Productive Day!!!

yesterday was an awesome day for me!!! I was able to scrap my heart out!! I completed 13 pages. All of which were challenges for the Weekend Crop we had at Scraphappy. Here are a few of my faves!!! The rest are uploaded at ScrapFreak Come on over and check us out!!!

Whoever said...

Kitties don't like baths??? Apparently mine do... or so I thought, but they jumped out before I could get them through the rinse cycle!!! LOL Gotta love them Twins!!

Quite a Day...

Well well well... for those of you that know me well, you know my biggest "home away from home" for awhile has been on Scraplovers.com. Today that all came crashing to an end. I will no longer associate myself with a place that is so full of itself it does not recognize the truth if it hit them in the face. For weeks now, I have been very unhappy there. Things just weren't "right." I didn't have much of a clue as to what wasn't right, then I decided to test it... I backed off, I stayed away for days on end. Noone mentioned it... noone asked where I had been, noone cared I wasn't doing my job. At the point someone finally asked... I came back around and shot off a PM to Mackey Stanley and Christina the owner. I let them know how unhappy I had been and clued them in on just a few things I could pinpoint... Mackey then responded to me... albeit kindly to me, I did not realize she was just trying to sweet talk me to keep me around... and to sweeten the deal, she included how she REALLY felt about the Design Team on Scraplovers. It was not pretty... but being as naive as I was at the time, I clung to her thoughts and agreed... boy was that a HUGE mistake on my part. Today things came crashing down at Scraplovers when some of the DT announced they were leaving. Me in my "dumbness" thought that they were leaving because they had had their hands smacked... well, I learned a whole new lesson on that score. What shocked me the most was to learn the TRUE character of someone I had befriended and thought of as a close friend. MAckey showed her true colors in bashing the DT members who left, but trying to glorify the ones remaining... little did they know how Mackey TRUELY felt! Once I had seen the true nature of this beast, I quickly began to defend these people who I had wrongly associated with being the problem. I laid all my cards on the table and posted what Mackey had said about them... no I probably shouldn't have aired the dirty laundry like that, but I felt they had a right to know she was lying to their faces. After this happened I was BANNED from Scraplovers... apparently on that site if your views do not mesh with one Mackey Stanley or Christina you are not welcome... others have left because of her. Others will leave because of her. What will Christina be left with? And empty site. Sad too, cause I did ALL my shopping there... so who wants my business now? I refuse to do business with folks who operate the way they have been operating. I will not go into more detail here for the world to see, but if you ask me privately I will tell you.... ALL comments welcome...

No Ghosts or Goblins!

We had a great time this Halloween at the Fall Festival at Church! Lots of games, prizes, fellowship, a pie eating contest, hayrides, and of course the all time favorite... Trunk or Treat. this was the first year I did not hand out candy... just wasn't in the cards for this month, but I don't think anyone missed it! The kids came home with plenty!

After much searching for the right items for Katie's costume... she wanted to be Waldo... she settled on being a Princess when she just couldn't find what she wanted! And a gorgeous princess she was....




Timothy on the other hand decided he was too old to dress up for Halloween, and just wasn't gonna do it... until he changed his mind the day before Halloween!!! But, he decided he wanted to be an old man, so the costume was easy! A trip to the Thrift Store, (and Poppy's closet for suspenders and a cane...) and voila... here's my old man!!!

End of an Era

I did this page last night of Katie's last softball picture. This season she finally made the decision to end her softball career. She's learning she can't do it all, as much as she wants to. Her extra-curricular activities were getting out of hand, so softball was the first thing to go. I'm kinda sad, but then again, not... there will always be something else going on!

Cornbread Chick'n

I did a page tonight I was much anticipating! I LOVE the photos... love the paper I bought specifically for it... the page itself... well, while it isn't a favorite, I still love it! This is Timothy and Jakey rockin'! Jakey siniging Cornbread Chick'n Where it come from.... Cornbread Chick'n.... he is just too adorable!

I don't GET People.....

SO I am gonna just quit trying to understand why certain people do the things they do.... the end!

Pink for October... and forever!

Breast Cancer Awareness and Research is such an important issue. As a woman, with a family history of breast cancer it is even more important. As a nurse caring for people dying from breast cancer it makes it all the more real. I do what I can to support research for the CURE! Go Pink in October to show your support. Research this deadly disease, and take a stand against it! Most of all, don't forget it once November rolls around!

I'm Home!!!

Oh WOW... is all I can say!!! The Cozy Crop was FABULOUS!!! I must say it was the most relaxing and fun weekend I have ever had. The food was awesome, the hosts were attentive, and the other ladies I met there are now new found friends!!! I will definitely be returning as often as I possibly can!!! Here is a photo of all of us!!!

Such a Natural...

Look at her... she looks like she belongs up there singing. (she's the one with the angel over her head) Yet everytime I mention something about her singing solos, she gets mad. Says it is no big deal, and I shouldn't gush over it. I am a Mama... why shouldn't I? This was taken today at church during Homecoming Sunday. I am very proud of her and all her talent!

BIRTHDAY BASH!!!

Come on over to Scraplovers and help us celebrate it's 2nd Birthday with a HUGE crop!!! Lots of fun to be had!!!

Kitty Update!!!

Haven't posted new poictures in awhile, so I thought I would give a Kitty Update!!! Sadly, (for them) the boys had a wee bit of surgery this past Tuesday. They weighed in at:

Garfield 4.85 opounds, and Oliver 5.4 pounds! What a fatty catty... as we call Oliver!!! Here are some photos of the boys after surgery in their drunken state!!!

Garfield trying to just move....


Oliver trying to get on his feet but landing in the food bowl!



And both boys... imediately after coming back in... Garfield, who is on the bottom, is basically still "unconscious." Poor baby!!! Our vet comes to the house, and their surgery was done right in my driveway in the "Vet Mobile." What a convenience, if you have ever tried to take more than one kitty in at a time, you will understand how great this is!

It's Almost Time!!!

Woo hoo!!! In less than a week I will be heading to PA again for a weekend crop with my friends Lisa and Jo!!! I am too utterly excited!!! We will be there from Thursday through Sunday!!! I plan to get LOTS done! Check in later for an update from the crop!!! Here is where we are going: Cozy Crop

Don't Let the Cat out of the Bag!!!

This morning, I am greeted with the boys playing and having a great time with this bag!!!

Here they are with one cat in the bag, one out...


See the paws of the cat in the bag?


He finally got out!

Devastation....

Tonight I received some terribly horrible news. My brother who lives in Tennessee lost everything he owned but the clothes on his back to a fire that devastated not only his apartment but a total of 20 in the complex he notonly lives in but works for. I can't even imagine what he is going through right now. I have been intears pretty much all evening... I know it is just stuff... material things, but still it is sad. Here is a link to the story on his local news station. Click on the video to see my brother... just seeing him actually made me feel better.

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=48005

What's for Dinner?

This little stinker likes to jump in the fridge as soon as you open the door!!! This is my Garfield!



Look at these sweet boys napping!!!

We Met Amelia!

Here are some of my favorite photos I took today at the hospital. The kids are smitten with their new baby sister... I even got a smile out of Timothy for a photo or two!!!

Welcome Baby Amelia!!!

Tonight baby Amelia entered the world weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces!! Katie and Timothy are thrilled to have a new baby sister!!! Here she is....



I will have some more pictures tomorrow after I take them to meet her!!!

Terrible Twos!!!

OK, here's the game... answer the questions below and Tag at least 2 people to do the same!!!

Two Names You Go By:

1. Linda
2. Mom

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now

1. t-shirt
2. Shorts

Two Things You Want in a Relationship:

1. Love
2. trust

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:
1. Scrapbook
2. Chat on internet

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:

1. Lose my poundage
2. Lots of $$$

Two pets (aka children) you had/have:

1. Oliver
2. Garfield (and I have 3 more babies!!!)

Two people who will fill this out first:

1. Mackey
2. Carla (the two ladies I am tagging!!!)

Two things you did last night:

1. School supply shopping
2. Watched Big Brother

Two People that live in your house (home):

1. Katie
2. Timothy

Two people you talked to last:

1. Lisa
2. Michelle

Two things you are doing tomorrow:
1. Scrapbooking!
2. being the taxi-mom

Longest Vehicle Rides

1. Orlando, Florida
2. Allentown, PA

Two Favorite Holidays:

1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas

Two favorite beverages:

1. Diet Dr. Pepper
2. Pinda Coladas

OK, I am Tagging Carla and Mackey from SL.

Play Time!

We have had so much fun playing with Garfield and Oliver! I wanted to share more photos with everyone!!!

Garfield on the left and Oliver on the right!


Play Time! They love their Scratching post!


Sleepy Baby Oliver! This is my favorite picture of the boys!!!

Meet the Twins!!!

Introducing..... Garfield and Oliver! The two newest members of our family! Stay tuned for more photos... as I cannot stop taking pictures of the cute little guys!!!
But for now... here they are!!

Million Dollar Smile....

Well, not quite a million dollars, but thousands of dollars later... many pulled teeth, gum surgery, and 2 years of "hardware" in her mouth, Katie has a perfect smile!!! She was so happy to get her braces off! It was a bittersweet moment however, because she knows that as soon as they come off she has to get wisdom teeth removed (add a few more $$$ to that smile...LOL) Here she is before the braces came off... very excited....




And this is after they came off... as soon as we got in the car! She couldn't stop smiling!

I'm HOME!

OK, so I have been home a few days, but this is the first time I have had to update. Our trip was awesome! We stayed at a decent hotel, the weather was great, and we all had a wonderful time! Best of all was the time we got to spend on July 4th with Lisa and her family. We went over about mid-day and went swimming. After that we went to her mom's house where they had a virtual feast!!! It was great. I felt so comfortable with everyone there like we had been friends for years. The end of the evening was the best. We went down to the beach at Litchfield and watched fireworks. They were all so beautiful, and I was able to get some awesome photos! Check these out:








So, after an awesome trip to the beach, and a few days at my sister's house after that, we are home! It has been a very eventful week... stay tuned to more updates, and you will see a lot of good stuff going on in our lives!!!

Let the Countdown begin!!!

Yep, I'm counting... counting the time till my vacation! Sitting here at work right now, wishing it was over.... only one more working day after today, and I am OUTTA HERE! We are heading to the beach for a few days of R&R. A much anticipated retreat for us! We will be staying at the Springmaid Beach resort and I can't wait!

After leaving the beach, we will be heading to Columbia to visit family! Hope you all have a great week here without me!!!

My dirt Road...

So, we were talking one day on Scraplovers.com about living on a dirt road... don't much remember the entire conversation, but it got me to thinking.. (dangerous...LOL) I live on a dirt road... for now. I love living in my peace and quiet with no traffic... for now. Why the for now? Well, they are building an Elementary school down the end of my dirt road! Keep in mind on this dirt road there are only 6 houses... and that is stretching it a bit since one doesn't even access his home by this said dirt road! Anyway, I am watching the progress and wanted to share the start of it here! This first picture is before... looking at the end of the road! This was taken sometime in March before anything was done except some surveying... Keep in mind at the end of this road is all woods... I didn't get that so well in the shot.



This next photo was taken tonight! There has been A LOT of progress in less than 3 months of working. Actually the clearing started around May 10, so in just over 1 month... this is what I now see looking at the end of the road....



This is only a part of the area they cleared. Picture a school, 2 soccer fields and at least one baseball field in this area...



So, if you are one that lives on a nice quiet, peaceful dirt road, enjoy it! It may one day be taklen away!!

Today's Favorite!

OK, so I think I will start posting my favorite page of the day every day... course that means I have to scrap.. and more than one to pick a fave right? We'll see. Today's favorite is a page about Katie playing softball. I used Carolee's Creations papers and cardstock softball stickers! Never saw this paper till I went to Archivers, and I fell in love! I actually scrapped 4 pages with these patterned papers... well, just using parts of them!!! OK, no more chatter... here it is:

Today...

has not been the best of days for me! Such is life right? Anyway, I did manage 2 pages today!!! Here's my favorite of the day... it is of this bird we named Stupid, cause he came to the garage window and was "attacking" himself... just trying to defend his territory, but still he looked mighty stupid up there. He was around for about 3 weeks before we finally placed a sheet of cardboard over the window so he couldn't see himself anymore!

Productive day!

I actually found my Mo Jo and scrapped today!!! Here are 4 of the 6 pages I did today... all of my boy who thinks I only scrap his sister!!! LOL I hope to keep the momentum up tomorrow!

Thanks to Mackey...

I have been tagged! Well, never been tagged before that I know of, so here goes.... Here's the rules:

I must post the rules, 7 random things about me and then tag others to do the same. Sound fair enough, right? These are the rules…. each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment.

1. Hmm... I am already stuck on Number 1, does that count? No? Well, ok, let's see... I have 4 brothers and 3 sisters, but I am an only child... can you figure that out? LOL

2. I am a Christian. I have just recently (see post below) refound my love of God and doing His work!

3. I will probably never have a new car again... with a child entering college in 3 more years, and then the other right behind her after she finishes, well, I may never have ANYTHING new again! LOL

4. I LOVE cats! I have 3 cats, but would love to have more!!!

5. I am so not a morning person!!! I hate to get out of bed before 9 am, but I do it each and ever day. In the same token, I am such a night person! I love to stay up late!!

6. I lvoe to play online games! Yep, to the point of addiction it seems at times!!! Battle Phlinx on Pogo.com is my favorite right now!!!

7. I often wonder if I will ever find that "special someone" for me again... I have been single for gosh... almost 13 years now, and it just seems that I will be alone forever... me and my kitties I guess!!!

OK, I am tagging: Amanda L, Erin W., Joy, Cindy, Amber, Heather, Jamie

Blessings Come in all Forms...

Yesterday was a day I had planned to have some ME time... to scrap, and to enjoy the company of some scrapping friends. As fate would have it... those plans changed. Or rather, God had something different in mind for me. Over the past several months, I have been so "noncommittal" when it came to church, and doing anything involving the church. Because of some issues there, I wanted to stay as far away as I could. Fortunately things are improving there and the Spirit of God seems to have taken over again. So, there is a point here... yesterday my church had our first BBQ plate sale (chicken and pork). My intentions were to go get some lunch and then drop the kids at home so I could go crop. Well, we got there at 11, and had lunch a bit later. There were people there I hadn't seen in awhile (also those not commiting due to issues...). My quick lunch turned into about 8 hours of service! We stayed and helped all day. It was such a blessing to me to feel the Spirit of the Lord working in all those people there and most especially in me! It was a great feeling that I still carry today... a feeling of wanting to be more active, of wanting to be around everyone, of wanting to serve God. It is a feeling I hope never leaves me again!

ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Everyone watch out! She's on the ROAD! That's right... today, Katie entered the driving portion of her Driver's Ed Class. How exciting for her... and scary for us! LOL She drove in the parking area at school for a bit, then they drove up to the Garner McDonald's and back. (of course after going in for a snack!) So, if you're out there and you see something that looks like this photo.... GET OUT OF THE WAY! And don't say I never warned you!! LOL

I couldn't help it!!!

OK, so I cheated... I couldn't help myself! I had been so good, but I couldn't resist!!! I had an icecream cone from Chick-Fil-A. OK, so while eating it, I thought I was in heaven, but now I am hating I did that! But onward from here.... BTW, today I was down another .5 pound for a total of 6 pounds! I don't anticipate any loss tomorrow... but that's the price I will pay! LOL

My Boy!!!

Wanted to share some photos of my sweet boy. He asked me the other day why I scrap more pages of Katie than I do of him. I told him I would love to do more pages of him, but he doesn't like his picture taken as much as she does! So, tonight I made him pose and we had a photo shoot. Still he didn't smile so much... which is not unusual for him, but that's ok, I LOVE these photos I got! These are my favorite poses. I can't wait to scrap the pages with the first photo shoot he COOPERATED with! LOL

Day 4!

Well, good news.... I am down a total of 5.5 pounds now!! How exciting is that? Today was the hardest day for me... I haven't felt any motivation whatsoever. I have been craving sweets like mad. I have been good and restrained though. I made myself go for a walk and play about 20 minutes of non strenuous tennis with my son this evening. I pray this gets easier as I go along, cause I just don't know how long I can hold out! The scales moving in the right direction is a BIG motivator though!!! So, I will continue on as long as I can!!!

Day 2

Well, today started off on a positive note! I stepped on the scales and was 1.5 pounds less! I think that is great! Kept me all excited to keep the momentum going!
For breakfast I had an omelet with broccoli and garlic, and one piece of turkey sausage. I drank lots and lots of water again today. Lunch was 1/2 can of chicken breast mixed with one hard boiled egg and a couple teaspoons of mayo. and then a big salad. Dinner was a salad, squash and asparagus and a portion of pork BBQ. I can't wait till my snack later of a cup of jello. I am starting to really REALLY crave sweets. This could be my downfall, but I have to remain strong! I am such a sweets eater... hence the reason I am so overweight! I can do this right?

Tomorrow, I go to work... this will be hard, because we always snack around and eat well at work, and I am honestly more hungry there than at home. I have my food all cooked and packed for the 2 days of work though... again, I can do this, RIGHT? I am hoping to reap the rewards of sticking with it by seeing the scale move to a lower and lower number!!! So here is my new Mantra... I CAN do this!!!

Starting New things...

OK so I have been neglectful.... as usual. That is certainly nothing new for me when it comes to this blog thing! LOL BUT>.. I am going to try again. I want to say I have started a new diet today. Yes, a diet.... pure and simple torture. Not a "way of life" but a simple diet that with enough hell, I will hopefully lose some weight and look better! What am I doing? Well, I decided to try thje Kimkins diet as seen in Woman's World Magazine. I am not a big fan of diets at all, but if these people can lose the amount of weight they say they are losing, then I am up to try anything!!! Basically, no carbs. PLain and simple... no carbs. (and really not much of anything else either... but that is ok LOL.) So here's what I had today:

Breakfast: 2 eggs
Lunch: big bowl of lettuce with a few grape tomatoes and that spray dressing
2 slices lean ham
1 oz cheese
Snack: a stalk of celery with 1 Tbsp dip (1 carb)
1 slim jim (1 carb)
Dinner: A big ole grilled chicken breast
cooked squash and onions
salad with lettuce/tomatoes and spritzer dressing
After dinner snack: 1 hard boiled egg
4oz sugar free jello.

Also, I drank about 100 ounces of water today. AND... a biggie for me, I exercised!!! I did the One mile walk on my walk away the pounds video. Plus I made myself stay somewhat active today!

We will see how this thing goes, but my goal is to try to lose 20 pounds before I go on vacation July 2.

So here I start at 250.5 pounds..... Wish me luck!!!