Oh I've been so busy!

I finally broke down and ordered my new computer. Ain't she purrty!!! I've been so busy trying to save everything from the old computer to put it on this computer. I still haven't loaded everything yet. I still have both printers and the scanner to go!

I did get to watch the final episode of Will and Grace on my new computer. The night that it was on I was babysitting for Mackenzie and I didn't set the timer on the VCR correctly. I ordered the DVD from Amazon and when I put the DVD into the computer it was wonderful!

I've set the old computer up for Tim and the keyboard stopped working. I was so frustrated yesterday trying to get it working. I finally was able to use an old keyboard and things are working fine :)

I have been acting as if I am indeed a seasoned digital scrapper buying and collecting kits. I can finally now store them on my computer because there is room!!!! I have 250GB of memory.

OH HAPPY DAY!!!!!

take care,
Dawn

It's been a glorious weekend!

This has been such a beautiful weekend. The sun is out, the weather is warm and the flowers are blooming!! I have azaleas blooming in the front yard and this picture reminds me of my friend Beverly who loves the color pink :) I did notice today that the irises have spread so much that they are taking over too much of the little patch of garden in the front yard. I need to share some with my friends and thin it out a bit.

I was up early yesterday and headed out for an oil change. When I left one of the gentleman working at the Saturn dealership asked how many miles on my car. (I think because it's so old LOL!). I bought my car in 1997 and it was a used 1995. It runs too well to get another. I do know that my next car will also be a Saturn :) Speaking of my Saturn, Timmy washed the car for me today, as best as a 7 year old can. He wanted an extra dollar for his allowance and he thought it was a fair trade. Who am I to argue LOL!

I even found time today to read! I haven't read a book for enjoyment in way too long. I finally picked up Nicholas Sparks' True Believer. It felt good to read. I've begun lining up my books for summer vacation. Only 17 more days of school to go!

I even had the chance to digi scrap. The papers are from Michelle Coleman's Summer Whimsy kit. The swirls are Shawna Clingman I can't remember where the overlay came from.

Take care,
Dawn

The countdown begins!

The countdown begins! I have 19 more days of school before my summer vacation begins! I love school but oh do I love the summer off!!!

Besides the actual teaching part of kindergarten we still need to make the incoming class lists, the outgoing class lists, do our budget for next year (the way things are getting cut that doesn't take too long lately!), assessments, report cards, grant writing and packing up the classroom (that is hours worth of work!)
Can you see why I need a break LOL!

take care,
Dawn

Today I am the meanest mother!~

What is it with my children and their messy rooms! Brittainy had the worst room ever and Timmy seems to be following in her footsteps!

Today I spent over two hours helping him clean his room. I took three garbage bags of JUNK out. Between the cleaning, the crying and the frustration on my part we finally got it done!

What I don't understand is that we keep 90% of his toys in bins in the basement and he doesn't have that much in his room so how does it get that messy!

I took a big bag full of books to bring to school. He hasn't read them and they are beyond his interest level now. I also took some of his toys that he doesn't play with to bring to school.

Wait until he finds out that the basement "toy store" is next on the list! The wailing might be heard clean across the country!

take care,
Dawn

Stuff Portrait Friday (on Saturday!)

1. Something Discarded
2. Lay down on the ground and find something ugly and make it beautiful.
3. Take a picture in the style of the person that inspires you.
#3 is wide open - meaning if you took a picture that you wouldn't have normally taken, but you thought, 'hey so-in-so would love this'. Share with us your inspirations!

Something Discarded.

This is the old highway department where my dad worked for more than 20 years. A couple of years ago the town built a new department of public works building. This one has just been sitting vacant for years!

Lay down on the ground and find something ugly and make it beautiful.

I don't know. Can you make a weed beautiful?

Take a picture in the style of the person that inspires you.

At the new highway department the town planted this tree in memory of my father. I took the picture looking up at the sky thinking that at the same time my dad (I sure hope!) is looking down at me!

This is just an added extra. It is the plaque under the tree. For obvious reasons I've deleted the last name .

take care,
Dawn

What is that bright ball in the sky????

I saw this bright ball in the sky today and wasn't sure what it was! I have a vague memory of something similar called the ....what was that name....oh yes the sun! It's been 8 days since we've seen it.

This week has been so rainy!!! I don't remember seeing so much rain! Fortunately Cape Cod was spared the flooding that we have seen in the northern part of the state!

The upside, my lawn is nice and green in the front yard and the new grass is coming up in the back (after the recent septic work). I still need to spread some more seed I think!

I also liked the fact that we have had indoor recess at school and I haven't had to do outside recess duty. I've been able to work in the room while the kids played :)

I will admit that it feels great to have the sun out again and I am hoping to see lots of it this weekend. Thanks to Debi for checking in to see if all was well here on the Cape after the recent rains!

take care,
Dawn

Limber I'm not!

This morning I woke up feeling just like this lady here!!! I can't walk! My hip is aching and each step is a bit of pain accompanied by a limp! I managed to go grocery shopping but came home to rest! Still no relief! As I was waiting for Rich to cook dinner it finally came to me! I know the reason for my pain!!1


Each spring we meet the incoming kindergarten children and spend a "mini" day with the children. We let them play, read them a story, do an art activity and a little song and dance before they go home. We do this for five different groups of children. It is a long day but exciting at the same time! This year was no exception. We had a chance to meet all of the children. We read a story called "Cookies Week" and then make a cat puppet. The hour ends with a song of Hap Palmer's called Sammy. We had a little extra time each session so we also played the song Touch. It starts out saying touch your fingers to your toes, touch your wrist to your knee, touch your elbow to your stomach (no trouble there!) and touch your nose with your toes. Here I am 45 years old so proud of the fact that I can still touch my nose with my toes...so proud in fact that I did it about 8 times throughout the course of the day! Today I am paying the price. It is not pretty getting old LOL!

take care,
Dawn

Stuff Portrait Friday (late again!)

This week was :

BODY OF WATER

Timmy just loves playing with water balloons and he'd use them everyday if I would only fill them for him. Oh, the fun!

SOMETHING WITH FLAVOR

I had the pleasure of spending my weekend alone (*joy*) and this was my lunch and dinner yesterday. They are the best nachos (a little heavy on the raw onion here though!

PLANT YOUR *BACKSIDE* WHERE YOU PARK IT!

This is where I spent ENTIRELY TOO MUCH TIME this weekend, in my computer room on my backside!!!

take care,
Dawn

I do know how to use paper LOL!

I'm beginning to wonder if my friends think I've given up paper scrapping! This is to prove that I still scrap with my paper supplies. It's not the best scan sorry! I still don't feel comfortable with the way I use patterned paper. Everyone else seems to really have a knack for it. I'm not sure I come by that easily.

These pictures were from last year and I already see how much Timmy has changed in such a short time. I remember how excited he was to decorate the eggs. The funny thing is we don't like hard boiled eggs so we decorate them and give them away. The fun is in the creating!

take care,
Dawn

I made it myself

I don't know what it is about me and a challenge? I always feel the need to prove I can do it LOL! Yesterday for NSD there was a mini class at 2Peas on creating digital papers. I followed Rhonna's directions and came up with these two papers (the striped and the background). I also used a DDE doodle and Jenn Star chipboard alphabet and a scrapartist inked overlay.

Now while this is just a baby step I am so excited that I figured it out! And what better topic to scrap than my favorite drink!!!!

take care,
Dawn

National Scrapbook Day with an hour to spare!!!

Wow, talk about cutting it close!! Imagine a national scrapbooking day coming and going without doing a layout! I did get to clean my scraproom! I even pulled out some pictures, papers and stickers to work on a page but I couldn't do it. So I pulled up some kits and did a digital layout! The kit is from Shelle Puka and the overlay is from scrap artist. This is another picture of my granddaughter, Mackenzie. I'm tired and I'm off to bed...with my goal complete!

take care,
Dawn

10 Favorite Romantic Movies

1. The Notebook
2. Sleepless in Seattle
3. Must Love Dogs
4. Love Story
5. You've Got Mail
6. When Harry Met Sally
7. It's a Wonderful Life (my favorite all time movie)
8. Little Women
9. Groundhog Day
10. Mystic Pizza

take care,
Dawn

Stuff Portrait Friday

This week was:

1. Something Big
2. Something Small
3. Half of Something

Something Big....

I'm glad all I did was take a picture. I could never touch a frog! This one was HUGE!!!

Something small.....

This is a bud from my red maple. They are just starting on one tree and are further along on another. If you look closely on the left is a very small spider web!

Half of something....

What's the half you ask? This is my hose half working because there was a leak and it's also half of two "challenges". The first being this and the second the border technique I learned yesterday!

Did you play?

take care,
Dawn

Photoshop Friday #3

You know I think I am liking these! Each week gets a little easier in that I "sort of" understand what I am doing instead of just going through the steps. Today's lesson on Jessica Sprague's blog was a grungy border. I practiced on some flower pictures I had and this is what I did tonight.



I also tried it changing the border color and made this.




Then I got brave (ha ha!) and tried my hand on digi layout. This is number #6 for me. I used a Gina Miller Kit with Jen Wilson word art.

I'm already looking forward to next week :)

take care,
Dawn

Just to make you smile!

I got this email from my friend Teresa. Some of them just make me smile :)


GAMES FOR WHEN WE ARE OLDER
1. Sag, you're It.
2. Hide and go pee.
3. 20 questions shouted into your good ear.
4. Kick the bucket
5. Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over.
6. Musical recliners.
7. Simon says something incoherent.
8. Pin the Toupee on the bald guy.

SIGNS OF MENOPAUSE
1. You sell your home heating system at a yard sale.
2. You have to write post-it notes with your kids' names on them.
3. You change your underwear after a sneeze.

OLD IS WHEN
1. Going bra-less pulls all the wrinkles out of your face.
2. You don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.
3. Getting a little action means I don't need fiber today.
4. Getting lucky means you find your car in the parking lot.
5. An all-nighter means not getting up to pee!

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEKEND
1. I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing. If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn't have signed up in the first place!
2. When I was young we used to go "skinny dipping," now I just "chunky dunk."
3. Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press 'Ctrl Alt Delete' and start all over?
4. Stress is when you wake up screaming and then you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.
5. My husband says I never listen to him. At least I think that's what he said.
6. Just remember...if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.
7. If raising children was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor!
8. Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.
But Most Of All, Remember!
A Friend Is Like A Good Bra. Hard to Find, Supportive, Comfortable, And Always Close To Your Heart!

Photoshop Friday

I found Jessica Sprague's blog last week. She gives tutorials on digi scrapping. I think I like it because I'm always up for a challenge. This weeks lesson was Creating Patterned Paper Accents with Brushes. I had a little trouble this week, but she emailed me back and I fixed the problem :) Not only did I try her challenge but I made a brush out of the doodle I got at Digital Design Essential which was last weeks lesson :)

You'll recognize the picture from my last post. My granddaughter spent four days with me this week while Britt worked. She is just so cute that I can't help but to take pictures of her. I get to use all the girlie pretty colors when I make these pages for her too :)

The paper is from Sweet Mindy designs. The ribbon is from Shabby Princess and I also used Jen Wilson's You Name it. I hope I covered everything.

take care,
Dawn

Stuff Portrait Friday (a few days late again!)

Stuff Portrait Friday: April 21st, 2006 - Your Initials

1. Kristine - K - I'm going to take a picture of something that starts with a K - You take your first initial and take a picture of something...

2. Middle initial - Yep, now take a picture of something that starts with your middle initial

3. Last name initial - Yes it's this easy!

Ok, so I'm late again doing this. My pictures aren't very creative but if I wait to long to figure something out it will never get done.

D is for Dawn and Daffodil

M is for Marie and Mackenzie, my granddaughter that I had for the week. This was a bit shadowy but it'll have to do.

K is for my last name and King Kong

I enjoy doing these. I am glad I found this site :)

take care'
Dawn

Remembering Ilyse

I met Ilyse through my friend Becky. Becky and Ilyse met teaching on Nantucket and became the best of friends. Becky only had wonderful things to say about Ilyse. It was a pleasure having her become one of our circle of friends.

After knowing her for a while Ilyse became sick. I remember how Becky rallied around her to help her through it. Ilyse was here on the Cape with no family. Becky was the one to see her through her illness many times over.

Ilyse had been battling brain cancer for years. We knew Ilyse through her last two bouts of surgeries and treatments. It seemed that each time she would bounce back, albeit with some challenges. It was last January that Becky called me to say Ilyse was not doing well this time around and they had only given her a few more weeks to live. I remember not only feeling the sadness I had for Ilyse but also for Becky. Ilyse was like a sister to her. My heart ached doubly.

Ilyse went to live with her parents in Florida soon after this diagnosis. Becky remained a true friend and visited often and shared her tears and laughter with Ilyse and us, her friends at school. This past September Ilyse passed away just shy of her 40th birthday. We all lost a dear friend. After Ilyse's memorial service a friend of hers sent Becky some daffodil bulbs to pass to all of Ilyse's friends here on the Cape to plant in her honor and memory.

The daffodils I planted have bloomed. Just the other day I was cleaning out all of the leaves from the flower bed, having a conversation with Ilyse. Letting her know she has not been forgotten. I will always remember Ilyse!

take care,
Dawn

Suzy Homemaker and other ramblings!

Do you ever hear or see something that jogs your memory back to your childhood? Yesterday I received a catalog in the mail called Betty's Attic. It is full of lots of retro things. I remember having so many of the toys they show (including the ugliest monkey!).

So, getting the catalog made me think about some old toys that I had. I remember having a Suzy Homemaker oven when I was little (I'm the one on the left!) I knew somewhere I had this picture. It was taken in January 1967 when I was still 5 years old. It's one of the few pictures I have of me as a child. I remember making cakes in this oven. It was sort o f the precursor to the Easy Bake Oven. :)

What I remember most about this picture has NOTHING to do with the Suzy Homemaker oven. I remember right around this time I was tattling on my sister Cindy for saying a bad word. (I think it was hell). I remember my mother asking me what she had said and I cried and cried because I just couldn't bring myself to say the word.

Memories are funny things!!

take care,
Dawn

I'm a good mom and grandmother!

Brittainy went back to work this week. It is the first time since Mackenzie was born seven months ago. She is not doing it full time, just for the week while she has a free babysitter...ME!

Mackenzie has been so good. She takes naps often which helps me :) It's been fun having her. I certainly realize that parenthood is for the young! It's taking a lot out of me and I can't seem to get anything done!

I know how hard it is to work and come home and have to run the house. I thought I would be a good mom so last night I made dinner for Britt and Jay. I sent it home with her. Tonight I also made dinner for her and it was ready when she picked up Mackenzie. Tomorrow I have promised her dinner as well.

I have two more days of watching her this week. I even get three days off after that until I have to go back to school. Now I need to see if I can convince Timmy to sleep at his grandmother's house one night to have a day to myself.

take care,
Dawn