2 Peas Blog Challenge: If you could do anything what would you do???

If I could do anything? Well most certainly for me, it would be to have my husband take a year off from work, the kids a year off from school and we'd travel the world. Taking time to visit as many countries and partake of  as many cultures as we possible could.

  

It's good to be back home!

There is something to be said about sleeping in your own bed. Nothing is as comfortable as your own bed or your own pillows for that matter! Everywhere we were the beds were hard as rocks and the pillows were lumpy, ugh! So yes, all 4 of us are glad to be back in our home and sleeping in our own beds.

Now on to the good stuff...we have 3 beautiful trees in our front yard AND a lovely wooden fence. Granted the yard work has not been started, but I feel that the landscaper and his crew will get on that shortly.

More house scoop...the black granite sink that I purchased with my garage sale proceeds before I left for vacation is being installed today Ü Oh how I LOVE my hubby! He's been working hard around here, he got the cabinet doors stained and 3 acrylic coats put on the doors too! I'm going to have to post some pictures of his handiwork, Yes I do realize that I am rather lucky in having a husband that loves to do home improvement projects.

Laundry, laundry, laundry I think that my middle name is Laundry. Four loads and I'm still going strong on getting the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away. I've got the guest bathroom cleaned and I even took pictures of it (need them for a scrapbook layout I've got planned).

Now to put away the items and drag away the boxes from the things that I shipped to myself while on vacation. I did shop, some were new items and some were things from my childhood home. Things like the Turkey Platter that my mother used from every Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner for as long as I can remember. I found out on this visit home that it had once belonged to my great-grandmother on my father's side of the family- now that is what I would call a family heirloom. Or the Carnival Glass bowls, one always and I mean always held these bright green colored granny smith apple flavored hard candies the other much larger bowl always had fruit in it, be it apples, bananas or oranges. It's items like that that I remember always being a part of the house, one in the living room on the cocktail/coffee table and the other in the middle of the dining table. Yup, I need to find a new home for my treasures.

I'm back home...almost

I'm back, well almost...

Our visit with my mom out in California went well. I'm happy to report that the care facility where my Dad currently resides is lovely! The staff is wonderful and the place is charming! I can't believe the feeling that I got from the place, it felt like a real home. The residents all respect one another and the staff is top notch. It's a quiet peaceful place with a beautiful backyard for the resident to walk in and relax in. My Dad's room has a sliding glass door that opens up the back porch and the view is of the flower garden. We had only one episode where he did not recognize us, yes it was heart breaking but with his condition it's to be expected. The good thing is that we were able to leave on a happy note with my Dad recognizing us and knowing who we are.

We're taking a few days of R&R here in Denver. Today took us to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science- there's a special exhibit on the Titanic and of course we went! We plan on going to the Zoo and the US Mint before leaving to go back home to our house in South Dakota.

Going to Denver today

The thought of driving to Denver with just the two of us gives me an ulcer, you see...I really dislike long distance driving. So my darling husband is driving us to Denver, we'll stay overnight in a hotel near the airport and then pop right over. Unfortunately that means no breakfast for Hannah since our flight leaves really early in the morning and now days you have to be there 2 hours early even for domestic flights- ugh! I'm packing a cereal bar for her to nibble on...and trust me she'll need it!

I've decided not to bring the laptop with me, it's just one more thing to drag around and I can do without having to drag around extra baggage through the various airports.

I'm still not packed. Granted I have clothes heaped into a pile but nothing is packed. I don't know exactly when it happened but some time through the years I went form being excited about packing a suit case to absolutely hating it.

Alright I need coffee, I'm getting nothing done without my usual half a pot of java in the morning.

Happy Father's Day!

So what are we doing for Father's Day? We went to church, went and did some light grocery shopping, came home made lunch and now I'm getting ready to pack the suit case or suit cases.

While at Church our son called on my cell phone...yes I was one of those people who didn't turn off their phone while in church. To be perfectly honest I forgot to turn off the ringer. I think that our Andrew has become a little home sick. I was starting to get worried that he was having too good of a time but now I know that yes he still is a boy, a boy who misses his Mom and Dad. I felt bad when he asked if we were coming out for his graduation on Friday I had to tell him that Hannah and I will be in California at that time- I left it open for Lucien to talk to Andrew and let him know that he wouldn't be able to make it either. Personally speaking I was surprised that Andrew even wanted to go Leadership school only because it was so far away (it's in Louisiana and we're in South Dakota). I'll see our boy again on the 27th of June when he and his Dad pick us up from the Denver airport.

Okay I need to get back to packing the suit case...what a chore! And to think I used to be one of those people that was packed and ready to go 2 weeks before my trip, LOL!

2 peas blog challenge- What other creative talents do you possess, besides papercrafting?

What other creative talents do you possess, besides papercrafting? Share your passions. Blog about it.. what else are you good at?

Oh my gosh as if you didn't know...it's COOKING!!!!! And I don't mean the kind of cooking that is heating up a can of soup, I'm into the make your own soup from scratch kind of thing. Using fresh herbs makes such a HUGE difference in the way food smells while cooking and the taste is soooooo much better!

I also enjoy counted cross stitching. My friend Lori took the time to show me how to do it right- after I had taken a class on how to do counted cross stitching, LOL! We were stationed at Loring AFB, Maine at the time and let me tell you at the time there wasn't much else to do up there. After our move to Texas and I was stitching like there was no tomorrow, I was even designing my own patterns. After discovering scrapbooking my needle work passion subsided. Then I met my friend Susan in Virginia, oh my gosh that woman can stitch! I've never seen work more excellent than hers, I wish I had her talent! She got me interested in needlework again and introduced me to hand dyed threads...life has never been the same for me since!

My Scrapbook Nook

This scrapbook nook is soooooo much larger than the one I had in base housing, heck the one is base housing was a "nook" in every ense of the wrod! The Scrapbook Nook is a real ROOM! One that one has windows! So here are some pictures....





And to think that my husband(with my help) put this together for me. I am so seriously blessed to have a husband who is so supportive of my hobbies! I've got more things to hang up on the walls and will post pictures of the later.

What makes me smile...

Shopping for clothes and such with my daughter is a laugh riot. She's so much like myself it's uncanny. She's got to be in the "mood" to shop and it's an all day deal too, out for breakfast, shop shop shop out for lunch then some more shopping...could be dinner at home OR dinner out. Shopping with Hannah is a crack up and now that she's almost 12 years old and shes taking more of a teenagers approach to dressing it's REALLY funny. So here we are on the eve of going to California. We're packing up clothes to take on this trip and I'm looking through her things and she has 2 outfits picked out and I mention to her sweetie we are going to be gone 10 or so days...you WILL need to bring more than just that. I consider myself now informed that she plans on going shopping for all of her summer clothes while we are in California, LOL! That she's tired of showing up at school wearing something that another one or more of her girlfriends also have. So I leave with a light suit case and will return with a stuffed one, LOL!

Happy 1 year Anniversary to my blog spot!

It's official, I've been here at blogger for an entire year! I love the freedom of being able to write what I want and not feeling as if someone else is coming in after me altering my posts.

Scrapbooking is so much more to me than just a craft, it's my creative outlet. I love to take photograph's and better yet, to bring them to life. By assembling paper in such a manner to have those who look at my albums to be able to have a connection from their eyes to their hearts.

Two Scrapbook Stores are closing...

I went into Scrapbook Etc today to say good bye to the two old ladies that run the store. I was surprised to learn that they are not just closing the Rapid City store but also their store in Spearfish. Spearfish is a small town and it's a good 45 minute trip down to Rapid City. I'm surprised that Lana decided to close both stores and try to concentrate on internet sales...this should be interesting to say the least. They've been at the Rapid City location for 5 years and in Spearfish much longer.

But when I was in there today it was pretty much the same old stuff that they've had since before we moved here in 2003, same printed papers, same albums, same rubber stamps, same punches and so on. Not much has changed. I wish them much luck and happiness on their future ventures.

I've got to start packing

Talk about putting things off...I must be the Queen of procrastination when it comes to packing for this trip. We leave on Monday and here I am looking at things saying to myself...oh I must do this before I leave and I must do that before I leave.

So today I've pulled out 2 laundry baskets, one for my daughter and the other for me. I'm pulling things out to put in the baskets TODAY. I've also got to have my wedding rings checked before I go plus a few other things need to get done. Ahhhh, such is a day in my life. Tons of things to get done and not enough time to do them all in.

We heard from our boy...FINALLY, sheesh!

Well as parents we could only take so much...so we called the emergency contact number and spoke to the Sergeant who is in charge and talked to him...letting him know that we haven't heard form our son. Get this, our boy is having the time of his life and simply "forgot" to call home. We made it clear that we love him and want him to have fun but the the old folks back home would like to hear from him a little more often, LOL!

My Cookbook Nook: Roasting Garlic

My Cookbook Nook: Roasting Garlic

I love cooking

I do, I really do love cooking! So I added something over on my cooking blog www.mycookbooknook.blogspot.com
I invite you to check it out! I've been asked how I make roasted garlic and everyone thinks that there's some sort of magic ingredient or secret way of cooking it...well I spilled the beans on the so called secret...it's slow roasting. so go check it out!
Now for me to get those baking potatoes in the oven Ü

Day 2 without our boy around...

I still feel rather lonely without our son around getting under foot asking me what I'm going to make for dinner. He never called yesterday and I'm taking that as a sign that he's staying busy and having fun with his friends. We left him voice mail messages telling him that we love him and hope that he's enjoying himself on this trip. Even our daughter is missing her brother today.

With my boy in mind I'm going to tidy up his room, change his bedding out so it's nice and fresh when he gets home. I'm sure that he will appreciate sleeping on clean sheets and a room that smells like Downy fabric softener rather than a bunch of sweaty teenage boys.

My neighbor has lost his mind, LOL!

I have some valid concerns of the intelligence levels of some of my neighbors. Take for instance the guy who moved next door to us...the ground here is rock hard and chuck full of clay not to mention infested with the hardiest weeds we've ever seen. We're having a professional landscaper take care of this for us, he's already gotten the weeds under control and we're soon to get the sprinkler system, fence and well the lawn and the other things that come along with hiring a professional landscaper. So where am I going with this right? So the guy next door to us buys the 2nd most expensive house on the market in our particular neighborhood (it's $250K) and what do we see him doing that has us wondering about him...first off it's when he sends his kids (9 and 14) into the yard with pick axes to get the small average every day looking rocks that are embedded in the rock hard soil so he can use them in the rock garden he has started in the front of his house. These are not nice smooth looking river rocks or even something that anyone else in the entire neighborhood would put in their yards. The other thing we saw this strange man do is to walk around with a bag of grass seed and willy nilly toss them onto the ground. No spraying for weed control or raking of the soil happened before he started his little tra-la-la through his weed infested lawn. So any day now the birds will be swooping down upon his lawn like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds" to gobble up all of his grass seed.

I feel a little sad...

I feel a little blue this morning...our eldest child left with his Dad to meet up with the other Cadets to go to Louisiana for the Summer Leadership School program. I'll see my boy after I get back from California on the 26th of June. Yup I feel a bit sad about that. I love my children with all my heart and it's been a whirlwind ride with our son. He's a shy young man who takes a while to trust people. He's a great kid with so much to give to the world. Junior high was such a social struggle and he just hated the place. High school is different though...he has found acceptance with his peers through the JROTC program. What a terrific group of young men and women! They do their best academically and socially through a separate honors program for JROTC cadets and it's amazing what do they in the ways of community service. I'm so proud of our son, he's accomplished so much this past year and I can only see it as getting better and better. He's so much more out going and his self confidence has grown 10 fold. My wishes for him are; to have a fun, for this to be a positive learning and growing experience and to make friends.

2 peas in a bucket blog challenge 6-12-07

Challenge~ When you first started scrapbooking, did you ever think it would be such the huge deal that it is in today's world?

I knew that it was going to be fairly popular. But if you're wondering if I thought that it would be to the extent that it is now? No way! There are still new companies arriving every day with this business. I remember hearing it being talked of on a radio talk show as a fad that the Mormon's had started, I burst out laughing! I still crack up at that comment! Yeah, some people are just so small minded, LOL!

on the agenda...

I've got a to do list, a list that has oodles of things that need to get done today. One thing that is on top of the list is getting my boy packed up for JROTC summer leadership school as he leaves tomorrow morning and here I thought he left on Thursday, yikes! I think that I have 6 piles of laundry to get done too- yuck!

I need to run to the mall to get my wedding rings checked. I hate going into the mall for this only because I tend to "browse" the jewelery cases, LOL! I'm a necklace, bracelet and earrings kind of chick while I have girlfriends who could care less about such things.

Got to get the girl (my daughter) some sneakers. Oh how I hate shoe shopping with her but wait...she's almost 12 it could be better now. But then again I could wait and do it while we are in California on our visit the grandparents.

Baking- I want to bake a cheesecake for a dear friend while her husbands' family are here visiting. If there's anything I enjoy it's being able to make entertaining a bit easier for my friends- hence I bake them yummy desserts Ü that they can serve to their house guests. I know how stressful it can be to have a house full of company. There's that cleaning the house from top to bottom before the arrive plus the added stress of entertaining them-not just cooking for them but driving them around to scenic places and such while they are here. You only have so much time during the day to get things done and if you're driving them to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse or the Badlands, lets face it dessert is the last thing you want to be making, it's more like Margarita and Miller Time, LOL!

It's time for me to chase my boy out the door to get himself a hair cut!

Kudos to...

My order from www.cutabovescrapppin.com arrived yesterday. Let me tell you that it got her FAST and the packing job was EXCELLENT! I am seriously pleased with my purchase and WILL order from that site again! As much as I do like to shop at a local Ma and Pa type scrapbooking store, I do find myself looking for items that they don't have or are unwilling to order. So it's then that I turn to the internet. I love the Prima flowers that I ordered and will be ordering more!

I'm going to play with my new flowers today!

My Circle Journal Pages

okay so it's not in the shape of a Circle it's a Square and our group consists of 4 people...still a square. Let me know what you think. But we're working it like a circle does that count?

Making a Circle Journal

I've never participated in the on line version of making pages for a circle journal. One group that I was heavily involved in wanted to get together and make them and I was all for it until it got weird. There were those that wanted to do the digital pages and just e-mail them to everyone. I'm sorry if I offend anyone but digital scrapbooking is not my idea of scrapbooking. And being so cheap as to e-mail the pages to the rest of us, that was the ultimate turn off. I don't feel that hand made just for feeling with a digital page as I do for one made by hand with paper and cardstock. So with that in mind I decided to drop of of the circle journal because I wanted all of the pages in my circle journal to be made from scratch...you know by hand. Call me a paper snob but there it is!

So here I am putting together a surprise circle journal for my girlfriends that were in my scrapbooking group. I'm finishing up the pages and will be bringing them out to them this afternoon as soon as I get them put together for them to journal on. Oh are they going to be surprised! I bought them all 6x6 albums to put those pages into when they are done Ü

Besides Scrapbooking...

Do you have other hobbies that you enjoy doing? I challenge those that blog to write about in their blogs. Here's a list of things that I enjoy...

counted cross stitching
gourmet cooking- some call this a hobby I call it a passion
container gardening
reading
photography
stamping

yup those are my main ones, now lets hear about yours. Fell free to tell me about them in the comments section

The Garage Sale

I got smart this time around and shortened the time we'll be open for this silly thing. It's a good thing I did because the sun was out in all of it's glory and I longed to be out of doors doing something.

I sold the dishwasher and the over the range microwave oven to a young Air Force couple who recently purchased a house. I gave them quite a good deal on it too and I feel GOOD about that! Knowing that we helped out a military couple to fix up their home with brand new appliances - priceless! I also look at it as they helped me out so I can get that new kitchen sink that I want Ü. You know the saying "Good things come to those who wait"? I'll be waiting just a bit longer for my sink since they were on sale at Menard's this week and they sold out. Was I bummed? Of course I was, but we got a rain check for the item. But who knows...I could be pleasantly surprised when I get back form California and my husband could have it installed for me Ü.

Not so many scrapbooking items sold this time around. I had one guy wanting to know if I had any albums for sale (he was a scrapbooker). He was wanting some Creative Memories brand albums and he wanted to pay 25¢- each for them, yes I contained my laughter until after he left. I know that some people shop garage sales every weekend looking for the best possible deals to make their $$ stretch and that's okay. And when you come across nice things that are of a terrific price it's got to be delightful. I take pride on knowing that I did not try to sell junk to people, that I sold clean unsoiled items, items that work, toys with all of their pieces - I'm just that way. When I say that something is NEW I mean NEW, never used kind of new.

While the garage sale was going on when scrapbookers came (trust me I can recognize a scrapbooker when I see one). They saw all of those lettering templates and alphabet stickers for sale and they asked if if I gave up scrapbooking. I told them no, just culling the herd so to speak. One lady just cracked me up...Are you sure you want to sell all this? There's so much "good stuff" here. I reassured her that I was not lacking in scrapbooking supplies department in any way and that I was VERY active in scrapbooking. I did not tell her that I had an entire room devoted to scrapbooking as I thought that she would have passed out right there on the spot. We talked at length on the subject and during that time I found out that she was new to the craft/hobby of scrapbooking and thrilled to be finding such good stuff at my garage sale. Before she left I made her take more stickers-free of course, LOL!

While at Menard's I went to the plant department...where I found and bought some more plants for my container garden. I've learned a valuable lesson with bulb flowers...after they are done blooming they start to rot. I will not be wasting my money buying bulb flowers again. They are short lived and then they rot...nice! I bought some more herbs and some Lavender, oh how I adore Lavender! And I know that it's a hearty plant that has wonderfully scented blossoms and just rubbing the leaves of the plant gives a wonderful scent. So as soon as we got home I put the new plants into pots and gave them all a good drink.

I realized later on that my sunscreen had worn off because I look a bit like a pink lobster. I blame it on the sweater, LOL! I put it on, I took it off, put it on again and took it off again. Must have done that a dozen times. Oh well, it's nothing that I can't live with... It's not too bad.

All in all it was a pretty good day. We ended it with all 4 of us watching a movie together "The DaVinci Code"- oh yeah that was a great movie!

My Scrappy Mess

I don't like taking pictures of messy areas of my home but here are a couple... My messy work area- ugh! And more messy stuff and you can see my 8½x11 paper crammed in the cabinet.


As you can tell stuff was piled up all over the place. It's always total chaos before everything is put into it's own place. So here it is My Scrapbook Nook, almost tidy.... It still needs a bit more work but I'm getting there!

Being the organizer that I am

I don't think that I'm truly happy until I've rearranged something, be it in my scrapbook nook or in the kitchen (my main work areas). Take for instance my 8½x11 paper. I had taken it out of my handy dandy plastic drawer and placed them on the shelves in the new swanky cabinets in the new scrapbook nook. I've been working with that since April. The more I worked with it, the less I liked it. The paper had to be in there, there was no doubt on that one but it didn't feel right to me. So yesterday I went and retrieved my 8½x11 paper storage drawers from the furnace room. I put my paper back in them and stacked them...much better now! I really need to sit down and go through my scrapbooking stuff that's in those plastic carts and reorganize it all. In all the room really is taking shape. I've got to get the spouse to hang my set of 4 Making Memories boards (2 silver magnetic, one black board (can write on with chalk) and one push pin). I'd also like him to put up the valances in our bedroom- after all, I did buy curtain rods.



The Garage Sale...Yes we're having one today. Lets try this again and see if we can make some money as I want a black granite sink (and they are currently on sale). I'll make everyone start helping me in an hour. They're all dead asleep right now. I hope that someone finds out home improvement items "must have" items for their home.



I've got a carpenter coming over at 9am to put on some cabinet doors in the kitchen. So why did I hire someone versus having my handyman husband do it? Well here's why...

I'd like to access the space behind this tiny door. There's oodles of storage space for my larger roasting pans and other big items- see next picture I have the doors and hinges all I need is someone with the expertise to make it happen. And well, hes coming over today Ü, he's the husband to one of the Colonels at the base and he comes highly recommended.

Now for some more coffee and to get that garage sale set up and ready to go!

Good Buys

Have you found any good buys lately? If so, I'd love to hear about it! I'm a bargain hunter and love stumbling over good buys. The Waverly drapery panels that I bought at Lowe's this past week are stunning and to think that they were only $2.00 each (retail $40 for each panel), WOW! Or the Cricut storage tote that retails for $100 that I got for half the price!

You never know when you'll come across a good deal so keep your eyes peeled!

I'm almost ready

For what you wonder? To post pictures of my Scrapbook Nook that's what! I've been working hard at putting things away, tossing out stuff I no longer want and so forth. I reorganized my stamps on Wednesday and no longer needed one of my plastic carts with drawers so I gave it away to a girlfriend (who by the way was thrilled at receiving it). I need to hang some things on the walls and then it's show time! I bought those magnetic chalkboards and the push pin board by Making Memories and now...finally I have the room to hang them Ü. Now for me to pencil the area where I want to have them hanging and get the drill and a level. I don't want to post pictures before it's all done and looking pretty. About the windows, I've decided not to put up any sort of valance or window treatments beyond the 2 inch plantation blinds. I want to get every drop of natural light into that room as I possibly can! My last Scrapbook Nook was in a utility closet, I had to work in a room with no windows for 3½ years. So this natural light thing is rather important to me.

I'm cleaning my room!

It's a rainy windy yucky kind of day and I've actually had to turn on the heat...on the 7th of June!!!! Who in the world turns on the heat in June? Sheesh! And I had to put on a long sleeved sweater and button it all the way up to my neck. I have goose bumps...that's how cold I am.

While over at 2 peas today I'm seeing some great looking scrapbook rooms, all cleaned up and tidy for picture taking. Mine looks like Typhoon swept through it. I've taken some before pictures now to get some after pictures.

another good thing JUST happened to me!

As you all know I'm a self confessed Prima flower addict! But I don't collect them, I use them, I use them on everything! Okay so where am I going with this story right? I placed an order for those monthly sets from Prima with www.cutabovescrappin.com yesterday. Now I get an e-mail letting me know that they were sold out of one of the sets...I was a little bummed but called the ld number and talked to Gina. Oh my gosh what wonderful customer service! And get this...free shipping for military folks! WOOO HOOO!!! Do I recommend this place? Oh yeah you know I do!

Alright my military girlfriends check out this site!

2 peas blog challenge...what good thing happened to me today

Okay, I'm in Wal-mart...a store that I really hate shopping in at this time of year (tourist season) because the parking lot is packed and the store has horrendously long check out lines. I'm there with my son who needs "stuff" for JROTC camp. So while I'm there in the toiletries section I spy these cool little containers...which are perfect for storing eyelets, brads, flowers or whatever...for 78¢ each!

My 2nd terrific find was this small chrome shelf, much like my large one...but baby sized! I love it!!!! This little gem was only $20, WOW! It can hold up to 150 pounds per shelf (evenly distributed weight- so says the box). Yes this too will be going into my scrapbook nook.

Now for my 3rd and 4th great finds at Wal-mart...I can't help but to look through the scrapbooking isles...not that I'm buying supplies there but I know that they too have the Cricut. I've toyed with getting a tote bag for my Cricut, but refuse to spend the $$$. So my son is over in the electronics department I swing over to look at the Cricut stuff and guess what...those bags are marked down to $45! Ladies I tell you RUN don't walk and pick yourself up one of those bags at that terrific price!


My other find was that there are select Cricut cartridges marked down to $45...that's a lot better than the $60 price tag over at Hobby Lobby! So there you have it...the good things that came out of this yucky rainy day!

an update on our dinner plans

After waiting over an hour and not hearing back from the restaurant if we will be indeed dining there this evening well I got a little nervous. Then I talked to the spouse and read him the sample menu from the web site. We are now dining else where and will make reservations there at the fancy restaurant at another time when just the 2 of us can go...no kids in tow Ü So I will have to give you all the scoop on it at another time.

So now to plan "b" on the restaurant plans...Minerva's always has excellent service and a great menu- not to mention thing that the kids will eat.

Dinner on my B-day

Tonight we're going to dinner...I've had this $50 gift certificate for 6 months now (got it as a door prize from one of the many Christmas parties we attended last December). So I figure that I will get us some reservations at this restaurant. WELL...talk about snooty! This place is open from 5-9 pm Tuesday through Saturday and you have to leave a message on their answering machine with your name, phone number, number of people in you party and the time you would like to dine and they'll call you back and let you know if you can eat then...have you ever heard of such a thing? LOL! They have an on line site to look over the menu and such...so after leaving my information on their answering machine I check out the site...my kids wouldn't touch 3/4's of this stuff with a stick. I'm beginning to wonder if my husband would eat any of this stuff as he would consider it "chick food". We shall see how this goes...
the place
www.cornexchange.com
I have heard that the food at this place is to die for and after reading the menu I think so but the true test if with the husband and kids in tow.

Flowers Flowers Flowers

Oh how I love flowers! And there's nothing better than being able to incorporate flowers into a scrapbook layout be them made from chip board, silk, metal, stamped on, rubbed on or the ultimate in paper flowers from Prima or Maya Road!

I've got my birthday layout done (I think that I mentioned it before) and it's got oodles of flowers on it!

You know what I just did...I am sooooooooo bad. A couple of weeks ago I found (and bought) at my LSS the ...Prima flowers of the month. Oh my gosh reel me in like a fish on a hook! All they had was one set of the Jan-Feb-Mar flowers. I asked if they would be getting more of them in and the manager reassured me Yes they would. So when I was in yesterday the store owner was there and I asked her about them and she said no, that she would not be ordering them again. So I did a Google search and bought them on line. Maybe before I leave they'll get here. If not, then I have a pleasant thing waiting for me at home. WooHoo I'm going to have more cool flowers to use in my layouts!

My favorite embellishments are- in no particular order...
flowers
ribbon
ric rac
buttons
brads
eyelets

Me on being 45

What does it feel like to wake up and be 45 years old? Not any different than being 44 years old, just that I woke up and I'm now closer to being 50 than I was to being 40- that stinks.

Last year on my birthday I had a military spouses group meeting to attend and guess what...same goes this year (just a different military spouses group) what's up with that? Oh well, at least I'm getting out of the house and am not moping around the house because I'm now 45. I look at it this way... At least I don't look my age Ü. Not that being 45 years old has a look per say, but for my years I do consider myself having kept pretty well under the radar for crows feet, wrinkles and oodles of gray hair. What can I say, I wear hats in the summer, sun glasses and sun screen all year round- okay so genetics plays a big part in it too, LOL! But seriously, before you go in the sun, put on sunscreen of no less than 30 SPF. During the hotter months (when the earth is closest to the sun)I wear 45 SPF on my face, hence the no wrinkles thing happening here. And lets not forget to put that Sunscreen on your ears, neck and chest.

I'm going to get a friend to take a picture of me today...my birthday picture. I've got a layout all ready to go I just need to put my picture in it and my journaling and I'm done! What will I wear today? Do I want it to be something bright and tropical in nature like orange pink and lime green with a dash of white or do I want to go with burgundy, a deeper tone of green and khaki? Hm mm Maybe I could do both, one for the daytime and the other for the evening when we go out to dinner. But I want a picture of me in the bright colors for the layout.

Now on to thinking about other things...Am I happy where I am at this stage in my life? Yes of course I am. I've got a husband and children who love me, I live in a comfortable home and I truly lack for nothing. I have wonderful friends and a faith in the Lord that is unwavering. I truly do thank the Lord for everything that I have and the person I have become.

The Honey -Do list

Most women have that never ending list of things for their husbands to do. I call mine the "Honey-Do list". Trust me it seems to never have an end since we moved into this house. So today I took it upon myself to "do" a few things on the list myself.

I went to Lowe's and bought another chrome shelf and put it together with the help of my kids. Alright so Andrew was much more of a help than Hannah was with that project. You should see that new shelf and how good it looks in my scrapbook nook Ü. I put the smaller one in the closet for storage of board games and some other odds and ends from my scrapbook nook.

Now for the real kicker- I bought some relatively inexpensive vinyl flooring for the space that is underneath of the stairs/entry way. It's a large area 9' 8" in by 9' 4"...not too shabby of a storage space if you ask me! I had to by the vinyl in a 10'x12' section, ugh! Had the kids help me drag it in the house and down the stairs. I got it cut and installed BEFORE the hubby came home from work. I feel immensely proud of myself for getting this done today!

While at Lowe's I came across some seriously terrific buys! I've been wanting a roman style shade for the window in the kitchen and today I found one and guess what it was brand new in box marked down from $40.00 to $5.00! Then there's my other great buy, Waverly drapery panels, regularly $40.00 each marked all the way down to $2.00! I like the print so I bought 2 of them! Heck for that price I can cut them into valances and not care! I can't find Waverly fabric by the yard that cheap and here I have sewn long floor length panels, woohoo! I also broke down and bought curtain rods today, no more searching for them in the garage!

Baking Day

Besides running around doing errands, being super Mom and a fantastic wife (yes I think highly of myself today, LOL!) I'm baking my own birthday dessert...what else but New York Cheesecake! I've made so many fancy ones as of late that I'd like to eat my own rich and creamy smooth New York Cheesecake. But sssshhhh it's a surprise I'm baking 3 of them! Some days you just need to get out the pans and bake your little heart out! I also plan on baking another batch of my made from scratch brownies...those are to die for! The kids aren't up on the plain cheesecake so it's brownies for them!

I'm of to whip up some grilled cheese sandwiches for the family as both of the ovens are occupied at the moment. Ü

funny questions I'm asked about scrapbooking...

I can't help but to laugh when I think about some of the questions that I'm asked about scrapbooking.

What products did I use when I first started scrapbooking? Believe it or not Creative Memories products and what ever I could find at the Michael's craft and hobby store in Abilene (which wasn't much).The reaction I got from stating that I started off by using Creative Memories products made me laugh...YOU used CM products? No way!

With your husband being career military you must have a ton of military themed layouts (that was more of a statement than a question- I get a lot of those too). My answer, no not really. What I do have a lot of layouts of is our children, the various vacation spots we've been to over the years, points of interest that sort of thing.

When asked what are my favorite pictures/layouts that I have done of my children my reply is...There's this picture I took of Hannah we were on a picnic by the ocean she was 9 years old looking out at the ocean and her hair was blowing. I'll have to find that layout and share it. And of our son Andrew, we were at my husbands parents house in winter- snow all around and the kids were sledding. Andrew looked like he was deep in thought about something (probably contemplating going down a steep hill). I love that picture he must have been 12 years old.

It's hard to picture myself loving one particular picture of my children. I'm sure that you feel the same way. There's this picture of Hannah when she was 4 years old that my husband and I adore. And then there's the picture of Andrew when he was 2 years old, asleep on the floor of his bedroom with all of his little hot wheels cars lined up like a parking lot in front of him and his hand was still clutching one while sleeping- adorable!

counting the days...

As my daughter tells me, I'm to have a birthday in 2 more days. It's kind of scary to think that I'm closer to being 50 years old than I am to being 30 years old. My dear friend Kim will be a whopping 41 year old tomorrow- oh how I wish that I was 41 years old again.

I'm also counting the days until our trip to California to see my parents. I've got my print out of wi-fi spots around town. Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time at McDonalds and Starbucks, LOL! Hannah wants to go to the outlet mall...and I want to take her Ü. So much for me not spending any money, LOL!

Okay I've farted away my day on "stuff", now for me to get to baking something yummy. I've got to make some birthday cheesecakes! One for Kim and one for me!

You know your husband is in the military when...

The first 3 things on your have on your "to do list" for the day are;

8 am change of command ceremony for the Medical Group
10 am retirement ceremony for past Medical Group Commander
11:30 am Farewell Luncheon for Deputy Commander of the Maintenance Group

food food food, it was everywhere! After each ceremony tables of food! Sheesh it was nothing but people dressed in blues, bdu's or flight suits with the occasional civilian thrown in here and there. Each ceremony was touching in it own way. The thank yous that were given to family and friends for being so supportive throughout their military members' career...each being more tear provoking than the last. Did I shed a tear? You know I did! These folks and their families will be missed greatly. The slide show presentations were awesome! I loved watching them and I could see others getting teary eyed as they watched the pictures that documented life as a military family. It means so much to me be to be there supporting my husband in his career, moving or in our case at the moment now moving and buying a house to do a double tour. But to be there (at an assignment) together as a family, and sometimes you can't be together in body because of a remote assignment , deployments and extended TDy's. But to be there on the same page looking in the same direction...knowing that your life partner is there for you every step of the way through good times and bad. It's at these kinds of ceremonies that the spouse is thanked in front of her husbands peers (or wife's peers). It's heart felt to have your husband say it out loud in front of God and everyone how much your being there has truly meant to him over the years...you know they really mean it when their voice cracks and you see them shed a few tears. It's uplifting when you hear them thanking the Lord for their family, friends and Air Force Career. I wish both families GodSPeed and a safe journey to their next destination.

Blog Surfing...do you do it?

I have to crack up at some of the blogs that I've read recently. One I read today hasn't been updated in nearly a year but she caught my attention with things that she said. Full of sarcasm and witt plus it's all scrapbooking related stuff... it was a crack up! I wholeheartedly agree with most of the stuff she said and the rest...well it made me laugh! Here's something to think about (something that I got from that blog)...it's true, you never do see large people/kids in scrapbook layouts published in any of the scrapbooking magazines. You know, that's something that I never thought about before ...but I sure am thinking about it now! It's a valid point she made and the other thing (which had me laughing) were her comments about ugly kids- don't see them in published scrapbook magazines either. This woman pulled out all of the stops and went for the throat of the scrapbooking magazine editors, I loved it! There were many other comments about things in the scrapbooking world/industry that had me laughing pretty hard.

So is essence it's about this...what is beauty? Who are they (magazines) to say that overweight children or people in general are not beautiful? Who is to say that we wouldn't want to see a layout done with pictures of overweight individuals? I think it's wrong to assume that everyone in the scrapbooking world is skinny. We all are God's children, made in his image right? It's just something to think about.

Blog Challange- what do you look forward to ...

I look forward to our trip this month to California to see my parents. I’m taking my daughter for a Mom and Daughter trip. This trip will be the first time that I’ve ever done anything like that. Our son will be in Louisiana for a military camp of sorts and my husband will be here at home…working. Wow, being able to spend one on one time with my daughter…priceless!

 

 

Friendships and the Military way of life

Last night I fell asleep before 9 pm, mental exhaustion does that to me. I was so stressed out from worry over those albums...what if the pages all look the same, have the same feel and so forth. Since I was on such a tight budget for making four 12x12 albums, I couldn't get too elaborate in my layouts. I have my name out there on a project, a big project and with that goes a certain level of expectation from people...people who know my dedication to making quality scrapbooking projects. If I didn't give a rats hiney about what others thought of my work, that would be different, I could slap it together in a heart beat and be done with it. But it wasn't like that for me, I was making these albums for people that I liked, cared about and respected. If you know anything about the military and farewells...the gifts are from the local area. Here in the Black Hills you will get more than your fair share of items pertaining to "Mount Rushmore". A couple of years ago at a farewell dinner that my husband and I attended we saw the couple that was being farewell-ed given endless gifts of photo's of Mount Rushmore, books on Mount Rushmore and bookends with of course the Mount Rushmore heads on them, yup they received 3 sets of Mount Rushmore bookends- nice! For me I wanted this gift from the group of us to not be of the area but of the military people that they saw on a regular basis. To be of events that we went to together. Cheryl cried when she saw it sitting there on her chair, I saw her look up and look around for me. When she came walking towards me to to thank me for the album, I saw tears welling up in her eyes and rolling down on to her cheeks. She told me that the album was the best gift that she and her husband could have received, that this is how they wanted to be able to look back and cherish the memories of the past 2 years here at Ellsworth AFB. Personally speaking...compliments don't get any better than that!

But when friends move and it's inevitable that while in the military (any branch)they will. Don't look at it as being for forever...because you will see them again at another assignment, it's just a matter of time. Take the base commander and his wife...Jeff and Cheryl, Cheryl and I both have sons named Andrew who were in the same kindergarten class together while we were assigned to Dyess AFB in in Abilene, Texas. Our boys have now finished the 9th grade together, wow! Another couple of friends that I made while living in Texas were assigned here and are now leaving for other assignments, Georgia and Kristine. Will I miss them? Of course I will, but there's that wonderful things called e-mail and of course a good long distance plan is always a good thing Ü. Here's one for ya...my dear Jayne, a friend I made at out first assignment in Maine back in 1990 was stationed here when we first arrived. We lived down the street from one another and our daughters who had never met one-another became fast friends. Our sons were babies when we parted and left for assignments in different parts of the country. It all comes full circle, making friends, friends moving away and then meeting up at yet another assignment.

Okay so 2 of the steady members of my scrapbooking group are leaving soon...I'm having us all make a scrapbook page writing something meaningful to one another. I had someone take a pictures of the 4 of us at a function not too long ago and I'm going to design a layout where we can all write on it. It'll be a simple layout but sweet none the less. I plan on doing this for each friend that moves away, I feel that by giving them something personal like this that it lets them know that they do matter to me and my family.

Alright, enough of the warm fuzzies, I need more coffee!

A Blog Challenge to anyone who reads My Blog...

Consider yourself tagged if you read my blog! Your Blog challenge is to tell about something that is in every room, it's got to be something that says something about you. To give you a better idea of what I'm talking about here's my answer...

In every room (and I do mean every room- minus the garage) there are flowers. When you really look around you'll see them...there are pictures of of flowers that I have taken hanging on the walls, in our formal dining room there are dried flowers on top my china hutch, flowers on the tea cups and tea pots and most times there is a vase of fresh flowers on the table or buffet, in the kitchen I have a pitcher of silk Hydrangeas and another of Texas Bluebonnets aka Lupins, our Master Bedroom is all about roses even our master bathroom is about roses. The kids rooms, the laundry room the other 2 bathrooms and especially my scrapbook nook. I'm about flowers, always have been always will be. To me flowers signify life, love and purpose. The come in so many shapes and colors, they bring me happiness.

Breathing a sigh of relief!

Spending 10 hours in ones scrapbook nook working on a project that gave me nothing but stress and finally being done with it...priceless! I am so glad that it's done and has been given away! Now I feel as if I can breathe again, at least for a little while.

The kids are thrilled that I bought food, I had them out it away (now where did they hide my York Peppermint Patties?). It's still rainy and dreary. I went to a change of command ceremony (We have a new base commander and first lady)this morning and during the ceremony the rain was pouring out of the sky in buckets. I was VERY glad that I had an up close parking spot, no trudging through the rain for me! The ceremony was touching as both Colonels had nice things to say about the support of their families with their careers in the military. I hope that the new base commander and his wife find this area enjoyable.

I'm going to take the weekend off and just relax. I'm really wanting to take a nap as I can hardly keep my eyes open right now. But alas...I have a pot of chili cooking on the stove. There's nothing like a bowl of my all veggie chili with cheese and some corn chips on a dreary rainy day! I'm all about comfort food on days like these.

I'm going to buy food today...

It's Friday and I have things that need to get done...things that I have been ignoring or putting off because of this major scrapbooking project that needed to get finished.

Buying food is one of those things, I've ordered Pizza twice this week, bought KFC once and basically left the kids to fend for themselves, LOL! Hot Pocket pizzas are a wonderment!

Laundry will be the other thing I have neglected all week- and it shows, LOL! There are over full hampers in the laundry room at this very moment.

The formal dining room table is piled with things that need to go back into the china hutch and armoire.

I've left my scrapbook nook looking like a hurricane had hit it (minus the water). What a disaster area that place is! Enter at your own risk should be the phrase of the day for that room! I don't know who is more glad that I have a door on that room myself or my husband, LOL!

It's now 6 am and I see a ton of things that I have neglected this week...heck right here in the office there are about 20 things that need to be put away. I'm tired and I have yet to started my day.

I couldn't see the trees for the forest...

I have developed a love/hate relationship with Microsoft word, I'll tell you more about that in a moment. I'm so glad that my friend Kim came over last night, I was on the home stretch with this scrapbook that I am present to the exiting base commander and his wife today (the change of command ceremony is at 10am). I'm beating myself on the noggin because I can not think of a single thing to say on the last page...the tribute page, ugh! Good thing Kim was here and went trough and read every single journal spot...I have to go back and fix 3 different pages, all because of that auto correcting Microsoft word. Kim's last name was botched, and a few other little oddities. So here I am this morning going back and "fixing" those little blurbs.

So my friend Kim saved me from having an embarrassing journaling moment, LOL! She doesn't think so but I know better. I was so tired of looking at those scrapbooks pages that I could not see the trees with the forest being right there in front of me. I truly do appreciate her coming out and helping me with this project. Only 3 more tributes to write...that can be done later! Now to bag this album up and get it off to where it needs to go!