me to a T - Tracey Odachowski

Shoot me…just pretend I’m posting this about a week ago, ok??

Call it summer brain. I just kept forgetting to!

Last week I was asked to participate in an online article for Creating Keepsakes mag called ‘Creative Exercises’ by Erin Lincoln. She tricked me. She asked me what my greatest scrapping fear was. I answered digi scrapping. It is just SOOOOOO hard for me to do a page that is all digital because I can’t touch it. Then, she told me, surprise, I had to do an all-digital page for the article to conquer my fear. YIKES!

I sat here forever trying to figure out what to do. Alexis got some good belly laughs from me that night (as she rubbed in that she was paper scrapping behind me!) Well, I did it. Somehow, it got done. Here is the article. It includes exactly what I thought of doing that page. And here is a close-up of my layout:

The HOFers also had our next Manufacturer Challenge on the message boards. This month we chose to do two - Doodlebug and Daisy D’s. I actually managed to get two done! Shocking, I know. Here’s my Doodlebug page:

and for Daisy D’s, a wipe-off birthday calendar, that was also on HSN last week:

And, by all means, check out all of the GREAT layouts that the other HOFers and the CKMBers made here.

Last, but most certainly NOT least, is the latest CP feature up at my favorite scrappy place, Scrapvillage! This month we featured Cosmo Cricket. Fun Stuff!!!!! Check out the entire feature here. And, my layout (mom oughta love this one; I sense getting a phone call from her in the near future asking for a copy of this pic):

Phew! That’s it. It was a busy scrappy week (and I haven’t done a darn thing since! I should get on that.)

But most important of all (said in my best Austin Powers voice)…..

WHO DOES #2 WORK FOR??????????????????
Emily, that’s who!!!!

Yes, as disgusting as it may be, my little love informed me that she pooped in the potty this afternoon, all by herself. Ahhhhhhhh, potty training rocks. The thought of saving thousands of dollars on diapers and pull-ups every year rocks even more.

(Thanks, Dar, for the awesome photo!)

Reasons to love this girl:
1. She makes me look tall.
2. I look ginormous next to her.
3. She makes me look tall.

Sorry, A. Had to. hehe. But really, I’m 5′3″, so it takes alot to make me look tall!

Needless to say, it was a wonderful few days w/ Alexis. Nice knowing that I’ll see her again in a month, too.

The girls…well, they are 2. They act like 2-year-olds. They weren’t as into each other as they are on the phone. Perhaps because my daughter is a bit intimidating, and Sarah is a bit shy? Eh, they still looked cute in their little matching outfits:

(a pic from Alexis’ camera. I have yet to download mine!)

It wasn’t that they hated each other; on the contrary. I think Emily loved Sarah TOO much! Poor Sarah. At least Sarah really loved Zuzu and Gabe!

Oh, and I almost forgot…THANK YOU SARAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because of your peer pressure, Emily has gone from 100% pull-ups a week ago to 80% potty-trained now! WOOHOO! This means she can actually attend preschool in the fall! Now if we can just work on getting her to do #2 in the potty and not be scared of public toilets covered in paper…

ALEXIS IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!

ALEXIS IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In less than 11 hours, my girl ALEXIS will be here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I’m just a wee bit excited??? And, since I know she won’t get a chance to read this before the morning, can I tell you that thing I’m perhaps most excited about is seeing our little girls dressed up in the matching outfits that I bought them yesterday????? And the Em is constantly asking if Sarah is here yet??? Oh yeah, it’s gonna be a GREAT weekend!

WATCH OUT world, b/c Alexis and Tracey are hitting the town, and they’ve got mini-Alexis and mini-Tracey in tow!!!!!!!!!!!

WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Do you ever have one of those weekends that are just awesome?

Friday was Gabe’s last day of school, (he got the Friendliest Student Award!!), and we were brave enough to have some of his friends over. Garrett and Ben came, and we also had Ben’s sister, Rebecca (who is close to Em’s age). Then Garrett’s mom came. Then Ben and Rebecca left. Then Reagan came (more on her in a sec). All told, my kids were in the pool for nearly 7 hours. Yeah, they slept HARD.

The highlight of Friday night was seeing my friend, Dinah, who I’ve known since 4th grade. We were VERY close in middle school, then drifted apart in high school. However, we reconnected through reunion.com a little over a month ago. Turns out that her husband, who is in the reserves, had to spend 2 weeks at Langley (about 15 minutes from here), and she was coming for a visit for the weekend! So, we had them and their daughter over. It was SOOOOOOOO wonderful reconnecting w/ her. So many great memories, it was as if the last 15 years melted away. Love that.

Saturday was Gabe’s last soccer game and awards ceremony. He is so proud of his little trophy. Yet again, during the ceremony, his coach introduced him as the friendliest, sweetest child she’d ever known. Now doesn’t that just make a mama proud? Having been told that twice in one week feels pretty darn awesome. We took a nap in the afternoon, then headed to Blockbuster to rent a kid movie and have family movie night. Alas, the pre-viewed movies were on sale, so we ended up buying 3 movies instead. Before heading home we went to Cold Stone to get some ice cream, then vegged in front of the TV for the rest of the evening.

Now it is the week. No doctor appointments this week, which is rare for me. Gabe is home all day, and I’m soooooo loving that. And the best part??? My girl Alexis and her daughter are flying in on Friday!! WWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I cannot wait to spend time with her where we are NOT at a trade show working our buttocks off. (if only the buttocks actually diminished during the process, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad). So, I’m prepping to get her here!

Back to work!!!

And no, obviously, I have nada to talk about. Unless you want to hear endless griping about a bitchy 2-year-old (pardon the French, but it’s been bad around here). Tonight wasn’t bad, though (after an ick day) - I got to cuddle w/ the kiddos and watch Happy Feet. GREAT movie! Why haven’t I watched that yet??? After Em went to ‘bed’ (I use the term loosely - if you can call running back and forth and reading 1/2 of her bookcase of books), Gabe and I cuddled for an hour watching So You Think You Can Dance. Yes, summertime reality tv is in full swing.

Dad and Bette visited Sunday through Tuesday. Always a nice time. We had a little cookout in the backyard on Monday evening, letting the kids play in our little pool for a while. Of course, after two trips to Cracker Barrel and one to Smokey Bones while they were here, the scale at WW was NOT kind to me. Ick. We won’t go there. Better luck next week.

Saturday Mo and Wayne took the kids for the night so that Chris and I could celebrate our anniversary. We had these grand plans of having a coasterfest at BG after dinner, but as we sat eating our sushi, we started realizing just how much we were REALLY enjoying the quiet. By the end of dinner, we had convinced ourselves to go home and have a Moviefest instead. We watched the Queen, Borat, and Casino Royale. FAB night. FAB. It was wonderful just sitting cuddling w/ him. Every once in a while we’d even let out a Mary Murphy scream b/c there was no one to wake up! We had the volume on 32!!!! (we rarely put that thing above 17). It was great to be as loud as we wanted.

Oh, one other thing that I keep forgetting to share…my latest digi kit is up for sale at Scrapvillage, named Spring Fling:

Have a good one!