saturday night flashback...

so those of you who have read my blog for a while remember saturday night shuggy snacks. i would have a trivia question or something to that effect every saturday night and give a random comment poster a little prize. well, that was fun, but after about 30 or so posts, it got to be a little pricey. so i'm going to change things up a bit. i'm going to know be doing something a little different. i'm going to start doing "saturday night flashback..." it will be something fun from the past (hence the flashback part!). as i would love to give out a prize every week, i simply can't do that. but i'll throw one in every now and then to keep you on your toes!!! so check back this saturday for the premiere of "saturday night flashback..." and i'll take you down memory lane!!!

here's a little teaser...

and the winner...

of the blogaversary prize pack is...

Angie - Happy Blogiversaryday. I always like checking the Shug's musings on
her cute blog. :) Gaerria

yea!!! gaerria, please post here and email me your info!!!

thanks to all of you for your comments and for visiting my blog!! if anything, i hope its a little entertaining!!!

i'm so done...

with this stupid weather and the snow. so as i was driving to work this morning, at 830am, it was sunny with blue skies and a little wind. two hours later, i look out the window and it is a freaking blizzard. i can't even see across the street. the wind is blowing so hard, it's snowing sideways, almost up! it was crazy!! i left work at around 245 and there was about 5-6 inches of snow on my car. holy snow, batman!!!

this is a picture of my porch and front door. i just wanted to show you how crazy windy it was while it was snowing. my porch is somewhat protected from the wind, except today. you should have seen the porch before it was shoveled!! you couldn't even see the stairs because the wind had blown a big old snow drift and covered them!!!

i hate the snow!!!

blogaversary prize...

here is part of the prize for my blogaversary. these cute stamps are from studio g (from michael's) and will be with a little extra surprise! (sorry about the bad scan!)

blogaversary...

now that is the perfect word!!! who thought that up? if you missed the post below, don't forget to read it and comment for your chance at a little prize in celebration of my blogaversary!

happy anniversary/birthday!

happy anniversary/birthday to my blog!! is it an anniversary or birthday? who knows!! whatever the occasion, it was one year ago, that i started this whole blogging business. at first i wasn't so sure about how it would be or what all i would blog about. i knew i had some crafty things i wanted to put on my blog, but it's ended up so much more than a craft blog. it's been very helpful and at times therapeutic to blog about boring everyday things. i want to thank everyone who takes time to read some of the nonsense i write about!! and i appreciate each and every comment that people leave!

so i thought i'd give away a little prize to celebrate my year of blogging. simple leave a comment with any old thing you have to say and i'll draw a random winner. have your comment in by tuesday, january 29 around 8pm. please leave a way to contact you if you are the winner.

and thanks for all the support!!!

EDIT: sorry about the confusion...please comment by tuesday jan 29th!!! see what happens when i try and do stuff at 6am before work!!!

new cj in the house...

can you believe it??? a craft related post? i know, i'm shocked and amazed as well!!! here is my latest circle journal entry. this is for shelley's cj. stamp is from maryse carrier. the rest i did on the computer.

tunes...

i've added a few new songs to the player. grab a cup of joe and take a listen!

shake, shake, shake...

so...i start so many posts that way. it's such a good way to start them! on to my story...last night i was scheduled to work a night shift (7p-7a). so i take my little nap from about 3:30 to 5pm. i get up, take a shower, get my lunch ready and head out the door. i'm driving along out of my neighborhood and head for the freeway. i start on the on ramp to the freeway, like usual, and start picking up speed. i hit about 40 mph and my car starts vibrating. this is weird. i think, ok, maybe i'm in a bad lane. so i move over. not so much a bad lane. the faster i go, the harder my car starts shaking and vibrating. ok, great. maybe i have a flat tire. so i decide to pull off at the next exit and check to see if i have a flat. so i start slowing down on the off ramp and my car stops shimmying. i pull off the side of the road (and i know it's not out of gas...i have plenty!!!) and get out to check my tires. all my tires look fine. i don't see anything wrong that i can figure out would be the problem. so i call kerry and tell him what's going on. he thinks i may go away so i figure it's worth a shot to see if it's still happening. so i get back on the freeway. as soon as i hit about 40 again, it starts doing it's thing. it's vibrating so much, it's making my back hurt. so i pull off the next exit.

by now, it's about 630 and i have to be to work in 30 minutes. there is no way i feel safe driving 30 miles like this and kerry wasn't quite home from work yet. so i call work and talk to the charge nurse and tell her what's going on. it happens to be one of the nurse managers charging (hi laura!) that day, so i tell her my story. i don't know what to do at this point. we discuss having kerry bring me to work, but then how would i get home? no one working that night lives down my way, so i can't bum a ride home from anyone. so i decide i'm going to have to take a late sick call/no show and just not go to work. that's great. it's always great when you call a half hour before your shift starts and tell them you aren't coming. laura assures me that things will be ok, things like this happen occasionally, and to go home and figure out what's wrong with my car. so i head back home. trying to stick to the back roads so i don't have to go over 40mph. only bad thing with that was they were all snow packed!! trade one thing for another, i guess.

so i get home and feel horrible for not going to work. kerry can't figure out what's going on, so i just will have to wait and call the jeep place in the morning to see if they can get me in. so i do. i got up this morning first thing and call them. they tell me if i can bring it in and leave it for a while, they will work it in. so i call my cute mom and arrange to have her come pick me up. then we can hang out together and go visit my brother who had emergency surgery sunday night to take out his appendix (but that's another story!). so i head out to go to the jeep place and hit the back roads again. i start going a little faster and notice my car isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. no shaking, shimmying or vibrating. WHAT??? what is going on? so i decide to be brave and get on the freeway where i can go a little faster. i hit about 80 mph and nothing. just my normal car doing it's normal thing. well this is just bizarre! was i dreaming last night? certainly not...i have the backache to prove it! weird. so i call kerry and tell him that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my car and we decide i should have it looked at anyway. so i take it to the jeep place, where my mom is waiting to pick me up. nice.

i walk in and talk to the guy who does the jeep stuff. i tell him what was going on last night, then tell him how weird it is that it's not doing it today. he just kind of laughed and shook his head. apparently this has been a common complaint the past month. people will have this happen, bring their cars in and all the sudden the cars are fine. luckily for me, it was only a chunk of ice or snow that got stuck somewhere in the tire area and screwed up the balancing. then the ice/snow melts and the problem is gone. well isn't that nice. at least i don't have to worry about something being drastically wrong with my car. so he tells me that usually people bring their cars in to the shop, they sit and the ice melts and then they are fine and that i don't need to worry about anything. hooray!! so i call laura back today and tell her what has happened and she just laughed. she was glad, too, that it wasn't anything serious!!

so i'm going to work an half shift tonight and a shift on friday to make up for not working last night! and luckily, it was the cheapest visit to the jeep dealer ever! plus a bonus that i still got to spend the day with my cute mom!!!

ps jen (hi jen!) asked what kind of car i have. this is what it looks like. it's a 2007 jeep compass.

and apparently more...

argh!!! what is wrong with this picture?? so the pictures in the post below (here) were taken at 1030 this morning. this picture...







was taken at 230 pm this afternoon. i don't like the snow very much anymore!!! where did my blue sky go???

snow storm...

yesterday we had a huge snowstorm. it snowed about a foot at my house. getting to work was a nightmare. my usual 35 minute commute took me an hour and a half! there were over 300 accidents reported yesterday. luckily, i avoided on 5 separate times. i was 40 minutes late for work! i hope i never have to drive in that sort of snow again!!! here are some pictures of my neighborhood. the pictures were taken today, which is an absolutely beautiful clear blue sky day, but cold...12 degrees!!!

why ruin a good thing...

has anyone tried this???


who thought this was a good idea?? it is disgusting!! the chocolate reminds me of tootsie pops, which aren't disgusting, but this soda just isn't good!!! i saw it at the store today and thought i'd try it. i have 11 cans left. anyone want them???

401...

i didn't even realize that it was my blog birthday on january 27!! wow!! that is cause for a celebration. so next sunday, we will have a celebration. come back then and i'll have a little something in store for the year birthday party!!!

on another note...this is post 401. can you believe that?? i never imaging ed that i would ever get to 400 posts!! who knew?? i have you all to thank for that...thanks for visiting my blog and making it worth posting and keeping up!!!!

of course i didn't get any crafting done on tuesday. i pretty much did a whole lot of nothing. i ran a few errands, went to the library and got some new books, caught up on my tv shows (partially...) and started a new book. so today, i'm cleaning my dirty house and then i hope to get some card making done. i have a big list of cards i need to send, so i better get started on them. stay tuned....

what's in your bookshelf...

i don't read enough. and i certainly don't take enough time out to read. so i recently went to the library to get the next season of smallville (which me and kerry are currently hooked on) and i decided to get a few books. so here are the books i checked out and the last book i read. what are you reading and what do you recommend???

i forgot to add these too...

the little orange light...

really means something. who knew? here's the story...

i carpool occasionally with a coworker to work. sunday, both of us worked, so i drove. about half way to work, my gas light came on. no biggie, i know how far i can drive with the little orange light on. i even mentioned to tisha that we'll make it home. she then tells me how the other day she must have been going on fumes because she's sure that she was going to run out of gas but made it to the gas station. so we continue on to work.

after 12 1/2 hours of working we head back to the car and start the drive home. it's a pretty uneventful drive, all the while i'm thinking of the orange light and wondering if i can make it home and back in the morning to meet tisha to drive to work again before i need to get gas. we are about a mile from our exit and driving around the point of the mountain (a geographical landmark here in happy valley) when all the sudden my jeep chugs. i'm wondering what the heck is going on, so i hit the gas pedal and get nothing. i'm in the inside lane, so i manage to pull over to the emergency lane before the jeep completely dies. tisha is laughing. i'm wondering what is going on and i try and start the car. nothing. tisha tells me we have run out of gas. i'm like, no way, i know how far i can go. apparently that little incline up the hill proved me wrong. i have only run out of gas one other time in my life, when i was 16 and our old truck's gas gage didn't work. so i had no idea that the car just shuts off!!!

so this is great. we are a mile (or less!) from our exit, sitting off the side of the freeway at 830pm in the cold!! i call kerry and tell him the happy news. he's thrilled, of course, but tells me he is on his way. he has to stop and fill the gas can (thankfully we have one!!) and will be there in a bit. so me and tisha are having a fabulous time, hanging out on the side of the freeway. it's amazing how much faster cars seem to go at 75 miles an hour when you are stopped!! especially big rigs!! they make your car shake and fill like it's going to tip over!!! we have a lovely discussion about some big white thing that is sitting on top of the barricade on the side of the road. after much debate, tisha jumps out to see if it's attached or something someone left there (i know, who would leave something on top of a barricade sitting on the side of the freeway??). come to find out that it's attached. we can sleep easy now. we also sample a new flavor of stride gum. sweet berry. very good. a bit tart at the beginning, but great flavor. we also have a discussion of where all the highway patrol troopers are at this point in time because there are none driving through this part of the freeway!!!

about 30 minutes later, a car pulls over in front of us. we agree that they must have run out of gas too. poor souls. then the car starts backing up toward us. it is not kerry, so we have no idea who it is. come to find out, it was either an ax murderer or a very nice good samaritan. he goes over to tisha's window and she rolls it down a bit. he tells us that we really aren't supposed to park here. really? we tell him we just wanted to pull over to enjoy the view for a minute. we all chuckle and he asks if we need help with anything. we tell him that help is on the way and should be here any minute. he seems satisfied with our answer and tells us to enjoy the view and heads on his way. how nice that he stopped to see if we needed help.

about 5 minutes later a car pulls up behind us. hooray!! it's kerry, who has come to save the day!! after his look of "how in the hell did you run out of gas?" he politely hands me the gas can while he goes to get a flashlight. i start filling my tank and soon i have enough gas to get us the mile to the gas station. he tells tisha hello, laughs and gets back in his car. i get in and turn the keys on and low and behold, the car starts!! hooray!!! i apologize to tisha over and over and tell her to think of something i can do to make up for stranding her on the side of the freeway for 45 minutes after a long day of work. i don't know what that will be, but i'll sure do it!!!

things i've learned from this little experience are no matter how far you think you can go with your gas light on, you probably can't. so just stop and get some gas!! also, pull over as far as possible in the emergency lane. obviously i did not do this and i'm just glad i didn't get plowed into by a car going 80 mph while trying to fill my gas tank.

wowza...

you make my day...

my wonderful and amzaing friend, lesa, chose me for the 'you make my day' award. little does she know that i think of her almost daily and actually she makes my day every day!!! thanks, lesa!!

so now i choose all of you!! because i simply can't narrow it down to 10 people!!

update: thanks to beth, who also tagged me!!!

ugh...

for those of you who read my blog regularly, you may know that an abscence of posts usually means i've been at work for a few days. i have about an hour or two when i get off work before going to bed and starting over the next day when i work a few days in a row. so i don't have a lot of time to do things. that's the case over the past two days. work has been hard. i don't know why, well i do, but can't really divulge info here, but this past week at work has been especially hard. there has just been a lot of sadness there.

so i'm still here...just working 7 out of 10 days. i'll peek in as often as i can. i plan on crafting on tuesday, since i will need to get away from things, so hopefully i'll have new projects to post.

stick around...i'll be back!!!

who needs a furnace...

i had to work, which means my alarm goes off about 500am the fist time. then I hit snooze until around 530 before i finally drag my tired self out of bed. well here is how yesterday went…

my alarm went off at 5am and i rolled over and saw kerry was not in bed. strange…the next thing i know, he comes in and flips on the light and tells me the furnace went out sometime in the night. i ask him what he’s doing up and he tells me the cold woke him up, which is weird because i live with a bear and he has to have it cool in the room in order to sleep. so i thought how can he be cold? then i remember what he said about the furnace…after all, it is 5am! now, i sleep with a den of covers…i have a sheet, a down comforter and another quilt. so i’m completely warm and cozy. he tells me to come help him fix the furnace (um, isn’t he the man of the house??). so i whip off my covers and am stunned by the cold that hits me!! the thermostat said it was 55 degrees!!! brrr…

so we go down to the basement, which has to be at least 10 degrees colder!! and look at the furnace. the pilot light is out. and we can’t get it to relight. great. by now after playing with it for a while, it’s 530, so i have to head for the shower to get ready for work. hooray!! hot water!!!! i leave kerry in the igloo with a few numbers to call and head to the warmth of my jeep!!

kerry finally gets hold of the furnace guy, after a series of 12 phone calls, and arranges for his dad to come and meet the furnace guy and let him in the house. they get it lit and all is well. or so we thought. kerry got home from work and the house was again freezing…52 degrees! so he goes down and relights the pilot light and the heat starts working. then the pilot light goes out after about 5 minutes. he repeats this process about 10 times before realizing it’s not going to stay lit. great. it’s going to be a fabulous night. i got home about 830p and walk from my toasty jeep into our icebox kitchen. brrr!!! luckily we have a fireplace, but it only radiates heat about 5 feet!!! so we put on a few extra layers and settle in to watch a movie in the cold house.

well of course, kerry had a less that fabulous day at work, and my day was ok, but the rest of the picu was a disaster…so that never leaves you feeling great. well, what more could go wrong today? we went to turn on the xbox 360 to watch a hd movie and we got the “red ring of death” as it’s know in the xbox community. meaning the xbox just died. needless to say, kerry was livid!!! so after an hour on the phone with the xbox people, he has a repair order and a return box is being sent to us. the bad news is it will be at least 4 weeks before we have it back.

so since the day was less than steller, we just decide to head to bed. i throw the electric blanket under the rest of my den of comfort, turn it on high and climb in. in about 10 minutes, i was snug as a bug and off to sleep!!

luckily it won’t be 4 weeks until we have heat back. i just got off the phone with the furnace guy and he thinks he knows exactly what the problem is, so he is sending someone out this afternoon.

hooray!!!

update: the furnace guy came this morning at 1030!! of course, we couldn't reproduce the problem kerry was having last night and the furnace kept going and never turned off. so the guy left and said to call back if it stops again. now it's a balmy 69 degrees in here. it's heaven!!!

christmas card greetings...

i wanted to share with you all the wonderful christmas cards i recieved this year. i had no idea (and i think the mailman didn't either!) how many wonderful cards i recieved!! i kept putting them up on my counter and almost ran out of room!! they were all so wonderful!! it amazes me to see all the talent that there is out there. thanks to all of you that sent me a card!!

duplicate cj entry...

i say duplicate not because i made two of these entries, but because i think it looks very similar to the last one i made. i didn't even realize until i was editing the pictures that i even used the same font!! oh well, at least they are in two different people's cjs!!! i like this one just as much as the last one!! i love the paper and wish i had more!! this is for darlene's 20 questions cj.

what kind of blogger am i....

it's the 5th of january and i haven't posted one new thing!! i do have a few things in the works, however. i have a new circle journal entry to post. and last night i went to a stamp event and made a cute birthday calendar. i have to finish it, then i'll post it.

hope the new year is treating you all well.