A Rant on Thursdays, and a List.

Some people hate Monday morning, I'm not too fond of them as well cause I feel like I'm just getting into the groove of the weekend when it comes to a screeching halt, but Thursdays are worse. Much worse.

Being a business owner with a couple of employees means we have responsibilities to other people not just ourselves. I get that. People want to get paid. I get that as well, but I digress. In order to get payroll done and out the door is sometimes really like pulling teeth and it wears me out to no end. Thursdays are the bane of my existence and if there is ANYthing else scheduled on a Thursday I can't guarantee that I'll make it there. I don't check e-mails most of the day, forget checking in on Facebook. Nothing fun happens on a Thursday. See? I really don't like them.
So in an effort to deal with Thursdays since I can't cut them out of my life and they seem to single-handedly mess up my week. I have taken action against them. I'm now getting up earlier every (other) day of the week. I'm having dinner ready to cook when I get home so it's not such a daunting task and I don't end up begging Honey to order Pizza. They are little things, but dang the day seems so out of control sometimes. Like it has a mind of its own and I do have the rest of my week fairly under control.

On that note, here is my list from yesterday, and if anyone is interested since I started on the lists in the middle of the month, when it comes to an end I'll continue with the beginning of the list.

List #21 Today's (or rather Yesterdays) weather reminds me of

#1 Early Spring. Yippee, the weather is back to normal a bit. Not that I don't like how lovely it's been but I'm not ready for summer yet.

#2 Green. Everywhere. Green things are sprouting like crazy.

#3 Being at my folks place, out in the country.

#4 The smell of moist dirt, from the garden.

#5 Cut grass.

I think that about it for now.Wish me luck though, next week I have a Quickbooks Payroll class all day on Thursday so my payroll day will need to move to Wednesday. 

Hot Air Balloon Continued...

So I'm baaack. I came home and finished up my little project and I must say for a "prototype" I'm really happy with it and ready to start another one. I know just how I'll do it.

For this I actually used all white card stock. The outer panels I ran through my Cuttlebug with my Anna Griffin Pirouette folder. I LOVE how it looks. I ran Tim Holtz Distress Inks over the panels, half with Victorian Velvet and half with Cotton Candy. Very subtle but with a bit of a vintage feel. The bunting around the top of the balloon has just a bit of Color Box's Surf from my cat's eyes. I also used some Dazzles stickers from my stash to finish things up on the basket and the butterfly on the top and some lavender ribbon from the dollar bin at Joanne's.

Here's a close up of the top for a bit more detail.

And now for my List for today.  List #20  I Do Not Regret...

Well, I had to think about that a bit as I dont usually dwell on regrets and such. But here goes. 
#1. Getting remarried (Honey will be really happy to here that.)
#2. Bringing home a third kitty although he really is a little monster.
#3. Starting a business with my new Husband even though some days I really want to pull my hair out and throw things.
#4. I really do not regret saying yes to rebuilding the house we live in. It's a ton of work but the is gonna be so awesome when we are finished. I'll have before and after's to prove it.  
#5. Moving to San Jose, finishing school and getting a job in the tech industry. It was the toughest thing I think I've ever done but it was one of the best experiences of my life. I truly believe that. I think that's it.

See you guys soon! 

Hot Air Balloon #1

Well upside down to finish gluing, a little wonky, and not quite completed here is my very first project with my Silhouette Cameo!  I'm so dang excited! I'd cut out a couple of things since getting this for Christmas but hadn't really done anything with it.  I know it looks a bit odd sitting on its head like that but the upside down version just wasn't working for me. Hehe.

I am no cutting machine pro, at least not yet. I can't believe, I was just so tickled with how easy my machine was to use. Plus, the file from SVGCUTS were a breeze to work with. These guys do some amazing work over there I got a little stuck getting my files to cut but I went to the blog found Leo's step by step for the Silhouette with Studio Designer Edition software and I was good to go. AWESOME!!!

My biggest problem was getting to excited I think, and trying to go to fast. I thought I had everything together and then I realized that I wasn't gluing my base together the correct way. That is very important. Honey also asked me  why I was only using white card stock and I had to let him know that I really wanted to know how the thing went together before I committed pretty paper to it. But to make him happy, I decorated it a bit so it wouldn't be a ghost balloon.
 I'll have this finished this afternoon after I get home and then get some (better) shots of the completed balloon, right side up, and with info on what I used to gussy it up.

#19 In the Next Year, I Will...

Here's my current installment on the 30 Days of Lists. I'm a little behind, especially since I didnt start the "Lists" till the 15th or so but I'm plunging in not just dipping a toe. So here goes my list for today.

In the Next Year, I Will...

#1 Help plan a wedding for my best friend.
#2 Help Plan a baby shower for my niece.
#3 Get a new bed.
#4 Pick PERFECT paint colors and paint the main floor of my house.
#5 Take more pictures. (An put more up!)
#6 Have two characters at level 50 in SWTOR
#7 Be healthier, which is always an ongoing project here at our house.
#8 Learn to be a finisher. (I'm starting here, 20 minutes and I think I'm done.)

I love crafts and as I get, well older, I suppose. I really like doing home decor things for my own place. Probably in part because I was a late bloomer and was always renting a room or living in someone else's house. But now, Honey and I are rebuilding the house his grandparents built after saving it from being condemned (really).  We live in the basement. A 722 square foot basement. Thins originally looked like this...

I'm learning all about design and color and it's kinda scary.  

That hole is my "downstairs" kitchen window. It's all concrete down here and sticks up about two feet above ground. 

Here's is a partial picture of the kitchen after it was painted before we got out cabinets in.

I don't have a picture of what the "living room" looked like before but lets just say it was very similar and when we move up to the main living area it will be a man cave/spare bedroom. Now the living room had been looking pretty much like this. Please forgive the blurry bad pic, this was a cell phone pic the day we got our grown up furniture about 6 months ago.

So I've been wanting pieces to decorate my house. Of course I don't want things like everyone else and I'm trying to develop some sort of style of my own. Right now it's called basement clutter. After a year of having nothing on the walls, we finally got some floating shelves up. They look really nice, I have a couple of photos in frame up and I'm praying the cats don't decide they are for them. LOL. 

Tomorrow I'll post the pictures I'm putting up in the shelves. They are from the trip I took to San Francisco at the beginning of the month. In the meantime off to finish another project so I can post some pics of them as well.

Short Post and 30 days of Lists

#1 I'm a Lister because...

Well I ran across the 30 days of Lists last year at the end of March and was hoping it would come around again this year and it did. Yippee for me! Of course, I forgot about it till I ran across it again yesterday, and since we are only halfway through the month I though I go ahead and add it to my plate. (Of course I am)
Of course, I was reading the list of prompts last night before I went to sleep and I thought theses would be fairly easy to get out.
So here goes, why do I list.
#1  It makes me feel good to cross things off.
#2 I feel more productive. (actually I am more productive.)
#3 I make me feel more organized and under control.
#4 I am less inclined to forget things. (usually)
#5 I follow through with more things. For example, if I make a list of what I'm cooking for dinner during the week(my weekly menu) it usually happens AND my husband and I eat far better than when we were grabbing fast food daily.

That's it for now. I'm slowly but surely working through my craft project list and will have some pictures of a couple projects later today.