Sarah Slean - Land and Sea

I don't listen to the radio in the car very often but lately my music selection seemed slightly stale so I switched to the radio and I'm just surprised at the really poor quality of music that's popular.  It seems that every song is filled with dance club, synthesized beats so that they all sound the same.  The lyrics can't even begin to be called poetic or intelligent, also is it just me or do they only play the same 10 songs?

This crummy radio selection only proves the quality of real artists, like my favourite, Sarah Slean.  I've mentioned her many times on my blog but not recently and since then I have lots of new US readers.  I figured most of you are unaware of this Canadian gem.

Her music is sometimes quirky but always so musical and beautiful.  The lyrics are heartfelt and intelligent and to see her in concert is really something.  Brad and I recently had that opportunity.  She came and played and we were once again awed by her brilliance.

She has a new album out that everyone should listen too, it's a perfect mix of slow and fast and I thought I'd link to a couple songs for you.

She recently did a series for CBC with an orchestra and performed some of the songs from the new album, this was my favourite.

Napoleon


Land & Sea would make a great Christmas present so listen to these songs, be inspired and then purchase the album.  There are tons of her songs on youtube so if you need more convincing check some of them out.

MyMemoriesSuite Giveaway

*Update - thanks for entering, I picked a winner already but I'm glad you came to check out the giveaway*

Guys, the craziest thing happened.  Someone contacted me and wanted to do a sponsored giveaway.
It's a company called MyMemoriesSuite and they're all about digital scrapbooking.  Here's the downside though, I've never been into digital scrapbooking and I just couldn't see myself doing this program justice.  I didn't want to turn down such a fun opportunity though and it didn't take me very long to think of my friend JaCobi who happens to love digital scrapbooking.  I asked her if she was interested in guest posting and she immediately said yes.

MyMemoriesSuite provided me with a copy of their software which I passed on to JaCobi for her to play with.  So without further ado, here's JaCobi and her review (make sure you read to the very bottom where there's a treat for you).

Hi there!!  I'm JaCobi and I blog over at Changed For Good.  I'm super excited to be visiting here at Laura Thoughts today and sharing my digital craftyness with you! As some of you may know, I've been into digital scrapbooking for a few years now.  I started by downloading the GIMP (an image manipulation software) and then teaching myself how to use it to scrapbook.  This was not an easy task, as this software is not very user friendly.  But I learned to do what I needed to and have made a ton of scrapbook pages and some other crafty stuff with it. But, recently I got a new digital scrapbooking software!  I was so excited to get MyMemorySuite and to try it out!  The first thing I noticed is how user friendly it is!  It has a convenient side bar menu that makes it quick and easy to add or change anything to your page, whether you want a background paper, a photo, embellishments, or text!

The next thing I noticed is that although there are papers and embellishments that come with the software,  I can still use all of the kits and embellishments that I already have!  This is a great feature, because I have been collecting papers and kits and stuff for years and would not be happy if I couldn't use it still.  But I can!  I can find all of my files and add them through the Resource Gallery menu on the left.  All I have to do is look through my files, then just drag and drop elements onto my page.  As easy as that!

Another thing that I love about MyMemorySuite is all of the ways to share a project.

• You can print at home or export to JPEG, which I usually do to post my projects on my blog or facebook, or to have them printed at Costco or Walmart.  
• There is a Professional Printing option.  You can upload your album right from the program to the MyMemory website to have it printed and bound as a book or calendar.
• And then there are the Multimedia Output options.  You can save your album as an Interactive Album, Movie, I-Pod Ready or DVD-Video files. 

I guess I need to explain some of the other cool features before I explain the multimedia output options.  MyMemorySuite allows you to add music or narration to your album.  So maybe there is a story that goes along with your pictures, but it needs to be heard, and not just read.  Now you can actually narrate your album, telling the story how you want it! You can also add video or audio clips, files, website links and links to another page of your album.  If you share the album as an interactive album on a CD then your audience can actually click your hotspots to play videos, or open websites or files.  I love that this scrapbooking software is not limiting, but allows me to do even more than I thought possible with my photo albums! I used these great features to make a Wedding Album.  I was able to add one of our songs as background music and then I added video clips from our reception program.  With all of the video, the album is too big a file to post online and keep the quality, so I ended up cutting out the video so you could just see the wedding album.  I also realized that no one else probably wanted to see our wedding reception program anyway!  So here's just the Wedding Photo Album, set to our wedding song, JALS by Colors.

Some of the other features I love:

• you can just drag and drop photos into photo boxes
• you can rotate text or set it around a circle or square
• you can quickly and easily add a mat or shadow to any photo or element

A couple things that I haven't figured out how to do yet (or maybe I can't do them at all) with MyMemorySuite:

• change the color of any element
• use page templates from other sources (the program has it's own, but I can't figure out how to use ones that I already have)
• how to change the size of the grid to help line things up more precisely

But the features definitely outweigh the limitations for me!  

Now check out some of the other projects I have made with MyMemorySuite digital scrapbooking software:

I made this page completely from scratch

Created with a kit by Connie Prince

Here's my new To Do list!  Check out this post to see other To Do lists that I've made

Created with a kit by Captivated Visions

Here's an album that I made using a pre-made pages that came with the software.  All I did was add pictures and titles

I hope you all have as much fun as I did playing with MyMemorySuite!  I'm so glad I could come visit LauraThoughts and all of you, her awesome followers!  Thanks for letting me come on by!

Thanks JaCobi, now the fun part for you.  Not only did My Memories Suite give JaCobi a copy of their software but they want to give one to a lucky reader.  All you need to do to enter the giveaway is visit MyMemoriesSuite website and then leave me a comment telling me about your favourite product.  Whether it be a scrapbook kit, a template or a theme, doesn't matter just tell me something you love.  I'll give you a second entry if you go to JaCobi's site and tell her how awesome she is (you'll need to comment here telling me you've done so).  I'll run the giveaway for a week and then pick a random winner.

Because they're so awesome they've also given me a discount code to pass on to you.  This code will get you $10 of the price of the software ($40) or $10 to the store.  Just copy this code, STMMMS87059, and paste it at checkout.

Better After Feature

Yay! I'm so excited that my stroller re-cover was featured on Better After!  This is one of my favorite sites and I get a lot of really great ideas here.  If you've never read Better After you should get over there right now.

Blogger Issues

Is anyone else having a hard time with Blogger? I'm so frustrated I'm about ready to go to Wordpress, let my share my annoyances.

I use Firefox as my browser of choice, I'm very happy with it and it works great until recently. Anyone else notice how the way you upload pictures is different? Well when I try to upload a picture is says "Server Error".  Every stinking time.  I figured it was a problem with Firefox so I switched to Internet Explorer and it worked okay.  I'm not a fan of IE though so I didn't want to use it all the time until I read a glowing review of IE 9.  It's still in the Beta stage (testing) but I thought now big deal.  Apparently it's a big deal because in the IE 9 none of the buttons on my editor work.  So I click on the button to add a picture and nothing happens.

So now I can't use Firefox or Internet Explorer.  Brad uses Chrome so I switched to his profile and used Chrome and it sort of functions though pictures are miserable to upload.  So lately I've been composing in Firefox and then switching to Brad's profile so I can use Chrome to add photos.  A ridiculous set up.  Something better get fixed soon or I'm outta here.

Dizzy Daisy Watch

Have you seen the new watch trend?  It's a watch face with a removable band made up of big beads?

 My Mom LOVES them.  She owned two already and was excited to organize a watch party with Dizzy Daisy Bead Co.  I had seen her's and thought they were very nice but was only mildly interested.  She invited me to her party and I came mostly because she was worried no one else would, I had no intention of buying one because honestly they're a little expensive.

I knew I was in trouble when Jody showed up and started pulling out all of her beads.  My parents have an L shaped counter and a small island, before long they were both covered in containers full of the most beautiful beads I'd ever seen.  I knew I was in trouble.

First you pick your watch face, here were 3 or 4 I loved but finally settled on the turquoise one.  Once you've picked  your face you then get to pick your beads.  I initially picked enough to make about 4 watches and had a hard time narrowing it down.  Eventually I was able to pick out an order I loved.  You string them and it's done, ready to attach to your face.

Here's a close up of some of the beads.

The big black one has fun sproingy silver metal around it.  The metal one was stupid to thread but looks great.

I love the polka dot one and the crackled one on the end is gorgeous. I love the chunky white cube.

Here are the one's Mom made, all jumbled together.

You should organize a party, it was so much fun and I love my new watch!  Mom says she's upset that she can only wear one at a time.


Dizzy Daisy Bead Co. - Custom Watch Design
Jody Gurney - 403-756-2238
dizzydaisybead@yahoo.ca

A String of Bad Movies

It all started with When in Rome.  A cute enough looking movie and I like Kristen Bell.  Not a bad idea but everything was so ridiculously over the top, it wasn't even one of those movies you could be "in the moment" for, just silly.  The men in love with her were silly and ridiculous and come on, she stands in a fountain in her wedding dress?  Right.

We moved onto Leap Year hoping to take away the bad taste of When in Rome.  There were moments that were sweet, moments that were embarrassingly stupid and moments that I've seen a dozen times in other movies.  Very unoriginal.  I realize it's a light hearted movie but should I really be able to tell the man she's going
to fall in love with immediately?

Brad chose the next movie and we switched genre's completely.  The International, a lesser heard of movie but my husband being a finance major and ex bank teller was attracted to the bank corruption idea.  I don't remember the last movie that's been so over my head and here comes the big spoiler...  They spend the entire movie trying to blow open this huge corruption and in the end... they fail!  We watch two hours of very boring non drama to end up with nothing!  Nothing accomplished, nothing changed just a whole bunch of dead people.

Our next choice is the Book of Eli... anyone seen it?  Any warnings?

I miss Lost, we just watched 6 seasons in roughly 6 weeks.  So far everything else is paling in comparison.

Pillow

I was in Pier One Imports the other day and I saw this pillow that I think is so cute.

I have no need for a new pillow on my couch as my current ones spend 90% of the time on the floor but I thought I'd show it here and if someone else needed a new pillow they could whip this up.

It's covered in tiny little fabric fans (you know how you used to fold paper into a fan when you were little?).  The fans are sewed in the center to the pillow and then when they open they look all fluffy and beautiful.  I think you'd have to use some sort of knit fabric because the ends weren't finished at all and they didn't fray.  Would a knit hold the creases well though?  You may have to starch or something, it would take some experimenting but I think it's adorable.

L

The Details

Forgive me for no properly sharing this gem of a stain remover as I should have.

The cleaner is called Proxi.  I did a quick Google search but didn't really see where it's sold, sorry.  If you live in Lethbridge I can hook you up but otherwise you're on your own.  It's labeled as a carpet and upholstery cleaner as well as a stain remover and you spray and walk away.  No rubbing.  You're supposed to spray and then let it dry for optimal cleaning.  Catie's onsie's are so gross and the mess is so frequent that I usually don't let it dry, I toss it in the wash right away.

This is moments after the latest clean up project.  I rinsed the onsie and that's it.



This is 15 minutes later, I didn't do anything but spray it.  These results would be more impressive if I waited longer but I had laundry to do and wanted to get this in so 15 minutes is all you get.  If I had waited a couple hours the stain would be almost completely gone.  When I pull this out of the wash it will be white without any remainder of the stain.

As a small celebration and I'm sure far too much info for anyone who isn't a mother, today's poop was less runny, I'm hoping this daily mess is on it's way out.
L

Response from Old Navy

Dear Laura,

Thank you for your email and for sharing your concerns regarding the
quality of your Old Navy Sweetheart Jeans.  At Old Navy, we strive to
offer our customers merchandise of superior style and quality, while
providing exceptional service. We regret having disappointed you.
Customer feedback is an important part of our business and we will be
sure to share your remarks with our design and merchandising teams.

Please take the item to your local Old Navy store for a manager's
evaluation or, if it was an online purchase, send it to us at
oldnavy.com and we'll be happy to offer you a return or replacement if
the merchandise has been deemed defective by a member of our online
returns team.  Please note that a decision either way can only be made
by those individuals and that we can not guarantee in advance the
outcome of an evaluation. In addition, merchandise deemed defective
generally does not include normal wear and tear.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to email us. We apologize
for any inconvenience and look forward to you shopping with us again
soon.

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to call us
at 1-800-OLD-NAVY, and follow the prompts to share your store
experience. We are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to
9:00 p.m. and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Please note all hours are
indicated in Eastern Time.

Sincerely,

I'm not satisfied with this response.  The jeans won't be refunded because they're not defective, just a stupid design.  I expected a little more.

Dear Old Navy:

At Christmas, as is tradition in our family I was given some clothing money.  This clothing money is important as my husband and I are in a tight financial situation, I don't purchase clothing lightly these days as it's not in our budget.  I was in desperate need of some jeans so I headed over to Old Navy and bought a pair of your Sweetheart style jeans.  I was thrilled with my purchase.  Sadly I enjoyed them for a mere couple of days before the jeans became saggy, loose, baggy and unflattering.  Not to be deterred I washed them and they returned to their former shape.  I was pleased and again wore them only this time the sagging started in much sooner.  It's now only February and these jeans are unwearable.  Their original shape lasts for about 10 minutes before the stretch of the jeans makes them far too big.  I understand that jeans with stretch are going to loosen up a bit but the amount these jeans has stretched is unbelievable.  I recently went to a different store and bought a replacement pair of jeans but I remain angry and disappointed in the poor quality of my former pair.  A simple note on the jeans explaining the amount of stretch could have solved this problem, I would have bought a smaller size.

I have since heard this complain from others and I thought you should be aware of my discontent and also informed that I won't buy jeans from Old Navy anymore.

Thank you for your time
Laura Wiebe

The Dollar Store Wins Again

I've recently developed a love for the Dollar Store.  That's saying a lot for me because I've never been fond of them in the past but lately I've made so many great discoveries.

I've found multiple sets of cute clips for Catie, some that I've turned into bows.  I also buy all of my felt there for $1.25 for 4 sheets.  This latest find was the most useful.

After scrubbing out my disgusting microwave I decided it was time to buy one of those covers to keep it clean.  I headed to Walmart and searched and searched (while a Walmart worker chatted with friends right beside me) finally coming up with one that also came with an egg cooker and a microwave grittle... not what I needed.  I gave up and headed to the dollar store where I immediately found stacks of them for $1.25 each.  I'm just starting to realize how many gems are there and I'm trying to keep them in mind for my first option rather than my second or third.
L

An Actual Post

Okay I realize I'm taking a chance here, this is going to be controversial at at least one of you will emphatically disagree but I'm bringing it up anyway because I just don't get it.

The buzz has been surprising, the publicity it's gotten right from the start helped with the jump start I'm sure but I just don't get it. There's this show on tv and everyone is raving about and I know at least 3 friends that proclaim it their favorite of all time and I've watched it feeling I was missing out if I didn't, feeling that it would somehow enrich my life but it's just beyond me. I don't understand why everyone loves Glee so much. I think the story lines are unbelievable, I don't get the cheer leading coach at all and as lovely as the music is do they have to lipsink so badly? The characters are trying to be quirky but instead I think they're just unbelievable, I mean that wedding dress, seriously?

I do have this problem with following a crowd and perhaps that's where this is coming from but I don't get the show.
L

Smile Turned Upside Down

Today was one of those days where for no reason I was exceptionally grouchy.

Every little thing drove me crazy, I could hardly stand the Safeway lady, I missed my lunch time nap, it was busy at work and the list of complaints could go on and on. There wasn't actually anything terrible abnormal about the day, just one of those days.

I found a cure. Dinner made for me (and quick too), a carmel chocolate brownie cake with ice cream and one of the best episodes of Malcolm in the Middle I've ever seen (I'd never seen the introduct of Lionel Herkabe and it was magical).

So next time you're feeling low eat some dinner, dessert and laugh at the genious of Malcolm.
L

Here Come the Newlyweds – Season 2

Brad and I were thrilled to discover that this reality show was getting second season. In general we are not fans of this type of show but this one is different. A bunch of newlyweds compete for money and get voted off the show but the difference is none of them are whores, they mostly all like each other, there are no dramatic fights and they do fun things together.

For example, the other day the men wore boxer shorts, were blindfolded and then their wives had to direct them to their clothes. The fastest man to get dressed got immunity. Only they were in a room full of junk and the wives would just make them run into lamps and boxes and it was hilarious and good natured and everyone laughed and had a good time.

This season it seems they're trying to liven the show up just a little bit so there was of course a challenge involving bugs. They had set up this kitchen and coated it in cockroaches and grasshoppers. The couples each took their turn going into the room, scooping up as many bugs as possible (using only their hands) and depositing them back in a jar outside for 30 seconds. The couple with the most bugs got immunity for the week.

Here's when I come to a point in the rambly post.

The first couple gets up to go and they know they're in trouble, the husband is beefy and tattooed but the wife is very afraid of bugs. The get the start signal and run into the room where the husband immediately starts scooping up bugs while his wife freaks out in the corner, just as she's saying she can't touch them, she can't do this her husband says probably the most loving words she's ever heard… Just get the door. So their system went, they'd run into the room, he'd gather the bugs, she'd open the door so he could deposit them in the jar. I was so impressed that he was never once impatient with her or upset that she wouldn't help. He understood her limitations and appreciated the help she could offer. If that's not love I don't know what is.

So there's my marriage lesson for the day learned from TV. Appreciate each other's strengths and weaknesses and sometimes be satisfied that all your spouse can do is "open the door".
L

(and speaking of bugs, don't check out Andrew's post on spiders, it is worse than you think it will be!)

Cheating

At lunch time at work I used to sit with a bunch of women and we'd have a great time visiting but slowly one-by-one they all left the company so now I eat lunch alone. It's no big deal and I don't mind but an hour is a long time to fill with just lunch.

To solve my boredom problem I went and got a new library card and have really enjoyed my time reading at lunch but it often seems that when you solve one problems another comes along though.

I'm no longer bored at lunch but now I have to find books at the library, a daunting task. Usually I have at least one ore two specific books I'm interested in and then as filler I'll scan the shelves around that author and see what else jumps out at me. This plan usually works just fine but there's just one hang-up… I'll pick up a book that looks interesting and start to read the synopsis on the back. I get about half way through and then I feel guilty, like I’m cheating and spoiling the book so I stop reading, take the book home and then realize as I start that I have no idea what the book is about.

This method has resulted in me reading some really random books that I wouldn't normally have picked up, some have been great some have been incredibly stupid.

As an example, I'm currently working on The Olive Readers by Christine Aziz and although I'm enjoying it, it's not at all what I expected.

I need to somehow convince myself that it's okay to read the synopsis, they don't give away the book, really.
L

This One's for Jenny

If we were regular friends I'd call you but since we're blog friends I blog you.

On your recommendation I just finished The Book of Lights and read The Chosen not too long ago. While I enjoyed both books I have to admit I was surprised by them. Your impression of them was so strong that I expected to feel more passionate towards them. Until the last 5 pages of The Book of Lights (where I cried) I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. I wondered if you would share your impressions of them, you said that, "It will change your life. Or, in the words of A.S., it will start your life" and I definitely didn't feel that much pull from them.

Book of Lights did made me think about the history of the world and uselessness and cruelty of war and I feel like I know more about the routines of Judaism than ever before but other than that I don't think it's a book I would pick up and read again.

I'm definitely open to more reading suggestions though.
L

Maiden Voyage of the Courier

This weekend Brad's work had a potluck appetizer/dessert party and it was the perfect excuse for a batch of cupcakes, I've been looking for a reason to use the Courier.

It worked perfectly! It was fun and easy to carry around and I loved the way the cupcakes looked in it (they were delicious too)!

Great Christmas present Brad, well done!
L

Green Mist

I finally did it. I've had this same green purse for the last 3 years and it was the perfect size and nice and plain, no buckles or rhinestones; just cute green with black trim and I loved it. Sadly, nothing lasts forever and after 3 years it was in pretty rough shape. The straps were no longer green as the covering had all peeled off and it was just the threads underneath, the corners all had holes and it was dirty. I've been looking for something new for quite some time but everything in style right now has the aforementioned buckles and rhinestones so I continued with my sad worn out bag.

A couple months I actually found one that I liked but the $53 price tag was a bit much for me so I dismissed it, bought a cute wallet instead and kept on with the threadbare version.

Then as a pleasant surprise we found out that Brad gets a bonus from work. We decided to be both fun and practical with it. Brad got some iPod speakers and I decided I would splurge and buy the much needed purse. It's slightly larger than the previous model and has really handy inside pockets and is green (which I loved). It's been a great purchase, there's just been one downside that I discovered this morning.

This inside of the purse is covered in this green, fuzzy, almost plasticky material. This morning I pulled my Palm out to add to my calendar and noticed that it had this slight green film on it, apparently the green fuzz is wearing off, and coating the contents of the purse. Hopefully this is a temporary affliction.
L

This picture is the best I could find, my purse is the same only a lime green with red and white flowers. You should check out the website, they have really cute products.

Luck or Strategy

If you know me you know that I love board games or card games and I get addicted really easily. I'll play a new game with friends once and that's it, I'm hooked and must own the game so I can feed my addiction.

I made a discovery this weekend, there is no game I hate more than Sequence. Yet I can't stop thinking about it and wanting to play all the time.

I don't understand how we lost so badly every time, it's a game of mostly chance! Yet somehow Brad and I are really terrible at it and Jane and Ken are awesome. Out of the 4 games I forced us to play we managed to win once, the other 3 we lost pathetically, we weren't even close. It infuriates me to not understand how to be better, how to win more often.

I'll accept tips if you have any.
L

Santa's Bag

I was really lucky this Christmas and received so many awesome gifts. Over the next couple days I'll probably post about them and I thought I'd start with this one.

I am now the proud owner of this genius invention and I'm super excited about it! The Cupcake Courier. It's holds 36 cupcakes so I no longer need to worry about them sliding around and smooshing together, I think a large batch of Peanut Butter Chocolate are in order.
L