Wanted to post a layout I made today just for fun! I just love this photo of our nieces. This was years ago, but I remember this evening with them pretty well. We had tried to take the girls to Chuck E Cheese, but when we got there it was closed with a sign on the door that they were having some kind of water problems and had to close. The kids were so disappointed. Lindsay, the youngest asked Uncle Darrel if he had a key so we could go in. He told her he was sorry, he didn't. She was quiet for a few minutes and than says all excited "I know! My Daddy has a key!" It was so cute. So little, yet she had already learned and decided that Daddy had the answers and could fix anything. We ended up at playland at McDonalds and the girls had a ball. I love how Darrel captured their little faces as they were zooming down the slide. So fun. Little Lindsay with her jacket half falling off, red socks showing, huge grin on her face. Lauryn looking like Yay! This is fun. They went on the slide over and over. I remember too that the Mc Donalds lady gave them stickers and Lindsay peeled every one of them off and smacked them onto the front middle of her shirt, one on top of the other. She was a sight.

Just wanted to share a fun memory. Hope you have had a fabulous Sunday and weekend.

Blessings!

Just wanted to show you a few cards I made this afternoon trying to use up some scraps from my M2Y Rock Star kit. Isn't it amazing how far you can stretch just the scraps sometimes? I like have a whole scrap paper file. I usually check that when I need a punch or just a smaller piece and use that first before cutting down a full sheet of paper! Thought these came out rather cute!

God was watching over my husband today! Just want to praise Him and Thank him publicly for that. Darrel was out front on our riding lawn mower. Ok, he was on one of the 5 we have. This obviously was the one that is currently working. It is hit or miss week to week to know which if any will work. We were really blessed with this newest one a few weeks ago. A friend put it together from 2 broken lawn mowers. When the person who was using it no longer had need for it, they gave it to us. It was a huge blessing since we seem to always have lawn mower issues. Anyway, back to today. He was out front mowing. We live on a highway on a hill where big coal trucks often come thru. It can be dangerous! While he was on the steep bank on the mower, the drive belt on the mower came off. The mower died and stopped. He thought he could just put on the brakes and found out there was no brakes........... So then he was trying to steer as the mower starts to roll and while this is happening it tips towards the highway. I am seeing all this happen by the way from the front window! Because I am saying "God protect him" and because he was still trying to correct the tilt by leaning and steering, he got all 4 wheels back on the ground. Then it starts rolling backwards faster and still towards the highway. He managed to steer it down into the driveway but it looked like a fast roller coaster ride! He finally got it stopped and I was able to breathe again. I was very impressed with my husband because I was amazed he was able to think quick enough to manage to steer and get it to a safe spot. I think I would have been in a panic if it were me and probably would have thought I should jump off when it started tipping over. It happened so fast. I mean just think about being on a riding mower and trying to steer when it is whipping around and moving very fast.... Scared me to death! He could have so easily ended up in the highway and it looked so much like he was going to roll with the lawn mower on him right into the road!!!

"We" have decided "we" will no longer use the rider for the steep part of the bank because "we" would like to not have to call 911! Also because this is the 2nd time something like this has happened. So again I say thank you Lord for protecting him. Thank you Lord too that he got the mower running again and was able to finish the yard and didn't have to push mow a couple of acres.

Hope your weekend is going well!

Blessings.

So Glad It's Date Night!

OK, I know this has already been established.... but I have to say it again. Is my husband the sweetest or what? Knowing that I have had a long, difficult, hectic, week.... he comes home tonight for our Friday night "date night" and what does he have for me? A box of my favorite Fannie May Mint Meltaways. I don't think I know good enough words to express how much I love and appreciate him. He is always, always there for me.

We had a nice evening. We made a pizza together and then watched the movie Preomonition. Have you seen it? It was pretty good. I wasn't wild about the ending, which I won't give away in case you haven't seen it, but it was good. We watched some of the delted scenes and out takes at the end. Those were fun. They had a gag reel too which was pretty funny.


We do Blockbuster online mail thing... whatever its called. We just have the minimum sub. which is 2 movies per month, plus an e-coupon for a free in store rental. That is just about the right amount for us. We do good to watch the 2 and really good to fit 3 in. We tried Netflix too on a free trial but we thought their turn around time was way too long. Blockbuster is much quicker and we've been happy with the service. I think our sub. is only $5.99 a month which is no different than us renting 2 movies down the street. Plus these are laying here whenever we get time to watch and no worrying about due dates. I would recommend the free trial. That is how we got started and we got too see quite a few movies for free during that time.


So any big weekend plans? Memories2You is having an online crop that I plan to participate in as much as I can. We've got lawn mowers to fix and the house is in desperate need of some order and some cleaning.

Enjoying my mint meltaways here and wondering who else finds these little paper cups they put the candies in annoying? I mean they pull up with your candy. You try to push them off and back into the hole they were in. They still stick up half way and the next time you pick up a piece than you have the new one and the old paper now sticking up and in the way and hanging out of the box! Or am I the only one candy box challenged? Ha. I vote they leave out the papers and then when they do that, hey, they could probably fit in like at least 3 or 4 more pieces of candy don't you think? Ha. Just a thought. (imagine the winking smilie here....)

This blog entry caught my eye today because she talks about how she "used to" play the flute. I "used to" play the flute too. From 3rd grade all the way thru high school. She goes on to ask what other "ministries" did we used to do that we no longer do? Wow. I thought of quite a few things. Why did I quit doing things I used to enjoy so much? I realize I need to re-think some of those things and make sure I am using the gifts God has given me and therefore intends for me to be doing something with.

I hope you have a fabulous, peaceful, relaxing weekend.

Blessings.

More Layouts To Share

Wanted to leave another quick post and share another layout made with the Daisy Bucket Rock Star Papers from the Aug. kit for Memories2You. These pictures are from this past July 4th at the fireworks display we went to with my parents. We had a really nice day/evening that day. They came for dinner and we grilled out and made chicken and potatoes. Next we headed to the fireworks and found a decent parking space and seat pretty easily. That was nice! It was threatening a thunderstorm that evening and started to thunder and rain near the end of the show. We just all popped up our umbrellas and kept on enjoying the show. It didn't start raining hard until we got back to our vehicle. On the way home we made a stop for ice cream. It was a great evening.

Here is a card I made with some left overs from my kit.



















Think I can even get one or two more out of it. Thought this would be a cool note card.

Not sure if today was much better. I guess it was. Just still having a rough week at work. Also found out today that someone else is upset with me.... It's been a little much for one week. I am trying to pray and get past it and just let it go. Struggling with feeling angry and wounded at the same time. I know God will take care of it. I want to handle it right and show forgiveness and kindness even though I am hurt. I know that is what God would want me to do. I always feel that no matter what someone else does. No matter whether or not they even want forgiveness, I am still responsible to God for me and my behavior. I have to do the right thing regardless of what the other person does or how they act. I believe that very strongly and that I guess is why I am struggling right now. I am not at that point where I "feel" like doing the right thing. But you know what? God also doesn't say I have to "feel" like it.

Something touching and thought provoking that has really stuck with me this week has been the article our Pastor wrote for the Newsletter this month. He is a great writer and what he says in this article just really touched my heart and made me think "wow." So I wanted to share that with you in the way of a devotion for today. You can read it at the link to our church website which is here.

I hope you are having a great week. Sorry if I have been a downer. Thanks for "listening."

Blessings.

Honoring The Men In My Family

Just wanted to do a quick post of the layout I completed this evening. This is made with the latest kit from Memories2You. Paper is Daisy Bucket Rock Star. Cool huh? Got the idea for this layout this past Memorial Day. We did a very cool PowerPoint presentation at church of military photos of all the men from our church who had served. That made me want to document the service that my Dad, Papaw and Grandpa gave to our country. Aren't they handsome in their uniforms? So proud of them!

It's been a rough week at work. Feel like I've been there a lot and I am therefore getting nothing done at home which makes me feel behind everywhere. Should be better once I make it to the weekend I think. It's hard to push thru and get things done when you are feeling upset. I think I much preferred birthday week last week. Who wouldn't right?

It's late and I am working my day off tomorrow so better head to bed. Just wanted to get my layout up because I am also behind on my deadline there. Hate being behind!

Hope you are having a great week.

Blessings.

See now, I bet you thought the hoop was for the ball right? Not the kids? Kidding. Just thought this was a funny picture from yesterday. The guys were playing basketball and the net was coming undone so they hoisted Lauryn up there to fix it. Half the time she was fine with it and half the time she was screaming. And this......



















is my cute husband. Notice the color of his basketball..... With all 4 guys playing he just happened to end up with the pretty pink ball. Ha. Ha. I told him that was because he was the only guy secure enough in his masculinity to play with the pink ball.















So after church yesterday we hit the local Hallmark Gold Crown store that carries Vera Bradley products so I could get the cell phone case that matches my new purse. They only had 2! Now they have 1. See how I can do math like that? Ha. Ha. ha. I was afraid I would miss out on getting it since it is a new fabric and those seem to go quickly. Love the name of this new fabric too its called mod pink floral. Love that! Now, should I wait till closer to fall to switch purses? Who am I kidding? If I do really, really good, I might make it through most of August. I am not good with waiting to use new things. I am usually way to excited.

This is the skin I picked out for the laptop. Remember that was one of my birthday gifts? I hope it looks this cool in person. It was ordered last Thursday so it should be here soon! I can't wait. Has anyone ever used one of these skins? They are supposed to not only be cute, but be good for protecting your computer from scratches, etc. I hope they aren't too hard to put on straight. Of course, as far as that project goes, my husband is the king of getting things perfectly straight. (there I go again with that urge for needing a smiley face.... blogger seriously needs some easy to use smilies!)

Not feeling fabulous today. I took a big dose of vitamin C and some zicam when I got home from work. Hoping that will kick whatever it is before it even starts! I cannot be sick this week. Way to much to do both at home and work. Need to catch up on housework, need to finish my DT stuff before my Wednesday deadline, need to do the Newsletter, etc. at work, it's grocery shopping week, etc. etc. I need to stop before I depress myself! Ha. Again, kidding. I love my life and feel very blessed. Instead of saying I have so much to do at work, I try to say Thank you God for a job I love so much. Instead of ugh I have to get groceries, Thank you God that you have provided the means that I can go buy food. When I do that, it really makes me think so much differently about things.

Wanted to share this from my devotional today.

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10 NIV

I know you want to be accepted by others but you were not made to fit in. You my princess were made to stand out. Not to draw attention to yourself, but to live the kind of life that leads others to Me. I will not force you to do anything. I have given you a free will to walk with Me or to walk away from Me. (from His Princess, Love Letters From Your King)


Wow, that part about living a life that leads others to Him..... what an amazing thing and wow what a responsibility. It just reminded me how mindful we have to be of everything about the life that we live. Am I more concerned about what people think or what God thinks? I so want Him to be proud of me and pleased with Me. I want to commit to give Him my best in all things.

Have an amazing week!

Blessings.

Umm birthday week day 8?

You didn't know a week had 8 days did you? Me either. It must though because I got another pink present today! Look at this pretty tea light holder! It was on my vanity this morning. Words fail me at this point to say how fabulous my husband is. Wow.

Do you like my mini book? There are like tons of pages, too many to post here. Check them out in my gallery on 2peas here. This is a project for Memories2You August Newsletter. I made it for my niece to hold pictures and autographs from her friends. My niece turns 12 tomorrow and this was her birthday gift. She seemed to like it don't you think?

We had a nice time at her birthday party today.


I have tons more I'd like to share like part of my devotional from today, a purchase to match my new purse, and more party pics.... but it's late. So consider that my "tease" for tomorrow.

Hope you have a great week.

Blessings!

Birthday Week Day 6 & 7

So yesterday was the day after my birthday right? Well we had a day of shopping and eating out planned that was part of my present. When I got to my vanity area to get ready, what do I find but another pink present. The pretty little pink glass butterfly was laying there waiting for me. Have I mentioned my husband is amazing? Then today I come into the dinning room to gather yesterday's packages to take photos for my blog and there is another pink present! This pretty pink pen with the white satin cord on it. It is quite possible I have smiled more this week than any other before. Ha. Ha. Ha. He did 7 full days of pink presents. He is the best husband ever.

We had a wonderful day out yesterday. Here are my purchases. I had some "spending" money saved plus had some birthday money to spend. We left home around 10 AM. We hit a local amish place for breakfast to go (yummy) and headed for Indianapolis. We had a pleasant drive and got to the first store around 12:30 PM. It was Cord Camera. They had lots of cool camera stuff plus a large scrapbooking area. I got the Scrapbooking Your Faith book. It looks really cool and right up my alley. Also got some cool prima flowers that are like made out of tulle and paint. I hadn't seen them before. Next we hit a place in Avon. It was cute, but not tons of stuff. I got some Doodlebug flowers and jewels. I think from there we hit Archivers. Love Archivers. Got this pink storge box, glossy accents, some scotch adhesive I heard was good for transparencies, 5 sheets free cardstock, some mm chipboard flowers, courdoroy brads, more tapes for my new tape writer and I forget what else. We hit Hobby Lobby becuase they had paper and punches 50% off this week. I got BG perhaps and phoebe and a tag and tab punch. Can't beat 50% off! I almost bought some new Elsie but decided to wait until later since I could get that at home. The last place was called Memoirs in Carmel. It was in the coolest outdoor mall called Clay Terrace. LOVED this place. So pretty. At the scrap store I got an alpha stamp case, some thickers, some of that patterned bazzill - so cool! - and a rubon swatch book. We had a little time before things closed after that. and I spotted this across the street.


















I'm telling myself, oh! I just want to see what an actual Vera store is like. I have her products but have always bought them like at Hallmark. Well the store was great and they had the new fall fabrics out...... You already know I'm in trouble right? Ha. I spotted 3 new fabrics I liked. One was green/blue, one is more browns, and one had brown and umm pink..... Well I looked at two and thought I'll get one later maybe. Then I stop and see they have these cute little cell phone cases. I have never wanted or thought I needed a cell case. Now of course I do. But did I buy just the cell case? Um no. I figure I need the purse that matches too because then I can hang the case on the purse right? Still was talking myself out of it though, but then saw their cute shopping bags and how they package up your purchase. OK, I have a sickness or something. Seriously. I am like a sucker for cute packaging and I absolutely LOVE when they put your purchase in nice bags with attention to detail. The sickness is that this absolutely influenced and put me over the edge on the purchase or not decision. So, this is what came home with me.

Look at the shopping bag?! Love it! They wrap your purse in green tissue, put it in this bag, and tie the handles with this cool orange grosgrain ribbon! How adorable is that? I like knew I was going to have to take a picture of it. I had as much fun with the dumb bag as I did the purse! Please tell me at least one of you other ladies can identify with this? Or do I seriously need professional help? Ha. Oh and did I mention, I didn't even buy the cell case.... I still need to go back and do that. Are you shaking your head at me yet? My husband would be.

Next stop was dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Umm it was like 9 PM when we got here and we still had to wait for a table. I was so shocked about that. It was worth it though. We had this yummy popcorn shirmp appetizer, and we both had pasta for dinner. Mine was the Cajun Jambalya Pasta. Soooo yummy. Then of course you have to have dessert. This next picture is especially for my sister...................

Look at this Jen! Oh.... my..... goodness...... THIS is Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake. It is SO GOOD. Just the whip cream alone is good. The cake is layers of cake and mousse with ganache..... it is amazing. I want to know if this cake was standing up like layer cake at one time. I mean how tall was that cake?! Wow. My husband had Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. I am not a cheesecake person, but I am thinking if I was... this would be the one to get. It looked amazing.

It was a perfect, amazing day and we had such a nice time together. My husband is the most amazing, special, thoughtful, gentlemanly, understanding, sweet, manly man..... I need more words to descirbe him. He is the absolute best and I just want everyone to know it. He could give husband lessons. Seriously. He is that good. Love you honey!

I hope you have an amazing weekend. We have great weather here! I have some DT stuff I need to get done, so probably indoors for me today. We have church and the youth choir and a birthday party for our niece tomorrow so that will be great too.

Blessings!

It's My Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me....... It's been a great day and yes, there were more pink gifts as you can see. My day started off with a pink card and a pink bookmark waiting for me when I got up this morning. Once again from my sweet husband of course. Then he sent me a pink E-card at work with all the roses on it. Once we got home tonight he gave me the little pink leather case that has my initials on the clasp. It has a little silver mirror inside. I also got a "coupon" to pick out a skin for our notebook computer! And yes, it can even be pink. We've had a running joke about not getting pink for the laptop so my husband isn't using a pink computer so what does he do? Gives me a gift saying, get the pink skin for the computer. Isn't he just amazing? He also brought home dinner which was our favorite pizza and he made an Eclair cake for me. Just enjoyed a piece and it was fabulous. And yes, you read that right, he made it. Tomorrow we are going shopping and out for birthday dinner and the rest of my gift is money to shop with. Yay! I am sure that will include some scrap stores. Maybe we will even come across those new Alice Crocs?! That would be cool.

This is the skin I am thinking about. Now I can't make up my mind. They also have a pink camo one that is kind of cool. I am leaning towards this one I think.

This was on my desk when I got to work this morning from my friend Kay. Isn't the package cute? She made that herself! I think we will make a scrapbooker out of her yet! She gave me this great little devotional book callled His Princess. I've been wanting this book and I don't even think she knew that. One of the classes at church was given this book and since I first saw it there I thought it looked like something that would be good for me to read.

I also received many birthday wishes on the message boards. Thanks ladies! You made me feel so special. Thank you too to all the friends and family that sent me E-cards today. Those were so fun! You touch my heart because you thought of me.

It's been a wonderful day and a wonderful week and I am just feeling so blessed and loved. Thanks so much everyone.

Have a blessed Friday!

Birthday Week Day 4

Guess what I found on my desk this morning. Do you see them? A dozen pink roses and this little resin box with pink flowers on top of it. It was so cool to come in to work and first thing have a gift waiting for me. I had walked into the room just outside my office and I heard my friend Kay say "Deanna is that you?" When I said it was. She said "wait!" She came running and grinning and what she wanted was to see me see what was in my office. She has been following the pink gifts all week and had seen these waiting for me in my office. Here are some closer pictures.

Now, while my women friends are about as caught up in this as I am and are starting to ask me what was today's gift..... the men are beginning to "harass" my sweet husband. My friend said she asked her husband if he wanted to know what I got today and he said he didn't want to hear it. Another male friend told my husband he was making the other guys look bad, and yet another friend said that my husband was setting the bar pretty high. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Funny thing is that my husband loves it! He said if a guy knows something that makes his wife happy, why wouldn't he want to have a happy wife? When I was telling him how amazing he is, I told him I needed a thesaurus to find a better word than amazing at this point. Isn't he the best? I now officially nominate him for husband of the century. Do I hear a second?

I also got a fabulous scrapbook gift today from a dear sweet friend. She got me the Around The Block Tape Writer. It is so cool! It has 2 font wheels and pink tape! Some of the tapes have deco edges too! Can't wait to try it out. She also gave me a couple of circle punches she had duplicates of and some SEI mini coasters and some little tiny heart charms. I can't wait to try it all out!

I hope your week has been as amazing and fun as mine! Tomorrow is the day! I don't know how it could possibly get better or more fun than it has already been this week!

Blessings!

Birthday Week Day 3

Look what I found in my make-up case this morning. This pink card with the little poem on it and a little pink heart pin with two little hearts on it. Is he good or what? I mean I was out of bed, but barely had my eyes open and his gift had me smiling. Now if you know me at all....that is pretty darn good because I am soooo NOT a morning person. He has made this week a total blast and with all the little pink gifts every day he is so totally speaking my language. Doesn't it just feel so good when someone just "gets" you?

I did it! Got my first "professional" pedicure. Of course I picked pink polish right? Plus, it was OPI which is absolutely my favorite brand. Love their colors, the wear time of their polish and they come up with the cutest most original names for their colors!! This pink is called "that's berry daring" I have to admit I was almost a little nervous at first beause I didn't know what to expect (remember that thing I mentioned about not liking surprises? ). The chair was cool. Sat in the massage chair with my feet in the whirpool thing at first. Then they do the trimming, polish removal, cuticles. That part was OK, got a little uncomfortable a few times with the cuticle stuff, but not too bad. The cool part is next though. She slathered my calves and feet with lotion and then massaged it in. The calf massage, foot massage and even toe massage was pretty awesome. Then they wipe off the excess lotion with some wet rags out of their little hot rag machine. That felt good too! They scrub you feet with the pumice stone thing...again good. And then the color goes on. Oh, forgot in between there you get little flip flop manicure shoes (mine just happened to be pink...can you believe it?) and toe separators. She asked if I wanted a flower on my big toe...which of course I did because hey, it's birthday week! Have you heard? Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Then last you sit at this table that you put your feet under and it has like a heat lamp for drying. So all in all I think I liked it. Would I do it again? Maybe. It would be more about spending the money on something so unneccessary that would be the deciding factor probably. For a once in awhile pampering kind of thing, I'd definitely recommend it.

It's late and I am just home after a meeting so I will head out for now. Hopefully I will have something pink to show you tomorrow. (now I need a big grinning smilie face right here).

Blessings!

Birthday Week Day 2

So I walk out to my car this morning and as I open my door to get in, I spot a pink lanyard hanging from my rearview mirror. My husband left it for me. He is completely amazing. I swear I could not wipe the smile off of my face for like hours. Last week I had gotten this new 2 GB jump/flash drive. I was mentioning it and just sort of thinking out loud and said I should make myself a pink lanyard to put my work keys and my jump drive on. Then they would all be in one place and I could wear it around my neck since often I do not have pockets and my keys always seem to be on my desk when I need them. Now guess what though... he had bought the lanyard before I ever even said that! Is he good or what. So it isn't my birthday yet and I am completely having a BLAST. My husband is making this week so fun. You will think I sound goofy or corny or something, but he is such a blessing and I am so amazed at his love for me that I drove to work just praying and thanking God for blessing me so much with the love of my husband. I am just awed by it and so undeserving of it.

I had a hair appointment today. My hair dresser and I had discussed "birthday week" before and she thinks it is a completely brilliant idea and laughs about it all the time. She knew today was birthday week and when I got there my co-worker had just been there for her appointment and had told her about the gifts Darrel had done for these past 2 days. So she turns around in her drawer and says she will give me something pink too and hands me this pink hair clip! Too funny. She was asking me how old I will be and I was telling her (41) and saying it didn't bother me and that I have fun with it. I told her when I was a child, my family would use my birthday as a time to have this big family cookout at our house. I think it was because its right in the middle of the summer so it made a natural time for a big get together. Not sure of that though, you'd have to ask my Mom. My grandparents, great grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc. would all come. So the way I figure it I was taught to look forward to my birthday and have a blast! Ha. Ha. Because of course I would totally look forward to those cookouts and have just continued to celebrate each year in my own way.

Have you seen the acrylic mini ablum this lady made? Check it out here. Scroll down a bit to see the completed album. Isn't it the coolest? When I first saw it, she had posted on 2 peas about it. It got such great responses, she has now been posting a tutorial and the store she designs for is doing kits. There is like a ton of prodcuts in this thing. I'd love to try one. It looks so fun. Project #2314 on my list! ha.

Well I have some DT work to get busy on myself. Hope you are having a great week!

Blessings.

Birthday Week Officially Begins

After lunch today we headed to Walgreens to pick up the 245 photos I submitted online last weekend. My husband went in to grab our order while I stayed in the car so we could keep the A/C on. If you read yesterday's post you aren't surprised about that right? So when he comes back he gets in the car, he is grinning and he kisses me and hands me the bag. I opened it to see there was another bag in the bag.... In that bag is a pink sparkly notebook and a box of pink bandaids. He looks at me and says "Happy Birthday Week" while still grinning of course. Isn't he the sweetest...and the funniest? I mean he bought me a box of pink bandaids. He was at Walgreens too for goodness sakes, so I am sure that way narrows down your choices. Yet he still made it sweet and fun. He said he thought I would think they were cool. Which of course, I do. I hurt my finger at the office a few weeks back and I told him I remember telling Mark that I would probably feel better if I could have a pink bandaid.... little did I know they really existed. Darrel said I'd like the notebook because it had "bling" on it (it has sparkly stars) and again, of course he was right. Can you believe he gave me a beginning of birthday week present? Isn't he just the best. Weeks ago I had very jokingly asked him (while we were joking about "birthday week") if he was going to give me something pink every day. He is pretty great. I told him I'd have to tell all the ladies now. See what happens is the women all think its fabulous and want to elect him husband of the year. Then they run and tell their husbands and say things like "why can't you do stuff like that" so then of course all the men want to tell him to knock it off! Ha. Ha.

So, let birthday week officially begin! I was just reading the AOL homepage and they had an article that said something like "Things women over 40 shouldn't wear." I just passed it by not paying attention and then I thought oh wait! I'm over 40 maybe I should read that. I forgot how old I was. Guess I'm not technically over 40 till Thursday but still....

Have a great week! Blessings!

Last Project and I've been tagged!

Made this this afternoon/evening. Wanted to do one more project with my M2Y kit. I loved the colors in these papers so much and the pinks and blues went well with the photo. These pics are from the day we spent at Pikes Peak in Colorado. It was the day before our anniversary. It was a perfect, special, peaceful, relaxing day. I wanted to make this to sit on my desk so I could remember it often. I am happy with the result. It makes me smile. It's always fun working with chipboard and ink and I also got to give my new BG file set a work out on those edges.

Watched the movie The Lake House while I was scrapping. Such a good movie. Have you seen it? Before that I watched A Walk To Remember on TBS. Talk about a tear jerker movie kind of day. I enjoyed them both though.

So I was tagged on Jane's Blog to share 7 random facts about myself. Hopefully this won't be as hard as my 12 things the other day.

1. I don't really like surprises. Weird right? I am a planner kind of a girl and so I much prefer to know the plans and know whats coming. I enjoy the knowing and looking forward to things like someone else might enjoy being surprised.

2. I have known my husband since I was like 7 or 8 years old. That was when I went to Vacation Bible School with a friend and because of that, started going to that church. My husband and his family already went to that church, and so therefore, that was when we met. We grew up in youth group and sunday school being very good friends. Never dreamed we'd end up married and in love. So glad God had plans there!

3. I do not like cheese so much. Seems the whole world loves cheese. Don't like cheesecake, don't like all those cream cheese dips, don't even really care to have a cheeseburger. Really the only place I like melted cheese is on pizza, and then it can't be too much or too thick or I will have issues. If I am going to eat like cheese and crackers it has to be sharp cheddar cheese because it has to be a firm cheese. I guess it must be a texture thing because I am so not into the soft gooey cheese thing. Ugh.

4. Patience is not my best thing. Don't like waiting. Don't like slowness, I want people to move! Lets get it done people. I am a multi-task kind of person and when the computer is slow for instance, I am much more likely to hit 15 different things trying to get it to go rather than wait.... My husband so does not understand this as he is completely the opposite.

5. I love to read! Love it. Especially Christian Fiction. I remember being in 1st grade and seeing these kids in this area in the hall that was set aside for the teachers to work with the advanced readers. I decided I was going to be in that group too. When I got to learn to read, and I do mean "got to" I did end up in the advanced reading group and stayed there all thru school. Can't have enough books and love to spend an evening at Barnes and Noble, Books A Million or Borders.

6. I like air conditioning! Love the A/C. As my friend puts it (she said it about her, but we think a like!) I do not do well when I am too hot, too cold, too hungry or too tired. Tend to have serious crabiness issues at that point and especially with the too hot thing. I love the A/C set on "snow" as my husband puts it. I'd rather have it cold and sit with a blanket then turn the A/C down and I LOVE to sleep with it COLD! I like the A/C so much, I told my husband the other day that I went into our bathroom, and both doors had somehow gotten closed in there, so the room had gotten quite chilly. I told him it feels so good I'd consider grabbing my book and going in there to sit on the rug and enjoy the temp! Ha. Again, yes, I know I am weird. I am good with that. This is me! Ha.

7. I have a very sensitive sense of smell. I notice bad smells quickly, especially things like cigarette smoke, gasoline, bad breath... and those things make me very uncomfotable. I have a very hard time just ignoring them and not needing to get away from them. Too strong of a skunk smell can practically make me sick. However, the right good smell....well that I find completely relaxing. A hot shower after work with my favorite bath & body shower gel can relax me quickly. My favortie scents are bath & body moonlight path, and Passion perfume. I also love great smelling candles, flowers and the smells of cookies, pies or bread baking. With those its the yeast, vanilla or cinammon.

Wow. That 7 went by quickly. Hope you weren't completely bored! Ha. As for tagging 7 other people..... I'll have to think about that one. I think all the people I'd pick have been picked.

Have a great Sunday.

Blessings.

12 on the 12th

So on M2Y Jill posted about doing 12 pictures on the 12th and doing a layout about it. Well I didn't do that since I am knee deep in picture a day, but thought I would post about 12 random thoughts for today on my Blog. I've seen others do like Thursday 13, so I'll be different and do 12.

1. Check out the pictures above. Trying to choose between the 2 for my picture a day. They represent the fresh vegetables given to me yesterday by some good friends at church. How Yummy was the corn! Wow. Fresh Southern Indiana Sweet Corn straight out of the field. It was soooo good. We had it for dinner along with grilled hamburgers and some of the cucumbers sliced up. YUM. The Zucchini will hopefully turn into Zucchini bread before too long. I keep saying I am going to make some and then get nowhere....

2. Here is todays picture of the day. Can you tell what it is? Made spaghetti for dinner. I intended to take a picture of the sauce cooking, or a bowl of spaghetti when were ready to eat. I of course forgot. So, this is a picture of my left over sauce and noodles in the tupperware bowls. Just what you always wanted to see right? My tupperware? Ha. I know I'm weird but I think pictures like this are kind of cool. When some time has passed its neat to me to look back at what your kitchen counter looked like, or what was sitting out. Plus can you see what is on the TV? Yep, CK on QVC. Too funny right? Love my red kitchen and my crocks and the red kitchen aid timer. The toaster is a Krupps. We got it on clearance last year with anniversary money from my parents. It is the best toaster we've ever had.


3. Thinking about getting a professional pedicure. Have you ever had one? A lady at church had the coolest toe nails painted red white and blue for the holiday. She had it done at a nearby shop. I told her I had never had a professional pedicure and she was telling me how great it was. I asked Darrel last night if he cared if I tried it just once. He of course said no because then I'll probably like it and want more. Ha! He was kidding. So now I am planning on when to give it a try.

4. Got very little done today on my to do list. I stayed up too late, then slept too late, then never seemed to get motivated to get things done. I did manage spaghetti, straightening the house, laundry, making beds, paid a few bills, and took care of some work E-mails. I guess that isn't too bad. I wish I could have checked off dusting and vac too!


5. I think I have finally given up ever catching up with my Heidi Swapp BPS class. I am still enjoying it though and getting such great info. and resources. I just decided to stop putting stress and pressure on myself to get all these layouts done and catch up. I think I will go another way with the calendar album either at the end of this year to document 2007, or start with it in 2008 and do one a month for each month.

6. I have found out I am very spoiled by having a garage door opener. Our garage door spring broke back right before we left for vacation. I thought I was NEVER going to get my car out to get to work that day. I had to hold the remote and push the button while pushing the door up at the same time. It would only go up like 6-8" and then back down and then another 6-8" the next time until finally all the way up. Then once I finally got the car out, The door came back down crooked with part of a cable hanging out the front and I liked to never get it all the way down.... Grrr. We didn't have time to fix it before vacation. Now since we've been back we just haven't gotten it done. The spoiled part is because I have decided it is a big pain to go in the garage put up the other door, get in the car and pull out, try not to hit either the garage or our T-bird which is very close where it is parked, pull out far enough to get the car door open, go back and close the door and then leave for work. I know, 1/2 the world probably does it this way, but since its summer and therefore no windows to scrape I'd rather just leave the car outside! See? Spoiled right? And yes, I know you are thinking, why not just move the T-bird?

7. My eye that was operated on is giving me a little bit of trouble here lately. About a week before vacation I developed what I thought was a sty except it never really got red or painful, just a white bump. I was concerned it would become a problem on vacation, but I prayed about it and it never bothered me. Now several weeks later, the bump was still there, plus now a second one was starting. This time it was hurting. So I called the DR who did the surgery to ask about it. They told me to do hot compresses and then gently "scrub" the sty area. Well this is a good trick when you have a plug in your tear duct of the same eye and you are not supposed to rub your eye so it doesn't come out. But I tried what they said and within a few days, both bumps have gone down. Problem is my eye is still feeling all sticky and like something is in it. Since a sty has to do with bacteria and having infection I am hoping I don't now have an infection in the eye itself. I am keeping up the treatment they told me and praying it will heal on its own. They told me to give it a few weeks.

8. Still haven't started my new book, Chasing Fireflies. I am so eager to get into it too. Need to make some time for reading this weekend. I love Charles Martin's books. I am sure this one is going to be fabulous too.

9. I think we are taking a 1 day trip up to Indy for my birthday. I get to hit some favorite scrapbook stores and shop and then we plan on going to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I was so excited that Indy has that restaurant! We went to one for the first time on vacation for Darrel's birthday and it was SO GOOD. Can't wait to go again.

10. Remember me mentioning the bunny community living in our yard? Well since we came home from vacation the population has seriously declined. We don't know why. Was there like a bunny hunt while we were gone or something? There are still probably at least 5, but before we left I think we were over 10! Maybe some moved on? The ones that do still live here have grown quite used to our dog. He is used to them too. I think they play games now. I let the dog out for the bathroom the other day and looked out the window and he's down at the back of the yard chasing a bunny around our rose of sharon bush. It was too funny. He charges after them and they only run just a little ways and stop. Guess they are convinced he isn't going to hurt them.

11. Aren't I on 12 yet? This is harder than it sounds. I have 2 postcards from 2 local restaurants for either a free meal or $10 off a meal for my birthday! I also got a buy one get one Blizzard coupon e-mailed to me from Dairy Queen. I'm like cool, all these coupons and its not even birthday week yet. Ha. See my husband was right the other night. I put something in the cart at Walmart (cant remember what it was now) and said I needed it for birthday month. He said next thing he knew it would be birthday year.... .Isn't he funny? Sounds great to me. Birthday year! Whats not to love?

12. Indiana South Youth Choir will be at church next Sunday. I can't wait. I really look forward to this concert every year. It is always amazing and so touching and inspirational. If you are in the area be sure and come join us!

wow... .I am done. Headed to bed for work tomorrow. Hope you have a great friday and a great weekend.

Blessings!

Once Upon A Time at Walmart.....

Here is my picture today for my picture a day for a month project. I think I mentioned that before right because I was saying you can quickly realize your life is kind of boring. Ha. So can you guess that today was grocery day? We have been going every other Tuesday after work. We were going on Fridays for a while but that was seriously cutting into our date night time so that had to go. Then we would go on Mondays after work. That was OK, but umm sometimes Mondays in themselves are plenty for me to handle so adding groceries to that, not such a great idea. Now I work Tuesdays also so we are trying Tuesdays. So far this is working pretty well. The look on my husbands face is because one he is smiling and laughing at me taking a picture in Walmart and two because he is telling me its my picture a day so I should be in the picture and not him. I told him if its my picture a day project than we already know I was there. Duh.....

So speaking of our trip to walmart can we talk about one of my pet peeves? What would that be you ask? Rudeness and bad manners. Grrrr..... totally sends the very little bit of patience I possess right over the edge. I mean it happened to me like 4 or 5 times in the first 10 minutes I was at Walmart. First I go to the pharmacy because I need some allergy meds. Well of course these days you cant just pop that in your cart and be on your merry way. No, you have to take the little card up to the counter and have them get it for you while you leave your finger print in blood. Ok, its not that bad...but still. So I take my card to the counter and one lady says she will help me which would have been fabulous because she wasnt the regular lady. Nope, I am not so lucky, just in the nic of time, the regular lady shows up to do it. She is VERY slow and barely speaks to you. I think when you are in customer service you should say hello to people and how can I help you. Is that too much to ask? No she only speaks to me to ask for my license. Then instead of typing in the info. on the keyboard, we use the touch screen which takes 9 times as long. After I stand there thru this while she continues to not speak to me... then she tells me now I have to move 4 registers over for her to ring me up. Why? We were already standing at a prescription pick up register? I forgot to mention that while she is waiting on me the lady filling prescriptions starts telling her about the next thing she needs her to do so she completely stops in the middle of the SLOW data entry process to talk about the next guy in line...... she then realizes she probably should have waited to start this conversation till they were done with me and tells the lady she will tell her when she is finished. She has to tell her this 2 or 3 times before she turns around to finish me. Grrrrr. I also neglected to mention the 2 people in the waiting area of the pharmacy who are staring at me the entire time I am there. I guess they were captivated by my beauty....... Do people no longer consider staring rude or something?

Next I head for the hair care area to get a new clip for putting my hair up. While I am standing there trying to choose from the 25 different kinds there - because see you have to find just the right size to hold your hair just tight enough without giving you a headache, but also not too loose or too big so your hair falls out - the walmart clerk lady decides she needs to straighten the shelves and put hair barrettes back in place right in front of where I am standing and looking. I had to reach over and in front of her to look at what I am trying to look at............ HATE that. That is so like being at the buffet and they decide they need to get right where you are dipping food to clean up the buffet. Could they not like wait a minute? Would it like kill them dead? I have a thing also about people, strangers especially, getting too close, like in my personal space. I am sure there was one other shelf in the whole Walmart she could have been straightening while I looked at that one spot. I mean has she seen their clearance aisle? (or maybe no one has they seem to move it around so much.... ha. ha. ha. ha. )

Next I head to office supplies. I needed a new dymo labeler for my scrapbooking because 2 have broke on me now. (why am I buying #3 when 2 broke? because there isn't something else like it to use instead, that doesn't cost like way more, and at least this time I found a different style....) Well they already have the school supply aisle set up so I think they might be there. There is one family in the aisle completely taking up the whole stinking aisle discussing whose what wore out last year and why they need a new one. Can they pull their cart to one side? Can they move over and let me pass when they see me standing there or walking their way? Nope. Their time and needs are way more important than mine I guess because they do not move an inch! Seriously. Don't I sound like a fun shopping date? (Now I seriously need my little rolling around on the floor laughing smiley guy, but blogger has issues with .gif files... so imagine him here if you will. )

The rest of the trip was reasonably uneventful. We had a close call at the Deli, which is not hard to do because they also are so SLOW. My husband was standing there waiting to get lunch meat which for some reason has to take 100 years every time. There was a lady standing right there behind the counter working. I went to pick up something else we needed. Came back, figured she was working on our order. Umm nope, she was doing something else and had not even acknowledged him standing there...... another big GRRR.. This drives me nuts. It is good manners and good customer service to let someone know you see them standing there and you are not ignoring them. I went thru training with H&R Block to be a receptionist. They trained us that even when you were on the phone, if a client/customer came thru the door, you were to smile, wave, motion with your finger 1 second...something to show them you see them and would take care of them soon. These days, people just ignore you until they are good and ready. I had to grab something else we forgot and when I came back she was finally taking care of our order and was friendly. I guess people aren't taught this in customer service anymore? But I just thought it was being friendly and making people comfortable and having good manners. Do you have to be trained?

So at this point we will say it was a very good thing that they had many checkouts open and we were able to get right thru. Normally you get to that point and they have like 3 open and 4 people in line minimum..... that would have been the perfect ending don't you think? If they only want like 3 open why on earth do they install like 30 of the things?

OK, I feel better now. I am seriously a much more fun date then this sounds. I do not go around ranting and raving at people. I try hard to treat people as I would like to be treated and not repay the rudeness with rudeness.... doesn't mean I don't have these feelings though so aren't you happy I can come and share them with you here? Ha.

Hope you have a great week!

Blessings!

A Peaceful Sunday

Isn't he cute? This is my friend's great nephew. I was trying to finish up my last DT layout and wasn't sure which pictures I wanted to use. Then I remembered these photos my friend had shared with me. They were the perfect colors and such an adorable little guy how could I resist? I had a lot of fun with this one and was very pleased with the results. I really like this kit and this paper line. Lots of fun to work with and great colors!

We've had a good Sunday. Started off at church of course. We had a great message about prayer and what things can hinder our prayers. Our Pastor and Youth Pastor did kind of a tag team approach to the preaching and it was very cool. Great music too. After church we attended a Newcomer's Luncheon Cookout at our Pastor's home. We had a great time. Lots of good food and good company and fellowship. I made an Eclair Cake to help out with the food and I brought home a gutted pan so I guess that was a good sign. It really made me hungry for Eclair Cake though so I guess I am fortunate that my sweet husband is making me one for my birthday very soon. I submitted 245 pictures to Walgreens to be printed....yes, you read that right. We took well over 100 on vacation and then I haven't had several other things printed this year. It adds up quickly!

Speaking of birthdays...... can you believe I haven't brought mine up yet? It is in 11 days! Which means "birthday week" begins 1 week from tomorrow! Do you have it marked on your calendar? Ha. Ha. Ha. My friend Judy invented birthday week and I think it is a fabulous idea. Shouldn't everyone get to celebrate their birthday for a week? You know, get to have fun things the whole week of your birthday. Sounds fun right? I asked my husband if he was going to give me something pink each day of birthday week?! Ha. Ha. Ha. Mostly just kidding, but we have a lot of fun with it. So I have proclaimed myself birthday week ambassador. Spread the word! Everyone should get to enjoy birthday week!

Finished my book yesterday. Wrapped in Rain. It was SO GOOD. You must read this book. Loved the message, loved the characters, loved the truth in it and loved the story. I have not read anything by Charles Martin that isn't fabulous!! One sentence in this book made me cry yesterday. The 2 brothers in the book are talking and both are tormented by abusive memories from the past. Tuck tells his brother Mutt (Matthew) that something that happened was not his fault. Mutt's reply is "Why can't my heart believe you." Wow. So much I can indentify with in that sentence. Why is it friends, family, loved ones can tell us so many good uplifting things, yet it's the negative, hurtful things that our heart thinks are the true things. Is the negative easier to believe because if we've been told it enough, we begin to believe it too? My head knows those things are lies straight from the devil, but sometimes my heart has trouble letting go of them and believing the truth. I guess that is why Jesus "transforms us by the renewing of our mind" like it says in scripture. There is another great illustration near the end of the book about Mutt feeling like he is bound by all these ropes holding him back from Jesus and how Jesus runs to him and how His blood disolves those things that bind him. Loved that too and LOVED the character Mama Ella in the book. I would love to be like her. She knew her scripture and fought her battles on her knees. At one point she says you are better off when your calluses are on your knees and not your knuckles. So now I am starting Charles Martin's newest book Chasing Fireflies. I can't wait!

Well the work week awaits so I better head for bed. It could be a busy one, or it could be quiet. I guess we will see. For several days I am pretty much holding down the fort as several people are away. Hope you have a great week.

Blessings,

OK, maybe it's just me but I really like this picture I got last night of the flag. I love how the sky looks dark blue. We had a great 4th. How about you? My parents came over and we had dinner (chicken and potatoes on the grill). Then we headed to town for fireworks. We got there at just the right time, found a parking spot fairly easily, found a place to sit pretty easily and had a short wait for the show to begin. The fireworks were great. God even added some of his own as a storm was starting to move in. It sprinkled on us a little, but we had umbrellas ready and it didn't really start to come down till we were back in the vehicle. We stopped for ice cream on the way home. Yummy.















Look at the cool stamps and paper that came today. I've been wanting some of these Cat's Life Press stamps. This is the first time I actually bought any. Saw them on Ali's Blog and also Nora Griffin's. They always look so cool when they use them I had to try them. Very nice stamps! Can't wait to try them out. Also got some of the new Creative Imaginations die cut papers.

This Crocs ad was in an E-mail from Nordstrom's yesterday. I immedately loved the red Mary Jane style. I click on the ad, it takes me to Nordstrom's site and I expect to find the shoes in the ad for sale there. Um wrong.... no Mary Janes, well, not this style anyway. So I think I'll go to Crocs.com. Gotta have them there right? Um, wrong again. Not on Crocs.com. So I did a google search and found some press releases. Turns out they are part of the Crocs fall release. I think available in Aug. 07. The Mary Jane one is called the Alice style. Also found out they are releasing a lot of regular looking shoes that are still supposed to have Cros comfort. Not sure how that is possible but some interesting styles. Most of them looked very 70's to me. Sounds like they will be pricey too.

I am doing the picture a day thing for this month. My friend Lisa did it last month. You are supposed to take a photo a day for a month then at the end of the month you have this little mini book thing with your photos documenting a month in your life. So each day the challenge is to determine what to take a picture of to sum up that day or the highlight of that day. Lisa kept telling me she realized quickly that her life was boring. Ha. Ha. It didn't take me long to understand what she meant once I started. It's like Ok, got up, went to work, came home, had dinner, watched TV, went to bed, maybe scrapped a little in there somewhere. So what exciting thing do I want to take a picture of in there to remember? I am on day 5 now and finding it a challenge. Still fun though!

Tomorrow is Friday! Yay. I think we are headed to town in the evening to do a bit of shopping and get dinner. Looking forward to it.

I will leave you with the words to a song that I found uplifting the other day. I was typing it into this week's bulletin. I think the song is called Hallelujah, but I know it better as Your Love Is Amazing or Your Love Makes Me Sing. The first verse and chorus go like this:

Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging. Your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet.
Your love is a mystery, how You gently lift me. When I am surrounded Your love carries me.

(chorus) Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing.

I love that line "When I am surrounded Your love carries me." Love that and need to remember that when feeling stressed and surrounded and overwhelmed by life. Not only is the song uplifting, but imagine if you will a co-worker walking around the office singing the chorus at the top of his lungs like he is Elmer Fudd...... Very cute.

Blessings!

Happy 4th of July!

2 more Design Team layouts. Loving this French Twist line. So pretty! The bottom layout is photos of our yard from May. My husband took the one of the baby Cardinals. So cute! The top one is probably an unusual subject but I wanted to document my eye surgery from earlier this year. I had saved my hospital bracelet, etc. I guess I am a scrapper like that! Ha. I have used the photo of my eyes before (and I actually I took it trying to show my new hair color quite a while back....) but it was perfect for this layout.

Hope you have a great 4th! Do you have plans? We plan to go see the fireworks in a nearby town as long as the weather cooperates. The forecast says 40% chance of storms. Also planning to cook chicken breasts and potatoes on the grill. Yum!

Spending the day cleaning. I am ashamed to say it but I think it was only minimal cleaning for the month of June. With 2 weeks of VBS and full work weeks on those weeks, plus 9 days of vacation, 3 wedding to attend, plus normal chores with yard work, groceries, etc... didn't leave much time for anything else. June was a good month though. It really looks like July/Aug will be way slower and for that I am very grateful!

Blessings!

Our Anniversary Photo

Here is a design team layout I just finished. The photo is my husband and I on our anniversary. Had some fun with all the goodies in my kit! I am off to make more! ºÜº Papers are from Autumn Leaves French Twist. Poem on the photo is "A Psalm For Marriage" by Marjorie Holmes. It reads:

I am married, I am married and my heart is glad. I will give thanks unto the Lord for the love and protection of my husband. I will give thanks for the blessed protection and satisfaction of my home. I will give thanks that I have someone of my own to help and comfort and even to worry about, someone to encourage and to love. My husband is beside me wherever I need to go. My husband is behind me supporting me in whatever I need to do. I need not face the world alone. I need not face my family alone. I need only face myself and my God alone. And this is good. This is very good. Whatever our differences, whatever our trials, I will give thanks unto the Lord for my husband and my marriage. - Marjorie Holmes.

Ok, just re-typing that I found like 2 typos from where I put it on the photo. Duh.... do you know how many times I read thru that looking for typos? Oh well, Stacy Julian says to embrace imperfection so I will give it a try! Ha. Ha.

Hope your week started out well. Mine is good. Husband is at a meeting, I am spending a quiet evening scrapping. Do you have plans for the 4th? We are going to spend it at home I think. Might go to fireworks in the evening depending on how we feel and how hot and/or humid it is.
Have a good one!

Blessings!