Some stuff {UPDATED}

The Benvoulin Church Craft Sale, held at the Benvoulin Heritage Church in mid-November, will not be held this year. After 14 years, I would like to thank all who attended and supported the sale.
Instead
I would like you to join us on Sunday, November 9th, 9 am. to 10 pm. at 2279 Benvoulin Road for A Papercrafting Event!
If you are a seasoned scrapbooker or cardmaker, I know you have stuff that you hoard, or never use, why not rent a table and sell that stuff so you can buy more?
If you are just starting scrapbooking or cardmaking, why not join us at the sale? You will find lots of goodies, new and slightly used to add to your collection.
If you make papercrafts or related items, and would like to rent a table, call me and we’ll talk.
The sale will run till mid-afternoon, we are hoping to have make-n-takes, and cropping time that will run into the evening. If you would like to join us, please call Kelli for more info @ 250-765-4656.


That's pretty vague...in a nutshell, rent a table for $25, sell your gently used scrapbooking/cardmaking related items. Or come and buy some items. This is great for the newbie just starting out, or for the old pro looking for that pack of paper they didn't buy enough of 3 years ago. Either way, be there!

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a very safe, not so scary evening! We are doing our tradtional pizza before tricks! Although I guess no one has noticed the tradition because on the way to school I told Emily that I'll pick her and her friend up, we'll have pizza like always, and then take them out trick-or-treating.
Emily: Awesome, we get pizza!
Me: We always get pizza beforehand.
Emily: No, we don't.
Me: Yes, it's our tradition, we have done it every year for over 10 years.
Emily: Well, nobody told me!

Sometimes I forget about how clued out kids can be to their surroundings! Like the time we went to Shaun's parent/teacher interviews a good month or more into the term and went to talk to his band teacher. We were told by Shaun that his name was Mr. Andrews or something like that. So we search and search for this guy only to discover that there isn't one by that name, I think it was Mr. Anderson that we found in the end. But geez...how can a kid be taught by the same guy almost every day of the week and not know his name?



Such sad news...
NEW YORK -- - Joaquin Phoenix is quitting movies to focus on music.
Phoenix's publicist, Susan Patricola, has confirmed his earlier comments to TV's "Extra": The upcoming "Two Lovers" will be his last performance on film.
Says Patricola: "He has said that `Two Lovers' is his last. But this is not strange. Joaquin has been directing music videos and been involved in music for the last number of years."
Phoenix first talked about his decision to "Extra" this week while attending a fundraiser in San Francisco, abruptly ending the interview after the reporter wondered whether he was joking.
The 34-year-old star received Oscar nominations for his roles in "Gladiator" and "Walk the Line," for which he learned to play guitar to channel country legend Johnny Cash.
Phoenix co-stars with Gwyneth Paltrow in the romantic drama "Two Lovers," slated for release Feb. 13.

Falling behind

It's never fun to fall behind. But that's what happens when you aren't paying attention.
Not only am I a little bit behind on my DYL classes, I, Kelli Williams, did NOT get pumpkins for our carving party tonight. That's right! I forgot. I was busy prepping for classes this weekend and it slipped my mind. So last night, Kerry and I ran to the Superstore to peruse their sad and disgusting piles of pumpkins. We came home empty handed. I know the pumpkins live only for pie and having their guts scraped out and flesh cut up, but I refuse to buy a rotten, moldy pumpkin. I seriously feel sad for the ones that don't make it to Halloween, but I'm not going to save them. Besides, they smell bad too.
So today, I will be pulling a Linus Van Pelt and will be searching for the GREAT PUMPKIN and his friends.
(I couldn't get the actual video to post)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ5-RDkX2O4


Here are some of my unfinished pages from week 4 of DYL.

This is from week 3, I used one of Emily's drawings of the girl she went to the Anime Convention as.

Good Times

I have been 'sick' for over a week. I started with an upset stomach and diarrhea, then the sore throat that lasted an evening, then the puking that lasted one night, and the nausea, and the head ache, and now just when I think it's done, I get the sore throat again. I hardly ever have more than one symptom at at time and each one never lasts more than a day,with the exception of the nausea and diarrhea. I'm pretty annoyed and am so done with it. (and I'm not pregnant)
So I have cancelled classes, and my dentist appointment to try to get my " tooth with the root canal/crown" fixed and am just laying low, in case anyone is worried about me. (if you have a class and you haven't heard from me then don't worry, it's still on)
I do have my booze-n- fruit cakes and sushi to keep my strength up. I'm wondering if maybe the whole week has been the detoxification of diet coke...

Frolicking on the Beach

We took the dogs to the beach today. We don't go that often during the summer because the best dog beach is also a 'not supported by the city' nudist beach.

All the shots are SOOC. Linus has some nasty stick catching skills. Here he is walking on water. I think the ear flapping actually helps him catch air.It's too bad Sally is out of focus but Linus's bum is in focus. I've seen this one somewhere before...
Sally does awesome impersonations...

Anyway, we went to the beach.

Kerry had mentioned a few days ago that he needed to hold the camera more so that we would have more pictures of me. Sounded good at the time.
But then I remembered how most of Kerry's pictures end up, very blurry or very far away or of a tree or of my butt.
And so he got this one...

But then he got this one, which I thought would suck becaue Mr. Look-At-Me, was hogging the frame, but I like it.
And then there's this...Linus runs through bushes with great glee, only to be pinned down later to have all the nasty burrs pulled off his under carriage. I wonder if the nudists have problems with the burrs.

Sew tired

I picked out new fabric today because I'm on a roll. I'm making some of these things for Christmas presents. The people I have in mind don't read my blog so they will never know. I made 3 big ones and 2 little ones. The question is now "What the heck are they used for?"
The outsides...check out my fancy covered button, I did that! And it pays to have be the daughter of the ass. man. of Fabricland! ( I like to call her that, the assistant manager, my mommy.) Emily was complaining that her pockets aren't as nice as these ones, hers don't open. I got all worried that with my beginner sewing skills I might have sewn her pockets shut, but I didn't, she thought the fancy brads on her pockets were actual buttons and she couldn't undo them.

This is the baby portfolio, it's little, won't hold much, but it's cute.

This one looks better in person, and it's going to a birthday girl whose name starts with an R and ends with an E.

I've got some other ideas for these things that include using some of Emily's art work and the Anime Convention.

Patience is a virtue...

That I don't have much of, but I'm working on it.
I noticed that Yak, our previous long distance provider, took money from our account. I want to clarify with them that they are no longer authorized to do that because we were bribed back to Telus. So I'm on hold. I've been on hold forever. I love the recordings that keep me updated with where I am in the line up. There are currently 29 calls ahead of me.
Who knew all 30 of Yak's customers would call them at the same time?

And to make it worse, I still have an unsettled tummy. I know how this works, I'll go to the bathroom and Tim(who is really not Tim but some guy in a country where English is not his best trait) will come on the line and want my account number.

Taking a sick day!

I am taking it easy today. Last night, my throat was so sore, I couldn't talk. Kerry was probably happy.

And this is taking it easy...

In keeping up with Donna's Campaign for Creativity, I'm planning on making a bunch of Christmas presents.

I found a pattern on Amy Butler's site for this portfolio type thing and wanted to make one for Emily. I might save it for Christmas, but I'm so excited about it, I might just give it to her. My original intention was to change the pattern a bit to hold her sketch books, but I figured for the first one, I better follow directions. Since she loves the Oriental fabric, that's what I picked. I don't enjoy sewing with it but I think it turned out pretty good and only took about 4 hours.

I've posted my layouts for DYL.

I'm almost all caught up, we just started week 4 and I have the layouts done, just need to take some pictures of a few things. I really like the class. It's been fun to use my older products, makes me feel good when I use them too. And designing layouts around someone else's sketches has been a bit challenging but I'm up for it.

Sick Again

I have had some tummy issues the last few days, and as of tonight, during the middle of parent/teacher interviews, I have a super sore throat to with the tummy problems, the kind that makes you not want to talk or eat! Yay me! The kind that makes your neck sore too.
As the main 'care' giver in the family, I'm always the one making special things for sickies, treats, and other nice things to make them feel better. I know it's my mothering/nurturing thing, but I sure wish someone would nurture me. Maybe buy me super soft foods for my sore throat, make sure I have stuff to read while I'm laying around waiting for Y&R to start, that kind of thing.
So there...my pity party of one has begun.

On the upside, Emily didn't give us her interim report and when we got to the interviews the first teacher told us that if she just tries to run a bit more in P.E. she'd be on the honour roll. Well, Run Forrest Run! I mean Emily! And as we are not above bribery we said "pull up your socks and pick up your feet, get on the honour roll and we'll see about buying you that Nintendo DS Lite you have been saving for" to which she replied something along the lines of "is that all I have to do to get you to buy me stuff? Run a bit?" She doesn't get it about the honour roll thing, but we'll explain it to her.
Honour Roll = Money

Absence makes the Heart Grow Fonder

And pictures might help too.

I'm so not like Martha Stewart. I don't like her as a person. She rubs me the wrong way, but she's super organized or as organized as one can be with that many minions.
In my not-very Martha moment I realized I must embrace some of her ways if I want to be prepared for the holidays. And I also realized my prep revolves around alcohol, which I don't ever drink. But now we have our wine paid for and it's being brewed or whatever wine does before we bottle it. And I've got a start on my fruit cakes. Check out that picture...that bottle caused Kerry great delight. He thinks he will get to drink a large portion of it. I don't think so. If I follow my recipe for fruit cake as well as I have in the past, we will have the BEST freakin' fruit cakes in town and we'll be drunk. The recipe is for a bundt cake, but I make 7 little loaves. The recipe says to drizzle a few tablespoons of booze on the cake a day for a week or 2. I do this, religiously, lovingly, turning each cake every day. Oh, drat...a few tablespoons a day on a bundt cake, not a few tablespoons a day on a cake the size of my hand. Ooops...
Needless to say, I get requests for my fruit cake. The first batch, pictured, are chocolate cranberry.


This has become Emily's favourite meal, Rene's Caesar dressing makes it all good. Doesn't matter that a tablespoon of this stuff is 2 points.
This is Linus showing me how he slides under the fence, in his own words...
First, I pretend to smell the weeds by the fence. Then all innocent like I start to get low to the ground, real low. Then I use my fat head to push the chain link out of my way. And then I do my Superman and slide under the fence so fast Mom doesn't know what hit her. She's still trying to grab my tail, and then she gets mad because she remembers I don't have one. I do all this in about 4 seconds. Then I run like crazy to the other side of the neighbour's yard, get myself all freaked out because I've never been out of the yard and then I see Mom shaking a zucchini at me and I am a bit hungry so I run back to see her. I didn't like the way she dragged me back home, and I didn't get the zucchini, but at least she didn't yell at me.

Ooops

I'm a bad blogger. I have nothing to say. I'll try to conjure something up today.
Oh, I do have one thing...work at Fabricland was very busy. I think everyone and their Grandma were in today getting ready for Christmas.

Fight or Flight...

I'd fight...well, not really fight, but I'd punch and then run.

What am I talking about? Well, see Kerry in the window...he's trying to scare me. He has to do it from the safety of outside. My peeps know better than to scare me within striking distance.

Once, Kerry hid at the side door and I thought he was a zombie and I punched him in the chest and winded him. Once, the same thing happened at the bathroom door with Shaun. I have yet to hit Emily, but she knows better, she's learned from the guys' mistakes.

Not only did Kerry try to scare me with his "Peeping Kerry" routine, but Shaun put Scooby Do on the top of the fridge so that when I opened the freezer, he fell on me and of course, scared the crap out of me. Shaun got punched in the arm.

The best part...I'm not known for my upper body strength, but both Kerry and Shaun agreed that I could pack a punch when I'm scared.

And this makes me happy.

I figured...

The Recipe For Kelli

3 parts Pizzazz 2 parts Passion 1 part Nonconformity Splash of Ambition Finish off with a squeeze of lime juice

What's" the Recipe for Your Personality?

Check it...

http://cdmuckosky.blogspot.com/2008/10/whoo-hoo-scrapbookin-adventures.html

That's me! That's my tattoo stamp I carved. And if you check the class picture, there's me, Marg and Tara dilligently working away on our layouts!

Saturday Stuff

I went out with the Boys this morning for a photo shoot/dog walk/ mountain bike ride. I am campaining for a flash, so I figure the more bad mountain bike pictures I take the better my chances are!

But I did get these, I used the sun to my advantage, and wanted the lens flare.

This one is called "Run Like Someone is on Your Ass".This is "Following Dad into the Light".

And the rest of the photos, pretty much stink. Except for this one...But the action bike pictures, not so great. Check out the lens flare again.

Be Thankful

It's Thankgiving this weekend. I try not to take things for granted. Like our health, the kids' health, our lifestyle, families, and all the things we have, and I know that we should always be thankful for the things we have, all year long, but this year, I am so very grateful for everything.

Okay, except that I'm here and not in Disneyland.

I made a few cards the other night. This turkey gave me grief but he's cute so I'll forgive him.

And you know your a scrapbooker when...

You are doing Poop Patrol and notice something in the poop.

Oh, what's that?

A punched out, pooped out snowflake.

I don't know if it's sad because obviously someone was so hungry he had to eat paper snowflakes or if it's creative, because he was decorating his poop so it would be more appealing to the humans.

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/ Watch the video of the day, right to the end.

Check that out! Check out today's show, Oct. 9th. She never fails to make me laugh out loud!
Love her Cher impression even though it hurt my ears.

She makes me forget that ...
1. The van made funny noises when I turned corners this morning.
2. Linus chewed on Emily's favourite bookmark from the Anime Convention.
3. Linus got out of the yard and I had to run back into the house to get my shoes, turn off the stove and grab a zucchini. Why a zuke? Because that dog is food driven and won't come to me if I don't have a pork chop around my neck.

Yes, Ellen has the magic to take it all away. I would pay money, lots of money to see Ellen.

And only because we are reminiscing am I sure that Kerry said yes...Em said she wanted her birthday in Disneyland, I told Kerry, he said Okay! It's in April 6 months away. I now have to save up enough money to get us to Disneyland, buy Wetzels Pretzels, and board to dogs. This will be discussed some more.

One Year Ago Today...

we were in my favourite place, Disneyland. See the joy on my face! That's the pleasure of not having to feed dogs, pick up poop or deal with a 9 month old puppy.

Me, eating the best ever caramel/mini m&m covered apple. I was making sure to get my fruits and veggies in. Shaun pointed out that some little boy had plate sized eyes while watching me eat my apple. I think this was breakfast.

We got so emotional seeing the parade, okay, so me and Emily did. She mentioned yesterday that she would like to spend her birthday in Disneyland. I'm all for it.

Look back at your pictures, what where you doing a year ago today?

Mini Book Fun!

I played a bit today. The About a Boy album is obviously about Shaun. The Christmas Joy doesn't have any pictures in it yet. I'm thinking about what is going in there. I used non-traditional papers, florals for the Christmas album.

Both are made with Stampin' Up stuff, with the exception of the Bind-it-All. Both will be classes.

19 Years Ago Today!

19 years ago today at 5:22 am in Grace Hospital, Vancouver, this guy made his first appearance. Weighing 8 lbs. 6 oz., and 21.5 inches long, he was the biggest baby in the nursery.

Happy Birthday, Shaun!!!

That's me...

I'm a keener. I admit it. I want to get things done in a timely manner. I hate being behind. I can procrastinate like the best of them...but when I get going, don't interupt me. I'm in the zone. I'm pretty sure my eyes glaze over and my ears shut down too.
I am officially finished the assignments Cathy Z. left us with.
I'm using my stash people. I'm using it!!!
Check it out...cookie cutter from Melissa Frances, courtesy of Yolanda, I never thought I would use it, it's just that cute. American Crafts stickers that I had to buy 2 books of, and hardly ever use, they are kind of glossy and a red heart brad, who knew?
And on this one...felt E and metal numbers from Tara for my birthday, never used before, too cute to use, but I did it. Plastic and felt flowers that I've been saving for a rainy day. I'm impressing myself in no one else.
Now I have to prep for classes, finish those darn cute mini albums I cut and put together last week. Gotta strike while the irons hot!

Monday again

I'm actually getting my assignments done for Cathy Z. Design Your Life class. It was a bit overwhelming at first but I have a handle on the first week. I have 2 more layouts, one is almost ready, the other not even started, but I'm hoping later today to get a bit of time to do them.

This is my first page/cover. It is supposed to be about me, and the things we think represent us.


This one is about how Kerry likes to ride and I like to take pictures.
I'm trying to use my stash, mostly to keep costs down and to use up some of the stuff I bought and hoard because it's too nice to use. Whatever is leftover in my stash will go to the Papercraft Stash sale on Nov. 9th that I am organizing. It will also be a crop so that some of us can scrapbook in peace.

I've got a busy week prepping for classes, Shaun's 19th birthday is tomorrow, and the temp was -2, so I have to get my squashes out of the garden today!

Happy World Card Making Day!

That's right! Did you know it's World Card Making day? I wonder if they have World Give a Card day too?

In honour of today, I want you to make a card, link me a picture or email it to me. And then give that card to someone that deserves it. I'll pick a winner Sunday, 12 noon, Pacific.

I've got big plans today. I'm going to clean up my table, and actually look at my paper for my Design Your Life class. I might work on it, I might get sidetracked and finish the 3 mini albums I started last night. I love that SU Top Note die for the Big Shot. I'll post some pictures of it later. If you don't have a Big Shot, I seriously recommend getting one and 2 dies, the Scalloped Circle and the Top Note, and then get yourself some Blackboard chipboard and lock yourself in your scrapping room. That's what I want to do, but that darn family I live with makes it next to impossible.

Get my ears checked

We took Shaun to Boston Pizza for his 19th birthday dinner. My friend, Jeannine, was there too, waiting for a table. She said she was meeting Mr. Right for dinner. I said "Aren't you married?" She said "He's golfing." I was kind of dumb-founded but we continued chatting until we got a table.
A few minutes later, Misty-Rae, whom I had seen at Costco 2 days ago, popped over to say "Are you stalking me?" I turned to tell her that I had seen Jeannine too, only to see she was with Jeannine.
Turns out Mr. Right, is actually Misty-Rae and I need batteries in my hearing aid.

And it was exactly this time last year we were on our way to my favourite place, Disneyland. Where Emily proclaimed our family to be like 'the Comedy Hut', whatever that means. And to make sure we keep that title our conversation tonight was on how to pronounce Jugo Juice. Is it Jew-go Juice? Or Jug-o Juice or, as Shaun put it - Hugo Huice?

Overwhelmed

I've become the queen of WIPs. (work in progress) I start something and then go to get say some ribbon and then think I need to sort ribbon, and maybe re-ink my ink pads, and then when I have about 6 done, I think I should maybe sweep the floor, and it goes like that until I can't move.
My table looks like a tornado hit it. My house doesn't look much better. And when asked what I have been doing all week my answer will probably shock you. Nothing...Everything...Something? Yes, something.

The small victories in this week of doing nothing that passed so very fast...
1.Catching the large spider that came back from the island with me in my scrapbooking stuff. It was running on the tornado table and I had to move fast so that it didn't find a nice little crevice to live in. It touched my camera.
2.I finished my sample Stationery Box for Ever After.
3. I cut and sorted a million yards of ribbon.
4. I put all the pictures, journaling and embellishments in my Donna album. And made this snazzy photo collage of a few of the pages. This book is fat, not phat, but fat, thick, full of goodies.
5. I ate the last of the beets for breakfast, so now I have 1-2 more days of "What the heck happened to my poop?...oh, right, I had beets."
6. I bbq'd the best ever pork chops. I didn't over cook them, as is so easy with pork. Sprinkled them with love (Montreal steak spice, thyme and basil as per Em's request.)
7. Confirmed the booking of the hall for some kind of clear-out-your-scrapspace sale.
8. and this is the worst...I signed up for Cathy's class and so far have printed out the work on most beautiful thick paper and put it in page protectors, only to put it down and not read it, let alone do the work. There is an Official DYL Class Ground Rules, that I didn't sign yet, probably because I'm not ready...The part I'm not ready to agree with "keep an open mind and have fun", I'm already behind, I'm drowning in my tornado, okay, so I'm not drowning, I'm whipping around with the cows, and the houses, and the witches on brooms, and I can't get a single thing FINISHED to the END.
Except for this blog post.

Quick rambling {updated}

I haven't unpacked all my goodies from the weekend, well, I started and found a spider so now I'm done.

1. UPS delivers till 8 pm. I know this because I have had 2 seperate orders out for delivery since this morning, and it's 6 pm and I normally get them at 4 pm.
2. 1 burger is enough. 1 burger and 1 patty is too much.
3. I'm out of Diet Coke.
4. Opus has Copics on sale!
5. Someone broke in and dumped all my scrapbooking supplies on my table, really, they did.
6. I signed up for Cathy Z.'s Design Your Life class.
7. I haven't told Kerry yet about 6, and 5, but he recommend we do something about 3 before I blow. What a sweetie!

Off to Costco for Diet Coke.

Update: Been to Costco and back, and still my parcels aren't here. They have been in that truck since 9 pm. These are items I ordered Sept. 6th, they have been back ordered. I think I was never destined to have my Top Note die!