Our photo's are in!

I've got to call Jody and arrange to pick up our photo's from our evening in Deadwood on Friday. I can hardly wait to see them, I'm sure that I will immediately start laughing when I see them! And Hobby Lobby is having a 50% off sale on frames this week too...how convenient!

My Cookbook Nook: Hannah and her library books

My Cookbook Nook: Hannah and her library books

you need to watch THIS movie!

When was the last time you really had a whole hearted laugh with your family? Mine was Sunday night. Oh my word we all laughed our heads off while watching the movie "RV" with Robin Williams. If you haven't seen it, then you're really missing out on something! There were parts where we were (and this is all 4 of us) screaming with laughter. I can't begin to tell you about all of the parts we backed up and watch again because they were so hilarious! But this is a movie about family togetherness and how some vacations can go horribly wrong and end up with the family being closer than ever. In a way it reminded my husband and I of our European Vacation last summer. Granted we didn't have the RV or the raccoons, we did have little clown rental cars that smelled of bad body odor, LOL!

Go rent this movie...just make sure to empty your bladder before you watch it, LOL!!!

My NEW Scrapbook Nook

I must be driving the contractor crazy with my last minute things...but seriously though I do need the room to my Scrapbook Nook to open outward. If I don't do that, then it will take up nearly 3 feet of floor space and all of us scrapbookers and stampers know how much we can cram into 3 feet of space right? LOL!

I'm going back today with my metal measuring tape to re-measure the 2 large windows in the front of the house. I'm hoping that I will be able to use the 71 inch wide blinds on them, if not then I'll have to go with the 70 inch and pay about $30 per window MORE. Is that just nuts or what? Paying MORE for something that is one inch more narrow? Doesn't seem possible but there it is.

My dear friend Kim (who is quite the enabler I dare say) sent me a link to an awesome scrapbook room over at 2 peas. I let her know that I loved that room didn't know if my husband would love it (because it's something right up my alley and would take him some time to get it done for me). But strangely enough he really liked the idea. I was looking around at other scrapbook rooms on 2 peas and saw this FAB one that was done in my 2 favorite colors...Bright Pink and Bright Green. I swear, I was in love with that room at first sight! I don't know how it will go over when I have to sell the house in 2010, but hey I'd be happy as a clam now! That room just screams happiness to me look in the gallery under "mccaligiuri" , it's a charming room down to the light on her desk and the valances with fringe hanging up over the windows I love everything about this room!

I am having hardwood laminate flooring put in this room...for obvious reasons. I want the wheels on my drafting chair to roll smoothly. Okay there are other reasons, easy clean up when working with things like stamp pads, beads and acrylic paints. Lets face it, things get spilled and I want to have as much of an easy clean up as possible! I'm a light colored wood flooring person which is different as how I like to choose my carpet- for some strange reason, I adore gray colored carpet but light colored wood flooring, go figure :-) For the foyer and the scrapbook nook aka home office (we've been telling our Realtors it's a home office) I chose a light colored Oak hardwood laminate flooring. I've had real hardwood flooring before and it's a royal pain to take care of, this stuff is just as nice, a fraction of the cost and it's easy to take care of...and you can't beat that with a stick!

Well I better grab some more coffee vacuum, toss in a load of laundry and head out to the house with my measuring tape. I've got plans...now lets see if I can use these blinds I bought or do I have to buy the more expensive ones?

The Windows...and other things

I measured the windows and bought blinds today! Now I didn't buy anything for the sliding glass door or for the 2 long and narrow side windows next the sliding glass door (those windows are odd sizes, long and very narrow). And there's that HUGE half round window about the front door...I think that I'll design and make a window treatment to go up there...just like I did for the half round window at out last house. So many things to think about, so many things to get done.

I've got the flooring picked out, it's called "Milky Way" for the vinyl in the kids bathroom and the laundry room, it's beautiful shades of slate blue, browns and creams. The carpet is matched to the rest of the house which is color is called "Nutria" which reminds me of oatmeal with some dark brown flecks to it. I decided to go with "Bruce" laminate flooring, it's made by Armstrong. I loved the different colors of the laminates, there were so many to choose from. I went with one of the lighter colored floors, do I remember the name of it? Nooooooooo, LOL! I'll have to call the flooring center and get the names and brands of what we ordered so I can out them in our file.

More dry wall was being put up today, and my Scrapbook Nook is really taking shape. I changed how the door was going to close. Instead of closing inward, I'm having it go outward. I need as much space in that room as I can possibly give myself :-)

Windows and floors

The windows and floors get measured today. I'm the one measuring the windows...got to get the sizes down pat for the blinds and window treatments. I don't know if I'd mentioned this before but I have in the past designed and made my own custom window treatments. It's not something that I would do for others, well- not at this time in my life anyway. I'd be looking at fabric, curtain rods- I can most likely use my own and not have to buy more, LOL! With living in 6 previous places one would think that I had plenty of curtain rods in all shapes and sizes, LOL!

I've got my flooring picked out, now to see it against the carpet and picturing it in the rooms. I'm so excited about this next step!

My Cookbook Nook: my new Kitchen appliances

My Cookbook Nook: my new Kitchen appliances

We bought appliances!!!

I'm so happy I can hardly contain myself! We bought all of our appliances yesterday! We also bought a new kitchen faucet, a digital programmable thermostat, one of those curved shower curtain rods (those are sooooo nice)- would have bought 2 but they only had 1 brushed silver one left, and of course I had to have a bunch of those plastic shoe boxes for my rubber stamps, LOL!

I'll have to get some pictures of what we bought and post them. I'm seriously psyched about the new stove! It's got 5 gas burners and the convection oven duel fuel thing going on (gas and electric), with a duel oven too! This baby rocks! And my groovy Kitchen Aid refrigerator, ooh whee! You've got to love a sale right??? :-) I tell ya, there is nothing better than a sale and a 10% off your entire purchase coupon for Lowes! The appliances will be delivered the day after we close on the house. I am so happy, I feel like I'm exuding happiness...happiness fuzzies are all over the place at our house this weekend!
I'm counting down the days until we close on the new house! 33 days until we're officially New Home Owners!

Shopping for House stuff today

Today we're going to pick out flooring for the downstairs- carpet, vinyl and hardwood. After that we'll be looking at more appliances. We're looking for the best deal we can get. I prefer to cook with gas and our gas line is in! We're going with stainless steel appliances, I love the look that clean sleek look that they give to a kitchen.

After assessing the vinyl flooring in the kitchen it will do for now. We may change it in the future but for now it will be okay. I started thinking that it may be too much wood in the kitchen since it isn't a flow through space (meaning that there isn't more than one entry way into the kitchen).

I've got my note book and camera packed and ready to go!

Better Organization

I started purging those plastic boxes from all of those Stampin Up stamp sets...and do I feel better for it too! I started loading the stamps into the clear shoe box of it's particular category and WOW! I've cleared out an entire self in our large linen closet. I have to say that it really has made a big difference. I didn't think that it would make as much of an impact as it has, WOW! So by reducing all of those plastic boxes that the stamp sets came in, I cleared up an entire 3 foot by 2 section in the linen closet and I had them stacked at least 14 inches high. Those plastic boxes really do take up a lot of room, a lot more room than the clear plastic shoe boxes. I feel so free, no more will I think about having to keep those boxes around!

Today I will need to buy MORE shoe boxes as I want to put my alphabet stamps in them and just keep my phrase stamps in my blue Iris cart. I like to have the phrase stamps right at hand. Everything is put into a category, it works very well that way- for me.

An evening of Fun in Deadwood, SD

Have you ever laughed so hard that your ribs hurt? That would be a a good description of last night. A group of us from the Mission Support Group went out for an evening of fun in Deadwood last night. First stop was to get an old fashioned portrait taken of the group. Have you ever tried to get 18 people dressed up on funky colored western costumes when it's freezing cold and have them keep a straight face? I'm here to tell you that it's just not going to happen, LOL! I laughed so hard I thought that I was going to pee my pants! Our photographer was very patient with our group...after all she was making a small fortune from us that night. I bought several photos, two group shots and one of just my husband and myself. Now because there were 18 of us and we were all ordering 3 or more large prints...it's going to take her all weekend to get them printed. They'll be out in Monday's mail and we should have them by Tuesday. Once I get our pictures I'll have to scan them in and post them...it will give you a good laugh! This ordeal took over 2 hours, and I still can't wipe the smile off of my face. If you were there you would have laughed yourself silly!

We ate dinner in a local restaurant and the meal was FANTASTIC! The halibut with wild rice and mango salsa was seriously delicious! Everyone loved their meal and the waiter was a young man probably no more than 18 or 19 who was very patient with our group. He did an excellent job, not to mention that he had no additional help with waiting on our larger group. I am certain that he was very pleased with his tip at the end of our evening :-) The food and service was so good that we all agreed to go there again. Usually larger groups get sucky service and lukewarm food...but this was not the case at this restaurant, not at all!

The house is coming along nicely

I just got back from meeting with the Realtors at our new house. The gas lines for the stove and the grill are in (yes our grill will be connected to the gas line- no more propane tanks for us!), the electrical and cable lines are in, the downstairs bathtub/shower unit is is and the sheet rock/dry wall was going up while we were there.

I took measurements of the windows that are in my Scrapbook Nook- I need to figure out what kind of window treatments I'm going to make in for there. I'm sooooo happy with all of the stuff going on today I can hardly contain myself!

While at the house I also measured the space for the refrigerator, stove and dishwasher. I'm keeping the sink since it's an 8 inch deep one (I would have liked a 9 or 10 inch but hey- it's one less expense I have to in cure at the moment). The kitchen sink faucet will have to be replaced, but I already knew that one. Oh I'm getting ready to spend some serious $$$ on this kitchen! Thank goodness for the $2500 appliance allowance because I'm going to spend every single penny of it and more! I've got a stove, refrigerator, microwave and a dishwasher and a kitchen faucet to buy very soon!

The clock is ticking...

I sure do have a lot on my plate this month, next month too. Today I've got to call moving companies, arrange to meet with the person that measures the areas for our flooring, I've got to get the brand name of the paint and color from the housing office so we can get this cottage back to it's original drab self. Seems like just a handful of phone calls, but it's not, there's much more to it than just a simple phone call.

Lets face it, we're wedged in this little house pretty darn tight. I've always said that we'll need "professional help" getting out of here. IN other words... help from a professional moving company. There's way too much in here for us to even think of messing with. We're past asking friends to help us since !- most of them are on deployment and 2 the ones that are still here are as old as we are and lets face it, we don't want to hurt anyone, LOL! And of course there's #3, we just don't have the time to do it ourselves. Between my husbands work schedule and the stuff I have going on...that doesn't leave us very much time to get things done.

Painting this house...heck I might even have to call a professional to do that if my husband doesn't get any time to do it. There's nothing like trying to get one house in order when moving into it and getting another back to the way it was when you first moved into it...at the same time. I can see many headaches in the upcoming weeks for both Lucien and myself. Be it moving across town or across country, the stress levels are the same, high.

I'm going through more stuff today...things in the kids closets and the linen closet. The things are items that should be in my Scrapbook Nook but aren't (because of lack of space). I'm going through my Stampin Up collection. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to store them. I can't keep these little plastic boxes, they just take up so much room. I think that the plastic shoe boxes would do better and I could organize them by category...Birthday, Christmas, Halloween, Floral etc. I'm going through the stamp sets and will sell off the ones I am no longer interested in keeping around. The home office that is going to be my new Scrapbook Nook is going to be wider but also it's going to be the same length as the space I have now. I will have 2 beautiful windows, but those windows will be taking up precious wall space where I have things hanging in this room. I have to rethink how I'm going to have this space organized, with that comes some downsizing- ugh! Items such as my compact paper trimmers will be sold at the garage sale in April. I do not need to have duplicate items in my scrapbook nook. I have to really get tough with myself! Wish me luck!

Just another day in the neighborhood

Have you ever noticed how much better a nice long shower or hot steamy soak in the tub makes you feel? For me it's total relaxation. I really hate feeling rushed in the morning, it makes my entire day seem a little off.

I'm going to go out and take some pictures today...we have demolition going on here at the base. An entire neighborhood of older base houses are being knocked down and I want pictures of it!

There are some things I have to go through...I have a question for you that buy Stampin Up rubber stamps. Do you keep those plastic boxes that the stamps come in or do you go through the stamps and organize them by category like floral, sayings, backgrounds etc? I tell ya, I'm getting rather tired of having to go through all of those little boxes looking for for a phrase, or a certain flower stamp. What is the purpose of keeping them in those boxes versus taking them out and organizing them into categories and keeping them in those clear shoe boxes with labels on them? I'd like to see who does what with their stamps. I'm so ready to toss all of those boxes into the recycle bin!

Now I'm off to do some errands, take pictures and to deliver some frozen pieces of cheesecake!

Ash Wednesday

So it's Ash Wednesday, the kick off for Lent. So what am I giving up? Or am I taking on a new personal challenge? I better hurry up and figure it out, the clock is ticking!

Now it wouldn't be right if I gave up beef or fast food since those are things that I rarely ever eat. Could I go 6 weeks without chocolate? I doubt it! Could I go 6 weeks without buying any scrapbooking supplies? I'll be realistic and say "Yeah Right", LOL! Last year I took on a challenge of a personal nature and it really made me grow as a person. I can't say that there's anything remotely close to that challenge out there for me at this moment in time (and I truly give thanks to the Lord that there's not). My challenge had me really gritting my teeth at times.

I'm still going strong on my New Years Resolution of writing a snail mail letter to my Dad, Mom and younger sister every week. I'm also doing well on my picture a day. Which reminds me, I need to print out the journaling and start assembling the pages together. I think that the ESG has their scrapbook meet up this Saturday. Maybe I can get sneak out of the house unseen and hang out there for a couple of hours :-)

Scrapbook Group

I've been so busy running around doing things in regards to our new house that I forgot to plan anything for scrapbooking group. So I cancelled and rescheduled it for next week.

I'm thinking about serving Quiche Lorraine, I haven't made in it quite a while and a nice recipe page to go along with it could be in order. I'm also wanting to make a yummy garden salad. to serve along with the quiche..the ones that my friend Kristi made for the baby shower would be nice. Maybe I can bribe her with some cheesecake to share her recipes with me :-)

My NEW Scrapbook Nook

Here's a sneak peek at the unfinished room that will soon be my new Scrapbook Nook. I'm still amazed with the fact that I'll be having 2 windows in my scrapbook nook. I'll be flooded in sunlight Ü that is such a happy thought! Especially after being without any natural light in my "now" scrapbook nook for 3 years and 6 months. I'll be taking many pictures of the transformation of this space. I've heard that the framework for the walls and door way have been put up...I need to go see this for myself :-) The person you see standing in the room is our realtor Angie...she's been wonderful to work with!

The Kitchen

Here are the 2 different views into the kitchen. You can see in the 1st picture what I call the Dr. Seuss light fixture over the sink. I've never heard of a chandelier hanging in the kitchen before but hey I'm up to trying new things.

Here you see the vinyl flooring. It looks like tile and has a rather pebble like texture. I'm considering having Pergo laminate wood flooring put down in here. We're going to have Pergo installed in the foyer and in the downstairs home office (aka My Scrapbook Nook). Vinyl flooring is okay for the bathrooms and the laundry room, but in the high traffic and high visibility rooms I want to have a more cohesive look. Now I have to swing this latest idea of mine to past my husband. The white appliances that you see will be coming out (they will be garage sale items after we move in) and will be replaced by stainless steel appliances. If you haven't noticed, I'm all about everything flowing together and having that cohesive look. This is not my forever home, alas...I have one more home to buy in the future. So for us, this home again is all about resale.

Archways

I love this archway into the dining area, the high ceilings add such an elegant touch to the house. Then there is the barreled ceiling in the hallway to the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom. The wood trim is Red Oak with a clear stain...love that!!! I had that in our house in Texas, I loved the warmth that came with that finish on the wood trim and cabinets. The carpet has an oatmeal kind of look to it with differnt flecks of color, this is something that I would have choosen on my own. The light fixtures are all have a brushed nickel finish along with the knobs on the cabinets and the door handles.

The light sconce at the end of the hallway is such a beautiful touch. I like it much more than an over head light in the ceiling. And that alabaster glass is so me! These are light fixtures that I can live with Ü

Clearing out the Clutter...

So here I am getting ready for yet another big purge of "stuff" from our home. Just when I thought that there wasn't anything more that I could possibly get rid of I decide to part with MORE. Really, how is that possible??? I amaze myself with this latest revelation. I gave away hundreds of sheets of printed paper to my girlfriends that scrapbook. I'm not sure if there's more I'd like to get rid of in my scrapbook nook at this time. I keep hemming and hawing on those Fiskars decorative edge scissors...We use them once in a while on other projects. Now I do know that there's oodles of stuff to donate or sell off in a garage sale from my kitchen. I'm going to hold off on donating it and just sell it off in April.

I read an article the other day in a woman's magazine about "not letting the home office invade you bedroom". Well it's rather late for that since the home office is located IN our bedroom (there was no other place for it). I can not begin to tell you how much I dislike having the computer, printers filing cabinet and more in our bedroom. It disrupts the feeling of relaxation, I can never get away from this room...it bothers me greatly! But now there is an end in sight...in a month this stuff will be located in another room- one that IS NOT the master bedroom. What a relief that will be for me!

Hannah has done a great job of clearing out the junk from her desk drawers. She's done exactly like the professionals on the show "Clean Sweep" have done...3 piles, toss, donate and keep. I am quite impressed! I think that Andrew and I both can take Hannah's lead and get cracking on our stuff. Andrew especially needs to do this in his room...that boy of mine never gets rid of anything (he's a junior pack-rat). Even though I have purged a great deal I do feel that I can get rid of even more stuff from this house. The Jr ROTC clothing drive had me getting rid of all of those old clothing items that I've been hanging on to for years. I've still got some more that I'm contemplating on getting rid of. They are things like hand knit sweaters that my mother made when I was a little girl. Hannah never wore them because the wool was way to itchy for her sensitive skin. I have some purses and things that I can get rid of, ones that I don't use. But those can wait until we get into the new house. We'll have a big garage sale after we move in.

The birds...oh am I ready to give them away! I can vacuum around that cage 3 times a day and it will still not be enough. Those Zebra Finches are in a nutshell...MESSY!!!!! And noisy, every time you turn on the stereo or TV they start getting louder and louder. There are days when I just want to wheel their cage outside- did I happen to mention that it's freezing cold outside? I just don't want to have this bird seed and bird poop mess in my new house. It's no longer fun when you have to constantly nag your children on a daily basis to give their pets fresh food and water. And lets not even talk about cleaning the cage, that right there is more like mission impossible. The cat can stay, but we're going to have only the 1 cat...no matter how much Hannah begs us for a 2nd kitty. I'm going to see if the Youth Center here on base is looking to get another donation of Zebra Finches. I fell bad about this but you know what, it's time to let someone else appreciate the birds.

My house is being worked on!

I received an e-mail from my friend Cindy (who lives down the street from our soon to be new home) letting me know that workers have been there all day :-) that makes me very happy! Cindy by the way has been a huge help in the process of buying our new home. She has given us many great tips and ideas on doing things with this house.
I've been keeping myself busy going through things in my little house. I can't believe that I have culled 55 movies from our collection, that's a lot of movies! Almost all of them are Disney (VHS) movies. With our kids now being a teenager and a pre-teen (also known as tween), those kinds of movies no longer hold any interest for them. Part of me is sad because my kids are past that age, but the other part says off they go to the box "for future sale". I'm also planning on getting rid of a lot of Tupperware. I had a ton of it when I moved here and systematically I've been purging it from my cupboards, it's things like those spice containers that I no longer use. I'm considering the possibility of using them in my scrapbook nook to hold embellishments such as buttons and small fabric flowers. We shall see what I come up with, it's either re-purpose them or get rid of them...no more hanging around taking up valuable space.
I'm still in shock at the fact that I'll be having windows in my new scrapbook nook...and two windows at that! And they both open, I don't know if I can handle that, LOL! Now to think about window treatments...it's going to need to be something fun and cheery. I'm going to have to create something using "happy fabric". Something in the line of Mary Engelbreit...yup she makes HAPPY stuff! I'm just doing the happy dance with the thought of having a bright and cheery Scrapbook Nook with windows!!! I'm going to get my photo's printed and ready to scrap about the house building (or house finishing in my case) process. It's VERY exciting stuff!

Please say a prayer for our deployed spouses

Please keep our dear friends Mike and Jennifer in your payers. Mike is leaving for a deployment soon (Wednesday) and their 3 week old baby was admitted to the hospital Sunday night with a high fever. Mike actually got his deployment date pushed back a day...thank the Lord for the small miracles as well as the big ones. Jennifer is a wonderful soft spoken christian Mom who home schools her 5 other children. My biggest fear is that Jennifer will think that she is burdening her friends by calling on them when she needs help. I reassured her husband that we are there for her morning, noon and night, that when we (there's a group of 5 of us- not including Jenn) that she can call upon for help at any time.

From my close friends here at Ellsworth, there are quite a few with spouses being deployed. Of my close knit group of friends, there are only a handful of us with spouses currently here. With us doing a back to back assignment here, yes that does put my husband in contention with doing at least 2 more deployments. I'm actually okay with that, why? Because I know that I have a tight knit group of friends that I can call upon when the going gets tough.

My Husband is 40!

Here he is my 40 year old husband! And to think that I met him when we was a mere 22 years old and married him when he was 23 years old. Wow times flies when you're having fun!

More house pictures

Here's a side view of the house 2 days later...after the snow has started to melt. Here you can see the 2 windows to my scrapbook nook and another window which will be in the family room downstairs. The front door is rather blah so I'm going to paint it brick red Ü yup that will give it some umph! We'll use a colored water-proofing stain the front porch and the back deck too.



<

Our new house

We did it, we found a house! This is sooooo much larger than where we are living now. This is going to be wonderful to live in! It's got (or soon will have) a home office, 4 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, a roomy 3 car garage, 2 living areas and I get more gourmet kitchen too! It's a split level house, with a roomy foyer. See that window below the larger one...that's my NEW scrapbook nook! I don't get one window I get 2 windows!!!! There's another one on the side of the house too! I'm going to have Pergo flooring put in there to make clean up a snap!

Yesterday we went out looking at Kitchen appliances. I'm going all stainless in the kitchen, easy clean up and it's a great look. I've got to get a move on since we're going to be closing on the house March 30th! The time is going to go by super fast! I've got more things to go through and get rid of. Can you believe it...we're buying a house!

It's Saturday!

Here it is, Saturday. We're getting the house ready for our wine and cheesecake tasting party tonight. Just by luck I do have enough platters for all of the cheesecakes. I thought that I was one short by low and behold I totally forgot about the platter that I have had hanging on the wall for the past 3½ years (the one that was too large to fit in the cupboards). I'm going to go out and get a nice new table cloth for our formal dining table. All I have on hand are those plastic ones (I get them because the kids are messy and those things are cheap to replace). All of our linen table clothes are (I hate to even say it) "in storage". Our other wine glasses are where? "in storage". Living in the cottage has been a bit of a challenge to say the least!

Well I better get out of here and get my errands done. I'm going to be taking tons of pictures tonight so I can scrapbook them later :-)

It's raining it's pouring my old man is snoring...

I have no idea where this post went since I had e-mailed it in an hour ago...so here we go


We got the call at 5:20 am this morning; schools are closed because of the icy road conditions. It’s raining pretty hard and the ground is iceberg cold and all of that snow, well that makes black ice. The kids are doing the happy dance, woohoo no school! Everyone is still asleep with the exception of me. Even the cat is sleeping in today. I can’t, I’ve got 4 more gourmet cheesecakes to make today and a house to clean.

I’m so excited about buying a house…I hope to hear back from our realtor today. The sooner we can get everything arranged- movers and a closing date, the better! My husband is such a catch! So the downstairs of this house isn’t finished but the framing is up for the laundry room, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a utility room (for the water heater and furnace). So there’s my husband measuring and mapping this all out and he comes up with new down stairs plan with an addition of a craft room! And no, unlike where my scrapbook nook is now, I won’t be re-doing the utility room in this house, LOL! The family room area is huge, too huge really. Keeping that in mind, he’s taken a part of that super sized room and created a space for either a home office or in our case a new scrapbook nook. I tell ya he really is a catch! So now the upstairs bedroom will be our home office/guest bedroom. I’m seriously excited about it! I see that he’s even made a house plan with the room and furniture placement…I love this man!

The OSC movie night was really nice. It was held it at one of the squadrons in their auditorium (it’s nice). It was a small turn out but we did well on our collection of baby items for the Family Readiness Center. Many many packages of diapers, baby wipes, shampoo and more were donated. For each item brought a ticket was given for a chance to win one of my gourmet cheesecakes. You’re never going to believe who won this cheesecake…I did, LOL! What a crack up! I told my girlfriend Kim that I’d trade the cheesecake for the candle basket (she won 2 of the great boutique table prizes). Kim is so generous that she just gave me the basket of candles (it was a laundry basket FULL of wonderful scented candles too) telling me that I’ve been so good to her…she made me blush. So there we are in her truck coming home and I got this brain storm of an idea…how about we surprise someone in the neighborhood with this cheesecake? I knew just the person to surprise too J I know how my friend Amber wanted to be the winning bidder on the cheesecake that I had in our auction last year (the one that ended up selling for $135). It turned into a bidding war and lets just say it got out of her price range (heck it was out of my price range too- and I made it). Then last night she brought in many baby items in hopes of winning. So you can only imagine her surprise when I’m ringing her doorbell at a little before 9 pm and I’m giving her this cheesecake. I think that I made my friend cry tears of joy. I had to laugh when she said “this isn’t the whole cheesecake is it?” my reply “yes it is!” Let’s just say I got many hugs and many thanks and call it good. Kim and I just giggled and reveled in our warm fuzzies. The feeling of giving such a surprise like that to someone who does so much for those around her, well it gave both Kim and I such a sense of true joy and happiness. Only a small handful of people here know that I gave the cheesecake away… my pal Kim, my daughter Hannah and of course my friend Amber and her husband.

Now off I go to get dressed and get myself into cooking and baking gourmet cheesecakes!

We're going to buy a new house!

I'm so excited about this that if I had a tail I'd be wagging it like crazy! We met yesterday with our realtor and the realtor who represents the subdivision contractors. In all we looked at 4 different homes. After the realtor that represents the subdivision left our realtor Angie took us to look at the house we saw last Sunday (the one where the open house was) and one that is half finished that is right next door. Well guess what?!!!! After all that looking around, measuring room sizes, looking at things like closet space, kitchen and bathroom sizes...we've made a decision. It's going to be the last house that we looked at with just our realtor, the one that needs to have the downstairs finished off. There were a lot of things that we really liked about that house, a handful of things that we'd like to alter or improve (changing out that front door is on that list). Getting a gas line over to the kitchen for a gas stove (I'm a gourmet cook who prefers to use gas) and a gas line out to the deck for the new grill that I'm going to buy my husband as a moving in present! Okay so it's for me too, LOL!

So here I am ready and anxious to get stared on the paperwork to buy this house!

My wine glass story

I realized in the middle of the night that I never finished my story about the wine glasses, LOL! That's typical of me...getting off track. Soooooooo anyway my quest for more wine glasses end up with me looking all over the place for something decent looking. I saw some nice ones by Mikasa at Herbergers (that's our fancy department store in Rapid City) and they were nice but I didn't want to pay $50 for a set of 4, especially when I need at least 16 glasses. An idea that Lucien had was to buy plastic ones, ones we can toss into the recycle bin later on when we were done with them, the only ones I saw were $25 for a set of 4- for plastic? get out!

Smack me in the head but I didn't see anything at Target that I liked, and I roll my eyes at myself because I even tried Wal-Mart. For something half ways decent looking the best price was $17.99 for a set of 4, still more than I really wanted to spend. So as a last resort I went to the Ellsworth AFB BX (base exchange- it's like a Target department store for military families). I see wine glasses that I like at a very reasonable price $4.99 for a set of 4 and they look like they will match our Williamsburg Winery stemware. But wait, right next to all of that is that very same set of Mikasa wine glasses that I saw earlier at Herberger's, the price tag on these were $29.99 but wait! There's another tag on the shelf partially covering the $29.99 tag and it says $12.47, woohoo! SOoooooo, I take a box over to the nearest price scanner to make sure of this low price and get this...it scans in at $6.27! I ran and got a cart and loaded myself up with some great looking stem ware at a fraction of the retail price! So for about $25 I was able to get $200 worth of Mikasa stemware. Here's a picture of what they look like...

Happy Valentines Day!

It's cold outside, really cold! It was minus 8 last time I looked, and let me tell you... I don't care to be out in that again! Yesterday the snow plows came while I was out running errands and I had to shovel snow before I could pull up in the drive way, ugh! Well I did it, it wasn't easy by any means but I got it done :-) The really funny thing was that I just finished putting the shovel away and guess what...my husband drives up. Some times you just have to shake your head. But he did help me to bring in the groceries and other items I bought.

I had to get some wine glasses for this Wine and Cheesecake Tasting party we're having this weekend. It's a Mission Support Group thing...each month a different person from the group hosts a party, it gets people together in a non-work environment. So we've been to 2 of these parties so far...the all holidays celebrated in December one was a huge success and the Murder Mystery party was the best New Years Eve party ever! There's this funky Pink Flamingo that gets stuck in your yard and that lets everyone know that the next party is at your house. Usually it gets stuck there in the middle of the night and it's a surprise to you too, LOL!!! This is such a fantastic group of people, I love them all!

House Hunting- Yes we're still in the process, and today we're going to look at 4 more houses. We're looking at buying a new house. Our intentions were to buy a previously owned home and just move in. But alas, that didn't pan out. So here we are onto plan "b" new construction. I am shaking my head at this because this will be in fact our 3rd new house. My m-i-l must be beside herself with this one as her house is something like 105 years old- eek! But with all of that aside I am thinking that we have whittled it down and will be able to make a decision on a house by this weekend. What an exhausting experience this has been. It's rough trying to buy a house on your own without ones spouse being around, especially when there are features that we are both looking for in a house. The 3 car garage is a must, especially with weather like this. Storage space and a working kitchen are essential and a 5 bedroom house seems to be what we are leaning towards. Lets face it, I need a scrapbook room and we really do need a guest room, the inflatable mattress thing isn't cutting it in the least! We have guest room furniture that is in storage, we could actually use it after being in a crate for 4 years.

I've got to get into the kitchen and bake- I've got a charity event tomorrow and one of my prize cheesecakes is going to be raffled off. Then there's also the fact that I've got to bake 5 or 6 different kinds of cheesecakes for the cheesecake tasting party on Saturday.

I'm off like a dirty shirt! Have fun on Valentines Day and most of all...Eat Chocolate!

helping others through my own travels through the world of health care insurance

Here I am trying to set presidence with our insurance company. Blazing the trail so to speak in getting our insurance to pay valid medical expense claims. What happens if a child from the family of a young airmen needs a surgery to correct a congenital birth defect? How will that family pay that $2000 up front? Especially when they don't make the same amount of money as compared to higher ranking individuals? We need to get this out in the open, because this just isn't about us...it's about all military families and their medical claims. I'm working with some terrific people to get this issue out in the open. I hope to help others through my efforts in figuring out which avenues to travel with hopes of getting reimbursed for medical expenses.

Being frustrated..

The military life style just isn't glamorous, LOL! Some folks think ooh and aah about the places you can be assigned to. We for those of us with the B-1 bomber it's not like we can ever get an assignment to cool places like England, Sicily or Germany (don't I wish). Nope we get places like Abilene Texas and Rapid City South Dakota...there's nothing glam about these places what so ever. They're more like hometown places, places where nothing really goes on beyond the hosting of a central state fair. I'm just glad that there's an airport!

Today's frustration is pointed at our health insurance. I know, I know...at least we have health insurance right? Well I remember when all of our health care costs were ZERO. Now look at us...I submit a bill for $2000.00 of which I had to pay up front and I get reimbursed $391.04 talk about feeling ripped off by my insurance company. I'm beside myself. So not only did it take me almost a year to get my daughter her surgery, now I have to fight for the full cost reimbursement of her surgery- which I was promised by our health care provider- augh!
And now I've got a referral to get authorised for a speech pathologist for my daughter to be evaluated for her breathing...Tricare (aka try to get care) doesn't want to pay and United Concordia doesn't want to pay...augh!!!!!! So now I have to go through hoops all over again to get this taken care of. You have no idea how much I wish that I had private health-care insurance!

Guess what...more snow

Yes we have MORE snow. As a matter of fact, it's supposed to snow all day long (nice- yes I'm being sarcastic). Our daughter Hannah has a bad head cold, she's been fighting it all weekend long. So with that we're cancelling Girl Scouts- no need to spread those nasty head cold germs around.

My Sunday wash day has spread over to Monday (again). Lots of sweaters to get washed and to be hung to dry. Towels, with this many towels one would think that we had a swimming pool again, LOL! But ever since Hannah's surgery I refuse to let her use a towel more than once. Call me a germ freak, LOL!

The snow plows have not been down our street. The snow is piling up rather quickly. I have no desire to shovel snow again- I don't care if it's fluffy snow it's still a lot of work!

Now to get to work on some more of my layout sketches. I want to get lost in my scrapbook nook just playing with "stuff" in general.

a creative moment...

A seriously creative moment hit me in the middle of the night, no joke. It’s about 1:30 am and I awake with a terrific layout ideas for some pictures my husband recently took on his flight. He’s got some great aerial shots of Greece, Sicily and a few other places. So being the scrapbooker that I am, I rush to get some paper and a pen and jot down my ideas before they leave me (that has happened in the past- very frustrating). Now to get these pictures printed up and get these layouts in motion! I feel truly motivated to get some scrapbooking done this morning. I love it when I wake up feeling like that!

This reminds me, I need to print my journaling up for my picture a day scrapbook project. I’ve been putting that off for a few days due to all of my running around.

 

  

 

A Happy Surprise!

My husband got back a day early from his TDY- yeah for us!!! I was so surprised to hear his voice in the entry way on Friday afternoon. WOW! The kids were excited so see their Dad home early as well. Then he hooked the digital camera up to the TV and got to see in big size the pictures he took- amazing!

Hannah has a terrible head cold that started on Friday and today Sunday morning it’s only gotten worse not better. I’m going to call off Girl Scouts tomorrow, there’s no need in making anyone else sick.

The death of Anna Nicole Smith and other news...

Praise the Lord, we have funding for our school buses until the end of school (May). I do thank the Lord for miracles great and small. Being without busing here on base would put so many of our military families in hardship situations. There are many families that rely on the base Youth Center for before and after school care. Well if the bus service was indeed cancelled that before and after school care service provided by the Youth Center would no longer be available because of the fact that there are so many children and lets face it, the youth center has access to a 15 passenger van but that can't be relied upon for to and from school transportation, not when you have as many as 40 or more kids that use this service.

I didn't read the news on line nor watch it on TV yesterday. I started reading it today and saw that Anna Nicole Smith had passed away. She suffered so much tragedy in these last few months of her life. It's all just so sad, very very sad. My heart goes out to her baby daughter that will never know her mother, and to her teenage son that she leaves behind.

Looks like Mad Cow Disease is back in the news also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. It's been found in Alberta Canada. IS this a cause for concern? I think so.

My have the NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak and the trouble she's gotten herself into. I wonder about the testing that NASA puts their astronauts through...do they preform psychological evaluations on a regular basis on these people? And I was surprised to learn that there aren't any rules or regulations about the astronauts developing personal relationships; as I see it, that can only lead to trouble later on. I was reading on MSNBC about the mid-air near miss accident when a NASA Astronaut was within 100 feet from an airplane full of passengers- here's the link to that story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17049013/ it's an interesting story.

And then there's that idiot in Idaho that stole hundreds of women's panties. What is up with that??? What a perve! Talk about a nut case!

Yup it's an interesting day in the new today!

Snow...it's everywhere you don't want it to be

We have snow. So far it’s been of the light and fluffy variety not that wet heavy kind (hat will break your back when you try to shovel it). I do have to say that the trees have never looked better. I love how they look (especially the pine trees) all covered in frost and snow. I look out the window and see the light glistening off of the snow, it’s beautiful. I see where rabbits have been hopping around looking for a meal or a warmer place to spend the night. It’s all over my kid mobile; I will be shoveling up a storm tomorrow that’s for sure! The only thing I have to say is at least the wind isn’t blowing. It’s a slight breeze at 3 mph…which is a lot better than 30 mph! I made sure to put my wiper blades up so that they don’t stick to the windshield (just a little trick I learned from my hubby back when we were stationed in Maine). I had snow in my shoes; down the neck of my sweater…I was covered in it! It was falling down pretty good when I went out.

 

Now where is that digital camera of mine? It’s off touring the world with my husband. I don’t know how my 35 mm will do at night in the snow. I’ll try first thing in the morning. Maybe if the kids are lucky we will get enough snow to delay school starting by a couple of hours.

 

aaahhhh the delights of base housing will they ever cease?

I'm hoping that today goes much better than yesterday. Although it's not looking too good at the moment...first off I was awake from 2 am until 5:15 am...I love my cat but seriously I'm ready to lock her up somewhere! I think that our cat misses my husband.

So far today the water heater seems to be working. We shall see if the pilot light goes out again. Andrew didn't say anything this morning, then again he didn't say anything after his cold shower yesterday either. So who knows what's in store there!

It hit the local news last night, it's now official...Ellsworth AFB will stop providing bus service here on the base as of March 1st, 2007. For those that thought that the city of Box Elder provided that service they are mistaken. It's a $400,000+ a year contract, basically it comes down to funding. Our base wasn't allocated funding to keep the bus program running. Heck as it is, the 2007/2008 school year will be without bus service too. Yet another reason to live off base.

Yup, another day in my life, LOL! I suppose that I should take a picture of the buses stopping at the bus stop one last time eh? I can put that in my picture a day scrapbooking page and journal about it.

Baby Sleeping

I love making little things and this was something that I made for a friend who recently had a baby. It's just a little something to hang on the door knob when baby is sleeping. I used my Sizzix Sizzlits dies to create the "Sleeping" part and the paper was some scraps that I had hanging around form another project.

Friends are Angels in Disguise

I truly believe that statement! I also believe that things happen for a reason...I'm in the final and last stage of negotiations for this house...if the homeowner decides not to accept my offer then so be it. I do have other options, his is not the only house on the market. Sure I liked the things that he had, but there's also a lot of things that need to get done too (costly things). I talked at length with my friend Cindy today...I was so stressed at the beginning of our phone conversation and by the end I was feeling so good about everything. What Cindy said to me just rang so true...So what if this home owner doesnt accept my offer...it's not as if this is the only house for sale. Amen to that! It was as if I felt this hand on my shoulder right as she was saying these things to me, and this sense of peace washed over me...that's the only way I can describe it. I knew at that very moment that everything WAS going to be okay...no matter what the outcome.

Where I was so worried earlier today, I feel so calm and at peace with it all now. I don't want to be upset over things that I have no control over. I truly think that the Lord has put these wonderful friends into my life for a reason...we all need to reach out and be there for another, as I see it it's like we are Angels on Earth.

Sheesh! is it Monday again?

I tell you, it feels like Monday to me! It's time to put another crazy day on the books for this Air Force Family, no doubt about that!

The cat kept me up from 2:30 am until almost 4 am. I was ready to toss her put into the garage, but since it snowed last night and it was below freezing I didn't do it...I thought about it though! Then of course I woke up late, got the kids up about 45 minutes later than I normally get them up. Oh yeah it's a rough start to say the least. And of course we HAD to get snow last night, so I have to warm up the kid mobile, shovel snow and remove the snow from the kid mobile all before 7:30 am. And of course as I am literally getting ready to walk out the door the phone rings...I see it's a number form on base (I love caller id)...it's my husband calling to let me know that he's arrived safely to his destination. I brief him on the situation with the negotiations with the house and so forth, and let him talk with the one child who is still in the house. I get the kids to school on time and drive on out to Wal-mart. Why do I need to go to Wal-mart so darn early? 1- to avoid any crowds and 2- to get some 35 mm film and batteries for my camera. My husband took the digital camera with him on his trip and I need a camera today to get pictures of our daughter receiving an award today at school. Ah the life of a military wife is not an easy one...not by any means.

Now I'm waiting on a phone call and then to head out to the Realtors office again. One of the hardest parts of this negotiating thing is waiting to hear back from the home owner...has he accepted my bid? Or are we on our way to yet another phase of negotiations?

Well I just talked to my agent...looks like I'm off to yet another phase in the negotiations. I should know more by 12 noon...now if I can wait and not develop an ulcer between now and then. Here's a little known fact...I'm not very good about waiting for things to happen.

It's Tuesday Grommet

It's Tuesday, just another day in this military family's life....My husband left for a TDy to parts unknown. He'll be on the other side of the world, some place warm (warmer than here any way). Meanwhile back at the ranch I'm currently in the process of negotiating a deal to buy a house. Yes you read that right I'm trying to buy a house. I started the process yesterday and am going to give a counter offer today. Please keep me in your prayers as I take this new avenue on living here in South Dakota.

Our son is preparing for a clothing drive for his Jr ROTC class. He's going full throttle here at the house going through all of our closets, weeding out clothes and jackets that are too small. It's a hoot to watch him do this (I've been waiting years for this). You should see his room, oh my gosh I've never seen his closet and drawers so organized! It's a miracle I tell ya, a real miracle! Now only if Hannah would get with the program and clean her room. One miracle at a time right? LOL!

Now to grab a bit of breakfast and feed the birds...I better do it before they become cannibals, LOL!

It's just another Manic Monday...

Today this song mirrors my life...
I met with my friend Cindy and she gave me a tour of her home, it's lovely! She and her family live in the subdivision where we are looking at buying a home. Cindy's house is what is known as being "new construction" where as the house that my husband and I are currently considering is 2 years old. We're trying to make up our minds whether to build a new home to to buy a previously owned home. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. We've already been through the stress of having built 2 homes, doing it for a 3rd time isn't scary to us, we view it as more of a time consuming pain in the neck than anything else. Do I really want to have to go through all of the hassle of picking out door knobs, faucets and light fixtures? Then there's the flooring...be it ceramic tile, vinyl, carpet, hardwood or stained concrete, UGH!!!! Paint chips, siding, wood trim, it gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it! LOL! So we're more interested in a previously owned home more than building a house...at this time. I had a dream last night that I was buried in paint chips, talk about a nightmarish thought...having to look at hundreds and hundreds of paint chips all in various shades of beige and white.

On the lighter side...our daughter Hannah has her 2nd post-op appointment today. I can't begin to tell you how good her ears look! She has so much more confidence in herself and it really shows. She no longer feels so seriously self conscious about how she looks. She's actually had me braid her hair and put it in pig tails for school, by the way- she would never wear her hair like that anywhere else but home before the surgery. This is one of those life changing surgeries.

The laundry is calling me...then again when isn't it? The good side to this, it's only 3 loads:-)

Lent...what to give up?

While at church today I realized that Lent will soon be upon us. With that in mind I've got to start thinking about what I will be giving up for Lent. I gave up fast food a couple of years ago and let me tell you that was a tough one because my husband was deployed at the time. With a husband away for an extended period of time fat food is a Mother's Helper, LOL! But now I don't really give a 2nd thought to buying fast food for us when my husband is away. I'd much rather prepare a meal from scratch and have us gather around the table and enjoy a meal together.
So here I am, wondering what I will give up for Lent...will it be chocolate? Naw, I've got cheesecakes to bake and I need to be taste testing this stuff, LOL! Will it be Beef? Nope, you can't give up something that you really don't eat in the first place...that's considered to be cheating, LOL! How about not buying scrapbooking products of any kind for 6 weeks? I know that I'd break that one, LOL!!!
Want to know what I gave up last year? Nothing! What I did was to "take on" something...something that was very hard for me to deal with at the time. I took it on and guess what I was able to work through the tough times and develop more compassion and understanding. It was an experience that had it's rough spots but with prayer and true devotion to my Lenten promise, I got through it. I'm considering this kind of thing again for this year. I've got a bit more time to think about it before I commit to something.

Super Bowl Sunday

Here it is, the Holy Grail of Sundays...Super Bowl Sunday. I've got junk food galore for the family to nibble on while they are glued to the television. I knew all along the "real" reason why we went to church...to pray for a good game, LOL!!!

But seriously, I love how my husband and daughter enjoy watching football together. I stopped enjoying it a while back. I'd much rather sit back with a good book in a quite corner while the rest of the people jumped up and down rallying on their teams. I figure that today I can get some work done on the computer because the rest of my family are upstairs watching the game :-)

Yesterday we went with our realtor to look at house's that are for sale. I think that we have made up our minds on which one we're going to put a bid on. Please keep us in your prayers as we go into this new endeavor.

a letter to my dear friend...

A dear friend wrote me a letter about her recent disappointment with her husband being passed over for promotion again and I thought that I would share the letter that I wrote in reply...

Some things are harder to work through than others, trust me I know. We know someone out here that finally got promoted to Lt Col 3 years above the zone…so it can happen. The only word of advice I can truly give you is that you need to find a happy place in your heart and stay there. That’s what I did after that major let down last June. My heart was broken when we had that assignment to Hanscom AFB pulled out of our hands. My hopes and dreams of finally being near family were dashed to pieces and I had a hard time getting it together again. I cried for days afterwards. Then that assignment carrot was dangled in front of us again for the fall move cycle…again it was yanked out of our hands. And that’s when I said “skip this, enough is enough! I’m going to make myself truly miserable (and get an ulcer) if I give any more thought to getting out of here". So with many prayers being said asking the Lord to guide me in becoming happy with where I am... I found a happy place in my heart. I soon threw myself into the little things that made me happy. Baking cheesecakes for various charity functions and surprising friends with my cheesecakes for Christmas was another thing that gave me great joy. Scrapbooking those OSC events and getting back into counted cross stitching brought me even more joy. I actually found myself being happy being on the OSC board and attending every military function that I could. I’ve only missed attending one OSC function and that was because I was in Boston attending CKU-Masters! God handed me a bag of lemons and a bowl of sugar, what I do with the 2 are totally up to me. So as I figure it, I’m going to make the most of the two and have some ice cold lemonade while sitting on my front porch this summer with my best friend. What better way to make the best of a bad situation, I tell you I am not bitter about staying out here. I had accepted the fact that we were not going to be able to escape this place (just like the 7 years we spent at Dyess AFB). I’ve accepted the fact that once you get to a bomber base they are not letting you go! Now I’m so glad that I did not set myself up for being disappointed about us not getting to move out of state. Over the past couple of months I've let my husband know time and time again that I will not take the news of us staying here another 4 years as bad news. That I refuse to get myself worked up over something that I have no control over. With that right there I think I had him seeing the light…and that’s when he promised me that no matter what our news, that we will be moving out of this house. That was such a blessing for me to hear that coming out of my husbands’ mouth. I knew that I could make plans; I had something to look forward to and sometimes that’s all we Air Force wives need…something to look forward to. So here I am, getting ready to make an offer on a house. Tomorrow we’re meeting the realtor at the house with our kids... to look over the house once more. Then we will get with our realtor and make an offer on the house. I want to get this show on the road! I just want to get started on the house process as soon as possible. We’re going to hire professional movers to move all of our furniture and other belongings; well with exception of my scrapbook nook (Only I touch that stuff).

Okay I’m outta here…got to write in my blog ya know ;-)

Purging the stash...

I realize that being a scrapbooker sets you up for developing a serious addiction printed paper and cardstock, LOL! You've suddenly got to have the latest colors from Bazzill or the newest printed papers from Basic Grey, KI Memories, Around the Block, American Crafts, Bo Bunny and My Minds Eye just to name a few. So with that in mind I have culled another 2½ inches of paper from my collection and am giving it away to a friend. I figure that I can enable someone else with their scrapbooking habit. It's not that these papers are bad in any way, it's that I did not use these papers for the projects that I had intended to use them on and I really do want to see these papers being used! The bad part is that I spent money on these things and never used them. I figure that I can give these papers to good homes and to fellow scrapbookers that will use them :-) I can hardly wait to see the layouts that my friends will be creating with this stuff!

Welcome to February!

Baby it's cold outside! How cold? Lets just say that we've been told not to go out without being covered up all over (no bare skin). I don't know about you, but I really don't like this kind of weather, it acres me to think that I (or anyone) could get frost bite in an instant just by stepping out of doors. So with that very thought in mind I've decided to do 3 things today, work in my scrapbook nook, bake a cheesecake for Saturday's baby shower (I'm part of a committee that is hosting a baby shower for a neighbor) and I'm going to make a big pot of vegetarian chili. So no matter what I am going to be staying warm today!

I started going through my collection of patterned paper yesterday. I wanted to take a good look at it all and really see what I have one hand. I found that I had a drawer stuffed full of 12x12 paper and cardstock that needed to be put away. Oh my gosh I have several sheets of a few particular papers...they will need to find a new home since I have used them already in creating a few layouts. There's nothing wrong with them, it's just that I've used them quite a bit already and am wanting to use something else besides those handful of papers. I had to get brutally honest with myself and purse all of my Making Memories water color papers. I thought that maybe I'd use them in creating some recipe pages, but if I haven't used them since we moved from Virginia in 2003, I'm not about to use them now. I did use them quite a bit a few years ago, but I've moved past those products and am now on to other things. The girlfriend that owns them now is quite happy with them and I am glad that they are now with someone who will use them :-)

I'm going through the rest of of my printed/patterned paper collection and will be really tough with myself and make a serious effort in weeding out even more papers and even make some layouts with stuff that has been hanging around for way too long. I've got some various pieces of Victorian style floral paper that would make a terrific vintage looking layouts. I want to give them a try today. I'm serious about making a dent in my stash of scrapbooking supplies this year! I'm allowing myself to buy 8½x11 cardstock for making cards and my journaling blocks for my picture a day a year in my life scrapbooking projects and some scrapbooking tools here and there. But seriously, I am cutting back on the amount of printed papers I own and I'm trying hard not to buy any more without using them immediately! I started counting how many pieces I had yesterday and frankly speaking I was astounded at finding out that I own 1357+ pieces of patterned paper and that was without counting in the 3 inch stack of Making Memories water color collection paper. That's when I decided that I HAVE to make a more serious attempt at lowering the numbers this collection of mine and find new homes for some of these papers. No wonder why I find myself frequently with the feeling of being crowded in my own little scrapbook nook...the paper is taking over, LOL! So off I go with a fresh mug of Swiss Chocolate Almond coffee (with cream) to get rid of at least another 2 or 3 inches of paper today!