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! :)

Back to a routine

This week has been glorious so far! The girls started Mother's Day Out on Tuesday. This is Ella's third year but Gracie's first. She seemed a little confused when we dropped her off but she did well. Here are some pics from the first day.






Having these few hours twice a week has given me new energy! Bible study also started yesterday. I'm so excited about having this time again and studying the Bible. We're reading Isaiah which is very challenging but equally rewarding. I was so into my new weekly routine that I spontaneously became domestic! I made a new crock-pot chicken recipe which was good, but the very best part was this Greek Salsa that went on top. My friend Virginia came over and ate with us and the two of us ventured off to Ikea to grab some things for our home projects that we both are up to our ears in.

Back to the Greek Salsa. We decided that this would make the greatest dip with pita chips or just smear it on some bread and it's delicious!

Here's the recipe for the salsa:

Combine the following in a food processor or chopper and refrigerate.

1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup chopped cucumber
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted & chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled.

It's yummmmmmmmy.

Just 25 minutes of child-free silence left today and still a million things on the to-do list!

Birthday Breakfast

 
11 years ago today, I was a 24 year old girl in a hospital bed. Now I'm the mom of the most precious 11 year old boy in the world. My sweet Nolen.

Last night Ben bought some Mrs. Baird's Grab 'n Go Donuts for Nolen's breakfast this morning. We thought that would be a real treat for him. At about 2 am when we were both up and working on our Back to School Sale, we decided it would be fun to make a donut cake with candles and all. So, we that's what we did. And he was serenaded by his paparazzi mom.

I hope he has a great day today. He didn't realize that a packet was due today and 5th grade teachers are less than forgiving, even on your birthday, so he got out of the car with a great big tear in his eye. I'm praying for mercy.

In PDP news, today starts our Back to School, Back to Sanity Celebration! Be sure to check out the great deals on our Back to School items, pick up some freebies and spend $10 and get my word art kit free!

I'm finally carving out some "me" time at home to blog. It's been a wild and crazy couple of weeks, so something had to give. Now, time to catch up.

Our vacation was...well...interesting. I'll spare you the gory details and leave it with the vow that family trips are out of the question for at least the next 15 years. What is it with grown adult siblings that just can't get along? My kids had a blast! We are already looking forward to another weekend trip with just us and our Suburban...San Antonio is calling our name.

We did have a ton of fun, the 5 of us. We went to Port Aransas Beach, took a sunset tour on the Scat Cat, did the Dolphin Connection, did some fishing, got burnt, etc. Here are some of my favorite pics from the week.



I did manage to get a scrapbook page done. One afternoon I decided that it would be cool to get a blow up boat for the girls, put them in it and drag them around in the bay from the pier. This proved to be great fun! The float was just $3.75 from Dollar General and was the best money spent the whole trip!


We hit the ground running when we got home. There was work stuff to do and back to school stuff to attend to. I was asked to take pictures at the RISD school fair where the poorest 200 families in the area are invited to learn about resources available. The kids got brand new backpacks full of school supplies. There were also stations set up for hair cutting. It was so precious to see the excitement in their faces as they admired their backpacks.





The next day was our annual teacher Meet 'n Greet where we meet our teachers, buy spirit wear, join the PTA, fill our kids lunch accounts with money and housekeeping things like that. I spent the entire day of making inserts for the various spirit items that we purchased and making signs for the event. It was worth the effort. We raised nearly $900 in just 2 hours! I was shocked and ecstatic at the end of the night.



Next, back to school for Nolen...5th grade! Where did the time go? I have a fifth grader!?!?! He had a great week. Got up with no problems at all and {gasp} showered every day! He even brushed his teeth and put deodorant on before I asked! It's a new year!




This weekend we're looking forward to giving the girls' room a much needed overhaul. Tuesday they start Mother's Day Out from 9:30 - 2:30 2 days a week...hallelujah, praise the Lord!! I start Bible Study on Wed. morning. We register Nolen for Soccer today so practice will start soon... Here comes life, ready or not!

In Polka Dot Potato news, I'm so excited that we have a date for the new shopping cart! Look for the new cart, a new gallery, and a new look to the message board on Sept. 10th! We have a lot of work still to do but it's nice to have the end in sight. From there, things can begin! I'm just so ecstatic to get through that whole process because with the new cart we'll be able to expand our business to places the digi world has yet to see! I'm so happy about how things are progressing. I know this is the hard part...working long hours and not getting to see the fruits of our labor yet. But it will happen. Long live PDP!