out sick.

fever.
cough.
chills.
insomnia.
cough.
head feels like it's going to explode.
resting heartrate is 140.
chest pain.
shortness of breath.
sweats.
migraine.

pray my heartrate comes down because i hate feeling like this. every time i get a fever, my heart rate skyrockets. of course it freaks me out a bit since i have a heart condition. and it brings to mind all the anxiety that surrounded the night my mom died from sudden cardiac arrest.

thank you.

*phew* i can mark frozen peas off the grocery list.

so, yesterday, i'm cleaning up the kitchen and see a perfectly flat paper towel peeking over the top of the spice cabinet above the stove. curious as to what it was, i pulled it down and found this:


please tell me you're laughing as much as i was? i mean, yes, it's wrong on so many levels, but dang is it funny. how's that for a little creative motivation? hahahaaa.

we moved the paint easel out to the garage last spring so they could make all the paint messes their little hearts desired. and there it stayed until they ran out of paint. but recently, ashlyn used some of her Christmas money to restock all 14 colors. she likes to paint.

over the next 4 days she begged doug to bring in her easel so she could paint.

well, being freeeeeeeezing cold 'round these parts, with 12-18" snow drifts against the garage door, he kept telling her "tomorrow". well tomorrow came and went for 4 very.long.days. then, she had enough of the "tomorrow" promise. so she had a little meltdown ranting about how "you always say tomorrow and you never do it tomorrow......" you know how it goes---going in a hundred different directions after work.....dinner, homework, chores, etc., etc.

to own up to his promise and help divert her whining, he decided to draft a contract. one that she determined the punishment for. punching in the tenders??? niiiiiiiiice. i shouldn't laugh, but it does crack me up. if that ain't motivation to keep promises right there, i really don't know what is. am i right?

ya'll have seen kung fu panda, yes? maybe not. well, we have seen it twice. it's one of the very few movies we have ever purchased without ever watching it first, and maybe that wasn't such a good idea. because from the whole movie, the only thing the kids remember is panda dude hanging spagetti noodles from his snout---so now, you can imagine, trying to make it through dinner with these two girls and all the spagetti hanging from the nose that goes on. and the other thing...."oh, my tenders" when he gets inadvertantly hit in his unmentionables.

anywho. he agreed to her punishment and they both signed it.

and i'm thrilled to report that he won't be down for the count with a bag of frozen peas to soothe his misery, but instead i'm tripping over the well-loved paint easel sitting in the middle of my kitchen.


and i have two little artists that are loving the fact that it's a weekend and they can paint all.day.long. so far this is all they've come up with.

emma's blue monster and ashlyn's flower.


perfect in every way.
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Winner of the BOY Collection from Karen Foster Design is: Leslie in TN!!! Leslie, please email me using that link under my photo in the right sidebar and leave your mailing information. i'll forward it to the design team coordinator to ship out your goodies!

911, what's your emergency?

first let me just say........everyone here is OKAY. *big huge sigh of relief*

this morning doug had to call 911. only after he called me first on both my cell phone and the home phone. but apparently i slept right through both phones ringing. kinda thankful though because there really wasn't anything i could do about his situation except worry.

we're under a Level 2 Snow Emergency, for you folks who never seen a flake of the white stuff, that basically means:

Roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Roads can be very icy. Only those who feel it is necessary to drive should be out on the roadways. People should contact their employer to see If they should report to work. Obviously, if you are driving, use extreme caution.

we were hit with a winter storm that was supposed to dump loads of snow on us, but instead we got loads of ice, then a little snow.

doug works for a 24/7 company which never closes. never ever. in fact, they passed around a memo just yesterday saying that if a Level 3 Snow Emergency was declared while employees were on the clock, they would be expected to stay until the emergency was lifted.....even if that meant staying overnight. pfffffffft. whatever.

i told him he was an employee, not a slave. he agreed.

anywho.
back to this morning. as expected, he got up and ready to report to work and made it about half-way there before spinning out across 4 lanes of highly traveled, morning rush-hour traffic and landing in the snowbank against the barrier that separates eastbound and westbound traffic----but, FACING ONCOMING TRAFFIC.

truck still in the lane, facing the wrong way with traffic whizzing by at 50-some miles an hour. which for columbus drives is "using caution". how he didn't get hit by traffic is beyond me. i just keep visualizing the pixelated Frogger screen i used to play constantly on Atari as a kid. see it?

can we say panic attack? did i mention that i'm SO glad i was sleeping soundly when his pleas for help came? not that i wouldn't want to help him, but really, what was i gonna do except maybe get myself killed.

so, he called 911.
and they dispatched two police cruisers.
and they had two semi's block all traffic.
and they closed the highway.
and they spun him back around.
and he was on his way again.

no damage to his truck whatsoever.
no bruises on his body.

God was watching out for him.
lucky dude.
lucky me, i still have my husband.
lucky kids, they still have their daddy.

icecicles on her tricicle.

several things:
ONE: winner of the Spring collection from Karen Foster Design is: VickiH. vicki, please email me using the link under my photo and leave your mailing address so i can forward it to my design team leader who will be mailing out your goodies!

TWO: we're in the middle of extreme winter weather with an icestorm followed by a nasty snowstorm. and flickering power. keep fingers crossed for us.

THREE: funny conversation of the day:
emma: mama, i wanna go outside and ride my tricicle. (tri-ci-cicle. i love how she says that.)
me: emma, no sweetie. there are ice-ci-cicles on your tri-ci-cicle.
emma & me: laughing hysterically.
guess you had to be there.

FOUR: you have until 11:59PM to add your name to the comments in my last post to win the Baby Boy collection released by Karen Foster Design.

FIVE: looooooooooots of eye-candy today. so, i present to you..............the newly released Little Yellow Bicycle products!

Zinnia Collection can be seen HERE.




this one is using the Zinnia collection of papers, mixed with the Say What? collection of layered rub-ons. all the Say What? collection can be seen HERE.








Safari Boy collection can be seen HERE. i didn't photograph some of what i sent so, i only have one card for the boy collection. the monkeys and animal print paper are SO irresistable!


Safari Girl collection can be seen HERE. pretty much the same as the boy collection just with the colors altered to be girl-ish.








sorry for the poor photo on this one. i haven't quite figured out all the tricks to photographing projects late at night using my new track lighting in my studio.






Traveler collection can be seen HERE. i did a complete mini-album for this line, but the photos take a long time to resize and host, so i'm just sharing a little peek. it's full of lovely colors like aqua, navy, tan, orange, green and a creamy yellow with lots of typography mixed in with the embellishments.




Say What? collection can be seen HERE (fall '08 release) and HERE (spring '09 release). the collection includes rub-ons, stamps, transparent journaling spots and die-cut journaling tablets for a variety of themes including birthday, travel, back to school and many more!

oh, BOY.

more karen foster peeks today. this is actually the last karen foster peek i have for you. i loved working with these products since i don't get to scrap little boy photos or colors too often.

you can see the entire BOY collection right HERE. and you know the routine by now......leave me a comment on this post by 11:59PM, EST on Wednesday, Jan 28, 2009 and you'll be entered to win the entire collection! international entries are welcomed.

ready to see? (be sure to check out more samples on Carole's blog and Wendy's blog.)






the yellow cardstock color matched to this collection is a specialty paper by Prism that has a lovely shimmer through the whole paper. it's not hit or miss shimmer only on the front, it's a nice even shimmer throughout the paper so you can't tell the difference between the front and the back.


the colors in this collection are so dreamy. love them.

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tomorrow, i'll start sharing some Little Yellow Bicycle Projects.

spring, oops & she's SEVEN!

first, let me appologize for the miscommunication yesterday on the Spring goodies. did you think i was crazy woman linking you to blogs and a contest who didn't really have Spring samples posted?

so, here's the deal...........post a message RIGHT HERE on this post to be entered into the Spring collection giveaway that i shared samples of a few posts down yesterday (on Saturday Sunday.) comments will remain open until 11:59PM, EST on Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009. international entries welcomed.

gotta run and wake up the girl who made me a mother SEVEN years ago today, at 7:17am.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ashlyn!

Oh, Spring.

today's the day for more peeks! and it's all about the Spring collection being released by Karen Foster Design at the trade show that opens TODAY in anaheim, CA.

this one is of my sweet ashlyn---photos taken when she was 6 months old. i can't believe that she'll be SEVEN tomorrow. seven!


this collection has such pretty colors, not too pale, not too bright. mauves, greens, periwinkle.....and those gorgeous pearl brads. loooooove those.


i also love how the cardstock stickers & clear stickers mimic patterns in the paper making it perfect to stack them right on top using some 3-D foam adhesive. i also added some Stickles glitter glue to the butterfly on the patterned paper.


annnnnnnnd. the cuttlebug.....again. i need their people to call my people and work out a deal. hahahaaaaa. this shows the clear stickers and a few different kinds of their decorative brads.


the collection also comes with this GORGEOUS stacked title sticker that has so many details and textures it can pretty much stand alone with your photos and carry the weight alone, needing very little other embellishments to complete your page. this is ashlyn again, spring 2006.


here's a closer peek.


so, i did just that......added very few other embellishments. here is another sticker from the collection and a few of the rhinestone brads. their rhinestone brad assortments come with 3-4 colors in the pack in 3 different sizes---small, medium and large. the ones shown are small and medium.


and i couldn't resist adding another one of those starburst brads with the tiny mirrors.


this last one is featuring the set of clear stickers in the collection. again, like i said, they mimic the pattern paper so very well. so i just layered them on the paper directly over the other image and it gives it a lovely gloss and darkens the colors just enough to catch your eye.




more examples using this collection can be seen on Jen Gallacher's blog and Wendy Inman's blog. go to Wendy's blog and leave a comment for your chance to win the entire Spring collection. you have until 11:59pm, EST on Monday, January 26th to comment. good luck!

ps. jen peeked the Mechanic line yesterday and the drawing to win that collection is still open until 11:59PM tonight. go to her blog and leave a comment on the Mechanic post, posted Saturday for your chance to win!

international entries are welcome for all the Karen Foster Design giveaways!

Art Show (& a WINNER too).

ETA: this is my 500th post!!!! wow. i've had much to say. i think we need to celebrate, yes? let me think on that. i'm sure i can come up with something.
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first things first. nobody told me in midst of all my messes that i forgot to announce the winner of the lovely collection of Easter products from Karen Foster. soooooo sorry 'bout that. give me a gentle nudge next time, will ya?

random.org tells me that number 31 is the winner........that's YOU sheila!!!!
"I have had the hardest time for the last few years finding Cute Easter embillies but ... I've hit the Jackpot this time! Can't wait to get my hands on them & Love what you've done with them! TFS"

sheila, please email me using that link over there to the right under my photo and leave your mailing address so i can pass it along to Karen Foster.


i remember not long ago lamenting about how emma just totally isn't into the whole artsy crafty thing, but ashlyn totally digs it, lives it, breathes it, dreams it. i'm not quite sure when the shift happened, but last night it hit me----emma loves ART!

and i have proof. the proof is proudly displayed all through the house, usually tacked up with any tape ashlyn can find....painter tape, masking tape, duct tape, priority shipping tape. so i thought i'd share for the grandparents because it's all so cute i can't imagine mailing any of it away.

so, i present to you...........Art Show 2009, by Ashlyn & Emma Willis.
Blue Elephant.
Artist: Ashlyn Willis


Baby It's Cold Outside.
Artist: Emma Willis


Animal Kingdom.
Artist: Ashlyn Willis


Brought to you by the Letter "G".
Artist: Emma Willis


Frostyman.
Artist: Ashlyn Willis


Night at the Museum.
Artist: Emma Willis


Kitty Friend.
Artist: Ashlyn Willis


No Crows Allowed.
Artist: Emma Willis


Got Milk?
Artist: Ashlyn Willis


Snakey.
Artist: Emma Willis


Gobble.
Artist: Ashlyn Willis


Bark Me A Tune.
Artist: Emma Willis

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peeks of the Spring collection from Karen Foster Design right here tomorrow! AND starting tomorrow i can peek Little Yellow Bicycle projects! see you then.