Very Random game- But if you believe in synchronicity then maybe there's something to it.

The game is PLAY BOOK and I found it on this blogpost:

http://www.letyourlifebloom.com/ from the November 28th post.


Play BOOK!
Book! Rules:
1- Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
2- Turn to page 56.
3- Find the fifth sentence.
4- Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall (blog, journal,etc), and post your sentence in a comment here as well.

My 5th sentence was:
“Description also satisfies the defiant human desire to preserve certain “unforgettable” perceptions against the annihilation of time.”


I really wanted to post the 6th sentence:
There are moments that, for the artist in all of us, seem too important to allow to pass into oblivion.

Oh Well.......

Christmas Cards

Our 2008 Christmas Card!

Merry Christmas

Busy, busy, busy time! But I wouldn't have it any other way! We always take a "all included" picture on our last day at the beach! Now, I'm starting an "all included" picture for Christmas. It really isn't hard to set up the tripod, so why didn't I do this before?


P.S. Today is my 23rd Wedding Anniversary! Wow!

Professional Pictures, Can't Sell without a Release

I guess I should feel flattered, but this could be a hassle! I took wedding pictures for this adorable couple this summer and as a Christmas gift to them, I wanted to make a funky little Digital Layout. I really don't know if this is their style, but I sure had fun making it.I just wonder why Walgreens requested a release? I said; "Well, I took the picture and I did the Layout in Photoshop". I told them I release myself! The clerk didn't give me any problems, but what if she had? Do I need to carry around my purchase information from ScrapGirls because I bought some digital elements from them......See the Date Stamp,the Vertical Diamond border, the "Always and Forever" and the butterflies. Please note,this is a gift, I am not selling this.

I'm gonna upload to a different Walgreens for my digi-Layouts next time! Who wants to be bothered?

The Christmas Card

You won't be getting this Christmas Card from us. I loved this card. I liked the colors and the quote. But it has been axed! You see, I'm married to a man with rather strong opinions and well, he 1- Didn't get the quote (not Christmassy enough) and 2- He didn't like the hat I photoshoped in (I guess I could've put it on the dog) and 3- His original shirt was Orange, not red (but see I changed the color to work with my theme). So, now I'm working on another card. And I better hurry, I'm running out of time.

Word for the Year

I am lousy at keeping New Years Resolutions! First of all, I can never think of the "perfect" resolution! I ping-pong and yo-yo between any and all of the ones below:
1) Lose weight 2) Exercise more 3) Make my bed every morning 4) Cook more or try new recipes 5) Cut and use coupons

You get my drift. I'm obviously pretty vague about 1 & 2 ; I should say lose 10 pounds by Easter, or Exercise for 30 min. a day. #3 is a super hard one for me because 3-4 mornings a week I am out of the house before DH is even out of bed. AND, #4 is well, it just will be something that I've resolved myself to not enjoying. Granted, I love to EAT and get SERVED but the actual task for me reminds me of work (performing multi-step testing to get an accurate result). I also think I'm a rather boring eater. I could eat the same thing for days and not grow tired of it. Now #5 I did do for over a year. I used my PALM to write down all the money I saved with my coupons and those BOGO (buy-one-get-one) Free promos and I learned a ton about when to buy what, how to stockpile and what is a good price for Meat or Laundry detergent.

Last year I came upon a few sites ( Ali Edwards and Christine Kane )that talked about choosing a WORD for the year instead of the New Years Resolutions which I break or forget I even made.

So, I've made up my mind! I have my Word! I think it'll work in lots and lots of
ways as I create my life. Really you must go check out Christine's blog, she starts December with a whole list of words to get your creative juices flowing. Then each day this month she has a guest blogger talk about the word they chose for 2008! I find it so Fascinating, really!! See for yourself HERE



So, without further adu, My Word for 2009:

Gone Digital

I am so honored today! On Saturdays the Scrapgirls NEWSLETTER
selects weekly LO (Layout) winners! I couldn't believe my eyes! One of my LO's was featured in the newsletter. I posted this LAYOUT in early November and I sorta forgot about it! It was a super fun LO to do and surprisingly I didn't have to "overthink" it too much! Once I figured out how I wanted to show the hands. That's where the frame came in for the left hand. All the products are from Scrapgirls (even a FREEBIE was used). I think I get $5 to the Scrapgirls BOUTIQUE and with all the sales they have this will suit my needs just fine!

The journalling reads: I was never one to pull out my wallet and show people my kids latest School pictures. But all that's changed since I went DIGITAL........

By the way, I totally love my Sprint INSTINCT (it's Sprint's version of the iphone)! Love, Love, Love it! My DH even asked for one for Christmas. We set him up with his very own yahoo email and now he will actually respond to email....... (I think cuz he has an excuse of writing on the phone so it's ok for him to keep it brief).

Photo Contest

I am just "pleased as punch", "happy as a clam", "as happy as a dog with two tails", because I won a something! A couple of months ago Mark took me up flying for my birthday, we planned to go up the morning of the Bluegrass Balloon Race so we could see all the balloons. I brought my camera (Sony Alpha dSLR) and hoped I could get a few decent pictures to submit for the photo contest they were running. See my earlier blog entry Bluegrass Balloon Fest for the pics I submitted.

I just found out that I won! I won? Me? I didn’t win a new car, nor a Me-llion dollars (think Dr.Evil in Austin Powers). But Still I WON! I WON!!

Here is the LINK to the CONTEST GALLERY.

And this is what I won!!!

Don't you just Love these FALL colors????

BlueGrass Balloon Fest

We woke up early this morning to greet the Hot Air Balloons!! Fantastic view from the air! Didn't even get air-sick this time. I guess it helps having something to do :)




After the Hare was released, the Hot Air balloons came up from all over
town! We had to be careful not to be above them as they went up.

Love the peacefulness of this picture!

Definitely can't be afraid of Heights!

One Day, I will do this!! i hope :)

The Tower gave us clearance to go ANYWHERE!

Note to self: Delete ALL of the pics on your memory cards prior to departure!

We think there were around Fifty balloons in this race.

Yellow- really?

Ok, so this isn't Yellow! But, isn't this a cool pic? Love it, Love it, Love it! It just makes me happy looking at it!

BTW, have a HAPPY 4TH of JULY!!! See you tomorrow!

Yellow- Day 4

This is a sign i made about 3 yrs ago and it hangs in my kitchen above the back door. When this

saying came out- I spotted these signs all over creation. I love to do things myself and put or

make them to suit my needs/ my colors. It's so not perfect, the wood piece was from Michaels and there are some little brown spots that somehow got thru the white base coat. But for now,

I'm keeping this right where it is! It's fun and a little whimsical and a good reminder for me.

Yep, those are my kitchen walls, yep, they are pretty darn yellow!

See you tomorrow :)

*DEB Graphic Frames BrushSet

Yellow- Day 3

Yellow Butterfly in my planter at the mailbox! I love garden paraphenalia. It's so
fun to put the little personal touches along with the flowers. My petunia's have not
had the best season though. They just aren't as vibrant as they usually are. Other
people have noticed the same thing about their petunia's. Which makes me feel
better, because then i can't say it's cuz I've neglected them.

Well, Day 3 and I made another post! Yipee! See you tomorrow!!


*DEB Graphic Frames Brush Set from Scrapgirls.com

Yellow Hat- Day 2

I love this yellow visor! Love visors in general. I'm having trouble finding the better visors right now. I guess I'll have to wait until I get to the Destin Outlets in August. I tend to find a good selection there. Where do you find good hats?

*DEB Graphic Frames BrushSet by Scrapgirls.com

Yellow Week- Day 1

The challenge to myself is to post YELLOW pics this week! I'll try to do it from today until Saturday. I'm just biting off a small piece. I know there are people who challenge themselves to post one pic a day, or one pic a month to their blogs and this really INSPIRES me. But ..... I am me and have my doubts if I'll be able to accept those types of challenges.

So, I've just made my own little "personal challenge". You are more than welcome to play along. I'd love to see what you do, so please leave a link here.

This pic was taken in Indianapolis this weekend at the Applebees in Castleton while I was waiting for my meal. I loved their Oriental Grilled Chicken Salad so much that I ordered it

three nights in a row. While waiting at the "Carside ToGo" spot I noticed their beautiful daffodils along the entire side of their restaurant. Since I just came from a swim meet I had my

good camera with me so I ran out and snatched a few pics. My DD had peanut butter and jelly, can you believe it. (But hey, she's old enough to know what she wants to eat while she's competing.)

*DEB Graphic Frames BrushSet from Scrapgirls.com

One Little Word Challenge

I did this for a little challenge at a neat place I just found on the web http://onelittleword.typepad.com/ . They've got alot going on over there. Lots of
creativity and cool artwork. Check them out if you get a chance.
The products used for this Layout are all from http://www.scrapgirls.com. Another
place I hang out and learn a ton from.

Happy Feet

Victoria Secret panties

How do you return underwear? Have you ever returned defective underwear?

I wore these panties twice and laundered them twice and look. The cotton

is breaking away from the band. This is really bad quality control on VS's part.

I love to buy my panties from VS, because they have the prettiest patterns and I ALWAYS KNOW HOW THEY WILL FIT, no surprises! Granted a couple yrs ago they decided to shorten the string bikini and not give us as much material. Hence they thought we must want to show more skin! Not me! I was very happy with the previous style. So I switched to the Hi-leg brief, or something like that.

Now look! I might as well buy my undies at JCPenney if this is going to happen!

I'm sure that it is made somewhere outside of the US and of course how will they ever know they have faulty underwear unless we can return, or complain or something!

I get those free coupons all the time for underwear and next time I go in I have to ask about their return policy. I love the way they sell there panties for 5/$25 such a deal!

But not when you can't wear them.

Any suggestions???

Happy Memorial Day

Master Bedroom

After 10 years in this house, I finally decided what I wanted to do. I had to make it acceptable to my masculine half (DH) as well! We both love water and my parents spent many days, hours,

even lived on their sailboat. It was a no-brainer once I discovered http://www.sxc.hu/profile/stockxchng . So, I just downloaded a bunch of cool Nautical pictures. I put them in Photoshop and cropped them to the size I wanted. I made them 300
dpi and uploaded the finished pics to Walgreens or Scrapbooks to share. I bought two 16x20
frames, four 10x13, three 12x12, six 8x10 frames. The hardest part was putting them on
the wall in the layout I wanted. I ended up making templates the exact size of the pictures and
moving those around before I hammered in the first nail. All in all, I only had to repeat one hole.

Also, special thanks to Bon and Sara (my teenage interior decorator).

Now, I've just brought a little piece of Florida into our mid-western home!

Kentucky Derby 134

Saturday May 3rd, 2008 the 7th race is the Derby race. Usually happens around 6pm, with about an hour of build-up.

Here are the contenders:

1-Cool Coal Man 20-1

2-Tale of Ekati 15-1

3-Anak Naka 30-1

4-Court Vision 20-1

5-Eight Belles 20-1

6-Z Fortune 15-1

7-Big Truck 50-1

8-Visionaire 20-1

9-Pyro 6-1

10-Colonel John 4-1

11-Z Humor 30-1

12-Smooth Air 20-1

13-Bob Black Jack 20-1

14-Monba 15-1

15-Adriano 15-1

16-Denis of Cork 20-1

17-Cowboy Cal 20-1

18-Recapturetheglory 20-1

19-Gayego 15-1

20-Big Brown 3-1

I think I'll put my money on Colonel John to Show.

Our Eyes

I've got to look a person in the eye. Especially when they are
important to me, personally or professionally. Even in this fast
paced web-world there is no way I'd go into business or endorse
the Mail-order Brides/Grooms without that important eye-to-eye
contact. I think looking someone straight in the eye is a way
to show honesty and sincerity. Our eyes tell people alot about
us. Our moods, our engage-ability, ourselves. I think there
are lots of things about people that we don't see or can't tell
until we meet face-to-face. We can tell if they are shy, arrogant,
charismatic.

It's the apes that are threatened by the eyes. Being starred
down by their "opponents". But people, we need that inter-
change. I need that interchange!!



“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look

through each other's eyes for an instant?” - Henry David Thoreau

Just a little thing

I went in to Ben Franklins today. I got a birthday card and some reading glasses, now that I know my over the counter prescription. I find that when I want to read in bed and I'm all snuggly and I have left my glasses in my purse or at the computer.
So hopefully this fun pair will solve that dilema.

After I paid for my purchase and I'm putting the change and the bills back in my wallet, I'm so aware of all the people behind me waiting to check out that I either don't put my money away then or I'm holding up the line when I do.

The nice saleslady told me not to hurry! I didn't know I was obviously rushing and
it just really made me feel good that she even noticed.




Kudos to considerate sales people!! Yeah! Yeah!

Curtains?

I'd really like to make my own curtains, because then I can make
them the way I want. Plus, it's fun! But, for the life of me I
can't find some decent fabric that looks like either one of the
two swatches below.

If anyone knows where I can either get some material or just BUY
some that look like these. Let me know, I'd sure appreciate it!

P.S. I think even good 100% cotton quilting fabric will work. The curtains
don't have to be made from the thicker tapestry fabric.

Freshman no-more

Wow has this year flown by! I've missed Brad alot! I'm so glad
he's home. He had a good 1st year of college. He joined a Fraternity,
and later even got voted to be the Communications guy. He is good
about remembering stuff and letting people know of changes and events,
so this was a natural move for him.

He kept his job teaching swim lessons 4 days a week.
He still has his sweet gf.

He was home for 15 minutes when the guitar playing started.
Man, I forgot how noisy he can be sometimes.

But it sure is nice to have him home!

Work In Progress

I love IKEA
this store is amazing. It’s about 3 times larger than Sams.
I love the functionality of their products and their color
style and sense.

You see, my house has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a kitchen, study and family room. Since I moved in back in 1998 I have painted every room with the exception of the half bath and the Master Bedroom. I am scarred to death to decorate the Master Bedroom: "what if Mark doesn't like it", "what if I don't like it", "what if it's too expensive to really get the look I want?". On and on for almost 10 years I've been listening to this rant in my head. Well Enough! I'm a do-it-yourself type of person. I love being able to put things together myself, to achieve the look I want. I just run out of time. My mission this month (possibly thru May) is to keep on working on my bedroom. I plan on painting the walls. That will sure give the rest of the room a face lift.. When it’s done I’ll post pictures of the finished product. But for now, you get to see my room as it is. Still a Work In Progress.

Working on a new header! Boy, is there a lot to learn out there about html. It may take awhile.

Totally Hilarious Site

Now, I'm all for Chrismtas decorating but you have to see this site.
It's got some great pictures of houses that are lets say a little
"too much". It's all in fun. One picture was even self-submitted.

My 2 favorites are: "Party till the break of Dawn" and "Paul Bunyon"

All in good fun! Try not to laugh too loud, it will be hard!

Tacky Christmas Yards

The Big Day

First, grab your wrapping paper, your scizzors and your presents.
Then sit down for a marathon wrapping session. Don't forget the tape!
And lock the door!

We (well Michelle and company) did a little Holiday baking! First

chocolate covered pretzels, then Gingerbread cookies decorated

with gobs and gobs of icing! Gotta love the colors!

Invited Sara over for Christmas Eve!

Gretchen didn't want to miss a thing! Didn't budge as the paper went flying all around her.

The kids were so secretive about this present. They spent 30 minutes a couple days before Christmas wrapping this present up in a huge box. With promises from me that I wouldn't come downstairs.

A new tire on a new 07 Mazda, what do you think it cost? Do I hear $100, $150,

no? How about $200? Ok! SOLD for $250 to the lady in the silver CX7! Enjoy!

A couple excited kids on Christmas Eve!

Boy's with their toys!! Christmas was full of helicopters! Spider helo given to Brad, kids gave Mark a sharper image small helo, Brad got a Dragonfly aerodynamic thingy from Sara's family!! Fun Flights!

A little bit of snow on NEW YEARS DAY!!!

Even though we couldn't be together! We think of

you all the time and hoped you had a very

Merry Christmas!

And here's to wishing you a Great 2008!!