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!