Blew out my Flip Flop in

Going to State...

2010-10-23T14:15:00.000-05:00

Today was the final race for state in Boyceville. You go big or go home in this race. Nick finished 3rd with a time of 17:00 to win an individual spot at the state race.

Finish line dash....only about 25 seconds behind 1st and 18 seconds behind 2nd.

Lap one of two....just a little out of reach with the leader......Jack.

2010-10-16T14:23:00.001-05:00

One last run out before the starters gun.

A little goofiness before the race.

Sprint to the finish....just a hair behind the first place runner

JV squad getting a little warm up in before the starter gun

Quin's finishing dash

2010 CLOVERBELT CONFERENCE title

.....three times running.

Vacation

2010-08-15T07:31:00.000-05:00

A few Vacation photos from our little trip.

Manitowoc

The Ferry ride to Washington Island

Cave Point County Park

Green Bay Training Camp

Tall Ships in Green Bay

The new roof

2010-08-05T07:22:00.000-05:00

Here is a side view of the gable porch end on the garage. We wanted a little space to put the grill away from the house and the siding but with a roof area.

This is the view from the back door to the garage....not attached. Once we get some concrete under there it will be perfect.

I will also have lights and plug-ins so I can have outside party lights or Christmas lights. That is one things this house lacks.... external electrical boxes. Not one. Now I will have two!

Construction

2010-08-03T19:54:00.008-05:00

Basically we are getting a new roof

But, while we have everything torn apart we might as well get a few things changed.

Adding a small gable porch to the garage where my grill and a few chairs can sit under a roof instead of on the open patio. Plus I can put up actual party lights instead of Christmas lights for my new spot. More photos to come of the finished project. The roofers were at the house from 8am to 5:15 pm and got the house, garage and new gable done. It started to pour down rain about a 1/2 hour after they left, so the "new" photos will have to wait until tomorrow...

...and did I mention it was 90 degrees today with a very high humidity? Yuck.

Skyline photos

2010-07-30T08:47:00.000-05:00

This one was cool with the cloud deck above and the sun shining across the middle.

Our normal view with the sun shining on the city.

Storming downtown.

So, we are back home finally and I need to catch up on life.

Desserts

2010-07-29T21:58:00.003-05:00

As if dinner wasn't enough...we ordered dessert. But it was yummy!!

Favorites from Wednesday

2010-07-28T21:46:00.005-05:00

Graphic45....need I say more? This is our favorite paper and our favorite booth too!

Donna Downey teaching a class...I took the class on Tuesday with her but did not take any

photos....I was too busy and didn't actually have my camera.

Mr. Tim doing a little DEMO at the RANGER booth. He was in every booth I swear! We saw him every morning at the SIZZIX booth handing out a signed embossing folder set....sweet!

Cocktails

2010-07-27T21:34:00.000-05:00

First day of show and I left the camera in the room.....but not at the restaurant......Laredo's is our favorite Mexican restaurant at the show....we totally overate and had to take a big nap when we got back tot he room.

A Visit to the Zoo

2010-07-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

Since we had time before class on Monday we headed downtown to see some sites...this time to the north of the downtown area. Lincoln Park Zoo is a free zoo with $17 parking.....so much for FREE.

The entryway to the main park.

Our favorite animal on this visit....the polar bear. He just swam around and around and around.

No fond of the reptiles, but the building in the zoo were very interesting.

The view of the city at the far end of the park.

The park is along the shores of Lake Michigan but has a busy street between it and the lakeshore.

After out visit to the zoo we headed to Windy City Scrapbooks to check out their store and see what finds we could come across.

Heading to CHA!

2010-07-25T21:14:00.000-05:00

A little site seeing along the way on our trip down to Chicago....and we are hungry and tired. We picked up Lindsay and took her with us to lunch/supper.

Can you say YUM??

Giordanos Pizza is a Chicago must have!! Deep dish and delish!

Finally, our room at the Double Tree Inn Chicago O'Hare.

Before photos

2010-07-24T09:05:00.003-05:00

We are getting a new roof put on the house....the one we put on 15 years ago didn't last as long as it should have, so we are going with a steel roof this time!

We are also fixing the roof on the garage, which is over 25 years old....and the shingles are still great looking!

While the roof is torn apart we are getting a small gable end porch put on above the door for a small sitting area for the grill to be under. That will be so nice when it rains!!

The guys are supposed to arrive while I am away for the big Scrapbooking trade show in Chicago....we shall see what happens!

Good times

2010-04-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

After work cocktails?

Why not!Our favorite place Paula and LEann....they do not cooperate with my photo taking!!!

This is Mittens

2009-12-02T10:25:00.002-06:00

or "Mitzer"
or "Schmitty"
or "the Mitt"

This is the last remaining kitten that "Dot" had out of three. Poor little guy. He is an outcast in the Kitty Community, but "Snickers" seems to like having him around (only when we are not looking).

Sunset on the farm

2009-11-30T10:20:00.001-06:00

The cloud formations were just the coolest, so I had to run into the house to get my camera, I know, "why weren't you wearing it?"....I was out doing some chores.....

Give a kid a camera....

2009-11-29T22:29:00.000-06:00

...and this is what you get back

...one decent shot...

...and then....

really?....

...nice.....

I sent the old digital camera up north with the "crew" and this is 5 of the 85 photos taken....you can guess by the majority of these that the remaining 80 are about as nice....and relevent as these are. Rather funny to look at I guess, as an objective observer, but seriously.....do they do any hunting up there?

EXPO weekend

2009-11-08T14:57:00.002-06:00

We were in WAUSAU for the weekend for s Stamp & Scrap EXPO. After work on Friday we packed up the Torrent with supplies for the Make & Takes, stuff to sell and things to display them with...and took off. We had just enough room to each have a seat!
After unloading the works, setting them up and beautifying it all we headed for the hotel. Since we had some time to kill before bed and needed a little snack, we headed to the Hudson Grill...after crossing the 4 lane highway twice (that's another story)....to find a cool car themed restaurant/bar. It looked like a scene out of "CARS" the cartoon movie, but with real cars and road signs. They served "Lug Nuts" (deep fried cheese curds) and "Piston Rings" (onion rings)...as well as $1.99 margaritas, all day, all the time! We were in margarita heaven.

Retreat weekend

2009-08-19T10:47:00.002-05:00

We were housed in the "REFRESH" room

Two of the jacuzzi tubs in the 4 season room

Room for 16 in the scrapbook room

Our quarters for the weekend....4 single beds, one full bath and a sink/mirror outside so we could all dress for the day without getting in each others way. Oh, and the beds were SUPER COMFY!!

Living room to dining area. Through those windows in the background is the store I work for....just steps away from scrapbook heaven!!

What an awesome weekend that went WAY TOO FAST. I got to meet a lot of great people and reconnect with some friends too. COPIC markers ROCK too.

Thank you SALLY LYNN for the awesome classes.

Flower pounding video!!

2009-07-03T11:50:00.002-05:00

After spending HOURS uploading this....here it is!!

kids

2009-06-06T06:50:00.001-05:00

my boys being silly.

taking a picture of me taking a picture....where have I seen that one before??

Dedication

2009-06-05T06:45:00.000-05:00

Little Autumn, my how's she's grown.

For someone who started out life less than two pounds, she has grown a bunch! These are photos from her Dedication party on Mother's Day..yeah, I am a little behind....

Second to last run...

2009-06-04T06:36:00.002-05:00

Zero minutes, 8 laps to go....
A photo from the Regional race. Nick finished in 4th, just behind the two boys in blue that are behind him in the photo. This put him in the Sectional race where he was seeded 10th and finished 10th. A great first year for his High School Track season.

I am just glad it's over. We had fabulous weather for almost the entire season....except those last two races where it rained.

Now I have to get the album pages done.....

Last run

2009-05-14T23:38:00.002-05:00

The Q-man had his last run tonight. This is his take-off in the 1600. I was running the timing table, so I got an up close photo...and that was it after that...I was in charge of the timing afterall...can't be taking photos and pushing the button at the same time! I believe he came in 5th in this one. I was in charge of first place finisher, so I am only sure of the guy who crossed first.

Track night

2009-05-14T07:26:00.002-05:00

The CITY track meet. All four schools in the EC area competed.

Two D1 schools and two D3 schools

The 3200 team

(blurry again)

Nick

now that's what we call DRAFTING...really

The photos are a little out of order....the bottom one is from early on in the race, probably the first two-three laps and then after that the boys in green took over the lead. Actually, the last four guys in the bottom photo, that is the finish order. Brian, Nick, other kid and Dave.

Nick had a personal best time of 10:45...our school record for a freshman is 10:26....he's working on it (four more races). The all time school record is 9:55....Brian is working on that one. That 9:55 record happens to be held by Nick's Uncle Joel.

Running some more

2009-05-07T07:07:00.000-05:00

Pix from last week......Here is Nick running the 3200 relay..he normally doesn't run a relay but this was a special meet where everything was scored as part of a relay...including the shot put! This run happened to be on his birthday.
Quin preparing for his middle school race. I video taped the whole race so these are the only photos that I have for this one.
Tuesday nights run. This is pretty much the way the race started and finished only the runner in front was farther ahead at the very end. Go Brian...he's trying for the school record and he's getting close. Nick is the third runner. Nick is trying to pass the Freshman record in the 3200 too and he is getting close as well.

It's raining men

2009-05-06T11:01:00.003-05:00

So, how many guys DOES it take to put 20 bricks back into my sidewalk?

There are MEN EVERYWHERE....literally. I had 6 pieces of construction equipment parked in my front yard last night when I got home from track. This morning at 6:45am they started showing up and turning them on and tearing apart the ditches to put in our new fiber optic lines for the phone/internet/tv combo. YAY! and BOOO, because hubby had just gotten home from work and was attempting to sleep. Anyway, around 8am they ripped through my sidewalk and driveway and were in the process of putting it all back together again when I snapped this picture. It's not warm enough yet for them to be working without their shirts...and a few of them look like they would be worthy of looking....

We are also in the middle of farming and we have guys all over with tractors and fertilizers and corn and beans and.....well........more men.

Around 3pm today I will have yet another man in my house (besides my hubby) to fix my stove and microwave. My brand new, less than 5 month old, microwave does everything but heat....this is kinda important, heat I mean.......so the company is "fixing it". Seems to me a new microwave would actually be cheaper...the service guy even said so...but, whatever. So "service guy" is going to fix my new microwave and do a little fixing on my old stove (7 years old). I have been without a microwave and stove for almost 3 weeks. I am sitting on a ton of chocolate chips that need to made into cookies!!! Plus the rhubarb is ready to be plucked and made into Rhubarb Crisp....yum!

Hopefully after today my world will be just down to the three men in my normal life and things will be as usual.

Speaking of the other men in my world.....Quin has been running the mile, 800 and 400 in track an enjoying it. He hasn't been happy with his times but he has improved his times every single race. He has another meet tomorrow night. Nick ran a personal best last Friday beating his own record by 20 seconds! He is now running the 3200 in under 11 minutes and placing in the top 5 usually. And last, but not least, hubby is enjoying the new job....just not this morning...lol

The stash

2009-04-25T07:10:00.003-05:00

This isn't even all of it, it just didn't fit in one photo. I got two paper packs too. One is Flames with checker flag on the back and the other is a floral design with burgundy stripes on the back.

It is really difficult to show just how much stuff I came home with from the FISKARS warehouse sale....but I tried. Everything was a buck. $1. 100 cents.

Now, some of this stuff I am thinking to myself, "what am I going to do with 6 of everything I buy"....but then, the retail cost on most of that is WELL over a dollar. I tried to shop with that in mind. Afterall, alphabets never have enough letters (so I bought two sets....now I have twelve...lol). I did get things I thought I would most use, like brads (in cute little tins mind you!..I got three different colors...6 of each...what was I thinking??) and the fabric flowers (should have gotten more of those....grrr) and the alphas (should have bought more of the "flame" letters now that I think about it....because 6 packages just won't be enough!) Now the cute brads with designs on top are also giving me fits about the fact that I should have picked up a few more....gotta get over that feeling...I KNOW I have plenty!!

So that is my haul...just thought I would show you. It fills two grocery bags and cost me $36. Not bad huh?

Whoops

2009-04-18T22:11:00.002-05:00

Ok, it's been a WHILE since I updated here...bad blogger me!

Above photo is a quick snapshot of the line waiting to get into the FISKARS Warehouse sale we went to on Thursday in Wausau, WI. Lots of fabulous deals on paper, embellies and stickers. Not much for punches and tools.
Quin is running in his very first Mile run in Middle school Track. He finished 6th...whoohoo! A great first run. He is also doing the 800 and a relay. He is enjoying it.
And here is Nick at his 6th met of the year. He is doing well and keeping in the top 4 during most races. As long as he improves his time every race he will be doing fine.

OK, so you see what I have been up to and why I have been too busy to update. I can't keep up with all these things!! Blogger, FaceBook and more! When do I have time to actually create? Once in a while, check my crafy blog for that. SEe, I have three blogs to keep track of, two kids and a job......calgon, take me away..I wouldn't have it any other way.

Life is a blur

2009-03-24T22:37:00.003-05:00

Constant running...working...cooking....you name it.

Anyway. See my boy run. He is the green blur. It is difficult to get a good photo inside a building while the subject is running. It is difficult for me to get one outside for that matter. I guess I suck at action sports photo taking. So, my boy finished 4th overall in the mile at Friday's meet in Wisconsin Rapids with a time of 5:20. Tonight he finished 3rd overall in the 3200 (two mile) with a time of 11:19. They ran at the U in town tonight thank goodness! Friday they ran in Wisc Rapids and our drive home was in a blizzard....not fun. Remember I was debating making the drive last week....well, we went, the whole family. The drive down was nice...very nice. Other than that is sucked. Not to mention we got home at 1am from that meet. Still, it is nice to have these meets be indoor ones....because the weather is unpredictable to say the least. Blizzard Friday, sleet/rain today. I think it will be sunny tomorrow....or not. Gotta run, sleep is calling.

POST 101

2009-03-14T07:16:00.004-05:00

woo.

Actually it is more than that, but since I moved over from one blog to this one, I had to start over.

Well, anyway....life goes on as usual. Kids go to school, hubby goes to work (the new job) and I am working....and working. Work is good. I get to create while working, but there is actual work work to do to. And hey, I get paid at the end of the day, so that is great! More goodies for me to buy.

My birthday was this past Monday and we celebrated most of the last weekend because we didn't know how this week was going to go with hubby starting his new job and it being a night shift thing. But he is still working days until he learns more stuff....yay. One perk that I have not enjoyed YET is the Nestle' store. He brought home some goodies after work one day but I need to get signed up to shop in there...mmmmmm, chocolate! He brought home a bunch of Butterfinger stuff, who knew they made Butterfinger Hot Chocolate? Wild. So, anyway, that will be on my agenda for next week....getting registered as a "spouse". I can't wait to see what all is available to purchase (at cheap prices).

The oldest is driving and started track. They actually have a meet already next Friday, but only a limited amount of kids are being taken (14).....guess who's kid is going....mine! I haven't decided if I am making the TWO HOUR drive to go see him run for 15 minutes! Maybe I will let the weather decide. Thank goodness the meet is an indoor one.....it was 10 degrees here yesterday. The morning temp when we woke up was -10.

The high for today is supposed to be almost 50! Michigan girls prepare for nice weather (at least cross your fingers it gets to you all).

Well, off to work I go. I have to meet Miss Annette for breakfast before we head into the "office" for the day....lol

Blogland is missing me?

2009-03-03T09:15:00.003-06:00

Probably not. Since I am busy with the other two blogs that I take care of for the store, my Facebook account and just life in general...there isn't enough time in a day for all my little pet projects.

Today is a "day off" of sorts. I sit here working on my "work" blog and will soon be stuffing Doggie Bags with all our little leftovers from store projects. So, a "work at home" day. My hope is to get some ACTUAL crafting done too....but the sun is shining and the temps are rising (only to about 30, but that is a major heat wave for us).

So, to play catch-up for those who wonder....

Hubby is off this week as well with a little stretch of time between leaving his previous job and starting his new one. Scary times to be making this move, but it was the right move to make due to the economy.

MY oldest is now a driver...that is more scary than the economy! He's a pretty good driver, but putting him on the road with all of us in the vehicle is still a scary event.

The kids begin their TRACK season next week as well. We have snow on the ground so that should be interesting!

The evil snuggie is still in my house. I even packed one of them up and sent it to my BIL (the one who sent them to us)....and he sent it back two weeks later.....a plot to get him back is in the works...

I finally have my Wii FIT and am loving it. We are really enjoying it a lot.....even when it gives us criticism (which is often!) I even achieved perfect balance on Saturday after using it for just 29 days. Not bad. In other Wii related news....The Redneck Jamboree game is a little disappointing, not as much fun as we thought it might be. NASCAR kart racing is entertaining (so say the boys anyway) and Chicken Shoot is a good one if you like a target practice, arcade style shooting game.

Ok, enough for now. I think my dryer just 'dinged'

Surprise package in the mail

2009-02-07T12:52:00.002-06:00

We were not expecting any packages, nor had we ordered anything and forgotten about it.....

Our first clue when we went to open the large puffy shipping bag. I looked at the "sender" info on the bag and saw that! Who the hell would be sending that to our house.......hmmm. What was in the baggie.....two sage Snuggies of course.....the devils robe. lol Not to offend the lovers of the Snuggie...but this a running joke in our household....and now we own two. I wonder who sent these???

The boys love them.....NOT!

Quin found the perfect use for it!

We'll get you uncle Joel!!

Things I have done

2009-01-19T22:16:00.003-06:00

I have seen these on other blogs.....and I have nothing to add to my blog right now...so...the highlighted stuff is something I have done.....others, not so much

In 42 years, I've:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band - if you count the marching band..lol
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain (but not to the top, just a long way up!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon...no, but I did run in a race.....and finished.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community - they're all around here
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant...no but I bought a guy some snacks at a gas station when he didn't have enough to pay for it with his gas purchase
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (does the one Vegas count??)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie...no, but I have been on a TV show, twice
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies, no but bought plenty!
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone , one in my foot and my tailbone....probably more, but I don't know.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

100. Been in a car accident

Think Spring?

2009-01-16T06:41:00.002-06:00

If I think about this....
...will THIS go away?

Ok, morning temps here are -27....yes, MINUS TWENTY-SEVEN DEGREES.....with windchill we are talking a negative 35. Fabulous morning to be out and about wouldn't you say?

Well, the kids are off today because of the cold, but I am off to work. I better bundle up. The good news is that the temps will rebound later this afternoon to almost 5 above. That will be NICE!

Nothing much else happening in this world of mine. Keeping up with the work blogs and such and that's about it. I just joined facebook, but haven't had much time there either.

Keep warm people.

Screen shots

2009-01-08T17:26:00.000-06:00

NO, I am not posting any screen shots of myself, but I got to chat online with a pal the other day and it was so nice to see and chat at the same time...of course, I was not looking to lovely, but she's used to it...lol...

The hard part is not being able to move around while chatting, you have to actually sit there. OH, well, maybe I could incorperate some scrappin' and chatting somehow. At least I will be hands free chatting!!

Construction

2009-01-07T17:20:00.000-06:00

Hard to tell from this photo (which is the point) how bad this bathroom looks, but, trust me, it looks much better now. I just don't have a photo of it yet. I am not quite done decorating. I only had to live with a mess for a month but that was OK with me. I just wanted to get that shower out of the room so I could see how much room we really were going to have when it was all out. Who knew what we might find behind those walls?? I am still not sure! And we are not done with the remodel, but this will do until we finish the other walls later. Everything is in place and working for now, so happiness abounds.

A nice photo of the new bathroom will follow soon......

Shooting the moon

2009-01-06T19:52:00.001-06:00

So, the other thing I did over my little Christmas vacation was shoot a commercial for the store. I was just supposed to do a voice over for the whole commercial (at least that was what I agreed to anyway) but when the team showed up they wanted me miked up and walking and talking at the same time!!! YIKES, are you nuts....I didn't learn any lines!!

So, that is me (in green) with my mike in my back pocket getting my "directions" on how I was to perform my stunt and say my lines.
Hopefully I can get a copy of it posted later when it is ready, but if not I will walk you through it....maybe.

And, I am back....

2009-01-05T17:09:00.000-06:00

Christmas was a FUN! I made sure the kids had to work for their gifts. Nick had to open several boxes inside his big box before he got to the real gift. But, inside each little box was a "little something" to make it interesting....like a used candle, a Sharpie, a piece of wood and a Rock. Then there was the iPod in the last box.... somehow he managed to open that one last!!

Anyway...my present (to hubby and myself) was a Wii. I wanted the FIT to, but that wasn't to be. I did purchase "Outdoor Adventures" and it is a total kick ass game. You have to move your booty a lot to move on to the next level and improve your score!! My knees and legs were killing me the next day...a lot of jumping, running in place and arm moving. I LOVE it. Not that the other games are not totally fun, but I wanted it for the "moving" and playing part of it.

This one looks hilarious!!

another ass kicker....gotta have it

and the one we have....its good for all ages too.

So, other things going in in my life will be posted in future posts...I promise!

A quote to share with my pals....

2009-01-01T22:29:00.003-06:00

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.

So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."

A quick Hello.

2008-12-22T22:02:00.003-06:00

Hello bloggie friends. I am here, I just don;t have time to drop a story...but I will share some tidbits of my last few weeks.

My niece is doing well, she is currently 2lbs 11 ounces....coming along great.

All my shopping is done for Christmas, and all is wrapped, and cookies are prepared....not baked, but ready to heat and eat which is as good as done if you ask me!

Work is busy for me. I am working a lot of late and it keeps me hopping. I just wish it was a bit busier at the store, but we are plugging along and keeping our spirits up. People love to shop in fun places and we make it so.

I must say one last thing...something I thought I would never say....Wal-mart really impressed me this weekend. I ordered a Wii for X-mas (after discovering that it was NOT even possible to get one in stores unless I was willing to hang out in the cold in line with people in the hopes of being one of the lucky ones to be there when they arrived on a given day at certain stores)...anyway....I happened to be looking for the elusive "gift for myself" one day...just on the off chance they would be in stock.....and there they were! So, order I did (with reluctance) last Thursday evening with the promise of a Christmas delivery. Not caring if it arrived on Christmas, I ordered anyway. It arrived in the AM on Saturday. Holy Moley....I think it arrived in less than 30 hours from the time I ordered it.....awesome! Props to the WallyWorld.

Ok, so hopefully I can keep up here, but no promises, I have a ton of family coming in to visit in the next few days and I am gonna be a busy bee.

Hope all your Christmas wishes come true and your stockings are full of chocolate.....lol.....or margaritas...whatever works for you....hehehe

PAZZLES PROJECTS

2008-12-11T09:20:00.001-06:00

This project is from October. We were asked to work with a CD from the PAZZLES library. So we just needed to create a card and envelope. Easy Peazy

Front of the envie

Inside of the card

Front panel of the card. Scenic Route papers and Heidi Swapp stamp.

I added the suspended flower to the file from the CD. I love doing these and with the PAZZLES it is super easy.

I loaded these in order, but apparently they rearranged themselves....whatever.

So, my December project is finished and I will be emailing it soon....love the new system. So, you might see my November project by early January...if I remember to load it anyway.

MONSTER TRUCKS

2008-12-10T15:03:00.002-06:00

I am NOT a huge fan of Monster Trucks, but FREE tickets to the show.... minus the dollars spent on food, gas and parking....it was a good time. This is "Escalade" during the "race" portion of the show.
Peter and I enjoying a little of the show. A little margarita goes a long way.
"Grave Digger"...during the "FREESTYLE" part of the show....just before crashing to the ground and breaking a wheel off and running into "Escalade".

Grace Digger was parked just in front of our seats (and down 20 rows). During the Pre-Show parade the driver crashed the truck onto its side and into "Batman". Grave Digger's pit team spent the entire race getting the truck ready for the Freestyle show.

Those are my big exciting days.

Painting and Remodeling

2008-12-01T07:49:00.003-06:00

What started as a simple paint job ended with a wall being pulled out of the old bathroom. How did that happen?

On Thanksgiving morning I got out my paint can to finish a job I started almost 7 years ago. I painted to as far as a person can see in our house without heading up the stairs... literally half way up the staircase......(side story: since we had to replace our microwave and remove the old one, I painted the small area I couldn't reach when it was installed)....so with that being finished and the can in hand, I finished the remaining walls going up the stairs and to the bedrooms. I had wanted to paint our old bathroom for years, but, with our plan to actually remodel it, I had waited. But, I am sick of the paint in there and decided a $20 paint job for a few months (more likely YEARS) would be OK. When I headed to Menards for my paint (which was on sale for only $8 with rebate by the way...yay) I mentioned it would be nice to tear out the old shower so we can see what we will actually need to do to finish it...for good! The last time we ordered stuff before ripping things out we ended up ripping out more than we thought and our cabinets were too short. NOT THIS TIME! So, I have a half tore up bathroom, but I am OK with that. At least it looks like we are trying to do something in there....lol.

OK, so other than that, life has been busy. I worked most of the Thanksgiving weekend. It was fun, but tiring. We had a early Black Friday morning sale and it was a little crazy. The day went pretty fast though.

So, off I go to see what Menards has for cabinets....cheap.....ya right.

2008-11-26T22:47:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm here

2008-11-16T21:10:00.002-06:00

Whew, it's been a while.

So, what have I been up to.....lots. Mostly work right now. We are in the middle of a computer meltdown at the store...not a good thing going into the holiday season, but if all goes well we will be using new computers by Friday.....let's hope anyway. I just changed the computer for one of our PAZZLES, a nice upgrade from the ancient one we had all the info on. I can actually see the screen now.....lol.....you have to see this old computer to know what I am talking about. I will be able to show the next PAZZLE project soon, the latest project was "sent" last week. I love the way they are doing the program this year. It is so much easier!

I haven't even had time to check my pals blogs or upload photos or anything. And here I thought that having the kids out of sports for the next few months would make my life easier...ha! It doesn't help to have Christmas shopping in the way of the few days off that I actually have.

I should probably mention that I am an Aunt again. My niece arrived last night unexpectedly ...and almost 3 months early. She is doing well so far, so if you have prayers to share...share them with my Brother and his wife and family.

Check back again soon....or not. :)

Weird veggies

2008-11-09T14:49:00.002-06:00

This must have been the season for strange veggies in our garden. Today...yes today...we finally got our potatoes out of the ground. Considering the ground has been frozen for several days now.....I am surprised that we only lost 2 potatoes.

And with the cold, our barn kitties have been hanging out in a "lump" in the shed. We couldn't find one kitty yesterday and it's because he is under this pile of cats, there are 6 in this pile. Silly kitties. I don't know why they aren't in the little house we have for them....they seem like this old floor pillow that sits on top of the hay pile instead.

State finals

2008-11-02T18:26:00.002-06:00

They came, they ran, they did a great job.

The team came out with a 7th place title. Since they went into the competition with a 14th place ranking over their heads, they did a super job. Nick came in 85th out of a field of 150 of the top runners in the state in level D3. He still finished 3rd for his team, just like he usually did, but the competition was very tough...all I can say is WOW, that was the FASTEST race I have EVER seen.

The whole thing was just crazy! I have NEVER seen so many people in one place watching people run around. I wish I had the camera on for some of it, you would not believe it.

Now I can resume my normal life again........ha ha

Front page SPORTS

2008-10-30T08:46:00.003-05:00

So yesterday the boys had a photo session with the reporter from our local paper and this is the resulting photo. I was standing just to the right of the shot and my car is just inches outside the frame of the photo. She wanted the shot to look like they were running in the country, not in front of the school. She did a good job.

Here is the newspaper story too.

They leave tomorrow on a bus for State after a pep rally.

Oh, my kid is the one on the far left, front row in the bright red shoes!

Going to STATE

2008-10-26T20:54:00.002-05:00

The boys team is heading to STATE Cross Country finals in WI Rapids. N finished 15th with a time of 18:01. The Webster boys were super fast but our boys did an excellent job keeping up with them. The boys finished 2nd as a team which gives them the right to compete at State. Did I mention that the BOYS team has NEVER gone to state in the history of the school??

That's it for my update....so much to do, so little time....

Last game

2008-10-22T17:21:00.001-05:00

Q (#58) had his last game of the season...another loss, but with that another lesson.....can't win them all right? He made it through without breaking anything unlike many of his teammates. During the last practice three kids were hurt and unable to play in the last game. One broken foot, an injured knee and a gash to a hand.....they play harder during practice apparently!!

Congrats to the TEAM

PAZZLES projects

2008-10-20T21:18:00.002-05:00

This one is using some My Minds Eye papers....love the double sided paper for cards.

The inside of that card..love the stars. I actually cut Chipboard with the PAZZLEs and used it to give the hollow star on the front a little more strength.
More MME paper to work with. I don't even remember the theme for this project because it was so long ago.
Details of the pop-up leaves. Love those little leaves I created. The tree still needs work I think.

I think I have more projects that need to be posted, but I will have to dig through my photo archives to find them. My current project is fun...can't tell yet, but I am having a hard time deciding which theme to go with.....details later....much later....lol

Conference Meet

2008-10-18T21:54:00.004-05:00

Look who made the ALL CONFERENCE team.....yup....and as a Freshman no less.

Plus the team took their first ever...in 32 years of Cross Country at the school....Conference Title. A happy team indeed.

Another bad photo..he is sucking his lip in this one... one more chance at a good one next weekend.....then maybe State....crossing fingers.

its fall

2008-10-17T18:50:00.000-05:00

My pretty tree out in the front yard.

Most of the leaves are already blown away with all the wind we had the other day, but it is still beautiful out there.

2008-10-15T11:29:00.002-05:00

Football night. Q (also known as #58) had a hard game Tuesday night. They had their first loss. We have to lose a few to learn right? They didn't think so! It was good for them and hopefully will make them work a little harder for the next, and last, game. Weather was on our side. Nice and chilly but dry. It started raining on the drive home, so we escaped that one.
Cross Country too. Finally a good pose...but a blurry shot...i just can't WIN! But N can. Well, he got 7th place and the Team took a 1st again, so they are on track for State. N's goal from the beginning of the season was to break into the 17's by this meet and he got a 17:38. Last week he had been running 18:00 and 18:01....major change! This was a flat course (so the kids said) and it was an "easy" run...easy for them to say....lol

Ok, as usual, that is all I am doing besides some crafting. I have updated the crafty blog with a few new goodies.

In the paper

2008-10-12T07:09:00.000-05:00

A copy of the ARTICLE from the LEADER TELEGRAM from OCTOBER 8, 2008
I linked this article a few days ago, but I wanted a copy here in the blog so I could have it later for some journaling. I bought the newspaper too. Can't have enough of that kind of stuff!

So here is the article as it appeared online a few days ago.

Inside Cross Country: Ramblers boys enjoying success

By Travis Mester
Leader-Telegram staff
It looks like the Eau Claire Regis boys cross country team has been taking notes.

Over the past four years it has been easy for this Ramblers bunch to be overshadowed by the Regis girls team, which placed seventh at the WIAA cross country state meet in 2006 and fourth a year ago.

But not this season, as the boys have put together their most successful campaign under coach John Snyder since 2003.

Led by seniors Brian Farley, Nick Johnson, Josh Kassing and David Connell, Regis won both the Warrior and Ladysmith Invitationals in the past month and looks primed for a tournament run in the near future.

Snyder is excited that his boys team is being able to find the same successes that the girls have had in the past.

"In cross country boys tend to get better as time goes on," Snyder said. "I think my four senior runners have matured very nicely and we've added some younger runners too."

Farley has led the Ramblers with a second-place individual finish at the Warrior Invite as well as a third-place finish at Ladysmith last week. A senior this season, he has returned stronger than ever from a knee injury that hindered him at the end of last year.

As for the younger Ramblers, freshman Nick Wagner and sophomore Kevin Mathiowetz have shown the most improvement.

Since the beginning of the year Wagner - the nephew of Joel Wagner, one of Snyder's previous athletes and the last Ramblers boys cross country conference champion 20 years ago - has improved his personal time by nearly a minute.

"(Nick) was so inexperienced because in eighth grade he was such a talent that he wasn't challenged," Snyder said. "But in high school he's learned early on that the competition is much better."

According to Snyder, the strength of this year's Regis team has been its balance and the fact that in an individual sport, like cross country, it has been able to work together to find success.

Regis has never won a conference title in boys cross country and Snyder says that ending that drought has become motivation for this year's squad.

"(Our boys) just haven't had this kind of success before," Snyder said. "We had a good feeling coming in to this season and we'd love to compete in the Cloverbelt and make it to state as a team."

Thursday in the swamp

2008-10-10T13:13:00.002-05:00

So apparently all I post about these days is Football and Cross Country.

Well, that is all I do besides work!

Nick had a meet yesterday afternoon down at my old high school. It was a pretty nice afternoon, a little chilly and windy but sunny. Nick had a 6th place overall finish in this race and the team took another 1st place trophy home.

And, as you can see by the photo, I am still trying to get a good photo of him running. This was probably the best place to do so, with the sun out and the runners spread out, but.....no. I couldn't center it at all, and Peter is in the background of this one. This is the final sprint to the finish line.

Tuesday Night Lights

2008-10-08T11:51:00.002-05:00

And a rainy night ta' boot

My little guy (who isn't so little) is #58 and towards the top of the photo played in his 3rd official game for the season. They won again against my alma mater. A few of the kids on the other team are kids of people I went to school with, but with the weather being so yucky, I didn't get a chance to check out the other side. We hunkered down under the rear door of my PT Cruiser with plenty of rice krispie bars and popcorn. It was dry and we had the tunes going. A PT Cruiser is a nice little party wagon when you need it. Flip the seats down and hook up the tailgate table....and you are set to enjoy the night....even if it is raining! We had a few people stop by and ask if we had anything "good" in there....lol

And I usually don't have stuff to say about the other child...the running one...but he was mentioned in the paper, so I figured I had better link the online version to the blog. I will probably copy it to another blog link so I can keep it, but for now it is available HERE. It's kinda cool. He gets mentioned in the paper each week under the "PREP" scores when he competes, so this is a little "extra" mention for the team.

So that is what I am up to right now. I have one project that needs to go out, otherwise I am trying to keep up with the kids.

Running....it's all I do

2008-10-05T10:37:00.003-05:00

I am here, I am just super busy right now. I need to be in 10 places at once and can't keep all the balls juggling.

So, back on Thursday, Mr N had his run up in Ladysmith.....far far away....and as usual, my "action" shots leave nothing to be desired. You would think after 6 runs I would get ONE decent shot of the kid running. Not to say this isn't a good shot, but I want to capture a different part of the run. Granted, this particular spot was an uphill one with a turn just after this shot was taken, so his gait was different than the real "run it all out" to win run. Oh, well. 6 more races to go. Oh, he ended up with a 7th place finish in this one. He finished 2nd for his team and the team won another 1st place trophy to add to the collection. He even got to hold the trophy in the group photo this time. Cool. Oh, and before you wonder if he was running with aliens, I blurred the others faces (but I am sure you figured that out).

Mr Q didn't have a game this week because the other school didn't have enough kids for a 7th grade team. So he had a mini-vacation from the game this week.

On to me. Not much happening except work and running the kids around. I have worked several days this week to keep up with all our events. Today is the last one for a little while so I can relax a little...just a little. We have to get ready for the next one. Samples need to be made, classes organized, papers cut and whatnot. And my DT work for PAZZLES should be arriving this week too. No rest for the wicked.

OK, peeps. Enough for today. I have to make lunch and head to work. At least Mr. Crockpot is busy cooking my supper for tonight, so all I have to do is walk in the door and eat after work tonight. Potatoes, a whole chicken and carrots, it smells so good already!

I am in

2008-10-01T22:29:00.005-05:00

I just got the email that I am on the Design Team for PAZZLES for the 08-09 session.

WooHoo for me. Should be fun

Now, a photo from last weeks little trip. In the town of WABASHA Minnesota they have something called SeptOberFest. It's a big weekend of music, art and fun. The residents yards are decorated with these cool pumpkin sculptures and lots of other fall decorations. At the town hall they had three pumpkin people decorated to look like football players with jersey's and everything. I didn't get a picture of that but I did get a few from the streets were walked on when we went to the Eagle Center. This photo is the one in front of the center...and Eagle of course. They were pretty cool.

Our little trip

2008-09-26T10:50:00.002-05:00

The two of us at the Lock & Dam at Alma

The Eagle Center in Wabasha, this is Harriet

Outside the Eagle Center, on the Mississippi. A little barge going down river.

Our favorite ice cream and cheese place...and they have wine!

On the bluff above Alma. We have never been up there. This would be a gorgeous spot when the leaves are turning. We are well ahead of peak for that!

A really nice day to spend together. We ate lunch in Lake City Minnesota at a restaurant on the shore of Lake Pepin (which is actually the Mississippi river) and we saw our little barge from Wabasha go by, a paddle wheeler launched from our dock spot and a catamaran was skimming around on the lake. Just beautiful. And the lunch was delicious. We had the walleye basket. yummy!

20 Years ago today

2008-09-24T08:22:00.003-05:00

We became husband and wife. We are spending the afternoon together driving down to the Mississippi for the morning afternoon. A little shopping, eating, cheese and wine tasting and a stop at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha Minnesota (home of the movie Grumpy Old Men). MAybe I will have some nice photos of the two of us later today.
Nick was on the run last night. It was a warm afternoon for a run in the park, but Nick did a good job keeping the pace and finished in 9th place.
Mr Nick with the TEAM 1st trophy. We never get to see the trophy's after the meets because there are not enough displays for all of them!! I think it would be fun to take a photo of the boys and all the trophy's around them. They have acquired 5 already and they have 3 regular meets to go for sectionals and state. Go team GO.

And The Mighty Quin was busy with football. Peter went to that game and I was at the Cross Country race. Can't be at two places at once!

Quin did a great job and they won their game.

My poison ivy is doing better. The blisters are starting to subside and the pain is now just the EXTREME itchiness of the skin recovering. I think it was worse than the initial poison absorption! I need a calgon bath!

Homecoming

2008-09-22T10:49:00.002-05:00

Nick had his first "date" Saturday night. He invited a girl to the Homecoming dance. It was actually a group of kids that went together, the guys were friends and the girls were friends. They had a good time at the dance but had to wait forever for their food at dinner. They had reservations at 6:45 and were seated immediately but didn't leave the restaurant until almost 9pm! There were 8 kids and 5 ordered the Fettucini Alfredo and the other three ordered burgers. One of the boys ordered something they didn't have but the waitress didn't come and tell him until 10 minutes after the order was placed. Then she didn't bring a menu with her so he could pick something else out. Then the waitress wasn't bringing them drink refills and asking how they were doing at all. Nick was annoyed about that. He told me he only left a $2 tip because of the bad waitress. His bill was $25 so he still left a pretty good tip for such bad service. I think the waitress figured they were not going to tip very well because it was a group of 14-15 year olds...but she was WRONG. Nick knew what she should have gotten had the service been good.

My wrists are still killing me so that is all for now. I took a photo of my left wrist, but it is too grizzly to post. Hubby and the kids all think it looks too nasty.

Poison Ivy and Rice

2008-09-19T08:21:00.001-05:00

Not a good combination....lol

I was snuggling with my kitties the other day, after they had been lost it the woods for a day...and what do I end up with....poison ivy on my hands, wrist, chin, part of my ear, and a little spot on my shoulder (where my T-shirt didn't cover!). I washed off, but apparently not enough. The stuff on my wrist is killing me! The nerves in my wrist are tingling constantly!! Oh, well. Two weeks and it will all be gone.....

And rice.....is $3 for 12 lbs a good price? I think so. I was at Sam's Club and was wondering around the aisles and came across a big bag of Uncle Ben's uncooked long grain white rice for $2.81. I not a big eater of the long cooking rice, but that deal was too good to pass up. I am going to be making some spanish rice and rice pudding soon. I throw it into the crock pot and have it cook up with the chicken and soups. I also found a 9 pack of the Kraft Instant Mac & Cheese cups for $2.81..again, good deal, can't pass up (Quin's favorite). Off to work I go I go.

That's it for today....boring I know.

WARNING... Obscene photo

2008-09-18T16:21:00.002-05:00

I picked this little tomato from the garden yesterday.... well, it's not so little either, it's bigger than a softball and probably weights over a pound. But, when I picked it off the vine and went to place it in my basket I noticed this little protrusion.... kinda funny... had to share. I will be so sad when the frost comes and takes my little vine of fresh tomatoes away.

Does anyone like soybeans? I know the people have been cooking/drying/roasting them and eating them for a long time, but...being a potato chip, pretzel and peanut kinda girl, I have avoided these little morsels. Why ruin a good thing? So with my more "healthy" eating habits of late, I have been venturing into the wide world of "other foods". Oh, don't worry, I am still a card carrying member of the chocolate chip cookie club (my bag of Girl Scout Thin Mints are open in front of me as I type) but, I tried something different...something my family refuses to do...and found I truly liked the little soybeans. I guess they are probably a little healthier than a potato chip (um, probably a LOT!) and I have now tried the WASABI beans (not going to try again), Honey Roasted Beans (YUMMY ) and the plain salted and roasted ones (again, YUM). They taste just like peanuts to me.....family is not so sure....and Quin tried one when I told him it was a peanut....he liked it until I told him otherwise....KIDS!

Other than my new love for different foods I have been busy crafting. Mostly stuff I cannot share, but four days of busy crafting anyway. Feels good to get something done and meet ALL MY DEADLINES! I put in my application for the PAZZLES Design Team again. They are doing the team a little different this year, so we will see in a few weeks if I get picked again.

That's all for now.

Fly Boys

2008-09-14T22:03:00.003-05:00

This was the view from our seats in the corporate chalets at the Air show. Nice view huh?
We walked through the FedEx plane on the grounds. Hey, Tom Hanks sat in one, why not us, right? LOL
The guys on the ladder into the hold.
Fat Albert on the approach to the fly-by over the crowd.
And one picture of a Blue Angel formation.

The clouds stayed in the area for the whole show, but we were able to see the Angels fly. They moved up their fly time because they had cancelled the show from the day before. About an hour after the Angels finished their show the sky opened up and it poured again for about 45 minutes. We stuck it out because we had a roof, food, beer and drinks in the chalet....yay for the chalet! Still, it was quite chilly, so we left a little before the end of the show.

Racing

2008-09-13T19:25:00.002-05:00

Stanley Meet SHS

Thursday Sept. 11

Temp: 68 degrees and humid

Course: grass, knolls, blacktop and gravel

Time: 18:43

Distance: 3.1 miles

Individual Place: 16th

Team Finish: 2nd

Fall Creek Meet FCHS

Saturday Sept. 13

Temp: 60 degrees and rainy

Course: Grass, a BIG hill, trees and blacktop.

Time: 18:59

Distance 3.1 miles...uphill for over 1 mile!!

Individual Place: 6th

Team Place: 2nd

I still haven't gotten a decent photo of him running. I apparently can get other peoples kids no problem. I had a hard time taking photos at the run this morning because of the rain. My poor cameras were covered in rain drops. I did get a nice photo of all the boys with the trophy this time. I just pushed my way to the front and made the kids stand there while I took the picture. Pays to be an aggressive mom....lol.....and that is SO not me!

So in other news for the day, we have eaten out for every single meal today...and I am SO FULL! Breakfast at Perkins at 8:30, lunch at Quizno's at 12:30 and dinner with my parents at Texas Roadhouse at 4:30.....yikes...I never eat that much in one day. All of the meals were quite tasty though.

Tomorrow we have the air show but it looks like we will have the same yucky weather as today. I just heard on the news that todays air show had been cancelled, so we will see how tomorrow goes. The Blue Angels do not fly if the cloud deck isn't high enough and in lightening (which is not the problem in this case). We are going to the show regardless, so I will have pix of airplanes tomorrow....will I get them uploaded....maybe.....hehehe

Equal Time

2008-09-10T10:10:00.004-05:00

Quin had a scrimmage last night against a local school. So, in fairness, I must do a post with his sports too...even though Nick will have more meets then the Mighty Quin. ...I must keep it equal..

Quin is the one with the hands out pushing in the center of the photo,

in green and NOT laying on the ground.

And here he is almost running off the screen of my camera as I tried to get some shot....but, there he is. He ended up getting #58 again this season, so that means he is #58 for 3 years....and I think he is pushing for that next year too...we shall see. They do get first pick next year....he got lucky this year and traded a kid for the number he wanted.

This makes it difficult for me because if I have a pile of photos, I can't go by his number to remember which year it is!!

So, my entire day was spent away from home, but I got my workout in and a good breakfast at Panera. Who knew they served breakfast? I had an egg souffle that was quite tasty and pretty filling even though it looked very little on my giant serving tray. The best part is the fact that they serve CAFFEINE FREE Diet Pepsi!! Nobody serves caffeine free anything in a diet, so this is super cool!! I prefer Caffeine Free Diet Coke, but this is a nice change from having to drink water or regular Diet Coke..can you say jittery.

We have an Air show this weekend and we have tickets to the chalets....woohoo, aren't we cool? Two of the The Blue Angels have arrived and are practicing over our house. The others will arrive on Thursday.

ScrapPink

2008-09-08T09:43:00.002-05:00

At the end of September we are having a ScrapPink event at the store I work for. I found some pink t-shirts at Wal-mart for $3 a few weeks ago and decided we should wear these on that day. Well, just a pink shirt isn't enough for me! We need to advertise leading up to the day, so with my PAZZLES, a little vinyl and my T!M HOLTZ color wash, I made the team some shirts. I think they turned out pretty good! The color wash is "Red Pepper", but I like it!

Nothing much else is happening in my world. I am doing some layouts for the retreat house which is having a grand opening on Thursday and Saturday. Patti called me up and asked if I would be interested in having my pages on display in the workroom at the retreat house and I said "sure!" And as if I didn't have enough to do with making samples (card and layout), page kits, card kits at the store, I have my PAZZLES project due, the tryout for the team projects are due and now this little side project......can you say crafting frenzy. It seems like it is easier to crank out a bunch of things when you are on a roll and under a deadline....which is right where I am at!! Add to all of that the sports schedules for the kids.

I am off to take a nap...after folding some laundry, making another page, finishing that album, creating a class.....

Running

2008-09-03T23:00:00.003-05:00

First race of the season (why can't I capture him in a better pose? ever!)

13 schools (did I mention I drove 80 miles ONE way to see this race)

134 runners (holey moley!)

Varsity Squad

Freshman

26th place overall

3.1 miles

19:29

big rain storm coming
1st place for the team.....priceless...

Ok, there were 9 guys total running for our school, but the top 7 scored and Nick and three other guys finished top 30 which brought the team score to 74.....and that was all it took to win one for the team (I say that as if it was easy to run around in the 90 degree super humid weather!!). I am not showing the other members to protect the innocent...I just got lucky Nick was standing next to coach and the trophy....

and did I mention his name was in the paper too...gotta save that one!

Hangin' in there

2008-08-31T12:58:00.003-05:00

One of the little kittens hanging off the edge of the outdoor table. I was trying to capture him jumping but he slipped back when I clicked. It's kinda funny the way he is hanging there.

So, the weekend is REALLY REALLY nice. The temps are in the 80's and very low humidity....just awesome! We got a little yard work done so far , had a little BBQ, got the big screen tent put up (and even used it!!) and we will bale hay later this afternoon...ok, not so happy about that part...but summer is definitely ending. I am going to enjoy this last weekend of "doing nothing" because for the next 2 months it is going to be run run run. Our weekends will mostly be free this year for the first time in almost 4 years. Both boys Games/Meets are on weekdays instead of all on weekends...yippee. Only 3 meets actually take place on a Saturday and they are early in the day, 10am. Plus the last two meets are for State semi's and finals...so they don't go if they don't do well.....hopefulyl they will...Nick is pretty excited to so to state as a Freshman....we shall see. Football should be fun too, the boys got a LOT bigger over the summer!!

Goodness

2008-08-29T12:58:00.002-05:00

Not wholesome goodness...just goodness. This is my stash from the chocolate buy at the "Cow Pie" store. One bag is missing because Quin grabbed it as soon as he saw what was inside...a giant peanut butter cup. So we have the Cow Chips, Packer Puddle (the white lump), and the Irish Creme and Peanut butter squares. Oh, so good. this stash will last me probably a whole month if I eat one piece a day....or less if my kids find it!
See how big that "Puddle" is. White chocolate, caramel and cashews.....need I say more?
And this is Corn Saute. Fresh sweet corn, fresh green peppers and cilantro from my window sill garden....sauteed in butter and sprinkled with cumin and salt and pepper.

Remove the fresh corn from the ear, chop green pepper into very small pieces (corn kernel size) and saute in the butter with the cumin, salt and pepper....toss the chopped cilantro into the pan and saute for a few seconds more. Serve as a side dish or just eat (which is what I did).

So, besides eating and hiding my goodies, I have been running my kids around like a crazy mom. At least I have maintained my weight loss all summer. My weight fluctuates 2-3 pounds depending on when I weigh in...so I really am sticking right where I left off....but with school starting in a few days I can hit the treadmill again with regularity and drop those last 15. No gain, even with a little chocolate intake!!

More me

2008-08-26T21:09:00.002-05:00

So today I got to enjoy a little more me time. Not necessarily the kind you plan out and fully enjoy, the kind that sneaks up on you and you just enjoy it for what it is.

My boys were both at events (one practice and the other a scrimmage) and I had a little time (about 2 hours) to just shop. Not for anything specific, just browse and see and smell. I hung out at the Bath and Body Works for a while putting on scents and rubbing things in...something I have not done in probably 3 years. Then I wandered the mall, just looking and walking. I happened across a new store...a gelato store.....YUM! Oh, the choices. I looked at everything and made my pick...then the server told me I could have up to three different flavors in my cup....oh joy!....so I had Tiramisu, Dulce De Leche and Sea Salt Caramel (sounds weird but yum!) I took my fabulous cup of delight and sat on a bench and watched the people walk by. I haven't people watched in a long long time. And I must say...people are weirder than ever...lol. I finished my treat and walked back outside to return to the school for child pick-up and was able to enjoy yet another treat, sitting in my car with the window open, reading a book, watching the sun set.

It was only 2 hours, but it was long enough to remind me of what it was like before I was a Mom running around like a chicken with my head cut off after kids....even though the reason I was even there in the first place was to pick up said child.

Treading water

2008-08-25T11:59:00.000-05:00

Somebody (ahem ...Carolyn) convinced me I needed this particular punch from FISKARS. During our training class at FISKARS on Saturday, Nikki told us that they had finally gotten caught up with all the backorders on this particular punch and they were readily available at stores again. They had NOT anticipated how popular this punch was going to be and were not prepared for it.

So, on stop two after our visit to the FISKARS HQ we found a little scrapbook store, which I just happened to have a 40% off coupon for. I printed out 3 coupons for us and two of us snagged the Treading Water punch...yippeee.

Since we had driven so far, there was no reason not to check out as many things as we could in Madison. So our first stop after class was at Hobby Lobby. Our closest HL is 90 miles away, so this is a treat to have one a mile away from our destination. Stop two was to the Scrapbooking Superstore where I got my Treading water punch and we ran into MAYA who was shopping too. Stop three involved the Archivers (we have to check out the competition) and small purchases from there..which involved using my coupons for free cardstock and some hot spot buys. WE have WAY more stuff than both the Superstore and the Archivers. Stop Four and five involved food. We found a Mexican grill which was right next to a Starbucks...hmmm. The Mexican grill was called Panchero's and when we walked in the door it was just like Chipotle and Burracho's. The only difference was they actually made the tortilla fresh. They had these little dough balls and when you ordered a burrito (which I did) they stuck the little ball in the squisher machine and flattened it out. Then they peeled it off and put it on the grill to cook...OMG, this smelled SO GOOD. What a difference that made. It was delicious. And their guacamole was fabulous. Next we headed to Starbucks for a drink for the road...me, I just drank my Diet Coke because I don't like coffee. Stop six was for cheap gas, only $3.69. And then stop seven for CHOCOLATE.
This is a larger photo of the CHOCOLATE shop we stopped at outside of Baraboo (near Wisconsin Dells)...and across the street from the Ho Chunk Casino. I didn't buy any "Cow Pies" but they are really tasty. It is basically a caramel turtle but really really large, probably 3-4 inches across.

And that's the trip in a nutshell.

I am certifiable...

2008-08-24T15:26:00.004-05:00

Me and the girls having a little fun at the FISKARS demonstrator class...those big scissors were so fun!

Our certificates...the serious shot. Nikki, Dawn, Maya, Leann, & Barb

A little more fun...with cow pies...this one is for RITA!!

We took a different route back hoe and stopped by the "Cow Pie" factory....seriously. There is a yummy chocolate called a "cow Pie": caramel, nuts and chocolate in the shape of a....cow pie. Super yummy. I bought some "cow chips" (chocolate covered potato chips), peanut butter cups, mint meltaways, and some other chocolates. I will have more photos of this stop later.

The gang again after our chocolate buying binge....better than a casino run!

I say this because when we got to this point the choice was turn left for the chocolate factory or right for the casino....we picked the chocolate because instead of losing $20 we got $20 worth of chocolate.....yummy wins over the possibility of nothing....

see ya later tater

2008-08-23T04:24:00.003-05:00

Sit and relax, that is all I would like to do. The last 4 weeks have been crazy. I am so looking forward to school starting. I need a little ME time. I will get that today with my little trip to Madison for the day, but I am bringing a couple pals alone...so it isn't actually "alone" time...but a ME day nonetheless.

Since I like to have a photo on the bloggie....

That's one of the kittens to the left... "Squeaker" from the "Triple threat". We have three kittens that look pretty much identical..just the grey patch on their heads that makes them different. We also have three steps leading from the back door to the ground. They have decided to EACH take a step for themselves and sit on them. They especially like to scare the heck out of us when we come out the door and don't expect to see them in that spot. Calgon, take me away.....

Taking a trip

2008-08-22T12:24:00.002-05:00

I am heading to Fiskars HQ tomorrow! I am going to become a Certified FISKARS Demonstrator. I have been wanting to become a CFD since I found out it was even an option. Thank goodness Carolyn keeps me informed of things going on in my area....what would I do without her....be sitting in my living room watching TV all day that's what. Stephenie from Fiskars is planning to visit the store some time this fall and I was hoping to get more info on tools and things. Maybe she will be there as well. If not, I get to learn on some cool new tools first hand.

That is my exciting news for the day.

I have been fairly creative the last few days....I have them posted at the Scraparita site if you want to look. I only post one a day....makes it looks like I actually keep up with my blogs...lol The fact that you can set the posts to post at any time you want is awesome.

More tomorrow after my return from HQ in Madison.

Rootin' tootin'

2008-08-19T21:22:00.003-05:00

Where to begin? This one is going to ramble a bit.

Stupid Criminals: 3am Saturday morning I awoke to the sound of a loud muffler outside. This isn't unusual in the country. People park on the road that runs to the south of us all the time thinking "nobody actually lives on that road, therefor nobody can see us".....wrong....I can see everything from the bedroom window. This particular set of geniuses got into their vehicle and drove through the ditch and into our hayfield...the one we just fertilized a week prior. I got up and turned on the porch light and other house lights in the hopes they would see that "someone" had noticed their activities and go away...which they did after a couple minutes. We could hear them burn out down the road and do a few more things as they went away. A few hours later when we left to go to the hunters safety test (first photo) we checked out our field...which had 100 foot donuts in it. From that point we could follow a path of destruction right to the neighbors door...literally! DUH. There were donuts in other fields too, and in peoples yards, signs missing....you name it. The best part was when the Sheriff showed up to gather evidence and the kid denied doing anything...and the cop found soybean leaves still in the grill of the truck...which was parked at the end of a 30 foot skid mark in the guys driveway....DUH again...lol

Hunter's Safety: Q passed with flying colors. You are supposed to lay down to shoot, but the grass was so wet they didn't make them do it, they just had them sit and shoot for the final 5 shots.

Yummy food: We had a nice dinner after the Safety class at Olive Garden. They had a tasty appetizer that I just had to try to reproduce. The "Caprese Flatbread" was so good and I can never make anything taste like it does in the restaurants, but I figured I would try it. It looked simple enough. Bread, tomatoes, parmesan, and some kind of creamy cheese as the base. I figured it was mascarpone or something for the base so I bought all the things I thought I needed and set to making it for supper tonight. I used a ciabatta bread instead of flatbread....and then I decided to look at the Olive Garden website to see the picture of it.....and the recipe is right there!! And not mascarpone or cream cheese....mayonnaise....go figure! Whatever!!...it was good. I think I will do it again with the ciabatta, but I want to try a few other breads I found today in my quest for a "flat" bread to use.....who knew Olive Garden would use a refrigerated pizza dough?? This is NOT a low fat item...but I think you could make it better with a few adjustments.

PAZZLES Passion

2008-08-16T06:02:00.000-05:00

This is my PAZZLES project for the month of June. I just shipped out my August project yesterday so it will be a month before you see the July project on the blog.

This project was using Basic Grey's "Oh Baby" line with a theme of "simple pleasures".

Since we had just returned from a quick visit to Chicago, I had a ton of photos of the little girls...and this one with the pink sprinkle donut was my favorite one of Miss M. Don't worry, these kids are used to me having my camera stuck in their face at all times....lol.

Other items in the project are the Dew Drops, which i love using too. So much fun to add to a project. I don't seem to use them in my own projects, but I do in these. The bottom photo has a close up of the detail in the flowers. A simple project, but something you have to do every once in a while.

Sky Watch

2008-08-15T04:56:00.002-05:00

Well, not really. I check out Jeanne's blog to see what she's up too and she has such great photos of the sky and landscapes and I thought I would share some of my favorites from vacation back in June. This one is a photo of the architecture of the WYNN or Venetian..not sure. I took a bunch of pictures of things like this, just because they were pretty to me.

I have more to share, but these are my picks for today.

Thursday things

2008-08-14T21:01:00.000-05:00

Another photo from the long weekend we had with family. The poor kittens were tortured for a few hours a day by the little girls. They seemed to accept the holding and playing, but they are not used to being held for quite so long...and being kittens, they have "things to do". So they escaped often, which led to a chase and more fun. Good times for the whole crew.

My Thursday didn't go as planned. My oil change turned into a quest for righting some wrongs....why does it end up this way with my car?? The oil change itself was fine, but the tire rotation was not. Apparently when I had one tire fixed after a flat it was mounted wrong....duh, the tires have "outside" imprinted right on the tire....(not that I knew this until it was pointed out to me)...but as a TIRE STORE employee, you would think this would be an IMPORTANT thing to notice! So, from the oil change place I had to run to the tire change place. A one stop errand turned into 7....and I didn't even get my fun errands done while I was out and about, just boring household stuff. I am not a happy camper! Now I have to wait another 5 days for my Granola and Corn Jacks from the whole foods store. I did buy a little consolation item to make myself feel better....I will post my new projects with the toys in a few days on the SCRAPARITA blog. I have made 4 cards since I got home.

Later

Playin' with my toys....

2008-08-13T14:18:00.002-05:00

I have gotten some of the new embossers and dies from CUTTLEBUG and have been having a field day with them! Who doesn't love this machine!!!!

I have uploaded several to my other blog (the craft one) and this one repeats a paper design...so I figured I would post it here instead.

I have been busy this morning moving older posts from the old SCRAPARITA blog to this one so that everything on that blog is just crafty stuff. I didn't want to lose all the past data...so if you go back to the beginning of this blog you will find some really old posts. I love that you can change the dates on posts now and move info like this. i didn't want to lose my photos either.

Nothing else happening in this neck of the woods. Mr N has a party tonight so guess who gets to go pick him up at 11pm...me! Ugh....and then I have to be up early to get the car to get an oil change in the AM...yeesh, what was I thinking?

Monday Monday

2008-08-11T13:29:00.003-05:00

Well, I have gotten a little crafty over the last few days. I feel like things are returning to normal a little. Check out my other blog on the right....the Scraparita one for the latest and greatest from me....well, just the latest anyway.

I have gotten some great new dies and embossers from CUTTLEBUG and I just HAD to make some things. I still have more to play with, but this is a start....lol

This is a favorite photo from last week. Little M was standing in a ray of light in the church and I grabbed a quick shot of her with her flowers. I like it.

What can BROWN do for you?

2008-08-09T19:53:00.002-05:00

I ask this only because I seem to find brown in my bag at the end of each shopping trip....brown shirts, brown pants, brown dresses...yep, a brown printed dress. I even bought a new pair of shoes....brown, of course. I tried ona great lime green shirt...but didn't like it...my boobs are still to big. They don't look so huge in a brown shirt, and I am not sure why. Maybe it's just me and my eyeballs.

Don't get me wrong, I like brown. I hadn't bought new clothes for myself in a long long time, and this year was my year to update the wardrobe....but, I seem to be buying the same thing over and over....dark brown!! At least I match.

Well, Hubby and I are alone finally.....gotta run.....

awww SWEET!

2008-08-08T10:57:00.003-05:00

With all the things going on this past weekend, things were misplaced, set aside and just plain overlooked. Like a certain package that arrived on my doorstep sometime this week. I noticed a large box on my front porch last night. Normally I walk out the porch door to get the mail every day, but with all the family in town and people just coming in and out at all hours I guess I walked out the other door instead (or I completely missed this GIANT box sitting on the chair in the corner of the porch with my brain being elsewhere all week).

This is the contents of the box.....this cool hand created containment system and some little goodies tucked inside.

And, I have already found a place for it to sit in my scrap space....since the poor box sat outside unloved for I don't know how long....poor innocent box.

Thank You CAROLYN!!!

Dressed up

2008-08-07T19:03:00.004-05:00

We don't get dressed up all that regularly, and this was one of those occasions where dressing up was important. We took advantage of that and snapped a few photos.

And on this RARE occasion of getting "dressed up"....someone has a dress just like me......good thing we both have such good taste! This is my hubby's Aunt from the other side of the family....thankfully they were a different color!

Bubbles

2008-08-06T06:52:00.002-05:00

With all the family in town, we have had to find things to keep us occupied. So a jug of bubble juice, a tent and three little kittens are our solution.

Little K is having a ball with the bubbles

Mad is having more fun with the tent and kitties.

And me, I am having fun taking photos of all the antics. I will have a ton of stuff to work with after this week! Now to find time to actually create!

Busy day

2008-08-03T17:50:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a big bad busy day. Family is in town for Grandma's funeral which is now set for Wednesday.

Nick ran a race Saturday, he placed 5th behind his uncle (1st) and his coach (3rd). Not a bad effort for a new cross country style course.

After the race, the boys did a little relaxing in the park.

From there we went to the County Fair where the "big boys" did a little more racing on the Super Slide. Uncle Joel cheated.

We are basically trying to keep busy for the next few days. You may or may not see me for a while.

Another random post day

2008-07-31T12:44:00.005-05:00

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

2008-07-28T13:23:00.003-05:00

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?

2008-07-28T09:16:00.002-05:00

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....

2008-07-27T19:40:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-07-27T06:14:00.000-05:00

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

2008-07-26T13:42:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-25T09:17:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-24T07:26:00.004-05:00

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

2008-07-23T11:11:00.004-05:00

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

2008-07-22T22:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-22T10:33:00.005-05:00

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

2008-07-16T09:45:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-15T20:44:00.002-05:00

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.