Still no plumber

OK I really dislike this guy. It's one thing not to show up, it's an entirely other thing not to even call!!! Whatever... there's a bucket under the leak, so we'll live LOL

We have a meeting with a handyman guy on Sat. Dan called to get an estimate on getting a bunch of work done on the house. See the housing market it still high but dropping, and the interest rates are still low, but rising, so if we want to get a loan to do work on the house we have to do it now before the housing market drops leaving us with no equity in the house. Sooooo... we're getting estimates on re-redoing the basement, the whole kit and kaboodle this time, wallboard, ceiling, doors for the laundry room, everything. A new roof, as we found out from his initial look-around that ours is no longer legal (they're not allowed to put 3 layers of shingles on anymore, only 2), new siding (ours is old dirty wood), and a few other things. If the estimate is manageable enough we are hoping to add central air (through the cieling not the floors), and a small garage to keep the motorcycle, lawn mower, and a future snow blower in. But we shall see what he says. We always joke that every estimate we get for work on the house is $10,000. This time that would be wicked cheap, so here's hoping LOL (more likely it will be around 30..) So maybe while he's here fixing the basement, etc. HE can fix the stinking leaky bathroom from heck.

On a SUPER positive note I won a CONTEST! YIPPEEE! Traci had a "finish the sketch" contest on her blog, and I won it! I am super psyched! Especially since the prize was her new kit that I have been absolutely DROOOOOLING over for close to a month now! YAY! Thanks again Traci!! (I'll put my winning layout at the bottom).

Anywho, that's about all that's going on here. If I had enough energy I could probably kill my MIL, but it's not like that's news LOL.

Alrighty, off to find lunch before Pip and I head out to Target
Layout Credits:
Kit: Sugar Doodle by Mindy Terasawa at The Sweet Shoppe
Atomic Cupcake Actions
Font: Inkburrow
Unfinished sketch by Traci Reed

Day 2 of Plumber Watch

Can you say deja-vu? Still no sign nor sound from the plumber. I really dislike this guy...a lot!

Looooong day today. I felt totally harried all day. I so can't wait for this semester to be over...6.5 more weeks (plus finals), but who's counting???

The neverending saga of our house...AKA The Money Pit Strikes Again

Once upon a time, a boy met a girl, they liked eachother a lot, and 3 years later they got married. "Wouldn't it be nice to own a house?" the boy asked, and the girl agreed. Several months later the found a cute little ranch in a nice little neighborhood, and made an offer. "What are these water stains on the basement ceiling?" the boy asked the house inspector. "Well, there are no pipes up there so I suspect someone spilled something on the floor upstairs and it seeped through" stated the house inspector. And so the boy and girl bought their quaint little house in their quiet little neighborhood.

One day the girl decided to take a bath, since there was no bathtub in their previous apartment, she was really looking forward to it. She gathered all of her bath things, yummy smelling bubble, music, candles, and a good book, and headed off for a long soak in the tub. Little did she know that after her bath she would be in for a rude awakening...

After a wonderful bath, refilling the tub several times to keep warm and continue soaking, the girl went to the basement to do some laundry. And she stepped in a HUGE puddle in the brand new carpet in the basement, near the laundry area. Clearly the bathtub had leaked. And that was the last bath the girl had in a long time.

A few years later, the girl was pregnant, and so desperately wanted to soak her aching back in a tub, just for a little while. So Chris the Plumber was called, and dispatched to fix the leaky overflow valve. AHHHHHH, a nice (lukewarm) bath, and the girl was feeling much better.

A few months later, the boy was taking a shower, and lo and behold, the basement floor was wet again! (Luckily...or unluckily....the brand new carpet had been ruined by 2 floods within a week about a month previous). Chris the plumber was called, and it was discovered that the connection between the faucet and pipe was leaking. Chris the Plumber attempted to fix the leak, and broke the pipe. With help from the girl's parents it was decided to replace the tub entirely with a whole new tub, a nice deeeeeeeep tub. 3 days later Chris the plumber came back to fix the pipe temporarily until he installed the new tub the next day. 2 weeks later Chris the Plumber returned to install the new tub, and 4 days later he finished. Now the boy and girl, and baby girl had a nice, new, deeeeeeeep bathtub to soak in. Hazaaah! The girl had a nice (short) bath, and was very happy for it. The boy and girl vowed never to call Chris the Plumber again, as his "3 day job" took over 3 weeks to complete, and left them without the means to bathe for a total of 7 days.


A few months later, the boy took a shower (thankfully this was a regular occurance, with the newly remodeled tub). The girl went downstairs to wash the baby's new 12 month clothes (even though the baby girl is only 8 months old...she's an overachiever), and lo and behold, the basement floor was wet again. As it was all of Chris the Plumber's work that seems to be leaking, it was decided that Chris the Plumber would be called again, in hopes that he might not charge them (which will surely not happen, but it was worth a shot).

So now the girl, and the baby girl will wait at home on monday to see if Chris the Plumber shows up to fix the leak. More likely, the girl and baby girl will be waiting at home all week for Chris the Plumber, as he has not been the most reliable plumber in the 2 years that the boy and girl have owned the house.

Piper had a new First!

Nope she didn't crawl







Nope she didn't stand by herself







Nope she didn't say mama or dada or baba or cookie









Nope she didn't walk






What she did do, for the very first time was













POOP in the bathtub! Yep, she pooped in the bathtub. And on a work day too. My child, always knows how to throw a monkey wrench into my already stressed out work day LOL It was about 5 seconds after I got her into the tub, so needless to say, her bath was cut VERY VERY short yesterday. I'd give her another one today, but I am still waiting on the actual large poop which I know is still coming, SO bath time will have to wait for that, because I am not cleaning out the tub again.

A quick Thank You! to Nikki, Laura, Traci, Valerie, Christine, Angi, and Karen for stopping by and offering hugs in my dark time. Luv you girls :)

Alright, Miss Pip seems to be awakening from her nap...so I should probably go :)

My inner Pop Princess

(found this on Jeanine's Blog)
I always knew there was an inner diva itching to come out...and how appropriate that it is...

Your Inner Pop Princess Is Kelly Clarkson

"Grew up in a small town And when the rain would fall down I'd just stare out my window Dreaming of what could be" No doubt about it, you have star quality. Might just take a while to get there.

Who's Your Inner Pop Princess?

Pip pics

I made this "quickie" for the gals at ACP, who were jonesin' for some Pip pics, and I thought it came out rather cute, and I'd share it here.

I have finally tried my hand at some 8.5x11 layouts, landscape direction. I have always LOVED the way they looked, but could never get out of the square mode. Anywho, this is rectangle layout #2 :)

Feeling ok today...but back to work tomorrow...was on spring break last week and it was very nice. Back to the grind...joy... Calgon take me away LOL

Off to bed, to dream a little dream...hopefully not containing mice or squirrels...odd dream that maybe someday I'll share :)

My Muppet Personality

You Are Miss Piggy

A total princess and diva, you're totally in charge - even if people don't know it. You want to be loved, adored, and worshiped. And you won't settle for anything less. You're going to be a total star, and you won't let any of the "little people" get in your way. Just remember, piggy, never eat more than you can lift!

The Muppet Personality Test

I took a different version of this test once, I was Beaker...not sure which is worse LOL

time flies...

when you're working and not having fun at all... The semester is half over, thank goodness, Piper will be 8 months old on Friday (OMG), and I haven't posted here in a month...

Still sad about working, but the end is in sight...I have 7 weeks of classes left...halfway through...halfway done.... Halfway back to the way that I want my life to be, raising my child, feeling less stretched, less guilty, less sad (here's hoping).

Ania and Krzys's birthday is this weekend. Piper and I are going to their party ALLLLLL the way down in Groton. Dan is on call this weekend and may or may not be able to go.

I apologize for being "negative" again...but I feel like I am rolling around in a pit of depression, and I'm getting a bit tired of it. I am hoping that my mood will improve once work is over, and I feel less stressed...who knows. I have a feeling a visit from the Paxil Fairy is in my future...I'm ok with that...I was proud to go off of it 5 years ago... but I always said if I needed it again, I would go back. I am definately headed in that direction...

On a more positive note, my kits are selling really well. I have released 3 this month, Blue Jean Baby (with a freebie add-on at Digital Freebies until Thursday), Raspberry and Lime (which was available as a freebie to Ready-Set-Create readers, and is now at Digital Freebies), and an Add-on to my Valentines kit (previously the feb challenge prize kit at DF, now available in the store). I have another in the works: Warm Hugs, and about a billion in my head, without time to get them out on the computer.

I've done a bunch of new layouts lately, you can check them out at ScrapMommies or Digital Freebies

In addition to my regular appearance in Ready-Set-Create, I have had my second digital layout printed in a national printed magazine...well sort of... My "Siblings" layout was included on the Bonus CD-ROM that accompanies all issues of Scrapbook Answers magazine, the April 2006 issue...so I guess technically I wasn't published IN the magazine...but close enough (my first publication, I can't remember if I posted about it or not was in the Fall 2005 issue of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, my "Many Faces of Max" layout in an article featuring scrapping your pets). I am really excited about this most recent publication...I feel famous or something :)

Alrighty, I am on Spring Break from Quinnipiac this week, and should probably work ahead so I can be on top of things before I go back (yeah...right), so I am off to do something constructive (read: sirf the net, and read blogs until it's time for Pip to go to bed)

I'll leave you with my most recent layout called "So Big" credits: Kimberly Giarrusso's Amaze kit from the Digital Freebies Club, font: Suzie's Hand (my new fave, thanks to Laura :) )