random thoughts... all free today

Come to paradise!

New contest heating up over in paradise.....Croppin' Paradise that is!

http://www.croppinparadise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6660

Ya gotta hurry though...sign-ups end Friday!!!

See you in Paradise my friends!

~h

3M ROCKS my world...or at least holds it together pretty damn well

A little over a year ago I took the plunge and indulged myself with this:

 

I'd read the reviews of how everyone just LOVED this thing for scrapbooking.  LOTS AND LOTS of adhesive per roll and as far as economical the adhesive lasted FOREVER.  As a person that at the time was scrapping as much as humanly possible with a busy life, i was going through those little tape runners at an alarming rate.  $6 a pop for refills was quickly adding up and while the initial investment of the ATG (about $50 retail) was a bit steep it made sense in the long run.

So i got one and once it was delivered into my hot little hands i was an adhesive applying FOOL.  I was totally impressed with the strength of the adhesive as well as how eas it was to apply.  yes the gun was a bit unwieldy at first but i quickly caught on.  I went through about a roll and a half of adhesive when the problems began.

It would bind up or pull, the tapes were beginning to snap when i was using it and that is NO END OF FRUSTRATING.  So i chalked it up to me being a dumbass and not using it correctly and rewound the tapes ENDLESS times.  Still not working.  I took the tape out, inspecting the "guts" of the gun thinking maybe something was too tight.  took a screw driver to a couple screws to loosen the rolls.  NOTHING was helping.

I put the gun away and nearly a year had passed.  Started buying the $6 refills for my little tape runner again.  Until late one night after tackling the massive amounts of wedding invitations i was making for casey's sister (and making two trips to buy more refills), i thought i'd do some research.  there had to be SOMETHING about the ATG gun that i was missing and i was gonna find out if i really was the only dumbass that couldn't make it work right.  enter the internet.  (angels singing)  I found many sites that had folks posting about similar problems, indicating that  bad batch of ATG guns was produced right around the time i bought mine.  AH-HA it wasn't ME!  (at least i truly hoped so)

Quite a few people had contacted 3M themselves and had great results with them replacing their defective ATG guns. Figured what the hell.  yes it had been over a year since i had purchased mine and they might tell me to go to hell but they might also HELP ME.  So i emailed them LATE that night.  And by 5:30am the next morning I had a wonderful email from Barb.  (angels singing again)  She wanted my phone number so she could call and make some arrangements with me.  So i emailed right back with my number and i KID YOU NOT about 20 minutes later my phone rang.

Barb is the SWEETEST lady and OMG soooo helpful.  Not only did she set up to send me a postage paid label for me to send my defective gun BACK she walked me through the steps to temporarily fix the gun i did have so i could finish up all those wedding invitations.  I was floored.  companies don't DO that anymore and it was soooo pleasant to be so well taken care of.  And by a REAL person who knew her stuff! 

After her quick fix the gun worked MUCH better, and i told her if that would fix the gun i had there really was no need to send it back.  She insisted that they send me a BRAND NEW one because "it should have worked that way the first time out of the box and for that we are very very sorry...you will be getting a new one that works ALL THE TIME."  I must have been on the phone with her for a good half hour and she was SUCH a delight.  Barb....i know you might NEVER read this but just in case you do, I want to say how WONDERFUL an employee and a person you are.  You have made me one HAPPY HAPPY crafter!  3M is lucky indeed to have you on their staff!

to anyone on the fence about getting a ATG gun, please DO NOT hesitate.  Not only is it a great product (i just got my new one in the mail this week) but the customer service is PHENOMENAL.  They TRULY stand behind their product and that is worth ANY price.

Thank you Barb and 3M for making my crafting life absolutely BLISS!

~h 

creativity from the weekend *yay*

Got to scrapbook yesterday and this is what i made:

 

And of course you can't forget those delicious details:

 

Notice that very cool patch?  The one from those kits that i picked up at Michael's on friday and couldn't wait to use?  I LOVE those things and i'm totally gonna use another one because they inspire me.  I also used some very OLD product from my stash, including the Cherry Arte background paper.  i've had that line in my drawer for a couple years now and finally got around to using it.  With casey being out of work, i've gotta use what i got instead of buying all the new stuff.  I'm finding that digging through my many MANY drawers, boxes and bins of stuff is giving me brand new eyes for things that i've had for EVER.  It's refreshing and i feel good about using the stuff instead of just hoarding it.

Just wanted to share my little bit of creativity from this weekend.  I think next weekend i'll be working on a home decor piece for connor's bedroom.  that skull and roses patch is BEGGING to be used.  :D

happy monday,

~h

new goodies

Stopped at Michael's yesterday to pick up the 12x12 frames they had on sale for $5.  Just happened to stop by the clearance racks at the front of the store and happened upon these babies:

 

 

At under $2 each i had to grab them up.  (regular price $7.99?  who would pay that for these???)  There's a total of 8 patches in each one and OH MY are they very very cool.  There's no sticky backing like you would usually find on the back of typical iron-on patches so they are PERFECT for scrapbooking.  My favorite is the "vintage" one.  The humor on each patch is sublimely cheeky and i LOVE it.  The tattoo one is mostly for Connor....he loves ANYTHING with skulls on it.

Just wanted to share my inspiring find for CHEAP CHEAP.  Go to Michael's and check them out for yourself!

have a great saturday!

~h

CHECK IT OUT!!! COME WIN ME!!!

Go to Imaginisce Blog for a chance to win their newest gadget the I-top.  I sooooo want one of these babies....just IMAGINE (ha ha get it?) the things you could do with this!!!

Seriously....go click now and leave a comment and link back to your blog like i did.  you might get one of your very own!

~h 

two things

1. jackson did great at swimming lessons last night.  he was so excited to go to lessons last night that he bugged casey about it at least hourly all day yesterday.  "Casey....are we going to the pool now?"  "how much longer?"  "when will my mommmy be home so we can go swimming?"  I'm very happy that he is FINALLY excited about learning to swim and kind of over the fear and apparent torment it brings him.

about halfway in the teacher produced his MOST FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE SWIMMING WORLD.  kickboards.  he looooves kickboards.  like really reallyloves them.  well his feat on monday of jumping into the pool from the side and swimming a fair distance to the teacher buoyed his fearlessness.  he decided about 5 feet from the side of the pool that he really didn't needthat kickboard.  he could swim now.  so he let go of the darned thing and started to flap his arms and legs crazily, trying to get to the edge of the pool.  he got about 2 feet and then went down.  once.  twice.  halfway into three.  his little shrieks muffled by him going under water again.  the teacher wasn't paying attention at first (focusing on the last child to get to the side instead) but then spotted him just as one of the other kids in his class (who just happens to be 5 foot plus) picked him up out of the water and held him until she got there.  he was shaken, obviously.  he was coughing and choking a little bit but she comforted him and kept a smile on her face the whole time.  i'm thankful.  thankful that he had this incident to scare him back into reality.  yes...he's getting better but he can HARDLY swim yet.  i had a feeling something like this would happen sooner rather than later and i'm glad it happened with so many people around to help him out.  it scared him enough to show him that he still has a long ways to go to be a good, strong swimmer.  but not enough to make him swear off learning.  i'm terribly relieved that a) he was ok and b) that he still is just as excited to go today. 

2. I'm bored at work right now and thought i'd blog surf a bit.  i stumbled across this blog:

Cry It Out - memoirs of a stay-at-home dad

I have to say that today's post brought me to tears.  tears because i remember those days and it brought them all back so poignantly.  the pain and the joy of having a newborn and going through all those same things.  it's very refreshing to me to hear the viewpoint of a stay-at-home dad.  If anyone wants to check it out, he's a great writer.  

So i think that's it for now.  i'm leaving work in 26 minutes and it can't go by fast enough.

happy humpday,

~h 

seeded grapes....

...WHO buys these things?  better YET...WHO EATS THEM???

note to self:

next time you send the man to the store to buy "fruit" be EXPLICIT that grapes should NOT be seeded.  :(

totally ruining my craving to have some fruit.

~h

YAYYYYYYYYY!!!! for Hero Arts!

Check it out:

http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/

They are celebrating all week for their NEW AND IMPROVED website launch on Wednesday!  Go check it out, there are TONS of very cool projects already up (and they just started posting yesterday - you will DROOL I SWEAR) not to mention lot of very awesome give-aways in celebration!

Please be sure to check out the various links at the top, the techniques tab is MY FAVE because i can always use some inspiration to get more out of my MANY MANY stamps.

Pasted directly from their website just in case you DON'T believe me:  (it really does seem too good to be true, doesn't it?)

"Welcome to our BIG week here at Hero Arts! We are so excited - we have SO much to share with you each day.  Go ahead and take a moment to add to your calendar to “check Hero Arts” every day this week.  It will be worth it.  There will be DOUBLE prizes, games, ideas, giveaways and more! And Wednesday is the BIG DAY - the launch of many fun new things here at Hero Arts.

This week we are celebrating our new website, but stick around because next week we will start showing some peeks of our new stamps coming out at CHA in a couple weeks. So much excitement!"

So yeah...very very cool.  Please go check it out and see what very cool stuff they have ALREADY!!  I'm sure the week will only bring MORE cool stuff so check EVERYDAY!!

enjoy,

~h

overhead in my backyard last night

the boy: "So how old is jetters (our black lab) going to be tomorrow?

me: "two...he'll be two years old tomorrow."

the boy: (putting his hand to his ear in that what did you just say manner) "so can i hear you say it?  casey? you were RIGHT?"

me: "whatever...you've put more years on me than i know what to do with."

the boy: (laughing as only the self-righteous can) "yeah...ok"

Backstory:  casey and i had a discussion just a few weeks ago on how old the dog is.  i stated very matter-of-factly that he was going to be THREE.  I truly and honestly thought the dog was going to be THREE.  Well turns out, he's only going to be TWO.  I told casey that i would look it up on his papers but turns out i really didn't have to.  i blogged about him joining our family HERE  last year.  Granted it was in September when we brought him home but his birthday is July 13th.

As it turns out, blogs are really good for proving to others what a collossal retard you are and that you're so consumed with day-to-day BS that you forget how old your dog is going to be.

So there you have it peeps....I WAS WRONG.  yes, you read it right....I WAS WRONG.

Enough admissions for today.  it's monday and i am soooo ready to BE HOME. (and i hate admitting i'm wrong - just ask anyone that knows me)

~h 

monday, monday....la laaaa la la la la

i'm sure i am not the first and probably not the last that will EVER name a monday posting with that title.  sorry...sometimes i'm the shepherd and others the sheep...baaaaaaa baaaaaaaa.

i'm posting from work (shhhh!) and it's been a very uneventful day so far.  i'm glad but i'm also not.  if it's busy then the day flies by at LIGHTING speed but then again, we're busy and taking breaks or eating a hot meal is not something that usually happens.  if it's slow then the day drags on FOREVER and you begin to feel stir crazy and that quitting time will NEVER come.  You can only chat with your co-workers and eat so many snacks before you want to scream and run for the parking lot.

tonight we have swim lessons for jackson.  week #2.  so far he has shown great improvement since last summer's lessons.  he still doesn't:

1. listen to the teacher.  (like EVER - he's too busy in his own little world doing whatever he ever-lovin-wants)

2. let her let go of him AT ALL (she can't even *THINK* of letting go of him) or he freaks out and starts to verbally berate her for not "helping" him. :sigh:

3. allow anyone else to do anything better than him AT ALL.  last week they had a race with kickboards and he was CLEARLY pissed off that the kid next to him got across the pool first.  (mind you, it was only by a few inches and this kid is as tall as i am - i kid you not)  No one can swim, paddle, kick or spash as well as he can and if they DO then he proceeds to tell them why they are NOT better than he is or how they cheated to make him lose.

He's a little guy for his age and most definitely suffers from a Napoleon complex.  It's no fun being momma to this little hot-head when he gets into his moods.  I pray for my sanity daily and for his well being.  I just know one day i will receive a phone call that he either kicked some poor kids' butt for looking at him cross-ways or the opposite - that some kid finally kicked his butt for being the mouthy little turd that he is.

Either way it probably won't be good.  And that is my thought of the day.  God help my poor mouthy child and his larger than life attitude.  He needs all the help he can get.

Back to work for me - happy monday peeps.

~h