Merry, Merry~

To all of my family and friends... and anyone who is just passing by this blog... Have a wonderful Christmas and a beautiful New 2008. Ive been blessed for sure... and pray for blessings to all of you as well...

Let is Snow~

This is our place about 10pm tonight.. Im sooo happy!!! This morning we awoke to about 2 inches of snow and then it layed off until about 4pm... then it started in snowing again. Its beautiful!!! This afternoon after we returned from getting groceries, Hunter, Justice, Todd, my neice and brother in law and I all went sledding in the back yard... we have a pretty good size hill. It was hilarious! Hunter was so excited, it was his first time... He just kept saying... That was fun! Lets do it again!!... I even made the trek up the hill TWICE and down TWICE hahaa.. on my BUTT... hahahaa it was better that way believe me... I felt way more in control! I think I got snow burn though hahahaa... My buns hurt something fierce tonight. hahaaa I havent sledded since I was 8 I think. Todd said it was really nice to see me having fun. I needed that too. Oh yeah he went down a couple times.. all Jim-my brother in law saw was lots of crack.. my poor hubby hahaa. Anyway... cheers to snow! Im loving it! ;)

Jadyn the Princess~

This is a recent out of the box type layout I did as a contest challenge for Crazy 8's. The challenge to use a round page map from Page/Maps. It also had to be either girlie or boyish. So what better lil girlie subject that my neices lil girl Jadyn. She was up the day after Thanksgiving and gave me tons of great lil poses as I snapped away. She sure is a natural dont ya think? hehee. I was also shocked that I actually figured out how to alter the photo in PSP to look pink and white rather than black and white.{Cant remember now of course haha} but anyway, I thought it just looked cute. It was also the first time Id ever used ghost letters by Heidi Swapp..{Again, I know Im terribly behind times!}...and what lil chicky doesnt need tiaras on the layout? hehee.. I love it... but wouldnt ya know I havent gotten ONE vote. LMAO.. ahhh well, it just goes to prove that everyone has different styles and notions and that ultimately we are scrapping for ourselves right?

Warm Apple Pie~

Believe it or not, Im not a fan of apple pie. Not sure what it is about an apple pie, but its just not my cup of tea.... or wasnt until I found this recipe and now this is an apple pie I can eat!!! I made one today for my sweetie.. My first in a LONG LONG time...


Let me know if youd like the recipe.. I assure you it truely IS... simple as pie!

Mmmmm Warm Apple Pie~

Believe it or not, Im not a fan of apple pie. Not sure what it is about an apple pie, but its just not my cup of tea.... or wasnt until I found this recipe and now this is an apple pie I can eat!!! I made one today for my sweetie.. My first in a LONG LONG time...

So Excited!!!!~

Today... I won a bid on eBay for this purse~
Im sooo freakin' excited. I totally love it and got it for about $20 cheaper than retail. I hope and pray that it is as nice in person as it is here. I was even more excited because of the cell phone holder on the side! I had decided when I went to lunch today that I wouldnt try for it, as I could have used the money for new jeans or something else in my life... but then thought to myself upon returning... NO you DESERVE this!!! So I did it.. I think Todd was a bit shocked that I went ahead and did it as its not usually something I would do so spontaneously and this close to Christmas. He said, well consider it your birthday present from me... I was like honey, didnt you get me something? and he said yeah, a DOLLAR.. haha oh yeah... well thank you sweetie! hehee... ;)~

Updates~

Well, after an hour of messing with this blogger and managing to stay awake and watch the CMA's ... I finally was able to post my layouts at the BOTTOM of my blog... I really wanted them along the side, but it would seem Im not able to do that unless I want them so tiny that no one would ever be able to see them. Sooo to spare us all, I just posted it at the bottom. I still have more layouts to add... so hopefully when my computer is up to it, I will add more!!!
Also... the meez below me... I did not realize would change each time I changed... for real I had a Halloween meez that was sooo cute... haha.. but it keeps changing so... just watch.. its cute and passes the time, so I shouldnt or cant really complain.
Anywho... Im off.. I wasted all this time and didnt get my Winter cards done again tonight... soon though... they are due real soon.
PS: Happy Birthday Brooke! I havent sent your birthday gift yet, but I will surely be thinking of you on Friday!
oh pss: Hunter and I have been asked as guests to the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus this Friday... we totally cannot wait! ;)~

Happy Halloween!

My sister-in-law and niece finally talked me into getting a meez
it took me an hour and it was animated but there was a mummy
chasing me and eating my hair... lol that was too funny. I thought
I needed something a bit milder.
Also, please enjoy my son Hunter with my very first pumpkin that
I ever carved. His name is Jack and Hunter picked the scary face.

I personally...

like this... altho, I wish Id thought a bit more about my journaling before I started writing! ha.. oh well, its truely me.I wish that the scrap forum I was doing this for wasnt so f'n screwed up, it kinda is ticking me off.. such is life though I suppose. I really like this photo of me... It says a lot about me, well if you were in my mind.. ha ;)
I want to do more layouts with clocks... I really like them!

Totally ME~

This is so totally me... a little bit country and a little bit city... I prefer the country and all that it has... the fresh air, the sound of animals, the open skies, fields and gardens and trees and grass... even hay. I just love it all. And then we have the city... I love the fashion, the shopping, the culture and arts.
Somedays I struggle though with both... the boredom of the country and the hustle-bustle of the city.
OMGOSH... does this make me a double personality??? ... ooo self-discovery time... haha Cristal from Crazy 8's sure did open a can of worms here with this challenge. hahaa
Nawww.. Im just me. A huge worrier, an emotional girl that takes literally everything to heart. Some say that is a sign of weakness.. I say whatever... because Im strong and know myself very well. I wont lie, its not in me to do it. Im an open book, a friendly sort. I believe a smile will get you most anything you want. I like being the speaker in a forum, and I guess I love attention. Im a friend who tries desperately to be there, Im a mother who feels guilty for not having my older boys with me.. and this my friends is something I struggle with on a daily basis. Im a wife who is absolutely in love with her husband... Ive been married 4 times.. and I have to say this is the one.. I knew from the moment I saw him.. and I think we were made for one another. Im a sister, yes the older one... and boy those brothers of mine are like my best friends. Im a daughter... my Mom was my best friend for so long. My Dad GOD rest his soul was my rebel partner. He would turn over in his grave if he knew the life I was given when he gave me up for a better one. Im all of these things, the days and nights of constant division and product of my surroundings. Im happy, Im sad, Im guilty, Im totally me....

Funky Town~

I was thinking the other day about what song Id chose for my MySpace layout.. I love to switch it up and usually do once a week or more... sometimes several times a day... LOL...
Anyway, I got to thinking about the one song that I have been hearing a bunch on 106.5 The Arch
FUNKY TOWN... It just makes me want to get up and dance.. it makes me want to sing.. it makes me happy!
So, I put it on my page and turned it up while Todd was in the shower.. he came out dancing... I was like see, this song just makes people happy.... I began to tell Todd what it did for me when I was a kid. It took me away.. I didnt have the most *wonderful* of childhoods.... and on the weekends when my Mom worked {she was my safe haven}Id be in charge of all the *womanly* duties.. Id spend all day in the laundry room and kitchen, cleaning with a toothbrush. I was OCD back then even...hahaa But then again I had all weekend right? So my parents bought this huge blackboard and put it in the laundry room which was right off the kitchen. While I was doing my chores Id listen to the American Top 40 Countdown via Kasey Kasem, Id write the songs on that blackboard as I sang and danced and cleaned...heh, kinda like Cinderella... I dont know, it just took me away... I was in my own little world. And I remember this song.. I remember the artist... Lipps, Inc. I thought wow, what a cool name for a band... What a groovy song!!!!.... It just made the weekends at home amidst the rotten stuff go by...and it was my escape. ;)

While the water line was broke...

yeah... can you believe it... on the one day I planned so much, this misfortunate mess happened upon us... I was so mad... I had to take the frustration on something... so my scrappin' supplies took heed and.....
I finished my coasters for the Coaster Swap over at Crazy 8's Lounge
Hopefully Theresa likes them, she chose fall colors {deep greens, yellows, purples and burgundy}.
I got the kit from WalMart over in Highland, IL.. We rarely go over there, but boy when we do... I usually find something cool in the scrappin' section. Also, I have to add, I had a little helper named Hunter hehee.. He handed me the brads for the flowers and sat and chatted with me while I was decorating.. what a good lil dude! Im happy..

You know FALL is just around the bend....

.... when The Shryock Family reveal their amazing birds eye view of their new *corn maze* for the year. Now, Ive never been to the maze itself.... but I hear its quite fun and entertaining for all ages. Someday when I move back to my home town this is going to be right up there with my list of things to do. How neat is it that these folks can manicure these cornfields so perfectly. This is this years corn maze... and what do you know, just happens to be in honor of my favorite baseball team... St.Louis Cardinals. If you're ever in the area look the Callaway Farms folks up... :)

Oh does this make me happy~

Im so happy to share a love of mine... naww its not the guys this time.. but it is my love for antique crocks.. well heck they dont even have to be antique.. I just love crock-ware period. Especially the big ol' bowls.. and since they are all high upon my shelves I couldnt get a good pic of them... so I took a pic of the ones I could. And my favorite of all.... which oddly isnt a bowl at all. Anyway... here we go..The first is a pic of a crock my brother got me one year from Fulton, MO... and in the background is a very nice large bowl that my Mom presented me for my birthday a few years back. The second pic is a crock jug like thingiemigger that I bought when out in South Dakota.. Got it at a place right across from the famous Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota in 1998.
Im so happy to have this one thing to collect... and although I havent purchased one in a while... still everytime I pass an auction or antiques place.. or even a flea market I always go straight to the crocks and wish my lil heart for another to add to my collection. ~Oh I almost forgot to mention that I have been handed down a few crocks in my life too.. They are on top of my shelves as well. One set I got at my ex-husbands Grandparents auction..no telling how old those bowls are... but I will always treasure them.

Isnt summer over yet??~

Im sooo ready for fall it isnt even funny. Someone asked the other day what I accomplished this summer and what I wanted still to accomplish before fall. The only thing I can think is staying cool, especially the past few weeks! I always feel so guilty because Im in my office at work freezing and the guys come in from working out in 100 degree weather. ;( I am, however, proud of the flowers and tomato garden that Todd did this year. I will give him full credit as it was him that kept them truely alive... I guess you could just say that I admired and bragged on him and his fruitful goodies. I feel like we did get to do most of the sight-seeing that I wanted with the family short of going to Springfield, IL to see the President Lincoln scthuff.. but then again summer isnt over. I guess true this, our summer isnt over completely until we make our yearly trip to Branson, which is coming up the weekend after Labor Day.. I cant wait!!! All of this ties into my scrapbooking, I cannot lie. I love the earthy tones and tend to scrap in those colors a lot... it also helps having all boys. I have a hard time scrapping the bright colors... to me they just dont seem right. Although I sure do try!!! Here is one I did last night... I followed a layout from this months issue of Scrapbook, Etc. One last thing... YaY to summer almost being over... Amen!! ;)

Couple of new ones~

I decided to do a contest... yeah me.. its with Snapdragon
Im so happy that I found out about them... Id like to be able to play along with them each time!
The first layout is my entry, one of my favorite pics of the boys last year on vacation. The 2nd is a layout I did from layout one scraps the pic is me with my mom from when she was up in July. I totally miss her! TFL. ;)

What I like about me~

This is sooo cool... ya'll must get one!~

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Cartoonish~

Well I must say that I was never the cartoonish type. I loved sitcoms and still do to this day. When I was a kid my favorite *cartoons* were... Land of the Lost, Captain Kangaroo, HR Puff and Stuff, Lidsville, Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. To me these were *cartoons* I watched them after school and on Saturday mornings. Also on Saturday mornings Id watch a movie kinda like the *after school* movies... they were hosted by Kookla, Fran and Ollie... anyone remember those??? I do remember watching one animated cartoon and that was Fat Albert. I love Bill Cosby, I grew up listening to him on Fat Albert, and on my dads old vinyl albums... and then on to watch him in his very own sitcom! Does anyone remember the animated learning songs between the cartoons... Like Conjunction Junction and Im Just a Bill???? Thinking back on the cartoons of my day really make me happy... I wish that my kids loved watching these shows too... seemed like they were a bunch more informational than Power Rangers and *crap like that. ha! ;)

When they die~

Ok... Ive asked my scrappin' sisters to help me out with a question that is burning inside my heart and mind lately. Ive had a hard year with the death of my Grandma and think constantly and wonder what its like for her now. I have always thought that when you die... your body stays in the ground or floating if cremated.. and that your spirit {I picture the whole body} as going to Heaven/Hell.. I think or want to think that Heaven is just this magnicent place where everything is in color, there is no black and white and that everyone is very happy and at peace. There is no traffic, no keeping up with the jones', no money, no nothing but one huge palace and garden... I see God and the angels floating around everyone that I know who has passed.... but then here comes the hard part for me... Are the folks that I have lost, still suffering?, like for example.. My Grandma died of Alzheimers... does she still have that??? or is she auto-matically healed?... What about her meeting Grandpas first wife??? Do they fight? I just wonder all these crazy things. I want to know or would like to know that she is in heaven doing and feeling good.... not in the same shape as when she died. I dont know why I feel the need to know? Maybe its because I now have another Grandma dying of demtia and its just so hard to see them in this state of mind. I want to remember her as she used to be when we were so very close.
As far as me dying... I just hope that when I do die that I have my stuff together, I want to have written my thoughts down for my boys and to know that things are just *done*.. I dont want anything fancy.. just some pictures and me in a box... heck someone could scrap it and Id be delighted hehee... I have certain songs I want played and I want my children to know theyve been loved beyond the sky and moon. I want Todd to know that I love him more than all eternity as well.. and that Im going to be ok... that everything is going to be OK. Thats it... simple.

Scrapbooking~Is it hobby or is it a lifestyle???

Well... if you asked me that question my first response would be.... its just a hobby. But if you gave me a minute to think about it, youd come to realize it was much more a part of my life....therefore a lifestyle. I havent been scrapbooking long at all. I consider myself still just a beginner. I love it. I should have known from wayyyyy back that Id someday do something like this. I had a wonderful teacher-My Grandma. She kept every newspaper clipping, school program, flower and ALWAYS had a camera around her neck!!! Scrapbooking these days just takes all that to another level... an artsy way of expressing all the emotions that go along with the pictures that we take and collect. Its a story book... and I think that if I leave my sons with this wonderful story book of their lives and those before them that they will want to retell and that it will go on and on for forever... and this is what drives me.
Now... I look up to my peers and often seek out their advise regarding layouts, products and shops. I value their opinions and learn from them. My peers have also led me to be a die hard follower of several different brilliant artists. My peers have also became good friends, even if via the internet. These are people that Id like to someday meet... I dont think that they would ever be able to comprehend how much this is MY life.. other than my husband and children. :)

The Things That Drive Me CRAZY!~

in a good way.... ;)~

My boys.... its true... they are my LIFE~

My husband Todd... He means the world to me... and I love him!~
Frilly but true are the next few things... nail polish, purses, lotions and eyeliner{especially black}~
I love magazines... these are just a few that I read on a regular basis~



This is kinda self explanatory *blush*~

Some TV shows that I really enjoy... there are many more along with movies and music I adore~
and last but not least... my favorite obsession... Tony Stewart... #20 on the Nascar circuit~