Happy Thanksgiving!

The turkey is in the oven roaster, and I'm about to start the potato salad. I should have made the potato salad last night, but I was sooooo tired!

I'm having 8-10 people for dinner, so I need to set a plan and schedule for getting all of the dishes cooked and prepared. I know, I know, I should have done that long ago, but I'm keeping the day casual...I don't want to stress out. I just want to enjoy the day!

Here's my menu:
Turkey
Ham (small, pre-cooked, packaged ham)
Stuffing
Mac and cheese
String beans
Greens*
Corn
Sweet potatoes*
Mashed Potatos (tentative)
Potato Casserole
White and Brown rice
Crescent rolls
Potato salad
Tossed salad
Apple pie*
Sweet potato pie*
Ice Cream (Vanilla, Chocolate Rasberry, and Egg Nog*)

*My sister is bringing the asterisked items.

Happy Feet!

I just saw an adorable movie with my 2 kids and 2 of their friends. I think my husband and I enjoyed it more than they did. The music and 'dancing' were great...had me wanting to dance! Now I'm home checking out the trailers so I can listen to the musinc and see some more dancing!

Two great big thumbs up!

Oh, goodie, goodie!

Today is my son's 6th birthday. (In the words of the illustrious Stacy Julian, "Yippy Skippy!") I was recently blog surfing and came across this post about kiddie goodie bags (what great timing!) Goodie Bag Idea. I thought that this blogger had some good points about sending stuff home that kids might actually use and enjoy, so I borrowed some of her ideas and made my son's goodie bags.

Each bag has a little notebook, decorative pencil, a curly straw, and some stickers. I made a label with each child's name on the computer, and my son decided which classmate would get each bag.



I put a Happy Birthday sticker on Christopher's bag.



He and his 8 yr. old sister helped to stuff the bags. They made sure that the boys didn't get girly stickers or a girly pencil (that was funny to watch!). 25 bags later (plus 2 extra -- just in case), and a tray of 30 cupcakes, my son is a happy camper.



When we walked in with the goodies this morning, the kids Ooohed and Aaahed. I can't wait till Christopher comes home to tell me all about his little classroom birthday celeberation.

Whew!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated this blog! So much has happened...Alexis's 8th birthday (her "best birthday EVER"...a simple brunch at IHOP with one friend who spent the night, immediate family, aunts, grandpa, and a cousin); Halloween (cheerleader and a black Power Ranger were this year's costume hits); Election 2006; being asked to be Co-Commissioner next year for the community chearleading program; work, work, and more work. Whew!

Today, I am grateful for...
The beautiful colors of a Maryland autumn. I am loving the yellow-orange and red leaves on the trees, especially when they line both side of the street as I'm driving along. I love autumn colors. They feed my soul.

Introspection

I recently began reading the blog of a male scrapbooker. I don't know any male scrapbookers, online or IRL, so that alone made me want to stop and read his blog. He posted about two types of scrapbookers, one who scraps for the memories and one who scraps for the memories with the hopes of being published. His post had more to it, but that part struck a chord with me. Here's my response that I posted:

"Well said. I'm the type that wants to capture memories, but I was exposed to SB message boards and idea books when I first started scrapbooking (7 years ago). I feel the pressure to design the perfect, publish-worthy page, but I don't have the technique or skills to create that type of page. The result? I feel paralyzed and get no pages done at all. "

In addition, I have years and years worth of supplies that I've collected and not used. With each new tool, embellishment, kit, etc., I thought "THIS is what I need to start getting my pages done!" But it's not the products. It's the pressure I feel to pick the perfect colors and create the perfect design for every layout.

So, what I'm going to do is this: I'm going to scrapbook 20 layouts in one week. I'm going to do them just for me...I'm not going to post or share them with anyone. But they will be done. That's my personal challenge.

I'm the first "Volunteer of the Month" for this school year!

The PTA named me the volunteer of the month. I helped create the PTA's Yahoo group, and I moderate and maintain it. In addition, I created the PTA's stand-alone website from scratch, and I'm in the process of adding the option to join the PTA and pay for membership online.

I was so surprised and extremely touched when I read the newsletter naming me Volunteer of the Month. I defintely have to scrapbook the write-up about me that appeared in the newsletter! (Sounds like an ideal Book of Me entry!)

Curiously Feel Good Music, and other catch-up stuff

I can't believe it's been a week since I have posted to this blog. I've been very, very busy with work and home life, so I haven't been crafty lately. Although, I have devoured my PBD system, separated and stored the templates, and absorbed as much of the idea book as I could.

This week, my son's wound re-opened after the stitches were removed because a couple of curious kindergarteners poked his wound. Long, frustrating story.

I chaperoned a field trip to the National Zoo this week. Chilly outside but a wonderful trip. I'll post a photo or two soon.

I substituted as the coach for my daughter's community cheerleading squad at Saturday's game. It was a little scary, but the girls did great. Several parents thanked me afterward, so I think I did a pretty OK job.

We bought my son the Curious George DVD a couple of weeks ago. When I ran across this video, I just wanted to post it here. It's kinda 'feel good' music. I can't wait to show it to my son tomorrow. Enjoy!

What a week!

I have so much to blog about. Too much! I'll try to give a brief overview.

Thanks to Katherine Brooks' blog enabling, I purchased the Pages By Design system during a huge Deluxe Designs sale. Since the sale was so big, it took a couple of weeks for the package to arrive. I'm loving looking through everything and can't wait till life slows down enough for me to use it!

My 5 yr. was chasing his sister at their grandma's house. He slid and fell full-force into the corner of a wooden microwave cabinet. We spent Friday night at the ER getting five stitches in the gash on his forehead. Everyone says, "Well, he is a boy!" so I guess I have a lot more accidents, bumps, bruises, and stitches in our future. (No pics 'cuz I was too embarassed to carry my SLR camera to the ER! If I can figure out how to get the pics off my cell phone, I'll be set.)

Today, my husband had to get some electronics, and he surprised me when he came home with an awesome new portable DVD player and a new webcam. I have a portable DVD player that's a few years old, but he said when he saw it, "I knew you had to have it." Is he sweet, or what? I used to teach free online scrapbook/cardmaking classes through a yahoo group, so he got me a new webcam with a stand. I'll have to find a new use for this new webcam since I don't teach anymore!

Here's the DVD player (the pic is from Sony's website):



Here's the webcam (from Logitech's website):



So, hopefully, I'll actually have something crafty to post here soon! Layouts or cards or something! Peace out.

Let me introduce you to my leetle friend...

Me and my friend here are going places. She is the DC14 Animal model Dyson vacuum cleaner. Cyclonic. In a word, she "RAWKS!" It's ridiculous how much dog hair she picked up on the area rug in the family room. Let's not even get started on the hidden treasures in the living room and stairs!

My weekend cold stopped me from doing all the vacuuming that I wanted to (I actually like vacuuming with this thing! And that's saying a lot because I hate house work.), but I hope to get to the upstairs tomorrow. I'm almost afraid to see what's lurking in the carpets up here!

What is THAT?

I imagine that's what my tummy is saying right about now. I had bread for the first time in two weeks. I couldn't wait to bite into it...I've been feeling so deprived! So I gobbled up a piece of Ledo's pizza. It was tasty in my mouth, but moments later, if felt like I had lump of play doh on my stomach.

Ugh. :-P

An amazing, thought-provoking video.

It's an amazing video, not only about children and education, but about diversity and tolerance. And understanding. And not understanding.

Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Click here to see the video. (Click the purple box that says "Animal School".)

Who's caught the creativity bug?

Um, well, can you send it over to me next?

I've been threatening to start posting on this blog for weeks. It's supposed to be my outlet for creativity, positive thinking, an occasional vent session, and whatever else comes to mind. So, I sure hope the creativity starts flowing, 'cause my blog here is lonely! :)

Earlier this week, I was surfing on Ellison's and Sizzix's sites with my sister (each of on our respective computers, talking on the phone with one another). I ran across this image on the Ellison site and fell in love with the daisy die cuts.



I HAD to know what they were and where to get them. Through some help from my SBA friends and even Ellison customer service (and some serious detective work on my own), I found out they are on a Thick Cut Die that works with the Big Shot machine from Ellison. Well, then the stars aligned or something, and I was in big trouble.

• The Big Shot works completely with Sizzix dies. I have a TON of Sizzix dies.


• Joann's was having a huge online sale of the Big Cut and Thin and Thick Cut dies.


• I was probably hormonal and needed a big psychological boost because I was just embarking on a heart-healthy diet that has me giving up carbs for two weeks (I hadn't realized how dependent I have become on sugar!!!)

I decided I had to have the daisy die. I had to have the Big Shot to use the daisy die (plus, what the heck, all my Sizzix dies will work on it, right? Never mind that I haven't used a Sizzix die cut in over a year...) And boy, those Thin Cuts sure are adorable, aren't they?

$200 dollars, a Big Shot machine, a few Thick Cut dies, and a bunch of Thin Cuts later, I started pondering how I'll hide this purchase from my husband. ROFL!

So whoever has the creativity bug, would ya' send it over to me next? I need to do a bunch of creating to prove to my husband that I really need all this stuff (and the tons of stash still sitting in boxes in the garage from last year's move).

Thanks a lot! I'll be looking for that bug!

ScrapbookAddict.com Blog ring

SBA_Blog_Ring

New changes to the Blog Ring (powered by RingSurf)!

In order to surf the SBA blog ring now, you must visit the SBA Blog Ring site, and click on one of the members site's in the ring.

Once you arrive at the member's page, you can use the Ring Surf banner at the top of their page to surf through the ring.

The banner will look like this:


Click here to visit the SBA Blog Ring


To join the Blog Ring, click the "Add your Link Below" button on the SBA Blog Ring site.

_____

This blog ring is for bloggers who are members and who post messages on the message boards at ScrapbookAddict.com. The ring is an easy way to surf from blog to blog amongst fellow SBAers. The requirements are minimal:

1) You must be a registered Addict to join. You must include your SBA Username in the Site Description section of your application in order to be approved.

2) Update your blog regularly.

3) Have fun!

To Join:

Fill out an application: Click here to fill out an application and join the ring. Remember to include your SBA Username!

Before you click "submit" on the application page, RingSurf will provide a copy of the code for your site at the bottom of the application page. Just copy and paste the code for your site onto your blog's homepage (i.e., in the links section or the sidebar).

The code must be added to your website home page in a location that's easy-to-spot. People will use the banner (see image above) to travel through the ring, but they'll use the RingSurf code to access the main SBA Blog Ring site.

Once you've added the code to your blog’s homepage and clicked "submit" on the application page, Please send me a PM at SBA. (Ringsurf hasn't been consistent with sending me notification emails under the new system.)

Thanks, again! And let me know if you have any questions.

Welcome!

I am hoping that I can use this blog as a creative outlet. That's my goal. To enjoy myself while participating in creative activities and making crafty projects for myself and others.

I will share a bit of my life along the way. I will share a bit of myself. I will have fun. First, last, and always, I will find a way to have fun.

Favorite Links

Blogs
SBA Blog Ring
(more coming soon)

Aby Garvey - Creative Organizing
Cathy Zielske - bits & pieces
Donna Downey - simply me
Stacy Julian - Altogether Too Happy

Scrapbooking
Scrapbook Addicts Forum

Ravelry

Visit me on Ravelry:



http://www.ravelry.com/people/WendyInMD