i'm thankful for the earth we live in...

so i'm wishing you a thoughtful and happy earth day! here are some facts to celebrate the day...did you know?

• Each person throws away approximately four pounds of garbage every day.
• The garbage in a landfill stays for a for about 30 years. In 1995 over 200 of the world landfills were full. Approximately only 10 percent of every landfill can be safely cleaned up.
• One bus carries as many people as 40 cars!
• The average family of 4 tosses out 88+ pounds of plastic every year
• We each use about 12,000 gallons of water every year
• The 500 million automobiles on earth burn an average of 2 gallons of fuel a day. Each gallon of fuel releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
• Approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each ear ends up in the ocean.
• The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a traditional light bulb for four hours
• For every 2000 pounds of paper (1 ton) recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water free from chemicals.
• Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp, and can save many trees. Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees
• Earth is 2/3 water, but all the fresh water streams only represent one hundredth of one percent.
• 14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean every year
• It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones. 5 billion new aluminum cans are used each year
• Here is an example of how long it takes some things take to break down:
  plastics take 500 years; aluminum cans take 500 years; organic materials take 6 months; cotton, rags, paper take 6 months.

There's plenty more facts to be had on the good ol' w.w.w. if you're intersted!

Do something today to help sustain the earth instead of tearing it apart. Too busy to think about it? Don't think there is anything YOU can do? Need some simple ideas?

Take a shorter shower, do one less load of laundry, take a bag of cans or plastic bottles to the recycling center, use a tote bag to carry your purchases home, use recycled items, use the funny pages to wrap gifts instead of buying new wrapping, ride your bike to get your starbucks instead of driving, check out library books or used books instead of buying new books, turn off the water when you're brushing your teeth...

I don't think these are super-difficult lifestyle changes to make...we can each do our part, yes?

and they say climate change is a myth...

it is 101 in riverside today. 101. on april 20. let's hope this forecast is right so we can get back to spring tomorrow....who wants to rush into the season of going from air conditioned room to air conditioned car to air conditioned office to air conditioned restaurant, etc? crazy hot today, lots of drama in the IE.

to thine own self...

...just a little somethin somethin i did for this week's challenge at tally. if you click HERE you can see more pix.

it's a mini-book, and the challenge was to:

- use some recent products
- photo(s) of yourself
- stamping or stitching
- at least 5 positive things about yourself

this was FUN and i made the whole thing using 1/2 a sheet of 12x12 cardboard (from the back of a paper pad) and a 6x6 paper pad, plus embellies. took me about 3 hours total over 2 nights. not bad. would be so cute for a new baby, a brag book for a mom/dad/auntie, a vacation, etc.below are some transparencies w/sayings printed on them that i included between some of the pages.

in other news.....i am planning to use a bit of my tax refund this year to invest in a new camera. my crappy kodak easyshare is letting in light around the corners, and as you can see from some of my other posts, it blows. it's been a good little friend, my first digital, yadda yadda...but it's time to move up a bit...not a lot, a bit.

below is the camera i am considering. in the scrapbooking and art worlds, DSLR's are all the rage. this is not a DSLR, it is a "superzoom." i believe will it suit my needs perfectly, since i am looking for a relatively transportable option that offers a little more control than a point-n-shoot. after doing quite a bit of research, asking around, and reviewing...i am not convinced that i need all of the camera goodness a DSLR offers, and for twice the price of this little gem that gets rave reviews from the guys that know stuff:

more on this as things develop, but the price on that cutie can't be beat, and that review is hard to argue with.

well...we're heading into monday again...geesh, doesn't it seem like there are more mondays than other days of the week? someone should talk to someone about that and get that fixed. ;)

see you all on the flipside of this week, most likely.

some creative bits for tuesday

happy tax day!! ok that was mean, i know.

hey guess what? kirk and i are officially an aunt & uncle to a brand new baby girl, born to Andrea and Steve Dilley last night. Her name is Madeline Laine, and while I haven't seen photos yet, I'll bet she's adorable, I mean, come on, babies are adorable. :) Congrats and love going out to the new parents and a big welcome to the little one! Can't wait to meet you, love, your crazy aunt heidi and goofy uncle kirk-y.

ok now let's get down to business...just want to share a few little projects for this week...i think spring must be getting into my blood with all of those bright colors showing up!

first up: this week's "office" challenge at tally. requirements were to follow a design sketch for photo and embellishment placement; use 5 photos minimum; make the layout about a typical weekend; use the word weekend, saturday, or sunday; and use a "found object" from the weekend (mine is a circle punched from a Trader Joe's granola box in the center of that flower)

i really had fun making this one...i printed the photos on regular white cardstock for a different look, and they are teeny photos - about 1"x1.5"...this is an 8x8 layout.

and without further blather...here's my take on it:
next up: a couple of quick thank you cards using some of the scraps in my huge bin of leftover bits & pieces of pattern paper. i used one to thank my mother-in-law for her recent generosity during her stay with us.

wish i could just create all the time, *sigh*, but it is not to be at this time in my life. i have a "real" job that must take precedence, as it is what's paying the bills. our audit at work starts today, and one of my cases has been selected for auditing, so here's crossed fingers in hopes that i got everything in the file and that this particular foster parent will be on her best behavior when the auditor visits her home. :)

in other news, kirk has jury duty, ha ha! had to get up early with me today, and we both hated it because we stayed up until about 2 am last night, just hanging out, creating, being us. we both are night owls, so this is typical. we walk around like zombies on weekdays until about 8:30 pm, then we suddenly turn 23 again until about 1:30 or 2 am, then hit the bed like rocks...and then lather, rinse, repeat until the weekend when it's a free-for-all...anyone's game, we could be found sleeping at 3 in the afternoon and making projects at 4 am...yep, we're craaaaazy. one of the benefits of not having kids yet...

anyway, enjoy your tax day tuesday! here's a little something to cheer you up:

it's monday again...

we are having an audit this week at Walden, which was pre-empted by a weekend full of work on my end. some of it is my own fault (hello, my name is heidi, and i'm a procrastinator) and some of it is just our general hysteria when we're about to be audited by any of our regulatory agencies. we always do just fine, but the level of anxiety is always high on these days. :)

i think our social work files look relatively well, now if only our beloved foster families will be on their best behavior when the auditor visits their homes, we will be golden.

also did our taxes last night (hello again, my name is heidi, and remember what i said about being a procrastinator?) which was quite a task. with my husband's self-employment, it gets really confusing about what we can write off, what means what, what number goes into which box, what is THAT code? sheesh! i so miss the days of my good friend, the EZ form! anyway, looks like we'll get a little bit back, so maybe, just maaaybbeeee, i can take a long weekend break before fall...i could really use a weekend at the beach right now!

i have had some opportunity to create in the last week or so as well, but alas, no photo uploading at work, so i'll share some cards i made later.

hope you all had a lovely easter sunday, and did NOT work like i did. lol. have a great week!

happy easter to all

may each of you find the blessed egg of your dreams! ;)

Lunch Ladies

Just a quick peek at a layout I did last night for the "office" challenge week 8 over at Tally. You've seen this picture before...these are my friends from work, Stephanie and Danielle. D has left us and started private practice, so we three gals have lunches together now and then.

The challenge was this:

- cover chipboard elements with newspaper

- use letter stickers to title and paint over them
- put photos in the right corner
- include numbers on the layout

I sanded the top part of the photo, which was an ugly parking lot, to make room for my writing.

Wish I was having a fun lunch with friends now, instead of preparing for an audit at work!

Kirk and his mom are spending the day in San Diego having lunch with friends and seeing the sights...*sigh*...I love San Diego...but I'm not jealous at all....not me. I love my dim, paper-piled office and would much rather sit here and deal with obnoxious people on the phone and audit my case files. Seriously.

Ahh who am I fooling. Back to work. :)

Happy Hump Day!

time flies...

...when you have no idea what's going on.

how did a week pass already? it was a whirlwind, mostly work, yadda yadda. i won't bore you with those details...

kirk's mother, marti, returned from her vacation to honduras & mexico, and we've been enjoying another visit with her at our home this week. she had safe and adventurous travels, and engaged in some humanitarian efforts while she was there, too. very admirable.

updated my "52Q" slideshow with some new entries, you can view it to the right -->

not much creativity happening other than those few tags...tallyscrapper had an online crop this weekend but i haven't had a moment to really do any of the challenges.

wow, this was a boring post, ey? maybe i'll have something more exciting by the next time i log in. in the meantime, have a great week, y'all!