Scrapbooking/Blogging

My little helper

My spool holder turned scrapbook tool organizer.

Scrapbooking and blogging have a lot in common. Scrapbooking is a tangible form of blogging. The downside to scrapbooking is that you can only share it with people that are in the same room with you. Blogging can be seen by many people at once. The downside of blogging is that people without computers lose out on seeing your creation. With scrapbooking you need a lot of tools and materials to make a cute book. With blogging all you need is a camera and a computer.



These drawers hold my stickers, papers, embellishments, adhesives and whatnot. It's a lot of fun and I can do a little bit at a time.

I hope to show my latest project, but I'm still trying to figure out how to take a picture of my layouts without the flash glaring the photos. Once I figure that out, I'll show you my latest album.

School Photos

As you can tell, I don't use my scanner much, so my apologies for the angle of these photos, but I figured that I would post them anyway.

A beautiful picture

Just had to post!

Hope this makes you smile. :-) This was taken almost three years ago! Tzipi wasn't quite 1 year old yet. Golly time flies!

What a great movie!

Either there are a lot of closet Trekkies out there, or this really is a great movie. RottenTomatoes gives this new Star Trek movie 95%! My hubby and I went to see it today and it was so much fun! It really has everything you want in a movie, humor, action, good acting and amazing visual stimulation. I am not a movie critic by any means, but I highly recommend this movie. It's worth going to the theatre to see it because I just don't think it will carry across as visually striking on a small screen at home. It was 2 hours of non-stop fun and I only wish I could afford to do it every weekend that it's on, I would see it more than once, twice...three...you get the idea. I also plan to buy the DVD which I do not do. I really want to see the bonus footage. Go see it if you can!

Zippy's End of School Program

May 13th 2009... Mrs. Wormsbaker is one of Zippy's teachers. She has helped Zippy transition into Head Start. We all like her very much.

She was not interested in performing at all.

Here she got in on the fun a little bit.


She actually took a bow!!

Our precious little girl! I'm so glad I got to see her in her class. She is shy in class which is odd to see, but she was pretty happy to see BOTH Eema and Abba at her program. Typically Abba helps Zippy with all of her school activities, which is extremely helpful to me. I just couldn't miss out on this!

Hi!

Motherhood

I don't think children ever really appreciate how important mothers are until they have children themselves. Being a mother is very difficult. It's painful and joy-filled all rolled up into one! I've once heard it compared to taking your heart out and watching it walk around and climb on your furniture. You want to protect your children and you want to give your children the confidence to be independent. It's a crazy balancing act. And I also think that the best gift that I have ever given my mother by birth and my mother by marriage is grandchildren. Nothing makes me feel more fulfilled than to see the sheer pleasure on their faces. I know that neither get to spend near enough time with us, but they are dear to our hearts and always in our thoughts. I love you both very much!

Thank you Laurie!

Since I've been bitten by the scrapbooking bug, I realized that my photo chronology has gaps. I am working on a Hanukkah album and realized I didn't have any prints of the Hanukkahs in Lubbock. Well, I found a CD that Laurie (my sister by marriage) made for me that has over 600 pictures! I just wanted to thank you publicly for taking the time to save all of these pictures. I owe you big!!! I know some people don't have many pictures and it's really not such a big deal, but I love pictures and it's a luxury to be able to relive the good times. So 2006-2007 is ready for my albums. I'm still looking for the Hanukkah that I had Tzipi. We know we took pictures of the night in 2005 before I was admitted into the hospital, I'm just having a hard time finding them.

Remembering the warm days...

It's cool outside due to a cold front. I took these pictures on a warm spring day and felt like posting them.

My Mother's Day Surprise!!!

My wonderful husband and children surprised me with these beautiful red roses. I was so surprised! It made me cry! I love my little family so much!

Tzipi's first haircut

Before

After the cut

After the style

Diagnosis: Computer

Well I got home from work and guess what was waiting for me? My lovely laptop! And it was more serious than I realized. They replaced the hard drive, restored operating system (which I was expecting) and they cleaned the CPU/VGA fan. I'm so happy to have it back. It hooked up to the WI-FI quickly and easily, but then Windows had a bunch of UPDATES to catch up on. So I just had to log on to Avi's computer one more time so I could blog about my excitement! YEAH for warranties!

Latest Happenings...

Well, much has happened since I posted last. First I went to the dentist on Monday. It has been about 6 years since my last dental visit. This year was the first time I've ever had dental insurance. Dr. Curry is very nice and gentle. I've had some really bad experiences, so it is nice to finally find a dentist that listens. I had a very bad bacterial infection and I have to go back for four cleanings. I don't really have any cavities, but my gums are a wreck. The medicine he put me on is really strong. I'm starting to feel better, but it's been a rough couple of hours. Dr. Curry says that my front teeth will need to be removed and I need bridge work. I still have a few questions about that, and of course I need the estimate after insurance. I'm hoping Avi can come with me in June when I have my gums cleaned because I know it will be painful.

On Thursday I did my team training. It was definitely a learning experience as my audience just stared at me for 20 minutes. I got some good feedback. But with 14 team mates, I had 3 that were actually listening with interest. But I'm proud that I did it and glad that it's over. :-)

I was Toastmaster during Thursday's meeting. It was a really good meeting. I'm glad that I got to have some fun after working so hard.

I will be working again this Saturday. I'm looking forward to next week's pay check. :-)

May 1st

My computer is on its way to Simi Valley California for repair. I was so worried until I spoke with the Tech guy. I feel so good that my computer is going to repaired by professionals. I miss my computer very much.

I have worked ALOT of overtime the past two weeks. Things are all in flux at work. We're getting a new manager and our office is being reorganized. One of my performance goals for this year was to hold a training meeting for our team. So before our manager retires, I'm going to speak on Professionalism/Business Etiquette. It's this Thursday! I'm a bit nervous since I'm speaking to my peers who may or may not care about what I have to say, instead of my fellow Toastmasters who actually WANT to hear what I have to say. This will be the biggest challenge of my young career. My manager feels I would be a great asset to the Training Department, and in order to work towards that end, she wants it on my performance review that I held a training session for my team. This will also be the longest speech I've given. Keep me in your prayers this Thursday May 7th at 10 am.

Azariah is excited about school being over in a few weeks. Tzipi will be out of school sooner than Zee. My goal for this year is to get our bedtime routine in shape. It's been a nightmare since I started working. Zee is easy to get to bed, but Tzipi fights it with every bit of her tiny body.

I woke up at 5am and walked this morning. It was so clear and beautiful. The humidity curled my hair and I heard the birds singing their morning song. I felt jazzed after my long walk. I got back inside my home and jumped in the shower, got dressed, organized my work things, did my hair and make up and boy was I shocked when at 7am the fog was so thick I could barely see. The guy on the radio made me laugh so hard. He said that the visibility was less than a quarter of an inch... and then corrected himself to say mile, not inch. But it was too late.

I have to work again this Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot done in the few hours I'll be there. The house isn't too messy, so maybe the weather will be pleasant and we can do something fun.

Well, I've rambled enough I guess. Just thought I'd blog while I could.

Adventures in Naan

I attempted to make naan this weekend, but didn't follow this video. I watched a different video that didn't mention rolling it so thin. So I'm going to try again this Sunday and hope that they turn out as yummy as hers.

INGREDIENTS:
Recipe makes 6 Naans
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of baking soda
2 tablespoons oil
21/2 tablespoons yogurt
3/4cup look warm water
1 teaspoon clear butter or ghee
1/4 cup all purpose flour for rolling

Best $120.00 I ever spent!

The last few days have been panic filled. My Toshiba is ill. Thank goodness that my husband has a laptop, so I will still be able to blog. I was able to upload all of my photos to Picasa under my Gmail account. My other files were unimportant. I tried system recovery to wipe the hard drive and restore the system to factory settings, but it didn't fix what was wrong. So I searched through boxes and boxes this morning and found my extended warranty! I am so glad I did that. I buy warranties whenever I can. It's extra money, but it is so well worth it. I called Office Depot and the kind gentleman said that I did everything he would have told me to try. So he says that the problem isn't fatal, but it will require me to mail my computer to the experts. They are paying for the box and postage and it should take 3 days to mail the box and 3 days to get fixed and 3 days to come back home all repaired. I will miss my computer, but Avi will be wonderful and share when he can. I won't be able to load new photos because his laptop doesn't read sd cards, but it's ok. I just want my computer to be all better.

Weekend work

It's a challenge balancing work and home. I love my family so much and enjoy watching my children grow and progress and loving my husband more each day. But I am also very blessed to do a job that I am good at and enjoy. There are times when office politics get in the way and make my day longer than normal, but for the most part my work is fulfilling and I enjoy getting up for work most days. Then there's coping with working overtime and weekends. There are times when I have the choice to work or not to work but there are times when it is mandatory. The mandatory times are easy to cope with because there is really no other option. The days when I have a choice are the days I struggle with the most. Most of the time I want to stay home with my kids and get the house ready for the week ahead. Today I'm going in for three hours and will be home in enough time to enjoy the rest of my day. I'm going in earlier than everyone else so I can get some work done. (People tend to play too much where I work.) So while everyone is sleeping in today, I'll be making some much needed overtime for my family.

Earth Day 2009

PROJECT: RECYCLE PAPER

With Earth Day being today, I wanted to do something special with the family to celebrate our responsibility and the steps we've taken to help the planet. So I found a Paper Recycling Factory at Wal-Mart for $3.00! So I asked Avi to get the kids to help him shred newspaper and soak it for two hours. Then we used a blender (non-electric hand-crank kind) that came with the box and blended the wet paper into a pulpy soup. You put the soup in a large tray and then use a mesh square to lift up the pulp. You squeeze all the water you can out of the paper with a vise (also included) and then set it aside to dry for 24 hours. We're going to turn them into mini scrap books with small pictures printed from my computer. Did you know that the average person will use nearly 500 trees worth of paper in their lifetime? That's a lot of trees!

I'll blog again about our scrapbooks after get them finished!

The Value of Toastmasters

Well I did it. The speech turned out really well. It's kind of foggy, but the sign I'm holding up says "confidence". That is the main benefit to Toastmasters.

Speechcraft

Well, I have yet another speech today. Our Toastmaster's club is hosting a Speechcraft for the management of VALIC and Western National Life (btw, that's where I work). We had one last year and it was a great learning experience for everyone involved. So we're doing it again this year. Speechcraft is great PR for our club and helps our managers with a 5 week crash course in confidence. Our hope is to encourage new membership, but to also showcases the resource that the managers may not know about. My speech is titled, The Value of Toastmasters. I've given it once before, but it turned out really well, and our President asked me to give it again. It compares other public speaking courses to the Toastmaster program. It should be fun and when we have Speechcraft, I get to attend TWO TM meetings a week! Yeah!

More music that makes me happy!

If you've seen myspace, this is a rerun for you, but I like it so much I had to add it to my blog!

Music that makes me happy!

More Highlights from Vacation