Glad to be feeling better....

Flowers/Plant from Mays Business School

Light Pink Roses from James

I had day surgery on Friday (female stuff). I felt pretty puny all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Today I still had some soreness and just don't quite have my energy back so I stayed home one more day to rest. The flowers definitely helped brighten my weekend. :) James totally surprised me with the roses on Saturday. Mays Business School had the other arrangement delivered Friday after I got home. That was SO thoughtful of them...wow, I don't even work there!

Scrapbook Pages

Here are a few scrapbook pages I completed at the LASSIE Retreat...These were all done with a package of Basic Grey paper that I just love. The Riding Hood Red In-Color paper and ribbon from last year went perfectly with this layout.

Can't Wait for the Weekend

I can't wait for Friday. I am going on the LASSIE Retreat (LASSIE = Ladies' Auxilary of Scrapbooking Sister in Ecstasy). It is at a retreat center in Saledo. I still haven't decided what all I am going to work on yet but rest assured that I will be taking enough stuff to where I can easily change my mind if necessary. Check for pics next week!

And the winner is.......EMILY!!!

I know, I know, Emily wasn't the first one to notice my blog was back in business....but she was the first to comment on my blog candy invitation so to be totally fair...she wins! I know she already keeps the new IB&C at her bedside but now she will have one at the office too :)

Scrapbooking and more scrapbooking....

I am really getting into the scrapbooking thing. I always stuck to cards b/c I liked the instant gratification and I loved the thought of sending someone a homemade card (still do!!!)...BUT the idea of scrapbooking was so overwhelming. I still love cards and my Stamp Camps have always focused on cards (thus far) but....I have conquered my fears and now I LOVE scrapbooking!!! I have also learned I am much more creative if I scrapbook without pictures and add them later. Here is what I have been up to lately....

I'm Back. Hmm.

Well, it sure has been a while since I updated my blog. It will be very interesting to see how many people notice. I am sure they gave up checking for updates long ago and I don't blame them. So, if you are out there...and you see my blog (and you are a friend of mine), you will get lots of totally awesome Blog Candy! The first one to comment wins! :)

Yes, I am now on Facebook too

I have been encouraged over and over to create a facebook account and finally I did earlier this week. I have to admit it is pretty cool to get little snipits of people I otherwise wouldn't hear about very often. BUT, it is just one more thing to keep up with!

Don't you love his tail? No need for pledge ever again! :)

My Cat's New "Do"

As you may know, one of our cats, Sammy, thinks he is a dog…he loves to be outside and he LOVES to roll in the dirt and leaves. He does NOT like to be brushed, however. So this results in his hair getting all matted and knotted up. Last time we took him in he just needed his underside shaved but this time he had knots on his back too….so we had no choice but to go with this new do….I think he’s kinda cute!

Ginger and Mallie stared and sniffed at him for a few minutes when he got home. They were like “WHAAAAAT?”

Family Time

My step son, Jason, is here this week b/c he wasn't able to visit over the Christmas holiday. We have had a great week. Jason is 17 and lives in Oregon so we don't get to see him near as much as we would like. I took off yesterday to spend with him. James took off today, and we both took off tomorrow since it is his last day here. I think the part of his visit that he is enjoying the most is the beautiful weather (as opposed to the weather in Oregon!)

Today is also my son Jeffery's birthday! He is 19. Wow, I cannot believe I have a 19 year old! I am so grateful that they are both happy and healthy boys and that they are such good boys too. We really have been blessed.

For those of you with youngsters, I know you hear this all the time. I did too and I thought I understood it at the time but I realize now that they are grown that I didn't pay enough attention to the lesson. SPEND TIME with your kids. Spending money on them isn't what is important. Spending time worrying about their homework or how many activities they are involved in isn't important. Just spending YOUR time with them is SO important. They will not forget it. And I don't mean just being in the same room reading your book while they are playing. I mean you spending your time doing what THEY want to do. It can be really hard with our schedules these days. But the relationship you will grow with your kids will be priceless. The same is true for grandparents. There are grandparents that just spend money on their grandchildren. Then there are the other grandparents who may not have anything to give but their time. Trust me, they will be the favorites, hands down.

Forget-me-not-keeper Stamp Camp

Jennifer G had her first class last night and it was great! I must say it was nice to be just a participant :) Emily, Tracy, Amber, Jennie and I had a great time making the wonderful card projects Jennifer had planned for us. I am looking forward to having my own class on February 21st and am glad to have Jennifer's ideas to help with the planning process! OH, and Sloane...well, what more can you say but "stinking CUTE"!! She has definitely become more sociable since the last time I saw her. What a joy!

Update on My New Year's Resolution

Well, so far so good. I have exercised every day this week but Tuesday. I got my ChaLEAN Extreme DVD program but it looks HARD. I am going to stick the first DVD in and just watch it to see if it is something I think I can do at this point! Foodwise, I have done pretty darn good, not perfect but definitely a major improvement over my normal eating habits!

My Very Messy Craft Room

Most who know me from stamping knows I don't show off my craft room. Why? Because it is always a MESS. I am generally a messy person. Clean, mind you. Just messy. Some of you Type A people may not think there is a difference. Well, you are wrong...there is a very big difference. You non-Type A people know exactly what I am talking about. So here is a before and after picture of my craft room. Now, I must clarify, the "before" picture was right after the Christmas Gift Class I had so everything kind of got dumped in there afterward. It isn't usually quite THAT messy. Of course this "after" pic was taken immediately after I cleaned it all up and it now looks much more similar to the "before" picture. I really do wish I was more organized. I know I would enjoy my craft room MUCH more if it weren't always so messy that I can barely even use it to actually stamp.

New Year's Resolution

Well, like most, my new year's resolution is to LOSE WEIGHT (again). So far, I am extremely proud of myself. I have exercised for the last 5 days straight (4 of which at 5 AM, yes AM). I have also ate only healthy foods. Guess what, I have lost 6 pounds this week! Woohoo! For all you skinny people who may not know, fat people can lose weight at a faster pace than normal. After a little while, the pace will definitely slow down. I guess it is your body's way of saying, Thank God, we can get rid of this excess....lets do it quick before she goes back to her bad habits! I like exercise videos because I do not like to be out in the elements...meaning I don't like to exercise a)outside in the hot and/or cold and b) I don't like for other people to see me exercise. When I was skinny, I loved to go to Aerofit for step aerobics. No more...it all happens inside my own home baby! I can't wait until next week because I ordered a new set of exercise videos. If you have ever heard of Chalene Johnson and/or Turbo Jam, then you may have heard of her new workouts, ChaLEAN Extreme. It focuses on strength training but is supposed to also burn fat too. I will let you know how I like it. I have to admit I was surprised at the price tag ($120) so it better be good and it better work!

Jeffery and Ginger

Here is Jeffery with my baby girl, Ginger. :)

Jeffery and his VERY SAD Snowman

Jeffery liked the idea of making a snowman but after about 5 minutes he got too cold and called it quits. I informed him that this was not a snowman...it is a snow lump or at the most a snow ghost :)

Snow Snow Snow!!!

Like everyone else in BCS, we really enjoyed the snow we had a few weeks ago. Here is a pic of our house. Everyone says I should use it for our Christmas cards next year.

I knew it...

I knew I wouldn't keep this blog thing up to date! When I get home the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer! I guess I will have to use my lunch hour to update it. I meant to update my blog over the holidays but again, I really didn't feel like sitting at the computer much. I will try to do better!