - hubby and three kids. That leaves one extra. Hmmm . . . . my mom. yep.

Ooh boy got to chat with my bud Jenn this morning. What a fun way to spend the morning! LOL - we can't shut up long enough to notice the time whizzing by.

About My Grandpa

I hate not having him here cause I can't say good morning and good night to him.
He used to live in a motor home [in our driveway - long story] but somebody called the county on us.
It's fun having my papa living here.
I love my papa.
I can't wait until the room's done and he can move in again.
He comes and visits sometimes.
I hope he doesn't fall down while he's at home.
I wish he still lived here.
We love him.

Henry Rigdon

Well this is irritating - my bbbabyblog posts aren't updating!

Ian is 4 months old and had his shots today. =~( He was a trooper, though, and is weighing 18lbs 8 oz and is 26.5 inches long! I told you he was a chunky monkey! 97th percentile on both which is good - means his height and weight are proportionate. Cute as a bug.

We have a new game (excercise for his weaker/broken arm): I have him grab my fingers and I make race car sounds and pretend his arms are fanciful stick shifts and we just boogie. He loves it and now initiates the play on his own. Cute!

Anyone remember this?

Friday Five:

1. What size shoe do you wear? 9. Used to be an 8 until I started having kids. Go figure.

2. How many pairs of shoes do you own? Other than the old ones I keep around for dust catchers lol, I have about 8 or nine that I wear fairly regularly.

3. What type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, pumps, etc.)? Sandals for this hot footed momma. (Still love little leather granny boots for winter though just to pretend I am Meg or Jo. If you have to ask, you won't understand. Ha.)

4. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. Why are they your favorite? Ugly mens sandals. No kidding. The most comfortable pair I own. Second fav are some leather clogs which for some reason totally take me back to my high school days. Whatever.

5. What's the most you've spent on one pair of shoes? Probably around $100, back in the day when $100 meant something. Now my goal is to keep it under $30. I do fairly well.

This could be fun . . .CafePress.com | Community

If You Give a Mom a Muffin' by Kathy Fictorie
(Based on "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff)

If you give a Mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer.
She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan
dinner for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She will look for her cookbook (101 Things to Make With a
Pound of Hamburger).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by
her two year old.

She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring.
Her four year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come for
coffee on Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.

And chances are......
If she has a cup of coffee......
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

"It was one of those perfect english autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life."
- P.D. James

Check out the cute doodads I added to Ian's scrapbook. (The doodads I used were a bit different - white polka dots on blue instead of the stripes and one 3d bottle and a yellow duckie.)

we are still experiencing 100 degree weather!!! God has a purpose for me here, God has a purpose for me here, God has a purpose for me here! I just keep reminding myself. I often wonder how I ended up here, of all places! Your fall stories remind me of my childhood in Connecticut and all the crisp weather and kicking leaves on my way to school - visits to area landmarks just for the excuse to get out in the fall weather - colors and smells. And to think my kids will not know this! Argh! Well, I know the Lord will bless them with their own wonderful memories for their later life.

Wow that sounded like I was whining, huh? Well maybe a little?

You know, this reminds me of a thought I had during our Sunday School this last weekend. We are studying about Israel and so we started at the beginning. Literally in Genesis. I won't go into it all, well most of it went over my head anyway, as I was trying to keep Ian happy and quiet, but anyway . . . We were reading about the garden of eden and how food was abundant, and how the promised land was to flow with milk and honey, etc. and it just dawned on me - we are to enjoy life! Sounds silly, but I think it is a distinction that needs to be made. (Of course we were created in His image and to worship Him. Our sin did/does "mess up" a great thing, eh? ) But also, God has provided us with specific pleasant blessings. Delicious and abundant foods (that now we have to work for) :-) and a beautiful world to live in. Just an interesting perspective to take with you in your day. Something wonderful to think about as we do the "mundane" chores and poopie duties!

So am I totally on fire, or what!?!

"Dear Sir or Madam:
During the month of May 2002, I was prescribed by Dr. C-- to have several Fetal Non-Stress tests due to Gestational Diabetes and Lupus. On July 18th, when it became apparent that these claims were not being billed consistently, I contacted L-- at WGA--. She informed me that BMH- - had not been correctly billing these claims under the aforementioned diagnoses. She suggested that I contact the billing department at BMH--, inform you of the errors and provide her fax number to expedite resubmission of said claims.

On July 18th, I spoke with S-- at BMH--, who assured me that these claims would be re-billed properly by T--. To date, I have no record of any such action on the part of anyone at BMH--. In fact, we have been repeatedly harassed by the collection company currently in use by BMH--, despite our complaints to the collection company as well as the BMH-- Billing Department and despite the fact that these claims are in dispute. I assure you that no payments will be made until the claims are all re-processed correctly. Please rectify this situation immediately."

Sizzle! TSSSSSSsss . . . . can't touch me!

Awk I missed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should ye desire to prepare for next year, cast yer peepers here.

Some pretty good prices on kids books here.

My kids are rising up and calling me blessed today, and no one is here to see it but me. So I am bloggin it. Silly mom.

Henry, 9 is teaching Kaitlin, 4 her math. Lol, they are being so sweet to each other. Henry has put Kaitlin on his lap while he does his math out loud for her to "follow" along. She is mostly just learning to recognize her numbers so that wasn't very productive. Then Henry got out the flash cards and was teaching her that way. Then they went outside together and played their own little game. Kaitlin would pick a number and Henry would do that many laps around the yard + 1. Unfortunately for Henry, I think she started with 19! Pretty cute. Even tho' Henry is not getting his school done, that is pretty sweet and I figure it is a worthwhile diversion from "regular" school. Now they are going to lay out on the hammock after some chocolate milk. I suppose if we had clouds they could count them but instead they will probably end up arguing over who is hogging the hammock. LOL.

Cool - I am listed here and here. And I have so many things I want to do with my website. It's like getting surprise company and there's a load or two or three of laundry sitting on your couch. Oh well.

This promises to be interesting.

I am apparently in a blog drought. Somebody send blog-rain.

Have a busy day today - homeschool group meeting and first choir practice of the season. I'll be singing the Hallelujah Chorus tonite. Daaaa da da da MMM mm mm mm. I'll be "yelling" at the kids in hallelujah tones: Brush you tee-eth, Make your be-ed. Doooo your school-work and do it ri-hi-hight now!

It has come to my attention how much I love this publication, so I thought I'd post a link. Definitely an excellent Christian Homeschooling Resource. Check it out:
God's World News. They have a pretty great website too.

You know you're a homeschooler when . . . . .

You find flash cards on the back of the toilet.

Yes, my thrifty son has found a way to make use of more of his time. Always looking for a way to minimize "work" and maximize playtime has it's good points, but as a lifetime goal can be pretty frustrating. I hope he grows out of it LOL!

We bought a fun sticker book for Kaitlin at costco (6.99) the other day. She has gone through about half of it. She loves creatures and stickers - it's the perfect combination. I just wish they had put a little more content in it besides "Look at all the butterflies" kind of stuff. How about which butterfly is which? Oh well. She likes it.

Remember.

So I posted a buncha new photos - some in the baby blog and some in Rigdonia Family. Check them out if you dare . . . . (I kind of feel bad because there isn't a pic of Owen's mom who passed away the same year as mine. But I don't think his family would want her online, so I refrained. I guess I could put a little note there. Next time.)

Jenn, I found a box image. I found another fun little project to add to my site. It'll be a disaster but it'll look cute LOL! See I can have secret projects too. HA.

I H A V E C O M M E N T S N O W !

OOOOh I am infatuated with my own work. I feel I was truly inspired. It is not often I pat myself on the back (at least in public) so please forgive. I'll get over myself soon. LOL! 8~P

I can't believe it. This blog comes up 7th in a google search for "make a pig nose". Why would anyone search for that? As to why I have it in my blog, well, it just came up, k?! (Regular readers may remember a story involving my daughter and a character named Pig Vader. The rest of you will just have to wonder. 8 : P )

There should T O T A L L Y be such thing as a F O N T W I S H L I S T ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! So . . . . add this one to mine. (Jenn, I found it!) And Allegheny, Beauvoir, and Brandywine. I stopped there for fear the list would be too long and I would get too discouraged. Besides, I have designing to do so quit dreaming!

Here's one more and you can see it in use at Truly-Sarah.com - watch for the great brushes, too!

Somebody stop meeeeeeee!

Yay Kelly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so embarrassed! After all of my "copyright posturing" of late, I went and posted a new set to my shareware section and forgot to give credit for the lovely photo! Sorry Philippe! So there - it's fixed. Why didn't anybody tell me?! Hopefully nobody noticed. Yikes.

I am surprised I found it at all - I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night and they were interrupted! Ian has the cold that Kaitlin started out with and it's his first stuffy nose. I have renewed one of my old hats - back to momma the snot rag for awhile LOL! Sorry for the graphic nature of that comment, but thems the breaks!

I suppose an update is in order!!!

Kaitlin is much better. We tried a new breathing med which seems to work without making her so fidgety. Once her breathing got better, her high fevers reduced and her stomach got better so she is eating again. It is this huge cascade thing and she gets high fevers and we can't get tylenol in her or much more than tiny sips of water - it's a scary time. But I figure she's ok because she's had two popcicles and a handful of cheese-its this morning. I think she'll have normal lunch today. ;-) Thanks, Eva, for asking about her!

I am so torn today - I need to do the bills and the kids room is a fiasco but I wanna create - oh no who will win? Also have a meeting for Masterworks at 3 - trying to decide whether to just skip it or take the baby and show off. I'll just see how the day progresses.

Good news! I won the Graphic Goo September contest!!! Ok - I tied for second with a pretty bad score. I thought I did so well - LOL! But still, it was cool! This was a good idea for a contest - several members were asked to create a web set and we got to guess whose was whose. I am dying to find out which and how many I got right, or should I say, wrong. That was fun!!!

Well Kaitlin had a complete meltdown tonight - asthma. She's so peculiar. She does not get them from environmental conditions, but rather get a cold and often in less than 12 hours requires a breathing treatment. Came real close to heading out to emergency tonight - it was BAD. It had been so long since she went sick on us that we couldn't find all the stuff. And some of her meds had gone past date - it was a mess. Ummm . . . I think we're under control now. We'll see how the night progresses. Thankfully, dh is staying home from work tomorrow so he helped out tonight and will be there for me tomorrow as well. So glad he's my hubby! We are a sad bunch, though, sometimes! LOL! Dh has diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. I have Lupus and am looking to go diabetic eventually, too. Daughter has asthma. Sons are perfect. Can't complain. I feel so for my eldest boy - he has to fill in the gaps sometimes. He is so sweet about it and helps out however he can. He sure loves his little brother. I can see them being very close later on - they are already building such a sweet relationship! Oh, Hey, did I mention? We had Ian baptized last weekend. Ooh I am having deja vous. Hate that.

Ali has done it again! She has been working hard over the summer!!! Check out her updates page to pick out the new sets. Excellent work, Ali!!!

Fun. Doing what I love again. I get to make a web page and got the domain name for a new homeschool group to grow out of our church. You can check out www.coreathome.com later for a look. Right now there's nothing there. I have it forwarding to a page at Rigdonia, but I think my "server dude", as I like to call him, will probably let me set up a new comp web, since it's an non-profit site. (He's a really nice server dude!) So anyway, taking (constructive) suggestions for the graphics and layout. The C.O.R.E. at Home stands for, "The Company of Reformed Educators at Home." (What is reformed, you ask? Well, I suspect there will be content on the site to speak to that. I am not sure that I can treat it completely myself, esp. not in a blog entry! Very basically the reformed part speaks to our world view - that God created the earth in 7 days, that he sent his only son to die for our sins, that Jesus rose again, that He is coming back, that the Bible is the inerrant word of god to be taken literally and most relevant here: that we do everything to the honor and glory of God, who should also be in charge of and central to our homeschools. "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31).
Boy, putting that in type is convicting. Hmmmm . . . ) Anyway, the logo will have to be an apple core. I sprang for one from Eyewire The motto will be "Stressing the "core" of covenant education - nurturing the seeds of the coming generation." Cool, eh? So I am thinking a left red side link bar and an apple core logo - maybe I'll add some geometric designs or something. This is my first site design for a more structured need rather than a personal site. It feels harder because I have to pull back and keep it simple. Kinda hard for me. Oh well, I suppose I'll rise to the occassion!

LATER: Here is a sloppy first attempt - coding is not neat, just trying out the graphics, mostly!

Leigh has a new blog - Hi Leigh!!!

This is so silly, really and I should get to work on my client site. But it is the 22nd for a little while longer and I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my mommy. She would have been 64 today. Sure miss her. She was so witty and smart and moody and silly. We got along great . . . except when we didn't LOL! IT breaks my heart that she didn't get to know (and visa versa) my last two kids and Henry barely remembers her now. I have been a Christian for a long time now and have a great deal of faith in God's word and I believe that my mom is in His presence right now. It never shook my faith or anything like that, but I was so surprised at how much my being me depended on her being there to see it. I had no idea how central to my sense of self she was. Still to this day, 6 years later, I see things in those terms. I find myself wondering what she would think, or say, or do about this or that. I still wish I could drop by and see her. She'd be sitting on her couch with her little feet up watching crap on TV and doing some craft - maybe cross stitch or something. She loved miniatures and even made a dollhouse. She was my best friend - she takes the cake! Happy Birthday, MOM!

Hi All you guys at GA!!!! Thanks for visiting!

Having a blast learning CSS! Thanks to my generous friends at Graphic Goo. I haven't done anything real fancy yet, but it's cool anyway! Sorry my tagboard is out of commission for all of you happy taggers. I'll put it on my list, but I may not get to it for awhile, so you'll have to find fun somewhere else. Bummer.

Well, I am recovering. From my first experience in an online forum/club. I won't say who or give details because that could be hurtful. I have already said enough, me thinks, but I have a few thoughts that will feel good written down. When I started to feel uncomfortable about where the group was going, I tried to extricate myself gracefully. I think that failed. It is unfortunate because now there will be taking of sides and all of that 'stuff'. My decision (and the decision of others) to leave the group wasn't meant to be hurtful or judgemental in the sense that aren't we better than they, but rather, we can't agree on a fundamental issue, so we must leave. It's too bad folks took it personally. Sometimes timing is everything. That's all I have to say about that. (Thank you Forrest Gump.)

Cant' figure it out - it must be a conspiracy!!! Both my tagboard and my comments aren't working! I feel so lonely!

On a different note - I am missing my Partners in Christian Homemaking. Hey, what about Robinson group? Where is everyone? Oh man, another conspiracy. My settings at Yahoo are all messed up and I haven't been getting any posts. What's up with that?! I'll go check in with the gals and see what's happening. It won't let me post. SO wierd.

Cute story. Last night Kaitlin made me read (one of my all time favorite kids books) The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock as a song. The WHOLE book. LOL. I felt really stupid at first, but then I got drawn in to it and lost myself in the story and pretty soon I was almost crying with the beauty of it! Silly momma. When I got all done sniffling, she said, "Now read it again. Regular." Silly sissy.

Ooh ooh ooh - some new designs are up at Glassotica - click now, pay later! Glassotica - New Designs

Here's an adorable wallpaper I "built" after inspiration from my friends at Graphics Addicts and the great source, Pics.Am!


Yah Baby! 1024x768

So to get things started on the homeschool front, we've been playing Kismet in the morning. Similar to Yahtzee, it's a dice game yada yada. The kids have fun: the younger learning to add, the older helping out and also writing various number sentences, one for each turn, based on the roll of the dice. Fun. A nice way to warm up to the math after a 3 month break. After two days, the older is starting to get bored, but likes it better than straight math, which is coming real soon. We'll work a bit more on reviewing/memorizing the multiplication tables, and then it's back to the book - oh division his fav. Not. He is so funny. On the one had he hates starting something new, gets so intimidated, but then is so proud that he's moved on to the next thing. Kinda funny.

On the designing front - found a great css tutorial. I am gonna larn thisun soon. I'll just add it to the list of half-finished web projects I've got going on. Yuck-yuck.

Sickie-poo notwithstanding, I managed to upload some of the new Rigdonia Graphics layout - take a look-see!

Feeling a little under the weather right now, but had to blog this: I am now an official Graphic Addict!! Woohoo I am having some fun now!

In addition, we are starting our homeschool back up tomorrow. I regret having taken such a long break, and the kids watched WAY too much tv over the last few months, but it is going to be a bit tough to get back into the groove. We are using the Robinson Curriculum which is a self-teaching style - I am modeling the self-teaching thing with my web design. (Fun and a good example - great, now if I can just show a little self-discipline by not sitting here all day!!! We'll call that devotion to responsibility, right? ;-P) WE have already seen this work, but we are not doing all of the no tv, no computer, no sugar route. Maybe we should, but I just don't see it. I do try to limit these things, but I'm not sure they need to be completely eliminated. Boy this turned into a long post - I need to move this over to my homeschool blog. What blog, you say? Well I am planning on starting one. Watch for the link if you are interested. This will be a better managed extension of my homeschool notebook. You can see I am a bit behind on that puppy!

I am so excited! I got my first Amazon Referral Check today. OK - never mind that it took nearly a year to get it. It's just cool to get a check for basically nothing but a couple of cool links that flesh out my homeschool site nicely. I'm smiling. I also came up with a neat unplanned re-do on the graphics section of my domain. Watch for the unveiling soon.

Well I am a big hairy copy cat - Miss Kitty mentioned this in her blog and I thought it sounded like a hoot, so here it is: My very own Rigdonia Cafe Shop (Powered by CafePress.com) Come one come all!

Just a little note to say:

I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!!!!

Not the meaning of life, but rather how to make a portion of a created graphic transparent in Paint Shop Pro 7. (Almost the meaning of life.) It's so dumb and when you see the set you're gonna say, so where is it?!? It is a very small little touch and for some reason I just couldn't let go of it. But anyway, it was pretty easy, but it did take me what, nearly two days to figure it out? Turns out I knew how to do it all along, but forgot, or rather didn't know how to apply the knowledge to my particular situation. Oh well, in the process, I found some great tutorial links for PSP7. Cool. (I may post these to my website someday. Meanwhile, you'll just have to imagine. :-P )

Oh, and I also figured out how to add a border to a graphic. Simple. In Microsoft Image Composer, I had to create a box (X) pixels smaller than I wanted, where X is equal to the border size times 4
(times 2 for the x and y axis). Then I would apply a border effect and hope I did the math correct. Even then, the msic couldn't manage to fill in the corners and I had to do that myself! I was feeling like Fred Flintstone, carving out my graphics with a hammer and chisel! Yaba-daba-doo. Wilma, where's my brontosaurus burger?

Love the Little Sailor sweater!!!!The Creative Cottage -- Little Boys Winter is coming - maybe I'll grab one of these for Ian - probably a 1-2? Anyway, when I see adorable sweaters like this, I miss the cold winters of Connecticut. How did I end up in the desert? All my cozy sweaters just sit in a drawer. We can only wear them maybe one or two months out of the year. The upside? They last forever!

Omugosh - I am having such a terrible case of the wants! Either a celestial painting from Zee, or this: Amazon.com: buying info: Wacom Graphire2 Pen, Mouse & Tablet Set (Steel-Blue) I don't have any cashola to spend, so it doesn't matter anyway. Why oh why do I window shop? Anyway, if you want to see some beauty-full stuff made with a Wacom pad, go see Smalltown Artworks What beautiful work! I wanna be an artist. Waahhhh.

Squeezed in another set - Remember When - what a cutiepie!

I just have to blog this: Kids are into Star Wars today. So we have some 1/2" dowels that the kids have been pretending are light sabers. Today, they decided to paint them, so we have light sabers tearing up the living room and paint dripping from everything [editors prerogative to exaggerate]. Then dd comes to me with her blanket - "Tie this mom, I'm Darf Vader!" So I find a way to clip it gently around her. Later, she comes to me with a dixie cup and says, "Mom, make me a pig nose so I can be Pig Vader!" As I live an breathe, my daughter is in the living room, watching star wars, wearing her blanket and a dixie cup/pipe cleaner/shaprie augmented pig nose! LOL! LOL! LOL! This is especially funny because she has a cold and sounds like Elmer Fudd. Oink oink. Oh no . . . Now she's Pig Solo. I am not going to get any work done today, I can tell. =~D

I have super momma news that I am going to cross post to both of my blogs: Ian is sleeping in six and seven hour intervals! Wahooo! Neither of the other two kids did that until they were much older. What a welcome break. I swear he's bigger every time he wakes up! My little chubba bubba. He took a nap yesterday from 2 until 7:30, went back to bed at 9:30, slept until 2:30, waking only for a feeding and back to sleep until . . . well, he's still sleeping and it is 9 am! Yes, I have checked to see if he is breathing - several times, in fact!

All this baby sleeping enabled me to get caught up on my blog list - and noticed that Sandra added me to her blog list. Kewl! Me too, Sandra! I have been lazy and surfing to your blog and some others via Jenn's Journal and /or Random Rantings! I guess I'd better update my own reads list, eh? I need to redo this blog in a few weeks and I'll do it then, I suppose. (Thanks for the suggestions re: page loading!)

I also have been loving Kitty's Art Reviews - I especially love Claire Robinson and Kerri Smith. I rec'd as graphic payment Kerri's Story in a Box: The Princess and the Pea- VERY cute! "I had it on my wishlist for Kaitlin," I told myself, but guess what?! I think I like it more! LOL.

Thanks for your support, Rose and Jenn! I have been a really boring blogger lately, but decided instead of whining about not feeling so great or going without sleep etc \;-P that I'll just be quiet!

I have been a little obsesso about the homeschool site and to that end, anyone notice if the pages seemed slow to load? I'll gladly pay someone with 28.8 to check out my page loading speeds! Front page says it takes 93 seconds at 28.8 to download the page. Doesn't that seem a bit slow? Here I thought simplifying the graphics would help, but it increased by 50 seconds, according to FP! Bummer. Of course, I can't tell all of this because I have DSL and it is pretty quick. I am so spoiled. It got so hot today that I didn't even sit at the computer and we stayed home from church! It has been over 100 degrees since last Sunday! I haven't been out of the house since , , , ok I'm whining again. See what I mean? Big Lucy WAHHHH! Oh that feels better now. Thanks. I needed that.

For a sneak peek of the new homeschool graphics and layout, click here: The New and Improved Homeschool Review Check out the cool pop menu script that I found at TwinHelix.com!

WORLD July 20, 2002: No denying the undeniable Interesting Article.

Hey friends - I may lay low for a bit. I am going to redesign my homeschooling site and then I may reorganize my graphic stuff. We'll see. Anyway, it's slow going what with the baby and oh, I don't know, say, life! LOL! Everything just gets in the way! ;-P Who needs clean dishes or folded laundry or clean babies when there are graphic projects afoot? Ok, Lord, I am getting the message. Moderation. Priorities. Too bad I don't get this obsessive about chores. I better get back to my flylady ways and get it under control!

BTW - I did post a couple of new sets. Can you guess which one is next in line for my blog? Tee hee.

Oh . . . and, can you believe it? I know I posted about this earlier, but look how bad it is now: bakersfield.com - Weather Melt me baby.

Haven't posted much this week - I've been trying to stay cool and fighting off my first Lupus flare up since the baby. To give you the idea, it feels like I'm coming down with the flu, you know, exhausted and achy, only the pain is sometimes bad enough to take darvocet instead of my usual 1 to 3 advil. Bummer. Thankfully, sitting at the computer sometimes takes my mind off of it, so I still got to put up a few new sets and work on some samples for a client.

I had a fun evening last night, watching North to Alaska with my hubby. John Wayne is his hero. Generally, things stop around here for just about any John Wayne movie!

I don't know if I can stand it! Check out our most up to date forcast! bakersfield.com - Weather Argh! I am not leaving the house! This is crazy. Oh how I wish I lived at the beach or . . . just . . . somewhere else!

Read this and then read it again. vers libre [free verse]: Not to Keep - Robert Frost

Thrilling day - I finished (I think) the graphic job that found me. Can't post a link yet, but it was a paying job - and cute, too!

Also, I have been noticed as a Well-Dressed Website!

Oh we had a sad little Friday. So . . . it was VBS week which includes a great pizza.pool party on friday only we forgot and made plans to visit/sleepover with some friends of ours that we haven't seen in forever. We cancelled on the vbs party and got looks like aren't we antisocial. Anyway, come home, eat lunch, wait for the appointed time and get a phone call. From our friend. Seems little K- has been vomiting since last night. Now, my rational son was ready with the "solution" - "I don't mind getting sick, mom." right. Not wanting to risk the baby getting the stomach flu - never mind I don't want it either!!! - we cancelled the sleepover. Fireworks and tears overflowed. I finally had to distract Henry with some fun Star Trek sound bytes from this site. Check out the techno-funk dance version of the TNG theme music. What a riot! Make it so. Anyway, so my dh feeling bad for the kids, promises a fun family nite. 6:30 rolls around, dh comes home from work, and we get a call. Two of the kids' cousins are having their confirmation tonite. Right. 30 minutes to get dinner on the table and 2 sweaty kids, one fussy baby, and one frazzled housewife ready for church. After much argumentation, dh goes by himself, begrudgingly. Tries to go for ice cream with the kids after - lines out the doors. Seems like everyone had the same great idea. And Henry missed his new favorite show in the process, Stargate. Yikes. How did we create such a sci-fi hound?

So we went today for movies and ice cream. Much less eventful day. Lilo & Stitch was cute. Ice cream at the Cold Stone Creamery was better.

I am so excited. 1st of all - I got my John Mayer cd - it's great!

I also got a great deal on a set of books from ebay! The Book of Knowledge which are "hot" in the RC community from 1938 - the entire set of 32, mind you for about $30 including shipping! Thrilled I am - sorry, more Yoda speak.

The most adorable webset was posted at Groovy Lizard Ltd : Original Web Design : Dairy-Made Check it out!

Uploaded three similar sets: One, two, and three. I am done with red white and blue now for awhile! =)

Trying to tweak this set - bear with me? I made a cute but stupid entry earlier and can't seem to delete it and it is messing up my layout. So, for a few days, there'll be no old posts on this page, k?

So anyway, this is my take on the whole patriotic thang. Like it? I am enjoying the crisp colors for a change.

My fav Kitty made an adorable set!!!
FullMoon Graphics - Twinkle Twinkle Little Kitty...

CNN.com - M&M fans choose candy's new color - June 19, 2002

"The new color was the subject of a star-studded New York gala Wednesday night with performances by Ashanti and Wyclef Jean."

Maybe it's me . . . hormonal, sleep deprived, punch drunk. Glad I am that purple won, but a star studded gala?!?!?!? ROFLOL!

Thanks for keeping me up to date on this issue, Jenn {{WINK}}

One more thing . . . nevermind.

Oh . . . AND . . . way cool (how lame am I still talking like that at 38? Anyway . . . .) I have a potential s-e-r-i-o-u-s client! Whole custom webset design and all. I am feeling a little pressure. It is so much easier when you surf around and see something that inspires. Filling someone else's requirements feels a bit diff. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something to her liking. Wish me well!

Finally posted a few pictures to BBBabyBlog - here's a teaser:

TechNews.com "– A new computer virus is the first ever to infect picture files, an anti-virus firm reported Thursday, making sharing family photos on the Internet a potentially dangerous activity. . . "

Yikes.

"Perrun still needs some tweaking to become dangerous. The virus arrives via e-mail or a floppy disk as an executable file. Security experts always warn against opening programs sent as e-mail attachments . . . "

Is it just me, or is this stmt just a big "DUH!"?

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Kaitlin Shae Rigdon = Queen Growling Bear
How did they know?!

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

First I was Countess Swimming Fish - didn't like that so . . .
added my middle name to get Princess Quick Rabbit. Hmmm . . .
added my maiden name to get Empress Head-in-the-Clouds?

What's up with that?! Gotta find something better . . . .
use Di - Empress Sitting Bull no . . . .

ok I can live with this one Empress Shines Like the Sun yep that's me! (I had to use "D"!!!!!) Is that cheating??

They're here! My Glassotica earrings! Wow are they gorgeous! Pretty quick service, too. Ordered on 6/9 and rec'd on 6/13!!! I might sleep in them. Cool.

HSLDA | http://www.townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/ps20020604.shtml

Wow.

Had an opportunity to watch Last Call with Carson Daly and it was pretty good! (Don't ask why I was up. . .) but John Mayer was on - excellent music and excellent web site! Also a cool John Mayer E-card and a good price on his cd: John Mayer: MusicToday.com: Department I'm gonna buy this and wish I could see him live - on Last Call he woke me right up with a totally acoustic and hot performance of "Neon". Hey, for those of you interested, look around on his website and you'll find some cool wallpapers and a screensaver, too!

goo goo dolls - watched these guys on the today show recently and thought they were good, too, but now I'm thinking if I have to choose, it'll have to be John Mayer - sorry goo goos.

I have joined an illustrious list! Let's party!
Image-Cafe.net

Made a couple of sets. Fun. Serendipity Hacienda

Rediscovered my love of Robert Frost. Check out this poem and tell me if it doesn't hurt your heart!

Not sure why I'm blogging this - for my own posterity, I suppose, because my sister DOESN"T HAVE INTERNET!?!?!?!?!

So anyway, I got a phone call from my sister today. Very cool. Her name is Shannon. She is actually my half sis and we were raised apart. Here lately, we have been exploring our relationship and I must say it is pretty nice to be able to say "My sister. . . .". What a trip. I think my mom would be thrilled. I must say that for the most part, I have been able to accept that things happen for a reason, and God's plan is beautiful, but I do still feel a great amount of sorrow because I have family members out there that I really don't know. Very sad. I pray God will bless each and every one of them. It's been hard, seemingly impossible, to try to rebuild these relationships after so many years, kind of bittersweet, but nice. And worth it. I hope that God will be glorified in them.

You know you've been married too long when . . . your anniversary comes and goes and no one notices. LOL! Really, we celebrated it early last month because we knew this would be a crazy time with the baby and all (little did we know HOW crazy) but it still makes me feel sad. Maybe it's hormones. Anyway, for the record, Owen honey I love you and Happy Anniversary! 11 years could not have been better spent. {{SMOOCH!!}}

I did it. I bought these earrings. Can't wait. I used some of my graphics money from (((((Mary-Anne)))). Can't wait to get 'em.

Had to go to Babys-R-Us to get little outfits for Ian - have these cute onesies that snap all the way up for only $3!!! - much easier to get my poor broken baby dressed. Read more about it on my bbbabyblog.

I can't believe I forgot to mention - I got a phone call from Jenn this am. What a cool chicka!

I am loving these earrings. Momma needs a new pair. I'm going shopping.

Glassotica - Emeraude Rose Swirl Earrings
Glassotica - Deep Aqua Scroll Earrings
Glassotica - Lapis Emeraude Swirl Earrings

Here are the links for the extra sets I mentioned earlier - Blessed (Minor issue with the table on this one I'll fix it later) and Sweet Dreams

Oh my gosh - lest I forget - Jenn has been doing some amazing things! Wow. I'm impressed!

Hi guys! Will try to get some of the "extra" baby sets posted later today. As you can see, I am up late. Read about why in my B-B-Baby Blog if ya want. Now I must go try to sleep. Hopefully little Ian won't get hungry just as I reach REM sleep. If so, dh is coming out of hiding! I'll let you know how it goes.

FYI - too tired to say more . . . stay tuned.

Oh gosh. You girls are making me blush - Thanks Jenn, Rose, and Ali! I guess I should enjoy it while I can - these last few months have been great and I can get away with sitting here. But . . . soon there'll be the new baby and I'll start homeschooling Kaitlin this fall, drastically reducing my creative time! That's gonna stink for the obesessive/compulsive part of me! All those ideas and no place to record them - I see lots of little post-it notes in my future. Anyone else take insane notes this way?

On a similar note, I just made the best set of my life. (Well, so far, hopefully!) I can't show you yet, because I will use it for our i-birth announcement. It is so cool. It was inspired by a quilt made by my aunt linda - you can find a teaser graphic here. I was just freaking out last night about no food today, and packing and Kaitlin has the sniffles and oh, I don't know, SURGERY! Poor little bambin-o/-a is like last on my list. Anyway, creating this set got me through a tough night and now I am ready to go, if only so I can fill in the blanks and post the info to the web asap! Catch you guys on the other side - next week some time!

Another set - Probably the last for awhile. Check it out here.

OK - tell me this is not adorable!

Another date night thanks to my generous neighbor Amy. She's so cool. In the middle of a complete kitchen remodel, she had two of her own(3 yr and 5 mo), was babysitting her neice(6), babysat my two (9 and 4) this evening and had another neighbor girl(6) over to play most of the evening! While her own kids were fast asleep, Amy played Star Wars Monopoly with my kids till all hours just to please Henry, who had to put up with all those girls all night! And all while her fireman hubby was on the job. I wanna be like her when I grow up. Oh, wait . . . it's too late now, eh? Bummer. And she fed them pizza. And wouldn't take money but we got her . . . we brought her home a half gallon of Dewar's Peanut Butter Fudge Ice Cream! Bet she's digging into it right now! Her eyes did light up a bit when she saw it. Kindness like that just deserves Dewars! That's all I have to say about it.

We went to see Insomnia tonight. It was pretty interesting, not what I thought it would be. But being pregnant and watching Al Pacino's eyes get glossy and out of focus all night made me pretty tired. Thankfully, I am currently on a sugar high - LOL. The theatre packed up cheek to cheek even with Star Wars . . . it was nice in Insomnia - no kids in that one! Mostly us old folk. Ha. Had Mexican food, a Que Pasa restaurant - seafood enchiladas - Excelente!

So . . . I am so tired and swollen and my house is so messy. I am a bad momma - I put my kids to work. Slave labor. Actually, it worked out pretty well. We all three just cleaned, dusted and vacuumed the living room. It took like an hour longer than if I could've done it myself, but it's done now! I let Henry off school early today so he can help out around the house and even Kait is pitching in. I think for lunch I'll make good old fashioned grilled cheese 'sammiches' and I may not even make them eat any vegetables with it! (Maybe some fruit, though!) They worked pretty hard and now we can actually enjoy the room.

I also did my first baby laundry! I am washing some little gowns and caps and mitts - yellow duckies everywhere - to take to the hospital in a few days. Control freak that I am, I am disappointed I didn't bother to get matching receiving blankets! Hmmm . . . maybe I'll do a little yellow duckie set! Well, I need to pay the bills first. Then if I can still sit here, I'll play around with it. We'll see.

OK folks - please vote here: Which do you like better, net comments or the tagboard?

I like the tag board, but sometimes it can be confusing what the comments are about. But it more like a conversation and less like a bulletin board kind of thing. Both would be silly, so I will probably ditch on or the other. Whatcha think?

So . . . at the risk of appearing like a crazed tv fan . . . did anyone watch Trading Spaces yesterday? Surprisingly enough, I liked both Doug and Hildi's rooms! For some reason, I couldn't find pictures of it on the net yet - watch for North Carolina:Southerby Drive, but Hildi's room made me think of Jenn's personal website. Jenn, I would have called you right on the spot, but I assumed it probaby wasn't on - I forgot I was watching cable! duh! Anyway, Hildi actually did a room NOT in dark brown or some such thing - no felt on the walls - no teal green grout! She did this whole room in a green similar to Jenn's personal site graphics, even added crackle-finished shoji screens and furniture - sort of a monochromatic thing, except for the DEEP PURPLE VELVET LOVESEAT and CHAIR! I so thought of Jenn right away and just loved the room. I am gonna keep these colors in mind for my master bedroom whenever we get to the design point! It was striking. Very cool for Hildi. (Doug's room was less impressive, but pretty good for him, although maybe a little too themed? Not sure how I feel about it, but the painting technique he used was very unique!) OK - so that's the story of my afternoon yesterday! That, and folding clothes. Wowee, I can't stand it!

How boring am I? I have just sat here for 5 minutes, reviewing my databanks (faulty and full of holes that they are) looking for something to blog about! Sheesh. Pretty sad. OK - well I have a few things. My problem is that my B-B-Baby Blog and this one are kind of meshing for me as the big day looms. It is just about the only thing on my mind right now. For those of you not reading the other blog, we are scheduled to go induce next Wednesday. I'd go today if I thought I could get away with it! Anyway, in preparation, I have been creating baby-themed/announcement blog templates. I'm on my third and a little stumped, but I thought I would not post them to the web until I decide which one I want to use for myself! Stingy!! I am starting to get that proprietary feeling about some of my sets. I put so much into them and don't want to give them away! LOL! I suffer the same experience with sewing and crafting items. Do all "artists"do this? Can I call myself an artist? Ah, I am too hormonal for this discussion right now. Feet swelling as we speak.

I received this lovely little story in my inbox this am - made me tear up. Probably hormonal, and certainly especially relevant to me right now, but you might enjoy it, too. I had in mind both of my children's threadbare, colorless blankies and have been looking forward to starting a new one with this baby - I love the association the author draws between these wonderful childhood comforters to the Ultimate Comforter.

Gotta go waddle around or my balloon feet will start to float! ;-p

Went swimming yesterday. I would just like to say that gravity stinks. Well, I suppose you can make an argument for it. But it was so nice for my tummy to be weightless for awhile, but getting out and over that ladder was a bummer! And today it's only supposed to be in the seventies and raining, so to avoid cardiac arrest, I'll probably stay out of the ice water. Oh well.

Talked to Jenn this am - such a sweetie! Check out her new blog set - it's so . . . Jenn! (Sorry I couldn't call earlier. If my dh would just go to work at 6:30 like he used ta, nahh, that just means I'd have to get up that much earlier to cook. Nevermind. )

While I am on the subject - I think I am gonna get banned from the Groovy Blog! Every time I post to her tagboard, I manage to get it in there twice! Sheesh, how embarrassing! I finally figured it out and promise (I think) not to do it again. She's got an adorable new "thang" on her blog today, too. Check it out.

We went to see Star Wars yesterday. It was ok, I guess. For some reason, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one - maybe because I knew too much of the plot already? I enjoyed Hayden Christianson's portrayal of Anakin - he had some of the other Anakin's facial expressions down, along with some new pouts of his own. Incidentally, I just rented My Life As A House not too long ago with him and Kevin Cline. Great movie (lots of adult language and situations). Being a girl and being a "graphie", I loved Amidala's dresses and found myself wondering in the movie if I could make a set using those colors! LOL! Sick, I know I'm sick!

What's up with Blogger today? Anyway, I have been busy. I think I am focusing my nesting instinct to new sets! LOL! Anyway, the newest is called Flaming June. Great name, huh? Can't claim it though. This set is my new favorite.

Just when you thought it was safe - muahahahaha - Ripple Effect.

Had a fun girls nite in. Well, that was after we let the little girls run wild in the front yard until 8:30! (Supervised, of course!) Anyway, dinner was such a fiasco, we just had to laugh. My friend, Amy, went and bought dinner for us all - I had a french dip yummmm. Well, between her 3 year old, her 3 month old, and my 4 year old, there was always at least one kid whining or crying and often it was all three!!! This one elbowed the other one. The other one kicked this one. This one bit her tongue. Baby hungry. Baby not hungry, just bored. Like they made a pact with the dads to make our evening miserable. LOL! We didn't let them. We had a nice time chatting girlfriend style in spite of the kids. Neener.(Disclaimer: Plenty of really cute things were said and done by aforementioned little dolls, as well! Gotta love'em!)

My boys got home late around 12:30 looking like zombies. Of course, for the 9 year old, that could have something to do with the 32 oz coke he drank at the game! Apparently, he drank most of it and was up to the potty at every inning! Hee hee. Even dads have to learn some things the hard way! A good time was had by all, but the Dodgers were pretty much shut out. Maybe I'll have Henry do a compostion on the trip and post it later. Maybe.

My dh works for a great company - Grimmway Farms. Anyway, one of the "muckety mucks" had season tickets to the Dodgers he couldn't use, so guess where my dh and ds are headed right now?! I am so jealous I couldn't go, and so thrilled they get to go. What a great father/son opportunity! Not to mention Dodger Dog Dinner! It works out good, though, since my neighbor's hubby is out of town - we are gonna get together and have a girl's night in! Kinda sounds like fun. I promise, Amy, to try not to whine too much about my belly ache. Really. Note to self: think of something else to talk about. Think think think.

Silly set up. Look if ya want. More Eeyore 'tude. I know, I know, go call the Whaaaa-mbulance.

I am running out of steam! Made it to the market today and I think that is about all I can manage. Oh, and a coupla loads of laundry. Please excuse me, but my butt hurts! Doc says it'll be another biggun and we were "full size" last week. That means at least a 10 pounder or larger, folks. Please pray for me. My poor hubby and kids - they are currently at my mercy and it ain't pretty! LOL! Two more weeks to go, approx.

We are in Dinotopia mode here this week - dd, 4.5, LOVES dinosaurs and so we are letting the kids stay up to watch the whole miniseries (this may be contributing to the afore-mentioned mood?! LOL!) Kaitlin is romping around the house playing dinosaur and gets this silly grin on her face when caught at it. cute. Ummm . . . I think ds is mainly going along with it because it means he gets to stay up late, too. cute. But uh, I just realized, that means they are staying up til 10pm mon - tue - wed yikes! (Wed. because of a double header Enterprise we let ds watch.) I think I'll put them to bed at 8 for the rest of the week just to get my wits back.

I am crazy-like trying to create a new set flip=flopping back and forth between MS Image Composer and Jasc's PSP7. Learning a little as I go - esp. being able to save a decent transparent image with psp, but so confused about layers etc. (By the time I figure it out, I won't like the set anymore!) I suppose I'll get it eventually, but my free trial runs out in 10 days! I think I will just buy it on faith because I hear so many good things about it. Any words of wisdom? Oh, hey - anyone know why you can't an item as a psp image and then load it up to Frontpage? Is it just to save it to work on later? There are so many more file types available in PSP. I'll figure it out.

Nap time. Snore. Rollover. More snore.

Real quick-like: thought I'd post the custom graphics I did for Mary-Anne.
Special header for this page: Opening Up
Special header for this page: A Father's Hug
It was nothing much, really, and I almost feel silly taking money for it! Anyway, I forwarded some of my modest proceeds to 315dpi because of the great images available for free over there. I downloaded a bunch today and thought I'd share the "wealth"! Paypal is so cool!

Happy Mother's Day!


"Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the
rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be
praised. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of
children. Praise the Lord."
--The Bible, Psalm 113:2-3, 9

INSPIRATIONAL POEM FOR MOTHERS
Blessing on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace,
In the palace, cottage, hovel,
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky--
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
--William Ross Wallace, American poet (1819-1881)

Don't look at the post time, k? I'll be complaining soon enough about having to be up at this time against my will! Finished up a set I started awhile back but got frustrated with. I am still not sure about this one, although I am happier since I simplified the layout. Baby shoes. Check it out.

I'm official. I just rec'd my first payment for custom graphics! Cool. I'll share the addy later - Thanks Mary-Anne! You're my first paying client!

Made a new set anyway!

Thought I would post this am since the kids are still sleeping - shhh - and I have been accused of having a life! The outrage!!! (wink @ Jenn.) LOL. The fact that I have nothing much to say should put those rumors to rest. I think I have gone into "waiting room" mode - you know - don't think too much about what you are waiting for or you start to go crazy? And I think it is getting pretty boring - baby this baby that. No new news. I am hyper-hoping the baby will flip to vertex position (not breech!) because I don't want a c-section. I am hoping that we can induce prior to June 1st (edd is June 2nd!) because our insurance is going to change, Yuck. I am thinking the mere mention of these things will banish me from belonging to this little blog community! lol. I have like 15 sets floating around in my mind, but don't have the time to work on them. I predict a major slow-down in set production after the bambino (-a?) and blogging will get pretty boring, too. All I see in my future is doctor appts. Oh Joy! I feel a good whine coming on - Boy, I need a dose of God's restful spirit this am - gonna go pray about it!

I can't really remember Friday, which I suspect was a rather boring day . . . oh yeah, it was! Dh was feeling left out of the whole new car thing, so I "let" him take it to work that day, leaving me stranded with his dad's F250 long bed. So rather than a) try to figure out how to haul my belly up into that thing and b) find parking places in the boonies and walk a mile, I decided to stay home. Think I cleaned the living room, or something mundane like that! LOL!

We had planned on a date, but all of our babysitters were otherwise occupied. So here comes Saturday afternoon and my ever-so-sweet neighbor Amy calls to see if we had our date, and offering to babysit for us! Yippee! So we left the kids at her house and went to dinner and a movie. Pretty mild evening, but a nice little vacation from the usual routine. First, we went to a restaurant called Tahoe Joe's. Disgustingly excellent food and service! Our steak was slow roasted over a wood fire then rolled in cracked pepper corns. I couldn't eat it all - no room in the tummy - but it sure was good! Topped it off with a shared piece of Nevada Cheesecake. I won't describe it - that would be mean. Suffice to say, this place is now tops on my list for awhile, along with Splash Cafe for their clam chowder.

Afterward, we went to see Spiderman. I know, there were other great movies to see, but that is what dh wanted to see. It was enjoyable but a little long. Not really a movie for the young children due to violence and grown up situations. (Although, surprisingly enough, there were plenty of 4 and 5 year olds on up at the 9:40 showing! ) The most enjoyable part was when Peter Parker was learning to use his new-found talents. Word to the wise - don't sit in the front rows if you get the least bit motion sick! Swooping up and down through the tall buildings - great cinematography but bad for the steak in me belly. I had to close my eyes a few times! (Kept it all in - for that price, I wasn't giving any up - LOL!) Needless to say, we were out until after midnight, so were the kids, and so today we just slept in until almost 10 am and missed church! oops.

Once again, I shirked my duties (NOT wearing plastic, Ali! LOL!) and made another set. Look here and forgive typos - gotta get dinner started but first need to clean the kitchen and run a load of laundry - they are calling me cinder-belly around here lately. Such a glam life I live! Gotta luv it!!!

I was just a surfin' around, looking for ideas and look what I found! I LOVE this bed as well as the room treatment around it.Delia Ripple Bed There are a lot of cool ideas here!

ReasonablyClever.Com: Christopher Doyle Presents the Mini-Mizer! Cute little passtime - especially if you are into the whole Lego scene! Some material not suitable for kids? Well anyway, I have never seen Lego people in bikinis! LOL!

I posted on 4/21 about the shoes and dress I ordered, right? Well, the shoes came today. I was so excited to see the package waiting when I got home from misc errands. SO I get the kids in the house and drop everything and open the box - ewe - I almost puke! Strong imagery, sorry! These shoes were a) THE ugliest plastic canvas and sequinned shoes I had ever seen and b) NOT the shoes I ordered. I am thinking, "I paid $35 dollars for plastic shoes, $7 to ship them here. Now I am going to have to pay $5 more dollars to get them back to Roaman's and then get charged to ship the right pair that I ordered in the first place!" Man, was I ticked! I called them all ready for an arguement. But . . . they were nice and are sending a special packing slip so I don't have to pay for the shipping again! And they aren't waiting for the shoes back, but will ship out the right shoes right away. Hmmm . . . . talk is cheap and my hormones are raging. We'll see.

On a much more positive note, I got the sweetest little baby afghan from my sister Shannon! It is sort of like a pastel rainbow with a white strip in between each color. Very pretty and big enough to last awhile! I am going through the blanket trauma (for me, that is) with my daughter - her blanket doesn't cover her up unless she is in a fetal position and it is falling apart to boot. (What color was it originally? Hmmmm . . . .)A good-sized blanket will come in handy with the new baby! And an heirloom to save, as well. Cool. Made the whole shoe thing easier to bear, LOL! Thanks Shan!

This one's for you, Rose! I saw this and thought you might like it: B01 from Bejewelled. (Needs login and passwords "visitor" and "look") I am wishing I had thought of it. How loverly!

Time to brag. I am especially proud of this new set. Take a look here. Maybe I'll add a java scroll to this one later to preserve the screen placement, but for now I have to go get caught up on housework not done! Bye!

Oh, I just noticed - my blogspot ads are gone!! Yahoo!

I figured out some of my blog problems. One was that I had forgotten an important line of code. Duh. The other is that pesky blogspot ad. It is 78 pixels high and my background is 75 so I can't get them to line up. Know what I did? I signed up for the $12/year ad free space. We'll see how that works out. The really sorry thing is that I can probably FTP this to my domain, but haven't figured that out or set it up or whatever either! Maybe later. But . . . it's pretty much done. Let me know, would you, if you see something funky that shouldn't be - K?

I am trying to work on the blog graphics - this is such a fun set, but can't get my little java scroll to work right. For now, I'll let it hang like this, but there are some alignment problems I hope to fix in a few days. I am torn - on the one hand, I'd like to spend the entire day fiddling around with graphics, etc. On the other hand, I have a baby to prepare for and am getting the "nesting" urge! I need to dredge out the kids' room one more time and make room for some baby stuff. In addition, I have some sewing and mending to get caught up on and I can't even tell you how terribly messy my bedroom is. Door stays closed all day. Yuck! I can't remember how long it has been since I dusted and vacuumed the living room and the kitchen floor? Crusty! I mean it! Plus I have all these crafty projects I'd like to be able to work on and scrapbooking too. Boring post but it's where my head's at right now. I am gonna go clean something so I'll feel a little less stressed out! LOL!

What a day! Got absolutely nothing done. Well, not true. I did load up a new set - The Story of Us. I totally got lost in that pink last night and had to force myself to go to bed! Anyway, it's up if anyone is interested. I gave up on the psp for now. I am so behind this week - haven't even done laundry . . . well, just towels and undies. TMI? Oh well.

The reason I got nothing else done today is because we got a new car! Kewl. Long story short-ish: We got a Mitsubishi Montero Sport a few years back on the 1 year no payments special they had. This vehicle was great for us . . . . until we got pregnant again! We quickly realized that there was no way for my big 9 yob to fit in the back with two car seats. (They just changed the laws in CA on 1/1/2 to the 6 years or 60 pounds, and Kaitlin is almost 5 years and only 45 pounds, so we will continue to require two car seats for another year and a half.) Also, we take my FIL places with us often, and felt that tying him to the roof rack might have been "over the top"?! Great pun . . sorry! Anyway . . . we figured there was no way to get out from under the montero, having it for 2 years, but only paying down one so far. It turns out Ford is really looking to move 2002 inventory and we got a great deal! So we came home with a new 2002 Expedition! It has three rows of seats, so we can get all of us and potentially three more in our car at a time! More kewlishness! I'll miss the Montero as far as handling, etc, but I can put the kids way in the back and crank up the tunes and never hear them argue! Triple Kewl!!! And it has dual a/c controls and tape cassette 6 cd changer and power drivers seat controls and get this: the pedals are power adjusting! Push a button and they come up to meet my short little legs. Radi-kewl!!!! Well it drives more like a boat - that'll take some getting used to and it goes fast. Big red flag for the CHP. Oh well. Let's go somewhere! Vroom!

Oh my gosh. I don't think I can do it. No. I can't. I feel lost. Is it because I'm pregnant? Don't think so. Hmmm.

I downloaded the free trial version of Paint Shop Pro. Seemed so cool in the demo. But . . . . it is so different than the archaic MS Image Composer I am using, I don't even begin to comprehend how to get started. Anyone have any words of advice? Wanna come over and play? I want to create a new set with this great photo I found at 315dpi, but I am stumped. I guess I'll use MSIC in tandem and just play around. I am not sure, however, whether or not the 30 days is going to be enough. I'll see. Oh, also, I guess I can load up some tubes and have fun with those. Where to look. Oh, I think Jenn has some tube links I can follow. Bye.

Quick note - 'nother set.

Oh my goodness! Guys across the street are having a pool put in. Guys next door are putting in a new driveway. It was so noisy this am that we just couldn't stay at home, let alone do school! Henry is learning long division - need I say more? But we had a fun day - ran some errands, hit walmart, grabbed lunch from McD's (BTW - I only ate a handful of fries and part of my burger for the blood sugar issues) and took it to a park for a picnic! Weather was good, just in the mid 80's, real nice in the shade, which is where I was! So we get back at two and all's quiet, thinking we can get a nap and whammo - they're at it again! I'm so tired I'll probably sleep anyway! Picked up some adorable summer outfits for Kaitlin - couldn't make them for the price.

I splurged and ordered this dress for me after the baby comes - isn't it purty? And I ordered these sandals to go with it. I ordered the pale gold since I already have white sandals. Think they will go? They aren't the gaudy gold, but a nice polished iridescent gold, if the pictures are right. Anyway - I have been eyeing this dress and didn't want to wait. I know I am going to be working hard for it(i.e. push, push, push), so I went for it!! LOL!

OK who needs sleep? Made a new set - aspirations. Have a look and give the credit for the background and cool color palette to Jenn!

Made another set - kinda hippy-cool - Lovin' Life. I used an awesome background from Jenn's Jewelry. Took most of the afternoon and my visiting FIL says from the recliner - "What's she doing at that computer all day?" Good question, eh? LOL! I think it's better than watching some half-baked Arnold Swartzenegger movie from the 80's!!! Is that how you spell his name? The perfectionist in me wants to look it up, but I am refraining! Schwarzenegger - had to go look it up! I do like some of his movies, but this one . . . . . ?

Time to "show off" - I made another window cling for a friends birthday. Big surprise - I used another John Farge painting along with a quote from Proverbs 31. I can post this here because I am fairly certain she doesn't read my blog, but just in case . . . . Chris - do NOT click here until after your birthday!!! LOL!

So . . . for anyone following my baby blog, you'll know that I have been otherwise occupied for the last few days. I've been living in denial for the last month about my blood sugar, but it has caught up with me! So . . . I have been concentrating on eating less carbs and trying to be more active. No more midnight bowls of cereal for me! (Sounds nuts, but this was one of the cravings I was giving in to!) So anyway, small victory for me - I've gotten my fasting a.m. sugar down to 113 from 140 last Sunday! This will likely keep me off of the insulin - I go to the doctor later today to find out for sure. Although, since my husband is diabetic, as was my mom, I have a headstart in this area, but don't really want to have to shoot up, if you know what I mean!

I am also a pregnant raving lunatic and the silliest things get me so emotional! I have been on the "verge of divorce" (LOL! NOT) and the worst mother, and even let myself get bummed out about my graphic set entitled balloon because I found some graphics and had fun with them and the site I loaded them from had guidelines I didn't adhere to. (Not to mention I am creator of the longest run-on sentences!) She was very nice, but my hormones made it feel like a personal attack. Of course, reason won out and I obeyed her wishes and took the graphics down, because it was the right thing to do. Nevermind that I am pretty sure all of the graphics are in the public domain and copyright free. I will just have to locate them elsewhere so that I can get my set back up and still respect her site guidelines. That is why I decided long ago that I wasn't going to have a ton of guidelines and get stinky about copyright, etc. I like the linkware idea and think it makes the most sense with this type of graphic artistry. This woman has put up an excellent website and deserves credit for that, but she does not own the copyright to the images she has loaded to her site. But for now, I am being "nice". But she did lose the link from my site. Not that she needed it - LOL - she has excellent search engine placement!

On the home front - we are so excited because we have walls! Our thus 3 year long master suite/schoolroom addition to the house has now moved into the stucco phase! It is so cool to head out back and see actual stucco covered walls, instead of the glorified covered patio we've had for a couple of years! Next comes drywall and then we run out of money, have the baby, and suck it up until next tax season! Hoping by this time next year to be decorating! Woohoo!

Long post due to days of prego-preoccupation!

Made another set: Tweet. They always come in groups. I think I'm about done for awhile. Maybe.

Rigdonia Graphics Loaded a new set today - Balloon. Check it out.

Snicker Snicker. I surprised Jenn.
======>> Gotcha!<<=====
This was actually pretty easy and fun. I simply purchased these window decal blanks and voila! For us graphic hounds, this is a fun project! I am thinking of it for scrapbooking or other crafting, such as baby announcements, or they would make a fun party favor or party place marker for the kids. We'll see.