Laura Vegas

i know i had some random stuff i wanted to post … now let’s see i can remember any of them. but first, let’s start with a few pictures … because i just like having pics with my posts. here’s a current picture of amanda and one of ashlen.

• arina finally came back today after being gone for a while. she is soooo cute. she’s the same exact age as my neighbor ayana (and yes, i get their names confused all the time) … and they are so much alike. they just talk and talk and talk … and i can have the funniest conversations with them. 3 is such a fun age!
• cleaned out all my bills and paperwork from last year. already made an appointment with my tax lady … so i need to get everything in order within 3 weeks. i didn’t keep track of my daycare stuff on the computer this year … so i have a lot of adding up to do. it’s just way too much paperwork sometimes. and i’m really crossing my fingers that we paid enough in medical bills this year in order to decuct it. you have to have quite a bit … but i feel like we paid enough this year (that file was huge).
• it’s freezing out here in california. i hate the cold. doesn’t help that i’m so not a jacket person … so i’m always wearing some lightweight sweater. i’ve been layering up the shirts though. and a funny story (not funny when it happened though) … joe decided to turn on the sprinklers on saturday. but it was so cold out that the water just turned to ice on the walkways. sarah took a good spill when she barreled out of the house on her heeley’s (the shoes with the wheels on them). but did i learn from that? no. i came walking out not even thinking and landed right on my back. not funny then. kindof funny now.

• got an awesome deal on this wall thingie from pottery barn last week. i love drooling over all their catalogs … but the stuff is super pricey. but this was too good a deal to pass up. the price went up the next day … so not sure if it was a mistake at the time. but i ended up getting 2 of these wall pieces to put above sarah’s bed … along with some shelves and the pinboards. then i went back and got 1 of them along with a few shelves to put by the front door. with shipping i only paid $145 … for $750 retail of product! love me a deal. they were all scheduled to arrive today … but my UPS guy only brought one piece. he better be back tomorrow! lol!
• been doing lots of playing around with my pictures. i mentioned before that i have someone helping me learn how to do photo collages. she was nice enough to send me some more tips today and i made another one tonight. these are super fun to make … this may change my scrapping in a big way. once i get them on a layout i’ll share them!
• alyssa and sarah had such a busy weekend. we’re never that busy. saturday we had a birthday party for ady and then hung out at home. sunday they spent a little time at grammy and papa’s house … and then ashlen came over for a sleepover. monday there was no school. so we met up with dina and her younger girls and went bowling … actually the girls all bowled and dina and i chatted (what we do best, right dina?!?!). then they hung out with tawny and danielle at their house for a bit and ran ragged outside. back to school today … but only a half day tomorrow.

guess that’s it for now. waiting for the girls to fall asleep so i can go back downstairs and watch some tv. i never watch tv during the day. maybe i should start since i seem to be behind in my shows. i’ve got about 10 hours worth on my dvr. what will it be tonight? i’m thinking "o.c.", "brothers & sisters", and maybe "grey’s anatomy". i think i can squeeze all that in before bed!

so i finally have some layouts to share. i feel like it’s been forever since i’ve done a layout … other projects, but not many layouts. one of the magazines had a call for birthday layouts and i wanted to do one … i dug out these pictures of sarah on her 2nd birthday … 5 and a half years ago. look how cute she is!

lots of fun goodies on there. some lil davis chipboard letters, doodlebug paper frills, american crafts felt flowers and rubons, and some fun new flowers and brads from making memories.

this next one is pictures of sarah, tawny, and amanda having fun at sarah’s birthday party last summer. super easy page. actually forgot that i was going to add something in that middle section between the photos … didn’t realize it until after i took the pics of the layout. should go back and add something. colors look a little "off" … they’re actually fairly bright. some older ki memories pattern paper, heidi swapp plastic letters, and some stickers from ek success.

this last one (i have more, but i’ll just do these for now) has a couple of my favorite pictures of ashlen. i heard this past weekend that she doesn’t like this picture of her … but i love it. i had these 3-d stickers from provo craft that i’ve always thought were so cute. really loved how the metal rimmed tags from making memories look all layered with the stickers.

so that’s it for now. i want to show off the photo collage that i made, but want to turn it into a layout first. actually when i did the "birthday girl" layout i tried to make my pics have the collagy look by arranging them in a grouping. really like the look. i’ll work on that layout and hopefully i can share it in a few day!

thanks for letting me share!

saw this over on erika’s blog and thought i’d do it. love doing lists … that way i don’t have to think of anything to write about. i think the idea is to write 15 interesting things about yourself. like erika said … not sure how interesting these are … but here goes.

1. any time i walk by one of our main doors, i check to make sure it’s locked. we have 4 doors leading outside so i do this quite a bit. i probably check the doors 100 times a day.
2. i also tend to check the toilets quite a bit to make sure they’re flushed. sounds disgusting … but the kids are always leaving me surprises in there! lol!
3. when i open the blinds up in the morning i have to have each one open an equal amount … they all have to match up. if joe or the girls open them i always fix them.
4. i like to drink water … sometimes i crave it. if it’s in a regular cup i’ll drink it. but if it’s a water bottle (like the 20oz ones you get at the store) i like to stick it in the freezer and then get a little ice action going … i’ll guzzle 3 times as much water if it’s in one of these bottles!
5. i cannot function when there’s too much of anything. too many toys out. too much noise. too many piles on the counter. i literally can’t thing straight … so i’m always picking up things and putting them away.
6. i hate bright lights. we’ve got that huge florescant light in the kitchen … never use it. i’d rather turn on the 3 other small lights in the kitchen (including the one above the stove) when i cook than turn that big, bright one on. especially at night … i usually hang out with only a little side table light on downstairs. just enough.
7. i have to have the beds made every day. and the covers have to be straight. if the girls make their beds and the covers are hanging a little funny … i’ll fix them. doesn’t matter if i don’t see them all day … or that we’re just climbing in them again that night. i know they’re there … and i need them to be perfect.
8. i’m a big fan of deleting. our dvr holds 100 hours of television shows. we’ve never been above 20 hours. as soon as the show is watched it’s gone. joe and i watch a lot of the same shows … but always different times since he works nights. i’ve been known to delete a little too quick … before he gets to watching it. and he never deletes anything … so i’m always going through to see what he’s watched so that i can delete it.
9. i hate having dirty dishes laying around. the dishes have to be done immediatly after eating. and usually i’m washing tons of stuff while i cook so that it doesn’t pile up so much. joe’s always saying that he’ll get them … and my response is "can you get them now"!
10. finding 15 things about yourself is harder than it sounds! lol!
11. i’m extremely sarcastic. probably to the point of being annoying to some people. but don’t even try being sarcastic to me! i’m also extremely funny … i’m great an coming up with funny comebacks to things. at least i think i do!
12. i always sleep on my stomach … always. and my legs are always crossed in some way when i sleep.
13. i keep our clothes hanging in color order. all the shirts have to be hung with the appropiate color … white, pink, red, orange, etc. joe doesn’t keep up with the system though so i’m always redoing it.
14. i have a very short attention span when it comes to new things. when i’m trying to learn something new i tend to only last a few minutes … then i get frustrated if i’m not "getting it" or understanding … and i give up until next time.
15. i sat for two and a half hours tonight learning to make a photo collage in photoshop. i was determined this time to really try and figure it out. i got some extremely helpful tips from a scrapbooker that i look up to … totally owe her. and i actually remained calm even when i was having trouble getting things to work the way i wanted them. made 2 collages and can’t wait to scrapbook them.

well … most of that list made me sound quite OCD. lol! hopefully you all still think i’m cool after reading those strange things about me. lol!

so last weekend the extrememly talented donna downey was out teaching classes at a lss not far from here. i wasn’t able to take any of her classes … but i did get to meet her super quick!

she just seems like a super cool chick! i had taken her online classes for half of last year … so i heard her voice each week and really got a taste of her personality through her weekly "lessons". oh yeah … and she said she loved my hat and was about to rip if off my head. lol! thank god she didn’t go there … you don’t want to see me without it!

this is a great friend of mine, deneen … along with donna. i met deneen through dina’s store a few years ago and we’ve become great friends since. she’s got some health stuff going on just like me … although more serious than mine. she’s been just a great friend and remained very positive even when going through her treatments and stuff.

here’s a group shot of the ladies that did get to take her class. a few other scrapbook friends that i know from around here … sue, deneen, donna, and ann. they all had a blast making a cool mini album … and loved the part where donna taught them how to use the fiskars handdrill! lol! i’ve heard about this and so wishing i could have seen it!

i met up with them after their class … along with savon (who i don’t have a pic of to show … took some hard work to get these pics off deneens camera and over to me!). we all went out for dinner after and spent the night chit-chatting. fun times!

what do you get when you’ve got two girlies hanging out and one of them gets out the camera? you get a little bit of this (and the silly looks on my face are because i’m trying to get ady to look at the camera):

and here’s one of ady that just makes me laugh:

and since i’m posting a goofy one of ady … it’s only fair that i post a goofy one of me:

that’s right … i have pictures of me! and i’m not to embarrased to show them. lol! although i was tempted to photoshop out some wrinkles by the eyes … but seemed like a lot of work. took them myself. really hard to hold that big camera out with the external flash attatched and still be able to press the button … all with one hand. but i got a few that i thought were pretty funny. and not bad since i NEVER get my picture taken. lol!

i took a ton of pictures of ady this past monday. loved her bright colored sweater … in fact i requested that she bring it again today just for more pics. but i forgot to put it on her. another day! will share some of those pics once i sort through them.

and on a happy side note … remember those great tote bags that i altered for christmas gifts? i got 2 of them picked to be published in paper trends magazine!!! they were the ones for my mom and alyssa’s grandma … so i have to "borrow" them so that i can send them in. feel kindof bad that i’m taking them back … but for a good reason i guess! 

i love when i can get a ton of stuff done in no time at all. this morning i didn’t have any daycare kiddos. after getting alyssa and sarah off to school, i had to finish packaging up my 2 mini albums to send off to scrapbook trends. and then i left for a few errands that i didn’t get to this past weekend. in an hour and 10 minutes (including drive time) i did:

• stopped at verizon and traded in our 3 year old cell phone for this pretty little phone. i had a $100 credit towards a new phone that verizon had sent me in the mail and then got a $50 rebate on top of it … so i basically got this for free. it does a lot more than i even need to do with a phone … although i’m sure if i took the time to learn it, i’d use it more. pictures, music, etc. i just really wanted it because it was red!
• went to post office to mail off albums … amazingly i was the only one in there.
• stopped at grocery store for bread, milk, and a couple packages of meat … unfortunately i was not the only one in there.
• stopped at my friend roxanne’s stereo store to drop off some pics of her girls that i’ve had laying around for over a month
• went to blockbuster and traded in the movies for some new releases for joe … using that new online deal where you can also trade them in at the store. not my kind of movies … but i have too many shows on my dvr to catch up on.
• stopped by target to exchange some jeans the girls got for christmas from my brother and his wife. i have a hard time finding them jeans at target … so got them some sweats (they love the sporty looking sweats). also got some snack-sized storage bags for lunches … ran out and really miss those little things.

yes … seriously … only and hour and 10 minutes! i thought the cell phone thing would take me that long. lol! love when i can scratch all those things off my list with one little trip out!

and after a total blond moment (and i am nowhere near being a blond) … i present you my first scrapping goal of 2007:

• always make sure your external flash is actually attatched to your camera!

yes … apparently i’ve had my external flash on the camera … but not totally attatched. that’s why none of my pictures when wes was here turned out. and i was totally bummed and havn’t touched my camera since. lol! why didn’t anyone mention that my beloved flash wasn’t going off?!?!?

so i was thinking back to last year … when i had made this little mini album about my scrapbook goals for the year 2006.

the starbucks is in the picture because i needed something to hold up the album … and because it makes me happy. me and my neighbor takes turns getting each other starbucks occasionally. love it!

at the time i was on a monthly kit club and these were the papers and tags that i got to work with. have to say … i hated them so much. the front one is ok … but the ones on the inside are terrible. lol! so i made a little album with it and handwrote my goals for the year. i’m actually really glad that i made this … need to do more albums like this about little things. so are you wondering how i did on my goals?

1. "i want to try and scrapbook at least 4 pages every week. more if i can … and if i have the time."  —  i’m not sure if i did that many, but i do know that i did a ton of pages this past year. and lots of mini albums
2. "i want to learn all about my new digital camera. all the buttons and all the functions"  —  well, i did actually learn a lot about my camera. not as much as i would like. but i fiddled with different settings and modes and experimented quite a bit. i’ve come a long ways from where i was at the start of last year.
3. "i want to try and get more ideas picked up by paperkuts. articles, layouts, class projects"  —  have to note that i specified paperkuts magazine since at the time i was on the 2006 pk power team and since we had to sign exclusivity contracts i was not allowed to submit to any other magazines. january of last year paperkuts went under and dissapeared. but i did get lots of ideas picked up by other magazines … my first with creating keepsakes, my first with scrapbooks etc, and lots by scrapbook trends (including a cover!).
4. "i want to learn more about photography. the lighting, the angles. maybe even try doing a few "photo shoots""  —  didn’t suceed to much with lighting. lighting has always confused me to be quite honest. and i have no good lighting in my house. i did do angles. i’m assuming i meant tilting my camera and getting different looks … which i’m a huge fan of. love tilting my camera. and i did do some "photo shoots" … quite a few in fact. and for the most part i think they turned out really good. i’ve got copies of all the pictures i’ve taken and i love looking through them to see how i did.
5. "i want to be better prepared for my lss classes. projects designed and ready well in advance"  —  i think i did better on this last year. i only taught the first 5 months of the year since dina closed her store in june. but i do think my classes were more prepared for those 5 months. i also ended up taking on responsibility for preparing all my own class kits for those months … so i think that helped me get my butt in gear more.
6. "i want to take donna downey’s online class. 52 weeks, 52 projects. i want to do them and finish them"  —  i have to say i failed on this one. i remember when her class started and i did the first week’s project. i altered the yearly planner and was so excited since i did something just for me. however i never even used the planner … remember, i’m not a planner type person. i did her class for 6 months, but just printed all the projects out. never really did any of them. i meant well and she’s got awesome ideas … but i still have them all in a binder to do someday. and side note … i met donna this past weekend … will share a picture of her and me just as soon as deneen sends me a copy!
7. "i want to learn how to use photoshop elements 4.0. to fix my photos, enhance my photos, and improve them."  —  i did a little of this. i never really took the time to learn the program on my own. but did learn some tips from other people that definately improved my photos. i can do some basic editing … make colors "pop" … convert to black and white … and other things. still a ton i have no idea how to do. but i did learn some important stuff.
8. "i want to do more scrap stuff just for me. not for a class, not for a magazine, just for me"  —  i did do this. in a big way. about halfway through last year i started doing some challenges. i really think i did some of my best work doing those challenges … they really got me scrapping. yes, i did a lot of layouts to submit to the magazines. but i did a ton of scrapping last year just for fun. got all my layouts in albums … although i have the last 7 months worth laying in a humungous pile! did lots of projects for gifts and soccer teams … but did do a ton of stuff just for me!

so those were my 8 goals that i had written for myself. i don’t think i did that bad. it was fun to dig this little ablum out and read through it … and to realize that i actually did accomplish something scrapbook wise. i think i’ll have to do another one for this year. will work on that this week and share it with you later. have to think of some good goals!

i may not have done much today … but i did do a few things

• had 2 mini albums picked up by scrapbook trends magazine for their new "mini albums II" idea book coming out in a few months!
• made a great dinner for the sixth night in a row. and used the broiler for the first time ever. made london broil, real mashed potatoes, green beans, and broccoli. greatest meal of all time.
• cleaned up my email and sent out some emails that i’ve been wanting to send. not that i really get all that many emails to clog up my inbox. but things are just sitting there that i needed to print out and then delete.
• started 2 layouts. finally got some mojo going and then 20 minutes later had to stop to go get the big girls at school. figures! havn’t gone back to it all night.

ok … so i really didn’t do much today. there’s always tomorrow!

a few thoughts in my head right now …

• just got these pictures in the mail today. i used some of amy’s actions on these. she is an awesome photographer … and scrapbooker. love her stuff and was so excited when she started selling her actions. i took a few pictures and used each of her actions on them … love seeing all the options side by side. i just love the look of these two … a more chocolate look … and a faded look. awesome!
• we have had 5 home cooked meals in the last 5 nights. that is unusual for us. i’m not a fan of cooking … so many nights i leave it to the last minute and then we dig up whatever pathetic meal we can find. but rachael ray has inspired me to cook. got one of her cookbooks for christmas and started watching her 30-minute meals show. so far i’ve tried 2 of the recipes out of my book. the "sweedish meatballs" were ok. but the "cowboy spaghetti" rocked! i made dinner 4 nights … so joe took over tonight and cooked some yummy hashbrowns and bacon. love us some bacon!
• i’ve got some wierd thing going on with my legs. i think it’s that goofy "restless leg syndrome". that last doctor i saw had given me some pills to help me sleep … they were actually for the RLS even though i didn’t have it. now i’m convinced that those few pills i took actually caused me to have the syndrome. lol! for the last few days i feel like i have to constantly move my legs … especially the right leg. sucks when i’m trying to relax late at night and watch my shows. it justs feel like i’m tensing up my muscles … hard to describe but it’s bugging the heck out of me.
• i need to scrap. i can’t remember the last time i did a layout. actually i have a couple on my desk that i started … need to finish those. i want to scrap. really, i do. i just don’t feel inspired right now. i have no idea what i want to work on. maybe i just need to start digging through stuff and see what peeks my interest.
• i’m counting down the days to the new disney channel movie … "jump in". premieres next friday. all about double dutch … you know, jump rope. crazy what they do with some ropes! nothing will top "high school musical" … but this movie looks good too.
• had to laugh today when my neighbor pulled a pig out of the back of his truck. mind you we do not live in the country … we’re pretty much city folk. but he’s a big hunter and has slain his share of wild life. usually i can tell when he’s been hunting … he has the tails of his prey hanging by the tree in the front yard. lol! i was bringing ruth a starbucks this morning (and some chocolate milk for ayana of coarse). and i’m standing there for a minute talking to her. and out the back window ben goes walking by with a wheelbarrow … with the biggest pig i’ve ever seen in it … four big feet sticking straight up in the air. it was actually hillarious! normal for them. but i don’t know what i would do if a pig rolled through my backyard. lol!
• 2 of my favorite shows are back on tonight. "ugly betty" … which i find super funny. great show. and of course "oc" … so loving ryan and taylor together … they’re so cute! i’ve missed having my shows to watch.
• had to spend $70 on my fridge today. hate spending money on appliances. but the freezer was leaking water all in my fridge again. same thing happened a little over a year ago and i had the same dude out to fix it. he says it will probably happen again at some point. the thing is about 8 years old … but apparantly it happens on this brand quite a bit. and if i ever do have to get a new fridge … i’m getting a water dispenser in the front.

i guess that’s it for now. gotta go take a jog or something … these legs want to go. although anyone that knows me knows what i say … "i don’t run unless someone is chasing me"!