Laura Vegas

first i have to share a layout … just because i’m loving it so much! i did this last night … love how it all came together so perfect!

now for the winners … erin and melrose!

just wrote the names down on scraps … so you’ll have to trust me on this one. and i can’t tell you what i’m sending out … because i still havn’t thought about it. but i will get something together today. so email me your addresss and i’ll get some fun scrap goodies out to you in the next few days.

and now for the questions!

kori asked … "so have ya started yet (your MM idol project)?"

erin b asked … "what do you do when you have creative-block to get your creative mojo back?"

deneen asked … "after you become the next MM idol what will be your next big goal?"

sierra asked … "if you could travel anywhere on vacation, where would you go?"

eileen asked … "how do you stay sain (sp?) with so many kids around all day?"

• anyone who knows me in person would never tell you i’m sain! lol! i’ve been doing this daycare thing for over 5 years now. and while i love all the awesome kids i’ve been lucky enough to watch … there’s times i wish i was back working in the grocery store. lol! there are moments when i have kids making all kinds of noise (which we know i can’t function with too much noise! lol!) and yapping at me non-stop … and i think if you were to look at me, you’d actually be able to see how hard it is for me to just focus on something other than those kids … to pretend i’m somewhere else. lol! i’m literally taking deep breaths and trying to stay calm and relaxed. i also rely heavily on nap-time! i’m pretty good about getting everyone on schedules … back when i had about 6 kids here (babies on up to 4 yr olds), i had them all on the same nap schedule. it was a thing of beauty to get everyone down at the same time and be able to sit and have my moments to myself to hear myself think! oh yeah … and having a yummy frappacino to sip on certainly helps me get through my day! lol!

dina asked … "if you didn’t have all those cuties to take care of, what would be your dream job?"

• seriously my dream job would be something in the scrapbook field … with maybe some photography on the side. i would love to work for a major manufacturer … like when you actually get paid to design. maybe have a few magazine assignments going on. possible get back into the teaching. do some photography … some photo shoots here and there. all things scrapping would be so much fun and make me so happy to just create all day. either that … or i’ve always thought it would be so fun to work as a "roadie". go on tour with someone … i’m thinking tim mcgraw … and work on the stage setup. maybe sit way up on high and work the lights. lol!

melrose asked … "what kind of camera do you use to take those adorable kidlet’s pictures?"

• i have the canon digital rebel xt. it actually has taken me a long time to learn the darn thing. lol! i have several lenses … but lately seem to keep my 28-135mm lens on all the time. and i use my external flash about 99% of the time … it’s a canon speedlite 430ex. definately a learning curve when going digital. i’ve had my camera about a year and a half … and i’m just these past 2 months of so getting more comfortable with the thing. lol!

dale anne asked … "do you specifically set a time to scrap everyday or just whenever you can find the time between looking after all the kids?"

• i usually do something scrap-related every day … whether it’s taking or playing with photos, reading my scrap magazines or idea books, thinking of scrapping … and sometimes actually scrapping. lol! i used to scrap a lot at night … but now the only time i do anything at night is if the girls are gone and i’m home alone. i do find that i can get some little things done during the day when the kids are napping. and now that alyssa and sarah are older they’re so busy doing their own thing … so a lot of times i can do a little scrapping in the evening. although i think i do the most on the weekends.

jenn asked … "have you always loved reese’s peanut butter cups, and how many have you ever eatten in one day?"

• omg … i looooooove reese’s! i love chocolate … and i love peanut butter. so if i can have them both at the same time it’s even better. how many have i eaten in one day? that’s a scary question. lol! i’ll be honest … i can eat a ton of chocolate. i’d say the most has been about 6 packs (of 2 each). but i’m sure i can eat more. are you challenging me!?!?! lol!

katy asked … "i’d love to hear more about the kids you look after, how you find child minding and how you fit your scrapping in around it?"

• the kids i look after. right now i have a gangle of girls that have been around here forever … ashlen is 8, amanda is 6, ariana is 3, adyson is 14 mths, and the new baby girl is 3 mths. all my boys left me a while ago … but i do have a new boy around who is 2. i’ve been fortunate to have had a lot of great kids in the past 5 years … and the majority of them have all stuck around. meaning i don’t have a big turn-over rate. lol!
• child minding. you mean children are supposed to mind you? lol! i’m a very easy going person … but i think most of the kids know when i’m serious about something. i don’t think i come off super strick or mean … although i’m sure i have my moments! lol!
• as for fitting in my scrapping … honestly i’m not very good at balancing life. sometimes i feel like there is so much going on … between my girls, daycare kids, school, softball, soccer, joe’s umpiring and golfing, and all the other stuff like housework and cooking. my mind is very scattered too … so the majority of the time i’m completly overwhelmed with "stuff". so much to do i don’t know what to do … so i do nothing! lol! but i do crave time by myself. i need time by myself to hear myself think and gather my bearings. sometimes i feel quilty for that … but it’s essential to my well-being. so really … i just try and fit things in when i can and when i feel motivated.

thanks everyone for participating … fun questions! and just a reminder … voting goes up again tomorrow morning for MM idol. i’ll post my finished project in the morning. my hints … a 14 month old and some paint! lol!

i knew there was a reason i always call ady "my little booger snot":

ok … she’s not really mine. but i love her to death and treat her like one of my own. including the name calling. always said with affection of course! lol! "booger snot". "stinker". "monkey butt". i know there are plenty more … but can’t think of them right now. and i always make up for it with all my loving names too. "sweetie pie". "baby girl". and of course there are more … but also can’t think of them right now.

and i know these pics aren’t technically perfect. i was doing so good lately in the house with my lighting and all. but then i put my camera away and didn’t use it for 2 weeks. i took it out a little on tuesday and wednesday … and all my pics where pretty much duds. the kids were cute and i’m sure to anyone else the pics would look fine. but i have that critical eye and tend to see the flaws in the pics too much. luckily i saved some of them anyways because they just made me smile. or die laughing … like when i saw the one of ady with her finger in her nose all serious like. lol!

in other news … i think we’re due for a RAK. i was noticing a while ago that i was coming up on 800 comments which i thought was so cool. as of this moment i have posted 311 times since i started this blog … that’s a whole lot of rambling. lol! and as of this moment you all have left me 803 comments … which i love. i was going to do the RAK once i hit 800 … but that has passed and i completly forgot.

so here’s the deal. post a comment and ask me a question. anything … a scrapbook question, a life question, personal question … whatever. then i’m going to put everyone that does that in a drawing and pick 2 names to send out a RAK too. i can’t tell you what it is … because i havn’t thought that far ahead. who am i kidding … i havn’t even had time to think about my project for the next round of mm idol. lol! i feel like i need a day to just catch up on life.

and btw … i’ll be answering the questions too just for fun! i’ll do the drawing on sunday!

i had the most horrific thing happen to me … i lost my internet connection for 20 hours!

i know that may not seem like long … but it was the longest 20 hours of my life! lol! spent a good amount of time yesterday on the phone. had a computer-genious friend come over and look at it and he spent a good amount of time on the phone (totally owe you tim!). spent this morning on the phone. after an hour and a half on the phone just this morning … it’s up and running. although my downstairs phone isn’t working. lol!

i really had to @#&$%!@*$ to get someone that could actually help me. you really don’t want to ever give me the run around … because sweet, nice laura will turn on you! they kept telling me 48 hours … what the heck!?!?! i cannot go 48 hours without internet … i’d already gone 20. then they wanted to charge me $195 to have someone come out … i think not since we already knew it was something with their system and not mine. i certainly wasn’t paying anyone … although i did find out that since i’m on the west, they don’t even have technicians that come out. so why did they try and get me to go for that idea?!?!

so anyways … my head is just pounding right now. i’m starving because i was on the phone with 4 kids being busy, messy, and loud … and didn’t get around to making breakfast. i’ve had no starbucks today (although funny story for later … i had 2 of them yesterday at the same time!). the house is a disaster. and i feel like i just lost 20 hours of my life. trying to catch up now. kids are all laying down. 3 are sleeping … and 1 is down here on the couch pretending to sleep … good enough for me! lol!

and i know it may seem strange that i feel so dependant on my computer. but i have stuff going on right now. there could be updates about a certain contest. there could be comments from my blog that i need to see. there could be blogs that i need to catch up on. i could need to catch up on my own blog. and you just never know who could be emailing you. which is totally true … because i got a very important email today that could possibly lead to something pretty cool. not going to jinx myself by saying more … just saying!

i made it to the mm idol top 30!!!

i’m so excited i can’t even tell you! so to those of you who were kind enough to vote for me … thanks!!! and if you happen to vote for someone else … totally cool! i was so happy to see that my friend kori made it too. we have our next assignment and my mind is already thinking. i have until sunday night. i’ll need it … not much time around here this week.

i had a new daycare baby start today. a 3 month old baby girl … the cutest little thing. i’m not used to early mornings … but i had 3 kids here by 7:15 am. at the peak of the day i had 7 girls here in the house. ady has been my baby here for the last year. well today she just seemed like the farthest thing from a baby. when you get a 3 month old baby next to her … ady just looked huge even though she’s only 14 months. she’s like a full-blown walker now … and she’d come full speed at me trying to get a hug or have me hold her … but i had the baby. luckily most of the day she was so busy playing with ariana. they were so cute together today.

as for me … i’m tired. 11 hours of kids. i just felt super tired all day … i think i looked tired too. i even went to bed early last night (if you call 11:30 early). it’s 8:00 now … half an hour until i put my girls to bed and then i can veg and watch a few shows. i have more to blog about … but it’ll wait until tomorrow.

thanks again for all the thoughtful comments! i recently figured out how to get the email notification when i get comments on my blog … so i love being able to know when one of you took the time to leave me a word or two. and i love being able to reply so easily when you do! so thanks again … totally appreciate it!

i created this layout yesterday for a challenge put out by christy. to do an all about me page with a "betcha didn’t know" theme to it.

she also challenged us to do a 9×9 layout … which was perfect since it’s my new favorite size for layouts. i think she also said to use colors that we normally don’t use … forgot about that part. lol! these are colors that i would use anytime … love me some bright, fun colors. i had picked up a few sheets of the new basic grey papers so i wanted to use them.

and check out that fun frame. the first class i ever took was at a scrapbook expo … with dina. so that had to be about 3 years ago. we took a couple of making memories classes … see, even then i loved them! anyways … this was an accent that we made in one of the classes. i’ve seriously had this frame propped up in my scrap space for 3 years because i always thought it was so cute. not sure why … but i just grabbed it and designed my layout around it. i did change the ribbon out since the pink matched better than the original burgundy ribbon that was on there.

i originally wasn’t even going to use a photo on this layout. but this picture was laying on my desk and it fit in the frame nicely.  never mind that i just used it on my mm idol layout. lol! i realized earlier today that the reason it was sitting on my desk was because i had re-edited the picture because this one had printed kindof funky … or maybe i edited it kindof funky. lol! but it was there and fit … so i used it. i’m lazy that way.

so there you have some random facts about me that i "betcha didn’t know"!

just a quick reminder … voting starts today over on mm idol. for real this time! lol! make sure to take a few minutes and go check out all the wonderful entries … and then cast your vote! you have until 4:00pm (mt) on tuesday.

wish me luck!

"you’re like a one-mom papparatzi" … that’s what alyssa said to me tonight. can you believe it?!?! lol! she thinks she’s pretty funny … and i have to admit, she is!

oh yeah … she can’t believe she spelled "away" wrong. i pulled up the pictures and noticed it. she actually wanted me to retake the pictures. then she asked if i could re-touch it. lol!

in other exciting stuff this weekend … which really shows you how boring my life can be:

• did go to dinner last night with joe. i think it’s been about 3 months since we’ve gone out. we had to do the special again … appetizer sampler, bread, salad, prime-rib and baked potato, and then dessert. we can’t ever eat that much! we always bring the dessert home … a big hunk of really rich chocolate cake which i havn’t even touched to be honest. but we’ve determined that we fill up too much on just the appetizer. lol!
• finally got in cleaning mode today. i feel like i just havn’t done that much cleaning lately … i think joe’s done more than me. lol! i scrubbed bathrooms (usually joe’s job) and even got the baseb0ards and showers. dusted all the upstairs … i hate dusting. vaccumed and mopped all the floors. working on my third load of laundry. packed up some old clothes for goodwill. and a bunch of random other cleaning. hope i can finish a few more things tomorrow.
• spent way too much time on the computer the past few days. been trying to hit a few of the chats over on the scrap-a-faire site. i’m not actually a chatter … at least not on the computer. but i did end up chatting on a few of them. mainly like to read them and see what’s going on. i’m more of a lurker. lol! still need to listen to 2 of my classes … they’re only on for one more day, so i need to do that.
• need to find my scrappin "mojo". i have some assignments to get done for lil davis in the next few weeks … along with my monthly layouts. i also have a few layout ideas that i wanted to do for one of the classes i took. i have a bunch of pictures that i need to go through and print so that i can scrap them. and i have an idea that i want to work on for a baby shower gift (shhhhhh … sierra, you did not read that! lol!).
• can’t wait till monday for the mm idol voting to restart. i’m dying to see if i can make it to the next round.

guess that’s it for now. hope you’re having a great weekend!

so, havn’t done a challenge in a while. this one was posted by maggie over on the mm blog and i thought i’d give it a go. the challenge was to use cardstock and paint.

i started with the white cardstock and knew i wanted to use those chipboard printed pieces … so that determined my paint colors. the polka-dots and the orange border were made using my foam stamps. maggie had done a layout about her husband so i figured i’d do one about joe … never done a layout about him before. is that sad? lol!

the rest of the layout just kindof happened. there was no plan to it. no design in my head. when i used the rubons for the title … i had to think of a short word since i didn’t have much space. so i’m not sure where i was going with the whole "you" thing. then i wanted to add some journaling … but didn’t know where to put it so that it blended with the rest of the layout. that ‘s why i went with just one sentence. short and sweet, right?

well, the voting has been post-poned over on the mm idol site. they were still having some computer problems and have decided to start fresh next monday. if you’ve already voted you’ll need to head over there and vote again. i hate to have to wait that long … but hopefully, it’ll be worth the wait! lol!

the event over at scrap-a-faire started today. i really havn’t had much time today to check it all out. but i did already listen to erin’s class on journaling. love her work and loved hearing about her thought process and different ways to step up your journaling. one of her layouts really struck a cord with me … and as soon as i was done listening to her talk, i started a layout inspired by hers. hope to finish is tonight. still have to check out my other 2 classes. hopefully tonight too!

this week is seriously killing me! the girls are out early all week and it’s really draining me. not sure why. we’re talking older girls … 6,7,8, and 10 year old. it’s not like they’re young ones that need constant attention. then again maybe it’s just the constant noise level that they seem to have. and they seem to be asking me for things all the time … snacks, drinks, stuff! maybe i’m just overly tired this week. i don’t know.

well … just wanted to check in really quick and say "hi". my girls are at church right now for the kids night. i have exactly 2 hours until they get home. need to take a relaxing shower … and then hopefully listen to my classes and work on a couple of layouts that are just about done. later!

finally the voting has started … and most of the computer problems have been solved.

please head over to the mm idol site to cast your vote. i hope it’s for me … but feel free to look around at all the other amazing talent.

here’s my layout for the assignment .. which was to create an "all about me" page. i really love the way it turned out. you don’t even want to know how much time went into this layout! lol! it was mainly the pictures … i even had to go out and buy some chocolate and the water in order to get some good pics. love the colors too … so bright and colorful!

hope you like it! and as much as i am NOT a self-promoter … please remember to vote!!! lol! thanks so much in advance!