Laura Vegas

i have been scrapping these past few weeks … just nothing i can share. i just realized that it’s been almost 3.5 weeks since i’ve shared a layout with you. i don’t have any new layouts to share … but i did make a couple of cards.

nothing fancy … and same basic design. but we had 3 birthday parties this weekend … and i needed a couple of quick cards. i think i told myself a while back that any time i made a card with my scraps … that it would have to be a birthday card. apparently i havn’t done that. because i still don’t have any birthday cards ready to go in my card basket. lol! and i just realized that i need another birthday card for my brother tomorrow. lol!

the girls are going to be so exhausted by sunday night. they had bible daycamp all week … after being in school all day. then friday night alyssa went to a sleepover birthday party for a friend from school. i picked her up at 10am this morning … and by noon we were at our neighbor’s birthday party over at john’s incredible pizza place. that place is so crazy … kids screaming and running all over. but they had fun. we got done with that about 3pm … at which point i dropped them off at our good friend alison’s sleepover birthday party. and that’s where they are right now. and i’m really hoping that sarah makes it ok … she has not done so well with sleepovers lately. lol! and tomorrow morning i pick them up and then we have a few hours to chill. then over to my brothers for a bbq and swimming … for his and joe’s birthdays. those girls should zonk out pretty good by tomorrow night. lol!

i feel like i’ve gotten out of my blogging grove these past few weeks. need to work on that. actually i feel like a lot of things aren’t going like they should. so much to do … and not enough time to do it all. i spend half my time doing things i feel are wasteful … you know … cleaning house, laundry, yardwork. i know it’s part of life … but you end up doing the same thing over and over and over. why waste my weekend cleaning house … when i’m going to have to clean it again next weekend. why trim all the plants in the yard … because then they just grow more and i have to trim them all over again.

i just feel like things are always so hectic … always doing 73 different things. and yet i feel like i do nothing at the same time. tell me i’m not the only one?!?!

found this fun little question thing over on kim’s blog today … and thought it would at least give me something to post about. lol! plus i owe her because i’m such a huge slacker … see more below for that one. here goes:

1. your entire family has gone away for the weekend. the house is all yours. what are the first three things you do?  pick up anything that doesn’t belong out and put the house back in order … double and triple check to make sure the doors are locked … start about a zillion projects in the studio.

2. your bankbook is looking healthy, you have a four-day weekend ahead. what sounds good?
i can’t even imagine that situation. lol! i guess we would take a vacation … anywhere.

3. what do you do while waiting in the doctors office? seriously … i people watch and occasionally flip through a magazine … although i usually just pretend to read it because i’m secretly still people watching. lol!

4. would you rather spend an afternoon alone in a book store, a mall, napping in the hammock?  a mall sounds fun … i never go to the mall. i don’t know how to nap!

5. you have an unexpected 48 hour stay in the hospital. you’re coherent and not in pain. how do you spend the time? reading? channel Surfing? laptop surfing? calling your friends to come visit? ringing for a nurse every five minutes? sleeping?  now if i was in a hospital … i might nap. lol! or channel surf … i do that when i’m feeling confined and not able to get around.

6. you have a nine hour trans-continental flight. get excited about finishing a hot novel? watch the in-flight movies? become best friends with the stranger seated next to you? take three valium and sleep the time away? definatley in-flight movies … and if i was on a plane … probably a nap. and i’m more social than i used to be … so maybe talk to the person next to me … depends what they were like. lol!

7. you have a seven hour layover in chicago o’hare airport. do you wear down your cellphone battery calling friends? read a book? people watch? shop every store in the airport? take a taxi and see the city? totally wear down my cellphone batteries … i do that every time i’m in the car … must multitask. and people watch … love to do that. love to do my own versions of "what not to wear" … and critique people. not that i have room to talk. lol!

8. what do you do when you’re bored stiff?  channel surf and get caught up in the stupidest tv shows.

9. work first, play later? OR play while you can, the work will still be there when you get home?  work first. not the funnest way to live … but just the way my mind works. lol!

10. list three times that you are easily bored. this is going to sound terrible since i do daycare … but i’m very easily bored when sitting watching the kids play. i have to be moving. lol! when waiting in line at the store. i also get really bored when i have a ton of things to do … does that even make sense?!?! lol!

and this is really bad of me … but kim tagged me like last week sometime. and i’m just getting around to doing it. sorry kim! she nominated me as a "rockin’ girl blogger" … which at this point i’m not sure i’m worthy of. lol! i’m supposed to nominate 5 bloggers … and you need to take this tag and put in on your blog … and then nominate 5 bloggers of you own. i’m picking erika, kori, doris, shaunte, and heather.

yes, i have decided that i’ve drained all my creativity as of this afternoon. after getting my mojo back on saturday night … i scrapped all that night. then after alyssa’s soccer game on sunday morning (yes, that was 3 games this weekend) … i scrapped for almost 12 hours straight … all the way until 1:ooam. then after the girls went to school today … i scrapped for about 6 hours straight (had no daycare kids today).

actually a lot of the time today was just preparing the finished projects. i got all 3 done. but then i had to photograph them, crop and resize them, write them up, and email them off. amazing how long just that part takes. i also cleaned up my entire desk … which was covered with stuff. ok, i guess you know me pretty well … it was covered … but only with a layer of pages. and i think there was one official "pile" of stuff. so it really wasn’t a big mess … just an overly organized little mess. anyways … i did it.

and now … i’m so drained that i havn’t really moved since. lol! i finished right before the girls got home from school … and about 15 minutes later i had them back out the door for bible day camp. i was so zoned out … just blog hopping and stuff. i did manage a quick trip to the grocery store for some essentials … bread, milk, fruit, stuff for lunches. and then i zoned some more. girls got home … dinner, homework, showers. this will be a hectic week for them … with 6.5 hours of school and 3 hours of bible day camp. at least we don’t have soccer practice. lol!

i’m upstairs now waiting for the girls to fall asleep … and then i’m headed off to watch some tv i think. my favorite is on tonight … hell’s kitchen. i know the chef’s langauge is terrible (and i won’t even tell you how many tries it took me to spell "language" … is it actually right? lol!) … but i think he’s hilariously mean.

and i also have a new idea book to sit down and enjoy thanks to my new friend wendy … she was nice enough to track me down a copy of real life scrapbooking and surprise me with it! thank you so much wendy! totally what i need right now. gotta refresh my creative mind … because i intend on starting some new projects tomorrow.

 

and i just got off the phone with deneen … and she told me that i have to post a picture (i told her i was coming here to post). so here you go deneen! this picture cracks me up … it’s just a typical sarah look. crazy, bouncy, running off somewhere. i actually took this picture one night last month … i joked that i was going to take her picture and she ran off down the stairs. there were no lights on (i was in our bedroom) anywhere near the stairs … and i couldn’t even see through my lens … but i just snapped anyways. and this is the picture i got! it’s actually quite amazing … i can’t take a decent picture in the house during the day … even with the flash. and yet i can totally take a decent picture in the dark without even looking through the lens!!! lol!

and is it wrong of me as a parent to NOT want to order school pictures? tomorrow is picture day. of course i’ll get a class picture for both the girls … to someday put in their school album … which someday i will actually get around to. lol! but the packages are so random in what you get and in price. basically to get 2-5×7’s and 2-8×10’s (and a bunch of small pics) … you’re paying $35. let’s do some math. i just ordered 14-8×10’s for my photo wall downstairs (yes, i was one picture short … need to find one more kid to hang on my wall) … and with shipping i paid $16. so just imagine what i could actually get for $35 if i did in myself. lol! and i can totally take a better picture than those people anyways. although i don’t have the pretty purple/red/blue/green backdrops to choose from. lol! so call me a bad mom … but i’m ordering the class picture for $11 (with 4 whopping wallets). and i’ll hold my own picture day! won’t my girls be thrilled? i hope i don’t get the same reaction that sarah gave me up in that picture! lol!

i know you’ve all been worried sick about this … but i have found my creative mojo!!! lol! didn’t find it until late tonight … but at least it’s here.

alyssa had 2 soccer games today … hours apart of course. i couldn’t get started on anything earlier because i knew i’d have to stop to go back to the field. and she has a game tomorrow morning. so i’m hopeing that by the time we get back … my mojo will still be going strong and last all day. i have 1 project down … and 2 to go.

hope you’re all having a great weekend!

so, first we have the scrapping good:

• got my august/september issue of scrapbooks etc today. i have a layout in the "readers rock" section … which is where editors pick a few of their favorite layouts of the month. and what’s even cooler is who picked mine … my scrapping idol, erin! so fun to see what she wrote about my layout design. it’s a layout of ady … but you can’t actually see her face in any of the pictures. i loved that layout … it was one of my first 9×9 layouts and it was the first photo collage i had ever made.
• i got a layout picked up yesterday for the december issue of scrapbook trends. it was a recent layout i did … one of my favorites (if you’re a regular reader of my blog … you can probably figure out which one is missing. lol!). i was so happy to get the request … hadn’t had one in a while. i was beginning to wonder if it was the new layout size … thought maybe the magazines weren’t going for the 9×9 size as much. other than the "busy" one of ady that just came out … i’ve only had 12×12 layouts picked up recently. but i guess it’s not the case after all.
• i placed a huge photo order a few days ago. most of them are for the girls. but so good to get all those done with … and 4 big folders of pictures off my computer. lol! and i mentioned i was going to order new pictures for the wall in the playroom … but i procrastinated on actually placing the order. sometimes it’s good to put things off … all 8×10’s are half price at winkflash right now. so that means they’re only 99 cents. great deal since i need 15 prints.
• i have 3 big project started right now … and they’re piled all over the place. lol! i had some creative "mojo" going and got a good start on all of them.

and now the scrapping bad . . .

• whatever creative "mojo" i had … has escaped me. lol! i swear i havn’t touched hardly anything in about 3 days. i keep looking at it. i keep walking by it. i keep thinking about it. but nothing comes to me. i can’t get my head wrapped around any ideas. so this weekend i need to bust my butt to get going. i want to get everything done by sunday … since it is due monday. and lord knows it takes me longer to photograph and prepare them than it actually takes me to scrap them. lol!
• my trimmer still stinks. i think i mentioned this months ago … and asked about any suggestions. i just want something that will cut straight and clean. i keep putting new blades in there and it’s just shredding my papers. in fact … i actually resorted to distressing all the edges of my papers on one of the projects … just so it would match the edge that the trimmer so kindly "distressed" itself. lol!
• i need adhesive. lots of adhesive. i hate buying it … there are funner and cuter things that i’d rather spent my money on … and adhesive is not one of them. and it’s so expensive. i miss dina having her store and giving me my "teacher discount" … such a better deal. but at the same time … it is important. it is after all the stuff that holds all the yummy papers and embellishments together. lol!

that’s all i’ve really got for you at the moment. i feel like i lost my "blogging mojo" too. lol! am i boring you lately? i feel boring … and i feel like all i do is gripe … even if it is about adhesive and trimmers. what all do you want me to blog about … do you have any questions for me? give me some ideas. lol!

had to share a few pictures. just not right to have too many posts in a row without pics. these are a few i took of amanda last week.

sorry they’re cut off a little. i had already resize them for 8×10’s for the wall … and was too lazy to get out my external harddrive to pull up the original. even though my external harddrive is actually sitting right next to me. lol!

good news is i’m feeling a ton better. not totally back to normal. still real slow standing upright … still walking funny … still not bending down and picking up much. but i know that taking these last 2 days off work was the best idea. even though i inconvienced a few people … still the best thing for my health. lol! i’ve done nothing but take it easy … and i can tell the difference. hopefully all the kids tomorrow will be good and not demand too much of "waurwa". lol! because i know i’m not carrying kids around all day. lol!

i feel like it’s been forever since i’ve shared any scrap stuff. actually i havn’t scrapped that much in the last few weeks. but i’ve got so many different things going on up on my scrap island right now. i had to clear off the entire thing and move some bins of stuff to the side to make room to spread out. in fact the girls now only have about a 12 inch x 5 foot section to play at. lol! considering the island is 4 feet x 8 feet … i’m being kind of greedy. lol! will have to find some things to share in the meantime … maybe i’ll be brave and post some of my super old layouts (they might even have stickers on them. lol!).

and just something funny today that i want to remember. the girls are always coming up with the funniest things. but today the girls had early day from school … they got out after lunch. ashlen was only here for a bit … until her mom got done with her school. she saw her mom pull up and said "thank god" … picked up her backpack and raced to the door. one of the other girls said "you don’t like coming here, do you". which i know is totally NOT true … because they always have so much fun. and then ashlen tells me "i like my home … but it is pretty here". lol! then while she was in the car getting ready to leave she wrote me a quick "thank you" card … and wrote that she loves me … and also a thank you for letting her go to the concert the other night.

awwwhhhhhh!!!

that’s actually a little inside joke. we’ve been watching "full house" lately … and there are always like 7 different times in each episode where they do the "awwwwhhhhh" thing … because someone is being cute or mushy. and ashlen was saying today that she hated that word. lol! love you ash!

i know this is totally going to be an unexciting, downer of a post. but i’ve been wanting to get a few things down about all this darn health stuff. this blog serves as a journal of sorts in so many ways … i could never keep track of this stuff on paper. but on the computer … that’s a whole other story.

some of you may be new to my blog … but i was diagnosed about 9 months ago with fibromyalgia … basically it’s a chronic pain disease. nice don’t you think? lol! i started having these all over pains about a year ago … it was last july actually. started in my back and shoulders … spread to my feet … my knees … my hands. basically all over my muscles, joints, etc. i spent a few months going to different doctors … getting tested and checked for everything. i had nerve testing, numerous blood tests, arthritis tests, did the chiropractor thing … but everything checked out. i was in perfect health. 

i finally went to a rumatologist (spl?) … and he diagnosed me. a lot of friends had started thinking exactly what he said. and once i read more about it … it made sense. i felt better just having a name for what was wrong. and yet … it has no real cure. it’s just learning to manage your pain. learning to take it easy and know when your body has had enough. learning not to push yourself when your body is resisting. sure, there are pain meds that help a little. i’ve read of people that are on tons of meds … it’s crazy. i’m not at the point where i want to be one of those people … i’m too young. lol! so i pop ibuprofin when i need it … and the sleeping pills make a ton of difference (when i wasn’t sleeping the pain just felt more intensified because my body was so tired). i have tons of other meds laying around … but really they didn’t do too much for me. so i only take what i need to take. maybe there is something out there that would make my pain go away … but honestly i’m just to lazy to find it. lol!

i’m not the best at managing my pain. i’m such a control freak … and i never like to admit to needing help. i’ve read about plenty of people that can’t even get out of bed … but i can. the pain has become normal for me over the past year. still hurts like heck … but i just suck it up and go about my business. i don’t let on that i’m not ok. i don’t let most people know how hard my days are sometimes. at times i get upset because i feel like people forget that i have this thing to deal with … but a wise friend of mine pointed out that i come off like i’m great. after all … there’s nothing wrong with me that you can see. it’s all inside. so it’s partially my own fault for coming off like i’m handling it all so well. and most of the time i do handle it just fine. but there are times where it just builds up to be too much … and then i get overwhelmed. usually it only lasts a day or two … and then i’m back to business.

and i don’t let much slow me down … if something needs to be done, i do it. i’m still doing 76 different things just like i was before all this … that’s how i function best. i need things going on … i need 76 things to do to keep my mind busy. i love having stuff to do. i work at home after all … i’m couped up here in this house. so when i have nothing going on … i get lost in the "sameness" of my day … same mundane tasks over and over. i love having things that keep me busy.

so really this back thing is just an extra thing that happened. i’ve thrown out my back before … it’s not the first time and it won’t be the last unfortunatley. i did manage to take care of ady today … but jenn was nice enough to come save me part way through the day (thank you jenn!). i’m sure ady knew something was wrong when i wasn’t picking her up all day. lol! i’m always chasing that girl down for kisses and hugs … but there was no chasing today. lol!

i did decide to take tomorrow off. i felt totally bad letting me few parents know. i have a huge guilt thing … and i hate it. after all … i’m human just like everyone else … and things happen to me and i do get hurt and sick. i have to say though … through all this pain stuff the past year … i have never taken a sick day. i could be wrong about this … but i don’t think i am. i looked through my schedule today … and the last sick day i could find was over a year ago … and i was really sick with a stomache bug then. so if i’m taking a day off … there’s a good reason. i just know that there is no way i can physically take care of 3 little ones tomorrow (one being a 8 mth old baby who likes to be held. lol!). i don’t want to suck this one up … i don’t want to pretend that i can do it. because i know i can’t.

so i’m taking a day to rest. to take it easy … and try to get back to feeling a little bit "normal". as normal as i can feel. and thanks for your concerned emails and comments … i do appreciate them and i just want you to know that i’m getting by ok. that’s really all i can ask for.

and so this isn’t a total downer of a post (and if you’re still actually reading this. lol!) … i got an email today about an awesome opportunity. i’m so excited about this i can’t even begin to tell you! but i can’t tell you yet … sorry. now’s the time when i’m wishing that i had my mom build my scrap island at desk level … where i could just roll up a chair and go at it. sometimes you just don’t want to stand up to scrap. lol!

how was my weekend? a little bit of good … and a little bit of bad.

friday was the concert and it was so much fun. the girls had an absolute blast. sadly we missed the first performer, bianca ryan … spent too long eating i guess and got there a little late. corbin bleu was good … lots of dancing and performing … so very high energy. drake bell i wasn’t so sure of … there was definately a 70’s vibe going on. or was it 80’s? whichever. i have a few songs of his i like … it was just such a big difference in mood after corbin. then we had aly & aj … those girls did an awesome job. great songs, great music. and you wouldn’t believe the noise in that place … a kazillion screaming girls! lol! we had 6 of those girls … and they had so much fun together. although with 4 acts … it was a long concert … i think about 4 hours total.

then my parents took alyssa and sarah with them on saturday morning … they went for an overnight stay in a cabin down at mount hermon. we used to go there as kids all the time … did the high school camps there too. they got back this afternoon … and they were full of stories. they had a great time and are already making plans to go to camp there next year.

so that was the good … and now for the bad.

i tweaked my back on friday afternoon. i’ve always had problems with my back … i’ve thrown my back so many times. i think i was off work for over a week once … that was back when i was in grocery and had sick leave. and usually it’s from doing something really stupid. this time i was simply opening the closet door downstairs to get my flip-flops … was going to get the girls from school. seriously … i turned the handle on the door … and i went down in pain. joe can vouch … he was standing right there. lol! so that was it … that was all i did. and right before the concert too … i was in so much pain that night.

and i havn’t been able to stand up straight since. i can’t bend over. i walk super slow and as if i have something stuck up my tush. my lower back is in some serious pain … it’s throbbing. i lay down … and i can’t get back up. i can’t pick anything up … believe me, i tried (i won’t even tell you how i got the laundry upstairs. lol!). and what makes it worse … this in addition to all the normal pain i have on a daily basis. i shouldn’t say normal … because there is nothing normal about having all over body pain 24/7. but since i’ve had it for over a year now … it’s normal to me. lol! so take my all over body pain … and add in a bad back. that spells trouble.

needless to say … i didn’t get much done this weekend. i decided to just take it easy and not try and push myself in the moments where i thought maybe i could work through the pain. thank god joe cleaned the entire house for me … bathrooms, vacumming, mopping. i did manage to put away some laundry. and i did do a very short grocery shopping trip today for the basics.

i decided the one thing i could do was sit at the computer … although not the best thing for a bad back to be honest. every time i stood up i was even more bent over. i did manage to do a ton of photo editing though. sadly i still had alyssa’s birthday party pictures that i never did edit and order … from last september. lol! so i did all of her pictures. i did all of sarah’s birthday pictures. i also uploaded all of the pictures off of alyssa’s and sarah’s cameras. i’m still working on uploading them all to winkflash to order them for the girls … i’m having a really hard time with it today. i use them for any prints i order (i print most of mine myself though) … but it keeps kicking me out today. i’m doing 2 or 3 pictures at a time … which is taking forever. i think i’ve uploaded about 150 photos just yesterday and today. i want to get them all so that i can place one big order tomorrow … you can get unlimited 4×6’s and still only pay 99 cents shipping.

it’s been 2 days … and honestly i’m not feeling any better. which is going to suck tomorrow when i have little ones knocking on my door. lol! actually i only have ady tomorrow (the girls will be at school) … so i’m hopeing we’ll be ok. as long as she doesn’t need me to pick her up … or carry her … or put her in her booster seat or playpen. lol! we’ll see how it goes … because tuesday i have 3 little ones on my schedule … not sure if i can handle that right now.

i’m so wishing i had a job with sick pay right now. or even a job where when you are sick … you can call in and not feel terrible for doing it. not trying to make my daycare parents feel bad (or maybe i am. lol!) … but i have terrible quilt when i’m sick or taking a vacation day. people rely on me because it’s my job …  and i guess i feel bad when i can’t be there. which really doesn’t make any sense … because most people take sick days and vacations days all the time. i guess that’s why i can’t even remember the last time i took a sick day. lol! anyways … wish me luck tomorrow.

edited to add: and now that i read what i wrote … i’m going to feel even more quilty. lol! don’t want anyone thinking i’m mad or frustrated … but it’s my job and we all need to vent about our jobs now and then. so i’m leaving what i typed … so no one take it personally please?!?! lol!

just to show you that not all my pictures are sharp, clean portrait style photos. just a few shots of everyday life around here … blurry, out of focus, grainy, and all.

actually, i really like this shot. alyssa still thinking i need her to pose for pictures … with sarah and amanda running all crazy back from the mailbox.

ariana in our backyard yesterday. i have this tree that has grown amazingly well over the years … and for some reason everyone likes to pick stuff off of it. this is her mid-air … and she did grab a hold of something if you look closely.

adyson … downing some starbucks. that is actually ayana’s chocolate milk … not my frappacino. lol! and that is ayana in the background wondering where her chocolate milk is. and ady’s nose is black because she was rubbing in on the ground. lol!

this is the stop sign that is on the corner of our yard … right outside our front door. for some reason the girls are always trying to climb up it. sarah usually makes it pretty fast.

and can’t have a picture of sarah climbing the pole … without having a picture of alyssa climbing the pole. lol!

a nice shot of the street, don’t you think. oh yeah … and cute amanda hamming it up for me in the corner. lol!

and ady again … with a couple of her phones. yapping away. always one on the shoulder and one in her hand. i only wish i got as many phone calls as this girl does … way too quiet around here lately. lol!

that’s it for now. i feel bad leaving certain kids out. i havn’t had the camera out much lately … will have to get the others tomorrow. lol!

what a refreshing sight … backpacks all packed up with school supplies and lunches ready to head out to school. then again … it means 4 extra backpacks laying around my house every day. and yes … there are only 3 in the picture … there is a 4th. lol!

   

i won’t get to deep on these pictures of the girls on their first day of the new school year. after all … i did the mushy, sentimental stuff about each of them just a week or so ago. let’s just say that i hope they all have a great year … love their new teachers … learn lots of good stuff … meet lots of new friends … get the "good" desk in the classroom … don’t get too much homework … and stay focused and attentive in class. is that too much to ask? lol!

alyssa … my new 6th grader.

sarah … my new 3rd grader.

ashlen … our new 4th grader.

and amanda … our new 2nd grader.

a 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th, and a 6th grader … how crazy is that?!?! lol! hard enough trying to figure out one grades homework … i get 4 different levels of homework questions at me at once. but today … all the homework is for me. i hate the first day because i end up with all this paperwork to fill out. did i not fill these same papers out last year? i really should photocopy them … that way next year i can save myself some time. lol!

and yes … they were all bugged by the fact that i made them take these pictures today. i actually took them several times. i took some this morning before school … but we were in a hurry. then i didn’t like that sarah had on a jacket … you’d think it was winter or something. so i made her retake them after school. and since i was already out there … i had alyssa re-take her’s … because the morning ones weren’t that great. then i made her re-take the re-takes because the yellow shirt just wasn’t "popping" like i wanted … so she changed her shirt. i really should do ashlen’s again … she’s got the jacket too. maybe tomorrow!