where has this week gone...

I feel like this week has passed in the blink of an eye. I don't feel like I have an awful lot to show for the time that has passed either! I do have a sneak peek of my magazine projects though:



I'll spill details when I am able. What I can share for sure is that it is set to be published in June...just about the time we're coming out of our adjusting-to-life-with-a-new-baby coma.

Since completing the magazine project on Tuesday, I've been trying to catch up on housework and first of the year organizing. Some days are pretty successful. Other days, not so much. On top of all this, we finally got a referral to an allergist for Caleb and after putting him through a couple of absolutely WRETCHED allergy panels we now know, much to my chagrin I might add, our child is severely allergic to most molds, is moderate to severely allergic to dust mites and animal dander and has a mild case of asthma. The doctor may as well have poked me in eye with a rusty railroad stake. Until this point I have been extremely lax about dusting...if the dust layer wasn't disturbed, I didn't dust it. Needless to say we've been busy dusting everything from top to bottom, bagging every pillow, mattress and box spring in the house, and avoiding animals with fur or feathers.

In between dusting, throwing away useless crap and making donation piles I have also been working on logo sketches for my brother's shaved ice company, the beginnings of a paperbag journal (for my theme I've chosen, and based on this post alone it should be no surprise, BALANCE, as in why can't I keep any and what do I need to do to fix it) for a round-robin being hosted by Theresa, and a dozen or so Valentine ATCs for my swap and Mary Ann's swap too.

coming up for air...

I have been totally buried with my project work the last few days and because of that I am WAY behind on emails and what not.

The Valentine ATC swap is closed. I received a bunch of emails from people and it filled up fast! I will be emailing everyone (those in the swap and those who missed out) this afternoon or evening. I wish I had the time/energy to expand the swap roster for this one because there were so many new people to inquire! I was planning on putting the Spring ATC swap on hiatus this year since Molly is due in April, but I'm thinking, depending on how I am feeling and how my schedule is looking in late February, early March, I'll arrange it.

Back to work for me...time to proof read instructions one last time and run to the post office!

second annual valentine atc swap...

The swap is closed. Thanks to everyone who emailed about it! I will be emailing folks tonight with details.

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Okay, here's the rub: this year's Valentine ATC Swap will be plain and simple. The theme is simply Valentine related. Participants will make FIVE artist trading cards and will receive five cards in return. This year there is a twist. Along with your five cards I am asking that you send along five small (and preferably light weight) Valentine-y treats to be thrown into a pot and swapped around in a random fashion. The Valentine treats can be handmade or store bought, but keep this in mind: which would you rather receive? The bottom line is whatever you decide to send in, for both your cards and treats, please, PLEASE, be sure it's your best work as well as being something you would be thrilled to receive yourself. Please three .39 stamps if you are stateside and $1.70 if you are an international participant.

So to recap, not only will you receive five lovely Valentine ATCs you will also receive five different little Valentine treats as well.

The deadline for this swap will be next Friday, January 26th or once fifteen people have signed up. Mail your cards to me no later than Friday, February 2nd. It's a quick turn around, I know, but I want to make sure we'll be able to get our Valentine's in time for the 14th.

Email me at amy at aplcreations dot com to join. Please include your name, mailing address, and blog/flickr/whatever address in the email.

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P.S. Please take pictures or scan your cards and treats before mailing them to me and upload them to the flickr group. Thanks!

snow day...

Yes. I said snow day. We only have a scant amount of snow here but the roads all over the area are covered in black ice and the like. Of course this goes down on a day when I need to find a round chipboard box for my project (that is due in a week and a day) because the one round box I have left in my stash is conveniently missing its lid. The project will be published in June so I'm trying to think summery, bright thoughts while I'm designing and this disgusting, cold, gray weather is not helping me one bit!

In other news, six million tiny Lego pieces and about three hours later, Logan and I just completed the largest Bionicle EVER. It would have been nice if Lego had bothered to include all the pieces we would need, but being the clever little Lego builders we are, we cannibalized other Bionicle minions to finish it. I'll post a picture of it as soon as Logan is finished with his photo shoot.

For now it's time to make some soup and grilled cheese for lunch and then back to work.

icy again...

Over the long weekend we had Lynn's parents here to celebrate Christmas with them and Lynn's sister and brother-in-law. Along with the our company we had a weekend long ice storm. Fun stuff, being cooped up in house for the majority of the weekend and without internet connection most of the time, I might add.

The highways and overpasses melted yesterday afternoon so we headed down to Lewisville to exchange some gifts and have lunch with the boys (Logan and Lynn both had the holiday off). We bought a few outfits for Molly too. Caleb and Logan were SO cute wandering around the baby department picking things they think Molly will like or will be cute for Molly.

Today marks 26 weeks, 3 days for Molly and me. My hormones are completely insane right now...if you don't believe me, ask Lynn. He might fess up to the fact that I make him want to pull his hair out and hide in the closet under the stairs on a regular basis. I am living in a constant state of heart burn...water gives me heart burn. I think air might be giving me heart burn. I'm starting to miss my swollen nasal passages from the first trimester...at least then I could take a full breath without any effort. Nowadays...not so much. Sleep is becoming elusive again. At three o'clock this morning I had to kick the boys out of our bed...it's been so freaking cold the last several nights that they've been waking up cold from kicking their blankets off and climbing into our bed to remedy the situation. Looking at the 10-day forecast, it looks like early bedtimes for all of us is going to be the only way I'll get much sleep until the weather warms up a bit.

I haven't created anything since the middle of December and I'm itching to get back to work. I have a new magazine project due in a week and a half and a mile long list of things I want or need to make. It's going to be a busy week!

home again...

Just a quick post to let everyone know we're home, we're beyond tired and we're ready to get back to regularly scheduled programming! Christmas was great, Disney World was fun (but overly packed with people and too many aggrevating things with our resort room went on...more on that later...).

Saturday was my birthday and all I can say is do not ever travel on your birthday. It sucks. So much that I have enacted a new law at our house. We will not travel (at least by air) ever again on my birthday or my children's birthdays. Lynn doesn't seem to mind if he has to travel on his birthday but damn, people, it just sucked! Honestly, the worst birthday I've ever had. So I changed my birthday to yesterday for 2007 to make up for it :). Sunday was a much better day!

Caleb and I are off to another doctor's appointment down in Dallas in a few minutes. Another ecocardio something or other for Molly. They'll be checking her blood flow and overall well being again (a routine exam for babies with moms who have high blood pressure, or so they tell me) and then we'll be rushing back to Denton to pick up Logan from school. Back to the daily grind and I am so glad to be doing it.