Friday-night crop pictures

Okay... They are pictures *taken* at the Friday night crop at Scrapbook Centrale. But except for two, the pictures are not actually *of* the crop. What can I say?? My friends' babies are making me quite snap-happy! ;)

Note that I have not retouched/cropped these pics, it's way too late for that! You'll have to take 'em as-is, flaws and all! :)

Let's begin with the actual pictures *of* the crop. L to R, you can see JJ. She is holding Rhys. JJ does not like to have her pic taken, just like me, so I figured if I only showed her back, it'd be okay! Then there is Noémi, holding little Lionel (born January 2nd!) Finally, you can sort of see Erin, taking a picture of me! Since this pic was supposed to be my pic for Project 365, she called it "taking a picture of the picture-of-the-day". I thought it was funny! To see what my final choice for 365 ended up being, check out this link.

Here's Noémi. If you're going to pull your tongue at me, girl, you're gonna end up on my blog, lol!

Here's beautiful Rhys. Can you see the drool? Why is it cute when they are 5 months old but not when your 32?!

Gosh I love this kid!!

Note the "Marie" hoodie from "The Aristocats". It's adorable!

Lionel yawning. He's adorable, sweet little lion!

I love how he's looking straight at the camera!

Nothing beats kisses from mom!

To understand this sequence of events, again, refer to my Project 365.

Tonight is crop night!

I love Friday nights! When Keith comes home from work, I grab my stuff and I head to Scrapbook Centrale for some much-needed girl-time (oh, and we scrap too!) I look forward to this all week. Just time for me to get together with Erin, JJ, and Noemi and talk. Talk about babies, scrapbooking, life in general. After cropping, we head down to Starbucks were we just keep talking. These girls have become an integral part of my life. Who knew you could make such awesome friendships in your thirties?! Tonight, Eliane will be there after not being able to join us for some time. Woo hoo! Now if only Caro and Bella could join us too, it would be perfect! :)

I have yet to pack my stuff, I'll do that over the course of the day. I'm usually only able to finish one layout, but I like to have options while I'm there. So I'll get a few kits ready.

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I talked to a few of you about a website I go to to watch some tv shows. It's especially handy when you miss an episode od something. It's called Yidio and it's free. These days, I've been watching one episode of The Hills every night. OMG! I can't believe I've just admitted on my blog that I watch The Hills! I had only told Bella about this new addiction of mine... Here's what happened. I don't have MTV here (I'm in Canada and it counts as a specialty channel, one I don't want, really). About 6 months ago, CTV was showing a Hills episode, probably as a filler. I decided to PVR it, since I was curious. After all, LC, Heidi and Spencer were always in mags and I wanted to know what the hype was all about. I wasn't impressed by the show and didn't think about it again. But when I PVRed it, I must've chosen the "record all the shows at any time" option, because over the Holidays, they showed all of season 4, and my PVR recorded it. Since it was there, I decided to watch. After all, during the Holidays, there's not much else on tv. Well, guess what? I got hooked. It's understandable: after all, I got to watch episodes back-to-back, which makes it easy to get sucked into. After I watched those shows, I thought it would be cool to see how it all started. Since we now have a laptop, I did a Google search, found Yidio and the rest is history, lol! *sigh* I must be the only 30-something watching that show... Hello, my name is Claude and I am addicted to The Hills!

Anyway, go check out the link, you might find a show or two you'd like to watch! :)

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After all the snow we've have here the past few days, I figured I'd post this layout to give us something to look forward to! TFL!

Two layouts today

Today, I'm celebrating 2 holidays with you, Easter and Christmas, LOL!

It's all in the spelling.

Sean has started sounding out words. He doesn't know how to read yet, but he likes to pretend he does. So when he sees a word he knows (for example his name, or Wal-Mart!) he'll sound it out as if he was reading it.

So Sunday, when the kids were having lunch, they were having a conversation only kids can have. You know the kind where you have no idea what is going on, but they are totally in the know? Well Sean saw his name on a layout on the wall in front of him and he said:

"S-E-A-N, sh-aw-nn, Sean!"

So what does Kira say not to be left out (because she likes to do everything her big brother does)?

"A-B-C-D-E-F-G, is Sean!"

I'm telling you, it was priceless!!

How about that!

Turns out, eating healthy works for your waistline! Who'da thunk?? I've always been an emotional eater. Well, it started in my teens. And let me tell you this: it turned into binge eating before too long. I've never been treated for that (neither have I been officially diagnosed), but treating my depression has helped tremendously. It's still hard not to fall into bad habits again, though: eating 4-5 chocolate bars in a row, a super-sized MigMac combo + an extra Big Mac... And then hide it from everybody. I started getting better once I admitted all this to DH. Turns out, it wasn't such a secret. I'm bad at hiding things, it seems, at least from him. He knew. But he also knew I needed to somehow have control over something. I've been so fragile, he didn't know quite what to do. He's been very supportive. Anywayyyyyy...


For 2009, I decided to declutter, both my house and my body. No diets. I just try to control my impulses better. I eat more fruits, more veggies (although that part's still very hard for me) and most importantly I think, I plan. Knowing what you'll eat and what you need to prepare helps you NOT to grab the easiest thing around. Within 2 weeks, I was able to tighten my belt by one hole. And today, I tried my smaller pair of jeans (I only have two that fit, a size 18 and a size 16, but that one was really tight) and I was able to tie the button and zipper without sucking in my gut! Sure, there's still a big bulge over the waist, but that's not the point. I'm working at being better to myself and it's working!


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A shout out to one awesome pal, Barb! You are awesome, thanks for working on that pic for me. It means a lot to me that you'd take the time to do something you don't have to do, just for me! Thanks!


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And there's a sort of tag going around, where you go on you computer where you store your pics and chose the 6th picture in the 6th folder. Here it it, untweaked, uncropped, as-is. DH helping Kira to jump in the pool this past summer. You can see my dear niece Evangeline in this pic, although her back is turned. So there, you have it!

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And finally, here is a layout about my son's love for his Transformers and how hard I worked to get him all of these! :)

Here's the journaling: It all started when I took you and Kira to get a Happy Meal. Transformer Ratchet made its way into your life. These robots fascinated you and you kept talking about “Transformists.” Grand-maman Nicole then surprised you with Star Scream. Not long after that, I found Lugnut forgotten in a shopping cart in a mall parking lot. When I went back to the restaurant to get more, McDonald’s had moved on to other toys. That’s when my search for the missing Transformers began. I’d stop at every Golden Arches I saw and asked if they had any left. I was lucky enough to find Optimus Prime that way. Then nothing. Zero. Zilch. I asked people on message boards to keep their eyes open. I looked on Ebay (ok, Ebay had some but it would have been ridiculously expensive!) Then a scrap pal, Brigitte, was kind enough to give me her son’s Bumblebee. You were so happy! Finally, the elusive Megatron found its way to you through Xavier, who found it at the bazar for a quarter. And you have been tied to them ever since! July 2008

At (really!) late post.

I came back from my usual Friday night crop and did not want to go to sleep. I know I wont be able to go to bed too late tomorrow night because Keith is leaving early for the auto show on Sunday morning, so I might as well go to bed late and sleep in tomorrow as much as I can! :)

So I've been working on pictures, tweaking some and noticing that I need to learn more about my camera because most of my pictures are cr*p! Ugh! I want nice, clear pictures, and it's not working for me in low-light. I really need the 50mm lens, but until I can find the 120$ for it, I have to figure out a way to work around it. Sigh...

Anyway, I thought my brother Richard would like to see these pics. They were taken when we celebrated Pascal's b'day. We also opened up more Xmas gifts, from Richard and al. all the way from BC. Thanks guys for extending our Xmas holidays! Very much appreciated. :)

I hope my mom wont disown me for posting this pic of her online; it's the only one I had!

The kids and their uncles blowing out the candles.

There was a real cake, but it was too pretty to put these huge candle on it. So my brother made these scone-type things as a substitution!

A couple of layouts.

A quick post today to show you 2 layouts.

The kids last June:And my sweet and funny Kira last August:

Can you say "under the wire"?

Yesterday, Joannie at CK emailed me with the official bad news: my layout never made it there, so it wasn't going to be in the May issue (see this post for more info). She told me I could recreate it for possible pub in the June issue; it wasn't garanteed, but there was a good chance. She even offered to look at some more of my work to see if something else could fit instead. But for now, she had to make another choice for the May issue. Sigh, someone else's layout...

Then, later that day, I got an email from her entitled: Guess what came in the mail today? YES!!!! She came back from lunch and it was waiting for her on her chair!!! So it'll be in the May issue after all! Woot!

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Salut maman, j'espere que tout va bien! On t'aime!

Random Wednesday

In case you are interested to know, I'm still not feeling well. I was feeling better last night and tried to eat a light dinner. Bad idea! It got everything going again, I'm feeling just as awful I I did in the first few days... And seeing that I haven't eaten since Saturday afternoon, I am weak as heck. All I can do is lie on the sofa and nod off, wake up when the kids are screaming, nod off again, and so on. If this keeps going, I wont be able to go crop for the 2nd week in a row on Friday, and that would be BAD! If I do feel better and go, I wont get close to all the babies, wouldn't want the precious ones to get sick!

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Here's another layout I made for the Scrap Schemes blog. To check out what my inspiration was as well as to see all the other DT work, click here. And why don't you participate in the challenge? There's and awesome (and I mean Awesome!) prize to be won, check at the end of the post! And them 'em Claude sent you!

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Like what you see below? To see the entire Industrial Park collection, click here. Leave a comment and you could win the entire line! Don't you just love it?!?!?!!!!!! Okay, I may be biased, but I honestly love it! :) Yup, Scrap Within Reach is a company to keep your eye on (booth #1440 at CHA!)

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Oh, and Queen&Co just posted a sneak-peek. Go check out their blog post and you could win some awesome embellishments!

I get to toot twice today!

I'm so excited! Memory Makers contacted me yesterday to request 2 layouts for the July/August issue. Two!!! I am beyond words! Thanks for letting me share with you!

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Here's a conversation between Sean and myself yesterday that came out of the blue:

SEAN: What's that?

ME: Those are my breasts.

S: Breasts? (he then looked at his own shirt and didn't see any breasts)

M: Only girls have breasts, boys don't have breasts. Kira will have breasts when she's bigger.

S: Oh yeah?

M: That's how we give milk to babies. Do you remember when Kira used to drink milk from mommy"s breasts?

S: Oh.... yeah!

M: Boys don't give milk, only girls.

S: Maybe I can give juice.

M: LOL! Maybe...

S: Do you give juice?

M: No, I give milk.

S: Like a COW?!?!

Ugh, I'm sick!!!

I don't get sick. I haven't been really sick ever since I had my kids. I'll catch a cold once in a while, but not as often as others in my household do. Sure, I recently started suffering from migraines, but I mean sick sick? Hardly ever.

So when we were at the mall Saturday and I started getting dizzy and feeling nauseous and faint, I thought another migraine was falling down upon me. When I asked Keith to cut our outing short because I wanted to go lie down, he knew I meant business. I could hardly walk anymore, my body felt too heavy for my legs.

We got home at 4pm. Keith left Kira with me since she needed a nap and left with Sean to go see his dad. I slept until 8:30pm, woke up for half-an-hour and went back to sleep until 6am when Kira woke up. When Keith woke up at 7am, I went back to sleep and pretty much slept all day.

I'll spare you the details; let's just say it's gastro and leave it at that. Keith is having dinner right now and it smells awful to my weak stomach!!!

Ugh, I hope I feel better tomorrow because with Keith back at work, I wont have the luxury of staying in bed all day!

All about chocolate!

As I was driving with the kids in the backseat to go get Keith after work, Sean suddenly said

"I love chocwate!"

So i said

"You love chocolate?"

His answer:

"yes. Chocwate makes you strong!"

Gotta love it!

Today

1. Still no sign of my layout at CK... This is the last day for it to come in and make it in the mag. Please, will my layout in Joannie's hands, lol!

2. I went to the doc's yesterday and Kira's ears are red and they have water behind the tympanum, but there's no infection, which means no antibiotics. She's on Motrin for the pain, she should get better in a few days.

3. Okay, let's say you are on the highway, in the middle lane, and you are not going faster than than the cars in the right lane... Please move over to the right lane!!!!!!!! I was stuck in the right lane forever yesterday because I wanted to switch lanes but a lady in the middle lane had her car right where I couldn't move! If this makes no sense to you, at least it does to me, lol! I'm a safe driver, but I really dislike slowpokes and people who are totally unaware of their surroundings!

4. Two toots for me today, this time from Scrapbooking and Beyond. Jane requested 2 layouts, I'm not sure if they are for the Summer issue or the fall issue. Anyway, I'll have my laptop paid off faster than I expected if this keeps going!

5. Here are 2 more layouts.

June 08

December 07 (she was so little!)

On my mind today...

1. Right now, I am using Keith's new work laptop to write this. I'm glad I will be getting one of my own soon, because it's awesome to be blogging from my couch! :)

2. I am slightly freaking out right now because the layout that I mailed to CK on December 30th still hasn't made it there yet. Joannie has been incredibly nice trying to see if she could track it down, but right now all we can do is wait. She told me she can wait until Friday, but no later... I'd be missing my first pub in CK, argh!

3. Kira has an earache, and it really bothers her when the Motrin wears off. I didn't want to brave the intense cold we have right here to then wait 5 hours at the CLSC. Luckily, I have an appointment with my family doc tomorrow, I'll have him check her out. I'm pretty sure she'll need antibiotics.

4. I'm gonna miss my pals on Friday night since I can't go to the crop. Let's get together at some point this week girls, deal?

5. TOOT!!! For the second month in a row, Scrapbook Trends has requested a layout for publication. It'll be in the June issue, and it's probably one of my favourite layouts ever!

Thanks for reading, ttyl!

Can you say yummy?

I like paper. It's so pretty. And fun. What can I say?? I believe paper is the best embellishment. And who says you need only as many papers as you can use? What about as many papers as you can drool over? Yeah, that sounds good! Now, with all the CHA sneak peeks we've been getting, I can tell some companies will be drool worthy, others....wont. Good for my pocketbook, I guess!


Speaking of drool-worthy... Have you seen Scrap Within Reach's sneak peeks? Not only are the paper and alphas gorgeous, but now there are rub-ons and ribbons!! Here are a few peeks. To see all elements individually, visit SWR's blog. And don't forget to leave a comment here to win the entire Afternoon Tea collection!

On another scrap-note, I got a lovely email from Kerry requesting a layout for the Spring issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today! I think it's been 2 years since I was pubbed in that mag! I'm thrilled, especially since it'll be my first 2-pager to be published! :)

I'm leaving you with 3 layouts. I'm adding the dates for my brother Richard's benefit, since he doesn't see the kids often! You need to see how much they've grown, they're awesome!!

June 08

June 08February 08

Are you up for a challenge?

If you scrap like me, you do your best work under pressure. Or when someone challenges you. So I'm here to invite you over at Scrap Schemes for some scrap challenges. Every two weeks, we give you new inspiration. Whether it's an ad, or a color scheme, or home decor, there's something for everyone. It's always fun to see how a single piece of inspiration can produce so many different layouts in the end! So drop by to tackle on the challenges, or simply come by and say hello. It's always nice to hear from you! Tell them Claude sent you! ;)

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I thought this was totally blog worthy. In our household, it's not only the kids who are funny!

Keith and I were watching TV and we saw this commercial about a canadian athlete. Her sport is skeleton. As this link so nicely puts it, it's all about going "face first down an icy track." Here's how our conversation went:

KEITH: If I was younger, I'd...

CLAUDE: You'd do skeleton?

KEITH: Oh yeah!! It looks so cool!

CLAUDE: Yeah, right, cool. Going face first on a super fast sled.

KEITH: Yeah!

CLAUDE: You know, you could get the same rush doing the luge. At least, you wouldn't be going face first!

KEITH: Yeah, but I'd be going nuts first. No thanks!

Random Scrap Stuff!

We are live at Scrap Schemes! After a month off for the holidays, we are back with a great scheme. To see the inspiration for my layout, and to see what the other schemers came up with, click here! ***ETA: It'll be pubbed!

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Pretty, no? To win the entire collection of Scrap Within Reach's Afternoon Tea, which includes 6 double sided papers, chipboard alphas, ribbons and rub-ons, leave a comment here.

To see all of SWR's products, check out the catalog.

Don't forget to visit us at CHA at booth #1440!!!

Sad news in the Star Trek world...

I don't listen to much news, hard or otherwise. I usually get the information I need from Keith. So it was a shock to me when I saw this article today. Majel Barrett Roddenberry lost her battle against leukemia on Dec 18th. Her name was synonymous with Star Trek, and not just because of her husband. She definitely lives on through many incarnations of Star Trek! Up above is a picture of her as Lwaxana Troy, as I will always remeber her. :)

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Here's an interesting link I came across many years ago. If you have more books than you can think of, but don't know what to do with them, why not release them into the wild?? Someone else could sure use a good read!

A quick note

...to say I've updated my Project 365 blog. If you use Google Reader, you should know that I changed that blog's address for http://claude365.blogspot.com/.

To see the blog, click on the right! :) TFL!