My Ordinary Life

Furry Friend Thank yous

2012-01-22T14:16:00.000-05:00

Another awesome Card a Day blog challenge. Hope you'll come join them soon.

A friend who volunteers at several animal shelters in town asked me to make some cards for them to use. I ordered paper and a punch a while back and I'm finally making the cards. These are extra easy to
make. All you need is paper really. I used WE R Memories 6x6 Furry Friends paper stack and misc off white card stock for the base. I cut the blocks from the paper for the front pieces. THe bottom edge is a strip of the patterned paper in the stack. I cut it with my border punch but you could just add it without being punched. I selected another lighter color pattern from the stack, stamped "Thank You" then cut it out with my nestibilites. If you don't have a stamp, you can hand write it and cut it out with scissors or a cutter.Thanks for stopping by and looking. Think CHandra will like the cards ;-)?

Here are all 6 of the cards...

Here's a close up of two of the cards.

Valentine's Cards

2012-01-17T19:40:00.000-05:00

Card a Day blog is back to offering challenges. One of the challenges this month is Valentine's cards. Here are two I made last night. These are very simple. I used a Sizzix embossing folder for the background of the card on the left then inked over the raised design. I added an embossed heart from the small set I got with my Cuddlebug. The card on the right is even more simple. I stamped Happy Valentine's Day (misc stamp I have) and cut it out with the Labels 4 Nestibilites set. I used the same paper for the background and popped up the sentiment. Thanks for visiting!

ANother Christmas Card

2011-12-15T20:50:00.000-05:00

Here's 1 of 6 cards I made for the Paperthreads Dec. Card Challenge. I used the challenge file created by Auzzie Caz and added the Mary & Joseph from Jennie Bean Crafts Bauble file to it. The pattern paper is all scraps from the Basic Grey FruitCake line. I'm also going to use this for the December challenge at Card a Day blog. This is another good one for Christmas celebration. I forgot to mention in my last post that my floating Santa was for the Christmas and Children theme:).

Floating Santa

2011-12-07T17:06:00.000-05:00

Here's a funny guy - lol. When I saw Chris used this as her post at Card a Day Blog, I decided I had to share my version of it here and there too.
I made this for a challenge at Visual Designs by Chris. I used Chris' cutter file...CD00882 - Floating Santa, the free card template file for the challenge by AuzzeiCaz, and the Ho Ho Ho is from Sam and Hailey Designs file (also at Visual Designs by Chris)... JB00059 - Frame-a-Page Christmas Morning. I don't remember who makes the striped paper and the rest is probably Bazzil cardstock. I think Santa is so cute in this file. I'm giving this card to our Youth Minister and family...they will love Santa's silly looks:).

Thanks for looking and come over to Card a Day Blog and join the fun!!!

Oh - and this is my entry for Christmas and Children.

Merry Chris-Moose

2011-12-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

I made this a couple of weeks ago when I was making cards for a challenge at Paperthreads and for the Card a Day blog challenge. I made several at the same time and decided to not use this one on the Card a Day blog. But now this month the challenge is to go back and do any of the themes, so this one fits the Christmas and Animals theme from 2 months ago:). I hope to make a few more to post before the end of this month's Card a Day challenge but this week is very full.

Now the card... I used the free card template provided for the challenge at Paperthreads. Then I added Chris Moose from Michelle's Chris Moose File (WB00267). You can find it in the store at Paperthreads. The papers are all from my stash of Christmas paper and it is a huge stash! cus I love anything Christmas. The ornaments were cut from a piece a Christmas paper. Thanks for looking and come join the fun at Card a Day .

Celebrate Christmas

2011-11-29T22:21:00.000-05:00

that's the theme this week on Card a Day blogspot. I made the following card for it. I used a free card template file from the Paperthreads.com Sept. card challenge. The papers are SEI Alpine, Bo Bunny and SU! They blended very well. The tag can be used as a bookmark or a gift tag later. This has been a fun month for me with the Card a Day blogspot challenges. I love Christmas and making Christmas cards :-). I really wish someone else would start doing the challenges besides me.

Have you started your shopping yet?

2011-11-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

I haven't, but I did start today and finished my son's. Here's the card I made for the Card a Day Blog theme of Shopping. I also used it for a challenge at Visual Designs by Chris. The round base was a free file for joining the VDBC challenge, then I added a Sam and Hailey Designs file (JB00062 - Gift Trio) to complete it. You can find both files in the VDBC Store . Thanks for stopping by.

Card a Day

2011-11-15T17:20:00.000-05:00

Card a Day is still doing a great job challenging all of us with beautiful creations! the theme this week is Christmas around the World. Go check out their beautiful cards!
Here is mine. I used a SU! set called Around the World (it is the same set I used the snowmen from on my Home for the Holidays card. I finally found it's name). I colored the clothing with atyou Spica pens. The round Christmas stamp is a clear set I have and I have no clue of it's manufactor. I used my nestibilities to cut out the stamp image and the mat for it. I think the mat is SU! paper. The card base is ... oh man I can't remember. I've used it before so I'll have to look through my other posts to see if I remembered before - lol.

Thanks again ladies at Card a Day for all your inspiration!!

Christmas Food

2011-11-09T16:44:00.000-05:00

The theme this week on the Card a Day Blog is Christmas Food. There are some really cute cards there already! Check it out.

A friend came over last Saturday night to make cards. She came up with a baking tray with the ginger bread charms on it along with the Merry Christmas Heart charm. She could never figure out how she wanted to make a card with it so left it for me. I found the Santa with the pudding on a piece of Tim Holtz Christmas paper. Add a base and triangle and you have a Christmas Food card. I think I'm going to lift Cindy from the Creative Point's sentiment off the card she posted today on the Card a Day Blog and add it to mine ... Sweet Christmas Wishes. I like that and I couldn't think of one when I was making my card. Thanks for the inspiration Cindy!!!

Christmas at Home

2011-11-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

Card a Day blog is challenging us again! There are 5 new themes this time around. Here's the card I made for the Christmas at Home theme. I used two SU! stamps sets and I don't know the names of either :-(. The house is from one and the snowmen from another that had arched snowmen with a sentiment under it. I cut it out with a nestability and stamped the "home for the holidays" with an alpha set I have. I did all of that on white paper and it was tooo white so I inked it and I got my snow on the house and ground dirty :-( lol. I need to try and clean it up before I send it to someone. Thanks for looking!

A Furry Christmas

2011-10-20T22:28:00.000-04:00

Another Christmas Card inspired by the Card a Day Blog Christmas card challenge. The theme this week is animals. A friend of mine just recently asked me to make some pet themed Christmas cards for her. Her family volunteers at the animal shelters and they need cards to send out. So with the challenge at Card a Day Blog and her request here is my first pet card.

I used a piece of Wassel paper for the base and a scrap of red for the frame around the magenta stamp I colored with copics. I still have a long way to go with my copic coloring. I used my Spellbinders Nestibilities to cut the frame and stamped image out. The bliss stamp is off a dollar stamp I have. Misc thread wrapped around it. I punched it out with SU! punch. On the inside I used a SU! sentiment that I thought fit ... "May the Gift of Love be your this Christmas Season and always."

Thanks again for looking and go check out the Card a Day Blog .

More Christmas Cards

2011-10-19T21:14:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite thing to make - Christmas Cards!!! I am a sucker for Christmas crafting supplies and I love decorating and creating for Christmas. Here are 4 more cards I made over the weekend for a swap I'm in at Visual Designs by Chris. We make 10 cards and get 10 different ones back. I used all scraps to make these cards. I used the same template that I found at Taylored Expressions and used on my Angel card (see my last post). I also made my greeting the same way as on my Angel card. The difference is I used a Christmas tree on the last 9. I cut the tree with my KnK using a Sam and Hailey Designs' file called Itty Bitty Christmas Greens. I used Color Box Chalk inks for the distressing.

My two favorites are on top. Thanks for looking and don't forget to go check out Card a Day Blog Christmas cards this month!

WOW - 2 posts in the same week

2011-10-13T18:27:00.002-04:00

Updating this post to use my card for another challenge. It is at Card a Day Blog, which you can access here... Card a Day Blog. I just found out about this blog tonight when I read the Paperthreads Blog. This month they are doing Christmas Cards and already have some beautiful ones to see. Go check it out!

Original blog post starts here...
Must be a record for me? maybe not I think I posted daily when I first started this blog.
Here's a card I finished tonight for a challenge on Paperthreads Blog. The challenge is to make a holiday card only using scraps. I cut all the pieces of this card out of scrap paper except the base. The patterened paper is from SEI Alpine Frost collection, the Peace on Earth stamp??? not sure who did it. It is a clear stamp set I got somewhere. The star is from a SU! Christmas Set I have and the Angel is from set called "Joy to the World" at Taylored Expressions. Which is where I also got the idea for the card layout.

The poor Angel had to suffer through my coloring with copics. One day I'll do it enough to get good at it. It actually looks better in person than in this scan. Thanks for looking.

A whole Year!!!

2011-10-08T10:47:00.000-04:00

Wow - it's been a whole year since I posted to my blog. That really doesn't surprise me - lol. Blogging isn't high on my list, but today is special. I'm helping a friend out with this post.

Chris at VisualDesignsByChris is preparing to celebrate the anniversary of her store!

She asked her friends and anyone that wants to join her celebration to post a picture of something for a celebration. You can get more details on her BLOG.

So here is my picture. I cut this free file this week to make a Birthday card for my son's best friend. He turned 18 yesterday. He is a wrestler at our HS and is ranked in State!!! Happy 18th Birthday Craig!!!!

Just got back

2010-09-27T16:21:00.000-04:00

from a Paperthreads retreat! Had a wonderful time and best of all my Best Friend attended with me :). and she is a new scrapper!!! Here are her finished make and take Halloween layouts. All paper and diecuts were provided and we pieced it all together. She was the only one with pictures to finish it off.

Manly Card Swap

2010-08-08T10:37:00.002-04:00

Wanted to share the card I made for a "Manly Card Swap" I'm in at http://www.acharmingplace.com/. The Knight Charm is from there too:). The Chess board and pieces (CD00707 Chess) I cut with my Klic n Kut are are by Chris Durnan of http://www.visualdesignsbychris.com/. The "Happy
Birthday" was also cut with my Klic n Kut and is from my favorite sentiments file (SS00007 Sentiments Variety) by Shelly's Art at http://www.paperthreads.com/. Thanks for looking.

2010-07-20T21:53:00.004-04:00

Here's another card I made recently. It was for a good friend's son. He graduated HS this year and is attending Villanova. The card itself is Sam & Hailey Designs' Pop-out card . The file (JB00434) is in this Quarterly membership Club at http://www.paperthreads.com/ . The Villinova paper piecings are vector files from http://www.freelogovector.com/detail-v-Villanova_Wildcats_NCAA.php and Trademarked. the congraulations and wildcat I designed myself. All were cut with my klic n kut.

Happy 80th Birtday Mom.

2010-07-18T20:53:00.003-04:00

A year since my last post and here I am finally. Here's a card I made my Mom for her 80th birthday.

Saturday night

2009-05-16T21:17:00.005-04:00

I'm just catching up on my websites and a few blogs so decided to update mine. My step-niece is pregnant and started a blog about it. Her Mom sent me the address and I just read it. It's going to be entertaining:). This is a coin holder I made for the grandmother to be. It's of the mother to be's wedding. I didn't get to go to the wedding but from the pictures it looks beautiful and fun! I love the picture in the middle.

Do you know the way to San Jose? Well, I'm going to learn it next week! Actually, I went there yearrrsss ago with work. But next week I'm going for fun! Meeting up with my scrappy friends. I'm excited. We're going to tour San Francisco on Friday and hang out and scrap the rest of the time. I really need a break from work and some girlfriend time. My friend Chandra and her daughter and I are flying out at the "butt crack of dawn" Thursday morning. That's the only part I'm not looking forward to. And of course coming home won't be any fun either. The jeg lag on the return trip always kills me. I've already told work I won't be in that morning.

I think I'll go read now. I hear another thunder storm coming.

What a storm!

2009-04-13T21:43:00.005-04:00

We had an incredible hail storm last Friday. It came from the line of storms that caused so much damage across the county. We were very fortunate not to have any damage. My brother's family were also blessed. A tornado went through their town and they were missed. Several of their friends were not so fortunate. Here are a few pictures from our hail storm. It looked like snow.

2009-03-09T20:42:00.002-04:00

Hey scrappin friends... go check out this blog candy give away...

http://tailoredpages.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-candy.html

February already...

2009-02-06T15:34:00.008-05:00

Yes it is and we've had 2 snows this month - lol. First one was just a dusting but school still got cancelled. The one this week was much better. It barely stuck to the roads which meant ice in the morning, but stuck great to everything else. Here are some pictures I took. The ones at night were taken from my son's bedroom window. I thought they turned out so cool!

Yes...

2009-01-28T09:12:00.003-05:00

I've been gone a while again. We stayed busy over the Christmas holidays with travel and projects. I painted J's room and it looks pretty cool if I say so myself :). This is how he wanted it. Work is extremely busy right now but that is good. I like being busy. I'm still doing my part-time schedule with one day off a week but I may have to start working 5 days as the project progresses.

Well I was going to post a picture of J's room but apparently I haven't taken any since I finished - lol - so later maybe.

I'm finally back here again...

2008-11-25T12:43:00.002-05:00

We had a blast at the ACP convention even though we have nicknamed it the "red cross" convention. Our hostess had strep throat, two ladies slipped down the steps and bruised their bums and arms and legs, and the worse... another missed a step and strained her ankle **EEKKK**. That made for 2 trips to the ER in one day. We all have had several good laughs over it though. We also hope that is our first and last "red cross" convention ;-).

I'm at work eating my lunch right now. Have a 1:00 meeting and as soon as it is over - I'm out of here for the rest of the week! My parent's are on their way now and we are hosting my MIL's side of the family for Thanksgiving dinner! so after visiting with my folks this afternoon, I'll be cleaning and preparing for Thursday evening. Mom will do as much as she can to help but she's not as able. I'm hoping Dad will just be lazy and rest. He is in a lot of pain with a bad knee and hip. Both will be replaced at the first of next year.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Where does the time go?

2008-11-09T20:10:00.002-05:00

I know the answer to that question. Work and home! I'm very busy at work now and I usually post here while I'm at work. So I'm not getting here as often.

I'm really excited this week. Getting ready for my girl's weekend with my "charming friends". I leave early Thursday morning and get home Monday afternoon. It will be fun. I need to keep focusing on "it will be fun" while I stress over meeting a deadline at work and getting packed at home.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

WOW - 6 days sure go by fast...

2008-10-31T09:17:00.002-04:00

Seems like I just posted all my creations yesterday. Not much happening here. Just daily life. OH - Happy Halloween! My son is too old for TorTing now so he has 2 friends spending the night and they are planning to hide and scare the TorTers that come to our house. I've told them they cannot scare the young kids.

My son has another cold that is turning into a sinus infection so will be taking him to the doctor next week. Speaking of insurance, got the details of my company insurance this month and the one I use will be paying 100% of preventive well physicals next year so I've cancelled mine and my son's and will reschedule for January - lol.

I'm going to a Scrap Pink crop all day tomorrow and plan to make my Christmas cards! I'm excited about it! I'll have time to play with some things I've never used. I can't believe all the Christmas stuff I've collected and not used. I keep finding more and more. I thought by making cards I wouldn't be toting as much stuff as I would doing pages... WRONG!!! LOL I have just as much to take. I plan to load the car tonight so I'll be ready to roll as soon as I can drag myself out of bed tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

2008-10-24T10:34:00.002-04:00

Here are 2 more cards I created as part of the 13 days of October challenges at startascrapbook.

This first one we had to alter/embellish black or regular chipboard. I painted regular chipboard letters black then I mixed up some homemade glimmer mist with my emerald green perfect pearls and used a stencil on the letters and sprayed them. I think you can see the design but not the glimmer too well. I also sprayed the card and I won't do that again. Makes it curl up and you really can't tell. well, the black paint kept smuging the card even though it was dry so when I was looking for some ribbon to tie around the Y saw the wide green ribbon and decided to add it . Stick and hang holly charms from ACP and wa la - JOY Card. This was a lot of fun to make once I got the letters ready.

The second one we had the sketch to use. I love how my card turned out! I used Figgy Pudding papers, a piece of ribbon from a Christmas ribbon swap, a Jolee's leather poinsettia and two swirl charms (which are now my favorites) from ACP.

2008-10-24T10:26:00.005-04:00

Here's another of the 13 days of October challengs at startascrapbook. we had a tag sketch to follow. I really love how my tag came out and plan to use it on a Christmas card :). I used Basic Greg Figgy Pudding papers to make the tag and the words are from another Chrismtas stack. I cut a piece of paper up to get the individual words.

2008-10-24T10:16:00.003-04:00

Wanted to share some more cards I've created as part of the StartAScrapbook's 13 days of October challenges.

We had to use 13 stickers on this one and no alpha stickers. Thankfully I had some sentiments stickers - lol. my 13th sticker is inside. It says "Merry Christmas". The lights on top are 3 stickers together. Santa is a sticker himself just stuck behind the sled. The star on top the tree is also a separate sticker. Christmas stickers are the only ones I have left - lol.

This was a use your scraps challenge. The card is even from a scrap of 12x12 paper :). Star, santa and present charms are from ACP.

This was based on a Tim Holtz's challenge and we had ot use paint. I painted the red background and the chipboard C. I combed the red on the C. I also put glossy accents over the "cheer" tag I made with my tag maker:). Holly charm is from ACP

For this one we needed to use 13 eyelets. I didn't have enough of one color or type so used silver and white with a triangle at the top :). The swirly tree is from Sam and Hailey Designs at Paperthreads (PT is currently down).

2008-10-19T21:57:00.003-04:00

Here's a layout I did for a sketch challenge. I decided to use two of my Platelet donation pictures I got last time I donated. I want document my donations.

I used Rusty Pickle paper for the base and the embellishments. I cut up a piece to get the flowers. The grey were on one side and the tan on the other. I only have two sheets of this and now I'm wishing I had more . I added a strip of blue bazzil and my title is some distressed stickers I had in my stash. Of course I always try to make my layouts and cards charming so I added some flower charms from ACP. Here is my journaling and if you want to know more about platelet donatation and see more pictures you can go to my older posts. But don't do it if you don't like needles!

I've been donating blood for 20 years. Several years ago I started donating platelets instead. I think donating blood or platelets is a simple way for me to give to my community. I remember my Dad coming home with his arm wrapped from donating blood. I thought it was so heroic. I started as soon as I graduated from college. (I took a 6 year hiatus while trying to get pregnant.) Dad never thought anything about it but it was his donating that influenced me to donate. I hope my simple gift of time and platelets will give someone hope during their illness.

2008-10-15T09:05:00.002-04:00

This first card was made with only cardstock and rub-ons.

This challenge was to make a card using a sketch and this is what I did. I used non-traditional Christmas colors & patterned paper which is also a challenge for me - lol.

2008-10-15T08:43:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm almost let another whole week go by before posting. I don't even remember all that has gone on since last Thursday - lol. Saturday was our usual soccer and yard work day. I did house stuff since R mowed the grass. It had gotten too high for me to handle it. I'm hoping to get to mow this week but won't get my day off until Friday and now rain is forecasted - sigh.
I did get creative Sunday or Monday night - can't remember which now - lol. I made two cards for challenges at startascrapbook. I'll post those later. Need to go copy the images from the website.
Work is busy this week so haven't had any time to come here while at work - which is a good thing. Had a few minutes this morning before meetings start.
J decided last night he wants to sit on our steps Halloween night like a decoration and scare the kids - lol. I remember that happening to me so I told him OK. It won't last long. He'll get bored - lol. He wants his best friend to come over and do it with him. If that happens, I doubt they will be able to stay quiet - lol. I'll let you know how it turns out.
That's all for now. Be back later with the cards I made. OH - here is a planner page I made. I'm in a swap and will be making 13 of these :).

2008-10-09T12:37:00.002-04:00

Wow - time sure does fly! I've been thinking about updating all week and the week is now almost over.

I have great news! Had my first weigh in at WW last Monday and I had lost 3 lbs! I was excited because I ate out 2 times over the weekend. Now this week is another story. I've been starving all week and it's been a challenge. Hopefully I didn't blow it and gain that 3 back - lol.

Today is my day off and I've been very lazy so far. I stayed up reading last night and was extremely tired when I got up for the school drop off run. I came home and ate breakfast then climbed in the recliner and went back to sleep :-). I set my phone alarm to wake me up at 10;15. I kept hitting the snooze which is only 5 min. and finally got up at 11:00 because I had a haircut appt at 11:30 - lol. I feel much better now but glad I had that appt to make me get up or who knows when it would have happened - lol.

I'm getting ready to leave for my eye doctor appt now. I waited to go this month so we'd be finished paying for J's PT and doctor visits for his knee and what comes in the mail today??? The bill for his MRI that was done at the end of August!!! I thought we'd already gotten it. Oh well, I don't need new frames but it's those bi-focals lenses that cost so much **rolling eyes**.

It's over cast and rainy here today. Just drizzling off and on occasionally. I'm glad it's raining because we need it and now I don't have to mow the grass - lol. By the time the yard drys out I may not be able to mow. After it gets so high, I can't do it even with our self propelled mower.

That's all for today! have a good one.

2008-10-06T08:44:00.004-04:00

We had a good weekend! I did sleep in late Saturday and woke up with a headache. I had not taken a decongestant for 2 days and paid the price - lol. J spent the night with a friend Friday and got home mid-morning and went back to sleep. After we both got up it was time to prepare for soccer and get something to eat. R got home from his bike ride in time to get a snack and head to soccer. J did well for his first time playing since his injury. He was nervous - lol. He'll feel more confident after participating in some practices.

After soccer, R and J worked in the yard and I went grocery shopping, then met a friend and her daughter for supper at Chili's. I was so hungry! I sorta blew my good WW day. R grilled Italian sausages for him and J.

Sunday after church we invited J's best friend from school over to hang out. We gave him his birthday present then took him out to dinner at a Japanese/Chinese buffet - another day blown in the diet - lol. Actually, I did great on the food, I just overdid the sugar coated peanuts.
Here's a couple of other pictures I promised.

This one is bird feathers stuck in spider webs on our porch railing. And lots of dirt - lol. I don't want to know what happened to the bird these feathers belonged to. I hope it was just molting but with all the cats in our neighborhood...

This one is a seed on my "snake" plant (have also heard it called "MIL's tongue" LOL). I never knew these plants bloomed until we moved into our current house. Now it blooms every summer but I've never had a seed. Unfortunately, I knocked it off when I moved the plant into the house.

Thank goodness it's Friday :-)

2008-10-03T09:07:00.002-04:00

I think everyone loves Fridays especially when you work outside your home :-). I'm even more excited because J's soccer game was changed to afternoon from morning so we can now have a laxy morning - interpret as I'm sleeping in ;-).

OK - My monitor at work is driving me crazy!!! It starts emitting a high pitched "ring" every so often. Turning it off doesn't always help but if I can tolerate it, sometimes it will stop. I really need to call it in but I doubt I'll get a new one until the lease is up on it.

I mentioned yesterday I have some more pictures to share. Here is one. I took this last Saturday morning. I saw the spider webs on my neighbors shrubs as I was walking Buddy that morning. I think it is so cool when they do this on the bushes. Eat those other bugs spiders!!! LOL

WOW

2008-10-02T13:02:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted since Monday? I knew I was busy at work and home but didn't realize I had forgotten my blog. Oh well...

My cold is just about gone. No longer feel bad but still coughing some.

It's beautiful here today and I'm heading out to mow. It was 48 this morning and only supposed to be in the low 70's today. And if I don't get outside soon I won't be able to because it will be time to do the school pickup run.

I have some pictures to share but they will have to wait now. Sorry.

Day 7 of my cold

2008-09-29T10:26:00.003-04:00

and I'm starting to feel better. I actually went to sleep in my bed last night instead of the recliner :-). Saturday night I slept in the recliner all night, never woke up. I was surprised the next morning - lol.

Oh we were so disappointed with Wake's game Saturday. Those Midshipmen just out played us. They deserved to win the game. Hope we get our act together before we play Clemson next week.

We had fun though. We tailgated after the game which upset J at first. "You're supposed to tailgate before the game!" I have no clue where he gets all his ideas. We had plenty of company after the game too. He and C tossed a football around before the game and afterwards. I had no trouble getting to our parking lot or leaving and getting back to the highway we needed to be on. That was a relief.

R had a good weekend too. The rain didn't last too long for them as they rode towards Greenville. He was irritable when he got home though???? I really believe there is a version of male PMS too. I know one problem is he has a mental list of what he expects me and J to do when he's not home, but he usually doesn't share it and never seems to realize I have my own list - lol. Anyway, he gets upset when he gets home and "his list" isn't completed. You'd think he'd learned by now after 23 years of marriage that I march to my own tune - lol.

Want to share some pictures of J with you - lol. He cracks me up taking pictures of himself. I really like the closeup of his face. Wish it was more focused but it will do. I think I actually took that one after he asked me to take some pictures. He didn't like the ones I was taking so he took the next one himself. BUT I think I have 30 or more of him on the camera as he tried to get one he liked - LOL.

Rainy Saturday

2008-09-27T09:35:00.003-04:00

Morning... yes, it's raining here. I need to check our rain gauge to see how much we've gotten since Thursday night. It's a nice steady rain so it's soaking in good.

R set off early this morning for the MS bike ride to Greenville, SC. They used to ride to the beach but changed their route a couple of years ago. I'm sure they are all soaked by now. I need to check the weather for the route and see if they will ever get out of the rain.

J is still in bed :-). I'm sure he was up late last night. He usually is on Fridays ... chatting with friends on AIM and mySpace. As for me, I climbed in a recliner at 5 PM yesterday and got up at 8:35 and went to bed. I woke up at 6 this morning and started calling the weather line for soccer to see if the matches were canceled. They kept updating it saying they would make a decision later - lol. So, I'd hit my snooze button and go back to sleep for awhile. Finally at 7:00 they called them off. I finally got up around 8:30 ... only because I rememberd I need to take Buddy out. so after 16 hours sleep you'd think I'd feel wonderful??? Well, I do feel better than I did yesterday but still tired. I'm sure the coughing isn't helping.

OH - J's doctor's appt went well yesterday but he still has another week before he can go back to full exercise. He has to start walking fast for a few days, then jog some, then jog for some distance then he's released for full exercise. He was disappointed but I'm glad we're taking it easy. That will make a full 6 weeks since his knee injury and that is what the doctor is aiming for. He has 2 more PT appts next week because the script allowed them.

I still don't feel very creative right now. I'm sure it's my cold. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to try something.

I need to check the weather for here. Last update I heard was the rain stopping around mid-day. I'm still hoping for that since we'll leave for the WFU football game around that time. It's warmer today so we'll go even if it's still raining. Ponchos work great in this kind of rain :-).

Time to go catch up on my two favorite web sites :-) ... A Charming Place and PaperThreads.

Finally Friday!!!

2008-09-26T11:40:00.003-04:00

this has been a long week for me. Being sick is part of it I'm sure.

Well, it's finally official... I'm on another Creative Team... you can see the announcement here. I've very excited! I was first drawn to PaperThreads by Chris' files. Her style matches mine very well. In fact, that is what she said when she asked me to join her team. That makes 3 CTs I'm on now :-) and I love being on all of them. The other two are IScrapDesigns and Sam and Hailey Designs. If you have a electronic cutter, check out these ladies designs! (Chris already creates files for the Cricut.)

Today was school picture day. I only found out because I saw it on the school sign. J never got a packet about it. On the way to school today, his friend has one when we picked him up. Said he got it in 3rd period. So I quickly borrowed it and wrote a check for the smallest package. J of course, was a little unsure... "I don't know how to fill out the form." I told him it wasn't hard. "I don't know where to get one." His friend then said, "ask your 1st period teacher." - lol. I also told him he could just take the check to the photographer. Hopefully it will get done. I always buy his school pictures because I like to have them even if they are bad - lol. Remember all the bad school pictures taken of you? snicker - I love looking back at mine.

We're getting rain and wind from the "unnamed" tropical storm that hit the coast of NC. I hate to say it but I hope soccer pictures (8:30) and match (9:00) is cancelled for tomorrow morning and that they are cancelled tonight - lol. I'd like to sleep in tomorrow.

On the other hand, R is riding in the MS bike ride and he has to leave the house at 5am. So glad he is independent and I don't have to get up with him. I think they actually start riding at 7. It's supposed to still be raining then - yuck! I guess they will eventually dry off.

OH - on a good note... J sees the Sports Med doctor again this afternoon. We're hoping for an "all clear" on his knee so he can start playing soccer! The PT is very pleased with his progress.

Day 3

2008-09-25T15:52:00.002-04:00

of my cold. can't wait for it to be over. I didn't proctor at school today. They didn't need me. I mowed the grass instead, took all my green tomatoes to the school office staff and cut down my vines except for 2 with blooms. Then I visited friends on my websites and cut some dies with my cutter. It's correctly correctly now just not all the way through the paper. Need to work on that some more.

I have a roast in the crock pot for supper - yummmmm. J has leader's club at the Y tonight and that's all for today. We're getting ready to watch Leatherheads now.

Wish my ears would pop - lol.

Half way there...

2008-09-24T11:42:00.003-04:00

Isn't it sad how we wish our days away to get to the weekend? :-)

Nothing exciting again. Still feeling lousy because of the cold. Have supper at church tonight and 2 yo mission friends :-). They are so much fun. I just love 2 yos and infants :-).

Are you watching Dancing with the Stars? It's the only "reality" show I watch. I love dancing but don't do it anymore :-(. This season looks like it's going to be another great one! So much talent in such a short time. My favorites are Brooke & Derek and Maurice & Cheryl.

I'm starting to have withdrawals because I haven't had time to be creative this week. Maybe Friday night I can get something going. We'll be busy all day Saturday.

Have a great "hump day"!

It's Tuesday, Grommit!

2008-09-23T15:28:00.003-04:00

Have you ever watched the Wallace and Grommit movies? They are really cute. Try them out sometime. We bought them we liked them so much. Haven't watched them in a while - need to pull them out for a giggle :).

Yes - I have a cold... tired, achey - blah! At least I know how long it will last - lol.

Nothing big going on today. Two conference calls at work... they are the norm for the project I'm on. Soccer practice tonight but J still can't participate. Last scheduled PT appt tomorrow, hoping therapist will release him then just need the doctor's release.

That's all for me today. Oh - I made some more Halloween ATCs for a swap. You can see them here ... http://www.paperthreads.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=3288, plus some other things I've created lately.

Happy Autumn

2008-09-22T09:58:00.003-04:00

Yes, it's the first day of Autumn, sometime after 11:00 this morning. I'm looking forward to it. Summer was mild and I loved it but the cool, crisp air is so refreshing.

I had a lazy day yesterday. After a late night, I was exhausted. When I got home from church I crashed in the recliner for 3 hours. It was wonderful! When R got back from his bicycle ride he crashed for a couple of hours. J was the only one that didn't take a nap and he is usually the one that does - lol.

Last night I finished watching "the right stuff" and " apollo 13". While I was watching I scrapped and finished 4 pages! I'm almost done with 8th grade :-). But then I thought I was almost done a couple of months ago and found more pictures. Hopefully I won't find anymore.

After thinking I had escaped getting a cold from J and then R, I went to bed last night feeling one coming on - sigh. Hope it's the same virus and they don't get it again. J is still taking an antibiotic for the sinus infection that came from his.

Forgot to mention... R's mom only suffered a broken big toe from her fall Saturday evening. We were very relieved.

What a day, what a day...

2008-09-20T21:02:00.002-04:00

Actually it started yesterday, J didn't feel well enough to go to school so I stayed home with him in case the pain got worse. I called into a meeting on a conference line - what fun. It's hard enough to pay attention sitting in the meeting can you imagine sitting at my home computer listening on the phone? LOL - I was surfing the web most of the time.

J finally woke up around 11 feeling much better and looking better too. Isn't it funny how you don't notice how bad they look until they feel better? I finally got off the conf call at 12:30 and "left" work for the day. I mowed and ran some errands. Then J thought he had soccer practice at 7 but no one showed up. It was Thursday night.

Both of us stayed up until midnight. I was making Halloween ATCs for a swap and he was on the computer chatting with his friends. I started watching "The Right Stuff" and that's why I wound up staying up so late. I kept thinking it would go off in the next 1/2 hour - WRONG - lol.

This morning I sat up with a jolt (around 9:30) when I remember I needed to cut some party invitations for a friend. And with me and my cutter still on the outs, I knew it would take some time. J finally got up at 11.

His soccer match was at 2:00. We are still attending even though he can't play yet. We left late for it because I started watching Apollo 13 and J thought they were about to land - lol. Finally gave up on it too. (I rented both the movies this evening and plan to watch them tomorrow.) Got to the match to find out it was rescheduled and our team had not been notified. They were already playing. They started as soon as our team had enough players to play. We won 4-3 :-).

Ran home and took J to swim, still working on the invites. Home again for him to shower and get ready to go to the YMCA - still working on invites. I finally finish the invites and get J to the Y and deliver the invites. Run some errands (pick up the movies) and head home. Not home 15 min when R gets a call from his Aunt to tell him his Mom has fallen and is on her way to hospital. His sister is just 30 minutes away but has plans????? We are an hour away???? He was not happy but he got in the car and went.

I head to grocery store and text J when I get there to take his antibiotic. And he texts back that the event he thought was an overnight ends at 10:30 tonight -lol. I tell him to text me when he's ready for me to pick him up. There goes my evening plans of creating and cutting and my afternoon plans for tomorrow of the same thing. Now I'll have to share the computer - lol.

Like I said ... What a day, what a day :-).

Fall fever...

2008-09-18T13:31:00.008-04:00

So I go to Lowe's looking for a dehumidifier and look what I come how with instead (the dehumidifier was too expensive).

Yep - everything in the picture except the flag holder - lol. The flag was in a package of 4 for $20. Couldn't beat that since individually they were 8.48. The yellow mums on the left were in 2 in pots for 25 cents!!! They had broken limbs or dead blooms. What a steal! I just repotted them. Everything else was full price. I splurged on the flower with the black centers on the right. They remind of black eyed susans but they aren't. The pots of flowers with buds will be a deep orange when they bloom.

Oh that's not all I got. I also bought some small pots to repot my african violets and two trays to sit them in. Also got a thermometer to put in my sunroom so I'll know how hot it is in there. Oh and some cool lights to put in my ceramic jack o'lanterns :-).

Yes - going to a home and garden store is just as bad for me as going into a scrapbook store - lol.
Here are 3 more of the 25 cent mums after repotting. My wooden scarecrow usually is where the other arrangement is so I decided to stick him in this pot for now.

And here is the first leaf I've found in our yard - lol. Many more to come.

Oh - almost forgot.... Not appendicitis or kidney stones. think it may be viral. Did say it could be appendix and we'd know very quickly if it is - lol. J still is worried about that but I'm not. I think it's just viral.

Is it only Thursday????

2008-09-18T13:31:00.002-04:00

This has been a LONNNNNG week. I'm so used to having Wednesdays off that when I don't, it makes the week seem long to me. Wednesdays are my busy weekday - although lately every weekday seems busy carting my son everywhere!

Tuesday night J decided he wanted to go to the doctor for his sinus infection. We put it off too long because of other obligations and it finally whipped him. He's on an antibiotic now, but he felt so bad Wednesday that he didn't go to school. Day 1 of only 8 he is allowed to miss.

He felt better by the time I got home just a little tired. He went to PT and I told the therapist what was going on so he didn't make him ride the stationary bike as long or as hard. Then it was supper at church. Both his good friends from church weren't there so I brought him home and went back to teach Mission Friends.

I have the 2yr olds. They are so cute! EXCEPT we have one boy that is not in pre-school and he has no clue how to sit still and be quiet - lol. And he gets a little girl involved in his antics so we are always calling them down - lol. And it's not like we make them sit still and listen the whole hour. We pace what we're doing and make sure they are busy and moving around.

Last night J complained his right side was hurting so I gave him Tylenol. This morning he didn't say anything. 10:15 got a call from the school nurse. He was in there with it hurting. She checked his appendix and suggested I take him to the doctor. It was an hour before I could get to school to pick him up so he is only missed his last class. Now that we're home he says it is still bothering him but he's not having the sharp pain he was having during his 2nd class. We have a doctor appt at 3:00. That was the earliest they could take me. We're still going so he will know what is wrong and won't continue to worry that it's his appendix. He is such a worry wart :-).

So that's my last 2 exciting days. Not only did I leave my all day meeting early Wed but also today - sigh. And I was finally interested in what was going on this morning - sigh. Hopefully I'll get to go tomorrow for the follow- up meeting. Will probably get more out of it ;-).

Catch ya later!

It's Tuesday

2008-09-16T17:20:00.003-04:00

and I'm back at work. Well, actually I'm home now. Had several meetings today and a couple of project things to straighten out. Tomorrow and Wednesday I have an all day meeting. We do get lunch tomorrow but that just makes for an even longer day. J has PT so I'll have to leave early to get him there.

OH - My spider is gone :-(. J knocked his web down partially one night because "I don't like spiders" - grrrr. It had rebuilt by the next day. The Orkin came... he got rid of it for good I think. It has not rebuilt. Oh well...

Another busy weekend!

2008-09-15T11:40:00.003-04:00

Plus I didn't feel good so it's all a blur now - lol. Friday I was off and did platelet donation - check out my posts about that ;-). Then I played with my Wishblade because it still doesn't want to cut right. I received a suggestion over the weekend that I need to check out. I hope it works. Then
J had his followup with the Sport's Med doctor for his knee. It's doing well. He has to go to 2 weeks of PT and the first one is today. After it is over, I'm supposed to take him to swim but we'll see how he's feeling first- lol.

Saturday was our first soccer game. J still can't play but we attended for him to be with the team. They won 3-0. Beat J's best friend's (from church) team. He's having trouble with this friend. Friend doesn't seem to know how to have a girlfriend and a best friend at the same time - sigh. So he ignores J completely which then makes J mad. So J decided not to talk to him yesterday at church. We'll see how long this lasts.

Sunday we went to church and I kept the babies during worship. Since I still wasn't feeling well (nothing contagious), we didn't stay for the youth luncheon. We got plates to go. http://www.acharmingplace.com/ was having it's 5th annual PJ Party so I joined in around 1:30 or 2:00 and stayed until 7:30. It was lots of fun. We were all making ATCs and trading them. I had cut a bunch of WB files earlier so got to use them on my ATCs. We were in a Chat Room and those of us with Webcam were able to see and talk to each other. Several without were still able to hear us but had to type to talk to us.

Today I've cleaned house, posted my ATCs I traded, stopped by the doctor's office to fill out paper work for J's PT and started dinner :). I'm on a roll..... After I finish here I'm heading to http://www.paperthreads.com/ to catch up there since I never did yesterday **eekkk**. also need to post pictures of the ATCs I made yesterday :).

Oh forgot to mention... My right hand & forearm did bruise but my left arm didn't - go figur'?

I’m a Plateletpheresis donor

2008-09-12T22:39:00.001-04:00

Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of this process if you’re not familiar with it. Plateletpheresis is the process of collecting platelets, the components of blood that are involved in blood clotting. It can be a life-saving procedure in preventing or treating serious complications from bleeding and hemorrhage in patients who have disorders manifesting in low platelet count or platelet dysfunction.

Platelet transfusions are traditionally given to those undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia, those with aplastic anemia, AIDS, hypersplenism, ITP, sepsis, DIC, bone marrow transplant, radiation treatment, organ transplant or surgeries such as cardiopulmonary bypass.
Pheresis (pronounced as fur-ee-sis) is a special kind of blood donation by which specific components of the blood can be separated. It came from a Greek word meaning 'to take away' or 'separate'. By this method, the blood components like plasma, erythrocytes, platelets, granulocytes and agranulocytes can be separated. The pheresis is done using a machine called a cell separator. The separation is based on density gradient centrifugation. The separated components are collected in separate vials or specialized polythene bags in the machine.
Your body can replenish your platelets in 24 hours, so you could donate everyday but your “wounds” from the needles do not heal that quickly so you are only allowed to donate every 2 weeks. I usually go once a month. I went today.

Yesterday I decided to take my camera so I can document how this is completed and I want to put it in my “All About Me” scrapbook. I was excited to find a nurse that is an excellent photographer and didn’t mind getting some close up pictures. But would you believe this turned out to be my most unpleasant experience since I started donating several years ago – lol. Now I had a VERY BAD experience donating blood about 20 years ago but that’s a different story and it didn’t stop me. Today wasn’t nearly as bad.

I think donating blood or platelets is a simple way for me to give to my community. I remember my Dad coming home with his arm wrapped from donating blood. I thought it was so heroic of him. When I started working after college my company supported blood donation and would give us time off work to do it, so I started. I’ve been giving blood and now platelets for 20 years (I took a 6 year hiatus while trying to get pregnant).

So all that said, if you have any aversion to needles DO NOT continue reading and definitely do not page down to the next post because you will not like the pictures.

The blood is taken from my left arm and I usually have the red cells put back in through my right hand. Now I have a very high platelet count and they usually get two or three doses from me. My nurse, Vickie, asks if I can do three today. I say yes, so she sets up the machine for three.

She places the needle in my had as usual and moves on to my left arm. She misses my vein – that has happened before so no big deal. She asks another nurse, Eva, to come try to correct it. Now if you’re not aware they cannot remove the needle they just have to “feel” for a vein with it. Sometimes that is painful and sometimes not. It wasn’t today as she was “finding” the vein but when she found it and placed the needle in it hurt some. That also happens sometimes and it stops. It did but still felt sore so I figured I was bruised (which also happens sometimes).
Vicki goes back to my hand to open up the tube for the return. Well, the back of my hand is a little swollen so the she tells Eva to hold on. This one has slipped and we need to do another. Now I’ve never had this happen, but I think I was moving it more than I usually do because I was focusing on my left arm and the nurse, Raven, taking pictures for me. Vicki and Eva start looking at my arm to find another good place. I have a very nice vein on my forearm so they decide to use it but neither of them like sticking that spot so they call Susan over to do it – lol. She does a great job and I don’t feel a thing.

Well, my left arm is still bothering me but not bad so I don’t say anything. Everything is looking good and I start watching Good Morning America. Every so often I have a sharp pain in my left arm at the needle site and there is lots of pressure from the blood pressure cup on my arm. All the nurses keep coming to check on me and I tell each one that it’s very uncomfortable and they all adjust it one way or another but never release the cup pressure. I finally ask one to release it and she does a little but it didn’t help. I finally ask one how much I’ve given and I’m close to two doses. I told her I didn’t think I could handle three today. The discomfort is continuing and getting worse. So after I’m sure there is 2 doses I ask Raven to take me off and she does.
My arm is still sore so I’m sure it is bruised and that was contributing to the discomfort plus they did have the cup tighter than I remember. Next time I’ll insist they loosen it more if I’m hurting.

When Raven goes to my right arm to wrap it we notice my hand is still swollen so ice is taped to it – lol. It’s very funny looking. People probably think I’ve beat myself up – lol.

Plateletpheresis pictures

2008-09-12T22:07:00.007-04:00

The friendly receptionist that checks everyone in.

The receptionist took this pic. She's not as good at it as Raven :-). Before donating your nurse checks your temperature, blood pressure and iron count, then you answer a list of questions. The same ones you answer when donating whole blood.

Vicky is on the left - she was my main nurse. Raven is on the right and she became my great photographer. Stop looking now if you get quesy over needles... you've been warned!

Vicky inserts the return needle in the back of my hand.

Now time to sterilize my arm for the outtake needle.

Now the stick - which missed the vein - arhhh.
I thought Raven got more pictures of Eva fixing it but I guess not.

Oh - maybe this is while Eva was working on it. I wasn't as happy as I look - lol.

This is after they removed the needle from the back of my hand and put it in my arm. Taping me up to hold it in place.

My left arm is pumping now and feeling very sore.

My right arm is receiving my Red Blood cells back after the platelets were removed.

You get very cold while this is going on so they cover you with warmed up blankets. They feel SO GOOD :-).

All done and bandaged up in PINK - my favorite color. See the ice pack on my hand? First time I've ever needed one.

the finished product - 2 doses of platelets.

Some of the nurses at their set up station. Eva is standing and Marcia is sitting in front of the island. See the TVs above it?

It's my Friday!

2008-09-11T14:23:00.002-04:00

Yep that's right. I'm off tomorrow :). I think I figured out why my blog is a pain at work. It's the YouTube link I have on it. It eventually came up and let me log on. I was just too impatient last time.

I had a busy day yesterday (that's why I never got around to bloggin). Wound up leaving work early to pick up J. He stayed after school to help clean the Stadium. It's a fund raiser for the differnt sports teams. the wrestling team was doing it yesterday. He was the only freshman and they teased him but he enjoyed it - lol. They called him an "obedient freshman" because he was doing the cleaning for them - lol. He wants to try wrestling again but I'm not sure....

then from there it was home to change into his swim suit and get a snack and off to the pool for his swim team training. I think I mentioned this earlier. Well, it didn't go so well yesterday. Apparently our friend has forgotten that J is just trying this out to see if he likes it and was giving J a major hard time. The friend is a retired swim team coach. Anyhoooo, hoping I can talk J into doing it for 3 or 4 more weeks. I need to "coach" him on how to talk to friend about what J is wanting out of this. and to remind our friend that he has not comitted to being on the swim team.

Then it was home and change clothes to go to church for supper. After we ate brought J back home for homework and heating pad on his back. (That's why swim didn't go well, his back tightened up and started hurting.) and back to church for me. I got home around 8:15 and was TIRED - lol.

Tonight shouldn't be as bad. J has Leaders Club at the YMCA a 7:00 and I can drop him off and have an hour before going back to pick him up. I think I may go walk. I've walked 2 days in a row now and it feels great! BUT oh I want to stay home and create something :). Maybe I'll have time tomorrow during my busy day off.... but I'll tell you about that tomorrow...

Tuesday blues...

2008-09-09T17:13:00.002-04:00

Soooooo I tried posting to my blog from work today but it kept locking up, sooo I had to wait until I got home. I all excited again because I came up with some cool new ideas today for ATCs and layouts :-D. I want to cut some new files with my wishblade but J wants on the puter too - lol. The machine is loud so he hates it cutting while he's on but he may just have to suck it up tonight.

He started swimming lessons last night with CHS's retired swim coach. He is a friend of ours and offered to train him if J really wanted to do it. He enjoyed it last night and I hope he will continue enjoying it. It doesn't matter to me if he ever joins the swim team. I just think this is a great experience for him and great exercise. Last doctor visit he was 5'6" and 179 lbs.

We go back to the sports med doctor this Friday to have a follow up on his knee. It's doing great and only hurts occasionally now after exercising some. Hoping he'll be released to run and jump so he can start back with soccer practice.

That's all for today.

Full Weekend

2008-09-08T10:09:00.007-04:00

We had such a full weekend I wasn't able to post here. Saturday my son had school for half a day to make up a day missed because of flooding. Dad got him up and ready for the carpool so I got to sleep in :-). Once I did get up I got things together to take to a friend's house to make them dinner. She had knee surgery earlier in the week. I visited with her until it was time for school pick up. Then is was lunch and time to get ready to go here.

Wake Forest University's first home game! Hubby graduated from there and we have attended home games since we were engaged. Son is already brainwashed into wanting to attend college here - lol. Hope he can make the grades to do it.

They always do something special at the first home game and this year they had WWII sky writers do a fly over. My son got a video of it on my camera and if I can figure out how to post it I will. This is a picture of their approach to the stadium.

And this is a picture of some of their writing before the game. (Look at the top of the pole and to the left.) We saw them as we were driving in but didn't know why they were there. An Airshow was also in town so throughout the game vintage aircraft were flying over the stadium. It was really cool!

Here's a better close up of the skywriting. The planes flew side by side in a line and each plane "puffed out" one "dot" of smoke to make the letter.

The band got new uniforms this year. All black and I know they were hot Saturday. It was in the low ninetys but there was also a great breeze. We noticed the new uniforms right away and that the band was larger. They announced it had grown by 40% this year. They played a number by James Brown and even had a member singing but didn't have him hooked up to the stadium sound system. We were only able to hear bits and pieces of his singing but what we heard was good.

Figured out the video thing. I posted one of "Open the Gate" at the beginning of the game. It takes way too long to upload these suckers so I'll wait for my son to get home to do the planes - lol.

Look what I found

2008-09-05T10:15:00.003-04:00

in my front yard Tuesday. It's scarey isn't it - lol. We usually get a huge spider web on our front porch in early October and I hope it will stay until Halloween but it is always gone. This year it's early and in a different spot. Hope it catches lots of mosquitos- :-D.

Day 4...

2008-09-04T13:37:00.002-04:00

I almost forgot today that's why I'm late. Want to try and do this each morning before my day gets away.

Nothing new here. Leaving work early to pick my son up from school because his ride has a teacher's meeting right after school. Gives me a good excuse to leave early :-).

Called my Mom this morning to check and see if they are making plan for Hanna's visit. She gave me the "lived here a long time" lackadaisical attitude - lol. "It's not hitting us. We're on the southern side of it right? Then we don't need to do anything. I'll wait until it gets closer." I just said "Fine, mom, but you are going to get some high winds. Where are your outside plants?" If she calls me afterwards whining about something that happened I'm going to have no sympathy - lol. I'm 200 miles inland and will get less wind than she and still plan to make sure "blowable" items are put away.

I finished up 2 more ATCs last night :-). Got 2 more started. It's so fun to have small projects to work on :-).

Day 3 - I'm on a roll....

2008-09-03T10:00:00.002-04:00

and need to keep it going :-). I think after I've remembered to do this 7 days in a row I'll stop my count in the title.

I'm back at my desk today - sigh. We're in a major lull at work right now. Nothing to do. We go through these occasionally but this one is driving me nuts. BECAUSE I can think of all the creative things I could be doing at home. I love my job but hate these lulls.

Like everyone else on the east coast, I'm waiting to see what Hanna decides to do today. I work at a major utility in the customer service area. We are already in storm mode, which means we're preparing for a storm. One of my co-workers joked earlier ... "don't answer your phone this weekend." I'm in IT and we are used for back up on the phones at our customer service center. Those are the people that answer customer calls. Ir the call volume gets larger than the regular folks can handle, we're called in to help. Hopefully it won't get to that.

No pictures today. I almost took one of Buddy (our dog) yesterday because he was being so lazy. Usually when I'm at home he is constantly bugging me to pet him or go outside. Well, I decided to take the picture and when I rounded the corner to the room he was in, he stood up and looked like he was about to puke. I called him and let him outside where he did puke! I say a quick thank you prayer that I got up when I did or I would have had to clean the floor! He was chewing on a roll of surgical tape the night before so he must have shallowed some before I got it away from him. He perked up some after he got it out of his stomach - lol.

Now that I've grossed you out - I'll leave - lol. I'm sure I'll be back when I get bored.

Day 2 of blogging

2008-09-02T08:01:00.000-04:00

Decided to come here first so I wouldn't forget or put it off :-). Just got back from my annual "squeeze". We have a new imaging center dedicated to this now. It's all digital. It's really cool. I got to see all the scans. The technican told me they can see so much more now that it's digital. I've been called back the last couple of years because I have a fibroid (sp) tumor in one so maybe this year they won't call me back. And I actually think the squeeze wasn't as bad this year. Wonder it the digital means they don't have to close the vise as tight? :-).

Here's a pin they gave me. Guess I'll stick it in my cork board I have hanging in my scraproom.

If you haven't scheduled yours yet - GET ER DONE!!!!

More of Mr. T

2008-09-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

Well - I never good figure out my new phone software - grrr, so I had to email the pictures to myself. Here is Mr. T and his tomato.

This is after I tore a hole in it for him. He never could punture the skin.

He appeared to enjoy it.

Here's Buddy checking him out - lol. He would jump back every time Mr. T took a bite of the tomato. Buddy is such a scaredy cat!

Nearly a year

2008-09-01T13:49:00.000-04:00

I can't beleive it's been almost a year since my last post. Well, actually I can. I never got into blogging much but I think I'm going to try again. I need something else to entertain myself with - lol. Happy Labor Day to everyone. I cleaned out my Iris beds this morning and found an old friend I'd been missing this summer. Our turtle! He comes every summer and travels between our back yard and our neighbors. I saw him in the spring or early summer and had not seen him since. I kept throwing tomatoes in the back for him but would find them untouched. Well, when I started pulling weeds and wild strawberries out of my iris bed I noticed something moving and my heart skipped a beat because first thing I thought was SNAKE! Then I saw his shell, he was "running" as fast as he could - lol. I'd never seen him totally out of his shell before so I ran for my camera, which I could not find so I grabbed an old one. I got a few shots of his attempt to escape and climbing the wall. Well, I managed to upload them in the wrong order - lol. I finally gave him a boost to get him on the wall, then I picked him up and carried him to our creek bed in the back. I also picked him a half ripe tomato since I pulled up his cafeteria - lol. I left him with his lunch to eat in peace - after a few pictures. Buddy - our dog - started acting funny later so I knew Mr. T was on the move again. I found him and checked out the tomato and he never was able to pierce the skin. So I poked a hole in it for him and sat it back in front of him. He finally came out and started to eat. Have some pictures of that on my phone. I'll post those later because it is charging at the moment.

Mr. T making his escape

Mr. T when I first found him.

Mr. T on the run.

October challenges pictures

2007-09-30T16:20:00.000-04:00

These are the pictures for my October challenge at ACP. I got the idea from "Paper Made Easy" I think it was the August 2007 issue. For instructions, tune into ACP on October 1.

Such an ugly creature...

2007-07-08T13:42:00.000-04:00

I forgot to share this photo with you. This fellow lives in my mom's greenhouse. I cannot stand lizards or anything that looks like them. This is a skink(sp). J's friend had never seen one so asked me to take a picture so he could show it to his mom. As soon as I print a copy I'll be deleting this sucker - lol.

Fireworks...

2007-07-07T10:54:00.000-04:00

Here are some shots of our home fireworks. Bottle rockets are against the law here so we only get the legal ones. The J and his friend had a blast - lol. I finally remembered to take a few shots of them when we were finished with the big stuff and they were finishing up their sparklers. They were so excited they let me take a picture of them hugging each other - lol. then made me promise now to show it to anyone - snort! Unfortunatley it is a little out of focus but I'll still be putting it in a scrapbook ;-).

2007-07-07T10:51:00.000-04:00

Lots of people have never seen this. A "snake" plant/"motherinlaw tongue" plant blooming. I don't know it's correct name but those are the two common names I've heard it called. Mine never bloomed before I moved into this house and it has bloomed every summer since. OH - this was my Granny's plant. She died in 1981. I have no clue how long she had it before then.

My scraproom

2007-07-07T10:44:00.001-04:00

Here's what I've finally done with our ACP convention group shots. The first one is still hanging on the wall. You can't see it in this shot. The rest are now on top the window. The second picture is not as zoomed so you can see the stuff hanging around the window. The basket to the left of the window has our "friendship tags" in it. The pretty orange diamond to the right is a thank you note my little friend made me after I spent the day with her. She was tickled pink when she saw it hanging on my wall when she was here a week ago.

and more garden shots

2007-07-07T10:39:00.001-04:00

heeheee - here's one of my cucumbers on the vine. I've been letting them get really big because they are bitter if I pick them smaller. I've also watch them start off shaped like a pear as the water fills them up - lol. I won't grow them this way again. Below are my first tomatoes to turn red. I plan to pick the reddest one today and have a tomato sandwich for lunch :).

Back to my mini garden :-)

2007-07-07T10:33:00.001-04:00

The first picture was taken 6/15 and the second one on 7/7. I was thinking the corn stalks were taller but now I'm not sure. I took them at different angles. You can see how lush the first shot looks and how everything looks like it's dying in the second shot - lol. My tomatoes are finally turning red though.

and some more vacation shots

2007-07-07T10:27:00.000-04:00

The sandcastle is a replica of Fort Pulaski. I'm sure you all recongized it right away **rolling eyes**. It was created for a Sand Castle contest. The next picture is one I took from our balcony. I thought this was R sitting in the shade reading while the boys were in the pool. After I got home and enlarged it I realized it wasn't him - bbahahahaha.

More vacation shots

2007-07-07T10:21:00.000-04:00

The first picture is the tabby fireplace wall left from a slave home on Hilton Head Island. Blows me away that it has lasted all these years. The next pictures is of a fort R took the boys to see.

Now onto June and vacation shots...

2007-07-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

That's the sandcastle J's friend made. And the two of them in the pool trying to hide their faces from me - the little jerks - lol.

cucumbers anyone?

2007-07-07T10:09:00.000-04:00

Here is my first cucumber growing on the vine and the first 3 I picked.

Wow - it's been over a month

2007-07-07T10:02:00.000-04:00

since I posted my last picture - shame on me. Now I'm having to remember how to do all of this again - lol. I do have some pictures I took a while back that I'll post too.

Here is my corn as it started growning on the stalks and my first two ears before cooking them. They were yummy!!! I have 2 or 3 more ears growing. I can't remember right now. Plan to pick them next week.

Can you tear a phone book in half?

2007-05-21T18:56:00.000-04:00

Andre can. Here's a picture of him doing it.

More Strength pictures

2007-05-20T18:54:00.000-04:00

I was pleased with how this picture came out. There were no lights on in the gym, just the fire light. I was at the back ... a basket ball court width plus 10 feet away from the stage. You can barely see the guy in the back on the left. He was running around breaking bricks and boards that were on fire. He would wet his arm with water inbetween every two breaks.

The second picture is "the grip". There are 10 men on each side of "Big Dave" trying to pull his grip apart. They told me later that is the hardest thing for anyone to do because that is the strongest "hold" a person can do. Oh - they were not able to pull his hands apart.

The Strength Team

2007-05-19T18:40:00.000-04:00

This is the only picture I got of the 4 men together. There was always one of them behind the others. Two of them weighed over 300 lbs and the other two were in the 200 lb range. All of them had upper arms the size of watermelons!

Just how big can a water bottle get???

2007-05-18T18:35:00.000-04:00

We had The Strength Team at our church this week. They do amazing strength demostrations. That really is a hot water bottle blown up. It popped soon after I took the picture.

Proud to be an American

2007-05-17T18:32:00.000-04:00

I took these shots driving home from the Post Office one evening. the flag is on top of the crane where the our new county jail is being built. And I thought the steeple was pretty in the sunset so pulled over to get it.

Not just another pretty flower

2007-05-16T18:21:00.000-04:00

Here's the Fushia I bought myself for Mother's Day.

My Poeny not to be confused with "my pony"

2007-05-15T21:32:00.000-04:00

My poeny bush is showing itself this year too!!! it's gorgeous. Here's a shot of the bush with blooms on it and a closeup of 2 blooms. I think I cut 6 - 8 of the blooms off over the weekend and it still has plenty on it.

Yummy salad & haircuts

2007-05-14T20:23:00.000-04:00

here's what I had for lunch today and J ate my leftovers for supper. A friend took me to the place to get one of these last week. When I went out for a sandwich today I remembered it, but I forgot we only ordered a half last week. Boy was it big!!!

We also got haircuts this evening. J got his "summer" cut. Here is the before, mid-way and after shots.

Snap to!

2007-05-14T20:09:00.001-04:00

My snap dragons are showing themselves this year!

Meet Nellie, Jack's new friend

2007-05-13T23:18:00.000-04:00

I bought another clementis over the weekend and planted it today next to my other one. "Nellie" will be "Jack's" new friend :). I hope they get along OK. "Nellie" is the white one with pink highlights. "Jack" is the purple one.

One of my Pretties

2007-05-12T23:13:00.000-04:00

I bought this Columbine last year and it is doing great this year. I've always wanted one and was thrilled when I found it at Lowe's hardware.

Working at the car wash

2007-05-11T23:09:00.000-04:00

OK, so I'm getting desperate for everyday pictures. I took these from inside my car while I was getting it washed - lol. The "wave" looking one is my windshield. The "raindrops" looking one is the passager window.

Pretty clouds

2007-05-09T22:51:00.000-04:00

Another happening that somes with the cold fronts... pretty rain clouds. I took this from my car window (I did stop) on the way home from church this evening. Aren't they pretty.

Biking

2007-05-08T23:02:00.000-04:00

Here's a shot of J climbing the hill just off our driveway. It's a killer because you don't have time to build up any speed leaving our driveway.

Summer home

2007-05-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend I moved my house plants to the front porch... their summer home. Of course, another cold front came through. they just had to suffer through the 40 degree nights.

what wind can do

2007-05-06T19:49:00.000-04:00

this has happened the last two cold fronts that have blown through. Our basketball goal has decided to lay down - lol.

No Strings Attached

2007-05-05T19:42:00.000-04:00

I knew sooner or later my veggies would need some help growing up instead of sideways so this weekend I tied string across the inside of my wire. Now I just need to train the cucumber to climb. check out how tall my corn is already :).

You can see it just in front of the pot.

Marine tribute

2007-05-05T01:31:00.000-04:00

I saw this truck driving home. I keep hoping a signal light would catch him so I could take a picture. when I realized it wasn't going to happen I did a very bad thing ... I took the shot while driving. You can't see the Marine emblem very well but that's what is in the circle and I can't remember what it says around it now. I thought the whole thing was beautiful and it made me think of my friend Chandra and her Marine :).

(Oh, that's the light I turn left at and I was kicking myself after I turned for not following the truck a little further. Bet he got caught at the next light... I always do - lol. I'll be on the look out for him again.)

I thought I saw a Putty cat?

2007-05-03T22:20:00.000-04:00

This is one of the Panther sculptures outside the football stadium. The stadium is right next to the parking deck I park in. I walked around the back of it to get this shot. I noticed before I took the picture that the eye was "shining" in the sun. I had never noticed the green eyes before. It look wicked cool and I was so happy when I saw it was captured in the picture. BTW, Our Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaegars look like the same cat. I've always wondered if the same artist did both of them, but I've never wondered enough to research it - lol.

Around the world...

2007-05-02T22:19:00.000-04:00

This is a scuplture located on the corner near one of my company's buildings. I thought of it the other day and walked by to take these shots. It "floats" in water and rotates continuously. I took both shots from the same spot. I just waited for it to rotate. It is the coolest scuplture I've ever seen and I love looking at it. It's not on my normal walking route to my office so I don't see it often. I guess I should take this detour more often.

"SOX" Monkey

2007-05-01T12:07:00.000-04:00

I don’t know if any of you were affected by the Sarbanes-Oxley (SoX) Compliance that came about after the Enron fiasco, but I was. We have all kinds of paper work now that has to be completed and updated each year. I was on the original project to collect all the information to document. After the project completed, we were given a sock monkey – get it? He sits at the corner of my cube to remind me of that horrible time – lol. His shirt says "Keep the SOX monkey off your back" One of my co-workers that also worked on the original project hung his monkey from the ceiling - snort.

Empty lot and dead end...

2007-04-30T20:07:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I'm actually posting the same day I took the picture :). We have a quiet evening today and it's so nice. OK - I'm actually posting two pictures. I've wanted to take one of these for a while. It's the empty lot where one of my company's buildings used to stand. It was an old original building. It was sold during the recession and rented back. The lease ran out in the last few years and we vacated it. Someone bought it and tore it down. They are now starting to build high rise condos. So the view from the building I'm currently in will be obstructed. The skyline picture I posted earlier has cranes in it from construction on another side of the building I'm in. We're going to be penned in by high rises - lol. And to think the building I'm in was considered "tall" in it's day.
This is a shot of the skywalk that was between the building that was torn down and another of my company's buildings. I had not even noticed it dangling in the air until I went to the top of my parking deck to take the "empty lot" picture. The trees are blocking the part of the of the skywalk that joins the building that is still standing. And the end on the left just stops - lol. I wonder if they will ever tear it down or if they plan to join it to the new building. Can't imagine that, since I would think it would be a security risk if they did.

Empty Pots no more!

2007-04-29T14:23:00.000-04:00

Remember the empty pots from Thursday's post?

They're no longer empty:). I wound up chopping up the butterfly bush root myself. J didn't want to do it Thursday night and he was still asleep Saturday morning when I was ready to plant. It could have waited but I found Silver Queen Corn when I was buying the cucumber and tomato plants:). I love Silver Queen COrn soooo I decided to try and grow it in the spot where the root was. A butterfly bush's limbs and roots are very dry like dead wood so it wasn't too hard to break up. There are 3 baby corn stalks and 3 baby cucumber plantsand one cherry tomato plant. I'm hoping my neighbors will have tomatoes like they usually do so mine can get pollenated. The picture of the fence and brick wall is to show you where the flower bed is. That is a hill behind the wall. Instead of walking to the end of the driveway (should have taken a picture of that for you) I step onto the bottom rail of the fence then step onto the lower wall. Sometimes when I do that I think it just might be easier to walk around - lol.

2007-04-28T23:15:00.000-04:00

Here's my "Buddy boy" chilling in the shade. He is so funny about being in the yard. He really loves it but he doesn't like being outside alone. I took this picture from my sunroom. He checks frequently to make sure I'm in there. If I am he is very content outside. If I'm not, he wants back inside with me - lol.

2007-04-27T14:09:00.000-04:00

I’ve had this wall clock for over 20 years. It was a birthday gift from a friend. I hang it on a wall near my cube where ever I am. It’s how my co-workers fine me… “Sandra? See the watch on the wall down there? That’s where she sits.” It brings back memories from my first few years at work. I and two friends would take each other out for our birthdays and I got this one year. The friend that gave it to me doesn’t even remember doing it, but that friend is a guy so that makes sense – lol. I almost took it home when J was born to use in his nursery, but came to my senses and left it at work ;-).

I took a couple of shots of it because of the glare on the face. Wanted you to get a good look at it.

Empty Pots

2007-04-26T03:03:00.000-04:00

J asked if I would grow cucumbers this year. A co-worker suggested using a large pot since I don’t have space for a garden (not even one plant). I found these 2 pots at Big Lots for $5 eachJ. I also got dirt for a great price too. As I was trying to decide where to put them I remembered a plan I had, so they are sitting where my butterfly bush used to be. I got tired of it a couple of years ago. It is way too big for the spot. I didn’t know it would grow so big when I planted it there. I have to cut it back each year and it doesn’t bloom well because of that, so I cut it down last night. I plan to have J chop up the root with a hatchet this weekend. He loves doing that – lol. I think I’ll plant irises in the spot next summer and maybe some pansies over the winter

Skyline

2007-04-25T14:03:00.000-04:00

I’ve been driving to work to this city for 25 years this June. The skyline has changed every year. This is just part of the skyline I see now. It will be different next year – see the cranes? There is always a crane in it some where. I took this shot of the skyline just to get the cranes. This city never stops building – sigh.

Pinwheel

2007-04-24T14:01:00.000-04:00

I bought this for J years ago. Actually I can’t remember how long ago – lol. It was in the car for a while and I finally took it out. I didn’t want to throw it away so I stuck it in my planter. I love watching it spin in the breeze. Maybe I actually saved it because I love pinwheels!!!!

My Handsome boy

2007-04-23T18:38:00.000-04:00

OK - I didn't take this picture and it wasn't even taken today but I did receive it in the mail today so I'm counting it as my daily photo.

Doesn't my boy clean up nicely? He was so pleased with the picture :-). This is from the Jr. Cotillion Spring Ball March 31.