Category Archives: Life

Its Dark Out There! (CU Freeibe also)

Posted on by

Its Sunday and as always I fogot to take out the trash before dark. Now if you live in the city that is not a big deal. You got those huge street lights and all the neighbors lights and there is also your own porch light. Oh and it is only a few steps out there to the trash can. And, let’s not forget that you can take out your trash on a daily basis and not have to wait til the last day to take it out all at one time. All you have to worry about is stray dogs getting into the trash cans.

But, well, here out in the middle of nowhere-things are a lot different. There are all kinds of critters that would just love to string our trash out up and down the fence line. Plus there is the fact that we are only allowed so many sacks of trash each week, so we make sure to fit it all into one big trash sack. (Well, we also have the cat litter double bagged in another sack, but lets not talk about that OK?)

It was after seven when I remembered that the trash had to go out. Of course, first thing this morning I woke thinking trash day. But, who takes out trash first thing in the morning the day before? When I looked out the window a few minutes after seven it was DARK –gee that happened fast. Just last week it was staying light til nine o’clock. But, I bustled around and got all the trash collected and got it all bagged up –had to untie it twice as I found more items to go into it. Then it was on with the socks and boots–did I mention it was dark out there and there are snakes that come out at night? Finally I was ready. I had my boots on underneath my mumu–yes I wear a mumu most days. I had my hunking, huge, redneck flashlight that lets me see for a mile and I had the cats’ attention big time. Their eyes were big as saucers when I opened that door.

I’m sure I made a comical sight with trash bag in one hand, huge flashlight in the other and mumu and boots. But, hey, I got the trash out. I took two trips–wanted to be sure I did not trip and I was able to run if I had to. But there were no boogie men out there, no snakes, just a little bunny hop-i-tee hop hop. He high tailed it out of there when I flashed him with my super-duper high-power beam. Whew, trash is out for another week.

MOVING ON

What got me so distracted from taking out the trash today was this project I started working on. Now that the store is going to sell Scrap Services and Blog stuff we need to determine which products of ours we can use for this. Not ALL Commercial Use stuff is friendly to Scrap for Hire or Web Graphics. Some designers prefer you not to use their CU items for that. So I’ve been digging through my Commercial Use Folder — believe me there is a lot in there –and I have been sorting. Whew, those Terms of Use documents are so vague and they really don’t tell you much specifically. They do say to contact the designer if you have questions –so I emailed a bunch of ladies and got a few answers that way. But, I am still working on it all.

Partway through this sorting, I posted at DST about it inthe designer section. Nicole Vars, of DigiScrap Warehouse, told me that she was making a chart for her store designers to let the customer know about their TOU’s. What a great IDEA! Well, before you could peel a potato, I got busy and sent my store designers a questionnairre and now we have us one of those chart things. It is not completly filled out yet as some designers have yet to get back to me with their answers. But take a loook–

http://digiscrapstation.com/store/termsofuse.html

There it is in Yes and NO terms what the designers will and will not allow. It would be totally awesome if the other stores would do something like this too.

MOVING ON

Ok, now for the CU freebie. Gee, two freebies within two days of each other! This one is a set of four edges–well one of them has a little more than just edges. You can use these to distress your papers real easy. If you don’t want the edges and distressing to be black you can do one of two things. 1) Lock the transparent pixels by clicking on the little square in the top of the layers palette and then fill the layer with the color you want th edges to be. Or, 2) you can go to Adjust Hue/Saturation and lighten the layer up some, click OK and then go back to the same tool and then you can change the color of the egdes that way once they have been lightened . When you get the colors changed, then you can use the Blend Modes to make them work with what you have going on with the paper. Sometimes I use Color Burn and sometimes I use Color Dodge or Screen. One will darken the edges the other will lighten the edges. So here is the freebie:

Edges

Download disabled

Posted in Freebies, Life

How do you spell relief? A Freebie too

Posted on by

Tonight my hubbie is spelling it e-l-e-c-t-r-i-t-y–his electricity was just turned on this afternoon in the hurricane devastated area where he is at. He was telling me last night that the generators of the all the neighbors were very noisy and also smelly. He had to close the windows to shut out the noise and smell as that was worse than the heat. But, tonight he reports it is blessedly quiet.

The drama and ups and downs of the past week or so are finally getting to me I think. I could not bring myself to leave CNN for days looking to see what happened in the area where I raised my family and made so many great memories. Now, everyone is in for the long haul of recovery. Getting electricity back is just the first step in a long journey. I am reading of Galvestion residents being allowed back in and of families that are trying to put the pieces back together. Schools are starting up again and the roads are becoming more passable.

Hubbie came up and spent a few days with me here in Central Texas last week but he had to get back and get to work on the clean up so he left Monday morning. It was great to see him and it was good for him to get away for a few days. I feel for those who are unable to get away. We were sitting in the restuarant waiting on our meal and he said it was strange to look around and see no broken trees or debris laying around.

Mother is back in her assisted living home where there are showers and facilities for people in wheel chairs. My sis had a tree crew in her back yard today with a bob cat pulling out all the debris and dead trees. There was a lot more than hubbie had noticed and he is so thrilled to have all of this done. He said when one tree was felled it shook the neighborhood it was so big. Hubbie now has the task of cleaning up our own home. The back yard still has logs that need moving to the front for pick up and there are leaves to mulch and much more. He says he first wants to clean up the inside where it has become just plain filthy with leaves tracked in and lots of dust and stuff that moved around when the windows were opened for air.

So now it is time to MOVE ON

I have for you all a freebie kit –I named it Relief. It has twelve papers and that are very distressed and messy–just like IKE left the Houston area! Also included are two stitched and pinked edge hearts, three bows and ribbons, three frames, three boxes a rag doll and a journal piece. So enjoy!

Download disabled

Posted in Freebies, Life

They are OK, Miserable but OK

Posted on by

It was late Saturday afternoon before I got the word that hubbie, sis and mom are OK in the Houston area. Sis has electric phones, so of course they don’t work. Hubbie’s cell phone can’t get a signal, but sis’s can. So they are charging it up in the car to be able to continue to use that one phone.

Without power, hubbie is planning on making a run up here to do some shopping for a generator and to get some clothes washed. He has not been able to make it to our Pasadena home yet, but is planning on trying tomorrow. Neighbors who were contacted by phone, say it is OK and that the neighborhood did fine.

I am concerned about Mother and am hoping that the residence that she lives in will be able to get generators to be powered up soon. She needs to be where things are configured for people with wheel chairs. Plus, it would be much more comfortable for her if she could get somewhere that is air conditioned. After leaving the hospital she had been checked into a nursing home for special nursing care for an infected bone in her ankle. Hubbie and I were under the impression that if they had to evacuate the nursing home, she would be bussed to Austin. But, on Thursday, they discharged her early and she became the family’s responsibility. By then it was too late to get her anywhere but to sis’s home in Crosby. The traffic on the road would have made a trip in a regular vehicle too strenuous for her. Of course, in my mind, undergoing the storm and its aftermath is too strenuous for her!!

But, they are all OK –no electricity and none expected for weeks. But, at least they are well, and not sick or injured.

Posted in Family, Life

Hunker Down –Hurricane Ike

Posted on by

Hunker down is what Houstonians are expect to do.

Hubbie drove down yesterday to retrieve the truck we have there and see about getting my mother to safety. The nursing home where she had been for treatment for a bone infection decided she needed to be released. With the assisted living home, her permanent residence, being closed due to the hurricane she ended up at my sister’s house which is in Crosby – a little town on the outskirts of the Houston Metro area. My sister was alone with her and so hubbie decided that his duty was to ride out the storm there. So he did all he could with our house and things in Pasadena – which is on the south edge of the Houston Metro area –and is going to hunker down with sis and mom in Crosby.

It’s looking bad. News reports are reporting that the water is already rising and there are roads flooded and people that had thought to stay are now trying to leave. Galveston Island has very few points that will be above water after the storm surge hits. The Houston Ship Channel cuts right into the heart of Houston and its millions of people. Skyscrapers will lose their glass, during Hurricane Alicia sheets of glass fell like guillotines. People are going to die and there is no escaping that fact.

Please keep my family and the other families of Houston in your prayers tonight and in the days to come.

Posted in Family, Life

So what do you do?

Posted on by

Warning this is a rant!
You pay big bucks for cells phones and service cause it is just necessary with a hubbie on the road, a wife living alone most of the time with long drives to get anywhere, and a daughter with no land line. You purchase insurance on each of those phones and with a sinking feeling in your gut, you sign that two year contract.

Then six months later, the daguther’s cell phone goes dead and leaves her without any means of communication. No problem, that is why you got that insurance. It took a lot of frustration and there was a lot of rudness, but eventually the phone is replaced. (With an hour drive each way for each trip to the service store.) BUT—six months later it happens again, with the same problems. I called Sprint (yes I will tell you their name cause I am thoroughly mad at them!) and we get told we HAVE to replace the phone with the same model and make of the phone that has gone out now twice. After many phone calls and much gnashing of teeth we bow to the inevitable. The contract had 11 months to go at that time.

Well, now the phone is gone again for third time!!

I’ve called Spint, I’ve called Sanyo and I’ve called Assurion – the insurance company that handles their insurance on the cell phones. Its all no joy. When the daughter went in to the service store this time she was told it was the battery and since they don’t make this battery anymore she will have to buy a new phone, but hey we will give you $$ towards buying the phone, and put $$ on the account and it will only extend your contract another two years! WOW –we do not want to extend the contract, that is for sure. If we want to replace this phone through the online service, we will have to pay $50 and will get the same model and make as the broke phone –the one that keeps breaking and the one that you cannot get a new battery for. ALSO if we purchase a new phone, when the contract is up in six months we will not be able to use it with any other company – that is what Sprint says. I asked because I considered just putting the bucks down for a new phone. But, those things are expensive to just be able to use for six months. My other daughter said they should be able to unlock the phone to be used with another company, but Sprint is saying NO.

OH and did I mention that they want $200 per phone if we break the contract?

Posted in Life, Rant

Why are hard drives no longer working?

Posted on by

Its happening all around us. If you are like me you have at least three friends or aquaintances who are going through hard drive failure right now. Count me in as one of them. Why is this going on? External Hard Drives which used to be the backbone of a good back up system only seem to be able to last a year. Internal Hard Drives seem to get tired after about 2 years and lets not even talk about DVD’s and CD’s.

Then, there are the online back up services. That is a joke –almost. It takes anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months to get that first back up made and in that time, the average designer makes enough product to fill up another hard drive and that means another long back up time. I signed up for one of those and it keeps stopping and I have yet to see it get past 11%. AND I am not even backing up my internal drive there. I am just backing up my back ups from on the Externals.

For the past few days I had noticed that something was chugging away behind the scenes with the desktop. The programs started slowing down and I was finding it hard to work in Photoshop. My brush strokes were not showing up until three or four strokes later. The Task Manager showed nothing unusual going but a huge CP use happening. It finally got so bad, I got online in a chat room with a tech support person. He was actually able to take control of my computer and check it out – really cool, like a ghost was looking through my stuff. Bad news was that there were 92 processes going on –he said that was way too many and I needed to log in as administrator to turn some of them off.

That was when things got rough. I tried this way and that way, crossed my legs, sang to the comptuer and sweet talked it but it would not let me log in as administrator or would not recognize me as administrator to turn things off. In the process of trying the computer got hung up a few times and then, then, welll then it just quit starting up. It would not even start up in safe mode. Heart in throat, I called on the phone to tech support and was taken through several different tries but it would not get past a certain point. I was sadly told to take the baby into the doc so they could transplant the data from it to another hard drive before they wiped it clean and reinstalled the system.

So, I got out the laptop and started working on it to bring it up to speed – realizing that all my passwords and vital info is on the other computer. Meanwhile I was starting the desktop to see if it could just get past that sticky spot. I finally just left it stewing in its own juices. About and hour or so later, it must have finally got tired of not getting any attention and decided to go on and start up in safe mode. What a joy –there were all my files and all my precious things waiting for me. Of couse, I have not even tried to restart it since and I am saving everything I can to the Externals. Its been almost ten hours and I still have lots to go. Those Photoshop files are huge and take a while to save. I’ve been making a list of things I want to be sure not to forget – like the fonts and the application data folders, and lets see there are all the emails and back ups from outlook. sure hope it all comes together soon.

Meanwhile, I had to get online with tech support again over the laptop – like, how in the world do you turn off this touch pad thingie? I keep brushing it by accident and losing a bunch of stuff. Turns out it was so easy, there is a button right on the touch pad that turns it on and off, but it took tech support about 45 mintues to figure it out too, so I don’t feel so stupid!

At least when this is all over I will have a clean computer! It probably will be much faster too!

Posted in Life, Rant

Family Upsets and Fairy Action

Posted on by

Hubbie is away again. He was supposed to come home tomorrow, but my mother ended up in the hospital and he is staying down there in case he can be of assistance. This is another case of how doctors can cause you grief. My mother broke her ankle years ago when she was down in the Truck Islands doing her missionary stuff. Well, they put a metal pin in her ankle and she had it for years. Well, last year there started to be some problems with the ankle and that pin. Eventually, the doctor said that it as coming out and that is what was the problem. Well, they fooled around and fiddled over this and that til they finally got that pin out. Only, it left this ugly sore that is NOT healing. Then, Tuesday night she had some problems with her heart and pain and they finally sent her to the ER on Wednesday when she had an appointment about that sore not healing.

The thing is, years ago a doctor decided to just leave that pin in. He said he did not want to mess with it because of Mother’s heart condition and her age. Well, she did not get any younger and the heart condition did not go away but that pin just did not want to stay there. So now that her heart condition is worse and of course she is older and less able to stay in shape, she has to deal with it. Let this be a lesson. Don’t put medical stuff off, you are not getting younger or stronger or better able to deal with these things. DO it NOW.

Moving ON

So, this morning I get a strange phone call that sounds like someone was trying to talk to me but kept fading in and out. The connection broke and when I looked at caller ID it was a Delaware number. I figured it was my brother and wife calling to let us know that they got there OK as they were flying to Delaware today. (They live there–ya, yankee land big time and my brother has to live there.) So I call hubbie and sister who are at the hospital with Mother and pass on that news. Well, Sis calls them later and finds out that my brother had to have them land the airplane so they could take him to a hospital. There was a surgeon on board who made that call. Bro had a heart attack last spring and I am so worried about him. Could this be a continuation of that problem? I did not find out about this until too late to call tonight. I’ll be calling tomorrow for sure.

Moving ON

I was supposed to finish up the rag doll series – the guy is still not done. But, I had this fairy on my mind and had it all ready to start making. Its so much easier to make something new than to mess around with an already created action to make an add on. So, I rewarded myself this week and made the fairy action that was just screaming at me to get out. It came out kinda cool. I love how the wings look. It will be in the stores tommorw or the next day depending upon how long it takes my action testers to get back to me. Though looking at her, I believe my next fairy is going to be smiling or smirking or have some kind of expression!

Posted in Life

When you Go Away

Posted on by

I get so much done, when you go away
The days seem so much longer the nights so profitable
There is no guilt for hours alone or being busy
When you go away

I don’t sleep so much when you go away
The bed is so pointless and stupid
Because there is no one there to keep me company
When you go away

My soul seems missing vital parts and the world is not all there
When you go away – It’s as if I am half alive or not all aware
Could you be taking part of me with you?
Or is it that I don’t care

The food is tasteless, the television a bore
The nights so quiet since I can’t hear you snore
The sun is dim and the trees so gray
I shut myself up in my room and hope it will all go away

I work and work the whole night long
My heart knows the notes that are missing from this song
When you go away

Working is my antidote and my salvation
It helps the hours pass and keeps the minutes from dragging
But it can only hold me for so long and doesn’t seem to care
That I am not whole or happy when you go away

Posted in Life

This and That and a CU Freebie

Posted on by

I’ve been away from my computer a lot lately. We’ve had family things going on. The older daughter and hubbie were here this weekend and it was so nice to see her. Have I mentioned she is expecting? We find out – boy or girl on July 7th. She is just now started to “show” just a little. The younger daughter made supper at her place and it was scrumptious – alfredo sauce to die for!

Moving On

My fur babies have been allowed out for the last two nights and they somehow were able to behave. Isn’t it wondrous how sometimes cats can be so good and other times you wanna yank their tails? I am working on getting de-programed. They really had me the way they wanted me. I would feed them in the morning bright and ealry right off the bat. Once, they had that programmed into me, they started getting me up earlier and earlier. Its hard, but I am breaking that programing. Now, I make sure to brush my teeth, fix breakfast and maybe even eat it before I feed them.

Clio has been happy though. She has been getting lots of lap time. That is something she just thrives on. As soon as she hears that recliner click back, she comes plodding out to get in my lap. If I am eating in the chair she will sit towards my feet. This all stems from when we first met each other. I was desparately ill and could not do much but sit in my recliner and she was very nervous about losing this new home she had found. So we spent hours and hours each day together in that chair. I feel she was part of my recovery. Her calm accepting behavior and unconditional love just kept me going.

Moving On

Saturday, hubbie was locked out of the house while I went shopping with the girls. For some reason the door locked when he went outside to fill up the bird feeders and put out corn for the other critters. While out waiting on me to get home, he watched a huge snake crawl across the drive way and then up into a tree to get him some supper. This snake had to have been at least five feet long hubbie says. So when I got home after dark, we took the big, red neck flashlight and went looking. I also brought along my little weenie flashlight that needed batteries. So, here we were searching the tree branches for this snake. The June bugs were dive bombing us, the crickets were roaring and the red bugs were chowing down on. Then it occurs to me to wonder just what did we think we were going to do IF we found this snake? We don’t kill snakes unless we have to. We do the catch and release thing. We looked around the outside of this stand of trees but did not go into the brush underneath the trees. THANK GOODNESS! I just don’t think my nerves could have taken that. But, we found no snake. My little flashlight was geting weaker and weaker. Hubbie showed me where the snake crossed the drive way. And then we came in. Actually, it is a dirt road, calling it a drive way is like calling a shed a barn. Where the snake was seen is not close to the house, about a half block away. So I am not too worried about that snake. Plus, when hubbie looked him up, it looked to be a King Snake. They eat all the bad snakes -the rattlers, copperheads and stuff. So we want him to stick around. Sigh, he may not be the kind to hurt me, but like my mother in law used to say, he could cause me to hurt myself!

Moving On

Today’s freebie is a set of overlays. There are three sets of two. Each set has a simple pattern and a more complex pattern of the same flower. You can use either one by itself, or you could use the simple pattern on top of the complex patter and make it a different color. Take the complex one, put a color burn on its layer, then add the simple one on top of it, lock the transparent pixels and then do a color fill. That will change the color of its flowers. (To lock transparent pixels in Photoshop, choose the layer you wish to lock, click the little box on the layer palette that says lock and then a padlock appears on the layer you have locked. Then when you do a color fill, all the transparent pixels stay transparent.) I also included three papers with texturs and all I made using the overlays for those of you who have to desire to make your own papers.

overlays preview

Download disabled

Posted in Freebies, Life

Tuesday is Here also a CU freebie

Posted on by

It is Tuesday isn’t it? I have not seen anyone since hubbie left on Friday. Though, I did walk down to the mailbox and also watered the plants. I thinki I did that on Sunday???

But, finally I got a respite, a little breather. All my obligations for the month are done and there is a little breather before time to start on next month’s work. I even had time to fix the ads at the ScrappersZone Forum. At first it looked like it was going to be contrary and then I rememered to upload the database back up. Such a simple thing, but that was all it took. Without the database it could not run!

There is a tutorial on the DigiScrapStation blog on how to make a photo look like this:

background blur

And yes, that is me with my long hair and green cap. I think I am about 15 pounds lighter there and we were on vacation in Louisianna.

Moving ON

So, Dayton and Cio have been allowed out at night while hubbie is away. I don’t mind fussing at them in the middle of the night when he is not here to be disturbed. They are doing OK, only trying to get me up once or twice a night and not persisting when I fuss at them. Though, this morning they were pretty desparate. Their food dish was ALMOST empty, and gee, the food in it was at least 6 hours old.

It is comforting to be able blame the cats for noises you hear in the night. Those of you who live alone might know what I mean. The house creaks, something goes thud or perhaps a pipe rattles. With cats around you become used to all kinds of noises and learn to ignore them. But, when they were shut up in at night, I could not ignore the sounds. So, they get a reprieve when hubbie is away. They love him very much, so I hope they don’t figure out that his prescence at night means they get shut up. Its funny though, you would think they would keep out of the office during they day when they are not shut up in here, but if I am here, they have to be here. They are my little shadows, although they sleep most of the time. Clio is funny though. She can really sleep pretty hard and if I don’t wake her up when I go to bed, she wakes up in the dark and start howling, wondering where everybody is. Soo cute.

Moving On

The title promised a Commercial Use Freebie – though everybody can use these. They are lantern stamps. They are the kind of images that look like you have stamped them with a rubber stamp. I thought these might be cute on camping layouts and maybe some old timey layoutst too. There are six files.

freebie preview

Download disabled

Posted in Freebies, Life
« Older Entries Recent Entries »