My (Crazy) Life and Times

Dedicated to Maria Sue Chapman...

All day I've known I've needed to post. Selfishly, I didn't want to think about this tragedy that hit so close to home that I can't even look at Phoenix without feeling slightly sick to my stomach.

If you are reading this right now and you aren't sure what you believe when it comes to faith and religion, I challenge you right now to follow this story. The story of this family who just experienced a tragedy beyond tragedies yesterday. Please, I beseech you to watch this story unfold. See how they respond to the tragedy. Watch how over time a miracle bigger than you've ever seen will play out. I guarantee you will be mesmerized. You will find answers, if you are seeking them. You will find truth...I am certain. I hope and pray tonight that you will take this challenge and experience true revolution.

 

Eat your veggies, Kayla!s

This has been a MAJOR week for me. Seriously. Major.

First of all, we made the very tough decision to enroll two of our children into school. Most of you know I have been homeschooling our three school aged children this year, and with six weeks left in the school year we just had to face the fact that continuing to homeschool them all just wasn't realistic with the life we are all leading right now. Poor Mona was being robbed of years from her life every afternoon when she had to deal with two hours of homeschooling three kids (I did two hours in the am and she did two hours in the pm), AND cleaning the house and making dinner...at the rate she was going, she was only going to be with us for like 23 more days before she a)was committed or b)died,  so I figured it was a good move.

It's tough for me, but I have to admit that I feel about 100 times less stressed out now, and I just think I'll be able to focus more on actually doing things well as opposed to just getting by, kwim?

Even BIGGER news than the school thing is what happened to me while I was in Atlanta this past weekend with Jeff and Kayla. We had gone there to hang out with Amy Tan at the apparel mart on Saturday, but since KA and Jeff are from there, we stayed the night with his parents.

On the drive there, we stopped at a McDonalds to get lunch. While Kayla was placing her order, the cashier asked her to confirm part of her order and KA was staring up at the menu and answered her with a slow "yeah" because she was trying to figure something out with the menu (or something like that), well, me being the mannerly person that I am, I looked at the cashier and said "she means 'yes, ma'am'" jokingly...well the cashier looked at me and mouthed to me "it's OK" in a way that made me realize instantly that SHE THOUGHT I WAS KAYLA'S MOTHER!!! I was HORRIFIED!! I said in a very troubled voice "you think I'm here mom, don't you??" and the cashier said with big eyes, "you're not??"...to which I replied "She is 24!! I am only 12 years older than her!" and the cashier's eyes got even bigger and she said something about how we reminded her of her and her daughter, and then handed me the bag of apple dippers and said "here are mom's apple dippers"...I thought she was kidding at first, but I realized she wasn't...not. at. all. So I was like "I'M NOT HER MOTHER!!" maybe a little too emphatically...I was just SO freaked out by the whole exchange...but Kayla tried to convince me that it wasn't me looking old, but her looking like a 12 year old that was the cuplrit...I didn't totally buy it because she had paid for the food with an American Express card...what 12 year old has an AmEx card?

OK, so it took me a while to get over this...wait! who am I kidding? I'm STILL not over it...but later the same night we were at the mall checking out at a clothing store, when Kayla handed the cashier her ID to complete her purchase. Well, still reeling from my experience earlier in the day, I jokingly said to the cashier, "I'm NOT her mother" thinking no one could ever possibly make that mistake again, but lo and behold the cashier looked at me and said "she's not?? you two are just friends? really?"

WTHeck.

Kayla quickly goes "wait, just wait...how old do you think I am??" and the cashier looked and said "um...14? 16? 14?", and I instantly felt better...not exactly youthful, but better.

That's all I got.

I should NOT have visited Facebook...

Last summer some time, Kayla invited me to join Facebook so I could be in the SIS group she had created. Wanting to be supportive of all things SIS, I of course joined...I didn't really get it, to be honest, and I would continually get these emails that people had sent me teddy bears or invited me to be in some group. For a while I felt kinda popular until someone burst my bubble by telling me that a lot of people just want to get as many friends as they can and aren't always discerning about it, they just want to look like they have a lot of friends...or they want to collect a lot of virtual teddy bears or cupcakes...or pretend that they grow marijuana in some pretend drug game. Seriously. Did. Not. Get. It.

That was before tonight.

OK, so if I'm being honest like Simon Cowell, I have to confess that for about the last two months, I couldn't even remember my login information. So if someone requested to be my friend, I couldn't do anything about it. I felt so bad, like I was really hurting those people's feelings! (Humor me, here). Finally, I made the effort to recover my login info and I logged in.

Big. Mistake.

First of all, I discovered I have the power to fly, because Michelle who is apparently telepathic invited me to discover my hero ability. So that's pretty cool...THEN, I got to send 15 people some yummy looking chocolate cupcakes with mint icing, AND I got invited to be in a bunch of groups but I really need to think them all through, because I don't want to make the mistake that Marcia Brady made on her first day of junior high school (remember the mud volcano "incident").

And now I'm addicted...OK, not totally addicted, not yet anyway...that's why I quickly had to come here to post because if I go back there I might be taken away from my 18 hours a day of being on my laptop working! Heaven forbid!

I am being bad about blogging again..I'm SO sorry. And then when I DO blog it's when I'm really tired and I'm completely no funny and then I've just bored everyone to tears...so I'm thinking I need to start blogging first thing in the AM when I get to work...and I'm also going to start scrapbooking for at least one hour every day first thing. OK, as KA so often says to me 'cuz she's all like practically a literary agent and stuff, "the best laid plans of mice and men..."

I think I am the men and she is the mice...cuz she's really tiny.

Boot Camp...

The other day I went to ask my mother something and I think I was wearing a short dress where my legs were exposed and my mother asked me in all seriousness if I was wearing white leggings, or white opaque tights. I'm like "you gave birth to me, Mona so how is it you don't seem to remember that I was apparently born with little to no ability to produce melanin!"

So to say I am "fair" or "pale" just almost doesn't do my whiteness justice...

Well, today at my first Boot Camp class. Which totally kicked my butt which wasn't surprising at all, since I don't think I've gotten my heart rate above 90 in like the last six years.

What WAS surprising was how RED I turned after about 18 seconds of vigorous exercise.

I looked like one of those cartoon characters who turn red right before smoke comes out of their nostrils and ears (this typically happens when they're REALLY mad or have just eaten some type of pepper.)

I've never seen myself so red. Like if you would have put my skin onto Ronald McDonald's body, you wouldn't know where his hair started and his face left off.

I don't really get this, either because blood is like dark purple in the veins, so why do people turn red when all the blood rushes to their head? Any doctors out there care to answer this for me, because I'm really curious.

In other news, West just came into my studio walking really fast, and about two feet from me he stopped, then did a couple of circles on my rug, and walked out. By the way, it's almost midnight and he's been asleep for hours. He does this type of thing quite often. Could the doctor from the above paragraph also let me know if I have a sleep walker on my hands? It would be ironic since I have a child named "Walker" but he doesn't walk in his sleep...he only wets the bed...<sigh> I guess most of my kids have inherited my sleeping disorders.

You are all supreme in my eyes. (random, I know, but "supreme" is my new word I'm trying to use...this maybe wasn't the best usage of it, but I wanted to fit it in somewhere before I signed off.)

JJ

Update on my diet...

In my rush to get in a second helping of our Easter dinner before midnight (since in my head my diet starts at midnight), I was chowing down on this awesome corn pudding souffle my mom made, and I promptly choked on a piece of corn. Fortunately, I remembered some words of wisdom that some wise person....whose name escapes me right now, told me...breathe in through your nose when you're choking because the air goes directly into your lungs and bypasses the tube that said food is lodged in. So that's what I did and I got enough air to cough up the piece of corn...and I lived to tell about it. Amen.

Cuddling with Kayla...

Our husbands our out shooting air soft guns, so KA and I are cuddling on the couch...maybe subconciously we're trying to compensate for their violent behavior with our cuddles...OK, the word "cuddles" is just WAY too precious for me to use without cracking up! And we're not actually "cuddling" but just sitting here watching "the tellie"  until our boys come in from the cold...

I've gotten mostly caught up on my reality TV shows...so that's nice...also, what the heck is the deal with Skittles gum? Who wants to chew a Skittle for a long time...I just get so confused and want to swallow it because that's just what you do with Skittles!

OK, so tomorrow I start "Boot Camp". I'm desperately trying to lose the weight I've gained since we filmed the pilot of the show...I had lost 23 pounds before we did that...and I've gained a lot of it back. :( So I'm taking action!

OK, my computer is freezing up like every two minutes, so I need to go investigate...I'll write more later...

JJ

Filming today...

Well, we just got done filming a webisode this afternoon and I am seriously WIPED out. See, I have this problem of not really having everything all planned out and/or put together and I end up having to do a lot of it during filming, and that stresses Mr. Scrapbooker (aka Bob) out. Mondays are supposed to be my webisode project day, but it rarely works out that way, so I end up making everything like the day we film. That too, stresses Mr. Scrapbooker out.  But it's all done now, and after three hours on my feet (which didn't used to seem to bother me when I wasn't about to be 37 in four weeks, but now it's like just standing for that amount of time makes me feel the same way I used to feel after a whole day at Disneyland.

When my feet hurt like this it always reminds me of that part in the opening sequence of "Alice" when Tommy pours hot water from a kettle over Alice's feet which are soaking in a dish tub. It used to really bother me because that water was WAY too hot to be poured right on someone's feet. Tommy should have known better. Didn't he learn anything from his sister Nancy being on the "Facts of Life"??

OK, check this out...here is me at CHA with Martha Bonneau and Kimberly Brimhall. That was a fond memory...meeting them. They are WAY fun. And get this...I actually talked to Kimberly on the phone yesterday for two and a half hours. I can't remember the last time I talked to someone on the phone...for two and a half hours. But Kimberly recently moved and doesn't have Internet yet, so I think she needed the adult interaction. And since I was kind of taking the day off work, I figured it was a pretty good way to spend two and a half hours...

And then there's Martha...sweet Martha...we really like each other...A LOT...don't tell Kiki.

OK, I'm just too spent mentally to really write a good blog post, but I didn't want to lose my momentum...oh wait...did I ever actually publish that post about West's birthday? Dang! That would have been four days in a row. Maybe I did publish it...I can't remember...see? Mentally spent.

Birthday cake with a Red Bull chaser...

That is what I had for breakfast this morning. So in about five minutes, I'm going to go run around the block, and then do 16 flips on the trampoline, and about five minutes after that I will be passed out on my furry rug, dreaming about me and my flying red bull and our adventure through fluffy frosting clouds...did I mention that excessive sugar makes me have weird dreams?

So yesterday was West's birthday. West is my (now) five year old son. The one who has been the subject of some of my favorite blog posts. (Does "take your pink Bible and go upstairs to bed!" ring a bell?)

When West was younger, he would get so excited about the littlest things. A piece of gum would make him squeal. Once I brought home one of those red plastic cars you ride in (every child in America had one of them) that I had purchased at a garage sale for like $8, and I kid you not when I brought it through the front door I thought he was going to jump out of his skin, h was so excited.

Things changed.

I don't know what happened, but the last couple of years, West has decided to become brutally honest when he opens gifts. He is not afraid to ask if there is ANOTHER present for him if the thing you gave him isn't exactly what he was hoping for. Even when he likes the present, he never really seems to give quite the reaction we're all looking for. Now I always watch him open gifts with bated breath in case his reaction or comments are going to reduce the giver to tears. (OK, I'm being a TAD dramatic here but it makes it a better story.)

Well, again I don't know WHAT happened but...

Things changed.

Technically, sweet sister, I've only missed ONE day...

OK, so my real life sister, Diane (DSquare on SIS) just left a comment letting me know that I'm two days behind on my blog. BUT, I must interject here and let you know that my first post was done VERY late in the evening on Sunday night...to be viewed on MONDAY with all the new stuff...SOOOO actually I haven't really missed a day at all because it's only Tuesday, right? Is it Tuesday or Wednesday? Man, I need to get it together here...OK, yes, it's Tuesday, WHEW. So my darling Diane, do not be concerned, I am right on schedule...sorta kinda.

In other news...apparently, I have a daughter who is one of those drama queens people always talk about. See, my oldest daughter who is almost 8 is not dramatic at all. She's never been that typical moody type that I hear a lot of other little girls are...so I'm really not use to this. Not. At. All.

So I guess Phoenix, who is 3 must have all of her AND Parker's drama inducing hormones combined. We're talking a serious case of "The Sybills" here. This morning she whipped West (the four-gonna-be-five-tomorrow boy) in the chest with one of those plastic straps that go around boxes for shipping, and when I took it away from her and scolded her, she promptly crumbled like a dying rose petal and sobbed and sobbed. Well, she actually ran to the laundry room first. Then she did the whole crumble like a petal thing. Well, I felt AWFUL. I mean, I think it was kind of an accident that she whipped West and maybe I over reacted a TAD, but she acted as though I had stolen her favorite stuffed animal and then ripped it's head off right in front of her. So me, being the compassionate mother that I am (about 75% of the time, anyway), I gathered her in my arms and apologized for getting so upset and said I knew it was an accident, blah, blah, blah. So we go out so she can apologize to West (even though it was an accident, they still need to apologize when they've hurt someone, right?), well here was West with a sheet of Dora stickers and he was going to give her one. (I'm trying to imagine how the trade went down West: Hey Phoenix, if you whip me with that thick plastic strap, I'll give you one of my Dora stickers. Phoenix: um, OK but only if you throw in that chocolate Santa mom bought you at Cracker Barrel in January for 75% off. West: You got a deal!!)  So as soon as he starts pulling a sticker off of his sheet for her she grabs them out of his hand and says "I want to pick it out!!". I'm like "no, West is giving you one of his stickers, so let him pick out which one he wants to give you." Well she thought that was just ridiculous, and she walked over to the wall, crossed her arms across her chest and stared at the wall...looking at us over her shoulder every few seconds to give us a dirty look. So she went from sorrowful, to ticked off (that lasted quite awhile since I had to send her to her room)...well not 15 minutes later, she was upstairs peeking at me through the railing saying "mommy, I love 'hoo" (she can't totally make her "yuh" sound yet), with the biggest sweetest smile on her face...like life couldn't be better...and then 15 minutes after that she was whining up a storm! What the heck? I mean I have five kids, it's not like I'm new to this motherhood thing, but I have never had one like this...she is a rare breed...when she's happy and in a good mood, she is like a dream (OK, she's always dream because I am so in love with her, but you know what I mean, right?), but when things aren't going her way...watch out!! Any suggestions???

Big stuff happening ALL around!

OK, I'm in MAJOR overload right now...I have literally spent 24 of the last 36 hours in the same position with my laptop right on my lap...burning my legs by the way, this sucker is HOT!

I've been very involved in the getting the new navigational pages online, creating buttons, banners, and content...adding to a lot of work from the Fashionistas, and our fabulous Super MODel from the new MOD Squad.

We have a lot of exciting things to announce tomorrow, but since few people ever actually come here since I never post (but that's gonna change now!), I figured it was safe to go ahead and post all of this early. hehe

So here is a bullet list of all the new things we have starting today or by midnight this week...

• New "Welcome to SIStv" page...this page is more like a typical website homepage. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE our homepage, I wouldn't want to change it, but I think it's good to have another page that is very content driven, and shows you exactly what is going on and what's coming up, etc. So from now on, when you login you will be taken to this page...

 

this isn't all of it, but you get the idea. It's pretty cool. And the big image there in the middle is actually a little flash movie featuring images and projects from our newest collection.

Uh-oh time for a Narcolepsy nap...(26 minutes later) MUCH better. I'm kind of nervous and stressed about all the new stuff (excited, too don't get me wrong), but when I get like nervous-y, it seems to trigger my Narcolepsy and I have like really intense  episodes.  OK, back to interesting stuff...or at least non-weird medical condition stuff.

• New "Fashionista World"...Fashionista World is a navigational page that will direct you to all things Fashionsita! A new Fashionista only portfolio so you can see all the layouts they've done in one place, the Fashionista profile page, and links to the Catwalk and the special Fashionista Forum. It's like your direct connection to some of the best designers in the scrappy world!
• New Challenge&Tutorial Blog...FINALLY! A challenge blog where all the Fashionista tutorials and challenges can be viewed...complete with step outs, and step by step instructions. I don't know about you, but I really didn't like having them housed in a forum in the Message Boards. Also, now that we're about to almost double the size of our design team, we are going to have a new challenge AND tutorial every week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, respectively. So TONS of great stuff to teach and stretch you each and every week. Not to mention opportunities to win stuff ALL the time just for participating!
• The "SISter 'Hood"...I've refrained from ever using the word "SISterhood" in reference to our community because let's face it...it's a tad cheesy and might also scare some people away. LOL But it is SO appropriate, so a few weeks ago it hit me to play off of "Hood" as like a neighborhood or community as opposed to like a group of SISters...and so now we're all like "yo, street SISters!" which is WAY cooler. hehe Now our community has a name AND a new navigational page to direct you to the various community features and events the site hosts. The most exciting part though is the addition of The MOD Squad...our group of board moderators and community leaders. SISter Traci Nicole is our Super MODel...she's like the big boss of the boards...if you've spent anytime on the boards, you probably know Traci, and you know why she was the perfect choice for this. Her and MizzM, our International SpokesMODel  have a lot of really cool events, chats and contests planned and they even have their own blog (you can get to it from the SISter 'Hood mainpage) with a calendar so you always know what is going on at SIStv. 
• And MORE!!...along with everything I've already mentioned we also have an updated digital blog, links to the most recent layout and newest SISter from the new Welcome Page, and a new feature in our portfolio area which I know you'll LOVE (you're just gonna have to check it out for yourself to see), AND we're releasing a new collection...all of this is happening like tonight at MIDNIGHT!!! SO I gotta go! I still have TONS of work to get done before this all goes down...ooh...there go those butterflies in my stomach again...wish me luck everyone! 

Peace and LUB,

Big SIS (aka JJ, aka Jeanette)