Wasting.

Is it just me or does time seem to fly by more quickly when you're online?

Okay, it's 1:00. I need to leave for work at 3:00. I have plenty of time to read a few blogs!

One hour and 59 minutes later...

I love reading blogs. I could read blogs all day. Blogs are heavenly. And look at this... I've read fifteen blogs, and only twenty minutes has gone by. Wait a second... It's 2:59?! Holy Crap! I gotta go!

Sound familiar? A similar situation happened to me Sunday evening. I went to bed at 7:00pm (I'm sick, okay! I'm trying to get better!), and I woke up just a few hours later. I woke up hungry... again and also wanted some hot tea.

So I decided... well, while I eat my biscuit and drink my ginger tea with honey (which tastes like hot Coca-Cola, by the way... weird), I will catch up on my blog-reading... just a bit, so I can still get to sleep at a reasonable hour. And I hit the regulars and eventually land on Ali Edwards.

She happens to have this interesting blog post on cloth diapers. Stating they have "come a long way," she provides several links for our viewing (and, apparently, researching) pleasure. And for some reason, this piqued my interest.

I don't have a baby. I'm not pregnant with a baby. And I certainly don't plan on having a baby in the next couple years (though I'd like to...)

So why ON EARTH did I spend two HOURS looking at cloth diapers?! I was truly and utterly fascinated. I think I could now confidently teach a class on said diapers. And you would be upset with me if I didn't share some valuable cloth diaper information, now wouldn't you?! Of course you would!

Okay, I'm not going to go off on a bunch of cloth diapering hoopla followed by information on how to convince your husband to breastfeed or directions on how to deliver your own baby (they have Google for those types of things, People!), but I will share this:

Disposable diapers cost approximately $1000 per child (you know, till the approximate potty-trained age of 2.5). That's approximately 5,500 (I'm rounding up here because I like nice, round numbers) diapers PER child! EEK!

And cloth diapers? Cost LESS THAN a third of that ($250-$300)! And no, you don't have to rinse them in a toilet or a bucket like the "olden" days. MUCH easier (and cleaner...) now. How nice is THAT on our landfills? I'm just sayin'...

Interesting information, no?!

And speaking of wasting time on blog reading...

Bragging.

I'm pretty sure that before I was published I promised myself that if I ever *did* get published, I wouldn't scan my magazine page and post it on my blog. I like to think I'm pretty modest and shy when it comes to stuff like this.

But if I would have *known* that I would be published in Simple Scrapbooks... aside from not believing that I would EVER, EVER in a million years be published in my favorite scrap magazine... I would have probably created an amendment to the fore mentioned rule.

Therefore, for your viewing pleasure: Page 96 of Simple Scrapbooks Magazine - November/December 2008 issue. (Let's just call this "sharing information" as opposed to "bragging," okay?! Please?! *insert sheepish grin here*)

Yeah, that's me. A whole page to myself. Me! Just your average Jane scrapbooker. And though I *asked* Simple if they would credit Paislee Press Designs in my products list, they are quite busy and must have forgotten.

See, the amazing Liz over at Paislee Press created these super fabulous digi mailing label frames, and I LOVED them! So I re-created them in paper (thanks to my trusty Fiskars). I credited her as my inspiration, but alas, they left it out. I still love Simple. But I wanted to give a shout out to Liz. Seriously, it's because of her. :)

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In other news, I went hiking a couple weekends ago, and it was FABULOUS! Austin's Barton Creek is SO awesome. Pics will be shown soon... I hope. :) Going again this weekend with a friend. YAY!

Then last weekend, I went out of town to visit family. Brought the puppies. And when I returned, their food bowls were nowhere to be found. Oh well, I thought. No biggie. They just get to eat out of Corelle instead. (Lucky puppies!)

And for two days, Amber would not eat.

You have to understand something about Amber. She eats like I starve her. She barks for her food, shakes uncontrollably until I fill her bowl, and once she has food, she devours it before Ruby even notices I had poured food in their bowls. So this was strange.

I would fill her bowl, she would sniff, perhaps eat one or two pieces, then walk away. Then she'd proceed to her barking and shaking like I hadn't fed her at all. I figured she just wasn't feeling well and would get over it. After the two days, I accidentally spilled some dog food on the floor.

And my ravenous beast of a dog returned. She ate every last piece I had spilled... within ten seconds of dropping them. *Insert light-bulb here.* So I did what any worried mother of a starving dog would do... I poured all her dog food on the kitchen floor.

A happy mom. A happy dog.

A happy dog, who does NOT like Corelle dishes...

Baking.

There is something unmistakably wonderful about fall... pumpkin muffins. I know I could make pumpkin muffins all year, but it's just not the same.

So I'm home from work (actually took a few days off since I'm stuck with a fever and sinusitis... again... ick), and I decided after Nap #2 that I'd make some yummy muffins.

I open up two recipes. Hmm... I'll make THIS recipe, I say to myself. And halfway through, I'm like, Nah, I'll make this other recipe. I've actually made this one. I know they'll turn out!

Then for some odd reason, I look at the first recipe, then the 2nd. Then I forget which one I'm making and figure that now it's more of a collaborative thing. Ah well. If they taste like pumpkin, and they're in the vague shape of a muffin, I'm good to go.

So it's painfully obvious by eating my muffins that any type of recipe was lost in translation. But just the same, they are super tasty!

Eating.

So I'm starting to feel a bit better. (YAY!) Went back to the doctor and got some cough syrup with Vicodin. Yum!

But what I really think help me feel better? Eating peanut butter sandwiches every day. That's right, *every* day. I got this yummy gluten-free bread from Whole Foods, and I've been eating at least one peanut butter sandwich per day.

Ohmigosh, and I found this new peanut butter! It's Smuckers Natural with HONEY! So it's just peanuts, salt, honey and divinity. Okay, I added the divinity part, but it must have at least *some* of that added because it's... well... divine. :)

Added a new header and photo today. Yay! Those beautiful papers and elements are from Paislee Press. Design by yours truly (okay, I just sketched it out for Jeremy, and *he's* the one who put it all together. He may be a tool sometimes, but that boy has mad Adobe skills). :)

Hmmm... what else is new? Oh! I'm getting in on this. And I'm pretty excited about it. I *really* wanted a blue one of those cute little albums, but they don't sell the blue color I wanted. So I made my own. Yeah, I like to take on more projects when I already have a million things going on, BUT... it's in the color I love... AND... it was free with stuff I used from my stash (read: paper scraps)! Yahoo! When it's finished, I'll post it. Promise.

I'm taking this class by Cathy Zielske, and ohmigosh, it's awesome! She is, of course, super fabulous, and I heart her... a lot. I'll post my pages soon. :) You still have time to get in on this (until October 8th)! It's kinda pricey for an online class, but it's TWELVE weeks long (so less than $10 per week), AND it's taught by Cathy Flippin' Zielske! Come on! Just put it on a credit card, and you'll be good. Tee hee. ;)

Anything else? Oh!! I've been meaning to tell you all. I started another really cool blog (actually, I have four blogs now... wow), and you should SO check it out. It's so cool! I promise! You won't regret it! :D

Otay, I think that's all for today. Meant for this to be shorter. Oh well.