OK. Let’s just say that I have officially been up for 36 hrs with no sleep. That is something I could do with no issue when I was younger. Heck, I used to do it several nights a week. However, I am much older now. But surprisingly, I’m not too tired. Why, oh why would you do such a thing you might ask. Well, out of love of course. OK. Last night DH called and said he experienced sweating, fast heart rate, and tingling in his neck. He decided he needed to go to the ER. So off we went. Well….I went. I drove to pick him up from work (the hospital is only across the highway from where he works). Of course, in a flashy moment of intelligence I decided to take the toll road because of course it would get me to his side faster. LOL…only if I had taken the correct exit. I ended up looping back, getting back on the toll road and finally making it to pick him up.

Off we went to the hospital….5 hours, an ekg and a chest x-ray later it was decided he had palpitations and arrhythmia. The doc did release him to go back to work today. Instructions were to just watch and if it happened again to see a cardiologist. Scary at first. Then amusing – as amusing as an ER can be in the wee morning hours.

Came home at 3 am, took sis home, came back to dog mess that needed to be cleaned, and laundry that needed to be done, and a shower was needed (I had to get the ER feel off me. I imagined the flu germs crawling all over me.). By this time it was time to go to work. So up and at ‘em is what I did. Now it’s almost 7 pm and I’ve still got at least 5 hours to go. Can I do it???????

Oh. I almost forgot that I squeezed out a LO recently for a friend’s mom’s birthday. I used Kiki’s wonderful products again! Firestorm and Craft Basket Finds.

Kiki’s also got some new products at PDW

Kiki’s Lovely Swirls would be great for those Valentines LO’s and it’s only $2!!!!!

Go check them out!

Today I would like to let everyone know that I have slightly overcome what I felt was a creative slump. I made another LO with one of Kiki’s newest kits, Twinkle Toes. I’m not sure that I’m 100% happy with the LO. I just feel that something is missing or isn’t placed right. Does anyone else feel that or am I just too critical?

Get Twinkle Toes at SBE!!

When we first moved into our new house and had the new fence put in, we let our pups out. We dug out an old tennis ball (which of course is a favorite item of theirs to play with outside). The first day with the ball, DH threw it over the fence. Behind the fence is a large open field. Of course, none of us were brave enough to venture out to retrieve the toy.

About a month ago, DH came home with two new tennis balls. Now these weren’t ordinary tennis balls. DH got tennis balls that were thicker than normal. Advertised to be harder to destroy. DH claimed they were indestructible. I went outside today and played fetch with my lil furbaby’s. Grace was on a mission.

The retrieval.

She’s trying to hide it.

The attack!

Will it survive? I can’t look!

Her triumph and it’s defeat.

I guess the tennis balls aren’t as tough as we thought.

Here we are in a new year. As you know if you have read my blog, I did not set a resolution. Now my friends have. Two of my friends have done the typical weight loss goal, but both have very different approaches. One is having gastric surgery after much contemplation, and the other one is doing it the old fashioned way. Now, I am overweight, but don’t have the desire to have other people remind me that I’m fat. I do that well enough on my own. But I will be super supportive of those people who like the support of a group of people who can relate to what they are going through. Just how supportive can I be? I’ve motivated them to walk. We walk at work now. Trying to go at least twice a day for 15 minutes. It’s fun and everyday there’s usually someone new who’s wanting to join us.

But I think I may have started a craze, or maybe it’s a fad. I’m not sure what the difference is between the two. Anyway…I bought a pedometer and this morning two of the other women who walk with me came in with pedometers too. I’m glad we’re all getting off our duffs and getting physical, but what has it done for me? Well, I feel better sharing this with my friends and showing my support in their efforts to improve their health. However, I have gained 2 pounds!!!! Maybe it’s water weight? Maybe I’m just not doing it right. I mean, I’ve been putting my left foot in front of my right and then alternating the procedure and propel myself forward. Does anyone have any suggestions on what might help during walking? Please no weights. Is there a certain posture I should hold? A certain way I should be breathing?

Speaking of breathing and workouts. I just had to leave you with this little ditty. I apologize now to anyone who has this workout tape and use it, but you have to admit that you more than likely wouldn’t do this in public. Let’s hope this is a passing fad.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvy_uJxJ_-g&rel=1]

Let’s start off with a question: Does anyone know of a program that will let me tag my photos and then burn them to a cd/dvd and the tags still be applied to the burned images? I have Adobe Bridge, but either 1. it doesn’t have this feature or 2. I’m just missing the whole thing. I have a TON of pictures and would like to tag them when I save them off of the HD. Our EHD is dying and another one isn’t in the budget right at this moment. (Take note of another math lesson: DH + soda glass condensation + EHD = EHD that hates to stay connected to PC.) Any suggestions?

OK. I was wondering when it is that we get old. Is it when we get the ever popular eye-roll or cringe of embarrassment when we try to act “hip” around our kids? Is it when we stop getting carded for things you have to be a particular age to purchase? Is it when we begin to worry more about crows feet (and we actually know what they are), or when we simply give up on sculpting the perfect body? (Rationale: if he wanted perfect, he wouldn’t have picked me to begin with). Is it when we dine at the “early bird special” to get the senior citizen discount? Or do we just not care about getting old anymore? Are we all taking on the “you are only as old as you feel” mentality? If I take that outlook, my age will change daily. I still have the rollerblades in the garage, but I haven’t mustered the courage to strap them on and take on my 65 degree angle driveway. (you think I am exaggerating? Please stop by and I will let you have a go for a dollar! It would be perfect if it snowed around here.)

Oh! I’ll be right back.

{peeks around the door}

Now where did I put it? Ahhhhh here it is.

{comes out into the open. places a box on the floor. steps up.}

Sorry about that. I was just looking for my soapbox. I saw something today and just knew I would need it. On my way home from work I stop at a light at which there are panhandlers. Now, I smile and wave at them from time to time, and have even contemplated bringing them some food, but after the past two days, I have completely changed my mind. I know you are anxious to know what possibly could have changed my mind. Well….

Yesterday, there was a plastic shopping bag with a case (24 pack) of beer sitting on the sidewalk where these people keep their belongings. Excuse me! Shouldn’t you be more worried about getting food than alcohol? Today there was a man walking with a sign and another sitting down with another sign. The sitting man tried to be discreet, but he couldn’t escape these eagle eyes. He raised his sign to hide his face. Then he moved it down and placed a beer behind a lightpost. Ugh. It pains me to think that these people beg for money only to squander it on alcohol. And people give them this money! I’ve now decided that I WILL NOT EVER provide them with money. Please think twice before you do so.

{steps off box}

Did I have a creative spark? Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe it was just the brilliant Kiki Halbert and her new Le Grunge kit. What do you think?

I was proud of myself because I did create the heart element on my own. I want to start creating my own elements, so starting with adding something to my layout to go along with Kiki’s kit seemed appropriate.

This weekend has been a weekend of absolutely almost no productivity because DH and I got sucked into the world of America’s Next Top Model. It’s not like we meant to be. I swear….it just happened. And the drama and ridiculousness of most of it has kept us glued. DH even DVR’d the final episode of season 7 that he knew he couldn’t stay up to watch. Isn’t it just cute when men get dragged into shows other things that you wouldn’t even peg them doing? Well…back to another season.

Well, my sleep was good. It was being awoken at 4am by DH trying to install a game on his PC that wouldn’t run the was disappointing. I’m not sure if it will run (it’s a game I got him for xmas). I googled his issue and it looks like his PC may be too much for the game. Hehehe. This is a prime example of why people should read packages and directions.

Would you like to hear another story about the benefits of reading directions? OK here goes. One day DH was washing a glass candle holder. Our water was a little too hot for the glass and it shattered. Apparently, some glass went into the disposal. If you know anything about disposals (or even if you don’t know any about them common sense will tell you) glass isn’t good for a disposal. Our poor little disposal ground it’s last round. This would be during xmas dinner. (No better time than any, huh). We realized that the dishwasher connects to the disposal. Now for the math portion of our story: broken disposal + dishwasher = dirty dishes. Dirty dishes + overnight in a dishwasher = uhhhhhh….don’t open the dishwasher. Sooooo…off we trek to the Home Depot for a new disposal. Got there and got the disposal. Got home and DH put it in, tested it. Everyone cheer because it worked!!!!

Overnight we ran the dishwasher. DH asked me to empty it the next day and run another load. I opened the dishwasher and what did I find? Standing water. Being the resourceful gal that I am, I went to work siphoning out the water and excavating the issue. I took out all the filters (gross by the way – hadn’t been cleaned at all by the owners before us for 3 years) and took the bottom of the dishwasher all apart. I put everything back. Put in a new load of dishes and ran the washer again. More standing water. A friend had her husband come over to look at it as DH was at work. We were afraid that something had backed up the line from the washer to the disposal. He came in, blew out the line – nothing. Then he looked at the disposal. Apparently there is a small disk that covers the connection between the two that needed to be popped out. When I told DH he confessed that he didn’t entirely read the directions.

Now ladies, don’t assume that the male of our species has read all directions when an instruction booklet or pamphlet is part of your activity. Chances are, they simply picked it up and flipped through it just to appease you. Always take it up on yourself to act as the understudy. Be prepared to offer suggestions or step in. Be warned that if you choose to suggest or step in, you do so with extreme care. The male is probably already in a mood due to the item not functioning as it should. this may cause said specimen to retaliate in unwanted manners. If you choose to offer suggestions – you do so at your own risk. I am writing now that I assume NO responsibility. What I would suggest is to wait until DH goes to bed or work, and try your own hand at fixing it (if you have the confidence). Then when it does work, act surprised, give him a kiss, and go on with life.

Today was disappointing. It just seemed to go on forever. Of course it all began with the drive to work. It wasn’t bad, but there was some traffic. Then I stopped to get me some breakfast at the store. Why, my friends, must they only have one register open out of 20-30 at 7am when everyone stops on their way to work? I stood in line for 10 minutes and finally someone opened the self-check registers (yes, for some reason they do close them). On to work….my friend was out today and my other friend was stressed. DD was disappointed because she can’t spend the night with her Momo. DH was disappointed at dinner choice of roast. And finally, the proverbial icing on the disappointment cake, I got sucked in by advertising. What do I mean? No, I don’t mean monetarily. I mean that I actually visited a website and wanted to request what portion of my life I had used during that time to be refunded to me. Let me explain….

Imagine this…here I am lounging with the furkids when the HP commercial comes on. I’m sure you’ve seen it. Gwen Stefani talking about being creative with pictures wafting behind her as if they are trailing on magical, inspirational and of course creative farts. I guess I was intrigued by the flatulence-surfing “ideas”, so I went to the website. I wanted to see what she had “cranked out” and all the projects HP was promoting. I have to say that HP grossly over-hyped this site. There are 3 different projects ladies and gents. Yes, only 3. Now I may have misinterpreted, but I was under the impression (by all of the lingo and the tons of swooping pictures) that this was going to be a magnificent website of creativity. Now, please don’t bash me for talking about Gwen. I have the utmost admiration for her. Not only is she a very attractive woman, but she is also extremely talented. I do not blame her for this. I full out blame HP. Please, if anyone visits the site and has a differing opinion, please let me know. Who knows, you just might change my mind.

My last and only hope is that sleep tonight will not be disappointing. Wish me luck!

Still no creative spark at this time. I put the pics of the photo shoot I did of my sis on my myspace page. Will anyone look? I’m sure they will because they aren’t of me. LOL. I actually had fun taking her pics. And, maybe someone else will see them and want me to take their pics. Ohhhh we can hope can’t we? Keep our fingers crossed.

OK. I think the title tells all. That is how I feel – like a schlub. What is a schlub? Of course “The Google” is yet again the ultimate answer machine. What on Earth would I do without “The Google”? I want to work for “The Google”. Can anyone find me a job there? (There was actually a job listed on one of the employment sites, but when I actually went to apply the job wasn’t lised – GRRRRRR)

Anyway, I derailed my train of thought for a moment. Back to schlubbiness. I sit down to be creative and the slate is blank, ladies and gentlemen. Nothing is there. No sparks. Why can’t I be creative today?!?!?!?!? Or this weekend for that matter?

DD was creative this morning. She came bouncing in with a big smile on her face.

You have to thank Momo for buying her the wonderful makeup kit. Actually, the picture doe not show the exact color of the entire canvas. The eyeshadow is a brilliant soft pink along with cheek to chin pink blush. And to top it off there was the slightly less than hot pink lip gloss. How can you do anything else but smile at that?

Does anyone have any suggestions to help me out of my creative schlump?