Darn that eBay!

I should have been scrapping.

Instead, I have found myself drawn to eBay and bidding on QuicKutz dies. Which is kind of silly since I still have not broken in my new toy. Okay, I did open the box and look inside but I have not yet taken it OUT of the box or even tried to use it. I plan to though….sometime soon.

Even if I don’t think I need the die, I am all for getting a good deal and it does get exciting - but it sure is hard to bid when all you have is a dial-up connection. Thank goodness, for that huge bolt of lightning that struck nearby that forced me to turn off my computer or else I probably would be totally out of control!

I used to bug B about his bidding on eBay and now I see why he could never get away from the computer. I think I am done for now though (read: today). At least the items I am bidding on are a lot less expensive than what B bids on. Let’s just say that my tiny purchases do not compare with the hundreds he has bid away.

And now…. I present to you…..the items I won tonight.

Christmas is over

It is hard to believe that Christmas has finally come and gone and that the end of this year is so very near. Time seems to fly by faster and faster the older that I get.

So did you all have a good Christmas? My Christmas was good. I got to spend it with family and that made it even better.

I did receive a little bit of money that I could spend just on me and I found myself heading off to the scrapbook store. I had only planned to spend a little but ended up spending it all.

I bought myself the Vixen holiday set (I was so excited it was on sale and they still had some) and the new QuicKutz Revolution to go with it. Having never owned a QuicKutz this is a new experience for me. I hope to get a lot of use out of this tool. I just hope I don’t go broke buying dies for it. I really do love the new larger alphabets and now that I have the Revolution, I will have something to actually put on a Christmas list for next year.

I cannot believe that I actually own something that is still considered pretty new in the scrapping world. I am always years behind everyone else.

I really love the box the Revolution comes (is stored) in. I think that is what really sold me.

Isn’t it awesome?

It either looks like I have really cool camera equipment or I am ready to go on the road with the band. *Ü*

My first altered project

On Friday night when I cropped with the Divas I worked on some altered composition books to give out as gifts this Christmas.

This was my first time altering and it took me awhile to get the groove on but I think I managed to do an okay job. I ended up making two of them that night. I will definately be making more of these. Actually there is one more I want to make for a Christmas gift so I better get crackin'!


For these journals I used My Mind's Eye (MME) products. I found that if I used the paper and embellishments that actually go together that the process went much smoother for me.

I still need to figure out which adhesive would be the best to use. I used a Tomob Mono but I practically used the entire thing on these two journals and if I make more of these then it will start to get pretty expensive. For those of you that alter alot....what adesive do you find works the best?

Here are the two that I finished that will be going to my nieces. I just have to put their names on the plaque at the bottom right. When I made them I had a certain girl in mind but let B choose who got what. How weird is it that we chose them to go to the same girl?

Cropping with the Scrappay Divas!

Last night I got together with some of the Scrappay Divas for our holiday crop. It was great to meet up with Happay and Awendybird and I finally got to meet Falwyn. :) It has been WAY too long since we last scrapped together.

I am not one to complete a lot (even when I go to a crop) but even with arriving late, I managed to complete my first altered project (a composition book) and almost finish a second. I need to finish those by tomorrow since they will be given out as Christmas gifts and mailed off on Monday.

So does anyone know how long it takes to mail a package to Japan?

They’re making it!!!!

I have written before about my old school-mate Miranda.

Well her new website is up and running. Go and check it out!

Ohhhh...and check out Campus Ladies if you get the Oxygen channel. It is in it's 2nd season! Yay Miranda!!!

I also ran across Anna, another old friend, online this week. Well the start of her website anyway and then I lost the link. :(


You can see her at her agency's website and this site also has a preview of her new movie. I cannot wait to see what she will be doing next! I need to go and check out her new movie, Checkout. (lol) as soon as I find out if it will be playing near me.

I am so excited to see what all these old friends are doing in their lives. They are doing what they always said they would do.

Kind of makes me wonder what could have been if I was that brave.

Don’t get me wrong.

I don’t have any regrets.

I love my life. :)

But I always wonder.

I really do love the Fruitcake…

…paper that is.

This new Basic Grey has me all excited to scrap my Christmas pictures.

This is good since we are posting Christmas layouts at the Scrappay Divas site all month long. It is also good because I sure do have a ton of Christmas photos to scrap.

I am just worried that I will feel the need to buy more and more. I guess it is a good thing that the local scrapbook store is basically out of the stuff.

Come on over and see what is posted so far.

If you would like to know the products used on this page please click here.

Did you know there are only 21 days left until Christmas? Are you ready?

I’m Back!

Who knew that a short overnight trip would wear me out! I went to bed before 8pm last night!!

Even though I was tired I had a great time and I would love to do it again. If you ever want to see a ton of women…and I mean a TON!! Just go to a Women’s Conference. The first night it even took us ONE hour to get out of the parking garage! It was crazy!

Beth Moore is such a great speaker. I learned and laughed so much.

Traffic in Phoenix was terrible and I was selected to be the driver just cause I lived there 17 years ago….Oh and I knew where the Convention Center was – darn those Scrapping Conventions! LOL!

Well tonight B is making his Thanksgiving dinner today. The apartment smells so good! I already had some mashed potatoes. I cannot wait until tonight!

Mini Road Trip

Today I am off to attend a Women’s Conference.

The conference is about 2 hours away and it will just be tonight and tomorrow (Saturday). It will be nice to get away. There is a group of us going. I really don’t know much about it as my Mom invited me to go along with her but her friend made all the arrangements.

I know we are staying at a hotel overnight and that we leave at noon today and will get home around noon on tomorrow (Saturday).

That’s it.

That’s all I know.

Oh….and the speaker is Beth Moore.

I wonder what B will do when I am gone?

Is that a Christmas page I see?

I have never really purchased Christmas themed paper before. I always told myself that when I was ready to scrap Christmas pictures, I would take them to the store with me to pick out what I wanted to use. I think this is one reason I never seem to scrap my Christmas pictures. That and the fact that I have tons of photos and I just want the pages to look perfect. I think I am overwhelmed.

Well that is all about to change.

Over at Scrappay Divas it is Christmas every day ~ all month long!!!! (Well until the 25th or until we run out of Christmas photos ~ which I doubt will happen).

This is a layout that I started back in 2003 (using pictures from 2002). I had a different plan for the page and in fact already had the pictures matted. Well….I kept the original dark green color scheme but that is all. I am so happy to have this page done. Three years is a long time to have a page just lying around in pieces. Sadly, though….I have many more just like it waiting to be completed.

If you would like to know the items used on this page please click here.

Argh! Why can't I scrap???

So...since, I could not work on the Christmas layout that I think is from 2002. I decided to work on another 2002 Christmas layout that I had started at the same time. The pictures I am scrapping are from a holiday tea and I had already matted a few pictures and had an embellishment I wanted to use. I am rethinking how I wanted to scrap this page. Well actually, I cannot remember how I wanted to originally scrap it. LOL!

I do know that I will be using same color background paper and I will no longer be using the embellishments I had planned to use. I also want to use some of the new paper I bought.

The paper the pictures are matted on will work great with this Basic Grey paper I bought the other day. Isn't it pretty? I almost did not buy it because it is just not my 'thing,' but I really think it will go well with the photos and the dark green paper I want to use.

Here is my problem. I want to use this paper in part of the title (since I cannot figure out how else to use it - I am patterned paper challenged). I have tons of BG monograms but have never used them so I thought I could just trace them and use the paper I want to.

I think the regular BG monograms will be WAY too big. Especially on a 8.5 x 11 page. I wonder if I should go ahead and buy these new Basic Grey mini- monograms. I have looked thru my fonts and even my lettering templates and I cannot find any style that I like.

Why can't I just use the stuff I already have?

Why does it take me hours to scrap a page?

It is 1am! I need to get to bed!

Here’s the problem

After looking at Happay’s Christmas layouts today, I am in the mood to catch up and scrap all of my Christmas photos I have put off scrapping. Yep! That’s right. Put off. I realize that I don’t scrap them because there are so many and I feel I cannot do them justice.

I never even buy Christmas themed paper because I don’t want it to just sit there. However, recently I did break down and buy some Basic Grey Fruitcake. Yummy! (the paper – not the cake). I want to use it for a different layout though…but still…..I have purchased some winter/Christmassy paper recently and I want to use it.

See this?

This is a problem.

This is a 3 page (8.5x11) layout that I started years ago. Everything is stuck down. All it needs is journaling and I want to put down everyone’s name that are on the pages. I remember not being able to finish this layout when I first started it because I had purchased some holiday rub-ons to use and promptly lost them. I recently found them when I was cleaning up my stuff but I put them in such a great spot, I cannot find them!!! So I guess I cannot work on this layout at this time. I also don’t remember where I was going with this layout, so my style has changed.

Do you want to know the saddest thing? I do not even know what year these photos are from!!!!! I think it may be 2002 but I will need to check. The pictures are not digital so I have to look at negatives to find out. Wish me luck!!

Eyeliner

Do you wear it?

Liquid or Pencil?

Do you wear it by itself or along with eye shadow?

If so, do you put it on before or after your eye shadow?

What is your favorite color? Favorite brand?

Happy Turkey Day!!!

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving because I plan to.

In just a couple of hours B and I will be heading over to my parents' house. Not that many people will be there this year. My mom says only 20 {not including the kids}. I remember when the place used to be PACKED! I think I need to look for an old photo when I go over there today so I can share. Even just 2 years ago we had 31 people and that is still considered small.

I am excited to see everyone that will be there and will be missing those that are not. I am very thankful that I have the family that I do. I really missed them last year.

Well I better go get myself ready, before B takes over the bathroom!

anxious

Do you ever feel anxious and not know the reason why?

For some reason I am feeling that way. Maybe it is because I just got an email from my in-laws asking about Thanksgiving. We spent last Thanksgiving with them and this year it is my family’s turn. Maybe I am anxious because I have to tell them No? Maybe I am anxious because I think that B is going to spend Thanksgiving with his parents this year instead of with mine?

I just feel like I am running out of time and I don’t know why.

I don’t like feeling this way.

Mama needs some new sparkly things

Anyone want to buy some shiny things?

I love the new banners as they show one of the items currently available.

I have been very happy with my shiny purchases.

Flu shots?

So what do you think of them?

Do you get them?

Have you gotten one and then gotten sick?

Have you ever gotten sick from the actual flu shot?

They are giving out flu shots today at work. I have NEVER had one. I don’t know if I agree with them actually. I mean no one really knows if the flu shot you get today will protect you from this year’s flu strain. It appears that everyone at work is getting one except me. What a rebel I am.

We will not discuss my dislike for needles.

A not so graceful loser

There really is something to be said for being a graceful loser.

As those of you that read my blog know (that would be all 2 of you), I am not a country music fan. However that being said, I was very interested in seeing all the newscasters talk about Faith Hill’s not so gracious loss at the CMA’s last night. According to this article, the entire thing was a joke. I personally don’t feel that it was. But what else could she say? She has to save face somehow. She was on the air and was caught showing emotions that are normally saved until the losing star gets home (or at least inside their limo). But hey, that is my take on it…..check out the video footage for yourself and let me know what you think.

Happy Monday!

That's it.

Nothing more.

I guess I was more obsessed then I thought last week

104 songs played! That is a lot of songs. More songs than I think I have listened to in an entire week sometimes (well on my computer anyway).

When you buy a new album you are supposed to listen to it a lot right? I mean there are 14 songs on the CD so even if I listen to it twice it would rack up a high number. I thought I was doing okay at 104 songs played. Then I checked my profile a few days later and the numbers had changed. I guess some plays had not been counted. I guess I listened more than I thought. 119 songs! Wow!

Okay...so he really did not lie

Well….it rained yesterday but just a bit.

Except for my wet car at the end of the day I would have to say that it still did NOT rain. I say that, ‘cause I did not “see” it rain. LOL! It rained right before I left work to head home. I guess it rained quite a bit too because some of the streets were flooded. Want to scare yourself? Drive down a dark street that has water across the road and don’t put on your brakes. Yep! Pretty scary stuff. Especially when you cannot see the water. I always make it a habit of breaking as I drive past each street but sometimes I don’t want to look like a weirdo, you know? This city is definitely not made for rain. If you visit and it rains, remember you can only drive down the middle of the road ~ Unless the entire road is flooded. Then you just need to float. :) I am still waiting for the cold weather we were promised. I still cannot wear a sweater yet.

Tonight is a good night to plant my butt in front of the TV. First there is Jericho. Anybody else out there watching too? I really do like this show and it has a lot of secret stuff. It keeps you guessing.

Then there is LOST. I don’t know yet about this 3rd season but I will stick with it for now. I guess I just want the show to move faster than it is.

After LOST, there is The Nine. So far it is okay but I have to give it a couple more shows to make a decision on if I will keep watching it.

The Weather Man lied

It was supposed to rain today.

It was supposed to be chilly today too.

It is neither of these things.

Sure there are clouds outside. Lots of them and they are not all white but they are so billowy and the sky so blue they look like they are from a Simpson’s cartoon. It is HOT outside too. Those clouds sure are not doing a very good job at hiding the bright sun either. I guess I am just impatient for winter weather to get here. My winter clothes are just so much better looking than what I wear during the summer. LOL!

On my way into work this morning I stopped off and bought my copy of The Black Parade. I have to say that I hear a lot of Pink Floyd, Queen and even a Kiss riff on there. I guess they really want to appeal to us older folks.

I told B about buying it. Actually I said "I bought a CD." He knew exactly which one I bought. I have a feeling that I will not be seeing this album any time soon once I bring it home and it disappears into the towers and since he doesn't like to share the CD player I will have to listen to just the songs he likes. For I assure you….he will like this album.

The Black Parade is coming

I am really looking forward to tomorrow (Tuesday). But just don't tell B because he will tease me. Tomorrow is the release of the new My Chemical Romance album. I am listening to it now at The Black Parade.

Quite different.

I like it. Well what I have heard so far. Even if it does sound a lot more mainstream. Heck their B-side sounds like a Christmas song at the beginning.

I have a feeling that my weekly Last.fm chart is going to show an over abundance of MCR in the upcoming weeks. Not that this will be any different than any other week. I really do try not to listen to MCR too much but I guess since I have more songs (like entire albums) from MCR on my iTunes it gets heavy rotation. So I guess I am not REALLY all that obsessed. I mean I could listen to an entire album for any artist and it will show as the most played artist for the week. So last week's total of 10 plays is not that bad. Right?

It is so sad that the only thing I have to look forward to is the release of a new album. LOL!

How about a video?

Have you seen this?

I really really like this video. Very clever! It is all done in one take too. Can you imagine the rehearsals? They sure are better on these treadmills than I ever have been. I have problems just walking on the things. LOL!

Last week in review...

Last Monday ~

I think that Enterprise has redeemed itself.

I now only feel that the service at the airport location sucks! I drove the Taurus to the Enterprise location I originally got the Malibu from and they were appalled that I was given a Taurus. I guess the Taurus is the lowest level and was not an equal exchange to the Malibu. So the lovely ladies put me in a Dodge Stratus. Let me just say….I LOVED THIS CAR!!! even though I only got to drive it a couple of days. The one thing I absolutely loved about having to rent a car is that I got to try different ones. I never have that opportunity as I only drive the cars I end up buying or borrowing from my Dad.

Last Tuesday ~

Not a very good day. Lots of stress about money and the darn car.

Last Wednesday ~

So let’s talk about music. I was on a mission to listen to something new last week and I ‘think’ I may have done it. Although there does seem to be a lot of the same groups showing up. Maybe that is because no one left me any suggestions. :(

Last Thursday ~

B’s brother & family are moving to Japan. My sister-in-law and the girls stopped by on their way out of town to say goodbye. We went over to the in-laws for few hours and ended up watching a movie as well. The girls are just too cute! The two oldest girls we had seen a couple of months earlier and it was good to see them again. I really don’t know the younger ones as well since we don’t see them as often. All four girls have such different personalities. I of course took a lot of pictures but mostly of the younger ones. I would have loved to take more of all of them but the older girls were not in the mood. It was late, so I could not blame them. This one here is our actress. She posed for every shot.

Last Friday ~

The Honda came home! I dropped off the rental and went to pick up my car. I am now only $507.00 poorer.

The Honda was filthy, so I stopped by to get it washed. I only wanted the cheap wash to get off the dust and wipe down the dashboard. I know that $7.99 does not get you much but they did not even wipe down the dashboard. The manager told me that they only do ‘general dusting’ but I guess by ‘general dusting’ they mean NOTHING! Even the outside of the car sucked! It was still dirty. I will never go back to Simoniz again. The manager did not even care when I told him that I would tell others about my experience.

Then, I bought The Club for the car. If someone is going to try to take my car again I want to make it more of a hassle. Now if I can only get B to use the darn thing I will feel that my money is well spent. With our luck he will forget to use it and someone will steal that AND the car.

I got to work really late and since I did not feel like working on another Saturday, I worked until 8:15pm! I was the only one there! It is a lot spookier working alone late at night than during the day. Especially when someone (I think security) just popped their head in the door and asked if anyone was still there.

Last Saturday ~

I cleaned the litter box. Ewwww~!

Sunday aka yesterday ~

Last day of the weekend so of course I had to get all the necessary stuff finished. Yeah...did not do it all. I Did some laundry and even went grocery shopping. Came home and watched trashy TV aka Desperate Housewives (one of B's favorite).

Monday aka Today ~

Work was okay. I really was not in the mood to be there but after work was even better. Tonight I met some old friends for dinner. We met at 7pm but did not leave the restaurant until 9:30pm. Talk about a lot of catching up to do.

Why does the day always drag when you are looking forward to the evening?

I need a change

Hmmmm. I really do seem to be in a music rut at the moment.

Of course all the music that gets tracked to Last.fm is just the music I have on my work computer so it really does not represent all that I have but dang……I need to stop listening to the same stuff at work!!!

I had huge goals of converting all my Vinyl and cassettes to CD’s but I have been too lazy to convert all of that music. Plus it is really hard to take a CD of B’s and bring it to work. He knows before even looking when a CD (even mine) goes missing out of the tower. Well that is if the darn CD is actually in the tower. We have one of those large CD players that hold hundreds of CD’s. So if I want to borrow a CD I need to ask him to get it for me as he has them in his own specific order. Men! LOL! We will not even discuss the organization of the darn CD tower.

So I have been on the prowl for some different music to listen to. Music just for me ‘cause B does not like the same stuff I do. That is ‘cause I am cool and he is not!! LOL!

So do any of you have any suggestions for some new music for me to listen to?

Anyone want to steal my car?

…cause I no longer want it.

It appears that there is damage starting at $500 because there was a donut on the car when it was stolen. Because I did not write down the exact mileage on my car the moment I got out of it, right before it was stolen – insurance will not cover it. Who writes down their mileage every time they get out of their car – just in case?

So not only do I have to pay to fix the bearings on this car, I have to pay to fix all damage as it is less than my deductible. I have no money for groceries much less to pay for the damage done to my car. I am now ticked that it was even found! So from the information I am getting we are talking about $1000.00 to fix this car and $2500.00 + to fix our other car. I doubt we will get a car that works at all anytime soon and we will have to return this rental car very very soon. If I have no car then I cannot work and I am not looking forward to quitting my job!

I told my dad that I don’t want the car to be fixed because I cannot afford it and now he is mad at me. When will he understand that I just don’t have the money?? He just does not get it. :(

From Malibu to crappy poo!

I finally got a call back from the manager at the Enterprise location I had called. He asked me how long I would be at work and then told me he was going to bring me a new car.

Well.....I should have just drove the first rental with the stolen plate.

Our original rental was a 2006 Chevy Malibu (the one on the left). I had never driven a Malibu and I was surprised at how much I liked it. I did not like the headrest as it hit at the back of my head because I am so darn short but that was definitely overlooked as this car was awesome. It just felt new and I felt very comfortable driving it. I actually would not mind getting one of these.

So fast forward to the Enterprise manager bringing me a new car.

We went from the lovely Malibu to that piece of crappy poo, ummm I mean 2006 Ford Taurus over there. -->

This car stinks! Literally! It has a weird smell and the radio does not work! I have to push the seat forward so far that my head hits the roof of the car on the sunvisor. This car just feels so old!!! It creaks and makes weird noises and the engine is LOUD! I do not feel comfortable in this car at all. I told B that it was his turn to call the rental company so I think on Monday he is going to tell them to bring us another car.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car sucks!!!

We are renting a car from then and they screwed up big time!!!

I am here alone at work. The rental car is the only car in the parking lot. The cops were just here and ran the plates on the car. It appears that the rental car has stolen plates!!! The cop told me that if I drove the car with the plates I would get pulled over with guns drawn. SO he took off the plate. He told me he was supposed to keep it but gave it back to me. The cop told me to make Enterprise come and fix it. I agreed. He also told me to tear them a new one (LOL!).

So I call Enterprise. There is only one location in the entire city open today. All other places are closed. I had to call all the phone numbers listed for the company until I finally found one that was open. I told them what happened. They tell me that they don’t want to leave their location at this time. So what happened to “We will come and pick you up?” The gal at Enterprise told me that if I wanted to get this issue fixed that I needed to bring the car to them because they would not come out. This sucks! This is crappy service! I told her that and she said “Yes, I understand. We are open until 11pm. Thanks for calling.” I will NOT be the one to fix their screw-up!

I called back to speak to a manager and the same gal told me that I could not speak to one and had to wait for a call back. I wonder what he will say when he calls me back.

It is 6:30 on a Friday night...

…and I am back at work.

I was barely at work today for 30 minutes when I get a call from B’s work that he is having black outs.

A couple of years ago B had a problem with cluster migraines and for the past week they seem to be coming back. So I left work to pick him up and off to the Emergency Room we went.

The Emergency Room we went to was weird. There is NO one there to talk to when you walk in. You have to fill out a piece of paper and leave it in a tray until someone walks out and picks it up. I think our paper was there for about 15 minutes or so before someone took it and the only reason they took it was because a lady came in with someone that was bleeding and had to bang on the window. She finally got someone to come to the window and when they took her paper, they took ours as well. You get more service at an Urgent care or basically any where else you might go. The only directions posted said to fill out form and place in tray. Everyone that came in was as confused as we were so we were all in the same boat.

We were there for about 30 minutes before they called B back to be examined. I had to wait in the waiting room. We were probably there a total of 2 hours or so. We left and then dropped off his RX. I took him to get lunch and then took him home. I then went back to get the RX, took it home and now I am back at work. I don’t know how long I will be here but I am already tired. I will have to come in on Saturday as well but did not want to have to work all day Saturday, so here I am.

Well, I better get to work.

What was once gone, is back again

Well except for the pool cue and whatever was in the trunk (rugs and towels I think).

Yep! That’s right! The Honda is back!

We received a call yesterday that it had been found. It was parked in the last spot in the very back of an apartment complex in Crackville. Someone had called it in because it had been sitting there awhile. If no one had called it in, I don’t think it would have ever been found. The car was about one-two miles away from our place. I guess it is a good thing that gas is so expensive as the car was on empty (which was how it was when it was stolen) and it did not get very far. I still don’t understand why our car was taken as there are so many more expensive cars in our parking lot. Even today, I was parked next to a Honda that had a CD player in plain view right on the seat. Our car had nothing like this.

Yesterday was pretty stressful for me. The police did not call me. They called my Dad. My Dad called me and we went to get the car. There were no police and nothing was fingerprinted. I was pretty concerned about it. So when I finally got home from driving the car to the mechanic, I called the police. Then while waiting for a call back, I find out from my Dad that the police were actually there and he had been to the car even before I was called. I was ticked! I was ticked that I was not called and was not even given the chance to ask the police any questions. Plus there were items in the car that did to belong to us that could have been fingerprinted. The detective called me back and stated that he would send someone over to the mechanic to fingerprint the vehicle. He told me that there was a conflict between officers that some felt fingerprinting was useless and some thought everything should be fingerprinted.

We were a little bummed actually that it was found. The insurance company was already planning to pay out on the claim and we had been looking at cars. Well actually my Dad had been looking at cars. Now, since the car has been found we will owe $500.00 which we don’t have.
Now we just need to find a car to replace the icky car and we will be on our way to better days.

I won…..again!

This time though it was a posting contest at the ScrappinDeals message board. I really like this board. It is small but cozy. The girls are great! I did not realize that I chatted so much this past month. WOW!

My page won!!!!

I am so excited!!!

Last weekend I participated in an online crop over at Scrappin' With Grace. I actually had a lot of fun. It started on Friday night and I just happened to get home just in time to participate. I even got up early on Saturday to play. I don’t even get up early to go to work. Of course last Saturday was THE DAY that pretty much fell apart, but for the time that I was online for the crop, it was all good.

So back to the winning…..I uploaded a layout for the challenge that was to be voted on by the site's design team. Well they chose my layout!!!! That one.....over there < -------

B kept wondering what all my hooting and hollering was all about. He was excited for me though. Of course now he keeps going on about how he has always told me my pages were good and that I need to join ALL the contests and on and on and on. Thank you honey but I don't think I have the ability to do that. Considering he complains if I spend too much time in front of the computer, which just happens to be, where I scrap. I also don't think I have the nerves for it. I never go into something thinking I will be the one to win. I don't think I am contest material.

Now that being said……

Come join me at Scrappin' With Grace for our "Bring It On Duel"!!!!!! Okay, it is a contest but a fun contest. We are in a duel with another online site. The site with the most posts, uploads and challenges completed wins. Not only is there a site contest but there will be prizes for the top 5 scrappers. The duel starts October 1st. Come and check it out. The girls there are great!

Howdy

It sure has been quiet around here.

I guess that is bound to happen when I don't turn on the computer for a couple of days.

Yesterday (Thursday), B and I drove out to take a tour of Kartchner Caverns. This place was amazing. We took the Rotunda/Throne room tour (The Big room tour is closed until the bats are done using it as a nursery). I am so amazed at what water can do. See that picture over there to the left? That is a 58 foot tall column. Amazing!!!

I could not imagine how the 2 guys that found this cave felt when they first saw this awesome place. No wonder they kept it a secret for 14 years!

On the way back home, we stopped at the Truck Stop. B was very excited to eat some 'trucker food'. Very filling.

The only bad thing is that I got a headache (not sinus) and I still have it one day later. I hate feeling sick on my vacation days. Heck! I hate feeling sick on any day.

I only have 2 more days off and then it is back to work. My next vacation will be the week of Thanksgiving. So only 2 months away. I am already looking forward to it.

We still have no news about the car. I don't think it is coming back.

Still no news

We still have not heard anything back about our car.

It seems that I have spent my entire day on the phone.

I called the insurance company and submitted my claim. Well actually I called them and then had to wait 2 hours for them to call me back. We have to wait 2 weeks and if we have not heard anything after the 2 weeks then they will pay out on the claim. We are also eligible for a rental car. I am so relieved about that. So tomorrow, we will go and get the rental. It looks like maybe B and I can go somewhere for our Anniversary after all.

I called the mechanic. He is still looking for an engine for the icky car. We don't know if it would be better just to junk the car and buy another one or wait for this one to get fixed. Either way we cannot afford it. B wants to get another motorcycle and I really don't like that idea.

I called the scrapbook store about the sewing machine. Since I don't have a receipt they will not take it back. Even if the machine is defective they will not take it back after 30 days and without a receipt. They would not give me a number for the company so I have to do some searching online myself. I am not surprised. This store is very strict about things. I usually have a love/hate relationship with the owners. Right now? I don't know how I feel.

I called the landlord to submit a work order to fix our fence. The party animals next door like to sit on the fence and I knew that it would eventually break and of course, it did. Hopefully it will get fixed this week.

I spoke with my mother-in-law. I think she is more upset about our car being stolen than we are. Well maybe not but she really is upset. I had a nice talk with her.

I called my sister-in-law to wish her a happy birthday. She was not home.

6 words for you!

Provo Craft Sew Crafty Mini SUCKS!!!!!!

Don't waste your money. It does not matter that it is so cheap. It is still a waste!

I cannot even get the thread to stay in the needle much less push the on button and have the thing run. I have followed all the instructions and it DOES NOT WORK! Well it works if you wanna just poke holes in your paper.

Sad thing is....I bought it at a local scrapbook store and I doubt they will take it back. I don't even have the receipt. It was the last one on their shelves and had been there FOREVER. I guess I should have figured that the thing sucked and I am sure the staff threw a party the moment I walked out the door with it.

It should have been named Sew CRAPPY mini!

Now you see it, now you don’t :(

It appears I have joined Awendybird’s new club and I really don’t wanna be in THAT club!

Someone has stolen our Honda. We no longer have a car at all.

I have to laugh though as even though the car has nice low racing tires, one of them is a donut. Whoever stole it is not going to be looking very cool driving around with a donut. All I can do is laugh, right? Oh and the fact that the car was almost out of gas. Bummer, that B's pool cue was in the car though.

B does not know what we will do. I told him that I refuse to get freaked out about it. I think if I stay calm, so will he. Well I hope he does anyway.

My mom lent us her '87 Honda to drive for now. It is old and we don't know how much longer it will last but it will get us where we need to go.

My Cubicle

Does your job ever make you feel this way?

A bit ziggy-zaggy

Just a tiny bit but there are some zig-zags on there.

This is my latest page.

It is for the Scrappay Divas Terrific Tuesday Challenge #20! I cannot believe there have already been 20 weekly challenges.

I cannot believe I have finished another page and finished it so quickly. It only took me a few hours (if you don't count the time it took the paint to dry). Now I just need to make pages as quickly as this one and I will be all caught up in no time. Ya think I can do it? Because I really don't know. I spent all weekend looking at one photo and could not figure out how to scrap it. This layout just kind of fell together.

Is it weird that these photos are from Christmas Eve and yet it looks like a Halloween page? It is not too Halloweeny is it?

Clearly on the right track

One of my goals at the moment is to get every scrap book item into or around my new Target cubes. I no longer want to my scrappy place to be crappy. But lately, I have not accomplished that much. I seem to have gotten distracted with organizing the inside of some of the drawers of the new cubes.

Thanks to my friend, Awendybird for finding these really cool clear bead containers at Target. I bought a ton. I am using them for my embellishments. Well the ones that don’t really have a current home.

So now I ask you…..

What am I supposed to do with these?

I have a ton. They are cute but totally not a great way to store something. How could they be when anything that gets stored in them ends up outside of the container. I have never understood why someone would create a container that does not even stay closed?

Has anyone ever tried to alter them?


So back to the topic on hand.

Since I am just starting to get all my stuff together so far I have just thrown everything into the drawers.

I went from this……


…to this.

I hope to get crackin’ again with organizing the big stuff. I tried to work on it this weekend, but when I went to put together a Target cube, it had a broken piece. I don’t know if I should wait and see if the company will send me a replacement or if I should just exchange it at Target. What do you think?

Long day

I am very tired.

I spent my day sitting.

Sitting in the car driving up to see my Uncle at the Mayo Clinic Hospital. Sitting in the waiting room. Sitting in my Uncle’s room. Sitting back in the waiting room. Sitting on the way back home from the hospital. Throw in time stopped to eat breakfast on the way up and dinner on the way back and that makes for a lot of sitting ……and for a long day.

I left my house at 9am. We stopped to pick up some family members and also stopped on the way up to eat. It sure is a long drive but it is all freeway so that makes it better. The traffic was not that bad either and the conversation made the 2+ hours just seem to fly by. I love getting caught up on my family that lives out of town.

The treatment they gave to my Uncle to stop the rejection did not work. In fact now he has pnuemonia and his kidneys started to shut down. He is in ICU. He looked good though and was happy to see us.

In our car – actually we borrowed a van – there were 6 of us. When we got to the hospital there were already 6 other family members sitting in the waiting room and 3 more came later. Lots and lots of visitors.

I must tell you….the nurses at the Mayo Clinic Hospital ICU in Scottsdale are the best ever!!!! They were so nice and really made everyone feel at at ease. We did our best to not have more than 3-4 people in the room at a time but the nurses never said anything. In fact when we were getting ready to leave there were 6 of us in the room saying good-bye. I wish it did not take so long to go and visit. It is hard having the hospital over 2 hours away from home. But they have been taking good care of him and the other night he had a room across the hall from a celebrity (a reporter from 20/20) so he has had people to talk to when family has not been there.

Scrappay Divas: Terrific Tuesday Challenge #19

This was my week to come up with the Scrappay Divas Tuesday Challenge.

I had never used jewels on a layout before, so I challenged myself (and all of you) to do so. I think I am hooked. Now I want more. I want all the colors! I want them now!!!

sigh.....

I will have to complete 25 more pages before I can get more jewels. No more bling for me.

So come and join us in this week's challenge. Post the link to your finished layouts in the Scrappay Divas comments section. We will pick our favorites to post on the Scrappay Divas blog.

I have not spent any time scrapping lately but that does not mean I have not been doing anything scrapping related. I have been on an organizing kick! Awendybird discovered these cool clear plastic containers for embellishments and I have had fun organizing (picture to come soon). I love looking at all my supplies together in one container (eyelets with eyelets, brads with brads). I even ended up using supplies for this last layout that I probably would not have if I had not organized them this past week. That is HUGE for me as you know...I am not an organized person.

David

I have mentioned before in a prior post that I have always felt different from others in my family. I was into drama and everything else that surrounded the stage.

Growing up, there was only one other person in my family that was interested in the performing arts as much as I was. That would be my cousin David. I remember him writing out the music and words to Annie’s “Tomorrow” for me to sing and play on my piano. I always looked up to him. When I was 12 years old David moved to New York City to work on Broadway. That was 24 years ago.

The morning of 09-11-01

B woke me up the morning of 09-11-01 to tell me that we were under attack and that a plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers. I got up and went downstairs to watch the news. While we both sat there watching we saw the 2nd plane crash into the 2nd tower. I told B that I was worried about David. For you see, David worked for UPS and worked in one of the Towers. I called my Dad and told him to turn on the news. I then told him my concerns about David and that I remembered him telling me that his locker was at the base of the towers. “Mija,” he said. “I think he quit that job. Don’t worry.” I hung up the phone and continued to watch the television while getting ready for work.

At work, everyone was either gathered in front of the televisions or if they had to be on the phones, they were watching on their computers. Shortly after getting to work I received a phone call from my Mom telling me that David still worked at the Trade Center and that everyone was heading over to my Aunt’s house, no one had yet heard from him. I had to stay at work and could not join them.

Finally later that afternoon my cousin called. He was alright. That is all we needed to hear. It had taken him awhile to call us because he could not find a phone that worked.

Last year while speaking to my Aunt I found out a bit more of what David went thru. That morning while he was on his way into work he was on the street near the towers when the planes hit. The only thing I was told was that he saw things falling from the sky that should not have been. It is too gruesome to even think about. He decided at that time to turn around and head back home.

I thought that since he and his co-workers were alright that he was okay too. Physically anyways. What I did not think of at the time was that since he delivered to all the offices in one of the towers that he knew so many of those killed. These are people that he saw probably every day. My Aunt said that he never went back to Ground Zero until a year or so ago when she was there visiting him. He never went back to work for UPS.

Everything I have heard about what my cousin has gone thru has been thru my Aunt. David does not talk about it and none of us mention it to him.

My heart goes out to those whose families were not as lucky as mine. I pray they are able to find peace.

Going downhill...

Today has been a weird day.

It seems that all my bad news wanted to save itself and hit me all in one day.

My Uncle is sick, really sick. My Dad told me a couple of days ago that the liver he got was too healthy for his body. That the doctors have moved on to Plan B. This morning, I was told the liver is now bleeding. Thinking about it all makes me so sad that I find myself crying.

We called the mechanic today. The icky car is officially dead. It needs an entire new engine, starting cost somewhere around $1500.00. The car is a '94 Nissan Sentra and I don't even think it is worth that much. B wants to get another motorcycle. It would save on gas but I do NOT want him to ride another bike.

I watched a movie today that I have wanted to see for a long time. Amélie. Have you seen it? It made me feel happy. Why do French films seem to be the only ones that make me feel good? I told B that French films seem to be my favorite. I think it is because I get to watch them all by myself and really enjoy them.

Now I am just sitting here in front of the computer. I want to do something but I am in such a mood that nothing looks good. I find myself just staring out the window. Sometimes I wish my life were a movie ~ things always work out great in movies.

Better late than never, right?

This is my latest layout.

I finished it sometime last week but barely scanned it in last night. It is, I think, page #4 of my challenge. That’s right only page #4. I sure am not doing too well on my challenge. I have not gone shopping but I have not scrapped either.

This layout is supposed to be for a Scrappay Divas challenge but as usual I am late. Better late than never I say.

I may have not found time or energy to scrap lately but I did do something that will benefit me and I am sad to say has kind of overwhelmed me as well. I went thru all of my current pictures for 2004 & 2005. I took them all out of the little envelopes they come in when you get your film developed. I knew I had a lot of pictures but did not really grasp how many until I took them all out of those darn envelopes. Now I have a huge stack of photos amd I don't even know where to start. I have them all organized with post-its tabs with the year and month. I hope this will help me to select my photos faster as before I would open each envelope and just look and look. The sad thing is that the photos I have printed so far for 2005 are only up to the beginning of March and I have tons more to print out. I have not even thought about printing any of my 2006 pictures yet.

Thursday

Is it Thursday already?

Where has the week gone?

Not much going on around here if you could not already tell by my lack of blog posts. It has been one of those kind of weeks. I cannot even remember what I did the day before. I cannot even remember Monday.

Actually I do remember yesterday, I stayed home sick. I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before and I woke up feeling icky. I would have hoped to actually get caught up on sleep but I did not even get to take a nap. One of the main things I got done yesterday was to get the icky car towed. Now I just hope that I don’t stress out waiting to find out how much it is going to cost us to fix it. If you want to know what happened to the car go here. I am so ready to get back to being a 2-car family. Having one car really does take a lot out of me. The majority of my time is spent driving and I am tired of all the driving. Plus B has a weird schedule at work. One day we may have to leave at 7am and then the next at 9am. I want to get back on my own schedule. I want the bathroom all to myself. LOL!

Hmmm. It appears that last week seems to have been an 80’s retro week. I wonder what this week will be like.

I'm Gracefully Talented!!!

Whoo hoo!!!

I just won my first scrapping contest!!

I joined a message board and uploaded my layouts. I guess twice a month they pick one layout to win. My Daredevil layout won and so now I get a $10 gc to shop at their store. This is cool since I am on a no shopping challenge until I complete 30 layouts. Now I can buy some new stuff - well $10 worth. :)

This message board is great. The ladies there are very friendly. Stop by and say hello.


In other news.....

B and I went to his parents' house for dinner and to visit with his brother and our nieces (well the two older ones). His brother is leaving for Japan and he came to say goodbye. It was great to see him even if it was just for a little while. B's family is not one for pictures so I really did not take any. Well make that no pictures, except for a snapshot of his brother walking by. Even the ones I took of the girls did not turn out so well. That did not stop me from taking pictures of me and B though. Usually the pictures I take of ourselves don't turn out too well. I usually end up cutting B mostly out of the picture. LOL! This time, I am happy to say he made it most of the way in.