Monday, Monday!

Well, it's just another Monday again, but that is a good thing. It means another chance at having a great week, another day to love my family, another chance to do things that please the Lord (or at least TRY to do things that please Him!). This past week I have really been scrapping a lot for me. I have done several paper pages and finished up a digital page. I have a few more in the works (digital) but they are no where near being done...mostly just in my head right now. But don't you find that you do most of your work there first? At least I do. I like to let things simmer a bit at times. So, I thought I would share the layouts that I have done recently...several of them are for challenges on Lifetime Moments. I thought I would give their Scraptoberfest a go this time around, especially since they said digital pages could count for any challenge that could be done digitally. Figured that would help me get my pages for my album done ;)

This picture is one that Aundy Flynn took several years ago and I have finally scrapped it, and the card that I made from its scraps.

Pictures taken at Strawberry Park, of course, using Cosmo Cricket and lots of stuff from my stash.

And my digi page...I like how it turned out. I used the sketch assigned for Day 3 at LM.

All my layouts are linked to my gallery at ASF where I posted any necessary credits.

I have also been doing Jules' Life Deck Challenges...here are my first set of ATC's for that. They were cards for today, tomorrow and yesterday.

The next assignment (Life Deck) is style...I am pretty sure I am lacking in that area...not sure what I am going to do there...still letting that one simmer.

Digi Page for today

Well I am back to doing some digi pages and I guess with a vengeance. Hannah thinks I should go ahead and try to get a book together for the grandparents - good thing they don't read my blog, huh? So I sat down and figured out pages that should be done according to my pictures stored by the month...working from October 2007 until the end of this month (Sept. 08). So here is the first page...it is a picture I did recently in paper also for one of the previous newsletters from ASF.

Here is the paper version:

And here is the digital version:

Both layouts are clickable and are in my ASF gallery with credits.

Happy Birthday to my Hannah!!!!

I cannot believe she is 18 years old today!!!

Here are a few pictures that were taken today with her friends....thought they were cute and had to share!

Tonight we are grilling ribeye steaks - yum! We also made Chocolate PB Squares and Lemon Bars instead of cake and ice cream.

September Club 52

Club 52 met last night...and I thought it would be a perfect way to start trying to blog again. My blogging attempts are like my journal and diary attempts - sporadic at best. One day I do hope to be better.

Anyways, here are the layouts that I did with September's kit...love how they all came together.

Here is a link to the thread where all the product and sketches are posted...September Sneaks and Peaks....and below are my layouts that I created with it. I am absolutely LOVING those Making Memories Tiny Alphas...I think I need more

We have 2 kits left from this month - so let us know if you would like to join!

My DVD Cabinet!

Finally I have taken some pictures of this wonderful cabinet! I am so thrilled with it! We looked for years and years to find something like this and finally had Danny custom build this and I painted it black and added the square pewter knobs. As you can see we may have to have him build us another one for a different wall - eegads, we do have a few DVD's huh?

Front view

Side view (It's not wide and we had to anchor it to the wall like a cabinet.)

All 3 doors 0pen - and yes, it is pretty full and notice none of the old VHS tapes that we are still hanging onto (mostly older children's videos for Christin) are in here, nor are any of the XBox or Wii games, nor any of my workout videos or the DVD's that do not work with the TV Guardian.

This summer we have been going swimming with Kim C and her wonderful children! My children have been having the time of their lives and love playing with them! Yesterday we went to the Rez pool and I actually REMEMBERED to bring my camera and TOOK pictures!!! Here are a few to share with y'all (and yes, Kim I will email the big versions of them to you soon!). I am going to have to remember to take more the next time we go swimming - Christin kept making funny faces and the close ups didn't turn out very well....but I really like the bottom one - good thing he didn't get my camera, huh???

July Club 52

This Friday night Club 52 will meet! It is always a highlight of my month - especially AFTER I have completed my layouts! You can check out the previews and sketches to this months kit here at ASF's Club 52 forum. And here are my layouts for this month's kit. I did try to post this yesterday and Blogger wouldn't let me finish uploading my layouts. Grrrr. I did link my pictures to my ASF gallery if you would like to see a larger image.

On to other things. We have been swimming a lot more this summer. I need to take my camera with me next time we go to the outdoor pool so I can get some good shots to scrap! I have taken some at the indoor pool during swim lessons, so at least I have those.

I am also thinking we need to plan a picnic next week. Not sure where though. We may drive up the Trace a bit or maybe just go to the park over by the Rez. Caleb loves to play in the water there a bit. They are not into playground equipment a whole lot but would rather run around and explore and use their imaginations. Works for me.

I have also been getting my act together with working out again. I find that I absolutely cannot allow myself to walk upstairs and check anything out on the computer before I work out. One thing leads to another and before you know it 30 minutes have passed and it is then already getting too late to workout in a timely manner. So...at 6:30 I am pulling on my workout clothes and popping in the DVD. I bought a new one by Leslie Sansone. I need to check it out to see if I am going to keep it. Collage video is really good for that so I am going to see if they have a write up on it. So far I have been sticking with my Firm workouts, but I do like to vary things up a bit so I don't get bored. The one I purchased at WalMart ($11) is 4 Really Big Miles. It looks like an ok addition (checked it out while I added the links) so I think I will keep it. It will most likely be a good one to do between heavy weight workouts with the Firm.

My Closet

My birthday present this year was to redo our walk in closet in our master bedroom. It is not a large closet, but I knew we could definitely do a better job of storage in this area! All we had was a wrap around shelf at the top with two bars running along the sides for hanging. We found the Closet Maid site and were able to put in the actual dimensions for our closet and design it the best way possible for the least amount of $$.

Before we had about 11 feet of hanging space and about 13 feet of shelving. Now we have 17 feet of hanging space and 33+ feet of shelf space!!! I actually have bare areas in my closet!!! AND we really didn't get rid of a whole lot when we cleaned it out!

Here are a few photos! This first one is the left side of the closet.

This one is looking straight in. (see I told you it wasn't a big one!)

The right side of the closet.

My shoe storage!!!

One thing I did notice while we were doing this is that almost all of my dress clothes are BLACK! I really do like the elegance of black I guess, but I am trying to now make a conscious effort not to purchase too many more black dressy items. The red bracket shows you my dressy clothes (I do have a purple skirt in there :) )

Very BAD Blogger!

So the other day Wanda was talking about being a bad blogger - I think I have taken it to a whole new level. I haven't posted since February! No excuses, except I just haven't had the desire I guess. BUT, I am going to try to do better. I seem to think that if I can't post every day then what is the point? But really, is that reasonable??

So, just a little about what is going on in our lives right now. We are on summer vacation from school, although Hannah will be starting back around the 28th of July in order to be done with 12th grade in time for the official graduation in early May. I will most likely start the others just a bit after that because I do want to have them done with their year around the same time.

This summer I have been working on a lot of home projects. Hannah and I painted the living room, hall, foyer and hall bathroom. We cleaned the carpets downstairs and have also done a lot of decluttering and organizing. I still have a long way to go on the organizing part though.

I have gotten my scrap area in better shape and here are a few photos of the ribbon storage that I took. So far I really like it and if a holder gets a little worn I can just cut another one from my scraps - which is what I used. The size I cut the paper was 2.5" x 6", folded in half with a circle punch for the hole. I am thinking of cutting that down to 2" x 6" though for any replacements.

This one is of my ribbons. They are all sorted in the colors of the rainbow.

This one is of my trims and wide ribbon. They are attached with a large safety pin to a binder ring. I also sorted them in rainbow color order. And yes, I did iron all my ribbon as I sorted and placed them in the holders - they just hung neater and I also cannot STAND crinkles in my ribbon when I use it on a layout!

Also this past week I celebrated another birthday. Chuck installed a closet organizer system into our master closet for me. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! I so wish I had taken before and after pictures. But since I didn't think about that before we started on it I will just have to share some after ones. First I have to take them - so that is on the agenda today - because I want to scrap my new closet! It is something I have waited for for 6 years!

Wedding Photos!

Well I finally have some pictures to share from the wedding that I did for Brandi...I think everything turned out really nice. Anyways....here they are.

Snowy Day!

We woke up to snow this morning...what a nice surprise! It has been years since we have seen snow here in the south....in fact it's been since New Years 2001! Micaela was just a wee little girl then and doesn't remember it. She told me this morning that her prayers were answered because it snowed this winter. Too sweet!

Here are a few photos I took today....we really didn't get much at all and at the time I am writing this it has all melted and gone away...but it was great while it lasted.

I am "not" Challenge

One of my online scrapping buddies Amy has a challenge going on the ASF Cybercrops and Challenges forum. I thought I would at least try to do this one....although it may end being a digital page since I am trying so very hard to get 5 paper pages done for Club 52 this Friday night (the release date!).

So as a start here the list that I posted in her comments section of her blog. We'll see how many of these I actually USE for my layout!!!


1. I am not a blonde anymore, much to my dh's dismay. Although I am getting more blonde highlights put into my hair tomorrow than I normally do.

2. I am not at my goal weight, but I am actually back to working on it!

3. I am not a "coke" drinker unless it is diet and I prefer caffeine free.

4. I am not a high maintenance girl nor am I low maintenance but rather somewhere in the middle.

5. I am not lazy. I always have some project going on above and beyond my normal everyday chores.

6. I'm not an animal person, but when our dog passes I know I will be so very sad and will miss her. I tear up just thinking about it. She is really getting old!

7. I'm not a loner. I like to have other people in my life. But there are times that I do enjoy quiet solitude.

8. I'm not shy. There was a time in my life when I was painfully shy. I still have moments though that I have to push myself.

9. I am not a writer and do not enjoy writing unless its on a message board to my friends. Or I guess my blog works too. Nothing formal for sure!

10. I am not what I would consider smart or above average intelligence. I do however like to learn and do new things. I never want to be too old to learn!

Long DAY!

So, nothing terrible went wrong today...just a long day with a few twists and turns.

The insurance adjuster did come out and get up on our roof to survey the damage done by the hail stones the other day....and we are getting a new roof. Chuck came home for lunch today - for about all of 15 minutes. His phone never stopped ringing and he had to glup his lunch down and run out the door. They had two cut cables and some fiber mess happen.

School today could definitely have been better. No one stayed on task today - talk about distracted. And Christin, oh my goodness was she a mess today. She was a happy little camper singing most of the day - however one singing made up songs while others are doing school work does not go well - at least not here today. I sure did hate to tell her to be quiet because she is just so happy and cute and doesn't mean any harm with it...just overflowing from her little heart.

Then what I thought would be a simple thing to do in Word Press for the site blog is turning out to be a nightmare. There is supposed to be a htaccess file in the Word Press files - ours is not there. I have made it so I can see hidden files on my FTP and it is still not there...I see the main one on our site, but not the one they are talking about. Anyways....I know next to nothing about htaccess files so I guess I am going to have to do some reading about this and see what I can do. I want the blog to be the main page of our site....anyways, not going to take up this post talking about it...will just have to do some more reading on the subject.

So, back on the wagon!

I have 14 pounds to lose to make my goal weight...and what have I been doing...well it used to be 10 pounds, so I guess I have been gaining weight! This has to stop. So...I created myself one of my old accountability threads in the weight loss forums that I frequent and I plan to keep myself accountable for everything I do and eat. It's not hard, you just have to be consistent - therein lies my problem!

So here is my new ticker!




I am planning on working out each weekday...nothing radical, just doing something each day to get me back in the swing of things. I will most likely do Walk Away the Pounds dvds...just hate the music and talking....so usually I turn the volume down on the tv and play the radio or something...you can still follow along fine just paying attention to the screen!

Ok...anyone notice that I have two music players? Well I can't find all the songs on the bottom player for the top player - but the bottom player won't keep playing (times out) and it won't let you skip around songs...in fact it is downright controlling. I love to open my blog page and have music play while I am upstairs or online...so therefore I have two. Anyways....that is my reasoning in case anyone actually reads this and wanted to know why, LOL!

Such a FUN Day!!!

So today we went over to Tony and Sheila's! We had lots of fun as usual....love to hang out with them! I even snapped a few pictures (see previous post as to reasons WHY I really needed to snap some) but even so, many times we get together and I never pull the camera out.

We brought the Wii over and everyone had a blast playing different games...got this great shot of Lauran hitting the ball in the tennis game!

And Tony and Hannah actually posed for a picture (Tony's idea - definitely NOT Hannah's but she sure does look pretty! (Of course I am totally biased in my opinion - but then aren't mothers supposed to be???

The Chuck and Lauran traded glasses and I had to get a shot of that!!! It was hilarious!!!

So, not sure if all of these shots will make it into a scrapbook page or not - but I am pretty sure they will be appearing in some form or fashion soon ;)

Yesterday Jules and I met and got a lot discussed as far as some changes coming up with Club 52 and that is under the way. I do have a bit of work to do on that besides my layouts that need to be done.

And I really need to get back on the weight loss wagon. I have fallen off and need to get a hold of this before I gain a lot of weight back. So far it's only about 5-7 pounds (depending on the day) BUT I feel frumpy and old and haggard and I know the reason why is because I am not exercising and taking care of myself like I should. So bottoms up - of my water glass that is and I am seriously going to get some sort of exercise back into my routine every day! I used to work out with dvd's in my bedroom every morning, but the TV in there is on the blink, so that is not an option right now and working out in the living room isn't my first choice...so I need to come up with something else ASAP!

Long time - no post!

So, I guess when you take a break that long from posting, just exactly what do you say? Hi? I'm back? That sounds so.....lame.

Anyways, Hi, I'm back, LOL

Life has been busy as usual. The December wedding is over (of course since it's now January) and that went fairly well. Learned some lessons along the way as always.

I have noticed as I have been looking for pictures to scrap that I haven't taken hardly any pictures these past few months....and I am in trouble I tell you....I need some pictures to scrap for my Club 52 pages that are due right around the corner. So I guess I had better get the camera out and start snapping some to go on these layouts. I do have a few ideas in mind.

We had terrible weather today. In fact we had hail stones hit the house. Thankfully they only hit on one side and it was the side furthest away from my truck. Every time one of those babies whacked the roof I just cringed inside since I knew I had left my truck in the driveway. I sure didn't expect the weather to be as terrible as that. Of course, after the fact, we found out that the hail was only right around our area!

We did save some hail stones...so I may snap a picture or two to share later on.