This would explain~

Exactly how I feel today!!! ... I had to change her face to this pale color because she had a nice brownish tan to her and I swear to you Im not feeling the pigment in the skin today. hahaa. Notice how the lil devils are girls?? Whats up with that? Anyway.. I dont have much to say today except ughh. I wish I was actually this chick and that way I could be curled up in my bed suffering rather than here at work suffering. Im sure I'll recoop over the weekend. I hate the range of emotion that goes along with those lil devil girls.. they should be poking her head too! haha...
Have a great weekend... and bundle up... its getting colddddd out there!! ;)

I can feel~

Jack Frost nippin' at my toes.. hehee.. Thats because Im still wearing flip flops hahaa. But from what I understand.. not after today. Im sad, but happy at the same time. I know.. with me its a range of emotion rare that anyone will ever understand. But bare with me. Its all good ya know! hahaaa What Im trying to say is.. wow, arent those leaves beautiful? They are falling like raindrops today with the wind.. I wish I could be outside or just at home even soaking it all up. All the colors swirling around. Just gorgeous. Maybe I'll take a long lunch. hehee
Soooo... How are you guys doing? Doing any scrapbooking lately? I havent and Im getting kinda bummed about it.. but by 9pm Im dragging and want to go to bed so I just dont do anything. Ugh.. got to get out of that funk and get back in the groove. I have a lot of projects I want to work on. Priority will be the challenge from Kristine at CS for the new Book of Me. I have to push myself to get that done. I also want to do Debs fabric challenge. Just like my personal checks say... So many pretty papers... so little time. Enjoy your day! :)

Im sure you've heard me say this before~

but I just cant say it enough ... Im sooo proud of my niece Aimee!!! As you may remember she joined the ARMY and went away to bootcamp back on her 21st birthday September 1st. She has written me quite a bit for being so busy. She asked that I send her a layout of herself and her daughter Jadyn and I was so happy to do it. The letter I got today was the thank you for that. And to also tell me how excited she was that she has passed her PT's and will be out this entire week on a campout and then next week practicing for graduation!!! I cant believe it is already here. Im sooo happy and proud. I cant help but get huge tears when I hear from her and how happy she appears to be. I hope that deep in her soul she has found peace and a new appreciation for herself. She deserves the very best. As do all of my nieces and my one lil nephew.. hehee. Her last sentence said... *See you at Christmas*... I just want to bawl. haha. Reminds me of one of my most favorite Christmas songs below~

Happy November!~

Thought Id post a few pics from the party we had Friday night. What a night! The kids trick or treated til they dropped. Then the adults had fun with jello shots, jokes, chit chat and the warm fire in the pit! The night escalated into tricycle races in which Todd ended up injured hahaa.. but it was hilarious and fun. The party lasted til the wee hours of morning. We took Saturday easy and just recovered. I hope we can have more parties. So much fun!

Happy Halloween~

Happy Halloween ya'll.. We are in the process of getting ready for the party tonight. Im really excited. We still have a few things to get and do, but its all coming together. Hope you have a great day/evening and are safe!

Say it ain't so~

nooooo... Joaquin Phoenix is retiring from acting??... what??...noooo. He is one of my all-time favorite actors.. he is ONLY 34!!! He is quitting to pursue a musical career, which I have no doubt he will do well with. My most favorite movie in which he stars... is the Johnny Cash lifestory *Walk The Line* and him and his voice...wooo boy!!! Well, even though you'll be missed... best wishes Mr. Phoenix!!! Here is a clip from the movie. I grew up listening to this song, so I was THRILLED when he and Reese Witherspoon sang it! Hope you like it too! Tell me what your favorite movie of Joaquin's was too!

oooo Witchy woman~

hehee.. I love that song. But, really it has nothing to do with this layout, other than my niece being dressed like a witch. hahaa. This is the layout I did tonight for the 1-hr contest over at Creative Scrappers. Once again it was a rush and I had fun with all the crazy girls over there. I love their sketches and company! Yay for scrapbooking!!! and yay for Daisy D's! ;)

Guess who's due in less than 2 months?~

..................not me...............

but yeah... the man in red... are you ready? Ive been listening to Christmas music the last several days... and it makes me so happy. Last night Hunter got a Hasbro toy catalog and a Toys R Us catalog and spent most of his evening circling the *I wants* hehee. He stopped mid circle once and asked "Just when is Santa coming again?" hahaa I soo remember those days and cherish the memories. I love it, but when it gets down to it.... lets get Halloween over with first. hahaa ;)

Wild Weekend~

It was a pretty cool weekend.. in so many ways~ Hunter and I drove back home over the weekend and spent our time watching Justice play his last games of soccer, meeting lil J.R. {my brothers newest addition} and visiting with Preston at his new pad! We had a great time. One that I wont soon forget! I have tons more photos that I will be using in upcoming layouts Im sure!!!

Preston and Hunter-2 Happy Brothers!Baby J.R. born 10/13/2008Justice and his 2nd place soccer division medal!

Is anybody out there?~

I tell ya.... I am so freakin' tired ya'll. Just tired of trying to keep up. But Im going to keep on pushing.. get through Halloween and it will get better. Ive definitely been a busy girl. I think once I get to work I can take a break, but then lo and behold work gets busy.. imagine that... hahaa At night we have been trying desperately to have family dinner time, clean up our messes and put things back in their place. Its rough, a new puppy a 3yr old. I sure do miss my stay-at-home-mom days. ;) I think we have a handle on the laundry finally and are about ready to get these dang carpets shampoo'd. Im preparing also for a small party on Halloween night. Mostly with the folks we work with and family. I cant wait. We got the place pretty spooked out and then we'll fix chili, hotdogs and have a fire in the pit. Im thinking of making jello shots as well. I just love parties but I do find myself stressing a bit. Its all good though. We'll make it and it will be a great time! ;)
Tomorrow Im off with Hunter to take a trip back home to surprise Justice at his last soccer game of the season. If he wins he will play a 2nd game for the Championship. Im so proud of him, I hear he is doing awesome this season. He did well last season and was on the Champion team so I have no doubt that he'll manage that once again. After we get done with the games Im taking him to lunch and then we'll go by my brothers to check out the newest addition to his family ...baby J.R. I cant wait to see him and take photos. I got Hunters closet gone through and have 5 boxes of clothes from 3 months to 3T to take to them. Once we have visited with the new baby we will go out to my Dads house where Preston is now living and spend the evening with Preston. He was so excited to know that we were coming. He had been grocery shopping and made a meal plan even. I think thats just the sweetest thing! He asked us to spend the night so Im sure we will and then head back Sunday. Todd is loving this time, he will be hanging out and deer hunting all weekend. Hopefully he will get the trim down in the kitchen. You know.. Ive been really thinking and praying lately... I just feel so blessed. I may not live in a mansion, I may not have the things others have.. but I have a loving family and a cozy HOME. Im very lucky!{Just had to share}
Anyway, this is why Ive been kinda on the down low lately. Just b-u-s-y!
What are you up to? Have a great weekend!!!

Insomnia~

......it does the creative mind good! hehee.. I couldnt sleep worth a darn last night, guess its the change in weather. I got up and watched tv while scrapping this gem of a layout of my brother and my son. The journaling reads: Hunter adores his Uncle Neal so much, and I have a feeling Uncle Neal feels the very same way. Summer 2008. I used some of my MME stash. I am just so thankful for the sketches at Creative Scrappers. I wouldnt be doing diddly if it werent for them. Thanks for stopping by!! Have a good rest of the week!

Busy, Productive, Accomplished!~

Before~After~Wow, was this weekend ever busy.. I so wish I had a jacuzzi so I could hop in tonight. It all started Friday night after work. We ran to Walmart and got groceries, grabbed some KFC and headed home. When we got home and ate we started clearing out the kitchen and preparing for the linolium to be layed the next day. We got a lot of the appliances out and then Todd started ripping up the old lino. We got that done and got to bed as we knew Saturday would be an early start. Get up Saturday, I took a shower and Todd and my brother-in-law Jim started in on the getting the floor prepared for the installation. At one point it looked like a knotted up mess, but they got it worked out and started the trimming out. It all went fairly smooth. After being on his stomach for a while though Todd started hurting {hernia we think} and so he sat out and let Jim do some of the trimming. They got it laid within 4 hours so that wasnt bad at all! While they were doing that I was scrubbing down the appliances.. and let me just say.. I will NEVER let them get that filthy again! Whew that took elbow grease. After they got finished and cleaned up the tool mess, we all loaded up with the kids and ran to Belleville and had lunch at our favorite Saturday afternoon spot for Mexican. We ate, headed back home so the guys could go out for an evening hunt. I tried really hard to be motivated and get some cleaning done but ended up in my scraproom working on an awesome sketch that just clicked with the photos of Hunter eating his beloved Dilly Bars hehee. I think it turned out real good... and satisfied my craving for the craft for a little while amidst the chaos in the rest of the house. The hunting trip turned out to be a good one for Todd, he got an 8pt buck.. a real nice one... so we took pics, Todd, Todd and Hunter and of course Todd had to let Ruby check the buck out too! They cleaned it up and we all cleaned up and fell into bed about midnight. I slept hard thankfully because today I was definitely on the go! I cleaned the kitchen thouroughly {going thru cabinets and drawers}.. I needed to clean out a BUNCH!.. I also came up with a different floor plan for our furniture so as soon as the carpet gets shampoo'd later this week we will be moving some things. Im still FAR from being done, but do feel somewhat accomplished in the fact that all the knucks and krannies have been vacuumned and dusted and went through. My next task is to downsize Hunters room and then flip it with my scraproom and get a computer into my scraproom. This will also allow the boys to have a bigger room and an extra bed for Justice when he is here. I cant wait. Im real happy with the lino, the clean house and the re-arranging.
How was your weekend? What did you do?

I dont like candy corn!~

I just love hearing this song in the fall. Im soooo excited about Halloween! I got the official ok to send out invites for our Halloween party!!! Im making little gift card holders with tag pull-outs that will have the party info on them. So far they are coming along wonderfully!
Do you like candy corn? I think its too sweet really, but I wouldnt rather eat my foot. hahaha Hunter calls candy corn-cotton candy. That boy is cooked! Last year he hated this lil diddy... this year he laughed his butt off. Crazy kid!
Have a great weekend!!!

Contests and Challenges OH MY~

Talk about a busy month ahead in the scrapping world! I cant wait for the 1 hour contest and since I missed out on the last DT challenge Im going to work real hard on getting this one done. Im still going to the last DT challenge as it was to use Rusty Pickle products and I have the Under the Stars line that I cant wait to work with. I just wish there was more time in the day! This weekend the hubster is going to put new lino in our kitchen so while he is doing that Im hoping to do a bunch of scrapbooking. I want to start an 8x8 album for my niece. We'll see though. I also have a recipe box that I want to fix up for her.
In other business... My brother Neal and his wife Karen came up last night to treat Todd and I to a movie for my birthday. The babysat Hunter after we all went out to dinner. It was soooo sweet of them to do that for me/us! We were thrilled, but wished we could have visited longer with them. My brother had raved about this movie Fireproof and said that it had made such an impact on him that he wanted me to go and see it right away. I have to say, it was a really good movie and I would highly suggest it for all couples! Especially those who have been through divorce or facing seperation/divorce.

Come sail away~

Happy Columbus Day.. to those of you who celebrate and are lucky enough to get the day off. To my surprise, Justice had school today. He told me it would be a fun day though because they were going to be studying all about Christopher Columbus! Then he asked me if I could name the 3 ships that Columbus sailed to America in. ..... uhhhh YES, of course I remembered... but goodeness let me tell you if you do not use it... you will lose brain cells!!! hahaa. I just think its cool. Sometimes I wish I could go back to school. This time though I think Id really listen better!
Update on Ruby: She is doing real well, trying to get adjusted to life with us and Kitty. haha. She loves to jump and play. Its so funny to see her jump in mid-air and turn completely around when she hears a noise that startles her. She has had a couple accidents, but thats to be expected I suppose. Soon she'll have it down. She is very loving and just lets Hunter lug her around and hug on her. Its so sweet. He also enjoys taking her outside... which Im sure will get old soon. haha. Lets hope not, I know he is an animal lover like his Daddy!
I hope to get some scrap time in this week. I so feel the need to create. Enjoy YOUR week!

Its my party~

and maybe... just maybe I can have my cake and eat it too! hehee. Yup today is the big day.. my 42nd birthday. ;) Good news is, I dont really feel it... oh well on occasion but not today so that rocks big time!!! ..... and so... This furry lil girl is my present from the family. Her name is Ruby {as in Ruby Slippers-Wizard of Oz} hehehee. We went and picked her up last night. She is indeed a Cairn Terrier, like Toto from Wizard of Oz.. although she is probably going to be more blonde. She is so very sweet and is going to be a great addition to our crew! Will let you know how the potty training goes in a couple days. hahaa
Onto other things... FINALLY I think Im out of my funk... took a good couple of days. Things are looking better on the work front, slowing down and Im catching up. We are also getting a new program so that will help immensely once its in place. At home I still have some catching up to do.. there are several layouts I want to get done for this weekend. And I have to gather prizes and mail them out for the girls that won over at Crazy 8's during the Card Making Day Crop. Busy-Busy I say. Justice is coming up tonight.. cant wait to see him!!!
What do you have going on this fabulous fall weekend? Whatever it is, I hope you have a good one!
Correction due to senility already settin' in... Im only 41 today! hahahaa

Its all about ME today~

Totally-Today was a ME day. I took control of the morning and decided that it was going to be about ME today... no one else! I took the day off, slept til noon.. hung out in my jammies... and curled up with a box of kleenex and watched this AWESOME movie. I am a huge fan and am soooo glad I waited until it came out on video to see it. I sobbed, I laughed.. wow. It was just good to have a good movie to watch on my ME day.. all alone. If Id been in the theatre, Im afraid Id have made a huge scene, blubbering and all... and then have to go out in the daylight after having bawled all my makeup off. hahaa. Thank the good Lord for a caring family to understand that sometimes a girl just needs a day. I hope that my boss will feel the same when I return to work tomorrow! hehee... Tonight, a sneak peek at my birthday present.. I can barely wait! Have a great week!

Holy Card Making Maddness~

Are you ready?... This weekend marks the celebration of card making around the world. What will YOU be doing?Im gearing up today preparing some sketches for Crazy 8's and will also be joining in the fun over at Creative Scrappers. I hope to get a LOT accomplished this weekend. I have several layouts Id like to do up as well. This week with the weather change Ive just been so exhausted. At night I come home, we do dinner and then by 9pm we are heading to sack out! hehe.

On to October happenings~
This weekend also starts the deer hunting season for my husband. Talk about a fanatic. He loves it and I have to admit his excitement is kind of contagious. Im however, a little worried about Hunter... he is such a Daddys boy. He wants to be with him. So Ive devised a little plan to help I hope and have him use his imagination as well so that he will miss Daddy just a bit less.. or at least distract him from the beginning.

This morning I talked to Preston.. Im so amazed with this kid and scared for him all the same. He is ready to and looking into renting his first place ever. I spoke with his Grandpa this morning and he is really wanting Preston to come there and live with him and take care of the farm while he is wintering in Arizona. I hope Preston will take this opportunity. He could use some peace and this would be perfect. Also with the gas prices he would decrease his drive to work in half. Who doesnt love that. It sure would do this Mommas heart good if he was near someone who I knew was looking after his best interest.

Im also gearing up for the birth of my new nephew.. he is set to arrive on the 19th, but I have a feeling he will be showing up sooner. I hope so.. because Im planning a trip back home to see Justices soccer game on the 18th, so with this fun day playing with a new nephew would rock too.
What are the kids going to be for Halloween? ... Well I think we finally have it all worked out... hahaa. Justice has decided on Ben 10.. but really I ask him.. he looks like a normal boy all techno-gadgeted out ahahaa... which is just like Justice. Hunter has decided not to be *Crazy Bones* and has instead decided that hed like to be Hunter-the Hunter. Wearing all camo and carry his bb gun {will be a toy}. Im excited for them. We are also planning a small party for afterwards. Love this season!
Whats new in your world-Whats on your agenda for October??
... Have a super FALL weekend! ;)

Happy Happy October~

Oooo there is a bit of a nip in the air!!! I LOVE IT!!! ... Today it was quite chilly.. We all dressed in jeans and long sleeve tshirts! Hunter still wore his flip flops though.. he sooo needs new shoes! hehe. Tonight that is on our agenda.. new tennis shoes for him and his reward for following his chore chart all week. He only got 2 bad marks for Monday and Tuesday, but since has worked real hard. We can tell a difference at least in attitude. Next week we are changing the behavior of saying Please/Thank you to Eating at the table/Eating veggies and meat. He does it at the sitter but refuses at our house unless its chicken nuggets or something like that. So he told me the other day he wanted to be tall, since he hadnt grown any since March. I told him.. eat your 4 food groups {explained what they were and how they were important} and he would get tall. Last night he declared that he'd just rather be the same size forever. hahahaaaa. I said well, I guess you wont ever want to ride a rollercoaster or ride a motorcycle.. hmmm I think he'll think on that one a while! hahaa Anyway, we asked him what he'd like for a reward for getting good marks all week and he said he wanted an Army Man... not like the little ones that he has TWO packages of now. He wants a tall one, like G.I. Joe. So last night we surfed the net and he found the one he wants. Commando Flint! So along with the shoe shopping will be on the hunt for Flint! I'll have to mention to him that Flint got so tall and strong by eating his veggies and all the other lil Army men didnt ... heheee
Enjoy October my friends and enjoy the change in weather and leaves ... and ultimately ourselves! ;)

Cupcakes anyone?~

These cupcakes were sooooo good! Hunter has always liked helping me cook and bake.. and recently been on a cupcake kick, wanting to bake cupcakes for his sitter. Finally we got to make some .. and let me say they were delicious. We had a ton of fun doing this and then sharing them with his sitter June and all the kiddos there.
As I said in my previous post we are wanting to do a bunch more kid friendly cooking very soon. We did so much running this past weekend we didnt eat at home once! Crazy I say... not to mention expensive. ugh!

Not much else to post today except that Creative Scrappers has a new sketch up for the week.. its sooo cool. I missed out on doing the last layout sketch.. I just couldnt wrap my head around it.. of course then I dreamt about it all night and now I have a good idea of what I want to do.. figures. This weekend is Card Making Day on Saturday.. CS is having a card crop and so is Crazy 8's. I should get lots and lots of projects done. It is also the first weekend for deer season around here. My husband is sooo flippin' happy. I think maybe I am too. I dont know.. I just wish gas wasnt so overpriced! It costs them $20 per day to drive to their hunting spots. Gah! I dont see me spending $20 per day on scrappy stuff.. .hmmmfff ... ok this is turning into a rant and in lieu of the awesome cupcake pictures I just cant do that. oooooo and guess what? I got some cool cupcake Jolee's from Angie for a RAK!!! I cant wait to use them.. and the snowman stamp that was in my baggie of goodies!!! Woot!
Have a great week people!

Can I get a WOOT WOOT!

Hey GREAT news! I won the 1 hour contest that was held over at Creative Scrappers on Tuesday night. For the layout below- Guy Thing!!!! It is such an honor to chosen because of something I love to do. I love those contests and even if they weren't voting or whatever, I still would have done it! I cant wait til next month when we can do it all over again. I'm thankful that I found a nice forum, with really nice girls and awesome challenges with sketches. I've scrapped more than I have in a long while and for this my husband is thankful. He sees me actually using the things that I buy. I can see a big difference too, in just the hoarding end of it. I just want to scrap more!!! That's a great feeling! ;)
On the flip side, I felt so bad for Kristine who runs CS, because she had to deal with some drama over the whole thing. Its so hard to run a forum {of any kind} without someone always trying to rain on your parade and stir up some kind of ruckus. We live in a world of self-serving folks, folks that will bite you in a matter of minutes if they don't feel they are being treated fairly.. and most of the time they don't even stop to think or listen to the whole side of the other party. They are jealous, petty and ultimately disrespectful. And to see someone disrespect a person who was trying hard to be fair to everyone involved just makes me angry and sad. Sad that these people don't think more of themselves or their peers to stop for a moment and reflect on the blessings that have been bestowed upon them. Angry that those people do not deserve the strife they are being caused.

Onto other things.... Oh my am I ever tired! This is my long day.. I will be glad to lay my weary head down to sleep tonight for sure! hehee This weekend Justice will be up and we are taking him and Hunter to see Ironman! I cant wait. We rarely get to go to the theatre so this will be a treat {Thank you for $1 night Wehrenberg Theatres} hehee I also told the boys that we'd be making some kid friendly foods.. stuff that they can help me make. I already know that we will be making Rattlesnake Eggs and possibly Donut Muffins... both recipes can be found on this wonderful cooking blog Mommy's Kitchen. I've copied down several of her recipes and can't wait to try them out!

Have a great weekend!!!

Hilarious!!!

~me-circa; 1966
Cary from List of the Day first introduced this crazy concept, then my friend Aime did it and I cant believe I am just now getting around to posting my yearbooked photo... go ahead and laugh.. its hilarious.. and go to the site and yearbook yourself!!! So much fun..I even changed my avatar to it... great for my mood today-which is surprisingly awesome!!! Maybe because its payday.. YES that may be it!!! laffin!

Tattoos arent just for guys~

This is my layout for the 1 hour sketch contest over at Creative Scrappers last night.. let me just say the *RUSH* you get from this kind of contest is out of this world! I love it. It really stretches my imagination and freaks me out man hahaaa, but I LOVE IT. I have loved this photo of Hunter for a while, was just waiting for the right time and the right elements to jump at me. And it reminds me of a few things that I have pondered upon lately.

As the title says.. tattoos arent just for guys. I, myself have 6 tattoos. I have been persecuted for these symbols that I wear on my body for forever. I have been complimented as well. But it is the persecutions that seem to stick. As does any kind of negative tidbit that is spoken verbally to a person. You are too fat/skinny, too pretty/ugly, too weak/strong, too emotional/not enough... and the list just goes on and on. As this rages inside our souls we also keep the negative in the subconscious and it sneaks out when least expected. We try to be strong, we try to control it, but to no avail it rears its ugly head!

This happened to me the other day. I was reading a post regarding a woman who had a challenge to photograph herself and do a layout about herself. I have never been one that wants to be in pictures... but this day and age.. with the internet.. people want to see just who it is they are talking to, so Ive loosened up a bit and let go of some of that and will give the occasional mug shot. But when asked to do a shoot and layout I almost always refuse. I dont want to be in the *spotlight* so to say. I dont want people picking me apart.... and I dont want to have to face the fact that Im picking myself apart as well. And then it happened... someone posted the other side... the unselfish side.... What about your family? What happens if you pass unexpectedly and there are no photos of you? What do you have that your boys will remember you by? I ended up going to bed that night bawling. I got to thinking.. Ive always wanted to know more about my Mom.. little details about her thoughts, her dreams and wishes.. and yes photographs as well... and I got to thinking.. although they are boys, they will probably want to know the same about me their Mom.
So- I made a promise to myself that I would do more writing and journaling, and possibly at some point do a *book of me*... Im thinking my boys will treasure it eventually. Im going to encourage their Dad to do the same. ---- Maybe you'll want to as well! :)

Weekend project and TAG you're it!!!~

Well this layout is the only thing I really got accomplished this weekend other than the Skully Candy Jar in the post below. I loveee this photo of Hunter. It was taken back early this spring when we went over to drop Justice to meet his Dad at the Arch. We then decided to go down to the landing to have a bite to eat. He loved the cushy sofas and atmosphere a bunch! Anyway.. I couldnt think for the life of me the name of the restaurant so I journaled St.Louis Pasta Company.. gahh.. later last night Hunter was looking at the layout and asked "Mom, where was that?"..I said "You remember that place we went to eat over in St.Louis that was downstairs?" he said "ohhh yeah, The Spagetti Factory!?"... OH-MY-GOSH! Im going to need this child a bunch in my old age.. hahaa. So I wrote the story on the back so when he looks back later he'll know he was a smart lil fartknocker at the age of 3. His memory never ceases to amaze me. So proud!
In other news... I got tagged!!! woot woot.. never been tagged.. but got tagged by the sweet and talented new friend Ive found over at CS- Angie!

THE FIVE TAG

10 years ago I:
1. I was 30, getting ready to turn 31
2. Going through infertility.
3. Felt more secure than I had in a long time.
4. Went to South Dakota-fell in love with it and saw Mt.Rushmore!
5. Lost a very close friend to suicide. ;(

5 things on today's "to do" list:
1. Work {loose term for blogging} hahaa
2. Prepare chili for crockpot
3. Sleep
4. Pick Hunter up from sitters
5. Hang clothes in closet

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Twizzlers-strawberry only
2. Frozen snickers
3. Doritos w/ melted velveeta over them
4. Mint chocolate chip ice cream
5. Cantelope

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Put away savings for the boys/education.
2. Move back home, buy real estate, & build new home. {dream house}
3. Pay off debt.
4. Help family members that need it. {Preston needs a truck}
5. Quit my job. {Hell to the yeah}

5 places I have lived:
1. New Bloomfield, Missouri
2. Fulton, Missouri-HOME TOWN.. woot woot ;)
3. Columbia, Missouri
4. Hallsville, Missouri
5. St. Louis, Missouri

5 jobs I have had:
1. 911 operator {best job ever!}
2. Auto parts delivery girl-fun fun
3. Insurance Liason for the University of Missouri-go Mizzou!
4. Medical Assitant for 18 different Specialty Physcians-burnt out!!!
5. Office manager for Trash company {2nd best job ever}

I am tagging: Cat, Linda, Brooke, Gina and Amie !!!!

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

Challenge Yourself~

Come by and see what you can come up with. I tell ya... Ive gotten so much scrapping done by being challenged wonderfully by this site. Great girls... great sketches... who could beat that? See you Tuesday!
Oh... more news just in... Kristine made this cool icon for us to post on our blogs for the Creative Challenge posted by Carol at CS!!!The *Lets Go Green* Challenge is as follows:
* For this challenge you may do a layout or an altered item.

* Your project must contain one or more items on it or made from something that would normally be tossed into the trash, but you have repurposed it for your layout or altered item.

* Project must be posted in the gallery and also linked here so we can all see what you have done.

* Projects are due by midnight CST, September 30th and I will draw a random name from all those entered and you will receive a goodie RAK from me.

Here is what I made... It was made from a left over plastic container that had the instant teas for bottled water. Im going to fill it with candy and give to a friend for Halloween!

Arghhhh Mateys~

Happy "Talk Like a Pirate Day"!!!... be good or I'll make ya walk the plank! ;)

Okkkkk~

So ... I think I finally have my blog looking the way Id like it to... however it doesnt look near as dark and evil as I am inside.. hahahaa. Oh well.. we'll see what Halloween brings, maybe I can get down and dirty and show another side of me then. ;)

Onto other things. For goodeness sakes.. Im STILL sick! Yeah.. cant hear a thing out of my left ear.. and let me tell you people, its not only irritating to you when I say *huh?* its irritating me and its like Chinese torture!!! You know that sound that is made when a basketball hits the pavement?.. that is what it sounds like in my head NON-STOP! Except its the beating of my heart. And at night.. whoa its even way worse. Holy Hannah, I sure hope things loosen up soon. The strong as heck antibiotics the doc gave me also gave me ummm the cha cha cha's.. nice huh?.. Well Im going to try to look on the bright side of things and feel blessed that I have so much more in my life. And I vow that I will not write ONE MORE BLOG POST about being *still sick* again. hehee
Today Im at work and the fabulous Thunderbirds are flying overhead doing their tricks and preparing for the Air Show this weekend here at Scott AFB. Its quite thrilling and freaks me out so bad that I have jillions of goosebumps. Seriously if you have not seen a show.. Go!.. and if you havent been to the websites.. GO! Its amazing and people of all ages just love it. Im amazed and proud! Cant wait for this weekend! Its going to be a blast!!!

OMGOSH~

Im once again messing with this darn blog/header and layout.. please bare with me.
Still sick, still at home... this is getting seriously messy. More to come...

HOLY COW~

LOL... you dont have to be old to not be able to hear... heheee I STILL cant hear a dang thing. I think today I must call the doctor. The pressure on the side of my head is driving me insane. Ive taken every pill available and even antibiotics and it hasnt helped yet. Im afraid he is going to say time. And I think I may have to put a watch you know where! Anway... This weekend I got a lot of scrapbooking done. Several layouts and several cards and a mini Thanksgiving album. I thank Creative Scrappers sooo much for all the inspiring sketches.. I just love them all! I think Im going to try to sell the album as I dont really need it, unless I come across some good Thanksgiving pics around here. Today I finish the darn invoices and then I think I'll take the afternoon off. This past weekend they were supposed to move my office around and get me a new desk.. we'll see if that happened. If so Im going to be spending the rest of the week organizing it. I like that kinda work. :)
Have a great week!
ETA~Doc report was double ear infection and raging sinus infection..yay! I got some super-duper antibiotics and waiting very un-patiently for them to kick in. Why am I so sickly this year? Sighs...

Is it safe to say?~

I dont quite know if its that time.. but I suspect its coming real fast.. within the next few weeks. Today we are experiencing the remnants from hurricaine Ike. Windy and raining. I was up with Hunter last night, he was sick throwing up. I hope its nothing much. Im still sick, still cant hear and clogged up. Im so aggrivated by it. This is the first time ever that Ive had no relief within a couple days. Anyway.. Ive been scrapping up a storm, cleaning up my supplies and today Im going to work on some cards. I save a lot of my old recieved cards and tear them off and recycle them so want to work on that... maybe some Halloween stuff too. Oh and some Thanksgiving stuff. This afternoon I think Hunter and I will bake some snickerdoodles.. thats good stuff for colds no? haha

The sickly gives~

Awww.. wasnt that nice?? ... my son gave me his cold.. only along with the cold, I have a horrible ear ache! Goodness am I ever miserable! It will be good to *BREATHE AGAIN* haha
In other news... well there isnt much other news except my husband was kind enough to make me grilled cheese tonight. I must say.. he makes the best grilled cheese ever!
OOoo, I know what else I wanted to tell you about..... Did you happen to catch Fashion Rocks 2008? Did you catch Duffy? OH MY isnt she cute???.. I loved her song-Mercy.. If you havent heard it.. Here it is. Enjoy and have a great weekend! :)

Home with the sickly~

Today Im home with the sickly.. Hunter has came down with a sinus/head cold. Poor thing is just miserable. Im going clean, cook and nap with the kiddo and hope that with the home meds he gets better. His fever has already broke so thats a good thing.. although I know the afternoon brings spikes. Will have to keep an eye on him. He thinks we are on *vacation* because he heard his Dad and me talking about me taking a Vacation Day for pay since Im missing today. haa. Rotten kid! Anyway, have a good week and keep away from the germies!

Hello Monday~

Hello Monday! Ugh.. well not really. Here is a song that I cannot get out of my head this morning. Wonder where I heard it last?

Barracuda!~

Last night I got hooked watching the Republican National Convention. Ive never been a political person, nor have I voted strictly one party ... I always chose who I believe will do the best for our country or situation. I have totally been wanting John McCain to run for presidency for a LONG time and sooo glad that now I can actually be able to vote for him for our next President. Now, your opinion is your opinion and you can vote for whoever you like.. that is your right. Just please vote! That is my main message other than this........... last night at the end of his speech and at the end of the Convention they played "Barracuda" by Heart.........whooaaa.. I LOVED THAT!
You go John McCain!



Unfortunately Heart doesnt feel the same way~

Been thinkin'~

I have been thinking.. there are so many cool videos on You Tube ... I thought I may post a video time and time again of music that I like.. some new, some old. Hopefully my visitors would enjoy it as well. Anyway.. here is my pick for today.. A rainy Thursday in the Mid-West. Hangin' in there til the weekend!

Heartbroken~

I know this might sound silly.. but I just read some of the most heartbreaking news.. "Singer-actor Jerry Reed dies at the age of 71" Im totally upset because when I was a kid.. boy Jerry Reed was it.. I thought he was soo freakin' funny.. I even decided that I would name my first boy Reed after him.. although that never happened.. I never forgot about that or Jerry Reed. Im so darned sad right now. At least he did live a longer life than most in his profession.. I hope that he rests in peace.
"NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good ol' boy actor in car chase movies like "Smokey and the Bandit," has died of complications from emphysema at 71.
His longtime booking agent, Carrie Moore-Reed, no relation to the star, said Reed died early Monday.
"He's one of the greatest entertainers in the world. That's the way I feel about him," Moore-Reed said.
Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante called Reed a larger-than-life personality.
"Everything about Jerry was distinctive: his guitar playing, writing, voice and especially his sense of humor," Galante said. "I was honored to have worked with him."
Reed's catalog of country chart hits, from 1967 through 1983, were released under the label group's RCA imprint.
As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, Reed had a string of hits that included "Amos Moses," "When You're Hot, You're Hot," "East Bound and Down," "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)" and "The Bird."
In the mid-1970s, he began acting in movies such as "Smokey and the Bandit" with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good ol' boy. But he was an ornery heavy in "Gator," directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998's "The Waterboy," starring Adam Sandler.
Reynolds gave him a shiny black 1980 Trans Am like the one they used in "Smokey and the Bandit."
Reed and Kris Kristofferson paved the way for Nashville music personalities to make inroads into films. Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers (TV movies) followed their lead.
"I went around the corner to motion pictures," he said in a 1992 AP interview.
Reed had quadruple bypass surgery in June 1999.
Born in Atlanta, Reed learned to play guitar at age 8 when his mother bought him a $2 guitar and showed him how to play a G-chord.
He dropped out of high school to tour with Ernest Tubb and Faron Young.
At 17, he signed his first recording contract, with Capitol Records.
He moved to Nashville in the mid-1960s where he caught the eye of Chet Atkins.
He first established himself as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded two of his songs, "U.S. Male" and "Guitar Man" (both in 1968). He also wrote the hit "A Thing Called Love," which was recorded in 1972 by Johnny Cash. He also wrote songs for Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Oak Ridge Boys.
Reed was voted instrumentalist of the year in 1970 by the Country Music Association.
He won a Grammy Award for "When You're Hot, You're Hot" in 1971. A year earlier, he shared a Grammy with Chet Atkins for their collaboration, "Me and Jerry." In 1992, Atkins and Reed won a Grammy for "Sneakin' Around."
Reed continued performing on the road into the late 1990s, doing about 80 shows a year.
"I'm proud of the songs, I'm proud of things that I did with Chet (Atkins), I'm proud that I played guitar and was accepted by musicians and guitar players," he told the AP in 1992.
In a 1998 interview with The Tennessean, he admitted that his acting ability was questionable.
"I used to watch people like Richard Burton and Mel Gibson and think, `I could never do that.'
"When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: Money."

The country is where Im from~

....and where I sooo wish Hunter could grow up. He is such a natural country kid. He told me while we were down visiting my Dad this weekend {back home Fulton, Missouri}that he wanted to live there the rest of his life. I dont blame him.. I never knew how much Id miss it until I was gone. I almost dont want to go back at times because I always come home heartbroken. But.. we'll keep working and maybe someday our dreams will come true. This is a picture I snapped while at my Dads.. the porch swing on his front porch... We all agreed that the reason us older kids loved it so much is because when we were growing up Grandma and Grandpa had one just like it.. we'd spend hours upon hours swinging on that swing. And I didnt want to leave Dads.. I could have sat on that porch and watched the wind blow for days.... so beautiful.

Garth.. you ARE foxy!~

The last few weeks over at Crazy 8's we've been playing Top 100 Classic Rock Bingo and today I pulled a Jimi Hendrix out and decided to use this video as a clue. Waynes World rocks and I think Dana Carvey is even more brilliant than Mike Myers in it.. but thats just me. He is soo cute! I love when he gets so excited that his glasses need adjustments. hahaa I hope that this brings back good memories for you as it did me and the girls on the forum!
Have a great Labor Day weekend! :)

I have a winner!~

Thanks to finally figuring out the Random.org generator thingie.. I listed all of your names and then pushed the button... and here is what happened!!!

List Randomizer

There were 11 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. angie
2. brooke
3. aime
4. scrappychic
5. deb
6. cat
7. carol a.
8. kate
9. lois aka katesmum
10. margo
11. gina hanson

Timestamp: 2008-08-26 14:30:50 UTC

Soooo... Angie.. you are the winner!!!! Please email me your address and a little wish list and I will send your gifty out this weekend!
Congratulations and Thank you for reading my blog!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dads 70th Birthday!!! I called him this morning at 9am and he was climbing down off a roof that he and my brother had just put on last week. He was doing some finish work. I am amazed at the umph this guy has. He has taken a beatin' but keeps on tickin'. So while I had him on the phone told him that I needed him to pick a number so that Id have a winner for my contest but he picked 38. hahaaa. What a dork! Sooo. I will put all the names in a hat tonight and draw when I get home!!!
Have a great Birthday Dad-see you this weekend! {Soo excited to go back home!}
Have a good Monday ya'll! :)

CELEBRATION & a Give-Away~

Whoa.. what a huge deal this is!!! Im going to celebrate my 100 blog posts by doing a Give-Away!!!.. hmmm what shall it be?... Depends on the person who wins.. it could be scrappy goodeness or just a gifty gift.. Leave me a comment and I shall choose a winner Monday August 25th!!! ;) Good Luck and Thank You for visiting!!!