Wednesday, June 22, 2005

chain chain chain

referring to that wonderful tune "chain of fools" - great song huh? well i was just reading my email and that song popped up in my head cos i just got one of those "chain letters".
You know the ones you get from people (you thought were your friends) that say something like this

pass this on to your true friends. Something good will happen to you today at 11:11 in the evening. something that you have been waiting to hear. this is not a joke, someone will call you by phone or will speak to you about something that you were waiting to hear. DO NOT BREAK THIS CHAIN. Send it to a minimum of 7 people.

I hate these things. I love my friends who send them but i hate when they send these emails to me. I never send them on. I don't want to inflict this on anyone else. Why oh why would anyone send this to a friend? i ask you.....

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

lizziebelle

well since she's now out on the purple onion site i feel free to talk about her - lizziebelle the alpha. (not Lizziebelle the daughter.. heck i'll talk about her - and do- any old time)

lizziebelle - with a small L - is my newest child. I have my 2 kids - my joseph and my elizabeth- and of course my furry children - Holly and Frankie my cats - but lizziebelle (small L) has been in the works for a while - and she's like a child to me.
I've been drawing those letters for - gee i don't know how long - suffice it to say - a long time. I drew them when working on a circle journal with a great group of friends - and my friend Michele, saw them. Long story short here - she liked them and asked if i'd be interested in making them into rubber stamps for her company, Purple Onion Designs.

Deciding to allow Michele to create rubber stamps of lizziebelle - well believe it or not - it was very hard for me. sending her out into the world is like giving away a piece of me. she wouldnt be just mine any longer. i would be sharing my child with others... sometimes thats hard to do. when you create something - it is part of you. And sharing parts of yourself - well for me - that's really hard to do. sharing my creations - cards, pages, drawings etc. always has been hard for me. Part of why i started this blog was to get better at sharing what i do. Whether posting pictures or just talking about it.

After many months of thinking about it, and much encouragement from Michele, i decided to go ahead and be brave and send lizziebelle out there. it may be difficult at first to see her being used by others. but i decided i can always draw lizziebelle myself whenever i want - whatever size i want -whatever changes i want... still keep her my own in a way. and for me - thats cool.

If you would like to see lizziebelle - check out www.purpleoniondesigns.com
she's there in the alpha section. tell her i say hi

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

the rest of the story

so... where did i leave off? (its only been like a week.... busy busy busy).
ah yes. i was cackling evilly.

So my husband and I went to the 8th grade awards assembly last Friday. Braving the driving rain here in Leesburg. Totally miserable day - soon to be better. We find a seat and look over the program. There was a whole host of awards. Whodathunkit? As Eliz is a bright kid, and the counselor had told us she was getting a special award, we knew she'd be going home with something. A nice feeling for the parental units.
The chorus began singing and the kids started entering the auditorium and well - i guess i just got overwhelmed a little - i'm such a mush. Fortunately i'd brought a decent handful of tissues. (Lord only knows how i'll make it through the high school graduation.) I think its a mix of realizing my baby is not quite a baby anymore and seeing another one of those defining moments being marked off (this time its going from middle school to high school) in the list of her life. How did we get this far so fast?
Anyway, the usual speakers went up and down. On to the awards. She received several awards - this kid probably has more certificates in her scrapbook than any kid could - for doing all kinds of mathematical feats and having a certain gpa for the three years . We're sitting there thinking well this is very nice. But i suspected there was something else coming her way. And indeed there was an award.
I believe it was four years ago, a boy who attended the school (and who lived in the next neighborhood over from us) was killed in an accident (i believe by a drunk driver). Eliz remembered him. This boys parents set up 3 awards, in his name, to be given to 8th graders. And Elizabeth received one of the awards - the Spectrum award. Spectrum is a (for lack of a better description) talented and gifted program. This boy was in Spectrum as a 6th grader. Eliz told me later they were in Futura together when they were both in grammar school. Futura is the grammar school equivalent of Spectrum. This boy was a year older than our Eliz.
The award was presented by the Spectrum teacher, who talked about our daughter in such a way - well it was funny and sweet and I would love to contact him to get a copy of his little speech to put in her scrapbook. It just made me grin from ear to ear - while my eyes were tearing up. Eliz was caught completely off guard. She went up to the stage very composed and shook the hand of the teacher as well as the father of the boy. And I was even prouder of her than i already am - if that's possible.
The part that stunned both my husband, me and Elizabeth is that this award was a monetary one.... scholarship money. We had no idea such a thing was done in middle school but there you go.
After we watched a few other kids we know receive awards - always so very nice to see good kids being rewarded - the ceremony concluded. We all headed to the cafeteria for a little celebration - you'd think these kids never saw a cookie or cake before. Well maybe not at 10am?

Anyway now we're on the countdown to the end of school for the year. A field trip on friday to a very fun place for her then just next week and then she's free.
Well, except for the three books she's got for summer reading :-) (and one of those books - WE have to read too!!!!!! can you believe it?)

Thursday, June 02, 2005

This message brought to you by

Simple Scrapbooks - well sorta.
I pull up to the house on Tuesday afternoon (see what am i telling you about Tuesday?) after work and i see a box on my front steps. It says "Primedia" - i can see that from the driveway so you know its a decent sized box. I'm thinking "what thaaaaaa?!?!"
I get Simple Scrapbooks magazine (as well as CK and Papercrafts.. yes i know... but i love my magazines) and i check their website out on a fairly regular basis. And stupid as it seemed, i always entered the contests on their website and the CK one. I figure i have nuthin to lose and everything to gain. Maybe 2 months ago i received a package in the mail - with free chatterbox paper and rubons in it - i believe that was in response to an entry on the CK website - although no note inside the envelope to tell me so.
Well this package was indeed the prize for the Polka Dot sweepstakes Simple Scrapbooks had on their website. Me, being a polka dot lover - of course i signed up for that one - but, as I always do - i forgot i even entered. You can't think you are going to win anything. Considering the number of people filling out the online form - well it would be silly to even think you'd win.
And darn if i didn't! The box had a ton of stuff in it. You can see it above in the picture - a 12x12 album, a K&Co tag album, tons of polka dotted embellishments, STAMPS (omigosh) and even Dots candies. My favorite thing had to be an accordion file by Lasting Impressions - its green and polka dotted and just what i've been looking for - too bizarre. Elizabeth and i had been to Michael's on Monday looking for paint for a project for school and i told her i was trying to find something to put my finished cards in - a file. I've pondered all kinds of ideas for a card file and nothing seems to be the right size for my cards. When i showed Eliz this accordion file she said - well now that's just spooky.
So - thank you Simple Scrapbooks Magazine - for all the magazine inspiration AND the polka dotted prize.
We shall return to our regular programming (i'll finish my story about the phone call from school... maybe later :-).. insert more wicked laughing here)

my polka dotted prize Posted by Hello

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Good News Tuesdays

If you knew me that title might suggest something remotely religious huh? Nope. Not that kind of good news. (now that those who know me have gotten up off of the floor and have stopped laughing i will resume my babbling.)
But it occurred to me that last Tuesday i heard good news and yesterday i also got some very nice news. Tuesday is turning into a cool day for me. Tuesday has never been one of those kinda days right? i mean its a regular kind of day. Friday is the best day. Wednesday is often referred to as ... hump day... a term i never cared for, but i digress. Thursday is the day before the best day...Saturday and Sunday - well heck - they're the weekend! Mondays normally stink out loud (unless its a holiday then Tuesday pretty much is given that honor) so Tuesday... nothing special normally.
When i was living away from home for the first time i would talk to my parents routinely on the weekend - giving them the scoop on what i was doing. My Dad would get on the phone and say, what's new? And if nothing much was going on I'd say - nothing. He would inevitably reply - nothing new is ok. Having just a regular day is nice. Sometimes something new isn't always good (meaning that it might be a bad thing that was new). In short- your basic, boring day could be a very good thing. So i guess, in retrospect, Tuesday being an everyday boring day would be quite fine. Daddy was right.
However - Daddy would be thrilled to have gotten the call I received yesterday... a Tuesday. I was at work and my boss answered the phone and she told the person on the other end that, "yes, she's here...." and "just a moment"... she looked at me and indicated it sounded like a "mom" call.. they were calling me by my "mrs. p" name...
Now anyone who has a child in school dreads a phone call from school. Usually this means: a. Your child is sick, come pick them up
or
b. your child is in trouble/did something not so great. We need to talk - can you get over here right now?
I've received both those calls.
I'd take a over b anyday
I was delighted to hear neither of those reasons coming out of the mouth of the 8th grade counselor. She wanted to remind me of the 8th grade awards assembly on Friday. I told her i was planning on attending. (they don't have a "graduation" so i figured i should at least go to this right?) She was happy to hear that because....
well darn. I have to go to work now (she cackled evil-y). I'll have to finish my story later