Busy Bee Buzzes In

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans!  How very true!  There has been so much going on that I haven't done much but create scrapbook projects, listen to lots of advice, fill in paperwork, review paperwork, do research, and eat and sleep (the last two are mandatory activities, don't you know!)  Thankfully, I have friends who understand and with luck everything will fall into place shortly! Between creating four projects for four different classes including a proposal for CKC, Hubby and I have also had to deal with a proposed zoning change in our neighborhood that would have tremendous impact on our quality of life!  In fact we just got home at 11:30 pm from a Public Hearing of the Boone County Planning Commission on the proposed development.  The meeting started at 7:45! Needless to say we were not the only ones there that opposed part of this development! But let's put all that aside! What I really want to talk about tonight is the happy things that have happened.

First, I'm almost able to walk again, without considerable pain. It seems that I had some ligament problems in my left foot, and my right hand, which I didn't tell anyone about until now, likely related to the black box antibiotic that I took! They aren't healed, but both are better! A good thing as I had to stop taking the anti-inflamatories!  They turned me into a raging maniac that didn't want anyone to come near her or ask her anything! Talk about short fused! I couldn't even stand myself, LOL!
I'm also happy that despite my month long absence from the gym, I haven't gained any weight.  I might have even managed to lose another couple of pounds! For some people, losing a couple of pounds isn't all that much, but I've lost 12 pounds over the last 4 months, just by making better choices and trying to stop eating as soon as I start feeling full! Best of all, I'm not finding it all that hard to stay away from the bad stuff.  For example, after the meeting tonight I went to fill my gas tank and get some milk. On my way to and from the fridge for the milk,  I walked by my favorite apple turnovers, chocolate bars and chips.  While it crossed my mind to get one or more of them, and I would have in the past, I seriously just went, hey, don't need them.  I bought the milk and walked out!  Anyhow, back to happy!

Next. happy thing, the replacement for the Cricut Gypsy I bought oh 8 weeks or so ago and that didn't work, finally came in from Provo Craft.  Unbelievable how long it took for them simply to ship the new one out, they received the non-functioning one on June 17th.  More scary is that it might have taken even longer as my first support request made by phone, was apparently lost! Luckily, something made me call them back and ask a question, and they couldn't find my support ticket! A new one was created and I eventually got the return shipping label! The first Gypsy that I received, would not even go beyond the first calibration screen! So I'm happy that I finally have a working Gypsy that I can play with! 

My next two reasons for being happy are one, that today Charlene was over to scrap with me! That is always a happy day for me! She was working on layouts to put professional pictures of her kids and grand kids, while I was working on a summer themed album for my Scrap, Paper, Scissors (SPS)) teaching debut. I found myself needing to draw on an item before I cut it out on my Cricut!  And Bang!!! It occurred to me that my friend, Pat (Davenport) had taught me how to do that and it was in one of her books somewhere! And it was! That was my second reason for being happy today! I was thrilled to see another example of the good investment I made taking that class! BTW, the class, which was the first class I took at Scrap, Paper, Scissors,  is where I first met Pat! I'm hoping that she will allow me to sell her books in my Etsy shop!  They are well put together with exercises that really allow you to understand how to do things and as I discovered today, what she teaches you, stays in your mind. I'll let you know if she says yes!  So far she only teaches at big scrapbook conventions, such as CHA, CKC, Great American Scrapbook Convention and from time to time locally, which for her is the Dayton area!  So I was lucky to catch her class at SPS! Here is a peak at the sun I wanted to draw on before cutting it and glazing the face! It is glazed, but you can't see that in the picture as I wanted you to see the face! It will be featured on the cover of the mini album!


So I really hope that everyone had some reasons to be happy recently! If so, please share!  I'm sure that I'm not the only one that feels better writing about and reading happy stories!

Cri...Cri... Cricut!!!

A while ago I got a Cricut...for the second time! Yup I had an original in 2006, and sold it a few weeks after getting it, but I won't bore you with the details.

There are times when I think it pays to take a formal class and for some reason, I believed that if I took a class, I'd be less likely to have the Cricut sit idle next to the Silhouette (I need to sell that) and the Slice which I actually do use from time to time! I wanted a good class with a really good teacher. I 'm really hoping to get very, very good at using it and that eventually share that knowledge with other people!  I love to teach, whether it is a large financial software package like Oracle Financials, how to make a cute mini scrapbook album to 4 year olds, or anything in between! Luckily, we have one of the very best Cricut teachers in North America right here in the area, Pat Davenport. I finally got to take the class I wanted, with her! 

This is the lovely Jann B who shared a table with me.

What a nice lady!

There were a few chalenges in the class along the way, mainly because I have a Cricut Create and the 5 other students had Cricut Expressions. While the Create is closer in functionality to the Expression than the original, there are significant differences other than the obvious differences in their size, mainly the difference in how to do certain functions, which the Expression has dedicated buttons for and the Create requires a number of steps to do.

From left to right: Lori S, Lori B, Kim H,

Mary L, and standing, our teacher, Pat Davenport

Despite the challenges of that first class, Pat and I recognized that we could do some good together and so I'm spending time helping her fine tune the Create portion of the Cricut 101 class, which allows me to use my somewhat rusty skills as a software functional analyst and of technical writer! I think going forward, Pat and I will be friends and possibly co-operate on some projects.I'm also benefitting from Pat's unbelievable knowledge when it comes to using the Cricut, which makes me a very happy Cricuter! I can't wait to dig into Design Studio, the Gypsy and Make the Cut!