On a Roll ...

Well, I WAS on a roll. Work has been going well - got a lot of projects finished recently, the 25th anniversary for our manager went well (although I put some pictures in her book that, um, weren't her - oops, my bad ... well, it LOOKED like her!), participated in Friday's online crop at Two Peas, and did a Boot Camp style workout at Curves yesterday morning ... and that's where it stopped. *sigh*

The workout yesterday was great. The instructors/staff pushed everyone through their paces, working the circuit hard, no rest. Felt GREAT after ... for a while. Then, yesterday afternoon, I noticed that my knee had stiffened up ... and now, I can hardly walk. Crap! I have a sideways dislocated kneecap (lateral patella dislocation), and have had for about two years. The orthopedic doctor doesn't want to due surgery as I am not crippled by the injury, plus he believes my recovery would be too long and painful (I need to lose some weight). So, I work within my limits ... usually. Sure, he says don't kneel, don't over extend or bend the leg back ... so I know gardening for a few hours will result in pain. But, Curves? I've been going there for about six months. Sure, this workout was a little more strenuous that usual ... but ... c'mon. Damned if I do ... damned if I don't. Need to get the weight off, but the more I exercise, the more my knee hurts?! In fact, that's how we think I injured the knee if the first place - exercising! "E" really is an evil word!!! LOL If things don't improve overnight, guess I'll be off to the doc tomorrow or Tuesdsay for xrays, just to make sure I haven't done further damage.

Maybe I was tired Saturday morning after Friday night's crop ... maybe that had something to do with it? Gen, Jen, Shimelle and Meredith ran a four-hour crop-fest of challenges, mini-challenges and games on Friday. For me, everything finished at midnight - and boy, was I exhausted or what?! Four pages in four hours. I usually like to take my time (although Gen will tell you that I take so long 'cause I redo all my pages). So, here's what I did:

For Gen's use all colors of the rainbow challenge - my goof-off bird. This guy was so funny. Each time I tried to take a picture, he would tilt his head sideways. In the end, I just gave up and took a photo:

Credits: Element-ary Inked Edges, Carina Gardner; Vacation Word Strips, Sande Krieger;
Round Brushes (modified), Rhonna Farrer.

Gen's challenge was the 9:00 pm one, the third one - and by then I was already playing catchup! LOL The 7:00 pm challenge was Meredith's All About Me challenge, and then at 8:00 pm, Shimelle's challenge was to do something with her new freebie digi kit I'm in Love. I generally don't scrap photos with me in it - I usually behind the camera, not in front of it, so I had a hard time actually finding a photo with me in it. I eventually found a family photo from a few years ago. And for the love challenge, I just had to do something with the puppy ...

Credits: Tons of Scallops template (modified), Crystal Wilkerson; papers and elements, Isabella Mini Kit and Extras, Erica Hernandez; Word Spot (recolored), Jen Allyson; Vignette, Sande Krieger; Curled Photo Frame, Mary Ann Wise; chipboard arrow (used as clipping mask), Anne Langpap.

Credits: papers and photo overlay, I'm In Love freebie, Shimelle Laine; Curled Photo Frame, Mary Ann Wise; Pet Wordart, Mary Ann Wise; Worn Frame, Mary Ann Wise; PhotoCuts Mask v.1, Carina Gardner; heart (recolored), Moments kit by Fei-Fei.

The last challenge of the night was from Jen M. and using one of her new Simple Scraps templates, available at Two Peas. Some of my non-digi friends seem to think that using a template is like a short-cut and makes things go must faster - just whip out a page. Well, maybe Gen has a point - I think things over too much ... it can take me longer to put together a template page vs. one I start from scratch! LOL I ended up using a picture of the outside of the National Museum in Canberra, Australia - I just loved how architectural the building was (okay, and the exhibits inside weren't too bad either):

Credits: Playground, Crystal Wilkerson; Simple Scraps Template #1, Jen Martakis; Brads, Sande Krieger

I've finished off a scrappy weekend by doing a page about my cousin today - he's only 13 years old, but he seems to have figured out how to pose for the camera. I joked with his Mum that we might have a model in the making. This is a challenge two-fer - the weekly 2Ps challenge to use B&W background and elements but a color photo, and then digi challenge to use the Hue & Saturation options in Photoshop to manipulate a photo, element, paper, etc.

Credits: Curled Photo Frames, Flourish Corners - Mary Ann Wise; Spot Color Date Stamps - Jen Allyson; Midnight Bloom (Garden Vignette Collection), PhotoCuts Masks Set #1, Clear Gel Alpha (Peony Place Collection) - Carina Gardner; file folder tab (recolored), Fall For Me - Michelle Underwood.

Dishes are calling, and maybe some cooking, too ... and a Tylenol or two for my knee. Later!