Monday Morning

Beautiful day here today--I have a ton of things to keep me busy. Never got to those bathrooms last week although I did get the sheets on the bed changed. I guess that counts for something!

I've got a ton of laundry and some design team assignments I need to wrap up. I also need to sit down and pay bills which is always a barrel of fun . . . .

My friends Becky and Noel both tagged me on their blogs and these were my directions:

1. Link to your tagger, and also post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of you post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm going to cheat and only complete steps one and two--I don't know if I know 7 people that would play along! So anyway, here are 7 random and not-so-random facts about me:

1. I'm a night owl by nature, but having a child that won't sleep without me is cutting into my staying up late schedule.

2. I get motion sick EASY--like even swinging on a swing makes me ill. Not a good quality.

3. I sing on the praise team at church and I get totally stressed if I don't get to use the same microphone each week. YES, I'm that obsessive-compulsive! (Luckily, the other members have learned to work with me on this!)

4. I finally made the plunge and started coloring my hair last year--the gray is getting bad!

5. I eat some form of peanut butter every day.

6. I wish they had had American Idol back in my younger days so I could have given it a try.

7. Fall became my favorite season in the last couple of years--lovin' the weather, just wish it would last!

Thursday

Another gloomy day here. Not that I'm complaining, it's just that I'm 0% motivated to do some housework that I NEED to get done! I'm hoping by the time I go to bed tonight I'll at least have clean sheets on the bed and the bathrooms cleaned. Here's to big goals!

I'd really rather be reading or making some cards today. I'm hoping to fit that in as well. The big wild card is what CLAYTON will want to do. He's pretty much in charge here. :) And to be honest, he'd rather watch me clean than anything else! He's big on janitorial work . . . don't have any idea where that comes from, but he sure gets a kick out of watching me scrub! You'd think that would motivate me, but not really!

It's Here, in this Town

The MRSA infection that has been in the news this week is the same infection that killed Shawn. And although I had already decided it was time to be a stickler about germs around Clayton again (going back into guard mode), I was comforted by the fact that all the cases were somewhere else besides here. But I got an email this morning from church requesting prayer for a teenage girl at a local school--she has been diagnosed with MRSA and isn't doing well at all. So my first instinct is to basically camp out here at home forever--I can't imagine Clayton getting it! His body is definitely in better shape than Shawn's, but he doesn't even do well with a common cold, much less a deadly infection!!!!!!!! Oh my. Please pray that Clayton is protected.

Journaling: While she puts on a brave face for the world, she fights an inner battle everyday. The battle against a fear so deep, she can’t even describe it. Simply put: she can’t bear the thought of losing another child. She copes by spoiling him, sheltering him, and keeping him close by as much as possible. And as he is getting older, she is regretfully letting go—but she will continue to hold on tight for as long as he will let her. Journaling 6/07; Photo 1/06

Song of the Week

My friend Allison suggested that I post a song from Clayton every week and I thought that was a grand idea! The only problem I'm running into is catching him in full performance mode. He never does as well in front of the camera--he's such a little star, I'm hoping he'll grow out of that soon. :) Here he is with my mom the other night. (I'm sure she'll be upset that I posted her on my blog, but in the interest of cuteness, it just had to happen!)

I Haven't Been Scrapping

I've been reading! For those who know me well, you know this is a big deal--I haven't been able to really enjoy a book since the boys were born. But two weeks ago, I picked up an old favorite and devoured it! I've since read another one and I'm on my third one--takes me a little longer to read a book with Clayton here, and I definitely have to read in short spurts, but I'm enjoying the escape when I can get it. It feels so good to "come home" to my old friends, my books. I didn't really think I would ever be a reader again, but I'm glad I took a chance and decided to try it again. For so long, I couldn't read for my mind wandering on life's questions and problems--but now I see that they can be a chance to forget those nagging feelings for a while--I hope it lasts!

That Was Easy

Remember my previous whining posts about Clayton's dentist? Well, we started all over with a new doctor today and let me tell you--TOTALLY different mood and approach. We walked in, met the doctor and then I told him the short version of my concerns with the other doctor's plan (not using any sedation or anesthisia for any dental work on Clayton). He looked at Clayton's teeth (what he could with the fit throwing), and then looked at me and said "when's he's next scheduled procedure in the O.R.?" I told him we were planning Botox injections and an ear tube removal in November. He said he would just clean Clayton's teeth then and that was that. Easy cheesy. Now why couldn't that other doctor have been just as accomodating?

By Request

Here is a very homemade video of our band--hope you enjoy it (despite the sound issues!)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3960077265758545892&hl=en

Another video

Well, now that I've figured out how to videotape on my phone, I'm taping everything! Here is one of Clayton swinging at a birthday party on Saturday:

Now I just need to figure out how to get my regular videos on to the computer and I'll be set!

Oh.My.Goodness.

Last night a storm rolled through--LOTS of lightening. It woke me and Brian both up and as we were laying there half out of it, a bolt of lightening struck SOMETHING close! It felt like it was in the room with us! The TV popped and I swore I saw it flash, so I assumed it was ruined. The breaker for the bedroom flipped, so Brian got up to rummage around and check out the damage. He couldn't find anything wrong and the TV actually worked when he tried it. And everything is working this morning. All I know is a lightening strike like that makes it hard to go back to sleep! I layed there for quite a while before dozing back off. Thank God nothing serious happened!

Listening Ears

It's been brought to my attention by three different people that I didn't hear Clayton right yesterday--apparently he was saying "SUNSHINE" and I assumed it was Allison. As Judge Judy would say, I needed to put on my "listening ears!" Sorry I made you miss out on him singing "You Are My Sunshine," maybe we'll post that one next time! And I'm SO glad everyone enjoyed him as much as we get to everyday!

He Gets it From Me :)

For a long while, I've been promising some of you a video of Clayton singing. Unfortunately, everytime I had the video camera going, he got stage fright or something because he didn't want to sing for me while it was rolling. So since we sing during bath time everyday, I decided the best time to catch him off guard would be in the bathtub and it worked! I also used my phone so he wouldn't be so distracted by the actual camera. Hopefully you'll get a kick out of this even if he is sitting in the bathtub! (By the way, Gail is my aunt and Hannah and Allison are two of his therapists).

Hope You're Not Tired of Hearing about the Band!

We played last night for a launch meeting of a new church and things went SO MUCH BETTER than the fair! It was a small crowd, but we turned all of our levels down and tried to be really conscious of how we were sounding--I think almost everyone in the audience came up to us a one point or another to tell us how great we sounded! Made us feel much better and kind of erased the bad experience we had had earlier.

And for those who have asked, I'm working on getting a video clip. My friend Stacey is making a copy of a DVD for my Maw-Maw to watch and I'm hoping there is something good on there I can share here with my blog readers. It's questionable since the tape was made at the fair . . . hopefully there's one small clip to give you a little taste of our music.

Fair Report

Last night was our big gig at the county fair. And I must say that it was a little anti-climatic. We had sound issues from the get-go and I was immediately frustrated, which makes for a different feel when you're up there singing. In a nutshell, the crowd reported that you had to stand in certain spots to get a good sound and to actually understand what I was singing. Very frustrating! I'm such a perfectionist and stickler for these things that I was very disappointed after we left. My mom said it all sounded good in the way that you could tell we were playing great and on key and stuff, but you just didn't always know what the song was about! And that's the whole reason we're up there--the message of the songs!!! At any rate, we got paid for our work and that was the nice part of dealing with the issues . . . we had lots of people come out and see us as well--I just hope they don't judge us too harshly because of the sound problems!

One good thing about last night was that Clayton got to ride some rides! He loved it! I was so proud that he got to do what the other kids were doing--I snapped this picture with my phone, so the quality isn't that great, but you can see he has a smile on his face!

New Kit

Noel Mignon is now in the kit business and her first one is jam-packed with product! Check it out here.

Hi from Clayton!

Paying Gig!

Well, if you've been wanting to hear our band play, next week's your chance--we'll be playing at the county fair! And what's even better is it's actually a paid gig! Never thought I'd be excited about going to the fair (I usually tried to avoid it at all costs), but I'm pretty excited that we'll be playing to a public crowd instead of just our church. We've got some more plans that are coming together--the ball has really been rolling for us. Can't wait to see what God has in store!

We Will Never Forget

All is Well in Scrapbooking Land

Well, thank goodness the whole gallery crisis seems to be over. :) The link to the right will take you to my gallery on Scrapjazz and all of my journaling is with my layouts now . . . guess everyone found out how obsessive I am about my scrapbooking with that last post! (Yes, I want it all to be in order and perfect!)

Meanwhile, a very special layout was chosen as layout of the day over at Create My Keepsake. I was so excited that one of my layouts about Shawn was picked!

Here's the journaling: Shawn, Joshua, Teegan, Gabriel, Joey, Matthew, Charlotte, and for all those who will join them . . .When Brian and I saw this picture developed, we both said the halo of light reminded us of an angel. We didn't know how prophetic our words would be. Our baby would keep company with the angels just days later. And since that moment, we have become acutely aware of many children dying. Are we more in tune with the tragedy of other parents? No matter . . .I now live conscious of these angels providing protection and an abiding love.

The Height of Frustration

Frustrated. Upset. Banging my head against the wall. I guess that's what I get for using technology that is apparently smarter than I am. The site that I use for my main layout gallery (www.scrapjazz.com) just underwent a major upgrade and ever since then, I've been so frustrated with it! So for those of you who got an email from me today with a link to my gallery and couldn't see my layouts, I don't know what's up with that. I click on the link and I go straight there. I asked the site administrator about it and of course she immediately said I must of sent a broken link because all galleries are public. Were any of you out there able to see my gallery? And another thing that is extremely frustrating is the fact that all of my notes (in particular, the journaling) for all my previous layouts are not with them anymore. They were "included in the code, but their still working on it." Hello? The journaling is usually the most important part of my layouts! I just don't know why some people think they have to fix something that was working just fine--I mean, you pretty much need a user manual to get around the new message board. . . ah, the drama of an online scrapbooking nerd!!!

SO . . . in conclusion, if you would like to view my layouts AND read the journaling, I have changed the "my gallery" link to the right.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For now, it will take you to my gallery at www.createmykeepsake.com. The reason I try to use the ScrapJazz one is because I usually put all of my layouts there and save the better ones for CMK. At any rate, if you got the link from me and it didn't work, I'm sorry if I confused you--hopefully it will all be sorted out soon and we can all go back to our regularly scheduled scrapbook viewing. :)

Hello

**spent two days at the lake this weekend--hoping it's not our last trip for the year

**Clayton doesn't swim in the lake, he "skis"

**tried to stay busy all last week just to keep my mind from dwelling on Shawn's death, funeral--glad to have that week behind me for now

**finally watched Dream Girls the other night--good flick

**I'm registered to go to Scrap Etc. 2008 even though I said I wasn't going! This year we even have homework and we got our first assignment this week--it will be interesting to see if I get it all done!

Nothing else major is going on that I can remember at the moment, so I'm off to pick up Clayton at therapy!