happy new year...

more great music...

i found another new (to me anyway) person's music that i love. his name is josh kelly. you can listen here...

merry christmas...

twas the night before christmas...

and everyone was hustling and bustling to christmas parties and last minute shopping. may all of you have a very merry and safe christmas eve!!!

20 questions...

it's been a while since i've worked on a circle journal (there were some technical difficulties getting one here!) so i have a few to work on at the moment. i just finished this entry for mary's 20 questions circle journal.

sign of our times...

ps sherri, i borrowed this from your blog!!

busy, busy, busy...

tis the season to be busy, i guess. maybe someone should make a song about that!! thrown in with all the hub-bub for christmas and the holidays, my brother and his wife moved this week. we went down to visit them yesterday. as we were leaving to come back home, we were stopped at a red light and got rear-ended!! i freaked!! not because i was hurt, but because it's the first time something has happened to my new car!! (i got it a year ago this month...because last december i was in another wreck and totalled my old car!) so i'm not fond of december and car issues now!! luckily, no one got hurt and it didn't seem to do much to my car. one reason i freaked was because i looked in the rear view mirror after they guy hit us and saw his car. the front end was smashed! we later found out his wife had hit a deer not too long ago, so that's why his car was smashed. all that happened yesterday was his license plate got bent. big sigh of relief!!

also fun and exciting was a new addition to the family. not ours!!! we have a new nephew. little ben was born last week. he's so cute! kerry's brother and sister-in-law had a new baby. hopefully we'll get up to idaho to see him next month.

well i'm off to wrap some presents. i haven't wrapped any so far...so i think that's what i'll be doing most of today!!!

my christmas card to you...

so i made a variety of christmas cards this year. but here is my favorite. so if i neglected to send you a christmas card this year (or more likely, ran out of stamps and didn't have time to go get more...) consider this your christmas card from me to you!!!

brrrr...

man it's cold. ok, so it's only 24 degrees, but it is freezing!!!

i'm so sad...i have such a great porch on my house and i didn't get outdoor lights put up. i would do it now, but i don't think it's worth it for only a week or so. next year i'll have to do it much earlier!!!

how about another little poll?? this will be a two part poll.

1. colored lights or a single color on your christmas tree?
2. colored lights or a single color outside on your house?

o christmas tree...

so here's a little christmas story for you. i spend a good three hours the other day, by myself, trying to put up our christmas tree. i'm feeling pretty proud about it, since it's a pretty big tree and i managed to drag it upstairs and assemble it alone. i get it all decorated.

a little history...last year was the first year me and kerry had a christmas tree. the first year we lived together, we lived in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment that had no room. so we opted for no tree. then we moved into our townhouse and december came and before we knew it, it was time for christmas but we didn't have a tree. so i bought a little 1 foot tree, added some shiny blue balls and we called it good for that year. then after christmas i hit the post christmas sales and got a really nice tree for cheap.

so last christmas, i start thinking about how to decorate the christmas tree. i ask kerry for his input on what sort of decorations he liked and i got the typical male answer of, "i don't care. you do it." so i did. i went to tai pan trading and bought the cutest decorations. some wire strings with white metal stars, some white strings of jingle bells, some cute yellow wood stars strung on wire, and some old fashioned looking santas, and added a few strips of cloth in colors that matched. so i gather my decorations and start decorating the tree. kerry tells me the santas are a little odd, but whatever. tree is fine. we have a lovely christmas and enjoy the tree.

so back to yesterday. i get the tree all done and am very proud of how cute it looks and kerry gets home from work. he walks in and says, "oh, the tree is done. you know, those santas really creep me out. can we get rid of them?" i'm shocked. i'm speechless. flabbergasted. not, "oh honey, the tree looks so good!" or "wow! you put up the tree!" but "those santas creep me out. i hate them." what a guy thing to do. apparently, he somehow survived last christmas with those awful santas but can't do it another year. so i remind him of my conversation with him asking for input on the decorations. and then like the nice girlfriend, i removed the santas from the tree. probably with a little more energy and force than was necessary, but whatever...the santas are history. and i ask him again, what would he like on the tree. his reply, "shiney balls." did i mention i hate balls on christmas trees???

ARGH!!!!!!

so here is our tree, sans santa. also thrown in is a picture of above our fireplace with the christmas decor. and of course, the creepy santa!!

another great movie for christmas...

this is one of my favorite parts...be sure and turn off the music player at the bottom of the page before pressing play!!

a must have...

remember the other day (a few posts down) when i mentioned that i needed to go and get the puffs tissue with lotion and vicks? well, since i felt a lot worse today, i went to the store and finally got some. oh why didn't i get these days ago?? they are a definate MUST have if you have a cold or other respiratory ailment. they are a delight. i know, you are saying, "it's a tissue, what's the big deal?" trust me. it's a big deal!!!

i'm going to go snuggle with them right now!!!

thanks and a winner...

thanks for all the well wishes!! i'm feeling a little better, at least i didn't need three naps today!! i never made it to get those tissues, although my nose is wishing i had!!!

the winner of the christmas song poll is linda peterson! so please email me, linda, with your address and post a comment so i know you know you won!!!

everyone go listen to all the great christmas music out there!!!

time for a poll...

i think it's time for a poll. and maybe even a little goodie for one of the participants. tell me what your favorite christmas song is. i'll draw a random comment on monday and send you a goodie. but please include your email or a way to contact you!!!

my favorite song is carol of the bells. i love the vienna boy's choir version. it's amazing. i also love o holy night. there are so many good christmas songs!!!!

pass the tissue...

you have to love the first real illness of winter. i've got it now. on thursday i was feeling a little icky, like feverish and tired. then i woke up yesterday with a horrible sore throat and stuffiness. now it's progressed into a full fledged attack!! i think it must be either a sinus/ear infection plus some throat thing. all i know is that i feel like i've been run over by a truck!!! so my plans for the day consist of laying on the couch all day and watching tv and drinking juice!!! oh, i may have to run out and get some of those new tissues that have lotion and vicks in then. those sound heavenly!!!

more holiday tv...

since i missed rudolph and the misfit toys last night **sniff, sniff** don't forget that santa claus is coming to town is on tonight, dec 5th, on abc!

did you watch...

a charlie brown christmas last night??? (EDIT: i guess it wasn't on last night..it was last week!!) me either. but i tivo'd it! so we are going to watch it on christmas eve at our family get together! yipee!!

another great show was "shrek the halls" i haven't laughed so hard in a long time. it will be on again on dec 11. don't miss it!!!

season of joy...

i was on a roll yesterday, apparently!! i know, it's hard to believe...i'm posting two (yes 2) posts in a row with new cards!! amazing! these cards i love. my cute mom gave me a "season of joy" paper collection from scrapworks. she also gave me a box of the shimmer shapes which are chipboard shapes with glitter that doesn't come off! hooray! ellie and patty would be proud of me for using the glitter!! anyway, there are the cards i made with these fun papers and chipboard. i used the purple onion holidoodle set again. i just love it!!!

christmas...

i had a "bonus" day today. i was scheduled to work extra, but they didn't need me so i was on call all day. i took some time to make a few more christmas cards. i used last year's patterned paper from stampin' up!, some new stamps from purple onion, and some rub ons. i really didn't love the paper when i got it, but i think these cards turned out good. and this is just a little plug for michele at purple onion (who in no way asked for this!)...i ordered some things on friday and they came today. fast! she also added two cute extra stamps. thanks michele!!! your stamps rock!!! and she is having a holiday sale until dec 9th, so go check them out here!

holiday look...

i've changed my blog banner and colors to be more festive for the holiday season. hope you enjoy the new christmas music, too (remember if you hate these music players to just scroll on down and turn it off!!)

my last holiday cj entry..

sniff, sniff. i'm sad that this swap has come to an end!! it was an amazing group of people who made amazing circle journals about the holidays!! as soon as i finish my own entry in my circle journal, i will post the whole finished project. until then, see sherri's completed journal on her blog. this entry is for suzi's journal. it was our favorite holiday tradition. it's alot like the one i did for pam's journal, but i found the picture of me and kerry that i was looking for!!!

pictures of you...

oh wait, that's a song...

i was looking though some pictures trying to find one for my last holiday circle journal entry and i stumbled across this one. i'm guessing i'm about 2 in this picture so it was 1973. check out those stylin' glasses and hairdo on my mom!!! i love that it is an old polaroid!

birthday cards...

here are a few of the birthday cards and one thinking of you card i made last week during football/craftapalooza. it's nice to be posting projects! it feels like i haven't done it in a while!! all the paper is from stampin' up! and the sentiments are rub-ons!

life gets busy...

so take this advice...

happy thanksgiving...

sunday...

it's sunday and i don't have to work. yipee!! guess what that means?? football and crafting!! it's a nice way for me and my honey to spend the day together. his footballapalooza is now including craftapalooza for me!! so i'm going to work on some more fall and birthday cards (since i'm WAY behind on my birthdays at the shack!). i'll post my creations later!!

the last weekend...

before the official beginning of the holiday season. isn't that crazy??? i can't believe it is here already here. this year has gone by in a blur!! this weekend will be a frenzy of cleaning and shopping. i work on monday, tuesday and wednesday, then we are having kerry's parents over for thanksgiving dinner! yikes! so much to do!! can i serve toast, jellybeans and popcorn??

on a craft related note, i went to the we r memory keepers warehouse sale today. they had so much fun stuff on sale!! tons of scrapbooks and paper. of course i'm not much of a scrapbooker, but i did get some fun stuff!!

beautifully...

cold. that's what it is today. it is an absolutely amazingly beautiful day. the sun is shining brightly. the sky is pure blue. not a cloud to be found. but man, it's cold!!! 42 degrees, but feels like 37 according to weather.com!! i thought i'd get my lawn mowed for the last time. when i looked outside, it looked like the perfect day to do it. but i didn't realize it was so chilly!! i had on long pants and a long sleeved shirt, plus a sweatshirt. i forgot gloves. my hands are numb as i type this!! but it's done! i don't have to get out the lawn mower until next spring!

moms are great...

i spent the entire day with my mom yesterday. it was great. despite me being a little grumpy, we had a good time. the reason, other than to just hang out, was to finish her magnet board. i've been a terrible daughter. i gave her a magnet board for christmas LAST year and didn't get a chance to get it done. so it's been sitting in her basement, naked, for the past 11 months. i figured it was WAY past time to get it done, so we planned a whole day to work on it. i'll have to get a picture from her to post. i think it turned out very cute.

the other project i worked on was a circle journal. i had such a hard time with it because i don't really have many holiday collections. but here is how it turned out. sorry the picture isn't the best...we couldn't get my mom's scanner to work.

in search of...

the perfect coloring tool. that's what i want. what are your thoughts, ideas, suggestions? i have tombow markers, but i get too many lines from them. does that make sense? the stampin up markers give me lines too. then i ruin the paper trying to smooth them out. i have a handful of prismacolor markers and absolutely love those. but they are so expensive! and don't coordinate to the colors i use most (stampin up!). i prefer markers over colored pencils for the brightness. whenever i use pencils and mineral sprits, i can't seem to get it as deep of a color that i want.

so lay it on me. do i need to just give in and pay for the whole prismacolor set? what is your ultimate coloring tool?

help!

thursday already...

where did this week go? it has flown by. my holiday circle jounal was due to be mailed yesterday. i'm a slacker in my own swap. uh oh. that is terrible. and to make me feel even more guilty, i got my own back yesterday!! the ladies in this swap are amazing. this circle journal is the neatest thing i've done. i love it. i must stop slacking...

life is a pajama party...

so during the patriots/colts game (YEA! patriots won!!), i had some more inspiration and made more cards. i think i need to craft and watch football more often!! i'm behind on my birthday card giving, so i figured i needed to make a bunch. so here are the ones i made. the stamps are from stamping bella and the papers are from stampin up.

it's nice to get my creative juices flowing again. now i have 3 circle journals that desperatley need attending to. i'm stumped on the one, however. it's about holiday collections and i don't really collect much! besides junk!!

and the winners from the 17k hits contest are:

wife2tj, elaine, and nancys (momsnack). please email me with your address and post a comment confirming your winning!!!

pumpkins...

ahh...the sweet feeling of creating a few cards!! i finally made some cards today while watching the titans/panthers game. i made about 8 of these cards, each a little different. they are simple, but i love them. here are two of them. of course, i showed kerry and he says "isn't it a little late for halloween cards?" these are just a fall theme. no specific holiday. i love the stamp, it's amuse. i even tried paper piecing the cart. sherri should be proud!!!

new song...

i found a song that i absolutely love. give it a listen. kim richey-the absence of your company. see her myspace page to listen. it's also on the music player below. i've added others, too. mostly from music from grey's anatomy. love it!!

another milestone...

i didn't realize i hit 17000 hits the other day. i'm amazed. i owe it all to you, the readers of my blog. without you, i wouldn't have this great milestone!!

so, i'm going to be doing a few prizes. i've been in a bit of a crafting rut lately and not blogging as much. maybe it's because i'm not giving enough love away. so i'll pick three random comments on sunday november 4 around 6pm (mst). just leave a comment on anything you feel like saying. be sure to include a way to contact you if you win.

i'll post prizes on sunday.

thanks again for getting me to 17000 hits!!!

xoxo

boo...

happy halloween!!!

pumpkin cards...

this is for all my card making friends!!!

ding, ding, ding...

that's what i heard this weekend. i live120 minutes away (give or take) from wendover, nevada. if you don't know what's the big deal about wendover, it's the poor man's version of vegas. it's a utahan's quick drive to casinos and gambling. and my boyfriend LOVES to go there. he calls it going to "the city". we decided to go out there this weekend for a quick overnighter. we went with my parents. most people would think of a hundred things they'd rather do than go get their gambling fix on an overnighter with their parents. i'm lucky. i don't mind hanging out with them. so we got up at 830 on a saturday morning (when i usually sleep in until 11!) to go out to wendover. it was great.

we got there about 11am and of course check in isn't until about 3pm. so we stopped at the cheesiest, most divey casino in wendover (the red garter!) because apparently they have really good breakfast that is like $3. we go eat and decide to head to the more classy, although not high class by any means, hotel/casino we are staying at. on the way out the door, kerry decides to drop a couple of dollars in the megabucks dollar slot. wouldn't you know, he who never plays slots, gets a $240 jackpot. what a lucky duck. of course we were all kind of playing scattered about and while he was winning his jackpot, my cute mom was winning one of her own. she scored $130 on a quarter slot. i dropped the usual $20 in about 10 minutes and had nothing to show for it.

we made our way to the nugget and played a little more here and there. by the time we checked in, went our seperate ways--me to the slots, my parents to the blackjack tables and kerry to the poker room-and met up for dinner later, i had lost about $60. all i had to spend was $100, so i knew my night was going to be an early one and i could get my book started...eclipse-the third in that vampire series that is all the rage. well anyway, after dinner, kerry headed back to the poker room and i went to play blackjack with my parents. i didn't even do too bad, considering. i played off of $20 for about an hour and a half. it was fun. but i was out of money, so i headed up to the room with my mom. she went to her room to make some cards and i stayed to keep her company while watching the red sox sweep another game from under the rockies. GO SOX!!

anyway, the game ended, kerry got beat out his tournament on the last hand (which, incidentally, he folded an ace/six then was horrified as he watched the flop show an ace and two sixes) and came up to the room. we were tired so we headed to our room to go to bed. but it was only 1130pm and we were in wendover, for pete's sake, so we headed back down to do some more gambling. i had $20 left to play, so we found a few slot machines and played for a minute. the next thing i know i had hit a $300 jackpot on the quarter machine!! woo hoo!!! 3 out of 4 of us had hit a pretty decent score!! i figured i shouldn't press it and we headed back to bed after playing another 20 minutes or so.

this afternoon right as we were about to head home, my dad decides to drop his last 2 bucks in a slot. wouldn't you know it, he hit a $200 pot!! unbelievable!! usually when i go out to wendover, i come home about $200 in the hole. but this time, all of us heard the lovely sounds of the ding, ding, ding of the slots!!

we'll be going back in a few months. i think my parents are good luck!

a blast from the past...

renu over at the shack posted a link to this blog post today. if you were a child or teen or simply alive during the 70's, please go visit this. it takes you down memory lane via the jc penny catalog. i warn you that you should not have to use the bathroom or drink anything while reading it or you will pee your pants or have coke/coffee spray out your nose.

no go look...

Strap in, shut up and hold on. We're going back.

that guy is hilarious.

a nice award...

one of my shack friends, heather, has nominated me for the "you make me smile" award. how nice is she? i feel so honored!! it is so cool. thanks, heather. go visit her blog. she has some really neat stuff over there.

there are so many blogs i read that it is difficult to single out one or two that make me smile. so if you read my blog, consider yourself nominated. because if you are taking a moment out of your busy day to see what i may be posting about at the moment, then that makes me smile!!

xoxo

lost...

i've lost my muse...so therefore you get more cartoons.

more great pumpkin...

today's funny...

winner...

well you are all winners in my book, but the real winner of saturday night shuggy snacks is....


cathy!!


please email me your address and post a comment here.

everyone else, go watch "it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown" next tuesday, october 30!!!

goodbye, little one...

today is a very sad day as one of my little friends has passed away. i wish his family comfort and peace at this difficult time.

saturday night shuggy snacks {10-20}

ok friends and neighbors (or bloggers, rather)...it's time again for saturday night shuggy snacks. for those of you new to this section of my blog, i do ask a little bit of movie trivia (or some movie type question) and pick a random winner from all those that comment. the prize is some stamp/craft related prize. this week will be a couple of studio g clear stamp sets. so put on your thinking caps....everyone can play along with this one!!! even those of you that don't have a blog...just read the fine print below to enter.


this weeks question:

what is your favorite halloween themed movie or tv show?



mine is a toss up between "it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown" and "nightmare before christmas" LOVE them both!!!

here is the fine print: please post a comment with your entry and include an email (or email me your email) link or link to your website where i can email you if you are the winner. if you don't leave a way to contact you, your entry will be tossed. i will pick a winner from the comments on sunday, oct 21, around 9pm mst.

think pink part 2...

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

busy week...

sorry this week been a little lite on the postings. i worked an extra shift and ended up working 4 days in a row (which nearly killed me!) so i haven't done much besides go to work, come home, and sleep. no crafting what-so-ever. work has been so busy with such sick patients (i know, it's an icu, aren't they all sick?), and it's very hard on the mental status! especially when things happen and you don't know what to say or do to help comfort patient's and their families. i wonder if that ever gets any easier.

anyway, tonight i'm going to help my mom with a card party, so i'll have new cards to post after that. it should be a fun time. we are also doing another party with different cards on saturday. so more then, too. and i'll need to get a circle journal done between now and then, so hopefully there will be lots of crafty posts within the next few days.

one another circle journal note, i received my bella circle journal back. how fun to see all the different entries and what everyone created!! i'll see if i can get some of it scanned and posted.

as always, thanks for visiting!!!

xoxo

jack and co...

guess what it's time for????

a little humor...

i got this off of lesa's blog, who was sent it from pam!!! (round and round and round it goes!!)

"Some days you're the dog and some days you're the hydrant!" -- Unknown

something fun to try...

so the next time you are bored, (who has time right???) anyway, the next time you have a few minutes to kill, try this fun game. pick a blog, any blog. then visit all the blog links that the person's blog you are visiting lists. for instance, on my sidebar, i list {blogs to peruse}. of course, it would take you days to visit all of those...ok, not days...i do it almost every day.

so pick a random blog from my links, then follow that person's blog links. it's interesting to see where you visit. you will get so many cool new blogs to keep up on!!!

oops...

i completely forgot about saturday night shuggy snacks!!! so tune in next week and i'll make it an extra good one!!!

a little christmas decor...

so as you've read before, i'm in a holiday circle journal swap with some friends from over at the shack. well, the themes are getting hard to figure out what to do for a layout!! this is for sherri's journal. she wanted to know what our favorite christmas ornament is. so here is my version. i'm trying to find a picture of the tree when it was all decorated, but i don't remember if i ever took one!!!

stamps used : maryse carrier-tree with star, star; green grass stamps-the red tree on the background, that you can't see well; memory box-christmas tree scene.

edit: don't you hate it when you make a typo and don't find it until your project is complete?? argh!!! how to fix it...