Turnips and Carrots: Everyday

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Recovering

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of our trip to share with you yet. I took disposable cameras since I didn't want to take the chance of something happening to my cameras during our excursions. I haven't even dropped the disposables off to be developed. I have been sick. Sick, sick, sick from the freezing water that I was repeatedly drenched in during our rafting trip. Aside from the cold water, it was a blast! Oh, and I've been so sore from our dune buggy misadventure. Talk about a rough ride. I had such a great time on my big 4-0 birthday trip. It was so nice to just get away with Mike and enjoy each other without any distractions or the daily stressors. Bowchickabowbow.

Ok, pictures and trip highlights to follow.

Another Post That I Am Stumped For a Title

Bags, dark circles and blemishes be gone! Ok, they aren't really gone. It just looks that way with Stila's Perfecting Concealer. A little dab will do you. This stuff is so good. I feel like it is my duty to share when I find a fabulous product. I really like the Major Lash Mascara, too. Good stuff!

Lauren and I were browsing through the shops at the Town Square the other day and one of the shops sells the Waxing Poetic charms. I couldn't resist. I really did try. Really. When you have an 8 year old whispering in your ear that the little charms are so pretty and you should get a couple, what could I do? I didn't want to disappoint her. And they are so pretty. I had to special order the "C" Square Initial Charm. For the time being, I am wearing my lonely little "L" Round Initial Charm. Don't you think these are a perfect Mother's Day gift?

Guess what I am going to be doing on Friday. You'll never guess in 100 million years. This. I have no idea what to wear. Do I pack a wet suit? My Universal Studios rain coat poncho thingie? No clue. Someone help me.

Big Bite

My fabulous LSS has the new Big Bite Crop-A-Dile II in stock. Of course, I had to grab one. I am so excited about this product. I use my Crop-A-Dile ALL the time.

I came across this HSN video that explains all the features of the Big Bite. Too cool!

I'm off to get to know my Big Bite...

When It Rains, It Pours

It has been a freaking monsoon over here. The last few months have been a major challenge. I don't like being a downer, so I'm not going to get into all my personal crap. However, I am happy to report that I can see some sunshine peeking out of the clouds.

Wishing I Was...

here.

I've got way too many things going on. Finished a couple of the Winter Bella projects - still need to take photos and post. In the middle of 2 other Winter Bella projects, an altered project, a mini album and just started one of these. I don't know why I can't manage to finish a project before starting a new one. Seriously, I will finish the Bella projects and the altered box before touching anything else. Pinky swear.

Dropped by Recollections just to check what kind of stuff they had left. Only 9 more days until they close for good. I picked up quite a bit of Adirondack Color Washes, Paint Dabbers and Dimensional Pearls. CHEAP. CHEAP. CHEAP.

Someone told me about a new scrapbook store that opened recently not too far from where I live. Lauren and I went to check it out on Monday. They had some good stuff! That is where I bought the ATC Revolving Holder. I also bought some Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint. That stuff is magical. I've been having a lot of fun with it!

Such a shame about He@th Ledger.

Hoping you all are having a great week and keeping warm.

When It Takes More Than A Couple Of Minutes To Come Up With A Title, Its Time To GIVE UP

I'm off to a terrible start on my New Year's Resolutions. I don't even know why I bother. One of my resolutions, which is a rollover from 2007, was to blog more consistently. Not happening, is it? I really intend to blog a few times a week, then something pops up. Before I know it, days and days have passed by.

Last week was super busy and super duper stressful. We had our CPA in the office doing our yearly audit that is required by FHA. So stressful. Even though everything is ok, you can't help but freak out because WHAT IF!? All is good and we don't have to go through that again until next year. Whew.

The House Project

I haven't mentioned that Mike and one of his friends started a custom home building company late last summer. His friend R, use to build higher end homes with his brother. The homes are beautiful. Anyways, after many revisions of the architectural plans, things are starting to really get going on the first house. Plumbing and foundation is complete. Framing starts next week. The best part and what I am really looking forward to - besides when the house sells - is choosing all the flooring, balusters, cast stone fireplace, cabinet designs, fixtures, tile, paint colors, faux finishes - all the fabulous stuff. OMG, I am going to have so much fun! Got the dormer and spires picked out. When things really start coming together, I will definitely post pictures. I am so excited about this!

Winter Bella

Did any of the few people who read my blog sign up for Winter Bella? So much fun. Your missing out. New projects are posted Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the entire month of January. I have 3 of the projects completed. I actually finished a 4th. Hate it though. Even when I was working on it, I kept telling myself to STOP. It looks like crap and I seriously mean that. The paint color I chose is brown. Poo poo brown. I'll be reworking that project.

But here are the projects that I have finished. Love the Bingo Card Collage. The fabulous part of that is I didn't have to order the Bingo card. I just printed a cute, colorful Bingo card from one of my digital scrapbooking kits on cardstock. I am using a ton of my scraps for these projects. The Nature's Message Jar was quick and fun. I guess not so quick. I did have to run to the pet store for bird seed. This is my favorite project so far. It's just not something that I would ever come up with myself. So many great ideas and tips! The Cupcake piece still needs a little something. I'm just not sure what...yet.

Etsy

Months ago I checked out what the Etsy hoopla was all about. I guess whatever I looked just wasn't all that and I had no interest in going back. Then I came across a link to a Valentines Banner kit sold on Etsy. I've been hooked since. I fine tuned my searches and there is some great stuff. I haven't bought any of the wonderful pieces created by people. But I have bought quite a bit of ephemera and supplies. It is starting to get a little dangerous. Not as dangerous as my sprees at Recollections mind you, but it could easily go that way. Speaking of Recollections, I had my last hoorah there.I got a bunch of stuff. I really didn't need a lot of it. How many trimmers does a person need? But I figured I would never get any of my purchases at such a great, low price. Who can argue with that? It still really chaps my hiney that they are closing.

Yearning for Black Cabinets

Have you seen Amy's amazing kitchen and bathroom redo? Wow! I want! Mike would have a coronary if I even hinted that I want to paint my kitchen cabinets. So I tried to talk my mom into painting her kitchen cabinets. I think it would look so awesome. It was a no go. Drats!

A Big Thank You

Vida, thank you so much for the big box of goodies. It was way too much, but I loved it all. I especially love the frame. Thank you so much for finding that for me! Your package really made my day. By the way, your Christmas cards turned out awesome. Big hugs from me!

Ok, that is it from me. Hope y'all had a fabulous weekend!

A New Year & A Day Late

Goodbye 2007. I didn't like you very much.

I'm hoping that 2008 is going to be a much better year.

I'm off to a good start on my New Year Resolutions. Yeah, I know. It is only the 2nd. I'm resolving to go through every single item that we own and purge. This includes everything in the garage, attic and our storage unit. Yesterday I cleaned out the storage closet under the stairs that was packed full of stuff. Oh and all the resolutions that I made in 2007 and didn't keep, I'm adding to this year.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2008!

Ho Hum Ho Hum...

I'm not getting any Christmas shopping done. Mike has an appointment with a client this morning. I'm hoping that he will be able to sneak out of the office early this afternoon.

Good Stuff

I do most of my projects sitting on the floor which tends to become uncomfortable after awhile. So I've had my eye out for some sort of work table to put in my craft room. One that is tall enough that I could work comfortably standing up. I considered this project table. It would match my desks. But it would take up too much space and I don't have that much room to spare. Its been hard to find something that would work well for me.

A couple of weekends ago, Lauren and I went to Downtown McKinney Square for a girls day of shopping and lunch. The Square is filled with so many great shops. The 2nd shop we went into I spotted this table. I fell in love with it and thought it would work perfectly in my craft room. I talked myself out of buying it that day.

I didn't talk myself out of buying some other stuff though. I found this fabulous burlap pillow at The French Mix. They have so many wonderful things. I could go crazy in there. I've been in the mood to redecorate my house for awhile. We've been in this house almost 6 years. Six years of the same look gets a little dull. I mentioned to Mike that I want to change some stuff, that I want to completely redo my decor. I got the look. You know the look that says Woman, you are sooo crazy. I'm going to work on him.

Lauren started to get bored looking at all the pretties in the different shops. Which I understand. I remember mother dragging me to place that I had had zero interest in. Until I grew up. Thank goodness that we came across some Webkinz. Bribery. It really works.

I was so excited when I came across the very popular and so hard to find Believe sign by Wendy Addison. I snapped that baby up so fast, held it close to my chest and kept looking over my shoulder. I just knew one of those crazy shoppers that you see on the news attacking other shoppers and store employees was going to make a move for it. I ran so fast to the cashier and got out of there. I was ready to fight for it if it came down to it. It didn't. I will take one of everything, please. Love it all.

So after lunch and checking out the rest of the stores, Lauren and I went home. All I could think about was that table. For days I kept kicking myself for not getting it. I just knew someone else would buy it. Last week I made Mike take me back to the shop. It was still there and we brought it home. It is my Christmas gift and I am so happy with it.

Storing Stamps

I probably spend way too much time organizing my craft supplies. I've been trying to find an effective storage solution to organize all of my acrylic stamps. They have been stored in my 3 Drawer Organizer Cubes. Which is a pain because you have to dig through them all to find what stamps you want to use.
I found this - too bulky. I knew I wanted to use binders but was unsure on how to store the stamps inside the binder. I found these but was worried that the plastic zippers would eventually break. I found some 3 ringed plastic binder envelopes at that have a velro closure at Target. They work really well and I can access my stamps so easy now, which means that I will use them more. Here are some other ideas.

Ok, that's about it from me today. I'm going to go work on some digital scrap pages.

Home Again

Lauren stayed home from school again today. She was still running a fever this afternoon. About an hour or so she said she was starting to feel a little better. Hopefully she will continue to get well. It is so hard when your babies are so sick and there really isn't much that you can do to make them feel better. Also hoping that I don't get any worse.

I spent a good while doing some online shopping. None of it Christmas gifts. Just some new Photoshop actions and a bunch of digital scrapbooking stuff. I also watched some tv with Lauren and almost ate an entire bag of Hot Fries. Pretty exciting, huh?

I told Michael that if Lauren was still home tomorrow - since we haven't made the 24 hour fever free rule, she'll be home - that he would have to stay home with her for a few hours. I have so much that I have got to get done. I'm not dealing with the last minute weekend crowd. That would put me in a bitchy mood. And he don't want none of that.