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I just feel giddy with excitement about all of the fun things happening at Polka Dot Potato right now! There was so much energy and activity today, it just makes me happy.

First, the Potato Bar is open! I LOVE the Potato Bar! And somehow the PDP designers manage to outdo themselves every time we have one. If you’re not familiar with the Potato Bar, you have to be sure and check it out. It’s full of awesome (and I mean AWESOME) digital goodies, all for just 99 cents! It will blow you away!

On top of that fun sale, we have some HUGE news that our customers will really love! All of our products are now Scrap for Hire friendly! But really, it’s even better than that. You can read all about the new License Agreement here, but bottom line, it gives tons of freedom and flexibility to our customers. We all worked very hard as a team to create the new terms and we’re really proud of it.

But wait, there’s more! We just added two new designers to PDP. Jeni Cantrill joined us last week and Kim Crothers officially joined us today. I’ve been drooling over Kim’s work for nearly 2 years so I’m am just ecstatic she’s with us.

We have another MAJOR scrapbook manufacturer joining PDP but you’re going to have to wait to find out who it is! We’ll unveil that next week.

We also have some very cool FREE WITH PURCHASE offers on the site that you don’t want to miss out on. Spend $10 and get Winter Dreams 4 x 6 brag book free or spend $15 and get Winter Dreams plus a 2008 CD Quick Page Calendar by Creative Imaginations and Amanda Lee.

See why I’m so excited!?

I just scrapped some PJ pics of my girls with the Winter Dreams set. My plan is to Mod Podge these to some 4 x 6 chipboard and make a couple of little books for each of them. I think they will love them!

Is there anything more fun than new pajamas??

My wild weekend is coming to a close. Friday was a serious “me” day. I was totally feeling guilty about it…especially the part about dumping my four year old off at a friends house even though she had great big alligator tears in her eyes and was crying “Mommy don’t leave me!”… But Mama really, really needed a break. So selfishly I went with Virginia & D’Uan to pick up Donna Downey from the airport and do a little shopping at Sam Moon. What a blast we had at the “wall of hair”. Emily met us there and all but D’Uan left Sam Moon’s sporting about 2 pounds of extra hair and a scarf. I actually love my extra hair! It came in super duper handy this morning when I was running way late to church. I threw that sucker on and Ella couldn’t have complimented me enough on the way to church. “Mama, I love your hair. Mama, you look so pretty today. Mama, you look just gorgeous.” and my very favorite… “Mama, you are all pretty” Ella is very vocal about whether or not she approves of my clothes or hair. And more often than not, I hear “Mama, that doesn’t look good on you.” It all makes me laugh. She’s the fashion police. I think I got about 10 compliments and church and totally wow’d the Jr. High kids with my secret hair.

Here’s a video I snagged from Donna’s blog so you can see all of us buying hair.

So my plan on Friday was to pick up the girls and head home for a break before I took Donna’s Blue/Black Damask class. However, due to some class kit confusion, Virginia and I ended up back in the car racing around town to pick up some necessities to get the store through their weekend with Donna. I was actually so glad because I felt purposeful and no longer guilty for my “me” day. The class was great and I can’t wait to finish the entire album.

Saturday was all a blur. Exhausted was an understatement to how I was feeling. You know that deep down tired…emotionally exhausted, physically exhausted, and any other kind of exhausted you could be… that was me. I thought I might shutdown any given second. Ben was gone for the day doing Group Dynamics with the other Jr. High leaders and I was taking care of 7 kids, ages 7 mos to 13. Ben thought he was going to be gone from 1 to 5 but it turned into noon to 8. When he hit the door with pizza, I stuffed 4 pieces down my mouth and went straight to bed. Ahhhhh, glorious sleep! I’m feeling great today.

Gracie must be growing something serious. She went to bed at 6pm yesterday and didn’t get up until 9am this morning. And she’s taking another nap right now!

Today is Ben’s birthday! He doesn’t know it, but he’s getting a party at the skate rink in just a few hours. Of course, I’m not his favorite person right now. A friend asked if he could mountain bike today and he said yes. And when he told me his plan, I told him I didn’t want him to go b/c I was afraid that would mean he wouldn’t want to take me skating. “It’s all about you, isn’t it…even on my birthday”. And then he went on to mention how he gets jipped every year for his birthday, blah, blah, blah. And I had to tell him how sorry I was for being so selfish, blah, blah, blah. He’s riding after all, even though I’ve “ruined” it for him 🙂 I did chat with the friend and he’ll be sure to get Ben back in time for his surprise party. Now, off to Target to get 36 candles, the one thing I totally forgot. Here’s a 36″ banner (for his 36th birthday) I made yesterday to hang at the party.

It’s 1 am and I’m scheduled to get up at 6. But with one too many cups of late night coffee and a really exciting day tomorrow, I just can’t sleep!

I’ve had the most amazing realizations over the last week or so…things that I’ve known in the back of my head but are now increasingly obvious…and things so important that I can’t forget them. Last week, Ben and I started giving our “life stories” to our church community group. Ben and I come from opposite upbringings, both which would give us the right to pull the crazy card… but somehow God protected us. Looking back, I see just how fragile we were. And watching the struggles of friends makes me so much more appreciative of the type of struggles Ben and I have. We generally don’t have problems with lack of communication. If anything, we over-communicate. Nothing makes me madder than when we get snippy with each other, and I hang up on him, (yes, I’m 5 years old) and then I’m dying to tell him something but can’t call because I can’t remember why I hung up on him just 5 minutes before.

Speaking of Ben, Sunday is his 36th birthday and I’ve ordered him the most fabulous balloon bouquet on the face of the earth to be delivered to work tomorrow. Which is another reason I can’t sleep. The picture hardly does it justice. We used to be in the “balloon business” so one thing I know how to do is order balloons. And for you DFW people, Balloons Everyday is the only place to go. They do the best job in town.

The final reason I’m super excited about Friday is because I get to hang with the delightful Donna Downey in the morning! Not because she requested my presence or because we’re great buds…only because I bogarted my way into Virginia’s van to pick her from the airport. I’m not a scrapstalker or anything, but this girl is a hoot. I’m looking forward to the entertainment!

Tomorrow night, I’m going to take Donna’s brand new class, Blue/Black Damask album. I can hardly wait! The class goes until 11pm and I have no idea how I’m going to stay up that late. A triple shot something or other from Starbucks will definitely be in order!

I’ve still got some work to do tonight. It’s a Discovery Day at PDP, which means you get to “discover” a new designer! It’s Rikki’s turn in the spotlight! I really love these promotions. Not only do our customers get to know our designers better, I have a ton of fun putting the whole thing together and learning more about them myself. Be sure to take advantage of the 25% discount. Rikki is very talented and her papers are some of my favorites! You can read all about her here and pick up a freebie while you’re at it!

‘night!

I have this crazy idea in my head that I can’t seem to shake. And for me, it’s not just crazy, but downright insane. I just might…and I really mean just might…have aspirations to run a 5k. I am not a runner. I repeat. I am not a runner. I don’t like running AT ALL. I think I hate it, in fact. My over-sized bottom jiggling up and down for the world to see. Ugh! And my knees aren’t that great. Ever since I lugged hundreds of pounds of Spot Pocket Bars (not all at once) up some stairs b/c I was stubborn and way too impatient to let the boys do it, I’ve had issues. Sometimes I think my left knee tells me when it’s about to rain. Bad sign for my age. But the latest Experience Life Magazine, the free subscription we get from Lifetime Fitness, has this simple 3 month plan for training for a 5k. And it really does look pretty easy. Of course, I don’t think I’ve ever run 1/4 of a mile at once and the first workout includes a 1/2 mile of running. But something is urging me, at age 35, to stretch way outside my box and just see if I can do something I think I might hate… and make it something I love. I’ve already picked out some shoes! I’m digging the idea of these Nike Free 7.0 that are supposed to be like you’re running barefoot. I’ve never cared much for running shoes and I’m sure God knew what he was doing when he made our feet.

We’ll see. Still toying with the whole idea.

Here it is…a mega post to catch up the last month of my life. My relaxing holiday season was anything but. With several store visits, 3 parties at my house, print jobs galore and my own handmade gifts to do for the family, things were kind of crazy! But it was really one of the nicest Christmases I can remember. Ben has been working from home during the break so we’re all back to our bad habits of staying up until after midnight and sleeping in. Life is going to get tough next week.

The last month…where do I even begin….

First of all, I was out of a camera for about a week and a half. I was really stupid and hastily shoved the camera card into the camera breaking one of the pins on the inside of the camera…all b/c Ben was letting me take a pic of his thinning hair and I was so excited that he might be considering doing something about it. So, $250 later… Moral of the story: don’t be so vain! He has been taking a multivitamin and kelp and it already seems to be improving!

So, one of the most fun things I did with the kids I didn’t have my good camera for. Nolen is in choir and the 5th & 6th grade MST choir got to go to Stonebriar Mall to sing. The girls and I went out to watch. Then we all had lunch together in the food court, then headed over to the ice rink! None of us had ever ice skated so you can imagine what a sight it was to see me holding the girls hands…all three of us trying not to fall. I guess I have skated before, but I think I was like 10. I was sore for days afterward. But seriously, it was so much fun. I think the coolest thing was to see how much fun the big kids were having. They were kind of on their own at the mall and it was so neat! Nolen is so big now. He’s not my baby anymore. He is still talking about the Cajun Chicken he got in the food court. They enticed him with a free sample.

These were the best shots we got with our point and shoot…kind of pathetic.

Here’s some really exciting news! Nolen won the GRAND PRIZE in his school’s science fair which means he moves on to Regionals next month! Isn’t that the coolest!? Yet again, the project caused a little family strife. Mostly because Nolen came up with the experiment himself and it wasn’t our first choice for projects. But he obviously knows best! Having access to the Noritsu printer probably helped his odds. Didn’t the board turn out nice? I’m sure proud of my boy!

Ella turned 4 on the 18th of December. I managed to surprise her at Mother’s Day Out with a giant Happy Birthday balloon and a cookie cake for her class to enjoy. Unfortunately I forgot the poor girl’s lunch! Mother of the year I am not! The sweet thing was very understanding and was content with peanut butter pretzels that her teacher had in the cabinet…that she just sucked the peanut butter out of. After school I took Ella out for a special time together for her birthday. We went to Build a Bear, our first time there! She loved every single second of it. She picked a purple hippo and named her Rubbie. And decked her out in quite an outfit. We also went over to Old Navy where she loaded up on tights, her new favorite thing.

We had her party the weekend after with whatever sweet friends we could muster up who would be willing come to a birthday party just a few days before Christmas. It was a great gathering and she loved being in the limelight.

Our highlight of the holiday season was learning about the Ear Popper! Ella has constantly had fluid on her ears for the past year. We started noticing that her hearing was getting progressively worse. I took her to an ENT who looked in her ears for all of 2 seconds and decided she needed tubes and her adenoids out. We have an HSA and a high deductible insurance policy for our family which means we try to do our research before going forward with a high cost procedure like tubes. And the thought of even a common procedure like tubes made me scared…especially since she doesn’t suffer from any ear infection symptoms, just fluid in her middle ear. So Ben’s dad, who is super holistic suggested we do craniosacral therapy. Since he was paying, we went for it. Unfortunately, after the first session, she appeared to be more deaf than ever! I was so frustrated. I was Googling our dilemma…again…looking for a solution and came across information about this little device called the Ear Popper. I had to get a prescription and that took some phone calls and begging…but I figured it was worth a shot. $127 later I had it in my hands and after the very first use, my little Ella could hear! It’s amazing. You can read all about the device here. It’s so exciting because she’s really become a different girl. She is so much more friendly. She makes friends now wherever she goes. I prayed that we would find a solution other than tubes and I’m so happy that it appears we did!

On the 21st, I took the girls down to the station so they could see where Ben works. It was their last show for the year so there was food and lots of activity. Poor Gracie had been sick for a good week before and had really gotten skinny. This was one of her first well days and she woofed down about 3 big sandwich halves. It was good to see her eating again! We went to the Kidd Kraddick Christmas party on the night of the 21st. It was so nice to get away for a night together. Kidd gave HD Digital Camcorders to the cast and production staff. We didn’t have one so we were really thrilled to get it! Maybe I can do a video blog…but I don’t know if I’ll have enough guts to do that. Here we were before leaving for the party.

Christmas day was really, really nice. We normally totally overdo the Christmas gift giving to the point where I’m nauseated before we even start opening presents. But this year we were fairly frugal with the kids. It was so much better than going totally crazy! Nolen got Heely’s which made him very happy, especially since he didn’t even ask for them. Ben and I don’t normally exchange gifts but we did this year…early…only because I didn’t know he was in the house when I was on the phone with a friend telling her that I had just returned from Target with Ben’s ipod nano. I was devastated when I heard “I’m here!” from the other room. Ben quickly came up with the solution of exchanging our gifts right then. He gave me a big Bamboo Fun Wacom tablet. I haven’t had a chance to become one with my tablet yet, but I hope to soon. It’s so pretty! Here are some pics from the morning including our annual PJ pic – this is our 11th consecutive PJ pic! Yay us for sticking with something!

My mom had her house decorated so pretty for Christmas morning. These pictures just make me happy!

It was a Christmas miracle! A pic of me and my siblings…which means we were civil with each other!

New Year’s Eve we had some friends over…the only friends we have who are as irresponsible with their children’s bedtimes as we are. And all of the kids stayed up easily past 1 am! Gracie slept until 3:30 in the afternoon on New Year’s Day. I think she’s now a foot taller! Ella and I did our 2nd annual trip to Collin Creek Mall on New Year’s Day. I just loved it! I’m hoping Gracie will join us for our girl’s day next year. We returned a few outfits and got a few new ones. Ella bought a $3.00 ring from Claire’s…or rather…I bought her one. We ate in the food court and she played in the play area where she promptly picked up a 6 year old boy named Preston and showed him all of her new things. “Look at this cute shirt”…and then off they went climbing on something. She is the most girly tomboy I’ve ever known. New Year’s evening was dedicated to girly movies. I introduced Ella & Gracie to Girls Just Want to have Fun and That Thing You Do. We danced the night away in the living room.

I have some New Year’s Resolutions I’m working on. They’re swirling around in my head right now. I really need to get them on paper. I just love this time of year – I love the idea of starting over! I do hate that school is starting back for Nolen and reality is about to set in again. But then again, it will be nice to get back into a routine. Whew! This was exhausting! Resolution #1 – Don’t wait so long to blog!

I just love this time of year…from Thanksgiving to Christmas…it’s such an amazing time! And when I think about where I was last year, with so much hanging in the balance and feeling so without direction, this year is just so much sweeter! God is really amazing. This year is shaping up to be one for the most wonderful yet. Just before Thanksgiving, Ben went on the Kidd’s Kids trip which was just awesome for him. The stories about the families on the trip were really powerful. We made a scrapbook of the trip using the Magic Quickpages by Amanda Lee and Creative Imaginations.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. The cousins played really well together. And all of the kids are finally at the age where they can just run off and play. So nice as we planned our Black Friday morning. Here are a few pics from the day.

Nolen was no where to be found. He was running around with his cousins the entire day!

We managed to get our house decorated early. We were supposed to have a little party at our house right after Thanksgiving but the girls got a virus so there was a location change at the last minute. We bought some decorations from Target after Christmas last year, so it was so much fun having a few new pieces this year like the feather Christmas trees and new light bulbs for the doorways.

I just completed this layout highlighting our decor. I used one of Amanda’s Photo Stacker Templates and Laura Ping’s CurlyQ Kit and Tis the Season Add on. I love these kit!! It was so fun to actually be able to make a little time to decorate this year. Last year I think we pulled everything out at the last second and it was out until February! We’re really try to make up for our lameness last year by doing it up this year!

This last weekend I had the best time! I visited Gotta Scrap in Rockwall and did a little Digital Show ‘n Tell. They had the best set up for me and it was so great to get back into the swing of showing off what you can do with digital scrapbooking. Gotta Scrap has completely re-worked the store and it so cute! I love how hands-on and enthusiast D’Uan and Patty are. It’s so refreshing to really witness the deep love for the craft and for their customers!

After Rockwall, Virginia drove us to Waco where we took an awesome class by Debby Schuh at Crop-Paper-Scissors…another cute store. The album we made was so fun and I was really, really impressed on how well the kits were put together in the exact order that we needed everything. Debby is really a great teacher!

To top the weekend off, we had a really fun get-together at my house Sunday evening in honor of Debby. A bunch of the old Magic Scraps crew came so it was like a mini-reunion! Everyone looked so good. Nicole was so cute and prego with baby #3. Kristy looked great…and Erica and Shannon didn’t look one bit different. I love it that after all these years, we can all still laugh together.

What a great way to start the month of December!