A HUGE "thanks" to my friend;)

I got the best surprise in the mail today...the entire K&Co. Smitten paper pad!!! I have been searching for this pad for quite some time. I wasn't able to find it at Michael's anymore. Anyway I had tried getting some sheets, but didn't work out...Long story short...a very good friend sent it to me today. I have the best online friends EVER!!! So thank you, thank you, thank you to (u know who you are). You're the best!!!

It's Been A Looong Week...

Well, it all started last Thursday. I got a call from the school nurse in the afternoon that Victoria had some kind of rash and needed to be picked up. So I rush over there and find her looking horribly. Red blotches and hives all over her neck, chest, back, lower scalp and the upper part of her arms. I couldn't imagine what it was.

I put her in the a bath off Aveeno as soon as we walked in the door and gave her some Benadryl. Ran to Walmart to get some Calamine lotion, more Benadryl and more Aveeno. Within about three to four hours the rash was cleared up almost completely and I noticed two bites on her shoulder. I was thinking the hives/rash was an allergic reaction to the bites so I dismissed it at that. Over night she began running a fever though and that worried me.

In the am I went to pick up my mom and we decided it was best to take her to the family doctor just for peace of mind. The area around the bites was still red and somewhat inflamed and warm to the touch.

Turns out the fever was because of a throat infection she had. The hives, the dr. said, were probably an allergic reaction and told me to get her some Zyrtec and just watch the bites to make sure they didn't get infected or something. She also got antibiotics for the infection.

So she ran a higher fever that night and we just gave her Motrin and Tylenol. Over the next couple of days it just kept getting worse. She ate less, layed around more and got chills on and off. She did not look good. Sunday her fever reached almost 105!!!

We called Ask a Nurse and were told that the antibiotics take at least 48 hours to take effect on the fever and that if she was still running it on Monday we should take her back to the dr. I guess it just needs to get really bad before it starts getting better because after that, the fever started to let up. She still ran, but not as high and it gradually started coming down.

Today was her last day at home. She ran no fever at all ALL day today and only a tiny low grade last night. She will be going back to school tomorrow. Unfortunately today was picture day and she missed out:( Hopefully there will be retakes.

I am glad that things are starting to get back to normal and we are out of the woods with that whole ordeal. It's so stressful when the kids are sick:( I'd much rather be sick myself.

So I got all my house chores done on time considering my sick patient. And I even got my LO done for this week's challenge on our private site.

This week's theme is alternative. We were given options to choose from. I chose 1 solid and 6 pp, all chipboard embellies and ribbon, 5x7 pic and song lyric/title. All my papers are Elsie from the HL pad. My title is chipboard Thickers in Prancer font. I painted the arrow and bracket using MM paint. I made my own heart "buttons" using chipboard hearts I made with my sis' Sizzix die, then made holes with my Silent Setter. Painted with MM paints and outlined with Zig pens and a Signo pen. The other chipboard arrow off to the side is covered in Elsie pp.

I have completed 15 LOs so far this year. Working towards my goal of 100 for the year. Only 85 more to go:)

Got Another One Done Today:)...

This is somewhat of an accomplishment for me. I usually have long spans of time between my scrappiness:) But I was just in the mood today and got one real quick one done. I think I have figured it out. Usually my LOs are more on the "complicated" side; lots of embellishments, intricate cutting, etc. etc. This simple style is fun and quick. I'm liking it. Maybe I'll get more done:)All papers I used are from the Elsie pad I got at HL; all Roxie line. The alpha stickers are Doodlebug Simply Sweet. I traced the antique shape onto my Elsie then cut with my Cutterbees. Then I traced around it and filled in some parts for the black and white border:)

The rest of my day was pretty routine. Did my grocery shopping as soon as I dropped the kids off at school. Got all my daily chores out of the way and made time to do my LO.

I've been going through stuff in the house and purging all sorts of stuff. We really have too much junk all over the place:(

Not sure what my plans are for tomorrow. Don't really have anything to do. Maybe I'll start pricing my LSS garage sale items and do the once over on my space/stuff.

Some LOs to Share...

I've gotten a few LOs done over the last week or so. Most are for challenges on our private site.

This one was for our first challenge week. The theme was "retro". We had to choose from certain items and certain techniques. Were were only allowed to use older paper lines as well. I used SEI Penelope's Potpourri. The items I chose to use were: die cuts (my antique journaling spot), decorative edge scissors (for my scalloped edge on the striped paper) and paper piecing (my poodle). My technique was paper tearing (on the photo mat).

This pic was of Victoria on the 50th day of school. This LO isn't quite my style, but it was something new to try out:)

This one was for our second week challenge which is this week. The theme was "classical". We had to keep it simple. Use "white space" and a surprise element. This is probably the simplest LO I have ever done. Didn't take me long at all:) My surprise element was the red polka dot paper for my photo mat and the little red "coaster" in my title. So the red against the black and white:)

This LO was just for fun:) It's a lift off of 2Peas. I used my Chelsea's Place paper from M's. I made my own felt embellie. Used my XL scalloped circle punch on some stiff back felt. The smaller piece of paper is Paper Studio. Ribbon:MM Anthology, chipboard word "sister":MM Chelsea's Place, flowers:Prima, buttons:French Twist, pin:Heidi Grace, definition sticker: MM Anthology Clearly Defined, tiny tag: P.Etc.

Long weekend. The kids were away from home the whole time. Victoria was at my inlaws. Mattie was at my mom's. I wasn't feeling well and got up in the wee hours on Saturday morning so I just stayed home all that day. Didn't do anything...outside of the house. Just some stuff around the house. Got around to going through my LSS garage sale box and made my list. Gotta go back and price everything probably give my sb area another once over to see if there's anything else I can bear to part with:)

Went and tried out Magnolia's Pancake Haus on Sunday. It was Steve's birthday and he'd been wanting to try that out. We meet his parent's and Victoria there. It was good and we got there super early so we got seated right away. By the time we left there which was maybe about 9:30 or so, there was a long line waiting outside.

We did a little shopping; went to M's and got the other Chelsea's paper pack. Used my 50% off coupon and bought the MM trimmer. Went to James Avery and finally got my new charm put on my bracelet.

We went to the movies and saw Jumper. Excellent movie. Lots of action. I LOVED it. Went to lunch at Red Robin's. Picked up Mattie and went to Steve's parents and had cake and ice cream then came home and chilled.

Sunday we got up early and went to breakfast. Then took Mattie to see the Spiderwick movie. V was still at the inlaws. Afterwards we took him to spend a gift card at Dave and Buster's that Mark's parents gave him for Christmas. We had lunch there as well. Went by HL and got my XL scalloped circle punch I'd been searching for for over a month!!!

We came home and Steve's parents dropped of V later that evening. I got to work on my LOs.

Didn't do much today, but catch up on house chores that had been neglected over the long weekend. Kids went back to school today and I got back on my routine. Gotta run to the groceries tomorrow.

Getting late and I still need to get through two loads of laundry; one in the dryer and one waiting to go in. Better get a move on.

Finally Scrapped It...

I'd been stumped on how to scrap this pic since we got them. I usually have trouble scrapping portrait/professional photos, but I really wanted to scrap this one. I finally saw something I liked in a Scrapbook Establishment newsletter. This is one of the pics we got of V at the Picture People to commemerate (sp???) her Kindergarten graduation:)

Products used: white textured cardstock, Tim Holtz Black Soot distress ink, Scenic Route pp, Paper Studio pp (hand cut flowers), Doodlebug Just My Type cardstock alpha stickers, MM Avenue journaling pad.

Happy Valentines Day to everyone. Hope that your day is filled with lots of LOVE:)

I'm Sick...AGAIN...

Gosh, it seems like I am always sick lately. I've got a cold...or maybe it's my allergies, but I've got a cough and sore throat now and I'm all stuffy:( I stayed in all day today and just rested and bummed around the house. Got quite a bit of laundry done though...that's never ending.

I've been working on some Vday cards. Lal was making her own so I thought I would too. I'm such a copycat;) Here's what I have so far:

I've still got a few more to work on. Just haven't been able to motivate myself these past couple of days with the cold and all. I did get a LO done yesterday though. A TOTAL lift from the February issue of Scrapbooks Etc.
For those of you who haven't had the chance to go by the Ingram's Michael's and check out those stamps, I made a trip out there tonight and there is still a good selection left. There was at least two baskets and there are alot mixed up in the others, so you gotta dig a bit, but for $3...WELL worth it:)

Run, run, run...

to Michael's at Ingram. Lookie what I found...

And there was lots more. Other sets and more of these as well. Too many to choose from. And the price is such a deal. These are towards the back of the store; back right side of the store in a left side aisle...if that makes any sense. They were in some large wicker laundry type baskets on a bottom shelf. There were three baskets FULL of these.