Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Tomorrow is my FRIDAY :)

LOL -- it really is :) I've been busy busy busy this week. But it's been a great week anyway. "End of the Month" (aka EOM) is always so busy. But, it's not a busy as "End of the Quarter" (aka EOQ) or even 10% as busy as "End of the Year" (aka EOY) LOL.

I can't wait for this weekend... actually Saturday to be more precise. I'm heading over to Pensacola for the day. I've started on some "pre-planned" pages. Well, to be truthful, the first page I "planned" I almost finished LOL I know... crazy. But I got inspired and then I got in the mood to scrap because I had these great ideas. It was really hard to STOP and not finish that page!!!! But I know for sure I'll get one page completed on Saturday. That's only because I have to put some adhesive on a couple of things and stick them to the page. Well, I do have the title to cut out. But, I'm thinking of "blinging" it up some. I just have to figure out exactly what I want to do to it. But I can't wait to post the layout. It will be the title page for my cruise album. So, it has to be perfect :)

I'm going to finish planning the second and third pages tonight before I turn in (don't have alot of time because it will be "late" before I know it!!!). I also have three 3 paper mache big round boxes (actually they are round shaped) that I want to alter and use as Big 3 ticket boxes for GCS. I need to pick out some paper and embellishments for these. I think that they will be be so neat altered! Maybe I'll come up with something really nice for them. I'm thinking of using some really big chipboard numbers 1, 2, 3 for each one.

And something VERY important! There is a Design Team search/contest going on at The Paper Place Scrapbooking Community for the Month of February! I just can't wait to see the layouts that are turned in! The first one is due February 5 (next Monday). The challenge is "Design" -- it's for each person to do a layout that showcases what they consider their individual sense of style. So this first week could prove to be very exciting.

Did you know that today is Jan/31 -- and, do you know what that means? It means that in 14 days (just 2 very quick/short weeks!!!) it will be February 14 which is VALENTINE'S DAY. Every year DH takes me out to eat somewhere very nice. This year I want to do something for him. Got any ideas? LOL Last year I did "get" him -- I did a twist and sent him flowers :) He was actually very surprised and impressed! They were so pretty too. They were rubrim lillies -- beautiful huge white lillies with a deep maroon throat that migrates to a pretty pink halfway up each petal. They are my favorite -- white for peace but with a splash of "girlie" colors :) But this year, I need to "out do" myself... I need a better idea that will surprise him even more. Something unique. I guess it's time to google an answer, eh?

Time for me to get busy so I get can to sleep at a decent hour tonight -- yeah, right! Not!! Oh well, I can always try.

A very special prayer going up tonight for a dear friend...

Have a great night :)

Monday, January 29, 2007

Monday....Monday..... (yet again!)

Back at work this morning. But that's not a bad thing :) I actually love the beginning of new weeks.... so many things to do and plan for. I make a list in my planner every Monday morning -- I try to list everything I can think of that I need to do during the week including appointments, bills that need to be paid, phone calls that need to be made.... My family jokes all the time about my "lists".

Yesterday I organized scrapbook supplies (why am I always doing this??). I also looked thru all my pics that needed to be scrapped and found the PERFECT ones to start working on this coming Saturday at the Duchess crop. It's the pics I took of our cruise! I have so much stuff too -- memorabilia. Things like the invoice I printed out online when I booked the cruise, a deck by deck layout of the ship, those Carnival cards that you have to have with you all the time (especially if you get off the ship in port and then have to get back on the ship LOL). Anyway, I printed lots of pictures (not all of them though) on Sunday and it really brought back some great memories! I loved the cruise we went on. The length of time was perfect -- just 4 days and 3 nights. I couldn't stand to be away and out of touch with the kids longer than that. But I'll get started on those pages this weekend and I can't wait!

Something else I did on Sunday -- I re-checked what I had backed up file wise from my computer. I have to do this every once in a while because I think I would die if I lost my files and pictures! So, I burned backup CD's of all my digital photos (first things first!). Then I did a backup to Xdrive.com where I have 50 GIGS of space. It takes a little while to go thru all the folders I have on my computer and decide what needs to be backed up. So that took a pretty good bit of my time yesterday. But, this morning I'm feeling really good about it.

I wanted to working on a couple of altered items yesterday, but I ran out of time.... I love altering stuff! So they are just sitting there on my crop table behind my desk staring me down. I'll get to them soon though.

Time to get back to work -- breaktime is over with :) Have a great day and a wonderful week!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Beautiful Sunday Morning :)

And it's cold outside!! It's going to be even colder tomorrow morning.... I have some vegetable plants that I will have to cover up this afternoon. I have lettuce, broccoli, radish, onions, chives, beets.... all those "spring" kind of plants that grow really well down here in the south during our "winter". There's a couple of nights that they have to be covered up, but, for the most part, these types of vegetables are great to grow this time of the year.

Today I'm going to work on a couple of altered items that I'm just dieing to get my hands on :) Also, I will be getting prepared and pre-planned for a crop I'm attending in Pensacola next Saturday with the Duchesses. This will be my first "Duchess" crop to attend and I'm very excited. They are such a FUN group! Guess it's time to get me a purple shirt, a purple boa and a tiara :)

I'm really looking forward to February because I get to crop almost every weekend! The first weekend is the Duchess crop, the 2nd weekend we're hoping to set up SPPS crop, the 3rd weekend is a weekend with my "peeps" (a word used by 12 year old girls to describe "friends") in Orange Beach (6 or 7 girls in a condo on the BEACH)!!! and the next weekend will be the 1st GCS event for 2007 in Orange Beach. But that's 4 weekends in a row scrapping -- how did I pull that off with DH???? Easy, I "encouraged" him to hunt all he wanted in January -- like every weekend! And, this weekend (actually right now) he's been up in a tree in Evergreen AL because it's the last weekend of deer hunting season. Ya know, scrapping is the best hobby, much better than hunting. Here's my comparison of scrapping to hunting:

1. Hunting -- you have to be super quiet so the deer will not hear you. Scrapping -- you can talk, chat, laugh and have lots of "non-quiet" fun.
2. Hunting -- you go and sit all by yourself in the woods usually in a tree stand. Scrapping -- you get to sit with all your scrapping buddies and you're never alone in a room of scrappers :)
3. Hunting -- you have to spend lots of money on all types of special "hunting" clothes, gloves, boots, etc. Scrapping -- jeans and a t-shirt is just fine and sometimes, you can crop in your PJ's!
4. Hunting -- You have to sit in the woods (usually in a tree stand or a shooting house) and freeze your butt off in the dead of winter. Scrapping -- you get to enjoy your hobby inside where it's nice and warm.
5. Hunting -- You have to work in the "patches" during the heat of the summer -- that means clearing off plots to plant peas and other plants for the deer to eat so that they will grow big "racks". Scrapping -- you get to enjoy your hobby inside where it's nice and cool :)
6. Hunting -- A hunter purchases big guns and bow and arrows that are quite dangerous. Scrapping -- the most dangerous tool we use is a hammer or a pair of scissors.
7. Hunting -- If a hunter finds "big tracks" or "signs" (don't ask LOL) or "nice scrapes" they keep this all to themselves and never share this information with their hunting buddies. Scrappers -- if we find a bargain somewhere, we're on the phone in 5 minutes (or posting on the message board as soon as we get home). Also a scrapper will even share her sources with her friends for those hard to find items (such as "just released" at CHA products)
8. And last but not least.... Hunting -- the final outcome is a deer steak or "back strap" that can be enjoyed (usually only by the hunter and not his family because they don't eat deer meat UG!!!) and a deer head on the wall with eyes that are always looking at you FIFI. Scrapping -- everybody loves scrapbooks -- the kids, the hubby, and even the visiting relatives. And the final outcome of scrapbooking is a nice album FULL OF MEMORIES on the coffee table that everyone loves to take a few minutes and look at. And the scrapbook will be cherished by future generations maybe even a hundred years from now while that deer head ends up hanging in somebody's shed LOL

On the enabler alerts -- HL has 12x12 PP 5/$1 this week :) Time to go and stock up on MME Bohemian LOL Also, this week the lamps are 50% off again, so we'll be going back on Monday to get that lamp that Kristen saw on Saturday. It will go very well in her bedroom.

Time to get busy -- it's almost 10 AM!!!! Have a great day :)

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Sorry for not posting ....

But, I've been busy! Doing a little scrapping (yeah!!!!) and some working too.

First of all -- scrapping! I got to scrap this past weekend. I had an excellent time with all my friends (15 or 16 of them) on Friday night and all day Saturday. It was so nice to be able to get together with them again and spend time with them. Plus, I actually accomplished something -- 4 layouts! Oh, I also spent several hours on Friday night getting organized -- so that was really nice :)



Basic Grey -- FRUITCAKE -- ah, it's the best!!! And some of my BEST friends gave me a whole pack of it this past weekend. That was the nicest gift!! I can see me hoarding this stuff (like the Lollipop Shop line) I had not gotten to see all of the individual papers in this line until I received my gift this past weekend. I had only seen it online. And oh man! It is so much prettier in person! Thanks again to my friends -- ya'll are awesome :)

I scanned my layouts that I worked on this past weekend, and they are posted at The Paper Place Scrapbooking Community's "Gallery". I am going to try to learn how to incorporate them here on my blog too.

GCS Orange Beach is SOLD OUT for the February event!! So I've been busy working on registrations, seating, hotel rooms, schedules, etc, etc OH and PRIZES too! Secret Pal signups are open (will be closing FEB/05) and I can't wait to see who Roni, Mom Cat & Kyle assign for my secret pal. I love doing SP -- I think it's the sneaking around and trying to leave gifts without your SP seeing you or finding out who you are that is so much fun LOL

Hope you have a great week :)

Monday, January 8, 2007

Good Monday Morning :)

It's 6:20 AM. I have 10 good minutes to blog before I run to the shower so I can get out of here on time this morning :)

I had a really good weekend :) Friday night I actually kinda did get some scrapping done LOL I altered a Russell Stover Christmas candy box. I turned it into a "Birthday" box :) It is very cute and I had alot of fun working on it. I will get a pic of it posted soon. I would rather altered stuff it seems that scrap sometimes LOL

On Saturday night, me and the kids drove over to the casino in Bay St. Louis, MS. I had a coupon for a free night and a free buffet. The hotel is beautiful -- they've really sunk alot of money into it after Katrina. The room was amazing! My reservation was for a double which contained 2 queen beds. When we got there, there were no rooms -- so, they upgraded me to a junior suite :) The kids loved this! We ate at the buffet (not quite as good as it was before, but still good). Then we all went to the room and crashed and watched TV. I got up at 5 AM and went to the casino (everyone else just about was gone) and played my $10 freebie money which didn't take long to run out. But I got free coffee while I was playing so that was good. After the $10 ran out on the 25 cent machines, then I played forever and ever on a penny machine (on my money LOL). I was on a machine that kept hitting (for a change) -- of course it was a penny machine -- why couldn't it have been a dollar machine? Well, that's an easy answer, it's because I'm cheap and hate to put my money in a machine and lose it LOL!! So I'd never play dollars. But, I couldn't stay very long because DS had to go to work at 11 AM and we had to leave at 8 AM to drive home. I didn't "win" anything, but the casino knows I was there so maybe they will continue to send those coupons for free hotel nights!!!

We drove home early yesterday morning and got DS home in time to get a shower and get ready for work. Then DD and I went to Wally World to get an oil change (over due for that!) and pick up a couple of things. Then it was home to put up groceries and pick up a little bit. Later, I turned on the GCS Orange Beach FEB/2007 registration so everyone could sign up. But, only after I checked my email and found that they tried to automatically bill me for hosting on my credit card and it didn't go thru!!! My credit card expiration date had passed back in December, so my January hosting was declined LOL So I had to go in really quick and update my cc info first, then go in and turn on the registration. Whew!!! Anyway, got it all taken care of :)

Well, needless to say my 10 minutes (plus 10 more minutes) are up LOL! Time to get off and get ready for work :( I hope everyone has a great day!!

Good Monday Morning :)

It's 6:20 AM. I have 10 good minutes to blog before I run to the shower so I can get out of here on time this morning :)

I had a really good weekend :) Friday night I actually kinda did get some scrapping done LOL I altered a Russell Stover Christmas candy box. I turned it into a "Birthday" box :) It is very cute and I had alot of fun working on it. I will get a pic of it posted soon. I would rather altered stuff it seems that scrap sometimes LOL

On Saturday night, me and the kids drove over to the casino in Bay St. Louis, MS. I had a coupon for a free night and a free buffet. The hotel is beautiful -- they've really sunk alot of money into it after Katrina. The room was amazing! My reservation was for a double which contained 2 queen beds. When we got there, there were no rooms -- so, they upgraded me to a junior suite :) The kids loved this! We ate at the buffet (not quite as good as it was before, but still good). Then we all went to the room and crashed and watched TV. I got up at 5 AM and went to the casino (everyone else just about was gone) and played my $10 freebie money which didn't take long to run out. But I got free coffee while I was playing so that was good. After the $10 ran out on the 25 cent machines, then I played forever and ever on a penny machine (on my money LOL). I was on a machine that kept hitting (for a change) -- of course it was a penny machine -- why couldn't it have been a dollar machine? Well, that's an easy answer, it's because I'm cheap and hate to put my money in a machine and lose it LOL!! So I'd never play dollars. But, I couldn't stay very long because DS had to go to work at 11 AM and we had to leave at 8 AM to drive home. I didn't "win" anything, but the casino knows I was there so maybe they will continue to send those coupons for free hotel nights!!!

We drove home early yesterday morning and got DS home in time to get a shower and get ready for work. Then DD and I went to Wally World to get an oil change (over due for that!) and pick up a couple of things. Then it was home to put up groceries and pick up a little bit. Later, I turned on the GCS Orange Beach FEB/2007 registration so everyone could sign up. But, only after I checked my email and found that they tried to automatically bill me for hosting on my credit card and it didn't go thru!!! My credit card expiration date had passed back in December, so my January hosting was declined LOL So I had to go in really quick and update my cc info first, then go in and turn on the registration. Whew!!! Anyway, got it all taken care of :)

Well, needless to say my 10 minutes (plus 10 more minutes) are up LOL! Time to get off and get ready for work :( I hope everyone has a great day!!

Friday, January 5, 2007

TGIF :)

I'm so glad today is FRIDAY :) Finally LOL

Well, today I was off from work -- so I stayed home all day and just cleaned house, washed clothes, etc, etc, etc LOL But, now that is done so ... tonight, I ... get ... to ... SCRAP!

That's right :) Me and some friends from The Paper Place Scrapbooking Community (www.paperplacescrapbooking.com) are going to have a "over the net" crop party :) A group of them will be across the bay (for those of you not from Mobile, AL -- that means they will be in Daphne, AL) having a slumber/crop party. So, we're all planning on getting online tonight and chatting online while we crop. I wish that Lynne could pass me one of those CROPTINI'S and later when it starts getting late, I would love to have some of Debbie's BIG GIRL COFFEE :) But, until then, I'll just sit here and crop with a beverage of my own choosing LOL

GCS -- prices for the Orange Beach FEB/2007 event will be posted tomorrow :)

I'll update the blog later (hopefully with some pics of layouts I've completed tonight!!) Have a great Friday night :)

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Busy Day :)

Today I'm updating the GCS website (www.gulfcoastscrappers.com). I'll be opening registration online for our upcoming event to be held in Feb/2007 in Orange Beach AL -- yeah!! The events that we hold in Orange Beach at the Hilton Garden Inn are always the best! I'm hoping to have all the prices calculated and posted on the website today :) Registration will open on Sunday night, January 7. Based on the emails I've received from scrappers ready to sign up, I think the event will be 3/4 booked just on the first day of registration. Like I said, everyone loves this event!

We are definitely booked for New Orleans LA (Kenner LA) for the 2nd weekend of July. This would be July 12 - 15 at the Hilton Airport. Our New Orleans area events are always so much fun!

I'm also working on the website, message boards and forums at The Paper Place Scrapbooking Community today :) (www.paperplacescrapbooking.com) We'll be starting a new Design Team call there very very soon :) The information will be posted on the message board by Holly (DT Leader) as soon as we have all the detailed completed.