A few of my favorite things

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite Christmas things that I've made. Still cleaning...still digging out Christmas boxes, but I did find these. It's such a treat to bring out things that I love. I made the big nativity last year. Santa and Mrs Clause were made 11 or 12 years ago. HoHoHo Santa was made 8-9 years ago and the pink victorian Santa was made 12 years ago. That one was the hardest thing I've painted because there is no black line work to hide mistakes and clean it up. His bag has roses in it and some under his arm too. I'm not so good at roses, but I love him all the same. He just makes me smile! :o) Later I will share other decorations as I dig them out. I hope you're all having fun getting ready for Christmas.
Today I grabbed the mail as I was heading out to get Kyle from school. There was a letter from Chad and this picture. They took it in the first few weeks of basic training. I have to say that he is one handsome boy! I know I'm his mom...but he is! As soon as I saw it I started crying. Just so you know, crying and driving at the same time is not recommended. It tends to affect your vision a teeny bit. He says his face has more scars now from things blowing up in his face. Oh my gosh! They are blowing things up at my son....and shooting over his head too. He said "not to worry because it was concussion, not frag, even though it lifted him off the ground...fun fun." What the heck does that mean??? On the back of the picture it says "Your loving son...forever grateful for your guidance and protection. I love you all! Chad A George"

I so love and miss that boy!

P.S. I saved 3 extra Christmas cards to send to the first 3 blog readers that are not on my mailing list. If you are interestled just say "me" and email me your address and I'll send you one. :o) craftygirilinaz@hotmail.com
***Edited*** Perhaps I should have explained better. It isn't necessarily the first 3 people who comment, because some blog readers are already on my mailing list and some readers may not be interested. I did get an email from Briana and it appears that Carrie wants one too, so I have one more to give away. :o)

I'm so done!

Happiness is...having ALL 240 cards DONE!!! Yep! I'm done! Addressed, sealed, stamped and to be delivered tomorrow. With the exception of a couple of addresses I still need to get. Oh happy day!

There is a cold front hitting Arizona today. Mark and I took the bike to the star riders dinner and I FROZE my butt off...seriously! As soon as we got home I got into warm pajamas. I could only find one slipper so I warmed one foot at a time. Now that I've thawed out I feel much better. I don't envy you girls who live in cold country. I'm such a wimp!

Amy gave a great tutorial on her blog for how to photograph Christmas lights since a bunch of you asked her for help. I tried again tonight, but I couldn't find my remote and just held down the button myself. I'm still happy with the results. It looks sparkly and much better...thanks Amy!
Today would have been my oldest sister Debbie's 46th birthday. She died 6 years ago and we all miss her dearly. Here is a picture of all of us when we were little. From left to right...Me, Julie, Debbie, Coleen, and Rene'. Happy Birthday Debbie...We love you! Isn't it ironic that my mother had 5 girls and I had 5 boys??? LOL!

Random thoughts...

• Really wishing I was done with my Christmas shopping. Older kids are VERY hard to shop for.
• Brek, Brittany, and baby Mark are moving out this weekend. I have mixed emotions about that.
• I've GOT to start getting to bed much earlier. This 12:00-2:00 is just plain nuts!
• You know you're old when you sneeze and pee you pants...or cough, laugh hard or jump on the trampoline for that matter.
• The next several days are going to be nothing but cleaning and decorating...with some ornament making snuck in there.
• Welcome all of my new blog readers...feel free to leave comments. I love to read them!
• My dad's Birthday is tomorrow (Thursday) Happy Birthday Dad...I love you! :o)

The tree...finally

I finally got the tree decorated tonight. We had spots that the lights were out in the middle and the bottom. I spent quite some time trying to fix them, then I gave up and headed to Wal-Mart to buy 300 more lights. The squirt bottle is working pretty good at getting the kitties out of the tree speedy quick. I haven't found the tree skirt yet or decorated anything else. I just haven't had the time. Last night Coleen did come over to help me with Christmas cards until midnight. That is why I couldn't blog last night. I only have 24 more to go...but only 12 more envelopes, so I either lost a pack or miscounted. That could really go either way. :o) We had yummy Vito's white sauce with chicken pizza. It was so dang good! That is really the only pizza I like.You can see some of the red walls in the family room. We usually have the tree in the living room on the main floor, but the new furniture is huge, so there's no room in there. My house is a tri-level so the room you see through the railing is the dining room then the kitchen behind that. A lot of the ornaments on my tree are ones that I've made. Here is a scan of some of them. I cut the wood and painted these several years ago and still love them. They took a LONG time to paint. I made the rag tie garland too. I haven't made my basic grey or bazzill ornaments yet. I'll get to those as soon as I finish these cards...and yes I am sick of making them. I still think they're cute, just tired of working on them.



Here is the tree without the flash. Last year Amy taught me how to take a picture without a flash the right way so that the lights are sparkly and brighter, but I forgot. I need a refresher course. I post another one if I figure out how to do it right. It really does look better in real life.

Do you see my problem???

Oh my heck!!! Actually I have 4 little problems named Blue, Patrick, Princess Ellie, and Miss Sugar. Cody had just barely set up the tree and we don't even have the branches spread apart yet, but we do have 4 little fart head kitties that are playing in the tree. They wasted no time in scaling their way to the top and wrestling in the middle. The whole tree was shaking. No matter how many times we threw them out, they went right back in. My sister Coleen calls it the kitty tree house and doesn't think I have a chance in heck of it staying decorated or even staying up right for that matter. She suggested I get a squirt bottle and shoot them everytime they are in it. What do you think? Any suggestions would be helpful at this point....Seriously! I haven't even started decorating it yet and frankly I'm afraid to. I did however paint red walls for 10 freaking hours on Saturday and a few more hours today after church and the darn family room still isn't done. It has been a huge pain in the rear because it isn't covering well and I've had to use 3-4 coats on everything. I didn't use primer because the walls were already red. I had no idea how long it's going to take to finish this one room, but I think it's going to be the death of me. I hurt so bad and I've decided that painters don't make enough money. It's an absolutely horrible job!
Coleen came over tonight so that I could help her make a 20 page 8X8 album for the foster care child so they would have some idea of the home and family that they were being placed with. It turned out really cute and we were both happy with it. We finished up at 10:45 then we went through the drive thru at Taco Bell for what they call the 4th meal of the day...but it was really only my second, so I was starving. She is going to come back over Monday night to help me work on cards. I still have 96 to go...can you believe it??? So close but yet so far! It's almost 1:00 in the morning and I had more things to say, but my brain just shut off, so we'll see if any of that comes back to me after some much needed sleep. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Thanksgiving with the Georges

Thanksgiving with the Georges....Mark's parents moved back to Arizona this summer so this is the first family gathering in their new home. They set up 3 long tables in the family room and we fit 10-12 people around each table. I didn't get a shot of the table I was at, but it was a full house. We ate till we could eat no more...then we ate pie. So wishin' I had worn my stretchy pants. Cole got sick on Thanksgiving morning and had bad things coming out of every part of his body at least a dozen times, so him and Mark stayed home, which was sad. Cole cried because he wanted to go so bad, but knew that he couldn't. Mark stayed home and ate frozen pizza while Cole slept on the landing in front of the bathroom door so that he wouldn't have to run far. Not such a fun day for the two of them. I did bring home food for Mark that he ate later that night, but it's just not the same...know what I mean?

Gotta love Mark's dad. He always does the dishes. It's so nice of him and the women really appreciate it after cooking all day. Thanks Ray! Mark's mom is a great cook and she can feed a crowd with ease. I appreciate all the work she put into making it a special day for the family. After dinner the adults hung out trying to let their food settle while the kids went outside to play. I think they had the right idea...work off the meal. I thought I'd share some pictures of all the younger kids that were there.
This is Olivia who is so pretty, yet never ever smiles for pictures. I only caught this smile because she didn't know I was taking the picture.
Here is sweet baby Carter who is Olivia's little brother. He just turned one and loved playing with my lens cap.
How cute is she??? Kaitlyn is the youngest grandchild and looks just like her beautiful Mom, MaryAnn (Mark's sister)
Jaron and Adrienne...the very adorable older brother and sister to Kaitlyn. These kids are sweethearts!
Baby Mark...the first great grandchild in the family. He was so good all day. It was the first time for alot of the family to see him. Of course they all loved him to pieces. How could they not.

Mark and I got up this morning to start our Christmas shopping. The alarm went off at 4:00 and I just couldn't get out of bed. I had an upset stomach and I was beyond exhausted from only getting 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before and barely any sleep that night because my stomach hurt. I like my full 8 hours of sleep and don't do well on anything less. So I fell back to sleep and got up at 6:15 and we were in Target by 7:00...late, but who cares. It not like when our kids were small and easy to shop for, plus we are on a tighter Christmas budget this year, so we are really simplifying it. I know we can still have a wonderful Christmas without spending a small fortune. There is so much more to Christmas than presents, and to me the season is so much more special than the day itself. I will make it a nice and fun season for my family. We also got together with a bunch of the family and went bowling today. I can't believe I'm sore from that. I'm such a wimp! I haven't started to decorate or even get stuff out, but Brittany did find the red paint today so we will be painting in the morning when we feel better and are well rested...then the tree will go up. I'm so excited to decorate. I can't wait to see all of your festive homes too. For now I'm going to bed. I promise to catch up on my blog reading. I look forward to seeing what you've all been up to. For those of you who don't have blogs, feel free to email me your holiday pictures. I'd love to see them. :o)

Oh my......pie!

I've spent most of this day in the kitchen baking pies. I had a few errands to run before and after, but there are done. I didn't end up making an apple pie this year, but I did make 2 pumpkin, 2 pecan, 1 cherry cream, 1 strawberry cream, 1 banana cream, 1 chocolate cream and 1 crustless pumpkin dessert. Plus I made 80 deviled eggs. Cole helped a little with squirting in the filling. He likes that part. I discovered that the back of my oven cooks hotter, so the pies that were back there got darker...they will still taste yummy though. I'm thinking that there will be pie in Heaven because it's so darn good...."deviled" eggs...probably not. They get a bad wrap from their name. :o) Tomorrow I only need to make cream corn and sweet potatoes...easy enough!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and really enjoy the special time that you have with your families. I'm sure I'll be taking pictures to share....and remember to count your blessings and keep gratitude in your heart! (((HUGS)))

The Deen boys!

Look who I met today! Yep! it's Jamie and Bobby Deen...son's of my most favorite Paula Deen. They were at Sam's Club in Chandler doing a food demo. They did the Lady's cheesy mac and Not yo' mama's banana pudding. Both recipes were so yummy! Miss Paula raised some fine boys. They were so nice and down to earth...just like you'd expect southern boys to be. Sorry for the poor quality pictures. I'm really not liking my purse size camera very much. Cole dropped it a while back and ever since the pictures are not so good, but it works for things like this where I don't want to take my big camera. Paula cooks very much like I do...full of flavor, fat and butter, with no thought to calories. Life is too short not to enjoy food! :o)

I went to Scrapbooks Etc. this morning to get more clover green bazzill cardstock. Marty was nice and gave me 20% off, so now I can finish the other half of my cards. Cee...I was there just after 10:00 and you weren't there yet. I told Lesli to say hello and sorry I missed you.

I also went to the chiropractor. When I walked in she asked how I was doing and took one look at me and said "you need me". She was so right. I still have my headache, but I know when you have a headache that lasts over a week it's not going to go away just like that. Hopefully in the morning it will be gone.

Oh! For you Arizona girls...Knee shorts just opened a store here on Gilbert and Southern. I'm so excited! I've always had to order online since they only had Utah stores.

Didn't get ANY cards done today...oh well! There's just not enough hours in the day or tylenol in the cupboard. Tomorrow is another day! I won't be making my deadline, but I've come to grips with that. I'm no wonder woman...that's for darn sure...but it would be nice to look that good in the outfit! But hey...you can't cook like Paula Deen and expect to look like wonder woman, right?! :o)

Half way there

Thank you so much for all the well wishes. I'm feeling better today. My head and neck is still messed up, but I will go to the chiropractor for a crunch to take care of that in the morning. I'm officially half way through my Christmas cards. 120 are completely done! Yay me! The problem is that I bought my cardstock from the bazzill warehouse sale, and I didn't know it, but every sheet has a bar code sticker on it. That would be fine if your using it for a scrapbook page, but when your making cards, it makes it to where half of my cards have the flippin' sticker, that isn't the easy come off kind of sticker, so I'm frustrated and card making has come to a halt. Apparently I'm going to have to go get more stinking clover green cardstock....uggg...

So what are all of your plans for Thanksgiving? We are going to Casa Grande to my in-laws house. I'm making pies...pumpkin, cherry cream, strawberry cream, banana cream, chocolate cream, apple, and pecan. Plus I'm making cream corn, sweet potatoes and deviled eggs. We always celebrate Thanksgiving with Mark's family and Christmas Eve with my family. I really enjoy this time of year and I'm thankful for so many things. Although I am always aware of the blessings in my life, Thanksgiving always has me counting my blessings more than normal. Gratitude is such an important thing in life....I'm even grateful for trials because it makes the good stuff that much better.

Random thoughts

Not appreciating the little bar code stickers on my paper

Ran out of duck adhesive. I get mine in the 4 pack. Went to Wal-Mart to get some more and was asked if I was old enough to buy it. WHAT? Hello...it's tape people?!

KFC for dinner...not so good. I guess I should have cooked instead of buying food on Sunday.

Sick to death of spam emails. I'm so not interested in latin lovers, asian singles, online education, auto loans, creditors be gone, refinancing or ring tones! GRRRRR!

I got my paper craft gourmet magazine from Heather. Thank you Heather!...I got to look through it last night. So many great ideas and recipes. I love it!

Some of you wanted to see my scraproom in bigger pictures. I put them on 2 peas a while back, so you can see them full size. Here's the link.


I'm so glad that I'm not the only food and beverage hider

I'm equally glad that not just my kids lie about taking things. I get so tired of hearing the "I didn't do it" and the "it wasn't me" lines. At least I'm not alone and some of you have children that suffer from this denial affliction.

We got to talk to Chad for a few hours this weekend. That was so nice to catch up on things since he's been gone. He is getting so excited for graduation and coming home for Christmas.

Watched Nacho Libre last night. (2nd time) I can never get those 2 hours back again.

Who is decorating for Christmas Thanksgiving weekend???....I am!!! :o)

Short post

Is this mean or what?! I couldn't help myself. We have a mini fridge in our bedroom that we keep soda, bottled water and vemma in. I buy sodas for the kids, but once theirs is gone they sneak into mine. It makes me crazy when I know that I have one left and I'm saving it for dinner. I go to get it and it's gone! GRRRR!!! I only have energy for a few random thoughts tonight because...
I am sick!...dangit!!! Why must they share their germs with me?

Today I am so thankful for my bed...and my bathroom

I really want a pepsi!

I did make the clock and thank you!

Michelle does have a website. It's called Tiffany's room. It's under construction, but you can still contact her.

Mark took the motorcycle to get me pepsi...problem is I don't think he plans on getting it in this city.

Brittany cooked dinner...thanks Brit!

Those people out buying those playstation 3's are just plain CRAZY!

Cole's nurse called and said he's been in 20 times this year...sigh...had to have a talk with him about that.

Tomorrow I get to talk to Chad...yippee!

My head and tummy hurts...very dizzy too!

I didn't leave the house today. Didn't think driving while dizzy was a good idea.

I DID get my pictures YESTERDAY. Not bad since I ordered Monday afternoon. The mailman hid them. Mark found them. He won't come near my front door because he is scared to death of Cinnamon and doesn't know she passed away.

Perhaps I will leave a note for him in the mailbox.

We didn't get to have date night tonight...Mark is so sad!

If I feel better in the morning maybe we can still do our Saturday breakfast together.

It's nice to see so many new faces as well as my old friends too! Thanks for visiting and commenting! You seriously make me happy!

Hey! my pepsi is here...so is some kids soda to distract them from mine.

Back to bed for me...have a great weekend!

Crafty things

Look what I got finished today with the help from my new friend Michelle. She has her own vinyl company and is very reasonably priced and a sweetheart to boot. I painted these projects last month, but wanted her to be able to get through some big events she was doing and Halloween before I bugged her to do my vinyl. She is the same one who did the vinyl for my cute jars. I SO LOVE these pieces and plan to order some more as family Christmas presents. The established one I hung in the entry way by my front door. The bigger one will be downstairs in the family room, but I need to repaint that room first...problem is I bought the paint months ago and I can't remember exactly where I hid it from myself. I hate it when I do that! My family room is already red and the paint I got is a deeper red. There are a lot of scuffs and dings. It just really needs to be freshened up...especially for the holidays. That is a project for me and Brittany. :o) I have an idea for that wall that I'm excited to try. I'll share pictures when I'm done.

I'm thinking that random thoughts is going to be a staple on my blog because I can say a little blurb about things without telling a whole long story or things that don't really have the need for more that a one liner. I like that I can just get things off my chest and out of my head....and since it's my blog I can do pretty much whatever I want. :o)

Today's random thoughts...

Cody is better today...still got a call from the nurse regarding a rash on his arm. It's always something. :o)

Got a call from Cole's school nurse too...he had a headache

Maybe my boys just like the nurse...hmmmm...

I always smile when I walk in the room and click refresh and see that there is a new comment

I am so easy to please...it's just silly how easy. :o)

Baby Mark has a little cold...so does Kyle

Our employee Eric is VERY sick today...bad things are coming out of every part of his body...ick! (TMI)

Mark had a full schedule on his own after Eric went home early

My pictures are not here yet, but should be here tomorrow (Friday)

I don't HAVE to have my cards done by Thanksgiving...I just want them done so I can turn my focus to other fun things to do with my family.

Really wish I knew where I put that darn paint!

I'm outta here...I have cards that need to be made. :o)

I'm a winner!!!! :o)

Guess what??? I WON this very cool magazine from Heather D White as a RAK (random act of kindness) How cool is that!!! She asked for people to post their favorite holiday recipe on her blog, then she drew out a name and it was ME!!! As most of you know, I LOVE to cook, bake and make cute things that make a statement or just add that special touch to show that I care, so THIS magazine is PERFECT for me. I'm so excited to get it and thank you so much Heather. It is genuinely appreciated. Here is the recipe I shared with her. You all have to try it...it's so good...I'm honest!

Pumpkin Freeze

2 cups crushed ginger snaps

1/3 cup melted butter

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Cloves

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. Ginger

1/8 tsp. Salt

1 quart of vanilla ice-cream

Mix crushed ginger snaps, melted butter and 2 Tbsp. brown sugar. Press into a 9X13 pan. For filling mix together pumpkin, 1/2 cup brown sugar and the spices. Then fold in the ice-cream. Pour and spread over the crust. Cover and freeze. Cut into squares and serve. I like to sprinkle more crushed ginger snaps on the top.

I got a 5 page letter from Chad. They won't let them eat the cookies I sent until this weekend. How's that for NOT FRESH! They did however let him smell them. The sergeant even got a big sniff. :o) He has been having chest pains and wouldn't go to the hospital because he didn't want to delay graduation. They finally made him go to the infirmary. The pain was from rapid muscle growth that cramped and pinched nerves. He has put on over 20 pounds of muscle in the short time he's been there. Get this...even with the severe pain, he has ranked 1st place in every single competition. He's even broken some records at that base. They have been more than just a little impressed with his performance there. That boy of mine is something else! I'm so proud of him. In his letters I can see how much he is growing...not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. It's been great to see. I miss him so much! We get to talk on the phone with him this weekend. I'm so excited!

I think I'll finish up with a few more random thoughts...

66 cards done...174 to go. Have to do 40 a day to finish in time

Found my sandals...and my keys!

A 7th grader throwing up in his second hour is not a cool thing

Mom having to pick him up is not so cool either

My floor is still not clean :o/

Kittens attacking you in the night is kind of scary

It's not cold outside until you go fast on a motorcycle...Brrrr

My new name with the Star Riders is "Pinky" :o)

I really need to replace the ink in my photo printer

I'm happy that I can "see" Missy's blog again

broken sprinkler pipes equals big dead spots in my new lawn

Seriously can't wait to get paper craft gourmet

Truely grateful for all of you

Loving Arizona in November!

Help wanted

I had some help with the cards today...at least she thought she was being helpful. The reality was...not so much!
Yup! Not even on the clock 20 minutes and I find her sleeping on the job...and to think I paid her in advance with kitty treats...sheesh!

Random thoughts and stuff...

no make up

hair pulled up

stretchy pants and comfy t-shirt

not so pretty, but I'm comfy

47 cards done

mine and Mark's laundry is done

my kitchen is clean

my floor is not clean

pot pies for dinner

in my defense I did make a great dinner last night

hate construction on the way to Kyle's school

can't find my sandals

sick of popping out the center slits of leaves

adhesive smells funny

Cody de-pantsed Brek in the kitchen...not a pretty sight...shudder..

got a shipping email from winkflash this morning...so fast!

really hate 9th grade bullies that pick on 7th graders

enjoying my caffeine free pepsi with my teeny sonic ice

looking forward to Thanksgiving and pie making

Have boy hair on me from giving a hair cut

really wanting a shower and a good nights sleep

hoping all of you had a wonderful day! :o)

Let there be light

Get this! I just wrote this whole post and POOF it was gone when I went to publish. Some error....grrrr! Then blogger wouldn't let me upload pictures for a good 30 minutes. Trying this again. If it doesn't work, I'm going to bed. Too darn tired to try a third time. Crossing my fingers, ankles and my toes! Do you remember way back in June when I painted two of the bathrooms a spa blue? Well I bought light kits for all 3 bathrooms, but the Coca-Cola bathroom light has been in my closet all these months. Brek is working as an electrician. Tonight he said "I can put that up for you mom." It was cute! Thank you boy! I love it!
(From when Brek worked for us)

A few people have asked me what we do for a living, since I've mentioned that we own our own business. We own and run a truck mount steam cleaning business called First Call Carpet Service. We have been in business for 10 years and Mark has been cleaning carpets for 16 years. We have 2 vans that run full time and 1 truck that runs part time when we need it, so we are a small company. If any of you Arizona girls ever need your carpet, upholstery or cars done, give Mark a holler and he will schedule you in. (602-989-9411) He's not one of those crooked guys that quotes you a price, then walks out the door with major damage to your pocketbook. Honesty and good work has always been important o us.
Okay...so I changed my mind. The other picture had too much glare on Chad and it bugged me, so I switched to this one. I ordered wallet prints from winkflash today. It was .39 for 4 prints to a sheet. I asked the lady at Wal-Mart and she said it was .58 for 2 to a sheet....well no ma'am...I don't think so. I can't afford that. In our business it's feast or famine...currently famine, but next month could be feast. We never know. It just depends when our bigger accounts decide to pay us. Jen asked who took the pictures. I brought my camera, tripod and a button pushing nephew. I set it up and he snapped away...whala!

Thanks for all of the sweet comments. You guys are the best...honest!

Christmas card pictures

ACCCKKKK!!!! We took loads of pictures today and not one turned out good!!! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get 9 people and a picture of a person to cooperate all at the same time for pictures??? Seriously...it's insane!!! First of all, Cody didn't smile in any of them, so I had to take him out of the factor when trying to narrow down my decision. We had blinkers, non smilers, Chad's picture with major glare, baby crying, you name it, we had it going on. As you can see I decided to go with wearing camouflage at the Army National Guard base (in the museum part) They won't let you take any pictures outside. I thought since Chad is at boot camp right now, he'd like to know that we are all thinking about him and want to make sure he is included. His girlfriend Sandy is holding his picture. She's a doll! Please tell me it's okay, because I don't have the time or patience to re-do them. Here is the message that will be on the inside of the card with the picture. I hope it's large enough to read.

So did you all have a nice weekend???

And so it begins...

Thought I'd share part of the card making process since it's all I'm really doing lately, besides tending to family needs, of course. So far I lots have nice neat stacks of cut paper. The rest of my chatterbox paper came in today so I just finished cutting that. I started on the quickutz flowers and leaves, but that is going to take a few days to finish those. The messages for the inside have been printed and cut. The only elements still missing are the pictures, mailing labels and stamps. I actually think I can pull this off by my deadline, but it's not going to be easy. Two weeks and counting. I think I work best during crunch time anyways. :o)

Brittany is sick today...some icky stomach thing....poor girl! Tomorrow my kids have no school because of Veterans day. I had no idea until this evening. I know...good mom, huh?! :o) I let them have a cousin come spend the night, so they are happy campers. I'm going to the chiropractor tomorrow for a crunch because something is out in my neck. I've had vertigo for the past two days, so my head doesn't feel so good. If I lean over it sends me into a spin...which in turn makes me feel nauseous. I'm off to bed. Thursday night means I get the remote...at least until Mark gets home from his ride. :o)

Be sure to honor the Veterans in your life!

***Updated*** All 240 poinsettia flowers are cut and all 480 leaves. My sister Rene came over yesterday so I could help her plan a 3 week menu, and in turn she cut all the leaves while I cut the flowers. I have 10 cards done...230 to go. Plus all the Merry Christmas from the Georges have been adhered to the red squares. Family pictures tomorrow! It's coming along.

Christmas cards of past

This will be my 5th year making Christmas cards. Last years were my favorite. They were just fun and cute! I made 200 cards that year. These two pictures show the front and the inside of the cards. Some years our pictures are on the front of the card and some on the inside...depending on the design. Last year had both because I couldn't resist using the silly one too. 2004 I stamped all of that on there. It took forever and my fingers cramped beyond belief. 200 cards this year too.

I couldn't find the cards from 2002 and 2003, byt this is the photo I used for 2003 It was navy blue, simple but cute. I can't even remember the design of 2002, but I remember we were all sitting on and around the diving board of the pool wearing different colored solid t-shirts and jeans and Cinnamon was in the picture too. That was before I had digital cameras. I made 100 cards in 2002 and 180 in 2003. My list keeps growing every year and I don't even give them to everyone I know. There is just no way I could do that. So to answer your question...yes I am really going to make 240 cards. Actually I've spent most of the day working on them. This is why I normally start October 1st and why I was stressed about not getting the Chatterbox paper early enough. I am WAY behind schedule. It's crunch time to get them in the mail by Thanksgiving weekend. :o)

Tuesday's happenings

Today was Brittany's dad's birthday and she wanted to make him a scrapbook page he could put on his bulletin board at work. We both worked on it together. It's a lot like the one I did for Carter. Brek and Brittany had dinner with her family tonight and she said he loved it.A close up of the layout
Do you see what I see??? Yup! Those are fishies...just like the cute little one Mark had while he was in the NICU. Jen sent it to him. Wasn't that just the sweetest thing ever?! Thank you so much Jen! We all appreciate your kindness. I'm getting batteries in the morning for it. He is going to be one happy baby!

Okay...here is the Christmas card design that I finally decided on. It was such a frustrating thing when I hated everything I did. This one I can live with. I so love Chatterbox paper. I picked up the valentine ones today appropriately called the Love shack...so dang cute! It's still a lot of stinking work when you think of making 240 of them...1 down...239 to go. :o) Not to mention the fact that I still need to take pictures and order 240 wallet size prints and write a cute little message inside. Anyone interested in card making assembly line work??? Didn't think so! :o)
I almost forgot...tonight me, Mark, Rodney (Marks brother), & Cam (Rodneys wife) went out for a motorcycle ride. We noticed a car behind us swerving and hitting the curbs on both sides and he almost hit us. We forced him to stop and Rodney asked him if he was okay and told him how he was driving, then the guy took off. He reeked of alcohol. We called the police and described the car and told them the direction he was heading. We wish we could have gotten his keys away from him. I hope the police caught him before he hurt someone. The thought of a drunk driver on the road makes me sick.

Okay...you know you're up to late when your eyes are burning and it hurts to see.