HELLO

Hi. I'm Amanda...a happy wife and mom to three awesome guys. We've lived here in Fort Collins for more than 20 years and are proud to call it home. Before moving to CO, I worked at a city attorney's office, making use of my law and Master's degrees from Duke. After settling in Fort Collins, I homeschooled my three (now teenage and older) sons and was delighted to experience music classes, soccer, karate, swim team, archery, Science Olympiad, First Lego League, parkour, and climbing (not all at the same time!). From 2005-10, I was also a contributing editor for a national scrapbooking magazine, authoring a book and a couple of monthly columns. From 2009-10, I founded and ran the Good Grief Blog. I enjoy learning new things, spending time with my family, volunteering with The Matthews House, traveling and indoor rock climbing.

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Friday
Nov132009

Five on Friday.

Just five quick, unrelated things to share. :)

1. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Cathy Z's giveaway post today! That 25 Days of Templates class looks awesome (and I don't just say that because Tiffany rocks)! I hate to admit it, but digital scrapbooking has really started drawing me in lately (not that I've done much, but I'm becoming more and more aware of the ease of it all, and that appeals to me). 

2. Micah went to a birthday party last night and promptly declared it "the best thing I've ever done in my whole life!" Yup, that's 4 year old enthusiasm for you. :) To be fair, it really was a fun party...14 mostly four or five year old boys playing in a giant ball pit, running obstacle courses and playing running games and then getting pizza, cake and ice cream. Doesn't get much better. The boy didn't stop smiling all night and woke up today still talking about it. (Meanwhile, Noah and Asher got to go to a friend's house for a play date and had a blast, themselves. So fortunate to have good friends like that!)

3. I don't think I've yet documented the power of the purple lego cone. For some unknown reason, the boys have developed their own little hierarchy of the relative "power" of different lego pieces. Purple cones are the most powerful. Probably because they're the most rare...haven't been able to find them by the piece (like many of the other legos) but they're available in kits like this one (photo courtesy of the Lego website):

Yup, the boys covet those transparent purple cone pieces. Makes me laugh. ;) Oh, I just asked Noah and he says it has something to do with ultraviolet rays and the power of light. (He explained it better, obviously.) If, by any chance, you come across any stray purple cones that need a home, I find myself now on the lookout for some. ;)

4. I've been noticing a bunch of people documenting things they're thankful for daily this month. Just wanted to chime in that I don't do this daily but have, in fact, documented 30 things I'm thankful for right now (beyond the obvious):


Yes, I'm still doing my weekly Lists of Me album. Yes, I'm embarrassingly behind on sharing those here. I'll work on it...promise! In the meantime, be happy that I'm remembering to share this one (which is for the most recently completed week). :) (By the way, I also happen to have done this layout using the November Paper Posies kit and am hosting their challenge this week...check it out!)

5. I'm so excited about scrapping with some friends tomorrow at the fabulous Treasure Box scrapbooking store, just minutes from my home. It's gonna be awesome! Just me, an entire store full of supplies to oogle, and good friends to share it all with! Hoping to get a jump on some holiday projects...wish me luck!

Okay, that's five. ;) I'll stop for now. 

Thursday
Nov122009

Prism rocks!

By the way, my layout is up over at the Prism blog today. Check it out, because there's some awesome inspiration to be had over there, folks. (And don't forget that pre-Black Friday sale, details below...) Oh, and here's a peek if you're too impatient to wait for that other link to open, lol:

Thursday
Nov122009

Early Black Friday sale...

Because you're my friends, I'll share this awesome info with you... ;)

Are you looking for fantastic, inexpensive gifts to get your favorite scrapbooker this year?
Do you need to stock up on your favorite Card Stock?
Does your husband never know what to get you - and you have to buy your own gifts anyway?

Here is your chance!

You are invited to attend the Prism Black Friday Sales Event!
(before the actual shopping day)


DiscountCardstock.com is having a promotion to keep you all stocked up for the holidays on your FAV Prismatics Cardstock!  View all of your 27 pack options here.  

Starting Friday Nov 13th thru Sunday Nov 15 (pssst! That's THIS weekend!) you can buy the Prismatics Multipacks for only $5.00!!!  Typical pack price retails at $7.99!  In each pack you will get 12, 12x12 sheets total!  4 sheets of each of the 3 colors (light, medium, and dark shade).  $5.00 per pack = $0.42/sheet in 12x12!

This deal expires at 11:59pm MST on Sunday Nov 15.  Some quantities are limited - so please order quickly!

Please email Jamie (jamie@prismpapers.com) if you have any questions regarding the sale!

Wednesday
Nov112009

Winner!

Used the random number generator thingie and it says post number 8 is the lucky winner! So, post number 8 was:

Usually between 6:30 and 7:30, then off and on most of the day. Glad you're back.
November 9, 2009 | packrat

Congrats! Email me your mailing info and I'll get this out to you, okay? Thanks all!

Oh! And, also, my layout is up over on the Good Grief Blog today. Check it out please. :)

Sunday
Nov082009

Happy dance! (and a giveaway!)

Wooohoooo! The fall soccer season is officially OVER. Whew. 

Recap of the tournament this weekend: Saturday...Noah's first game at 9:30 am (they won 2-0)...Asher's first game at 10:30 am (fortunately on the adjacent field, so we just scooted) (they tied 1-1)...a brief respite as we simply stayed put and snacked on the stuff we'd packed in the cooler...Noah's second game at 12:30 pm (at the same field Asher had been at...a tough one, indeed, against a team that's historically been aggressive and tough, with poor refereeing on top of all that...we lost 1-2, I believe).

After this, we lugged everything back to the car (a lengthy trek for Micah's short legs plus Nathan and I pulling a cooler and a wagon full of chairs, blankets, soccer gear, water bottles and the like) and headed for home, stopping for some more substantial food on the way. Note, we had pretty nice weather...60s and sunny...definitely better than the snow covered fields of the week before, lol. Of course, this also meant we got more sun than we'd thought about, which added to our fatigue after the fact. (Well, it added fatigue for Nathan and me, the boys apparently have endless energy and came home only to go out in the front yard and play more soccer.) Also, Noah's team, because of the rescheduling of the tournament, had no substitute players, which wore them out. So proud of them all for hanging in there. 

Sunday...Asher's first game at 9:30 am (they tied 1-1 and it was hard fought...gusting winds made it difficult all around)...switched sides of the field for Noah's game at 10:30 am (better officiating but very skilled team...we lost 1-2...dang cold wind in our face the whole time)...again hung out rather than heading out and back (given how long it took us to lug all our stuff from the parking lot and that the nearest stuff is at least 15-20 minutes from the soccer complex and that finding a parking spot in the first place wasn't easy) but were too cold to really eat much.

Insert note here. Folks, Nathan and I were huddling under a blanket while laying on the ground behind the cooler and wagon (acting as make-shift wind block) to try to stay warm. We both had on three layers already. Yes. That cold. (Boys, though, seemed impervious to the cold and kept refusing extra layers that I offered and delighting in the fact that the wind kept trying to blow our blanket away.) Marti, I'm totally blaming Wyoming for the wind, LOL!

Anyhow, Asher's last game was at 12:30 pm (they lost 2-5), during which the sun finally started to come out and the wind started to let up and by the end we were actually happy. :) 

We then headed for home by way of a warm meal and drink to celebrate the end of the season. Hooray!!

So. In thanks for reading all that and listening to my soccer woes and stories all fall and because somehow it's already a week into November and I'm starting to panic about all the holiday projects on my list, lol, I'm offering up a little giveaway. I happen to have an extra Becky Higgins Holiday Card kit (from the Creating Keepsakes Kit of the Month last year). You can read more about it here. (Sorry, I didn't take it all out of the box to photograph in more detail so you'll have to rely on the official spiel.) Post here and tell me what time of day you're most often online. I'll pick a random winner on Tuesday night (let's say midnight MST). Yay!