Crafty Day

Angie came over today for some serious crafting. Our craftiness did involve a trip to the LSS. I know I vowed not to buy anything for 2 weeks, but I spent $24 today. I mostly bought card stock and a few cute little embellishments. I've decided embellishments are a major weakness for me. I need to buy more fun THINGS and fewer pieces of paper.

LO # 1: Pick-up Man
Brad got a new truck this week! It was a scrap-able moment. Aaahhhh. The joy of being married to a scrapper.
LO # 2: Daily Grind
You might not know this about me, but my commute to work is about 50 minutes each way. So, I've joined a carpool of awesome chicas from work. We meet each day at 6:30. Urgh. But, we take turns each Friday driving completely out of our way to pick up Starbucks for anyone who is riding. Last week was my turn. Have you ever driven alone in your car trying to balance 5 steaming hot coffees?!? Amazingly enough, I didn't spill at all. Plus, I ordered the drinks extra-hot. That way they were still yummy by the time I reached the car pool.

Brad's Demand and Birthday Wishes

This week's new meal:
Supersize turkey meatballs with spinach and cheese (ala Rachael's magazine) You can just imagine all the inappropriate jokes we made about a meal with the phrase supersize balls in the title.

Today was Brad's day off. Being the awesome person he is, he made dinner. As he was cooking he actually demanded, "You better write on the ------- [Insert inappropriate word of your choice. We swear a lot.] blog that I cooked the new meal this week. Me. Not you. I did the cooking." He even took the picture himself. I am publicly giving credit where credit is due. It was a yummy meal honey. Almost makes up for the horrible bear movie he made me watch!

Since I'm talking about New Year's Resolutions, I need to publicly confess that one of my resolutions was to always send cards and letters in a timely fashion. I did (with the help of Angie) manage to send out the Valentines, but I've fallen off the Hallmark band wagon. Today is the birthday of three important people. Not one of them received a card from me.

Happy birthday, Scott! Petey is no ordinary man. One time while eating dinner with Petey and Angie at a restaurant at the Mall of America, we got our entire meal for free because we were the 50th (I think) table of the day and it was their 50th anniversary. STRANGE! But, these are the kinds of things that happen when you hang around with Scott.

Happy birthday, Loren (my step-father-in-law)! One of Loren's many talents (besides being the world's most dedicated outdoorsman) is to totally get any little kid in sight completely wound up. He does this thing called The Claw that all kids go crazy for. He is also, hands down, Memphis's favorite person.

Happy birthday, Laura! My one and only little sis. Brad is fully expecting a middle of the night tipsy phone call from you from the Joint.

Now. Really. How can I be expected to send the cards on time when there are three birthdays on the same day!?

Bears and True Love

You remember that Friends episode where Monica thinks she catches Chandler watching shark porn and instantly becomes worried her man has a strange obsession with sharks? I'm afraid Brad has a strange obsession with bears.

Well. . . last night was designated movie night at our house. We re-arranged the living room to ensure an optimal view of the television from the couch. We got movie snacks (Coke, popcorn, M&Ms, Mike & Ikes, pizza). We rented a bunch of movies.

Brad insisted on renting a documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a wacky environmentalist who lived with grizzly bears each summer in Alaska. This crazy man spent hours taping himself frolicking with various wildlife and pretending to be a bear. W-A-C-K-O! No big surprise, he and his girlfriend were eaten by some bears a few summers ago because that's what grizzly bears do: eat things.

Timothy, or Timmy (as he liked to refer to himself in third person), was one crazy man. The low point of the movie was when he played with bear poop and explained how amazed he was that it had just been inside the bear. It was rumored that he spent so much time with bears he forgot how to interact with people; he would making growling noises and act like a bear when confronted by someone who made him uncomfortable.

Now, if watching a movie like that to satisfy Brad's strange craving to know more about bears (instead of watching In her Shoes) isn't true love, I don't know what is!

P.S. We also watched Crash. Fabbity! I love movies/books with many intersecting story lines.

So bad Saturday

Ever have so much to do that you just don't know where to start?

My house hasn't been cleaned for two weeks. I need to go to the gym today. I need to grocery shop. I have bundles of stuff due in night class on Monday. Brad needs me to buy him deoderant. I have 40 book reviews to grade and lesson plans to write. My sister's and my step-father-in-law's birthdays are this week; I haven't bought presents. I need to send my aunt $$ for Girl Scout cookies. I need to write a letter to a friend (long over-due).

The list is endless, really.

So. . . what have I done today? I showered and put on my velour jogging suit. And I scrapped! Now I'm going to order Chinese take-out for lunch. Maybe I'll do some work later. Yeah. Right.

A Little Problem

I've been suspecting for awhile that my scrapping purchases have been getting out of hand. It was confirmed today. I got two boxes. TWO BOXES! In the mail. They were sitting there on the table when I got home from work.

Normally, I would be ecstatic about two boxes. Today I just felt a little embarrassed, as the purchasing has apparently gotten that out of hand. (I got a box yesterday, too.)

I waited until after Brad left for cards tonight and, like a guilty addict, sat on the couch buried in mounds of gorgeous patterned paper. Some fab new SEI, a little Chatterbox, some Sassafras Lass, and (my personal new favity-fav) Bookshelf from American Crafts.

There's been lots of talk about what people are giving up for Lent. I know I can't go the entire Lent season without purchasing any scraping stuff, but I'm going to challenge myself to make it at least for the next two weeks. Then I might allow myself a little cardstock, but just cardstock.

Ugh. It's bad.

I'm baaaccckk!

I know the page I shared on Sunday was cool, but over the weekend I did some scrapping that certainly put the CRAP! right in scrapbooking. (Thanks for the joke, Reagan). We're talking horrible use of stickers and themed patterned paper. It was bad. It was a total throwback to my early days as a scrapper. The only thing that was missing was lots of pictures cut on circles and ovals with matching mats. I was having serious doubts about my future as a scrapper.

But, thanks to a last minute job on the CJ of the fabulous Ms Angela Oh!, I have made an amazing recovery. I am not a one-hit wonder and have many fabulous pages yet to come.

Maybe my creativity was so alive because my craft room (aka my studio) was a total disastor by the time I finished my fabbity Barbie creation. It's killing me not to be able to share it. For now, this pic of the cover (and my messy room) will have to do.

Scrap-a-ganza

Spent last night in Green Bay with Angie and her cousin, Darla. We scrapped all night long taking breaks only for tacos, fruity soda, and PB eggs (my favorite spring-time candy).

I'm worried that all of my scrapping energies have gone in to making purchases lately rather than actually scrapping. I got a lot done last night, but am only super-pumped about a few of the things. I have TONS of new paper (BG, Cherry Arts, Sassafras Lass, Urban Lily, Scenic Route, Junkitz, Chatterbox, American Crafts). I need some serious ideas for some cool pages. What are your thoughts? What should I scrap?

Altered Journal. I've been looking at so many cool new products that I needed a place to keep track of what I want to buy. Lovin' this cutie-pa-toodie paper from 3 Bugs.

Snow Day. Yummy little clipboard was a great addition to my new Junkitz. I'm digging the orange and green and blue lately. My apologies for the bad scan. The clipboard and the bottle cap were too lumpy to scan well.

P.S. You have to check out the AWESOME stuff Ang made--especially the Grape Soda LO.

Suck It Up: Bad Vacuum Experiences

I'm teaching my students about instructional manuals right now. The manual I was demonstrating with today was for a vacuum cleaner. It totally reminded me that I have some very blog-able vacuum cleaner moments.

When I was about 12, I sucked up a pair of clean underwear with my family's vacuum while cleaning my room. I was mortified/scared of getting in trouble, so I just put the vacuum away like there was nothing wrong. Later that day, my mom discovered the vacuum wasn't working. My handy dad took it out to the garage and discovered it wasn't working because my underwear were clogging it up. He walked my underweark pinched between his thumb and pointer finger through the yard to the house. Totally mortifying!

Apparently at the ripe old age of 25, I still didn't know how to use the vacuum.
About a year ago, Memphis had a horrible barfing incident in the middle of the night. He threw up a big pile of dog food. It's commonly agreed that Memphis is 70% Brad's dog and 30% mine. I firmly believed the throw-up came from Brad's 70%; it was his job to clean it up. He refused to get out of bed. So, I turned on the vacuum thinking it would make him get up. It didn't. So, I was forced to use the vacuum to suck up the huge pile of half-eaten dog food soaked in stomache acid. Good job for a shop-vac; not such a good job for our cheap-o Kenmore vacuum. Brad had to take apart the entire vacuum that night and carefully clean and sterlize each and every part. We don't have that vacuum any more.

Needless to say, my track record with vacuums isn't very good. I probably won't be investing hundreds of dollars in a Dyson anytime soon.

Questions, Neons, and Scrapping

Okay. The "ask me question" post was a total bust. But, I'll answer those that were asked.

Michelle W. asked about my scrapping style.
I'd actually have to say my style is very organized and a little cute. I love buttons and ribbon and flowers. I have to have a plan before I start. I like working with sketches. I wish I was a little more artsy (I love Ali E.). Guess that's why I'm missing the Effers or Darers or what-ever they're called now so much. They made me think differently.

Ang asked why she's my favorite friend.
It's because she's so confident, yet humble. I won't elaborate much more than that for now.

But, Em (my Internet stalker) just asked for more info. I will tell a quick story.

Since we're also talking about why Angie is my favorite friend, it will must be about Angie. When Ang and I were about 18 or 20, our friend, Scott, drove us to Chicago to see a show at Second City. Along the way we brainstormed jobs that would pay us to travel around the country. Angie is always all about coming up with some kind of a grand plan. I love it!

We happened to be driving past the Neon factory in Illinois when we decided that Neon should give us a car and pay us to drive around the country for the summer. We would take pictures and make postcards for an advertisement. This was when Neon's slogan was, "Hi." The postcards would say, "Hi, from . . . " and have a picture of us standing by the Neon where-ever we were at the time.

Scott actually let us stop a the Neon plant and try to pitch our advertising ideas to the guys (or women) upstairs. It was a bust, as the not-so-friendly security guard wouldn't even let us through the doors. But, we did pause long enough to take a picture outside the factory.

The picture eventually became part of a graduation scrapbook that Angie and Nikki made for me. You get an excerpt below. Guess we've been scrapping for quite awhile. We've come a long way.

Randomness

I don't have a very large audience for my blog, but they certainly are demanding. Both A. Amy and Ang pointed out that I haven't posted for a while and suggested/demanded I do so tonight.

Since I can't come up with anything really blog-worthy tonight, I decided to list my discarded topics.

• Dislike for librarians and my belief that I should become one to re-vamp the image of the profession.
• Grey's Anatomy. McSteamy vs. McDreamy. Need I even say more?
• What kind of car we/I should get when we/I trade in the Escape
• Why the mechanic should be referred to as the "Car Spa"
• Lessons I Learned from Television or Why Fat People Will be the Next Target (2 topics inspired by an ultra-fun dinner in sub-zero temps with Ang and Mike on Saturday)
• How much I wish I was on vacation (just like Emily and Kat) Sorry, Em. I think I'd choose Kat's vaca over yours.
• What I would do if I won the lottery
• How I haven't been keeping up with New Year's Resolution to read more
• My obsessive scrapbook purchasing (Every time I think it can't get worse, it does)
• Strange quotes from Brad: "I stopped using my face lotion. I think it's making my throat hurt." He actually thought the lotion was soaking through his skin and into his throat to make it hurt.

All right, loyal readers. Post your questions for me, and I will answer. It seems I need some inspiration.

P.S. The picture is part of the randomness. It's me on my birthday in second grade. My parents got me a big ol' upright piano as a surprise.

Too much snow

I know there would be plenty of you out there who would be totally jealous about my Snow Day today, so I spared you the early morning "Na, Na. I have a Snow Day!" post. And, I won't even brag about all the fun-filled things I got to do today (lunch with Nicky & Natalie and a fabbity new hair-do that includes bangs from a posh Aveda salon).

But, I do want to point out just how much snow we have. It's CRAZY! I came home between watching General Hospital while at the Y (I was the practically the only one there) and my haircut to find the hugest snow drift ever in my drive-way. The real-estate agent didn't mention that our driveway becomes a wind-tunnel with blizzard-like conditions when we bought the house in the middle of summer. The drift was as high as the tires on the good ol' Escape. Even with the 4-wheel drive, I decided not to risk it. If I had gotten stuck, I would have missed my hair appointment. I tried to shovel my way through but was wildly unsuccessful. I had to just leave the Escape in the middle of the drive-way to get covered with snow.

Anyway, the snow is still coming down like mad here. Add to that crazy winds and cold temps and it's no fun. Brad is at the gas station getting some fuel for the snow blower. Crazy cats that we are, we forgot to fill it after the last snow. Bet that won't happen again.

I'll leave you with a little known fact about mailcarriers (compliments of Brad) . . .
If your mailbox is right on your house, it's in the mailman protocol to walk through your lawn. It saves them literally hundreds of steps a day. We always think we're helping so much by shoveling our sidewalk. We'd actually be helping a lot more by shoveling a cute little path through our lawn! So, love your mailcarrier. Shovel your lawn.

English Nerd and Grey's Anatomy

I always knew I could have a full-time job related to scrapbooking; however, I never anticipated that it would need to be as a proof-reader.

Here's the story. . .
I've been on a bit of a card-making binge lately. I found this sheet of stickers (from a company that shall remain unnamed) when looking for fun card stuff. I had to buy it because it's loaded with typo-s. What company actually manufacturers stickers with one of the most common typo-s of the English language all over it. YOUR means something belongs to YOU. YOU'RE means YOU ARE. Has our language evolved to a point where these different forms are used interchangeably?!? Oh no. Say it's not so! The English teacher in me is searching frantically for a red pen wanting madly to mark the mistakes and send it back to Sassafras Lass. Ooops. Did I mention their name?!

The worst part might be that they got it right one time on the sheet and messed it up three other times. What does "your spot on" mean anyway? Maybe that one is not an error.

Now I have this whole sheet of stickers, most of which I will refuse to use! (Unless I send them to my other English teacher friends as a strange kind of joke.)

I've always been kind of a freak about things word related. One of my biggest pet peeves is when words are purposely spelled wrong in advertising or company names. For example, the city I lived in for awhile had an advertising campaign that said, "It's Funn." Why the double "n" in fun?!?! Your guess is as good as mine and that of the many people I've asked since first seeing the advertisement.

On to other interesting things. What are your thoughts on Grey's Anatomy? I seriously think that Meredith and Derek need to get back together. He clearly loves her much more than Addison. But, will they get back together? Part of me thinks I should stop watching if they won't re-unite.

Tagged

Got this great list of questions from Emily's blog. Enjoy!

1. What is your occupation? Teacher

2. What color is your underwear? Today it's red

3. What are you listening to right now? Furnace

4. What is the last thing you ate? A GROSS sandwich for lunch. I have this horrible phobia of deli meat and refuse to eat it, but it was my only option.

5. Do you wish on stars? Only shooting stars

6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? Red

7. How is the weather right now? Coldish, but tolerable

8. Who is the last person you spoke to on the phone? My Mom. Even when she's here to visit, she still calls me!

9. How old are you today? 26 years, 2 months, and 8 days

10. What is your favorite drink? I'm very into fancy martinis lately. I prefer the chocolately ones.

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Not really a fan.

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes.

13. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Nope, but I should wear glasses.

14. Do you have pets? Memphis.

15. What's your favorite month? September. Although back to school is beyond stressful, I love the fall.

16. What is your favorite food? Pasta

17. What was the last movie you watched? This horrible crappy movie on Lifetime. My mom picked it. I think it was adapted from a Barbara Taylor Bradford book. HORRID!

18. Do you have favorite day of the year? I have to agree with Em. There's no feeling quite like the last day of school before summer vacation.

19. What do you do to vent anger? I'm a world-champion bitcher. I also handle anger with a lot of sarcasm. All of that is usually followed by some tears. Don't I sound like a great person to know?!

20. Do you prefer hugs or kisses? Hugs. They're easier to come by.

21. Which is better, cherry or blueberry? Cherry.

22. What are you living arrangements? We live in a house described by a real-estate agent as "a cute little dollhouse." Our garage has almost as many square feet as our house, but it's very homey.

23. When was the last time you cried? Wow. I think it's been about a week.

24. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes.

25. Who are the friends you've had the longest? Angie

26. What did you do last night? Went to PDP training (ever the consummate professional) and hung out with my parents.

27. What is your favorite smell? Baking bread, especially banana

28. What inspires you? Other people's creativity

29. What are you afraid of? Getting attacked, abducted, etc.

30. Do you eat plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Cheese

31. What is your favorite car? I'm a sucker for an SUV. I'm not having the best relationship with my Escape right now. I've always been a fan of the Jeep.

32. What is your favorite breed of dog? Labs (of course!)

33. How many keys are on your key ring? 2 for my car (although only one actually starts the car) and one for my house. My key ring also includes a "Don't mess with Texas" keyring altered to say, "Don't mess with Barb," several key cards for local grocery stores, and my YMCA membership card (complete with awful picture).

34. How many years have you worked at your current job? This is my third.

35. What is your favorite day of the week? Saturday

36. How many states have you lived in? One

37. How many cities have you lived in? 4ish

38. What was the last book you read? Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

HOT stuff!

My new meal this week was cashew chicken from a Rachael Ray book. Holy man! That Rachael should put a warning on the spicy recipes. My mouth is still on fire. The recipes had lots of cumin and a bunch of chipolte in adobo. Note to self: chipolte in adobo is SPICY! Must go eat some ice cream just to cool it down.

I might be MIA until Sunday. I have some training Friday and Saturday and my 'rents are coming for a weekend visit. MUST clean tonight.

Signs from Above

Strange things were happening today.


First--I bent over to pick up a piece of paper in the hallway this morning. It was a picture of McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy torn from a teeny-bopper magazine that had fallen out of someone's locker! After all the controversy on Angie's blog about McDreamy vs. George and the plot of the show in general, I totally knew it was a sign. He's soooo not a slimeball and soooo should be with Meredith. I sooo suggested to Brad last week that he should grow his hair out to look a little more like McDreamy. The picture is soooo hanging on the board in my classroom. And I soooo need a life!

Second--went to the Y tonight after taking a hiatus last week due to the reading convention. Was actually psyched for a work-out. Until. . . I discovered my gym shoes were actually not in my gym bag and were actually somewhere at my house. Hmmmm. I either need to go back to the Y later tonight or fore-go the ice cream I had planned for after dinner.

Thanks for the suggestions about the dirty-word Scrabble players. They got a stern talking to and a detention during which they will write an apology to the sub. You totally made me laugh with your suggestion though, Em!

This would be so funny, if only. . . .

Y'all know I was away from work last Thursday and Friday. I can't imagine how scary it must be for a sub to walk in to a day filled with 115 14-year-olds. The woman who agreed to take my room for two days must be some kind of a saint. I never want to be a sub, especially not in middle school.

But, I'm afraid she won't be coming back anytime soon. I don't know what happened, but some of my kids did the exact opposite of everything they ever do when I'm around. Besides the normal middle school stuff (talking out of turn, laughing when nothing is funny, flirting, hormones, etc.) they decided to turn an innocent day of Scrabble in to Dirty-Word Scrabble, and I'm not just talking spelling fart or butt; I got a few kids to confess, and I'm talking really dirty.

Okay, now what do I do? Not only did some of them desecrate the sacred game of Scrabble, but they were so disrespectful that I actually had to call the sub to apologize (totally embarassing!). I made them journal about it today (Aaaahhh, yes. Reflective writing is a cure-all). Is that enough? Do they need to be punished? What is a meaningful punishment for disrespecting a stranger and being inappropriate? How do I decide which kids to punish and which to praise for being good? An ethical dilemma. Readers, what do you think?

Feedback

I want to submit some pages for a design team entry for 3 Bugs in a Rug. These are what I have done so far. I need to narrow it down to two. Which two would you choose?
LO # 1 Silly Sippin'
LO # 2 Imagination
LO # 3 Wedding
LO # 4 Lil' Pumpkins

Blogging: It's a Family Thing

I've never considered myself a trend-setter, but I do need to point out that each and every member of my immediate family has started a blog within the past few months. If that's not a trend, I don't know what is.

MommaSue and Dad (the newest blog)
Rob
Laura

For those of you that haven't met me, I think investigated their blogs will explain a little about why I am the way I am.

Questions from Reagan

Reading Em's blog today reminded me that I've been slacking on Reagan's weekly 5 questions. So, I'm answering 10 questions today.

1. What stresses you out the most?
Waiting. HATE it. Am completely impatient.

2. What is the first thing you do when you start working on a layout?
Match my pics to way more paper than I could ever possibly use on one page.

3. What is your favorite kind of cookie?
Chocolate Chip.

4. What age was your most memorable birthday?
For my birthday in second grade my parents bought me a big old upright piano as a surprise.

5. What is the most recent non-scrapping thing you have used on a layout?
Do staples still count as a non-scrapbooking item? I'd have to say staples.

6. Do you have brothers or sisters?
Bro (Rob), age 24. Sis (Laura), almost 22.

7. What is your favorite type of food?
Pasta.

8. Scrapbooking technique you are scared to try?
Doodling by hand. Plus, I'm still trying to love my handwriting.

9. Are you a messy scrapper or a tidy one?
Believe it or not, I'm relatively tidy. I can't work in my craft room unless it's clean when I start.

10. What was your favorite kids book?
Current fav is Ish by Peter Reynolds. As a kid I loved There's a Monster at the End of This Book and tons of others.

Like-Minded Ladies

So, I've been way distant since Wednesday because I've been at the WSRA convention. Imagine thousands of reading professionals all gathered together in the same place to talk about what's good for kiddos. I even got to be part of two presentations with an awesome committee that I'm proud to be part of. WHAT A BLAST! I've spent tons of time with some awesome ladies from my school and visited with some of my favorite colleagues from around the state.

You better bet I'm busting out the "Reading is Sexy" t-shirt tomorrow, the grand finale day of the convention.

Happy B-Day Dad

• 
  I know the day is almost over, but I need to say happy 49th b-day to my dad. So, here's a list of odd (and little known) facts about my daddy-o:
  
• He's terrified of packing peanuts

He almost cut his toe off with a band saw over the summer

He loves green olives with swiss cheese

My dad has phases of obsession. When I was in middle school he was totally into grunge and even subscribed to Rolling Stone. After that he was into cigars. He's also dabbled in gardening, car repair, and sailing.

He likes to walk around the house in his underwear. And it makes no difference who happens to be in the house. This was the cause of much humiliation in my teenage years.

When I was a kid, my dad taught swim lessons. I think he might have thrown me off the deep end and taught me to dead man's float far before I was ready.

We had a nice chat this morning, We will see him to celebrate next weekend. Until now this card will have to do. He's a big Sponge Bob fan. Happy birthday, Dad!

Good Things

It's not real often that I point this out, but I've had a great few days.

1. Friday morning. Had coffee a la Starbucks with the Autobahn Fraulines (my carpool) before facing the school day.
2. Friday night. Nicky took me to her friend's house for a pizza dinner. It was baby central. There were 2 little boys less than 2 years and Natalie. Had a great time, but was exhausted.
3. Rented all of Sex and the City Season 4. Have only watched 1 disk.
4. Saturday AM. Found the new Basic Gray papers. SOOOOOO cool. If anyone feels like buying me a random gift, I would gladly take ANY of it.
5. Saturday. Went to Endless Creations. Spent too much. Purchases include: BG Notch Tool, lots of cardstock, some random embellies, and some cool paper from Urban Lily. Went to Artsy Crafter. Got a very cool book of card ideas. Apparently, I'm a card maker now. Spent more. Went to Hobby Lobby for card supplies. Spent a little more.
6. More of Saturday. Crafted with Ang and hung out with Mike all day. I finished Emily's CJ and Ang and I worked on a special project. I'm so lucky to have such great friends. They even cooked me a steak dinner. Onion rings and all!
7. Saturday PM. Got home to find the copy of The Big Picture that Aunt Amy picked up for me. I'm one connected scrapped. And she's one lucky lady. Her craft room (aka "studio") got remodeled this weekend!
8. Sunday AM. My little bro started a blog. MUST READ! He's hilarious and one helluva writer.
9. Every day. The weather here is awesome. Although it's raining, the temperature is like 40. This rocks!

Where, you might ask, was Bradley during all of this excitement? He's ice fishing with his poker buddies somewhere far away from here for the weekend. It's just been Memphis and me to enjoy all this fun! Hopefully, the fun carries in to the week.

Soft Spot for Grandmas

Every day I start every class with a student reading something to the class. Today a student in my very first class of the day read a poem called "Grandma's Room."

I knew from the title I was in trouble. I just kept telling myself, "Don't listen to the poem. Think about something else." But, before I knew it, the tears were welling up in my eyes.

The student just kept reading about the Grandma's special room. The Grandma in the poem dies, and the little girl loves going in her room because she can feel her Grandma there.

I just kept crying and crying. I'm not just talking eyes welling up with tears. I'm talking actual tears rolling down my cheeks. There was no audible gasping, but there certainly was no hiding this. Big tears in front of a room of 25 14-year-olds.

The poor girl who read the poem felt awful, and one of her friends brought me Kleenex. I eventually composed myself enough to say that I was only crying because both of my Grandmas are gone. But, that only brought on a new round of tears.

Then, I composed myself again and tried to explain that I was only crying because the poem reminded me of my Granny's sewing room. But, you guessed it. More tears.

Then, I tried to explain that I never cry like this in front of students. One girl was kind enough to point out, "You just cried last week when you read us that story! I saw you get teary eyed!" In my defense, a grandma died in that story, too. And a little girl thanked her teacher for helping her learn to read.

Am I a basket case or what?!? One might argue that the tears make me more human. But, twice in two weeks. Come on! It's time for me to pull it together.

Since my Granny died (15 months ago), I've been ultra-sensitive about all things grandma. I just start missing her at the times I least expect it. So, tonight a tribute to all things grandma. Hug yours or send a special message!

P.S. The pic is my Granny as a little girl. A personal fav of mine right now.

Quick Recipe

Was just reading Michelle's blog (Check it out! Her LOs are AMAZING!). Her weekly challenge is to post your favorite quick and easy recipe.

Turkey Sloppy Joe
(Got this one from Nikki a few years ago. It's been a staple in our house ever since.)
1 pound ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 C diced green pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
8oz. tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. Worcestire sauce
1 Tbsp. Tomato paste
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Buns

1. Saute onions, pepper, and garlic for about 3 minutes.
2. Add turkey. Cook until browned.
3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for 10 - 15 minutes. Serve on buns.

This is one of Brad's favorite meals. Especially when accompanied by corn and baked beans. That man could and would eat baked beans and corn with every meal!

The True Me

I first saw this cool site on Ali's blog. When I saw that Em tried it too, I was starting to feel left out.

Visit The True You. Create an account. Click on any part of the banana split. Then choose QUIZ on the right of the screen. Complete the quiz and you'll be emailed your profile.

This is my profile.
You have a high degree of talent, but are frustrated by a lack ofopportunities to fully express yourself. Subconsciously, you are angry about this, but have learned to suppress your urges to alternately pull all the hair out of one side of your head and binge on lemonpound cake. You are principled, but feel that high standards in design are more important than high standards in personal hygiene. You look younger than your age, but sometimes lie about it anyway. You are a brilliant multi-tasker, but you frequently over-commit to the point oftemporary insanity. You try to blame others for this, but no one believes you. The aspect of your personality you love the most is your optimism. You have a passionate but unresolved relationship withpaper, which requires further investigation.

Not sure just how accurate this is, but it was fun!

Pjs and Stress

It is my belief that no matter how stressful life may be, you always feel better if you're wearing your pjs. This is where my story begins.

In case you don't know, I'm finishing my masters in May. Rather than a thesis, I have to present this enormous Binder of artifacts that prove that I've grown and changed as a educator. I've done a good job of keeping it up-to-date, but I'm down to the wire. I have to present it to my advisors in March to get a thumbs-up for graduation.

I set today aside to work on nothing but the Binder, as I need to meet with my advisors soon to check-in.

Here I sit, at 2 in the afternoon, pjs on. And stressful it is. I could literally feel my heart-rate increase and my chest tighten as soon as I took out the Binder. I've gotten almost nothing done and now I have a headache. Ugh. I need to put it away and do something else.

Twice in less than an Hour

Thanks for the food for thought, Reagan. (Check out the links for her fabbity blog. )

1) Tell me about the best pet you have ever had?
Current dog-pal, Memphis. He's the cuddliest big dog you'll ever meet. Unfortunately, he only likes to cuddle on his terms. He wants to be petted 24-7 and whines when he can't be.
2) What is the one place in this world you want to go to more than anywherelse?
Inspired by my colleague's radio station, I'm sort of hot-to-trot on the Seattle area right now. I'm not the exotic vacation type.
3) With all the news these days - like from Mr. Osama - Do you feel safe?
I just don't think about it much. I seem to think it will never happen to me. I worry about other people's safety. People in big cities. Soldiers.
4) Friends (reruns) last night made me wonder this - Is there really such a thing as a "self-less good deed"? - you can elaborate or not.
Psyched about this question, as I love this episode. I say no. All good deeds make you feel good and are, therefore, not self-less.
5) What is the one scrappin tool or thing you want, but can never seem to find?
I'm a new patterned paper junkie. My LSS can never get it fast enough for me and that's assuming they get it at all.

Finished Product

Had a great time @ Angie's crop last night. I love how other people's friends become your friends, too. I've met all the other chicas at the crop last night (Shanen, Jodene, Christa, Donna, and Dorinne) at other Ang-sponsored events, and it was great to see them again.

Plus, I love the sharing spirit at crops. There were so many great ideas (and so many great supplies) flying around the room last night.

Here's my finished products. My most avid readers will remember that one of my resolutions is to scrap a page each month without buying anything. Well, both of these bad boys required absolutely, positively no purchasing!

Scrapwhore

Ang is having a Stampin' Up party tomorrow night.

I've been trying hard to stick to my personal budget, which doesn't have a lot of wiggle room for purposeless spending.

But. . . I've had my eye on this super-cool set of time-related stamps since like November.

So. . . I made a little deal with Brad this week. I would do him favors and just be generally pleasant (something I will admit I sometimes struggle with) all week in exchange for some cold, hard cash to spend at the party.

Tonight was my true Pretty Woman moment. "I left the money by the door for you," he said and set the money by my huge stack of stuff to carry to work tomorrow.

Oh well. I'll sacrific my dignity for some cool new stuff. Does that make me an addict?

Truthiness

Was watching CNN tonight and heard that linguists voted "truthiness" to be the word that best describes 2005.

It can be defined as:
"quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts"

I'm totally intrigued and plan to use the word all the time now.
Your pick for 2005 word of the year?

Blast from the Past

Okay. After Em's inquiry about my harping, I figured I'd lose the last shred of my dignity and post this pic.

I like to call it: Me @ 14 w/harp

I played harp when I was in middle school and high school. I even thought, for awhile, that I'd go professional. Or as professional as any harp player can go. I was totally in to it. I went to harp camp. I went to a jazz harp convention in Arizona. I even commuted from Eau Claire to Mineapolis for harp lessons. I used to load my enormous harp in to my mom's wood-paneled station wagon and play at all kinds of weddings and dinner parties.

I guess I just kind of got over it, though. I still have my harp at my parent's house. My mom begs me to play Silent Night each Christmas. Maybe someday I'll go back to it.

I've Been Tagged by Dawn

4 Jobs You Have Had in Your Life
1. Reading Teacher
2. Worked @ a Drive-in Movie Theatre
3. Played harp @ weddings
4. Answer phones @ American Girl

4 Movies You Could Watch Over
1. Dirty Dancing
2. Shakespeare in Love
3. Sweet Home Alabama
4. Bridget Jones's Diary

4 Places You Have Lived
1. Milwaukee
2. Eau Claire
3. Stevens Point
4. Appleton
Guess I should think about leaving WI at some point, huh?

4 TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Friends
4. Sex & the City

4 Places You Have Been on Vacation
1. Germany
2. London
3. California
4. Boundary Waters (Had to list one wildenress vacation!)

4 Websites You Visit Daily
1. Two Peas
2. Blogs (lots and lots)
3. Barnes and Noble
4. Variety of Scrapping Stores

4 of Your Favorite Foods
1. Ice Cream!!!!!
2. Cherry Coke
3. Spaghetti
4. Broccoli

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now
1. Anywhere warm and sunny
2. Taking a nap
3. On a sailboat
4. Archivers

Resolution Update and Other Junk

Alrighty. I've been MIA all week. Have been EXHAUSTED and BUSY. But, I can't remember even one really important thing I did this week. Other than touching the lives of a hundred students by teaching them to read. Blah, blah, blah.

Had a big meeting in WI Dells today to prepare for a presentation at the state reading convention in a few weeks. What a great bunch of dedicated professionals! Had a fab time gossiping about books and all the cool stuff we do in our classrooms.

So. . . I was driving through downtown Waupun to get home. I thought to myself, "It would just make my day if there was a scrapbook store here!" I got stopped at a red light and, sure enough! There was a LSS right next to me and an open parking spot in front of it. I didn't buy even one single thing, but chatted it up with the owner and her cutie-pie son for awhile.

RESOLUTION UPDATE:
1. Cooking.
Made RR recipe # 282--Ginger-Lime Chicken with String Beans and Wasabi Smashed Potatoes. Love, love, loved the chicken. Discovered that I don't {heart} Wasabi. Have you ever tasted something so gross that you can't get the taste out of your mouth? Wasabi is apparently like that for me.

2. Reading.
Am reading Reading Lolita In Tehran. Has been on my shelf for-eva. At Ang's urging, finally decided it was time. Have been thinking about this fabbity-fab-fab quote all week:
"As soon as I discover a new word, I have to use it, she said, like someone who buys an evening gown and is so eager that she waers it to the movies, or even to lunch."

3. Sending cards and letters.
Should REALLY send my brother's CHRISTMAS GIFT sometime soon! Am doing bad with this resolution. But, the twin nephews are turning 1 at the end of the month. I totally plan to send their birthday gift on time.

4. Scrapping
Haven't submitted anything for publication and haven't made any pages this week. But. . . I haven't made even one scrap-related purchase this week. Am saving up for all the cool new stuff post-CHA.

Latest and Greatest LOs

Can't believe it, but my nephews will be a year old in just a few weeks. Got these awesome pics around Christmas time. The scrapper in me just couldn't control myself. So. . . I scrapped them three times. Ugh. It's out of control.

P.S. One of my res0lutions is to scrap a page a month without buying anything. The top page (with the BG paper). Didn't have to buy one darn thing!

Also did this super-cool LO of my resolutions this weekend. LOVE the new KI ribbon and the MaVinci number stamps. Guess there might be a stamper in me yet.

Have almost finished the CJ, too. But, am keeping that a secret.

??? from Reagan

Check out the link to Reagan's blog on the side. These ??? are from her blog.

1) What color makes you smile? Red.
2) What is your food related pet peeve? Loud food. Really crunchy. Really slurpy.
3) What is your favorite web site? Barnesandnoble.com
4) What did you do on your last date? Fancy dinner at home and a rented movie
5) What is your favorite slang word? No idea.

Week in Review

The first work week of 06 is almost over. I'll catch you up:

1. Got not one, not two, but THREE boxes of scrap-related things in the mail today. "Honey, are there three boxes in your craft room?" Brad innocently asked. Stamp mounting supplies, stamps from MaVinci, and some (more) American Crafts ribbon.
2. Have almost finished reading the AWFUL book for my book club next week, Christmas Train by David Baldacci. Am wishing the main character would fall off the train and die!
3. Finished 1 LO (see below)
4. One student professed their hatred for me. At least he didn't use any profanity.
5. Brad passed his 80 day review and is only 10 days from having a real postal uniform. Although, I think I'll have to wait a few months for him to bust out the shorts.
6. Celebrated Mike's 29th with good eats @ Famous Dave's
7. The sun hasn't shone even once this week. Not even one single ray of sunshine.

Love this LO. I totally hit the jackpot in marrying Brad. He's awesome, and his great-big family is too. Love that there are so many things that just aren't quite perfect about this picture; it makes it so much more real. We're both still bumming about not being able to enjoy the Rowe Family Christmas. Always a little chaotic, but always a lot of fun!

Culinary Adventures: Week # 1

Last night Brad suggested we eat Spicy Hot Beefs. Everytime I attempt this crockpot-concoction something seems to go wrong. Last night was no exception. Totally charred beef (in less than half the suggested cooking time) is no fun to eat. I ended up making Brad throw it away while I ripped up the recipe card and bitched about how it never turns out. Needless to say, we had to eat an alternate meal.

But, with the assistance of Rachael Ray the No-Lahner-vak culinary team totally redeemed themselves tonight!

Recipe # 303 in Ms. Ray's latest cookbook, birthday gift from Kevin, Jess, and fam, (365: No Repeats) is my official keeping-my-resolution new dish of the week. We enjoyed a feast of "London broil with buttered potatoes and carmelized zucchini and mushrooms" tonight. I'm sure the entire bottle of wine that accompanied it made me a bit biased, but it was fab-u-louso. Cannot wait to make it again!

Last LO of Vacation

Effer 17. Use an old/hideous piece of PP with a new/fav piece of PP. This has been one of the funnest Effers to look at. Everyone is doing such awesome and original things!

And then there's mine.

So, this isn't stuff Miss January is made of. It isn't fab-fab-fab, but, I had fun doing it. AND, I finally managed to use a few of my Prima flowers.

Believe it or not, playing Don't Break the Ice has become a bit of a "thing" for Ang, Mike, Brad, and I since the night these pics were taken. I think we might be due for a game or two sometime soon.

Vacation Summary

Hope everyone had a fantastic New Years Eve. Our celebratory dinner with Miranda and Jb was great. The four of us haven't had a dinner together since we moved from Point almost three years ago! We totally need to do it more often.

I've had the have-to-go-back-to-work-tomorrow blues all day! In an attempt to cheer myself up, I'm trying to think about everything I did over my ten day break:

1. Completed 10 LOs
2. Went to my LSS 4 times
3. Went out for coffee 4 times (2 Starbucks and 2 Gloria Jean's)
4. Spent $100 at Target on life necessities (How do we do that?!)
5. Vacuumed the house at least 4 times in preparation for various visitors
6. Watched 2 discs of Friends Season 10 and the entire first season of Sex and the City
7. Visited lots of family and friends (the pic below is from when Dan, Amy, and Jen came to visit this week)

Since Desperate Housewives isn't new tonight and Grey's Anatomy isn't on, I will have plenty of time to do one more LO tonight.

Resolutions and Random Thoughts

Resolutions

1. I resolve only to make resolutions that push me, but that I will be able to keep. Thus, I don’t resolve to lose any weight.
2. I resolve to cook at least one new special something each week. Watch the blog for postings about my culinary adventures in 2006.
3. I resolve to read at least one actual novel (not listen to it) each month just for the hell of it. Okay, okay. I know. This is weak. I should read way more than one book a month. I am, after all, a reading teacher. But, some months it is really hard. Watch the blog for this, too. I will tell you all about my fav reads.
4. I resolve to make at least one LO each month that contains only items from my way-out-of-hand stash. I wanted to resolve to buy less, but that just won’t be one that I can keep. Instead, I resolve to make an effort to use what I already have.
5. I resolve to become a published scrapper (or at least to try to).
6. I resolve to make an attempt to send cards and letters again and in a timely manner. My card habits used to be enough to keep Hallmark in business, and I was notorious for practically sending the thank-you before I even got the gift. Now. . . it’s bad. It’s really bad. There are some people who didn’t even get birthday cards from me last year, and virtually no one who got one on time. (P.S. I totally stole this resolution from Em. It was all her idea.)

Now onto the random thoughts.
I'm doing a circle journal. Scrappers--you know what this is. Everyone else who reads this--I've probably told you about it a million times b/c I'm so excited!

There was this recent post on 2Peas all about Circle Journals gone bad. It was like the equivalent of Jerry Springer for scrappers; lots of people complaining and pointing fingers. I was totally freaked for awhile about mailing my beautiful, brown, ribbon-covered Heidi Swapp album and never, ever seeing it again. But, I've decided it doesn't matter. I'm so excited about having hooked up with some rockin' scrappers and all around cool-chicas via Pea-u-tiful. I've loved reading the blogs and watching the posts on 2Peas. And, it is still truly crazy to me that you can meet people through the Internet (thanks to Al Gore, of course!) that you have so much in common with.

I've promised myself that I will do some school work today (haven't done any yet over break other than updating my resume). My neighbor started his loud-ass snow-blower around 8:00 this morning, so sleeping in was out of the question.

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone. We're having dinner with Miranda and Jb. What are your big, exciting plans?

2005 In Review
JANUARY
1. Did you have a new year's resolution this year?
If I did, I don’t even remember what it was. Guess I didn’t keep it, huh?
2. Who kissed you at midnight?
Brad, but I don’t think we managed to stay up unti midnight.
3. Did it snow where you live?
It always snows in WI in January
4. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? No.
5. Big January Events:
Brad’s annual ice fishing trip, I became an aunt to twin nephews

FEBRUARY
1. Who was your valentine? Brad
2. What did your valentine get you? A waffle iron
3. When you were little, did you buy valentines for your whole class? Of course! Plus, we always had to decorate a special box for kids to put the cards in

MARCH
1. Are you Irish? I married in to it.
2. Did you wear green on St. Patty's Day? No. I dyed my hair green one time when I was a kid.
3. What did you do for St. Patty's Day? Went to work, I’d imagine
4. Big March Events:
Went to Texas for a visit and to meet Noah and Chase

APRIL
1. Do you like the rain? I love thunderstorms.
2. Did you play an April Fool's joke on anyone this year?
Don’t like April’s Fools Jokes
3. Big April Events:
Nicky and Chris became parents! Welcome, Natalie.

MAY
1. What's your favorite kind of flower? Gerber Daises, Tulips, Hydrangaes
2. Do you like the spring? Yes, but not as much as fall
3. Finish the phrase: "April showers bring..." lots of mud.
4. What would you think of as a spring color? Light Blue
5. Big May Events:
We made an offer on a house the same day we went to see U2 in Chicago

JUNE
1. What year did you graduate from school? High school – 1998 College – 2003
2. Did you go on any vacations last June? No. Taught summer school.
3. Big June Events:
Mike and Angie's housewarming, Closed on the house at the end of the month. Chris gets deployed.

JULY
1. What did you do on the 4th of July?
Went to the drive-in with Dan, Amy, and Jen
2. Did you go on any vacations during this month? Nope. Remodeled.

AUGUST
1. Did you do anything special to end off your summer?
Went to CA to visit my bro, got pneaumonia
2. What was your favorite summer memory of '05?
Owning a hosue for the first time.
3. Did you go swimming a lot in the summer? No.
4. Did you go to the beach a lot? Once in CA, but no swimming involved.

SEPTEMBER
1. Did you attend school/college in '05? I’m perpetually attending school. Completed 12 credits towards my MSE in ’05.
2. Who is/was your favorite teacher? Myself, of course! But, I also really liked Mrs. Davis (6th grade), and I have to agree with Ang—Mr. Schmitt rocked!
3. Did you like fall better than summer? Of course! Cooler temps and pretty colors.

OCTOBER
1. What was your favorite halloween costume ever? Gumball machine
2. What's your favorite candy? Chocolate covered cherries
3. What did you dress up like this year? I didn’t.

NOVEMBER
1. Whose house did you go to for Thanksgiving? Angie and Mike’s. First T-Day without our “real” family
2. Do you like stuffing? Yup.
3. What are you thankful for? Friends, family, Brad’s new job

DECEMBER
1. Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes
2. Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe? No
3. Do you like cold weather? HATE cold weather
4. How would you rate your year on a scale of 1-10? 8 as an average. We had a 9.5, but many people who we care about had a really bad year. So, it averages to an 8.5.
Big December Events: I turn 26, Brad turns 27. Scott and Char become parents. Hosted -Christmas for the first time. Got diamond earrings. Made the mistake of buying Brad a PS2.

Pea-u-tiful Bloggers, you've been tagged!

Still Scrappin'

You know me. . . Christmas is not my fav time of the year. But, holy man! Have I been cranking out the Christmas layouts. This is probably pretty close to the last of the Christmas pics to be scrapped. Not even close to the last of the Christmas paper.

I am not a patient person. Not one bit. And I've been waiting more than a month for my BG Blitzen. Finally came yesterday, and I put it to good use today!

Scrappin' Away

Did another Christmas LO today. It's so easy to get a ton done when I don't have to work!

Crazy about SEI

I went way over-board on holiday paper purchasing. I have enough to make several entire albums, in fact. Decided on the SEI for today.

Gingerbread YUCK-te

So. . . . I read about the Gingerbread Latte on someone else's blog. Plus, it sounds good. Gingerbread. Yum. Coffee. Yum. I've been thinking about it since Friday. Tried one tonight. YUCK! The most disguisting coffee concoction I've ever tasted. I made Brad throw it away for me while he sat and happily slurped his Mocha Frappacino. DISGUISTING. I'll be visiting Gloria Jean's for a Sleigh Ride Mocha tomorrow. I will give coffee one last chance to redeem itself.

The Day After

I survived another Christmas. This was actually the first time I've ever hosted Christmas. My parents and sister came over from EC for Christmas Eve dinner, and Nicky came with Natalie and her mom. Our little house was full of Christmas cheer. Mom made a prime rib roast, and I added Rachael Ray twice-baked potatoes (My dad wouldn't go so far as to say he liked the potatoes, but he did say, "I respect these potatoes." Whatever that means!) and a salad. After dinner we all put on our pjs to open gifts. Although there isn't really a picture (That's not entirely true. There is one really awful picture) that captures how excited I was, Brad got me the diamond earrings I've been whining about wanting for the past few Christmases.

Picture # 1: The dinner table.
Picture # 2: My parents. They're deep in some kind of important discussion.
Picture # 3: Little Sis got Mom fleecy Snow White pj pants. Looks like a weight loss advertisement, right?
Picture # 4: Brad and me opening our gift from Brad's parents and Grandparents. One sad part about Christmas was that Brad didn't get to see his fam, but we did make plenty of phone calls and promise to go home for a visit as soon as we can!

The morning after. . .

Sunday Brad had to deliver express packages. There's mail even on Christmas day! How grinchy. My sister and I even squeezed in a little time to make a scrapbook page. We headed to Milwaukee after brunch to spend time with the fam Novak.

P.S. I never added another post, but my 2-hour delay on Friday did become an actual ENTIRE day off. I didn't get the Gingerbread Ltte from Starbucks (it's on my list of things to do today), but I did get a Sleigh Ride Mocha from Gloria Jeans. YUMMY!

Further Confessions of a WI Teacher

When the phone rings @ a teacher's house @ 5:40 in the morning on a weekday in the winter in WI, it can only mean one of two things for me--put my pjs back on for two hours or put them back on for the whole day. I hate to perpetuate the commonly held belief that teachers don't work hard / often / much. But, I need to take a chance to brag about this morning's two-hour delay, which will, hopefully, be upgraded to an entire day off later. Big thanks to Mother Nature who delivered some serious ice to the Fox Valley this morning.

This is just what I needed to relieve a little holiday stress. The only downfall--my plans to meet Wendy for a little before-work Starbucks have also been delayed two hours. I've been hearing a ton about the Gingerbread Latte, and Wendy probably dreamt about the Peppermint Mocha. Big apology to my bro. I know I should stand with you in solidarity and give up the Starbucks, but I just can't do it.

My parents and little sis are coming tomorrow for the weekend. This is my first attempt at hosting a holiday. I made a shopping list and cleaned the guest bedroom like a mad-woman last night; I even dusted the ceiling fan. But, I will use the 2-hour delay for reading my February CK, I think.

Holiday Hammered

Here it is, folks! All the Christmas shopping and wrapping I have finished. Please note that the one package that is wrapped was brought to my house by the FedEx man in that exact condition. I'm not sure if it's worse to think that this is all I have finished or that most of my family's gifts could be purchased at the liquor store. Actually, the part that's the worst might be that I'm busy taking pictures of what I bought instead of finishing my shopping.

My BIGGEST Flaw

I've decided if I ever become Effer of the month, my dare would be to scrap your biggest flaw. I could probably make a whole album about my flaws, but I'd have to say my biggest flaw is that I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I want things to turn out just right and get frustrated when the finished product doesn't live up to my expectations. Evidence: I had to do Miss December's dare twice because the first one didn't turn out how I wanted it. (The quote on the first one says, "Who said orange was the new pink was seriously deranged.") Off to scrap. I need to create a masterpiece today to cancel out the other lame page I made yesterday.

Confessions of a WI Teacher

The joke is that June, July, and August are the three reasons to be a teacher, right? I'm here to disagree with that! The best reason to be a teacher is snow days!!!!! We weren't lucky enough to get a full-fledge snow day and had to settle for her close relative--the early release. But it was still awesome. Had the afternoon to do nothing. Took a nap and watched General Hospital. I was anticipating an evening filled with night class, but that was cancelled, too. Too bad, huh? Well, I'm off to do some scrapping before I put my pjs on inside out. The kids say that causes a snow day. Put yours on inside out, too. I need all the help I can get.

Enjoy my winter pics. Brad really is a great sport about getting his picture taken. This is the first time he's used the snow blower. It's probably the last time he'll be excited about it.

Scrappin'

I know 2 posts in one day is a bit much, but I wanted to share the page I made.

Holiday Cheer

I took last week off from posting in honor of my B-day. Happy 26 to me. Enjoyed lunch with Nicky and had a fondue-themed party. Brad had a cold and Mike beat me at Clue on my very own birthday, but, overall, it was still a fun day. Check out the cool t-shirt I got from Ang and Mike! (Not such a great pic, but you get the idea.) My crazy parents sent me a pickle ornament for our Christmas tree. LOL


Sunday, depsite the sub-zero temperatures, we went on a hunt for the perfect tree. Memphis loves the tree farm. He runs around like a maniac, snorting around in the snow. When he gets too far from us, he comes charging back towards us. It's well-worth the trip. Santa was even there, but Brad wasn't a good enough sport to pose for a picture. For now, enjoy the pics. I'm waiting on my Blitzen paper to make the scrapbook page.



Nicky and Natalie are coming over to scrap today. And then we're off to celebrate Brad's birthday with a fancy dinner. He's very excited about dressing up for dinner--how cute.