A Sale Because.........

I need a few more sales - LMBO!!! Our store owners have told us that we need to hit a monthly minimum to continue selling at the store, and I'm not there yet! I'm close, though :) hehehe. They're not gonna kick me out instantly if I don't hit it (they're not heartless - LMBO!! They're SUPER nice ladies), but we'll have to chat about why my sales were low.

Um, I think I have an idea why the sales might be low. Duh, the economy. Stupid economy - hehehe. I know we're hurting, and I'm sure the rest of you are too.



ANYHOO, on to my sale!!! Here' a 40% off coupon, but it's only good for today and tomorrow. SO, you gotta hurry :) That puts my WordArt packs down to $1.50 a piece (regularly $2.50)! So, do your part to spur on the economy (I crack myself up - hehehehe), and head on over to my store :)

Click HERE to go to my store :)

CODE: justbecauseSALE

Important Direction

Hey girls! So, I'm not pre-publishing this today, because my internet went haywire last night. I was watching a movie online, and apparently it loaded super fast, because 1/2 way thru, Captain America came up and wanted to know if I had connection issues. No, I said. I'm watching a movie. He and the boys couldn't connect to the internet (they play Battlefield online with each other), so the boys went to bed, and he joined me for the 2nd 1/2 of the movie.

When it was over, I was having connectivity issues too. Sigh. So, sorry the WordArt is late. At least it's Saturday, and most of you are sleeping in - hehehe. Not sure what the internet issues were all about. We just upgraded from the lowest tier to the 3rd tier. Or something like that. Before we were getting 1 um something a month, and now we are getting 7. Whatever. My internet is faster today. I guess that's all that's important.

Well, I was SUPER productive yesterday. I did a butt-load of laundry, and folded it, and put it away. I helped Jacob and Tom clean their rooms, and showed them how it should look when I ask them to clean their rooms. I cleared off the kitchen table (it had become a dumping ground - LOL!) so we were able to sit as a family and have dinner last night. That was nice. I helped Jimmy organize the toys in the backyard. I made up a chore chart for the kids. I did a lot of dishes. My house is closer to being organized - Woohoo!!!

Today, we're going to see my oldest play in a Solo Concert. When we lived in Joliet (near Chicago), he was learning the Cello in 4th grade orchestra. They didn't have it in Ohio for 5th grade, and not in Florence for 6th grade. But they have it here! He rented an instrument from school, and is really enjoying playing again. He's supposed to be at the school at 10:45 am to catch the bus, and they're heading out on a 30 minutes drive to get to the middle school where the contest is. At 1pm, his class plays. He's playing Ode To Joy. Hopefully the family will get to go (yeah, not sure about taking 4 little ones to a solo contest - LOL), and I'll be able to tape it. GOOD JOB, JACOB!!!

Stake Conference is this weekend. In our church, we're grouped into Wards (300-500 people), Stakes (5-10 wards), Areas (not sure how big these are), Continents (maybe???), and then they're just the whole church. Anyway, we're having a meeting of all the people in the Stake. We do this twice a year, and we get to hear from the leadership of the stake. I enjoy it. They have leadership meetings on the Saturday before, and an Adult (grown-up) session at 7pm. We haven't been in YEARS together for lack of babysitter. BUT, now that we have a built in babysitter, it's DATE NIGHT at Stake Conference - Wooohoo!!! Sunday we have a 2 hour meeting from 10-12. It's a little tricky keeping kid quiet and occupied that long, but hey, it's only twice a year. It's good for 'em - hehehe.

We were supposed to have a Civil War Reenactment next weekend, but we found out yesterday that it was changed to THIS weekend. Sigh. It would have been fun to go to, but not on 20 minutes notice. I don't now when the next one is.... This was the closest one to us (3 hours away). Texas is a CRAZY big state, so there's a lot of driving. Oh yeah, for you girls who are new, my family are Civil War Reenactors. When we get around to setting up the tents to air them out, I'll take pictures. Our setup is quite impressive - hehehe.

OK, now on to your freebee. I made this for you last night, with the hopes that the internet would be back on when I finished it, but alas, it was not :) So, it's here for you today. AND, I got some AWESOME FANTASTIC advice from Jodi. She said that if I went into my HTML and changed one little number around, Blogger (or Picasa) would host the PNG file at FULL resolution. So, I tried it, and GUESS WHAT???? It worked!!! So, all you have to do is right click on the image below, and it will save the PNG file for you, in the resolution that I intended it to. Gottal love it when the solution to a problem presents itself, and it's SO easy :) THANK YOU, JODI!!!

So, right click and save the image below to get the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :) THANKS!!!

Well, maybe it didn't work as well as I thought it did - LMBO! I got an email from Irene telling me it was only 72dpi. Hmmm, that's no good. Sigh. Well, I'm trying out mediafire. Maybe they'll be better. We'll see :)

Click HERE to go to my Mediafire account to get it at 300dpi :)

FONTS:
Important - Pristina
Direction - Felix Titling

Pregnant Women

You know, while I do ENJOY moving around and living new places, there are aspects to being "nomadic" that I don't enjoy. Like switching banks. Do you know how much of a pain in the butt that is??? We have National City, which we had back in Illinois/Ohio. When we moved to Oregon, that bank wasn't in the state at all. Nice, eh? Do you know how incontinent that is? Very. Let me tell you.

So, we signed up for USAA, and I've been really pleased with their customer service. They're awesome. Anyway, I've been putting completely making the switch, just because it' such a process. We pay ALL our bill online, so that meant getting our check automatically deposited into a different place, setting up all the automatic payments, calling all the place that automatically deduct payment. Big pain.

But, when our moving money came in, I decided it was the perfect time to switch. Well, I think I waited a little too long. Anyway, after 2 trips to the bank at Wal-mart for a Western Union money transfer (I forgot some important information the first time - sigh), and stalking the bank webite all day long, I hope it's all fixed. Maybe THAT's why I had the headache for the past 2 day.

Yeah, it was bad again yesterday. But by about 5pm, my head felt normal again. I took the evening very easy, hoping to get it to go totally away. Keep your fingers crossed, girls. I've gotta get some REAL work done today (like laundry, dishes, and housework), and headaches aren't the way to go about it - hehehe.

Don't forget to scrap a layout with your 6th picture in your 6th file (with one of my wordarts), post it, then leave a link on yesterday blog for a chance to win a PRIZE for me :) OK, there's my plug - hehehe.

And, here's my NEW WORDART for the week! Don't you just LOVE Fridays :) So, I have 6 new WordArt packs hitting the store today. And, they're all on sale for the first week (20% off - Only $2.00). Click HERE to go to my store to pick up some FANTABULOUS new WordArts :)







AND, here's your WordArt for today :) Bren wanted some pregnancy WordArt. I did some research for sayings, and found some really FUNNY ones. I had enough to make 3 different WordArt packs for next week, and this one left over. So, you guy get it :) Aren't you excited??? Hehehe. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

Also, it seems that box.net isn't as perfect as I first thought - LOL! Funny how things turn out that way. Unfortunatly, it seems I've exceeded my bandwidth, or whatever that mean. Did you guy break my site??? LMBO! I think I may have to host these at several different places. Here's another download place. Let me know if this one work :) Click HERE to download the WordArt. It's with keepandshare, and I think you need to have a free account with them to download it. Hey, while I'm looking around, anyone know of any good free sharing places? 4shared keep losing my links (or breaking them), box.net has monthly bandwidth issues, and this place needs you to log in. Hmmmmm. Suggestions?

OK, so some of you are having problems with whatever I did at keepandshare (can you tell I have NO clue what I'm doing???). Is this link better? The same? Help, girls!!!

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=1091519&da=y

My post is becoming very ugly - LOL! Too many revisions - oh well. Maybe it'll get fixed this time. Here's another option. Don't know if you need to log in to get it, or if it's even in the right format, but what the heck. Give it a try - hehehe.

Click HERE for fotki
Click HERE for box.net
Click HERE for keepandshare
Click HERE for megaupload
Click HERE for mediafire

OR, just right click to get the full sized PNG file (neat new trick I learned, eh? Just a few edits to my HTML, and viola! Full sized PNG files, hosed right here on my blog!!!)

FONTS:
Pregnant - Pharmacy
Hot -
All rest - Rage Italic

Touch Lives Forever

Yesterday, I had a horrendous headache. Boy, it was a nasty one. I stayed in my nice, dark, quite bedroom all day, practically. I ventured downstairs a few times, but quickly retreated to the quite and dark. Good thing Captain America was home most of the day. Poor kids. I'm hoping that it's better today. I'll make it up to everyone. Mom's really shouldn't be sick. Ever. Seriously.

But, I do have an appointment set up to get some migrane medicine next week. I actually have an appointment for a pap (nice, I know) on Thursday, and migraine meds on Friday. Then, the following Wednesday, Jacob has a Podiatrist appointment. Busy, busy, busy.

AND, on the 3rd, I get a new phone. Last weekend, Jacob dropped my phone on the concrete. Phone, meet concrete. I'm guessing they didn't like each other very much, because the screen no long works. Blank. Totally dead. I can get calls, and dial numbers, but I can't see a thing. Good thing I know what button to push to get to my contacts, and I know that Captain America's 1st, Maren' 2nd, and my mom' 3rd. But everyone else, sorry. I've got nothing for ya!

I actually remembered the order of buttons to push to get to my voicemail. Amazing, eh? I had 4 messages on there that I otherwise would never have gotten. So, if you call me, I won't know who you are (yeah, I depend on caller ID a LOT) and if you leave me a message, I won't get it - LOL! How did I EVER get by without a phone. hehehehe.

So, I got an email from Sam yesterday, saying that she had a challenge on her blog for me. OK, I admit, I was interested to see what it was. So, I go there. I'd seen things like this but I decided to take it a step further. Here's how you play. Go to the place you keep your digital photos (mine is in "My Pictures" (original, I know)). Now, open up the 6th folder. Now, pick the 6th picture.

OK, now she just wanted me to post it on my blog, but hey, I can't do anything simple and easy, now can I? You know me all too well - hehehe. So, here's what I want you to do. Find the 6th folder and the 6th picture, and scrap a layout with it, and me sure to use one of my WordArts. Shouldn't be too hard, because I have HUNDREDS of freebees.

Then, when you've completed your layou and posted it to a gallery, come back here to THIS POST, and leave a link. In one week (or so), I'll come back and look through all of the entries, and pick my favorite to win a $5.00 gift certificate to my store. Sound worth playing for???

So, good luck, and I hope you get a good photo to work with - LOL! Here's mine.

It was a picture of my Aunt Shirley and my Grandma Ida (my mom' mom). The kit is from Bren Boone, found at Scraporchard, and the WordArt is a new one from me, in the Linear Siblings WordArt Pack, due out on Friday. I just LOVE Brens kit. Isn't it FABULOUS!!! Anyway, here's my layout :) I think it's one of the first ones I've made this year. I'll admit it. I just don't scrap that often. But then, that's why I have a CT, right? LMBO!!!

So have you seen the McDonalds Filet of Fish commercial yet? OMGosh!! There's this plaque with a singing fish (you've seen those, right?), and this big guy eating a fish sandwich, and the fish is singing "Give me that filet of fish, give me that fish.....", and junk. It's HILARIOUS, and a bit freaky. Unfortunatly, it's a VERY catch tune. I know what I'll be sining today - hehehe. And, so that YOU can have a dorky/freaky song in your head all day with me, here's a link.

This WordArt request is from Laura, who's son is graduating from his speech, occupational, and physical therapies, and she wanted to make them some cards. And, because this Friday, I'm coming out with a few "Linear" WordArt packs, here's a nice Linear WordArt for ya :)

Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

Click HERE to go to my mediafire account to download the PNG file.

FONTS:

Forever - Champignon

Lovingly

My hubby is home!!! He came in at about 6:30 am yesterday. Just in time to see the kids off to school, then he went straight to bed. Poor guy. He'd been driving on and off all night to get home. He was SO ready to be here. No more long road trips for him (well, at least until April - hehehe). Jimmy was pretty excited to see me too. Missed my little guy!

So, I have a few random pictures for you today :) First, here's my new Texas drivers license. I must say, I was HORRIBLY disappointed in my picture. The shadows make me look funny. Puffy. It's even more off colored in real life. Oh well. At least I'm not closing my eyes, or making a weird face or anything. hehehe. But it's a cool looking license. I like the capitol building in the background.

OK, here's the pic of me in my new jumper outfit. So, do I look prego? hehehe. It's kinda the style, I think. I thought it was cute :)

Here's Jacob and Eme, in the computer room. We got both computers back yesterday. They were pretty excited. We've only had one up and running for quite some time :) I know, my kids are spoiled - hehehe. Sorry about the funny angle. Don't know what that's all about :)

How's that for random - hehehe. I need to take some better pictures. hehehe. Well, it was a BEAUTIFUL day yesterday. Mid 80's. Gotta love that for February. I was in HEAVEN!!! Last February, we were in rural Ohio, having a COLD and NASTY winter. This is so much better - hehehe. Not to rub it in. I think I got a tan today - LMBO!

This WordArt request is from Mardine. I just found out that she lives just 50 minutes from my parents. How cool is that??!! And since she goes to the same church as us, my mom's even met her before. Talk about a small world. hehehe.

So, it's WordArt Wednesday again. You know the routine. Head on over to Scraporchard's gallery to download the zip file, and remember that you need to be signed into the gallery in order to get the download. And, as always, leave some love if you like my work.

Child's Uniqueness

So, I went to Wal-mart yesterday, and I swear, everyone was looking at me - hehehe. Do you ever have days like that? Where you just feel "looked at". I'm hoping it was a good "looked at". LMBO! I showered and put on make up and stuff- hehehe. Had to qualify there. Any of you who REALLY know me, know what I'm talking about. ha! Everyday showers are over rated. LOL! I can go a day inbetween. It's not like I stink or anything. Now Captain America, he needs one EVERY day. I guess that's just men. We all know how stinky men are - LOL!

Far afield. Sorry. So, I had on my new leggins stretch pants, with my SUPER cute high heel shoes, and a tight long sleeve black shirt, with a cute little jumper thingy over that. I was going back to Wal-Mart to buy 2 more of the jumper, but in different colors. While I thought I looked cute, my kids commented that I looked like I was gonna have another baby. Oh, the brutal honesty of children. Just because you can't see my waist, does not mean that I'm pregnant (althought we DO have 5 kids, so I can see how they might get confused. Ha! Done having babies at the Harty household. Believe me. Medically impossible - TMI, I know! Just wanted to head off the "well, maybe you ARE prego comments - hehehe).

So, I didn't get a picture for my mom of my outfit, but I'm wearing the same thing today, but in a different color. You'd tell me if it just made me look prego, right? I'll take a picture later today, and include it in tomorrow's post, then you can tell me if it makes me look cute, or pregnant. hehehe.

So, Captain America should be home today. I talked to him last night, and he was gonna try and push through. But he said he'd stop and rest if he got super tired. Boy am I glad I'm not on that road trip. It just makes me tired thinking about it. I'll be glad when he and Jimmy are home. While I've REALLY enjoyed my long, quite, productive (or not so) days to myself, it'll be nice to hame them home again :)

This WordArt request is from Sarah, who wanted a Mister Rogers quote. I used to watch him too! Looking back, never did quite understand the taking off of one pair of shoes to put on another. Same with the sweater. I guess, I just don't like to wear shoes unless I have to. I NEED my toes. How else am I gonna pick up stuff when I drop it? Bend over. I don't think so. That's why the Lord gave me toes. Ha! But, I'm a bit off subject. WordArt. Freebee. Here we go :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

Click HERE to go to my mediafire account to download the PNG file.

FONTS:
Child's - AndantinoJF
Uniqueness - Another typewriter

Favorite Place

Sunday was good. I TOTALLY forgot that our ward was having our fast and testimony meeting today. Usually, during the church service, the bishopric (clergy) assigns the members to speak for 15-20 minutes on various subjects. Well, on Fast Sunday, we come fasting (going without food/water for 24 hours/2 meals), and instead of the talk, members are encouraged to come up to the pulpit and briefly share their testimony of the things they believe. Really, bearing your testimony shouldn't take very long, just a few minutes, to tell of your love of the Savior, of your belief in his gospel, and such. Stories and "thank yous" are nice, but not really what Testimony Meeting is all about.......

Anyway, so I'd forgotten, but my older boys were excited. They got breakfast. Sigh. They'll get it figured out when they're older, I'm sure. No little boys like to skip breakfast - hehehe. Heck, I don't like to skip breakfast.

After church, we watched a family movie, and I got some Scraporchard Mega designing done. We're doing a HUGE 1 year anniversary kit thing, and I ended up making 27 WordArts to go inside. OMGosh! Good thing it only comes around once a year. I was creatively wiped out when I was done.

I spent a few hours watching TV in the evening, and just really had a nice relaxing day. Oh yeah, we did find 2 boxes of living room decorations, and put those out. The kids were really happy to see some things one the walls. Jacob even said that it feels more like "our" home now. I aim to please, Jake!

Oh yeah, unrelated funny story from church. So in primary today, our theme was "God's creations bless us." The 7 turning 8 year old class (CTR 8's)'s teacher was talking about all the ways that different things bless us. She came to family, and to siblings in particular. She said "And how do brothers and sisters bless our lives?" Well, the whole primary said "They don't!" Brutal honesty, at that age - LMBO!!!

My sweetheart and my little man should be home today. VERY late, but today, none the less. I talked to Captain America yesterday, and he said that Jimmy had gotten sick, but was feeling a bit better. Poor littel guy. Sounds like the roadtrip was just too much for him. I bet he'll be glad to get back home. Well, they'll both be glad to be back home. I don't know how long haul truckers do it. I'm not much of a long distance traveler. Kudo's to my Uncle Steve!!! You ROCK!

So, a while back I was approached by Michelle, of Michelle's Angels, and offered a job at her new store as a WordArt Designer. As many of you know, I sell my products Exclusively at Scraporchard, so I had to turn her down. BUT, she agreed to do a WordArt collab with me!!! Woohoo! I just LOVE working with designer's elements and papers and kits and such. It's such a treat for me.

So, here's Michelle's kit (isn't it CUTE!)

And here's the first WordArt I made. BUT, you'll have to hop on over to her blog to get it :) She said it might not be posted till the afternoon, so just be patient. You can find her blog at

HERE. And her store can be found HERE. Go give it a look see :) And don't forget, leave her some love for letting me play with her kit :)

And, here's the WordArt that you can get on my blog. Isn't it pretty. I just LOVED the color scheme. Those dark red/maroons are FABULOUS!!! So, click HERE to go to my box.net accoutn to download the zip file, and leave some love if you like my work.

Holy Lord of Glory

I love Saturdays. Well, unplanned Saturdays. Where you can just stay in your jammies, and not do anything in particular. That's the best - hehehe. I was SO excited to sleep in, since I've been having to DRAG the kids out of bed at 7am the past week for school. But, at 6:30 am, my oldest comes in my room asking to play the gamecube. Hmmmmm, wonder what my answer was? GO BACK TO BED AND STOP WAKING ME UP!!! I think he got the hint - LOL! I SO don't understand kids. Sleep in. It feels good. You'll like it if you try it! I know they know that, because they try and do it all week long. Sigh. Maybe next week will be better.

But, despite the interruptions, I still slept in until 9am. I just took my blankets over my head to block out the sun (that's right - SUN!!! El Paso is WONDERFUL in the winter time. Ask me again in the summer if I'm still thinking its wonderful - LOL!) I spent a few hours on the computer, doing emails, and designing, and playing games on facebook.

Then, Tom and I cleaned my closet. I still had clothes in boxes that needed hung up. And since I just bought more hangers the other day, it was the perfect time to do it. My closet it AWESOME (I think I'm in love with it - ha!), so I wanted to spend some time organizing it. Wow, does it look good. I have all the long sleeve shirts in one spot, color coordinated. Then, on another place, are all the short sleeve shirts, color coordinated. The long dresses and such are in a different place. AND, there was a low bar where I could hang all my pants. Gotta like that.

I put my shoe box under the shelving unit, and hung my heels on the edge of the box. I must say, my kids thought that was the coolest thing they'd seen in a long time. Can you tell I shelter them - ha!

I also worked on the garage today. I cleared a spot, and put our 3 giant storage shelves out there. Usually, we use them for bookshelves inside the house. But there's no room for them in here, so I put them against the garage wall. Then, I went though all the plastic totes. All the halloween costumes had molded. I only saved the "Casear" costume. Everything else was ruined. Sigh. We had about 40 costumes in that box. Oh well.

I found some more blankets, and clothes to wash. I thought I was down to 4 loads of laundry, but with all that I found, I'd say it's about 20. Sigh. And remember, all the while I'm doing/folding/putting away laundry. Jacob and I organized the blanket/bedding/sleeping bag closet upstairs.

I started unpacking the book boxes. Most of the books had been in storage since Aug of 2007. I was SO excited to see my books again. I just love books. We have ALL sorts of books. College text books, school year books, novels, kid books, referrence books, Scouting books, church books. TONS of books. I completely filled 3 shelving units with books. I have about 5 book boxes left. I hope Captain America brings home another shelving unit. Hmmmm, can't remember if we hd another one or not.

I also organized what little food storage we have. I found my brown courderoy homemade curtains, washed them, and hung them up in my room. It matches with my bedspread, and will keep the morning sunshine out so I can sleep - hehe. It's a bit dark for the room, but I think I'll find some teal/turquoise tie backs, and it'll liven it up. And match nicely with my new bedding :) I just LOVE to coordinate.

Since we (that term is used VERY loosely) cleaned all day, I got pizza for us for dinner. I'd sold the last of the couches, so I had some cash. My garage is SO much better without the king bed and box springs, full bed and box spring, 3 twins and box spring, and 2 couches. That alone will make it look better - hehehe.

I was SO tired when I got done. Well, it was 11pm. I got a lot done for the day. I worked quite a bit, but still took time to clean and get some important stuff done :) It was a GREAT Saturday.

This WordArt request is from Jenny. She's doing a layout challenge, and needed something for faithbooking, so she requested this scripture. I thought it was great :) I think I might be doing WordArt that can be used for faithbooking every Sunday. Seems like the "sunday" thing to do - LOL! But don't hold me to that. I say "think". hehehe.

Click on the image below to go to my box.net accoutn to download the pNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

Click HERE to go to my mediafire account to download the PNG file.

FONTS:
Holy, Of, Glory - Black Jack
Lord - ChocolateBoxDecorative