One Week!

In one week it will be Christmas Eve!! I can almost hear the countdown...7...6...5...4...3.....2...1!

Does anyone else get paniky right before Christmas? Wondering "Who did I forget to buy for?" Oh - the stress begins. Stress - be thou gone!

Well - now that I have you going over your gift giving list in your head... how about a few peeks at projects made with the December Self-Addressed Kit. This kit features new Chatterbox papers in blues, greens, teals and browns. Simply yummy!

Fa La La La La

I went to the mall today after church (by myself) and got a few Christmas gifts. I brought them home and put them in the bedroom closet. Then I locked myself and my little miss in the bedroom (with the dog, of course) to wrap. I would take an empty box and go in the closet along with tissue paper, shut the door, put the gift in the box, and come out with the sealed box. Then she would pick out paper and I would tell her where to cut it.

"What's in this box, Mom?"
"Oh, its a PRESENT"
"But what is it?
"It's a secret!"

I know better than to tell a 5 year old girl what is in the box. Unless you want it repeated. She'd continue to help me wrap, then pick out a bow. Sometimes I let her fill out the tags (but it's hard for a 5 year old to write legibly on a small gift tag). The first two were for her Grandpa (I let her peek at the contents of that one hoping she'll forget soon). The next two were for her brother. I told her NOT to tell him that he had new presents and sent her with them to the tree. Her brother came into the room because I forgot to lock the door telling me how funny she was as she put them under the tree saying to him "You have some presents!!" So much for sneaking them under the tree.

Then I went back in the closet.

"Where are you going, Mom?"
"To Santa's workshop to get more presents"
I shouldn't have told her that.
"I want to go see Santa's workshop!"

I could feel the door as she tried to push it open as I shoved another gift into a box. As we wrapped this one, she smiled when I wrote her name beside the word "To". Surprisingly, she didn't even ask what it was. Nor did she ask to open it. I went back to the closet again. This time the dog followed me in. Did she smell the bag of dog treats I got her? Gee, I forgot they were in there. I'll have to remember to put them someplace higher than her nose.

We sang Christmas songs with silly made up lyrics, curled ribbons on the boxes, and wrapped a few more gifts.

"Mom! Look, the tree has LOTS of presents!"
"Yes! Yes it does!"

And how was your Sunday?

Here are a few more projects with Flair's new Amazing Grace line.





I'm off for more shopping in the morning. Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Or do you like that last minute hustle and bustle? I'm actually LOVING seeing all those 50% off signs.

Ring a ling ling

On of our local radio stations offered chances to qualify for a give-away. The prize was a $2,500 diamond engagement ring. SInce my 20th wedding anniversary is about 7 weeks away - I really, really wanted it. Shoot. I wanted it anyway - but that is my excuse to want it. Anyway - you know I wouldn't be writing about this unless I qualified for a chance. Pure luck. I never seem to get through to these things. So...

I went today. Showed my proof of ID, got my gold Christmas ornament with the number 45 on it, and put it in the box along with the other ornaments placed their by people that showed up. Oh yeah, you had to be present to win. Then we waited. While I waited I saw the ring. White gold with a yellow (topaz?) LARGE round stone and diamons all around it. Yep - I wanted it. So did everyone else there. While we waited they did door prizes. I won an itty bitty fm radio - perfect to take to they gym (since I don't have an ipod or mp3 player.... hey santa... did you read that?. When the appointed time arrived, they did the drawing. It was... number... forty.... six! Not 45. rats. Oh well, the nice tall pretty lady that came in last won it.

So I left. As I was walking out, the phone rang. I thought it was hubby calling to tell me he was listening to the radio and heard it. But it was his sister. The one who works at her best friend's fine jewelry store just for fun. She wanted me to come over and look at some jewelry - rings to be exact. My hubby had spied a couple of affordable rings - and he knows I just love getting CZ's and sterling silver because they look real. So I went. They only had 2 rings. One was too big. Then she went to get the other one. It looked almost like the one they were giving away. Yes, with a light yellow BIG stone in the center. So...... Ring a Ling Ling. I didn't win the big diamond engagement ring, but I still came home with a ring on my hand. If you see me out and about - you must say "oh, is that your new ring???"

I know - i know - pics. picss. I'll get to them.
I'm off for a nap right now. My little one had an upset tummy in the wee hours of the morning.

I may have found a new hobby

Don't tell hubby though.
I went to the Wild Bird Feed center across the river to get my dad a birthday gift. Oh
my
gosh

They have the cutest birdhouses. I know birds don't really care what their houses look like. A hole in a tree is fine with them, but the houses are sooo cute. I'll have to get busy planting more trees in the yard. Anyway- I loaded up my dad with gifts. We took them to him tonight and he actually thought we mistakenly brought his Christmas gifts, too.

I did pick up a mix of "gourmet" shelled seeds for my little birdies. My new years resolution is to work on making my backyard more inviting to the little darlings.

Well - here is what I made my dad for his birthday cake.

Southern Apple cake...Okay - so Southern Apple Cake doesn't exactly sound like Christmas, huh? Well, wait until you taste it.

Apples, Pecans and Caramel. Yum.

I made this today. I'll have to share pics tomorrow. Thought I'd share the recipe.

Southern Apple Cake (from Taste of the South magazine)

2 cups suger
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teasp. salt
1 teasp. baking soda
3 cups thinly sliced apples
1 cup chopped pecans
1 recipe Caramel Topping (see below)
Pecan Halves (for top)

Grease a 13x9x2 baking pan. (hint - do NOT preheat the oven - I don't know why either)
Mix suger, eggs, and oil with electric mixer. Set aside
In a separate bowl sift flour, salt and soda. Add apples and nuts. Stir tently until distrubuted throughout batter. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Place in COLD oven. Bake at 325 F for 50-55 minutes. Let cool in pan.
Pour caramel toppin over cake in pan. Garnish with pecan halves

CARMEL TOPPING

1/2 cup suger
1/2 cup firmly packed brown suger
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teasp vanilla extract

in small pan over medium high heat, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in vanilla. (pour over cake).

Enjoy!

Just Because

this post is about nothing.
absolutely nothing.
I told myself to try to blog each and every day this month.
well.....
I'm still thinking about what to say today.

......

Pssttt..... wanna take a peek?

No - I'm not talking about peeking at Christmas gifts! How about a peek at some of Flair Designs new collection! This faith-based collection is called Amazing Grace. This collection has 14 beautiful papers and four sticker sheets! Here is a peek at a couple of projects with it.






Now... back to peeking at Christmas gifts. How many of you will fess up to peeking at their gifts? You know who you are. I confess. I did it one year. Just one year and one year only. Some of my friends at school were talking about how they would carefully unwrap their gifts and see what was in them, then wrap them back up. Okay - so I tried it. I do not recommend it. I knew what each package was and when Christmas Day came, it was absolutely NO fun to open the gifts. No way will I ever do that again. I really WANT to be surprised.

Now, on the subject of surprises. If any of you men are reading this, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT buy your wife's gifts, then put them in a plastic storage container in the bedroom closet that you both share. And do not casually say "oh, by the way, don't look in the plastic storage container in the closet", because, your wife may say "okay, I won't" and about 2-3 days later looks. Because, THEN you will have to go BACK to the department store and exchange what you got her because you "suddenly" get a detailed list from your wife with SPECIFIC requests and most importantly - sizes.... and you will have to hurry back to the department store before everything good gets sold out and do an exchange.

Trust me, men. Don't do it.

Anyway - stay safe and gently shake the gifts under the tree with your name on them, but don't shake them too hard, or squeeze them too tight, and never, never, never peek.

Colder Weather Order Has Been Placed

The weather man informed us today that he placed an order for colder weather. And it will be here in about 4 to 6 business days. But... then he said that he put in a rush on the order and it will be about 3 days.

Seriously. I heard it on the radio. Today's forecast was going to be in the 80's. I sent Little Miss to school in a short sleeve summer top. But... well, its cloudy instead. I have no idea if it will warm up. She has a light jacket. I just hope the teacher doesn't think I've lost my mind.

So here is some evidence.



Evidence that we DO have our holiday decorations up. But this is the only photo I have right now.

I've been extremely busy. This little doxie painting will soon be in it's new home. It's a Christmas gift. The lady ordering this painting saw one of my paintings in Mimi's Cafe in North Carolina. This little Jazz Dog sure does make her way around the country. If you happen to see Jazzy one at your local Mimi's... be sure to let me know. She's hard to keep up with.

Great Mail Days

I love great mail days, don't you?

On Monday's we have a sub driver. I really like my sub driver not that I know him personally, but the main reason is that he is always earlier than our regular driver. My regular mail lady sometimes doesn't come until after 3pm. And sometimes even later. I just do NOT like getting mail that late.

Imagine my surprise when I was walking thru the house not long after noon to spy a pile of boxes sitting by my front door. Gee, he didn't even ring the bell? But I was happy anyway. I guess I'll never know how long they were out there. One was a HUGE box of clothes that I bought 2nd hand from a seller I have made friends with. We first met on ebay. Ever since then I shoot an e-mail to her every spring and every fall and she shows me what her girl has outgrown. It's always a fun box for both me and my daughter. And you thought I actually went shopping for all those cute clothes with matching hats?

The next box was my Self-Addressed kit for this month. You'll just have to wait and see what I make with that.

The next box was a box from my friend Cindy Smith. She sent me a set of chocolate snowman. Four chocolate snowman. They are so cute. No, I didn't take a photo. I..... ate.... one. Belgian chocolate. Yum. The other 3 are for the other family members. I got specific instructions on that. One for every member of the family. Okay. I'll share. Just this once.

Since I've been painting, I haven't had much new papercrafts to share, but I will share one of my December projects I made for Creative Xpress. I used Basic Grey's Periphery. I took the photos of the kids at Epcot this Spring during the Princess Storybook dinner.

I'll be back tomorrow with a photo of my recent painting. I'm still waiting to see your "Christmas Past" photos (see previous blog entry).

Christmas Past

Do you have any childhood Christmas memories? One of my early memories, and one that I'm reminded of when I see Clark Griswald take his family to the country to get a tree, is when we used to do the same thing. We lived in Oregon until I was 6. We always had snow. I remember piling up in the station wagon and going to cut our Christmas tree - in the snow. I remember the glittery glass ornaments and the tinsel icicles. And the stockings. And Christmas morning. Christmas morning was always like this AMAZING magical time, looking under the tree and seeing Santa gifts (unwrapped) placed under the tree with our stockings next to the gifts (that is how Santa identified what gift belonged to who... or whom??)

My dad was a hobby photographer back in the day. It was also the day where slides were popular. He recently had all of his slides (all of them!!! what a box) put onto CD and thus - immediate access to those memories.

Ya know what I just noticed about the stockings in the first photo? The one on the bottom right is mine. It's a snowman. Well, me and the kids just picked out new stockings this weekend. It seemed the only thing we could find and match a theme were snowmen. We each have a different one - but they are snowmen. It was totally unrelated to my childhood stocking... or was it?






Do you have vintage photos of your Christmas past? Or just some fond memories? I'd love to see / read them and spread the joy.

17 more shopping days...

So... who besides me, has not finished shopping for Christmas?

I took the kids to the mall yesterday.
I bought one Christmas gift.

But I did come home with this adorable photo.


I have an extremely busy week coming up. I have some paintings to paint, AND some assignments for papercraft companies. I was going to make it a point to blog each and every day until Christmas, but just in case I don't, well.... you'll know.

Here is the first painting I created in over a year. It's 30" wide and 2 feet tall.
Called "Jerusalem".



And last but not least, a quote from Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so? "It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!" And he puzzled and puzzed, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't thought of before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. "Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

As Promised...Photos on the Bayou

I still have not gone through all my bayou photos. My husband's niece gave us a wonderful Christmas gift by using her photography talents. What a blessing (thanks, Becca!) My Christmas photo cards have now been ordered!

In no particular order, here are a few of the "photos on the bayou"... Louisiana style. Yes, I haven't edited them. I told you I had too many to go through.


















Meanwhile, hopefully the house will have all it's festive decorations completed by Saturday! Including lights on the house.

The Festival of Lights

Happy Hanukkah!
Happy Chanukkah!

Growing up on the deep south, I never learned about Jewish culture. There aren't many Jewish people in the south, and certainly not in the small country town I grew up in. As I got older and began to study more, I have come to have such a love and appreciation for Jewish Festivals.

I found a wonderful reading on Hanukkah at this site. I loved this phrase:

The Hanukkah candelabrum, or menorah, has nine branches, one to hold a candle or oil for each of the eight nights, and one to light the others, known as the shamash (servant). We light one candle a night until all eight burn brightly, symbolizing our efforts to continually bring more light (holiness) into the world. We place the menorah in the window of the home to remind one and all of God’s never-failing protection.

I love the symbolism of bringing more light into the world. I guess I can tell that to my hubby and maybe he'll finally hang the lights on the front of the house. (smile).

When I studied the roots of the Christmas tree several years ago - (look it up if you don't know) it made me not even want a tree. I tried to celebrate Hanukkah, but my menorah needed tiny candles and I couldn't find what I needed. They kept falling over. It's just not the same when you weren't brought up doing it. (stop laughing). When I started scrapbooking - I realized that having memories and traditions was important to instill in my children. Even if the whole Santa thing has nothing to do with our faith. I needed for them to have the memory of a special time of family. We stopped traveling to see family on Christmas morn (sorry if I'm drifting a bit from the topic) and started the tradition of staying home, cooking a wonderful Christmas dinner, and watching "The Christmas Story" over and over and over and laughing and laughing. I want my kids to have those memories and not be rushing from house to house.

As a Christian, this time of year, even though historically it's not actually the birthdate of Jesus Christ, it is a time where his birth is in the forefront. From songs on the radio, to nativity scenes in the front yards (and in stores if they aren't protested) - it is a time to rejoice. Records indicate that Mary actually conceived Jesus during the Festival of Lights (thus 9 months later during the Feast of Tabernacles would be his birth). How appropriate for the "light of the world" to be conceived during the Festival of Lights.

It's too long to post here, but I like what Jeris Cribbs wrote here and a phrase from that writing:

When we observe Hanukkah, we not only reflect on a momentous event in history--an uprising resulting in religious freedom for the glory of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--but we look on it as truly a time of a celebration of Light. The Light of the world, Jesus Christ, illuminating the world with a promise of a new life, a new beginning for all who come to Him!

May the Light illuminate in and through you this wonderful season.

Santa's Coming!!

Tomorrow morning...10am... Santa's coming to town..

SANTA!!!!...

This is one of my favorite ringtones. I got it free at phonezoo.com. Everytime the kids hear it ring, they just start laughing. I found this clip (from Elf) at YouTube. I just like to smile. Smiling's my favorite. And if you like to smile, too - here's a little something for you. Click below.


are you smiling now?

We went to the bayou this weekend for family portraits. Christmas portraits to be specific. I promise, I WILL load some of the photos my wonderful niece took - there were soooo many I haven't had time to go through them all. I did, however, have a project I needed to get done and what better inspiration is there than fresh photos. I used Piggy Tales papers, chipboard and barndoor for this. Stay tuned for more. And keep smiling.

Feliz Navidad!

Feliz Navidad!
Happy Christmas!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas. No, our tree isn't up, but the boxes of decorations are all in the middle of my living room. I'll have to re-arrange furniture before we can set up the tree. But we MUST put up the tree. That is the only way to stop the questions: "Can we put up our tree today? Please? Can we put it up??"
It's hard to explain why your tree isn't up to a child when your neighbors have lights and reindeer and blow-up Santa's in their yard.

Back to Feliz Navidad. Our radio seems to have only the same 25-30 holiday songs or so it seems that they play over and over and over. Gee, you'd think they didn't know there were 1,000's of others out there. Okay - so that's another post. Well, Feliz Navidad was playing the other day (well, every day, but I'm talking about one day in particular) and I KNOW how it's spelled. n-a-v-i-d-a-d (isn't that correct??) But what I'm hearing is "navi- LOT". I'm not hearing "dad" or even "dod". My little ole ears were hearing "lot". Does anyone out there speak fluent spanish and can tell me if this is how it's pronounced?

Anyway - Christmas Wishes to you today - however it sounds on your radio.

Here's a little gift idea to create. This is TOTALLY and UNDENIABLY scraplifted from one of my favorite cardmakers - Hilary. Keep green and recycle those Starbucks bottles! I used Piggy Tales' Baa Baa Black Sheet papers and Paper Salon stamps.



Well, back to creating!

Enchanted

It's always a treat to go to the movies. Hubby took me to see (after I begged) Enchanted on Friday night. It truly lived up to it's name - it was enchanting. I especially liked seeing cartoon people transform into real people. Much like in the video (below) how the cartoon Carrie Underwood transforms into real life. Cool, huh?



And the best part - hubby thoroughly enjoyed the movie. So... it's not just for the girl at heart.

Some New Projects

Yeah! I can share these now. These are the projects for my first assignments for Creative Xpress. The complete tutorial is in the "academy" section of the site. For the layout, we had to make a fall page using a circular composition. Can you tell these photos are a couple of years old? For the cards, we had to make Christmas cards using the Cricut and that are easy to scraplift.

Louisiana's Black Bayou

It's December 1 and instead of getting the house ready for the holidays, we went out to Black Bayou for a photo shoot. My husband's niece takes awesome portraits, so we wanted her to take some for our holiday cards. I'll post of few of her photos later, but I took my camera and took a few interesting Louisiana photos.

When we arrived at the end of the dock, we were greeting by a turtle who was sunning himself on a log. But this wasn't just any turtle sitting on a log. He had his left back leg up and was holding - as still as a statue. We looked at him with the super powerful telescope that was available on the dock and it was soooo strange. He never moved. He must have strong muscles. I took a photo of him and zoomed in as much as I could. The sun was facing us, so he's more of a silhouette, but look at that leg!



Here are some more of the photos I took today. The bayou was full of white egrets (a type of heron). They are so beautiful. The sky was so blue. It's a great place to take nature photos. We'll have to go back and do that. The other photos are ones I took of Arielle and Jasmine when we went for a walk in the neighborhood. Yeah - looks like fall has just hit the south, meanwhile my friends up north are weathering several inches of snow.










Check back later and I'll share a few of the pics our niece took! Now, time to get the house ready for Christmas!

How did the shepherds know where to look??

How did the shepherds know where to look for baby Jesus? More specifically which stable?

Last night at church my daughter was so excited to see the Christmas decorations up. She was especially excited to see a beautiful nativity scene set up on a large side table. Beautiful, almost Victorian figures with real gold threads in the fabrics. The sheep had touchable fur on them. Just beautiful. We couldn't pull her away.

This reminds me of the shepherds. A couple of years ago one of Daniel's friends came home with us after church for the afternoon. Sometime during the ride home, the subject of the nativity came up and one of the kids (or me?) asked:

"How did the shepherds know which stable to find the baby in?"

One of the kids said "Because there was a star over it".

Hmmmm... I don't remember reading that. The scriptures say that the angels came to the shepherds and told them the news but it doesn't mention that they gave specifics.

Luke 2:8-18 (contemporary english version)

That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. But the angel said, "Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David's hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay."
Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

"Praise God in heaven! Peace on earth to everyone who pleases God."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

I really didn't want to tell the kids "no, there wasn't a star over the stable". I always thought that, but I needed to make sure not to tell them something incorrect. I remember when I was little I would draw manger scenes with my crayons and put a big star centered right over the manger. I used to look in the sky at Christmas and look for the biggest star and imagine the shepherds following it to find the baby. So, when we got home for church - I googled the question I asked previously. I was amazed at what I found and think of it every time I see the nativity scene.

The answer to this is found in Micah 4:8:
“And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.”

The "tower of the flock" is the Hebrew phrase Migdal Edar and means "watch tower of the flock". This tower was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks that pastured on the barren sheep ground beyond Bethlehem, but it lay close to the town, on the road to Jerusalem. Jewish writings lead to the conclusion that the flocks which pastured there were destined for Temple sacrifices. The shepherds who kept them were men who were specifically trained for raising sacrificial lambs. They were educated in what it took to keep these lambs spotless and unharmed. These lambs were apparently wrapped in "swaddling cloths" to protect them from injury.

And these shepherds knew what the scriptures prophesied.

Micah 5:2 foretells what city the Messiah would be born in.
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”


this website states:
Thus, the fields outside of Bethlehem became the place where a special group of shepherds raised the lambs that were sacrificed in the Temple. Being themselves under special Rabbinical care, they would strictly maintain a ceremonially clean stable for a birthing place. The Tower of the Flock was used for birthing ewes, and the surround fields were where these shepherds grazed their flocks. These shepherds customarily kept their flocks outdoors twenty-four hours a day every day of the year, but brought the ewes in to deliver their lambs where they could be carefully cared for. It was to this place that Joseph took Mary. It was in this special stable at “Migdal Edar” that Christ was born! How do we know? The Micah 4:8 tells us so.

So - think about it (if you haven't already arrived there). The shepherds that kept the special flock in Bethlehem (or near Bethlehem) knew the prophesies. They knew that the Messiah would be born there. They were always waiting for it. And they knew exactly where to would happen - it says so in Micah 4:8 "the tower of the flock".

So, who else would the angels have told but the ones who attended to the care of this special flock. The ones who understood it the most. It was to the shepherds that tended these special flocks that the angels appeared to and first proclaimed the birth of the Messiah, Jesus. Luke does not record that the angels told the shepherds where the manger was, because they already knew where the lambs were born! (how cool is that!) It was in the “tower of the flock”, where there were ceremonially clean stalls, carefully maintained by Temple priests who oversaw the birth of each lamb. This was a special sheep birthing place where Jesus, “the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world” was born. (John 1:29, 36). God in His plan could not have choosen a more appropriate place for the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope this blessed you. I'm always amazed that the simplest things, the ever-so childlike questions, can lead to such treasured discoveries. If this was new revelation for you, you'll probably be like me when you see the nativity scene and think about the "tower of the flock" and all it means. Be blessed!

I want to credit THIS SITE as a source for most of this information and encourage you to go there for even more info.

And just because I haven't shared a project on my blog in weeks, here is an angel ornament me and my little miss made over the Thanksgiving break. This is one of the projects made with the November Self-Addressed Kit.

Just so you know...

I did NOT drop off the face of the earth. I did not go on vacation. I am not working on a secret project and I have not lost internet connection.

I have been working fast and furious on craft projects and have also pulled out the paint and canvas to get some paintings done. If I am lucky - I will be able to complete some small paintings to put on ebay for people to purchase for holiday gifts. I would think they would be quite collectible being that they will be only a small handful of paintings from my offered in 2007. We'll see.

I've basically been home with the kids for nine straight days (since they get a whole week out for school). I've missed some of my spin classes due to other pre-holiday tasks, but I enjoyed cooking for Thanksgiving.

My daughter actually caught on to what it means to let mom sleep late- of course it was the last day of the long nine day stretch. Once she realized that some people like to sleep longer than she does and that waking them from a dream to say "hi - I'm awake" isn't something desireable. She make herself a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, got a Sunny D and watched cartoons while I slept an extra hour. And it was raining outside... it was nice to sleep in. I almost forgot what it was like.

So.... as soon as I'm brave enough to go into the stores, I'll be purchasing some storage bins for my Fall decorations and getting ready for the Christmas. No matter how much I am not ready for it.

Did any of you venture out this past Friday? My mom called from the mall at 8am and said "It's a madhouse". I said "what's new?". LOL

I'll try to get some projects or photos up soon. later!

The Spinning Dancer

Someone showed me this spinning dancer (link below). What is so bizarre is that depending on your left-brain / right-brain dominance, she will be either spinning clockwise or counterclockwise. I only saw it one way until I "made" my brain see it the other

Wanna play???

Here's the link: The Spinning Dancer

One of my friend insisted that the computer image was "changing". My son also said that until he realized it was just his perception. (gee, sounds like something we can apply to our lives, huh). I turned my head sideways and stared at the balancing foot and actually saw her swing half way to the left, then bounce back half way to the right - and so on. (Hmmm..wonder if that means my brain is really out of whack??)

No need to comment on my last statement.

Murphy's Law

I thought one of "Murphy's Law" was: what goes around comes around, but no - that is more like something from the "My Name is Earl" show aka "karma". And since I don't believe in karma - I guess this is just something that goes around at will (or as in the show - Earl and not Will.)

Regardless, one thing that will go around again and again and again is "You've Been Tagged". If you have ever tagged someone, no doubt you WILL be tagged. I was tagged last night, then again this morning. I guess I should be thankful that it happened so close together.

Thank you, Robyn (I've enjoyed your blog) and Julia (didn't you do this to me before?? for making me update my blog today.

So - here are the rules:
1-Link to your tagger (see above), and also post these rules on your blog. Done!
2-Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3-Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4- Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

So... here goes
1. I took piano for 7 years, flute for 1, and clarinet for 4.
2. I like cold fried chicken.
3. I've never scuba dived, but would love to.
4. My grandmother was a Native American.
5. I bite my nails.
6. I don't listen to country music on the radio, but I like to watch country videos.
7. (Last one!) I can see you right now as you read this.

JUST KIDDING on no. 7. Did I creep you out? Okay - for No. 7, how about: I can jump rope and cross my arms, uncross them without missing a beat. My son was totally amazed.

Now the fun part, I get to "tag" 7 more people (as I run from Murphy's Law). Here goes,


Amber, Donna, Sherry,Celia, Barb, Theresa and last but not least....Tami.

Happy Monday, everyone!

My new Scarlet Lime kit!

The nice postal person brought my first Scarlet Lime kit to the door Saturday. I couldn't actualy do anything with it until today other than look at the yummyness of it and dream. My daughter was on the bed with me looking at all the papers, felt flowers, trims, doilies and stamps and she oohed and aaghed as much as I was. So in honor of little miss, my first page has her bright smiling face on it.

Meanwhile I got to play with some of my new Paper Salon papers last week. This card uses "First Blush". Have a great week!

TGIF!!

Yes - it's FRIDAY!!!

I'm heading out to crop with scrapbookers from our old scrapbook store. We still manage to get together once a month. So while I wait for a few minutes to pass- here are a few pics of me and one of my scrapbook friends celebrating our birthdays this week at one of the local restaurants. We went to a really cool Italian restaurant. I guess I won't tell you the name of the restaurant b/c my friend - well, she found something in her salad. Nothing bad (well, I can think of worse) - just a part of the packaging that must have somehow fell in her food. A funny thing about that is 2 months ago I was eating out with another friend and she found something in her food. Part of "packaging"... but totally different than this time. I have to ask this question to those of you that cook. Do you drop packaging parts into your food when you cook? I can't ever recall doing that. Hmm.... Anyway - the nice little waiter took a few pics of us just in case my self-timer pic didn't turn out. And he brought us a bread pudding to celebrate the week. That huge salad was mine, and no - I did not eat it all. Not even half. And I had to take a few pics of the surroundings. Oh - and at the bottom of this post - look for new about a contest!








Pssstt - want to win some NEW product from Flair Designs? Check out THIS LINK!. I hope you can play! Good luck and Happy Friday!

It Feels Like Fall!

Finally! This morning it actually felt like fall! My son had on a sweatshirt hoodie on and I said "you are going to burn up in that" but he goes "No, mom - it's COLD outside". Well, 57 degrees at 7am isn't exactly cold but it sure was nice.

In honor of fall finally visiting the south - here is a fall-themed gift set. A Thanksgiving gift bag and two Thanksgiving cards. These are made using Piggy Tales Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater collection. This collection includes adorable rub ons, coordinating cardstock stickers and yummy ribbon!