Whew!

Back to work for a vacation! LOL!

It's been an exhausting few days! I had Wed thru yesterday off and man I am glad to be back at work today to slow down! I had very little sleep (bed at midnight and up at 5am every day) and go go go! Work is like a ghosttown this week so I'll enjoy the quite time!

We had a terrific Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and everyone was very happy with all their gifts! Only a couple of exchanges needed! Woohoo!

I made enough food to feed an army and there were only 7 of us yesterday so we'll be eating turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc for a week. I brought 2 pies and a huge plate of cookies into work, I don't want those at home! Salad for lunch today (topped with turkey of course), gotta get ready for CA the end of January you see!

So what did you all get from Santa? I hope he was good to you? I got a new coat, some gorgeous black boots, some new perfume (I told him I wanted a new scent), an unbelievably soft nap blanket, bathrobe and matching slippers (in pink of course), some Lindt Dark Chocolates, and a pink Red Sox bear! I also got a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens, a new camera backpack case and a Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies.

Oh and I got this for my Ipod from my friend Wendy! And an Itunes G/C from another pal. And my friend Karen made me the most gorgeous accordian album with a matching box for my favorite Xmas photos. I've got to post a photo of it here. It's just amazing!

So all in all it was just a great Christmas, I've got no complaints except that I probably ate a bit too much! ;)

Hope all of yours was the same and I can't wait to hear what you all got! Post here and tell me OK? :)

Happy Tuesday!

Twinkle Twinkle

I finally figured out the manual settings to get twinkling lights on my tree! Yeah! And I also went outside and took a photo of our house lights. I thought it was a nice way to sign off for a few days. Sorry there's no snow! ;)

Merry Christmas to you all!

Whew! I'm getting there!

I had no idea I could pull so much off in 3 days! I finished shopping, got every gift wrapped except the Santa ones and all the baking done. My house is clean and although I'm a bit sleep deprived I am not so stressed anymore. My uncle is coming for lunch today and after they leave I'm going to make the potatoes and squash for Christmas to get a jump on that. I will only have stuffing and some pies to do tomorrow.

Jake was only sick for about 12 hours and "knock on wood" no one else has got it!

I'm officially ready now I think! LOL! So here's hoping you and yours all have a very Merry Christmas! See you all Tuesday!

Officially Screwed

I just got over 4 days of the flu which has put me so behind the 8 ball it's not even funny! I wasn't even close to done shopping and had hoped to get a lot done over the weekend but instead ended up in bed. It was not a good time! I am back to work today but still feeling queazy. I am living on Ginger Ale and Toast.

I've got shopping, food shopping, baking and wrapping to do. I can't even begin to explain to tell you how overwhelmed I feel! I could use a clone of myself or two right about now!

So not much new to report here since I've spent since Friday afternoon thru yesterday in bed! Have a great Tuesday!

My Christmas Card

I think everyone but the one that was returned (sorry Rach!) that reads my blog has gotten their cards by now so I think it's safe to post. It's all digital and yes I know the two end photos look stretched. It was difficult getting them to fit in the squares being closer shots than the middle one so instead of fighting with it anymore I stopped. I didn't do a test print so it looked acceptable on the screen. Note to self, next time do a test print! I used Michelle Coleman's Merry Little Christmas kit to create my card.

I've gotten the comment that I need a little girl to hold the "O" in the middle already! No flipping way! I thought about trying to get the dog to hold it in her mouth but knew we'd be there for hours doing that! LOL!

Anyway, Happy Holidays to all! :) I actually made some progress on the gifts I am making last night, I've got two to finish up. Woohoo! And am hoping to finish my shopping one night this week, wish me luck!

Jake is wearing a sandle on one foot and a sneaker on the other today, I should have taken a picture. I also wish I had take a pic of his toe but I was too freaked out about all the blood I never thought to get it! Oh well! Hopefully it stays protected at school and he doesn't get bumped or stepped on, cause if he does I'll probably be able to hear him scream here at work (in another state)! ;)

And that's my post for today! Hope you all have a great Wednesday!

Injuries

So I get a call from the Daycare this afternoon saying Jake hurt his big toe and that he was OK but that his toenail was going to eventually fall off. That he was fine and even joking about it and that I didn't need to rush. So I decided to stay in work the 50 minutes I had left. Well bad decision on my part, by the time I got there, it had started to really bleed again and Jake had the chills and was really hurting. He was not too happy that I didn't get there sooner. And what a mess! Lots of blood and nastiness! I took him home and called the doc's office. While waiting for them to call back I called my neighbor (the nurse) and asked her to come and look at it. She determined his toe didn't look broken and helped us clean it up. We got it elevated and tried to get the bleeding to stop. Which it finally did, only to start up again! UGH!!! I gave him some children's motrin and made him lay down on the couch and not move. So Far So Good! The doc's office said it will not be too good tomorrow and that we need to watch it for infection and really keep it protected. Now I need to see if we can even get a shoe on it tomorrow! Highly doubtful!

I finally got my Basic Grey ornaments in! I am going to try to get them together and on my tree before it's time to take it down! :) I got the stars in Fruitcake and Dasher! They are so pretty in the pictures but I heard they aren't too easy to put together so hopefully they don't end up in my trash can! LOL!

OK, I'm off to hang with my poor kiddo! Have a great night!

Ahhh Finally Friday

It's 10:30 pm and I've finished cleaning the house except for the upstairs bathroom. Everyone else is asleep and it's nice and quite. This is Bliss! I'm just going to wind down here and go to bed myself. I have company coming at 9:30 am tomorrow. Well actually Josh has company. It's his favorite daycare and kindergarden teacher Nicole. We saw her at a party last month and told her he's been having a difficult time in school so she wanted to come and see him and see if talking to him would do anything. We were so happy to hear that she cares so much for him that she would take one of her days off to come and see him. He had her for 3 years straight and he just adores her. He's going to be so surprised! I am defitely getting the camera out for this one! ;)

Then I'm heading down to my scrap room to work on some Christmas presents until about 12:30 and then I'm leaving for Ink About It to see Stacey P of Junkitz! She'll be there doing Demos and giving away fun Junkitz stuff! I just love Junkitz and Stacey is too fun so I'm heading down there for sure! Then a quick stop in to see my friend Kellie and her cute little girls will get me my girlie fix! After that home to work on the presents again! I would like to get the homemade ones done this weekend if possible!

Oh and my great news, Shawna Clingerman asked me to stay on for another month for Guest CT! I am so stoked! I just loved being on her CT for November and was thrilled to bits that she was happy enough with me to ask me to stay! Yeah! And I get to work with her and Dani Mogstad's Collaborative Kit called A Year of Memories! It totally rocks!!! I'm working on a calendar for my mom for Xmas! Shhh! Don't tell her! ;) So I've got that to work on this weekend too! Got January done already!

And that's it for me folks! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Much Better!

I got the tripod out and took more tree photos. I am still using auto mode as I have no clue how to get the settings right even with good advice from my friend Jolene's friend Amy! So it will have to do! I really need a class! Anyway, I took one with no flash no lights and then another with lights and flash.

Here's the no flash:


And with the flash and lights on in the room:

I just love Christmas! I really need to take a day off and go shopping tho! I did get a few things for Jake into my Amazon.com cart last night so I've officially started! ;)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

O Christmas Tree

Yahoo! My tree is finally up and decorated! I have to say this photo isn't the best because I didn't play with the settings yet and it's a bit blurry but I just wanted to get it up!

TREE IMAGE REMOVED BECAUSE I'M PICKY

Can I tell you my boys are a bunch of scrooges! Michael was outside hanging the lights and moaning and groaning the whole time! He hates Christmas. Jake and Josh were complaining, Jake saying it was boring, Josh saying he was tired of it! I was like man, I can't believe you all! I had the xmas music playing and they were totally ruining the mood! Next year I'm doing it myself!

I still need to take photos of my other decorations around the house too, especially my snowmen! And once Michael finishes the lights outside I'll post those. He really does do a terrific job as much as he hates doing it. :)

My cards are done and mailed as of this morning! Woohoo! Now if I could say that about my shopping! LOL!

That's it for me today! Happy Wednesday! Have a great one all!

Happy Monday!

And Happy Birthday to my Mom! (I don't think she even knows I have a blog but Happy bday anyway Mom!)

We spent pretty much all day at her house yesterday. Got her a new desk and chair for the new Dell she bought (I got one so had to order her one too) and it took us 3 hours to get them all set up. Then we went out and got our tree. Can you believe I forgot my camera! I had the most awesome page idea all planned out too! Luckily mom brought hers so at least I'll have photos. Not my rebel photos but the some for the page I planned! ;) We then went out to dinner at one of Mom's favorite restaurants. Tonight we will have birthday cake at our house so doesn't look like the tree will get decorated until tomorrow night.

So my computer has internet finally. Still don't have the Itunes off the old computer. I can't get the External Enclosure recognized on the new computer. I'm going to try something out tonight to see if I can remedy that tonight though. :)

So that's all I've got for today. Hope you all have a great Monday!!

NOTHING is EVER EASY!!!

I can't believe this! Last night Michael said I could hook up the new computer, provided that on Xmas day I don't pout because I have no big presents to open. I have no problem with that! Well it looks like I have nothing period! I spent a couple of hours on the phone with Andrea (thanks Andrea and Phil) trying to get 1) an internet connection and 2)the stuff from my old computer to my new computer. Got absolutely nowhere! Now I've been on the phone with Dell for almost an hour and they are trying to tell me I need to spend another $240 to buy a Software Maintenance contract because it's most likely some software problem that's not covered by my warranty. I told them to transfer me to Customer Service for an RMA number because I'm not spending another penny. The darn computer should work and should be covered for at least a certain amount of time. Mind you they won't like the fact that I bought 2 computers (one for my mom) and I'll tell them both are coming back if they don't fix my problem!

This is so maddening!

Oh and my cable company changed so my email is changing too, I got the switch done but I can't get outlook to recoginze it! I guess I'm not the only one because a friend with the same provider just told me she's having the same trouble! UGH!!! This is going to be a great day!

Hopefully everyone else has a wonderful Saturday!

Tagged! That's what I get for blog stalking!

Getting to know you... holiday style!
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg Nog
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped in his own special paper
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? House- white Tree- Colored
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No
5. When do you put up your decorations? Day after Thanksgiving for everything but the tree, the following weekend is the tree.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Do I have to pick one? Christmas Eve Fish Feast!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
8. When and how did you learn that Santa isn't real? I can't remember!
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? The kids each open one they are always christmas pjs!
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Colored lights, red wooden beads, lots of different ornaments, candy canes
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Dread it!
12. Can you ice skate? Nope
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Nope
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Kahula Cake!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating the house, Baking cookies to give out as gifts, spending xmas eve at my Godmother's house and then off to my best friends mom's house after dinner, since I was 12!
17. What tops your tree? An angel
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving gifts? Giving
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Santa Baby by Madonna, Christmas Shoes by NewSong
20. Candy Canes on the tree? Yes

As my friend Rachael did, I'm tagging you if you are reading this! Come back and leave me a link to your answers if you don't whimp out!

Random Thoughts

1) Why is it that every year I say I'm going to do things different during the holiday season and every year I'm in a panic?

2) What on earth am I going to get my in-laws this year

3) I am amazed that it's November 30th and 59 degrees in New Hampshire! If I can't move to FL it's fine if FL wants to come to me!

4) I ordered my Xmas cards and they are in "Printing" status!

5) I have a feeling I'm not going to have outside lights this year! :(

6) I have a feeling I wont have a Christmas tree this weekend as tradition! :(

7) I wonder if I'm getting a bonus this year.

8) I ordered 3 gifts yesterday so I have officially started shopping! LOL!

9) I am flying to CA in 2 months and going to CHA and I am getting more and more nervous as the time gets closer.

10) Way too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it!

Happy Thursday!

Look What's Coming to the Digi World

Check out the little tease of info about it HERE. More details to come on December 1st! I've got my partner and can't wait to see what's next!

Finished my Xmas cards last night! Woohoo! Now to get them ordered and back in time to mail out!

Happy HUMP Day!

Lucky Me (and it's +3!!!)_

Look what I won!!! JUNKITZ rocks! Stacey had another drawing on her blog and I won! See it really does pay to be a blog stalker no matter what anyone thinks of me! HEHE! I was the very first post too so I didn't think I'd have any chance at winning but I was one of three lucky winners to get a set of these new foam stamps called Chronicles! Limited Edition too! Yahoo!

So other than that not much else new here. I've got to get the boys sat down tonight to do their photo shoot. The card is done just need to pop in the photos, order them and get them back here. I'm going to type up my labels on the computer so that I can just print them out every year from now on. It's so much easier, I know less personal but man writing out 100+ envelopes is killer and I just am running out of time!

I'm off! Have a great day everyone!

Check it out!

Cindy's Having a Give-A-Way and a Sale!

All of her products in her store at NDISB are 38% off in celebration of her birthday tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Girlfriend!!!

{smooch}

I've got my house all decorated (except the tree) and now all that's left is the outside lights (DH's job) and cleaned and the rest of the weekend is mine to scrap and can you believe I'm not in the mood? What is wrong with me? I'm tired and lazy and don't want to do anything!

So I have to go make lunch now but wanted to give you a heads up on the sale and drawing first. Hope you all have a great day! Cya!

New Stuff

Shawna Clingerman was nice enough to come out with one more kit before my Guest CT spot is over next week! I have had so much fun being on her CT for the month of November and it really wasn't like work at all! Thank you so so much Shawna for this honor really! And she just debuted a new kit at Sweet Shoppe today called U-Cut! So fun! And it's 40% off today! As is all of her stuff that's in the store so run over and get anything you don't have because all of her kits are amazing! Here are my two pages using U-Cut:

Of course I just love this kit because it's got all my favorite colors in it! And it's got all Shawna's fun touches so hurry on over to Sweet Shoppe and check it and all of Shawna's other stuff out! I also used Jen Caputo's corner fold action and her shape template on the snow layout. Thanks Jen! ;)

And yesterday Rachel Solenberg released "Country Christmas" at The Digi Chick! It's another very fun kit cause it's got a "build your own snowman" in it! And it's the cutest because it's got several different hats, some mittens, scarves, etc. Great country colors too! Here are a couple of pages I did using Rachel's kit which by the way is also on sale 40% off until tomorrow! Actually everything at TDC is 40% off until Sat! So what are you waiting for, get shopping! ;)

For the snow fun page I used Sketch #14 of TDC Sketch Challenges by my good friend Rachael Giallongo. And for the Christmas Day page I used a sketch template by Jen Caputo.

We had a wonderful day yesterday, everyone ate way too much and came home very full as expected. It was a smaller crowd than usual but very nice. Then more family came for dessert and it got loud like normal! ;) We got home around 7pm. My only complaint is that I seem to have a pinched nerve in my back from what I think is my new pillow and I can't move very well and have no idea how I'm going to clean house and decorate today. Even typing is hurting and walking and lifting is way out of the question so I am thinking a call to the doc might be happening very soon. Seeing as I was bit by a tick a few days ago I want to make sure it WAS just my pillow! Dang I wish I liked chiropractors! Anyway, hate to go out on a downer but have a great day and a terrific weekend! And don't forget to shop at TDC and SSD!

Brace Yourself!

Nope I don't have any news it's a new kit full of brackets by MDesigns! Available at Distressed Diva. Very fun since I happen to love brackets!

I did this layout using one of them!

Credits: Papers, Frame and Button Border from 365 Days November kit by Robin Carlton and Christy Lyle of Sweet ShoppeBrushes by Shawna ClingermanBrackets from "Brace Yourself" from MDesigns of Distressed DivaNegative Slide by Katie Pertiet

I've also got 3 new layouts (and hoping for it to be 4 by later) done from 2 new kits by Rachel Solengberg and Shawna Clingerman but I can't share those until tomorrow and Friday so you all will just have to come back then! ;)

Anywho, we have a ton of stuff to do today so I need to get my butt off this chair and into the shower! Have a great day and a happy turkey day! Later!

Nasty Little Buggers!

Ticks that is!

So yesterday the school nurse called me to come pick up Josh! There's a lot of that going around from my blog readings! ;) As I was working from home (thank goodness I can do this) my right arm starting hurting all of a sudden and it was like not a little pain it was a lot of pain quickly. So I pull up my sleeve and I see this nasty little tick embedded in my arm and this huge red circle all around where it is! Well I HATE ticks so I freak! And luckily Michael had just pulled in the driveway so I go running outside (in 35 degree weather with no shoes or coat) and say can you get this thing off of me! We come back inside and he pours alcohol on it to try to back it out (I hear cooking oil or vaseline works much better) and then he pulls it out with the tweezers (with me looking the other way) and then cleans up my arm. Can I tell you, my arm ached like an SOB for the rest of the night. I am talking not a little ache, like one of the worst shots you have ever had in your arm! I couldn't believe a little tiny bug could do this! Today the pain is pretty much gone except for right where the bite it. And of course I still have the creepy crawlies! NASTY!!!

Today is also my last day of work until Monday! Woohoo! I have so much fun stuff planned! Tomorrow the boys are getting haircuts and then it's Xmas Photo Shoot time! Then I'm going to work on my xmas cards. I only have to make a pie and a green bean casserole for Turkey Day so that will take under an hour on Thurs morning. Friday it's Christmas decorating and cleaning and then the rest of the weekend I'll be scrapping and watching some movies I want to see! Yep, this girl will not be at any Black Friday sales I'll be hiding from the crowds!

So that's it for me! I hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day and safe travels to anyone hitting the roads!

Short Week!

I'm only working two days this week! And it's a darn good thing because Typhoid Mary (as my boss calls me) strikes again! I came down with another cold on Saturday! Well I think what actually happened is the one I came down with last weekend just decided to hide itself for a little bit and I thought I was better but I actually wasn't and now I'm stinkin hacking again! YIPPEE! I've got to get myself back on vitamins and start exercising so I am not sick all darn winter!

I scrapped by my lonesome this weekend (thank for the invite Rach!) ;) And got two whole pages done. I've become a slow scrapper like my good pal Chris! ;) In my defense the first page had lots of stitching and embellishing so it did take some time but it should not have taken 2 hours! And the second page had a ton of hand stitching on it but also should not have taken as long as it did either!

I didn't get any digi stuff done as Saturday I cleaned the house and my Uncle visited in the afternoon. Friday night I was just lazy! I guess I'll have to do some tonight. MiYon has some fun brackets that I need to get shown out there.

So that's it for me, not much exciting! Hope you all have a great Monday! I'm off to work!

I've Got an Honor Roll Student!!!

Report Cards came yesterday and I couldn't be more pleased with Jake!

His teacher comments were:
"Is a positive role model" - that's my favorite
"A pleasure to have in class" - two wrote this!

"Keep up the good work"

I'm so happy he is doing so well in Middle School! I had no idea how it would go! He got 2 A+'s, an A, an A- and 2 B+'s! That makes the honor roll! He says next term it will be High Honors because he's going to change those B+'s to A's! What a kid!

Now we won't mention Josh's report card. His grades weren't bad, but they definitely could have been better. His behavior is definitely affecting his grades. Hopefully we can get that fixed soon!

I did some scrapping over the weekend! We had a cyber crop on 123-Scrap and although I didn't get as much done as I wanted to I was happy with the pages I did do. Mary came over on Saturday and we had a great time. I taught her a little about Photoshop and she taught me a little about FX Foto. We had some great salad, crossiants, wine and fudge! It was a nice afternoon. She's got some photos on her blog that hopefully she'll share with me! Hint Hint Mary! ;)

Here's one of my favorite pages from the weekend

If you want to see more you'll have to head on over to my gallery and check them out! ;)

OK, I'm off, Josh has a doctor's appt and then I have to get to work! Have a great day!

Look What Cindy Made!

How fun is this! It's called Frameworks Classics and it comes in Brass, Chipboard, Iron, Silver and Gold! And with fun elements! It's only $2 today so run over HERE and get it! The rest of the papers and elements from my page are by Dani B at SBB.

I also tried out a new program today called FX Foto. It's a fabulous program for those of you who would like to try out Digi Scrapping but haven't as it's very inexpensive! It's regularly $49 but it's on sale for $39 right now! I had no idea how to use the program and I created this page with it in a very short amount of time.

The kit I used to make this page is coming soon as a freebie to Distressed Diva by MiYon Richardson so make sure you check back for it! I highly recommend anyone who wants to get into digi to try it out. I also hear they are going to have a sketches program very soon! ;)

OK I'm off to do some scrappin while it's quite in the house! Happy Sunday all!

Saturday Freebie!

Yesterday I did some fun beta testing for Terry Maruca for a new Christmat project she was making. It's a kit filled with pine boughs and embellishments so you can make your own wreaths, garlands, etc. Here is the wreath I made using her kit and embellishments:

What I have for you today is a blank version of the heart shaped wreath:

Here is the download URL

And if you would like the buy the "Holiday Magic" kit go over to SBB and check out Terry's store! She's got some other great stuff too!

Enjoy and Happy Saturday!

Junkitz Challenge

So last week was Delightful papers by Janna. I love those papers and did get a layout done finally but I still need to scan it so that will be posted tomorrow. I am just loving these challenges because the very talented Junkitz designers give me so many great ideas! This weeks challenge is to use the Earth Tone papers. I did this page last year for the Junkitz DT call actually but since I didn't have any Earth Tone papers left in my stash and since I've been sick I couldn't get out to get any either so I figured since I loved this page I'd just post it instead!

I used so much stuff on this page, Alcohol Inks, a Zipper, Ringz, Tilez, Zipper Pullz, Ribbonz, and Tim's Epoxy Stickers. It was a fun page to make. I also have a recipe box at the store that's made out of these papers too that I'll post as soon as I can. It came out pretty cool. Stay tuned for my Delightful project, it's very fun if I do say so myself! ;)

Back to Work Finally

Jake has been home sick for the last two days. I have also had a cold and not been feeling well myself so I've kind of welcomed not having to get dressed up to go into work but I'm out tomorrow for a doctor's appt. for Josh so that leaves today and Friday in the office. Very short week! I did work Monday and yesterday so it's not like I was taking the days off. I even worked late because work came in late. :) Jake is better and I'm sure going to have lots of work to make up!

So that's all the news I've got, not much going on when your sick I guess! LOL! Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday! :)

As Promised

Shawna Clingerman released a new kit called Grey Day. I think it's my favorite kit of hers so far and I thought that about Techno Grunge and then Free Fall! So I guess she just gets better with every kit! If that's even possible! I have done three layouts with this kit since yesterday and I have been sick! I went to bed at 6:30 last night so tell me this kit doesn't rock! So here are the three layouts I've done with Shawna's new kit:

Isn't it fantastic!? I love all the elements and the colors! I have added a set of stitches from her Free Fall kit on one page and I also added some of her Brushes on the other pages but pretty much all of the things on all three pages are from her Grey Day kit. I'm so thrilled to be able to have this guest CT spot! Thanks so much for the opportunity Shawna!

Oh and my boy Jake has been home sick with me all day so if you could send him some get well wishes so he can go back to school and I can go back to work tomorrow I'd appreciate it! Happy Monday!

CT and GUEST CT!

Wahoo! I got a new CT gig for a brand new Designer! MiYon Richardson invited me to be on her Creative Team! She's going to be selling at Distressed Diva and they are having thier grand opening all weekend so be sure to check them out! MiYon is a great gal and I'm so happy she invited me to be on her team! I met her thru being on Rachel's team and I'm so glad I did! MiYon has some great freebies on her blog and a gorgeous kit for sale over at Distressed Diva so please stop by and take a look when you can! Here are two layouts I've done using MiYon's Simply Scarlet kit:

My Guest CT was such a delight as I tried out for her initial call and was so sad when I didn't make the cut but I knew she'd get a ton of talented ladies applying so I totally understood! Shawna Clingerman has been one of my favorite designers since I first heard of her stuff! When she asked me to be on her November Guest CT of course I was thrilled! Her designs rock! If you haven't seen them run to her store and check them out! I think I own absolutley everything of hers! Come back later and I'll have something using Shawna's Brand spanking new kit too! It's one of her best yet! ;)

I'm so excited about my two new gigs! I hope I can do them proud! Have a wonderful Sunday all!

Happy Mail Day!

I got my RAK from Wendy Reed today! She totally made my day! I got all of the following:
Bootiful Fontastics
Bootiful Beadifuls
Bootiful Mini Sprinkle Brads
Bootiful Bon-Bon Brads
Bootiful Alpha Betty
Bootiful Fab Flowers
Bootiful Hook-Ups
Bootiful Anchorettes
Bootiful Love Letters
Bootiful Sprinkles Brads

My halloween layouts will definitely not be lacking for anything! :) Can't wait to scrap this weekend! Thank you so much Wendy! You rock!

Happy Halloween!

To those of you that celebrate it! We have a Darth Vader and a Werewolf in the house today! Pic later since they didn't wear the actual costumes until they get to school! We finally carved our pumpkins last night! I can't believe we were too busy over the weekend to get it done. I ended up carving more of Josh's than he did, he picked one of those patterns that was a bit too hard for him! LOL Here are some photos of them:

Jake's it's a bit blurry because my stupidity forgot to put the camera on night settins! DOPE!

And here is mine/Josh's:

I was looking forward to staying home and giving out Candy this year for the first time. Every year since Jake was about 1 we both went out with the kids while my mom stayed home and handed out candy for us. This year I thought I'd stay home because they are getting older and it's not a big deal if both parents go. Well now Michael is working a job really far away and he's getting in very late so looks like I'm out in the cold again! :) Thank goodness they are predicting a mild night!

So I hope everyone has a great day and all your kiddos going out stay safe and have fun!

Lucky Me!

So a couple of weeks ago, I won a Junkitz tee shirt for participating in one of their blog challenges. Me being a huge Junkitz fan was stoked. And happy since I never win anything! Then I get an email asking if they can use my layout in their newsletter this month! How cool! Of course they can! Who would ever say no to that!? Not me! Said newsletter came out in email yesterday and there it was! Yippee! It should be available on the www.junkitz.com site too.

Then last night I get an email from Wendy Reed of the Queen & Co. DT saying I won her RAK for Queen & Co that she was having on her blog! Woohoo! I am so excited! She asked me if there were anything new of the Q&K stuff I'd been eyeing (all of it of course) and I told her the Kissmas and Bootiful stuff so I can't wait to see what I get!

So I'm thinking I should play the lottery now! But that's where my luck will run out so I'm just gonna put on my Junkitz t-shirt and wait for the postman! ;)

Happy Friday

We had a great bday party last night. Josh said it was his best bday ever. I love those words! Now let's see how many days it takes him to say "I'm Bored"! We had yummy sushi for dinner, bday cake and lots of presents with just us and my mom. Very nice. Got some great shots of him opening his present and a big cheek one of him blowing out the candles. Oh and this one is my favorite from the bunch:So on to Jake's bday tomorrow. I have to make Chicken Parm for dinner! Josh made it nice and easy but not Jake! And man I was hoping for dinner out and a nice martini! ;)

Oh well, have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday Josh!

My baby is 8 years old today! Man where does the time go? I can't believe that he's 8! He wants Sushi at home for his bday dinner tonight. Poor kid can't even have his favorite bday cake with the whole dairy restriction thing but we'll make it fun anyway! He's got lots of presents to unwrap from his Daddy, Jake and I when we all get home tonight. I couldn't take a photo of him this morning since my DH had my camera! :( But here's a recent one of my cutie patootie!

Today he has cupcakes to bring to school and wanted his hair done in a "ramp". LOL! He meant 'jump', which I kindly obliged. He is too funny! I hope he has a good day!

Saturday one more bday in the house, then Sunday we'll have the joint bday party at a kids place. And then I can start thinking about Christmas! LOL!

Hope everyone has a terrific day!

Lots of New Things

I've been a busy bee! I did some digi and paper scrapping lately!

First off I got to beta test a very cool Quick Alpha action by Terry Maruca of www.scrapbook-bytes.com and it's so fun! You can basically take any font, any pattern paper and create your very own alpha in seconds! You pretty much can create shapes, numbers and symbols too for that matter! It's way cool! Here is a layout I did with the alpha I created:

Credits: Shawna Clingerman's Free Fall

Font is CBX Armyman

Alpha Quick Action by Terry Maruca

Now onto the paper stuff. Paper Crafts magazine had a very cute Xmas Wreath on pg. 69 of their November issue. I thought it would look very cute with Teresa Collin's Halloween papers too so I made one!

And one more fun Junkitz thing. Candice Cook's DH Curt was one of the Inspiration Challenges! Man this guy can scrap! He put up two fantastic pages on Candice's blog a while back and I finally got around to doing a page that I was inspired by.

So those are some of the fun things I've been working on. I've done lots more but you'll have to go and check out My Gallery at 123-Scrap if you want to see them! ;)

Silent Sunday!

Its 8:33 am and it's silent in my house! That's right no one is home but me! The boys went to Nana's last night because Michael and I went to a cocktail party at a neighbor's. They just had their kitchen redone and wanted to show it off and now of course I want a new kitchen AND a new family room! ;) Michael is at the last race of the season to get in one final hurrah for him and the car. I would be very pleased with having the house all to myself and nothing to do but laundry if I didn't feel awful from drinking 4 martini's! Yep I said 4 and that was because Michael shut me off after that! ;) My limit is usually 2 and let me tell you I can't even drink a cup of coffee this morning which is not a good thing! I need my coffee! I'm paying the price now and I guess I deserve it. But we did have a very good time. We have a great bunch of neighbors and it was nice getting them all together.

I actually met one neighbor who has lived in the neighborhood as long as us (15 years) and had never met her before! Amazing but true, she worked 2 jobs for a very long time and they have no kids so there really was never a time for us to meet. She and her new husband were there last night, they are very nice and she owns a Ti-kwando (sp) studio! I may sign the boys up for some martial arts lessons very soon! Jake has wanted to take Karate for a long time anyway. I think it will be a fun thing for them to do.

Jake had a great baseball game yesterday, they won 11-9 and in the first inning they were down 4-0 so I thought they were going to menally check out early. The other team could hit and man did they like to steal but our team turned it around and did really well. Jake had one really good hit, made an awesome out at 1st (that seems to be his position this year) and he was pretty happy at the end of the game. When Jake is happy I am happy cause there is no attitude! ;)

So speaking of Jake, I ordered the IPOD and it just says his name. I wish I had gotten 2006 as one of the comments said but that one comment came in after I ordered it! :( That was a great idea Lucy! Oh well, I'll have to remember what year he got it or do a page on it right away so it doesn't get forgotten! ;) I can't wait to see it because it looks VERY green online! It arrived Friday when I was at work, of course you had to be here to sign for it so they sent it back, now it's going to a neighbor's on Monday!

So that's it for me, I'm going to go drink some more water and try to feel better so I can scrap today! Have a wonderful Sunday all!

Hello 3 Blog Readers!

Since that's about the average amount of comments I get that's the amount of readers I'm saying hello to! ;) How's your week going? Mine's going damn slow! I can't believe it's only WEDNESDAY! I tell you the weeks are too long and the weekends are too short! I need a vacation! We have another busy weekend coming up too, baseball, a bday party, a cocktail party at a neighbors and Sunday I really need to tackle both boys rooms and get rid of all the clothes that don't fit them and put their fall/winter stuff in their drawers. I've been putting it off too long! It's really gotten much cooler and it's time! At least we don't have 2 feet of snow like Buffalo! I hear you can buy a house cheap there! Suddenly NH doesn't look so bad LOL!

So I'm ordering Jake's IPOD today, he wants a green one. My mom wants to pay for half of it and since it's going to cost $200 I don't mind but heres my dilemma. I wanted to get it engraved (because it's free) to say "Happy Birthday Jake" Love Mom, & Dad but now I'll have to add Nana too. So should I just leave it with Happy Birthday Jake or should I just have his name engraved on it? What would you suggest for a boy turning 11? 3 suggestions is better than non so speak up you 3 readers would ya? Thanks! :)

Well that's my boring stuff for today! Thanks for reading and have a great Wednesday!

Sad Day in Blogland!

Cathy Z has decided to stop blogging! Many devoted blog readers are going to be very sad to hear this decision. I know I am! I am one of her faithful blog readers! She is my birthday twin, we were born on the same day in the same year even! She's one of my favorite blog reads! Man it's not like I have a life of my own ya know! I depend on other people's blogs to keep me going all day! ;)

So Cindy's got a new Hanakkah kit coming out! It should be up at NDISB very soon! I don't have any Hanakkah photos but I was able to complete two layouts using the kit anyway! Very versatile if I do say so myself! And for all the Jewish scrappers out there I think they will also be very happy! I'll post my layouts as soon as Cindy say's I can! ;)

I got to scrap yesterday! Got 4 pages done! I also cut some rubber and put away some stuff in my room that had been piling up. I had ordered a few things online that came in over the last couple of weeks. So now my room is organized a bit again. I still think it needs a major overhaul though, it's really getting out of control as to not knowing what I've got anymore.

Jake got to pitch on Saturday, he did very well. He also hit a double! They lost the game due to some seriously bad plays made in the outfield but for the most part the kids played well. They would have tied if not for the 2 runs that came in due to the earlier said outfield plays! ;) But Jake did really well and I was very proud of him. Check out this shot Michael got of him swinging at the ball (I can't take credit because I was in the concession stand) :

That's gotta be the double he hit! Michael has a knack for stopping the ball in action! He also got a few others like that!

OK well that's it for me today! Hope everyone has an awesome day!

Hey Hey it's Finally Friday!

Man all day yesterday it felt like Friday! You can imagine how I felt to know it wasn't! :) I'm thankful today is!

Michael is off to NY to race today and I'm very nervous since he's racing for the first time with nitros in his car. I hope he does well as does the car! And hopefully he'll call me after his first run to let me know it went OK! Its funny, Buffalo got 20 inches of snow and here he is in another spot racing a car! NY really is a huge state!

I made the boys bday party invitation. I used Shawna Clingerman's Techno Grunge kit. I just love that kit! And got them all out today! I'm right on schedule for once! Tonight I hope to actually do some paper scrapping! I want to scrap some of the fun photos from the visit to the corn maze, pumpkin patch and apple picking from last weekend. Tomorrow is cleaning and a baseball game where I have Consession Stand duty. Mom and Michael are not going to be at the game either so that means no photos and Josh with limited supervision, OH BOY! LOL!

OK that's all I've got for today, I hope you all have a fabulous Friday!

My Boy Wants to Ski

Well snowboard actually. With the afterschool program. I'm thinking 11 is way too young but they start it in the Elementary school but I'm not ready for this yet. And it's $200 for 5 weeks of Lift/Lesson/Board not including the bus cost! YIKES! And what if he gets hurt, I won't be there! I can't handle that! How do parents do that? I guess I'll have to go to the info thing tonight to decide if I can do it or not but I'm thinking I've got to spread my wings someday! Not sure this is the someday though!

On a lighter note, LOST is on tonight! WOOHOO! My favorite night for TV! Can't wait! And that's all I have for today! Have a great day all!

Fabulous Weekend!!!

We had one of the nicest weekends we've had in a long time! We went to my cousin Kara's wedding on Sat. But first we sat in on an hour of Jake's baseball game. Our wonderful neighbors Joe and Lynn babysit the boys for us since my mom and only babysitter was also going to the wedding. Kara is my Godmother's daughter and one of my closest cousins. We spend every holiday that we aren't with Michael's family with them. It was a beautiful wedding and Kara and Dennis are so happy! They are off to the warm and exoctic Dominican Republic for a honeymoon and I'm jealous cause it's been freezing here in the mornings when it's time to get out of bed! BRRRR! Fall is here!

Which also means, beautiful colors! And apple picking and pumpkin picking and all that fun stuff. Which is what we did yesterday. And we went through a corn maze for our first time too. That was so fun! We made it out in 15 minutes! This was a 4 acre maze! They said some people have been in there for 2 hours! We were pretty proud of ourselves! LOL! Take a look at some of the great shots from this weekend and hopefully enjoy them as much as I do!

And that's just a few! ;) Have a great day!

Another Freebie Friday

This time I've got a sketch template for you! I'm sorry but I don't know if it will work in anything other than Photoshop because that's all I know! :) Here is a little preview of it:

Enjoy it!

Here is the YouSendIt Link: Sketch

So I am feeling a bit better, my headache is just a dull ache today, the pharmacy didn't have my meds yesterday or it would be gone altogether I bet and my nausea is finally gone. Man that was bad! I hope no one else gets this, especially my boys this weekend since they will be with a babysitter! ;) I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Happy Friday!

Back and Forth!

Sorry about another switch but I don't like the fact that there are things I can't do in Typepad that I can in Blogger. I also can't put up my pretty banner which totally stinks so I'm back! I'll give this Beta thing one more try. Hopefully people can comment again because the Blogger people were none to helpful when I put in my help request about it!

So I finished Debbie from Junkitz's inspiration page! I just love it! She and Stacey did some fabulous pages that inspired me to do my own version of it and it's now one of my favorite pages. The tags pull out to reveal more photos. Jake likes it too! ;) Here it is:

Supply list can be found with the page in my gallery at 123-Scrap.

So I've got another bug. I got it from Michael who was sick all weekend and I feel like I've been hit by a truck! Everything aches, I have a sore throat, ear ache and head ache, plus my stomach has felt like I've been on a non-stop rollercoaster! ICK! I have a wedding to go to Saturday so it needs to be GONE by then! I stayed home and semi-worked and rested yesterday but today I don't feel much better. I am thinking the Airborne isn't working for me because it's not really a cold but more of something else. What I have no clue cause my symptoms are all over the place! So enough about the nasties. Just keep your fingers and toes crossed that the boys don't get it next!

OK I've got to get off here and get to work! Have a great day!

Sept 29th

DOODLES!!!

I have been doodling again! LOL! I have a doodle download for you on this dreary Friday. Here is the preview:

And here is the YouSendIt Link: Doodle Link Hope you enjoy them and get some use out of them. If you use them please send me a link I'd love to see what you do with them! :)
Have a great weekend all!

Sept 28th

One more work day until the weekend! The next couple of weekends are so full! Michael has his semi-annual New York trip tomorrow and Sat so I've got single parent duty. It's only fair since I was gone last weekend. :) Baseball game on Saturday. I'd like to go Apple/Pumpkin Picking or to the Deerfield Fair on Sunday. Next weekend we have a wedding to go to. Busy Busy! I was also supposed to go to a Lia Sophia Jewelry party tomorrow night but Jake's coach switch practice to tomorrow night! It's usually Thursday nights! What's up with that! I don't think baseball should encompass the WHOLE weekend! Jeesh! It starts at 5:30 and doesn't get over till 6:30 or 7:00 if doesn't get dark and then I'll have to feed the boys so that totally messes up my plans! Oh well, I guess that means I'll save some moolah! ;) I already had a necklace picked out too! LOL!

I'm having a great time designing for Rachel. I've played with all of her kits that I have and am looking foward to seeing what she comes up with next.

Cindy says she's got a few things up her sleeve too so I think this CT thing is going to be fun again for awhile now! I guess it just took some fun stuff and less requirements to make it right for me. As a matter of fact, look for a new page from me using the "Page Bracelets 2" sometime later today!

So that's me in a nutshell today! I hope to do some paper scrapping this weekend as well. I've got to do Debbie from Junkitz's challenge! Love her page!

Have a wonderful Thursday all!

Sept 26th

A TOOT and A PAGE!


So I'm finally able to toot! I got onto a Creative Team! I was invited to be on Rachel Solenberg's Digi Team! I'm pretty stoked! I have tried out for a few and the rejection was getting to me. After all the paper world rejections I had really decided I wasn't going to apply anymore but then saw Rachel's call and I really thought her stuff was fun so I figured what the hey, and then I got a yey! Woohoo! Rachel sells her very fun and vibrant kits at Plain Digital Wrapper. Go and check it out! I've been playing with her kits for the last few days and they are so fun! I've already done 4 layouts using them!

And everyone knows I am a Junkitz Blog Stalker. Well they are doing a little inspiration challenge over there. I just love all the stuff they put out and Staceywas inspired by Kendra who was inspired by Stacey K and they were all just scrapping away. So I sketched out the layout and did my own this weekend! Here is my version :

Thanks to all the wonderfully talented Junkitz ladies for the inspiration! I've got another one Debbie did waiting in the wings! Gotta love that when you are stumped for an idea!

So that's what I've got for you today. I've got tons of stuff to do around the house so I've got to get off this computer for the night! Cya Tomorrow! Have a good one!

Sept 25th

Back Home and Tagged!

So I'm home from a long weekend of cropping and teaching and I've been Tagged by Rachael!

So here are the rules: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.
"My seven songs (yes they are all country):1. My Best Friend - Tim McGraw2. Just to See You Smile - Tim McGraw3. When the Sun Goes Down - Kenny Chesney4. Boston - Kenny Chesney5. Dont Forget to Remember Me - Carrie Underwood6. Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood7. When I Get Where I'm Going - Brad Paisley & Dolly Parton
People I'm tagging:
1. Mary E.
2. Jolene
3. September
4. Chris (cause you need to blog girl)
5. Andrea (early Bday present) :)
6. Jen Caputo
7. Cindy

So another Crop at the Cape is over. I taught 5 classes. 4 of them straight in a row with only 15 minute potty breaks in between them. That was tough! I had a very sore throat at the end of the night! Most of them went really well, one ran over and a few people were a bit unhappy because it was rushed at the end and I made a few errors but for the most part it was very well received and people were even making all my projects that night at the crop so that made me very happy. It hurt me that people weren't happy but I have to get past that and know I can't please everyone all the time. I only got 10 of my own pages done which is not very much for me but that's ok I went to teach this time so that wasn't my goal.

I was able to get home in time to see Jake play his first game in the new league of baseball. He moved up to the Bronco league this fall where they play on a bigger field. He did well, they were tied 2-2 when the rain came whipping in! Major wind and very heavy rain! We all went running for cover! The boys were lucky since they now have real dug-outs on the bigger fields but they thought they'd run around in the rain instead! LOL!

So that's my catch up for the days I was away! I hope you all have a great Monday!

Sept 21st

OFF TO THE CAPE
Andrea, Chris, Carol and Cindy, it just wont be the same without you! :(

Boy it's been another wild week! I have been busy at work again, trying to pack for the Cape Crop and get the house situated for the boys. Totally Crazy! I even had to go back home today because I forgot my cell charger and that would not have been a good thing! I have to be able to talk to my boys everyday! They may not care if I'm gone but I miss them like crazy. I've packed way too much (including my sewing machine)! I've got a class to teach on Friday and 4 or 5 on Saturday so I have no clue how much scrapping I'll actually get done. I do not have my camera! I left it home for Michael to take photos of Jake's first game in the new league of Baseball. He has moved up this year and was very hesitant to do it so I had to forgo the camera to get photos of that! I'm bummed I'll be missing the game. Jake's playing 1st base. I hope he'll also get to do some pitching as well.

So I'm signing off until Monday with hopes of maybe at least checking in to say hello on 123-Scrap since I did pack the laptop! Have a great weekend all!

Sept 18th

It was a good weekend! Very quite! Well until Saturday night when Rachael and Lesley got here and then there was loads of laughter going on in the house! Very fun times! Here is a layout I completed that night after getting out the tripod and taking a photo of the three of us!

I made homemade pizza and margarita's and there was plenty of chocolate to snack on so between the food and the great laughs it was a good time. I always have fun with these girls. It was too bad Melissa forgot to come! ;)
Friday night I cleaned the house and got to read my Scrapbooks Etc in bed with no TV on to distract me or anyone telling me to turn off the light cause it was bothering him! HEAVEN! Saturday during the day I did errands and didn't have to rush or anything! Man it was so nice! Then yesterday I scrapped all day until 6 when all my guys got home. It was a heavenly weekend! And yes I missed my guys but it was so peaceful and the house stayed clean for 3 whole days! NICE!!!

Reality sets back in today! LOL! So I'm off to work! Hope everyone has a great day!

Sept 15th

I've got the weekend to myself! I'm gonna exercise right when I get home and then get all the cleaning done tonight so I can be a scrapping fool for the rest of the weekend until the boys get home! They are leaving for Maine this afternoon before I even get home from work! Tomorrow night Rachael, Melissa, and Lesley are coming over for Girls Night and that will definitley be a good time knowing those girls! ;) Rachael is expecting Margarita's so I better hit the store on my way home tonight too!

I'm so glad it's Friday! This has been the week from H-E double hockey sticks at work! I worked 13 hours on Monday, 12 hours on Tuesday and about 10 hours on Wednesday, then it was Open House at Josh's school where we found out he is having trouble being quite in class! Yippee! So when I ask him how his day was and he says good I guess he "forgot" it wasn't so good afterall! ARRRRRRRGH! Well he's going to work on it. Yeah, we've heard that one before!

I have to figure out what I'm bringing to the Cape too! It's next weekend! man that time went by fast! I am pretty much all set for my classes, just have to get one more class kitted up that we are waiting for the supplies from American Traditional on. They donated almost EVERYTHING for my class! woohoo! It's going to be the cutest recipe box too!

So my gal

Cindy Simon released a new kit at NDISB yesterday. It's called Gently Falling and is a very non-traditional take on Fall. Love it! here are a couple of pages I did using the kit:

So that's about it for my ramblings today. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!