Farewell Friend.

It was a sad day here.

I am 35.
I never had a childhood pet. As soon as my kids were old enough to talk, they begged me for a pet. Sometimes they wanted a pony, and other times they wanted a T-Rex. As they grew, the pet argument got real, and plausible.

I ran out of excuses.
Me, not being an animal lover, and also, not willing to be the feeder/groomer/walker/cleaner-upper of a pet for a lengthy amount of time, compromised on a Guinea Pig. The pet store assured me that this pet would be a kid-friendly one, low maintenance, and best of all...life-span five years.

We had a family meeting, and each child submitted a name.
We voted, and "Fluffy" joined the family.

Mikayla was not even a year old.
Fluffy would sit on her lap, while she pet and prodded and giggled.
Fluffy got lost once under the couch, and the kids laughed their butts off trying to get her out.
Then there was the day Brendan came booking it back into the house, out of breath, Fluffy tucked under his armpit...he was SURE that the seagulls circling the house were VULTURES and were salivating at the fat tender morsel that was Fluffy.

Mikayla took her on many walks around the block in the "trunk" of her tricycle.
She survived on her own while we went on vacations.
I was never alone in the kitchen making dinner. Every time I chopped onions Fluffy would "Weet! Weet!" from her corner pen. She never liked to eat the onions, just liked the smell, I guess.
She was more of a celery gal.

Anyway, Fluffy kicked it while we were at church today.
I knew it was coming, she has been in bad shape, not wanting to eat, or "Weet!" or even move much. Her breathing was shallow last night, I knew it would be soon.

We had her funeral today.

Jayden was the first to start crying.
Mikayla was beside herself, poor thing.
I never realized how much a pet can be a real part of a family.
I dug a hole in the rose garden.
All the kids wrote little messages, and put carrots on her little box.

And then she was gone.
Five years was too short.
The kitchen is quiet.

And I am missing a silly little ball of fur.

More projects:

A couple of cards I made with the leftover scraps.
Better than sticking the extra trim and stickers in a big old box and "intending" to use them one day.


Patterned paper: Heidi Grace Designs, Fiskars
Stickers, Tags, Chipboard accents: Heidi Grace Designs, Fiskars
Embossing folder: QuicKutz
Cardstock: Core'dinations
Felt Trim: Lil Davis Designs, Fiskars
Brads, rub-ons: Karen Foster Designs
Transparency: 3M
Patterned Paper: Cloud 9 Design Sparkle Cardstock, Fiskars
Cardstock: Prism
Felt Trim: Lil Davis Designs, Fiskars
Acetate Stars: Lil Davis Design, Fiskars
Border Die Cut: QuicKutz
Acetate Letters: LIl Davis Design Secret Garden Invisible Alphabet, Fiskars
Letter stickers, rhinestone brads: Karen Foster Design
Patterned Paper: Heidi Grace Designs, Fiskars
Felt Trim: Lil Davis Design, Fiskars
Chipboard tags, frame, accents: Heidi Grace Designs, Fiskars
Acetate Clear Stickers: Heidi Grace Design, Fiskars
Brads (loopy, pearl: Karen Foster Design

Thanks for taking a peek!
Happy Saturday!

I am not at the Rodeo.

Guess who scrapped just for the freaking FUN of it last night? Me!
Sam took most of the kids to the annual Rodeo, and I stayed home to do what I wanted to do.

This started a couple of years ago.
Sam's family has the tradition to go every year to the Lehi Round-up Rodeo. So I went with them. Every year, like a good sport. I don't like rodeos. Not the smell, not the animals, not the freaky clowns, nothing. But I went.
My father in law thinks I am nuts.
"How can you NOT like a Rodeo? It is an Art form!" he said.
"Yeah, well, so is Jazz, and I don't like that either." I said.
I can appreciate the Art of it.
I really can.
I just don't enjoy it.

And then, one year...
One of the twins was being really, really naughty at the beginning of the Rodeo.
So I volunteered to walk home with the baby.
We don't live far from the rodeo grounds, so it was no big deal. But, as I was walking I got that overwhelming feeling of RELIEF! Like I just escaped prison! I was giddy! I had two whole hours to MYSELF!
And that was the moment I realized how much I hated going to the rodeo.
And that was the last year I went.
I would rather spend a couple of hours doing something for me.
For my pleasure and entertainment.
A movie?
A book?
Scrapping NOT for a deadline?
All three?
The possibilities on Rodeo night are endless....
Anyway, here is a couple of the layouts I did.

Cardstock: Prism
Patterned paper: Lil Davis Design, Fiskars (how cute is the punched out airplane border? LOVE!)
Chipboard letters: Lil Davis Design, Fiskars
Chipboard Nameplates, hearts, tag: Heidi Grace printed Add-Ons punchboard, Fiskars
Glitter, pearl brads- Karen Foster Design
Arrow border die: QuicKutz
Font: Harting
What you can't see on this layout, is that the paper is pearly and iridescent. And that big flower? Glitter! I am telling you, it would bring out your inner-squirrel to see this one in real life. Scrumptious.
Patterned paper: Heidi Grace designs, Fiskars
Cardstock: Prism
Border Die: QuicKutz
Glitter Flower: Lil Davis Design, Fiskars
3-D Flower stickers: Heidi Grace Design, Fiskars
Rhinestone brads: Karen Foster Design
"Beautiful" stickers: Heidi Grace Designs, Fiskars; "Hello" die cut letter: QuicKutz neat freak
Felt Border ribbon: Lil Davis Design, Fiskars (cut down as photo corners also)

So that is what I did instead of donning ill-fitting wranglers to watch helpless animals get flipped over and tangled up in rope along with the rest of the town.

My last week, in pictures.

Finished my trade-show crud this week.
Here are a couple layouts--and a sneak peek of some new product coming out.


I know these pictures are craptastically out of focus, but I love the kids' expressions.


We spent the whole day at Lagoon.

We have discovered that we are raising wussy-boys. They chickened out on almost every ride. Shianne was raring to go on everything, and Mikayla was willing to try anything they let her go on. She is still about four inches shy of being able to ride anything remotely risky. She and I were very content to spend some quality time together riding in Kiddie-land.

I must say, the Lady-bug Drop is the best-kept secret in the park. Heh.

Now just a warning to the ladies out there...who is this hottie McHotness??

Well, he is the father to five:

But sadly, he is taken...by this lady, who looks like she is wearing a glowing beaver-skin cap on her head.

It is this photo, and the day spent in the sweltering heat of Lagoon that made me say "Why do I keep all this hair?"
So bright and early yesterday morning, I went down to a hair salon and said "Take it off."
What I actually said was "Trim it to my shoulders and lightly layer it to take some weight off."
What that translated to was "Chop this bob off to my chin, and chunk some chunks."
I hated my hair so much that I don't know if this is a good cut or a bad cut.
I don't care.
I just know it is different, and if I would have worn my hair in a pony-tail or a loose braid down my back ONE MORE TIME, I would have been arrested as a polygamist. It needed to go.
I know you will want to see it, right?
Fine.
But know that I am still in that post-new-haircut learning curve, and it might get better.
Then again, it might not.
Cause I don't care.
I have suffered from low hair self-esteem for so long that now I am completely indifferent.

The best part, Sam is not a short hair on girls kind of a guy.
He had been having a terrible day at work.
That will happen, when you opt to golf instead of work on a frequent basis. Things tend to get backed up that way.
Work, Schmurk.
So he came home from work, and took one look at my new do and said "MAN! My day keeps getting worse, and worse."
He spent the rest of the day trying to take those words back.
And the night on the couch.
Okay, not really.

So there is your update.
We have been busy here.
I can't believe June is gone...
And I found a good quote:
“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.”
--John Lennon

So, here's to wasting some quality time this weekend!

A Sunday shout-out. And thanks!

Lately I have received some pretty stinking nice e-mails and comments from a few of my lurkers.

Since Blogger doesn't let me reply to you, when you comment, I wanted to do a little bit of a shout-out here. I can. Cause it's my blog, so hrrrumhp.

Hello to my English friend, Glenda (Glen)--thank you for your nice words!

Hello to Tiffany--no, you are NOT a psycho, and I think somehow we might be related distantly, my sister married a Fairbanks. Small world in the Utah in-bred gene pool.

And also, Hello to Robin Dawn!
I swear I must be extra-hormonal this week, because your e-mail darn near made me cry. I hope I am not embarrassing you for quoting part of it:

Hello, my name is Robin, and I just want to tell you that I have really, very much, enjoyed reading your blog. It has entertained me, in a way that I haven't been able to be in a while. Let me explain. While I was reading it, I actually put myself into your world, out of mine, and it was a delight. I caught myself smiling, and actually my world over here became a distant whirl for a bit. Thank you so much for your inspiring writing, your hilarious moments you share with the world.

I started this blog as a journal of sorts. I type faster and a whole lot more legibly than I can write.

It has been therapeutic to blog.
I can vent here. It's a healthy release for me.
I like to laugh about my life, it's funner than crying, and if I make you laugh too, all the better.

I think life needs more humor.

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you.
For your comments and e-mails.
I have more hits on this thing than ever thought I would.
I don't even think I KNOW that many people.

Anyway, thank you.
:)

PS Also Hello to Miriam's sister Becky, who was reading this thing while in labor with her twins...hope they finally made their appearance! And here's to hoping those stretch marks go away. Mine didn't.

Five Random Things

(1-) We are getting new carpet. They are supposed to be laying it...well, today, actually. It is 1:30 in the morning, and we are all up. What are we doing, you ask? Oh, you know--MOVING EVERY STICK OF FURNITURE IN ALL THE BEDROOMS. Plus pulling up the old carpet, and hand picking all the old carpet tacks. My knuckles are all scraped to bits.
This will be worth it, right?

(2-) I actually got some scrap work done today.
9 layouts
2 cards
1 altered clipboard
9 chalked shapes** which leads me to...

(3-)I got put on the payroll for QuicKutz. I am the new chalk the new shapes to look pretty on the packaging lady. I get PAID to chalk die cuts.
It's pretty rough, I know. Heh.

It's harder than it looks. Mostly cause I am a messy scrapper, and I have to chalk the dies, and assemble them onto a pristine white sheet of paper. Everything has to stay very clean. <----hard for me.

So yesterday, I got some new shapes that have to be done by today. Sam took the boys with him, and I anticipated settling in for an evening of 80's tunes and some therapeutic chalking. Well, wouldn't you know it, my die cut machine broke. The gears stripped. I couldn't run the farking dies through it.

So I had to work on something else, and make a morning run to QuicKutz to get a loaner.

I finished the dies.
They will go back today.

(4-) Jayden had his broken arm in this sling thingie. Well, it came unwrapped during the night, and he was vegging on the couch, and re-wrapping it. He needed to get up to change the channel...and where was the remote, I am just now wondering?...anyway, he gets up to change the channel, and falls on his stupid broken arm. I had to take him into the pediatrician to get it checked, and they cast him in a hard cast.

He thought that gave him free reign to skate again.

If he breaks his other arm, I am NOT going to help him with his sanitary needs.

(5-) I am really tired. And I bet the carpet layers come at the crack of dawn.

paleface.

When I was a teenager, I would spend hours upon hours "laying out."
Usually in my parent's back yard.
I would lay out a blanket and baste myself with some Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil.
Then I would put a cassette tape in the boom box, and turn over when the tape was ready to turn over, thereby equally roasting both sides of my body.
Every once in a while I would take a turn lying on my side, you know to get my ARMPITS tan.
SO important those TAN ARMPITS.

I did have a tan.
Especially on my stomach, which no one saw.

Now?
Well, now I don't.
That stomach is a mass of silvery stretch marks.

Really I don't care.
I look at celebrities like Nicole Kidman.

She is pasty white, and can pull it off.

So most of the time, I think to myself "I am like Nicole Kidman."
"White is fashionable."

But really, I want to wear skirts with cute strappy sandals.
And I look like I am sick.
My skin is so white, that is almost has a purple hue to it.
Not the creamy milky white of Nicole.
I think it may be the varicose veins that have recently started to grace my 35 year old body. Niiiiiiice.

I went to tanning beds a couple of years ago.

One was in a local Tanning Hut.
I bought a pass, and I would go over on my lunch hour when I worked at the bank.
I would strip down, use a towel to cover my nether-regions, and then I would marinate in my own sweat, towel off, pull back on the pantyhose, powder my glistening nose, and go back to the bank.

All day long I smelled funny.
That tanning bed funny.
That skin cancer is a'comin' funny.

I had a warm sun-drenched hue.
This was good for an office worker who only saw the sun if you worked the drive-up window. And even then it was behind bullet-proof glass.

The last time I went to the Tanning Hut I was on my lunch hour.
The Tanning Hut had all the new equipment.
They had hydraulic tanning beds.
You would lay down in the bed, and push a button on your left, the button would raise the top lid on the bed up and down. It didn't open up like a coffin, it slowly came straight down, until eventually you were closed into a pod.

I was relaxing in my pod, when I felt a small tickle on my leg.
Thinking it was just sweat, I closed my eyes and settled back into Huey Lewis and the News.

There was that tickle again, weird.

So finally, I maneuver myself sideways to see the tickle.
IT WAS A BEE!

I tried to sit up, and thunked my head on the top of the pod.
I pushed the "up" button, and willed it to go up faster...
It took forever!
All this time I am kinda screaming, and I am sure the desk girls were wondering what in the world was going on.

I was trapped in a POD with a BEE!

I never went back.

Then, a few years later, I bought a pass from a lady in the neighborhood that had her own tanning bed. It was in her salon, and the nice thing about that was you could go at any time.

She had a book, and you would sign up for a time slot.
Most of the time I would go at about 10:00 at night. I would walk over to her house when the kids were in bed.
It was great!

One day, I stripped, and slid into the bed.
I pulled the lid down on me, and settled in.
Then...I heard a big CRAAAAACK!
And what do you know, but the whole stinking Plexiglas bed had broken.
I will tell you what-
Nothing makes you feel like a bigger fat-A than cracking a tanning bed.

That concluded my tanning bed experience.

I have been using self-tanners.
And let me tell you.
They stink.
Not stink as in "suck" but stink as in "smell like butt."

The best one so far has been the Dove brand.
It smells good going on, and for a long time, but eventually it stinks just as reeky as the off-brand kind.

And I have never *not* had streaks or weird build-up on my knees or ankles.
But at least I look human.
Like I have color.

And people have stopped asking me if I have the flu.

And I can wear my summery skirts and strappy sandals.

Checking back in.

*Thursday: started the day out, with the "family" they assigned me. I had eight teenage kids that I had to watch out for. The whole youth conference attendance was about 150 kids, and leaders.

Bright and early, we did service projects around the community. Our family weeded and mowed a yard. I am telling you, this thing was a mess. I had the song "Welcome to the Jungle" running through my head the whole day. That was annoying. Should have brought my iPod.

My back was sore.

Then we headed to the church to load up and head out to Delta, Utah. A barren waste-land of nothingness.

We got there, and set up, ate, played games, listened to some speakers, and we all fell into bed exhausted from all the work.

I called home to check in on things back at the ranch....Jayden had broken his arm.
Not lying.
Sam asked me what to do.
And who our doctor was.
I didn't realize how much I have been handicapping him by not filling him in on the mundane details of a SAHM.

*Friday: Lots of games, speakers, food, and clean fun.
Call home to check in...Mikayla has strep throat, and Shianne is bawling about a "hurty" throat as well.

*Saturday: A huge water-fight, more speakers, food and fun.
I DO NOT call home.

We finished up mid-day and came home.
I have to hand it to Sam.
He seemed un-frazzled.
The house was clean.
There was just the one broken bone.
Not bad.

Took the kids out to get him some Father's Day presents. They picked out some pretty choice dollar store stuff.
Sam got this from me for Fathers Day.
Cause he needs more motivation to sit on the couch. Heh.

I think I picked a pretty good Dad for the kids.

He might not know who the family doctor is, but he can braid a mean head of hair.

He can tickle/wrestle to put the WWF to shame.

His floor scrubbing skills can take dried up Kraft Singles paste out of tile grout.

He can re-vive a dead lawn mower with six bucks worth of various screws and miscellaneous parts. And he lets the boys "help" him do it.

He actually likes to watch the Justice League.

Having all 46 neighborhood kids over for a game of catch doesn't bug him.

He makes sure we are all taken care of. When he comes home from working the graveyard shift, he tip-toes around the house, tucking everyone in.

He listens to the kids' prayers every night, when I am too tired and ready to just send them to bed alone.

He volunteered himself to go to Boy Scout Day camp with Brendan.

He makes it a point to tell our daughter how beautiful she is. Her eyes just light up and shine. I hope she finds a husband who makes her feel so pretty.

He's a keeper.

Happy Father's Day, Sam.

Projects and Goodbye.

I just finished up with some stuff for Core'dinations Cardstock.
Here is a layout featuring their pre-distressed cardstock. The border is from Quickutz, I love it too.

Here is a card I embossed with my Revolution, and sanded, to bring out the colored core of the cardstock.

For this mini-album, I used Black Magic Core'dinations cardstock, and the coolest ever board book in a box from Cloud 9 Design. The size was perfect! And I love the box idea. Here is the album, you can see how when you sand the cardstock the colored core comes through.








I have a whole butt ton of scrapping left to do before the next trade show.
But I am taking off tomorrow in the early morning to go to a youth conference in my area. I was asked to be an adult chaperon.
They truly must be scraping the bottom of the leader barrel.

I will be gone until Sunday.
Sam will be in charge.
My parents are out of town, which is an added butt-clencher, since my Mom is usually back-up Mom to my kids.
I want you to know, dear Internet, that I am leaving my house clean, and the laundry finished. I am curious as to what I will come home to.
Mikayla ran a fever this afternoon.
Should I take my phone?
Or do I even want to know?

If you happen to be in the area, drive by the house, and check on 'em will you?

Happy Toolsday Afternoon

I came across a cool website for those of us who are color challenged.
Lets say you want to paint your bedroom, and you have a decorative pillow that you love, and would like to base the color scheme of the room on, but are not sure what exactly to do?

You can take a photo of the pillow, and upload it to this site. Then the site generates colors for you, based on the pillow.

You can do the same thing with a photo, and it will give you a place to start on your layout, suggesting a color palette.

I thought it was a great time waster!
And a good tool.
HERE is the link.

And then there is this little guy.
I have been doing some altered mod-podged projects lately.
I have to glue the paper on the item, and then flip it over, and cut the paper down to fit. I have found the best tool for this is an exacto knife. With my regular exacto knife, after a project or two, my fingers hurt.

Not with this thing.

I swear, I want to just wear this fingertip exacto knife around as an everyday accessory. Kinda like Edward Scissorhands. I could be Edward Exacto-knife hands.
Or something.

It was three bucks well spent.

And my last tool of this Toolsday, is the Bath and Body Works Wallflower.

I have tried a lot of plug into the wall air fresheners, and this one is the best. The fragrance is subtle, and lasts a long time.
I like Cotton Blossom, it is a clean scent.
I also like Pink Hibiscus. A nice floral.
I avoid food-y scented things, like Mint Chocolate Chip they tend to make me want to eat.
If you have tried these Wallflowers, what scent do you like?
It's hard to tell until you plug them in and give them a whirl.

Anyway, these are my tools for this Tuesday.
Also, Costco Online Photo Lab is still broken.
I want to scream.

Random Things

Good Morning!
Pulling another late-nighter, trying to get things done.
Sigh.

Anyway, I don't do blog-tags, (NIKI!) but if I did, then here are 21 random things about me. I don't have much else to write about anyway.

1- Feet skeeve me. I should clarify, that I looooove baby feet. And tiny toddler feet. Up until about age four. Then they are just gross.
2- I don't eat things colored blue. With the exception of peppermint Extra gum, which they just switched from white to blue?
3- I still wear crew socks. I don't like my ankles rubbing on my pants like they do with ankle length (or shorter) socks. I throw them away if the elastic gets loose, and they start sliding down my leg like quitters.
4- I read on the toilet. Sorry, but I do. I know lots of people get freaked out by that, but I refuse to just sit there. And sometimes, it takes some sittin.'
5- I get really bothered when Sam and I are out on a date and he takes calls on his cell phone. Sometimes I imagine myself rolling down the window and tossing that thing onto the freeway.
6- I really hate my hair, but I don't know what to do with it.
7- I have never been able to grow fingernails. They crack and break when they reach the end of my fingers.
8- I am not an animal lover. There! I said it. I wanted to be, but I am just...not.
9- Ditto Country Music.
10- I like fanny packs. (But you probably already knew that.)
11- I hoard shampoo. I ran out once. The kids dumped it down the drain, I didn't notice, and the next morning I had nothing to wash with. I have never forgotten. I always have several bottles in the cupboard.
12- When Sam snuggles in bed next to me, I don't like to feel his breath on the back of my neck. I always make a pillow wall.
13- I hate belching. And it happens a lot here. I think it is like farting with your mouth.
14- Sometimes when I am cooking, I pretend I have my own cable cooking show. There is a dialog running through my head, and I chop all fancy-like. My audience likes me.
15- I can drink water through my nose. I also tried milk. Once.
16- I am scared to be the Mom to teenagers. I don't feel like I will be able to relate, but I am excited to be a Grandma. I think that I will have that one nailed.
17- I like cookies. (Hey, Wendy!) Especially Lorna Doone's. They always give those out when you give blood for the Red Cross. Guess who gives blood as often as she can? This chick!
18- I love office supplies. When I was little I used to play like I worked in an office. I spent my babysitting money on stamp pads and paperclips and white-out. I ended up working in an office, and always liked it.
19- I love to organize, I just can't seem to KEEP things organized.
20- I love the smell of the redwood decking aisle at Home Depot. And gas at the gas pumps. And Staz-on black ink pads. Oh, and Marks-A-Lot markers. (NO! I do not sniff them often.)
21- I don't let my feet dangle over the side of the bed, and when I get out of bed, I always jump far enough away that the freaky clown living under my bed can't grab my ankles and drag me under the bed. Yep. And I am pushing 36...still have that irrational fear.

So that's a few funkarific facts about me.
You can make fun of me now.
I am heading to bed.

I can't even make this stuff up.

I asked Sam the other day if he could please get his Harley up and running early this summer.

After he recovered from fainting dead to the floor, he asked me "Why?"

It is a known fact that I have hated that motorcycle since the day he bought it.
It never seems to run properly.
He is always tinkering with it in the garage---which is connected to the kitchen--- and therefore the whole kitchen is instantly filled with cloying motorcycle fumes.
It is loud.
It is ugly.
It is a vintage Harley, and a chopper, and really---it is ugly.
It has skulls painted on it.
(shrugs)
Not to mention the fact that it is not a smooth ride or enjoyable.
It is very vibrate-y, and there is NO WAY to talk to someone while you are both riding it. You have to scream at each other, and usually swallow a couple of bugs.
Anyway.

I asked him to get 'er up and going.
He was so excited that I took a slight interest in the bike.
He went out straight away and purchased some NEW! PARTS!

Truth be told, I need pictures.
Karen Foster is coming out with a motorcycle line this trade show, and I am working on that line.
I need the photos.
Not like I wouldn't take the photos anyway, but motivation comes in mysterious ways, sometimes. Right?

So, he is out in the garage tonight.
And I hear the spark and growl of the engine coming to life.
And the walls in the kitchen reverberate.
He revs it.
The pictures hanging on the walls start vibrating.
The smell wafts in.

And he takes off for his first run.
He gets around the block.
The neighborhood kids are trailing behind him like tumbleweeds, whooping it up!
(He usually gives them rides.)
And then the engine sputters and coughs...and dies.

He walks dejectedly into the kitchen.

"I need a new Petcock." he says.

I burst into hysterical laughter. Cause I am mature like that.

So the photo shoot is scheduled for some time tomorrow.
When a new petcock can be rounded up for the Hog.

((banging my head on my keyboard))

Costco photo lab, online.

I uploaded photos. (extremely, painfully, sloooooow)
NOW I CAN'T GET BACK IN TO PLACE AN ORDER.

I have been watching the spinny loading thingie for two hours now.
Then it crashes. So I try again.
Like an idiot.

Apparently there are a few more bugs to be worked out in their new system.

Funny how you take things for granted.
Like being able to upload photos, choose a size, crop if needed, do some basic editing...and pick the prints up in an hour.

I do remember the days of film.
Shoot a roll.
Take it to the store.
Wait a couple of days (I was too cheap to pay one hour prices)
Pick up prints.
See if you even *got* the shot you wanted, if not repeat with another roll of film.

If you actually *got* the shot, you then take the negative back into the photo store, and wait a few more days for your 5x7 to be processed so you could scrap it.

Good times, good times.

I am trying to be grateful, and maybe karma will let my photos load this time, while I am being so grateful.

Grateful, grateful, grateful....lalalalala!

(cautiously checks the other window)

"page cannot be displayed"

Garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Triple TOOLSDAY!

First off, one of my favorite household tools.
Especially if you have toddlers in your home.
We use pizza cutters a whole lot here.
Never on pizza, ironically enough.
Our pizza joint cuts it for us.
But we use the pizza cutter to cut up grilled cheese, french toast, pancakes, hot-dogs, lunch meats...well, pretty much all the gourmet delicacies to cross my kitchen table.

Pizza cutter. Good tool.

Here is my scrappy tool!
I have tried many, many corner rounders.
Most of the rounders I have used work great for a little while, and then they eventually turn into a corner BENDER. And none of them could stand up to chipboard.
I didn't want to spend a fortune on a giant machine.
I was skeptical to give this one a whirl:

Guess what folks?
Worth its weight in GOLD.
Cuts true, cuts CHIPBOARD, and it is easy on the hands.
I found a winner!
If you use corner rounders at all, time to replace your POS with this awesome squeeze punch.
And my human "tool" of the week?
The dude who decided to "Upgrade" Costco's online photo lab.
It has been shut down for over a week, and DOESN'T HE KNOW THERE IS TRADE SHOW WORK TO BE DONE? I am dying here.
I have been using WAL-MART! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY! WAL-MART!

They open back up tomorrow. Supposedly.
And I am sure there will be a seventeen hour line at the photo center.
Sigh.

The First Ice Cream Truck Man--Stereotyping at its best.

Ice Cream Truck drivers are creepy.

I don't know if you have them where you live, or not, but here in suburban Utah they are alive and well.

They are usually men.
The one today was sporting a nice porn-stache.

I don't care what you say about your great uncle Marvin who was the nicest guy that made an honest living doling out overpriced popsicles to neighborhood kids.

I still think pedophile.