A few Artsy Things

First I just have to say that I will NOT be updating my weight, turns out this is probably a REALLY bad week to start this : ( With mom's surgery and our splurging, not getting to exercise 2 days in a row, AND my anniversary being TODAY : ))

By the way, mom's surgery went REALLY well. She says her vision isn't as well as the first one was but the doc says it will improve over time as it heals.

I wanted to point you all to a couple of fun things today. First of all, I just spotted THIS beautiful kit- Amalia. Look at all those wonderful elements YUM!!! And the best deal of all? Blog about it for a chance to get it free : ) WoooWhooo free is good. After you blog about it go to the FORUM and post a link to your blog and waalaa you're in the running.

I also wanted to show you my 2 latest ATCs for my Blue Dog swap. These were BOTH so much fun to make. I used new techniques on both cards. On the first one I made the background by crinkling up a piece of plastic wrap, dipped it into paint or on an ink pad and then stamped it all over the card : ) The second one I made a pocket and tag, now THAT was fun : )


And lastly I wanted to show off my latest Digi Scrap Page. Here's mom and her little dog : )

Almost everything in this layout came from eNKay's brand new Grab Bag.
Full credits can be seen HERE

Okay, this is fly by posting at its greatest girls. Gotta run, I have to work today. This is the first time I've worked on my anniversary since I've been married : ( Not too happy about it either (especially since I requested the day off WAY back in May and it was already unavailable then) but that's okay, I've already been approved for it off NEXT year LOL.

Short Term Goal (10-27-08 through 11-03-08)

Long Term Goal

Wednesday Weight Loss

The good news is I've already met my goal for the week. Lost my 2 pounds. Now I just have to keep working to keep it off and I totally think I can do this. I'm not bored with the Air Climber, I already got my first session in this morning, this one was for 3 minutes : )) Small improvements daily. I definitely felt the burn from this one, it was more of a challenge. But I'll get back up there a couple more times. It's much easier with some music so I listened to my iPod while I climbed. Got through one song LOL.

Today is mom's eye surgery. It's scheduled for 1:15. We'll be going to the surgery center to check in at noon. She's very excited to get this done (and I'm excited for her) Tomorrow will be the big day. Today she'll leave the surgery center with a patch on her eye and tomorrow she will go in for an appointment with the eye doctor. He will take the patch off and if it goes ANYTHING like the last one she'll see a change instantly. THAT is the exciting part.

My thoughts are with Aunt Linda today too as she goes in for her Stress Test. Mom did one of those a couple years ago and it was hard on her, but she got through it., HOWEVER, she doesn't have heart problems. I hope Aunt Linda got her walking done yesterday, she didn't mention it...

No art to show today. But I do have one project that I finished just a little while ago. A total of 4 ATCs going out for a swap. 2 cards to 2 people. The theme is Blue Dogs. I thought it would be fun : ) Plus I tried a new technique on each set of cards. I'll tell you more about that when I post the cards.

That's my excitement for the morning. Hope everyone is doing well and having a good week so far.

Short Term Goal (10-27-08 through 11-03-08)

Long Term Goal

Just a Quick

I HAD to come back to brag that I got on that Air Climber 3 more times for 2 minute sessions. The last time I used some 2lb ball weights. Now THAT made a good workout LOL. It's definitely getting easier already. Part of the challenge is just keeping my balance on it LOL

Short Term Goal (10-27-08 through 11-03-08)

Long Term Goal

Bits n Pieces

Here's what I'm talking about, just look at that ticker... I give in to my cravings, eat the junk and loose weight. Give it all up and I loose NOTHING!! That's okay though, I'm down a pound and a half, I'm not getting excited yet. As I've said before, I can fluctuate by up to 5 pounds just over night (I do get up to go to the bathroom a lot during the night LOL) So now the goal will be to keep that off and get rid of the other half pound. When 10 pounds are gone THEN I'll get excited LOL.

I did my Air Climber for 2 minutes this morning YAY me LOL. That's pathetic when I read about Fran doing 25 minutes LOL. But she's just awesome that way : )) I was totally thinking about her lastnight when I went to Target. I had to take a peek on the purse isle (didn't buy anything though). She's SO close to getting her new purse, I know she'll get there.

I was thinking that I should set up a sort of rewards program for myself. I LOVE my art supllies and I think I can never get enough of them, so maybe after X amount of goals achieved I'll get a new art item... something to think on.

So I've been making some art. Nothing to show, it's all in progress. Well, except this one, I got her finished up yesterday. And she IS available for trade.

I think I want to start doing most all of my trading on Flickr, it's just easier to keep track that way LOL.

Oh and I did get a couple scrapbook pages done. All images can be clicked on to view larger.

Kit by eNKay Designs- Spirit of Hannah
full credits HERE

Kit by SherrieJD
full credits HERE

Kit by Tangie Baxter Designs
Paper by Emily Giovanni
full credits HERE

That's about it for me. I have to stop by the Post Office and get a shoe box size flat rate box for a swap I'm in. Then off to work : ) Hope everyone has a good day.

Short Term Goal (10-27-08 through 11-03-08)

Long Term Goal

Confession

I'm here to make a confession. I caved to Jack in the Box. As I was really thinking about it, the craving that is, I came to realize that when we crave something sometimes it's better to have a little bit of what we're craving. Otherwise, it becomes a snowball effect (for me anyway) and I begin to crave something similar because I know I can't have the thing that I'm craving. So now I'm craving the original thing and the second thing (the thing I wouldn't have craved in the first place). I had a half Subway sandwich for dinner AND a chocolate chip cookie because I was craving the mini churros at Jack in the Box. THAT is when I realized I should just go get the churros and be done with it. So now I've had them and there's nothing left to crave. Day one is behind me, time to start thinking about day 2. ~sigh~

Short Term Goal (10-27-08 through 11-03-08)

Long Term Goal

I'm awake

So I went back to bed, set the alarm for an hour, couldn't sleep. My eyes were so tired though so I just laid there with them closed for about half an hour then I got up.

I did my Air Climber for about a minute. I'm totally amused that Fran thinks I can go for 5-7 minutes. LOL. Eventually. I probably could have gone longer I mean I didn't feel like I was going to die or anything but I didn't have good shoes on (in fact silly me, I was barefoot) and the grooves were hurting my footies.

I've already got it in my head that I'm NOT going to stop at Jack in the Box for those new Cinnamon Churros they have. I'm going to consider my yummy smoothie that Leonard made for me good enough. : )) Gotta start somewhere.

Okay, time to get ready for work. Hope you all have a great day : )

Short Term Goal (10-27-08 through 11-03-08)

Long Term Goal

Tired!!!

I DON'T WANT TO BE AWAKE!!!! ~insert temper tantrum here~ Just because I was having freaky dreams and woke me up 20 minutes early, I guess in a sense I do want to to be awake or I would have stayed in bed. Any rate, I'm REALLY tired. This is ridiculous... heck with Rule #1! I'm going back to bed for an hour.

Short Term Goal (10-27-08 through 11-03-08)

Long Term Goal

New Tick

Okay, I got my short term ticker up. I'm ready to get serious. As I said before, I know I haven't been taking my weight loss serious well, it's time for that to change. I'm going to do like Aunt Linda and start weighing in daily. I have a scale that weighs in tenths of a pound so I can really keep track of how I'm doing and document it. I want to see that scale move across the board.

I also got an Air Climber System like Fran got. I couldn't resist any longer. Actually MOM got it for me, but it was my intent to get it anyway. She says this is our anniversary gift : ) Perfect : ) The gift of weight loss, I couldn't ask for anything better.

Today I took mom to a sewing class. About a month or two ago I bought her an embroidering sewing machine at JoAnn's. It's totally intimidating. The good news is it comes with free classes. So Friday we just happened to be in JoAnn's shopping and we stopped in at the sewing machine section to see when the next class is. We were planning to wait until mom had her other eye done so she would be able to see well enough to be able to do it on her own (cause lord knows I'm clueless when it comes to sewing LOL) Turns out there was a beginners class today that teaches just the basics of using the machine to sew. Mom already knew most of the stuff that was taught but it was nice because it ended up being just one on one so she could ask all the questions she wanted. She said that she did pick up a few tips along the way. Next month we'll go back to learn to embroider. Yay : )) It was fun though.

Okay, I'm off for now. Hope everyone has had a nice weekend : )

Short Term Goal


Long Term Goal

Pictures!!

Went to my training class today. The class itself was rather uneventful.

However, instead of sitting on my butt the entire 45 minutes we were parked waiting for the ferry so we could return home I decided to go out for a little walk. Indulge yourselves with the beauty of Edmonds, Washington:

Once we finally boarded the ferry it only seemed appropriate that I do the same, after all, it's a half hour ride back to the other side of the Great Pond (or Puget Sound as it's most commonly known). So I climbed to the top deck of the ferry and got a few more shots:

Lessons I've Learned With Age #1

When you wake up 45 minutes before the alarm it's always best to just get up- even if it doesn't feel like the thing to do at the time.

Quickie

Just wanted to pop in for a quick post to let everyone know that I'm here and I'm okay and I'm still blogging. Just been off my routine lately.

Woke up this AM at 5:30 and had a lot of pressure inside my head so I went back to sleep. Slept til about 10:00. I felt WAY better when I got up. And yes, I was in bed on time lastnight. In fact I should be in bed right now, I have to get up earlier than my regular time tomorrow for work. I have a training class up north of Seattle tomorrow. I have to catch a 6:30AM ferry from Kingston over to Edmunds (mom and I took that one last Spring when we went to the Tulip festival). It's only a quick training session and should be home by 2:00pm I'm guessing.

So... I'll try to do a bit more of an update tomorrow. And I have some fun pictures to share then too : )

And I'll get caught up with my reading and commenting tomorrow too (I hope LOL)

Ya'll take care now, ya hear?

Altered Book

I wanted to post pictures of my altered book from the workshop I went to on Sunday but I ran out of time on Monday and Tuesday I just plain didn't feel good : ( In fact I was in bed at 8:30 Monday night (when the ick started) and slept until I had to get up for work at 8:45 Tuesday morning. I got pumped full of ibuprophen and made it through the day (somehow) and then started feeling better in the evening. Went to be on time lastnight and was up on time this morning and I'm feeling pretty darn good today.

So... I went to the altered book workshop on Sunday. It was at the library in Poulsbo (just a few miles from where I live). A co-worker/friend of mine told me about it, she went too. It was my first workshop ever and my first altered book ever!! I learned some fun techniques that I got to try out in my book and look forward to working on those pages more. I already have some ideas. The neat thing is that I can use those techniques on my ATCs as well : )) So, without further ado, some pictures.

Today is a two dog morning : )) It's SO cold!! 40 degrees outside today. I expect it will snow any day now. The snow is beautiful (from inside) and I LOVE to take pictures of it. Of course, they will be made available for your viewing enjoyment, soon as the snow comes LOL. Anyway, back to the 2 dog morning... I was looking for the pups and look where I found them:

They usually only go in there one at a time. The have a super comfy bed and a fleece blankie in their "condo" and they also have a Lion bed in the corner by my desk (yes, they have a lot of beds LOL). Most of the time one dog will be on the lion and the other will be in the condo. This morning they were BOTH curled up in the condo and now they're both on the lion:


Funny how they work together when they need to : ))

Couple nice sales going on. JoAnn's and Michaels both have some good sales, plus I've got coupons for both. I'll have to go poke around and see what they have that I can't live without. Also, mom told me that Linens n Things is going out of business, that means SALES!! Gotta check that one out too : ))

Lost 2 pounds this week. I've come to realize that I eazily fluctuate by about 3 pounds in any given week. What's frustrating is that I can't keep it off. It seems like it doesn't matter what I do it doesn't work. Okay... not entirely true. I haven't gotten into ANY sort of exercise routine and I KNOW that would help. But I weigh exactly the same as what I did 2 months ago when I was drinking 3 sodas a day, now I drink NONE and haven't seen any sort of results. Guess I'll just have to give in to the exercise demon LOL : )) Maybe I need to be more like Fran and take it on a smaller level. Say I want to loose 2 pounds a week so 8 pounds a month and put up a monthly ticker for my 8 pounds (in addition to my BIG one) What do you think?


Okay, I need to start getting ready for work. I want to do a little shopping today before I go in since today is a late start. Love to all.

Busy Day!

Oh yeah! Love the feeling of a busy day coming to a close : )))

This morning mom had her final follow up from her eye surgery. The healing is complete and she can see (literally) perfect from her right eye- 20/20!! That's amazing. Her left eye- well it's HORRIBLE lol and she's very anxious to get it done (on the 29th).

After the doctor we went to Value Village, a thrift shop in Bremerton. I got a whole bunch of goodies for may partner in the "Thrift Store Treasures" swap that I'm in. I sure hope she likes it. I also picked up a few things for myself for my ATC. A total of $14 spent : ) Yay : ) Take a look at what I got for my stash:

After taking mom home Leonard wanted to get started on a new project. Lastnight we bought a CD holder since the one we had been using was about to overflow (and probably break) He put the thing together and got all the CDs set up on it then we dusted of all 88 of our DVDs and organized them on the old DVD/CD rack.

In the process of all of this I was grilling turkey burgers for me and veggie burgers for Leonard. I had just finished one for him and set it on the end table for him. He was so busy working he didn't even notice the little villan who came and stole the bun top right off of his sandwich!!! At least not until he was running away with it. That landed Mr. Morpheus in jail for about half an hour (during which time I gave Kaycee a yummy to chew on).


He was particularly remorseful when he was released and he's currently snuggled up to daddy (even though he's very much a momma's boy)

I have a few other things I wanted to talk about today but I don't have time right now. We're finally going to go to Outback and have my birthday dinner. We never did make it for my birthday, mom was sick, then Leonard was sick and today I just said "I want to go!" so off we go. I'll try to finish this post later on tonight, if not possibly tomorrow.

Love to all.

Little Things

Got another scrapbook page done. I LOVE this picture!!! This was taken when we visited Florida this last July. It MAY be the last page of my album, I'll have to decide. I could possibly do one more page. Anyway, here it is.

Everything here from Tangie Baxter's new kit Timeless Masters II. See this page HERE.

I'm heading off to a book altering workshop here shortly. I've never gone to a workshop like this so I'm really looking forward to it. Of course, I'll post pictures of whatever I make : ))

Job Done

Yay!!! I got my bathroom done tonight. Toilet clean, floor clean, shower/tub clean, sink/counter clean and mirror clean. I'm so excited to have a sparkly clean bathroom LOL. Now I'm off to put my shelf together for my ArtRoom. Then I can get my desk/kitchen table cleaned off.

I'm thinking that I'll probably be staying up a little late tonight and tomorrow night. Aunt Linda, do you stay up late when you don't have to go to work the next day or do you still stick to your bedtime?

Yadda Yadda

My life has been pretty boring lately. Not a lot to write about. In bed at 10 up at 6 fart around until work time, go to work, come home, fart around til bed time.

Didn't walk yesterday because I only had about an hour from the time I got up until the time I had to leave for work. I've been the opener this week so I've had to be in half an hour early. Today is the last day of it.

We're having a pot luck at work today. It was planned on the fly. I almost forgot to shop for it. I made my creamy black bean and rice filling for burritos. I'm just bringing the stuff and the shells people can make them when they're ready.

Finally found a shelf fo my closet yesterday at target. I'll post pictures once I get it set up (hopefully today after work). I think it will be perfect. I think I mentioned before that I was looking for a shelf with out a bottom because it has to fit over Kaycee's bed in the closet. Well, that's what I found. I'm afraid it might be a little small for her, but she will have to make do. LOL.

I also got (from Target) two totally adorable Halloween costumes for the dogs. His is a camoflage jacket with a dog tag attached to and where the rank goes it says "SGT K-9" LOL!! Her's is a really pretty orange dress with pumpkins all over it. It has a green criss cross ribbon laced up the back and tule under the skirt of the dress. I was showing them to Leonard lastnight (who hates clothes on dogs) and they just went nuts. It was like they somehow knew the costumes were for them. So I put them on them for a trial run and they loved it. I mean really loved it. They were jumping around and running it was like they were showing them off. I did get a couple pictures, but nothing worth sharing. I will take more later and see that I get some good ones to share.

Stopped by mom's lastnight. Got her Halloween decorations up. She bought a Haunted Village from Michaels. If you click HERE and scroll down a little bit her's is the Phantom Station. I'll be getting pictures of that also : )

Oh and on the subject of Halloween our neighbors nextdoor and upstairs have their balcony all decorated for Halloween. Lights and ghosts, it looks pretty cool. I want to take pictures of that too, but it's always SO cold outside at night and I'd have to set up my tripod so I can get a low light no flash picture without it being blurry. I just, plain and simple, don't want to spend that much time out in the cold LOL. Yes, I'm a wimp.

Temperature wise, yesterday was pretty nice. When I was walking out of Target I actually felt a little warm. When I got in the car I think it said 67 degrees. But once I get cold it's hard for me to really warm up. So I'll be complaining about the cold until about June (when it will hopefully start to warm up here LOL)

Well, that's it for now. I have a scrapbook page almost done and two cards to post, but they'll have to wait for another time. Hope everyone's weekend is good.

Crabby Cranky Grumpy Grouchy

It's hard to write, my head is killing me right now. I woke up crabby, cranky, grumpy, grouchy this morning. Didn't get enough sleep, ended up staying up til 11 reading then was up at 5am. That's just not enough sleep for me. I'm tired and ready to go to bed right now and it's not even 8pm.

Leonard had to drag me kicking and screaming on our walk this morning. I SO didn't want to go. I even asked him to go with out me but he was so darn persistant GRRRR!!! So I went for my mile walk in the freezing almost freezing cold. I bundled myself up in my layers including hat and scarf and off we went, complaining the whole way.

Work was REALLY slow and I wore my glasses most of the day, I think that's what made my head hurt, I need to wear them more rather than going weeks without them.

Anyway, I'm off for now. Going to spend a little time with Leonard then head off to bed early. I promise to catch up on everyone's blogs tomorrow.

Seriously!!

SO I knew that I wasn't taking my weight loss seriously but I didn't realize it was going in the wrong direction. So... YAY, I got my 2 pounds back. Hope I'm happy. Now it's time to get serious. This is just a little ridiculous. I mean look at that little dog, he WANTS to get to the other end so badly... poor little guy.

In the world of art, I've been getting some really neat cards in for my trades. Remember my Owl cards? HERE and HERE I've received both trades on those. Here they are:

Aren't they cool? Not sure why I can't get them to post side by side, if anyone has suggestions I'm open LOL.

Didn't get anything done on the journal lastnight. It's still sadly sitting there waiting for it's Gesso. I was just so tired lastnight. Work was stressful and I just came home and relaxed and went to bed when it was time.

I've been thinking about doing some sort of give-away on my blog. My 100th post is coming up here REAL soon. But I don't know what to give away. Maybe a couple ATCs, some stickers, stamps, ink pads, I dunno, any suggestions? Maybe I'll just skip it all together LOL. And celebrate quietly like I did my birthday LOL. I dunno. Maybe I'll plan something for my 200th post : ) We'll see. Prolly the later. I'm not at a point in my life where I'm ambitious enough to do the work drive traffic to my blog. Besides, it's main purpose right now is mostly personal use anyway.

Didn't get to mom's yesterday, she said she wasn't feeling well and wanted to make it another time. I think she's getting a bit of a cold. It's REALLY getting cold here. This morning is VERY foggy. I wouldn't be surprised if we get snow here in a couple more weeks. It's already been cold enough to snow. Ahhh snow...

I'm off for a hot shower to try to warm up. Love to all.

A Giveaway

Check out THIS awesome goodie : ) Wouldn't mind getting my hands on those yummies, how about you? All you have to do is post a link on your blog and then leave a comment on Kristin's post. How easy is that? Thank you for the chance to win Kristin : )

New Project

Along with all the other artsy stuff I've got going on, I've decided to add art journaling : ) WoooWhooo!! LOL. I actually have 2 projects in mind, one gives prompts and the other gives collage sheets. The one giving prompts is called Art Journal Gypsies and THIS is the first prompt. It's taking ownership of your journal. I finished the first part lastnight. Here's mine

I don't really enjoy this step- preparing pages, probably because I still have the mentality that I don't have a lot of paper scraps to spare. This is SO not the case LOL. Next step is to Gesso over this. I'll do that tonight : )

The collage journal project is one I might sit on for a while. Or I may incorporate it into this one. This is actually my third journal and I'm not very good at keeping up with the other 2 LOL.

This morning I went for my walk. Leonard got up soon after I did. He made us smoothies then asked if I wanted to go for a walk. That was just the little nudge I needed. It was definitely chilly out. No idea what the temp was, other than COLD!!! lol We walked about a mile.

Oh, speaking of Leonard, he came up with a solution for Ben LOL. Check out THIS article. Please don't take him seriously, he's just being silly LOL. BTW, he laughed his butt off about the turtle up the mountain thing LOL.

Got my 2 owl cards ready for the mail. In case you missed them they're HERE and HERE. I honestly can say that these were fun to make. I'm anxious to see what I get back : ) I'll be sure to post them. I did get one of my skull cards back already, I'll post pictures when I get the other one.

I've kind of decided that I should make book pages my signature. I'm going to try to fit some text from a book into all of my ATCs. I think it's a fun addition and it's so versatile : )

Got a super cute pic of Morpheus lastnight. He was laying on the bed while I was working on my journal. He's SO funny, if there are clothes some place he's going to lay on them. See that bit of purple? That's my PJ bottoms LOL. Did I mention that I wanted to name him The Cuteness? I think that would have been MUCH more appropriate : )

Okay, I'm off for now. I'm going to head over to mom's and get her window decorated for Halloween. SO fun : )) Safe travels Aunt L.

Rise & Shine

Went to bed on time & was up on time. Actually slept until the alarm went off today. It was so warm and comfy in my bed and there was nothing pressing that required me to get up but I did anyway *sigh*

I was delighted to wake up and see my new art journal on my desk though. I kind of forgot that I was working on that before bedtime lastnight. I found this neat blog that gives a journal prompt a week (sometimes 2-3 a week) and thought I'd play along. It will help me to learn new techniques and expand my creative mind. I'll try to post pictures of the progress.

The Peanut butter cookies turned out perfect. You're never going to believe how easy these are. Here's the recipe:

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 Cup crunchy peanut butter

(I used smooth, worked fine)

1 Cup sugar

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350

Mix all ingredients

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet

Flatten with fork

Bake 10-12 minutes

(10 was perfect for me)

Depending on size of cookies might need to bake longer

Cookies should be slightly uncooked

Let sit for several minutes

Recipe by Louisa Guydish

Today those hellish phonebooks are fleeing my car. I can hardly wait. Lastnight Leonard said he wasn't going to go with me to return them. I told him I'd put them in the dumpster then. I was so mad. He finally agreed to go with me. I told him I don't want to face scary phonebook lady alone LOL.

I've been thinking a lot about Aunt Linda's offer for the cabin at Turtle Creek. I don't know that we would be there full time (as EVERYONE knows, Leonard doesn't do well with the heat- and by heat I mean above 68 degrees) but I would like to put a little place in like what she's getting. Those little log cabin park model homes are just TOO stinkin' cute and they're perfect for a vacation home. I just wish I knew what they cost, can't seem to find that information anywhere. It will be a while down the road before anything like that will happen, too much debt to pay off first.

Speaking of debt... I've been meaning to write about this for several days and when I sit down to write I forget. We were looking over our credit cards a few days ago. One had a $60 annual membership fee and we don't even carry a balance on that one so I called and canceled it. Another one the interest rate went from 11% to 15% with no warning and no reason. I was HOT!!! I did nothing to deserve an interest rate increase. So- I called and canceled that card too. We have a small balance on that one that we'll have to pay off quickly. Anyway, I wanted to warn you all to take a look at your credit card statements. Make sure you're not getting ripped off. If you have good credit there are plenty of offers out there that don't require an annual fee and be sure to check that you're not unfairly being assessed an interest rate increase. It just makes me SO mad that these credit companies can get away crap like this. I refuse to be taken advantage of!
*end vent*

On another note- I got a few things done yesterday. I needed to get some things (heaters) out of the shed and get some things into the shed so I got that taken care of yesterday. I have a small heater that goes on my desk by my mouse- my mouse hand is ALWAYS freezing (does that happen to anyone else?) I seriously want to invent a heated mouse LOL. Until then, I have a little heater. It's been really cold here lately. I guess that any last glimmer of hope for a summer has faded. Now it's time to bunker down for the winter. I, personally, think it's going to be a rough one.

Later today I'm going to get my storage boxes under the bed cleared out so I can pack away my summer clothes. It's kind of neat having two different sets of clothes, I've never had that before. Living in Florida all my life where it's always 90+ degrees it wasn't a necessity. But I love scarves and hats and warm socks. Mom makes the best scarves, if only I could get her to make hats and socks I'd have it made LOL. Someday maybe LOL. I'll have to try to get some pictures of all my scarves, they're so pretty.

Okay, time to get off here and start getting ready for the day. Hope every one has a good one. Love to all.

Another Card

ATC029, originally uploaded by cfalbro.

Thought I'd try posting this from Flickr and see what happens. This is my latest card. I think it's going to be available for trade, haven't decided yet.

New Page

I did a new scrapbook page today. I'm SO close to being done with all the pictures from our trip to Florida. Aunt Linda, you're next : ))

This was made using Tangie Baxter's kit Marian the Librarian. Full credits can be seen HERE.

I have a couple ideas for ATCs and I want to get some chores done, so I'm off for now. Hope everyone is staying warm : ))

The Brrrr Is On

Yesterday it was SO cold. It was 36 degrees!!! The "watch for ice" warning came on in my car. Ugh!! I don't horribly mind the cold, I just don't like to drive in the ice, being a Florida girl, that kind of scares me. Today isn't AS cold, but it's still pretty chilly.

This morning we got up and went to IHOP for breakfast. I had my favorite, the chicken fajita omlette with pancakes yummy : ) After breakfast we WERE going to go deliver the phonebooks, but we decided that we were sick of it and tomorrow we're going to take them back to phonebook lady. It was actually Leonard's idea to drop this stupid project so that was really nice. I felt freed of a burden.

We'll still go to dinner tonight we'll just take the Tracker. We also have a little red Geo Tracker, Leondard drives that. It's old and uncomfortable, but it will get us there : ) I decided to name the Tracker Cherry-ot (like chariot) because it looks like a big cherry LOL.

We drove Cherry-ot to the grocery store and got some groceries. I found the ziploc bags Fran was talking about. We got some of those AND some frozen veggies that come already in steamer bags. I also got a few yummy recipes and got the stuff to make them. I'll try to remember to blog about what I make (and share the recipes if you're interested). For now I'm making peanutbutter cookies. I'll let ya know how they turn out.

Well, I'm off for now. I may stop in later.

A Sweet Little Gift

I have a lot to say tonight, so settle in for a long post... or skip it, it won't hurt my feelings LOL

Tonight we WERE going to go to The Outback for my birthday dinner. It's been tradition for many years now. It's my absolute favorite restaurant of ALL times and we only go on my birthday. I LOVE the Alice Springs Chicken Yummmy : ) So as my work day came to a close and I called mom, as I do every day on my way home she gently reminded me that my car is FULL OF PHONEBOOKS DUMMY AND THERE'S NO PLACE TO SIT!!! Oh yeah... STILL got a car load of phonebooks to deliver. So we decided to postpone dinner until tomorrow in hopes that I'll get the phonebooks taken care of tomorrow.

The original plan was a little shopping trip and then dinner. I know you wanna know what the shopping trip was for right? MY COUCH!!! Leonard decided that he was going to get me my couch for a birthday gift. We headed down to La-Z-Boy and sat on the couch I've been drooling over (did I mention I've had a picture of it hanging up on my artroom wall for quite some time now?). It was SO comfortable. The fold down table/tray thingy in the middle is a little wierd, but I like it LOL. So we applied for credit at the store and got approved for 12 months no interest and we put down $380 cash on it. (it isn't a cheapy couch LOL) We opted for the stain resistant spray since we DO have dogs that cuddle with us on the couch and there's no way they're going to be banned LOL. We also paid the extra $40 to have the old couch carted off since we don't own a truck. It will arrive in (brace yourselves) SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS!!! What the hell?? I was thinking like Monday or Tuesday LOL. Oh well, I'm willing to wait it out since it's something I really want. I'm very excited. Aunt Linda, I know you were so proud of me for busting my butt to be able to pay cash for it, but we'll work out a plan to make the monthly payments so it's paid off within the year.

After the couch we stopped by mom's for a bit. She gave me the most beautiful card and some cash and then she offered to chip in on the couch. That was such a wonderful surprise. I seriously have THE best mom : ) I love her SO much. Thank you again mom.

When we got home Leonard laid down for a nap, he wasn't feeling well. I went to my art-room to play. I don't know what came over me but I had an idea for 2 cards that I needed to make for swaps I'm in. They just came together perfectly, I love it when that happens. The first one is for a Skull ATC swap. I still have one more to make. I don't know if I'll be able to top this card though, I really like this one, it's kinda spooky, don't ya think?

The second one is for an Owl ATC swap. This is the second card (of 2 cards) I've made for this swap. I just love the colors of this one. It's a stamped image and the background is crackle paint. This was my first experience with crackle paint, I love the texture. Can you see it?

Well, I think that's all I've got to say for today. And good thing since bed time is in 10 minutes. Just enough time to take the dogs potty and crawl into my nice warm bed. Today I am thankful for electric blankets & heating pads, a loving (and very generous) family and a creative burst.

Making Up

LOLOL I'm so loving this day. I have this co-worker who betrayed me in a pretty bad way a year ago. We've said maybe 10 words to one another in the last year, right up until a few days ago when the hate discontent came to an abrupt end. We're too much alike is what the problem is. We're both siblingless, we're both strong willed and we both have rather aggressive personalities. Oh and did I mention... we both NEED our jobs. So I was summoned to the boss's office for our little monthly hoorah and was told that our other co-workers are feeling tension in the air. Mind you, me and the aforementioned co-worker have never worked closely until about a month ago when I started my new position, that threw us into the pot- right side by side.

So as I was saying, tension- I hadn't felt this and I think I'm usually pretty in tune to these sort of things. A day or 2 passed and it was bugging me so Thursday I called aforementioned co-worker into boss's office and in front of boss asked her if she felt tension in the air. Much like myself, she was shocked to be asked such a thing. She said that she did not and that she thought that under the circumstances we're doing really well.

Yesterday she offered to buy my lunch today for my birthday. A truce has been called. To be honest I'm glad. In a lot of ways we're both like guys in this sense it's that neither of us have any intention of apologizing (neither of us think we've done anything wrong) but for me the lunch did the trick. We're still not friends by any means, but we're friendly and that's good enough. I don't think I'll ever trust her again like I used to.

Now the funny thing about today... I'm at work (on a little break) and her son just walked in with his fiance. Turns out fiance doesn't like mom (at all). She was on her break so I took pleasure in excusing myself to the breakroom to let her know that the bride of frankenstein has arrived. Oh she went into a tizzy. "Let the games begin" she said and all I could do was laugh. I requested to pass up my break so I could partake in the entertainment but was declined LOL. Well, NOW my break is over and I MUST go see how things are going.

I'll try to write more later.

Bleh!

Not in the mood to write. Maybe tomorrow. No further comment.

Sleep

I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing about my silly sleep schedule (me especially) but I wanted to mention that I haven't heard my alarm clock in about a week. I always wake up before it now, usually about 5:30am. Today I was SO tired I decided I was going back to sleep, screw the schedule. So I did then I woke up at 5:59am. *sigh* I'm a believer in signs, what can I say?

I started working on a new freebie yesterday. It's a boy kit. It seems that there are a lot of requests for boy kits. Of course, it will be available here as soon as it's done.

Didn't get my chore done yesterday, just too tired after work and too sore before work. I think today we're going to try to get some phonebooks delivered. I'm SO sick of having them in my car. Besides, I think Leonard is trying to be extra sweet right now. I DID get my chore done today, it was a small one. Kaycee's bangs needed trimming. She was starting to look like a little black and tan sheep dog LOL. I'm still enjoying the work I did in my bathroom, it smells so fresh and clean when I walk in there now (and I can't help but peek into the shower everytime, just to see the sparkle LOL)

Went to Michaels yesterday. They've completely redone the store, it looks great. The racks aren't so high, they're mostly all shoulder height now with the higher shelves being used like dividers to seperate the sections. I picked up a couple items- a stamp, some stickers, a circle template and some crackle paint YUM!!! And one of my co-workers (also a Linda) gave me a beautiful bag of adhesive goodies for my birthday.

Before I go, I wanted to talk about http://www.digi-scrapper.com/ My totally rockin' Aunt Linda bought this domain name for me yesterday and I'm stoked about it. I don't have a website or store at this time, so I'm thinking of pointing it at my blog for now. I think that at some point I will do something at least, but for now, may as well put it to use, right? Thank you Aunt Linda LOVE YOU : ))

It's almost that time (work) so I'm going to get off here and finish getting ready. Hope the girls have a good time this weekend : ) I'll have Georgia on my mind *wink*

Better Header

Thought it was time for a festive Halloween Header : ) I just whipped it up real quick, what do you think?

Freezing!!!

Lastnight was SO cold I didn't think I was ever going to get to sleep. It got up to 70 yesterday for a little bit but once the sun went down the temperature dropped drastically. Not quite to freesing, but pretty close. I kept thinking lastnight that I should just get up and plug in my electric matress pad but then I finally realized I was too tired and THAT is when I fell asleep. You would think that with 2 comforters on I would be warm enough. Tonight I'll add my elecric blanket also. Sure hope all this stuff doesn't short out on me LOL.

Lost a pound w00t!! I'm sure it's due to my phonebook delivering LOL.

On the subject of phonebook delivering, I am SO sore. Today is even worse than yesterday. Ohhhhhh this sucks.

And my last little bit of news... this morning Leonard announced that he's now giving up turkey and chicken also. So now he'll only eat veggies and fish. I don't know that I can go down that route with him though, there aren't many veggies that I like and I don't know how to cook veggies, so I'm thinking he's on his own now. It will make it hard for him, but it's worth a try if it's what he wants to do.

That's it for now. I need a hot shower to warm up. Catch ya later

Day Two: Phonebook Hell

I woke up this morning and was so stiff and sore I could barely move. LOLOL How sad is that? But I have been thinking that I miss the pain of a good workout, guess I got it. I'm sure mom is 10x worse than I am. She says just her hands hurt. Lucky her LOL.

Today Leonard went out with me. Spent about an hour and a half tossing out books. At least there's a hole now where I can see out my back window, but only on the driver's side. I swear I'll never do THIS again. Yeah, the couch is nice, but I'm not going to get it this way. This is WAY too much work. I have an extremely cush job, I'm not used to real work. So if we ever get this route finished I'll collect my measely $100 and sock it away... hey, only $900 more to go after that LOL.

Got my chore done, the bathtub. My bathroom is sure shaping up. Tomorrow I'll do the toilette and then the floor. Then I can cross off "clean bathroom" from my list LOL. I think my next chore after that should be to clean off the dining room table (which is actually my desk) so it really looks like a messy desk. :(

Yesterday I got an email that my blog is approved for the Pay Per Post thing. I'm pretty excited about getting started. I don't want to accept any offers yet because I think they have to be completed within 48 hours of accepting and I want to do a good job and research the topic before writing my post. I also want to get a few freebies made to drive traffic to my blog. The more traffic the better my rating with the company and the more/better offers I can get.

Finished a new card. It's a simple card, but it was fun. And of course it's available for trade : )) The scan didn't turn out real well : ( but it is a pretty card.

Tomorrow is weigh in day. I don't expect results. Next week will be better : ) Until next time...

Day One: Phonebook HELL

OMG WHAT A DAY!!! I am pooped. Went to meet phonebook lady at 8:30am. Picked up 552 phonebooks! Barely fit them all into the car and I drive an HHR (it's basically... a station wagon- see photo). Of course it already had a bunch of junk in it. Half way back from Port Townsend (remember- an hour away) DH (Damn Hubby Darling Hubby) decided he didn't feel well and didn't want to go deliver phonebooks with me!!!!!!!! Yep, that's right.

Now before you go and cuss him let me say this- I am a Stand By My Man kinda girl, so if I cuss him that's one thing, but if you do... well that's not cool LOL. Ask mom LOL. If you want to be supportive say "dang girl that sucks" NOT "oh that bastard!" In his defense he DOES have some sort of auto-immune/vascular disease that causes him ALL KINDS of pain. So I do understand plus this whole thing was my idea and he just offered to come with me. I can't get too mad at him, but at the time I was kind of fumming. So I called mom to see if she wanted to ride around with me and she DID!!! I was so happy to have her with me and even though she thinks she didn't help she REALLY did, she bagged all of my books for me- that's a HUGE help. We went until I was so exhausted I couldn't go any more. I'm pretty sure I at least burned off all the calories from that small pumpkin pie milk shake Leonard and I shared at McD's- maybe even the cookie and a half that I had from there to ~sigh~

~~~End Vent~~~

note to self- MUST STOP BEING BAD!!!

I'm thinking of trying to run hit a small area in the morning before work. I have to be at work early tomorrow, I'm not on my regular schedule tomorrow- unfortunately. Sure will be glad when the new guy gets trained so I can get back on (and stay on) my regularly scheduled program.

As mom said, I sure won't have any problem getting to sleep tonight.

Oh by the way, I did get a small chore done today. I got my bath mat bleached. In time it gets cruddy and needs some help so I got it taken care of. Also got my bathroom sink done. NOT the counter around it (so I won't cross off bathroom sink yet) just the sink itself : )) I'm pleased. Okay, I'm off to do something fun... maybe make a scrapbook page or print off some stuff for trading cards.

Love to my lovelies : )

Full Day Today

I don't have to work but I do have LOT'S to do.

My day started at 5:50am. Everyday that I'm up before the alarm goes off I'm amazed. Today was especially hard to get motivated to get going but got up rather than sleeping those extra 10 minutes LOL

First, today is the day we go meet the phone book lady. I'm actually looking forward to it. Every phone book I deliver brings me a little closer to that LazyBoy couch I want LOL. Unfortunately, the one in the picture doesn't display the 2 main features that I'm interested in- the recliners on both ends and the drop down table/armrest in the middle.

After that we have to drive out to Port Townsend to get my driver license. Now THIS is a long story LOL. The 2 local locations are both closed on Monday and Port Townsend is about an hour away. It's a beautiful drive in the mountains and through the farms, and Port Townsend itself is a beautiful little town with a booming historic downtown area. SO, lastnight Leonard & I went to Subway for some dinner (and those horrible chocolate chip cookies LOL) and then we hit Target for a couple items. We didn't feel like going home so we headed to the bowling alley for some darts- which they no longer have. Next stop was a little pub called Our Place. Found a dart board there and went to grab a couple drinks. The bartender looks at my ID (because I look OH SO YOUNG old and she wanted to make me feel good I'm sure) and then gently reminded me that my license is going to expire in SIX DAYS!!! HOLY CRAP!!! I HAD NO IDEA!!! LOL. So now it isn't an option whether or not I get it done today. That's okay though, the picture I've had on there is HORRIBLE.

After that I don't know what's up, but I'm sure there will be something. For now I need to go get some breakfast ready and get out the door LOL

Tomorrow is weigh in. I'm sure it won't be good. I don't think I've taken my first week very seriously.

Bright Eyed

I just cannot believe it. Day 2 of waking up before the alarm. I woke up this morning at 5:35am. I was certainly not ready to just jump right out of bed and face the day head on, but I convinced myself it was better than going back to sleep. If I can keep this up maybe I'll get to a point where I actually get dressed and go for a walk as soon as I get up LOL.

So far... it's just another day in Paradise : ) I'll probably be back to write more later.

Happy Camper

Okay, who am I fooling? NO ONE!!! I'm mostly over being cranky. I think that I'm just overly tired. This sleep schedule is KILLING ME!!! LOL. It's definitely taking a while to get used to it. I guess I just wanted it to happen over night. But my thoughts are this- If I keep making myself do it eventually my body is going to figure out that this is just the way it is and maybe I should stay asleep at night instead of getting up 12 times to go to the bathroom. Or better yet, maybe my mind will evenetually say "Hey, maybe if we get rid of some of this fat that's pressing up against the bladder causing me to get up 12 times during the night then maybe I can stay asleep at night and feel better in the morning" LOL. I dunno, I just know I'm tired!

Moving right along. I've been totally slack the last 2 days. No chores done. Shame shame. Honestly, the chores I have left though are mostly big things and I don't want to do them after spending an entire day busting butt at work. I guess I need to work more on getting things onto my list. Hey, that could be a chore... LOL.

Talked to a gal on the phone yesterday about a little part time job for the next couple weeks, I'm meeting with her on Monday. It's delivering phone books. I figure I might be able to make enough money for that couch I want to buy AND it's something Leonard and I can do together. We used to deliver newspapers (many moons ago) and we had a blast. Only problem was no days off, but that was really good money for such a few amount of hours : ) Hmmm... may look into doing some more of that LOL. I see ads all the time here for fill in drivers, maybe a couple days a week. I dunno, that would definitely interfere with my sleep schedule though. AND I could really only see myself doing it on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday- I'm off work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays start at noon. Hmmm... have to think on it.

Haven't been doing much scrapping lately, so nothing to show today. I have one almost done, maybe for tomorrow. But I do have lots of fun pictures that need to be scrapped. I'm almost finished scrapping the pictures from our trip to Alabama/Florida from THREE months ago LOL.

Anyway, guess that's my news. Until next time...

Bad Attitude

I am SO tired. I didn't get to bed on time lastnight, I was trying to stay up to watch Ironman with Leonard. I seriously love the movie but I couldn't stay awake. So I went to bed it was some time between 10:30 & 11:00pm. My alarm went off at 6:30am, I reset it to 7:30am and still didn't want to get up, but I did and I'm cranky, I want to still be in bed, plus, I have to do something at work today that I don't want to do. So tempting to play hooky, but not going to LOL.

It's mom's birthday today. We're going to go to Olive Garden for dinner. She hasn't said yet if she wants to go tonight or on the weekend. Doesn't matter either way to me. So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Not much to report today. I did get to cross off my chore for yesterday. Mom even got her chore done. She cleaned her bathtub yesterday. That's a hard job but she got it done. I don't know if I'll get mine done today or not. I need to work on adding more things to my list, it's full of weekend type chores LOL.

Well, I'm off for now. I probably won't be back until tomorrow. So until then, be good and enjoy the rest of your day.

Tangie Baxter Freebie

It's a birthday celebration at TangieBaxter.com!!! It's the store's first birthday and we're going to party!!! Check out The Loft for a freebie a day. And be sure to see what's new in the store. There are coupons available, the more you buy, the more you save!! It's going to be a blast, come celebrate with us.

Okay, I'm awake

Wasn't so sure in that last post. I went to bed at 10:30 lastnight, half an hour past my bedtime, oops. Sure didn't wake up before the alarm today, I was TIRED!! So I reset it for 6:30am and still didn't want to get up but I dragged my butt out of bed anyway. Yesterday was really busy at work. It seemed kind of unusual, but it sure made the day go by quick.

Mom has been reading our blogs and decided to jump on the chore a day bandwagon. I'm SO proud of her, she got her bathroom sink done yesterday, she says it looks so sparkly and pretty. By the way, Aunt L, I've tried to get her to start a blog but she says she has nothing to write about : ( I told her she could write about her daily chores... she's not budging.

Speaking of chores I need to get up from here and get mine done. One more dog butt to shave then I can cross something off. The crossing off is the best part. The down side is for everything I cross off I add 2 more things >sigh<>

I'll leave you with my newest scrapbook page. This is the last one for September. Now I just need to move them all over to my external hard drive and start an October folder.


(Pictured- Left to Right- Mom, Sandy (my brother Danny's ex wife), Felicity (Danny's daughter, she's the same not so little girl from the picture I posted a couple days ago) and in front is Felicity's daughter, Emily) Credits can be seen HERE.

Hey Weight!!!

Okay, did my weigh in. One pound down. Must have been from standing all day yesterday LOL. That's okay, I'll take it. My goal is to loose 2 pounds a week, it's totally do-able, just have to actually DO it. At that rate I'd be really close to my goal weight in a year...