I hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday! I spent the day with my family, my parents, my sister, and her family. Good times!

I played Scrabble for the first time in ages. Guess what? I SMOKED 'em! HA! OK, not nice to gloat! It's just not a typical thing for me and I was excited.

My mom always buys the grandkids a Hallmark ornament each year. Allie's is usually Barbie and all the boys get one that goes with their personality / activities from the past year. It's fun to open them up each year and talk about each one as we hang them on the tree. I always buy them one too, so they get two each year. They should have LOTS of memories to take with them when they move out and start their own holiday traditions and celebrations.

OK, back to cleaning for me. No, I didn't go out and get in the middle of all of the chaos and madness. I don't usually shop until the last week before Christmas. Andrew usually gets his bonus around then and we like to use it instead of charging things and paying on them for longer than we should. It's the only thing that makes me DREAD Christmas. Money, money, money, or the lack thereof!

Hugs to all,
R

I realized that I forgot to share my special card. On October 1st, Allie's Brownie Troop did a community service project. All 15 of these 1st graders paired up with servers at the Texas Roadhouse and worked for the evening. They were amazing!! The servers volunteered all of their tips for the night and along with these little dynamos, raised $2500 in TIPS! They donated this money to a little girl and her family. The girl, Taylor, has leukemia, and was going through treatment. I made this card with my CTMH stamps & papers and had the girls sign their names on the inside and we sent it to the servers at Texas Roadhouse.

I hope they are able to remember what a huge thing they were apart of and always realize the importance of giving to others.

Feeling icky. Blah! I don't like being sick. Germs are such a bother. I'm tired of not feeling well and need to get myself better. It is no fun.

Bridget Jones Diary is on again. I'd never seen it until a few weeks ago. I'm now watching it (well, not watching it directly but it is on the TV) for the 3rd time. Cracks me up when she shows up at the party dressed like a hooker. ha! Obviously nothing else is on and I am sitting here at the computer instead of straightening up this mess. heehee!

Ahhhh! FALL BREAK!!! I love it right now!! I might not when it comes to paycheck time and it is missing 2 days! heehee!

I had a bit of a headache on Thursday and missed an opportunity to scrap with some talented local gals. They're lucky enough to be able to get together at least twice a month on Thursdays. I will have to wait until December holiday break and see if I can go then, or wait again until the summer.

We ran around all day on Friday. Oldest DS had a doc appt. Poor kid has such anxiety about going to the doc... fainted last time and had to watch it this time. It didn't used to be so bad in the younger years. We shopped for Halloween custumes, a birthday party gift, new shoes for youngest DS, plus a few more fun items and had lunch out. We rounded off the afternoon by going to the park and taking our annual fall photo shoot. I got some great shots! I am still bummed about losing last year's pix on the failed hard-drive this past summer. Errr! I need those photos each year to compare how much they've GROWN! Weeds I tell ya!!! heehee!

Have a super week!!

Whoa! Has it been THAT long? I'm so ashamed!

I am still here. Obviously it has taken me a while to get aclimated back to my non-summer routine! LOL!

I've got a couple of cards to share. I've done a few events and am enjoying a weekend at home. I'm cleaning house, doing laundry, and all that fun stuff. I'm trying to get out the door and get to the Riley Days Festival. It is an awesome day.

I will try and be more active here! Poke me if you don't see me again soon!

Isn't this cute? I got this great card and a couple others from my downline & friend, Stacy. Isn't she awesome? I love it. We have very similar styles. She's so SWEET!

I am now beginning to wonder if the blogger issue is with ME. It is doing it to me again tonight (er, a, this early morning since it is after 1am again!).

OMG! I ordered a bunch of items for my 'unveiling party' aka open house and they arrived today. OH! WOW!!!! I can't wait to play. Of course, I am surrounded by WOODIES! heehee! Now now, not what you might be thinking, this is a G-rated site! Woodies are my wood-mounted stamps. I've had a lot that have fallen off of the wall shelving unit over time and the plastic cases have broken, so they got tossed into a big bin. I've been digging thru them and trying to match them back up with their original set partners and plan to adopt a few out to other loving homes. I've replaced quite a few of my favorite sets with acrylix sets and those that I have not found or was able to order, I am hoarding. Yes, packrat. I can't help it. I'm not really bad... if I know I won't use it, I will pass it along to someone else. There are a few that I might play with one more time and then pass them along. There just isn't enough time in the day!!!

It's Friday (well, it was) and my family crashed early. I've been the only one up for HOURS. Nice and quiet but I may have to pay heck in the am when they all get up early and I am feeling like crud and craving more SLEEP.

Guess I will head towards bed. Taking my new "Imagine" with me (Cherish 2-ish!). Yummy! NIGHT!

OK, I have tried uploading an image of a card.... Blogger is being a booger right now and keeps asking me to log in. Errr.... technology! Heehee!

I guess I will come back and try again tomorrow (um, well, today since it is after 1am FRIDAY!! Whoops! Off to bed I go! TeeHee!)

Oh my kids!! Can you see something in the picture??? My kids are a hoot. You won't catch all of them handling one of these things. I don't like to. I will if I have to. That's not often. T came running in and said he'd caught a toad!! A little while later, A came in to tell me that they'd caught a toad and I should come see if I wanna. LOL! J was no where near the thing. That's not unusual. So, I went outside to investigate. I figured if the two of them were out there, the poor little creature may be somewhere that he'd rather not be. Indeed he was... in a cardboard CTMH box with a bunch of fresh grass clippings on top of the water table. Poor thing! I am not sure that this little guy is different from the one they have caught a few other times this summer. He should learn to stay UNDER the deck for his own safety. LOL! I had T put him back in the flower bed and I went in to get my camera. He blends right in with the summer-faded woodchip mulch. I think he needs a name. Got any suggestions?

OK, here is the result from my first Watercolor Magic technique. I currently have a small set of Prismacolor pencils so my colors are limited right now... I was trying to match this cute orange and light blue ribbon that I got on a recent trip to M's. The pencil was a little more purpley than light blue so I matched it up with my CTMH Spring Iris cardstock. Perfect! The Prismacolor is called Light Cerulean Blue. I stamped in CTMH Black and used the Prisma Orange & Limepeel pencils, CTMH Orange B&T and my new Gamsol and stumps to blend the colored pencils. I like how it turned out.

I also have to thank my friend, Rhonda, for reviving an old pair of decorative scissors! I was at her last SU Stamp Camp and she had us make a tag from a rectangle by taking off the corners with these old corner rounder scissors. One side rounds the corner and the other side takes away the corner. WHOA! I have not used these things in YEARS! HA! Too funny! The Gingham ribbon was from my last SU purchase as well.

Thanks for looking!!

OH! My July 25th order from Inky Antics FINALLY arrived today!! WAHOO! I had written a little vent, but backspaced it out... I am just happy to finally have my Gamsol and stumps so that I can go COLOR! Artwork coming soon!

Oh joy! My kids have not been sick all summer (knock on wood), but one or two of my four-legged kids MIGHT get sick. My mom's friend got a new dog from the Humane Society and she had this weird cough and was hacking up some flem stuff. His vet gave him some meds for her but didn't say what it was. My mom exposed her dog, Mugsy, to it not knowing. She figured it out and took the dog to the vet. Her vet said that he had "kennel cough" and that it is a HIGHLY contagious illness for dogs. I've kept my dogs away until Mugsy was over it. We took them over yesterday so that Gracie could get clipped (side note: my mom took her all the way down and the kids FREAKED!). Anyway, my dogs were running the fence with the neighbor's dog and my mom noticed him coughing... GREAT! So now my dogs may be getting it too. I'm calling my vet in the am. Not an expense I need right now but I don't want two dogs coughing, feeling icky, and flemming up my hardwoods. HA!

The kids went camping with my parents and I have been catching up on some organizing around here. I don't know where the time has gone. They'll be back tomorrow and we'll be in the groove of getting ready for school to start. We've got to do a little shopping for some clothes, register / pay book rental, and start going to bed early and setting alarms. We've all gotten into the habit of sleeping in... past 9:00am or later!! I'm right there with them. I'll be starting back to work a couple of days before they do. I am looking forward to getting back into a routine and a paycheck!! heehee!

I've got a lot planned for my CTMH biz this fall / winter. Our new Fall / Winter 2007 Idea Book begins on September 4th and is so WOW! I can think of several customers who are going to just flip! LOL!!

OK, back to work. It's almost 10 and I have a lot to do before tomorrow comes! Night!

OK, the kids have gone to bed, so I can play a little. We need a few little extras here and there, so let's PLAY!

Yeah! How's it look?