Hit and run

posting here. I have four more days of summer break left and then it is back to work. So... posting will be short over the weekend as I enjoy this last little bit of fun and freedom with the family. :D

I've been doing a great deal of thinking lately about my scrapbooking. What happen to the two page lo's? I switched to digi and they simply disappeared. That shall need to change. I also have some really fun ideas that I'd like to put together and give a go... but those will have to wait until next week. So stay tuned.

And yesterday when I was taking dear son to football practice the engine light came back on. Dear hubby took it back in again today in which they couldn't find a thing wrong with it and so on Monday I have to take it back in and leave it while they tear back into my car looking for the problem. *sigh* I really can't complain too much because they have done all the subsquent testing free of charge and they are giving me a car on loan Monday while they keep mine. So they have really been good in customer service if not mechanically to this point. ;)

The puppies are gynormous and have teeth and cute curly hair now. They're hopping, barking and playing- what puppies do best. I'll post some 5 week pics over the weekend.

Well - Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you all have a fantastic Friday!

Ya'll are gonna laugh

at me. Next week my eldest starts middle school. (In our neck of the woods middle school consists of 7 and 8th grade students.) School has yet to start and its already kickin' my butt. This is going to be an interesting year- I can tell already. ;)

You see, up until now- we've always got a class list for supplies and such. Not this year. We've also been told teachers and class schedules before- not this year. We've been told the school rules and policy and procedures- not this year. Are you seeing a pattern here? Apparently the only parental involvement is a few forms we will need to fill out when the school is ready? I went in yesterday as it was the first day of fall sports and asked for some of the forms so that we could have them filled out and turned in when school starts... they didn't know where they were? These were important documents people. :S

Well, the good news that came from yesterday was that I learned that my son didn't have to get another physical this year for sports - Coach came and told me and gear handout. We had an appointment at the end of the week and were able to cancel it with this news. :)

We ran into town- stopped at Target and left thinking that I spent so much there I should never went in in the first place. You know how all that stuff adds up especially when you are buying school supplies and household cleaning supplies, don't you! Then to the mall and bought dear son his football cleats and accessories. And while in the mall I bought a new watch for myself for back to work. Then we did the grocery shopping. What an exciting day, right!?!? hehehe

I did not get a lick of scrapping done yesterday. And this morning is looking grim. Our power is going to be off all morning and possibly part of the afternoon while they work on some powerlines in our area so computer is being shut down after posting this. Time to cozy in and read a good book today I suppose. :)

Oh and here's the watch I found... it really was love at first sight! :)



You all have a fabulous Wednesday. TTFN!

Home again home again jiggity jog

Well I’m back from town. Did I tell you that our engine light came on again at the end of last week so my dear hubby had to take the car in for the fourth time. He was told that there was a second O2 sensor that they had overlooked. SO- I took it back in this morning for the fifth time AND hopefully the last.

I mentioned a few weeks ago how I dug out my candles. When in town today we stopped and bought some new stock… Thanks to Gina I was inspired to try some new scents so I came home with chocolate chip cookie, vanilla caramel and clean linen.

I scrapped since the last blog. I’d like to share these~


(credits: Corina Neilson kits- chocolate ez action on photo)

(credits: Tracy Ann kit - stitches by Gina Miller)

(credits:Michelle Underwood kit - ribbon by Shabby Princess)

(credits: Gina Miller kit)

Now I’m off to go through and organize all our board games. We have oodles and oodles that no longer fit into the couple of cupboards we keep them in. Hope you all have a super afternoon.

Life ain't always beautiful...

Sometimes it's just plain hard
Life can knock you down, it can break your heart

Life ain't always beautiful
You think you're on your way
And it's just a dead end road at the end of the day

But the struggles makes you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has it's own way of takin' it's sweet time

No, life ain't always beautiful
Tears will fall sometimes
Life ain't always beautiful but it's a beautiful ride

No, life ain't always beautiful
But I know I'll be fine
Hey, life ain't always beautiful but it's a beautiful ride
What a beautiful ride!

Yes, those are lyrics from a Gary Allan song. I've been hearing it on the radio a lot lately and it really moves me. I think that we all go through ups and downs in life. Sometime we get stuck in the down rut or are consumed by it. The we have a hard time keeping our heads up looking towards the good things we have. It just reminds me to keep focused on the positive and beautiful things in my life so I wanted to share it with you. ;)

I took a few days away from blogging and spent time with the family. We went out on the lake for a few days to fish and tube. :D

Yesterday afternoon I was all by my lonesome again. So I started a couple of LO's. And I downloaded some goodies from PDW. Fun fun fun!













And of course I need to do a puppy update. They are four weeks old today. I can't believe it! This week they have changed a lot. They have become very mobile which I learned the hard way when I accidently stumbled over one. But he's okay- I wasn't. He was shook up and I was mortified and very scared. We are all watching more closely for them now that they are zipping around. The are very playful and have learned to growl and bark. And several of them are getting curl in their hair which is so adorable. Here's some pics from a few days ago~

I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday!

Thursday already?!?!?!

Boy the time flies when you're having fun!

Yesterday ended up being a great day even though I had my reservations at first. ;)

The kids went horsing with the friends that had stayed over - which left me on my own to do the running about town.

The vet checked Lily and said it was just scar tissue. I hope so since that was just a receptionist diagnosis. (She didn't feel it was important for the doctor to check her. Hmph!) Then it was off to the car place. It went smoothly and was fairly uneventful. As a matter of fact they are near a Blockbuster so I walked over there while they worked on my car and rented some family movies for the next few days. Next stop was Target where I picked up a new coffee maker. It’s another Mr. Coffee but this one has a built in cleaner and a changeable water filter. Since we're on well water and I hope these features will prolong the life of this one. *fingers crossed* Here's the pot I picked out and on the next isle they had a cool toaster in a matching finish so I picked that up too. (We have a toaster oven but I was thinking a regular ol' toaster would be much quicker for the kids to grab some toast in the morning once school is back in session.)





On my way home - I slipped into the salon and got my hair trimmed and went tanning. That was a nice treat.

I also treated myself to a few new scrappin’ goodies - Gina Millers Hampton kit and some of her awesome stitches. Yay!

Dear hubby got back into town last night and it was so nice to have him home again. This morning he went to pick up the boat. Its supposed to be 90 today so we are hoping to go play on the lake.

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

Total Random posting here...

Well I did it. I packed nearly all of my paper scrapping supplies. I'm happily shipping them off today to a friend that shall put them to more use than I. Yes, I'm a commited digi scrapper. I have a nice new computer that will stop freezing up on me when in photoshop. A new printer to print off those digi lo's at home. Now I'm hoping that I can use my summer work's paycheck for... CS2. We shall see. ;)

Here's a new lo I finished up this morning.



(credits: Michelle Underwood kits, doodle frame by Katie Pertiet, font is courier)

Well - we got the call that the boat is ready. The guy that just rebuilt the motor three months ago wants to charge us for the repairs even though there is a one year warrenty on his work. Grrrrr! Really don't get me started. Dear hubby is handling that.

And as for today... well - we are going to have some work done on my car. Last week we had to take it in twice- the first time to have the O2 sensor replaced - the second was to tell me that the sensor was bad. So today I'm making a third trip for them to replace the faulty part. We can only hope.

Last... since I'm on a roll here... I need to take my dh pooch into the vet today as well. We had her fixed about 7 weeks ago. She's been home lately rather than traveling with dh and I noticed she had a terrible string of lumps under the healed outer layer of skin the other night when she rolled over for me to scratch her chest. Yikes!

Grumble grumble grumble... ;)

Really though... I hope we all have a great day today! TTFN!

What a restful day!

We went down last night and got a pizza and some movies. This morning the kids and I got up and did our chores. Then they hit me up to have some friends over. The dd and her friend played for hours (quite literally) out in the sand box today. They had quite the sculptures going. Even rivers at one point. And yes I got a few pics to scrap later. Hee hee!

I finished up a lo today as well. Its of some pics out of the archives that needed to be scrapped. This was about three years ago of darling daughter~

(credits: ribbon and stitches by Gina Miller, everything else by Holly McCaig, font teletype and photoblast color wash action)

I'm also adding a few new links in the sidebar so check 'em out when you have time.

Now I'm off to play "firefly" with the kids and their friends that are staying over. Have a great night!

Call me lucky

because I could have been in a very serious accident yesterday. In the afternoon I got on the Interstate to go to the neighboring town to pick up the kids and I had a seriously underinflated tire. Someone on the freeway got my attention and I pulled over and put on the spare. I don't think the tire was but an inch or so off the rim. Eeek!

Other than that, I had a fairly uneventful weekend. I did a little scrapping but the LO's are still works in progress. Also I spent quite a bit of time on the computers- working to get the older ones set up for each of the kids and adding programs to mine as well as downloading some new fonts. At one point I got out some jewelry making supplies and finished up some projects. I snapped a pic.



And besides all that... I took some pics of the puppies which are now three weeks old. They are getting quite playful. :D





What are reading these days? I'd love to learn. Right now, I'm very much enjoying The 4th of July by James Patterson. Its the 4th in a series~ and truth be known, I just love all this authors work.

Well that's it for this evening. Thanks for visiting!

The death of a coffee maker...

can be such a sad state of affairs. What seems like just a few months ago we had a rather expensive coffee maker that just suddenly quit. Yep! It simply refused to display any signs of life what-so-ever one morning when I woke. Since it didn't seem to last very long and we paid an arm and leg for it- we decided to settle on a less expensive model this time and bought an upper end Mr. Coffee maker. Well...this coffee maker did not have much longer a life span. It started leaking about three weeks ago- just a small amount. Yes it's progressed to producing a rather large puddle whenever I brew now. And I'm not an electrician but I'm certain that it isn't very safe. So needless to say, I must go shopping soon.

This weekend I am by my lonesome. I dropped the kids off last night and then came home and scrapped one lo.


(credits: All Holly McCaig stuff and font is courier)

This morning I got up and did the housework. Cared for the puppies and oh are they getting big. (New pic coming soon.) I also got out a bunch of my Cranberry candles and lit them. Yummy! They were put away for the spring/summer seasons but this morning was cool and crisp with that fall feel in the air... I simply couldn't resist. :D

And now I think that I will dig out some jewelry making supplies and maybe a cross stitch project and some dvd's for the lazy afternoon.

TGIF! Have a super day!

What a great day!

Today I was the last day of working for two and a half weeks. I am so going to enjoy this. Yay!

Last week I went into town to buy some new make up. Since we bought the boat this spring and have spent so much time on it this summer, I'm much tanner than usual. So I bought new foundation and decided to try a new make up remover. In addition, I bought something for those little crows feet that seem to stand out so much more around my eyes since I've been in the sun. The reason I'm telling you this? Well I've been using these products for a week or so and may I say they are heaven sent. A lot of make up removers sting around my eyes. Not this. And the eye cream is wonderful! Just thought I'd share these Estee Lauder treasures with you. :D



I worked on a lo last night too. My darling daughter and her best friend posed for this pic last week. They are so cute! So anyhoo, played a little and did a simple page.

(credits: kit by Michelle Underwood, flowes and rhinestone by Holly McCaig, ribbons and stitches by Gina Miller, color wash by photoblast)

Well, I did get some rest last night- whew! I finished up a book too (one I squeezed into my summer reading list.) If your a James Patterson fan I reccomend it. The Lake House is a sequel to When the Wind Blows and it was Excellent.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a super day!

Let's talk about Lily...

She is my dh's pooch. She usually travels with him but has really been acting like she would rather stay home with all the other dogs instead. So he left her. Lily is driving me NUTS. And here I am posting in the early hours of the morning because she is keeping me up. How am I supposed to feel ship shape if I'm hardly sleeping I ask? *sigh* Truth be known I am feeling better, just very irritated with dh's dog.

On a good note, I nearly have the new computer set up and most of my files transfered. Scrapbooking is almost possible once again. :) So I bought a few new goodies last night to play with. And it looks as though I will be all by my lonesome most of the weekend now so we'll give the crafty weekend another try. :D

Changing the subject once more... The Alaskan pipeline is shut down so on the Front page of the paper today it says that we should expect the possibility of paying $4.00 a gallon of gas this fall. Can you fathom? Sheesh! A friend sent me this and its just to funny not to share under the circumstances. ;)

Have a great day all!

Coming to you from a new computer!

Friday I had planned on sending the kids off for the weekend and having a very crafty weekend, however things don't always go as we planned. Darling daughter wasn't feeling well so I ended up taking care of a sick one. By Sunday she was feeling better so she, dh, and I tried taking the boat out fishing. That was a short trip... as soon as we got it in the water and tried starting it there was the most horendous and tremendous loud grinding sound. Upon further inspection, we could see that the starter had broken away from the casing. Luckily, since we just had it rebuilt is should be fixed fairly quickly and under warrenty.

So Sunday we brought the boat back home, went to church, and then drove to Portland to buy a much needed new computer. We found one that looks just perfect for me. And I love that the computers were on sale since its back to school time. :D

About the time we got home, I snapped a shot of the puppy again. They turned two weeks old yesterday and all have their eyes open now. Here's she is again. I had a hard time holding her in one hand this time.

Then in the wee hours of this morning I woke feeling very crummy. I still went to work today but have been chilling out most of the afternoon. I sent dh and the kids to the movies so I could take a nap in. I woke feeling better, thank goodness.

Here's hoping that I feel ship shape tomorrow. TTFN!

Day four and going strong!

This week has mellowed out and has been fairly stress free. I'm so thankful ~ spending most of my free time doing things I enjoy... scrapping, reading, posting in my blog etc. Life is good. :D

Two more lo's were finished yesterday and I'd like to share~

(credits: hot child kit by Meredith Fenwick, grunge frame by Jessica Sprague)

(credits: cool kid mini kit by Meredith Fenwick, cardboard, tag, and clip by Gina Cabrera)

And I purchased a couple more random things a PDW that I thought I couldn't live without. (hehe) One is a printers drawer that I'm eager to give a try.

**********************

Totally changing the subject now... I don't know how many of you switched from paper scrapping to digital as I did. I stumbled into the darkside of scrapping (tee hee) last Christmastime. No looking back.

But I must confess that I have TONS of scrapping stuff piled up that will never be used for what it was once intended. *sigh* Am I the only one in that boat? I sold some stuff to downsize, I've rak'd some away more, even shuffled quite a bit to my darling daughter, but still I have mounds of embellishments and papers crowding my digital scrap area.

Alas I hope I have found a use for at least some of my old goods...



Making Jewelry with Scrapbook Embellishments is a pretty cool book. I should open'er up this weekend and ride out this crafty streak while I have it. Hopefully turning some of the stashed away embellishments into something I can wear. :D

And on that note, I shall leave you. Thanks for stopping in and have a great evening!

Three

posts in three days... what's going on? ;)

This post will be a little of this and that... ramblings if you will.

Yesterday when we stopped to get some things for dinner at the grocery store they had Simple Scrapbooks digital scrapbooking 5 out on the shelf. Of course I picked that up. Cool beans!

I did scrap last night as well. Here's a couple of lo's to share. :D

(credits: summery start kit by Gina Miller, Word art- clip - photo corners by Holly McCaig, lined paper by Gina Cabrera)

(credits: papers and accents by Holly McCaig, Font- 2peas Squish)

And this weekend when we were at Michaels buying some jewelry stuff I found some cool albums for my digi lo's. Guess this weekend I will finally get to use that new printer. Yay!

And we are on day 10 for the puppies. Yes another puppy update. -They have really grown. This again is the same puppy pictured below (scroll down) and you can plainly see the change. They are trying to stand alone now even though they have yet to open their eyes. They are too cute!

Well... off to read while its quiet around here. Have a fantastic week all!

A few changes

I've been fiddling with my settings again. Thought the blog needed a facelift.

I found this great site, ez actions, and its pretty cool. I linked to it in the sidebar for anyone interested.

This afternoon I plan to scrap. I'm done working for the day and caught up on the household chores so the rest of the day will be at the mercy of my creative juices so long as the kids cooperate.

And here's some cool treats that I bought over at PDW before our last camping trip.

Thanks for stopping in. Have a great day! :D