Welcome to My World!

2011-11-19T23:03:00.001-08:00

Gosh, it has been almost a year since I posted? There is something wrong about that! I guess now that I am off work for a while due to my surgery I suppose I should post here now and then huh?
Jim and I are both still recovering from this bug that I caught about the same time I had surgery. Looks like we will both be going back to the dr again this week....me because I now have white spots on my tonsils, and Jim because he still isn't feeling good after having pneumonia.
Good news is I did finally get the Dizmang Books all scanned, now I just need to rotate half of the 970 pages because I had to scan half of the book upside down! *L* Then I will get it put on pdf form so anyone who wants to have a copy can. :)

uh oh

2010-11-30T21:21:00.000-08:00

Yeah as usual I am behind...surprise surprise! I need about 3 more of me to go around and some extra days in the week...then maybe I could get everything done that I want to do! *LOL*
Have I done any more scrapping? Well....yes and no. I haven't made any more pages lately, but I did get Austynn a little animal book made and since I haven't posted since June...I did make Mal and Tyler a cook book for their wedding gift, with some family recipes in it.
Oh and I have definately boughten (is that a word? oh well if it wasn't before it is now!) supplies! And I do still browse scrappy sites and read my scrappy magazines *L* That counts doesn't it? And thanks to Kathy for sending me the link to a new blogPurple Pumpkin. Oh how I wish I could order some kits!! Anyway, go check it out and check out the cool give-away!!

2010-06-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

I seriously need to get busy scrapping again! I have been looking at blogs and found this one on the Punky Sprouts Facebook page Red Oak Lines. I have been checking out all the mini albums (which is what need to be working on..I need to make cookbooks especially) and have found so much inspiration. Maybe I will get something done on Thursday when I am off..or on Saturday before we have to go up to Arrowhead for Jim to help with the Ham Radio testing.

Geneology work

2010-06-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

Man you just never know where it will lead you, or who you may find along the way. It is like a wonderful mystery unfolding with so many twists and turns along the way. Right now it is challenging. I am trying to find information on a distant cousin, Joy Casserly. Her mother Ruth Price wrote letters to a lot of my Dizmang family members, and I would love to find Joy to talk to her about her mother and find out if she happened to have saved any of the Dizmang family information that she collected through the years.
According to Ruth's letters, many of which I have recently gotten copies of, her Dizmang heritage was a source of great joy and interest to her. So wish me luck in my search! It has taken me places I never imagined and resulted in me trying to contact people I could only dream of hearing from! :)
To be continued..hopefully!!

I see a pattern here....

2010-03-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

I posted last month on the last day of the month and I come here tonight to post and discover it is the last day of this month, so I believe I see a pattern developing here...as my granddaughter Kayden would say *L*

It's been another crazy month. I started the month off getting sick, then Jim went to Huntington Beach for training, he came home sick. The same night he got home Madi flew in to spend a week with us :) and on the day she flew home I got sick again. At least mine was just a sinus infection with allergies, Jim had pneumonia. But he is feeling much better now, 10 days after starting his antibiotics.

We had a fabulous time with Madi while she was here on Spring Break!! We took her shopping at Kohl's, I took her to the mall shopping and just having a fun girls time.

Plus I got a surprise day off last Wed so her and I had a good time together just running around the desert to see what there was to do and showing her all the new stuff here.

We got a couple chocolate covered strawberries at The Cinnamon Roll Lady in Hesperia and a couple cinnamon rolls (you have to try her pecan rolls..OMG they are sinful!!

We also took her to see Charlie race the first race of the season at the VV Raceway. It was a fun night!!

Friday night we took her to Huntington Beach. It was a little chilly, but it was so fun and we got there in time to see the gorgeous sunset!

Well if you took the time to read all of this and it is still March 31st *L* Go check out Between Naps On the Front Porch blog and enter for a chance to win a beautiful piece of jewelry!

Another rainy Saturday

2010-02-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

I think we have met or exceeded our annual rainfal amount for the year! It has been a wet wet winter! I am SOOOOOO ready to start working in the yard, and I want a garden this year. Jim and I have been talking about putting a picket fence in the front yard, so now I have all these ideas in my head of things I want to do out there.

Speaking of gardening....Spring is coming..yes only 3 weeks from today until Spring is here!!!!
Want something else to give you Spring Fever? Check out this giveaway From My Front Porch in the Mountains

I am also wanting to really...REALLY get back to my scrapping. I have been reading my scrapping magazines, and getting some of my scap stuff organized.....again. Here are a couple pages I did earlier this month.

My blog was taken over by aliens!

2010-02-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

Otherwise where in the world did those wacked out comments from my first post of the year come from? I was able to delete all but 1...and that 1 eludes me.

Yes, I know I have been a slacker again. 2010 has not turned out to be the least stressful of years so far. I know, we are not even done with Feb yet, but trust me on this one.

Jim has done well since his surgery, with only a couple setbacks, but they were enough to worry me. But he has lost around 50 pounds so far already!!
Then Kayden got sick with pnemonia and ended up in Children's hospital and got sent home right before her 5th birthday, to end up going right back into the hospital a couple days later. I think they sent her home too soon in the first place. She was so sick and the dr's couldn't figure out what was going on, well the finally diagnosed it as Necrotizing Pnemonia. In a word...serious!!! This is a form on pnemonia that causes the lung tissue to liquify.

The good news is she is back home now and her PICC line is out, but she is still on antibiotics until at least next week, and she is still on oxygen when she sleeps. The are coming into my daughter's home next week and doing a sleep test on Kayden also. Jamie says Kayden's dr's have been awesome, thank God!! We had so many people all over the world praying for Kayden, her dr's and the rest of us and I am so thankful for that.

Then last week we had to make an emergency run to Utah to help my stepson, whose wife just filed for a divorce. Nice Valentines Day gift don't ya think? *sigh* We did get to spend a lot of time with Shaun and Patrick though. And I went scrapbook shopping!! :)

Now we are back home...and I am sick with some kinda flu bug..so all those albums I bought in utah will have to wait to be filled when I am feeling better.

Well I did it!

2010-01-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

I scrapped my first page of the year! *L* Now I just need to get my butt in gear and get my things pulled back out from Christmas so I can scrap some more. I only have a ton of pics ready to scrap! Thanks for the inspiration Lissa

I gave Sissy a bath tonight. She has a thing about water...she LOVES to play in it!! She splashes the water out of the water bowl, she loves ice cubes, she likes to jump in the shower with us..so I put her in the tub tonight to let her have some play time in the water. While she was in there I decided it was bath time. I was amazed when she dried...her hair is getting so curly, especially her tail!! How cute is that?

Resolutions

2010-01-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

well it is that time of the year...New Years Day, and time for all of us to make resolutions. I am not going to overwhelm myself with resolutions this year and I am going to make only resolutions that are attainable. With that said, this year I resolve to:

1. Get back to scrapping more. I have really gotten off track with my scrapbooking and I miss that relaxation and creative outlet. I need to get my scrapbook stuff organized and USE it! I have so much stuff and so many pics I really need to get in gear.

2. Be a better blogger. If I do that, then I have a journal of sorts and something to reference back to when I want to know when something happened, and that will help me with my scrapping also.

3. To get healthier. Jim has had his gastric bypass surgery to get his diabetes under control(after a 2 year fight with insurance companies, so that is one less thing I have to worry about!!) and I plan on joining him in this goal to get healthier!

4. Get organized!!! I really need to get my home (especially the garage) organized!!

So on to resolution #2...my first blog post of 2010!! *LOL* This past year has been so overwhelmingly hectic so I am going to sum it up....

Jan...Jenny had the twins!!!

Feb...Jim tried to cut off his finger..well not technically...HE didn't TRY to cut it off, but he did cut it almost all the way off when he was making a rack for his mobile radio before our trip to see the twins and celebrate my prates 50th. We almost thought we weren't going to be able to go, but the dr gave him ok and off we went to Miss to see Jenny, Jon, Jonny, Sam and the new twins Alexander and Alexis and Ryann and Mariam. Then off to Ark to see Madi and Gavin, then to Kansas to celebrate mom and dad's 50th and see the whole famn damily!! *L* It was awesome! And finally up to Utah to see Shaun, Brit and Patrick.

March..I had surgery on my knee so I was home for 6 weeks..fun fun stuff! NOT *L*
But the surgery was a success and my knee is doing so much better now!

April...I actually scrapped some while I was off work! Yeah me!!

May...May means fairtime! I love going to the fair, especially to see the Doo Wah Riders. The last couple years the other concerts have been pretty crappy, so we have just gone to see the Doo Wah Riders, which is always a good thing! I went to my first pro baseball game, what fun! We saw the Angels play. I went back to work also.

June...We went to Mesa for my cousin's baptism, it was amazing!! Wow, could I feel the spirit!! Jamie and Miles met us there so we could pick up Jon and Kayden, and bring them back to CA with us for a while. We went to Tombstone while we were there..sooooo much fun! I want to go again!!

July...Let's see, while we had the kids we went to the beach and Knott's Berry Farm (in the same day!) we took the kids to see the fireworks dislay here. It was a hectic, busy and awesome month!! I took my Ham Radio test and passed!!! I am now a Ham radio operator and my call sign is K6JKM

August...The kids went back home and we miss them terribly. They had a blast, as did we. Jim's birthday was this month also!

Sept...I turned...50! Yikes, how is that possible? The big 5-0!! I also joined SATERN and Jim and I worked some of the fairs. We worked the LA county fair...on my birthday no less!! And Anne one of the other Ham radio ladies brought a cake for us all to share and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me. It was SO much fun!! While browsing in one of the sheds (looking for scrapbooking entries...a huge disapointment I might add) we got stopped and asked if we liked to cook. *L* Ummm YEAH...well then the ladies asked if we would be interested in appearing in a new reality show they are working on....ummm NO! *L* We got sealed in the Redlands temple, Shaun was there with us along with some good friends. It was beautiful, but also turned into a very stressful time when we found out later that night that our paperwork had not been done correctly.

Oct...We celebrated our 10th anniversary!!! It doesn't seem possible that we have been married for 10 years. The years have flown by!! Jim had surgery for his cataract and he can now see perfectly out of that eye...the other eye will be done later. We worked for the SATERN booth at the Perris fair and we adopted Sissy, the day after our anniversary!! We also went to the Keller Peak picnic in Glen Helen. It was beautiful and such a fun time with friends.

Nov...We found out that Jim was approved for his gastic bypass surgery. What a whirlwind! It all happened so fast after his internest called the insurance company and let them have a piece of his mind! We also found out after the Stake Pres contacted the First Presidency that our sealing was approved. What a blessing this month has been!! So many prayers were answered!! And I in all my grace, broke my finger when I tripped over Sox in the middle of the night... OUCH!!!

Dec...We rang the bell in front of Walmart for the Salvation Army as SATERN reps. There were several dr appts and preparations for Jim's surgery, which took place on the 28th. Shaun, Brit and Patrick were here for Christmas!! The first time we have had any of our grandkids with us for Christmas and it was so much fun! Shaun stayed for a few more days to be here for the surgery and to be with me while Jim was in the hospital. And finally as a bit of trivia..New Years Eve night there was a full moon, the second of the month and the first one on New Years Eve since 1990. It is pretty rare to have a blue moon on New Yrs Eve, but during the 20th century there were 4... 1933, 1952, 1971 and 1990. The next one is in 2028 and after that not until 2066.

Giveaway!!

2009-11-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

How would you like a chance to win a free kit from Scrapbooking from the Inside Out? Go to Scrapbook Trends blog and follow the instructions for being included in the drawing for their fab Nov kit!

Dumbfounded

2009-11-12T08:47:00.001-08:00

I don't want to say too much....you know how you are afraid you will jinx something by talking about it? That's all I am going to say about it for now, except to say we have been working on something for 2 years and it looks like it is going to actually happen. I just don't want to get my hopes up just to have them slammed down again. Once this actually happens I will fill you in with more details :)

Welllllll is everyone getting ready for Christmas? Uhhhh, yeah, well not so much here. *L* We have some things bought, but once again I seem to be stuck in a rut or something because I just am not finding the desire to do a lot. But it is still early, right? We haven't even had Thanksgiving yet! I have found something I HAVE to get from a Black Friday sale, but since someone in particular (hi babe! *L*) reads my blog, I best not post what it is or he will know what he is getting!
Do you shop the sales on Black Friday? Me, not so much...I HATE the crowds and the rude people!! The pushing and shoving...I don't handle it well. But if you are on Facebook and you do love to shop the Black Friday sales check out BlackFriday.com - Black Friday Ads there.
And I will be having fun getting ideas from the Adorn It blog hop

I spent Saturday working on an altered book, my first one ever. It was SO much fun! A lot of work, but still so much fun and I felt so creative again! *L* It was a challenge up at Bad Girls Project 52 to alter an old book using a 'school/learning' theme. So I made a books titled 'Lesson's learned from Grandma Elsie....and memories made' I will post the tut and pics of the book soon. Having made this one, I learned some lessons myself, and will do better on the next one.

Meet our newest family member!

2009-10-31T22:41:00.001-07:00

Sissy!!

We adopted her from a no kill shelter 2 weeks ago. Jim says she was my anniversary gift, and she is precious! She is 3 1/2 months old now, so she isn't going to get very big. I love the cock-eyed way she sits *L* and as you can tell she loves sticks and our backyard. She gathers up as many sticks as she can and brings them to the edge of the patio, to a spot she picked for whatever reason and just stacks them. She also likes to chase shadows. If she sees the shadow of a bird flying overhead she will chase it, and in one of the pics she is chasing her own shadow!

Thursday, my day off I was shampooing the carpet when I heard her barking like crazy. I figured she was tormenting one of the cats again so I came down the hall to check it out. Nope, no cats to be seen, but as soon as she spoted me (she was in our bathroom) she stopped barking. I no sonner walked out and start shampooing again and she started up with the barking again...once again I go to check it out and no cats anywhere. So I backed out of the bathroom and just waited for her to start barking again. Sure enough, she did! So I peek around the corner to see what she was barking at. OMG I was rolling. Of course as a fur kid mommy I had to grab the camera and record her
Sissy versus the shower drain
Is she too funny or what?? *LOL*

Looking for scrapping inspiration

2009-10-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

because I have been a very bad scrapper for the last few months. So when I found this group on facebook Bad Girls 52 Challenges blogI could feel the collagey, freestyle scrapper in me being wowed and inspired! So wish me luck and be watching for some new things from me soon!

I got it!!

2009-05-24T14:13:00.001-07:00

the picture I have been waiting for from the Doo Wah Riders concert. I checked my email after church and there it was...and here it is.. :)

Now it is time for my nap, and then up to watch the NASCAR race tonight at Lowe's MOtor Speedway. Going to make us some subs and kick back...it should be a good one!

Catnip Love..

2009-05-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

That's what Dexter and Ollie have....I planted some catnip in the yard a few days ago. Then Jim and I were sitting outside on the bench a couple evenings ago when Dexter came running over to us...the catnip is close to the bench...and he caught a whiff of the stuff. Now you must know Dexter is a true catnip connoisseur. Once he caught a whiff of it he stopped dead in his tracks, nose in the air to track down the source. Once finding it he delighted in rubbing his face in the catnip, rolling around on top of it...it was quite a sight!

Then Ollie caught a whiff! Ollie lives outside but he hadn't come across the catnip until Dexter pointed it out to him. So they are both now in kitty heaven with this stuff!!

Now Dexter has to guard his catnip to make sure no one steals it! *L*

So what's everyone up to today? Hope you are not out there sniffing catnip! Jim and I went shopping...me for some more plants. I am starting an herb garden in one section of my yard and I had to get some cat grass to go along with the catnip, and I got some more flowers. Jim got stuff to start building the antenna for his ham radio and some stuff to make his own flag pole, becasue he found a really nice flag at Costco yesterday for under $20 and he wants to have it all done so he can hang it out for Memorial Day.
I am going to take a nap and maybe work in the yard this evening or scrap...we will see how it goes. :)

Out of it....

2009-05-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

I am so lame..I have just not had the get up and go to do my blog..or scrap or much of anything lately. Maybe it is just because I am getting back into the swing of things with work since the dr released me, and working in the yard...what I can do anyway, because I still can't get down on my knees like I would like to. Hopefully that will come back because I really need to get down on my knees to do my yard work the way I want to. Plus I am taking Ham radio classes and up until this chapter it has really fried my brain with the electronics and all the symbols and abbreviations for soooooo many things. But I want to get through this so I can take my test next month and get my license. Then I can forget all the formulas and such *L* Hey, it has only been 35 years since I took algebra..and while I was a straight A student back in those days, this old brain hasn't used those formulas for a long, long time!

I have actually scrapped...a little though! I went to a crop last week and got 3 pages done! I still need to scan them...and as usual I have a million ideas floating around in my head for more pages. I just need more hours in the day, and to be honest, my creative juices flow better at night, so I should just lock myself in my room some night and scrap, huh?

I'm not terribly happy with the way the pics of the LO's turned out, so I may jsut scan them tomorrow.

Another reason I have put off posting is because we went to the fair several days ago, and I still need to get my pics uploaded. But I was waiting for a guy to send me a pic from the Doo Wah Riders concert, so I could post it here. *L* I still haven't gotten it!! I am so bummed! During the concert, the lead singer gets down off the stage and walks around the audience and always goes up to one lady and sings to her for a little while. Well, the night we went...I was the lucky lady!!! *swoon* And the couple in front of us...well the guy took a pic of the lead singer sitting on my lap, singing to me, so I gave the couple my email address and asked if they would email me the pic and they said they would.......yeah, like I said...I am still waiting! I was so gonna scrap that! *L*
Here are a few of the pics I took at the concert....Jim and I love these guys!!

So until I get my pics uploaded and my pages scanned, here is a little Blog Candy for you Scrappin Out Loud. Check it out!!!! She has some awesome stuff there!! Lots of videos and ideas...plus I can't wait to go check out the link she has posted for the frayed flowers!

It's fair time!!!

2009-05-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

And we are going tonight to see the Doo-Wah Riders!! YEAH!!!!! Jim and I love these guys and go every year to see them!

I CAN NOT WAIT!!!! Doo Wah Riders on You Tube
pics to follow!

Wanna chance to win

2009-04-13T14:43:00.001-07:00

some scrapping supplies? Check out Lynnette's blog for the details!! Fun stuff!

Easter Flowers

2009-04-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is having a Hoppy Easter and the Easter Bunny brought you some gooooood chocolate!!
April is a month of birthdays for us. Well not the whole month, more like one week in April is a birthday week for us *L*
Sammie had her birthday yesterday, tomorrow is my dad's birthday, Wed is Jim's moms birthday and Friday is my youngest son's birthday!! We go through the same thing in Sept. with several birthday's in a row.

Anyway, on to the title of my blog post...Easter flowers. When we got home from church today we were out in the yard walking around and I noticed this

I was delighted to find Easter roses!!

During church today Jim presented Matt with his Purple Pepper award! *giggle*
You know how military personel are awarded a Purple Heart for wounds recieved in the line of duty? Well Jim came up with this idea of awarding Matt with a Purple Pepper for his wounds received in the line of Home Teaching Duty *L* Everyone loved it!!

And I even got another page done today! Can I say how GOOD it feels to me creating again? Wow that was a long dry uninspired spell and I am so glad it is over! I have a couple more pages to do of Madi and then I have several of the twins, some of Sammie and Kayden, oh and Jon's first Hooters experience! I plan on getting them all done this week! Here is the one I got done today. I got the sketch for this page over at Liz's blog. Her sketches are awesome, you should stop by and check it out! Thanks for this one Liz, it was just what I needed for this pic.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

I hope you all....*L* all 3 or 4 of you who read my blog, have a Happy Easter weekend.
We have been listening to the scanner today and there have been so many fatal accidents, it makes me feel so sad. people are in a hurry to celebrate and out there partying and the next thing you know, something happens. So please, be safe...don't drink and drive and be aware of your surroundings and please if you are so inclined to be riding ATV's wear protective gear!!

I did get some scrapping done today woohooo! And Jim is working on a model for the first time since he hurt his hand. He has done pretty well with it! What a relief!
he also got Matt's Purple Pepper award made to present to him tomorrow. *L* I will have to post a pic of it after he gives it to him!

Here is one of the pages I got done today...I won't post the other because it is too personal to me to want to post it. I am on a Madi kick *L* I have several other pics and paper out to do some more pages of her.

Lesson #1 or Home teaching 101

2009-04-09T20:07:00.001-07:00

If you don't know what something is, don't pick it up and start playing with it.

Lesson #2 If playing with said object don't point it in the direction of your own face.

It was a rather exciting night at our house last night. Our home teachers came over, a father and son team. and during the lesson Matt, the son, picked up my pepper spray which was on the table. I didn't notice he had it but Jim did and saw Matt unlock it. Just as he was saying, 'I wouldn't press that if I were you', Matt pressed the button!!!! It was just a split second but he pepper sprayed himself in the chin. Let me tell you what, that is some GOOD pepper spray!! Matt immediately felt it burning and the rest of us started coughing and went outdoors. We took Matt to the restroom to undress (he had gotten it on his shirt also) and to get the pepper spray washed off his face and chest. Jim opened all the windows because whenever we tried to come back into the house we would all start coughing again. Finally got the house aired and Matt somewhat cleaned up and out of pain when he picked up the washcloth he had used and wiped his face again!!!!!

So now Lesson #3. Do NOT use the same rag again, because you will reintroduce the pepper spray back onto your skin!!

Poor guy, I felt so bad for him, although I have to admit we all got a laugh out of it, even Matt despite his pain. After soaking his face in Dawn and water and splashing milk on his face, he got rid of the worst of the burn.

I wonder how many people can say they got pepper sprayed while home teaching? *giggle* Sorry Matt!!! I really do feel bad for you and hope you feel much better today!

For those of you who may have missed the Country Awards, you really should check out this video from it
Till the Last Shot's Fired

and finally for a little comic relief check out this cat burgler

Spoiled

2009-04-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

Rotten that is...totally..pampered and loving every single moment of it!
Who am I talking about you ask? *L* No not me!! Sally, our dog...

We had a couple of friends kids over today, Matthew and Rachel, to watch General Conference with us because their mom Sharon had a hysterectomy yesterday, so we invited them to come to our home to spend the day with us. And as you can tell.....Sally loved the attention she got...she is such an attention whore! *L*

Ahhhh yes...right there...that's the spot! (notice how she cloese her eyes...that means she is in this blissful place that Sally goes to when he neck is being stroked)

She tried to give Matthew a kiss to show her appreciation but he kept dodging her *L*

During the break between Conference sessions we took a drive to Bear Valley/Hesperia Rd because we heard there was going to be a CA Tea Party due to the wonderful state raising our taxes again.

We were kinda surprised there weren't more people there than their was, but then maybe some of the ones who would have been there had other commitments for the day, like us. But we did give them a honk and a thumbs up to show our support.

Driving

2009-04-02T18:57:00.001-07:00

I drove for the first time today since my surgery. It wasn't a long drive, just to the grocery store and back, but it was nice to drive again. Don't think I could handle a long drive yet, but this is a good start!

I also finished up those remaining pages I have had sitting in my room for 3 or 4 months now. Yeah me!!

More of Jon and his broken arm....

I had fun doing my journaling using only stickers on this one!

and Kayden in Sox's pool last summer :)

I've been doing some more blog hopping, so for your reading enjoyment here are a couple more awesome blogs to check out
Stephanie Garbett
The Design Experiment

I did it!

2009-04-01T10:06:00.001-07:00

I scrapped! wooohooo!! Here are the ones I can post right now...

This is my stepdaughter Jenny's grad and the school she graduated from.

*giggle* Sorry Jenny I HAD to scrap it!!

And poor Jon with his broken arm

Be on the lookout for more!!

I am speechless....I ran across a blog today and all I can say is WOW! Truly I am speechless by this lady's work! Such a pretty mess

Feel good day

2009-03-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Spring is in the air, the house is semi-clean *L* I was able to vacumn today! *YEAH* Boy, did it need it badly!! It hasn't been vacumned since before my surgery....scary!!

The weather is perfect!! Sunny, 66 degrees with a very slight breeze and my flowers are blooming!! I am a happy camper!

Yes these ARE my flowers, in MY yard, taken TODAY!!! How can you not be happy seeing this when you go outside? Just imagine the smell...ahhhhhhh!!!

And I found some awesome blog stuff out there today while I was blog hopping. You guys have to check these out! Our Best Bites not only do they have incredible recipes, but check out how they died the Easter Eggs....OMG I SO want to try this!!

Oh and another one I wanted to share if you love to do photo effects Be Funky Can we say FUN!!! And so easy it is hard to believe! After saving the pics to your comp you can print them out and scrap or frame them! Here are a couple I did.

These are just a few of the fun effects you can get!

Feelin better and

2009-03-30T11:29:00.001-07:00

starting to get a little cabin fever! But I have to admit I am loving the tv time with TLC and HGTV! It drives Jim nuts *L* but I am lovin the house shows! But it also means I am not getting any scrappin done, so someone remind me of that when I complain that I haven't had time to scrap! *wink*

I'm gonna have a pet owner vent now *S* Why do people have pets if they don't want to take care of them? Friday I am in the garage throwing my cleaning rags in the wash...yeah they were starting to smell funky since I hadn't gotten them washed since my last cleaning job....when I hear a crash and an animal crying out in pain. I hobble to the front door to look outside but don't see any vehicles and at first I didn't see any animals either. But then I spotted it, on the other side of our oleanders...a dog, a big dog..looked to be pit bull and it was rolling around in pain. I am not going to spare the details because I want pet owners to THINK! This poor dog was rolling around in pain and whining and trying to get somewhere. I felt so helpless, I knew I couldn't go out and check on it, if it turned on me I knew I wouldn't be able to protect myself and get away since I can't run right now. I get my phone and call animal control and by some grace of God they answer..you usually get an answering machine...and I report to them what just happened. They send someone out to help, but in the meantime I am talking to my neighbor because by this time the poor dog has managed to drag himself to our back yard under a bush. When I mention to the neighbor that I had noticed a couple out by the road looking around, and he recognized them as someone that has just moved into our neighborhood so he went over to get them. I am keeping my eye on the dog, and our neighbor brings back someone with him who says the dog belongs to him, so I direct him to where the dog is now. Luckily the man was finally able to pick up the dog, after a couple attempts, and I am just hoping they took him to the vet.
ok, now I realize things happen and animals do get out without the owners knowing it sometimes, and animals can be pretty creative when finding ways to get out, BUT we live on a busy street and we have had a LOT of problems with neighbors dogs getting out, multiple times. So I just wanted to scream at this guy, because now his poor dog was in incredible pain!

Now on to a rant about the Govenator *L* I admit it I voted for Ahhnald...but he has gotten so far out there that I don't even know what he is thinking! Now we want to pass legislation that you can not own a dark colored vehicle in CA because it takes too much energy to cool them off! When the day comes that the powers that be can tell us what color car to have we have Big Problems!!

And finally....I have a question to ask...mostly from the guys ** even though I seriously doubt that many guys read my blog, but ladies maybe ask your hubbies....I know my hubbies thoughts on the matter and all I can say is Thank God he accepts me as I am...but, a friend of ours just got a boob job...and I mean she is HUGE now!! But guys....wouldn't that take some of the fun out of things? Knowing they are fake, plastic....not your wifes real breasts? Maybe I am weird, I dunno....hey I admit I would love to have mine lifted *L* wouldn't almost all of us women who have had kids like to have them lifted? But to have them ummmmmm up to our chins popping out of our shirts HUGE?? I just don't find that attractive at all. Sad thing is she was a beautiful girl *yes I can say 'girl' because she is younger than my own daughter* before she had the boob job and she wasn't an A cup then, but she also had a tummy tuck....and she was probably all of a size 4 at the very most, before her surgery. And we wonder why our 5 yr olds are so concerned about diets and looking sexy? I'm sorry but it is a sore spot with me. I feel sorry for our little girls who are growing up trying to live up to some body image that most women can't attain. What's wrong with being...*gasp*....average?
*stepping off my soap box*

A Scrapbookers Husbands Revenge

2009-03-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

I am home and recovering from the knee surgery. I'm getting around some...which means I can walk around the house, take the dogs out and tonight I walked outside with Jim when he took the trash out. I am down to taking the pain pills every 6 hours instead of every 4...thank goodness because they knock me out! And if you know me you know I do NOT like sitting aorund doing nothing...let alone laying around doing nothing! Because of the pain pills I sleep alot.
The dr said that I will need a partial knee replacement in 4-7 yrs roughly. 4 if I don't lose weight, 7 if I do. So I am going to try my darndest to lose some of this weight. Which right now isn't too hard since the pain pills seem to keep my appetite down.
Thank God for Jim and how well he takes care of me, and my friends for everything they have done for us.
Jim decided to get revenge on me for all the picture taking I do *LOL* So he took pics of me going to the surgery center and during the whole process up until we were home. So then he gets on his comp and makes a scrapbook page for me. *L* He was telling me...'You know I love you, right?' *LOL* So here is his revenge for all my scrapping pages and pics of all the silly...ok and even sometimes embarrassing moments in our lives.

*L* I love this man, and in a way am honored that he made this for me! It did give me a good laugh and will go into my album!

The weekend before my surgery my cousin Michelle from Arizona and my cousin Holly from Kansas (they are sisters) came to visit us. They spent the night with us on Friday night and we had a good time visiting, looking at pics, family videos and laughing. It was SO good to see them. I love having family come to visit!!!
Here we are in our front yard by the infamous tree

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

2009-03-17T08:56:00.001-07:00

What are you doing to celebrate St. Patricks Day? I am sure Jim will speak with his Irish accent...which he can do because he is 100% Irish! *L* Just ask him (or ask Jonnie *L*), he will tell you, Grandpa Jim was in Ireland when St. Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland, in fact he helped St. Patrick chase the snakes out! Here are some more St. Patrick's Day blarney and fun facts.

Have you seen Diana's blog by chance? Who is this Diana you ask? Well check her out and you will see...she has the cutest handmade jewelry in her Etsy shop! She's giving away some of her designs..but you have to visit her blog to get the details.

Now, on to my vent for the day. AIG...who is with me on this one?? Why is it we keep giving these people bail out money when they are turning around and using it for millions of dollars in bonuses?? You know what we need to do to stimulate the economy, and if anyone in office had half a brain this is what they would do...is to give every legal tax paying adult in the U.S even $100,000 we wouldn't need to be bailing out these company's! They would be getting paid off and there would be no need for a bial out bill. I know us for one...we could pay off the mortgage, the pickup, and any and all bills we have and have them all paid off with money left! Now if we all did that, do you think this country would need any bail out bills? Seriously people..wake up!! Wonder what it would take for me to get a government handout......hmmmmmmm

Proud Grandma moment

2009-03-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

I just feel like bragging about my grandkids tonight! Jim and I have some awesome grandkids! So I will start with the oldest *L* Madi....

That girl has more musical talent in her little finger than I have in my entire body! She's loved music as long as I have known her and I hate to admit I admire her talent! I can't read music to save my life but that girl is playing the Clarinet, has won awards and is now taking Oboe lessons! She is a natural and she is only 14. Show me a piece of sheet music and it might as well be chinese!

Then we have Jon. He is definately all boy and he loves to work with his hands already. For only being 8 it is impressive to say the least. He is in a program at school called Destination Imagination and they won 1st place for thier manned & unmanned machines and the performance(he is the one with the bandana thingy tied around his head) they gave at a recent competition. Now they get to go compete at the state level!! He had to call and tell us his exciting news! I am so happy for him!

Then of course we have our resident celebrity Jonnie who is on the billboard in Mississippi

Jenny called last night and she had a meeting at his school yesterday and found out he is being moved to a gifted program!

Gosh they are not only handsome and beautiful, but smart too!! *L*

Ok on to the kids... *L*
Jamie called so excited she could hardly stand it. She got a new job!!! She is going to be working in a print shop, finally doing something with computers, like she has wanted for so many years! I'm excited for her and hope this leads to something even bigger for her down the line.
Oh, Jenny also told us to get on our comps because they got a web cam and she sent us live video of the twins. Now we just saw them not even 3 weeks ago? They are changing so fast!!! They are getting chubby little cheeks and Lexi was smiling so big! ahhhhhhh I got all teary eyed watching them! Sammi got a haircut and OMG she looks older and it is so beautiful on her!
Welp, thats about it for tonight. It is almost time for my Grey's to come on *L* so I gotta boogy outta here....I just had to do some bragging :)

Winter vacation..4000 miles and then some!

2009-03-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

*warning...following message will be a book!* *L*
To start off, we were able to take our trip after all. Things got real crazy after Jim almost cut his finger off and I didn't have a chance to get online again after I took him to see the surgeon (he didn't have to have surgery, the dr said he wanted to let mother Nature take it's course and that the nail may grow back or it may not..I am leaning towards not...but he said he may need surgery in the future if the finger gives him trouble. Right now it is wait and see.) But he also said take your trip and have fun!! So the next couple days were a whirlwind of getting things ready because we decided to leave on Friday instead of Saturday since he couldn't work and I was off Friday and there was a storm coming. The storm moved in shortly after we left! I am so glad we left when we did, not only because of the storm but because it took us 3 days to drive to Mississippi, instead of the 2 we had originally planned on. We stopped at each state line to get a pic of Harold by the state sign. *L* For those of you who don't know Harold, here is a pic of him at one of the state signs

We stayed in Albequerque the first night, in the same motel we were staying at when Jim proposed to me, and our room was just 1 room down from the room we had then! How cool is that?

Saturday, we made it as far as OK City. We were lucky to stop where we did because as we were watching the weather on the local news we discovered had we gone much further we would have ran into a storm of sleet. Not a good thing, in unfamiliar territory at night!!

Sunday we got up to drive the rest of the way and we were up with the birds....literally! Have you seen the movie The Birds? If not..it is a classic that I loved as a kid and Jim and I just happened to run across it on tv a few days before we left on our trip. Also, if you have seen it then you can so totally relate to what I am about to show you!! This is what we woke up to in Ok City at 5 am. The sound was deafening and talk about FREAKY!!!!! They were EVERYWHERE!! And more flew in. As we were walking into McD's to get a breakfast sandwich I was taking a couple pics and a bird on one of the light poles let out a BIG squack...talk about goosebumps! YIKES!!!!! They were everywhere..on the poles, wires, trees, signs, on the ground and even on one car in the parking lot! If anyone knows why, or if this happens regularly in OK City let me know! *L* I would love to know why there were so many birds!

We finally arrive in Mississippi around 4 pm, exhausted and excited! We went straight to Jenny and John's home to see the kids. OMG can you say PRECIOUS!! the twins were adorable, and the older kids came running out to see us and give us hugs! It was amazing!

Jim's son Ryann, DIL Mariam, Jim's daughter Jenny(mommy) and SIL Johnathon and all the kids loaded up to take us to Memphis on Tuesday after Mariam cooked us all a delicious breakfast. We got to see Graceland (which I really thought would be bigger than it was, but I loved all the written messages from Elvis fans on the wall and sidewalk around Graceland)
Then they took us to Beale Street which was awesome!

Jim spotted a Hooters, and since we LOVE Hooters Wings so much we decided to eat at Hooters on Beale St! Poor Jonnie was so embarrassed. Of course Grandma J had to have the waitresses pose with him so I could take a pic...and all the guys were cheering him on *L* I know what my scrapper buds are going to say *L* but you KNOW this is going to be scrapped....there is a whole story that goes with this.

Sammie crossing her eyes..I don't know how she does it, but it makes my eyes hurt just watching her do it *L* the next 2 pics are just because they make me happy. I thought the old pink van was cute and I loved this clock on Beale St.! I want one in my backyard!

While we were visiting the kids we also got to go to an awards program at Jonnie and Sammie's school.

The Superintendant even mentioned us being there..all the way from California, when he was giving his speech.
Our last day there, Jenny and John asked us if we would watch the kids so they could get out alone and get some couple time. We were more than happy to! And since we had the kids all up in the motel room with us (we were staying at the casino motel that Ryann works in...the Gold Strike...awesome place!!!!), we did a photo shoot with the kids. This is one of my favorites!

At one point Jim told the kids to give him some attitude and boy did he get 'tude. I loved these shots. Sammie is such a ham! If that girl doesn't grow up to be an actress I will be surprised!

When we were done with the photo shoot, I noticed Sammie watching Alex with this look of pure love on her face, so I had to grab my camera and capture the moment. It was breathtaking!

When we arrived at Jenny's she had asked Jim if he would bless the babies. He was finally able to get it approved on our last night there, what a special moment. With many tears, it was time for us to leave and head out for Ark. As we were leaving town I was able to get a pic of the billboard that Jonnie is on.

From there it was on to Arkansas to see grandkids Madi and Gavin. My how they have grown since we last saw them almost 2 years ago!

Gavin is a HUGE Cars fan, so when Papa Jim gave him the Cars cars he had brought for him, Gavin was beside himself!

We were only able to stay in Ark 1 night because we had to get to KS for my parent's 50th anniversary party.

While we were on the road we saw this van...so I am asking my blogger friends for some help again, if you know the story behind this van and trailer I would love to hear it!

Since the last week before we left was so busy I still hadn't finished mom and dad's sign in book for the party, so I worked on it on the road. *L* My scrapper buds will be proud of me!

I didn't get a pic of the photo board to post because I didn't get that finished until we got to my parents house. I had to stop in Salina, KS at a JoAnn's to buy supplies! *L*

When we got to KS and my parents house, my daughter Jamie and her kids, Jon and Kayden were there from Colorado and they were all excited to see us as well! Of course the first morning Kayden had to come in and give us hugs and get tickled by Papa Jim.

Rise and shine and time to get to the church to decorate for the anniversary party that was set for later in the day.
This is the best pic you are going to get of the photo board I made, no that is not me *L* I wish I was that slim...that is a friend of my mom's who was helping us set up.

Finally some pics from the anniversary party. I had my camera set up to get pics of the family, and then I forgot to get 1 pic that I wanted so badly. A pic of the 4 generations of women...my mom, me, my daughter and grandaughter. I am so sad I forgot to get that pic. So for all who don't know them, there are pics of my parents, Jim and I, me and two of my cousins, Tina and Cally, one of me and my kids(I have no idea what that look is on my face for...someone said something to me just as Jim snapped the pic *L*), the whole family and the great grandkids...and last but not least my neice JJ who is pregnant with future great-grandbaby! *L*

We may not get to see the grandkids very often, but when we do we always come away with some very special memories of our time together. This time was no exception. Jon told Jim that we were his favorite grandparents of all his grandparents. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh and then on their last day there, they had to leave a day before we did, Jim was giving Kayden a bunch of kisses (she loves when he kiosses her all over her face *L*) Jon told us that he was laughing about Kayden getting all those kisses but he was crying inside because he was going to leave and wouldn't be able to see us again for a long time. How precious is that? Gosh makes me tear up all over again thinking about it.
We had a wonderful time visiting family and I was able to reconnect with my sons, something I have prayed for for so long. There were tears as we left this leg of our trip as well. How we wish they were all closer!

Finally it was time for our final leg of the trip...Utah, to see Shaun, Brit and Patrick.

Patrick is at such a fun age! He's babbling and pulling himself up to walk around things. Before we know it he will be walking on his own!
I love this pic of Britney playing with him and this pic of Patrick sitting between Shaun's legs.

Once again I need my fellow bloggers help! *L* While in Utah we went to the Draper Temple open house. First off it was amazingly gorgeous! And HUGE!! WOW!! But on the way I saw this tree all wrapped up in different colors..can someone tell me why?? *L*

Finally in true form, it wouldn't be a trip to Utah for us without some rain or snow. We got both this time! *L* A light rain one day and then the morning we were leaving we woke up to snow! The weather forecaster said it would only dip down to the Salt Lake Valley....but what he didn't know is we were in Utah!! So of course it had to snow!! We hit snow off and on all the way to Beaver, where of course we had to stop to get cheese curds *L* here is what it looked like as we were leaving Payson

Time for me to call it a night! This post has taken me 2 hours...probably about as long as it will take you to read it *L* if you read the whole thing, bless your heart!

An update on Jim's fingers and more!!

2009-02-10T22:48:00.000-08:00

Took him into our dr today for his 48 hour checkup and for them to change the bandages. When we got there and the Dr. came into the room she asked us why we were there. We were like...ummmm because that is what the ER Dr said to do, come see you in 2 days and have the bandages changed.
She then told us she had the radiologist report and he has bone fragments in his index finger and both bones in his thumb are broken, the bone above the knuckle and the bone below the knuckle and that he needed to see a hand surgeon asap, because he is at risk for a bone infection. So I got a number right away for the ortho surgeon who is doing my knee surgery and they got him in first thing in the morning. If he can't fix it then he will refer us to someone who can. Keep him in your prayers please!! (no pics....I took some today but they are pretty graphic, so if you wanna see them you have to ask me for them. It hurt when they took the bandages off, but that is also good because it means he has feeling in the index finger!)

In more upbeat news :) we got snow yesterday!!! It didn't amount to much, but it was so pretty while it lasted and the flakes were HUGE!!!! I almost have mom and dad's photo board done. Will post a pic when I am done putting the tacks in it. I was too beat tonight to do any work on it. But here are some of the pics Jim got of the snow!

How I spent my day

2009-02-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

Isn't that kind of like what kids have to write after summer vacation, only it is 'How I spent my Summer Vacation'.
We hadn't planned on spending most of the day in the ER. We were going to get some more things ready for the trip. Which is what caused the trip to the ER.
Jim was making a box for the truck, for him to mount his Ham Radio on, since we are going to be out in the middle of no where driving a lot during this trip. He was using the table saw to cut his wood and was on the last cut when he hit a knot in the wood or something and it make the board buck back. A piece of wood hit him in the chest and his finger went through the table saw.
It didn't take off the whole pointer finger, but it did take off a good part of it, plus it put some good gashes in his thumb. Luckily the dr was able to sew the finger back on! And luckily it was his left hand and not his right! But he did cut through the bone, obviously, so it is splinted also. He has to leave the stitches in for 2 weeks to make sure the finger has time to heal back on. So he will have to have the stitches removed while we are on vacation out in Kansas. Poor guy!! I was scared, man was I scared! If it had been me I probably would have passed out or something. I feel so bad for him because I can not even imagine how much it hurts!!

Being the trusty scrapper I am, what did I do? Did I grab the camera to take pics?

Oh heck no!!! *L* I went into emergency mode and took off for the hospital without my camera in hand. *hanging my head in shame* BUT, he did let me take some pics when we got home! *L* Probably helps that he is doped up on Vicodin!

(looks kinda like he is wearing Mickey Mouse gloves huh?) *L* I am so glad he has a sense of humor!!

Oh I forgot to show what I was working on for mom and dad's anniversary. I am making 150 of these treat bags as favors for their 50th!

Justice

2009-02-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhh there is some justice in this world! Dr loses license Not only should he lose his license but him and everyone involved should be brought up on charges of murder!

If you know me, you know my love for stupid criminals! This one beats all Stupid Criminals #1. And in this one....yeah these yoyos aren't quote so tough anymore are they? *LMAO* Stupid Criminals #2 Justice..you gotta love it!!!

As for this woman Octuplets mom. I'm sorry but you knowingly had 8 more babies on top of the 6 you already have to take care of. How do you plan on supporting them? Did you think the offers for money and deals would just come flying in? I personally think it was terribly irresponsible of her to even attempt another pregnancy when she had the 6 children already, knowing that there is not a father in the picture to help raise them. I feel sorry for all of the children in this family. And she expects us to feel sorry for her because she had an isolated childhood....sorry but if I was your mama and you were saying that about me, I am afraid I would tell you that you were on your own now, you better find someone better suited to help you raise these 14 kids now. She's single, unemployed and now has 14 babies to raise. Who is going to be paying for this? US!!! And she says she had an isolated childhood, how does she think she is going to provide a better childhood for this many children? What knid of attention is she going to be able to give each child? Let's get real! And what freaking dr is responsible for implanting you so many times with embryos? not just once, but 6 times you had in-vetro done! this dr should be the one who has to support them all! I feel sorry for all of these children.

This is just really cool! Inaguration

And finally on the home front. We are getting rain...ahhhhhhhh I LOVE it! It smells so good and the plants really need it! The mountains are getting snow, so they will be gorgeous when we can see them again *L* Well, I gotta get back to work on mom and dad's treat bags for their 50th anniversary party. I will post pics when I get them done. Oh Oh Oh...wait! Before I forget....my cousin Marshall has officially signed with the Sooners to play football next fall. Good luck Marsh...stay safe, have fun and kick some butt!!! We are all so proud of you!!! Thanks to his sis Meredith for keeping us all updated on Marshall's progress and the fam out that way!!

The twins have arrived!!!

2009-01-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

Alexander and Alexis have arrived!! This morning. Don't know a lot of details yet, except Alexander weighed 5 lbs 10 oz and Alexis weighed 5 lbs 3 oz! They are precious!! Their Uncle Ryann sent us a couple of pics of them just hours old.

Alexander....I think he looks a bit like his older brother Jon

Alexis...ahhh she looks so dainty and girlie!! I'm thinking she looks a wee bit like her daddy.

Starting the New Year off right...NOT!!!

2009-01-24T19:38:00.001-08:00

So I was going to keep up with my blog...and what do I do? I go 2 1/2 months without posting a single thing! I could blame being busy, I could say it was because I have had a horrible case of the blues or just been plain STRESSED over so many things, and while all of these would be true, it is still no excuse for not taking a few minutes each day or week and not posting something! Anything! So if you are reading this now, you are going to get a *hopefully* short but sweet version of the last 2+ months!!

Thanksgiving we had the Charlie's over for the day, played cards and in general had a super time...and I won the cardgame!! nanenanenane!! *L*

I fought and fought with the insurance and the dr's this month...hence some of my stress, and we still didn't get Jim's surgery approved.

Dec came and with it came some very cold temps AND SNOW!!!!! Snow, lots and lots of snow! It was awesome!! Ok for those of you who are getting sick of snow already, let me just explain. We here in the High Desert rarely get snow. Sure it snows in the winter, but we are generally lucky (at least since I moved here) to get snow 3 or 4 times a year, and then it is usually just a couple inches and by the end of the day or the next day it is gone. Well this storm blew in and it was a whopper of a storm! It was beautiful!! Humongeous flakes!! Jim put a ruler in the snow at one point shortly after noon and by later in the afternoon the ruler was gone! Buried in the snow!! The girls had a blast in it! But after a couple days of snow up the thier bellies, making it hard to squat and do thier job outside *L* they were getting sick of it! Jim set up a retreat area for the birds under our patio cover and they sure loved him for it. Take a look at those icicles! We so rarely get them here, I had to take lots of pics *L*

Then before we knew it it was Christmas Day. We missed the fam, but we did get to talk to everyone on the phone.
I went to the Redlands Temple for the first time and it was incredible!

New Yr's Eve we had the Charlie's back over for dinner and another card game....I'm not gonna say who won again....let's just say....twice in a row waaahoooooo that's a new record for.....someone (me) *L*

and we made our yearly round of phone calls to the fam to wish them Happy New Year....for each time zone. *L* Someday they will all pay us back for this I am sure!

Other than that I finally saw the ortho surgeon and I have to have knee surgery *yippie*. This all goes back to that car accident from almost 2 years ago when that idiot broadsided us. Now to get the MRI done on my back to find out what is going on there. Jim has had a couple medical issues we are working on getting taken care of. Jenny is having the twins by C-sec next Wed!!!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it, and we are getting our trip to Mississippi to see them, then on to Ark to see Madi, Gavin and Tracy, then on up to KS for mom and dad's 50th anniversary with a stop in Utah on the way home to see Patrick since we haven't seen them since we haven't seen them since July 4th. I will fill up my new 8 gig memory card and then some on this trip! *L*

Oh and during all this *L* I did get a couple scrapbook pages done *ha* Ok so I have several I need to finish up with journaling and what not but here is one I have finished. This was from a challenge that Tara (from one of my yahoo groups) issued. It was so much fun!!!

I'm exhausted!!

2008-11-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

Why is it whenever we have to change the clocks no matter if it is ahead or back, I am always exhausted for a while? Uggggg Here it is barely 9 pm and I want to fall into bed!!! *L*

It's been a fun and eventful week. The church Halloween party was Thursday, Friday we went out for our belated anniversary dinner and listened to the scanner until way late...it was a crazy Halloween night for sure! Saturday we slept in and then went to the Prop 8 rally. And it rained!!! It was wonderful!!! It was cool, but not cold and this was the first rally I have ever gone to and participated in.

We had lots of people honk and give us thumbs up and a few that flipped us off. *L* Oh well! We even had people stop and ask if they could join us. That was very cool!

And the guys in this car were almost falling out of us to give us thumbs up and cheer us on!

When we got home I got some wonderful shots of the raindrops in my roses!!

Today after church I had the kids in Sunday School and it was the first time I felt really really good about how class went. I have struggled with this whole teaching thing. And today I was left without teaching material and a helper again and I just decided to run with it, and wow it went sooo well!! I decided to involve the kids more in the class and they loved it. instead of just trying to 'teach' them, I involved them in the whole class.
Jimmade his incredible clam chowder for us to have after church today and with the weather being chilly it was the perfect way to warm us up!

Oh and before I forget, Jamie sent me pics of
Kayden in her Halloween costume and Shaun sent us pics of

Patrick in his! they are sooooooooooooooo stinking cute!!!

Finally I will leave you with some pics of our outside fall decorations :) Happy Fall ya'all!!

Enough is enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-31T23:46:00.001-07:00

I’ve had ENOUGH!!!!!!

I am SO flipping sick and tired of tolerance being shoved down our throats! Cases in point.....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,445865,00.html

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78829

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08102306.html

I am not anti-gay...I have gay family members...but enough already with having stuff crammed down our throats and teaching kindergardeners..1st...2nd...3rd grades this crap already!!! LET THEM BE KIDS!!!!!!!!!!

A friend of mine who is gay recently got married in Colorado....but you know what...he was respectful enough to find a minister who would perform the ceremony! He didn't take some other minister to court to make a point! I respect him for that!

THESE are the reasons I AM voting YES on 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be informed!!!

2008-10-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

If you are voting in the upcoming election. Please, please research your candidate...don't just vote for someone or some bill because it 'sounds good'. CHECK IT OUT FIRST! Read about it, know WHAT you are voting for or against!

This upcoming election will be one that makes history, so do YOUR JOB and know what your voting for!!

I for one am not overly excited about either candidate. So again here comes another election year of voting for the lesser of two evils. Who will be your lesser?

Check this link....read it...snopes even says it is true. They checked with the author and he has confirmed it's truth.
Huntley Brown

Just for fun

2008-10-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

I recently joined facebook..so if you are there give me a holler! Julie McCauley *L*
I am addicted to this darn Hatchlings game they have there, so if you do add me I will send you a request to join the Hatchling game too!

And my stepson Ryann asked me to join his Mob on My Space, so I did that too *L* Oh well..it's all fun!

Geneology

2008-10-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have been spending a ton of time doing family history work, and loving every minute of it!! The info I have been able to get about my (paternal) grandma Elsie's (Russell) family line is amazing, as is the info I have been able to find on the Krull (my maternal grandfather's) side. But I am sorely lacking on the Dizmang, Akers and Musil side's. They are proving to be very challenging. Seems my great grandfather Frank Musil's family came over from Bohemia in the Czech Republic and the Musil name is quite common over there, and I won't even mention how common a name Frank Musil is!!! *LOL* Makes it a bit difficult to narrow down which one is the right one.
And you would think Dizmang would be an easy name to track down....think again!!!!! *L* As for the Aker's name, I need to get in touch with a cousin back in KS who has a lot of family tree info and see if he will make me some copies of what he has. He has done extensive work and traveled all over getting info.

Consequently I haven't spent much time scrapping lately. This family history stuff has pretty much consumed me! :)

Ok, so go no further if you don't want to hear me venting about this STUPID bailout program!!!
I wish someone could explain to me why it is that there is no branch of government that can come up with a bill that doesn't have a ton of pork in it...somewhere.....take a look at just some of the crap in the Bailout Bill. What a flipping joke!!!!!!! Too bad the joke is on us!
Every flippin person involved in passing this bill should be incredibly ashamed of themselves for allowing this!

The following are some of the top tax sweeteners in the Senate passed Bailout Bill. Not all the provisions are per se outrageous, but collectively are intended to help Congressional leadership get final passage of the 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children Current law places an excise tax of 39 cents on the first sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of any shaft of a type used to produce certain types of arrows. This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more. The proposal is effective for shafts first sold after the date of enactment. The estimated cost of the proposal is $2 million over ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. The Oregon senators were the initial sponsors of the provisions. According to Bloomberg News, the provision would be worth $200,000 to Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon.

Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility Track owners want to be able write-off the cost of their facilities on their taxes over seven years - a depreciation timetable many of them have used for decades. But the IRS has wanted to stretch it to at least 15 years and has raised questions whether the increasingly popular tracks really belong in the same tax category as amusement parks. Auto track owners are simply trying to get out of paying more taxes - which they'd have to do if they deducted less every year. These owners have gotten plenty of tax breaks over the years from states and localities eager to get speedways. The provision would be extended 2 years till the end of 2009 and would cost $100 million. The provision encompasses all facilities including grandstands, parking lots and concession stands.

Sec. 308. Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Extends until December 31, 2009 a rebate against excise taxes charged on rum imported from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. A $13.50 per proof gallon excise tax is applied to distilled spirits imported to the U.S. Under this provision a $13.25 rebate is returned to PR and the VI, and is retroactive back to January 1, 2008. Permanent law sets the rebate at $10.50 per proof gallon, but the PR and VI provisions have generally been in place since the first Clinton Administration. The most recent extension of the $13.50 rebate expired January 1, 2008. Cost is $192 million.

Sec. 301. Extension and modification of research credit The legislation reestablishes and extends the lucrative tax credit for companies doing research and experimentation in the United States. Companies that have benefited from this provision include Microsoft Corp., Boeing Co., United Technologies Corp., Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Harley-Davidson. The two-year extension is estimated to cost $19 billion.

Sec. 504. Income averaging for amounts received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation The bailout bill would give a tax break to Exxon Valdez plaintiffs, allowing them to average out their punitive damages awards over three years rather than suffer a one-time tax hit from the Internal Revenue Service, as well as other provisions. Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is a big supporter of this provision. Cost is estimated at $49 million.

Sec. 601. Secure rural schools and community self-determination program. Secure Rural Schools lead sponsors Reps. DeFazio (D-OR), Bill Sali (R-ID); Sens. Wyden (D-OR), Larry Craig (R-ID), are major boosters of this program that expired in 2006. In 1908 the federal government agreed to share logging revenue from Forest Service land with neighboring communities that could not tax the land because it was federal. As logging declined in the 1990s, the "county payments" program was initiated in 2000 to directly provide federal funding, more than half going to Oregon, to deal with the loss of revenue. The original version of this provision was introduced as a bill in early 2007 and was estimated to cost $2.2 billion when the OR and ID delegations came to agreement. To give the package more heft, Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) was added to the package, bringing the total cost to $3.3 billion. PILT provides more general funding to counties for federal lands located within their borders. Sen. Reid (D-NV) talked about the PILT program being one of the important elements of the package when the Senate passed the bailout bill.

Sec. 201. Deduction for state and local sales taxes Allows residents of states that don’t pay income tax to deduct, from their federal taxes, sales tax paid over the course of the year. States that benefit include Texas, Nevada, Florida, Washington and Wyoming. The bailout bill extends this provision for 2 years at a cost of $3.3 billion.

Sec 502. Provisions related to film and television productions In an effort to keep film and television productions in the U.S, they would be eligible for a tax incentive program. Under this program, the cost of production of qualifying films would be permitted to be immediately expensed -- that is, fully deducted from income for tax purposes -- in the year the expenditures occur. This provision also makes permanent other favorable tax treatments for production. Historically Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA) has been a supporter (dating from its creation in the 2004 corporate tax bill). The cost is estimated at $478 million over 10 years.

Sec. 325. Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wool duty refunds The tariff relief (duty savings) is intended to benefit U.S. worsted wool fabric producers that use imported fibers and yarns as inputs, as well as U.S. tailored clothing manufacturers that use imported fabrics as inputs. This provision was originally introduced as a bill in December 2007 by Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Melissa Bean (D-IL). It extends current law provisions until 12/31/14, and in some cases to12/31/15. The 2010 to 2015 cost is estimated to be $148 million.

Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa This extends by two years a previously approved tax credit, the American Samoa economic development credit. In general, this credit allows certain corporations operating in American Samoa a tax credit. The possessions tax credit allows these corporations to offset a portion of their U.S. tax liability on income earned in American Samoa from active business operations, sales of assets used in a business, or certain investments in American Samoa. The cost is $33 million, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Other Examples:Here are some other interesting provisions

Sec. 201. Inclusion of cellulosic biofuel in bonus depreciation for biomass ethanol plant property Current law allows taxpayers to write-off 50% of the cost of any facility placed in service before January 1, 2013 that produces cellulosic ethanol. This provision expands the types of facilities that may be written-off to include production of other cellulosic biofuels in addition to cellulosic ethanol.

Sec. 211. Transportation fringe benefit to bicycle commuters Allows employers to provide a benefit to employees for costs associated with bicycle commuting, including purchase and repair of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, and bicycle storage. This provision was proposed in 2007 in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and in the House by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). This provision is estimated to cost $10 million.

Sec. 323. Enhanced charitable deductions for contributions of food inventory Extends by two years, until December 31, 2009, a provision allowing for deductions related to the charitable donation of “apparently wholesome food”—defined as food intended for human consumption that meets all quality and labeling standards imposed by law and regulations even though the food may not be readily marketable. This provision also changes the application of the law as it relates to donations by farmers and ranchers. The cost is $149 million, according to Joint Committee on Taxation.

Sec. 324. Extension of enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of bookinventory Extends by two years, until December 31, 2009, a tax benefit for the contribution of books to public schools. The provision is worth $49 million.

Sec. 602. Transfer to abandoned mine reclamation fund Transfers interest earned on money in the abandoned mine reclamation fund to the United Mine Workers of America Combined Benefit Fund, which helps pay health benefits for retired miners and their dependents who worked under collective bargaining agreements that promised lifetime health-care benefits. States with the most miners receiving benefits have historically been Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Ohio. This provision extends existing law to include a $9 million transfer for 2010.

It's a......

2008-09-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

Jenny had her US today and we got the news on what the baby is today.......

Our next grandbaby, that is due in Feb....is

TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!!!! Can you believe it! we have been beyond thrilled, excited, stunned, shocked...you name it! *L* Twins!!
Looks like a boy and probably a girl!!!

Never forget

2008-09-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today is the 7th anniversary of 9/11. Let's never forget that day and the people who lost thier lives in the twin towers, the pentagon or the brave passengers of Flight 93. To this day watching stories about it on tv, reading about it brings tears to my eyes. It is one day I will never ever forget. But for the grace of God, we could have so easily been on one of the planes that hit the twin towers. I almost booked us on one of those flights, but thank God we decided to delay our trip to Boston by a couple weeks because Southwest airlines extended a special they were having on flights. I remember going to Walmart that day. The silence was eerie and deafening. There was no one around and all of the tv's were tuned into news coverage. At that point we didn't know if we were even going to be able to go on our trip. All flights had been stopped. It was very weird to go outside and not see the regular flights from LA going over our house. I hope everyone has a moment of silence today for the victims of 9/11.

'MEET ME IN THE STAIRWELL'

You say you will never forget where you were when you heard the news On September 11, 2001 .
Neither will I.

I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room with a man who called his wife to say 'Good-Bye.'
I held his fingers steady as he dialed.

I gave him the peace to say, 'Honey, I am not going to make it, but it is OK..I am ready to go.'

I was with his wife when he called as she fed breakfast to their children.
I held her up as she tried to understand his words and as she realized he wasn't coming home that night.

I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a woman cried out to Me for help.
'I have been knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years !' I said.
'Of course I will show you the way home - only believe in Me now.'

I was at the base of the building with the Priest ministering to the injured and devastated souls. I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven.
He heard my voice and answered.
I was on all four of those planes, in every seat, with every prayer.
I was with the crew as they were overtaken.
I was in the very hearts of the believers there, comforting and assuring them that their faith has saved them.
I was in Texas , Virginia , California , Michigan , Afghanistan
I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news.

Did you sense Me?
I want you to know that I saw every face.
I knew every name - though not all know Me.
Some met Me for the first time on the 86th floor.
Some sought Me with their last breath.
Some couldn't hear Me calling to them through the smoke and flames;
'Come to Me.. this way... take my hand.'
Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me.
But, I was there.

I did not place You in the Tower that day.
You may not know why, but I do.
However, if you were there in that explosive moment in time, would you have reached for Me?

Sept. 11, 2001 , was not the end of the journey for you.
But someday your journey will end.
And I will be there for you as well.
Seek Me now while I may be found.
Then, at any moment, you know you are ready to go.
I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.

God

I received my birthday card from my mom and dad today, and in it mom put a newspaper article about my cousins son, Marshall Musil . Wow what an article!! I am so proud of this kid I have to put the link to the story up here so you can read about him also. His dad, my cousin, Terry died 9 years ago this Christmas Eve from pancreatic cancer. Terry was an awesome guy!! He was a football coach at a couple of high schools out in Kansas and the guys loved him!!! His funeral was incredible, all his players that showed up to pay thier respects..wow, it was incredible! Connie you have done an amazing job raising him and Meredith! I just know Terry is looking down on Marshall and smiling right now!

You go Marshall!! Kick some butt down there in OK, and I will be watching for you playing professionally one of these days!

And finally.......For all you Sarah Palin doubters, or the ones who are believing the rumors floating around out there, read this answers to the rumors

Totally disgusted

2008-09-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

I am seeing things on the news that truly disgust me anymore. Tonight I finally saw footage of Casey Anthony getting out of jail again. She had a smile on her face! OMG this woman is totally mental and has no regard for human life..the life of her own daughter..her flesh and blood! How many of us with children could be smiling, knowing that our child is missing? Why is she smiling? IMHO it is because she thinks she has got us all fooled and she is going to get away with this! I can not wait for the day when they finally bring charges against her. She so totally disgusts me!

While I am on a rant. Have you seen last nights interview with Obama? Well, if you haven't you should. My Muslim faith I don't know about you...but he scares me.
Also is anyone else disturbed by the fact that Obama voted against the Infant born alive Act? This means he voted against giving medical attention to a baby that survived a late term abortion. He would rather see the baby die than to give it medical attention if the baby is born alive? How can anyone vote for that?
And lets not even see the Demoratic party say ANYTHING about Palin's pg daughter. Not after thier golden boy John Edwards was having an affair and possibly a kid with another woman while his wife is battling breast cancer! How LOW can you go?

While I am on a rant, *L*
What is the deal with the lesbian being able to sue the dr who refused to artifically inseminate her based on his religious beliefs? Isn't this a free country, can't she go to another dr for treatment? I am sure there are plenty of dr's out there who would do this for her, but oh no she is suing this dr because he refused. I'm sorry but I am so fricking sick and tired of certain groups trying to shove thier agenda down everyone else's throats!! They sue because 'they' can't do something they want to do, despite the other person (in this case the dr) having rights also. So they are saying the dr has no rights in this? Wrong, wrong, wrong!!!!! I am not singling out gays and lesbians, I have friends and relatives who are, but I am saying that any group, no matter who you are, if you are trying to shove your beliefs and desires down everyone elses throats....REMEMBER we have rights also!!! You are NOT the only one with rights!!! Find another freaking dr to treat you for crying out loud!!!!

And what the ^*!@ is going on with all the identity theft??? We got a letter from our mortage company saying that an employee got our loan info and may have sold it. Wonderful!! So I had to put a fraud alert on each of the 3 credit reporting agencies. Now I have to call the credit card companies and notify them. ARGGGGGGGG I think I feel an ulcer coming on!

Scrapping

2008-09-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't gotten any scrapping done today..yet! *L* But I am heading to my scrap area after I take a shower. Wish me luck!!
I thought I would finally get the pages I did at the last crop posted though. Why is it I can go to a crop and in 4 hours whip out 4 pages like that, but at home I seem to struggle? *L* I think I analyze everything too much when I am at home. I never used to be like this, I used to turn out 10 pages in a weekend...Abby I wanna be like you....grab some things off my desk and throw them on a page and have it turn out awesome!
I know what it is! I have too much scrap crap! I dunno...can you EVER have too much? ;-) Bad scrapper...bad scrapper....you know you can NEVER have too much scrap stuff!!
Anyway, here are my pages from the last crop.

Patrick's hospital photo. I love the dreamy look to this photo!

Ahhhh Miss Madi and her teen angst...to be a teenager again....NO thank you!!

Love this pic of Kayd. It might not be the best quality, but I love the motion in it.

And finally..the attempted photo shoot with Jon and Kayd while I was out in KS in May. *LOL*

Odds and Ends

2008-09-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

I have had so much going on in my head lately and it feels like my creativity has taken a hiatis this summer. I am hoping with fall coming that that will change and I will get back into gear with my scrapping. I miss it...more than you can imagine and I have all these ideas in my head..but it seems like I have no time or umph to get it done. I have been sorting pics though, tons and tons OMG how did I get so many pics! *L* Don't ask! If you ask Jim he just laughs. I guess when you take a few hundred pics each time you see the grnadkids or go anywhere they add up huh? And I only have a fraction of the photos I have taken developed...now that is really scary!!
I have been reading a lot of blogs and been loving that and getting tons of inspiration from them!! Abby posted one that I looked at tonight. OMG I was seriously drolling over this one I inspire Me
Abby also had a post up about a car show they happened to discover one day..so this photo is just for you Abby...I can't wait to scrap it..just not sure how yet..but it is one of my fav photos..maybe that is why I am having a hard time scrapping it..I want it to be 'just right'! *L*
and speaking of black dogs...Abby will know what I mean...(while you are at it you should check out Abby's blog..it is over there <----- in the list with my yahoo ladies.) Here is my baby Sox, who is so hard to photograph. One evening I sat outside with her just shooting to get a couple of really good pics of her. She has the sweetest face

and I love how she cocks her head to one side when you are talking to her.

That darn stick *L* she has to have that thing with her all the time. If she can't find it she will pace the yard until she does. I seriously don't know what she is going to do when it is finally all worn out. She couldn't find it for a couple weeks this summer so Jim cut her some new branches from the mulberry tree...her sitcks HAVE to come from the mulberry tree. I don't know if it is something from when she was a pup and that is where she had her first stick from, or if she just likes the taste of the wood from that tree. She played with the new stick Jim cut her, but one day she magically found her old stick again!

One more thing before I close for the night. While reading blogs tonight, I was looking through Meghan's blog and came across this post about this family (the husband and wife) that were flying in a private jet when it crashed. The story broke my heart. They have 3 children and the family is all chipping in and helping out while the parents are in the hospital recovering. Please check out thier story here
C Jane

I think I am in love!

2008-09-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

With Sarah Palin, the Republican party's choice for VP in the Nov '08 election!! I admit this was someone I hadn't heard much about, so I was still unsure of what I was going to do when the election came around in Nov. But after seeing her speech last night during the convention...WOW! I love this woman!! If you haven't seen her speech then you should check it out Sarah Palin's speech

I had to have Jim video this...finally....Dexter getting vacumned! Dexter is the only cat I have ever known who absolutely loves to get vacumned. But then Dexter is unique in many ways :) You can see him getting vacumned here Dexter

Giant Ants!!

2008-08-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

We have been getting invaded by these giant, monster ants after the rain we got early this week!!
I found hundred of queens swarming in my front yard the day after the rain and sprayed them until I knew I had killed them! Then I found tons of little holes popping up all oer the yard. My daughter Jamie asked me if I had taken any pics of them *L* So this is for you Jamie!!
Giant Ants!
If you look close you will see some small ants walking around also, they are kinda blurry cause the camera was focused on the monster ant, but you will be able to tell the size difference then! If nothing else it is educational *L* Watch that ant going in the hole and bringing out clumps of dirt making the new hole.

Ant Invasion

Stuff

2008-08-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Republican or Democrat, this should upset every American...........
This comes in three parts:

PART 1:
Remember the election in 2006?
Thought you might like to read the following
A little over one year ago:
1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%.

Since voting in a Democratically controlled Congress in 2006 we have seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

America voted for "change" in 2006, and we got it!

Remember, it's Congress that makes the law not the President. He has to work with what's handed him.
Quote of the Day: "My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it." Barack Obama

PART 2:
Taxes. Whether Democrat or a Republican you will find these statistics enlightening and amazing. http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html
Taxes under Clinton 1999 Taxes under Bush 2008
Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250
Both democrat candidates will return to the higher tax rates.
It is amazing how many people who fall into the categories above think Bush is screwing them and Bill Clinton was the greatest President ever. If Obama or Hillary are elected, they both say they will repeal the Bush tax cuts and a good portion of the people who fall into the categories above can't wait for it to happen. This is like the movie The Sting with Paul Newman; you scam somebody out of some money and they don't even know what happened.

PART 3:
You think the war in Iraq is costing us too much? Read this

Boy am I confused. I have been hammered with propaganda that it's the "Iraq War" and the "War on Terror" that is bankrupting us. I now find that to be RIDICULOUS. I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I have included the URLs for verification of all the following facts:
1. $11 billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments. Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. Verify at: http://www.cis..org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. Verify at: http://www.cis..org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP.../01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP.../01/ldt.01.htm
8. $90 billion dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers. Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by illegal aliens. Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US. Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.o...eportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes is Committed By Illegal Immigrants In The United States" Verify at: http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!
Are we voters that stupid?
If this doesn't bother you then just delete the message. If, on the other hand, it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, I hope you forward it to every legal resident in the country including every representative in Washington, D.C.five times a week for as long as it takes to restore some semblance of intelligence in our policies and enforcement there of

And just because...some links...some fun, some serious

WOW!! This gave me chills!!

Help a friend get to Big Bear

AWESOME waterfall!!

Lightening in slo mo!

Photo fun!

Disgusting!

Stupid Criminals..gotta love em!!! *ROTFL*
#1
#2*love how he is getting his @$$ kicked in this one!

Can you herd cats?

CAT FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe if I am lucky, tomorrow I will get my pages scanned and posted :)

Opps!!

2008-08-23T23:21:00.001-07:00

The day is almost over and I am just now getting here to post some of those promised pics! *L* If I don't do this Jim isn't gonna let me forget it *lol*

Before I post my pics though I gotta show ya something. Most of you, if you are regulars here know my stance on gun control...if not you can find it again at the bottom of my post....but first look at this video
Gun Control?

Ok and now here are some of those promised pics! :)

Here is the bench that Jim found for me on our last trip to Utah(ignore all the neighbors junk in the background *L*). He found this at Roberts (unfinished, we finished it ourselves) for a little over $30!! I have been wanting a bench for so long and this bench turned out prettier than I even thought it would. We love to go out and sit in it in the evening now and watch the sun go down. It is so peaceful.

We have had several hummingbirds coming to visit us. Only one of them can be at the feeder at a time though because they chase each other away. *L* I don't know why.

Shaun sent us some recent pics of Patrick. Isn't he a little doll....you can just see that Irish orneriness in the twinkle in his eye and that smile!

Jamie sent me this pic of the kids. I love the happy smiles on thier faces!!!

And some of my recent pages...

And now my view on gun control....jsut as that video says...the criminals wouldlove to have gun control and have the government take away all of our guns! That way the criminals would be the only ones with guns. they would have a heyday! Does anyone honestly believe if they ban guns that criminals won't be able to get them? Get real! Just like drugs...if you want them you will be able to find them, no matter how illegal it is! Then how are you going to defend yourself if someone breaks into your home? With a club? A bat? A knife? Good luck getting close enough to him, if he has a gun he is going to be able to get you before you are going to be able to get close enough to him to defend yourself.

I've been tagged!

2008-08-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

But that is a good thing...cause I am shamelessly behind on my blogging anyway.

Here are the rules:
* If you are tagged, you must firstly post the rules:
* Write 7 strange characteristics about yourself. They interest us all!
* Tag 5 other people at the end of your Post.
* Visit everyone that you have tagged and leave a comment on their blog to let them know that they have been tagged.

1. I can't stand for my food to touch, and I eat one thing at a time on my plate.
2. I hate to walk across the carpet after I have vacumned.
3. I have nightmares almost every night
4. I pop my knuckles
5. I love digging and working in my yard, but I refuse to wear gloves(HATE them!)
6. I LOVE to drive
7. I have a thing about pens...I pick them up at odd places (businesses) and lose them all the time (do NOT give me a good pen, I will lose it...just ask DH!...buy me Bics!) and always end up with a ton of them at the bottom of my purse.

I am tagging
Shelley http://stmpnshellsworld.blogspot.com/
Beth http://scrapbooknana.blogspot.com/
Sassy Lisa http://sassyscraps.blogspot.com/
Charlee http://charleeturner.blogspot.com/
Dawn http://www.dawninskip.typepad.com/

Ok it is getting late now, so I am heading to bed, but I promise to post some pics and pages tomorrow!!!

Are you green?

2008-06-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

First off let me say that I think the whole global warming thing is a crock! Hey my blog...my opinion! *L* Since I was in HS....some 30 yrs ago, we learned about the cycles of the earth and how we had times when the earth was warmer and times when it was colder. It's mother nature in all her glory!!!
Do I think Hybrid cars are a joke? YES!! Ok here in Cali we are told to conserve energy...CONSERVE CONSERVE CONSERVE! So now we are gonna have carts we have to plug in? Ohhhh yeah that will cut back on the use of electricity! What they gonna do when there is a black out? yeah yeah I know they run on gas also..but you know what I mean. Then not only that you gotta be able to afford one of these death traps..yes I call them death traps because they are so tiny. Had I been in something like this when that moron pulled out and smashed into us, I would not be here today! I will take my Jeep anyday thank you very much. At least I feel safe in it, and come on it doesn't use any more gas than some of these little cars....yeah have you checked the stickers on some of these little 'mid-life crisis' cars in the dealerships? Well my Jeep gets much better gas mileage and is gonna save me when some idiot runs a stop sign and smashes into my side.
Now what about the lightbulbs? You know we are all supposed to use these little swirly light bulbs right? We do...we have a lot of them here...but you do know they are jsut little florescent bulbs don't you? Know what happens when one breaks? Can you say toxic? What are we going to do when we have to start filling the landfills with these things?
How about the new digi signals that everyone is going to have to have to get tv in a few months? What happens to all those old tv's that you can't get tv on anymore...or even the ones that you can add a convertor box to...but the people decide to just go get a new tv instead. What is gonna happen to the landfills when we get a gazillion tv's dumped in them? Can we say way toxic?? Out here in Cali you can't take your tv to a landfill..it has to go to a special recycling center.
It has annoyed me enough with all the enviornmentalits out here preaching to us...yes I recycle..bottles, cans, and lots of times I donate my old newspaper to the pet store to use for bedding. The enviornmentalists want to preach to us about not cutting down trees...ummm hello...if you had been raised on a farm or knew anything about nature you would know about the life cycle and how some things have to be thinned out to make way for the new to come in..otherwise guess what? You are endangering the old stuff by letting it get overgrown. Maybe that is why we have over 1000 fires in Northern Cali right now?
And corn...OMG we can take the food supply...because you know there are farmers out there who have deals with the gov that they can not plant on their land for so many years...and they have to let that land sit dormant for a period of time...the government paid them to NOT grow things on that land. So the ones who are growing corn and wheat are hoping to make a heck of a profit by selling it for ethenol. What is going to happen to meat prices? That is also the grain that is raised to feed to animals...beseides the human kind! Oh we can't drill for oil off the coast, and we can drill here or there...because it will take 10 yrs before we are able to process the oil. Ok so where we gonna be in 10 yrs if we don't do it now? Wishing we would have done something about it 10 years ago is where!!
Sorry I am just sick and tired of the government and enviornmentalists stupidity!! We are going to green outselves to death!!!

The things you find!!

2008-06-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

My oh my! If you have been reading my blog for a while you know that Jim and I were called to be the Ward Family History Consultants for our church. We have been taking classes on how to use the new system, which is so awesome!!! Last week I spent a lot of time on the site adding names and then finding that on my grandma's mother's side of the family there is a strong LDS background! I had no idea! My dad had no idea! I was so surprised and thrilled to find out I had family members who were baptised in the church back in the 1880's!!!! That's when the church was new! How exciting was that to find out!? Plus I found family info on my great grandmothers side dating back to the 1500's!
All of this just on my grandma's side. I have barely started putting anything in on the rest of the family, I was so enthralled with looking back at all this info and clicking on names to find out more!
We also taught a Family History class at the church last week to the Relief Society. The ladies were so excited when we were done, they are ready to start doing thier own searches!
I also spoke to them about the importance of journaling. Be it a regular journal that you write in or a scrapbook that you preserve family memories in. I have found that with this searching, the more I find out, the more I want to find out!! I have located a couple of distant cousins while doing the search (Anyone who registers...please put your email addy in your profile so if distant family finds your info and wants to learn more they can contact you!) and I have learned some great family stories this way!!!
But back to the journaling. No matter what way you do it...just do it! This will let the future generations of your family know you and know about the family. I have pictures of family members that I got from my grandma Elsie, pictures that have a name on them, but I have no idea who the people are. My grandmother is no longer with us, so I can't ask her. How I wish I could ask her!! Is this person an Aunt? Cousin? Who is she? And how I wish I had paid more attention to the stories she told me when I was a child! Sure I remember some of them and I am writing down what I can remember so my grandkids and great grandkids can know more about their great grandmother Elsie.
I have always been interested in geneology work, but this has rekindled and made this interest grow so much stronger!!

In other news *L* We are counting the days until we go to Utah to meet Patrick! The newest family member!!! Gosh I can't believe he is 2 weeks old today!! I went to a crop last Friday, so of course I had to do some pages of him! *insert proud grandma smile here* :)

And one of Brit in the baby's room shortly before Patrick arrived

And then of course I had to start scrapping the Knotts trip!!

I have to admit I have been a bad blogger and haven't been getting my pages up here for anyone to see. Soooooooo excuse the long post..but I am going to add just a few more of the pages I have done in the last month. *L* Here are some assorted pages for your viewing pleasure!

Dawn McD and I are playing the Birthday Bash game at TTS this month. We are 'Scrappers Gone Wild!' *L* Here is the page we did for last weeks competition. What we do is one of us does part of the page then we pass it on to the other and that person does some....and we do this until we are happy with the page then we post it with a list of who did what! Fun game!!!

Speaking of TTS! Check out what is going on now.....

He's here!!!

2008-06-10T22:24:00.001-07:00

Baby Patrick is here at last! He was born at 10:15 this morning and weighs in at 8lb 1oz and is 20 1/2 inches long! He has a TON of dark hair!!! hehehe
Britney had to have a C-sec because the baby started going into distress and Brit developed Pre-eclampsia.

Isn't he absolutely precious!!!!!

Birthday Bash!

2008-06-08T11:17:00.001-07:00

Come join us this month for TTS 3rd Birthday party! The party starts today with a chat at 8 Pm tonight in the chat room.

Busy, busy, busy

2008-06-07T22:41:00.001-07:00

That's what May was. The first part of the month we were without our internet service for a week, then Jim got sick, then I got sick just a couple days before I was to fly to Denver so I could go to my 2 neices graduation. I spent a week in KS and Colorado, mostly at Jamie's house. Then my parents and 2 of the grandkids..Jon and Kayden (Jamie's 2) and I drove back here to our home for another week and then the month was over! It went by way too fast!! I am missing the kids so much I could cry and they have only been gone a little over a week. Someday we plan on selling the house and moving closer to the kids so we can see them more than once a year.
Right now we are just waiting for 'the' phone call from Shaun telling us that they are heading to the hospital for the baby's birth! Brit is 'due' on the 12th, but she is already dilated 2 cm..maybe more by now as that was almost a week ago. We will be going up for the baby's (Patrick's) blessing the weekend of July 4th. Tomorrow Jim leaves for training for a week down in Huntington Beach. Neither of us is looking forward to that, as we hate to be away from each other. But it is a good thing that he is getting trained on more machines.

Here are a few pics (ok maybe a little more than a few!) from my trip to CO and some of the fun stuff we did while the kids were here(I will save some others for another time *L*).
I am still bummed I lost about 200 pics when the cat ran across my keyboard and deleted a bunch of them. I lost pics I took while I was in the airplane or the ultracool clouds, and pics of Kayden making bread with me and making a birthday cake for my mom (although I do still have a close up of her face with flour all over it from the bread making and a close up of her chocolate face from the cake making). If I had an extra $100 or so laying around I would get them recovered, but at least I do still have the close ups thank goodness, so I can still scrap those memories. Unfortunately I also lost the pics from the kids feeding the ducks. Will just have to take more next time they visit! :)

On the trip out I learned that Elvis IS living AND he flys Southwest Airlines! *L* Imagine my surprise when he got on the plane I was on!!

My nephew Zach brought his Wii along with him to my parents house so we had some fun bowling with his Wii! It was my first time playing and what a blast!!

Kayden looked so cute in her little halter top dress. Her and Audrey spent a lot of time walking along these rocks at the grad. reception.

Here are my 2 neices whose graduation I flew out for. Mal and Jess. Congrats girls!!

Kayd's cute little flour covered face from helping me make bread. She is such a good little helper!

The kids traveled so well for the long drive! It took us 2 days to get back home and they really did good for being cooped up for so long.

On the drive through Utah we hit SNOW!! IN MAY!! Not only in May but it was the end of May for crying out loud! It was sooooooooooo cold in Utah! Here is Jon trying to catch a snowflake on his tongue!

Of course once we got back home to Cali we HAD to go to In-N-Out, mom's fav place to eat out here! *L* It was the kids first time there and it was a big hit with them as well!

Jim had gotten us tickets for the Mav's game for Friday night. Little did we know how cold it would be! Who in thier wildest dreams would have thought we would be sooooooooo cold at the end of May! The cold seemed to follow us from Utah! We stayed for 3 innings and left. We couldn't beleive all the people who bailed out as well, it was just too cold. At least the kids got an autograph from Wooley Bulley before we left. Kayden loved the game while we were there though, she said when she gets bigger she wants to play ball!

We went to Knott's Berry Farms and the kids LOVED it!! Kayden is a little daredevil! This girl has no fear! Although she didn't like the kids roller coaster. I think she was just too small and it bounced her around too much. Jon rode the Sidewinder by himself! WTG Jon!! He said he loved it but when the ride stopped he looked like he was ready to lose his lunch! *L* Despite the sibling rivalry *L* Kayden didn't want to go anywhere without her big brother!

No trip to Cali is complete without a trip to the beach. We took mom and dad and the kids to Huntington beach one day. It was dad's first time walking along the beach and he loved it. He wasn't able to last time because he had just had surgery on his leg. Mom had a blast collecting seashells, and she found some real nice ones since they had recently had some storms in the area. Of course Jon was so excited to be at the beach again and Kayden's trip this time was much better than her first time. The last time she was there she was scared to death of the water, this time you practically had to pull her out of the water!

Just some fun pics of us girls in the backseat of the pickup on the drive home. It is right there mom...see!!! *LOL*

And finally, I just LOVE this pic Jim got of Kayden and me. She was giving me Eskimo kisses.

NSD time!!!

2008-05-02T18:59:00.000-07:00

I loooove NSD! *L*
What are all you scrappers doing to celebrate this weekend? I am probably going to hang around a couple of sites for the games and festivites going on there. Hopefully getting some pages done. I still need to clean my scrap room before company comes later this month. Maybe I should go in there and tackle that tonight huh? Then I could start fresh!

There's just one pic of how bad it is....and that is all I am sharing is one pic! *L*

How many of you checked out Robin's blog and have been picking up her freebies and doing her challenges? I did her Hybrid challenge today! The first Hybrid project of mine ever! It was sooooo much fun to do! And of course gives me another reason to take more pics to scrap when the grandkids are here *L* Of course I had an ulterior motive! Here is my project..sorry the pics aren't the best.

Yes I made an apron for the grandkids to wear when they visit and help me cook something. I think it turned out adorable! I created the iron by making a digital page and then printed it on a sample transfer page I have had tucked away for eons!
The last image is the page I created. I used items from Mad Scrapper Designs Country Christmas ; Doris Castle/Gypsy Saree, Window Of Time; CG Essentials/Kim Hill/Vintage Kitchen; Kubivet Blog Freebies/ Coffee2, Fun, Kitchen, Pizza for the digi page and the other items I added were the flowers from Mike's, ribbon from Offray and vintage rick rack that Charlee RAK'd me way back when *L* Then I added a little staining to the fabric to give it a used look. Just for something extra. The sign is one I have hanging in my kitchen door, that we got on a stop in Beaver Utah.

And here is some of the other stuff I have gotten done.

Jonny at the lake somewhere out by St. George, from last summer when he went with his mom and Sammie to visit friends for a few days

And finally a couple pages of Mal and one with Chelsea from their visit out here over New Yrs. These were all at Huntington Beach

Well, if you are looking for something to do this weekend, come on over to TTS and join us for some fun, games, RAK's and amazing sales in both the digi and paper stores!!
And make sure to check out our newsletter packed with all kinds of cool stuff and inspiration!
TTS NL

Check Robin out!

2008-04-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

No not the bird! Don't I wish. We don't have robin's here in So Cal. At least not that I have seen. I mean go check out Robin's blog over there
<-------
just scroll down a ways, you will find her! She has an awesome template to give away on her blog today! (pssst...with more freebies to come she says! I can't wait!)
ok ok I will make it easier for you *L* here she is!
Robin

And while you are just goofing off with nothing else to do how about checking out what you name means. Here is mine :)

What Julie Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.

You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries.

You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.

You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way.

And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life.

You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it.

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.

You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.

Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.

You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.

You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Mark your calendars!!

2008-04-21T19:41:00.001-07:00

For April 24th! Grey's Anatomy is back!!!!!!!! It is about time!! Woohooo Of course you know where I will have my behind planted on Thursday night!

In other news, I am feeling bummed tonight. Went to the dr to get the results from my back xray. I have arthritis in my back, she says loose weight,*duh* I know that already, it's not like I have been trying to gain it (and according to my records I haven't gained anymore since the 30 lb after my surgery for the tumor..my weight has been stable now for the last 2+ yrs). Exercise, yeah I know that too, thats what I have the treadmill for, guess I better use it more often. Stretching..she said take yoga classes...sure with what money?? *L* Or pilate classes, again...what $$?? I don't think she believed me when I told her I am active. I work outside a LOT. Heck it hurts more to sit than it does to move, and for the pain..take tylenol or advil. Yeah sure...told her that hasn't been working at all. Even told her that I can't sleep on my right side because it hurts to lay on that side for any length of time. So she says to go off of the tylenol/advil for a while and use icy hot, etc and then try taking the tylenol or advil again later and it should work. Why can I not find a dr who will give me something for the pain, on the bad days??? It's not like I want something to take everyday. Just when I am having a bad day and feel like sitting and crying. As if the Fibro isn't enough...and to be honest people who do not have fibro do not have a clue as to how bad it can feel sometimes. Imagine having the muscle aches from the flu...everyday. Some days worse than others. But I am stubborn and honestly if I had to sit around all the time and couldn't work outside you might as well shoot me. So even if I am feeling like crud I will still go outside and do my yard work and go to work and clean houses. Besides it takes my mind off of the pain for a while *L*

Ok enough of my whining. Scrappers go check out the mid month NL at TTS TTS Newsletter There is some awesome inspiration here!
And finally my latest page.

A couple of our cats chasing a moth. *L*
I used a few of Terragina's items available at TTS.
Terragina's Funny Cats, Treasure Chest and Stardust Fantasy Element Kit. Other items are Frosted Arrows/Kristin Aagard Blog freebie; Word Art/Elegant Word Art2 blog freebie.

Freebies!

2008-04-19T20:14:00.001-07:00

Want a list of some of the best sites to get digi freebies? I use a couple of them, one of them I jut found today. It's new to me anyway *L*
Girl Friday (just change the 04 at the end of the addy to check out other months.)
and Ikea Goddess

While I am here, I will post some pics taken of our backyard today. I love going out here and smelling my flowers. It is so peaceful out there, no it isn't done yet..it is a work in progress, but I love that! My lilacs and iris have all bloomed and the flowers are now gone.

and here is a picture of the blossoms on my orange tree. One of my former customers gave it to me when they moved to West Virginia last fall. I don't know if it will produce any fruit, but the blossoms are gorgeous and the smell is to die for!!

I wish you could all step into my backyard and take a whiff!! *ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

Dreams

2008-04-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

are a weird thing. I had a dream about tornados in the wee hours of the morning this morning...the ceiling was collapsing around us and I was trying to get the kids to take cover, I yelled at them once to c'mon and only 1 of them came. So I yelled again
LOUDLY...

HEY C'MON!!!!!

only I actually yelled it out loud!!!!! I have never done that before!! hehehe I woke up to DH shaking me asking me if I was ok! *LOL* 'Hun are you ok, huney..are you ok!!!' *L* So I had to tell him what happened! I had woken him AND all the pets up with my yell! Since I had never done that before, I then got a case of the giggles and I couldn't stop giggling! So no more tornado talk! *L*
Who else has ever done this? Share with me! That was weird! I had been chatting with some ladies in a scrapping chat room last night and we were talking about tornados, etc. So it must have been on my mind more than I realized when I went to bed. *L*

Wish me luck...I go see the dr again on Monday. I got a letter saying they have the results of my lower back x-ray and they want me to come in and talk to me about it. I have been having problems in one area ever since the accident Feb 07 and this is the first time they have taken x-rays in that area. If nothing else, I am hoping they will finally give me some pain pills for the bad days!

Short and sweet tonight peeps. I am so ready for the weekend and I am beat tonight for some reason.

Busy, busy, busy!

2008-04-17T21:31:00.001-07:00

I had every intention of blogging right away again last time I blogged..which was ummm the 4th *blush* I think. But I have a good excuse! I have been so busy. After the whole mess with Jim's nutritionist on that Friday, I go in Monday to pick up the report and proceed to tell them how ridiculous I think it is that I have to pay for the report when THEY are the ones who didn't do thier job and that is the reason I need the report. I take it down to his Dr's office where they make a copy and fax it to the surgeon and I take my copy home. Now I have no reason to suspect anything is wrong..who would?
Jim gets home that evening and I take the report out of the enve and take a peek at it and HIS NAME IS WRONG! *RME* Oh lordy. Jim's name is now Thomas! OMG! Ok so I call them right away..they are open late. And tell them about the mistake..yes they caught it shortly before I call. SO I tell them it needs corrected and they need to send me another copy right away! They tell me they will. We wait and wait and wait and still nothing comes in the mail. So this week on Tuesday I call them and tell them Jim is going to be close to them for a service call and he will pick up the corrected copy. The receptionist tries to tell me they faxed the corrected copy to the dr already so why did I need to pick up one? *DUH* I paid for the darn thing I expect to have one! She is basically like 'fine, give me some time and I will get him a copy' Jim goes in to pick up the copy, he gets it, goes out to the pickup and looks at it...and they have his BIRTHDATE AND AGE WRONG!! OMG these people are so incredibly incompetent! He said he wasn't going back in...so he brings it home and when I get home from work he shows me. I couldn't believe my eyes! How many times can they get a report wrong? How hard is it? You open his chart, get his report and make a copy!! How in the world do you mess something liek this up SO many times? So I call them AGAIN! The woman I talk to this time can't believe they made another mistake like this. She appologizes all over herself saying she will correct it. Oh but not only was his birthdate and age wrong they still had his name as Thomas in several places in the report AND the lab results on the 2 reports we have are all different! I preceed to tell her how absolutely incompent someone in that office is and if anything happens to Jim and his surgery is delayed because of there screw up I WILL be getting an atorney! Her response...'Yes Ma'am, I understand' Well they finally have the darn thing right now...we got the report in the mail today. But tomorrow I will be talking to the surgeons office to find out what this is going to do about the insuracne and getting the surgery done soon. ARRGGG some people!!!! Someone needs to be fired over this screw up!

If that wasn't enough, Jim also got word last week that the company he works for has been sold. What does that mean? We don't know yet. It could be great news and that is what we are hoping and praying for.

This past weekend we went to Utah to surprise Britney for her baby shower! She was definately surprised!! *L* And we had a great time!! Here's a couple pics from the trip. Britney is in blue and her sister Nicole is in green..they are due less than 2 weeks apart! How cool is that!

We played this FUN game where we had to take a piece of typing paper and putting it behind our back we had to tear a 'paper baby' out. *L* Mine looked more like a turtle!! But you can see what everyone's looked like. Some of them were really good!!

And here is baby Patricks room! Isn't it cute!!!!!!!!!!

And look at what we saw coming home! SWEEETTTT!!!!

I LOVE old cars!! I don't mean like old muscle cars..I mean cars from the 50's and early 60's. *drooling*

And since I promised you pics from my garden almost 2 weeks ago here is a page I did using some of those pics. I used stuff from lots of kits for this one and I really love the way it turned out!
Bundle Pack 1 (all of Peta's kits are on sale this month!!), Treasures To Scrap March kit, TTS April Freebie Treasure Chest, Dawn Inskip/Timeless Treasures, Midnight Diamonds and Land of Make Believe
Rina Kroes/Imagine/Purple pack from her Rainbow Nation blog freebie, Kim De Smet aka Shaky blog freebie, LLeandro Luisas aka/Dawn Inskip, Debut/Sophia Sarducci, Template by ikeagoddess/Weeds and Wildflowers challenge freebie

Some other digi pages I have done recently. To see the credits on these pages check out my gallery at TTS
Shaun and Britney...I used the Bundle Pack 1 for this one also

Chelsea is gonna kill me for this, but I couldn't resist!! *L*

And some of my recent paper stuff...
Gavin...isn't he a little doll..just look at those eyes! (now if someone!! would just send us some new pics of him *L*)

Finally an album I made using the Cosmo Cricket Blackboard album, for the Cosmo Cricket contest at TTS(while you are there check out the prices in the paper store..no those are not sale prices..those are the regular prices every day...35% off!!). Not my best work by any means. I had a terrible time deciding what to do, but I love this song and have wanted to use it on a page, instead I did an album using some of the lyrics.

And last but not least....Happy 23rd birthday to my 'baby' today. Miss you buddy!

Incompetent Medical personel!!!

2008-04-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

I am on a rampage! I have been trying to deal with these people for over 2 months, trying to get things in motion for Jim's surgery and if it isn't one thing it is another. He had his nutritionist appt over 3 weeks ago, so I have been on the phone with them at least 3 times this last week trying to get them to fax his report to the dr's offices. I finally went in today to pick the report up myself and they told me to give them time to get it all pulled and they would try and have it for me on Monday. So they call after we get home and Jim hands me the phone after they said we would have to pay for the report. They will fax it to a provider but if WE want it we have to pay for it. Hell, I wouldn't need it if they would get off their asses and fax the damn report themselves!!! So I am going to go in there Monday, get the report and then tell them what I think about having to pay for this when they are the one's who are not doing their freaking jobs! She said they 'forgot' to fax it...Ummm HELLO??? I have only called you 3 freaking times this last week!! How MANY times do they need to be reminded?? If we all ran our businesses like this guess what? We wouldn't have a job anymore! Come on people pull your heads out!!!

In another rant *L* gas is going up yet again. After it dropped a few cents last week now it is back up to $3.60 a gallon. Ugggg when is it going to end? We went to Costco today and the prices have gone up on everything. Depressing......I think this image Jim sent me in email pretty much explains it all! *L*

Ok I am going to go and try to take a nap since I have been in a Soma and allergy induced fog most of the day. When I come back I will post some happy stuff!! ics from my garden and some more LO's!

Bad Blogger

2008-04-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Yes once again I am a bad blogger! Jim noticed I hadn't been here for almost a month! *YIKES* How did that happen? Where DOES the time go????

Well I have been doing a lot of work outside so that is part of it. The yard is looking fab though! I wish you could all be here in the morning and early afternoon to walk out back and smell my flowers! OMG it smells sooooooooooo good out there! My lilacs, iris and cherry bushes are all blooming and sometimes the smell is so strong it almost knocks you over *L* but it is heavenly!!! I have taken some pics so I will get those downloaded and post some fo you to see. I even have a couple roses blooming!! I know, I know, I can't believe it either...in April? Yup!! They aren't very big yet because we have been getting pretty chilly at night still...in fact they are calling for snow in our mountains tonight. We were supposed to get rain tonight and we are still waiting.

What else? Oh yes...the whole job search thing. I lost another customer. Not MY fault! One of my customers is being indicted on animal cruelty charges. I am not going to mention any names on here of course, but yeah I lost them..they need the money for legal fees I am sure. And since I lost another big customer about 6 mo ago when they moved to West Virginia, I have decided I need to find something part time. So I have been going around to the chain motels and putting in apps on my days off. One of those is the Hilton. Have you ever been into a Hilton? Well I hadn't!! Until I went in to ask about getting an app...Oh my freaking gosh!! WOW!! WOW!! WOW!! So yeah, my app is turned in there. And at several other places...so wish me luck!

And of course I have gotten some scrapping done. :) On that note I will leave you with some of my recent pages and call it a night...yeah I know, my post was short and sweet..but it is getting late *L* A girl needs her beauty sleep don't ya know! hahahaha And a girl can also dream can't she?

Kayden out camping with Jamie, Miles and Jon in the CO moutains last fall

Jon being his goofy self *L*

Jon and Jon (hehehe are ya confused? Yes there are 2 Jon's both 8 yrs old...Jamie's Jon and Jenny's Jon...Jenny's Jon has the jet and Jamie's Jon has the car)

Cats Everywhere!

A Perfect Day...pic of Shaun, Brit, Brit's sis Ashley and a friend of their's Colleen, after hiking up one of the mountains outside of Provo

What the well dressed Skeleton wears in March
(This is Harold O'Bones...be watching for more pages featured Harold *L* He is our skelekid!!)

Easter Cuties, Jon and Sammie last Easter at Shaun's home

And finally a couple pages from Nicoles wedding last year. Nicole is Brit's sis and a friend of ours :)

And you thought you had a bad day!!

2008-03-09T22:47:00.001-07:00

OMG I don't know what I would do if I were to walk into my front room and find this.....

Short post today guys...not having a good day! So I'm outta here!

Reminiscing

2008-03-07T22:30:00.001-08:00

A friend (Beth) sent me a link tonight to a video showing me the old cars we used to drive in the 50's and 60's. No I wasn't driving back then *L* I was just born! But my first car was a 1956 Chrysler with a push button transmission. I LOVED that car! It was a boat! *L* Turquise and white with fins on the back. I would love to have that car back someday.
It looked just like this one!

And I found the original ad online for them!

How I would love to have this to cruise around in now! *L* And someone in town has one. Jim and I saw him drive by one day when we were coming out of Costco. I was drooling!! You have no idea how badly I wanted to follow that car and ask the driver if I could just take a look at it.

Ok just for fun how about some other links tonight?

The Cactus Cuties sing The National Anthem These girls are GOOD!!!!

When Life was in Black and White How many of these do YOU remember?

How our cats wake us up!ROTFL

Now they have gone too far! *LMAO*

And on that note I will leave you with my most recent scrapbook page. Oh and don't forget to change your clocks tomorrow night!! It's that time again already!!

Quiet week

2008-03-04T22:18:00.000-08:00

here. Which can be good and can be bad. Had some cancelations from work, which $$ wish is not good at all. But it does mean I am having more time at home to get some things done. My scrap area is a disaster! It looks like a tornado hit it, so I think I will work on that tomorrow, and the weather has been gorgeous here so I am going to try and hit some of the weeds in the yard. My goal is to be on top of the weeds this year! Wish me luck! *L*
http://digistore.treasurestoscrap.com/newsletter/march2008.pdf
I thought I better get on here and post my recent pages before I have too many to post!

My cat Bear who loves to sleep curled up to me at night *L*

Pica from my Baptism

A picture of my grandparents when they were courting. I love this pic!!

Grandaughter Sammie at the Christmas lights at the temple in Salt Lake City. I love this pic that Jenny got of here there.

Sammie again on thier last visit here before moving back to Mississippi. We mad some mud and she loved it! *L*

Shaun and Britney at Disneyland a couple years ago.

Sally watching over Sammie when they were here last time. It was so sweet how Sally took up the role of protector and would sleep by Sammie at night.

and finally an altered stencil we made during the last crop at Treasures To Scrap. This was Dawn's Make & Take in the chat room and I love how this turned out! Fun stuff and easy peasy to do!! Got to make more of these now.

Make sure and check out the TTS NL for some great LO ideas and tutorials! And if you are so inclined you could come play with us this month also for some great prizes!

(ad created by your's truly :) )

Let's Crop!!!!!!!!

2008-02-22T14:52:00.001-08:00

Come join the fun at Treasures TO Scrap this weekend!! We are croppin' and chattin' Prizes to be had by all!! Digi and paper!!! You do NOT want to miss this!! Seriously we have some awesome prize packages!!!

More scrapping and lots of other stuff!

2008-02-21T21:12:00.000-08:00

I have gotten a few digi pages done this week!! Wooohoo go me! Finally getting some scrapping done is sure relieving my stress :)

First off, my cousin Tina finally *finally* got her birthday (August) and Christmas gifts from my mom! I have been so excited for her to get them so I could find out if she liked her birthday gift I made. A memorial somewhat of our grandparents. She loved it!!

All of these are digi pages...
Pics of Jon and Kayden when she was a couple days old. I used the Funny Valentine kit from Pixel Diva Designz

Sammie saying the Pledge of Allegiance for us. It was so sweet!I used Teriann Hanks Liberty kit available at TTS

Jon, posing by the tree in our front yard this past Thanksgiving. We have a tradition of having the grandkids stand by the tree and taking thier pic, so we can see them growing from year to year. I used Mad Scrapper Designs Wendi's World kit also available at TTS. I love this kit!

And finally a page I did for her DD Kacee..an inside joke at TTS. Kacee had a challenge to see how many times we could use the word 'Loverly' and I came across this Loverly word art while looking for digi freebies and HAD to use it! *L* It was screaming Kacee's name! ( I also used Sunfire/A Fairy Tale/TTS; Word Art/Sophia Sarducci blog freebie; /Junianas/Tracy's Wish Add on/TTS; Designs by Krista)

Come read our latest at TTS Newsletter!

I had to post these for Nancy so she can see what Sammie did to her hair! *L* Bella's isn't nearly as bad *giggle* this is the before shot...see how long and nice her hair was...WAS mind you...until she got a sucker stuck in her hair WHILE her Uncle Shaun was babysitting her...and he fell asleep on the couch while Sammie and Jonny were watching a movie.

And now here..is the DAMAGE she did!

OMG Shaun was in a panic when he called us..he siad his sis was gonna KILL him!!
Once Jenny got over her shock and anger *L* She took Sammie to the beauty shop to get it fixed.

Scrappin!! (and sales!!)

2008-02-16T22:05:00.000-08:00

I have been scrappin!!! Went to a crop last night and got some pages done! Woohoo!!!

I used Scrapworks...our sponsor at TTS this month for the first 3 pages, the last page is done using Close To My Heart papers

Patricks first ultraspound pics!!!

Got this adorable pic of Jonny and Sammie when they were here for Super Bowl weekend! One of those ahhhhhhhhhh moments, don't ya think?

Jonny and Sammie building a snowman after one of their many Utah snow storms this winter!

Mal and Chelsea down in Ontario CA. We HAD to stop at this sign so we could get thier pic on the way home from the beach. I wonder how many people thought we were nuts as they were driving by! *L*

How about some pretty exciting news if you like scrapping AND sales!!! Check out the new paper store at TTS EVERYTHING is now 35% off EVERYDAY!!!

And I have to leave you with a joke for the day!!

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me and my brother who is four years older than I am. I was maybe 3 and a half years old and had just recovered from an accident in which my arm had been broken among other injuries.

Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news and my brother was playing nearby in the living room when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch
me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!!'

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up, then says, 'Did it ever occur to you that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet??'

Hmmmmmm

2008-02-08T23:09:00.001-08:00

Another busy week....or I am getting old *L* Ok so I know I am getting old, but time is going by way to quickly!
We had the primary here on Tuesday. I'm bummed because my man didn't win CA. But I am even more bummed that he dropped out of the race this week. :( Yeah I was hoping Romney would too. I really liked his views on a lot of things. I had a lot of hope of him turning this economy around.
Now we get McCain who says we could be in Iraq another 100 yrs and who is so anti gun it's not even funny...check out these links
McCain Lieberman
McCain Lieberman 2
.... obviously I am not anti-gun. Seriously people...if you take all the guns away from the good people the bad guys will still be able to get them. Drugs are illegal yet the druggies can still get them can't they? Thats because if you are into things illegal you still KNOW where to get the things that are illegal!! And even if they couldn't get a gun, do you honestly think thy won't kill, mame, torture, rob, etc with a knife or a sledgehammer or whatever they could get their hands on? If they want to commit a crime taking a gun away won't stop them, it will just leave us good people without a way to defend ourselves!
Then we have Huckleberry who wants to ban smoking across the country. Hey I am not a smoker and don't like it, but big brother can not start coming into our homes and telling us what we can and can not do! What will be next? You can't eat this or drink that, or they are going to watch what we are doing in our bedrooms and living rooms...and I won't even start on all the other crap he is for! As far as I am concerned.. him and McCain making a deal...they are already worse than Bush, making deals already....and way to sure of themselves! I already want to wipe that smirk off of McCains face! And then there is Ron Paul...don't even get me going on him *L*
That doesn't give us much choice....ugggg I am so not looking forward to the election this year! I am seriously considering starting a My Space thing for 'Write in Romney'!! And since I don't believe in voting party, I vote person and what they stand for. I can not in good conscience vote for Hillary, because I can not stand her on so many levels. That leaves Obama, and I am just not sure about him yet, and part of that comes from reports I have read about some of his beliefs. So I am already torn about what is going to happen in the election this year.

Ok, stepping off my soap box now! *L* If you read this far I have a little something fun for you to do.

What kind of car are you?

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!

You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Now for even more fun!! If you are a scrapper that is! *L*
To Really get our NEW YEAR started here at TTS Dawn and Trish over at Treasures To Scrap are offering a very SPECIAL PRIZE this month. For each challenge that you complete by midnight est February 28th, your name will be entered into this special drawing.
(This includes the chat and crop challenges, they will count as entries also)
The winner will receive a *prize package worth $20*: paper gals will receive paper prize, digi gals will receive the TTS February Treasure Chest & a $15 GC digi prize and hybrid gals can choose one or the other.
There will be a thread for you to post the links to your challenges, so we can all see your awesome creations.

I am going to tag 7 people. In honor of Valentines Day here is a survey about our mates. I am tagging Dawn McD, Beth, Fantacy, Nancy J, Sassy, Deb B (OMG I just found your blog!! Deb and I went to HS together..we were inseperable and recently found each other again!), and Wendi
Body: How did you meet your significant other? Answer all the questions HONESTLY and repost as " How I met _____"

1. Where did you meet?
Online....on ICQ

2. What was the first thought that went through your head when you met?
I was suspicious! *L* Long story

3. Do you remember what he/she was wearing?
I dunno...we were talking online

4. Where was the first time you kissed this person?
In front of the Comfort Inn in Albquerque NM

5. How did he/she ask you out?
On the phone.

6. Where did you go for your first date?
To Olive Garden

7. How long did you know this person before you became a couple?
2 months

8. Has this person ever proposed to you?
oh yes

9. Do you and this person have kids together?
No, but we have 13 furkids (and 7 kids between the 2 of us)

10. Have you ever broken the law with this person?
no

11. When was the first time you realized that you liked this person?
A couple weeks or so after we started talking online

12. Do you get along with any of the ex's of your partner?
Ummm no *L*

13. Do you trust this person?
Definately, with my life

14. Do you see your partner in your future?
Oh yes!

15. What is the most expensive thing this person has given you?
Umm, does a house count? If not, then a ring.

16. What is one thing he/she does that gets on your nerves?
Sometimes not being serious when he should be...like at the dr's!! *L*

17. What is the thing you do that gets on his/her nerves?
Just 1? *L* Being anal about having the house clean for company

18. Where do you see each other in 15 years from now?
Hopefully retired and just enjoying being together all day!

19. If you are married how did he propose to you?
He bought a bouquet of flowers and got down on one knee and asked me if I would be his wife. :)

And finally some pages I got done this week. (I got more done but I have to wait a few days before I can post them in public! One of them being one of my new favs!!)

Super Bowl Weekend!

2008-02-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

What are your plans for the weekend? Are you watching the Super Bowl? If so who are you rooting for? We are cheering for the Patriots!! Shaun, Jenny, Sammie and Jonny are on the road as I type this, headed here to spend the weekend and watch the game with us. We have stocked up on chips and dip and will be having pizza for the big game. Shaun is bringing the ultrasound pics with him woooohoooo!! So you know I will be doing a LO using those!

At TTS we have so many changes this month. A new CT, a new blog with blog only challenges that you will want to check out.

TTS Newsletter Thank you to my NL team for getting everything to me in such a timely matter this month! You guys rocked!!!

And finally here are my 3 most recent pages

Using one of our sponsors....Sunfire's A Fairy Tale kit (psssst...and it is even on sale right now)

using Scrapworks, our paper sponsor at TTS this month! Sammie and Shaun sledding up in Utah! Gotta love having family in snow country so I can scrap those winter pics!

And finally a page I made using the QP newsletter freebie. You can find the link to the QP in the newsletter that I linked you to up there ^ *L*

It's a boy!!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2008-01-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

to Kayden! She is 3 years old today!!
Britney had her ultrasound today also and it is a BOY and Brit thinks she felt the baby move today! Of course Shaun is so excited and says the next few months are going to drag *L* What a guy! Now it really gets exciting!

I have the next couple days off, so I am hoping to get caught up with some things online and shampoo my carpet, which desperately needs it!
The weather forecast for us for the next few days is rain!! Rain glorious rain! Maybe a little snow with it also. I am crossing my fingers!!

Well today is going to be short and sweet..but before I go I will leave you with a new page.

I made this using Dawn Inskip's Land Of Make Believe Kit
available at Treasures To Scrap Digi Store

Welcome to my world! L

2008-01-20T22:29:00.000-08:00

Man, don't you hate it when you have sometime typed out and then BAM lose it all? I had all this stuff written on my blog and I went to add a pic to it and my pop up blocker came up...I hit allow pop ups here..and it took me right back to an empty page!! argggggggg So you are going to get the condensed version *L*

I was talking about how busy we had been..yeah making excuses why I hadn't blogged in almost 2 months *L* and how 2 of my neices had been out to visit over the new years. Mal asked me to take her senior pics and we had so much fun with that! While her and Chels were here I took over 400 pics and well over 100 of them were just senior pics! I am glad I am not her mom, and I don't have to decide what pics I want to use, cause I would want them all!! I did do a 2 page spread using some of the pics....that is the one I was going to post when blogger wiped me out *L* So cross your fingers that it won't happen again while I try to post it this time!

Well since it is getting late now, I will just add some of my other recent pages and projects...(I wish I could add something I made for my cousin for her birthday...but she reads my blog...*L* and I want it to be a surprise whenever she is finally able to get it from my mom!! Hi Tina!! *L* Love ya and miss you!!)

And some Digital pages

I would like to ask for your prayers for Trevor, who is not doing very well right now. If you would like to read more about Trevor you can go here Tracys blog(scroll down to read about Trevor) This Family needs all the prayers we can send up!!

And finally...if you believe there is ANY justice in the world, pray that the guy in this story gets the absolute maximum sentence he can get for what he did. These poor families have lost 2 good kids..all because this maniac decided he wanted to have some 'fun'. If it were up to me, he would die the same way he killed them.
McGlaughlin

Where has the time gone?

2007-11-29T13:32:00.000-08:00

I swear the older I get the more the time flies and the more behind I get! How did it get to be almost Dec already? Where did this year go? I don't even know where this last month went!
Ok let's see....I finished my classes that I needed for my baptism. Shaun, Brit, Jonny and Sammie came out for Thanksgiving and my baptism. That was the big stuff...I guess between all that and cleaning the house for fall, cleaning the garage and yard work it kinda flew by before I knew what happened!

Sooooo Dec is starting this weekend!! Do you have your Christmas shopping done? We do..almost. Just a few little things to pick up and I need to get some stuff for Jim! I still need to make some Christmas cards and some gifts. I guess I better get on the ball huh?

You need homemade gift ideas? If you you should pop over to TTS this weekend because we are having a Christmas crop!! There will be challenges, games, chats, prizes and lots and lots of inspiration to get you going on those gift ideas!!

With that in mind I will leave you with some pics from my baptism and some of my recent pages.

Good start to the weekend

2007-11-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

I had a good start to the weekend this morning! Even though we both slept through the alarm *L* On my way to work the radio station I listen to was giving away the new Garth Brooks hits cd/dvd set. I kept calling and getting a busy signal, then it rang..I figured ok I am probably caller 9 or 10....they wanted 11. When the DJ asked me my name and I told him he informed me I was 11!! wooohoooo I was wanting this set!!!

Welp, not much going on the last couple of days. So I will just post some of ym recent pages.

I hope you have

2007-11-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

a strong stomach. Because this news report will make your stomach turn! But you really need to see it anyway! Want to know how clean your motel room is? Or the things in it?
Motel news report

Good lord, I know when I worked at Comfort Inn there is no way in the world I would have done anything like that! Granted we had wrapped glasses, so each customer got new glasses, but I also know that the Howard Johnson down the street from us only used water to do thier cleaning. That grossed us all out! Talk about unsanitary! ewww ewww ewwwww!

Ok now I am gonna have my vent for the day. Customers....some...not all by any means. But one in particular. Has a PHD but no common sense! Why, after countless times of being told..if you want extra work done, schedule more time or tell me what you want me to skip....leaves me yet another note with a list of extra things to do. the one that really torked me off....because I do the others on a regular basis anyway....but the one that chapped my hide today was her wanting me to wipe down all their doors! We are talking at least 12 doors..now figure front and back that is 24. Where am I supposed to find the time for this? Heck if I know!!!!!!!!! Let's see, even if I give myself 5 minutes to wipe down each door that is an hour right there, and that is pushing it! Oh but not only that...last time thier vacumn was not working right, so I let her know. She says it is fixed now. So I go to vacumn off the fireplace and pull out the hose and things start flying out at me! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG Obviously the vacumn is NOT fixed!!! She said she had taken it outside and shook it and a bunch of lint came out...so it was fixed. *sigh* This is the same one, who when she told me to change her sheets one week..but failed ot leave them out for me....when I left her a note telling her I don't know where her sheets are kept...left me a note saying....they are in the pillowcases! (a Martha Stewart thing) Ummmmmmmmm HELLO???? If I don't know where the sheets are...I think it is fair to say that I don't know where the pillowcases are either! *DUH* As for the vacumn cleaner....these people make more money than they know what to do with and she keeps buying these piece of crud $50 vacumns! Buy a good one and this may not happen all the time! I was so frustrated by the end of the day I wanted to sit down and cry....doesn't help that my back is hurting again from the car accident, so that is obviously something that is always going to be with me. I need another vacation already!

Have you seen it??

2007-11-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

Comet Holmes! Here is a couple of links for more info on it. Jim and I were able to see it tonight with the naked eye, although we used the binoculars also for an even better view.
Sky and Telescope Comet Holmes
http://www.ascendedbeings.com/forums/news.php
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071030.html

Shooting, Scrapping and Harold!

2007-11-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

Jim and I went out for dinner tonight. Outback...yummmmmmmm. When we left, we decided we hadn't been in World Market in forever so we walked over to do some window shopping. While there Jim found...Harold!!!! *LOL* As you can see Harold is a Jr fan also :)

World Market has some of the most awesome Christmas ornaments! But there are some that I don't quite understand. If you can explain them to me please do!!! The pig ornaments...hmmmmm and the frog ornaments....and the dill pickle ornaments. What is thier significance? On the drive home though we decided that I have got to get Britney one of the dill pickle ornaments to commemorate her pregnancy. *L* She is gonna kill me for that!

Since we are on vacation this week we decided to go do some early shooting yesterday morning. Great time to do it since there's hardly anyone around then. I had a great day!! Was interesting though. While we were there all of a sudden 2 deputies came up asking Jim if his name was Philip. Seems someone had parked at one of the truckers cafe's next to the range, had left their door open with ammunition inside the car and there was a hole cut into the fence! Yikes! There hasn't been anything in the paper, so we are wondering what the heck was going on! But here is my target

And Jim's target

Finally...scrapping! Although I haven't had the chance to do a lot of scrapping during vacation, I have gotten a couple done.
Love these pics of Madi I found on my camera after she was here this summer *L* Gotta love the silly self=portraits! The next page is Madi's baptism. TTS is our sponsor this month on the web site, so T (site co-owner) sent me missionary papers to scrap Shaun's Mission pics. Jeremiah 1:5 is a picture of Kayden's ultrasound. We had a challenge at TTS to scraplift Nancy Jones. The last page is digi and I used Di Hickman's Nov template at TTS.

Vacation!!!!!

2007-10-29T22:30:00.001-07:00

We are officially on vacation! Woohooooo! I have spent the day getting some chores done that I have been putting off so that feels good. The newsletter for TTS is done and will be posted soon (I will have to share the link here for you guys), tomorrow the Elders will be here for lunch and a visit and we have a Halloween party to go to at the church tomorrow night...after that the rest of the vacation time is my own!!!!!!! Scrap room here I come!!!
We also got some exciting news last week. We are going to be grandparents again!!! Shaun and Britney are expecting thier first!! We couldn't be happier for them or more excited!

Speacking of scrapping...we are going to be starting a new contest at TTS in Nov and this one is jam packed full of prizes!! Want a chance to win $100 in scrapping prizes??? Well then make sure you come check us out!! Is that an awesome prize or what?? And there will be other pirzes also! You do NOT want to miss this one!

Here is another pic from our weekend. These are the Elders who have been giving me my lessons. These guys ROCK!!! I love these guys and will miss them when they have tranfers.

Since blogger is letting me post pics I am finally going to get some more of my pages uploaded! *L*
First some paper....

And some Digi....

A special visit

2007-10-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

On Wed. while we were waiting for the Elders to come to the house for our lesson, Jim got a phone call. I couldn't figure out who he was talking to, when he got off the phone he had a look of....hmmmmm shock, confusion, bewilderment, wonder. Turns out it was the Stake President's secretary wanting to set up a time for the Stake President and one of the Area Seventies, a General Authority to come visit us Saturday afternoon.
So since I am new to the church I am surprised and shocked. Why would a General Authority want to come to OUR house? I mean....we are nobody. I immediately go into panic mode. This has to be done and that has to be done!! Of course I didn't get everything done that I wanted to have done, but I got a lot of things done, things that had been on my list of things to do for this week while we are on vacation. So now that they are done I can scrap and relax and catch up on some other things.

Fast forward to today. Oh needless to say, I haven't slept much the last few days because I am so nervous and anxious, constantly wondering 'Why us'?? So now the house is ready, neither one of us can sit still so we are basically pacing the floor. And they arrive, President Saunders and Brother Tenney(the General Authority).
Talk about a spiritual experience! We sat at the dining room table to talk. It was so awe inspiring and one of those WOW experiences! Bro. Tenney told us that he had asked all of the Bishops in the Stake to make a list of member family's to turn into him. Then they were to pray on which family's they needed to visit. Out of like 3000 people, our names was one of the 3 family's who they said Heavenly Father told them they should meet. I feel so not worthy of this honor! Wow! All of the things that have happened over the last month or more have told me that this is the church that I have been searching for years for. Brother Tenney gave Jim a mission to accomplish, which he has already done, we visited some more(and I told him I planned on being baptised the Saturday after Thanksgiving) before President Saunders led us in prayer, then Jim asked if we could get a couple of pictures together before they left (T told me if I didn't she would come down here and hurt me!! *LOL*). It was just such an amazing meeting! I had chills for I don't know how long after they left, so did Jim!
Tonight we had an adult meeting at the church and we listened to some amazing inspiring speeches, and we got to talk with Brother Tenney again for a short time. When Jim told him he was emailing him the pics tonight, Bro Tenney told him they would be going in his journal. Wow, to think we are going to be in one of the Area Seventies journal!
Ok so I probably sound like I am babbling *L* But I have found that after going to a meeting, or sacrament, or whatever...I always feel so uplifted afterwards! That also tells me I am where I need to be and this is what I need to be doing! I am sure there is something I am forgetting, but this last few days have been a whirlwind!!

I guess I should post my pics (so T can see!! *L* This is for you T!!! ((hugs)) )

Tag you're it!

2007-10-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged *L* By Fe :)
Here's the deal:
7 Random Facts I must post. So read them, comment on them & then check to see if your name is in the 7 I tag. If it is, list 7 Random Facts about yourself & pass on the tag to 7 people.

Hmmmm this is always so challenging for me *L* So let's see what I can come up with that most of you don't already know (since I am an open book anyway, right? *L*)

1. I love shooting! My fav gun is the S&W Model 19 Combat Magnum(357) although I am liking Jim's little Taurus also. AND I am a darn good shot if I do say so myself!

2. I take my pillow with me whenever I travel.

3. I love to cook, but hate cleaning up afterwards!

4. I have weird eating habits. For example I don't like my food to touch *L* unless it it a casserole, or meat and potatoes. But my veggies can not touch my other food!! I usually eat the edges of sandwiches, pizza, toast, etc first and the middle last. And I sort my M&M's by color, saving the blue ones for last, except with Reese's I eat the middle first and save the outside for last *L* Yeah I am weird!!

5. By the time I was 13 I had gone to 13 different schools, all in different towns.

6. Jim and I met online and were married 6 months after we started talking.

7. My wedding day started with a 7.1 earthquake!

Ok now who do I want to tag? How about...

Meghan
Dawn
Sassy
Becky
Kathy
Kimberly
Teresa

So on to life and whats been up. We've been watching the fires out here in So Cal. There are at last count (6 pm news) 16 fires in Southern Cal!! We are watching the one's behind us in the mountains. The fires we can see are in the Big Bear area...Running Springs, Lake Arrowhead and all around in there. Some of these have been accidental, some arson. All I can say is I hope they catch the one responsible for the arson fires! How anyone could be so cruel, sick and uncaring is beyond me! It makes me cry seeing all that these people have lost. :( Jim had one lady comment to him at work the other day...."What's the big deal? They probably have insurance, so they can rebuild." WHAT? Well she needs to be smacked down too. How dare someone say something so....crass! The big deal is people have lost thier possessions....yes they are just 'things' but look around you...how many things could you honestly bear to lose if you had to pack up your car and head out of Dodge in a short time? You can't take it all, and you know what you don't take may not be there when you get back. Of course you would take your children, pets, important papers...but then what else? Your pictures? Your computer (after all most of us have our pictures downloaded to them and if we are scrappers a lot of us have our pages saved on them)? Special items that have been handed down from generation to generation? Seriously...look around you and then tell me that that woman's remark is not the most uncaring thing you have ever heard! I don't know about you, but I have poured my heart and soul into my home and yes it would break my heart to leave behind the things that hold a special place in my heart.

Anyway...here are some of the pictures we took from the backyard. As the crow flies the fire is roughly 12 miles away from us, so we are in no danger! Just want my family and friends in KS to know that! :)

Bad Blogger!!

2007-10-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

bad bad bad blogger!!! Yes I have been really, REALLY bad about blogging. I think I need about 10 more hours in a day to get everything done that I want to do!!
Where have I been? Work, housework, yardwork, talking classes for church, and yes Jim and I have started going to church again! And I am going to get baptisted!! Don't know the date yet, but will post it when I know :) I have been thinking about going back to church for some time and it just felt like it was the right time....so we are going again. I haven't gone for years....years and years. Only going for weddings and funerals.
I know it is no excuse, but when I lived in KS, I didn't go for about 25 yrs...well I did go a couple times, and I took the kids to VBS. But the people there were so....2 faced! I hated it!! Hated going to church to have people be nice to you there, and yet they would see you around town and stick their noses in the air at you. No way for a Christian to behave! SO I quit going. Couldn't stand the hypocrits. Ok, getting off my soapbox now *L*
I have been scrapping! Really I have! *L* As proof here are some of the pages I have gotten done.

Using TTS Treasure Chest September 2007 collabrative
kit (proceeds donated to help in the fight for breast cancer)

For the World Scrapping Tour

Using Manuela ZimmermansPure Nature kit

Using Deanna Patterson'sTilly kit and Di Hickman & Mad Scrapper Designs collabrative kit Fiendish Friends

And now blogger has decided to be a pill and won't let me post any more pics tonight, so I will try again in a day or two!!
Oh and before I go....Happy Anniversary to my wonderful hubby Jim!!! 8 wonderful years together!!! I WOULD do it all again! I love you baby!!!

Scrap Pink!!

2007-09-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

Join us at Treasures To Scrap this weekend for our online Scrap Pink crop!!! You won't wanna miss it!
(pssssst...just between us....TTS gives out awesome prizes...AND oppss...shhhh...there will be some great sales!!! and I mean GREAT!!!)

Think Pink!

2007-09-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this amazing kit.. Our First Treasure Chest Collaborative Digital kit is full of so much product you won't know where to start and it seems as it never ends as there is so many things to choose from.
This month at TTS we are supporting the Breast Cancer Awareness Cause and proceeds from this kit will go towards it as well.

(click on image for a better view)

We also have kits for us paper scrappers.
Kit 1
Kit 2

AND that's not all!!! We have a sale going on this month in our paper store!

30% off all product except for Sept and BCA TTS kits until 9/30/2007

Use the Coupon Code: Tracysbirthday

Now if you buy $25 or more then give yourself 40% off with the coupon code: whatasteal

Ready for the weekend!!

2007-09-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

TGIF!!! I did a lot of fall cleaning today! It was my first Friday off after my Friday customer's moved to WV. so I decided to use the time to do some cleaning in my own house. Well it turned into a whole day ordeal! But my house looks and smells so nice and clean now!! Just have a few little things to do so I will probably get some of them done tomorrow. but I wanna scrap this weekend too, so I wanted to get all my weekend stuff done today.

I have gotten a couple more digi pages done in the last couple days. Check my gallery at TTS for product info!

And while you are at TTS why not check out what we are doing this month to help in the fight for a cure for breast cancer
Scrap Pink
There is also a sale going on!!! Make sure you check the forums for more info on that also! And join us for our crop later this month!

Oh and before I go, I have to share a funny story about Madi. Last weekend we got a call from her mom, Tracy. Madi is now in middle school and....well you know how it is to be 13. *L* Last week was the first middle school football game. Madi was so upset that she wasn't able to go to it and todl Tracy that she was 'Ruining her social life'!!!!!!!!!!!! *L* Oh my goodness, the dramatics! All I can say is Thank God I no longer have teenagers! OMG it is even worse now than when my kids were kids, and my kids aren't THAT old, that I don't remember when they were teenagers!
Wanna know how ruined her social life is? She had 2 calls on her birthday to go do things with friends and had the dilema of trying to decide which one to do *L* and half the time when you call to talk to her...she isn't home...she is out somewhere with her friends. Glad to know her social life wasn't ruined for long!!! *L*

Quick Labor Day Post!

2007-09-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

*L* Quick cause I am going to bed in a few but wanted to blog before I forget to!
Our blog challenge for the day is to tell what the changing of the seasons means to us. Since we don't have a lot of color in the fall, unless you take a trip out to the lake (which BTW is gorgeous!) it mostly means a change in the temps for me. And this summer I can NOT wait for that! It has been a LONG HOT summer! This week we have been over 100 for a few days again, with storms all around us so that makes the humidity go up. What's even more frustrating is to see the storms and none of them reaching you! *L* We can see them all around us, but because we are in a valley surrounded by mountains, a lot of the time the rain doesn't reach us. We did get to see some spectacular lightening though! And we did get a little...little being key here...rain on Friday. We have had only 3/4 of an inch of rain in 13 months! So we desperately need it! And we were soooooooooo hoping to get a serious downpour..but alas it wasn't to be for us.

I did get a couple pages done inbetween having to shut the comp down because of the lightening though! *L*

The first is using the Blueberry Creme kit by Wenchd Grafix Designs available at
DSO. The second one is a page I did for our fearless leader Tracy at TTS using the Birthday Kit by Ashley Bailey at DigitalDivaDesigns.com

and finally a couple of older pages I did celebrating our fall. Jim took me for a drive up into the mountains just so I could get some fall pics to scrap! Isn't he a gem!!!

Just cause

2007-09-01T23:36:00.001-07:00

Had a good day today. Slept in a bit, got to scrap a bit, had some friends over to play cards (even though I lost...again *L*)

I did see something rather disturbing today though. We took the girls to PetSmart. Of course Sox was in doggie heaven *L* but as we were getting there this couple, probably late teens, early 20's were walking into the store with one of their parents (lets not even go into what I would have to say to one of my kids if they were doing this!) but the gug had the girl on a leash! She had a collar around her neck and they went in to buy a choke chain for her! Ewwwwwww Have some respect for yourself woman!! How degrading can you get? Sad...just made me feel sickened and sad.

I found this on my comp tonight while looking for something *L* Just had to post it...cause I can and it made me LMAO. Madi found it while she was here and we were rolling! Fart Dance

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Jim found this story online...it is one of those stories! ahhhhhhhhh stories

And here are some more of my recent pages...

The first two digi were done using Kristine's Spiced Toffee kit. Love these colors!!!(I did alter the color of the flower paper on the second LO to match the shirt I was wearingin the pics) And I used Di Hickman's Sept template for TTS also!

And some paper....The first one is using We R Memory Keepers, the paper sponsor at TTS this month and is a page for Nicole's Mission album. The next 2 are using kits from the TTS store and the last one is one of my new favs! I used one of the pics of Madi from the photo shoot she wanted to do the last night she was here. I love the pics I got of her and this one just begged to be scrapped!!

While you are at it, try and stop by TTS this month and join us for our Think Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Month! We will be having a Scrap Pink the weekend of Sept 28th and 29th. We have paper kits and digi kits to purchase also, with proceeds going to the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.

My Crazy Life

2007-08-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

OMG I haven't posted on my blog in almost 3 weeks!! Someone beat me with a thousand wet noodles! So where have I been? Work, for some reason has been crazy. Maybe it is the heat making it feel that much worse, I dunno, but I come home and I just want to collapse. This heat has to break sometime...OMG I can NOT wait for cooler temps!! Then there is all the family stuff going on right now...uggggg I wann shoot whoever made me think that when the kids grow up you don't worry any more. Because you do worry, and OMG they are so much bigger worries than when they were little. Then I get a $600 electric bill! WTH??? This is wrong, has to be wrong! Good lord! We are fighting it, I get to call SCE again tomorrow and dispute it. Oh what fun! NOT! And the homicide not far from us. WHAT are these damn kids thinking? Why would you kill someone because they were trying to stop you from tagging their place?? What a waste. Now a family has lost thier mom, sister, grandma and for what? Because some low life gangbanger wanna be's had to go out tagging!! I hope they get their asses fried!!!
Someone stop the train cause I wanna get off for a little while. Calgon take me away!!!!!!!!!!

Despite all of this chaos I have gotten a little scrapping done. I desperately need the down time to do more though, and unwind...destress!! Hopefully over this long weekend I will get that chance! But here are a few I have gotten done in the last 3 weeks!

The first two are using the Wenchd Graphix kit To A "T", fun fun kit to use, LOVE the colors!!! The next one was using the freebie for this month at 2 P's with one of the pics I took of Madi on her last day with us photo shoot, then one of my neice Mal..that girl is too funny! Then there is one of your's truly for a challenge, and finally one of my stepson Shaun, I used the Spellbound kit by Dawn InSkip for that one. Spellbound is so fun to use for those HP fan pics!!! *LOL*

2007-08-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

How about some fun stuff for the weekend?

I am a
Daffodil

What Flower
Are You?

And a couple pages I have done this week

Welcome to My World

2007-08-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

YOU KNOW you live in the High Desert when...
... You actually get excited about snowboarding at Mt. High
... The people at La Casita know you by name
...Sidewalks are a luxury.
...You (or your neighbors) mow the weeds instead of the lawn.
...All the trees lean to one side cuz of the wind.
...Driving fifty miles to get some decent food/clothes/entertaiment isn't unusual at all.
...Closing the Cajon Pass won't stop anybody from getting out on a Friday.
...The slightest rain turns roads into rushing, muddy rivers.
...You're the only one driving down Main Street at 3am, and for some reason you still hit every red light.
...you've learned to coexsist with potholes.
...its 75 degrees outside and your mom tells you to grab a sweater
...you know that shoes hanging over a telephone wire means theres a meth house nearby.
...you cant go to any store/restaurant/bar with out it feeling like a high school reunion
...Scandia/the bowling alley are your friday nights (or if your 21+ Mr. V's, the Marina Lounge, or Chili's are.)
...you hang out at Del Taco
...when people usually ask you "where's that?"
...when a majority of parties are held in the middle of the desert
...when you're about to die of heat stroke in the summer, but freeze your ass off in the winter
...when your town goes bazirk over a new store/restaurant
...when you refer to traveling as "going down the hill."
...you know that rivers don't HAVE to have water in them.
...you've ever had to pull over your car to move a huge tumbleweed out of the road.
...Seeing the color green on a landscape shocks and confuses you.
... you pass by a Mexican restaurant at every street corner
... you didn't know that the construction of two-story buildings was possible
... "hanging out" constitutes meeting up at Starbucks
... a mall any bigger than Victor Valley Mall (which doesn't take much) excites you
...when telling people where you live, Las Vegas invariably becomes part of the explanation. (i.e. "Have you ever been to Vegas? Then you've passed through where I live.")
...when you know which town you're in by what side of the street your on(Bear Valley Road)
...You can make it down the cajon pass in 15min and to Victoria Gardens in 25.
...Your parents, and everyone you knows parents, commute to work.
...during the holidays it takes 30min to find a parking spot at Target or the Mall.
...you don't know what to do with yourself when it starts raining
...you're confused by the concept of clouds
...you're somewhere else and confused cuz the speed limit sign is less than 55 mph, and you don't know how to drive less than 65 mph, cuz Bear Valley Rd/ Hwy 18/ Apple Valley Rd all have a speed limit higher than that!
...you stick extra sweatshirts or shorts in your car, cuz you never know when it could get super hot or deathly cold
..... missing school for a snow day was a major event that year
...... 40 mph winds and sunny is considered a "nice day"
...... unless you live in SVL you have a dirt lot on at least one side of your house
..... you knew what I was referring to when I used the initials SVL
..... your unfairly associated with Barstow when trying to explain to people where your from
..... within the first 2 minutes of talking with somebody still in the desert you get a list of new shops/restaurants they are getting
..... unlike everywhere else in the country, the mexican help line is not in front of a home depot but some random park on the corner of Hesperia Rd. and Verde St.
...... you get excited whenever you are watching a Cuba Gooding Jr. movie so you can tell everyone that he went to Apple Valley High School

*L* So many of these things I can relate to!!!!

Arggggg, I am cutting back on caffeine and OMG can I tell it! Headache, jittery, jumpy....and OMG tired!....this sucks!! I did get a page done today though..would like to get another done, but don't think that is happening before Big Brother comes on *L* Can't miss my BB!!!

Using this months sponsor at TTS...Flaire Designs/Tropical Dream and the starfish are from Wenchd Graphix Hula Whoop kit. I love the beachy elements in this Hula Whoop kit!!

Lots of new stuff!!

2007-08-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

I have gotten some scrapping done (5 digi pages!!)! Woohooo!!! We had a relatively quiet weekend here, slept in and everything! It felt soooooooooooo good!!!
I promised some pics of my sunflowers and then *duh* had a senior moment *L* and forgot to come back here and post them!! So here they are! I don't know what happened to this sunflower but man it is growing like a weed!!

Yes I am standing next to it!!

The 3 flowers on top...gorgeous!!

Notice the bee? The bee's are loving my sunflowers!

I have to throw in a couple pics of Madi, taken her last night here. I wanted to get our yearly pic of her in front of the tree in the front yard, and she wanted to turn it into a photo shoot. Man did we have fun!!!!!!!! We got some extraordinary pics!!! She is so much fun to photograph!!

And finally some more pages from me :) The first one is using one of the new kits in the new Digi Store, this kit is by Dawn Inskip/The Write Stuff. The last 4 are using kits by Wenchd Graphix/Here Comes the Bride and Greco

Don't forget to check out the sale in our new Digi Store!! 30% off of almost everything this week only!! We have incredible designers!!!!

I've been set free!!!

2007-08-03T19:29:00.001-07:00

By Blogger!! *L* My blog was unlocked today!! Woohooo! They decided I wasn't a 'spam' site! *DUH* I was going to be so upset if I lost all my stuff...seriously upset!! The only thing I can figure out is that I go to a lot of blogs looking for digital freebies and when I grab one I leave a comment for the blog owner. Maybe they saw all the comments I was leaving with my blog addy and decided I was spamming? *LOL* Dang, get shut down for leaving some love...you gotta love that!

Jim and I have been recovering from that early morning Vegas run this week. Who knew that would wipe us out so bad! Doesn't help that the girls have been getting us up in the wee hours either. So we are declaring a sleep in Saturday AND a no work weekend! Just play!!!! I can go for that!

I have gotten a few more pages done so I will share those now :) The 2 paper pages were done using sponsor product from TTS for July (Around the Block) Egg-cellant and August (Karen Foster Designs) Unwanted Visitor. For Tide Pool I used our digital sponsor (Flaire Designs) for this month.

Check out my gallery there for more info on the items used on these pages, and while you are there check out our Grand Opening of the Digital Store!!! It will be opening next week!!

Be watching for pics of Madi's photo shoot from her last night here! *L* She wanted to do a photo shoot in one of the trees in our front yard and man did we get some great shots!! I will be posting a couple of those tomorrow along with some pics of my very cool sunflowers!!!

Home alone

2007-08-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

Well Madi went back home yesterday. We got up at 4 and were out of here by 4:45 am! Yikes...that makes for a long day! *L*
I took her out shopping and we went to Cold Stone when I got off work. Then we took her out for chinese food..her fav!! Then when we got home she wanted to do a phto shoot! I was surprised that she wanted to do that, but we had a blast and took a ton of pics!! When my blog is unlocked...grrrr...I will post some of the pics we got! Oh and a pic of my sunflower with several flowers open on it! I have ever had a sunflower with more than one flower on it. It's awesome...sooo pretty!!

Digital CT Call!!!!

2007-07-27T13:45:00.000-07:00