Another random post day

It's pretty isn't it?  This was the year it finally had blossoms, not just one, but many.  I think I planted this baby over 5 years ago with a S L O W but steady growth, and this is the results year, hooray for me!  It's a Trumpet Flower for those of you who will wish to know this information, and the hummingbirds LOVE it!  I waited for them to come back so I could take a photo of the birdies too, but they didn't cooperate.

Yesterday I had a girls day with my pals. A birthday celebration.  We started at the store I work at and then went to the movie MAMMA MIA. It was avery good movie, fun, intersting and I had to laugh out loud a few times.  It is well worth getting some girlfriends together and spending a girls day out, complete with a nice dinner afterwards.

We headed for Red Robin for some beers and burgers (I had Raspberry Limeade, kind of like a margarita without the kick).  

Oh, and yay me, no laundry for a while.  The sewer is giving us issues (you have GOT to love country living) so no laundry, dishwasher or other large water uses, like the jacuzzi tub.  So, I am currently waiting for Mr Plumber dude to return to "fix" the issue so I can get back to the enjoyable task of laundering our clothes.  AHH, those things we miss when you can't actually DO them.

Book reading

I just picked these up at the library.  I couldn't find the #14 by Janet, so I had to settle for these.  How WILL I ever get through my days......LOL

SCISSORS

More CHA stuff.   I told you in an earlier post about all the scissors I got my hands on....FISKARS was very generous with the scissors this year.  Last you could get a pair of scissor engraved with your name (or whatever you wanted) on the blades.  This year they gave you a chance at THREE pairs of scissors...all signed by designers (their designers) and engraved with the product name on it.


The Blue/green set is from INK by Steph.  Don't you just love her handwriting?  The tag is awesome too!

The Green glittery set is from 'Lil Davis and signed by the designers on a tag using their products.  Cute Halloween papers. You probably can't see the glitter in the handles on these scissors, but trust me, they are there.

The other set of scissors available, if you were willing to stand in line for them was from Heidi Grace.  I was busy doing something else during this one, but I think a PAL of mine might have gotten a set!!

By the way, I have added a link to the side bar for my "CRAFTING" blog (which just happens to be my old blog ....I couldn't give that one up....lol) So all my crafty stuff will be there now, unless I have nothing to say here, then you will see stuff in this blog.

Showgirl or Big Bird?

For reason's unknown to all, when you are at CHA, you can dress and act like a fool.....I didn't act like a fool (a least I don't remember doing that...lol) but I did "dress the fool" while out and about on the show floor.  People hand you buttons, lanyards, blinky things, feathers for your hair, ribbons (see the green thing in my hair...that was wrapped around the "SLICE"  apron from Making Memories.....whatever....I put it on and wore it too.....Look at me grinning like a fool in all these photos!....lol

Here is a PIX with Stephenie (AKA Fiskateer #003...now a LEGEND)..at CHA in the FISKARS booth....note the big yellow feather in my hair....when in Rome I guess....OOPS,  the photos are out of order....but I am leaving them.....this is the first day with STEPHANIE from  INK by Steph....also a FISKARS product.....free scissors, free photo, signed piece of art too....not looking as dorky in this photo....but I am sure you agree day two is much more dorky....and day three I am sporting the "LOVE MACHINE" T-shirt.......hahaha
Showgirl me with the Designers from Lil' Davis.....could not tell you there names....but, again, free scissors, free photo and a signed piece of art (but Steph's was much cooler because it used her product and her handwriting was amazing.....)

here it is....

That would be me on the pole at Coyote Ugly in downtown Chicago.  Ok, this pole is down at a level for us short people to get up onto it without the assistance of the bouncers (who are more than happy to assist you up onto the bar when you need it, by literally picking you up and placing you on the bar.....)

No, I was actually up on this table to help take a closer shot of a moose above our heads that was loaded with bras and panties (a little ewww here) for Miss Annette, but she took a photo of me on it before she handed the camera over for the shot.....this is the girl who wanted to go to this bar in the first place, but would NOT get up on the pole or bar.....

Oh, and I guess I was caught looking like a dork outside the show floor as well...silly me, I forgot about putting the feather back in my hair on the drive home.....went well with the "LOVE Machine" T-shirt I was wearing.....I think it goes nicely with my blingy glasses...might have to wear this outfit again....lol!!

more pix later

Wholly Guacamole!

Have you heard of it...OMG...so good.  I suppose it is an organic guacamole, but it is packaged in these tightly sealed packets so they stay fresh....it's just avocados, garlic salt, onion salt, lime, and a jalapeno puree....squeeze it out onto a plate or just peel back the top and eat with your chips.  Annette and I had some at the Scrap 'til Midnight Friday....super delish!  And it's from "WHOLLY GUACAMOLE".  There are 6 individual packets in the box and you find them in the refrigerated section....about $4.50 for a box...12 oz. total.

Ok, I really need to get crafting....

Random things

there is no such thing as a random thought right?  those how my thoughts work anyway...whatever, where ever.

I have a picture of my kitties....my triplets....I have been trying to get a photo of them together but they are too darn fast.  This is as good as it gets.  That's Runt on the top of the photo and Squeeker on the left, leaving Shorty (short for Short Round from Indiana Jones) on the right.

Details of CHA. Since a lot of you live vicariously through people who go, I will give you a typical day.

6am: wake and get showered and dressed while sharing room with two other women.  Attempt to make a breakfast out of whatever we have in room because food in restaurant is REALLY REALLY expensive!

8:40am: head to elevator and hope the wait isn't too long....because the wait at Starbucks will be longer.

8:45am: wait at Starbucks (this is where me and my companions part ways, since I am NOT a coffee drinker)

9am: make my way to show floor...this is around 800 steps in case you wondered how far we walked....lol...and start the fun.

So from this point you do a lot of walking, looking at all the new goodies, new companies and try to get catalogs from all the vendors.  IF you are really schmoozy you can manage a free T-Shirt or two out of them.  Of course, you are always on the lookout for the shortest line for a make & take on the show room floor too, because we all want samples.  I must say, Sunday was the easiest day to get samples done quickly, most people have left the show and are returning home.  I think I did the majority of my "makin" on Sunday morning.  I will have to post the photos of those later, i still haven't unpacked all of that.  Somewhere in this mad rush you manage to find the time to choke down something that resembles food (in my case nachos) and keep trucking. Run into people you know along the way, chat, watch them win prizes right in front of your eyes, keep on trucking....

5pm: head back to the hotel because they have officially kicked your butt out.  Walk the additional 800 steps back to the elevator where and ocean of people are trying to cram into 4 little glass tubes....I found this to be very funny, but being on the 9th floor, I was not willing to walk (until Saturday, I just couldn't wait forever to get up there...plus it's good exercise!)

5:25pm: hopefully you've made it to the room by then because now you have to unload all the magazines and catalogs and samples you just aquired and now you need to sit down and think about what the next days purchases are going to be....the new companies, the ones with the best show specials...or the prettiest papers with "WOW" factor....or all of the above....lol

7:35: sick of looking at catalogs and circling things you realize REAL food is needed.  Change clothes, freshen up and head for parking garage...500 steps more....get in car, try to remember how the guy said to put ticket in slot and leave....bye bye Mr Ticket Dude (same guy the entire visit...I don't think he left) see you when we return.

8pm: find restaurant without a line and order real vittles...eat and return to hotel (or go shopping, whatever works)

9:20pm back in room, Ticket Dude is laughing at me again because the ticket thingy doesn't work for me I guess...he always has to help me.

9:25: we get our "bar" out and mix up some cocktails to get us through the rest of the evenings work.

10:40: Realize we have t do this again tomorrow and decide sleep is needed.

11:15 brush teeth, unclip pedometer (see the number...16,861....!) and decide you definitely got ENOUGH exercise today!...sleep

Hubby comes home today...after a lovely visit to Biloxi for work.  He is leaving just in time I guess, the forecast for the next week is ridiculous!...temps of 95-100 with a heat index of 115....and humid.....yucky.

I was inspired to do some crafting when I returned, but I was so backlogged with things to finish for the store that all my attention was focused on that....but I made somewhere around 25 pages for the "Pages 4 Sale" basket!

OK, I had some more thoughts but apparently I have forgotten them....so that is all today....must get to work on a card kit...

I got to hang out with MISS TINA

at our PRIMA event last night!   We had such a good time, lots of fun, prizes and M&M's!

I am just sad we didn't get a photo together....I guess she will just have to come visit again!

I was so exhausted after last night I slept in again.....plus I have a Scrap 'til midnight to work tonight......less sleep again....oh well, those are fun to work.

Plus, my pal CAROLYN is having a little giveaway on her bloggie because she won a ton of stuff at CHA last weekend and she needs to weed her winnings.....of course, her sister won even more stuff....lucky family!!!

more things from show

Ok, so this is just a bag...but how cool is that?  It's just CUTE!  It's big too, like grocery size.....which, I think, is what I will be using it for.

This is the project from my PRIMA class with "Fire and Ice" Michelle Van Etten and Trisha Ladouceur...they designed the "Build a Book" albums.  Very cool concept.   

My business card.  Isn't it cute...designed it myself at Vista Print (for a whole lot less).   All three of us had the same design.

Ok, so that is a lame set of photos, but these are some of those little behind the scenes things that I enjoyed.  I am still waiting on the ones from someone else's camera.....scary stuff...lol

More pix from the show

This is my T!M haul  from class.....I forgot about the stamps (how could I forget those!!) Glossy Accents, a white pen (this pen is AWESOME!!!!), the foam thingy (which has a name I can't remember), a stamper and the scraper...the project itself was not highly exciting but it has all the techniques on one ring with the instructions right on the back....how easy is that to display at the store with the product!!

My badge holder...it's kinda like wearing art.  I got many more button this year than last....so fun!  We got a cute pink and chocolate lanyard from DCWV to attach our badges to and then you go around and collect the buttons and things from the booths.  I have one blinky one, a rubber one, a fabric one and the rest are the regular kind...but cute!  I also stood in line for about 25 minutes for a pink and chocolate bag from PROVO CRAFT.....what was I thinking....but you did get a tag with a number on it, and if you found your number match, you won another prize.....no matches for me though.  Oh, and the upside-down blue T-shirt in the background is from PAZZLES, I had to beg for that one!...lol

And a THANK YOU to CAROLYN for her award to me (and others on her blog)

I learned about a new scrapblog while at CHA called...get this...SCRAPBLOG.  I decided to check it out and made myself a little page. (which is below I think)  It is basically digital scrapbooking without loading things onto your computer, it's kinda fun  and pretty easy to play with.

Scraprita

I'm back.........

Well, I've been back since Sunday night, but this trip REALLY wore me out!!

Here is me, T!M and Leann (the boss) after our technique class....wow, the amount of product you get in one of those is AMAZING!  I think we walked away with 6 ink pads, 3 of the Dauber inks, 3 Paint pens, a Color Wash bottle (the big one), a paint pallet filled with alcohol ink, a mini Mister and more stuff I am forgetting.  A really nice class...and when you mess up and raise your hand, T!M comes over and helps you out....cool!

This year our trip downtown was to visit the COYOTE UGLY bar.  OK, it's just a bar with girls dancing around and very huge bouncers who are more then happy lift you onto the bar to dance with the girls.

Us girls at the bar.

Dawn, Annette, Carolyn and Leann

Me and Carolyn during the show....after she won her SLICE prize and before she won her ROCK, PAPER, TRIMMER from FISKARS.  You can't see my "LOVE MACHINE" t-shirt from Quik-Qutz under all that stuff on my hall pass....I was getting a lot of looks on the way home after we left the show floor....

Our hotel, The HYATT.  We were on the 9th Floor and the center was a huge atrium with two bar/restaurants on the lobby level, a little Starbucks and this center elevator shaft with 4 glass elevators.  Annette and Leann are actually on the elevator in this photo, I took the stairs. This was upon our return from Coyote Ugly.

 At 5pm when everyone is leaving the show floor the elevator lobby is FILLED with people waiting to get on, it's crazy!  It was funny to watch all these people stuff themselves into the glass elevators.  The show was a lot of fun and a lot of work.  Next year they are putting on the show in Orlando, so no more trips for me!  Darn, just when I was getting the hang of this location.

I will show more photos tomorrow

I have to take pictures of all my goodies!

I'm off

Storms are closing in and I must shut off the computer for the remainder of my time at home...see y'all after CHA!

Check out my bag below....I am lovin' it!

Carolyn, make sure your dancin' shoes are packed....well, at the very least some comfy walking shoes.!

my new bag

I haven't scrapped in a while, but I got this bag altered this afternoon so I had a purdy new bag to carry around at the show.  I took the "competitors" logo off the bag and replaced it with these nice green flowers and letters to spell out my name.  Fun, ya!

I might not update while I am gone so don't have too much fun without me.

One crazy weekend

Dawn (me), Quin, Kim, and Pete

The Walking Wagner's....a "special" team photo 

The running Wagner's

City girls enjoying the mud on the farm

Kaitlyn's new kitty :)

Why can't I remember

to log out of my old account before I post at other people blogs??? grrr.  The only reason I moved to this new one was so I could do crafty stuff at the old address and not have my "profile" open to the  people who read my work blog.  and then I just can't remember to "log out" before heading off to my fun stuff.....

anyway, it's been a busy weekend, lot's of family stuff, birthday parties and run/walk events.  I will update a little later on those things...once I find my camera again and get photos loaded.  The family leaves later today so I will have time after that.

Such a nice weekend we are having in the weather department.  Stormy on Thursday/Friday, but Saturday and today are perfect!

Ok, chat later.

PAZZLES Projects

My vinyl Pazzles project, all I had to do it is come up with a cut file to use the vinyl product.  So I did one for each of the boys.  Quin's side
And Nick's side of the car.

It has been on the car since May and is still there, through car washes, rain storms and the hot sun.  Looks just like it does right there on the screen.

The vinyl is fun to work with.  Hopefully they get some nice colors in the packs when they finish development on these.

What I won't do... and other things

 Put on a silly hat....just for work....OK, so I actually did this...obviously.  I needed to post this at the "store" blog  for an example of what we are doing today at the store to jump start our A*MUSE A*PALOOZA event.  What we won't do.....

Here is Mr. Quin in the "SADDLE" at TEXAS ROADHOUSE on his birthday last week.  We got a genuine smile out of him this time!

back to vacation photos

The boys heading toward the rim.

Sunset on the rocks at HOPI point.

A family photo.  If you get up early enough, there aren't a whole lot of people around to get in your photo!

Glen Canyon Dam, holds back lake Powell.  Page AZ

Bryce Canyon, Peter (in front), Nick (in foreground), and Quin (on the rock on the right)

More 4th photos

I seem to be in a PHOTO POSTING mood.  

This is from the local fireworks.

These are shot off the ground and are some of my favorites

The kids acting "normal"....lol

What to do on the 4th....and what NOT to do

The boys ran a race on the 4th, Quin ran the mile and Nick the 5K.  Nick finished 15th overall, second in his age class.  Quin, we are not sure, they didn't have the results ready when we left.

So, later in the day we decide to take a bike ride into town to the Dairy Queen, a 10 mile one way trip mind you, and Nick takes a digger about a mile from the house.  So, back to the house we go to fix him up.

Our night ends with us sitting in the back of the truck watching the fireworks on the edge of town with popcorn and a cooler full of drinks.

The day didn't go exactly as planned, but it didn't end with a trip to the emergency room!

Trip photos

The Strip

The Hoover Dam

Hubby and me in Williams, sitting on a dam.

Me and the boys on the edge! Grand Canyon

A deep hole.