Postcards from the Edge

I see London...I see France...

...I see Pattie's granny pants? Have you seen this news story? "Security Scanner Can See Through Clothes" Hello. If I had a body that I was interested in displaying I wouldn't BE wearing clothes now would I? I'm a fairly easy going individual and I don't have a whole lot of hangups about nudity in general. I keep my body covered in layers of textile because, quite frankly, I don't figure anybody WANTS to see what's under there.

I realize that the events that unfolded on 9-11 changed our world.  In many ways America lost her innocence that fateful day.  Yes, I want to know that the government and airlines are doing everything in their power to assure the horrific events of that day never occur again. No, I don't want to sit on a plane wondering if the individual next to me has a bomb hidden in some unmentionable body cavity. (Ewwww!) But I'm not really convinced that it's time for Big Brother to stop simply watching us...and time for him to become a peeping Tom. 

What do YOU think? Should we give up our right to the ultimate privacy of keeping our stretch marks and love handles literally "under wraps" in the interest of national safety? Or does the world grow a little madder with each passing day?

While you're pondering that one I think I'm going to go sort through my underwear drawer and toss the ones with the stretched out waistbands and split seams. You never know when I might need to take a sudden plane trip. (sigh)

Does This Chair Make My Butt Look Fat?

Seriously...I need someone to answer this question.  I'd ask my husband, but after almost 30 years of marriage he has learned to avoid all inquiries containing either the words "butt" or "fat"...and if both are uttered in a single question he becomes nearly catatonic.

Thanks to the mothers of both George and Abe I had the day off again today and despite my vow to work on taxes, clean house (gasp!), read something that didn't pertain to scrapbooking...and possibly venture out to the Presidents Day sales...I ended up with my aforementioned hindquarters parked in this computer chair for eight hours.

I've got a whole memory card full of photos that need editing and I did make some headway in that department today at least. My Adobe Lightroom beta is going to expire at the end of the month and I've become so enamored of the powerful editing features it contains that I guess I'm going to have to break down and buy the final release.  Here's one of my boy that makes my heart smile when I look at it. 

Definitely need to do a layout with this one don't you think? The pup is from my sister's kennel in Upstate New York and Dave has been waiting and waiting for the time to be right for him to take one home.  Living in a condo in Cincinnati is not exactly conducive to keeping a Lab. Now that Proctor & Gamble is transferring him to Arkansas for 18 months he thinks he's ready to become a dog owner at last and Aunt Sue is more than happy to oblige...we'll see!

Looking at that cute little puppy face makes my own heart constrict just a little...but then I remember how much work it is to turn a pup into a well-behaved dog. Our Zoe is 10 now and she and I understand each other. Unfortunately my girl isn't doing too well these days. The vet says that she has congestive heart failure and it's really just a matter of time before it gets the best of her. Personally, I find it hard to believe that a heart as big as  Zoe's could possibly fail...but I think that's just wishful thinking on my part.  I'm so not ready to say goodbye to her yet...so we continue to spend a king's ransom on medicines, spoil her rotten at every turn, and hope for the best.

I did get a little design work done today...and I mean a LITTLE.  I woke up this morning determined to figure out how to twist and turn some digital ribbon I had created last night. EIGHT friggin' hours later I ended up with one measly little kit for release at Designer Digitals on Sunday.  And now I'm wondering if they are too weird for words. (sigh)

BIG day tomorrow! Digital Scrapbooking Magazines new website will go live. My husband, on the other hand, may not be "live" much longer. When I showed him the "Meet the Team" section tonight he said "Wow, you really ARE old enough to be most of their mothers huh?" Uh, yeah...and thanks for noticing that.

What the heck, might as well go for a full out mad...I think I'll go ask him if he thinks this chair makes my butt look fat.

My Wish for Them

As I sit here in my jammies after sleeping in far too late, munching on potato chips at 10:45 a.m. it occurs to me that I have now successfully managed to break every single resolution that I made for 2007. (sigh) So, I guess it would be fruitless to resolve to keep this blog up better...maybe I should use reverse psychology (Lord, I wish TypePad had a spell checker!) and vow to neglect it shamelessly...that might do the trick, eh? (Hey, it worked on Kellie, who did indeed answer that silly 4 Things dare!)

Speaking of Kellie, the combination of her delicious papers and the Lyrics Circle Journal we have going on at Designer Digitals actually got me motivated to scrap a page!  (They seem to be few and far between these days) I love Rascal Flatts new CD "Me and My Gang" and the song "My Wish" really strikes a cord with me. 

When I was expecting our first child 26 years ago I thought I knew it all. We had taken the Natural Childbirth classes (yeah, THAT didn't happen!), I bought all the "How-To" books on parenting, stocked the shelves of the waiting nursery with politically correct educational toys...and was confident that *I* had a handle on this parenting gig.  What nobody ever bothered to tell me was that in a heartbeat my focus would shift from myself to them. All of my hopes, fears and dreams would suddenly revolve around my children's lives ahead of my own.

For all of my younger friends out there in Blogland who are nodding your heads sagely and agreeing with that thought...somebody needs to warn YOU now...it never, and I mean NEVER goes away.  In fact girls, it gets a little tougher. When your babies become adults in the eyes of the world (but of course never in your own) you still want to hand them the moon on a string...but the problems they encounter along the way become more difficult to "fix" although your desire to do so remains as strong as ever.  So...that is why the lyrics to this song make me think of them...my two beautiful children...and this is my entry into the Circle Journal:

I'm so excited to see the finished CJ...Katie has arranged for each participant to receive a bound photo book from Shutterfly with everyone's entry in it.  I haven't held one of these photobooks in my very own hands as of yet, but there is a lot of buzz going around about how fantastic they look...can't wait for that package to arrive!

On the artistic front, I'm still struggling to find a balance. The girl who swore I'd never design product has been so wrapped up in doing just that for so many months now that I rarely scrap a page of my own.  Yet every time I DO sit down to put together some of my own memories I realize how much I miss it....definitely am going to find a way to rectify that.

I have just been given an assignment for the August/September issue of Digital Scrapbooking magazine that has me fired up and will require that I complete several layouts to accompany the article...I think I'm one of those people that needs a boot planted firmly in my backside from time to time in order to get moving so I'm just going to picture Molly Newman with a VERY cross look on her face because I didn't meet my deadline every time my resolve to get busy on those layouts waffles. :) All kidding aside, it's really fun to be thinking up ways to demonstrate what my article will be about...and to be scrapping again!

I can't wait to hear what our community has to say about the new magazne (dropping into subscribers mailboxes within the coming week!) and the accompanying website. As a Creative Board member I've had the pleasure of previewing the website this weekend. Chris Ford and the rest of the WebTeam have done an outstanding job and I think you'll agree when you see it. And when...you may ask...might that be? "Point...Click...Soon" on digitalscrapbooking.com on TUESDAY, February 2oth and you'll see what I saw! :)

Thanks to all of you who left a shout-out on my dusty blog this week...it's been great to troll around and catch up with all of you on YOUR blogs. Yep, definitely going to shift the priorities around a bit ... I miss all of you.

O.K. Amy...sheesh!

Hello again...glad you stopped by.  Sorry the place is so dusty...apparently...according to Miss Amy, I've been neglecting my little home on the web.  (So why should my virtual housekeeping skills be any better than my real world housekeeping skills really? :)

Amy however seems to remember that I have a hard time ignoring a double dog dare and she has called me out with her "4 Things" post.  Seems like I need to prove to her that I really haven't entered the Witness Protection Program...so here goes:

4 Things....

4 jobs you've had in your life: Waitress, Bartender (yes, really!), Paralegal, School Technology Specialist

4 movies you could watch over & over: Princess Bride is my hands down first choice...no matter how many times I watch that movie I still roar with laughter. The Replacements....O.K., so this really isn't a great movie, but that line dancing scene in the jail cell just makes me smile.  The Green Mile...so powerful, so thought-provoking. AND....Shawhsank Redemption....need I say more?

4 places you have lived: New York, New Jersey, Ohio....that's it!

4 TV shows you love to watch:  I'm really not a TV person...too much else to do at night! But I absolutely, positively will NOT do anything or go anywhere on Thursday nights if Grey's Anatomy is on.

4 places you've been on vacation:  In our 29 years of marriage we have never gone anywhere on our vacations other than "home"...the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York. Both of our extended families are there and there isn't anyone else we'd rather spend time with. Boring I know...but it makes me happy!

4 websites you visit daily:  Designer Digitals, North Canton City Schools, Digiscrapdesigner.com, and CNN.

4 of your favorite foods:  It would be easier to tell you 4 foods that I don't like! I was raised in an Italian home...food is love, love is food.  BUT, Prime Rib, French Fries, Veal Marsala, and Potato Chips probably top the list. (And no...I DON"T know what my cholesterol count is, thank you just the same.

4 places you'd rather be right now:  Absolutely nowhere! It's one of the marvelous, magical days when I got to roll over and turn the alarm off because the radio said "NO SCHOOL TODAY!" At last count we had gotten about 14" of that fluffy white stuff and I've been happily lounging about in my jammies, reading under my quilt all day long.

4 tags: YOU'RE IT!!!  Kari (because I ALWAYS tag Kari!), Katie (who will not do this), Kellie (who won't either), and Myra (because she makes me smile!)

Things have been crazy mad around here the last few months...but it's been GOOD crazy mad.  I've had a lot of plates in the air and some days it's touch to keep them all there...but I'm enjoying all of it.

I have a couple of new designs coming to Designer Digitals this weekend that I had a lot of fun creating.

Having a ball with interviewing some delightful people for Disctalkradio.com If you haven't heard the news yet,

All our shows are  now FREE to anyone registered on the site, but there's so much more in store when you become a Friend of DiScTalkRadio (DSTR)

Subscribe in February and you will receive:

• Bonafide, an exclusively designed kit by Trish Jones
• A chance to win 1 of the 3 custom layouts created especially for you by Shabby Miss Jenn
• Special drawing of 5 charter subscriptions to Digital Scrapbooking Magazine
• 15% off all purchases at Shabby Miss Jenn Designs
• Special drawing of a signed copy of Angie Pedersen's best selling book:  Book of Me.

And the news we've ALL been waiting for...Simple Scrapbooks "Digital Scrapbooking" magazine has gone to the presses and should be dropped to subscribers around the 21st of the month! I'm still so excited and honored to be a member of the wonderful team responsible for the long awaited magazine for digital scrappers and I can assure you that you will NOT be disappointed in the magazine itself or the companion website which will be debuting very soon. Check out Molly Newman's blog at digitalscrapbooking.com for updates as the date for the unveiling grows closer.

AND, be sure to tune into Hullabaloo on disctalkradio.com on February 21st to hear even MORE insider information from my guest, Lynda Angelastro, Managing Editor. 

So...are you happy now Amy? :) And as to the rest of you....if you hadn't long since given me up for dead and stopped visiting...leave me a "Hey!" so I know you came by!