a small post. a few thank you's. a small announcement. and a generator.

i don't remember if i posted monday--i think i did. it was a great day. my uti hell was over and i finished cleaning and organizing my scrap/sewing room. (which i moved to my bedroom). then monday afternoon it was all down hill. oh, i tried to keep my positive attitude going but due to forces beyond my control i could not keep it together. i cried, i couldn't sleep, i cried some more. and before you know it i was in a hole i didn't want to crawl out of. frankly--i didn't even know how.

and that's where the thank you's come in. i can honestly say that for the most part of my life, my close familial relationships have been hard, stressful and difficult. they haven't been all horrific--i have had some good, fun moments too. but the scales are outweighed for sure. but one thing i have always had is good friends to help me through. and for me as a woman--those are critical. hell, for all women. especially if you're a stay at home mom i think. you don't get out of the house every day and associate with adults. you're basically at home doing the same thing day in and day out. cleaning, cooking, laundry, more cleaning. more laundry. and even though i love it and wouldn't change it, yeah--it has its frustrating moments.

anyway--as i was going through hell week here, furiously emailing back and forth with kerry, she sent me the link to her blog post. care bears blog post . it made me laugh. it made me cry. it made my day.oh hell--it made my whole week! and i wanted to say thank you to her. and shanna. and erin. and everyone else that helps me. even if they are just sending a funny email cough*coughkaelenecough*cough. so thanks to all my friends. the new, the old. and everyone in between.

so my small announcement is that i have decided to become a photographer. one that takes pictures for other people. for money. i have been trying to decide what i could/should do now that all the kiddoes are in school. and stampin' up was one thing i started. and i love that. i haven't really tackled it head on yet. just a little here and there. and i want to still do that. but that's a business that takes time to build to make any money at it. and with this economy and the housing market and the fact that my husband is a builder; a little extra money would do some good. i have thought about doing this before but doubt and fear crept in and i pushed that thought aside.

and then i was at my cousin's house this week scrapping with his wife brenda, and as i was leaving i noticed their new family pictures. and i knew who had taken them and i told her how beautiful they were. and she said to me "lisa, i've seen your pictures of your girls. they are just as beautiful as this. you could do this if you wanted to." and that little comment started smoldering in me and the flame hasn't burned out yet. i have all the equipment. i would need very little to get this going. all i'm investing is my time. and i remembered a quote at the SU convention. fear is the crusher of dreams. so i thought. hey--what have i got to lose. absolutely nothing. i talked with shanna and my husband and they were very encouraging. so look forward to some new developments, hopefully i can get a website, some business cards and some appointments.

so i lied. this wasn't a small post. and we're off to cali tomorrow to see dave's sister and have a much needed mini vacay for our family. and since i didn't want to wake up dave since he'll be driving, i just grabbed his laptop and the only pic i could upload was one i took of his generator. and dayum, that generator never looked so good. have a great labor day weekend everyone--my mesa ho's scrappin', my hick mississipi and kentucky sisters, my son who started school and is happily awaiting his girlfriends arrival on saturday and brianne and jeff who are off to NEW YORK CITY!!

i love you all...L

and david--i love you the most!

my first digital layout. i can't believe i did it. it was so fun too. the best part? all the stuff i used was freebies. and no clean up! that was actually the best part.
2peas future rock star digital kit, jessica sprague grunge frame.

still working on cleaning up the scrap area and it's coming along fine. i'm at least 1/2 way there. but it's a good day today. i started my healthy living/lose weight plan today. i have the formula for maintaining your weight without exercising. you take your weight (or desired weight) and times it by 10 then add your weight. so if 135 is your desired weight it goes like this. 135x10=1350+135=1485. and i plan on writing down everything i eat for the day. so far so good!

so my challenge for you this week is to start something you have been putting off. reading a book, starting an exercise program, learning a new skill. whatever. the older i get the more i realize that you can let life pass you by or you can challenge yourself to accomplish your goals. and with half of my life over i am determined to make the most of what i have left in this life. so have fun this week and do something for yourself...L

we interrupt the organizing and cleaning of my scrap/sewing area to bring you the cute photos of my baby jumping rope. and me playing around with photoshop while i should be cleaning/organizing because i have told myself no more projects until it's all cleaned up.

digital brushes by ali edwards. grunge frame by jessica sprague.

happy sabbath...L

a picture heavy post. beware.

brianne and jeff's new apartment. so cute. the apartment and the couple. only thing missing? MY GRANDCHILD!

their cute bedroom. where my grandchild could be conceived. hopefully soon.

the horrors--brianne's true feelings about alcohol are shown here. hee hee
well, not really. we went hiking up the hill right behind the salt lake city capitol and there is a cool park where they have a "this is the place" marker. not really the place where brigham young said "this is the place" but it was really pretty. and on the way back down to the car brianne was picking up all the trash and of course i had to get this photo!

this was my roomate and friend nancy from the SU convention. she was/is wonderful and we had a great time. the funny thing is that she told her friends (the group from florida that i was in) that if i was weird she was not staying in the room with me--and i had given david her name in case she was a serial killer. needless to say we roomed together!! she was no serial killer but i give her credit for staying with me even after she found out that i was/as weird! LOL


these are some cards i made for a friends birthday and the simple layout i made with my photo collage. SU paper and a gold frame i've hoarded for ages.
another card i made with mostly SU products for my friend Erin.


and peaches!!! they got canned yesterday. Erin wanted to learn how to can peaches so we did this yesterday. i hope they turned out because i'm still sick--i guess brianne told me that the medicine i'm taking cures the UTI but makes you sick. nice trade-off. and speaking of brianne--when i called her when i first suspected i had the dreaded UTI i was asking her what her symptoms had been. she is asking me questions and asks "have you had sex?" um, since before you were born missy! oh--it just made me laugh. and then cry cuz obviously i am lacking grandchildren because my child doesn't know that you can get children from sex. so brianne--sex leads to children and horrible UTI's!! now go forth and multiply...mom

ok. i got some projects done this week. the first is a card i made for my new stamping up buddies from florida. hopefully they will get them this week. i made these cards with SU carousel notes, 1" double-stitched ribbon and flight of the butterfly stamp. i also added some bling-bling glitter. then i made a layout of haley with some more stamping up elements. i used their summer kit which came with pp, cs, stickers, etc. i added the QK tangerine font and used my photoshop skills to print out the "right now" at the top. that is one of ali edwards digital words that i bought at designer digitals. so fun to finally figure out how to make use out of the fun digital stuff that is out there. i was inspired by one of karla dudley's layout over on her blog create something today.

then i had volunteered to make art aprons for haley's class. i had some leftover material and just cut out some aprons and sewed them together. that was fun to do and i can't wait for the kids to get to use their aprons and make art! haley keeps thinking they are all hers and now has decided that for her birthday everyone should have an apron and make art. i think that is a great idea.

i am also suffering from a UTI. big time. it has really kicked my butt and i am hoping to get better soon. i bought a case of peaches at bashas and i need to can those!! oh kerry--wish you were here since you wanted to learn to can. but i will post it here on my blog so you can see.

later...L

sorry for the small pic!

so the other day shanna and kerry and i were talking via email and shanna mentioned something about fashion. and i love fashion. i like to look at magazines, blogs and catalogs. i love to know what is "in" and what the trends are and just like seeing what colors are "hot." so i have decided to throw in some fashion in my blog once in a while. i also want to throw in some sewing, cooking and craft stuff. i've let my blog get stale and uninteresting. and i want to "kick it up a notch!" <------feel free to kill me for that cliché! ha

so first up is fashion and we have here a tolani scarf as found on pink mascara one of my fave online stores to look at fashion. now mind you i don't buy anything from there as we're on a budget freeze here at the ubnoske household. i haven't ever bought anything from there. but it's fun to look! and besides everyone knows that target will have a knock off that you can buy a lot cheaper! and that is a cute one on jessica alba. and look at her long bead necklace and cute skinny jeans. and gotta love that hat!

one place that i absolutely love now is urban outfitters. a really cool store that you can get fun stuff that is on the less expensive side. i saw a cute hat there that would look great with that scarf. and don't be afraid to wear things cuz you are a mom now or older or anything else. i'm 45 and still fearless in my wardrobe. do i make mistakes? hell yeah. but i have fun too. and my two teenagers come and steal from my closet on a regular basis.

so my challenge to you today is to find something online or in a catalog that you wouldn't normally wear but love anyway. then go and buy it. if you have the money go for it--or find a cheaper version at ross, target, etc. or put it on a christmas or birthday wish list. but have fun. you only live once...L

fair warning. a disjointed, stream-of-consciousness post ahead.

first off this. a sweet blog post from my oldest daughter that i love more than anything. http://jeffbrianne.blogspot.com/ she makes me glad that i chose to be a mother.

also, my son left saturday after spending a glorious week with us. another reason to be happy to have chosen to be a mom. i got spoiled rotten by having dallas help the girls with their homework, clean the house, do the dishes and everything else. plus he got his grades from school and they were straight a's again. what a joy. plus i got to talk to his girlfriend which was nice. she seems like a lovely girl and i'm happy that dallas has found someone whom he is happy with.

then dave got me the bigshotz for our anniversary! this is the new stamping up diecut machine that stamping up came out with at convention. what a treat. i can't wait to start using it. there are so many cool things to do with it and new diecuts from stamping up that will be so fun.

i made that the gift bag from a regular white bag and put some patterned paper on it and used one of the make-n-takes from convention to decorate it. that sock monkey stamp is pretty cool and made that gift for anna's friend even sweeter.

i tried finding some of the pics i took with my phone from convention to upload but i am the worst at remembering where i put things on my computer! anyway i wanted to show some of my new friends that i met and how much fun we had together. and to let them all know that right now i am drinking a double cranberry on the rocks! suebee ordered one of those for me at the bar while we were awaiting a card swap and i think they got a big kick out of it! i know i did. anyway--a shout out to my florida friends!

and also, my sister-in-law has a blog! http://littlebeachdesigns.blogspot.com/
it's just getting started but she has some cool things that she is starting to sell. she makes things out of vintage wallpaper and other antique finds. she lives in eugene oregon and we love to go visit. although it's rare. but i miss seeing her and her husband and their sweet daughter katherine and wish we lived closer. ok, twist my arm i'll move to oregon! ha

well, this post really has no point other than to say hey. and have a good week...L

so i have been watching the 2008 olympics since it started. even the opening ceremonies--awesome! i remember watching the olympics every four years as a child and how fun it was sitting around as a family watching people who have dedicated their lives to this one moment in time. fascinating. the talent, the skill, the dedication, the muscles. amazing. but i haven't watched the olympics for a few years now. oh i watched here and there, but not the entire thing.

this year has been different. anna and carson wanted to watch it from the beginning and so we all started watching it and have been hooked. it's completely fantastic. i love it. watching the US men's swim relay team win in like 1/800 of a second. watching the US beach volleyball girls keep winning. and the gymnastics. what can i say. the girls and i were watching the men's gymnastics and every other second it was "ohhh, ahhh, can you believe that? ohhh, ahhh." until dave finally said "at least the girls beach volleyball is on next!" ha

so here's a video of the men's victory in the swimming relay. it's so good. such an "olympic moment!" a must see thing. over and over.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0811_hd_swb_hl_l0194

have a great week...L

whew...where to start. I'm back. what a whirlwind of a few weeks. i don't know where to start first so i guess i will start at the beginning. Got to utah on saturday where my son picked me up. so good to see dallas. he amazes me. he's so focused and on track with his life it warms a momma's heart. and i found out he reads my blog. so i won't swear today. ha ha. although he needs to post because he's a wise acre like his momma but he's actually funny. LOL

i stayed with brianne and jeff who were in the process of moving. they took me to dinner at cafe rio and it was good. i ate my whole salad that brianne talked me into getting. i got to sleep with brianne in her nice bed while we kicked jeff to the curb, well actually he got the couch. i went to church with them on sunday and they had a really nice ward. full of young 'uns like themselves. i made a point to mention in sunday school that i was needing grandchildren! i'm all about the subtle!

well brianne and i went to the coolest fabric store in the state of utah i'm sure. holy heck it was incredible. i bought some fabric and a cute quilt kit to make. we also went to ikea and got some stuff for brianne and jeff's new place--which is soooo cute! cute stuff at ikea. loved it. plus i also went to the provo temple with dallas, jeff and brianne. that was a nice thing.

then lets move right ahead to the part where brianne tried to kill me. oh yeah. brianne was determined to have me tube down the provo river. anyone else do this? anyone else almost killed? anyone else call it the river of death?? i almost died on the first RAPID! that came up--right under the bridge. then we lost jeff. first we saw his shoes, then his tube, then nothing. so we waited and finally found jeff making his way down the rapid river barefoot. oh--i almost forgot. this "river" is made up of melted snow from the mountain. so to say that the river is cold is like saying a rabid dog is a smidgen dangerous. holy hell--that river felt like i was floating on ice cubes! so after we found jeff, he and dallas decided to go back to the car. i, of course could not let brianne down and decided to keep on tubing. needless to say i made it alive, although not without a few bumps, bruises and slashes. but it was beautiful scenery the entire time and we saw a train wind it's way past us. i told brianne i would do it again. i never said how many years though!!

so while i was up there enjoying my children dave decided that he wanted to come too so he drove up with the girls and we spent some good, quality time with all of our kids. i loved it. then on wednesday they dropped me off at SLC to attend my stamping up convention. OH MY GOSH! that was so much fun. i met a whole new group of friends from florida--hello starfish stampers! we had a blast. convention was so cool. hopefully you have been getting my emails about all the cool new stuff being offered from stamping up. they have partnered with sizzix and are offering a bigshotz that cuts over 50 materials. vinyl, plastic, chipboard..you name it. totally cool. i learned stuff to help my business, did make-n-takes and got some really cool stamp sets. and i now have a business site up http://www.lisa_ubnoske@stamping up.net
everyone can visit my site and soon they will have online ordering available that you can access from my website!

so fast forward to today and all my kids have been in school for a week. ALL MY KIDS. it's so different. quiet. i almost miss them. almost. ha ha they are all doing well and loving their teachers. we have started a routine (yeah--me having a routine!) where they do their homework before dinner. dad makes dinner, kids help clean up. so things are going well. dallas is coming home saturday for a week which will be so fun.

dave and i celebrated our 14th anniversary on wednesday. we had a good time. i love my husband. he does so many things for me and i appreciate them all.

i think this update about covers everything and i will start updating my blog on a regular basis. i want to start having some challenges and fun things on my blog. have a great weekend everyone...L
and thanks to kerry for passing on a great tip on making a photo collage. it worked!