First full week of school for the boys this week (crossing fingers since Isaac looked like he had a cold this morning . . . but it could be allergies . . right? . . . probably not . . . let's see if he can soldier through it . . . Isaac? . . . one can dream).

Biggest hurdle is our new bus (district cut 2.5 buses . . . yep. . . 2.5) and the boys are now on a bus that is really over capacity for high schoolers and middle schoolers . . . unless everyone is the size of a young middle schooler. And our neighborhood is first on and last off.

And then the next hurdle is Isaac worrying everything. He finished this project laaaate last night, held up by concerns that he didn't have a "favorite" book -- he loved many of them equally. And that he had nothing to say in a rambling autobiography -- and then that he was still writing his rambling autobiography because he had so much to say. And then . . . oh, yeah, he could get extra credit if we tracked down a really old piece of his writing and scanned it. Yep: *we* --- and THEN . . . he needed to make a pixelated image of the dog from Phantom of the Tollbooth for the border.

Get-to-work Season

The newest issue of Masterful Scrapbook Design went up last Wednesday. Tami and I are both upgraded to InDesign CS6 and we're launching our 3rd year with an interactive pdf that has ALL the materials (except for the interviews) and you get it the first Weds of the month. So proud of this first issue (our members are reading it on ipads and android tablets happily). Check out the table of contents

It's $16 and only available as a single issue through September.

We also launched a new "Guided Study Critique Workshop" at Get It Scrapped -- with *just* 32 seats . . . and there's only 1 seat left.

Political Season

I loved watching both of the conventions and am looking forward to the debates. Last Friday, Elaine and I took Lily and Isaac out of school and spent a long hot day at Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth . . . and we got to see President and Michelle Obama with Vice President and Jill Biden. Obama and Biden both spoke. It was pretty darned cool. I am supporting President Obama --- and working on my husband who right now is not :( Actually, I don't think there's any working on him just as there's no working on me. Though, I've actually thought about talking to his brother about it. If anyone could sway him, it would be Grant.

Now all we need are Rabbit and Duck Seasons :)

OK . . . off to record an episode of This Memory Keeper's Life with Michelle Houghton and then I've got a couple of friends arriving for bagels on the screened porch :)

And the beach was lovely

And the newsletter will be late this weekend. I've got a stye in one eye and am off to lie down with a teabag on it.