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??