Been so busy!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while! Somehow I have managed to loose most of my free time this week! The kiddos haven't being going to sleep till after midnight, which eats up a large chunk of my alone time! I've  just been so tired by that I point, I just pass out! I feel like I've been living on coffee this past week. At least the hubby and I swithced "rooms", meaning I get to sleep in the bed with the babies, and he sleeps on the couch. We went shopping this week and got a portable DVD player for Aeryn. Hubby was tired of not having a TV or computer to play with, since I generally have the computer, and Aeryn is a TV hog! LOL. ( I also got a sweet new laptop out of the deal) But since Aeryn has the DVD player, she takes it upstairs and curls up on a pallet in the floor and watches Toy Story 3 till she passes out. I know I'm a horrible parent, but I just get so tired of fighting with her over bed time, so whatever keeps her occupied till she is ready to sleep is fine with me! And with the new laptop, I'm finally portable, so I can take it upstairs as well. The only downside really has been that little Mary-Anne still wants constant attention up into the wee hours of the morning, so all my late night computer time is limited to when I get an arm free from her.....lol.

I'm loving the new laptop, and have been playing around with getting all my files reorganized. On the old laptop I had been using the photo organizer that came with Photoshop Elements, but it completely crashes 100 times on this Windows 7 machine, so it just isn't feasible. Unfortunately, it also means my organization system needs to be redone. Which is time consuming! But once I get it all "fixed", it will be a much more effortless system to maintain. Windows Live Gallery is a pretty effective organizer and editing program. I've also realized how more effective it is to save my layouts in .TIFF format instead of .PSDS, so I've been trying to convert those too. I know, I'm OCD, and should really stick to one project at a time! PLUS I keep getting side tracked by challenges and such in digiland I want to participate in, so I have to squeeze in some scrapping time as well! I need a better time-management system or something! Perhaps I should make myself a schedule until I get everything done I want......except with two kids, that wouldn't last long either!

I've also become addicted Google Reader, which actually lets me read all the blogs I have subscribed to, without me actually having to "visit" each one. A GREAT time saver, but I spend way to much time browsing now! lol. At least before I just skipped it most days....and missed TONS of cool stuff! I've actually learned a few things this week, found out about some pretty nifty programs, and caught some great sales!

Speaking of great programs, I got turned onto to Evernote. It's a niftly little program that lets you organize, well, everything!! I can make "Notebooks" for my layouts for challenges, and CT works, and each layout can have it's own note! I can keep track of my layout, the credits, where all I have to post (complete with checkboxes if you so desire!) I'm gonna open one for each of the girls as well, and just jot down fun details about them as we go along, each month getting its own page! If you haven't checked it out yet, it is certainly worth a go! You can even sync it to your phone or other gadgets if you so desire, so you can take all your notes with you where ever you go! Of course, I figured out the trick, if you just really use a laptop, or don't have an awesome smart phone, if you turn the sync off, none of your stored data goes toward your monthly free 60mb "storage" total!! This is great if you are "pinning" alot of layouts to notes to keep track of! Essentially it becomes limitless! Cool, huh?

I was a scrapping fool yesterday! And by that I mean, I got two layouts done, instead of the usual none! Unfortunately, one of them I have to hold onto till later (check back around the 25th for the reveal, and a freebie!) but I am going to show you my Iron Scrapper Week 2 layout! As soon as I saw the kit, I knew what I wanted to scrap with it! The final layout didn't turn out like I had originally planned but I LOVE it! And apparently others did too, because it got GSO on Scrap Orchard's Facebook page!! I am SO excited!! Here is the layout!

(image linked to gallery for credits)

If you aren't participating in Iron Scrapper, you should be! It's a great chance to win some great prizes, including an IPad2! So head on over to the forums and jump in!