Chicken Temptation

Since we finally had a nice weekend for a change, Paul thought it would be nice to pull out the grill. He's been itching to do that for a while now, and it was actually warm enough today to let him (if it were up to him, he'd grill all winter long). So off to the store we went. Chicken, steak, or burgers? What sounds good? I said it doesn't matter to me, so he decided on BBQ chicken. We get home and put the groceries away. I head upstairs to go on the 'puter, and he goes about preparing dinner. I can hear him down there getting all his spices together. I heard him go outside and open the garage to pull the grill out. I hear him come back in. The next thing I hear is,

"HONEY! YOU BETTER GET DOWN HERE AND GET YOUR DOG!!!!"

Apparently he left a plate of the chicken on the edge of the table. He came in to find the plate upside down on the kitchen floor and Abby proudly standing over her kill in the living room. Uh-oh. He was under the impression that she knew better. Hmmm. I was under the impression that HE knew better! And why is it when things like this happen she's all of a sudden "my dog."

So, needless to say, Abby had to do a stint in doggie jail today (which is just her regular spot on the stairs behind a gate). I have to say that it was really difficult for me not to laugh at the whole thing. Look at her here----->
She laid down and wouldn't even look at me. We were able to go ahead with dinner...and no...she didn't eat any of it. Paul came in and caught her in time. Thank God! Hopefully he learned his lesson that nice plump pieces of chicken sitting totally within reach is just a little too much temptation for our golden girl.















Look at that face! How could we stay mad at that! She normally doesn't steal things off the table. I only caught her one other time a few years ago with her paws up on the table chowing down on a half stick of butter! Anyway...after running out of propane before we even managed to get the chicken on the grill and Paul having to run up to the gas station to exchange our tank, dinner turned out pretty well! We're having burgers tomorrow night. We'll see how that goes.

On the paper crafting front, I only made one card today, and I'm not really happy with it. I came up here tonight with the intention of making a few, but I'm starting to feel a sore throat coming on. Anyway, here it is. This is my first Bella. The Bellas are all the rage over at SCS right now. They are pretty cute, and I'm really, really tempted to get a couple of them. I haven't taken the plunge and bought any for myself yet. I got this one through a trade. A fellow stamper on SCS offered to trade some stamped images for some dog images that I have that she liked, so I thought that was a perfect opportunity to try before I buy. They all have cute names...this one is Cosmobella. It's not the Bella that I don't like about this card...I think it's the bright colors. The LSC (Limited Supply Challenge) this week on SCS was to use only Stampin' Up Bold Brights. Considering that the only "Bold Brights" I have is "Real Red", that tells me that I don't really like the bright colors. I did have this hot pink cardstock in my pile, so I thought I would just use that instead. I colored it with Prismacolor Pencils and odorless mineral spirits, and I stamped the black dots in the background with the eraser on the end of a pencil. I used a silver gel pen on the buckle if her belt

Is it Spring Yet????

I'm about to do some serious whining here. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow. I don't know how much we're supposed to get...all I know is "flurries." I'm really, really tired of this. I swear, if I don't see my tulips popping up pretty soon, I'm going to go insane.

With that being said, I decided tonight to use my Terrific Tulips set by Stampin' Up just just to make myself feel better.I was inspired after reading Anna Wight's blog (Sassy & Sweet Notes) today after seeing her sunflower picture, so I went digging through my tulip pictures to find my favorite. I just can't wait until these bloom again this year! If you want to see something else cute, check out Anna's blog. She has a baby boom going on on her farm and has some adorable pictures posted!

Just Because!

Look what I got from Paul on Friday "just because." Is that sweet or what! Since I get off work at noon on Fridays, I occasionally meet him for lunch. He wound up leaving work a little early on his way so he could stop at Hallmark and get me this surprise! He thought this little guy would fit right in with our northwoods living room. It's hard to see the detail in the picture, but he's sitting on a log with his head on his paw just thinking. He's a cutie. Oh, and that over to the right is a Trinidad from Fanny May. Yum! The card says, "When I think of you I feel like smiling..." on the outside, and the inside says, "I'm smiling right now." Yes, I know...he's such a sweetie. He's downstairs right now with his cousin Jerry watching the UFC fights on Pay-Per-View. They get together every now and then for that. Krista and I usually scrapbook or stamp during that time, but she's been busy and is pretty tired so we skipped it this time. That's okay 'cause I'm pretty tired myself. I got up pretty early this morning. I think Abby is getting another ear infection. She was shaking her head like crazy this morning, and it kept waking me up. I was up at 4:30 this morning cleaning her ears.

I was planning on either working on some card swaps tonight or starting up a crochet project that I just bought the yarn for this afternoon; however, I've developed a pretty bad headache, so I think I just might go crawl into bed and turn on the TV. I have signed up for three different swaps on SCS, so I need to start working on them. They're not due until April or May, but I would like to get started on them now. One of them is for butterfly cards, one is using everyone's favorite chubby chef, and the other is using "Two Step Stamping" stamps from Stampin' Up. Actually, they're all using Stampin' Up stamps. I'm going to try to get started on the butterfly swap tomorrow. I have a pretty good idea what I'm going to do for that one.

Here's a pic of Abby that I took after taking the above pic. She wondered over curious as to what I could be taking a picture of if it wasn't her! She's badly in need of a bath/haircut, but I'm waiting for the weather to warm up a little bit.


Well, I'm off to crawl into bed. Darn headache...I really wanted to stamp tonight!

Oh...before I forget...check out mom's deer cards on Ebay here, here, and here! I was supposed to get these posted a while back, but I had to pick up some batteries for my camera and then I sort of lost track of time (what's new!).

Coincidence or Curse?

I really don't want to go to work tomorrow. I'd rather just stay in bed all day long or hang out and watch TV. But I won't. I'll get up and drag my butt in like I do every weekday. I really need to win the lottery. Of course, it would help if I actually played. I, however, am too cheap to play, so I'll continue to get up and drag my butt into work. I hope this next week is better than last week. I had to many things happen to me that were just "coincidences." I don't know how many times I heard that word last week. I really don't like it when things don't go smoothly. It puts me in a bad mood. To give you an idea of just a couple of "coincidences" I went through last week, I'll tell you the following two stories:

Most of you know, but for those that don't, I work as a medical transcriptionist for a medical school. I basically wear a headset and either type or edit others typing for 6.5 hours a day (after you subtract lunch and breaks). Well, last week my headset broke. I have a nice headset that I bought myself that is made of aluminum and produces a crisp, clear sound. I depend on this headset to continue working in order to do my job. Well, it up and died last week. Actually, at first I didn't know that it was my headset. I notified my boss and then borrowed an absent coworkers headset to see if my headset was the the problem. I couldn't hear anything with her headset either. Ah-ha...then it must be the transcriber. My boss hooked me up with a new transcriber. Nope...still wouldn't work with either headset. My boss then dug out another headset for me to use. Nope...still couldn't hear anything. What the heck??! Maybe it's the foot pedal, so we switch that out...still can't hear anything. Is my power source going bad? My boss is under my desk moving around the power source...I'm sitting in my chair trying all three headsets and I still have no sound whatsoever. By this time, we think my cubicle must be cursed and I'm about to give in and go home for the day. Then here comes another coworker with her headset. Hers works fine. As it turns out...my headset died, the headset I originally borrowed was on the brink of dying and I sent it over the edge, and the headset that my boss found for me had a short in it and only worked if you hold the wire a certain way and type with one hand! How can it be possible that I can go through three headsets in the course of half an hour. Coincidence, huh?

THEN...the next day I go pick up my car from the body shop after my run-in with the deer. What was supposed to take three days ended up taking a week and a half. So I go take a look at the outside, pay my deductible, lock the car, and go pick up Paul from work so we can get my car home. Later I'm driving my car home and notice that there is no power whatsoever to my radio/clock or interior lights. Hmmm....that's weird. The body shop is closed, so I have to wait until the next day to take it back. The next day I got to explain to them the situation while they're staring back at my like I'm crazy and nothing that they did could have possibly caused me to lose power to my radio. Well...it was fine when I dropped it off...that's all I know. After monkeying around with it for almost 45 minutes, they come to the conclusion that by "coincidence" a fuse blew while my car was there. They went ahead and fixed it for me. Then...as I start to drive home home, irritated that it took them almost 45 minutes to figure that out, my "Check Engine" light comes on. What the heck??!! ?/@#$#@

I'm thinking my brother and his clan would call this grizzing. I would say that is some serious grizzing! I really don't want to leave the house tomorrow. I'm soooo sick of this weather, it's cold and snowy/rainy, and I just want to stay home!

A-n-y-w-a-y...now that I've bored you with all that, here are a few cards I did lately. I had to do a couple today for my RAK Welcoming Committee assignment. The first one is following last weeks SCS Sketch Challenge. The first three cards are about all I did this weekend 'cause my back was right on the verge of going out.

Sketch:







My Card:

Whew! What a relief!

So I'm at work today and at about 3:45 I get an email from Paul titled "Car Problems!!" He started out by saying that it's probably bad timing but that at lunch today his car wasn't working. My reply to that was "You've got to be kidding me?!?!" Yeah, bad timing...you can say that again. I have an appointment to take my car in Tuesday for repairs from my run in with the deer, and they need to keep it for three days! If he doesn't get his fixed ASAP, that would leave us with no car! He didn't know what the problem was...thought it might be the fuel pump. I'm telling him to call the repair shop ASAP and have it towed, blah, blah, blah. Thank God it's payday! I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another! Then...fast forward to the next email about 20 minutes later. Turns out the gas gauge is stuck, and he's just out of gas! What a relief that was! I had to stop on my way home and buy myself a couple of new stamps to celebrate, and I came home with this little lady...

Hee hee hee. Isn't she somethin' else?! I can totally relate to her! Of course, I think she's a little past the PMS stage, but I couldn't resist that saying!

Furry Friend

I found this super cute ribbon at Hobby Lobby the other day for 50% off and couldn't wait to use it! I just love this stamp and think this ribbon is a perfect complement. Of course, then I had to pick up some pink/brown paper to go with it. I never was one for brown, but it's starting to grow on me as I get older. I've even started buying some clothes in brown. With my brown hair and brown eyes, when I wear brown I feel like I look like a Hershey bar, but I'm getting over that. Anyway, getting back to the card, I need to doodle on my cards more often. I mulled forever over the white space behind the dog (thanks a lot, mom). A lot of ladies on SCS are adding doodling to their cards, and I'll be darn if it doesn't make a difference...it adds that little bit of something that's missing.


PS - Hey mom, that oval cutter works great! It's super quick and easy!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It is freakin' cold out there! I just checked the temp., and it's a big fat zero with the wind chill being 21 below! We've got a big pot of chili in the crockpot to eat while we watch the big game! It is PERFECT chili weather. I have to go 'cause the came is just about to start...I hear the National Anthem now...but I just wanted to post my card for the SCS Sketch Challenge.

Here is the sketch...

Here's my card...

The flowers are a little much, huh? This is the first time I've used my my Groovy set from CTMH! I've been wanting to use it for a while now. Just so you know...in real life the flowers on the white strip are peach, not pink. I hate my scanner!

....and the home of the brave....Gotta go now! Go team, go!

Oh, Deer

Well, I sure had quite the experience last night. Something that I don't want to ever repeat again. It happened at about 7:30 p.m. Paul was supposed to pick up a pizza on his way home from work, but he called me to see if I wanted to meet him at a bar/restaurant by where he works and play some darts, so I swung by home and let Abby out real quick and then headed out there. We played some darts with a friend of his, his ex-boss actually, (the first game of which I very victoriously won!) and feasted on a very tasty bacon cheeseburger basket. After a couple more games of darts (which I lost, but not too bad) we were waiting for the check and I decided to take off and head home because I figured Abby was getting pretty hungry. As I'm driving down the road, I remember thinking about what the speed limit was and glancing down at my speedometer. I was doing about 40 in a 45. A car passed by heading the other direction. I glanced in the rear-view mirror for just a second, and when I looked back, there was Bambi's dad in my passenger-side headlight only a couple of feet in front of my car...a big ol' live deer. I sucked in my breath, gripped the steering wheel, and braked. I didn't try to swerve. I remember thinking in that split second that I had no other choice but to hit it. It was the weirdest thing. It was like time stood still. With both the car and the deer moving, it was more toward the driver's side when it hit. It rolled up on its side on the hood then off to the side and just kept going and so did I. I couldn't believe what had just happened. To me it felt no more than going over a big pot hole. I then pulled over and sat there for a second. I could see that my hood was buckled up a little bit, and I thought for sure my headlight(s) would be smashed to pieces. I called Paul and told him what happened...freaking out of course. At this point I think I was more concerned about the deer than myself! He said he would be right there, but I wanted to get home, so I continued driving. He was in the process of paying, so he called me back when he got to his car and convinced me to pull over and wait for him, so I pulled off on a side street and waited. When he got there, I got out and we looked at the car. The hood is dented, the headlight is loose, and the fender over the driver's side tire is pushed back a little so it's hard to open the door. That's it! I am in awe, and thank God, that there wasn't more damage than that and that I wasn't hurt by it coming through the windshield or something. I just can't believe it. Paul said he didn't see the deer on the side of the road when he went by (and he didn't see it this morning either), so he thinks it just continued running. He said those big bucks are tough! I guess so! Holy cow...or deer!!

I've never, ever hit an animal before. I'm still having a hard time getting over that. I didn't call the police because the deer kept going and I wasn't hurt. I talked to our insurance company today and am now just waiting to hear from the auto body shop. We have a $250 deductible for comprehensive, so that big dumb deer owes me some money!

Here's a picture of the hood (ignore the dirt, please...it is wintertime). It's really hard to see on camera because of the metallic paint, but you can kind of see where he rolled on the hood. You can really tell out in the sunlight. Can you believe there isn't more damage than this?!

Update

This is just a quick update to let those of you who don't know that I did receive a call yesterday from the Sleep Center to come in for another sleep study. They're booked until March 29th! There must be a lot of people who can't sleep in this town, because they do sleep studies seven nights a week! Anyway, I went ahead and scheduled it. They're supposed to be sending me a packet in the mail with all the information, but I've done this before, so I pretty much know the routine. I'm on the list in case there is a cancellation to be moved up earlier. I'll keep you all informed.

On a lighter note, I received the following card from Kim (aka on SCS as "Mama Kim") as an RAK in the mail today in among the bills...all the way from sunny Southern California! It's such a cute layout. In case it's hard to tell in the scan, it's a latch card...the blue bar is through a hole in the burgundy. Great use of Stampin' Up's "In Colors!" It was a nice surprise!

Oh, I also wanted to post this card that I made as a thank you for mom. I couldn't post it before because she hadn't received it yet. She gave me the "Cool Caribbean" ink and paper plus the "Summer By The Sea" stamp set for Christmas, so I thought I would do a card for her combining the two. "Summer By The Sea" is a fun set to watercolor; however, the watercoloring doesn't show up very well in the scan. I don't have any seashells by Stampin Up, so I had to turn to CTMH for those (set called Seashells by the Seashore).

And of course, I can't sign out without first giving a shout out to my big bro Barry who's 50th birthday (hee hee) was today! Eat a piece of that yummy rootbeer cheesecake for me! I was going to post a picture of him in those flashy gold pants for the world to see, but I figured I might not live to see my 50th birthday if I did! So...instead I post the next best thing...

Happy 50th Birthday, Bro! Hope it was a good one!

I did another card last night. This one is a sad one. Paul's great-aunt Evelyn passed away on January 7th. The funeral was last Monday. We didn't go, as it was in Southern Illinois. She was Paul's maternal grandma's brother's wife. Her husband passed away earlier last year after a long battle with Alzheimer's. I didn't know him too well because they didn't live here and he was already starting to slip into the Alzheimer's when Paul and I got together. They both made the trip up here for our wedding, though. We were both really fond of Evelyn, and the news of her death came as somewhat of a shock. She was a really neat lady. She was always so kind to me and made me feel like a part of the family. One thing I'll always remember about Evelyn is her huge love of family history. She did a lot of genealogy research regarding her husband's family. The last real conversation I had with her was after Paul's grandma's funeral back in 2005 when she showed me all of the pictures they had gathered for the funeral and explained to me in detail who every single person was. Even though we didn't see her very often, we'll definitely miss her.

Anyway, I made this card for her daughter just to let her know we're thinking about her. Both Evelyn and John lived with Cinda, who cared for them both while working a full-time job. I have a lot of respect for her.

I made this card using a stamp set currently borrowed from mom. It's all Stampin' Up supplies. The stamp sets are Blossoms Abound, Sincere Salutations, and the Canvas background. The colors are Mellow Moss, Lavender Lace, Lovely Lilac, and Whisper White. I wanted to go simple with this one...nothing fancy. It took me a few tries to line things up right because it's a Two-Step Stampin' set, but I kind of like the way it turned out.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Hi all. Let me start out apologizing for being totally absent over the holidays. You know how it is. I really have no excuse, though, because I took a lot of time off over the holidays and, in essence, had plenty of time to blog. I'm bowing my head now in shame. I even had today off (thank you Dr. King!) and look...it takes me until 10:30 at night to sit down here and reconnect with you all.

My excuse plain and simple is that I'm tired. Dog tired (whatever that means...is that even an expression??). Here's the story...I had an appointment with my primary care physician on Friday afternoon just to establish at her new clinic and get a refill on standard meds. Well...I talked to her a lot about my tiredness, and she really, really, really wants me to go back to the sleep specialist. My sleep is getting worse...I know it...Paul knows it...and now she knows it, and I'm afraid it's time I do something about it. It's starting to affect my life because I'm just too darn tired to do anything. As some of you know, two years ago or so I went to a sleep specialist. They recommended an overnight sleep study, which I wasn't too happy about doing, but I did it anyway. At that time, I was so tired at work that I could hardly keep my eyes open. During the sleep study, they discovered that I have nocturnal hypoxia. They said it wasn't apnea because I don't totally stop breathing, but my oxygen saturation falls way low. That plus I snore. I hate to admit it, but I'm saying it now...I snore. I snore and my breathing drops so much that on the night of the sleep study I woke myself up an average of 417 times per hour. Hmmm...I wonder why I'm so tired? Maybe it's because I never sleep!! I always thought it was weird because I dream...a lot. I can wake up from a dream and go back to sleep and remember it. The sleep technician even told me the morning after my study that I dream a lot...my mind is always active. I thought that you only dream in the deepest stage of sleep. By doing some research lately I find that this is not necessarily true. Taking this into consideration, you can begin to understand one reason I'm so tired. By the time I wake up, my brain doesn't even know it has already been to bed! Complicated, huh? Anyway, so she's sending me back for a sleep study. They recommended last time that I go on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). At that point, I never returned. See...I have this thing about things being over my face. I guess it's kind of a claustrophobia. I can't pull the blanket up over my head...I can't wear a scarf over my face...etc. I can't even where turtlenecks because they touch my neck. I just feel like I can't breathe. So imagine how I would feel wearing a mask over my face to sleep. It has come to the point now, though, where I have to do something. I can't go on this way.

Anyway, my doctor didn't know if I'll have to do the sleep study all over again since it has been a couple of years, or if they will go right into fitting me for the CPAP. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm not highly fond of the sleep doctor...he's a strange little man...but my doctor assures me that he is highly qualified and the best in town. She know's what I mean...she herself described him as "one of those skinny little men who just doesn't get it." Ha, ha. I really have to only see him for the initial consultation anyway...the sleep techs do all the rest. I'm just soooo not looking forward to this.

So...that's that. What an excuse, huh? Do you all forgive me? The good news is that while I had these three days off and since it snowed half of yesterday and all day today, I did manage to find time between naps to make a few cards. Here a few of them...as you can tell I was on a green kick. Stampin' Up has a color that I love called Certainly Celery. For some reasons, it one of my favorites right now. Sorry for the crooked scans!

Mom and I picked up this little dude
at the local stamp store on Friday.

Look at that face!I just love this guy! He's my newest set from Stampin' Up!

That's all for now. I promise I'll be on here more often and even share with you my adventures at the sleep lab.

Who Wants To Know (Part 2)

Okay, so apparently there are few more questions to the Holiday Edition of Getting To Know You that I didn't know about...they weren't on my original list! So...I must continue on...

21. Stockings? Or no Stockings? Of course...one for me, one for Paul, and one for the dog!

22. Do you like sledding? I don't know 'cause I've never done it. I suppose it would probably be fun.

23. Farthest you've traveled for Christmas day? Across town (adventurous, aren't we?)

24. Do you leave out cookies or carrots for when Santa comes? Shhhhhh...don't say cookie too loud...Abby will hear you! If I left out cookies and carrots, I'm afraid poor Santa would have to go without because Miss Abby would eat them all. She's my little cookie monster.

25. What gets you into the holiday spirit? Seeing all the lights that people have up on my drive home from work, listening to Christmas music, decorating the tree.

26. Does your wrapping color coordinate? Actually, yes...it usually does. Our tree this year is blue and silver, and I have my eye out for blue and silver paper.

27. Favorite gift you've ever given? I really couldn't tell you.

28. Most fun Holiday memory? There is really no specific memory that comes to mind. I guess it would be just different memories of decorating the tree throughout the years. Although...I can think of a few fun office Christmas parties or secret Santa gift exchanges that have been fun.

29. Do you wrap your own gifts? Not if I can help it. That's the worst part of the whole thing for me. I am too impatient and usually con Paul into wrapping for me. He's a perfectionist and does such a good job. Same goes for when I was younger...I managed to get my dad to wrap for me.

30. Most missed memory from childhood Christmas? Having the whole family together with everyone opening the gifts one at a time so it lasts longer.

31. Favorite Christmas Movie? Right now it's Elf! As far as old movies, it's a toss up between Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Carol.

32. Tinsel or no tinsel (icicles). None. The stuff freaks me out...I don't like the feel of it.

33. Do you like to go caroling? I would go, but I don't know anyone who does and I certainly am not going to go by myself.

34. Do you like to sleep in or get up early on Christmas morning? Sleep in.

A Couple of RAKs & A Couple of TYs

I got my assignment for the RAK welcoming committee today, and I am right on top of things this time! I actually sat down and made the cards tonight and they'll be in the mail tomorrow! Woohoo!
Mom bought me this mitten stamp last week. I just love it! I made her a thank you card using it along with one of the TAC snowmen. There is glitter on the mittens, but you can't see it in the scan.

Who Wants to Know?

Welcome to the 2006 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends! I've received quite a few of these in my inbox, so I thought I might as well post the answers here!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. I don’t do eggnog. There is something about the taste of nutmeg that I don’t like. Of course I haven’t had any in years…maybe my tastes have changed. Maybe I’ll try it again this year. But then again, doesn’t it contain an awful lot of calories??

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wraps them, of course…or maybe that’s Mrs. Claus’s job.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I like both white and colored, but Paul likes white; therefore, we have white.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope...isn't it poisonous?!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Well, the plan this year is to do it the Friday after Thanksgiving. As Mr. and Mrs. Procrastinator, though, we will see if that happens.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I think I will have to go with the main dish on this one…be it turkey, ham, roast or whatever.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Spending every other Christmas Eve with Aunt Alberta’s family. I remember returning home from their house one Christmas Eve…and it always seemed far away even though I’m sure it wasn’t…and looking up out the back window of the car and seeing a tiny red light up in the sky. I thought for sure that must be Rudolph.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don’t remember what age I was, but I was in grade school. I remember standing outside before school started in the morning and overhearing some boy telling his friends. Yeah...I didn't like him too much.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes…Paul usually talks me into it.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Funny that should be one of the questions. We just went out tonight to buy new ornaments. A lot of our ornaments were ruined when our basement flooded because of a burst pipe a couple of years ago. We haven’t put our tree up since, so it hasn’t been an issue, but we both really want to put it up this year, so we had to buy new ornaments. We…rather I…struggled with the choice of color. In the past we went with blue and silver, which we both liked a lot. This year, because of the whole Northwoods “theme” in our living room, I thought maybe we should go with more traditional colors…maybe red and gold. So what did we come home with? Blue and silver, of course. I do have a bunch of ornaments that I’ve collected over the years that pretty much survived the flood, so we’ll be using those too.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? If it were up to me, it would snow on Christmas Eve and all melt as soon as I have to go back to work. Fresh-fallen snow is beautiful; however, once it gets all dirty, it can just go away.

12. Can you ice skate? No…never have and never plan to now after my knee surgery. Have you ever fallen on the ice? Yes…who hasn’t? I remember being in ninth grade and coming out of school and slipping on some ice. I thought for sure I broke my elbow. That, I think, was my first trip to the ER.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I can't really think of a "favorite." I remember asking for and receiving a Spirograph quite a few years in a row because I would lose the pieces. I wonder if you can still buy those??

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Remembering the real reason for the season.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Sugar cookies.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? After decorating the tree, which usually doesn’t get started until late at night, I like to sit there by the light of the tree with the room lights off just looking at the tree and all the sparkling ornaments feeling at peace and knowing how lucky I am.

17. What tops your tree? A Precious Moments angel that mom fashioned using netting from my wedding veil.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving. Come on...who is really going to answer receiving here.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Even though it’s not technically a Christmas song but rather is from the Sound of Music, My Favorite Things is one of my favorites. I think it has pretty much evolved into a Christmas song over the years. I had an old cassette of Christmas songs by Kenny Rogers that is one of my favorites, and that song is on it. As far as traditional Christmas songs, I would have to go with White Christmas.

20. Candy Canes....Yuck or Yum? Hmmmm…that’s a tough one. If I do eat them, it has to be either the traditional red and white striped peppermint one (and then I prefer just the mini ones) or the wild cherry flavored ones. I do like to use them to stir hot chocolate, though. It’s fun watching it totally disintegrate when you put it in the hot liquid, and giving the hot chocolate a peppermint flavor is oh so yummy.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Busy as a Beaver!

Boy, I was on a roll this weekend. I was actually trying to use up some scraps instead of letting them pile up. Can you tell that I LOVE this puppy stamp!


The following card has pink glitter on the band of the hat, on the patch on his butt, and in lines underneath the words, but that never shows up too well when scanning. I'm not crazy about the next one, but I used the SCS sketch challenge from a couple of weeks ago. First is the sketch, and second is my card.

Brrrrr

What a cold weekend this was...nice but cold. After temperatures in the 70s at the beginning of the week, being down in the lower 40s during the day seems kinda chilly. Friday was horrible with a lot of rain...I'm talking thunderstorm rain...mixed with a tiny, tiny bit of snow. That, my friends, is what I call a perfect day for a nice big pot of chili. Yum-O. It turned out very well if I do say so myself. Saturday was super sunny, so we decided to take a trip to the apple orchard for the last time this season. This is the time of year that I love to go. I love to sit by their fireplace and drink something warm. I didn't get to sit right by it this time, but I was close enough to feel it's warmth. We had lunch of hot dog and coffee for me and a big pork BBQ and hot cider for Paul. We topped that off with a big slice of apple pie (ice cream for Paul but cheese for me). Since I was in the cooking mood and was full of energy from the coffee and since it was Veterans Day, I decided to make Paul some cookies. Oatmeal sounded good, and I thought I could counteract the bad sugar with the good fiber and it would be better than just plain ol' chocolate chip. I made half with raisins and half with chocolate chips (I don't do raisins)!


Oh, and you-know-who got her own doggie-friendly plate of mini cookies without either raisins or chocolate (and that was actually her papa's idea). Spoiled brat.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a nice Veterans Day!

WooooHooo!

Well, it's official. Mom is now officially a Stampin' Up demonstrator! She got the call today and got her demo number. She's pretty excited, and so am I! She should be getting her kit and all her goodies any day now! It sure didn't take long. We just filled out all the paperwork last Thursday. Because she signed up in November, she got a really good deal on the kit. In honor of her new title, I thought I would make a card tonight using Stampin' Up stamps and paper.



I'm not sure I like it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love this stamp set...it's one of my favorites...I just never really know what to do with it. Now keep in mind that I don't have an oval punch or anything, so I had to cut these ovals freehand, and I am NOT good at that at all. I guess I shouldn't even point stuff like that out, huh? I just think something is missing. I added a ribbon...

But that just looks horrible on the scan. The ribbon actually looks much better in real life. Anyway, in case your curious, the stamps used are Terrific Tulips, Sincere Salutations, and the Canvas background (on the pink). I used the Saran Wrap technique as the background for the tulips. The ribbon is grosgrain in "Rose." Everything is by Stampin' Up, of course.

Just so you know

To my loyal readers (all maybe four of you), I have signed up with a subscription service, so you can now subscribe to my blog. If you look in the right-hand column and scroll down to just above the counter, you will see the box to subscribe. Just enter your email address and then enter the jumbled up numbers that they present to you so that they know you're a real person. After that you will get an email. Click the link in the email to verify your email address, and voila...you are done. You will then get an email every time I add a new post to my blog. You won't get any mail if I don't post. No more having to check on a daily basis and then giving up on me because it's taking me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to post. Pretty nifty, huh? Of course, if you would rather keep checking every day, by all means...be my guest.

I'm at it again...

Once again I'm seriously behind on my SCS RAK Welcoming Committee commitments! I really need to get my rear in gear and get some cards made up ahead of time so I can send them out on time. Anyway, I have four to do, and here are two of them. One is going to Wisconsin and the other Virginia. Is that dog not the cutest thing you've ever seen?! I spotted that stamp this weekend and just had to have it! The angel is a borrowed image from mom. (Thanks for stamping me some of these, mom...this one is especially fun to color). Both of these are done with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The wings of the angle are brushed with Twinkling H2O watercolors, but that doesn't show up to well in the scan. It felt strange working with these colors this time of year because I've been doing so much with the autumn colors, but it was a nice change of pace.

BOOOOoooOoooOOO

Here's Abby when told she couldn't have any of the Halloween candy...

Since I don't have any goblins, princesses, or bumble bees running around here, I'm forced to dress up my dog. Can't you tell she just absolutely loves me for it?! I had bought her a bumble bee costume last year, but it wouldn't fit her. I thought since she has lost weight that it might fit her now, but no such luck. I need to find a smaller dog to donate it to. So, anyway, she was forced to be a devil/witch once again. Oh how she hates hats!

I did manage to accomplish something "crafty" this Halloween. I made some treat bags for my coworkers! I had fun putting these together and passing them out. It was a nice surprise for everyone.

Birthday Girl

Yes...I know. I have been totally MIA from the blogging community lately. There were a few events this past week worthy of picture taking, though, so I though I better catch up!

First off, Sunday was mom's birthday so we had her over for breakfast. Nothing much...just eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and vanilla French toast (yes, Deb...I used the right kind of pudding this time!). After breakfast we went through my big box of pictures because I happen to know that she is making me a scrapbook for Christmas (!!!) and she wanted to see if there were any pictures that I had that she didn't. We were mainly looking for my graduation pictures, which are still at this time nowhere to be found. I know they have to be here somewhere! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of her opening her gifts.

Aren't these good pictures? She looks so pretty. She looks pretty darn good for 71 doesn't she?! I only hope I look as good and have half as much energy as she does when I get there. I don't know, though...I don't have half her energy now, so I have some catching up to do!