Lots of little stuff...

I am sure these things won't be typed in any particular order, since nearly every day this week I had something I wanted (or thought I did) to blog about, but I let the day/event come and go and blogpost never did I make. So, here it is saturday morning 6:55 a.m. easter (and why am I up so early??? I got up with a burning urge to make a paper in a design I saw somewhere in the mall. funky. cute too....but I haven't made it over to photoshop yet, so in a little while I will I guess)...Let's see what I was going to post this week:

First I was riding in the car from work after Dh picked me up (not sure which day...but I promise it was this week) Anyway, he picked me up and he got to talking about his day. He has lots of not-so-great days at work, because of the administration though, and fellow educators, not his students. Anyway, everyone at his school at this time is FCAT (standardized test, be and end all of student progression so they say) ANYWAY...they're FCAT ruled and he is not. While other teachers are acting like zombies and people programmed into FCAT, he's still being a teacher. Doing things with the kids that they like and generally teaching them like we used to be taught when we were in school - it's not ALL about the tests they give you and sad that we don't all always realize that..anyway, once again. I digress. So, he was in the car talking about his day and how his method of teaching gives him the ability to really touch the kids and connect with them and he started crying. He's so sensitive, but it's cute, nice. He was really pouring out his heart to me about how he feels about the students and how it's sad their other teachers don't give them that same attention and time. Now, while this is nice, and I love him for it...I am scared of what teachers will be handling my two girls, as they obviously won't be able to be in his class when they're finally in 5th grade. Anyway...that's one of the things I wanted to post about....Let's see if I can think of another:

Hmmm, what else? Oh yeah, I wanted to do a product plug, but I'm going to skip that. I'm learning to give good balance in this blog between my LIFE and my BUSINESS and I think for every BUSINESS post I should have at least to life ones....granted my most recent posts have been of a rantish nature...but what can I say? Oh, that reminds me of something else I wanted to talk about - this time about my work.

I have the greatest trainee-in the world. She's so eager to learn all she can and she has the willingness that will make her a great Trial Clerk. Whoever ends up with her is going to be very lucky and have an awesome partner. She has given me public accolades for the way I train her, which is really nothing all that great to me, but I'm glad that she appreciates it. That's not really a rant, but the rant part I decided to leave out because it involved another person and would have just been grossly unnecessary.

Oh, here's some good stuff: i love my girls, they're always saying stuff that makes me tune my ears up a little more. I don't spend time around a lot of kids so when mine say things that I don't generally think of kids their age saying, I'm always like..wow...really? The other day alexis (the 6 year old) was singing happy birthday to noelle ... although it was after her birthday, but still, who cares about that technicallity...so, she was singing to her in the car some funky alexis-made version of happy birthday and then she stops and goes "Hmph, I don't want to sing that one, I want to sing the ORIGINAL VERSION...."original version" is what made me to "really? wow..." She also came home singing the black national anthem...and if you don't already know what song that is, it starts off with "lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring..." and you can click those lyrics if you wish to read the rest of them, if you wish to listen to a very nice version by Melba Moore & Stevie Wonder, find it here. It was written in 1900 as a poem by a black principal in jacksonville, fl.

Have a very good rest of your day.

Quality Time and New Products!!!!

I have something to say (I know you're thinking I always do) but this is not a rant today. I love my daughters (and dh too, really, i do) . Last night we had the best time hanging out together on the sofa (after Alexis was allowed a reprieve from her punishment of "to your room" banishment (2 days of this, for lying about specific behavior in class..tsk tsk tsk little girl) Anyway...we were all just huddled under the great throw my mom gave me for my 30th this past september and all laid all over my husband. eating popcorn and watching ZOOM! (and the zenith team?)

Quality time is so important. It's hard to tear myself away from my computer sometimes, but I do the best that I can to make sure they don't have much occassion to "miss me". I think tonight we'll play candyland. Dh had oral surgery friday morning (eek!) maybe I'll do a dental visit kit next? It was the first time he'd been to the dentist in (okay stop, that's none of your business, and why the heck am I writing that? lol)

Anyway, just wanted to take a quick moment and say how awesome my family is and how much quality time with them means to me.

Okay...so I had another vent today, but...for the benefit of what readers I do have, I'm going to forgo that and INSTEAD I'm going to pimp my new product. Seriously, I'm so stinking finking proud of it and I've gotten great feedback. I am really hoping it does well and was worth all the time and effort I put into it. It's a storybook stuff collection - different sets are really 'scene's and related items for a different kind of story each. The first two I'm releasing is Daily Life (perfect for stories of a kiddie's home life and who's in their immediate family) and Beach Time (need I say more?) Both of these are $4.00, but Daily Life, because it's the initial offering, includes three sets of families (man, woman, boy girl) and each in black, asian and caucasian. Anyway, I also did a seperate set of the characters (families) only... for those that purchase beach time. You can see these sets below:

You can get each one in my store (of course right?)

Daily Life is here Beach Time is here

Who's Responsible?

There is a serious lack of a very important trait in our society today. I don't how it is in other cultures, but in our beloved America, we are quickly becoming a society where the phrase "Personal Responsibility" is becoming not just unknown, but downright obselete.

What happened to the days where when I kid did something wrong, it was the kid's fault, and not the result of some faulty manufacturing or the like. Where are the days where, if your kid misbehaves in school, and bullies other kids, he's held responsible for his actions and not just we aren't just letting consequences go by the way-side because, oh goodness little johnny is having troubles because his parents got a divorce. BIG DEAL. Divorced parents doens't give little johnny the right to trample on other students. Divorced parents might mean little Johnny needs emotional counseling, but little johnny needs to be made aware that his actions are inexcusable.

A 3 year old child would not buckle her seatbelt, wouldn't stay seated in her spot, and the parents couldn't control her. The airline put them off. The parents are telling everyone on creation how the airline embarrassed them. CONTROL YOUR DAMN CHILD. It's your child's behavior that's the embarrassment, not the consequence of them - at least it used to be that way. I wouldn't be surprised if these parents brought a civil suit of some type against the airline with their 'embarrassment' at the center of it. Give me a break people. If the child is out of line (and is there one of you reading this blog that's going to tell me it's okie dokes for a kid to run around on a plane - whether it's in flight or grounded?) anyway, if the child is out of line, discipline them in whatever way you choose, but make them understand that their behavior is unacceptable.

The little girl that got her hand stuck in the easy bake oven and the light burned her hand and got blisters on it now has easy back ovens being recalled. What the hell for??? Because she did a 6 year old thing and stuck her hand in a place where It didn't belong? So, her hand got caught...that's not easy bake oven's fault - HER FRIKKIN HAND DOESN'T BELONG IN THE DAMNED OVEN!!! Her mom is saying that easy bake ovens are "a very very dangerous toy". Funny, my girlfriends and I all had easy bake ovens (in fact, I broke 2 and so consequently I had 3 of them). Did i try to touch the baking light bulb? Of course I did. Did I snatch my fingers back after they got to hot? Of course I did...is that easy bake oven's fault? Of course it isn't. I am curious to know how the parent dealt with her child about putting her hands in places they obviously don't belong - oh, and let's not forget to mention how she left the child unattended at the oven while waiting for the goods to cool inside the oven.

It's just getting to the point where no one wants to take any of the blame or own up to any of the responsibility of things gone wrong. If noelle and alexis do something wrong to someone, they deal with the consequences, and they're always severe enough that they are a deterent to a repeat performance of bad behavior. But, this personal responsibility issue isn't in away limited to kids and parents, because i'm far from what I would consider a perfection in parenting. Let's talk about the people suing mc donalds because they're fat and slovenly overweight. IT'S A FRIKKIN FAST FOOD RESTAURANT YOU DORK. Push your arse away from the drive-through and go walk a mile. If you're logging a mickey d's visit full of fries and burgers on a semi-daily basis, then 6 months later your scale registers an extra 50 lbs, why would you sue mcdonalds? Because they're advertisers are good at their job? COME ON PEOPLE!!!!

I'm sure someone's reading this and going to think "who the hell does she think she is" but really...people need to wake up and realize that you're responsible for most things in your own life. Don't blame everyone else.

How About....A Bi-Weekly Challenge???

I always get such a fantastic response from my black history layouts. I am not exactly a 'fan' of history, but researching the information to create layouts and share with my children (and my husband's students) always gives me great pleasure, ESPECIALLY when I see the outcome.

I once hosted a bi-weekly chat where I picked a topic and we scrapped that historical topic, but with a twist, we scrapped it in relation to our own ethnic backgrounds. We had a wonderful time in that chat and everyone that was involved made such AWESOME layouts and we all learned about each other - and even about ourselves. What a great way to learn about other cultures!!! Bring the personal touch of YOU into informative learning, and doubling it up with your hobby...

I think this provides an enormous opportunity and I invite all of you to join in. Please accept the quickpage that I have linked at the bottom of this post as my first freebie to you guys for joining me in my quest to gain knowledge from you and desire to share knowlege with you.

If this is your first encounter with this, view some historical layouts of the sort that I'm speaking here.

Here is how it would work:

1. I will post a topic bi-weekly, and announce it everywhere that I can - the better to have more cultures involved.
2. You will have 2 weeks between topics to create a layout and upload to whatever gallery you wish, but in your description, if there isn't journaling on the layout, please tell us about how this layout relates to your ethnic background/heritage or culture. Please don't hesitate to include your personal views/feelings in your layout/description.
3. Please leave a comment here on the topic with a link to your layout
4. I will provide a small token of my appreciation for your sharing your knowledge with me and for allowing me to share mine with you.

The start date of this would be February 12, 2007 as the date of the First Scrap Topic for this challenge.

I really hope this garners a good # of participants and that over time we can all learn from each other. If all goes well, I will start a seperate blog to house this heritage challenge.

Speaking of which - any suggestions on what we should call it? I will give the chosen suggestion submitter my new paperpack (scrap it in black) FREE.


Challenge Sign Up Challenge Bonus Link

New Item

I love this paper pack. It's all black and soft pink. Fun swirly lines too. It's only $3.50 and of course, exclusively at Digitals. You can get it here.

See....isn't this cute?

Ethical Parenting VS. Good Parenting

Last night Nightline had a segment on about parents that send their children to schools outside their district (public schools) because they're better than the schools their children are supposed to attend. One family had to pay back philadelphia school board 29,000.00 based on their child attending that school and not one they were supposed to go to.

To dh, this is fine. Not the fine is fine, but the taking your children to another school they're not zoned to go to is fine. According to him, his parents did it for him, he did it for his son, and now that we have 2 daughters, he says he will do it for them also.

PRETENDING YOU LIVE IN A PLACE YOU DON'T IN ORDER TO SEND YOUR CHILD TO THAT SCHOOL. FAKING ADDRESSES AND THAT STUFF IS WHAT I'M REFERRING TO.

If you were asking the district for the ability to attend a different school, that would be different, but i'm referring to SNEAKING YOUR CHILD INTO THE SCHOOL HE OR SHE DOESN'T BELONG IN.

My problem with this, basically, is that it isn't right. He always says that everything with me is so black and white and that i'm such a GOOD person. Now, I've never professed to be Miss Holier Than Thou or Miss Never Do Wrong, but I do know that some things (to my way of thinking of course) are just wrong. I think this is one of them. I think it's wrong because it only exacerbates the biggest problems in a lot of schools today, overcrowding. Not only that, for every child that is going to a school they don't belong in, a child is NOT able to go to that school they DO belong in. Schools can only hold so many children, and this is something that pushes the limits. But, be that as it may, my question, to you all, is how do you feel about it?

Even though it's technically best for your child to send your child to another school, because it's better in one or several ways, is it RIGHT? Not only are you breaking the law by sending your child to another school, but you're forcing funds from that district/county/school that should be spent on another, rightful, child, to be spent on your child.

In our case, we do not live in an affluent neighborhood. It's middle class with a lot of low income families sprinkled in. I am fairly sure that the school my daughters will be zoned for (unless things change) when they get to high school is going to be Evan's, which is not a good school. We grade our schools in Florida and Evans is either a D or an F school. There are frequent fights there, and like a lot of other schools, the ratio of graduates is not that high. I don't blame the school for this and I surely don't blame the teachers, being married to one. This is a whole other subject, but parents and students need to take responsibity for their educations, administrators and teachers can only do so much. Anyway, that said, I will still send them to that school, because I believe that you should do the right thing, ethically speaking, because integrity and ethics count, and just because a thing or an action would benefit you/your child, doesn't mean is the right decision to make. He says they will be going to West Orange high school, which is either a B or an A, and not known much for violence in it's students. I don't know the graduation rate.

Alright, so I'm done blabbering...what do you think?

What the heck am I doing?

My designs are getting better...but my sales are getting smaller. This is the result, I think, of being not very visible on the web. This, has, got, to, change. *sigh*

I am in terrible need of making a real schedule and that means a schedule for production of kits and other products. Learning more programs that give me better options, and not being afraid to use other's 'cmomercial' use items. The reason I never have used them inthe past is because I didn't want to sell a kit made from other designer's work, you know what I mean? But, I am guessing, from what I'm seeing, that 'commercial use' stuff is okay...in moderation. I mean, I'm not totally sold on the idea of using it yet, but maybe one day I might.

I think my main problem lies in advertising though. My Creative Team is great, they always work very well with what I have, but Dang it all, I need to be more working myself, myself. I'm going to start being a better promoter of myself, and see if I don't make a difference then. Having a hobby is all well and good, but I'm really in this to make money while I make memories. I mean, why else would I spend the $$$ I've spent so far? I'll tell you why, I WOULDN'T!!!!!

So, on that note, I think I need to get a girl to do advertisements for me or something like that. I should definitely take advantage of the adverstisement creators at Digitals that are there for the Designers' benefit. Why do I think I have to do this all by myself when tools are at the ready? *sigh* oh well...I am going to have to learn to make use of the helps I have available to me. That, and schedule myself.