my girl is SO sick

We are on more than 24 hours of puking. The fever is gone, that is just about the only good news. The pediatrician says it is either a virus or the flu, "maybe the flu on the news"...it doesn't matter. Why? Because they don't treat any of those things. No tamiflu unless you are high risk. He even went so far as to say they are saving it for later, as this flu could revisit and be more brutal. Ugh. Everything else was ruled out: strep, ear infection etc. So, she suffers. And I nurse the poor pitiful thing. She finally fell asleep about 1 hour ago and so I ran to my office like a woman possessed. I honestly cannot endure one more minute of iCarly, Spongebob or Zack and Cody. I have mounds and stacks of things to do, that I need to do. Instead...I decide to start making something for me. It will hopefully be a good blend of:
PLUS
Using my left over fabric from a banner I am making for my mantle as the circles/leaves.
So, for now I escape by cutting and ironing until the whimpers beckon me back down the hall.

Both photos are from my favs on Flickr.

celebrating light: photography overlays

There is lots of discussion out there about bokeh, which is the blurry blurbs of light you sometimes see on photographs (that is my dumbed down description!). She talks about bokeh and she often highlights sun flare. Read their blogs to learn more and be inspired. But, if you do not quite achieve the look by sheer talent or dumb luck, how about these tools:

BEFORE

AFTER

Celebrating Light overlays by Leora Sanford at Little Dreamer. If you are a photography + photoshop enthusiast, block off some time b/c these are way too fun not to try out. And tweak. And then tweak some more. A reliable source tells me they might be on sale later today. Buy them here.

And on the home front, I think we have our first H1N1 candidate, Miss Shelby K. Miss Shelby hails from Ohio, sports a 102 temperature, little appetite and the desire to sleep a lot...leaving her mother with time to write this post. But not yet shower for the day. If the fever is still around tomorrow we will visit the ped's office perhaps for some Tamiflu. My poor girl.

a sample of what's on my to-do list

I have started my 2010 calendars for gifts. My coin quilt is farther along than this picture indicates but still not close to completion. More gifts nearly ready (for my postponed gift exchange) but not quite. I have another banner started for another gift giving purpose and loads of creative ideas circling around. The problem? My job, the kids, the laundry, the dirty house...I have so much to do that I go around in circles trying to decide which is first, end up procrastinating and that is just ineffective! I need to make the best use of my remaining 45 minutes before the kids return from school and then tackle tomorrow head on!

picasa tips

I have had some good dialogue regarding using Picasa to organize digital scrapbooking supplies, over at the Little Dreamer blog. If you'd like to follow along, here is Post 1. And then yesterday's follow up.

And a fun fall picture for good measure!!

Goodbye Halloween

It was a great day and night!

The obligatory family picture, with new addition Skipper the HOTdog.

Expertly carved pumpkins.

The pumpkin cupcakes.

And the gang. We host a pre trick-or-treat party each year. It was cool but sunny as you can tell, so a drastic improvement from earlier in the day. This a collection of the tricksters who attended.