This boy...

...is NOT my friend right now. he didn't know that his dad and i were up until 4:30 this morning. we were...ummm...talking. don't get me off the subject! so, after he and his dad left at 7:30, i got up to give the pee pee monster (a.k.a. keanohn) a bath. as i greased him down (per doctor's orders-helps with the eczema) on dad's side of the bed, i happened to look over at john's nightstand and see a very official looking envelope addressed to "the parents of..." awww, CRAP! (he obviously sat it there between 5 and 6 with the intention of saying that it had been there for days!) let me clarify why my day was shot RIGHT THEN: a letter addressed "to parents of" which was not GIVEN to said parents during last night's dinner or during our ride to the store LAST NIGHT to get some snacks for our family night movie OR during said family night movie is NOT going to contain information which will make you smile and call the whole family to GLOAT! naw, i knew from ONE GLANCE that this was some FOOLISHNESS that was gonna make me wanna walk to the school (six blocks away), snatch this dude out of science class BY his hair and scream all the way home! (sorry! but i DO have SOME ghetto in me and it DOES escape sometimes!) the letter (which was dated friday, march 13th...ummm, what's TODAY'S date?!?!?) says that the boy has missed five unexcused days of school and because that number is cause for concern, we have a meeting scheduled with the school social worker for 8:30am...YESTERDAY!!! i have NOW turned into BONQUIESHA!!! i mean, it's not even a game...i understood at THAT MOMENT why parents beat their kids! so, i took a deep breath and called hubbs at work. it was one of those "do YOU want to call or should i?" conversations. for one thing, the unexcused days were supposed to be excused because the boy had a doctor's note. (see, i'm not ghetto ALL THE TIME...i DO handle mine!) get this: the social worker tells my husband not to worry; sometimes the teacher has the information and FORGETS to turn it in! HUH?!?!? what the...? but, you send this letter home threatening to turn this CASE over to the state if a sufficient explanation isn't given for why the BOY has unexcused absences, but one department hasn't communicated with another? that's some FOOLISHNESS right there!!!! THEN, why are you depending on a 12-going-on-13 year old to be bring that kind of information home ANYWAY? i understand that you are trying to teach them to be responsible but you NEED TO recognize that half the time they AREN'T and the other half they're too afraid of the consequences that may stem from this letter which they are unsure of the meaning of to even bring home! and ANOTHER thing: if the meeting was scheduled for 8:30 YESTERDAY, why is it WE had to call THEM?!?!?!? my mother was a principal for about 13 years before she got sick and i KNOW it wouldn't have gone down like that at HER school!!!! i am BURNED UP right now!! jamani (the 17 year old) attended this school from first grade through sixth; ahmad has been there since kindergarten. i've had them call me because the boys wore the wrong colored shoes to school ONE day and i've had them call me for a conference to discuss why jamani lost a folder (these examples are REAL, people...i couldn't make this foolishness up if i TRIED!) my husband and i ALWAYS respond and they KNOW that! so, they should have either called the police to tell them that ahmad's parents were OBVIOUSLY dead or missing since they didn't show up for a parent/teacher conference...or they at LEAST should have called us! mr. man was trying to visit his grandmother this weekend, but that's out! slick thought he would get another opportunity to try to hook up with that WENCH he calls his girlfriend (that's some more FOOLISHNESS i just don't even feel like getting into right now!) y'all really need to pray for ahmad 'cuz if he comes home and BREATHES more than 15 times in a minute, i'm all over him! if you don't see me post anything here or the scrapbook gallery for about two weeks, please contact my husband to see what you can send to me in jail!

Just some randomness...

(translation: it's been too freakin' long since i last posted so i have to get three weeks of stuff into one post!) lately, i can't believe my mind (to quote the great zaboomafoo!) i've lost sight of the fact that krafting is supposed to be my release, not a stressor. i've been completing design team assignments, challenge assignments, design team tryout assignments (do you see the trend?) my husband even told me that i need to slow down because in addition to all of that, i'm still cooking, organizing, and kickin' it with my guys. i feel like i can't slow down now because i'm on a roll. once the house is organized, i won't have THAT to concentrate on; i'll only have to worry about maintaining. once i'm on one or two (or fifteen) more design teams, i can concentrate on just those assignments. and in the midst of it all, i'll get some kreation time just for me.
so, i know it's a few weeks late, but i've been wanting to show you all a picture of a mardi gras indian.isn't he beautiful? they spend MONTHS decorating their costumes. My dream (when we move into the big house) is to display one of these on a mannequin somewhere in our home. how new orleans is THAT?!?!
these images of mardi gras...NOT so beautiful! and since i was sitting down holding kea the whole time we were out there, these are only the ones that i could catch before they walked away!!! this is how it goes down in new orleans this time of year. i've been here for 36 of my 37 years and some of the stuff STILL surprises me!!!

speaking of beautiful, look at my baby:

random images of jamani from ages 7 months to 2 years oldi've been in a very contemplative mood lately. i guess since i'm nearing 40 (kickin' it in the behind!) and my son is making EIGHTEEN and going away to college in the fall.
i'm so proud of him! he actually got enough credits in his junior year of high school where he only takes four classes this year. so, when he leaves school early he takes classes at a local university. when he graduates from high school in may, he will have enough credits be a SOPHOMORE when he goes to Southern University at Baton Rouge in the fall! ok, you may praise my child now! i'm sorry for the breasts which are inflated but i'm looking back and thinking it was all worth it. all the times i took off to take him to the hospital and the nights i stayed up late, nursing him. all the days i spared his life and didn't send him to see Jesus when he rolled his eyes at me or sucked his teeth...it was ALL WORTH IT!!!! he's maturing and becoming the successful human that i've been grooming and praying for him to be. now, i just have to get through this twice more without killing one of them and going to jail...Lord help me!!!

so, i had to kreate a layout for a challenge at tally scrapper. we had to kreate a page highlighting the relationship between ourselves and another person. because i'm thinking so much about this man child that i just held in my arms for the first time last WEEK (seems like!) i kreated my layout about him:
it feels weird, thinking about my son calling me from college telling me, mama, i just had sex with this girl and i think she wants more from me than i'm ready to give...wait, i think i'm gonna throw up...

ok, i'm back! i know i have to get my mind right but...it's just SO HARD!!!

my parents' 30th wedding anniversary is in about two weeks. when my mom was sick, she was in the hospital through mother's and father's day. my dad asked that we do a "parents' day" in place of late celebrations. i know that he thinks we've forgotten but hubbs and i are planning something...as if i don't have ENOUGH to do! i did a layout using their engagement picture.


i'm gonna have this enlarged and framed as their gift...hope they like it!

well, i gotta go spend some money at bathandbodyworks.com. tonight only, the sleep aromotherapy items are $8 with $3 shipping...can't beat it! hubbs and i love that pillow mist and we're out. i promise it won't be another three weeks before i vent again!

WINNER, WINNER...CHICKEN DINNER!!!

I'm having a pretty good week! I logged on this morning and found out that I won the Clearly Yours challenge at Dreamgirls!!!! I'm SO stoked!!! This is the layout that won:
Also, I DID get to finish quite a few of the challenges I wanted to do last week:
This one is for Gutter Girlz. The challenge was easy because I immediately thought of how I feel when people tell me how much weight I've gained...as if I didn't ALREADY KNOW, IDIOT!!!
I got two done for challenges over at Tally Scrapper (LOVE those peeps!!!). This first one is for the Survivor group I'm in (and hopefully I STAY in for the duration this time!) I scrapped about my "new" look...scarves and hats! This going natural process is just taking SO long! The second challenge at Tally was to scrap about something that gives you butterflies but it couldn't be a man or woman...so I chose LITTLE men and women!!! I love babies SO much...I don't know if I love 'em enough to give hubbs another as he's requesting but that's a post for another day!
I finished a layout for the joint challenge Category Stories and Tally are having. The challenge was to scrap something you love. BAY BAY!!!!! Next to God and my guys, I love me some FREE ME TIME!!!! I DID get some Sunday. John took the boys to the movies. I was running around like a chicken, though. I was trying to cram everything in before they got home. Anywho, here's my LOVE layout:
The last challenge I did a layout for was Pencillines (I'm NOT on crack...the mojo is just flowin' right now! ) This is the layout I did based on last week's sketch:(I only have about 3,000 more of these beach pix to scrap!)

I need some scrappy help! So, I've been investing in these:Michael's sells them for $35 but they were doing a promo last week where they gave you a 50% off coupon with your receipt. I always try to use the coupons on the most expensive thing I need and these were it! But, buying them made me realize I only own this much cardstock:I KNOW, I KNOW...shocking and sad! I have lots of patterned paper...just very little cardstock. So, when Hobby Lobby had the 50% paper sale last week, I got what I could. Now, I have THIS much cardstock:

IT'S STILL NOT ENOUGH...I'm a HOARDER...what am I gonna do with THAT?!?!? So, can somebody tell me where to get the cardstock deals? Our Michael's only sells Bazzill by the sheet and Hobby Lobby sells only TWO different packs of American Crafts cardstock and only the Bazzill shaped cardstock. Anyone who can help me out will get some scrappiness from me!!

I'll leave you with some peeks of the projects I've completed for Buzz and Bloom. Make sure you check out our projects all our projects here...there is greatness to be seen!!! Later!

Easy like Sunday Morning

this is how we do weekends in new orleans:
if you've never had crawfish, come on down...hubbs and i will show you how to do 'em RIGHT!!!! they look like miniature lobsters but they taste 100 times better...in my opinion! i love well-seasoned food and crawfish done right....sorry about the drool on the screen. we got chicken tenders from burger king for kea (did you know that they're shaped like crowns? TOO CUTE!) and sat out on the lakefront. it's about 76 degrees here with a slight breeze...beautiful. we may have a few weeks of winter here every year...then it's back to the heat! hubbs was supposed to build some bookcases for me this weekend, but i guess the daiquiri disabled him (RRRIIIGGGHHT!!!!) we still have a storage unit in baton rouge (where we evacuated before katrina) and the majority of my books that i've accumulated over the past four years are in there. it's bad enough that i lost ALL of my books in the hurricane...now the ones i've collected again are probably desert for the rats. if i go to that storage and the majority of my books are in tatters... BAAYYY BAYYY!!!! mama is NOT gonna be a happy camper!!!! we're doing a family walk this evening because we need to release the fat...well, john and i do. ahmad and kea are skinny minis! hubbs and i feel like we're stuck in a relacore commercial! we're hoping to shape up some before the crescent city classic which is in april. we did the 6.5 miles last year and we're hoping to make it an annual family to do. anywho, i'm hoping to persuade hubbs to get the wood for my bookcases once we leave the park this evening...wish me luck!
also, i've decided to do a few challenges this week: scrapmojo; dreamgirls; the design xperiment; and pencillines. oh, i don't know HOW i'm gonna do them all, plus the rest of my buzz and bloom posts along with cleaning, cooking, working, playing with the boys (including my BIG boy ;) but i'm just sharing my pipe dreams, i mean plans with you!
typepad and i weren't on good terms but i guess we're cool now. i'm finally able to do my posts for Buzz and Bloom. i'm so relieved!!!! i told helene and div that i thought they had secretly kicked me off the design team. they assured me that they still want me! so, go on over to the Buzz and Bloom blog and check out my posts when they're finally up. don't leave without checking out the other girlz work...they freakin' RAWK! later!!!

OH OH!!!

i'm really keepin' up with my little blog...even though seems as though every one but peggy has abandoned me! anywho, my little hawt tamale has tagged me with a cute question and answer thing. since i've been SO neglectful, i feel it's my duty to complete it! pay attention cuz i'm tagging some people to do this when i finish!
It's Harder Than It Looks...

Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and randomly tag 10 people (including me). Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real. . .nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.
Have Fun!!

1. What is your name: KEANDRA
2. A four Letter Word: KEEP
3. A boy's Name: KEANOHN
4. A girl's Name: KRISTI
5. An occupation: (GROUNDS) KEEPER
6. A color:KELLY GREEN
7. Something you wear: KEYRING (DON'T SAY ANYTHING!!!!)
8. A food: KIWI
9. Something found in the bathroom: KERI LOTION
10. A place: KENTUCKY
11. A reason for being late: sicK (I KNOW I CHEATED ON THIS ONE!)
12. Something you shout: KAPERS!!!! SPOILED AGAIN!!!!
13. A movie title: KRUSH GROOVIN'
14. Something you drink: KIWI STRAWBERRY HAWAIIAN PUNCH
15. A musical group:KC AND JO JO
16. An animal:KANGAROO
17. A street name: KANSAS BLVD
18. A type of car: KIA
19. Something scary: KILLERS
20. Ice cream flavor: KETCHUP

DANG, that was hard! i can't go no mo!!! so, i'm tagging you, peggy, delores, rochelle, jaime, sasha, irene, tracyp, tena e. and sarah n! (shot, it took me longer to come up with 10 people to tag than it did to finish the questions...SHEESH!!!! sasha, you can borrow my word-SHEESH-when you get to question #12!) i'll leave you with the layout i did today. those are pix we took while at the resort (we went to for our anniversary) last month. i wonder when hubbs and i are gonna be able to go somewhere ALONE again...probably not for another few YEARS! have a very kreative day!

more scrappiness

i don't know why blogger wouldn't let me post some of my other layouts yesterday...maybe it hates me as much as typepad? anywho, these are more images from my super scrappin' session sunday (say THAT really fast 10 times!!!) wow, they uploaded in about 50 seconds today...go figure. well, i be back later!

Scrap Pages-8 Clean House-0

Sorry it's been so long since i blogged, peggy...i'm slippin'!!!! i don't know WHO won the super bowl, don't know the last time i cleaned but i DO know that i got to kreate yesterday. if hubbs hadn't disturbed me i would have kreated more. you buy a man a 42" tv for christmas and know that the super bowl is coming on and you THINK he's gonna be occupied...LIES AND GARBAGE!!!! between innings, my husband kept running to the bedroom, asking if i had energy. i've had bronchitis for the past week and a half and i've been in bed most of that time. obviously, scrapping is equivalent to running 15 laps in the backyard (according to my hubbs!) anywho, i'm gonna do a super post in honor of the superbowl (won by the steelers, said ahmad!) and the fact that i haven't blogged in forever!!!!

my sister got married the day after christmas. they abandoned their cinderella ball plans and just decided to get married the monday before christmas. yeah, i asked her if she's pregnant, but she denied it...well, time will tell!!!!

i got my stamps from sinapore from this sweetie. i thought it was so wonderful that she just sent a total stranger some scrap yummies. you KNOW i have to send her a treat for being so wonderful!!!

typepad HATES ME!!!! i've been trying to upload my buzz and bloom projects to no avail! hopefully it'll be straightened out this week so that i can post with my b & b sisters! don't wait for me, though...go here to see the rest of the girls' goodies...they are SO TALENTED i love being on the same team as them! and they are teaching me SO MUCH!!!! bjay taught me how to do the hyperlink thing...see, i'm coming into the electronic age SLLLLOOOOWWWWLY!!!!

i treated myself to a making memories carousel today! i've loved them from afar for a long time but REFUSED to pay $50 for it! i had a 50% off coupon for michael's so...happy FEBRUARY TO ME!!!! oh! i want to pass on some good info...michael's now accepts competitor's coupons! so, you can use hobby lobby's 40% off coupons or whomever's there!!!! (enabler alert! guess i should have let you know i was enabling at the BEGINNING!!!) this is great news for me because michael's is much closer than hobby lobby and they have coupons more often. i need more embellies right now like another hole in my head, but i must have some storage. i'm working feverishly (LIES AND GARBAGE!!!) on organizing my studio! i really do want it organized. i took before pix and everything. i would post them but then i would have to shank you all! once i get it organized, i'll show you the disaster that it is now! well, gotta go entertain hubbs now, so i'll post again some time this week!