Happy Thanksgiving!

So on the Eve of Thanksgiving, here's my list of 30 things I am thankful for:

 1. My relationship with God - even as tenuous as it is at times.
2. My husband who stands by me through thick and thin
3. My children who are my greatest accomplishment and the lights of my life
4. My grandchildren, in heaven and on earth. I love them all....
5. My Mom who is one of my best friends
6. My family - brother, sister, aunt, in-laws...You have all been an influential part of my life
7. Friends - what would I do without you??
8. My job. Even though I complain about it once in awhile, I'm glad I have a job that offers me some flexibility.
9. My home, while not a castle, is comfortable and welcoming
10. My dog - the only other female in the house. You're my pal, Leia!
11. Creativity - relaxing, entertaining and good for my soul
12. My second job at Photography by K - nothing better than working for my best friend!
13. Food. Yeah, I just love it.
14. Television and movies and being able to be a couch potato once in awhile
15. Naptime - for me.
16. Technology. I love new gadgets and gizmos as long as they are useful
17. Animals of all kinds. They make me smile
18. Change of seasons. I like living where we experience heat and snow and everything in between
19. Words - reading and writing
20. Flowers - they can brighten any day!
21. Walt Disney - without him there would be no Disney World- my favoritest place!
22. Photography- a newer hobby for me but I love all the options and images that can be captured on film
23. Solitude. Sometimes it's just nice to have some alone time
24. Good health - taken for granted until you don't have it
25. People with pleasant attitudes - we need more of them.
26. Slippers. Now if I could just wear them to work.
27. A good night's sleep. Doesn't always happen but is great when it does!
28. My Dad - although he's been gone for 25 years, not a day goes by that I'm not thankful for the time I had with him. And this item should be farther up the list!
29. Coca-Cola. My choice of caffeine
30. All my Facebook friends and blog readers. You make my days fun and more interesting!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

As we know, cancer sucks

Yesterday, I went to the funeral home for a visitation. A neighbor of our previous home had passed away at the age of 60 from pancreatic cancer. Now this completely freaked me out for a couple of reasons: 1. I'm not all that far away from 60 and that's simply too young to leave this earth. My goal is to be here until I am at least 89. 2. I was hospitalized with pancreatitis last year and once it healed, I had a scope done to determine if a tumor caused the attack. Fortunately, no tumor. But this recent turn of events (the passing of our neighbor) started me thinking again about cancer and diagnosing it early enough to have any chance of a "fix" but here's the thing - pancreatic cancer is one of the hardest cancers to diagnose and by the time you have definite symptoms, there is little that can be done. That is not reassuring information.

As a matter of fact, this lovely lady may have actually had cancer for 2 years before it was diagnosed in May of this year. 4 months later she's gone, leaving behind a husband of 38 years, a son, a daughter and son-in-law, a granddaughter and a granddaughter on the way. My heart hurts for them all.

I don't really have any words of wisdom to pass along regarding cancer except this: know yourself and your body. When you even suspect something might not be right, see a doctor. If you're not satisfied with the diagnosis, see another one. Be aware and be proactive. You only have one very precious life to live.

May you rest in peace, Bette Jo.....

A Graduation Story

I have a little story to share but in order to get to the end, I need to back up and provide some of the beginning.

My son Jacob has cerebral palsy. You may already know that. He has been in a wheelchair his entire life and will always be in a wheelchair. Physically, he has many limitations. Mentally? Not a single one.

When we moved from Toledo to Sylvania, OH. he was (finally) integrated into "regular" classes through Junior High and High School and he excelled. He was well known, well liked and had many people he considered friends. Although these were not students that came to our house to hang out with him, but they talked to him daily and that defined them as friends.

Fast forward to five years ago when he embarked on his college journey. As a family, we decided the best place for him to attend was a smaller, private college a stone's throw from our front door. Literally, we could walk to campus if we needed to. The first year went well, and Jacob was acclimating to college life although it was different from what he had envisioned. Lourdes College (now University) is attended by a majority of non-traditional students: older, married, with careers...and fairly conservative. Jacob was (is) none of these things. So by his second year, he was feeling as though he didn't fit in - that maybe a different college would provide a better experience for him.

His parents (yes, us with limited foresight) thought that the school was a perfect fit. We liked that the attention he received was more personalized, that the campus was a 2 minute drive from home, that all the faculty knew our son personally. The people he interacted with on campus were kind and considerate. But he was not making any friends. We chalked that up to the school being a 90% commuter college and let's face it, you find friends in college when you live in a dorm. So we convinced him to stay into his third year.

As we tried to point out the positives of the school, Jacob became more unhappy and focused on the negatives. Frankly, we just couldn't see what he was seeing. Now let me clarify - no one was ever mean to him. The course work wasn't too hard - or too easy. He just wasn't feeling it. We let him take one class at the University of Toledo to see what it was like. And overall, he loved the atmosphere. Younger, active students - that was what he was missing. But in talking to UT about transferring, we were in for a hefty dose of reality. In order to transfer, Jacob would add approximately three additional years onto his college career as most of his credits would not transfer. The 2 schools were in different accreditation programs. He wouldn't be able to transfer - it just wasn't the logical thing to do.

So we both changed our expectations - Jacob committed to finishing out his education while trying to find some enjoyment at school (and elsewhere) and we would take a step back and realize that he was not going to be completely satisfied where he was. And it broke my heart. Not only because he wasn't going to be happy where he was, but that we realistically couldn't change the situation either. We kept moving forward, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel growing brighter. Graduation day was going to get here and then his future would really begin.

While Jacob always insisted that he had no friends at Lourdes, I saw many students say hello to him, calling him by name. I saw students become his "friend" on Facebook. Maybe his definition of friend was different than what I was seeing but certainly people liked him. He knew this also and appreciated that the people he encountered at school were nice and were kind to him. Of that he had no argument.

On to Graduation Day. Jacob had no intention of going to Commencement but that was just not going to happen. Proud Mama here wanted to see my son, on stage, get his diploma that he had worked so hard to achieve. As he was waiting to process in to the hall for the ceremony, many students and faculty congratulated him on his accomplishments (he graduated with high honors) and a couple even asked to have their picture taken with him. As we sat in the hall and students were each taking their turn walking across the stage to get their diploma, we would hear bursts of small groups applaud for each of them - friends and family members of the graduate showing them some love. And then it was Jacob's turn in line and I planned on letting out a big YEAH!!! and then something happened that warmed my heart. When Jacob's name was announced, it wasn't just a small smattering of applause - it was a room full! Many students gave him a standing ovation. Someone in the audience hollered "Go, Jacob"! And yes, there were tears in my eyes. Because the kid who had "no friends" turned out to have many friends. People who cared. People who saw beyond the physical limitations and knew the dedication and hard work that he had put into his 5 years as an undergrad. A few of those students knew he was struggling to find his place (he posts about his life occasionally on Facebook) but they let him know in those few short moments that he was recognized and appreciated.

Jacob said last night before bed that he had a good day (despite Graduation being kind of long). He heard the people applauding for him and he was touched. This doesn't change how he felt over the past few years (the grass is still greener on the other side) but through the acknowledgement of those around him - his "friends" - he felt appreciated. And don't we all want to feel that from our peers? I think sometimes, feeling cared about, can be more powerful than a fleeting friendship or two.

We can't go back and give Jacob the college experience he had wished for. And truthfully, I'm not sure he would have found what he was looking for at another school. My wish, as he makes his way in this world, is that people will take a moment to truly see the man his is - funny and warm, smart, kind and caring. I pray he finds many friends to be by his side and always appreciate him. I hope that those he encounters give him a chance and look past his disability. And I hope that the next time you have an opportunity to show some small kindness to another - especially someone who may be "different" - you applaud and let them know that they are valuable. It can make a huge difference in someone's day - and someone's life.

Being a Mother

Being a Mother means:

1. Putting yourself second and not regretting that position for one second

2. Learning to listen to words that are not spoken aloud

3. Knowing that getting a "good night's sleep" is often futile but understanding the reasons for why it is this way sometimes and accepting

4. Gaining a new respect for vegetables and a balanced diet, not only for ourselves but more importantly, for our children

5. Becoming a collector of memories in all shapes and sizes

6. Wearing many hats: nurse, advocate, psychologist, police officer, maid and most importantly, friend

7. Being the "bad guy" when it's necessary (which also makes you the "good guy" in the long run)

8. Adapting and responding to new circumstances and situations in the blink of an eye

9. Feeling unconditional love for another human being. You may have thought you found that when you married your husband but it multiplies ten-fold when you're a mother

10. Making mistakes but learning from every. single. one. and becoming a better person because of them


However you spent your day, I hope it was the happiest Mother's Day ever!

My weekend in photos

It was a good weekend for this:

Free Comic Book Day
Kyle (in blue), Aimee (in pink), Jacob (in chair)
 

and this:

Iron Man 3 - review at Are You on the Fence

and buying these:

and these:

Now to get them planted!

And doing a little of this:

Yes, there was also a little stress but when isn't there a little stress? I choose to believe that the good of the weekend outweighed any concerns. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I hope you had a great weekend too!

What I learned while making a card... or trying to make one

Did you ever have one of those days when you just couldn't get the creativity to work? Well I've had two of them...all trying to make the same card. So I don't have anything to show you yet (I am still defeated at this point) but here is what I have learned along the way:

1. While buying unmounted stamps may be cheaper, make sure you have a block that is large enough to adhere the piece of rubber to or stamping with it will just be an exercise in patience.

2. When coloring a large image with many small parts and rather crummy eyesight, it might be best to work in sections and not try to complete the entire piece at one time. Especially when working with markers as they tend to stray outside the lines over time, due to afore-mentioned eyesight.

3. It's only cardstock and it can be thrown away.

4. When coloring with pencils, be sure to have a sharpener on hand or that line straying thing will occur  - again.

5. The trash can is your friend.

6. When attempting to airbrush sky around the completely colored image, be sure there is enough compressed air in the can to finish the project. (drats!)

7. When creating a stunning background using a mildly complicated technique in order to stamp the large image in black only and let the colors of the background shine through, be sure the stamp doesn't have stray ink that will leave a smudge on the background. *(double - expletive - drats!!)

8. Once in awhile it is a good idea to empty the full trash can.

9. When the impulse to tear rubber, break pencils and throw just about anything across the room begins, it is time to walk away and consider choosing another image for the next project.

That's all I have. You may or may not ever see the card that this post inspired. Time will tell.
Goodnight.

7:57 pm

June, over at Bye, Bye Pie, thought for some reason that it would be fun if her readers would grab their cameras today at 7:57 pm and take unplanned photos of our family at that time. In a moment of insanity, I thought this sounded like a fun idea. Until I realized that I run the risk of boring or scaring my readers away but this is us. Ar 7:57 pm this evening. Warning: nudity ahead.

First, a little background on my day. I get up at 5:45, get ready for work, and get my son ready for school. We leave about 8:15 and I work until 1:30 when I go back to school to pick the son up. Then home, lunch, check mail, get son settled doing something with his afternoon. (For those who don't know, my son is disabled so I spend a fair amount of time helping him with daily "stuff"). Then I made dinner (lasagna) and took out the garbage (NOT normally my job but hubby can't do any lifting yet).

And then I grabbed the camera:

First subject: Princess Leia. Hanging out in the kitchen to see if there is either A) any scraps from dinner that might drop her way or B) any scraps from the garbage that I just took out that might drop her way. She's not picky.

Next on the 7:57 tour is the hubby hanging out on the living room couch chillin' with his iPod. Still recuperating so I can't say too much. Except that he's starting to resemble a slug. Good thing he's going back to work on Sunday. I need to regain my space when he's gone during the day. Like that couch. For a nap.

Our daughter was here this evening to help out with son's bath. Also NOT my job, but again, hubby's on lifting restrictions and a 100 lb. dripping wet person is not on his list of "can-do"s. Although as you can see I'm not helping much here - just snapping photos that make my son want to scream at me. Not much to see here - move along.....

After finishing the bathing, taking the dog out for the 254th time for the day and helping my daughter haul a metal Havahart animal trap into our attic (yes, our friendly critter is still residing upstairs and keeps eluding traps!), I finally have a chance to sit and watch an episode of "Heroes" that I missed 2 weeks ago. Oh and here's me, catching a breath:

No there's nothing wrong with the photo - I always look that blurry.

See you again soon!

Random day of randomness

It's Saturday and I should be finishing up my notecard order but I feel like I have too many other things to tackle first and somehow, that means blogging too. And then there's changing sheets on beds, scanning textbooks (son uses a screen reader for his college texts) and figuring out what to make for dinner when nothing sounds good. Not that I don't think food, in general, sounds good, I just don't think I'm in the mood for cooking. But it was pizza last night so I guess tonight I have to go back to cooking something. Maybe homemade subs. Easy.

Here's my recipe for homemade subs - it's not a combination you might think of for a sub but trust me, it works.
From the deli, get sliced ham, pickle and pimento loaf (Or olive loaf if they don't have p&p) and cooked salami (not hard salami). Some places call it Cotto salami. Oh and cheese. My mom always used Swiss - I prefer Provolone. 
Melt a little butter and stir in some garlic powder to make a garlic spread.
Split your sub buns open and spread some of the garlic butter on one side. Layer the meats and top with cheese. Wrap the sub in foil and place in a 275 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.
Then serve with tomato/lettuce/condiments - even Italian dressing added to this is pretty good.

French fries make a great side dish.

I think that's what's for dinner tonight.

What are planning for dinner?

Speaking of....

So what do you think of the new blog look? I'm not sure why I feel the need to change it every once in awhile except that I get bored looking at the same thing all of the time so I imagine you do too. Of course, I should have been spending my time stamping (those 150 notecards are not going to make themselves!) or taking down my Christmas tree (I got as far as the garland and there she stands....partially naked).

Speaking of naked, our Leia girl (http://ridiculouslab.blogspot.com/) is looking all spiffy in a new collar that Santa left in her stocking. The funny part was watching her when we took her current collar off. She ran around the house like "I am free from the hideous collar bondage!"....either that, or she was playing keep away because she associates the removal of the collar with the imminent danger of a bath! But no bath tonight - too darn cold!

Speaking of cold, I'm not a fan of hot weather but this cold has been insane!! And by tomorrow, we should have 3-5 inches of snow on the ground in the morning. Yeah I'm thrilled. Especially since I will be the one shoveling as hubby is in more pain from his hernia, which thankfully will be surgically corrected on Monday.

Speaking of surgery, will I make it through Monday before he drives me crazy? Don't think so! This is the first real medical thing the man has ever faced and, although I have had three major surgeries, you would think he's the only one to ever have surgery of any kind. Pray for my sanity. I'm gonna need it.

So how's life been treating you?

New Years 2010 and Happy Birthday!

Can you believe we're already at 2010? It seems like it was just the other day we were all thinking about entering a new millennium at 2000 and here we are 10 years later! Amazing how time really does fly! I can't really say that I will miss 2009 - there were a lot of things I would rather not relive from that year so I am focusing on making a new start in a New Year! Our theme this year is LIFE! How does that fit into my goals for the year? Here's a little summary:

* Treat life with great care - this involves taking better care of myself (yes, dieting again....or more appropriately, making better health choices for myself. That sounds better!) and taking care of those around me by investing more personal time and effort because these are the people who matter the most and make my life complete!

*Breathe new life into my passions - this year I will be focusing on some old as well as some new endeavors, bringing you more ideas, artwork, inspiration, and creativity! My goal is to recharge by Close To My Heart business, share great artwork with the wonderful Design Teams that I am a part of (or will be joining through the year) and even venture into a new opportunity! I can't share that with you quite yet but I can tell you that it will be yummy!

* Share life stories - one of the things I am often asked is how I juggle all of the things I do. While I am no expert, I do have some ideas that seem to work well for me and I am hoping to share some little tidbits through this blog during the year. Plus more day to day stories about life in general because it's way better to laugh (and cry) with friends!

* Live life to the fullest! This is an easy one to say and a hard one to accomplish. So many times, there are things I want to do and I end up not doing them because I'm afraid of the outcome, or I'm too tired...you know those feelings, too? This year, I am going to try to stop letting opportunities pass me by and to enjoy more and worry less.

Lofty goals for sure but that's what LIFE is all about! What are you planning for your life in 2010?

Today, we are celebrating New Years as well as my hubby's 50th Birthday! (Happy Birthday, sweetie!) We're hanging around the house watching TV and relaxing until early evening when our daughter and son-in-law and some friends are coming for dinner and just to hang out (and probably watch a football game or two).

Here's the card I made for hubby - officially his party won't be for a couple of weeks yet as our family celebrates birthdays by season and we have a lot of "winter" birthdays that all get celebrated together. But today is still his day so here's what I whipped up:

Paper is from My Mind's Eye and the stamps are from Hero Arts. Border punch from EK Success.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Day and take some time to plan out your goals for the year and then share them here in the comments. I will be back on Tuesday with Sherrod Studio and MyGrafico will be having a blog hop on Wednesday so stay tuned!

Oh Thanksgiving, will I survive you?

Thanksgiving is the holiday that I host for my family and so I am gearing up for the day in untold ways - well, untold until now. For instance, part of my preparations this year included cleaning out all of the closets in my house over the weekend. Why? Who knows. But apparently it needed to be done in order to roast a turkey.

Today, I am having the carpeting in my house cleaned. This will result in two possible outcomes: 1) the carpet will still be damp on Thursday morning, 2) it will rain the next few days - yes, that is the forecast - and muddy dog paws will wreak havoc on temporarily clean carpet and 3) *I know I said 2 but I just thought of another one* - my family will be as they always are when we get together and some food item will end up on the carpet somewhere.

And last but certainly not least, I am also preparing for Thanksgiving by beating my dishwasher to death as it chose last night to stop working all together - no power and water lying inside where it definitely does not belong! Hand washing dinner dishes for a party of 8 does not please me - is styrofoam plates tacky for a holiday meal?

And finally (yes, I know you thought I was done but clearly I am not) there will be one extra guest for Thanksgiving dinner this year - whatever critter is currently taking up residence in my attic just might find a way to get some turkey. After all, he managed to flip the traps and clean the peanut butter off of them without getting caught so turkey might be his next move.

Can you tell how much I am looking forward to this holiday? In fact, despite everything, I am. I enjoy having the family around, I love the Thanksgiving food and I have much to be thankful for - good health, employment, a nice house (for the most part), people I love and who love me....it's all good!

Today, there wil be no Tuesday Throwdown from Sherrod Studio as Kim graciously gave us the week off for the holiday. But I do have a little something to share with you, because I can't leave you without any creative inspiration!

However you spend your Thanksgiving, may it be a time to remember all you are blessed with. Until next time -

Las Vegas trip

This is my 2nd post for the day so be sure to scroll down to check out the Corrosive Challenge for the week!

I have a little vacation recap to share and a slideshow, if you want to take a peek at some pics from the trip. As I mentioned before, DH, myself and son Jacob all went to Las Vegas for 4 days this past week. Jake just turned 21 in August and we thought he would enjoy Vegas. Well, to start, he went with the idea that he was not going to gamble because he was not about to lose money. But he did gamble and of course, he won more than hubby and I combined. Of course.

So we got to Vegas on Tuesday, checked in to Planet Hollywood (note to all: we wouldn't recommend staying there if you consider a trip to Vegas - it was just OK and there are much nicer places to stay for about the same price). Did a little walking, had dinner, spent a little time gambling and went to bed. Exciting, aren't we?

Wednesday, we walked. And walked. And walked! My legs will never be the same. Oh but before we walked, we went to a timeshare tour. All for free buffet tickets. 2 hours of my life gone for buffet tickets. Oh well.

Saw 1/2 of the strip in the afternoon, about 1/3 of the strip in the evening. All walking. Did I mention that before? Luckily, the temperatures were on our side. Low 80s. Much nicer than the other times I have been there when the low was 104.

Wednesday evening we went to the Donny and Marie show at the Flamingo (also where Jacob "hit it big" on the Kenny Rogers slots). The show was AWESOME!!! I even got to shake Marie's hand (although I would have rather it had been Donny but what's a girl to do). I was able to bug my husband with the Marie handshake thing the rest of the week.

"Oh, you won $20 - well I got to shake Marie's hand!" Yep, nothing beat that to DH.

Thursday started off with a trip to Viva Las Vegastamps for some rubber stamp shopping. That didn't turn out as I planned as they really didn't have much I wanted despite having a lot of stamps but I am just not into the art deco type stamps and the wood mounted stamps. So $75 later - most of which was spent on taxis to get to this store, I ended up with three stamps. Big deal. But now I know and it's not something I would make a trip for again. The rest of Thursday was spent walking more, gambling more, eating and packing back up for our trip home on Friday.

All in all it was a fun trip although we A.) did too much walking! Next time, now that our son has experienced most of the casinos, we won't feel so compelled to go look at everything! B.) didn't care for Planet Hollywood so much - next time, I think it's Paris for us C.) didn't come home rich or even money ahead - well, except for Jacob! But I did have a great time taking pictures with my new Canon SX200 and if you'd like to take a look, I have a little slideshow here that offers additional commentary on the slides.

Thanks for letting me share!

Names in the Sand and the Funnest Scrapbooker 2009

I know - what a combo in the title there huh? But I have two very cool things to share with you today.

First, a little back story on this photo. Many of you know that my daughter and son-in-law lost their first baby-to-be this past January at 23 weeks of pregnancy. Well since that time, Aimee (my daughter) found this beautiful website entitled Names in the Sand. Through this site, parents who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth and other loss of a child, can ask to have their child's name written in the sand on a beach in Australia. You can read all about the origins for this site at the link provided above - it's a beautiful story. Anyhow, Aimee put in a request to have their daughter's name written in the sand and her request was fulfilled on Sept. 25 and this photo is the results:

Isn't it beautiful? Now for those that don't know, Ziggy was her chosen name as she was always referred to as Ziggy the Zygote while Aimee was pregnant. Unique but perfectly right for our little angel baby. Thanks for letting me share this with you.

As for my other info, I am so happy that a very good friend of mine, Terri Davenport, was named CK's Funnest Scrapbooker of 2009!! You can check out Terri's blog by clicking her name (and I have a link to her under the sidebar 'more blogs i love' and you can see the CK page announcing the winner at The Creating Keepsakes Blog. If you ever pick up scrapbook/stamping magazines, chances are you have seen Terri's work published many times over. She is an inspiration to me (and some day, I WILL be published, cause she keeps pushing me to enter, enter, enter!) Stop by her blog and leave her some Congrats!

Ok that's it for me today - I have a bunch of things I need to be creating but first on the agenda is a shopping trip with my son Jacob - I need a new memory card for my camera and he's chomping at the bit to pick up a new video game. Have a great day!

29 years ago today.....

..... I married my high school sweetheart! Here's a picture of us on the happy day, all those years ago:



Yep, both of us all in white...Tod sporting that sexy 'stache...could we be any cuter? It's kinda hard to see very clearly in the photo but just to give a shout out to my dear Grandma, she made my wedding gown. It was simple but very pretty and me. And it hid the baby bump quite well. (Yeah, family scandal in 1980...told you that 'stache was sexy....)

We had an early in the day wedding and an afternoon reception with no alcohol (except champagne punch), no dancing, no dinner (just appetizers) and all over by 6 pm. Party animals we are not. Of course, being 5 months pregnant didn't really elicit the desire to dance on tables or anything. Or drink. Although, back then we weren't as careful about stuff like that when we were pregnant. I even ate bologna.

So how did we celebrate 29 years of marital bliss? We traveled about an hour from home, to the big town of Archbold, Ohio, where we stayed last night at the Sauder Heritage Inn in the middle of a soybean field. We had a buffet dinner. We talked and watched TV. I didn't sleep well AT ALL because a.) I now have Jacob's sick thing b.) I don't like hotel beds c.) the darn AC in the room blew on my face all night so that my eyelids were frozen and d.) I don't like hotel beds. Did I mention this trip was my idea?

Oh and there was no dancing on the tables this year either. Just the way we like it.

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life. Here's to 29 more!

Movie Review and other things to look forward to

My daughter and I went to see the new movie "Julie and Julia" yesterday and I just had to write up a little review for everyone as a way to encourage you to GO SEE THIS MOVIE! It was really good!! I wasn't expecting it to be so good but it really was!

The movie flip flops between Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking world and Julie Powell's story of cooking her way through Julia Child's cookbook in one year. This is a Julia Child most of us have never seen...starting out, not successful, in love with her husband, building a life for herself and him...very sweet and poignant. And Meryl Streep was fantastic!!!! Now I only remember Julia Child as an OLD woman so in looks she wasn't too dead-on for me but her mannerisms and her voice were uncanny!!!!!

And, of course, Amy Adams is just cute in everything she appears in. It's funny to see her attempting to cook all these dishes in a year and blog about it. And then be surprised when people start reading her blog! Things all bloggers can relate to.

Treat yourself to a matinee and go see this movie. I wouldn't call it a chick flick either so drag your hubby along. You'll love it!

And stay tuned because tomorrow I will be bringing you a double dose of creative fun - the Monday MyGrafico Challenge post and the 1st day of sneak peeks of the NEW stamp sets being released this week from Sherrod Studio - you won't want to miss out!!

Until then, have a creative day!

A Day-in-the-Life - Part 2 - the Fun Continues

So I left you at a nap, which frankly did not last long enough, and the remainder of my afternoon was spent, once again, in front of the computer. But all for a good reason this time! I was hosting an online convention for Close To My Heart consultants and I taught an online class and generally just checked in now and again to make sure everything was running smoothly. Which it was. I'm good.

Then we all went out to eat cause we're Birthday celebrating. This is the Birthday man once again with his sister and brother-in-law...aren't they cute all together?



And then there's me and my husband. His nickname is Goofy. Wonder why? And he's really not like the goofiest person you'll ever meet but he does goofy things sometimes. Like make faces at the camera, just because. But that's 100% better than going out in public with hair that looks like mine! Try to block the hair from your mind. It looks like I'm sitting in a wind tunnel. I evem look a little blurry (while Tod - that's my husband - does not - how did that happen?) And no, I wasn't drinking.



Ok forget that hair now, will ya?



And this is Jacob having his 1st legal alcoholic drink - an Absolut Lemonaid. He thought it was "ok". He drank about half. He weighs about 93 pounds so half is plenty for him.



And then there was the obligatory singing and embarrassing the Birthday person by the restaurant staff. Ice cream and balloon mandatory.

The rest of the evening was spent watching a comedy DVD (Jeff Dunham. I love Akmed, the dead terrorist) and eating cake. And I even found a little time to do some stamping. But I can't show you yet what I made - that's for Monday's post. Meanwhile I will share a couple other cards with you I made this past week:



Dorothy in the poppy patch was made for a contest over at The Greeting Farm. Look how creative I was cutting all those bricks for the yellow brick road. And check out the velvet ribbon butterfly! Yowsa!

And this is a card I used as a sample in one of my classes at the online Convention I was talking about earlier. All products are from Close To My Heart.

So that wraps up my day..it's now almost 11:30 and it's time to get some sleep...until 5:45 rolls around and the fun begins again. Thanks for sharing my day with me!