Milestones I'm Not Ready For

We were brushing teeth for bed a few minutes ago and Cody told me his tooth hurt. I asked him which one and he showed me. My gut told me he was just fine but to look anyway. So I touched it and it was LOOSE!

NO - I'm NOT ready for him to start loosing teeth. He's still my boy - I don't want him to grow up, I want him to be my boy forever.

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Onto some questions I've had regarding the Simple Stories kit. I thought it would be easiest to just do a video to walk through the whole kit and hopefully pick up on the quality. So here you are! (it's in two parts because it's too long to do in one video on you tube - eleven minutes total).





These items cannot be ordered from the website, but if you'd like to order anything, I'd be glad to help you. Please e-mail me and I'd be glad to place your order.
amandasherman@hughes.net

Oh Happy Day! (& another giveaway)

After being a little (okay a LOT) frustrated with FedEx this morning, they've redeemed themselves. I've been anxiously awaiting my new vacuum. Well, this morning I checked the tracking AGAIN, hoping to see it would today, as I was originally quoted yesterday to no avail :(

Well, when I checked, it still said it was in Portland, OR this morning :( Big cry here. You see, that means it would be MONDAY before it arrives. Not sure I can do that! I need to clean my floors!!!

Well, the kids and I were doing school this morning. Nothing unordinary, no barking, nothing. Just a quiet morning. Then I hear a light knock on the door. There was my vacuum! I caught a glimpse of a FedEx guy.

Okay - so here's the weird thing. The dogs STILL didn't bark, and I didn't see the truck. Granted, it could have been hiding somewhere on our 40 acres. But anyway - so I went asked Robert to screw on the handle (I really dislike screwing screws into plastic - they never go straight). He said gladly, but then looked at me weirdly and said "it's here? I didn't hear the dogs bark." I said neither did I. And the funny thing is that FedEx usually refuses to deliver to us because our dogs are VICIOUS. I loved that the last time they left us the little slip saying delivery denied because of dogs, VICIOUS was all in caps! Yeah - they're the most vicious pack of dogs I've ever met. Beware - they might LICK you to DEATH!! LOL!

Anyway- I'm so grateful my vacuum did indeed show up today. Still a little puzzled by all the weird details, but stranger things have happened before and I'm just so happy to have clean floors again. We vacuumed and mopped the whole house today and it's grand to be nice & clean again! Woo Hoo!

So I'm hoping to make someone else happy today as well! I received so many nice compliments about the wall vinyl yesterday, that I'm giving one away! So, leave a comment below with your first name & e-mail or blog! (and I haven't cut it yet, so the winner will have a choice of brown or black and you can change the word "scrap" to the original phrase "laugh" if it's something you'd like to use elsewhere in your house!)
Thanks for stopping by and listening to my vacuum drama!

Drumroll...please.......

dr....d.d.d.....d..d.d..d......d..d.d.

And the winner of the Simple Stories kit is:

Angie...by the I believe she's also known by mommiextwo


Now for something pretty! I did a vinyl wall decor for my moms house. Unfortunately I can't put any on my walls because they are too textured. :cry: But I LOVED how it turned out.

Cut it with the Cricut & SCAL!

My Scrap Corner

Before I show you my scrap corner, I just wanted to share a lesson I learned today.

Coffee & Computers DON'T mix. Robert is always getting after me for leaving my cup of coffee on the desk.

Well, today, I finally did the inevitable. I spilled my coffee on my keyboard. The pathetic thing is, I was HOLDING the cup. It wasn't on the desk and got bumped. Nope it was in my hand.

So while I had plans to post this earlier today, I couldn't because I couldn't use my keyboard!!!

Today is the last chance to enter for the giveaway for the Simple Stories Life Documented kit. If you haven't entered, be sure to do so here.

Now for the fun stuff. My little piece of paradise - my scrap corner!!

I was slightly offended a couple days ago when my husband came in and said "I don't think I've ever seen your desk so clean."

:O WHAT??? It is sometimes. I said, "I love to have it all the way clean." He then redeemed himself by saying "I know you do." Okay - at least he knows I value a clean desk - kids and a small space just happen!

I know I've shared this before, but I rearranged to make it a little more functional for me, so watch if you want - I won't fault if you if you don't ;)

DIY Thickers

You know, it's really funny. I've always, ALWAYS hated hearing my own voice. I would never use our video camera when Cody was a baby because I hated hearing my own voice. And when I did, I always made sure I was very quiet!

But now - well, I've gone nuts (:sorry:)

I'm really enjoying making these little video tutorials. You can totally ignore me if you'd like. Crazy Okanogangirl has gone NUTS!! LOL!

(note to family: this one would probably totally BORE you. Maybe I should start a family blog so you don't have to suffer through my wild tendencies! :) )



Thanks for stopping by!

5 More Pages

Time to post some more pages!

Today was a productive day. I cleaned off my desk (woo hoo - it's been driving me BoNkErS). I also photo'd the pages I've had sitting for a couple weeks ready to share!

Supplies: cardstock, K&Co (paper), Making Memories (alphas), Pink Paislee (alphas)

Supplies: Sticko (alphas), K&Co (paper), Hero Arts (felt flower), Kaiser (bling)

Supplies: Cardstock, Creative Memories (alphas)

Supplies: American Crafts, Pebbles (paper), Queen & Co (flowers), bling

Supplies: Cardstock, Creative Memories (paper), Making Memoires (alphas), misc chipboard & buttons

Remember to scroll down to the Giveaway post and enter if you haven't yet!

Freebie!!

I've been playing around making some digital papers. Don't know if I did it right or wrong - but I did it! (remember - I'm a self-taught digi girl :grin:)

Anyway - just wanted to make something cute for Valentines! So since I made it, I might as well share it!

I've got another one or two in the works as well!

Valentines Paper

BTW - Be sure to sign up for the giveaway (scroll down to two days ago!)

The Vacuum Saga

Oh, so much to say today!

First of all THANK YOU FOR THE COMMENTS! I'm so excited how many people commented on the giveaway! (if you want to know what I'm talking about - scroll down to the previous post :) ).

Onto business! What I thought was going to be a low stress day, was alas ruined by yet ANOTHER vacuum cleaner! Today, I was vacuuming the bathroom (I'll explain in a minute) and my vacuum died! Ughhhhhh........

But first, before I tell you my saga, you must know the long story. You see, vacuums and I have always had a, well, sucky relationship. Um, maybe that's not the right word. Maybe I should say a non-sucking relationship LOL! To set the stage, you must first know the story goes back to the start of our marriage. When we got married, my family gave us a really nice vacuum.

It didn't last long. (probably didn't help that Robert vacuumed water with it). Anyway, this was probably 6 months into our marriage when we had to replace it. We went to Sears and bought a $50 vacuum. (but it was really a $100 vacuum on sale - 10 years ago).

The problem now, is that, we had that vacuum for about 5 years. It worked great. But finally was starting to get tired :cry:. My house cleaner (I had a housecleaner when I was pregnant) talked me into buying a new one! Aha - suction again.

But because of the great vacuum we had for $50, Robert had a rule (not an unspoken one, it was very verbal), that we could spend no more than $50 for a vacuum.

Might have worked 10 years ago, but that WAS 10 years AGO!!

So now you must know our current situation. We have a rustic wood floor. VERY rustic throughout the house. Seriously rustic. Think of the oldest wood floor in a antique store or something like that. Think barn floor. Yes, that's it. Barn floor. Now you know.

I MUST vacuum my floor. If I don't vacuum it at least every other day, the cracks get all grodey - seriously disgusting.

So, while trying to stick to the $50 rule, we've gone through, at least 6 vacuums in the 2 1/2 years we've lived in this house. (insert cry here). When the last one died, Robert took me to Walmart and said, "buy whatever one you want, I don't care as long as it's not that $500 one over there."

I took about 30 minutes comparing all the vacuums (after having done some online research as well) and settled on a Eureka $150 one. This time, I also took my chances and bought the additional warranty. You never know living on a ranch, with 2 kids, 5 dogs (only 2 live in the house - at night only in the winter), and a woodshop. This was less than 90 days ago. LESS THAN>>>>>>

We took it home and I was in heaven. Absolute vacuuming BLISS!!!! I was SO happy! Seriously, you don't even know how happy I was.

Then the tragedy hit. Robert used it last week because my back was hurting. Then we started talking about how nice it was. ughhh...why????did we do that???? Just like our cars - we DON'T talk about how long it's been since they've had to be in the shop. We just DON'T do it.

Today, I was vacuuming, and it died.

Cry.

Really cry.

But I had that warranty, so off to Walmart I marched. I waited nearly an hour to get my money back (because sadly - they didn't have anymore on their shelf). Fortunately, I had my Starbucks skinny latte in my hand (for which sweet Aly ratted me out on :roll:).

So, this leads to my picture of the day. I left hoping to have my picture of the day being a new vacuum. But sadly, it is the costco.com webpage of me ordering a new one for which I have to wait a week to get (at least I have an old crummy back up to use - it works, the wheel just falls off every other minute :roll: LOL)

How I missed my wonderful Eureka.



And because I've rambled on so long tonight - check out tomorrow - I've got a digital freebie for you!!

Good News & A Giveaway

Okay - the good news first. If you want to order the Simple Stories kit - and you need it shipped directly to you, I am extending the sale until Jan 31. That's 10% off anything from the Simple Stories Catalog. If you want to save shipping and are in the Omak area, I am placing my order tomorrow, the 20th, so 10% off and free shipping ends tomorrow. (Note: the free shipping is only for those I can hand deliver the item to).

(If you do want to order, you have to order directly from me, not via the website. You can e-mail me to the address in my profile over there ------>
I accept paypal for orders to be shipped directly.)

Now for the giveaway!!!



I am giving away one Simple Storie kit. There are three ways to enter (thus you can have three chances! - if you post a link, leave another comment with a link to your blog).

- Leave a comment
- Become a follower
- Post a link on your blog

(Yes, I'll admit - it's a shameless plug to get more traffic on my blog :oops:)

BUT there's a catch - I will ONLY give it away if I get 20+ comments from DIFFERENT people. So if someone enters three times, I must have 22+ comments. Make sense? If I don't get 20 different people commenting, I'm agonna keep it :D LOL!

Giveaway closes Jan 27!

MemoryWorks {Life Document}

I'm so excited to announce this!

I have become a MemoryWorks Independent Scrapbook Consultant. (lots of words for a simple definition) That means, I provide knowledge & help and sell scrapooking supplies. (Don't worry - this blog will not be taken over by me becoming a pushy sales person - I HATE pushy sales people).


The reason I'm saying this is because I LOVE this new product!! It makes documenting pictures easy, but still leaves creativity for those of us who want to be more elaborate.


Oh, and I love the colors too!


Can't wait til my kit arrives!!

Here's the facts though: the paper kit is $16.99. It is designed for specialty page protectors that are sold separately ($5.50 for 10) and uses a 3 -ring album. There are a few options available.

I'll quit rambling about that though, and show a few more examples put together by MemoryWorks (this is not my work, I don't have my kit yet).

And here's the good part! Order anything from the Simple Stories Catalog and get 10% off those items as well as free shipping (fine print: free shipping is only if I can deliver the order to you in the Omak area - if you need your order to be shipped separately, regular shipping fees apply).

And there's more! If you order anything from the Winter Catalog, you will receive free shipping on that as well (fine print again: free shipping is only if I can deliver the order to you in the Omak area - if you need your order to be shipped separately, regular shipping fees apply).

Order through me (you cannot order directly from the website) by January 20 for this offer! I will be sending the order in Jan 20.

Freebie SVG file

I'm taking part in a journaling tag swap, and I wanted a scalloped square. I have a cricut cartridge with it, but I couldn't make it exactly the size I wanted because I don't have Design Studio. So I used Inkscape to make one myself!

And since I made it, I thought I'd share it with you! Download and cut with SCAL.

Note: you are only downloading the red scalloped shape, not the "TODAY" stamped image

Scalloped Square SVG

Enjoy!

P365 Jan 10-15

Trying to catch up here on my Project 365 pictures (one picture every day). These pictures are more about life than photography. No fabulous shots here - just trying to snag a quick shot before the kids move! LOL!

DIY Embossing Folders

Because I'm an uber dork and like to do videos instead of photograph tutorials, here's a little video if you want to make your own embossing folders to use in a pressure die cut machine.

*ETA - I removed my playlist (the music), so you can hear it now! :)

The Great Multi-tasker

A couple weeks ago, Robert brought in a board with a few cabinet samples on it. He wanted labels made for it, labeling the different materials for the proposed cabinet job.

Well, I think he was thinking I'd just type them on the computer. And yes, that would have worked.

But I knew I could make it look a lot classier if I took a little extra time on it.

So I used my cricut, some vinyl and SCAL. And VIOLA!!

(sorry -the picture isn't totally focused - I had to snap the picture fast because we had to get on the road before the weather turned bad).

Because Everyone Needs a Good Laugh....

scroll down for that laugh.....

But first, I've had this photographed waiting to share for a while, but I had to wait until I gave it to the giftee since it was a gift!

It's a full year planner. Kinda turned out a lot bigger than I thought. But I thought it was super cute. Wish it was more practical to carry around though.

okay, so here's your laugh....

Last of 'em

for now -- but y'all know me -- there WILL be more! That's a promise ! LOL!!

More pages!

Nothing fancy here today. Just some pages I've had in my stack to post! Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Colorbok (paper), bling (Prima), cardstock

Supplies: Colorbok (paper), Prima (flower), Offray (ribbon), cardstock

Supplies: October Afternoon (paper & stickers), K&Co (chipboard letters), Little Yellow Shoebox (small letters)

Supplies: Colorbok (paper), misc

Supplies: Stampin Up (cardstock), American Crafts (letters), Making Memories (flowers)

Project 365

Project 365. Take a picture of something in your life everyday for the whole year. 365 pictures. 365 moments. 365 memories.

Wait, it's not a leap year is it??

Phew - just checked - it's not LOL!

It all started last year by the famous Becky Higgins. But last year, for lots of reasons, I didn't do it.

But now, after seeing the complete year of some other ladies, I really felt like I missed out on something. I scrap tons, I get lots of the little moments and everyday life. But I'm not always on top of the dates and super specifics.

The whole idea of a kit though overwhelmed me. I didn't want to spend the $50 to not like it and quit. So I'm doing it on my own. I'm just putting the date and journaling on the picture, and will put them in album pages by We R Memory Keepers (I'll share the specifics of those when I get them!)

But for now, I wanted to share the first pictures I have taken.

C'mon Coffee

that coffee is just not kicking in this morning......ughh....hopefully a workout will help! Off I go, but first I wanted to share some more scrapbook pages I've done.

First one is actually a two page spread, but I was too lazy to edit it that way in PSE, so you have to look at it in pieces. It took SO much bribing and persuading to get Cody to let it stand long enough for me to take a picture. The first page is the snowman, the second page is Cody having WAY too much fun crashing it. Yup, definitely ALL BOY!!

Back to Reality

Ah, the first Monday after all the holidays. Back to real life! Fun - man I need to do a deep clean in my house.

But for the moment, I'm going to share some pages I've finished over the last few weeks. Nothing fancy, but here they are.

Beebe Bridge - this summer a semi-truck crashed on the bridge and wiped out a main support pillar. The bridge was sagging so much they couldn't bring equipment onto it to fix it, they had to do it all manually. It was a big deal for us because it is the main crossing over the Columbia River and caused quite a detour if you were going anywhere on the east side of the river between Chelan and Wenatchee (up to a 2 hour detour).

Gotta love our rural life!

A successful use of a sketch! Still found it challenging though!

Thanks for visiting! Happy Monday everyone!