Happy New Year!

It's snowing again here in the Northeast. And this is what it looks like outside my front porch...

Michael is going to miss our celebration with the neighbors because he is plowing. I'm glad we don't have to drive anywhere because it was terrible driving home from work. There will just be a small gathering at a neighbor's house for appetizers, Chinese food, and margarita's. It's always a good time so I'm looking forward to it but I'll miss my guy.

I hope you all have a very Happy and Safe New Year!

This is what happens

when you buy me a vacuum for Christmas:

Seriously, Michael had a little scuffle with a big box with a 40lb machine in it and ended up in the ER on Christmas Eve getting stitches. I think the box won, what about you? Hey at least he let me take his pic for once! :)

Christmas Eve was fantastic as always starting off with the big fish feast at my Godmother's house and ending at my bff's mom's house. Traditions since I can't remember when! Then we came home where the boys opened up their Christmas PJs. Unfortunately Jake doesn't stop growing so he had to resorts to last year's pants but Josh looked adorable in his!We had a great day yesterday, lots of awesome food, company and presents. Can ask for more than that. We all got just what we asked for and more and spending the day with my two uncles and my cousin was awesome!

I made Espresso and Waffles for Breakfast today with my new coffee maker and waffle iron. Yummo! The boys are now playing with their new Wii game and Michael is doing maintenance on my car, guy can never sit still! I plan on cleaning the house at some point today but it can wait a bit!

I hope Santa was good to everyone! Have a great weekend!

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Holidays to you and yours! May all your Christmas wishes come true!

What Part of Done

did Mother Nature not understand?

Tomorrow's forecast:

Winter storm warning in effect from 6 am to 10 pm est Sunday.
The NWS in taunton has issued a winter storm warning for heavy snow, which is in effect from 6 am to 10 pm est sunday. The winter storm watch is no longer in effect.
This warning covers western and central Massachusetts and southwest new hampshire.
Snow will develop across the area early Sunday morning, becoming heavy toward midday. Snow accumulations of 6 to 12 inches are expected. The heaviest amounts should occur across the high terrain of western massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Snow will taper to flurries sunday evening.
Anyone with plans to be traveling Sunday should be prepared for rapidly changing road conditions and probable delays, especially along interstates 84, 90, 91, 93 and 95 as well as route 2. A winter storm warning is issued when an average of 6 or more inches of snow is expected in a 12 hour period, or for 8 or more inches in a 24 hour period. Travel will be slow at best on well treated surfaces, and quite difficult on any unplowed or untreated surfaces.

FYI for those of you that don't know, I live in Southern NH!

Snowy Saturday

After the ice storm last Thursday (see story below) and then another storm Wednesday I'm pretty much done with winter and it hasn't even started yet! This is what it looks like outside right now:

We have about 8" and it's still coming down pretty good. Poor Michael left for work at 6:15 am yesterday, got called out to plow before he even got to come home and he just got home at 6 am this morning. He's still outside cleaning up our driveway and it's 9am. He's going to fall into bed when he finally stops!

I have a ton to do today, clean the house, make chicken parm and fudge for Xmas day, go get Jake a knee xray, and buy a few more presents! But I have made a dent, everything I have bought is wrapped and under the tree, which we decorated last night! I am so behind this year! But my tree is a beauty, Michael picked it out all by himself! Normally we all go out and cut one down but between the storms, rain on weekends and whatnot we just ran out of time. Here is a pic of my tree and the attempt at twinkling lights:

And now I must get off here and do some stuff before I run out of time completely! Have a great weekend!

What Font R U?

You Are Impact

You are very unique and quite striking. You are forceful and aggressive. You never go unnoticed, and people recognize your power instantly. While you make your presence known, your message is a bit fuzzy. You are not the easiest person to understand, and you're not one for details.

What Font Are You?

The Things We Take for Granted

We had an ice storm of all ice storms Thursday night. Our power went out at 10pm that night and we got it back Monday morning. Friday morning it was very cold in the house to say the least. There was no school and no daycare as there were over 1 million people without power in New England, 400,000 of them in New Hampshire. Our neighbor who works for Public Service of NH told us at least a week. YAY. Well I took the boys to the mall to get warm and told Michael we were going to a hotel. He called me late Friday afternoon while we were still at the mall to say he got a generator. WOOHOO! That generator gave us heat and limited electricity. We were able to shower and have an outlet to use so I could even blowdry! Saturday night we had 14 of us bbq-ing and drinking margaritas! Several neighbors came over to get warm, eat and to shower. It was actually a great time. We don't have that much fun with the power on LOL! Sunday we did the same. It really wasn't that bad but I tell you it made me think how lucky we are.

The boys are supposed to go back to school tomorrow BUT there is another storm headed this way with 2-5 inches of snow and a layer of ice as the cherry on top! We shall see. There are still something like 100,000 people without power in New England, I'm so glad I'm not one of them!

I now have to get a tree, finish my shopping, wrap, make fudge and chicken parm for Christmas!

Hope all my blogging friends are doing well!

Some 3D Pages

It was a cold and snowy day today so since I wasn't going anywhere I went down and made a mess today with the real glue and scissors. I got 4 pages done in about 3 hours and it felt great! Here's what I got done:

Josh's 3rd Grade Photo:

The photo they take of you when we rode the Tower of Terror in Sept 2007:

Jake's 2006 Baseball Photo

This photo was taken on Michael's parents boat when Bear was about a year old so probably summer of 1994 or 1995:

Michael and Jake went Snowboarding today, they both have brand new boards and were dying to try them. Jake has been taking lessons for 2 years, Michael has never snowboarded and hasn't been on ski's in 20 years. We got an inch of snow and Michael was chomping at the bit so off they went, he just called to let me know there were no broken bones but that he's going to be mighty sore tomorrow! I'm just happy he is able to walk!

Hope you all had a fabulous Sunday!

More Scrapping

I did some digi pages yesterday while I was waiting for the turkey to be done. Yep I made a turkey just so we could have turkey and stuffing sandwiches tonight for dinner! They were so yummy. I kept busy at my laptop since I needed to base and boil potatoes and bake sweet potatoes and this is what I came up with:

Josh's new glasses:


Our trip to the corn maze:


This is me in Hawaii in 1977:


Jake turned 13:


And just a random one:


And I just did this one tonight:


Man I wish paper scrapping was as fast as this!

Another KC Page

Hello Friends! I hope those that celebrate had a wonderful holiday. We had a fantastic time at my Godmother's house as always. I am going to cook a small turkey and stuffing tomorrow so we can have sammi's though, I miss having leftovers!

I had to work yesterday but I did manage to get some shopping done online. Love shopping from my desk! No lines, no crowds, no pushy rude people. I did try to get a GPS for $97 from Walmart for DH but while it was in my cart and I was still shopping it sold out. :( Oh well, he wasn't asking for one so it's not like I will disappoint. :)

I did manage to do a couple of pages since the last post. One of more pics from my Kansas City trip and one of things that make me happy (it was for a challenge so it couldn't be family, friends or pets) which is why they are all material things! ;)

Today I am going to put up my Xmas decor. Well all but the tree, we will go and cut that down next week. I am so tempted to change over to a fake tree so I can put it up earlier and take it down later but I just love the whole tradition of cutting it down and the smell of the tree and all that I can't do it. And that's about it for me. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

PHEW!!!

What a busy few days I have had. Friday after work I went to my BFF's house to spend some time with her. We only see each other like twice a year due to the fact that we live almost an hour from each other and with each others kiddos schedules we have no 'common' downtime. Well I decided to change that. We went out to dinner, then had to make a few kiddo stops for her DD but it was cool, see she's a Pop Warner Cheerleader from the #1 team and they were practicing for a competition. I got to watch. It was awesome except that my heart was in my throat the whole time as Stephanie (friend's DD) is a flyer. For those of you that have no clue what I'm talking about, she's the one that gets thrown up in the air and has to rely on the other girls to catch her. Damn they were good! Then we went out for a martini and dessert and back to her house where we stayed up till 1:30 chatting. I of course was up at 5! I was like now way, forced myself back down to 6:30 which is darn good for me!

Went home early Sat am to grocery shop and clean the house as some of my scrappy friends were coming over Sat night to play. Dawn and Deb F (we missed you Debbie) came and as always we had a great time. I made some Basic Grey ornaments that I've had since last year and did 2 BG card packs! One of them was also from last year that I won from Dawn believe it or not (totally legally) so now I've got my cards done for my friends that really don't care about my kiddo photos! YAY! Now to get the kiddo pic so I can get my other cards made and printed! They left about midnight so two very late nights for me. Those of you that know me well know I never stay up past 9pm!

Sunday I slept in a bit, till 9:30! Well that is because I woke up with a headache, sore throat and a fever! ICK! I just got over the crud and now I have it again? WTH? Yeah, so I spent the day on the couch and then took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Because I can't take another day off of work!

Yeah, well guess what, I wake up this morning feeling like crap, I think well I'll just call the doc later and leave work early to get checked out. I think I have strep throat and I need an antibiotic but my body had other plans. I started getting these really sharp pains. I was thinking they were chest pains but the more I pinpointed them they were not but they HURT. So off to the ER I went. They checked my heart, fine, bp, fine, so next was an ultrasound to check for gallstones. Which was also fine. HUH? Bloodwork not so fine, liver enzymes are elevated. Probably viral but need to follow up in a week to make sure. YAY. Oh and he gave me an antacid to treat for ulcer or gastritis. How embarrassing. That's all it was? Well I'm home now after 4 hours in the ER. I feel like crap. The rapid strep came back negative but they were sending the culture out for the 'real' growing test. If I don't have strep I'll be amazed cause I can't swallow a thing.

So that's all the exciting stuff from me. Now I'm headed to bed cause I didn't sleep a wink last night!

Thanks!

Thank you for your comments on my tree book and about my previous post. I'm an idiot, I read more into something than I should have and all is well. I just must be PMSing or something! LOL!

A Day Off

Happy Veteran's Day to all our present and past servicemen and women! Thank you for your service.

Now that I have a Goverment job I have the day off. The boys also have no school but they are still asleep so I'm drinking my coffee, enjoying the quite and thought I'd blog again. This is a record for me!

I thought I'd share a little project I was inspired to do by my very talented friend Kendra. Her work has always amazed me since I discovered her on the Junkitz team and now her work with another company that has been a long time favorite of mine Chatterbox. Her talent is never ending, I finally got to meet her in Kansas City AND I got a piece of her amazing work thanks to my good bud Debbie, but that story is for another blog post! So anyway to make a long story longer, here is the tree album that I was inspired to do when I got a look at Kendra's:

I hand stitched the fabric on the front and added some padding under it to make it puffy. Kendra actually sewed her buttons on too to make it look much more quilted but I got to the point where I wanted it DONE! That thing was a lot of work. All the pages are greens and browns and I'm going to fill it with apple picking photos. I also made the little owl myself out of felt and papers. So Thank you Kendra for the inspiration once again!

Another little thing I threw together was this tissue box cover I had bought for my bedroom. I needed a new one once we changed the color scheme. It sort of matches the mini lamp as I did but it's not hybrid this time.

It felt good to get into my scraproom again and I am planning on getting down there more often so I can make some Xmas gifts (if I can think of some)!

OK well that's enough from me for today I think! Have a great Tuesday all!

Ever Think...

you know someone and then find out you really don't? I'm sad today because I've come to the realiziation that someone I thought was one of my very best friends has decided to jeopardize that friendship because of a choice I made. I don't think it was such a big deal that justified that act but maybe I'm wrong and it was. But if that person won't talk to me about it what else can I think? I am not sure that this post is going to make me feel any better but I needed to do something because it's hurt me terribly and I had to try something. Thanks for listening.

It's November? Where is the time going?

So it's 40 something more day until Christmas and just a few more than that till 2009! I have no idea where this year has gone. I think being laid off for almost 5 months may have had something to do with that. So yeah, I had a pretty busy year and some good and some bad times but I am looking forward to seeing what all the changes this year will bring. Yeah the election has something to do with that. I won't get into who I voted for cause I didn't. I was home sick with the Flu and just didn't want to get out of bed to go and vote! I know that's a bad thing but one vote really doesn't matter. Yeah, if everyone said that it would matter but I normally do vote, heck I voted in the Primary but sometimes things get in the way.

October was a busy month for me, I went to an LSS and scrapbooked with Mary and Sharon (who is always great for a laugh) for the first time in 6 months. I went to Kansas City and met 9 wonderful women who I've known online for some time now. We laughed, we ate, we laughed, we shopped, we laughed and did I mention we laughed? I have done a couple of layouts about the weekend, one I like, one not so much. They were both done for Creative Team assignments.

This one has a self portrait in the front and yeah I am in there, just in the back and since I'm short you can't see me. LOL! And some other photos from the weekend. We went to a Cider Farm and did a corn maze and poor Candice who is pregnant I thought was going to hurl. The smell of manure and fermenting cider just is not a pleasant smell! Heck I'm not pregnant and I thought I would hurl. We also never found but one of the 6 checkpoints in the maze before heading out a side exit. LOL! We went to an Archivers which was so cool and I of course spent too much money for someone who hasn't scrapped in 6 months! We also ate at Cheesecake Factory, YUM!

This photo is in front of the restaurant where Donna's wonderful husband Jeff treated us to some fabulous bbq too.THANK YOU FARMER JEFF! Isn't that a group of beautiful ladies! I'm so happy I met each of them.

My only regret that weekend was that I didn't get to Donna's farm and see all the kitties, baby cows and everything else that a few of the other girls got to experience.

I also got to meet one of my digi scrapping friends, Sara while I was there. I spent an evening with her and her family which was an added bonus to my trip.

There was one bad part to my trip, I got sick on the plane the last leg back. I have never ever been sick on a plane and let me tell you it is NOT fun. Those darn bathrooms are so flipping small! I thought I would not make the flight I tell you!

So what else, we had the boys birthday's in October, Jake turned 13 and Josh turned 10. Another place I ask where the time has gone! I have a teenager? ACK! And my baby is in double digits! Double ACK! Then there was Halloween and it was the first year Jake didn't trick or treat with us. He went out to a friends house and they did their own thing. So many changes.

Speaking of changes... I left all of my digital creative teams but two. I am also guesting for someone whose team I started out on when she first started designing but I cut them way back considering I was on 10! I miss them all and so does my paypal but I just couldn't give them the time they deserved. Plus I felt like all I did was scrap for assignments and not for me.

OK well I've put off cleaning the house long enough. I just thought I'd give you all an update on me. Have a great weekend!

Cute Little Monster Test

What Your Cute Monster Says About You

You are a giving, open, loving person. You truly want the world to be a better place. You appreciate what you have in life. You are very content. Your inner demon is sensitivity. You are very sensitive, and your sensitivity can be a double edged sword. People think you're cute because you're generous. You are easy to love - it's part of your charm.

The Cute Monster Test

What Your Jack-o-Lantern Says

What Your Jack-o-Lantern Says

You are a gleeful, exuberant person. You enjoy a good party, and you even enjoy a good brawl. This Halloween, there is no question what you should be... a pirate! The candy you should give out: peanut butter cups

The Jack-o-Lantern Quiz

Kansas City

I met all of these girls this weekend (well one I already knew) and they were as fantastic and beautiful as I knew they would be:

We laughed all weekend and it was one of the best times I've had in a long time. We shopped, we ate, we stayed up very late and talked and laughed and I sooo needed it. We also did a yankee swap and I ended up with 2 amazing gifts because Debbie gave me hers. I'm gonna owe her for life! She knew how much I wanted it and so she gave it to me. Thank you Deb!

I hope to scrap lots of the photos soon so stay tuned!

Halloween Candy Anyone?

Halloween Candy Quiz





You are a Toffee Apple


Like the toffee apple you are sensible inside but mischevious on the outside


Find out which Halloween Candy you are at Quizopolis.com

Corn Maze

The boys and I headed to the corn maze yesterday. It's the same one we went to last year but it's 6 acres large now instead of 2. Last year we got out in 18 minutes this year 48 minutes. LOL! It was tough, we went in many circles before finding our way to the correct exit.

Here are the boys as we were heading in:



Which way?



Not this way



Josh, stay where I can see you! I am Mom see!



Woohoo finally! 48 minutes from start time...



And then we went and picked up Michael to get some dinner and stopped to get pumpkins:


Today we are going apple picking. I have a three day week this week since I leave at o'dark thirty on Friday to meet some of my scrapping idols and fun blog friends! I can't wait!

Ice Cream Personality

I thought this quiz would tell me what flavor my personality so I was a bit disappointed. I'm not really agreeing with the results either.

Your Ice Cream Personality:

You like to think of yourself as a fairly modest person. And it's true that you don't talk yourself up... but you're also pretty happy with who you are. You are incredibly cautious. You rather miss out on something than make a mistake. No one would ever call you wild... but they would call you responsible. You are a very open minded, liberal, and flexible person. You love many things. You tend to have tastes that range from down home to cosmopolitan. You tend to have a one track mind. You prefer not to multitask. You can be a big dramatic and over the top sometimes. You are bold in every way

The Ice Cream Personality Test

How Fast Can You Type?

I was surprised by my results. I used to be able to type over 100 and I thought I was faster now.

70 words

Typing Test

Fast Food

I am not a Fast Food eater for the most part. I tend to get pizza or a sub before I'll get McDonalds or whatever but Taco Bell gets me every time. I have no idea why I love it so much. They even too my very favorite item off the menu. BUT, I found another, the Crunch Wrap Supreme. I LOVE THEM! I know Fast Food is bad and I know those places are not the cleanest but every once in a while I just have to have Taco Bell. Now if we had a Del Taco around these parts I'd probably eat a lot more fast food for sure.

What is your favorite fast food place and why?

7 Things

My friend Andreea tagged me and since I had already done her tag way back in april 07 I linked her to that post and thought I was good to go, until I read Donna's Blog!

7 Things I Plan To Do Before I Die
1. Be debt free.
2. Move somewhere warm where it NEVER snows.
3. Go to Australia.
4. Learn to be a great photographer.
5. Go to Alaska (when it's warm).
6. Take my kids to Disney again.
7. Be a Gramma (but not for at least 20 years!)

7 Things I Do Now
1. Play on the computer way too much.
2. Work.
3. Eat too much junk.
4. Don't exercise.
5. Take things too seriously.
6. Digi Scrap.
7. Spend money.

7 Things I Can't Do
1. Exercise faithfully.
2. Give up sugar (but according to Deb's blog neither can she so I'm not alone!)
3. Skip a week of cleaning my house.
4. Bite my tongue enough.
5. Drive a stick shift.
6. Rock Climb.
7. Leave the house with the bed unmade.

7 Things That Attract Me To The Opposite Sex
1. Eyes.
2. Twinkly eyes.
3. A great personality.
4. Good physique.
5. Has manners.
6. Works hard.
7. Unhairy (well except for the head).

7 Things That I Say Most Often
1. Cool.
2. Awesome
3. Are you kidding me
4. Go take your shower please.
5. Leave your brother alone.
6. Bedtime!
7. Brush your teeth and wash your face

7 Celebrities That I Admire
1. Oprah (how can I not she's the richest women)
2. Taylor Swift (gorgeous and can that girl sing!)
3. Tom Hanks (I would love to be that funny!)
4. Kenny Chesney (he lives in the Caribbean!)
5. Carrie Underwood (see #2)
6. Faith Hill (she's married to Tim!)
7. ?

7 Favorite Foods
1. Chocolate
2. Lasagna
3. Rare steak
4. Tiramisu
5. Brownies
6. Bananas
7. Garlic Mashed potatoes

7 People Who Need To Do This
1. Debbie
2. Kristi
3. Mary
4. Andrea (payback stinks doesn't it) ;)
5. Sharon
6. Tember
7. Chris (cause she never blogs!)

A Real Blog Post

Yep, you read that right, I'm actually going to blog today instead of just post a quiz! It's been awhile I'll admit. And I've got my reasons. I've been back to work for 6 weeks now. After being laid off for 5 months it was a tough transition for sure. You'd think I never worked it's been so hard! But in my defense, the commute is an hour each way (one day it took me an hour and a half). I am leaving my house at o'dark thirty (actually 5:45am)! And it's sooo boring! I am not liking the job at all, it's not very hands on for me, it's a lot of meetings, reading crap and writing documents. So not fun. Plus I can't get anywhere on the internet but google! So all my blogging buds, I am only reading your blogs via google reader which means I can't see your awesome photos OR comment. Stinks! It makes for a very long day. But enough complaining, it's a paycheck and that's what I need most.

On top of work, Jake is playing fall ball with games on Saturday and Sunday! That pretty much takes up all my free time. Needless to say my house is suffering. I need a cleaning lady, anyone know a good one? I'm trying to keep my head afloat with all my digital assignments too. I fear I may have to leave some of them but I love them all so I'm not sure how to do that! But it's not fair to the awesome designers for me not to give them 100%.

Speaking of digi, here are a few pages I've done recently:

Credits here
Yes I put that wake board there on purpose!

Credits Here


Credits Here

And now I have to go get ready for a 9am baseball game. Have a fantastic weekend!

Could You be a Vampire

If you have read any of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Series you'll understand why I'm posting this...

You Could Be a Vampire... If You Had To

Like most people, the thought of being a vampire has crossed your mind. But you're not sure if you'd do it, even if you could. Living forever doesn't sound half bad, if you could live forever with the people you love the most. But do vampires even love? And would the vampire version of you even be you? It's all too much to contemplate. Luckily, the chances of you ever becoming a vampire are astronomically low. What you would like best about being a vampire: Living forever What you would like least about being a vampire: Blood stained teeth

Could You Be a Vampire?

How Real are YOU?

I'm

You Are 84% Real

There's hardly a person on this earth more real than you are. You have no problem showing people who you are, flaws and all. For you, there couldn't be any other way. Because it's way too stressful to live an inauthentic life. You're very comfortable with yourself. And because of this, you're able to live an exciting, interesting, and challenging life.

How Real Are You?

My 4 Things

I saw this on Tember's blog and had to do it cause it looked fun:

1. Four places I go to over and over: Work, Grocery Store, Gas Station, Fashion Bug.
2. Four people who e-mail me(us) regularly: Mom, Eric (dh's BFF), Louie (an old coworker), Rachael
   
3. Four places I would rather be: on the beach somewhere tropical, Disney with the family, vacation, bed
   
4. Four TV shows I watch: Lost, CSI Vegas, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol

What are your 4 things?

Crayola Colors

Do you know your colors? I still have my box of 64 colors of Crayola's from when I was around 10 years old. Coloring was one of my favorite pastimes as a kid. I took this test to see how well I still knew the colors and I thought I did pretty well considering there were some colors I'd never even heard of!

I got all 64 named eventually but got 22 wrong first! LOL!

Here is the test:

http://www.crayola.com/promos/64boxBirthday/colorQuizzer.cfm

Come back and let me know how you did!

A

How's your spelling?

It says mine is excellent but I would not agree with a 75%!

Your Common Spelling Mistake Score: 75% Correct

Your spelling is excellent. You don't fall for common spelling pitfalls, and you spell almost everything correctly.

Do You Make Common Spelling Mistakes?

The Brainy Kid? I think not!

So there was this fun quiz over at SSD about "Who you were in High School". I took the quiz and it said I was the brainy kid and a nerd. So not true. Ya I was an A student but I don't even know what AP classes and couldn't have found the computer lab if my life counted on it. LOL!

So who were you in HS?

You Were the Brainy Kid

In high school, you were acing AP classes or hanging out in the computer lab. You may have been a bit of a geek back then, but now you're a total success!

Who Were You In High School?

Never would have guessed!

I don't think I have a "Boston" accent even though I've pretty much lived in the Boston area most of my life but to have a "Midland" totally surprised me!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
The West
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
North Central
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

!

BFF Award!

I got this fun award from Karen! Thanks Karen, I'm honored!

And what good is friendship if you don't pass it on of course I've got some BFFs to pass it on to!

The rules for the "Blogging Friends Forever" award are:
* Only five people allowed
* Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog
* One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog or lives in another part of the world.
* You must link back to whoever gave you the award.
* The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

So my pics are:
Donna
Kristi
Jodene
Rachael

and a fairly new reader is Hallie

Grease Quiz

This is and always will be one of my favorite movies. When I found out on the SSD blog there was a quiz I of course had to take it.

Here are my results:

You are an expert!

You have correctly answered 13 of 15 questions.

On average, 440 of users who took the quiz gave 11.38 right answers.

I was actually surprised I got any wrong and I wish they told you which ones!

Are you a Grease Fan? Go take the quiz to find out!

I got a JOB!!!

So while I was in NY I had to log in to submit my unemployment claim so as not to miss my payday. I decided to quickly check my email and there was an inquiry from a company named Oberon about a Configuration Management position at Hanscom AFB, MA. I emailed them and told them I would be out of town but would call them on Wednesday when I got back.

Monday morning the boys were very cranky and overtired and I was coming down with a cold and I decided it was time to head out a day early. I was upset that my visit with Cindy was going to be cut short but I didn't want her and her family to have to deal with my cranky kids.

Tuesday am I emailed the Oberon contact and told them I was home a day early and available to talk to them. They called me and said it was a good thing I got home early as they were about to make someone an offer, asked me if I could come in the next day. Wednesday morning I showed up at 10am to talk to them and by 11:30 I had an offer. It was contingent on me getting a security clearance so they posted my start date for August 11th. Well when the security people ran my social my old clearance from 2005 was still active so they didn't have to do all the background investigations and just picked up that clearance and called me back and said I could start Monday!

What a whirlwind! I can't wait to get back to work!

Today's Thoughts

I got this via email and thought I'd share it's very sound advice:

Jim is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood
> and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him
> how he was doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'
>
> He was a natural motivator.
>
> If an employee was having a bad day, Jim was there telling the
> employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
>
> Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and
> asked him, 'I don't get it!
>
> You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?'
>
> He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two
> choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can
> choose to be in a bad mood
>
> I choose to be in a good mood.'
>
> Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I
> can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
>
> Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept
> their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I
> choose the positive side of life.
>
> 'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested.
>
> 'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away
> all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations.
> You choose how people affect your mood.
>
> You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's
> your choice how you live your life.'
>
> I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry
> to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him
> when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
>
> Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious
> accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.
>
> After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released
> from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
>
> I saw him about six months after the accident.
>
> When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be
> twins...Wanna see my scars?'
>
> I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through
> his mind as the accident took place.
>
> 'The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my
> soon-to-be born daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground,
> I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I
> could choose to die. I chose to live.'
>
> 'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?' I asked
>
> He continued, '..the paramedics were great.
>
> They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me
> into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and
> nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'.
> I knew I needed to take action.'
>
> 'What did you do?' I asked.
>
> 'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said
> Jim. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.! ' The
> doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took
> a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'.'
>
> Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on
> me as if I am alive, not dead.'
>
> He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his
> amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the
> choice to live fully.
>
> Attitude, after all, is everything .
>
> Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
> Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Matthew 6:34.
>
> After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
>
> You have two choices now:
> 1. Delete this
> 2. Forward it to the people you care about.
>

Going on a Road Trip

The boys and I are headed down to NY to visit with my good bud Cindy and her family. We are staying the weekend and maybe more if we all get along! ;) Cindy thinks she is going to teach me how to knit and while I laugh at this I shouldn't laugh too hard as she is the ONE that got me into Digi Scrapping! ;)

I had an interview that went pretty well on Wednesday. They did have more candidates to interview this week and next but I am hoping I'll come back to good news. If y'all could send me some hiring vibes I'd appreciate it!

When I get back the boys are headed to Maine for a week with my Inlaws and I have no idea what I am going to do with myself being all alone for a week. It's been 4 months since I got laid off and they have been home with me every day since the end of June! I am gonna miss them! At least I'll have Michael when he gets home from work!

I hope everyone has some fun plans for the weekend and I'll see you sometime next week!

It's Tuesday which means New Releases

I've got a new kit, some matching quick pages and some new template packs in my store this week at 30% off until next Monday!

New Kit Oopsy Daisy



Oopsy Daisy Quick Pages



Some Card Templates



and a Cosmo Cricket Jack Album Template set

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!