So yesterday we went to Chapel Hill for Ella's checkup at the Spina Bifida clinic. Here we see the Physical Medicine & Rehab doctor, the orthopedist, a physical therapist and an occupational therapist. These are always long appointments. And to be quite honest I dread them. I mean we already see a PT and an OT on a weekly basis. Plus we go every 3 months to a local orthopedist and regular checkups with the pediatrician, so I feel like we are pretty much on top of things and are good to go. But yet we go to this special clinic every 6 months and they tell us the same thing each time. "Wow! Ella is doing so great." or "I can't believe she is doing all that she can already." or "Ella is such a miracle." And these comments are really the reason we go back each time. Ella loves to show off and she loves seeing these doctors and impressing them. I mean this is the girl who at 2 years old told her Orthopedist that her Achilles Tendon was a little tight. He about flipped out and still remembers that. And these doctors truly are wonderful! I know they love Ella almost as much as I do. And I'm so glad Jamie left work earlier to make the drive up there with us, because the appointment was right during Ruthie's nap time and she wanted no part of sitting still in her stroller. Plus I had a migraine come on about half way through the appointment so it was nice to have someone else drive when it got really bad. When we got home I could barely walk and I was so nauseous, so off I went with my Excedrin and my pillow. After an hour I was so much better. I really need to keep some Excedrin in my purse so I can take one as soon as my headache starts so that it doesn't get so bad. But then it came back again last night, and Jamie was feeling bad too so he took a sick day today and I'm so glad he did. I love having him home on nice days like today. I even got him to help me do some work outside after breakfast. Well speaking of which I have a huge pile of weeds to haul off and I promised my neighbor I'd watch her little boy in a bit, so I'm off.

I have a rant I need to make about Wal-Mart. Why does a corporation that is so wealthy (I just heard one day last week that the CEO or somebody got a multi-million dollar bonus, so I know they are not on the verge of bankruptcy) have such a hard time with cleanliness? I mean good grief! This is why I much prefer to just not go in there. But Saturday night was not a time that I could be picky. It was late, I had to get several things that couldn't all be gotten at the grocery store and Target had already closed. So I had to go to Walmart. Also it should be noted that I was not close to my house. I had to make a delivery to one of my stamping customers who lives about 40 minutes away, so she directed me to the closest Walmart instead of me having to drive all the way past my house and to the Walmart that is nearest our house. This I mistakenly thought would save time. Well first this Walmart, and if you are anywhere near me in central North Carolina this would be the one in Fuquay-Varina, was completely backwards from the Walmart closest to me (Clayton). I needed trash bags, sandwich bags, a plastic storage bin, 1 bar of Ivory soap (for my Sunday School lesson I would be teaching the following morning), and some replacement Brita water filters. Not a long list. I should have been in & out in under 15 minutes, right? Wrong! 1 hour 20 minutes later (at 11:30 pm!!!) I am stumbling out to my car because I'm so exhausted, and I still had a 20 minute drive home! So what went wrong? Well to begin with nothing was where it really should be. For instance, in the Clayton store I would have gone over to toiletries gotten the soap, picked up the storage bin on my way to the grocery side of the store where I could have found the trash bags, sandwich bags, and water filters right on the same aisle. I could have then gone through the self-checkout and been on my way home. But no, that is not the way it happened. You see for some reason those who manage the Fuquay store seem to think that trash bags belong on the aisle with popcorn and chips, sandwich bags really go with the plastic storage section, Ivory soap is only needed in packs of 15, and here is the real kicker, Water filters are easiest to find in the hardware department with the paint! UGH! Give me a break! And the whole store smelled like a giant fart. I could barely breathe in there. Plus I actually had to move heavy carts out of the middle of aisles and shift boxes over so that I could get the few items I needed off the shelves. One box that I had to pick up was a box of canned foods (in the Popcorn/trash bag aisle!!!) that must have weighed at least 50 pounds. It was truly a miserable shopping experience. As I told Jamie when I called to let him know I was finally on my way home, I'd rather bite off my toenails than to go shopping in there again.

Normally I'm not really one who enjoys rainy days, but today I am. You see, Ruthie has had a terrible runny nose (we're talking gallons of snot every 10 minutes - I swear) and just general fussiness all week. Then last night we went to West View's fund raiser auction, and didn't get home until after 10 pm. So needless to say we are very tired. Even my bundle of energy Ruthie is taking it easy today. It's like the weather mellowed her out a bit. Which is why I'm so thankful for this rainy day. I've even been able to scrap a little bit today, but I can't show you what yet because the supplies are super top secret. hee hee.

So guess what? I didn't get on Teresa Ferguson's Creative Team. I guess that is what I get for waiting until the last minute to apply. Oh well, her templates are still fabulous. And it is always fun to apply.

Back to the auction at the Elementary school. This was so amazing. The school is a brand new school and so it is in need of so much. And even though it is a public school there isn't a whole lot of funding available so we've been doing lots of fund raisers this year. In this one, each class put together a basket of goodies according to a theme the teacher chose. Well since I'm the room mom for Ella's class I was in charge of getting ours together. Of course I loved it that the teacher chose scrapbooking as our theme. Anyway, ours really paled in comparison to some of the others that were there. I mean they were amazing! One had a weekend stay at a condo on Myrtle Beach, another had a VCR/DVD combo unit, another had a sweet car stereo system, and the list goes on. And these items were only a part of the basket, there was tons of stuff in each basket. Well at the end of the auction the school raised $17,000!!! Holy Cow! I was so shocked when I heard someone say that number. I mean our little tiny basket brought $150. But it is for a wonderful cause and I'm so glad they did well. Then there was a fabulous dinner served before the auction by the wonderful people who own the Outback steakhouse in Garner. Adult meals were $10, children's were $6. But the owners gave 100% of the money to the school! And boy were our plates stacked. I thought we were either getting chicken or steak, but no they gave us both! One chicken breast and one steak per adult meal! Plus there was a yummy salad, rolls, mashed potatoes, drinks and cheesecake!!!!! The children got chicken fingers, plus all of the sides. What absolutely wonderful people they are! Plus their children go to this school so it was great to know they really do have the school's best interest in mind. Let's see what else was donated.... oh the auctioneers volunteered their time and talents. They were fabulous and extremely entertaining. Plus they are part of the Wester Auction services! Marsha & Randy Wester used to be our neighbors until they moved 1.5 years ago. They were always such sweet people. It was definitely a lot of hard work on the part of those who coordinated everything, but a great end result. Now I just hope we get to stay there next year to continue being part of that incredible school family. Mr. Vetrano, please approve our reassignment request.

So I decided to take a stab at another Creative Team. I know this sounds like a really foolish idea considering the list of songs that sum up my week from yesterday, but I'm such a sucker for templates. And Teresa Ferguson is looking for a few new people for her team. I just recently found her templates at the Sweet Shoppe and I am so hooked. That site has some awesome talent and I'd love to challenge myself in using templates. I so LOVE templates, but usually when I scrap with them I just plop in papers & photos and call it done. I think that if I were on a creative team for a template designer, I'd stretch myself to twist them up a bit. But they really are a great spring board for getting creative juices flowing. Just look, I started using one of Teresa's templates to make my CT application: Credits: Template: Teresa Ferguson (Smarties- Snack Pack3); Papers, ric rac, letter U, file tab, journal box, and brads: Suzy Nunes' Peppermint Tea (From SSD Quarterly Assortment); flower, leaves, and jewel brad on flower: Robin Carlton (Collaged Floral Alpha); Backwards Staples: Jenn Patrick; Photo Filter: Newspaper effect from Virtual Photographer; RubOn Action & Linen Textureplate: Atomic Cupcake; Drop Shadow Actions: Traci Murphy; Fonts: MA Sexy, juiceITC, jr!hand

And in the process of making it, I realized that although I love being on a CT, I really scrapbook and create for my family and myself. So I also did this layout:
Credits: Template: Teresa Ferguson (Smarties- Snack Pack3); Papers, ric rac, letter U, and journal box: Suzy Nunes' Peppermint Tea (From SSD Quarterly Assortment); flower, leaves, and jewel brad on flower: Robin Carlton (Collaged Floral Alpha); Photo Filter: Newspaper effect from Virtual Photographer; RubOn Action & Linen Textureplate: Atomic Cupcake; Drop Shadow Actions: Traci Murphy;Fonts: MA Sexy, juiceITC, jr!hand

I love the way it turned out. And I can't believe how quickly they went. I finished both layouts (shadowing and all) in under 30 min. :)

So I'm participating in the From Our Blog To Yours Challenge from Sweet Shoppe Designs (you can check out all of their cool challenges HERE) So here is my list:

1.) Running On Empty (Jackson Browne) - Just because no matter how early I get to bed, no matter how healthy I'm eating, and how much I'm exercising - I still just feel worn out. I have had zero energy this week

2.)Over My Head (The Fray) - Well considering that this challenge was in fact posted last Wednesday, and I'm just now getting to it..... I've just felt so overwhelmed by life lately. Caring for the girls, keeping the house in order, etc, etc, etc.

3.)Here It Goes Again (Ok Go) - Check out the video HERE. Are you starting to see a pattern here. :) I have to include this song because every time I feel like I'm spinning my wheels, the video of these guys on the treadmills pops into my head, & I start bopping around & singing this song. It just instantly cheers me up.

4.)The Bird (Eddie From Ohio) - OK beside the fact that this band is just awesome and we've loved them since our college days, and really no week is truly complete without a little EFO. This song just needs to be blared out loud when driving around the triangle. There are so many rude, inconsiderate, and just generally awful drivers in this area that I seem to encounter every time I go down I-40. And I absolutely hate it when a driver flashes me the bird. So this song is for them.

5.)We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are (Rich Mullins) - Because no matter how much I think I have it together (yes I do have weeks like that) I still know that I'm frail and imperfect. And just as a humorous note on this song, I've been doing a weightlifting class at the gym and since I increased my weights this week, I've been so painfully sore. Oh yeah, I'm definitely not as strong as I thought I was.

OK now I have to go get some more stuff done. Especially if I'm ever going to make that 20 Layout/ week goal. Hmmmm I wonder what song I could play for this? Maybe Zombie Zoo by Tom Petty, because if I just scrap all the time I will walking around like a zombie and my house will definitely look like a zoo.

I just can't believe that November was the last time I blogged. Ugh. I know I compose little blog entries all the time in my head. I just never manage to get them out and on the computer. So when I finally sat down 8 hours ago to compose a blog entry I discover that blogger has in fact changed a bunch of stuff and I needed to update my template. So instead of just choosing one of their templates, I had to create my own. :) Well sort of. Actually, Jamie had helped me write most of the code for this that you see now months ago. I just never finished tweaking it until today. I'll probably change the header though. Other than that I'm pretty happy with it. Hopefully I'll be able to change out my photobucket slideshows over there on the left each week. This of course will mean that I have to actually scrap 10 new pages for each slide show, each week! That is 20 pages each week. Oh I will be so excited if that actually happens.

Speaking of the slideshows, all of the layouts featured in the top one are using Miriam Lima's fabulous designs. Wow, her newest collection August Shadow totally rocks! Beautiful colors, beautiful brushwork, it is just perfect. And it even has matching elements.