I've never claimed to be a writer, but it's nice to have a place to put my thoughts down once in a while.

11.03.2009

Job situation

Well, I finally found a job. I started mid-October and after a month and a couple of weeks, I'm learning more and more about the newspaper business.

I am the managing editor at a publishing company. We own nine local papers in the tri-state area. I take content sent to me from staff writers, contributing writers, a couple other editors, press releases, police reports, Associated Press, etc. and layout the A-section of the papers. Each paper is a weekly and comes out on different days of the week. I start on Monday laying out 2 of the papers to be printed that night and distributed the next morning. Tuesday is one, Wednesday is three and Thursday is three with the papers coming out the next day. It's quite a bit to keep straight but I'm getting there.

If you have something newsworthy, leave me a post and you might just find it in the paper!

7.12.2009

The Great Purge of 2009

I've been able to take advantage of being out of work to help get some much needed housework done.

To get an idea of the scope of work that needs to be done, I need to describe the house I live in. It is a two story, five bedroom, 3 full bath house. On the first floor we have our kitchen, a sitting room, a living room, a breakfast room, foyer, a full bathroom, a large bedroom and the master bedroom with full bath. There is a covered front porch the length of the house and on the back, a covered balcony (or lanai if we were in Hawaii), leading out to the deck, both the length of the house. The basement has a walk out patio the length of the house, which is covered by the upstairs balcony and deck. Inside there are three big bedrooms, two with walk in closets. A full bath, utility room, living room, and the original kitchen that has a sink, oven and dishwasher that do not work. We do have a small fridge and a microwave down there but rarely use it. The living room and kitchen are open. Then there's the staircase with a closet underneath.

A little background, my parents built the house when I was just a toddler. They started with the underground walk-out basement and we lived in it until I was in college. They had started to build the first floor, but for whatever reasons, never finished. Then when I was in college, they were able to finish the first floor. Hence, all the bedrooms and kitchens.

Not to mention the storage space. Both kitchens have plenty of cabinet space. The utility room is stocked with cabinets. We have 4 large bookcases (one each in the master and one of the downstairs bedrooms, and two in the downstairs hallway. Upstairs there is a broom closet and a coat closet. We have a China cabinet, a large piece of furniture called a Jackson Press, dressers, shelves, a long low bench with three large drawers, you get the idea.

In the years since, each room has evolved from its original purpose to whatever we needed it to be at the time. With all the family having such busy schedules, a touch of procrastination, the entire family being a bunch of pack rats, and storing some of my sister & her husbands stuff while they're out of the country, just about every room is jammed with boxes, totes and piles of stuff. The guys from Clean House would run screaming in terror. {Amended: I'm not sure about this statement anymore. I've seen some episodes that blew my mind}

I won't give you nightmares with stories of spiders, mildew, etc. Suffice it to say, our house needed help in the most urgent way. Plus, my youngest sister and her husband are returning from a two year mission assignment next month with their five month old. They're visiting for a few weeks before heading off to France for who knows how long. She has allergies really bad, so we wanted their visit to be enjoyable and memorable, not miserable.

So, The Great Purge of 2009 began a few weeks ago. We started in the basement going through boxes. We were purging left and right. This to the dump, keep this, sell this. We spent a week and a half in the basement. Then we had a 3 day yard sale. I think with all the stuff we had out, we could open our own flea market. I'm so proud of us! For a family of people who say, "I could use that someday" or "I love that, I can't get rid of that, " I think we did a fantastic job of letting things go. And the stuff that did not sell went to charity.

I've got to tell you about the end of our yard sale. We knew they were forecasting for thunderstorms but thought they were for later in the day. We were keeping an eye on the Weather Channel. So around 1:00 we started putting boxes under all the tables (By the way, there were two 8' tables, 15 six foot tables, two round patio tables, two kitchen tables, a four foot table, two clothes racks and two kid size tables. And every thing was still crowded and we put some things out on a couple of tarps. Good thing we have a huge yard!) About 1:30, 2:00 it started to spit a few drops so we started putting clothes in the boxes. We got all the folded clothes in boxes but the hanging stuff was still out when it really started to come down. There were four of us: me, my sister, my dad and my mom. My dad and sister disappeared right before it started pouring. So I grabbed one of the racks of clothes that was supposed to roll. It rolled alright. It rolled me to the ground. The clothes shifted and made the thing twist. I tried to catch them and wound up shoeless and on the ground. Stupid rack. About that time, my dad and sister came running out of the house to continue helping. I was grabbing armloads of hanging clothes and running them to the porch and just flinging them down and running back out. I wound up having a full fledged asthma attack. I had to stop to get my breath. It's been a long time since I had one that bad. I hope it's longer before another one. While I was trying to calm down, I looked out in the yard and saw my handicapped mother, sopping wet, slinging boxes of books under tables to try to save them. Then plopping as much as she could onto her tricked out walker and pushing it to the porch. When I finally got my breath, I got back out there. By that time the rain had slacked off and what we didn't get boxed before it hit was soaked so we could slow down. Our porch runs the length of the house. It was covered with all the boxes and clothes that we just threw up there. We pretty much left it there until Monday, then got out there and resorted and organized to get what we could salvage ready to go to charity. The next yard sale we have is going to be inside somewhere. I have to admit though, the rain felt good after three days of heat and sun.

So after the yard sale it was back to the house. During all the purging, we gathered all my mom's craft supplies into one the upstairs front bedroom (my youngest sister's, the one coming home). Keep in mind, mom has been doing some sort of craft pretty much all her life (sewing, painting, floral arrangements, woodcrafts, etc,). And she's been the crafts teacher for Vacation Bible School for as long as I can remember. Add her time in Girls Scouts and years of Sunday School teaching and, well, let's just say she could conceivably open her own crafts store. It was all in totes and boxes and plastic drawers, and shoe boxes and shopping bags. We spent three days going through it and organizing, condensing and yes, purging. We also went through everything in the bedroom. Everything is now in totes, organized and some of it is even inventoried. We're going to store it all in the downstairs hallway while The Great Purge of 2009 continues.

We're slowly making progress. We're done going through everything in the basement. We had to rip up the carpet in one of the bedrooms and the living room. We pulled up the linoleum in the hallway and a lot of the tiles in kitchen. Dad sealed those floors to prevent moisture (and the resulting mold and mildew). When things slow down, we're going to tile the living room, kitchen, utility room, and bathroom. I think new carpet is going into the bedroom. The other two bedrooms got their renovations a few years ago so they are okay. Dad has also replace some of the lighting and is going to repair some of the walls that had moisture leaking into them. Once we're done upstairs we're going to come back downstairs and go through the utility room and clean the kitchen so we can actually use it.

There is still a lot to be done. So much that we made a schedule. Some things have to be done so we can proceed with other things. We've got a week and a half to get the major stuff done. Then we can relax and enjoy our time with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew.

I didn't think to take pictures of everything before we started. I wish I had if for no other reason than to remind us of what can happen if we continue living the way we did. I am definitely taking pictures once everything is completed. I've got to tell you, this has been long, hard, tough, sometimes disgusting work. But very satisfying.

I realize this post has turned into a novel. I really should write more often to prevent this. I would say that I will try to post more often. And I would have good intentions. I don't want to make promises that I can't keep though. So if you've stuck with me through all this, I thank you for reading my ramblings. I'll post the after pictures when we're done so you're faithfulness will be rewarded.

I'm off to bed now so I can get up tomorrow and continue with the Great Purge of 2009. Wish me luck!

6.09.2009

Superstar!

One of the girls at church was having a movie star themed birthday party and wanted my sister Jenni to make the cake. So Jenni looked up some ideas online and let Emilee choose what she wanted. This is the cake she chose:


Jenni found it on CakeCentral.com. It was posted by "mooj". Click on the name to go to the link. Now, Jenni's done some pretty cakes before. You should have seen my other sister's wedding cake. But as far as decorating goes, this is the most elaborate. I wound up helping her with it. Below is our version.


Everything is edible except the "film" which is ribbon and the sticks the stars and billboard are on. The silver part of the reels, black stars on the billboard, stars directly on the cake, details on the camera and the red carpet are made from fondant. The stars on the board, the camera, billboard, #12, clapboard, billboard, stars on sticks and inside reels are cookies. The cake was iced with buttercream icing as was the trim around the base of the cakes. The "lights" are sugar pearls. We used gold and silver pearl dust to give a shine to the stars. We attached everything with royal icing. The red on the billboard and the #12 is royal icing. The board is plywood with silver paper and a sequined border. I think that's everything. Let me know if I missed something.

I'm not going to say I had fun making this cake, but I didn't hate it. It's pretty crazy that we actually made something like this.

Let me know what you think!

5.29.2009

The Benefits of Losing Your Job

First the bad news.

I got laid off at the end of February. I know. It sucks. I went through several weeks of changing emotions. Depressed, angry, sad... ok, so maybe I just changed between those three. I've never been laid off before. Or even fired. I understand why. We just didn't have enough work. Even knowing and understanding the reason, I still felt terrible. I felt worthless, like I didn't have anything to contribute. That I could be gone just like that. One second, gainfully employed. The next, fffttht! Gone! That it had to be me, I just can't describe how that felt. If you've ever been laid off, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

I've been looking. But in my line of work in this area? Forget it. There's nothing. I've got six years of education, two degrees, over 15 years experience, and I can't find a job in my field. I may have to move to a larger city. I guess my attitude should be whatever work I can find, take it. Maybe it's pride talking, but how can I justify all that time and experience to wind up not doing the thing I've invested so much into? I've thought about going into business for myself. My field is so staturated in this area though and I'm not sure I'm competitive enough to succeed.

Am I whining? I'm whining, aren't I? Sorry. I hate it when my kids at church do that. I refuse to talk to them when they whine at me. I'll try to do better.

I said bad news first. That must mean there's some good news.

Yes! My parents promised my sister and me a new computer for Christmas. Fast forward four months and I have a brand new MacBook Pro 17" laptop in my hot little hands. I don't believe I've left it for very long yet. I love this thing!!! They even got me Adobe Creative Suite 4 and Micorosft Office. I am so grateful I can't even begin to express how much. So, technically, if I wanted to go into business for myself, I have a great start. I have most of what I need now. If only I were good at sales... Anyone need a graphic designer? Throughout this job search, I have discovered that I may need some more education. Most people looking for a graphic designer, expect someone who can design for print and can design web sites. To me, they are completely different animals. And to be honest, html and codes and all that kind of stuff intimidate me. I've already forgotten more about printing than a lot of graphic designers will ever know. I'm just not sure I can learn that web site stuff. (oops! on the verge of whining again.)

How did my good news turn into whining and panicking? Ok, maybe not panicking, but mildly concerned.

After the first few weeks of sleeping all day, watching TV all night, gaining back all the weight I lost and not caring, I got over the depressed, feeling sorry for myself attitude. I'm trying to let the Lord be in control. I know He has something out there for me. Somewhere. I am learning to be patient and lean more on Him.

I had an interview with Murray State a few weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything. I should call them to find out. I've also applied to Lifeway and am hoping for something there. It would be in Nashville which is fairly close to home and I think it would rock working for a Christian organization. That's not to say my previous employers were bad, quite the opposite. But I've never worked in a Christian atmosphere and I think it would be very nice to work there. I got an email from Human Resources that said I qualified for several positions and they were forwarding my app to the managers. I haven't heard anything yet but I'm not sure what to do. I don't have a name or contact number. I guess I could scour the website to see what I could find. I'd really like to interview with them.

There's another benefit to being unemployed. I've watched all 5 seasons of Lost on the ABC website. Well, the first 14 episodes of season 5 I had to read the extended recap because for some reason they don't have the videos available. Just #15 through the end of the season. On the bright side of that I read them faster than watching. Otherwise, I'd still be watching. By the way, is anyone else a fan? Have you seen Lost? I'm not even sure how to describe it other than it's addictive. My brain is reeling from all the twists and turns it's taking.

I've also been watching My Boys and Harper's Island. Has anyone seen this show? It's on CBS on Saturday nights. Check it out http://www.cbs.com/primetime/harpers_island/ They've also got this website that parallels the show. It's got separate characters but some of the storyline connects. It's odd but pretty interesting. The website for that is http://www.harpersglobe.com/

Not only that, but I've discovered Doug Fields' youth ministry Podcast. They started the podcast back in 2006 and I've listened up through mid 2007. I want to just skip on up to the present but I'm afriad I'll miss something good. If you haven't heard of Doug Fields, he's the youth pastor at Saddleback Church in California. It's called Simply Youth Ministry. He's written a bunch of books including "Purpose Driven Youth Ministry". The website is http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/. If you're a youth leader you should check it out.

Well, if anyone hears of a graphic design job available in western Kentucky let me know. Or if you know someone who needs design work, leave me a comment. (Assuming there's more than one person reading this.)

Thanks for visiting!!

2.22.2009

Sunday Scrappin'

Has it really been five months since I've posted a Sunday Scrappin'? I didn't realize... Wow!

I have been in and out of the blog world in those five months but I thought I had posted something since September. I have check in with the other Sunday Scrappers even though I haven't posted. So much has been going on... Hurricane Ike came to visit (yes, in western KY) and we were without power for 2 1/2 days, then Christmas and New Year activities, January was busy and ended with "the storm of the decade" which knocked out our power for about a week and our internet for about 3 weeks. And, oh yeah.... I'm a brand new Aunt!!! My sister and brother-in-law had their first child on January 26. If you want to see the most beautiful baby in the world (who me, biased? No way!) you can check out their blog here. BTW, they're missionaries in Africa. He was born in Nairobi, Kenya.

Ok. Now for some Scrappin'! I've got a lot of catching up to do so hang in there....

The Ta Da's...

I joined a Stampin' Up group that meets once a month to learn new techniques and make quick projects. Each member takes a turn hosting a meeting and gets the hostess benefits for their month. Anyway, the first month we made two cards...

In honor of Valentine's day...











And a pretty little card for whenever...

The other ladies used glitter on their cards. I'm not such a glitter person, so I left mine plain. I might add a little bling to them sometime.






The second meeting we made two items. The first was another Valentine project which I'll show and describe in a moment. The other was this "Embrace Life". We used a pretty neat technique to make this marbling effect. I wish I could tell you what we used, but I think I missed that part while I was finishing up the other project.















So I have all these picture albums with no covers because I used them to make scrapbooks for my girls' group at church. You can read about them here and see a picture of one of them here.


I recently came into a small stack of chipboard, much to my friend Kim's dismay (the girl loves her chipboard). I thought I'd try my hand at making a custom cover for the album. I have about 10 coverless albums so I might get pretty good at it by the time I'm done. This is my first attempt. I have one bigger one and I plan to make that one for my mom to use for her pictures of her very first grandson.






Next is the Valentine project I mentioned earlier. It was a 3-dimensional stand up card that was adorable. The one in the top left hand corner is the one we made at Stampin' Up. I didn't have the same stamp set or heart punch so the rest of them are my version of the project. I made 22 of these suckers and gave all but 5 to kids and other folks at church.

I got this stamp set to use for the scrapbook I plan to make of my new nephew. But I think it made a cute valentine day project too. I think this meets last weeks challenge for Valentine's day. It took me the better part of Friday night, most of Saturday and early into Sunday morning to finish them all in time for church. It was quite an undertaking.

The next set of photos are of the scrapbook I'm making for a lady that used to help me with my girl's group at church. She supported the group from the start. Unfortunately, she and her husband have moved to another church and are greatly missed. I wanted to do something for her to thank her for her dedication to the girls. Jan, if you're reading this, look no further.
This first one is the front of the album. The name of the group is God's Girls and the theme is that they are all daughters of the King. They earn "jewels" by their behavior and participation in church activities. This album came like this, complete with little "jewels" on the cover.


The first spread shows all the girls that attended the very first God's Girls event. Every page has gems or jewels to carry the theme. I happened to have a book of paper that goes well with the album cover. I couldn't have planned it any better.




We have several sets of sisters that participate and lots of best friends. I'm trying to leave a little room throughout the book for Jan to write her thoughts and memories about her time with the girls.



During the first event, I set up a pretty pink armchair under a white canopy with a castle scene on the wall next to it. The girls each had their picture taken with a tiara and magic wand. The picture was completed by a frog sitting on a small table nearby. The girls had a blast doing a "photo shoot" in various mixes.



My mother helps with the girls sometimes and is a good friend of Jan's. So these two pages show the three of us. I've left some space on the right hand page to add lines for journaling. I'll probably write something there to Jan to tell her how much I appreciate her help.



Jan did a lot of cooking with the girls. In this spread she was teaching them to make taco salads, complete with homemade quacemole. Not many of the girls ate it. They tried it, which is what I had hoped.




The last spread I completed during the ice storm. I had to do something to keep myself busy and my mind off the cold. This is actually my favorite layout out of the group so far. I still have several more spreads to go, but I hope to have it completed sometime this year.


This last little item I have no use for. I have my friend Kim's Cricut machine and thought I'd make the best of it. I was looking through the book for one of the cartridges and saw this little box and thought it was adorable. I don't know what I'll do with it, but there it is.
I believe the scrapbook pages and this box meet the challenge which is: "This week, let's think outside the box and go round.... rounded corners, circle-shaped cards, a layout in a circular pattern, etc. Be creative!"
Next week's challenge is: "Your challenge for this week: duplicate! Use the same colors/ decorative elements twice, but slightly changed... in a two-page layout, or in two cards, or in two of whatever else you're making."
That's interesting. I'm not sure if I'll have time this week to do any crafting, but here's hoping!
So, To Do's for next week: I don't know! I have a meeting on Thursday which I need to do some more preparation for, so I guess that's my ToDo. I know it's not crafting, but it's something that I need to do.
Well, if you've stuck with me this long... thanks! Hopefully, it won't be so long before the next time I post. BTW, if you like cheesecake, my sister makes the best! I wrote a post about them with pictures which you can see here.
Have a great week and happy scrapping!

2.12.2009

Cheesecake!

Are you like me and love cheesecake? Well, do I have a treat for you! My sister makes the best cheesecakes in western Kentucky. (At least I think she does. And I'm not the only one.)

She's made all sorts of cheesecakes. This one is just your basic cheesecake. Simple, but oh, so good. (Don't look too long at the background.)





















Next up is my personal favorite, the Pumpkin Cheesecake. Beautiful. And delicious. Makes Thanksgiving a little more interesting for me.





















And this is her Blueberry Cheesecake. I'm not one for blueberries, but this makes me want to be.





















And there's plenty more where these came from. Brownie Bottom Cheesecake, Butter Pecan Cheesecake, Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake…just to name a few. She has a whole list of them. All tasty and tempting, I might add.

Is your mouth watering yet? If not, LEAVE MY BLOG!!*** Just kidding. Stay. Don't go. I'll have you converted to Cheesecake in no time. I've got more pictures. But they'll have to wait for another day.

In the meantime, leave me a comment and share your favorite cheesecake flavor. And if you're not a cheesecake person, tell me what your favorite dessert is.

***Please don't be offended. I'm a little cheesecake crazy, so please excuse me for my outburst.

2.11.2009

Brief Glimpse

In case you're wondering, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I've just been....busy....no... can't say that...have to be honest.....lazy! Well, maybe a combination.

Lots of things have been happening lately. Like the "Ice Storm of the Decade!" (Can you name it that even though the decade is not over? What if we get something even worse next year? Hmmm?)

My family has been very blessed throughout this ordeal. We were only without power for four days. We had a generator so were able to have light, run our refrigerators and use the microwave. We are still without cable and internet. But in light of the state of the area, I think it's a luxury we can afford to do without. Here are a few photos around our house.

The ice was pretty thick on all the trees and power lines. It's no wonder there were record numbers who lost power.

















I wish I could have captured the sun through the trees better. It was so beautiful shining on the ice.








I thought this poor tree was going to split down the middle.

It's been nearly three weeks since the storm hit and there are still people without power. This whole experience has been a wake up call. For almost two days, entire cities were nearly shut down because no one had power. It goes to show how dependent on electricity we are.

Well, I have plenty more I could write about and tons of photos to share. Unfortunately, I am running out of lunch time. So until next time, and let's assume there will be a next time, thanks for reading!