Laura Vegas

alyssa may be thinking twice about not playing softball. i decided to bring my camera along with us to practice … might as well do something productive while we sit there, right? then she realized that she was the only one that could be my "model" … since sarah was out on the field for an hour and a half!

love this one! gotta click on it to really see her eyes … and her freckles. not bad since i only took about 12 photos … so my odds were a little less than usual. and we were working with about a 2 foot by 4 foot section of grass that had decent lighting. and i had to keep telling her to scoot an inch this way … and back just a little … now forward … off to the left. lol! i was sitting in my chair … leaning over to even out the shade on her a bit. i know, i know … it would have been easier to get up and try a different part of the park area. lol! but all our stuff was there … and no one around to watch it.

can you tell how excited she is by the fact that i’m subjecting her to such horrors as picture-taking?!?! lol! some day she’ll appreciate these! i was noticing on this one that her left eye looked a little "off" … and i think it’s that it appears that she has no eyelashes. lol! this happens on a lot of her photos come to think of it. i thought about trying to photoshop some longer lashes on there just for fun … but that seemed like a lot of work. and i’m probably the only one that even noticed these things!

and this one? she was doing some sort of backwards, upside down thing for me. only thing is … i didn’t have my zoom lens on my camera. so i couldn’t pan out to get the whole thing. and i wasn’t about to get up from my chair to get it. lol!

other than that … a typical tuesday. nothing crazy or bad … but totally draining. my tuesdays are always like that. i did have a surprise visit from one of my previous daycare mommies … showing off her precious baby girl who is just 3 months old. so cute and looks just like her brother! nice to catch up and chat a little … miss seeing her. i also had a nice visit from my neighbor while she was killing some time before getting her son from school. always nice to have visitors during the day … since it gets quiet around here. haley was talking me ear off today … but i have no clue what she was telling me. nikolas is babbling all the time … but i have no clue what he’s saying to me either. ariana talked my ear off of course … she’s always good for some funny conversations.

off to count meals … the only thing left on my tax stuff. i really don’t want to know how many meals i served … makes me realize how much food i dish out. food is actually the number one expense for home daycares … which makes sense … because i know these kids eat ALL day long! i keep wondering why i spend so much on groceries?!?! lol!

not sure what that that title is supposed to mean … i just know that coming up with a title every time i post is my least favorite part. some totally random things:

• spent 2 1/2 hours today doing paperwork for taxes. i would have gone longer … but that was how long naptime ended up going. i have my appointment on wednesday night … and i really hadn’t gone through anything up until today. i had cleaned out all the files from last year and put them neatly in an expandable file folder thing … which by the way, i expanded it to 4 inches of paper. but today i itemized receipts, tallied up expenses, added up utilites, sorted out 1099’s, counted meals, added up my working hours, all that good stuff. luckily, i am fast with paperwork and crazy with the calculator.
• made a trip to the bank today. you would not believe how many compliments i get about nikolas … after all, he is a cutie. but rest assured … i always make sure to tell people that he’s not mine … that i cannot claim his cuteness. lol!
• the weather here has been so nice. the girls have been in the backyard playing hockey on their rollerblades the past few nights after dinner. hard to believe that it’s daylight savings time this weekend. then we’ll have all that extra sunlight hours. which i like … and don’t like all at the same time. i really don’t like the idea of losing an hour this weekend though. i always feel like i’m running behind on something … so i can’t afford to lose an hour.
• tonight i was making my famous "london broil with steak sauce gravy" … so good! i’m big on the london broil … because it’s easy, it tastes good, and it’s fairy cheap. i make it at least once a week … and it always turns out great. but my brother has been on me about never using a meat thermometer … he says i should always cook with one and that’s how i’ll know the meat is done. i have to say … i have never seen rachael ray use one … so why should i? he got me a digital one a long time ago … so i took the thing out tonight and used it. that meat seemed to be in there for days … so i finally took it out 15 degrees before it claimed to be "done" (which for us is medium rare). so overcooked!!! lol! it was still good once you slathered it with the steak sauce gravy … but still.
• joe ended up with 4 games to umpire this week. which is great … it’s good money and he’s good at it. but that leaves me to get sarah to practice 2 days this week. we’re packing up the daycare kids and going on a ride … all the way across town. note to self … pack snacks and use the bathroom before heading out. an hour and a half is a loooooong time to sit when you have to go potty. lol!
• shoot … just remembered that sarah was supposed to work on her animal report tonight. argh! the thing is due next week … and she hasn’t started. just like her mother i tell you! lol! i thought we were done with the animal report … but apparently this is a rainforest animal this time. darn school reports.
• alyssa is totally done with her country report. she gave her presentation at school today … one of the first ones. kind of good to get it out of the way and not have to worry about it all week.
• we have a little over 2 weeks and the girls all go off-track … with a month off. i swear they just went on-track. lol! they must have moved everyone up a little. because i knew we had april off … but they actually get out like march 19th … which is not april.
• my inbox says i have "1 new email" right now … and there is nothing there. bugging the heck out of me. that little red "1" is sitting there teasing me … making me think i have mail. so not funny. i cleaned my inbox out … i only have 17 emails in there right now. my "sent" folder had over 600 (from 2 months)… am i supposed to clean that out? i actually do … and i empty my "trash" folder all the time. i know it does it on it’s own every now and then … but i like to keep it maintained. lol!

thanks for everyone’s nice comments on my last layouts. i appreciate them all! i probably won’t have any new layouts to share until the end of the week. still have to finish the tax stuff tomorrow. and tuesday and wednesday are my busier daycare days. but thursday … that will be a good day. unless the tax appointment on wednesday night is bad news … then i may be curled up somewhere in a corner. lol!

can i say how much i love the new MM garden party collection! perfect for spring and easter … and yet great for everyday stuff too. i did these 3 layouts yesterday using the collection.

my first circle layout. for some reason every time i would use these large scalloped edged circle papers … i would mount them onto a 12×12 cardstock background. not sure why i didn't think to just do a circle layout. lol! some older pics of adyson from almost a year ago. we all miss her so much … it's been 4 months since we've seen her. i "heard" that she had a big day on friday … and we're sending her our "get well" wishes. kind of sad that i had to hear about it the way i did … but it is what it is. 12×12 layout.

look at the itty bitties! i'm still having fun digging through some older photos. i have loved watching what nichol has been doing with a lot of her older photos. in some ways i find it more challenging … i think mainly because the photos are not the same look and quality that i'm used to these days. that sounds really bad, doesn't it. lol! and since they're pre-digital … i can't fix them or change them to blk&wht … so i have to pretty much use them as is. i don't know if you can tell … but this layout is full of glittery stuff! the brown cardstock is actually the shimmer one, the papers all have glitter, the photo corner and diecuts have glitter, the large brads have glitter. and those small, round white glitter things … those are the centers from the shimmer jigsaw flowers. 12×12 layout.

for the record … purple is one of my least favorite colors. not sure why. it was certainly alyssa's favorite color when she was little. love these shimmer jigsaw flowers … the pretty look of glitter without the mess. lol! and look at my tan girls … right at the end of summer over 7 years ago. so cute! 12×12 layout.

i'm thinking maybe i should dig out some easter pics to use next. i don't think i scrapped any from the past 2 years … and this collection would be perfect!

brads … next to buttons and ribbons … they’re my favorite embellishment. i’d venture to say that i use brads on 90% of my layouts. don’t hold me to that … but it sounds about right. so a few days ago i re-organized my brads. took me all day … in between kids, naps, lunch, etc!

so i received one of these MM embellishment boxes in my goodies last week. they actually had another version that’s been at michaels for quite some time now … it’s like a kraft color with a black lid. but for some reason i never gave it much thought.  then i pulled this out the other day and realized just how much i could fit in there and how it’s so much better than what i’ve been using. you could store so many different things in there … but i decided to just go with the brads since i have so many. for the record … i will at some point alter this. with paint and papers and all that fun stuff. i actually had the chance to alter one of these a few months ago for an upcoming thing … so i feel like i already know what i’m doing. lol!

what … you want to see everything?!?!

how’s that for some brad-goodness?!?! i’m noticing that 2 spaces are empty in this photo … but trust me, they’re all filled up now. with the exception of the one narrow, horizontal spot in the second drawer … these are all making memories brads! i’ve collected them for years and years … so some of them are super old. but trust me … i use them all. actually, i never use the gold ones. lol! i actually debated putting them in there. i may actually take the gold ones out … because i can’t remember the last time i used a gold brad. plus, i totally forgot to put my rhinestone brads in there.

one big thing i love about this box … is that the little compartments have this slight slop upwards on one end. so that when you’re digging them out … you can literally "scoop" them out with your fingers. i have been using THIS embellishment box for years … i have 3 of them. and i hate trying to dig things out … because things get stuck in the corners and your fingers are too big to get to them. lol! plus … i love that some of the compartments are larger. so much easier to search for the brad color you want.

random fact #1 for today – remember the pics of my hair from thursday? today is saturday … and it looked the exact same as 3 days ago. without washing it. i went 3 days and 2 nights … sleeping and everything. and my hair looked the exact same! which is awesome!

random fact #2 for today – see that first picture up there? that goes to show you that i havn’t scrapped all week (up until today … but i actually took that photo thursday). because if i was scrapping … i would have stuff all over that black mat! and see that last photo up there … the blue and green scalloped paper on the right side? that is one of 3 layouts that i finally did today … and will share tomorrow with you!

random fact #3 for today – tonight sarah was complaing about how boring it is at our house when alyssa is at her dad’s. then she tells me "don’t tell alyssa how much i miss her"! too cute!

there have been some gorgeous projects using the new "love story" collection over on the MM BLOG this week. i got a chance to do some creating with it too … and mine is featured today. here's a peek … but go check out the mm blog for more info and details!

thanks for all the nice comments with advice on the hair. i woke up this morning … and it was all good. took me all of 3 minutes to do my hair … even after sleeping on it. which btw … i sleep in a way that my hair never gets smushed. seriously. i’m very concious of not smushing the hair … which is why i can get away with washing it every 2-3 days. lol!

at first it kept catching me off guard … to see this staring back at me when i passed a mirror. but this is what i looked liked for years and years … so it really shouldn’t be that weird. lol! and i love that it took me no time … 5 minutes of blow-drying and scrunching … and a few minutes this morning. i did end up canceling my hair appointment too. i just got a trim a few months ago … so i don’t think i’m in desperate need. plus, i hate spending that much money on my hair. lol! and the fact that it curled up so much … that it actually looks shorter now. so i hate to take much more off.

i asked the girls to take a few pics of me this afternoon … and they ended up taking some with me. they did pretty good with my camera, don’t you think? of course … i tell them where to stand, i zoom it to where it needs to be, and i constantly ask to see what they’re getting. sarah snapped off a bunch of me and alyssa … and then i realized that she had the orange soccer cones in the corner of the pics. lol! so we moved those and tried again. but i’m glad we did these today. nice to get the camera out too … i have been terrible about taking pics lately. i think it’s the weather … i’m terrible at indoor photos. but now that it’s been gorgeous outside (i think today was 70 degrees … please don’t be mad at that! lol!) … i know i’ll be out for photos more.

and i just had to prove that this was what i always looked like. for some reason, this was the only photo that came to mind … i’m not in a lot of photos. and i totally stole this picture from heather’s blog … which i’m sure she won’t mind because i do have this saved somewhere … i’m just too lazy to find it (and yet i spend 10 minutes searching her blog for it. lol!). this photo was from about 2 1/2 years ago … back when we taught at a scrapbook expo for paperkuts magazine. we had to laugh at this … a few people actually asked us to autograph our spreads in the magazine (we conveniently ended up on the same pages). that was such a fun time! so yeah … i was a little tanner, the hair was a little longer, and i was quite a bit thinner. lol! but really, i look the same … right?!?! lol!

back tomorrow with a little scrapbooking share. the one i told you i was sharing 2 weeks ago. lol! guess i had the dates written down wrong … so i promise, tomorrow!

i had a big moment tonight. one that i think will make a big difference in my life. it was an "ah-ha" moment. with my hair. yes, you heard right … my hair. i hate to get too excited … because i really should wait until morning to see the final outcome. but i’m thinking positive thoughts that this is going to be good. lol!

i don’t want to bore you with my hair trouble up until this point. but for those that are new here … here’s the condensed version. about a year and a half ago i started having some health problems. and i think just due to the stress of it all … i started losing my hair. like handfuls at a time. it got to where i would wear hats all the time … or little fake hair pieces. then after months and months … it started growing back in. lots of different textures and lots of different looks … all on the same head. then once i had about 4 inches of new growth … it started falling out again. so i went back to hats and fake hair. it’s been pretty good lately … new growth and not so much falling out.

back in the day i had curly hair. actually, it was kind of straight. but with some mousse (i seriously don’t know how to spell that), tons of hair spray, and a diffuser … i could make my hair super curly. but i havn’t been able to do that in about a year and a half now. i have tried a few times … but i just had such weird growth and textures … that it just looked bad. so i’ve been curling it myself with a curling iron … which looks great, but takes me 30-40 minutes. or i’ll go semi-straight … i say "semi" because i have never mastered a flat iron or figured out how to really make the hair totally straight without that "poof" coming in within a few hours.

i’m scheduled for a haircut tomorrow night. but i thought tonight i would try the mousse thing one more time. so i washed my hair tonight … stuck some mousse in it … and started blow-drying with my diffuser and scrunching it with hair spray. and guess what … i have curl! i have lots of curl. granted, right now it’s a little crunchy. but i think (from what i can remember from so long ago) that’s the way it was at night when i first did it … by morning it should be good. it’s a little frizzy on top … that is where i’m still getting new growth in, so i have lots of short hairs there. and it could definately use a new coloring … i have a few grays popping up on top. but it’s curly … and i think it looks good. like the way i wore it for years and years.

and this is huge. because it will save me so much time. just a 5-minute blow dry at night after my shower … and some touching up and re-scrunching in the morning. and it just makes me feel so much better about myself. my hair has sucked lately … mainly because it was getting long and needed a trim. but it hasn’t looked good. and i’m tired of wearing the hat … because that was getting old and itchy and wasn’t looking that great anyways. and i’m tired of curling it with the curling iron … because that was annoying and time consuming and frustrating. so i’m super excited about this.

i am willing it too look good once i wake up tomorrow. i really hope i’m not jinxing myself by sharing this excitement. lol! if it turns out half as good as i’m hoping it will … i promise to share a picture tomorrow! now … do i keep the hair appointment? or save myself $40 and skip it? lol!

just a few things that have made me laugh lately:

• "what is up with this new toilet paper" – said by sarah about a week ago when i bought some aloe-type toilet paper because it was the only thing on sale at target … and it had more squares which i thought would be good since so many kids pass through my bathroom.
• "well, i do like nikolas … but he’s very drippy" – said by ariana today when nikolas tried to climb on her … she’s referring to his drooling and his runny nose.
• "hey mom, why do you have an afro pick" – asked by alyssa when she found a hair pick in my bathroom drawer … i used to use one all the time way back when i had perms … guess i just stuck with it for some reason to comb out my hair after washing it.
• "why do you keep talking to me" – said by amanda after school the other day … after i gave her my normal 20 questions on what’s going on.
• "why is your toilet paper so soft" – asked by ariana … referring once again to the aloe-type toilet paper that i had to buy because it was on sale.
• "and do you do "this" everyday" – asked by sarah’s teacher today after i brought 6 kids with me to her conference … she thought i was just babysitting.
• "stop calling him the "new kid"" – said by joe when i mentioned that the "new kid" would be here tomorrow … i don’t mean it in a bad way …  i just said that a kid has to be here at least 7 times before they’re not the "new kid" anymore. lol!
• "please, don’t ever buy this toilet paper again" – said by alyssa tonight … once again referring to toilet paper mentioned earlier.

luckily, we are down to just the three half-rolls of toilet paper that are actually on the holders in the bathrooms. mental note … buy regular old toilet paper tomorrow! lol!

been awhile since my last random post, right?

• i don’t think anyone noticed at all today … but i wore the exact same thing that i wore yesterday. exact. although it was totally clean … washed it last night. the reason? it’s been so rainy and windy lately (although not today) that it’s a total waste if i take the time to curl my hair. so i’ve been doing it semi-straight … and then toss on a hat. only thing is … the only hat i really like is my brownish one. actually … the one i’m wearing in my photo to the left. and i really only like the hat with a brown shirt … or my dark, deep purple. and i only wash my hair every other day … so then i must wear the hat 2 days in a row.
• speaking of hair. i can’t wear mine straight anymore. it just looks bad. i’m going for a much needed haircut on thursday night. so i either spend forever curling it … or i toss the hat on. i like it curly … but i just don’t have time in the mornings to do it. although if i can take the time … my curls will last for 2-3 days … so maybe that averages out pretty good.
• i now have 10 hours worth of shows on the DVR … how pathetic is that? 8 of the girls disney and nickolodeon shows (4 hours), 2 lifetime movies (4 hours), 1 rachael ray talkshow because i want the recipe she made (1 hour), and 1 episode of "eli stone" (1 hour). everything else is caught up. although i do have a half hour episode of "the new adventures of the old christine" recording tonight … love that show!
• i was creative today … but it was all for a country report art project. lol! alyssa is doing a display board … i think it has a technical name for it, but i can’t think of it right now. it’s not until you have to fill it up with info that you realize just how big that tri-fold board is! lol!
• i also took out my cricut … and cut out 3 country names. two of alyssa’s friends loved the title i cut for her … so i did their country names for them. apparently my cricut-ing abilities are amazing!
• i did start digging into my new making memories products a little bit. i’m playing with the garden party collection … which can i say is amazing! the colors are just so bright and colorful … and such fun embellishments!
• first i saw THIS and then THIS over on the amazing miss keisha’s blog. and then today there was THIS from the equally amazing maggie over on the MM blog. how’s that for some links? lol! anyways … love how they used those large chipboard hearts! and so wishing i actually had some. i have large letters galore … and a few words … and a flower or two. but no hearts. i even saw a package of them a while back and passed on them. so wishing i hadn’t!
• tomorrow joe has his first game to umpire for the season … besides that short one he did for his "freebie". so that leaves me to get sarah to softball practice. i have 5 other kids at that time tomorrow. so my mom is going to help me out and take her to practice. and if and when she returns sarah to me … she will get a free dinner in return for her and my dad. lol! i actually think that’s a pretty good deal … since i’m making my good stew tomorrow! i may even toss in some breadsticks.
• sarah has been giving me a really bad time lately about going to bed. she likes to sleep in our bed. i keep telling her that she should consider herself lucky … since when she comes in my bed in the middle of the night i let her stay and don’t take her back to her room. mainly because i am so out that i don’t even notice her climb in. lol! but we’ve been fighting every night. last night i told her i was going to call super nanny on her. she saw me looking at the site … so maybe that will let her know i’m not joking around. lol! i love super nanny … love watching the show and then realizing that my kids (and all my daycare kids) really aren’t THAT bad after all. lol!

that’s it for now. hope everyone had a good monday!

yes, my friends … i’m interrupting my normal scrapbooking to bring you these gems. here are a few "crappy-pictures-of-way-too-simple-layouts-featuring-super-crazy-old-photos". lol! and i say this in the nicest way … because i’m not knocking this style at all. it’s just not something i do much.

ok, this one isn’t all that simple … i think it’s my style actually. and i had to put it at the top so as to make sure and grab your attention. lol! these are some pictures that my mom took of the girls about 2 years ago when she took them ice skating.

check out this … camping photos that i find super funny! when my sister came to visit for my cousins wedding (a year and a half ago), her and my dad took joe and the girls camping. i think i was working. and the girls actually had to miss a day of school for this 2-day trip … alyssa was truely devasted. seriously! and she will tell you to this day that it was not worth it. she did not like camping. lol! i actually grew up camping. so i can do the camping thing once i’m out there … and yet i love my comfort of my home even more. so i go both ways on the whole experience. and i’m showing both of these page by themselves … because there are some truely funny pics on here that are better close-up. lol!

and these zoo pictures … from 7 1/2 years ago!!! how can i have had these pictures laying around for that long without doing something with them? lol! i used to work nights on the weekends when i did grocery … so joe would do stuff with the girls on saturdays while i slept. look how tiny they are! sarah was only 13 months here … check her out with teddy … who i’m thinking really deserves a special layout with his story.

really crappy picture of this one … but i couldn’t get the second page to stand up straight. lol! i did this off a becky higgins sketch. i’m not digging it … but it’s done. these pictures were about 3 years ago. looking back, i wish the girls weren’t wearing purple for a christmas train ride. lol!

don’t worry … i’ll be back to my normal scrapping style as of now! i got an extremely generous supply of product from MM yesterday … so i’m really looking forward to creating with it all! but this was a nice week … i had fun digging out older photos and getting them down in the books … no matter how simple they turned out. i got a ton done (15 pages in a week) and it felt good.