Card 5 of 52 for 2009

I made this card tonight while the men were going to see a movie.
It's a pretty easy Birthday Card and we will be making this at February's Camp.

Journaling Layout 2 of 52 for 2009

I am a little behind on posting layouts due to January being so messed up.
I actually scrapbooked this 2 page layout last night and did most of the journaling this morning on the pages I did last night. I got 14 pages done last night. I think that's a new record for me, I was in the zone. LOL
This is a hike we took on our vacation to the Smoky Mountains. We went to the Smoky Mountain National Park and hiked to see 2 waterfalls. This was the smaller of the 2 waterfalls. Catarat Falls.

Here's the Photo

I have had a few compliments on the new photo on my blog and facebook page.
Here is the original picture that I cropped the photo of Todd and I from.
We had family pics done about 2-3 weeks ago and this is one of the photos from the shoot.

I am so done with January 2009

I am so done with this month. We have had so many emotional and uncontrollable events that has happen to us this month that I am done with this month.
I am looking forward to a calmer and more happier rest of 2009.

One great thing happened this month and that is we no longer have GWB as our commander and chief and we now have BHO who has our nation feeling hope and encouragement, something we haven't felt in awhile.

One of my favorite, usefull gifts.....EVER!

Don't get me wrong I LOVE jewelry, flowers and all girlie things (got that Todd) but this has been one of my favorite and usefull gifts that I have received:



Yes, a Crock Pot. It's a Hamilton Beach Stay of Go Slow Cooker. It has a large capacity, Clip-tight lid locks on to prevent messy spills with a spoon rest on the lid, Large, full-grip handles make carrying easy.
A few years ago all the adults on Todd side of the family received this as a gift from Todd's parents. This little sucker has made some great dishes.
Beef Stew, Pork Loins, Ribs, Roasts, etc. I have a slow cooker lasagna recipe I wanna try and I will keep looking for other recipes that I can try in this cooker.

Ok Hamilton Beach you can send me a royalty check anytime. LOL

Card 4 of 52 for 2009

This will be the anniversary card we will be making at my February Stamp Camp.
I have to give part of the credit of this card to Kyra one of my stamp campers. She came up with the idea for the 2 embossed love birds punched out with the scallop circle punch.

Going Scrapbooking!!

Whippeee
Next Friday night my sister and I are going scrapbooking! Whippee
I don't remember the last time we went, I think maybe in November? Not sure.
I am going to take a 1/2 vacation day next Friday in order to go. This weekend I will be working on getting all my supplies ready to take with me. I am so looking forward to going, being creative and getting some more of our Tennessee vacation pages done.

Recovering from Surgery

Early this morning Ethan had his 4 wisdom teeth pulled.
He did pretty well I think, it seemed his surgery lasted longer then Jordan's did when he had his out in August.
Ethan is sleeping right now, the doctor has him on Vicodin, Penicillin and Decadron
Poor thing.

Witnessing History Again

Jordan said to me today, "You know Mom I have witnessed a lot of history being made in my life so far, and I hope some day I will be able to tell my Great Grandkids about it."
He sure has and I hope that today he remembers the coming together of our nation as one and explains the change that hopefully our nation will witness to his Grandchildren as well as his Great Grandchildren,

Just not enough time

This is going to be a crazy. At work I have a report due by the end of the week, our end of year auditors showed up today and we are working with them to make the audit quick and smooth. The auditors could stick around for a week or months depending on how things go.
Plus Ethan will be having surgery on Wednesday, so I will be taking that day off. There is just not enough time in the day to get everything that needs to be done this week.

I Like It

I always like to mix up my blog, I get bored easily. LOL
So I decided to put up a Valentines background.

I LIKE IT!

bitter, frigid, arctic, freezing, frosty, gelid, icy, polar, frozen...

If I think about it, I can probably come up with a few more adjectives for how these few day in IL have been.
Last night when I was laying in a nice semi-warm bed (my natural heater is still in Alabama) I was watching the news and the temperature was -11 with a wind chill of -33
We received a phone call last night and then again early this morning that the high school will be starting 2 hours later in hopes that when the children come to school it will be at least about 0 degrees.
Ethan was supposed to go downtown today to pick up his books for Spring semester but he is now going to wait until Monday.
They are calling for a heatwave next Wednesday and Thursday with a high of 30+ degrees, Whoo Hoo!

Ricardo Montalban dies at 88

I as a teen watched Fantasy Island like a lot of people. I thought then and even now Ricardo was a true gentleman, a very suave and debonair man. As he got older as an actor he didn’t take himself too seriously; doing movies like The Naked Gun and Spy Kids 2 & 3. It is really cool that elder actors do this.
“Smiles Everyone, Smiles!”

Winter of 78-79 Winter of 08-09

30 years doesn't seem that long ago and it sure seems like history might be repeating itself.
I found this on WGN.com Tom Skilling posted this on the Ask Tom area of the website
See if you remember this:
The winter of 1978-79 was Chicago's worst. It boasts an all-time record 89.7 inches of snow, plus a record 100 consecutive days of snow cover from Nov. 26 to March 5. December was very snowy with 31.4 inches accumulating,including a New Year's Eve blast that brought 7.6 inches. But that snowstorm was the famed "Blizzard of 79" that dumped 21.0 inches of snow on Chicago from Jan. 11-14, bringing the city to a standstill. Snow was piled so high that people tied flags to their cars so they could be seen as they approached snow-clogged intersections. Side streets were impassible, and many cars could not be moved until the snow finally melted.
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I remember all that but what I also remember is having days of school closings, walking to the grocery store to get only what you really needed because you would have to carry the groceries home in the snow and having friends sleep over at our house during the New Year's Eve blast. Even though that was a tough winter, it was a memorable one.

Card 3 of 52 for 2009

A Valentine's card that we will be making at stamp camp this weekend

Amazing how much stuff you can get done...

Amazing how much stuff you can get done when you get up at 4:45am
I had to get up early this Sunday morning so I could take Todd to the airport. He is on his way to Alabama to attend his Brother-in-laws memorial service. (Wishing we all could have gone but I only get 1 bereavement day through my job and Jordan has finals this week)
After taking Todd to the airport I decided to go straight to the grocery store and get our weekly shopping done. I think I was one of only a few shoppers that I saw at the store. After shopping I unload the car and bags of food all by myself because my children where still asleep, I then changed my clothes and went to the gym.
I think that around 2:00pm I am going to need a NAPzzzzzzzzzz.

Slip and Fall, Arlo and Janis

I read this Arlo and Janis today and thought about Todd. He slipped and feel leaving my sisters house today. I wasn't lucky enough to see the actual falling, but I did see the aftermath. It looked like he was making snow angels.
(Click on the comic to read larger.)

Sorrow and Grief

I post this message with sorrow and grief
We found out that my Brother-in-law Scotte passed away last night.
He found out he had cancer back in March and at one point he thought he was close to beating it, then the cancer was found in his stomach and lungs and when that was discovered the only thing we all could do was to have hope and pray.
Scotte was a very strong believer in our LORD so I know that he is now in peace.
My thoughts are with my sister-in-law Viva and my niece and nephew Kayla and Adam. They will constantly be in my thoughts as they deal with this loss.

Wisdom Teeth and a neat story

Well after visiting the oral surgeon today we found out that all 4 of Ethan's wisdom teeth will have to come out. We weren't too surprised by this though.
A really neat story involving the Oral Surgeon and Ethan. The Surgeon asked Ethan how old he was and where he is attending college. Ethan told him and when he did the surgeon who had his back to Ethan stopped and shot Ethan a look. Then the surgeon and Ethan must have had a 20 minute conversation on how he was a sports photographer for Michael Jordan through his basketball career and that he is currently working on a prespective book (not about Michael but about another subject that he asked us not to discuss openly because he is waiting on his copyrights) he left the room and come back with pre-photos for his book and asked Ethan's opinion. Ethan suggested that after the book was published to make a website to not only promote the book and photos but to add even more photos to the website. The surgeon thought that this was a great idea and asked Ethan if he did webpages.
I really enjoyed watching this play out and seeing my son give someone his "professional" opinion and in return someone really appreciating the advise given.
WOW my son really is an adult!!!

Prayers Please

I found out today that my brother-in-law Scotte will be moving to a Hospice center. The doctors told his family that their is nothing more that they can do.
I pray that he will be in peace.

Card 2 of 52 for 2009

If the order I placed a few days ago arrives in time, we will be making a Valentines Day card similar to this one at Stamp Camp. If my order does not arrive in time then we will be making this card at Stamp Camp.
The idea for this card came from Kristina Werner a very talented graphic designer and stamper.

An Artist Eye

Here is what we found on the kitchen counter.
Every so often we find obsure things around the house that has been "created".
This was done by Ethan who is majoring in Animation at college.
He does have an artistic view of things.

Bookmark

I got this idea from Dawn Griffith a very talented stamper.
This is one of the 2 we will be making at stamp camp. I don't have the material yet for the other one but once it arrives I will make the bookmark and post it here.
Really cool isn't it?

Journaling for Scrapbooking 1 of 52

This is a 2 page layout.
Here is the journaling for this layout...Memories

This was a fun Polte Camp
We all got together at the house that
Todd grew up in because no one was
living there at the time. What was nice
is that we had quick access to a bathroom and
for those who prefer not to sleep in a tent,
we were able to sleep indoors.

Each year the kids would decorate a t-shrit
Mary’s ides was used this year. Taking strips
of scotch tape on the t-shirt; make a design,
then spray the t-shirt with different colors of
Rit-dye that has been placed in spray bottles.
Once dried, remove the scotch tape and you
have a design where the dye did not get sprayed.

That evening we sat by a bon-fire, roasted
marshmallow for Smores and music was provided
by Marvin, Scotte, Todd and anyone else
who wanted to sing.~August-1999

Card 1 of 52 for 2009

A Hard Time Holding My Tongue

I am so glad today wasn't the day I started the Love Dare Journal.
The 1st task is to basically hold your tongue and not say anything negative.
Well let me tell you this Friday evening I would have never passed this task! I did though voice my opinion about an extended family situtation to my husband. Lets just say I would love to give a few people a piece of my mind. I won't go into detail here on my blog but boy did this situation REALLY piss me off and open my eyes! I am still frustrated by the whole situtation and probably will be for a very long time.

All Gone, Well Almost

We spent last night and this morning packing up Christmas.
Everything is almost back to normal except for the outdoor icicle lights.
Today the temperature 31 degrees out but there is a cold wind, so I don't think the lights will be coming down today. Maybe the lights will come down on Saturday, they are calling for 37 degrees but no wind. Probably one of the warmer days we will see for a while.