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.

Sad news

If you have been reading my blog you will have read about my Uncle and his liver transplant.

Yesterday he went back to the Mayo clinic because his numbers were a little high on one test. Today we found out that he has 100% total rejection of the organ. I am very sad and scared at what will happen next.

My crappy scrappy space

This is a first for me. What you will read next may shock you (or if you know me personally, maybe not).

I am not a “neat scrapper”.

But….who is? Right?

Seriously.....I have issues.

I am going to do something I have never done so be nice. See these pictures? This is where I scrap. This room is a mess. Not only do I have my scrapping stuff in this room but the computer and the huge-a$$ desk is in there. B has his art desk and supplies. Oh and his “action figures” aka dolls. LOL! All my craft stuff is in this room and whenever B feels like cleaning any other room he just throws it all in here. So it is a mess. A big mess! The only organized area seems to be the closet but that is because it is full of Iris carts. These pictures are from August 6th but nothing really has changed. Maybe some of the piles have been moved around a bit.

So….I have slowly been working at organizing my scrap stuff. I think once that is organized then I can work on the rest of the room. I need to make room for some of B’s stuff so he does not complain about all the space my stuff takes up.

I finally made a decision and I bought these Target cubes. I love them! Since I have such a small space (and small wallet) to work with I am only buying a few of these at a time. These pictures show how I have them organized so far. Now remember I took these photos right when I first put the cubes together so some are kind of empty. They basically still look the same but some have a bit more stuff in them (like the letter drawer).

What I really like about these cubes – well organizing in general is that I now SEE all that I have and I am already using that to my advantage. So far the scrapping I have done has gone a lot quicker as I don’t have to keep looking for stuff – although I am sure I will still loose my scissors under whatever it is I am currently working on. I have already picked up the habit of putting stuff away once I am finished too. I am such a good girl. LOL!