Hi! Just a quick post to share a layout I completed this weekend. This is a photo of 8 of our nieces & nephews. I thought it was fun and matched these Scenic Route papers perfectly! Hope you like it.

Have a great week! Blessings!

Have you ever had this smothered chocolate cake from Romano's Macaroni Grill? Oh my goodness, it is YUMMY! (I am sure right about now my sister is looking for the nearest Macaroni Grill location! Ha. We have the "chocolate thing" in common. ) I've only eaten at the restaurant a few times. Until last night, those times were all on my birthday, and this was the cake they bring you to celebrate your birthday. I was worried you couldn't order it off of the menu....to my pleasant surprise you can order it off the dessert menu. You get a GIANT piece and it is smoothered in this homemade chocolate ganache with the fabulous whipped cream on the side. If you haven't tired it I would recommend running to the nearest Macarnoi Grill for dinner tonight and checking it out! Dinner there was pretty great too. I had the create your own pasta with Penne Pasta, chicken, broccoli, garlic cloves, and garlic cream sauce. It was great!

Our visit to Macaroni Grill last night topped off our visit to the Kentucky State Fair. We've been to the Indiana & Illinois State Fairs so many times we thought we would try something different. It was fun. The cool thing is that 90% of the exhibits are indoors and air conditioned. It is also practically on the same property as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. So when we were done with the fair, we got to walk thru Six Flags and check it out for no additional charge. If you wanted to ride rides, you had to buy ride tickets but we weren't up to rides. We were too hot and tired of walking by that point. After the fair and six flags we headed to my Mom's house and then to a nearby Walmart to bum around for a bit. I used some gift cards I got for my birthday and picked up some Bic permanent markers (of course it's the set with all the colors! They are a lot like sharpies, but acid free for scrapbooking), a book I wanted by Nicholas Sparks called The Wedding (if you enjoyed Nicholas Sparks' book The Notebook, this book is supposed to be a sort of sequel from what I have heard!) , and a special issue of Simple Scrapbooks called Shortcuts & Quizzes. Then we headed home and crashed! We were so tired we slept pretty late this morning. We had a great "date" kind of day though.

Look what came in the mail Friday? I have been enjoying the Foof-a-la buttons on my layouts so much I ordered the rest of the collections. At least what was available. They are pretty inexpensive as scrapbooks embellishments go and are fun to use on a layout!

Have a great weekend! Blessings!

Just another quick post to share the layout I finished today! This is my niece when she was 4. Isn't she adorable? This was a time she was visiting at my Mom's and we got to fix her up for Halloween and take her trick or treating. She was hilarious.

Hope you like it!

Blessings!

Aren't these cool? You're thinking so? Gee how exciting right? Ha! These would look so cool in my scraproom! I just heard about them on QVC & 2 Peas. These are limited editions from Olfa for Breast Cancer awareness month. I guess they were just released this month. Olfa's webstie says they should be widely available at retail! I hope so. I am a bit worried. I just saw them on QVC like 2 days ago and they are gone. I tried several Internet sites like Joann's and a few others and everyone is already sold out. I've wanted a rotary cutter for a while now for scrapping and now to get a pink one would be too cool. The mat will look great in my scraproom too since I want to do it in pink/brown. So- be on the lookout for cute pink scrapping tools! Ha.

I guess I have been a bit slow at Blog posting lately. Things have been soooo busy! I've been working more, my husband has been working tons of overtime....there has been little time for much else. Seems like after this week things should get more back to normal. I hope so! I was going to get all this housework and stuff done today. Instead, I have declared it a "mental health" day and am enjoying the QVC scrapping shows, and doing some scrapping! The laundry/housework will be there later right? Ha. The QVC shows won't. ºÜº I am having fun and feeling relaxed which feels good after a lot of busyness.

We had our first church crop last night. I had FUN! I really felt like it went well. I hope the others did too and that they will return. We had 6 people including myself. Not a bad start I think! Another lady stopped in and plans on coming to the next ones. I also know of at least 3 other people that are interested. If all those people show up next month we will already need the bigger room. Cool! Until now I have never been much of a crop/scrap away from home kind of girl. I like my scraproom and having things within reach. It's hard to pack stuff because I am never sure what I want to use till I use it so I am sure I won't bring something I will want/need. I didn't need to worry because I am so SLOW (ok, maybe perfectionist is a better word) at scrapping that last night I didn't even finish the LO I brought that I had already started. How sad is that? Ha. I had stuff for 2 more LO's with me. I was pretty sure I wouldn't get that much done, but thought I'd at least finish the current one and start the next. I should have known. I've only been to 1 other crop that my friend Julia gave. It was fun too. If she hadn't given that one, I might never have been brave enough to try hosting this one. At hers I only completed 1 LO also and her crop was longer. Ha! I really did enjoy myself though and felt like it went well. All the praise to God for that one because I know He has led me here and I know He was there.

I am off for now to scrap! Maybe I'll have a LO to post later. Have a blessed week!

Well here it is! My new office at the church. The first photo is from behind my desk, looking out towards the new reception area and work room. The other offices for the Admin. Asst. , Assoc. Pastor, and Pastor are to the left as you walk out my door. To the right is our Narthex leading to where the new Sanctuary is being built. I took another photo from my doorway looking in so you could see how the 2 desks are arranged. I have a large receptionist type window on my right that slides open so I can greet people. It is cool because I like things bright and lit up and now I have light coming in from 3 sides! The 3rd photo is of the computer desk. I love this. I was so glad to find a piece that works with the other desk and gets the computer off of my main work area. I think I will have plenty of space.

The ladies who are on the furnishings/decorating committee are working on getting some plants and greenery to make things look nice. They are going to get some greenery to spruce up the black box in the corner which houses the sound system. I feel so blessed and overwhelmed at how God has provided for us.
















Look at the cool case I got for my new Palm! I ordered it from Levenger. They have the nicest stuff. It came in this cool box that had an elastic band that fit around it, and then was wrapped in this soft cloth that said "Levenger" across the front. I love that it's red and that I got to have my initials on it. I highly recommend Levenger. They are very high quality. I had this eyeglass case from them that I LOVED, but I lost it in the church fire. Sadly, they don't make the style I had anymore.

Well, TONS to do here at home today. I better get busy. I have fallen behind on my Bible in 90 days study too over the past 4-5 days. I hope to get back on schedule with that too! I really want to do it!

Blessings everyone!

I saw these scrapbook tool totes on 2peas in a bucket. I told myself, you just got some totes, you don't need anymore................. Friday night we happen to have time to run into Michael's. I just want to see if they have these bags and what they look like in person of course. I am not going to buy one. I look in the scrapbook section and they only have them in plain black. Well who wants plain black when I know they come in cute colors like pink & brown? (well, OK, my sister would probably want the plain black. ºÜº) So I think good. Now I am not tempted to buy one. They don't have the pink and brown. Well, while I was looking in Michael's, my husband had to run down to look at computer games at Best Buy (see he "had" to look at computer games like I "had" to look at scrapbook stuff). So I had time to spare waiting on him. (So, it's his fault right? ) As I am leaving the scrapbook area, I see a center display that has the bags in black, pink & brown, green and brown, and a pretty aqua blue color. I really like and want a pink & brown one. Now I tell myself, well, I still won't get one because Michael's stopped sending me their 40% off coupon and I am NOT going to pay full price when everyone else gets a coupon right?! I have heard on 2peas though (see how much you can learn at 2peas? ºÜº) that when people "forget" their coupon, Michael's will let you sign a sheet at the register to still get their 40% off.......So, I figure, well, I'll just ask about it. So, of course no one is in line, and the check out lady is standing right out in the aisle just waiting to answer my question. I tell her I live 45 min. away and that I do not get a coupon in my paper, and I wonder if they have one at the register that I can use. She tells me oh, yes, you just have to sign the sheet. She says other people from your town do that and that she doesn't know why they won't put them in our paper. So, since the bag was only $19.99 to start with, and now I can have 40% off.......... guess what I now own? So now I own 3 scrapping totes ( I have the AMM toteally cool ones, in pink/brown of course) and I have yet to take my stuff anywhere. Of course I tell myself that the 2 tool totes will look so cute in my scrap room and I can leave them on my work table and I won't have to pack up every time I want to go to a crop, and I am starting a church crop this month so of course I will use this stuff....... I know, I know, I am goofy.....it's a sickness....honest! ºÜº

I had hoped to post a photo today of my new office. However when I got the church camera out to take some photos of "moving in day" on Friday I couldn't get it to work. Not sure what the problem is. My husband is going to look at it. In the meantime, I will take my camera to the office tomorrow so you can see! It is so cool to be in a new office with new desks, new phones, new everything. Wow. I love my 2 desks and am so happy with how everything has worked out. It already feels like home. It was so fun friday afternoon to e-mail our whole church family and let them know we had finally gotten to move in! God has been so awesome in how He has provided for us. Right after I E-mailed everyone I immediately got several responses from our church people saying how excited they were. I suddenly found myself all choked up and overwhelmed with emotion at how far God has brought us and how amazingly He has worked out such a difficult thing like losing our building in a fire.

The last Couple of weeks/months have been a blur and sooooo busy. I am still feeling quite tired from just the last 4-5 days. I have officially declared the rest of today to be no chores/no work day. I am going to play on the Internet a bit more and catch up on my missed message board reading and then maybe scrap or read. Might fit a nap in there too! ºÜº

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Blessings!

Well, no picture today and a short post! Ha. I was at the office yesterday for the whole day except for about an hour and a half that I came home for dinner. Normally I am off on Thursday, but I worked so that we could be prepared to move today! Yay!! I am excited, overwhelmed, tired, excited..........lets stick with that last positive thought. ºÜº So, I am getting myself ready to go (trying to decide if make-up and hair are a good or bad idea on a day when I am just going to go get hot, sweaty, and dirty....) and meeting Kay at 9:OO this morning so we can get our offices moved over to the new building. I am hoping we don't find out its a much bigger job than we are anticipating. Kay has been working towards moving for the last few weeks which has helped tremendously. My sweet husband worked hard last night moving some of the bigger items and getting some of the computers moved and hooked up. So, plan for the day is:
1) go to old offices and pack up
2)move all that stuff into the new offices
3)try to begin getting settled and organized
I am hoping to get away by mid afternoon so we can get ready to go to town tonight. Yes, when you live in the "country" you actually have to get used to "going to town." The big town with all the stores is like 45 minutes away. That took a while to get used to when we first moved here. We were so used to having whatever store or restaurant or whatever we needed close by. Now you have to be OK with driving to get to what you need. Anyway, I am hoping I can post a picture or two for you sometime this weekend. Hopefully next time I get a spare moment which might be like Sunday??
Have a great day/weekend! Blessings!

7 people that I admire:
My husband
Mom & Dad (that counts as 1 right? ºÜº)
Josh
Kay
Mark
Lisa
Julia

7 things I say often:
"I love you"
"Good Grief"
"Tanner stop that" (Tanner is the dog....ºÜº)
"Yikes"
"First Church of God, this is Deanna" (I am a secretary there)
"Honey can you......"
"wow"

7 things I cannot do:
sew
understand the whole North, South, East, West thing (just tell me right or left, talk to me like that...)
be patient
do any kind of acting or drama (I even HATE charades)
live with a mess or clutter
be unorganized
be athletic

7 things you might not know about me:
I was in the top 10% of my graduating class
I can draw
I do not like it when people get in my "personal space"
I can play the flute
I have known my husband since I was 7 yrs. old
I do not like to measure things
I'd love to go to Hawaii

7 movies I enjoyed:
Pretty Woman
Love Comes Softly
While You Were Sleeping
Mr Holland's Opus
One Magic Christmas
Back To The Future Movies
Sleepless In Seattle

7 books I could read again and again:
My Bible
Redeeming Love (Francine Rivers)
The Love Comes Softly Series or any Janette Oke Book
The Horse Whisperer (Nicholas Evans)
The Shepherd's Voice (Robin Lee Hatcher)
Bamboo & Lace (Lori Wick)
The Christmas Box (Richard Paul Evans)

7 things I wish I could change in my life:
I wish I didn't struggle with my weight
have more money
be a better Christian
be more patient
have our house remodeling completed
be less hard on myself/more confident
I wish I had more time to get more done

Ok, that was harder than I thought! Anyone care to try it? Any family/friends reading this I dare you to complete this list and share it with me via e-mail!

From old office destroyed by fire, to new desk and new offices! The 1st photo is of the office I used at church. Our church had a fire and this is how it looked during demolition. But now, almost 18 mos. later, we are soooo close to getting to move into the new offices at church! I cannot wait!! We have been so blessed to have our temporary offices at another church in town. It has just been hard to have the administrative offices in a separate place from where our services are at. I hadn't realized until this week when I was thinking about the move how normal it has become to me to haul a bunch of things to church every week. Now, with my office in the same building, I won't have to carry around files and schedules and other things with me! Wow. I'll be spoiled. The second picture is of my new computer desk. I was not able to get the hutch part on top because for one I only had a certain amount to spend due to what was allowed on insurance replacement, and two, my office has 2 receptionist windows, plus an outside window and a sound system which doesn't leave a space for a hutch either. That is fine though. I had a wonderful desk donated from a family at church. With that one, plus this new one I think I will have loads of workspace and be quite happy. I hope to place them in an "L" shape. My husband is going to get the desk to the new building this weekend. We have been storing it in our spare room waiting for the contractors to complete the offices at the church and its finally ready! Yay!! I am excited. I'll post a photo of my new complete office as soon as I can. (I know, you can hardly wait right? Ha!)

On Monday Aug. 21st we are going to hold our 1st church crop! I have been feeling like God has been leading me to do this and I am finally taking the plunge. I was close to starting one around the time of the fire. After that, it seemed best to wait until we had our own building. This past June I led a girls scrapbooking elective for VBS and that seemed to light a new fire under the crop idea. So I guess in about 2 weeks we are going to give it a try. I am excited about it. It seems like once the idea was in place, my mind has been off and running with ideas. I hope we will have good participation and that it can even become an outreach for our church. I would appreciate your prayers for this!

So far I am doing well on the Bible in 90 Days! I am so glad I posted here that I was doing this. I think it will help keep me movtivated and accountable. I am on day 4 and enjoying my reading and finding it interesting. It is so cool to me with the Bible how you can read things you have read before and still learn and find new things.

Well, I am going to pay some bills, load/unload the dishwasher, get busy in finishing my thank you notes from my birhtday and hopefully scrap. I think it will be a semi-quiet weekend for which I am thankful. Hope you have a great one too! Blessings!

Look what I got today. I now own 2 Vera Bradley purses. I guess I am officially a convert. Isn't this one cool? It is a new style called the Hipster. The strap is 55" long and adjustable. It can be worn around your neck/across body and rests at your hip. The pockets on the front are even designed to be able to hold your Ipod or CD player, and has a little button hole to feed the headphones thru. Cool huh? I figured my pink Vera purse will be my spring/summer and that this would be nice for fall. Isn't the brown/blue combo pretty? I think i will be very happy with it.

Got to spend the day shopping and visiting with my Mom. We had lunch at a neat little local restaurant called "Peafections." It was good. They have great salads, soups, sandwiches and desserts. We skipped dessert today though. We also went to some neat gift shops, the Christian bookstore where I got to finally use a gift card from last Christmas, 2 Walmarts and the Hallmark store that carries the Vera Bradley stuff. I got some great Robin Lee Hatcher books at the bookstore. She is one of my favorite Christian Fiction authors. I bought the 3 Novellas that are in the Hart's crossing series. Can't wait to read them. I love Robin's books. I have things underlined and notes made in several of them because the message in them is so good and spoke to me so much.

I need to get busy this week and finish my birthday thank you notes. Just this past Sunday I received 2 more gifts and cards. My church family is so precious to me and they are just too good to me too! I have never worked anywhere where I felt quite so loved and appreciated. I LOVE my job!

I am thinking I am going to start the 90 day Bible this month. Hopefully tomorrow. Has anyone done this? It looks like a cool way to get thru the entire Bible. I have heard good things from others who have done it. I guess technically it's called The Bible In 90 Days. I'll have to keep you posted on how it goes. It sounds doable. You have to do 12 pages a day. I should be able to keep up with that don't you think? I just want to commit to it and keep up and not be trying to play catch up the whole time. I think that would defeat the purpose and I would lose my focus.

Hope you have a great week. Blessings!