Hee! Hee! Hee!

Well If you read my comment on OH MY. Then u can't listen. If u didn't. Then go read it!

I Love HSM

Chad, Taylor, Ryan, Sharpay,Troy Gabriellia

my fave person in HSM TAYLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh My.

Who's ready to go see it again?

I'm Alive, and Breathing... barely!

I don't have time to put pictures on of all the happenings in my house the past two weeks. But we're now back. Not able to put the fridge and stove back in the kitchen until tomorrow or Saturday, but we're here. I thought I knew chaos before. I really had no clue.

We came home last night, smelling the remnants of the yummy sealer fumes. They aren't quite gone, but bearable. BUT, the new floor is BEAUTIMOUS! Just a pain in the fanny to get here! We went with 4" Hickory. Pictures to come soon!

Tonight I'm going to see the midnight showing of Twilight. I have decided that I am a Jacob fan. I guess because I think Bella is overly obsessed with Edward. I have NOT read book four yet (Are you crazy? Do you really think I have time to read right now? So don't say a word about it!). Anyway, I don't know whose crazy idea it was to go to the midnight showing (mine?). Do we think we're young teens anymore? Maybe we wish we were..... hmmmmmmmm, NOPE - I don't wish that. Anyway, I'm going with two of my sisters, my sis in law, and my sixteen year old niece, who is so fun to be with. I couldn't imagine she'd want to go with her mama and nieces, but she is!

So, that is my plan. Hoping to get one more nap in before the show. I think tomorrow I may be in some state of delireum. Wish me luck.

Photoshop Elements

I must say that I am so very thankful for my Photoshop Elements software! When I first got it I was overwhelmed and frustrated with it. Then I started searching and found so many wonderful free tutorials! One of my faves can be found here at Shabby Princess (they have free downloads too!).

PSE has opened up a beast inside of me. I have found a new passion. I love creating, and I absolutely LOVE doing it digitally! IT DOESN'T ADD AN OUNCE OF CLUTTER TO MY DESK! That was one thing I struggled with as far as stamping and card making and scrapbooking goes. So this is the wonderful alternative that I've found!

If you haven't already - go check out my design blog to see a few things I've created thus far. It's just so dang fun. You can see a slight progression in my abilities. My first few were pretty, whats the word, boring, off, unappealing? I don't know... anyway, I've been learning more and more techniques and tips, so it's been more rewarding to make beautiful things!

Here is the most recent creation. I do love this card, but I'm not sure if it will be the actual one I send out (just because I guess I want a little of the "surprise" factor). This one was pretty quick and easy to throw together. But I just love the colors and the stripes! I found this pretty awesome website with color palettes you can browse through and get the RGB codes. Here are two of my fave places in my reader that have great photoshop elements tips:
http://blissfullydomestic.com/channel/photo-bliss/
http://digitalphotographyformoms.net/

I've also used PSE to create my blog headers and the background for this blog. When I have some time (when will I ever?) I'm going to make buttons for my frugal blog and my design blog. I wish I didn't have all of those other responsibilities so I could just have this kind of uninterrupted fun for one whole day!

By the way, you can go here to see how a bunch of other ladies are being their own version of "Blissfully Domestic"! I do so in a digital sort of way, does that count? :)

Looking For The Good.

I'm still alive, and have so much to say about this past weekend! Just a very quick synopsis, I stepped into this Friday morning...
(That is water coming up from under the laminate floor, in those non stuck seams that I've had for quite awhile!)

Things haven't been the same since.

That, turned into THIS:

Yes, two owners ago (know them, and I truly do love them) put the laminate flooring on top of the existing carpet. The water traveled about 12 or so feet from the (unknown) leak in the refrigerator waterline.Look at that lovely green vinyl - under that ugly grey carpet. That lovely green vinyl saved our floorboards!

So now we are trying to live in a house with a kitchen that is all tarped off with two big fans and a dehumidifier running 24-7 (since Friday night). I've got pictures to show and stories to tell, but in the end I am grateful for this big fat mess (eek!). Do you recall how I hated my kitchen floor? At least I can say goodbye to it now (hopefully not at the sake of my sanity)!

Anywho... too much to do at the moment. I DO have a long list of gratitude's for this entire mess. Clues: weather, money, Dave Ramsey :) More to come, hopefully by Wednesday evening!

PhotoScape.

I challenged myself to post everyday through Thanksgiving, on something that I'm grateful for. So far I'm averaging every other day... not too bad!

So here is my next grateful thought. I am grateful for this little tool - it is a free program I downloaded called PhotoScape!

This is the program that I use to make these fun little things:

And I can easily do a screen capture like this:
This is such a fun and pretty easy program to figure out! I haven't really needed to look for help or tutorials, I just kind of played around with it and figured it out. One thing I have learned (thank you Janet), this is VERY IMPORTANT to know when making collages, after you pull all of the pictures in, change the size to 300%. This way when turn your lovely blog into a book one day, the pictures will be a much better quality (you can read about and see Janet's book here). So I am very grateful to Janet who introduced me, a total stranger, to PhotoScape (I found the link way at the bottom of her blog). I am also grateful for the nice people at PhotoScape who share this program with all who want to use it!

Please note:
Janets blog is a whole lot of fun. But if you go there, you really should leave a comment. You'll have to read what she thinks about people who don't leave comments here (see #6). She puts it just perfectly... I'm starting to feel that "vulnerability" - I see many people who look at this blog, or my photo card blog (yes, I know you're there), yet never leave comments. Some days, one starts to feel like what you're writing is stupid, boring, lame-o, or what you've created isn't really all that great. Then one gets this thought in one's head "they don't like me!!!" ;) Luckily for me, my self esteem is not based on comments on my blogs. But a comment sure does make one smile! And it's nice to know that someone (even a perfect stranger) likes what you said or created! She says it so much better... go read it.

So, are you posting what you're grateful for too?

Seth.

Even though he is the most high maintenance two year old I've ever had, I love him to pieces. He tries my patience like no other. So I guess you could say he's teaching me a lot. He is an informant who needs to tell me of his every move and is the kid that says, "mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom" (you get the picture right). He's persistent, independent, energetic, yet clingy. He loves him momma (that's me). You have to "work him" in just the right way so he feels like it was HIS idea... not moms. Reverse psychology works very well on him. Forcing him doesn't. He has cute little habits, like the way he caresses his skin with the ruffles of his "dee dee". And then in the wee hours of the morning, he'll come in my bed and try to caress my face the same way, which can be very irritating at 2 am! But if I think about it, and try to be patient, I recognize that it is an act of love. It is something that comforts him, and he is trying to give me that same sort of comfort and security. He loves his Bahpa and gahma. Bahpa is his very best friend. He is his shadow and loves to go to his house and hang out with bahpah. I'm am grateful for this little man. He was an angle baby right when I needed one... boy did I need one that year. And now he is difficult, yet loving. I love this picture of him. He looks so serene.

Think Giant.

Thank you to Monica for giving me a quick post idea.

I am thankful for my cousin Spencer. He is amazing. He lives in Utah (Salt Lake Valley) and has the cutest little family. He has his own company and does "Professional Wedding & Event Videography". He is one of the foremost reasons I got into all this digital design stuff, he introduced me to this whole aspect of my life - something that I LOVE doing now! I think it all began when I attended his little sisters wedding reception. There was this beautiful video playing of the bride and groom. It had pictures of them growing up, dating, and then there was footage of earlier that day when they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. I remember just watching it and being in awe. That was like 7 or 8 years ago? I can't remember for sure! It was my first exposure to this kind of stuff. Shortly after when we in town, I watched a football film of his nephews football team and it was sooo awesome! The list goes on and on.

He is an award winning creative genius! He has such an artistic eye when filming events and weddings, and I love to watch his creations.

This is his blog. This is where he posts and I get inspired. He's got a slew of wedding films, bridal films, date films, sports films, you get it right? Go check it out and be inspired and jealous that you don't have something that captured your wedding day so beautifully! While you're there, you have got to watch one of my favorites... he posted this little personal film that he made of his 2nd born and I must say it is the most beautiful thing! It brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. He captured that day in the most amazing way.

Be sure to check out the sports films as well. They are awesome to watch. He inspired me so much that I attempted to make one for Aaron's football team last year as well. I can't post the thing because it is 40 minutes long and a massive file size! Some day I will have to post my very first video I made. It is titled "The Snowman". Got to find the little thing first!

If you live in the Salt Lake Valley, you've got to have this guy create something for you! (By the way, if you're on Facebook, you can become a fan!)

My little cous is one person who inspires me in this digitally creative aspect of my life. Who inspires you?

ps - I'm going to attempt to do a daily GRATITUDE POST up until Thanksgiving. This will be an interesting challenge since I've barely been posting these past two months! I'll do the best I can!