I'VE MOVED

You can find future posts at www.ashleykat.com

A few days off

I've managed to take a couple of days off...kind of. Sunday and Monday were consumed with taxes. I am so lame. I put off turning everything in until the very last second. It's such a terrible habit. My brain hurt so badly by the time I was done.

Yesterday, we headed to the fair. It was $3 Dr. Pepper Tuesday and the rides were discounted too. We blew $200 on our day of fun...which I can only justify with the fact that we didn't have a summer vacation. We did more games and rides than ever before and really just lived it up! We all agree that it was our very best time ever at the fair.

We took Nolen's friend, Abby, with us. As he puts it, if there were a girl he liked, this would be the one. :)

My dad, mom, step-dad, brother and nephew were all at fair at some point so we got to see lots of family.

I love the fair. I can't even explain my deep love for it all. The food, the people watching, the corny dogs and cotton candy...the trashiness of it all! I'm sure my adoration for the tradition of the fair dates back to my childhood, and I have no doubt that I'm instilling that same love in my kids.









Apparently Ella over did it at the fair. At 2 am I was awoken with the horrible gagging sound of throw up. She threw up right on Gracie's bare belly. And then Gracie rolled over on top of it. I gave the girls a bath and put clean sheets on the bed. Then Ella threw up again, this time, sparing Gracie. She threw up for the last time at 4 am. It was a rough night. I stressed myself out so much with the thought of her having a virus that I gave myself a splitting headache. But she woke up happy and healthy...and hungry so all is okay.

This afternoon, I took the girls to a kid's art place called Pee Wee Picasso. They had a little toddler time where the girls heard a story and then did a little art project. It was a nice little adventure for a Wednesday afternoon.





Tomorrow is back to the grind. I'm to the point that I have so many projects in mid stage that I want pull the covers over my head. Does being stuck in a hospital bed ever sound good to you? It does to me. That's where I'm at.

Hopefully I'll actually finish a few things tomorrow and Friday. We'll see!

The hilarious things they say.

I love it when the kids say funny things. I wish I had kept better track of the things Nolen had said. With the girls, Ben and I will email the funny things to each other and then file the emails in an "ism" folder.

Nolen was always the most delightful child. Strangers would walk up to him and say "how are you?" and he would always answer with an enthusiastic "great!" or, better yet... "perfect!" People would always be caught off guard with his positive answers.

My girls, on the other hand, just give people dirty looks.

My favorite Nolen-ism was when he would sing "you are my sunshine"..

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy,
You guys are great!
(instead of 'when skies are gray')

The other day I was at Sonic with the girls to get grilled cheese sandwiches. Gracie demanded a boycheese sandwich. Not understanding exactly what she said, I just replied, "Yes, sweetheart, I'll get you a grilled cheese sandwich". "No, Mommy! I don't want a "Girl" cheese sandwich, I want "Boy" cheese sandwich!!

Tonight, Nolen and I laughed ourselves sick with the latest "Ella-ism". Ella is forever hungry, well... claims to be, anyway. She could eat her weight in ding dongs and chips quite easily. Dead serious, every other sentence out of the child's mouth is "Mommy, can I have... {fill in whatever the most unhealthy food I currently have in the house}.

So tonight, Ella proudly announces she has learned a new verse at school...

"The Lord is my chef, I shall not want".

Love it!

September

Has it really been a month? Where did the time go?

Life is in full swing! Between my mom and Mother's Day Out, I theoretically have 18 hours of child-free work hours every week... not that it always turns out that way. Unfortunately it's still not enough to feel caught up. Between awesome business opportunities and projects that keep popping up and my love for PTA and church volunteer work, I'm pretty darn busy. But, I really do love it.

Nolen and Gracie celebrated their birthdays this month. We are going to have Nolen's party in October but we still made it a special day for him. I decorated his locker and took Taco Bueno to him for lunch. It was a total blast.


Gracie doesn't have a party scheduled... but I'm hoping I'll still pull something together. We still had a special day on her birthday. She and I went to Build-a-Bear...alone...and spent some quality time at Firewheel Mall. In July, Gracie got a bear she named Moonie. Moonie was a girl when we bought her but a boy when she came home. And then Moonie went missing... (obviously he/she had issues so I can only assume she ran away to find her/himself.) So, Gracie was hellbent on buying another Moonie. This time Moonie started out as a boy, and is still a boy as far as I can tell.



Something fun - I created a Free with $5 purchase template this morning! Just spend $5 at Polka Dot Potato and it will be automatically added to your shopping cart! Enjoy!

I've received some emails about classes. I will start them up again pretty soon - just have to get a few big projects under control and I will schedule some. You can catch me at Gotta Scrap too! I'll work on some templates for those book covers - I should have thought before now.

Where do I begin...

Here's my triumphant return to the world of blogging...

Summer is done. It was fairly uneventful. We managed to tackle some major home improvement projects, including sodding the backyard, painting the hall, stripping the bathroom wallpaper, painting, etc. I still need to add some finishing touches, but signs of the 70's & 80's in this house are almost gone.

So now that we're all caught up, let's talk about last night.

Nolen's assignment last night was to cover his books. I'm notorious for hijacking projects like this... Nolen has been known to hide projects from me so that I wouldn't get involved and make things ten times more complicated than they needed to be. When he told me his homework assignment, he could see the pure elation in my face. The poor thing preemptively looked at me "mom, I just want normal book covers". Ugh...normal. I tried. I swear it! Staples was all out of covers but Target had some, and on sale, only they wouldn't fit the books and we nearly busted the books trying to cover them.

Plan B. Mom gets her way. The next 2 1/2 hours were dedicated to creating 12" x 24" digital prints and using them as book covers. Cute, huh?



In other news, Ella can't wait to be a mommy with "big boobs".

Goodyear...Good Times...

The girls are funny. They can even make a mundane task like getting the oil changed a most entertaining event!

My car has been begging for a oil change for quite some time, so I gave Ben & Nolen an hour of peace and quiet and took the girls to Goodyear. They have TV there...and a comfy couch. And since we don't have TV, this was some seriously simple entertainment. I started flipping through the channels and found Jon and Kate Plus 8. I had heard of this show, many times, and was thrilled to catch a minute of it. The girls were highly amused too. We saw Maddy get her ears pierced and Ella decided she now likes her ears "just the way they are". Time to channel surf some more.

I flipped to Discovery Health's Babies: Special Delivery. And quickly kept going. "Was that a baby being borned?" screamed Ella. "Yes, Ella"... "I want to see!!!!"..."No Ella, this isn't the place"..."NO MOMMMY!! I WANT TO SEE"...I glanced around and the only person in the vicinity was a lady laughing at us, so I flipped back and let Ella watch. "Mommy, I need to know how this works!" Seriously?? Oh my gosh, what an uncomfortable minute!

The baby came out and I got permission to switch the channel. Finally, I found the cartoon block of channels. And Little Bear was on. Gracie watched it for a second and exclaimed "Cat's don't talk!" (I guess bears and ducks do...) But neither was the least bit entertained by Little Bear and started throwing their shoes at each other.

Luckily, our name was called and our time was up. They really are funny girls. It's hard not to laugh all day!

Going Postal

This is a typical scene in my house. Things have been wildly good...but busy. And when I have to work, this is just the sort of thing I discover after any length of time at my desk. There's been a lot of stuff like this around my house because there has been a lot of work! No complaints here. It just makes for packed days. My sister graduated from Flagler in Florida and since she's home and unemployed, she's been stopping by house and cleaning up a little bit for gas money. It's been such a huge help to me!!

We turned off Direct TV back in September which means I've saved at least 300 hours of TV watching so far! It's amazing how much time it is when you add it up. Thank goodness I've had those extra 300 hours. I've needed every one of them!

So much craziness has been going on. I taught at the Novi Mega Meet a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun! The experience reignited my love for my craft. I feel like it was a vacation - my own hotel room and some serious me time. I even read a book - Raising Kids for True Greatness: Redefine Success for You and Your Child by Tim Kimmel.

Our church built a new building which is awesome...but a casualty in the moving process was that Mother's Day Out ended a little early. Luckily, my mom has been helping a few days a week. It's been HUGE for me to have those hours to get stuff done. Nolen just has a few weeks of school left - hard to believe. He has had such an incredible year. He just found out yesterday that he got "commended" on his science TAKS test which means he's commended on all three - reading, math & science. He decided to play the clarinet next year. I'm super excited about that b/c he'll be playing my clarinet from when I was in high school.

Tuesday was Nolen's piano recital. It was kind of funny. I really wish I had it on video. All of the kids had trouble with their pieces because it was the first time on this piano and on a new stage in the new church. He couldn't figure out his hand placement for the last note of his last piece. He just sat there with his head in his hand. And then he slumped off the stage. We had a long talk about the appropriate way to behave in a situation like that. In reality, he did a great job. But his dramatics were pretty funny. Here are a few pics from the night.




Off to try and knock out some more things off the never ending list of to-do's.

Life

What a wild spring it's been! I wish I had some fabulous update, but really I don't. I've been very busy doing a few big volunteer projects. I completed Nolen's school yearbook last week which was a MAJOR task. You can take a peek here. And check out all that cool artwork. Wonder where that came from? I mostly used Laura Ping's kits but threw a litte Kim Crothers and Summer Simmons in there too. It was a monumental task but worth it.

The other thing I've been working on is the RBFC Women's Retreat. I was the publicity chair - another big job. The retreat is this weekend and I'm so looking forward to the time to renew. I'm going with my childhood friend, Tracy! We haven't been to "camp" together in many, many years. I can't believe we actually get to hangout together for the entire weekend!

I've been playing on Facebook over the last few days - and I'm "collecting" friends so I can beat my husband's number. But don't tell him. You can visit me here.

I also made a fan page for PDP. This is really cool because we'll be using Facebook to send out special announcements and coupon codes. Don't miss out - become a PDP fan! Check it out here!

Happy Easter

I could watch this over and over. I love it!



I'll update with our crazy goings on soon...just couldn't let this day pass without a post. He is risen!

Hard Core Digi Class

Saturday I taught a fast paced - cram as much as I can into 2 hours - intro to digi class at Gotta Scrap. It was AWESOME! Only thing was that I wore these huge 3" silver hoop earrings. After the class was over and all the students had left, I was horrified to realize that I had lost one of my earrings between the car and the class - so the whole time I was teaching I had just one earring in! So in case any of you thought that I was attempting a fashion statement...I was not!

In April I'm doing a photo class and another hybrid project at Gotta Scrap. I can't wait to get started on those.

Today is dedicated to making felt puppets with the kids, cleaning the house and catching up on a little work. I love Sundays!

He won!

I'm so proud of Nolen. He won FIRST PLACE in the North Dallas Regional Science Fair for the 5th grade Physical Science category. He was so nervous and excited! He is so thrilled with his trophy. Yay Nolen!


In celebration of Leap Year, we have 29% off the entire site (minus prints and commercial use items) and our awesome grab bag promo going on. Be sure to take advantage of this deal! It's so rare that the entire site is on sale like this.

Because desperate times...

call for desperate measures. Today was incredible. My friend Andy has been helping me all week to get control of my filthy pit I call a home. It's a total extreme home makeover kind of thing. Our laundry had gotten so out of control that we no longer wore our clothes - our clothes wore us. This was serious stuff. Out of control to the extreme. Yesterday was just a matter of figuring out what was what and folding clothes - some which I'm sure had been on my bedroom floor waiting for a hanger since October. Today we spent the afternoon at the laundromat doing FOURTEEN loads of laundry! Who knew we had so many clothes.

I am so thankful that Andy recognized I was at a breaking point and came to my rescue. I have learned so much about friendships in the last couple of years...what true friendship really looks like. And this is it! It's been an amazing show of total self sacrifice for DAYS just to get me normal!

Ella is most excited that she has so many outfit options. And I don't even know what it's like not to be on my hands and knees every morning wading through clothes looking for some similar looking socks - the notion of "matching" socks had long since left my realm of possibilities.

At one point today, Andy was organizing with such fury you would have thought that the President of the United States was about to pull up in a limo in front of my house. It was AWESOME!

My friend Sharee helped me get control of my kids' playroom before Christmas. And since I'm airing all of my dirty laundry (haha) I should show off these before and after pictures of that huge project.

I don't know where I would be without my friends. I don't deserve any of you!

In the Motherhood - Must Watch!

My friend Melissa directed me to some funny stuff today. These hilarious little webisodes will make you laugh. Enjoy!

In the Motherhood

Catching Up

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about the last week. I got home from CHA last Wednesday night. The trip was long and I missed my fam terribly. But overall, it was a successful time in CA and I'm feeling quite optimistic about the direction of PDP but overwhelmed at the same time. So much to do! Internet access was scarce so I didn't get near the work done that I wanted. That was the only real disappointment.

I went straight from travel mode to Valentine making mode when I got home. I walked in the house at 10pm and had 25 Valentine's done for Nolen by 11pm. They were hardly the production that I usually make them but they got done, and that's the important part. I also made it to Nolen's class party but the whole event really made me sad. Nolen only got 12 Valentines and there's 25 kids in his class. And one of his teachers declined his Valentine because she didn't want the lollipop attached. These are the moments I feel most like a mom. I got a big lump in my throat and wanted to scream "you suck" at the top of my lungs. I know...real mature. Don't worry - I refrained. Lucky for me Nolen handled it like a champ and it all just rolled off his back. He's an incredible kid. And nothing gets him down. He's so friendly and out-going. I'm really proud to be his mom.

When I was out of town, he emailed me. Does it get any better than this? He did the heart on his own, with no direction. So clever!


I'm ashamed to say that I did not take one pic at CHA. But Christine did! Thanks girl! I roomed with the awesome Debby Schuh and Christine Borgfeld came in for a couple of days. I also had a wonderful time visiting with Bobbie Wheeler, Cindy & Kristi (Scrapbook Dimensions) and Yvonne. And of course I totally enjoyed spending time with Patty - THE Digital Scrapbook Teacher! She also saved me from being computerless all week. Thanks!!!

Here's a pic and me, Christine and Bobbie.

And here's me in the CI booth.


Now, off to work - Tuesdays are sacred - I have just 5 hours without my girly girls.

Looks who's at PDP!

Awesome news today! Donna Downey products are now available at PDP! That's right, Donna does digi! I just finished uploading all of her fonts as brushes and PNGs. Don't miss the complete collection for $14.99! It's like getting one of the sets FREE! Take a look here!

I'm leaving for CHA in a few hours and of course there's lots more I wanted to get done before I leave but I'm nearly out of time. Looks like Ben will be getting a "honey-do" email from me. I'll be exhibiting this show in the Creative Imaginations booth. I'm so excited! I'll be showing and talking about our Partner Program for independent scrapbook stores. So if you have a store, please stop by and talk to me. You seriously don't want to miss out - It's so awesome! I'll also be talking to about 100 store owners in a class sponsored by Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine. I can't wait to share the partner program and the hybrid class I taught recently at Gotta Scrap. It honestly went over better than I ever could have expected! It was perfect!

Such exciting stuff but I hate, hate, hate leaving my kids. Especially to go to every kid's dream place - Disneyland. I get so sad watching giggling preschoolers runny around Downtown Disney! Maybe someday the girls will get to come with. Jean and I took Nolen and Tessa way back when and it was wonderful! Who knows!?

Okay, off to drag the suitcase down from the attic. With a little luck, I'll have another fun announcement later today.

Last Call and an apology.

That's right! The Potato Bar is closing! This is your last chance to grab up those goodies!

Also, I have to apologize to all of our newsletter subscribers. I sent the newsletter out just after midnight last night - and then Gracie, my 2 year old, decided to send it out again this morning. Sorry! I still don't know how those little fingers know just what to push to make catastrophic things happen to the computer!

In love with hybrid!

I've been a hybrid scrapper forever. In fact, my I recently discovered that the first scrapbook page I used a computer generated title for was created in 1997. Of course today's hybrid scrapbooking is so much more fun!

Last night, I decided to finally print the little Winter Dreams pages I did for the girls and one thing led to another...next thing you know, the three of us were digging through the craft room to find matching embellishments. I was amazed at what we had on hand and how much fun we all had deciding what to put where. I started the project by painting the edges of (3) 4" x 6" pieces with Making Memories Pearl Glaze. Then I Mod-Podged the pages on and covered the top - Gloss-Lustre - my favorite. Then I sealed the front and back with a clear acrylic spray. Then the fun began! We used a variety of things - Prima swirly jewels, Making Memories jewels, random trimmings from Hancock, snow flake metal pieces from Hot Off the Press, a pink glitter flower from Doodlebug and a pink corduroy brad from Imaginisce. I love it! I think it's so fun. We put it all together while watching the 80's flick "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" which Ella just calls "The Dancing Movie".

In other hybrid news, I'm teaching my first Hybrid Class at Gotta Scrap and I have pictures to show you! We'll be making a wonderful 12 x 12 canvas featuring Canvas Concepts. You get to pick which quote you want to make in class but you get to have both of the prints. The project requires some drying time so I'll be showing you some digital demos during that time so you can see exactly how I created the quote in Photoshop Elements. The prints feature paper from Summer Simmons. Her papers really lend themselves for these quote canvases. The girls at Gotta Scrap decorated the canvases all up with products from their shelves. How you decorate the canvas is up to you. You can go crazy with rub-ons and bling or leave it as is. So, if you want to check out what digital scrapbooking is all about, this is the perfect class!

You can sign up for the class right here or call the store to reserve your spot - 972-772-5197.

No need to call the health department

Whew! Isn't that better? I still have the other half to do but in honor of half a clean kitchen, a made some refrigerator art for myself. Matthew 6:25 - 27 are some of my favorite verses in the Bible, probably because I can be a pretty high stressed person. I jotted this verse down on a white erase board and have had it on the refrigerator for about a year. I really don't worry near as much as I used to and I really believe it's because I read these versus to myself all of the time. You can read the entire passage here.

I used one of Summer Simmons' Little Black Birdie papers. I've made it a download so if you like it, feel free to grab it and make your own fridge art. Just click on the picture below and you'll be taken to the download page.


The Potato Bar is still in full swing and designers are still adding product. Don't miss out because it's closing soon.

In other news, we recently added a new designer, melgendesigns. I LOVE her work! She's from Germany and has a really great style.

I'm settling in for a weekend at home. Ben is out of town this weekend and the girls have been sick - which has made them especially bratty - and not suitable for public consumption. I guess it's all the coddling that's brought out the devil in both of them. Everyone here has had the flu...I'm the final holdout and just praying I don't get it while Ben is gone. But so far, I'm feeling fine!

Reality

Just a little pick-me up for anyone feeling down about their housework today. I'm sorry to say the picture doesn't do it justice.

Let the classes begin, again!

It's time for me to start teaching again! Since the crazy summer and then the monumental shopping cart switch, the idea of teaching in my home was just too overwhelming! And my bright idea to do online classes was great until Adobe went off and released Photoshop Elements 6.0 and the computer with the recorded classes crashed. (Don't worry Amanda. The hard drive is safe and sound...we think...)

Despite these setbacks, we still plan to have online classes. And I decided putting a date on the calendar for a hands-on intro class in my home is just what this slacker needs to get back in gear.

So, you can read about all of the details HERE. The class will be February 2nd from 2:30 - 4:30.

I'll also be doing a super fun class that same morning at Gotta Scrap! It's more of a digital demo but you leave with an awesome completed canvas that we create in class. I hope to post pics soon.

Winter Dreams

I just feel giddy with excitement about all of the fun things happening at Polka Dot Potato right now! There was so much energy and activity today, it just makes me happy.


First, the Potato Bar is open! I LOVE the Potato Bar! And somehow the PDP designers manage to outdo themselves every time we have one. If you're not familiar with the Potato Bar, you have to be sure and check it out. It's full of awesome (and I mean AWESOME) digital goodies, all for just 99 cents! It will blow you away!


On top of that fun sale, we have some HUGE news that our customers will really love! All of our products are now Scrap for Hire friendly! But really, it's even better than that. You can read all about the new License Agreement here, but bottom line, it gives tons of freedom and flexibility to our customers. We all worked very hard as a team to create the new terms and we're really proud of it.

But wait, there's more! We just added two new designers to PDP. Jeni Cantrill joined us last week and Kim Crothers officially joined us today. I've been drooling over Kim's work for nearly 2 years so I'm am just ecstatic she's with us.

We have another MAJOR scrapbook manufacturer joining PDP but you're going to have to wait to find out who it is! We'll unveil that next week.


We also have some very cool FREE WITH PURCHASE offers on the site that you don't want to miss out on. Spend $10 and get Winter Dreams 4 x 6 brag book free or spend $15 and get Winter Dreams plus a 2008 CD Quick Page Calendar by Creative Imaginations and Amanda Lee.

See why I'm so excited!?

I just scrapped some PJ pics of my girls with the Winter Dreams set. My plan is to Mod Podge these to some 4 x 6 chipboard and make a couple of little books for each of them. I think they will love them!








Is there anything more fun than new pajamas??

Wild Weekend

My wild weekend is coming to a close. Friday was a serious "me" day. I was totally feeling guilty about it...especially the part about dumping my four year old off at a friends house even though she had great big alligator tears in her eyes and was crying "Mommy don't leave me!"... But Mama really, really needed a break. So selfishly I went with Virginia & D'Uan to pick up Donna Downey from the airport and do a little shopping at Sam Moon. What a blast we had at the "wall of hair". Emily met us there and all but D'Uan left Sam Moon's sporting about 2 pounds of extra hair and a scarf. I actually love my extra hair! It came in super duper handy this morning when I was running way late to church. I threw that sucker on and Ella couldn't have complimented me enough on the way to church. "Mama, I love your hair. Mama, you look so pretty today. Mama, you look just gorgeous." and my very favorite... "Mama, you are all pretty" Ella is very vocal about whether or not she approves of my clothes or hair. And more often than not, I hear "Mama, that doesn't look good on you." It all makes me laugh. She's the fashion police. I think I got about 10 compliments and church and totally wow'd the Jr. High kids with my secret hair.

Here's a video I snagged from Donna's blog so you can see all of us buying hair.

So my plan on Friday was to pick up the girls and head home for a break before I took Donna's Blue/Black Damask class. However, due to some class kit confusion, Virginia and I ended up back in the car racing around town to pick up some necessities to get the store through their weekend with Donna. I was actually so glad because I felt purposeful and no longer guilty for my "me" day. The class was great and I can't wait to finish the entire album.

Saturday was all a blur. Exhausted was an understatement to how I was feeling. You know that deep down tired...emotionally exhausted, physically exhausted, and any other kind of exhausted you could be... that was me. I thought I might shutdown any given second. Ben was gone for the day doing Group Dynamics with the other Jr. High leaders and I was taking care of 7 kids, ages 7 mos to 13. Ben thought he was going to be gone from 1 to 5 but it turned into noon to 8. When he hit the door with pizza, I stuffed 4 pieces down my mouth and went straight to bed. Ahhhhh, glorious sleep! I'm feeling great today.

Gracie must be growing something serious. She went to bed at 6pm yesterday and didn't get up until 9am this morning. And she's taking another nap right now!

Today is Ben's birthday! He doesn't know it, but he's getting a party at the skate rink in just a few hours. Of course, I'm not his favorite person right now. A friend asked if he could mountain bike today and he said yes. And when he told me his plan, I told him I didn't want him to go b/c I was afraid that would mean he wouldn't want to take me skating. "It's all about you, isn't it...even on my birthday". And then he went on to mention how he gets jipped every year for his birthday, blah, blah, blah. And I had to tell him how sorry I was for being so selfish, blah, blah, blah. He's riding after all, even though I've "ruined" it for him :) I did chat with the friend and he'll be sure to get Ben back in time for his surprise party. Now, off to Target to get 36 candles, the one thing I totally forgot. Here's a 36" banner (for his 36th birthday) I made yesterday to hang at the party.

Friday FUN!

It's 1 am and I'm scheduled to get up at 6. But with one too many cups of late night coffee and a really exciting day tomorrow, I just can't sleep!

I've had the most amazing realizations over the last week or so...things that I've known in the back of my head but are now increasingly obvious...and things so important that I can't forget them. Last week, Ben and I started giving our "life stories" to our church community group. Ben and I come from opposite upbringings, both which would give us the right to pull the crazy card... but somehow God protected us. Looking back, I see just how fragile we were. And watching the struggles of friends makes me so much more appreciative of the type of struggles Ben and I have. We generally don't have problems with lack of communication. If anything, we over-communicate. Nothing makes me madder than when we get snippy with each other, and I hang up on him, (yes, I'm 5 years old) and then I'm dying to tell him something but can't call because I can't remember why I hung up on him just 5 minutes before.

Speaking of Ben, Sunday is his 36th birthday and I've ordered him the most fabulous balloon bouquet on the face of the earth to be delivered to work tomorrow. Which is another reason I can't sleep. The picture hardly does it justice. We used to be in the "balloon business" so one thing I know how to do is order balloons. And for you DFW people, Balloons Everyday is the only place to go. They do the best job in town.

The final reason I'm super excited about Friday is because I get to hang with the delightful Donna Downey in the morning! Not because she requested my presence or because we're great buds...only because I bogarted my way into Virginia's van to pick her from the airport. I'm not a scrapstalker or anything, but this girl is a hoot. I'm looking forward to the entertainment!

Tomorrow night, I'm going to take Donna's brand new class, Blue/Black Damask album. I can hardly wait! The class goes until 11pm and I have no idea how I'm going to stay up that late. A triple shot something or other from Starbucks will definitely be in order!

I've still got some work to do tonight. It's a Discovery Day at PDP, which means you get to "discover" a new designer! It's Rikki's turn in the spotlight! I really love these promotions. Not only do our customers get to know our designers better, I have a ton of fun putting the whole thing together and learning more about them myself. Be sure to take advantage of the 25% discount. Rikki is very talented and her papers are some of my favorites! You can read all about her here and pick up a freebie while you're at it!

'night!

Could I really do this?

I have this crazy idea in my head that I can't seem to shake. And for me, it's not just crazy, but downright insane. I just might...and I really mean just might...have aspirations to run a 5k. I am not a runner. I repeat. I am not a runner. I don't like running AT ALL. I think I hate it, in fact. My over-sized bottom jiggling up and down for the world to see. Ugh! And my knees aren't that great. Ever since I lugged hundreds of pounds of Spot Pocket Bars (not all at once) up some stairs b/c I was stubborn and way too impatient to let the boys do it, I've had issues. Sometimes I think my left knee tells me when it's about to rain. Bad sign for my age. But the latest Experience Life Magazine, the free subscription we get from Lifetime Fitness, has this simple 3 month plan for training for a 5k. And it really does look pretty easy. Of course, I don't think I've ever run 1/4 of a mile at once and the first workout includes a 1/2 mile of running. But something is urging me, at age 35, to stretch way outside my box and just see if I can do something I think I might hate... and make it something I love. I've already picked out some shoes! I'm digging the idea of these Nike Free 7.0 that are supposed to be like you're running barefoot. I've never cared much for running shoes and I'm sure God knew what he was doing when he made our feet.

We'll see. Still toying with the whole idea.

Blog Binge

Here it is...a mega post to catch up the last month of my life. My relaxing holiday season was anything but. With several store visits, 3 parties at my house, print jobs galore and my own handmade gifts to do for the family, things were kind of crazy! But it was really one of the nicest Christmases I can remember. Ben has been working from home during the break so we're all back to our bad habits of staying up until after midnight and sleeping in. Life is going to get tough next week.

The last month...where do I even begin....

First of all, I was out of a camera for about a week and a half. I was really stupid and hastily shoved the camera card into the camera breaking one of the pins on the inside of the camera...all b/c Ben was letting me take a pic of his thinning hair and I was so excited that he might be considering doing something about it. So, $250 later... Moral of the story: don't be so vain! He has been taking a multivitamin and kelp and it already seems to be improving!

So, one of the most fun things I did with the kids I didn't have my good camera for. Nolen is in choir and the 5th & 6th grade MST choir got to go to Stonebriar Mall to sing. The girls and I went out to watch. Then we all had lunch together in the food court, then headed over to the ice rink! None of us had ever ice skated so you can imagine what a sight it was to see me holding the girls hands...all three of us trying not to fall. I guess I have skated before, but I think I was like 10. I was sore for days afterward. But seriously, it was so much fun. I think the coolest thing was to see how much fun the big kids were having. They were kind of on their own at the mall and it was so neat! Nolen is so big now. He's not my baby anymore. He is still talking about the Cajun Chicken he got in the food court. They enticed him with a free sample.

These were the best shots we got with our point and shoot...kind of pathetic.



Here's some really exciting news! Nolen won the GRAND PRIZE in his school's science fair which means he moves on to Regionals next month! Isn't that the coolest!? Yet again, the project caused a little family strife. Mostly because Nolen came up with the experiment himself and it wasn't our first choice for projects. But he obviously knows best! Having access to the Noritsu printer probably helped his odds. Didn't the board turn out nice? I'm sure proud of my boy!


Ella turned 4 on the 18th of December. I managed to surprise her at Mother's Day Out with a giant Happy Birthday balloon and a cookie cake for her class to enjoy. Unfortunately I forgot the poor girl's lunch! Mother of the year I am not! The sweet thing was very understanding and was content with peanut butter pretzels that her teacher had in the cabinet...that she just sucked the peanut butter out of. After school I took Ella out for a special time together for her birthday. We went to Build a Bear, our first time there! She loved every single second of it. She picked a purple hippo and named her Rubbie. And decked her out in quite an outfit. We also went over to Old Navy where she loaded up on tights, her new favorite thing.


We had her party the weekend after with whatever sweet friends we could muster up who would be willing come to a birthday party just a few days before Christmas. It was a great gathering and she loved being in the limelight.


Our highlight of the holiday season was learning about the Ear Popper! Ella has constantly had fluid on her ears for the past year. We started noticing that her hearing was getting progressively worse. I took her to an ENT who looked in her ears for all of 2 seconds and decided she needed tubes and her adenoids out. We have an HSA and a high deductible insurance policy for our family which means we try to do our research before going forward with a high cost procedure like tubes. And the thought of even a common procedure like tubes made me scared...especially since she doesn't suffer from any ear infection symptoms, just fluid in her middle ear. So Ben's dad, who is super holistic suggested we do craniosacral therapy. Since he was paying, we went for it. Unfortunately, after the first session, she appeared to be more deaf than ever! I was so frustrated. I was Googling our dilemma...again...looking for a solution and came across information about this little device called the Ear Popper. I had to get a prescription and that took some phone calls and begging...but I figured it was worth a shot. $127 later I had it in my hands and after the very first use, my little Ella could hear! It's amazing. You can read all about the device here. It's so exciting because she's really become a different girl. She is so much more friendly. She makes friends now wherever she goes. I prayed that we would find a solution other than tubes and I'm so happy that it appears we did!

On the 21st, I took the girls down to the station so they could see where Ben works. It was their last show for the year so there was food and lots of activity. Poor Gracie had been sick for a good week before and had really gotten skinny. This was one of her first well days and she woofed down about 3 big sandwich halves. It was good to see her eating again! We went to the Kidd Kraddick Christmas party on the night of the 21st. It was so nice to get away for a night together. Kidd gave HD Digital Camcorders to the cast and production staff. We didn't have one so we were really thrilled to get it! Maybe I can do a video blog...but I don't know if I'll have enough guts to do that. Here we were before leaving for the party.


Christmas day was really, really nice. We normally totally overdo the Christmas gift giving to the point where I'm nauseated before we even start opening presents. But this year we were fairly frugal with the kids. It was so much better than going totally crazy! Nolen got Heely's which made him very happy, especially since he didn't even ask for them. Ben and I don't normally exchange gifts but we did this year...early...only because I didn't know he was in the house when I was on the phone with a friend telling her that I had just returned from Target with Ben's ipod nano. I was devastated when I heard "I'm here!" from the other room. Ben quickly came up with the solution of exchanging our gifts right then. He gave me a big Bamboo Fun Wacom tablet. I haven't had a chance to become one with my tablet yet, but I hope to soon. It's so pretty! Here are some pics from the morning including our annual PJ pic - this is our 11th consecutive PJ pic! Yay us for sticking with something!







My mom had her house decorated so pretty for Christmas morning. These pictures just make me happy!

It was a Christmas miracle! A pic of me and my siblings...which means we were civil with each other!


New Year's Eve we had some friends over...the only friends we have who are as irresponsible with their children's bedtimes as we are. And all of the kids stayed up easily past 1 am! Gracie slept until 3:30 in the afternoon on New Year's Day. I think she's now a foot taller! Ella and I did our 2nd annual trip to Collin Creek Mall on New Year's Day. I just loved it! I'm hoping Gracie will join us for our girl's day next year. We returned a few outfits and got a few new ones. Ella bought a $3.00 ring from Claire's...or rather...I bought her one. We ate in the food court and she played in the play area where she promptly picked up a 6 year old boy named Preston and showed him all of her new things. "Look at this cute shirt"...and then off they went climbing on something. She is the most girly tomboy I've ever known. New Year's evening was dedicated to girly movies. I introduced Ella & Gracie to Girls Just Want to have Fun and That Thing You Do. We danced the night away in the living room.

I have some New Year's Resolutions I'm working on. They're swirling around in my head right now. I really need to get them on paper. I just love this time of year - I love the idea of starting over! I do hate that school is starting back for Nolen and reality is about to set in again. But then again, it will be nice to get back into a routine. Whew! This was exhausting! Resolution #1 - Don't wait so long to blog!

Happy Holidays!

I just love this time of year...from Thanksgiving to Christmas...it's such an amazing time! And when I think about where I was last year, with so much hanging in the balance and feeling so without direction, this year is just so much sweeter! God is really amazing. This year is shaping up to be one for the most wonderful yet. Just before Thanksgiving, Ben went on the Kidd's Kids trip which was just awesome for him. The stories about the families on the trip were really powerful. We made a scrapbook of the trip using the Magic Quickpages by Amanda Lee and Creative Imaginations.


Thanksgiving was wonderful. The cousins played really well together. And all of the kids are finally at the age where they can just run off and play. So nice as we planned our Black Friday morning. Here are a few pics from the day.




Nolen was no where to be found. He was running around with his cousins the entire day!

We managed to get our house decorated early. We were supposed to have a little party at our house right after Thanksgiving but the girls got a virus so there was a location change at the last minute. We bought some decorations from Target after Christmas last year, so it was so much fun having a few new pieces this year like the feather Christmas trees and new light bulbs for the doorways.


I just completed this layout highlighting our decor. I used one of Amanda's Photo Stacker Templates and Laura Ping's CurlyQ Kit and Tis the Season Add on. I love these kit!! It was so fun to actually be able to make a little time to decorate this year. Last year I think we pulled everything out at the last second and it was out until February! We're really try to make up for our lameness last year by doing it up this year!

This last weekend I had the best time! I visited Gotta Scrap in Rockwall and did a little Digital Show 'n Tell. They had the best set up for me and it was so great to get back into the swing of showing off what you can do with digital scrapbooking. Gotta Scrap has completely re-worked the store and it so cute! I love how hands-on and enthusiast D'Uan and Patty are. It's so refreshing to really witness the deep love for the craft and for their customers!


After Rockwall, Virginia drove us to Waco where we took an awesome class by Debby Schuh at Crop-Paper-Scissors...another cute store. The album we made was so fun and I was really, really impressed on how well the kits were put together in the exact order that we needed everything. Debby is really a great teacher!


To top the weekend off, we had a really fun get-together at my house Sunday evening in honor of Debby. A bunch of the old Magic Scraps crew came so it was like a mini-reunion! Everyone looked so good. Nicole was so cute and prego with baby #3. Kristy looked great...and Erica and Shannon didn't look one bit different. I love it that after all these years, we can all still laugh together.







What a great way to start the month of December!

Because I love to shock people...

Emily Adams tagged me and then wrote in her blog: "Who would shock me if they do this??? Ashley & Debby"

So...just to shock her, I'm actually going to complete this tag. Here are the simple rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs

Here are my {not so shocking} random facts:

*I didn't vote yesterday. (This is more of an admission of guilt)
*I love to bargain shop.
*I love mushrooms.
*I adore Rockport, TX
*I don't own a dress.
*I desperately want to learn more about photography.
*I visit Target on a daily basis.

So, here's who I'm going to tag: Amanda, Laura, Nicole, Tammy, Ben, Yvonne, and Melissa.

So, with Ben's new job, I can't help but listen every morning. They are in the middle of a contest...Hannah "Man" Tana...where dads have to dress up like Hannah Montana and lip sync to one of her songs. My 2 favs did not get into the finals - I'm so bummed. There is an excellent one in the running, so you'll have to vote here for entry F: Hannah "Man"Tana Finalists

Here are my personal favorites:

And another chapter begins

Well, there's been lots of crazy activity in my house. Big, huge, changes... exciting opportunities and some serious "must be God because they're simply too unbelievable" things going on.

Ben is an incredible husband, a totally fun dad and has been super flexible for years as we've done one venture or another...mostly in the scrapbook arena which is hardly a man's world. It all started in 2001 with 9/11, the internet crash, and subsequent loss of his job. He had spent years climbing the ladder as a software analyst and had finally landed just where he wanted to be. But things changed, the job market was tough and his mom was losing her battle with breast cancer so he required some flexibility in his life. I begged him to come help me launch Magic Scraps, which he graciously did. And we ran that company until the end of 2004 when it sold. I had just had Ella and became pregnant with Gracie shortly after so it just made the most sense for Ben to be a stay-at-home dad while I worked for the new company that purchased Magic Scraps. He sweetly embraced that role for the sake of our family. But again, things changed quickly. By March of '06 it was clear that the purchase didn't "take" and we found ourselves starting over again. We started Polka Dot Potato and our new journey began. Things have been tough...not knowing exactly where we were going with the company but we knew the direction was coming from God...just too many things falling perfectly into place. Ben started really learning the web from top to bottom. And he even started picking up web clients here and there for some extra money. It was clear that he had a gift. He jumped in with both feet and learned everything he needed to know to get our site to run smoothly.

A couple of weeks ago an opportunity presented itself and he just couldn't pass it up. We've listened to Kidd Kraddick since we were kids. I remember lying on my gray carpet in my pink bedroom of the Inwood house, doing my homework to Kidd on KEGL. I remember listening when Ben and I were first married in the early 90's...we went to school, both worked regular jobs and we threw papers for the Dallas Morning News. We looked so forward to 6 am rolling around so we could be entertained while doing such a grueling job. There's so much history for me with the show...I remember Kellie's first day, I remember laughing all through the OJ trial and I was listening when Kidd announced when the second plane hit the towers in NY.

Well, the opportunity that we couldn't pass up has come alive for Ben. He is now the "webguy" for the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning radio show. Ben and I have never ever fit into the "box". And this was about the most "out of the box" job he could ever get and it's really perfect for him! I'm so excited for him. He so deserves this! He's had to suffer for years doing what I wanted to do and now he gets to something he wants to do. We couldn't be more thrilled!

Now it's adjustment time. Last week it was completely normal for the girls to be up at midnight. Now it's more like 8 pm. And Ben and I often stayed up until 3 am working on the site. That's come to a screeching halt. We even actually made it to bed before 10 last night! I have to do a little more juggling with getting Nolen to school but they're small prices for some big fun.

Ben's life is officially way more exciting than mine. He saw Ashley Tisdale in the studio yesterday...He's going to Disney World with the Kidd's Kids trip in a couple of weeks...some seriously crazy stuff going on.

**Digital Scrapbooking Day**We have some really fun things going on for Digital Scrapbooking Day. Look for some really fun challenges all weekend, lots of random giveaways, new Creative Imaginations product and more! Stay tuned!

A month of adventure

I'm finally updating my blog with Sept/Oct craziness! It's been such a wild, non-stop month that blogging had to take a back seat. But I'm going to do my best to get back into a blogging routine so that this fun thing doesn't become a chore. Here's what we've been up to in no particular order:

**GRACIE'S BIRTHDAY!**

Gracie turned 2 September 19th, the day I returned from Las Vegas. I can't believe my little baby is really 2! We couldn't pull off the big party this year so we just had a cake for her. We'll just put the money we saved toward her "3rd child therapy fund" that she'll no doubt need seeing as we didn't throw her a party.



**SOCCER SATURDAYS**

We've been spending Saturdays at the soccer field. Nolen has finally found his position! He's been doing great as goalie. He is the perfect size for it and has really been going after the ball. Go Griffins!



***THE STATE FAIR***

We did the State Fair this year and it was a total blast! I've only missed two years of the State Fair in my whole life and last year was one of them. So it was essential that we made a day of it this year. It was perfect because Nolen had Tuesday off from school and that's our favorite day to go...$3 entrance fee with a can of Dr. Pepper and the rides were all discounted. We got there around noon and totally gorged on Corny Dogs. We hit all the fun shows - dancing dogs, BMX bike show, the Human Cannonball (Ella's very favorite), the starlight parade, etc., etc. We caught up with my dad who was also out there. The highlight of the day was when Ella rode the Pirate Ship! Me, Ella & Nolen got on...Nolen quickly got off and asked for his tickets back...but Ella stayed on and had a blast! She is a total daredevil. Her goal in life is now to be the human cannonball herself. She can't wait to grow up so she too can be shot out of a cannon. I'm preparing myself now for some wild teenage years.

Here are some fun pics of the day:






**ARKANSAS CAMPING TRIP**

We went out of town for all of 47 hours in October. Ben's cousin, Joel, married a very sweet girl from Argentina. It was a very small wedding near Eureka Springs, AR on a Friday afternoon which meant we had to be kind of creative about getting there. We decided to camp out because the weather was perfect and the camping was cheap. We left around 1:15 in the morning on Friday morning, arrived to our campsite and set up our tents around 7:30 am, headed over to home base (Ben's other cousin's house) until around noon and then we drove and hour to Eureka Springs for the wedding. After the wedding, we drove back to home base, had dinner, visited with family, went back to our campsite, roasted marshmallows and went to bed. Woke up Saturday, went back to home base for breakfast, played in a park, packed up our tent, went back to Eureka Springs for shopping and then headed home. We pulled in about 4 minutes after midnight. Ben's sister went with us which was really fun and helpful. The kids haven't spent a lot time with their Aunt Arides so that made it really fun for them too.




**OWEN'S FARM**

Desiree Chapman with Just One Year Photography met us out at Owen's Farm to get some family photos! It was so much fun and I couldn't be more pleased with the great shots she got. Here are my favs:







**NOLEN'S BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY**

Nolen's 11th birthday was late as usual but we managed to pull it off. We started the party at Quiggly's Clayhouse. Nolen invited a few boys for pottery painting and then it was back to our house for an all-nighter. They watched movies, ate junk food, and watched more movies. His last friend didn't leave until late the next afternoon so it was 24 hours of fun.




**THE COUNTRY CARNIVAL**

Last night was the annual Country Carnival at our church. The girls were "Cowgirl Princesses" was was easy to pull together with $2 and a trip to the dollar store. Of course, shortly after we arrived, Ben became the hat and horse caretaker. Predictable. We stayed until after 10 because we were on cleanup duty. The girls crashed before we ever made it home.





So there it is. The last 30+ days in review. Now, I need to give my house about 2 hours of my attention even though it needs about 10 hours. My house is a pit with a capital P!

FoxNews Alert - Ashley was in Vegas!

I met Greta in Vegas! Okay...call me a stalker...I don't care. I totally get a kick out of this kind of stuff. I went to Vegas for Memory Trends and dragged my dad along for company. I taught a class on Sunday to store owners about making their stores "digital destinations" and then pretty much had Monday off. We woke up, turned on the news, and realized that Greta Van Susteren's "On the Record" was going to be filming that evening from the jail where OJ Simpson was locked up. So, why the heck not, right? You have to understand my dad too. When I was a kid and we heard siren's in the vicinity of our house, my dad would get us to all jump in the car we we'd follow the sirens! We were total ambulance chasers...so this little stalking adventure was totally in the norm for us. Greta seemed a little cranky that I wanted my picture taken with her. But Jim Hammer, one of the members of her legal panel, couldn't have been any nicer.


Look how silly I look inching my way into the screen at the last second of the show...watch over to the left...good times :)



Back to the real reason I was in Vegas...the show. It was a bit of sobering reality that the traditional scrapbooking industry is changing and changing fast. There wasn't a lot to see or do at the show but I did have some great meetings and it was definitely worth my time and money to go. I'm even more excited than ever about the direction we are going with PDP!

Speaking of PDP, we just got through our shopping cart switch. There's still so much to do so back to work I go! We start recording our online classes on Monday and our retailer program launches next week too! Stay tuned for more details! :)