I'm going..........

to a crop next week!!!! YEA! I can't wait. I have two weeks to get my pages preplanned and get in a creative mood. Really, I'm pretty much there. Cheerleading is over, remodeling is over and scrapbooking is on the horizon!!! I stopped by MIB this weekend and picked up a couple of magazines. One was the March CK magazine ... it's okay. I enjoy looking at the ads since I've been out of the loop for several months. Then I bought this special issue. I really like it. I've gotten several pages marked with good ideas. I basically print in 4x6, occasionally in 3.5x5

I've also printed off several layout off the internet. Megan Hall is one of my favorites, because she does multi-picture layouts. I usually have more than one picture to include on a layout, at least one of two pages will have several pictures on it, so her layouts are really close to my style.

Anyone else you enjoy for multi-picture layouts? Let me know!

Christy

DAYS of OUR Lives

If you've read any of my past posts, you'll know I'm a DOOL fan. Have been since I was about 6 yrs old, staying with my grandmother, who watched all the channel 4 soaps. I've never been into the other channels, just channel 4. DOOL, Another World, Santa Barbara.... I loved watching those, especially DOOL and Another World. Of course, there was a period when I didn't watch (work gets in the way of everything!). Now, I don't watch but I read and every chance I get, I watch. Soap Net has it on at 10:00 CT, but I'm usually heading to bed at time. So, if you watch it, I understand (from my reading) that there are some pretty intense scene's coming up on the airplane....... Bo has cancer? WOW! And the plane is going to crash! Kayla and Steve are pregnant and I get Hope is too ..... Shawn, Belle and Claire are on the plane and I read someplace they are leaving the show, so I wonder if they will decide to go live someplace else to get away from Philip, who is trying to get over Belle and scooping on Chloe. AND John, poor guy. How many times can you get your memory erased? And Marlena is getting lots of play time, she turning into a regular DIVA! Anyways, love the show and currently I'm reading the day before's at http://www.salemspectator.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=58. Love knowing what's going to happen the day before!!!!

So, a thread about ktichens got me thinking ......

What's your style? Since I haven't scrapbooked in about 9 months, this is about your house. Do you have a style? Up till we started the kitchen remodel, DH and I had never bought a "new" couch/chair or appliances for that matter. Our downstairs couch was bought from the couple across the street that was barely used. It is a burgendy leather sectional. Other than TV's, we really haven't purchased anything for ourselves. We moved into our house fully furnished, so we just kept it till we could do something else. So even though the kitchen remodel was little stressful, it was totally fun. Learning so much about countertops, tile, flooring options, making decisions that where sooooo hard at the time. Looking back, it was very worth it. BUT our "style" changed a bit during this process. I LOVE antiques and as you can tell my kitchen table (my beloved antique table) I like it pretty natural. BUT, we decided to go more classic/traditional in our furniture. I think eventually I'll sprinkle more antiques in as I can, but I like our "netural" style........... what's your style?

Christy

New LIVING ROOM to go with New KITCHEN

See blogs below for kitchen pictures and the story about our house. Here's pictures of the new hardwood floors, new living room furniture and my 100 yr old farmhouse kitchen table.

I bought these pieces at a unfinished furniture store that was going out of business. I knew I wanted black distressed but couldn't find exactly what I wanted. So this worked. It took me about 3 days/nights to paint and distress. I still need to seal it, but I'm not not really in any hurry. I have one more piece to paint and distress that will go by the recliner when it's bought.

I have a photobuckett account that has all the pictures in it. Before, during and after. Plus pictures of the 40 yrds of concrete we had poured during this remodeling project. Take a peek if you have some time to spare.http://s234.photobucket.com/albums/ee293/CABurch/

So do you want to hear the ktichen story?

Our house is 18 yrs old. My grandparents built it. Nothing fancy, about 1200 sq feet, open floor plan, full basement, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths. If I had built the house, I might have picked the same floor plan and if I would have picked it, I would have bumped up the sq ft for larger rooms, probably adding about 500 sq ft to the total design. I'd love to have a larger master bedroom/bath and a seperate laundry area, since it's at the end of my kitchen.

So, the story. We were kinda ashamed of our house. We invited very few people over. Emilee had just a few friends that I'd allow to come over because our house was kinda yuck. Not dirty yuck, just worn out yuck. Since my grandparents paid cash for it, they went with very builder quality stuff and probably really didn't think anything about it. They knew they wouldn't be in it forever. The carpet was a great color but the quality wasn't there and after 18 yrs it needed to replaced BAD. The linolum in the dining room/kitchen was okay, but kinda blah. My cabinets were the only thing that I though were of any quality and having a closet pantry allowed me to use all my cabinets to store dishes, cookare, etc. We finally decided we need to update our "common" living areas of the house. Either that or buy another house. Remodeling was a lot cheaper!!!

It wasn't any easy project and it was a tad bit stressful. DH was great and did what he could himself. We ended up paying for all the tile work and hardwood work that we did in the dining room/living room since our deadline was Thanksgiving. Needless to say, we met a Christmas deadline!!!

Here's BEFORE pictures. The next post as AFTER pictures!

AFTER pictures of the kitchen

New countertops: Granite - Verde Butterfly

Faucet: Delta Saxony

Sink: Stainless Steel (10"deep bowl, 8" deep bowl) Ferguson brand

Frig: Maytag

Dishwasher: Frigidaire

Stove: Frigidaire Duel Fuel

Washer/Dryer: GE front loads with Pedastals

Floors: Ocre 12x12 italian tile (Happy Floors); 2x2 floral dot accent piece

Backsplash: Golden Sienna 6x6 mexican travertine tile; 2x2 floral dot accent piece

Only things left to do:

1 pesky plug plate

cabinets over the washer/dryer

We also updated our hall bathroom with new tile, new paint, new faucet, new accessories and new toliet! WOW!

JUST SO YOU KNOW

I haven't really forgotten about all you people in blogland. I'm just obessing this kitchen project. AND work has been super busy. We hired a new director and he doesn't have an assistant yet, so I'm his assistant till 10/1/07..... included his job is event coordinator for an event I know nothing about! NOT FUN and very busy!!! So, just wanted to let you know, that we haven't started on the kitchen yet, but we're planning like crazy.

Granite countertops,
new applicances
tile backsplash
new floors (ceramic tile)
paint

Then for the living room/dining room:
new hardwoods
new paint
new couch/loveseat/endtables/lamps

ALL of which have to coordinate in some way since it's an open floor plan!

Wish me luck!

I know you think I've forgotten you .......

but I haven't. I just haven't felt inspired to blog anything.

Nothing new happening around the house yet. Expecting a concrete quote any day now. Can't wait for that figure. Been looking at tile/hardwood/counter tops a little. We've decided on the hardwood and counter top and probably the tile, but I'm not sold on it yet. And I can't decide on backsplash tile.... I want something that coordinate with my countertop, but I'm having a hard time picturing it from a small little chip. I'm sure it'll come together soon. I'm hoping to get the countertop and new sink soon and then the tile on the floor and backsplash. I think new countertops will make a world of different in the look of our kitchen. Our kitchen is pretty blah now, butcher block counter top.... no color what so ever!

Maybe I'll get up enough nerve to post a before picture and then an after picture. We'll see!

More later!!

Wow! It's been a while

Nothing big happening in my life........ other than

Eventually our house is going to be a wreck!!!! We're planning on a putting in a huge amount of conrete (like a full basketball court!) and then some landscaping (hopefully can do that myself - when it cools off!) and then my beloved hardwood floors. We've been saving forever for some of this and some of it will have to be a loan. We just can't do all that on our own. I hate having borrowing money, but that will so pay off in the long run - an investment. Oh yea, plus the hardwoods I'm getting new counter tops and a new sink and eventually new couch!!! YEA. I so need it all. My counter tops are so dated and fugly! I really want a deep sink - my mom sold me on this when she got hers. It's great!!! And all the flooring in our house needs replacing so, hardwoods here we come. The concrete is a Steve thing. We are pouring about 41 yards .... what, thats HUGE!!!!! But it will be nice to be able to use that space for more than just grass cutting.

I've finished all my consigned project. Should start working on craft fair projects soon. I dropped out of the Livery Stables, I just could keep up with the seasonal things. I think I'm keeping some cards up there since they sold really well. I really just want to concentrate this year on craft fairs and Christmas presents.

Work is work ....... lots of changes, new challenges, just stuff.

I've been keeping up with Christy Tomlinson blog.... have you? http://christytomlinson.typepad.com/ She's been giving great tips and information about make-up. She recently used a "minerals" make-up similar Bare Essentuals and loved it. So much that she hooked her readers up with a make-up rep. Then she's turned us on to E.L.F makeup, which I think I've seen at KMart, but on this site the makeup was only $1.00. Can you imagine? I bought $14.50 worth of stuff, including a set of makeup brushes, cause I soooooo need to replace all of mine! Anyways, take a look at her site, it's fun.

Gotta run to a meeting, blog ya more later!

Up to my ears in consignment projects

I have 4 clipboards I'm trying to complete by tomorrow and a 11 x 8.5 baby book - boy..... you know how I struggle with boy stuff. Although with an 11 x 8.5, it should be all good.... more room to play with than the 8x8. The client wants some 4x6 mats and some 5x7 mats.... mostly by the month with a few "extra" pages thrown in! Need lots of rubons to do "month" 1, etc..... I'd love to run up tot MIB tomorrow while by boards are drying, might try that pretty early, so I can come home and clean/laundry and then deliver the boards to my best buddy.

Wanted to share some recent pictures, but blogger is being bad. Let me try just one at a time.

Nana, Em & Me

Me and Em being silly!!!

I had another to share, but can't get the orientation to stick, so I'll have to upload it using blogger, maybe Monday.

Have a great weekend!!!!!

Great Weekend.........

Just wanted to say thanks to the ladies at Scrappuccino's for hosting such a wonderful National Scrapbooking Day celebration. I had such a good time!!!! If DH hadn't made plans for us for that afternoon, I could have stayed to 9:00 that night (of course I'd probably be outside on the sidewalk, but as long as I was cropping, I would have been happy!) I love working at the store. Such a fun enviroment!

So, I got 3 12 x 12 pages done and one 11 x 8.5 page (for Tracie Claiborne - scroll to the bottom for the layout). I was on 2001 pictures. DD was so cute!!!

I used these for one of my layouts of Halloween that I need to fit a lot of pictures on (all the pictures were cute, so I couldn't pick!!!). It worked so well. I hadn't thought about using the few templates I have in a year or two, but wow... they saved my sanity on that page!! And let me tell ya, I paid a lot more that $2.00 for them!!!

I'm sad to see Deluxe Design so away. I've always liked them, especially for these templates and their diecuts. I love going to the coventations and buying a whole bunch of them! Now that they are going out of business, I find myself hording those die cuts because I'm afraid I won't ever get another one!!!!

Gotta run!
Busy week. Say a prayer for me. I'm teaching ladies "Historical Scrapbooking" Wed, Thurs and Friday!!!

All about our wedding....

1. Where/How did you meet? We grew up in the same town, but a couple years apart. He went to a different school, etc. So we offically met at Union Hill Drag Strip. I was going out with someone else, we was trying to met my friend. We all ended up at my parents house, they were out of town and the next day, my friend made me tell him she had a boyfriend. He then started calling me to go out. We went out the next week. That was May 1990.


2. How long have you known each other? 17 yrs... talking, but always knew "who each other was".


3. How long after you met did you start dating? A week


4. How long did you date before you were engaged? 5 months


5. How long was your engagement? 11 months


6. How long have you been married? almost 16 yrs



7. What is your anniversary? September 7

8. How many people came to your wedding reception? 100 or so



9. What kind of cake did you serve? Traditional white cake with white icing. Grooms cake was chocolate with a UT theme


10. Where was your wedding? Nashville

11. What did you serve for your meal? No meal, just fruit, ham biscuits, cake, punch


12. How many people were in your wedding party? 8


13. Are you still friends with them all? Yes, most of them. My maid of honor is still my best friend. I talk to 2 of 3 of my brides maids about every other month, sometimes more. The bestman was my hubby's brother. We talk to at least one of his groomsmen every couple of week and the other periodically.


14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? No, he was too nervous.


15. Most special moment of your wedding day? Hmmm, I don't really remember. The day was a blur. Now, I'm grateful for pictures I had made with my grandparents since they aren't living anymore.


16. Any funny moments? Me walking around in shorts, button up shirt, house shoes and my veil. The best was on the video though, DH had an itch in a "manly" place. When everyone was praying, we moved up on the stage some and he decided it would be a good time to stratch his itch. As soon as he did, he looked up with the deer in the head light look cause we had a video camera set up at the front of the sancuary to get our faces, it caught a lot more!!!!!


17. Any big disasters? Not that I know of or remember.



18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Panama City Beach FL




19. How long were you gone? 6 days, was suppose to be 7, but we got homesick......



20. If you were to do your wedding over.... for my first, I'd do nothing different, other than the brides maid dresses, I'd pick something else.

21. What is your song? Don't think we had one.



22. Describe your wedding dress: Straight, off the shoulders with "flowers" on the shoulders.


23. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? LOTS AND LOTS of really flowers. The accent color was purple. We had lots of white flowers with purple accents and a little pink.

24. Other interesting details: My photographer was from Sweden. He took great pictures (very expensive, but great!) and he made the funniest noises to get people to smile! His wife did the video. And our flowers were beautiful. I love flowers and I wanted a lot of them. We got married in a Methodist church, which wasn't our church, because I wanted a center aisle to walk down.

*** Consider yourself tagged. Leave me a comment so I can read about your wedding!!!*****

By the way, the pictures of the frame above is the only picture I have of us at work. I was looking at my hair stylist..... I was surpise she came!!

Mocha

So, it's been forever since I've blogged and I'm gonna be sad. Sorry!

See that sweet face? That's Mocha and this morning he went to play in doggy heaven. I think he was about 7 yrs old. And at this very moment, we aren't sure what happended to him. All we know is that his body stopped making blood and we'll, you know what happens when you don't make blood. You get reallllllllllly sick. It started about a month ago. His right eye became discolored, bulging and pretty gross. He spent 3 days at the vet and they said he probably suffered some sort of head injury/eye trama. More than likely cause by our other dog, Koda. They play pretty rough - both 90lb labs. Anyways, that got better then Tuesday, the left eye started looking funky. DH put Mocha in the garage to keep him from the other dog getting to rough. That was Wednesday around 4:00 pm., by 5:30 pm, he was a sick puppy, having a hard time breathing and looking sick. I called the vet and they said to watch him and to take him to the Emergency Vet if he got worse. He didn't really get worse that I could tell, but he wasn't getting better either. DH stayed home yesterday morning to take him to the Vet. The vet said heart worms at first, then he said rat poisioning and then this morning when the vet came him, he was much worse and wouldn't/couldn't even stand. They said we said two options. Send him to Knoxville Vet School or put him down. We opted to put him down, not knowing if he'd ever get better. At this moment, all we know is that his body wasn't making blood. They did a mini-autopsy and didn't find anything. The lab is doing more work, free of charge, because they are so baffled at what happened. Plus, we are concerned it could be enviromental and we have another dog in the same yard, plus my house dog. So, love your pet today and tell them you love them! Somehow I knew if would end up like this, I told DD to tell him by and that she loved him yesterday morning cause we never know what could happen.

Wow - two in a row!!!

I went to Scrapn' Memories yesterday during lunch with the girls. It was fun. I spent money (imagine that!) and got one of the two patterns I'm using for a wedding album. My friends Beth talked me into making a wedding album for her to give as a gift. If you know me, I hate doing wedding albums. But this one is going to be very simple and elegant. So maybe I won't stress over it too much.

I'm going to the ScrapHouse in Joelton this weekend - I can't wait. I'm so looking forward to getting this wedding album done and working on stuff for Em. I'm so far behind in her books. And I thought with digital cameras it would be so easy to get pictures printed, but since I see them instantly, I don't print as often as I should, so I'm even behind on getting pictures printed! Crazy!!!! I've got pictures in my cart at winkflash and I need to order them.... maybe I'll do that this afternoon!

I made a yummy roast yesterday. Goodness it was yummy. I was a great cut of meat. We had sweet potoatoe casserole (with marshmellows), carrots, green beans and butter noddles with it. GREAT supper in my opinon! I've got a little roast left, so I'm going to attempt to make veggie soup with it.... never made that before, if you've got a good receipe, please share it!

More later!!!

It's been a while ....... sorry

Nothing exciting to report on .... really boring at my house. We did go to Memphis March 9 & 10. That was fun. Graceland & Elvis was interesting. We had to visit for Em's school project. Now, I've got to get the pictures developed and the poster made - oops, she has to make the poster (yea right!) and write her report. She also has a report due Monday on James and the Giant Peach (a book report). She's doing well at school. Of course, we constantly harp on her. She really could care less if she makes good grades or not! Well, let me rephrase that. She likes to make good grades, but doesn't like to work at it. And she has to work at it. It doesn't come natural to her (guess what, it didn't me either). The only thing that comes pretty easy for her is English/Language. She struggles at Math and Reading (she can read, it's the comprension that she struggles with). Anways, mostly A's & B's on her report card... I can't complain too much!


I going on a SCRAP-RETREAT this weekend! Just the girls. I can't wait to spend 24 hours scrapping with people who want to do nothing but scrap and eat! How much fun is that!!!
I'll try to post pictures next week!

Today is the first day of spring.... my favorite time of the year! Happy Spring to everyone!


Gotta run....... more later!

Nothing exciting!

I shipped out my stuff to the consignment store Friday (see link below). She got it Saturday and called yesterday to tell me she loved my paper bag albums. She (Dawn) doesn't think the 6x6 "hard" books will sell for $40, but there's a lot of work and time in those things. She's probably right. She knows her clintel better than I do.
http://www.funtiquesconsignment.com/index.html


Nothing exciting going on. Went to the NWTF convention this past Saturday. Saw some "hunting" celebrities. It's funny. Reminds me of scrapbooking!

This weekend we're headed to Memphis to visit Graceland. Em has a report due first of April about a historic TN place. She picked Graceland. Fun ......

Gotta run and read blogs :-)

More later!

Birthday; Valentines; Scrapbooking; Tax Time

So, my birthday was last week. We celebrated with my parent on Sunday, the 11th. Chinese buffet and Red Velvet Cake - after this birthday, no more celebrations .... no more birthdays. I'm stuck for the rest of my life at 36!!!! See, that's only 4 away from 40 and I'm having a hard time with 40. I've already started panic mode ... only 4 more years and I'll be 40! YEEEKKK!!!
It was a good birthday. I got money - more on what I do with it later in the post.

Valentines is the day after my birthday, so really they are combined. I don't blame DH for doing that, I probably would too if it were me! So, DD got money and a small box of chocolates since I knew she was getting a lot of candy from her party. On Valentines, the 4th grades classes at her school had a singing program. My little Em stole the show (in my opinon). They sang classic love songs and that sounded really good. Some of the songs had some dancing with them and we all know that Em loves to dance. She was on the front row and really getting into the dancing. During the last song, I heard a few comments on the little girl on the front row having rhythm. That's my girl! After the show I had a few friends ask where she got it and it's not from me. Must be the good dance genes that skipped me! Everyone kept coming up to her telling her how well she did and how good she danced. I don't think she realized she was the only putting so much effort into the dancing. She asked "Why does everyone keep coming up to me telling me I did good?" Too cute! I video taped the performance and then we bought a DVD. Good memories!

I'm taking a few days break from scrapbooking..... maybe. It seems when I get home, I don't want to scrapbook. It's too cold in my area of the basement. I don't like going down there and freezing. So I'm not motivated. I did make some cute cards that I copied from a card magazine yesterday using scraps, which is always a good thing. But not much scrapbooking, although I took off Friday and really planned on working hard this weekend. I did however make a major purchase this weekend! I put my deposit down on a Silhouette! I can't wait for it to come in! Now, just to figure out where to put it!

Taxes are down. I did them myself. Just to have them double checked by a friend and they are ready to be submitted!

Gotta run .... more later!

My life is so boring

that I don't even have anything to blog about. We'll at least not anything I want the world to know! :-)

I have been working pretty hard on getting some paper bag albums, cards and other things ready for the lady in Murfreesbboro. I need about 3 more paper bag albums to feel like I'm giving her something she can sell. I need to call her, because I'm not sure how she want to handle the cards - individuals or several packaged together.

I did make two "tear bears" this weekend. Did you see them when they were huge? I mean some of these cute little bears sold for $100's on ebay! They are cute, but not that cute!!!

These little guys are cute. I just found them on ebay - 1scrapbooklane is the creator. Mine aren't this cute yet, but they are cute. Her's are much fuzzier than mine. I did find out that different color handmade paper tears differently. The white I used was much easier to tear.

As soon as I get my cards scanned, I'll post them. They are very simple, except the bears.

New CLIP Board

This is a clipboard I did before Christmas - commissioned piece. I made two of them, very similar. They were for our Viking Jr. Pro program. The lady who commissioned them was putting a 4x6 picture in them and giving them to deserving moms who helped her through out the season. They turned out okay - I guess. I've done better and seen a lot better!


More later! (I've figured out how to published pictures from Picasa to blogger .... easy as pie!) 

Dentist & Purging

So, two post in two days ...... how's that? I must have something on my mind!!! :-)


I had to go to the dentist yesterday ....... $395.00 visit. What the heck, right? Well, call me having a new crown $395.00! Thats after my insurance pays for 1/2! So, I sit here today with a sore tooth (not really that bad) and a temp crown that is GOLD! How funny! Anyway, I hate the dentist. I hate having anything done to my mouth! I'd rather have 10 yearly exam than go through what I'm going through now! No kidding!

On to something more fun ..... purging. I'm purging my stash! And I've discovered something. I love paper! HA-HA-HA! Really I have so much paper that I'll probably never use. I went through it and pulled out a lot of "older" stuff. But I still need to go through it again. I've decided that I love kits ...... it's so nice to have the pattern paper and solids all together. I wish I could sell all my paper and start over with only kits! Just think of all the cool embellishments I'd have! Anyways, I brought a lot of paper in and several of the ladies bought it. I made about $45! I'm either saving for a Cricut or a new Quickutz tool .... can't decide which yet!

I made the cutest "girl friends" paper bag album for the consignment store in Murfreesboro. The first of many. If I can get 6 done by Jan 31 .... I'll be sitting happy. The "girl friends" book took me 3 days to complete (oh yea, I need a few ribbons on the spine, but that all) so, if I have a book every 3 days, I'll have 6 done! Then I need to do a receipe box and a paint can and some card. Which I've made 5 cards in the past few days too! I'll take picture of the girl friends book soon. I used some K&Company paper (Neapolitan line) and it's sooooo cute! I made some b-day cards to match using scraps. How cool would it be to receive a present with a matching card?!?!?!?!

More later - and hopefully pictures!

Okay, so I'm a terrible blogger. I must confess, I get all up tight when the blogs I read aren't updated regularly and here I am, not EVER updating mine!

I'm at work today, no holiday for me! DD is at Nana's, DH is a work also and I have a dentist appointment today.

Not much going on. I did have someone contact me about putting some of my products in a consignment sale in Murfreesboro. I'm going to try it. So I'm knee deep in make cards, paper bag albums and paint cans (that's what she wanted). I don't know if I'll be able to make any more off the stuff or not. There's a split on the sales between me and the owner of the consignment shop. We'll see how it goes. I have to have all the product ready by mid-Feb! UGH! Gotta get working!

Nothing fun happen on the home front. Pretty boring life!

Gotta run!

Can you believe it!!?!?!?!?

I got an email yesterday morning from ScrapIt! One of our LSS's. It's so sad they are closing their store! It's one of my favorites. I didn't get by there as much as I wanted, but they are kinda on the wrong side of town from me, but anytime I was over that way, I'd stop. It's sad when a store closes .... I'll miss them!!!

WOW! It's been a while!!!!! Happy New Year

So, I'm not sure why it's been almost a month since I posted last. Probably because I like to post with pictures and I don't have any new ones to show ...... so no post!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Last year seemed to fly by! 2006 came and went soooooo fast. I can't believe its 2007 and I'm almost a year older!

So, what did you get for Christmas? I got (from DH) a $75 gift certificate to Scrappuccino's and the EK Success Disney book. From mom & dad I got the QK Sunshine set and a Xyron 900, with and extra cartridge, plus a few cartrides for my 500 model. YEA! I also got clothes, towels, earrings, perfume and some other cool stuff! Em racked up ..... PS2, Karoke machine, Ipod Nano, American Girl and Bitty Baby stuff, CD's out the wazoooo, clothes, jewerly box ..... lots and lots. Steve got money - that's what he wanted. He's going on a guided hunt next year, so he's trying to save every bit of extra money he can to pay cash for it! (good for him!)

It was a great Christmas and so nice to have off almost 11 days straight. I cleaned out my closet, cleaned up some of the basement, took stuff to the daycare, gave clothes away to someone who's house burned down ....... nice to have that done. And the basement is getting cleaned so we can start working on building a wall and sheetrocking my scrap studio! YEA!!!!


I might have pictures soon. I should have already downloaded them off the card, but I was lazy when it came to spending time on the computer. I didn't even check my checking account and it was hurting when I looked this morning ...... :-)!

Gotta run and work on the above mentioned problem. More later!

READING

This is something I really enjoy. (hope it's rubbing off on my child!). I have many, many favorite authors. But I really like: Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson and John Sanford. There are several "romance" authors I like also: Nora Roberts, Jude Deveraux, Sandra Brown and many others. I just finished Patricia Cornwell's PREDATOR. Very gripping... gotta finish it now kind of book. I read it in about 3 days, all 453 pages of it. Of course, my boss as been out of the office, so I've read a lot at work. I finished it today. I'm not picking up another book till I finish my last 8x8 book (should go pretty fast though). I hope to get most of it done this weekend. I really want to deliver it by Dec 15. I also need to get Em's teacher present done too. An altered clipboard.

My friend, Beth, has had a loss in her family. Her 15 yr old nephew was in a car accident and has died. He was at Vanderbilt in the trauma unit for a couple of days and they declared him clinically dead this morning. The family is donating his organs - or at least what organs they can. They are almost for sure his Liver will be used ...... not sure about heart or kidneys yets. Waiting on testing. Very sad, he would have turned 16 next week. BUT, one good thing is that in his family of 5, he was the only one to go to church. His youth minister had one kid saved last night because of this accident and anticipates more at the funeral. It appears that his nephew made a huge impact on his church youth group and didn't even know it! God always has a plan!

More later!

If you need someplace to go Christmas Eve .....

http://www.thegatheringnashville.com/christmas_eve_ryman.html

This would be cool.

Going to a crop tonight

YEA! I have't been in ages! I really need a night out. I thought about working on a gift album for a friend, but I think I want to work on Em pictures. She's the light of my life, seeing her makes me smile. Sometimes I just need that - don't we all. Honestly, sometime she wears me so much. Our mornings are rough, I fuss at her, even spanked her one morning for talking back. It was a terrible morning. Then yesterday, a perfect angel. This morning was almost as good. NICE ...... love easy mornings!

I read a good Elizabeth Lowell book this week. The Wrong Hostage. Quick read, easy to understand- other than it uses a lot of Spanish. But it's still a quick read. Now I'm reading (at work --- shhhh!) a Judy Deveraux book - High Tide - pretty good so far.

Gotta run! Have a good weekend!

Thanksgiving update

We have such a low key Thanksgiving that I don't even take pictures ...... so in Em's books it'll look like we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Actually, the past two years, Steve has worked. Last year I think he got off a little early, but this year he didn't get off till 4:15, so he didn't get to eat with us. We couldn't wait .... :-)

I've had 8 clipboard orders and 2 8x8 album orders - I've got one clipboard completely finished and delivering today. I've got 3 about 90% done, two 85% done, one 70% done and one planned. Two of those HAVE to be finished this week!!! And of course one of those is the "planned" one. I really do have a plan and once I get two sheets of specific paper, I'll be good to go. The 8x8 albums will go quickly, I've got one of them almost done and I'll just copy of the other from it, so it'll go fast! Then I might have 3 more orders for clipboards and have Em's teachers clipboard to do. I think I might start on it this week sometime, at least get some of it done.

Business if okay. Could be better, but I could also be putting more effort in it. I didn't realize how unproductive I could be if I HAVE to be productive. I work better when it come naturally. Plus I'm not one for getting things done early - I tend to wait ............. not good when you have a scrapbooking for you business and work full-time. Just like 6 of these clipboards, I've had those orders for at least a month or more and I've only been working on them for the past two weeks. Why do I wait? Cause it's my personality!

Gotta run, more later!

Rose, Cream, Brown......

Thats the colors of the baby album I'm working on for a client. Then another for a boy, sage green, black&white and blue ..... another easy one, huh? I thought the rose, cream and brown would be easy, but not really - at least for babies it's not that easy. I'm going to have to adapt something. Right now I have the vintage hip from Making Memories on my desk trying to decide if thats okay. I think some of it will work. I plan on using very little of the pattern paper and a lot more solids, with just a hint of pattern paper .... what do you think? The boy album - I'm not sure...... not to mention my 5 dance clipboards! Those are wearing me out!!!

OH YEA - I found my gold/purple stripes ...... I couldn't believe it! A store in OH - Scrapbook Superstore. I had to call Scrappin Sports and they told me the paper was discontinued, but hasn't been for long. The last store to make an order was th Scrapbook Superstore and they probably would have some .... oh yea - they do, plus the solid cardstock that goes with it! YEA! I bought 15 sheets of the stripes and 10 each of purple and gold that match! I'm so stoked!

Gotta run, gotta leave for a dr appointment and I'm trying to figure out when I can sneak in a HL run cause they have their rub-ons on sale!

Titans pictures

Em danced 10/29 with the Jr. Titans during the Houston game (which they actually won!). It was the Halloween game, so the girls wore halloween mask. It was a cute dance. Here's some shots!

Em and Shannon, her coach!

Game day - our tired Titan cheerleader. Isn't the hair cute!!! See the white barrett? Thats because she cute her hair back before Easter and its growning out. It's long enough now that it's very noticable that it's not the length as everything else! I needed a brown one, but couldn't find one at the house.

On the field performance! She's the "line leader" standing on the 30 yard line! I was so pround, she did really good and I think she smiled the whole time - which is a challenge for her, she concentrates so hard. But she had the moves and they were GREAT!

Halloween Pictures

What a terrible shot of our pumpkins, but I did get some good shots of them individually using my new mono-pod.

I've been trying for weeks to upload pictures into blogger, what gives! I'll try to post more in this entry and then a few more in other entries.

Here's our Victorian Vampire! Isn't she cute! Check out these shots (doctored in Picasa!)

Cards; Titans; Halloween

I'm on a card kick. I'm really enjoying making cards, not stamped cards, cause those never turn out like I want them too, but paper crafting cards. (Sorry Teresa B if you're reading). I recently made some of the cutest birthday card out of some stuff I bought a while ago, but never had used. REALLY cute! I think thats what I like about making cards, I can use up old stuff, although I always need more stuff! My mom and I have been making Christmas cards. She's making the "base" and I'm embellishing them. Thats really hard though, cause I'm not sure exactly what she had in mind when I get them. AND if I want to put eyelets or brads in, I have to "undo" her gluing - and she uses a UHU glue stick, so it's not always that easy to undo! Anyways, I think I like the card making because its a quick fix. Sometimes when I'm on crunch to get a scrapbooking project done, I feel unmotivated to do any scrapbooking, but making the cards and seeing the results almost immediately helps me get my motivation back. Plus, I really need to get some Christmas and Thanksgiving stuff up at the Livery Stables. My sports clipboard haven't sold yet, but I'm thinking about doing a baby's first Christmas and just a plain Christmas one.

This weekend is the weekend Em cheers/dances with the Titans. Please pray for semi-warm weather. Her uniform is really too small to wear a turtleneck with, but I was too cheap to buy another this year (they are changing next year for sure). So the warmer the better for her sake.

Can you believe that Halloween is Tuesday night. I can't believe this month has gone by so fast. Gosh! I love Halloween, but unfortunely, with our labs, we can't put out much decorations. Basically we have pumpkins on the porch Halloween night, even though we aren't home. But I love carving them and will probably do that this weekend sometime!

Gotta run! More later!

My donations

Em's school has a "Cougar Day" every year for one of their major fundraisers. Of course, this is our first involvement, but I have friends that went there, so I remember it from them talking about it (20 yrs ago). They ask each family to donate at least 2 things for the auction and 1 baked good. I figured putting some scrapbooking items in might boost my business. I'm donating an 8x8 album. (think I talk about this in another blog - sounds familiar - I'm losing my mind!!!) It's orange, pinks, brown, turquoise. Very cute, "friend" themed. If I were selling it, I'd have to sell it for at LEAST $50.00, but probably start out with $65.00 on it. I have at least $30.00 of product in it. Lots of flowers, rubons, bling, etc. I'm also donating a "cougar" themed clipboard - yellow, blue and white. Cute. My mom made two fall themed wreaths to be donated and two small Christmas things. I don't think I'm going to put the two Christmas things in it. You have to tag everything with the resell value, mim and max bid. I'm not sure what to put on everything yet. Have to think about it some. Maybe next year I can have a booth in the craft fair part of it. This year since we were new, I wasn't sure if they were going to have them (for a couple years that didn't have booths - but I think people really like them and it brings in outside people). Maybe next year mom and I can share a space and have scrapbooking items and flower arrangements. And if I start making things now, maybe I can have some school albums done, which I think would sell well!

Gotta run!
Christy

This weekend was nice!

What did I do this weekend you ask? I made about 14 cards. YEA ME!!! It was fun. I made birthday cards Friday night and Thank You cards Saturday night. DH worked night shift, so he was sleeping or gone and DD was with Nana and Grandaddy Friday for a while and then at a friend's house Saturday. I worked Friday night till about 11:00 and probably till 11:00 Saturday night. I didn't scan any yet, but I will and then I'll post some of them. My mom has even gotten the bug. She wants to use stamps on her cards (mine are more papercrafting cards - no stamps). She's going to make Christmas cards. I'll probably make some too ... her's will be more classy. Mine'll be "fun"! cards.

More later ............

Wow; it's been a long time!

So long in fact, that I had to enter my login and password to get into blogger!!! Isn't that funny!

I've really not had much to say, so I've decided to take a small break from blogging. I still don't have much to say, but thought you might like to hear that I'm okay. Cheerleading is full blown; school is crazy. Em did do good on her report card; Three A's; two B's and a C (in reading of all things!). And I'm jonesing to scrapbook again. All is good!!!!

Is she really mine?

I'm thinking lately, is my daughter really mine? I think they might have got her and another baby mixed up in the nursey (honestly, I know she is). She is so not my child. I think I made pretty good grades in school, especially in elementary school to please my parents. Em just doesn't care. How can I motivate her? I tell her that I'm disappointed in her grades, I love her dearly and will forever and ever, but I disappointed that she doesn't make better grades! I see very little evidence of her "trying" to do better. And her grades are sooooooo mixed. She came home with a pile of graded papers and they ranged from 50's to 100's. Quite a few A's, lots of B's, some C's, and 2 F's. What!!!! A 50 on a Reading test, what the heck? Reading, come on, the child can read. Actually before she left public school she was testing at a 5 grade reading level! But now she make a 50! I think its all comprehension. Doesn't that come with age. Seems to me that comprehension was something I struggled with too. I use to read thing several times to "get it". But come one a 50! Of course if you miss 5 questions out of 10, what does that leave you? And all along I thought reading was what she did best!!!!! Such a disappointment! I'm really just sad and have no idea what to say to her to get her to try her best. She says she does, but I'm just not sure. Is there an adjustment period she needs to go through? Going from public to private school? Gosh after getting those grades I was thinking ....... will she make it? Maybe she needs a military school? :-)

Lets face it, I don't have a genius on my hands, unfortunely! She has just enough of me in her to make her an A/B/C student (I even made some D's!) and enough of her Dad in her to not care! What a deadly combination!!!!

This too shall pass...........

In a month our Saturday's get crazy.......

Em cheers on Saturday's. If you read the previous post, you'll see that this past weekend was the first game of the season. But starting in October, she'll be cheering for the Vikings AND practicing for her cheering stunt with the Titans. Last year we signed her up for the Jr. Titan Cheerleading program. She loved it and fell instantly in love with the coach, Ms. Chasity (honestly, who wouldn't - you can check her out at http://www.titansonline.com/team/cheerleaders/bio.php?PRKey=8) She's really pretty! She's excited to do it again this year. But starting Oct 14 we have a game from 12:30 - 2:00 and then Titan practice from 3:00 - 6:00, again Oct 21 and again Oct 28 with the performace being Oct 29. She did soooo good last year. We learned last year that we could bring our video camera, tape the routine and let her practice. That helps a lot. Here's some picture of her last year (incase you missed them in last years post) Oh yea, on top of that Oct 14 cheerleading crazyness, we also have a school fundraiser that I've signed up to volunteer for.


She's the one in front with the big smile and cute red ribbons!

What I did this 3 day weekend!

Not much! YEA! I love weekends were I do have a lot to do. Friday night, Em had gymnastics and then we met her friend Lac at a little carnival at Em's old school. Lac spent the night Friday night. They didn't go to bed till around 1:00. Had football games in White House on Saturday. We had to be there at 12:00. The girls were up by 8:00. I got them ready and we were gone by 11:00. We got to the game and Em's team 9/10 yr old lost and then Steve's team 11/12 team lost also. Lac went home with her mom and we went home. Of course Saturday morning I woke up sneezing my head off, allergy season is kicking in! I was tired and sleepy when we finally got home. Sunday Em and I straightend up the house and waited for Lac to call (she wanted her to come play). We went down my friend Mary Jo's house late Sunday. Lac called and Em went with her to a cook out. She got home around 10:00pm. Monday, Steve went to work. I slept till 8:30, Em slept till 10:00am! I watched CSI: Miami all day on the A&E channel! I mean like 8 hours of it! I did laundry and read during commericals. I love that show! I think finally toward the end of the day I saw one that I had seen before. Lac came over while her mom went shopping for a computer, so she pretty much stayed out of my hair. I finally went to bed around 10:30 and it was hard getting up at 5:00am this morning (which I didn't, I got up around 5:30)

What I didn't do: Scrapbook! I just couldn't get in it. I've got two pages to complete for a gift album and it will be finished. The I need to start on a quickalbum for the same girl to keep her ultrasound picture in. She's had like one a month since she found out she was pg. (She's almost 40 and they thought she couldn't get pg! - miracle baby!) Then I've got to start some project for the either the craft fair or the Livery Stables. I'm not sure yet what I want to do! It's so hard to stayed motivated when you work full-time and then have the extra activities to handle. I think I'm putting too much pressure on myself. I keep thinking what it was like last year trying to get things ready for the craft fair .......... I was pooped by the time it go here and I didn't make that much money at it!!!! Yea, I'm whinning, so I'm signing off!

More later .........

Cars.........

I'm trying real hard not to get new car fever, but mine will be paid for next spring, so it's about time to get the fever. I KNOW I can't get a new car, but I can wish, hope and think about it can't I? I've never paid off a car on my own. DH and I have been married for 15 yrs and have always had a car note. The past 3 yrs we've had TWO. Both cars will be paid off within a few months of each other in the spring. He did inform me that after he gets his paid for, he's buying a four-wheeler. Thats fine. He can save the money for a couple of month, make a large down payment and only finance a little and then pay it off by the next year. His car/truck is older than mine so I think we'll be buying him another car before me. With the tution for Em's school, I just can't have another 4 yrs of two car payments. It's about broke me. Plus I know as she gets older and involved in more school activies, I'll be spending more and more "extra" money.

Christmas is right around the corner. Em wants an i-Pod. Can you believe it? I'd love one too, but I think Steve and I will skip getting Christmas for each other this year (just not in the funds). Em doesn't really need anything or hasn't said much of what she other than that. Steve and I did talk about getting comcast DSL at home yesterday. We'd need it to download music. I would like it, but right now at home I have bellsouth and it only costs me $9.95. Paying $45.00 more a month is going to be a big adjustment in my month bill budget.

Nothing more to really talk about. I'm almost finished with the gift album I've been working on. THANK GOODNESS. I was so NOT in the mood to work on it. I have a pink/orange friends book started that is going to be really cute. I want to finish it!

Em old elementary's Carinval is this week/weekend. She is begging to go. I guess I'll take her and her girlfriend Friday night instead of going to a crop. She really can't go during the week because of homework and Saturday she cheers in an away game. What a great mom I am!

More later ........

Drop at the door or walk in?

For almost 9 years, I've walked Em in the door at daycare and took her to her class. Of course most of that was because she was really too small to do it herself. And then as she got older, the tradition just stuck. Now since she doesn't go to daycare in the morning, I decided we need a new tradition. She goes to the elementary gym in the morning before school. She can go in as long as there are lights on in the entry way. Some mornings we get there too early and some mornings right on time. The first week or so, I walked her in so she could get a feel for it and I would know what was going on during that time. But last Friday I kinda pulled up at the curb and pushed her out. Not really, but I was late and needed to get to work. She needed to get in the gym and re-read her AR book. But this wasn't something new for her. I had fussed and lectured her about it last Thursday and Friday. How she was old enough to walk in the door herself, no body elses' parent brings them in, how I've been doing it for 9 years, blah, blah, blah. This morning she knew better than to say anything when I pulled up to the door and told her I loved her, gave her a kiss and told her to behave. She did it and she looked so big doing it. Getting out, acting like she was embrassed that I was telling her what to do. It didn't bother me till just now. I want her to be independant and walk in by herself, but that means she needs me less and less. That makes me want to cry! She's growing up so fast!

Scheduling conflict; blogs; books; craft fair projects

I'm teaching at the Reminders of Faith - Journey of Faith conference here in Nashville in September. When I got Em's football schedule, I went through my calendar and wrote the game on Saturdays. When I got to homecoming, I realized it was the same weekend as the conference. Now, I know that this is just Jr. Pro football, but for little girls, homecoming is a big deal, our season hasn't even started and Em is trying to decide who she wants to walk with! So, I immediately sent Sandra and Kathy and email and told them the dilema and starting praying. I didn't exactly get what I prayed for. I prayed that Sandra/Kathy would say, we'll just switch your class times later in the day. I ended up telling them that I'd be there for the class, probably miss the end of homecoming (which would be okay) and probably be running like crazy to get to the class on time. We'll, God does answer prayers. Although I know this solution isn't the answer to everyone else's prayer, it was an answer to mine. My prayer was: please let it work out so I can do both! Unfortunely, the enrollment for the conference is not where they need it to be and many of the classes didn't have enough attendee's. So they have decided to cut classes and only have 10 classes that EVERYONE will attend. I teach on THURSDAY! YEA for me. I get to do both. Thank you God for answering prayers. I know Em would have been so disappointed if I hadn't been at homecoming, but I also had a commiment to ROF. Problem solved!

Blogs: How many do you read? I think I have about 80 bookmarked, but don't read them all daily. I usually read the ones I know people update reguarly. Kathrine Brooks, Heather D White, Tracie Claiborne, the Junkitz Blogs, Heather Preckel, Sara D and there are others. I like the glimpse inside their lives and especially the scrapbooking peeks we get. Who's do you read and why?

Books: I've been reading like crazy lately. My friend Renate got me started on the Janet Evanovich Plum series and I've read all 12 of the books in about a month. I read the last one in two days. (shhhh, don't tell, sometimes I don't have a lot to do at work - so I read!) I'm currently reading a Luanne Rice book called Summer of Roses. It's pretty good. It's taken me about 10 chapters to get in it. Of course, when I read this much, scrapbooking usually takes a back burner.

Craft fair: After I finish the baby boy book I'm working on, I need to start my craft fair stuff. I've got a "friends" 8x8 book almost finished. It looks pretty cute. Oranges, pinks, white. Very girly stuff. Then I was thinking about some altered clipboards and I guess a few pencil holders (made from beef stick containers - which my friend said would make cute teacher gifts!) and of course some paper bag albums - but not many --- mostly friends, girls and maybe a sport book or two.

Gotta run to break (our group never misses 9:00am break!)

UGH!

I forgot my blogger password and then couldn't remember my login! How did I get kicked out of the "automatic" password thingy? I just couldn't remember any of it cause I never sign on. Oh well, I'm here now!

Em started Goodpasture last week. Wednesday was 1/2 day, Thursday full day. Em is very a very social person. She's happiest when she is surrounded by her friends. And she's always been more of a leader than a follower ..... till now! We went to the "back to school bash" Friday night at the school and I watched her follow a goup of little girls around that she kinda knew. She was like the 5th wheel. It broke my heart. They didn't appear to be mean to her, it was just they could care less if she was there or not. I honestly made me think to myself, my gosh, what have we done. But then the logical part of my brain took over and said, you've made the best decision you could for your child..... she'll make friends eventually, but she'll get a GREAT education NOW! And I know, she will make friends. I just hope she lets if happen at its own pace and not force it, which has been my advice to her. These little girls have probably always gone to school together, give it time. But still, it's hard to wait, I know that! She did have a lot homework last night. It took us 3 hours to do it because she didn't want to do it and couldn't focus on it! Hopefully it will get better.

Nothing happening other than school and cheerleading. I have an 8x8 book started, but can't get in the mood for it. I really need to, cause I've got our work craft fair in Oct. So that only gives me a month to work on stuff. Honestly, I'm thinking I might give up my spot, I'm just not feeling "it" right now. Scrapbooking is the last thing I want to do!

Gotta run! More later

Anyone have advice on potty training a dog?

Okay, we've had this puppy since she was 4 months old. The previous owners were paper training her. I don't really have a good place for that, so we started outside training her when we got her. We'll, we've had her a year and she's still not completely trained. She stays in a crate during the day when we are all gone and goes out as soon as we get there. It does get a little sketchy while we are home. She goes out a couple times while we are home (sometimes more) depending on what everyone is doing. I try and keep my eye on her and if she seems to be wanting to go out or sniffing around, I'll take her out. Last night she was out of water and when I gave her some, she drank, drank and drank. But I had just taken her out when I discovered the water bowl was dry. I took her out before we went to bed and nothing, she did nothing. I guess sometime during the night (or early morning) she got up and needed to tinkle and did in DH's room (its the extra bedroom that he uses for his clothes and junk!) Of course, I called him on his way in to work and he was livid, tell me I've got to MAKE her go. Tell me, how to I MAKE a dog go potty?!?!?!?!? I pretty much said it wasn't entirely my responsbility. He could have taken her out this morning when he was up at 4:30 with his bug bitten legs putting more medicine on them. I've gotten up at 3:30 before just to let the dog out because she was restless. I'm not sure what else to do other than take her out EVERY 2 hours. But I know she won't go everytime we go out. Who would? What are we doing wrong?


By the way, listen what else happened last night. I woke up sometime during the night with my finger killing me. It felt swollen. I punched DH and told him (which he didn't respond), got up, wet my finger either with water or my own spit and took them off. But, for the life of me I can't remember where I took them off and put them. I'm hoping in my jewerly box because I have a faint memory of reaching over the dresser last night and feeling for the box, but it could have all been a dream! Who knows ...... I just know I don't have my rings on.

AND, DD has pink eye! She woke up yesterday morning with both eyes red and yucky. I took her to the doctor and she said he looked like pink eye. We also taked about the Ritlan (this is a blog in itself, but I hate the fact that I have to give her this medicne, but she can consentrate so much better when she is taking it!) and we talked about her tonsils, which are HUGE! She told me she'd refer me to a ENT if I thought she needed it. DD snores pretty loudly and even shows early signs of sleep apena (spell?).

Gotta run and work!

More pictures from Destin FL

Em playing in the water. It was pretty clean on this day. It did get yucky later in the week. But then cleared up when we left. I do love the white sand in FL ..... beautiful!

Okay, I'll bite!

I love Amy Howe's blog, scrapbook pages and especially her photographer. I stalk her blog daily! She kinda fussed at us stalkers who don't post comments and issued at challenge ..... I've been tagged. If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged also!!!


If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?
Right now, I'm pretty content where I am. I've lived on the same street all my life, I don't know anything else. I really like quaint little towns, where things are slow and easy! But don't have any place in mind.
What's your favorite article of clothing? Embrassing as it is, a pair of cut off sweat pants that have a million holes in them, but they are so comfy!
Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex? Muscular arms and chest, toned legs, nice behind!
What's the last CD that you bought? Rascall Flatts
Where's your favorite place to be? Anywhere other than work!
Where's your least favorite place to be? Work!
What's your favorite place to be massaged? Never had one, but have a gift certificate!
Strong in mind or strong in body? mind!
What time do you wake in the morning? With the alarm, 5:15 am; without around 8:00
What's your favorite kitchen appliance? Microwave!
What makes you really angry? People being inconsiderate of others feelings and opinions.
If you could play any instrument, what would it be? Piano
Favorite color? Purple
Which do you prefer, sports car or SUV? Depends on what they are. I drive a truck and love being up higher on the road, but I love the new little 4-door BMW's!
Do you believe in afterlife? Heaven? Yes!
Favorite children's book? Charlottes Web
What is your favorite season? Toss up between spring and fall.
What's your least favorite household chore? cleaning bathrooms
If you could have one super power, what would it be? flying
If you have a tattoo, what is it? nope, don't have one ......... yet :)
Can you juggle? Nope
The one person from your past you wish you could go back and talk to? My great grandmother, I was about 3 months old when she died.
What's your favorite day? Saturday - although they are pretty busy.
What's in the trunk of your car? Don't have a trunk, but in the bed of my truck is a fold-up chair.
Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger? HAMBURGER!

Have fun!

Pictures of the beach .......

I thought these were here yesterday, but I guess the post didn't make it.

Let me try again!!!

The yellow rope behind our heads was to keep people off the dunes. Since we were in Destin FL and Katrina tore up most of the dunes, we had to go to the state park in the area to get dunes in the back ground. Ours at "our" beach were still gone and what was there was yucky red dirt/sand/concrete mixture. Mom can take the rope out in Photoshop. I can too in elements, but she's much better at it and is now retired, so she has more time on her hands than I do!!!

Lovin' this picture of us. Eyes are good, smiles are good, color is pretty good, hair isn't blowing crazy!

The whole clan. Nice picture. Look how all the "khaki's" are different colors. I bought my shorts while I was in FL, got a great deal on them. All three of us (Steve, me and Em) had to have white shirts while we were there .... another good deal!

I'll post more later! Got some funny kissing pictures!

We were at the beach last week ..........

And boy was it nice. Just to get away and not have the same ole schedule. Although Steve and I have come to the conclusion that as long as Em is young, our vacations aren't really a vacation, she just requires a lot of "interaction". But we also deteremined that next year we're either vacationing with another family or taking her a friend. It will leave us with more "us" time. By the way, it was our first time in Destin FL.

We did a mini photo shoot, with the purpose of taking pictures for a Christmas card. I haven't sent out Christmas cards in a while. I figure if I have the picture done already, getting the cards printed will be a snap!

For some reason, I've tried to download a couple of shots for two days now, and can't get them to download to blogger. I'll try it in another post.

There are pictures of all of us (my mom, dad, Steve, Em and me.) Those pictures were taken by a nice lady on the beach that was helping set up for a wedding. She did a pretty good job. We passed a family arriving on the beach when we were leaving to have their pictures made... they had a photographer following them. When we got back to the condo, we downloaded our pictures and everyone agreed that we probably saved ourselves $300, because our pictures were so good! I can't wait to get some of them printed and framed. I have a really good shot of my cute hubby .... it's going in a frame on my desk!

Gotta run and read a book (I'm on a reading kick - just finished a James Patterson book Violets are Blue it was really good!)

I want one of these ...........

On the Making Memories blog they have listed on the new stuff debuted at CHA. I want - no - NEED one of these!

"12” x 12” Precision Paper Trimmer – Professional construction meets sophisticated utility with this trimmer. The long-lasting rotary blade provides accurate, straight cuts, while sharpening itself at the same time. Its one-of-a kind folding design offers crafters a full 12”x12” cutting surface, that folds down to easily fit into a Runway Roller™. A trimmer this specialized, at this affordable price, makes it a cut above the rest. "

Isn't it cool! A full 12x12 trimmer, that folds! I love it!!!! Gotta find one NOW!

Also, here's a couple shots from my most recent photography adventure. This is my best friends 16 (almost) daughter. We took these pictures so she could put them in her b-day invitation (which I'm making, with lots of help!) The pictures with "the boyfriend" was just because we wanted them!!

Aren't they cute!?!?!?!

More later ................................

Sometimes life SUCKS!

One of my friends, Beth, found out yesterday that her job has been deleted. Where we work, we don't get uemployment, but she got a small severence package. We are hoping and working to find her something else within the corporation. She's been her for 21 yrs! Can you imagine. She graduated high school on Thursday and started working on Monday. She's never known anything else. She's very upset, as you can imagine! Please say a small prayer for her!

On to happier things. We watched "In Her Shoes" and "Failure to Launch" this week. Both very cute movies. A recommended see. I get them from Netflix and yesterday morning, DD and I put them in my parents mailbox to watch and with everything that happended with my friend, I forgot to call my parents and tell them they were in there. Well, the mailman took them. They weren't sealed and the arm wasn't up to take the mail, but he did anyways......... guess trying to be helpful. Of course, if I had wanted him to take the mail .... he wouldn't have!

Hopefully, I can get some scrapbooking done this weekend. I've been on a reading kick. I'm reading The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Very good series. I'm book 8. They are a quick, fun read. I started book 8 last night and just wasn't in the mood to do anything but veg on the couch, I assumed just generally bummed because of my friend. I'm sure today, I'll read some.

Here's a picture I took of some unknown kid at my friend's little girls ball game. I think its a pretty good shot! He was sliding (sp?) home. Look at that smile!
















Gotta run, more later .................

I WANT to lose 10 lbs

Okay, so 10lbs isn't such a big deal. I can do this .......... before July 30? I don't know, thats a lot. When I was doing WW faithfully, I think one week I lost 4 lbs, but after that I averaged about 2 lbs a week. I don't have 5 weeks to lose this weight. So I think I'm going back on the South Beach diet. No sweets, no bread .... but I refuse to give up fruit! They are my salvation to the sweet thing! So anyways, send good vibes to me. We leave July 30 for vacation ......... actually I might to try to talk DH into leaving a day early and spend the night someplace on the way down. The reason for this weight loss thing? I bought two bathing suits from JCPenney.

One is this one. I can't believe I actually bought a two piece ....... oh my what was I thinking? Well, let me tell you. After seeing how many people actually wear a two piece that really shouldn't, I started thinking.... hey, I don't look THAT bad in a two piece, so I bought the bullet and did it. Now, I'll probably wear it mostly on vacation and at the house, but still.... I could wear it to Wave Pool or Nashville Shores and MAYBE be comfortable! The one is black with the floral print. Halter top and high waist bottoms. I asked Em what she thought and she said the bottom were too high! HA - my answer was they are keeping stuff hidden!

I can't find a picture of the other one. It's a tankini - orange and pink. It's safe. Cute! Very momish ..... They were kinda expensive, but usually when they cost a little more, you can wear them for several years.

Okay, gotta run .... wish me luck losing the weight so fast ..... I'm gonna do it!!! Salads and meat for the next three weeks!!!!

Guess what we did Saturday night?

Yep, I was one of 47, 699 that was that LP Field for the Kenny Chesney concert in Nashville. VERY COOL. It was a night to remember. First, it was DD's first concert. She adores Kenny. (Informed me this weekend that she's gonna name her first born son Kenny!) Second, $60 worth of tee-shirts got cigarette burn on it. Third, I got beer poured in my seat and down my back. Fourth, Kenny freakn' rocked!!!!

I didn't take my camera (glad I didn't, would probably have ended up with beer all over it!), so I'm going to borrow pictures from the Tennessean.com (our local newspaper)

Okay, Little Big Town was good. Good choice for an opening act. Dierks Bently.... wow! He's a hottie! Great job! Big and Rich ...... oh my gosh, what a great concert! I'd love to see them for a full concert. Gretchen Wilson, we'll I like her songs on the radio (Here for the party, Redneck Woman, etc), but to hear a lot of her songs, well, I'm not that huge of a fan. Kenny rocked the house! Keith Urban..... Em and I screamed our heads off! And we were within a stones throw from the mini stage that Kenny came up on, so we got to see him close ....... we were screaming our looney heads off! It was a blast, even with all the "trouble" around us. Which by the way, the cops came down once to straighten them out and then the girl next to me got sent to the hospital (her friends got a text message from her) don't have a clue what happened, but her friend left their seats. I guess that went to get her! She was really wasted. My question .... why would you pay all that money only to get so drunk you don't remember it? That my friends is stupid!!!! We (Em, hubby and I) had a great time, as did the people beside us and in front of us and we were all stone sober!

Thats it for now. I got the new Stampin' Up catalog. Gonna try and look at it today. But at a quick glance, looks like a really great catalog.

Quick Recap of July 4th Weekend

Saturday - swimming party at friends
Sunday - swimming at Nana's and dinner at Aunt Shelia's house (yummy rib-eye steaks!)
Monday - nothing ----- scrapbooking and reading
Tuesday - family gathering at Nana's house - yummy food! Then to another friends for fireworks
Wednesday - back to work :-(


So, nothing real exciting and nothing to stressful. Tonight I'm going to the crop at Scrappuccino's for a little while. Not staying long. I'm really not in the mood and I'm really tired. Tomorrow is the Kenny Chesney concert! Whoa-Who! Very excited. Em is very excited! She's wearing her pink cowboy hat! I just pray we'll be able to see. We're on the floor....