Prayers and Thoughts for a Friend

My friend Lesley is having surgery today to move a cancerous lump from her breast. Lesley has the most wonderful personality and is one of the funniest people I know and she has kept up her sense of humor through this whole ordeal. I am asking all my blogging friends to take a minute from your day just to send her some prayers and thoughts that she beats this as she has radiation and chemo after her surgery. I believe in the power of prayer and positive thinking so every little bit helps!

Thanks for your time! Have an awesome day!

It's Friday, It's April and It's SNOWING!!!

Oh my heck! What is Mother Nature thinking? Doesn't' she know I hate the cold and snow and that I am not working right now! It would be nice if while I have the time off I could actually be productive and start the spring yard work! I guess I'll have to start inside and do some spring cleaning instead, major bummer! LOL!

Nothing new on the job front. I had an interview on Tuesday with iRobot. They make those Roomba and Scooba floor cleaning robots. Along with some very important Bomb detecting robots that are over in Iraq right now. Seemed like a cool place to work. But of course I am not the only one they have interviewed and they had one more after me so I won't hear until early next week and I'm not getting my hopes up because really what are the chances you get the first job you interview for?

I have had something to do that has pretty much kept me busy until the kids come home every day so I didn't get any scrapping time in as much as I'd hoped. Maybe next week I can scrap instead of clean! :)

And here is another little quiz for you:

Your Thinking is Abstract and Sequential

You like to do research and collect lots of information. The more facts you have, the easier it is for you to learn. You need to figure things out for yourself and consider all possibilities. You tend to become an expert in the subjects that you study. It's difficult for you to work with people who know less than you do. You aren't a very patient teacher, and you don't like convincing people that you're right.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

So that's my update. Hope you all have a fabulous Friday and great weekend!

Oh Red Pen Lady??? Where are you?

So I saw this little quiz over on the Sweet Shoppe Blog and thinking I'm an 'eh' speller I decided to see how I would do. I got 8 out of 10 and I'm not sure I even know what I spelled wrong! LOL!

Your Spelling is Good

You got 8/10 correct. Your spelling is generally pretty decent. You are prone to a few mistakes, but the mistakes you make are pretty forgivable.

How's Your Spelling?

Another Depressing Post

So it's snowing here AGAIN! Are you kidding me! It's March 28th for crying out loud! It could possibly be a record breaker here in NH. The record is from 100 years ago. It's 122" and right now we are in 5th place at 112". If it doesn't break the record it will definitely hit 2nd place. Hallie, how's your weather?

And for my second bit of wonderful news, today is my last day of work. Now normally I stay home and work from home but since I had to turn in my laptop I can't and since there is no school I'll have to drag Josh in there with me to collect my vacation pay check and turn in my badge. Fun stuff. I do get 6 weeks severance to look for a job so I guess that's something.

And that's all the depressing news I have for you today. I hope you have a great Friday and weekend none the less! :)

1-1

It's Lisa's turn to gloat today! And she's got way more reason to gloat because today's game was not even close! Those Sox did not look like Defending World Series Champs today I tell ya! I hope this is not any indication of how the season is going to go!

And in other news, a good friend of mine at the young age of 36 has been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She has been given a good prognosis and has a positive outlook on things but if you could all keep her in your thoughts and prayers I would really appreciate it. I now wish I had started the Walk for Breast Cancer training afterall. Well at least I know someone walking so I can make a hefty donation! And please go and click at the Breast Cancer site for free mamograms!

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

1 Down

Woohoo! Baseball season has officially started! And we won the first game! It was a bit too close for my comfort but we won! Sorry Lisa! ;)

I had a little friendly compeition going on with my A's fan friend Lisa with some scrappy goodies on the line so I was biting my nails this morning! Yes it was a 6am game because it was played in Japan for those of you that are not baseball fans.

I'm so glad the season has started and I hope it's another great one for the Sox!!! Have a great day everyone!

Happy Easter

to all those the celebrate! May you have a wonderful day and eat lots of chocolate!

Tagged Again!

Jodene tagged me and since nobody hardly ever tags me I thought I should play :) So here's how this one works:

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they are tagged.

Since I think everyone I could possibly tag has done this already I'm only tagging Amy because she was crazy enough to complain that I didn't tag her last time! LOL! Have fun Amy!

1) I am an only child (there may be a few of you out there that don't know this).
2) I can't drive a stick shift (or manual as Jodene calls it)
3) I have met some of my very best friends on the internet.
4) I have never met my real father.
5) I was a soccer coach for 5 years and never saw or played a game of soccer in my life before I coached.
6) My husband is my high school sweetheart.
7) I can't go one day without eating something sweet.

Aren't you so glad you read this post? :) Happy Thursday!

Happy Friday and Baby Girl Names

No I am not pregnant! But Meghan a Sugar Babe and fellow CT member is and she is having girl #4. She has run out of girl names and wants suggestions. What girl names do you like/love? When we were expecting our girl name was going to be Jessica Rose. I also heard the name Emma Rose the other day and loved it. I also have always loved the names Stephanie with a nickname of Stevie, Emily, and and Ella. I might have a thing for E names huh? LOL! So what's on your list?

Man, it seemed like a very long week. I think it's because the previous 2 weeks were 3 day weeks so this one of all 5 was tough to handle! LOL! I'm looking forward to a very busy weekend with a Cyber Crop going on at 123-Scrap and a St. Patty's Day party at my friend Rachael's house.

I want to wish my cyber friend Jolene a very Happy 40th Birthday on Sunday! Jolene is one of the sweetest ladies on the planet, a mom of count em 5 boys and an amazing cook so please head on over to her blog and give her bday wishes!

Happy 40th Birthday Jolene!
Have a wonderful day, you deserve it!

Other than that, not much else to post so I'll just say have a great weekend!

Tuesday Tales

So I had a pretty good bday. Hubby cleaned the house for me, let me scrapbook gave me a Remote Starter for my car that was a total surprise since my boots were my early bday present and Jake made me a birdhouse in woodshop! Then we went out to dinner 7 of us, my next door neighbor and my other old neighbor that was in town from FL. We haven't seen Steve in awhile so it was great to see him. We went to Carrabba's that was the only bad part of the day, I hated my Lobster Ravoli so much I ate bread and dessert for dinner! LOL! I also didn't like the mussels that someone highly recommended. Michael's angel hair pasta was undercooked (how do you do that?) and Jake hated his chicken parm. Now the 3 other adults that ordered all got steak and had no complaints, go for Italian and the Italian food stinks but go for steak and it's great? So not right! LOL! But if all I have to complain about is dinner then it's a pretty darn good day in my book! Cause heck, I didn't have to cook it either!

I did two whole pages while I scrapped on Saturday! I was only there for about 3 1/2 hours but I have to say that since I've started digi scrapping, paper scrapping has come much harder for me, 1 1/2 - 2 hours per page is such a long time for me! LOL! I was happy with the pages so that's all that matters!

Still no word on my job, one of the guys in my group is leaving but they are going to replace him since he's more senior so as far as I'm concerned I will still be at risk of being laid off by the end of this month or next month.

So not much else new here so I'll just say have a great day!

HA! This Can't Be Right!

There was a personality quiz posted over on the Sweet Shoppe Blog so I decided to play along. Here are my results, I don't agree!

Sickies

So today it my bday! I got a huge surprise of a Remote Starter for the H3. DH had it installed while I was in TX and all week I've been driving and had no clue! Stinker! Jake made me a wonderful birdhouse at school! It's green and yellow which are the same colors as the house so it was a very thoughtful present! And he got an A on it too! Even better!

So the SSD Blog talks about the sickies this week. It just so happens that Michael is sick right now so I figured I'd answer the questions they are asking!

1. How often do you get sick with a cold? The flu? Something else? I get a couple of colds a year, have never had the flu thankfully.

2. Are you the sort of person who goes to work or school no matter how sick you are or are you willing to stay at home when it gets bad? I don't always go to work but I do work from home no matter how sick I am.

3. How do you like to treat a cold? What remedies do you like and why? Do you go to the doctor willingly? I love Airborne and only go to the doc if I think it's a sinus infection.

4. What do you do to keep from getting sick in the winter? Wash my hands a lot!

5. What is your favorite thing to do when you stay home from work or school? Scrap of course!

So play along, maybe I'll learn some new remedies! Happy Saturday!

Tagged Twice!

First tag from Lizzy is about books. Since I'm at work the only books around are software related. I had the Learning Perl book on my desk when I saw this tag so that's what you get! Exciting huh?

Here's how you play:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

A fairly common use of a global replacement is to collapse whitespace; that is, to turn any arbitrary whitespace into a single space:

an example is posted before the next sentence

Once we show collapsing whitespace, everyone wants to know about stripping leading and trailing whitespace. Thats easy enough, in two steps:

And another example

Just as we did with m// and qw//, we can change the delimiters for s///.

For this tag I'm tagging: Kristi, Debbie, Lynette, Janette, and Dawn! Have fun ladies!

And on to tag #2 from Dawn:
What were you doing Ten years ago? I was living in the same house I live in now, was pregnant with my 2nd son and working at Sanders in Merrimack as a Configuration Manager.

What were you doing one year ago? Living in the same house in Litchfield, working at Airvana in Chelmsford, MA.

Name five favorite snacks: Lime flavored Tortilla chips, peanut butter m&ms, brownies, dove dark chocolate

Name five things you would do if you were a millionaire: Pay off all my bills, Pay off all my mom's bills, buy my mom a condo, invest some money and move somewhere warm!

Name five things you like doing... scrapping, digi scrapping, reading, chatting on my scrapping message boards, reading friends blogs

Name five things you would never wear again... parachute pants, big hair, bright eye shadow (it looks awful on me) , a bikini (well only because I can't!), maternity clothes.

Name your five favorite toys... my rebel, my computer, my crop-a-dile, my cell phone, my kitchen aid mixer

And that's it for me. I'm tagging: Hallie, Blender Kimmie; Lizzy; Donna and Rachael!

Back From Texas

It was a fun filled weekend with very little sleep but so worth it! I had a blast! Amy and her family are just wonderful and I couldn't have asked for anything more than the weekend I had with them!

Here are a few favorite photos from the weekend (I have lots of favs). I didn't take all of these as there were several cameras snapping. I took 400 myself though!

Amy and I at the LSS Crop Friday night:


The four of us at Dinner Friday night:


A log cabin at the Botanical Gardens Saturday


Amy and I sitting on a bench at the log cabin


Eli asked me to read him his bedtime story! So cute!




Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE pink and that I am 'the princess' at home. Well Tammy found this Texas Tiara for me. The front of the hat has a rhinestone tiara that lights up on it! So stinking cute! Here is me in my Tiara with Tammy:



And couldn't leave this out. I got my pink cowboy boots! You can also see the lighted tiara in this one!



Thank you to all my wonderful friends who made this such a special memory!

An Early B-Day Present

My good friend Andrea is just too sweet! She got this t-shirt for me when she was at CHA and sent it early for me to take on my trip to Texas this week since I'm going to a digi scrapping friend's house! How fun is this:

She also sent me one of her Alterable Magnetic Easels in 12x12 size! I have been wanting to get one of these so what a fun surprise!I can't wait to play with this! I am planning on doing it in a neutral design so I can use it to display layouts that I can switch out frequently. FUN! Thank you so much Andrea!

Only 3 more days till I go to TX and get out of this snow for 4 days! Woohoo! Happy Tuesday!

I got the beads out today

I decided to go down to my scraproom today but I didn't scrap, I beaded...

The earrings took forever. I have to get better at the wrapping thing and I definitely need better tools!

Only 3 more days of work till my vacation starts and 4 more days till I'm in San Antonio!!! Woohoo!

Liberal Lady or Conservative Chick?

You Are a Moderate Mama

You're not overly political, and your views fall more with the American mainstream. In fact, it may be difficult for you to decide who to vote for at times! Your approach to politics is reasoned and well though out.

Are You a Liberal Lady or a Conservative Chick?

Eclipse Anyone?

I actually stayed up to see the eclipse and I woke my boys up to see it too. I thought it was pretty cool. I tried to get some shots but they didnt' turn out too good. I kept getting two moons! Very weird! If anyone knows what the heck I was doing wrong I'd love to hear! These are the few photos that don't have the reflection and they aren't great but they are all I've got:

I tried with a flash and without, on a manual setting and played with the ISO. I did not use a tripod because my deck has about a foot of snow on it! And I used a 70-300 zoom lens. When I zoomed in the camera went all wonky and wouldn't even take a pic! It was very cool to see and since we won't see another until 2010 I'm glad I saw it!

Favorite Movies?

This weeks SSD Blog challenge is a favorite movie post. I've got a few and they are all old because I haven't seen any new movies in a very long time! But these movies I could watch over and over again...
Grease I love the music, it makes me dance in my seat
Dirty Dancing I love me some Patrick Swayze in this movie AND it makes me want to take dancing lessons
16 Candles I love me some Jake Ryan!
The Breakfast Club I just love how they all hook up with the most unexpected in the end
Pretty Woman because I just love happy endings
and I bet there are more but I cant think of any right now!

How about you, what are your favorite movies? I can guarantee I haven't seen them! LOL!

School Days

My friend Debbie Hill is so talented! She designed this little file folder book for a class she taught in Canada. I just loved it and of course couldn't go to Canada to take the class so she sold me a kit. Debbie, Dawn and the other Debbie came over on Saturday night to scrap and I put my kit together! We had a great time and here is my finished product:

Deb still has kits left for sale so if you want one just click on the link to her blog and let her know you are interested! :) Thanks again for coming over girls, it was fun and I can't wait to do it again!

Happy Valentines Day!

I love Valentines Day and I'm not a hopeless Romantic or anything but I love hearts, flowers, and especially candy! Well I got all of the above and then some today too! I thought I had got all my gifts this morning when Michael gave me a beautiful card, a fun Pink Duffle bag for my trip to TX, some yummy comfy pink sweats that say PINK on them (these were both from this store), lots of chocolates including Cadbury Orange Cream (are those new) eggs and he called my mom behind my back to watch the boys and we have 6:30 dinner reservations! OK WOW! And then I'm at work eating my lunch and I get another box with this:

I am too spoiled! I hope all of you are too! Enjoy your day! XOXOXOXO!

Valentine's Day Quiz

How much do you really know about Valentine's Day? I only got 5 out of 10 so me, not much! LOL!

Take this quiz and see:

http://triviapark.com/quizzes/valentine.html

WOW! My Gloomy Day Got a Bit Brighter!

I WAS not in the best of moods today. The whole job thing is starting to get to me I think, plus it's nasty outside and we are supposed to get snow tonight. But notice I said "WAS" because Lizzy plopped me with not one but two awards! How cool is that?!

I am not sure if Lizzy found me or if I found her but I've had fun reading her blog and was excited to see she likes reading mine too. Thank you Lizzy for the fun awards!

And since the proper thing to do is pass these along I'm going to share these awards with Debbie, Kristi, Janette, Lynette, Donna, and Dawn!Enjoy girls, I'm glad to have you in my cyber and tangible world! :)

More Scrappy Stuff

I played in the scraproom again on Saturday. Made this altered pail to hold all y loose pieces of ribbon that are too short to do anything with: And two more pages for the Disney Album. I honestly think this thing should be complete around 2010! ;) For this one I finally took the BG Periphery papers out of the bag an used them instead of just admiring them! Man I love those papers!
and one more:

I am seriously making a dent in my stash! And if you believe that I've got some ocean front property for sale in Arizona for sale! ;) Have a great day!

My Job

So the Sweet Shoppe Blog post this week is for us to tell about what we do and since I'm job hunting I figured this is a great time to do it because you never know what prospective hiring manager is reading my blog right? ;)

So I work full time for a telecommunications company. It's a small company of about 500 people total between Massachusetts and India. I work as a Release Engineer. Which just means that I support software engineers and build software. We also version control the software and release it. It's also known in some parts as a Configuration Manager. I've been in this line of work since about 1997. I do not have an engineering degree. I kind of fell into my first job in this field because I had the right security clearance. I was asked to "help out" until they got someone with the right qualifications for the job cleared for the project. Well it turned out, I liked it, learned fast and asked my boss if I could stay in the position. The rest is history!

So if anyone needs a Release Engineer/Configuration Manager I'm your girl (and I'm even willing to relocate to warmer climates)!

Happy Monday!

Go Pats!

Happy Superbowl Sunday!

Schtuff

So I found out yesterday that I am at risk of being laid off in March/April. This could not have come at a worse time (is there a better time?) as after 5 years of begging and pleading I finally convinced Michael to refinance and give me an addition. Yeah, well that's no happening now and I may have unfinished plywood stairs for the rest of my life at this rate! And I don't get my honkin big family room. :(

So I'm on the hunt for a job again. It took me 6 months last time, I hope it doesn't take that long again! I'm also cracking down on my spending and going to try to get some money into savings before this happens. Two months isn't long but every little bit helps right? Funny, I found this out on Friday, and it was confirmed yesterday. On Thursday I booked a flight to Texas to see my friend Amy for a weekend. Michael gave me some of his extra money from plowing a few weeks ago and told me I couldn't use it on bills so I said, hmmm, I need a visit to a warm climate. I had held on to that money for 3 weeks in a drawer for an emergency or something and then decided the heck with it I'm using it. It wasn't a lot but it would have paid a bill later when I am not getting a paycheck! Isn't that always the way?

I sent off my two altered items to Creative TECHniques magazine for publication! YAY! Hopefully I did all the instructions/photos right so they are happy and maybe will ask me again for stuff!

I also did some cleaning up in my scraproom. Man it was a mess. I made a pile of stuff to get rid of, got a few more baskets for storage and moved my sewing machine off my table into the armoire so there is more room for friends at the table. Debbie H, Dawn and Debbie F are coming over in a two weeks and we need some space! Another thing killed in the refinance idea is the cabinets for my room. Oh well.

And while I was down there, I also did some scrapping. Got 3 more pages for the Disney album done!

So that's it for me today, gotta go search the job boards now! Have a great day!

Middle Name Game

Got this from Lisa!

Here are the rules:1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you can tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

Yeah, It's supposed to be a tag but I'm not tagging anyone, if you want to play come back here and let me know so I can read your version!

M - Mother
A - animal lover
R - rambler
I - immensly enjoys baseball
E - eats too much junk

What Kind of Coffee are You?

I am:

You Are a Cappuccino

You're fun, outgoing, and you love to try anything new. However, you tend to have strong opinions on what you like. You are a total girly girly at heart - and prefer your coffee with good conversation. You're the type that seems complex to outsiders, but in reality, you are easy to please

What Kind of Coffee Girl Are You?

Which is very appropriate!

Cards Anyone?

In 2006 a very good friend of mine's husband was being deployed to Iraq. Over at 123-Scrap, Chris came up with this awesome idea to make cards for the soldiers. Not just cards to send to them but blank cards for them to use to send back to their loved ones while they were deployed. This project was so well received we have sent thousands of cards and have received amazing feedback from both the soldiers who have used the cards and from people who are making the cards to send over there. So many people have told me how much it helps them to be able to give something back to the soldiers. So we are gearing up to start the 2008 mailings to the soldiers and I want this to be another great year so I'm spreading the word where I can.

So if you would be so kind to post word on your blog and/or to make some cards here is where you can get all the details:

http://cardsforsoldiers.blogspot.com/

or if you would like more specific info and to see some of the feedback go here:

http://123-scrap.com/forum/index.php?showforum=44

Thanks in advance! Have a great Wednesday!

Been Getting My Hands Dirty

Yep, been down in my scraproom the last two weekends in a row! FUN! I know I do a lot of digi scrapping but I still love the traditional stuff just as much as ever! Here are a few things I've made:

This is Jake (my 12yo) when he was about 5 months! Awwwww! :)

An altered barn star using the new Basic Grey :This photo frame album is hybrid and uses a digital kit by Traci Reed called "Aint No Sunshine"And a couple more for the Disney album:This one looks much better IRL, it scanned really badly! Thanks for looking! Happy MLK Day!

Laughter is the best Medicine

We all need laughter in our lives. My very favorite YouTube video:

Lia Sophia Jewelry Anyone?

I'm having a catalog party. Anyone interested?

They are having a great special for January, buy one item get two at 1/2 price! And get this, the one item you pay full price for can be the cheapest item! Cool huh?

If you are interested, here's a link to the catalog:

http://www.liasophia.com/sites/lisaruppel/page-catalog?CatID=15&TotalPages=61&PageNum=1

Long Week

It's been a long and a difficult week. I'm glad to put it behind me but I'm also glad I went through it too. Does that make sense? Well maybe it will after I explain a bit. It started out with a snowday on Monday, then a wake, a funeral and another snow delay to end the week.

Saturday night a bunch of us (some who hadn't seen each other in ages) got together at Rachael's house for a belated NYE party. It snowed here on NYE so we postponed it. Well about a half hour after the boys and I arrived the party was in full swing, the party took a terrible turn when Rachael opened the door to her Dad's apartment (he lived in an in-law attached to her house) and discovered something was wrong. We called 911 but it was too late. Her Dad had already passed away. It was awful in so many ways. You see Rachael was adopted an only just found Richard, her biological dad 9 years ago. It was such a fairy tale story as he never knew he had a daughter let alone 5 grandchildren so when he found this out he moved all the way from Las Vegas to New Hampshire to be with them. 9 years is not enough time but it's better than none I guess. I was at the wake Wednesday night and every person that came up to Rachael while I was next to her said how happy her dad was since they found each other. Those words just warmed my heart each time I heard them. At least Rachael has that knowledge to carry with her while she is getting over losing her wonderful Dad.

So while I hated to see my very good friend lose a loved one I am very glad that I was able to be there for her in that very difficult time and will be if she needs me in the days ahead.

Looking forward to next week! Hopefully I'll have something good to blog about! Have a great weekend!

Hubby Tag

Candice had this tag on her blog and invited anyone who reads her blog to play along. So if you feel like playing a game of tag . . . YOU'RE IT!!!

What's his name? Michael James Bumbaca

How long did you date? 5 years (we were high school sweethearts)

How old is he? 42 (for a few more weeks!)

Who eats more? We are both on a diet but he still eats more! This guy can EAT!

Who said "I love you" first? Him.

Who is taller? Michael, he's 6'1 and I am 5'4".

Who sings better? Ummm, me and that's not sayin much! Although, come to think of it, it may be him, I've never heard him sing! LOL!

Who is smarter? Michael even tho I was the better student!

Who does the laundry? Both of us. He puts HIS laundry in the wash and sometimes even the dryer but if I want it out of the basket I have to fold it!

Who does the dishes? Me.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are looking at the bed, he does. If you are laying in the bed me!

Who pays the bills? I do!

Who mows the lawn? He does and he can't wait till the boys take over.

Who cooks dinner? Me unless I'm away then he tries!

Who drives when you are together? Michael unless he had too many beers! :)

Who is more stubborn? Definitely me.

Who kissed who first? Him

Who asked who out first? Neither one of us, his sister set us up by telling each of us the other wanted to go out.

Who proposed? He did.

Who is more sensitive? Michael.

Who has more friends? Me

Who has more siblings? He does. I have none, he has three.

Who wears the pants in the family? LOL! I let Michael think he does!

I saw this info on Tim Holtz's blog and wanted to share it with my few readers that may not read his blog. I think it's a great cause and hope you will pop over and help out! Info on the charity is below.

How It Works:
The four charity badges with the most unique donations through America's Giving Challenge will get $50,000 for their cause.
America's Giving Challenge runs only until January 31st.
Donate:
If you are able donate , please donate via the badge a $10 tax deductible donation. We need the most people possible to each donate $10 to A Place to Bark. In order to win the grant we need to have the most amount of donors, not necessarily the amount of money donated.
All donations made to A Place to Bark's Six Degrees Badge, will be matched by the "Zoline Foundation" up to $25,000.00!!! All donations up to June 1st will be counted for the matching donation from the Zoline Foundation.

Thank you in advance!

-3

Nope, not degrees like last week, pounds! In my first week on my official diet I've lost 3 pounds! Only 20 to go! LOL! I hate getting old. I used to be able to eat anything and not gain a pound. My metabolism started to slow down right around the time I stopped hairdressing and got a desk job. Imagine that! ;) Anyway this past summer I went off of a migraine preventative medicine that has one huge side effect - WEIGHT LOSS! I loved that side effect. Well the other side effect I guess it can do liver or kidney damage (I forget which one) over long term so my neurologist wanted me to stop taking it. Well I did and within a few months I gained 20 pounds and am actually more than I was when I started taking it! ICK! So Jan 2nd was the start of my diet but we are doing A Biggest Loser contest at work so the 3rd was my "Official Weigh In" day. Let's hope next week it's another negative number! ;)

Happy Thursday!

For Hallie

I am posting my newest Coach addition for Hallie since she said she would come to my house if I had some so I figured that would be a fun way to get to meet her! LOL! Anyway Hallie, my wonderful Husband bought me these for a belated xmas present because he got has got to make some extra money plowing with all this snow! What do you think? I have a matching purse too! You wanna come to my house now? ;)

Happy Hump Day all!

Look What I Won!

My friend Dawn who I met through Debbie won an Honorable Mention in Basic Grey's Card Contest (woohoo Dawn!). And because she was so happy she decided to have a little give away of her own and I won! I met Dawn today (she works in the town next to my hometown) and picked up my awesome prize! She made this awesome box out of the Laguna Guy Junkitz papers designed by my wonderfully talented and (pregnant!) friend Candice Cook (and I'm not just saying that cause she reads my blog either) isn't it the cutest!

And inside the box was so much fun stuff! Some American Crafts Thickers, Buttons, KI embellies and the most awesome paper pack!

And my very own BG Figgy Pudding card kit! I have been wanting one of these since Lisa posted all her awesome cards at 123-Scrap!

Isn't that awesome? Thank you again so much Dawn! I can't wait to scrap and play!

We're Having a HeatWave

sing it with me now!

Here is our forecast for the week!

I may not even need a coat tomorrow! Woohoo!

And another Woohoo! A hybrid card I made with some of Traci Reed's digi stuff is going to be published in Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine in the February Issue! Yay!

On the diet front, I'm drinking so much I need to make up time in the afternoon at work because I have to take so many bathroom breaks! And I haven't had one snack since Jan 2nd! That is saying A LOT!

Happy Monday!

Challenges!

There are challenges everywhere out there. We have tons of them over at 123-Scrap each month and even weekly too! ;) But as for digi challenges my favorites are at Sweet Shoppe Designs and my very favorite one is the Spin a Lift Challenge. Now everyone that knows me knows I love to scraplift! But the Spin A Lift puts a twist on my favorite thing by making me turn that page to lift it! Sometimes it takes some thinking because a page I might love one way doesn't work so well spun 90 degrees! I recently did a lift of Teresa Ferguson using this layout:
http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/inspiration/showphoto.php?photo=4564

and here is what I came up with:

Another reason I love challenges is that doing them keeps me scrapping and sometimes even stretches my creativity! Gotta love that! So go do some challenges! I'm off to do some now!

So Hallie, I'm sure that wasn't the type of update you were hoping for but hey, I blogged!

Happy Saturday!

Happy 2008!!!

Hope you all rang in the new year exactly as you liked! I stayed up with the boys, it was their first time watching the ball drop. Jake said it was boring! LOL! Considering we had to be quite since Michael was sleeping it was kinda lame! ;)

We got another 4-6 inches of snow today! BLECH! December was a record breaking month for snow and then on Jan 1st we get more! I'm so done with winter already! I'm taking up a collection so I can go somewhere warm anyone want to contribute? :) And since I was stuck at home, I did three paper pages today and made a bracelet. Well technically I re-strung a bracelet but I changed it up a bit so I'll call it making one! ;) Here is my favorite page of the day...

Back to work and school tomorrow so it's going to be an early night! Have a great one all!

Dec 31 P.A.D Last One!!!

And what would be more appropriate for me than another snow pic! Yep, it's FREAKING snowing again! It's only December and we have had more storms in one month than we did all of last winter! It does look pretty on the trees today tho, I will say that much!

For 2008 we are going to be doing a Photo a Week challenge and also an Autumn Leaves Calendar challenge over at 123-Scrap. So if you are up for mojo come on over and join us! We've also got all new monthly challenges coming tomorrow!

Happy New Year!