Welcome to

New Release Day at Scrapable

2011-10-10T06:27:00.011-05:00

and "Fall Break" for the students! Yes, the STUDENTS, not the teachers. We will be going in for in-service training. Except that I am going to the doctor first. Why, you ask? Because I think I have spider bites on my arm: two of them. And it is ever so much easier to visit the doctor when I don't have to hire a substitute teacher.

The Mississippi State Fair is in town, and I would have liked to have gone yesterday afternoon, but no one else wanted to, so I didn't. I stayed around the house and did boring stuff like laundry and kitchen-cleaning. Not fun.

This weekend I made this page using Milly Dee's cute new release for today called Hocus Pocus.

The whole kit? Here it is!

I also did this:

with New E Designz latest kit released today! It is called Blooming with Memories and has some beautiful flowers and greenery in it, and a great color palette. See the whole kit here:

And these two cute Halloween pages were done with Scrapable's October collaboration kit called "Spookable."

Here it is, and what a bargain at only $5.00! And actually, with a $10 purchase in the store, you can get it FREE!

Now, besides being the first State Fair weekend, this past weekend also held the regional state band competitions, and the Pearl Invitational Competition, which the Ridgeland High School band won (and not for the first time)!

Here are a few pics:

And my favorite:

Thanks for looking!

First Day of School, 2011-2012

2011-08-09T07:13:00.002-05:00

Yes, it's that time again, and I am ready. Some years I'm ready to go back, and some years I dread it. I am taking this year as a challenge to do the very best I can and to get the very best out of my students! And it is Mary Beth's Senior Year, so there will be lot's going on.

Sunday the Key Club painted signs welcoming everyone back to school . Gotta get off on the right foot, you know? My room is ready, all the papers are laid out neatly on the desk at the front, just ready to be handed out to students. All that is left to do is go dry my hair and brush my teeth and I am out the door!

Praying for a safe and successful school year for the Ridgeland High School Titan family.

Run, Run! as fast as you can!

2011-07-30T11:27:00.007-05:00

You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

Okay, not really. And I have no idea what made me think of that. Sigh.

It was a nice morning for running and Randy and I did the Bruin Burn 5K in Madison, MS. We both had our best times ever, which for Randy is really saying something! For me? Not so much. Still, I ran four minutes faster than that last time, so that was nice. And this time I am not having to soak my ankle in ice water, so that's even better!

We are going to Tay's Bar-B-Que for lunch, and I thought I would update before we go with digital pages. Don't worry, I won't post ALL of my recent pages, just a few.

First, two pages using kits from Scrapable's July Guest Designer, Roseytoes:
The page about digi-scrapping uses a kit called I "Heart" Scrapbooking:

And this one uses a bundle of small monochromatic kits that she calls Life's A Rainbow

This page about Gigi's Cupcakes uses a soon-to-be-released kit called Sweet Tooth by Scrapable's August Guest Designer, Blue Heart Designs. That link probably won't work until August 1.

This page uses a template and a kit from Scrapable. The template is Lacey Bittner's Cute and Quirky Templates and the kit is Paradise Found by Miss Mis Designs. LOVE the colors in this kit.

And this last page is just me playing around with a different style - I guess it is more of the fantasy style. The kit was a freebie at Digital-Crea called A le' n'Vert by Paprika. Oh the French, with all those apostrophe' marks.

Oh, I should mention that the gorgeous yellow gown Sarah is wearing was made by her friend Andres. Yes, he is in design school and he designed and MADE that sucker! It is sooooo pretty!

Okay, one last thing! Check out the SOS! sale at Scrapable - lots of great digi kits for $1.00, including plenty of new stuff! Like this:

and this:

and this:

Time to go eat! See you later!

Summer's End

2011-07-28T09:31:00.008-05:00

Yes, it is just about over. Well, for all intents and purposes it IS over. Summer, that is. And I have loved every minute of being lazy around the house, scrapbooking the day away, having Sarah home from college, playing with the dogs all day, and enjoying Mary Beth's pictures from her many trips.

Oh, and running. Well, it's probably more accurate to call it jogging. Ann would call it "Granny shuffling" if she were being honest with me, but she is kind and calls it running, too. I ran with the Fleet Feet No Boundaries program and then ran in the Watermelon Classic 5K on the 4th of July. It was surprisingly fun, in spite of the pain. And I didn't finish last, thank you very much.

Still haven't had a chance to do the Pub Run, but I WILL!

I have paper-scrapped and participated in fun online crops at Cookin' Up Creations and Scrapbook Heaven. I was the June Design Star at Tallyscrapper. I accepted a position on the exclusive Creative Team for Scrapable.

Mary Beth traveled to Arizona for the International Key Club Convention and then went to France on an educational tour. She took 919 pictures in France! Yes, she did. Love it.

And one more - I LOVE this picture:

Sarah has been home this summer, taking classes at Holmes Community College and wishing she were marching with a drum corps. We made the DCI show in Hattiesburg, MS last night and had a great time, even though it rained during Phantom Regiment's show. And pretty much ONLY their show. Ugh.

Randy has been working hard all summer, and running like a maniac in every event he can find.
He makes me tired!

Time for me to head out to the Kiwanis Charity Golf tournament and drive a beverage cart! Fun Fun!

Scrapable Digital Reveal

2011-01-21T06:49:00.006-06:00

Well, I forgot to put this on the Cookin Up Creations blog, so I will put it here instead. These are the pages I created using the Winter Bliss kit, generously donated to CUC by Scrapable.

The kit is a big one, lots of papers and elements, a variety of styles, and two really nice alphas. Oh, and four GREAT templates! The iPod page and the Magic of Snow page both use two of the templates. And the page about Sarah's 19th birthday dinner uses a sketch by Penny Noel, also on the creative team at Cookin Up Creations. See her blog HERE, as she has some good recipes in addition to cute pages and such!

Oh, and if any of my scrappy friends want to join me, and others, this weekend for a nice sketch crop with great prizes, visit Scrapbook Heaven for their January Sketch Crop (Link to sign-in thread HERE). If you go and play with me, we both get extra chances to win!

One last thing: today I go for a Teacher of the Year interview for a chance to be named Teacher of the Year for my school district. I am already Teacher of the Year at my high school, but my district has three high schools, 5 middle schools, and who knows how many elementary schools! We're kinda big! Anyway, wish me luck. I hate doing stuff like this.

I miss you, Chloe!

2011-01-15T20:35:00.004-06:00

Well, I decided a while back to let the blog go. This fall was extra busy with high school football games and band contests, and then college ball games, too. And, I won't lie, there was a good bit of stress and drama. So the blog was dropped off of the list of things to do, along with all but one Facebook game, and the tanning bed and chiropractor visits were cut way back.

Anyway, tonight I am sitting here and wanting to blog. Why? Because I took my precious white chihuaha, Chloe, to the vet Thursday to be put to sleep.

This is Chloe last Christmas, when she was about 3 months old. This past Thanksgiving she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis and spent 8 days at the veterinary school at Mississippi State University. She was our precious little baby girl and we loved her very much.

Here is a scrapbook page I did about her yesterday:

These are pictures of her in the car on the way to the hospital.

It is just amazing how our pets become family members, isn't it?

Love on your furry babies tonight; then give them a little extra love in honor of Chloe, okay?

Plenty of Sadness to Go Around

2010-08-13T19:47:00.008-05:00

Yes, today there is lots of sadness in my heart. My dear friend Doris lost her battle with cancer Tuesday. It was long, and painful, and heart-wrenching, and I miss her. They will bury her tomorrow without me, because my daughter is moving in to college in the morning.

Yes, my oldest daughter is leaving home tomorrow. She will move into the dorms at Ole Miss. Tomorrow evening I will drive away and leave her. In Oxford. Alone. And my baby girl can't even come help us move, because she has to work.

So, my kids have most certainly grown into young ladies. It won't be long until I will be staring at an empty nest. Wow. Yes, there is plenty to be sad about this evening. And yet there is much to rejoice about: my dear friend is no longer suffering, my wonderful daughter is embarking on a great adventure, and my little girl is taking on more responsibilities as she grows up.

I'm reminding myself to be happy and enjoy life where I can. Tomorrow will be a good day!

I have some projects to share:

First. a digital page about my heart! My heart= my family. Using Fishbowl Designs' new kit called My Love, I made this page, using a picture of my dear hubby and two lovely daughters that was taken this summer. I especially love the Fishin' for Letters alphabet that looks like a bracelet.

Next three digi pages for Cookin' Up Creations' August digital sponsors, Designs by Krista and Bugaboo Stamps.

This first page shows Sarah with two of her sweet high school friends, right before graduation. The "sticker" is part of a cute stamp from Bugaboo called If Friends Were Flowers. I just put a white outline on it to make it look like a stamp.

This page is about my friend Doris, and is made with Krista's kit called Friends. I love the word art. I wish you could see it up close - it looks like stitching. I also used a free template by Amanda Heimann (blog)

This last page shows a beautiful picture that Mary Beth took of a sunset over the Gulf of Mexico...yes she took it after the oil spill. She was in Destin, which, at that time, was still clean and beautiful. And that rolled corner? I did it myself!

I also made a hybrid card using the Bugaboo Stamp and the Friends digi kit:

Can you tell that I layered two of the little girls together? It looks really cute in real life. The inside part finishes the sentiment (if friends were flowers...I'd pick you!).

Hope you enjoyed. Hope you have a good weekend. Heck, I hope I have a good weekend. Wish me luck tomorrow with the move-in.

Rest In Peace, Doris. I love you!

Chipmunk Cheeks and Scrapbook Pages

2010-07-23T08:59:00.010-05:00

Happy Friday! Actually, during my two months off in the summer I can't tell Friday from any other day, but all I have to do is check Facebook or the forums at Cookin' Up Creations and I am reminded that Friday is here. Seems that almost everyone is posting TGIF!

We have a chipmunk in residence at our house! Her name is Mary Beth and she has chipmunk cheeks because she had all her wisdom teeth removed Wednesday. She's the cutest chipmunk ever, and is doing well, if in a lot of pain. There are no pictures, as you can imagine that 16 year old girls do not want their picture made when they are puffed up like a puffer fish.

Sarah has lots going on, including a little wreck yesterday. She was sitting still and was hit from behind, and then THAT person was hit from behind, and then THAT person was hit from behind. Fortunately no serious injuries to either Sarah or her boyfriend or the car. This is good because she goes next week to do band camp for the Southeast Lauderdale high school band. She is creating their guard routines for their half time show this year. She'll be there all week. Then when she gets home she has one week until move-in day in Oxford.

And then you have me, a terrible procrastinator! I have new pages with new product to share and haven't done it yet! Bad, bad!

First of all, Fishbowl Designs has some splatters that are wonderful. They are so versatile and add just the perfect little "filler" behind a picture or cluster.

Watercolored Painted and Spray Painted are available for purchase HERE at Sunshine Studios.

Here are two pages I made using the splatters and Fishbowl's kit Daffodil Dreams. I love this kit, and its colors are basically yellow and blue. They are deeper shades of yellow and blue, though, and easily became more like gold and purple so I could use it for Sarah's Lion's Band pictures.

Here is a picture of just the background, which started as a solid gold textured "paper." I added a yellow water color splatter, and two of the purple spray painted splatters, along with the bead splatter in the kit.

This page uses the kit in its beautiful yellow and blue form, with some of my favorite pictures of a beautiful butterfly on a yellow lantana in my mother-in-law's back yard. See the subtle yellow splatters? I also used a background template from Fishbowl Designs to create the page.

And besides those pages, I "revealed" four pages made with the beautiful kit Clementine by Shabby Princess. She is the digital scrapbooking sponsor for Coo kin' Up Creations for July. My reveal included these pages:

I love these pictures of our beloved lap dogs, Scrappy and Chloe, enjoying a little "lap time" with Randy and Debbie. The alpha included in this kit is yummy, and one of my favorite alphas ever!
My dear friend and neighbor Janet hosted a grad party for Sarah. Check out the little cluster made with a striped ribbon, a button, and a cardboard tag, plus a couple of other cute elements. And the stitching is wonderful in this kit.

Here is a page showing Randy after he ran his first half-marathon a few weeks ago. The BINGO card is a nice versatile element in the kit, and these rich colors make great man-pages, don't they?

And, lastly, here is a page commemorating our 24th wedding anniversary, which we celebrated with a quiet dinner and 24 roses. This page uses the free template from the June challenges at Scrap Orchard, which is unfortunately, not available for download anymore. However, HERE is a link to the July free template, which is also very very nice!

While you are at the Orchard, you might want to check out the Iron Scrapper contest. I haven't really done much with it, but I did make this page for the first challenge:

One of the neat things about it is that there is a $5 kit each time the challenge changes, which I think is every week or every two weeks, and the kit is only available during that time. It gets retired at the end of the challenge. Here is a pic of the kit for Challenge #2:

Cute, huh? Get it HERE if you like it.

Wow, if you made it to the end of all of that you are awesome and especially deserving of a wonderful weekend! Hope you have a good one.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2010-07-03T10:35:00.007-05:00

Actually, lots of news, I guess! I will start with the fact that Mary Beth just got home from a four-day, invitation-only, oboe clinic held at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. She worked with her grandfather, Charlie Wicker, and Dr. Dan Ross of the university. One of the main objects of the clinic was to teach participants the basics of reed-making, very important for double-reed players, and Mary Beth came home with three self-made reeds and a reed-making kit.

Continuing on with news from my children, I am so proud to say that the Mississippi Lion's Club All-State Band has won yet another International Championship at the International Lion's Club Convention in Sydney, Australia! Congratulations, Sarah and everyone else! Check out this video of their AMAZING parade performance that just brings tears to my eyes when I watch it. Turn off my crazy playlist and watch it - you'll love it.

And here is another video from the night of their concert before they left for Australia. I made it with my camera but it's not bad.

And my own little bit of exciting news: I am now a Starfish! Yeah, I made the Creative Team for Fishbowl Designs. See her store at Sunshine Studios and see my first two pages:

This page with my little barefoot beauty (Mary Beth) uses the Eco Earth kit, Fishin' for Dates, and a Fishfood Large Photo Template. The alpha is by Pixiemama and is part of this amazingly huge free kit created by a bunch of digital scrapbook designers as a thank you to all of their Creative Team members. The kit is called You and Me - here's a preview sneak peek:

This page uses Eco Earth, too (I really like the greens and aquas in this kit, they are actually my favorite colors to wear, so.........) The story about this picture is that we were at a Sushi Bar/Asian Buffet restaurant in Laurel, MS eating lunch with Sarah before the Lion's Band concert. At the door was a nice little fishpond with some beautiful fish swimming around. One of them was a HUGE white catfish-looking fellow who really liked the attention. On the way out I thought I might snap a picture of the girls with that fish in the "background" but when I pulled out my camera he swam away to the back of the pond. I guess he was a little camera-shy. As soon as the girls got up he came right on back for more attention. Even fish have personalities!

Next week Mary Beth and I leave for the Key Club International Convention in Memphis, TN. Mary Beth is on the LaMissTenn Key Club District Board and I will be the Kiwanis Host Committee Chairperson. This is the first time I have ever attended this convention, and the first time I have taken any students from the Ridgeland High Key Club. Four kids are going with me and I am pretty excited about it. We will be working hard at convention, since we are the host committee, but it's gonna be great! Plus, I get to dress up like Elvis! Maybe there will be a picture or two to share when we get home.

2010 Mississippi Lions All-State Band

2010-06-25T12:22:00.001-05:00

Hello, world! Much has been going on around here since last I updated this blog.

Mary Beth went to Destin with the West's (thank you, Keith and Margaret), and Sarah headed off to Lion's Band camp.
She almost immediately got some kind of infection, because I dropped her off on Friday and when I went down there Monday she was running fever. They took her to the doctor and she was much better on Thursday, when they had their performance before heading out to Australia.

Here is a video of their parade routine...it is a little long, with three different segments. Turn off my playlist (which is annoying, I know) and watch the video all the way to the end; you won't be sorry!

Digi pages and a Running Picture

2010-06-13T17:49:00.006-05:00

I have been participating (trying hard to keep up) in the Wet-N-Wild daily challenges at Scrap Orchard, and thought I would share some pages here. I will link you up to kits I've used to help you out with your shopping, too!

This one was for a challenge to use the June Mega kit - It's a Journey, and to scrap about the JOURNEY. Not the vacation, the travel! So here are two pictures of Adam singing his little head off, and dancing, too, while we were traveling to Sandestin last summer. Boom Boom Pow was his favorite song, and was guaranteed to stop any whining! I also used a template by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals.

This one was to scrap about a dream vacation, and I used the June Mega kit again.

This page was done for a challenge to scrap some vacation pictures, so I scrapped these pics that Mary Beth took while she was at Disney World during Spring Break. I used a grab bag, but here are links to some of the items that were in that grab bag:
Magical Vacation by Tracey Howard, The Happiest Place and by Wild Dandelion Designs, and the cutest alpha I've ever seen, the Beaded Clip Alpha by Wild Dandelion Designs.

This page was done for the Color Challenge and uses a free kit called Eclat Lumineux that I got at
Digital-Crea. They have some pretty stuff for sure! The little pink label is from the daily download-freebie kit Wet-N-Wild at Scrap Orchard.

There are probably more pages that I will share later on, but family calls and I have to go. Randy and I are going to go drive the half-marathon course he ran yesterday. He is becoming obsessed. Here is a link to a picture of him running. Sorry I can't share the pic....copyright and all that!

Ah, school is OUT for the SUMMER!

2010-06-09T11:16:00.010-05:00

And I have been taking it easy, plus getting back to the chiropractor and gym, and scrapbooking again! Yay!

Before I start in on the scrapbook stuff, let me tell you what my wonderful family has been up to!

Sarah has graduated from high school, with distinction and as a member of the RHS Hall of Fame for 2010. She has made us quite proud, with her qualification as a Mississippi Eminent Scholar, a University of Mississippi Provost Scholar, a Key Club Scholarship recipient, and member of the Mississippi Lion's All-State band. Here are some graduation pictures:

Sarah with Granddad at her Graduation Brunch; with Aunt Mary Ann at graduation, and with Mary Beth....rockin' the zebra prints!

And here is beautiful Mary Beth, 16 and so grown up. She has tried so hard to find a summer job other than babysitting, but the job market for teenagers is not great these days. She has recently started her tenure as Lieutenant Governor on the LaMissTenn Key Club District Board.

She is also a budding photographer who takes some beautiful pictures:

Randy has been flying, flying, and flying. He has made ten jillion trips down to Louisiana, Gulfport, Pensacola, and Destin in the past few weeks. Most of these trips are related to the oil spill in the Gulf. He has also managed to squeeze in two triathlons and a half marathon! The other day we were in Bass Pro and he said he needed a new belt. "A new belt? You have TONS of belts!" "Yeah, but they're too big."

Ah, to have that particular problem. Here is the proud daddy with his girls:

And, like I said, I have been scrappin'! Both digital and paper, of course. And today is my day to reveal pages created with the using the adorable kit "Celebrate" by Designs by Krista.

My first page shows a couple of pictures of Sarah on Class Day.

I used a template on this one, from The Happiest Grab Bag, which contained several kits and templates and alphas and stuff by various designers at Scrap Orchard. The grab bag is no longer available, but the template is made by Tracey Howard and can be found here. The cute alpha is from an older kit that I love, called My Gurlz All That by Royanna Fritschman at Divine Digital. That white frame is from Krista's Bloomin' kit.

Yeah, I actually forgot I had pictures from Mary Beth's trip to Disney that needed scrapping. I think I am going to do them all digitally. I love the little hats in this kit, and knew they would look cute on the girls' heads in this picture.

And this next page is a simple one using an extraction technique to pop Mary Beth out of the frames. The frames are from the June Mega kit at Scrap Orchard, called It's a Journey. I got the idea for putting patterned papers in those stamp frames from a layout at SO by Athena.

My last page showcases some cute pictures of my daughter Mary Beth with our sweet baby Chloe. Chloe hates the camera, so it is hard to get pics of her without distracting her somehow. Smooches from Mary Beth seem to do the trick!

The font is Vaguely Repulsive, downloaded from Kevin and Amanda HERE; and the scalloped background was made using a template from Nee Nee designs, available at Scrap Orchard.

That's it! I hope you like my pages, and that you will follow the links to check out some of Krista's cute and reasonably priced digi kits.

And if you stayed to read that long, long, post, congratulations and thank you!

April Reveal for Cookin' Up Creations

2010-04-24T08:42:00.007-05:00

Here are a few pages using a cute kit by Designs By Krista called "Tweet." Krista has some really really cute kits at really really good prices! She has a bunch of $2 and $1 kits, and her regular/recent kits are only $3!

This one contains pictures from beautiful, historic downtown Natchez, MS. Did you know it was once the richest city in America? Well, it was, in the pre-civil-war days. Its views of the Mississippi River are beautiful, and it has some great old buildings and homes.

This one shows the earthy elements of the kit, and don't you just love the little branch and bird element?!!?

Here is another bright colorful page. Sarah's term as Lt. Governor on the LaMissTenn Key Club District Board just ended with the recent convention. It was hard for her to say goodbye to some of her friends that she made. (The alpha on this page was a freebie by Karen Lewis)

And this last one uses a template by Petit Lips and more pictures from Natchez!

If you are in need of some inspiration or want to check out some challenges, come visit the challenge forum at Cookin Up Creations. We even have a digital challenge forum, too!

Well, we were going to go walk in the March of Dimes' March for Babies this morning, but it got cancelled due to bad weather. Bad weather that hasn't materialized! I guess I will have to go walk inside the gym and will be able to take it easy today. This is good, because I have an allergy/sinus thing going on and don't really feel all that great. Was really looking forward to the walk, though.

Whatever you are doing today, I hope it is blessed. Thanks for sharing a little bit of my boring world with me!

This time of year......

2010-04-11T09:36:00.014-05:00

Happy Spring, everyone! And Happy belated Easter! He is Risen! Praise God!

This year we visited Randy's mom on Easter weekend (well, Sarah didn't...she had to work and had Easter dinner with my mom and dad and aunt). We took Mary Beth's friend Allison with us and took some awesome pictures of them on Saturday (there are awesome pictures of Alli, too, but she is not my child so I will not presume to post her pics on my blog!):

This time of year is so hectic and kinda stressful for me, and this year is certainly no exception!
Spring Break brings that last rush to give and grade nine-weeks' tests, tend to make up work, enter and post grades, and call parents if their kids are not likely to pass. It also brings all kinds of extra work if you teach a class that is tested in the State of Mississippi, which I do. Extra practice tests, item and data analysis, extra prep and tutorial classes, and the stress of the TEST DAY COUNTDOWN!

Add to that all of the work that is involved in taking my club to the Key Club district convention (it is an insane amount of work; I'm not even gonna go into it), induction ceremony, new officer elections and training, work on the scrapbook, and fundraisers. It makes Spring rather unpleasant.

Having said all of that, I MOWED THE FRONT YARD yesterday! Yay! It looks nice. I also raked the old icky pinestraw out of the beds in the front and chopped it up with the mower. I'm caught up on laundry, including washing all the blankets that the dogs used throughout the winter.

Randy helped his mom sell crafts at the Belzoni Crawfish Festival this weekend, and I chaperoned the Jr-Sr Prom last night. Sarah's Senior Prom. Here are a few pics:

I love that laughing picture, don't you?

Somewhere between the last time I updated this blog, and today, my little baby girl turned 16! She had a party with friends on Thursday (they all went to a Japanese restaurant) and then had some more friends over to the house on Friday.

Yes, she loves her new zebra-print dress!

With all of this that has been going on, I have been in a scrappy-slump. Cannot WAIT for summer to get here so I can scrap all these yummy pics I have!

Thanks for sharing this teeny tiny bit of my boring world with me!

Creative Team Challenge for Cookin' Up Creations

2010-03-09T06:37:00.003-06:00

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today is my day to challenge you and here's my challenge.

I recently got the April issue of Woman's Day magazine in the mail. The cover just struck me as so beautiful and serene.

The light aqua color is one of my very favorite colors, and paired with the yellow and white is just perfect! So my challenge to you is to use this color scheme on a project (can be digital, can be paper).

Now, here's my example (the scan is not great, but it is dark and rainy here, so it is better than the pictures were!!!):

Again, sorry about the weird shadows and sickly yellow color of the background. It is actually the same as the tag! Dang rain. In case you were wondering, the lovely ladies in these pictures are my scrapbooking buddies! We've all been scrappy friends for several years, now, and get together once each month to celebrate birthdays.

Take my challenge if you would like, and link me to your creation and I might just send you a happy in the mail! Who knows?

Otherwise, have a great Tuesday.

They Won!

2010-03-07T11:02:00.010-06:00

State Champs! The girls are members of the indoor percussion ensemble and yesterday they won the state championship! And, amazingly, this is their first year of competition. They just have an amazing director in Mr. Dunwoody and an amazing band director in Mr. McArthur. They also have had such great support from parents and the band boosters. It has been a FUN, FUN ride!

Here are a few pictures (not very good quality.....but still)

The emotions: worrying about the results....waiting on the score. Sarah looked so nervous.

And then, when they realized they had won!

Mary Beth was further back, but this picture just kinda says it all!
She was so happy! These are definitely tears of joy!

And here are the championships with their daddy!

I learned just how much hard work goes into hosting an event like this (did I mention we were the host school?)!

The band boosters did an awesome job putting it all together, and we all worked really hard ALL DAY yesterday. I was exhausted, and I didn't work as hard as a lot of people. It was great to see everyone working together to cook, to sell, to monitor entrances and exits and parking and practice rooms, to keep hospitality rooms stocked and judges happy. Congratulations to the RHS band boosters for putting on such a successful event. Hope everyone is resting today. I know I am.

So that was my Saturday! Not too shabby, really.

Digital Creative Team Projects to Reveal!

2010-03-04T19:14:00.006-06:00

We've been busy around the Pearcy household here lately. After my taking nearly two weeks to get well, Randy came down with the flu. He was quite miserable and sick for four or five days.

I had a birthday last weekend and turned....4*. Ugh. Hate getting older, but enjoyed a little extra attention and special fun times with friends! School has been busy; in fact today I worked almost twelve hours. To everyone out there who thinks that teachers work shorter days and have three months off in the summer: I average a nine-hour day with 25 minutes for lunch and barely enough time to take a restroom break. I get about 7 weeks off in the summer. I'm not complaining; not at all. I love my job. Can't imagine doing anything else. Love my students (most of the time) and love my subject matter. I just wanted to clear up that particular misconception.

Off that particular soapbox and on to the GOOD STUFF! I got to play with THIS kit by Designs by Krista and made these pages for my creative team assignment for Cookin' Up Creations:

I love the little stitched felt flowers in the kit, and the notebook paper. Other credits for this page about Mary Beth: ruler brush by Royanna Fritschman at Divine Digital; arrow doodle by "I Just Made This Today," staple by Calalily Designs; alpha from the Speed Freak collab kit by Kelly Jo and Rebecca B.

I love that she includes a "die cut" edged paper in her kits. I used it as a "clipping mask" on this geometric-patterned paper on this page. The alpha on this page is by Raspberry Road Designs.

On this page about Randy and me, I just piled up lots of elements to make a place for the photo to sit. I love that bird, don't you? This alpha is by Emily Farnsworth.

And for my last page, I used a template by Yin. I love how many photos I got on this page.

I really love all four of these pages and am enjoying creating with Krista's designs! You really MUST check her out HERE- she has great prices and cute, high-quality kits.

I am not going in to work tomorrow (long story) so I am planning to sleep late, work out, and go visit my aunt and my friend Doris.

Saturday we are hosting the Mississippi Indoor Association (indoor percussion groups and color guards) so we will be BUSY BUSY! Good luck RHS!

Whatever your plans are, I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.

It was a good week....or was it?

2010-02-22T06:15:00.007-06:00

Last week was a good week, scrapping-wise, but a bad week, health-wise.

Ugh, I spent the whole week sick with a sinus infection or something. In fact, I am still sick 8 days later and now I think I have an ear infection. So, last week was a bad week as far as that was concerned. Plus Sarah missed a day of school with a stomach bug.

It was a good week, as far as scrapping goes, even though I didn't really scrap any. I had spent the weekend participating in a special Valentine's Day event at Scrapbook Heaven. Lee designed some cute projects for us to do: see some of the results HERE on the blog. Well, it turns out that I WON! I think I won the add-on kit for their February kit (I have the kit; it is so awesome)!

And I wasn't the only winner: my friend, Jules, also won. I don't know what she got, though. Maybe she will share some of it with me? She has plenty! LOL

Also, this easel card that I made (my first one ever) using some cute Bella Blvd. papers, was a Layout of the Day and Friday Favorite at Scrapbook Heaven. I made this card for my dear friend Doris, who is battling cancer.

The picture is not great - Zach had borrowed my camera so I was using my iPhone.

Over at Cookin' Up Creations, this layout was Layout of the Week:

(again with the iPhone picture) I used beautiful My Mind's Eye Penny Lane papers and a Fiskars border punch and some cute K & Co stickers (the adorable lions). The page is about Sarah making the Mississippi Lion's All-State Band (sponsored by Lion's Clubs of MS). This is a big honor and we are so excited and proud. I was in the Lion's band in high school, and my dad was in it when HE was in high school, so she is third-generation!

Anyway, back to the scrapbook page, I used this great paper-pleating technique posted by Aymee on the TallyScrapper Blog. Go check it out!

Oh, I almost forgot! I traveled with the Indoor Drum Line to competition in Petal on Saturday. They won! Yay! They're just doing such a great job. State championships are in two weeks. Go Ridgeland! Here are a couple of pics (no action pics, sorry - camera battery is dead, can't upload)

Go cymbal girls!

Anyway, I guess that is a pretty good summary of the week! Hoping this one is a good one.

My Digital Reveal for February

2010-02-10T06:41:00.006-06:00

This month I got to work with the kit "Revive" by Designs by Krista. It is a beautiful little kit.
Here are the pages I have made so far:

(Other credits: stamp frame by Lindsey Jane Designs, inked edge overlay by Royanna Fritschman, URCute word art by Vicki F, little green gemstones by Pyralis Designs)

Today we have a Key Club meeting to elect new officers, then we are going over to the elementary school to take them some books and read with them. Last Friday we volunteered at Ronald McDonald House and this Friday we will do the same. In the meantime we are working on our scrapbook, and on banners for New Officer Training in early March. We are going to re-paint the picnic tables at school, raise money for Make A Wish, attend district convention, and do the March of Dimes walk-a-thon. I love Key Club.

Sketch Crop at Scrapbook Heaven!

2010-01-30T08:00:00.002-06:00

Hi! Just a quick post to direct you to the weekend Sketch Crop at Scrapbook Heaven!
Lots of ways to win prizes and the grand prize! Come and check it out!

I am working on mine already, but I have to go to the gym, then run by the grocery, and make some cookies, and do the laundry, and go to the girls' first indoor drumline competition. Ha Ha Ha
Still, I can do a few of them, and I am totally planning on doing a sketch to challenge their DT with!

So, come on and check out the sketches!

We Have a Winner!

2010-01-29T05:56:00.006-06:00

From Cookin' Up Creations Winter Wonderland of Embellishments blog hop!

The winner of my crepe paper flower embellishment is KristaB.
She became a follower of my blog and commented on my post. Krista - send me your addy and I will send you your treat!

The second winner, who won by actually creating a crepe paper flower (she made two, and put them on a card) is Tamara! She will win a little package of goodies from me! Those goodies might include some Jenni Bowlin crepe paper ribbon!

And, lo and behold, I won a prize for participating! Wooo Hoooo! I am getting a $15 giftcard to the online store of my choice, and I am choosing a digi site. I can't decide WHERE, though. There are so many designers that I love and they are NOT all in the same place! Help me out!

Last night a group of teachers, myself included, were honored with a dinner at the nicest home I've ever seen! It was beautiful - almost castle-like. I can't describe it adequately, but suffice it to say that this house could make an episode of Cribs! We thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated our dinner, our tour of the house, and our Barnes and Noble gift cards. Thank you to Pinelake Baptist Church, Mr. Boozer, and the Madison County School District for a wonderful treat.

What I missed by going to the dinner, though, was the exhibition performance of the RHS Indoor Drumline, of which my daughters are a part. So, I am definitely going to their first competition tomorrow. I've never seen an indoor drumline perform, and I am really excited. Hopefully I can get some pictures. Hopefully.

Oh, here is a valentine's card I made for a challenge over at TallyScrapper .

It uses items almost exclusively from the February kit at Scrapbook Heaven! Let me tell you, if you were thinking about buying a kit or joining a kit club, try this one out. The kits have LOTS of stuff in them! Beautiful ribbons, lots of embellishments, and plenty of paper. I love love love the February kits. I highly recommend them.

And for Holly's challenge to use a color you don't normally use, I made this simple page using DCWV paper from their Music stack. If you have musical folks in your family, get this stack!
It has some really beautiful papers in it - in lots of different color families. Some of my favorite papers in the stack have shades of peach with black andwhite.

So, that's all the news that IS news, from me, anyway. Have a wonderful day!

New Digital Pages and an Update from the Gym

2010-01-21T18:53:00.009-06:00

LOL - yeah, I am going to join the gym. I have gotten so weak....lost so much muscle tone....that climbing stairs hurts. It's quite annoying! So, I have gone and done weights and walked on the treadmill. Soon I will be off and running! Yay!

I've done a fair number of digital pages lately, since I've been on the Cookin' Up Creations Creative Team. Our first kit was Valentine, by Krista (Designs by Krista). Here are my pages:

Cute kit, huh? The page about Chloe was done using a free template by Nini Goes Digi.

I also downloaded a cute freebie called My Imaginary World at Digiscrap.ch and made this page:

Now I need to go find the Key Club scrapbook supplies. What HAVE I done with that stuff?
Wish me luck!

2010-01-15T06:10:00.011-06:00

Hi! Welcome, blog hoppers, to the first ever Cookin' up Creations "Winter Wonderland of Embellishments" Blog Hop. We at Cookin' up Creations thought it would be a great idea to focus on Embellishments this month, as we have had lots of generous "embellishment" sponsors ....and we want to share with you.

Along the Hop, you'll come across Challenges, Questions & Tutorials on different ways to create and use embellishments. If a blog requires you to complete a challenge, then please upload your completed challenge into the Embellishment Blog Hop Album before the end of the hop on January 22nd, 2010. (All participating "blog hoppers" will need to register in the gallery - don't worry, it is quick and easy.)

The Cookin' up Creations Blog was your 1st stop, and you should have come here from Amy's blog, Little Treasures. You are now at the 4th stop of our hop!

I have a flower tutorial for you. I have been fortunate enough to take a couple of classes from Jenni Bowlin, and use her crepe paper ribbons to make these flowers:

Here's how she taught us to do it:

You'll need a scrap of cardstock, a circle punch (I used one that I think is 1.5 inch, but really you could just cut a circle by hand), a tape runner, and Jenni's crepe paper ribbon.

Run some adhesive around the edge of the circle,

cut your crepe paper ribbon to about 18 inches, and start pleating it. You can pleat it very precisely or rather messy (like I did). Once you have pleated it a little bit, stick it to your circle.

Continue pleating and sticking until you've gone all the way around.

I then repeated those steps to make another layer, but you could stop here and embellish the center and be done.

I used a Hambly journaling bit, plus a paper flower and a Making Memories Vintage Findings button to embellish the center of mine.
.

Here is another view of the finished product. These also look GREAT with a little glitter around the edges! And, seriously, it only took me a few minutes from start to finish. It goes much quicker than you might think!

My challenge to you is to create a crepe-paper flower using the tutorial above. Upload your project to the Blog Hop gallery at Cookin' Up Creations and I will do a random draw for a small prize. You'll need to include your email address in the description part, so I can notify you!

In order to be eligible to win a blog hop prize, you must comment at each stop. So, leave a comment here and tell me how you would use the flower I made. I will do another random draw and the winner (if the winner is a follower of my blog) will get the flower!

So: leave a comment and follow my blog and you might get this flower in the mail. If you actually make a flower like it, you might win a surprise prize from me. And you might win big in the HOP! Your next stop is Stace's blog: Pieces of Me. When you are finished, don't forget to go back to the Cookin' Up Creations blog to post that you are done!

I hope you have fun and win a prize!

My Sarah is 18!

2010-01-10T20:12:00.008-06:00

Yes, my older daughter has turned 18! I cannot believe it.
She will soon be graduating, taking a trip to Australia, and then leaving for college.
How did this happen? I just brought her home from the hospital a little while ago!

Here she is at two years old, on our back deck in Cleveland:

Now here she is, posing with the dogs before heading out to lunch with her sister and friends, to celebrate her 18th birthday:

I have been scrapping this weekend. It was too cold to venture out to do much else.
Here are the pages I did:

This one was for the first Digital Creative Team challenge at Cookin' Up Creations.
The challenge was to use digital word art. I wanted to show how easy it is to print and use word art on paper pages. I used Word Art by Bethany (Our Family) and a Christmas Tree by Julie Makotinsky of Little Dreamer Designs:

This silly, altered art style page about my dog, Chloe, was done for a challenge at Scrapbook Heaven. Courtney, one of the design team members there, challenged us to use the word "angel" on a page. I was using papers from the January "petite" kit, mostly Fancy Pants' Frosted line and Holly Jolly line, and came up with this. I just love the die cuts that come with the Fancy Pants papers, don't you? By the way, there is still one kit available, if you love those papers and that very cool green pom pom trim.

Here is a page using mostly Pink Paislee Tinsel Town and Making Memories Mistletoe. I am 45 years old (almost) and am still a Daddy's girl. Isn't my daddy a handsome guy? These papers came in my December kit from Scrapbook Heaven.

This page was done with papers from my January Petite Kit from Scrapbook Heaven, too.
I did it for Jules' challenge to use all patterned papers, no solid cardstock. The alphas are Thickers, except for those cute chipboard alphas, which I got at Michael's, took out of the packaging, and promptly forgot who made them. Ooops.

Well, tomorrow is another week, and I hope and pray it is a good one for everyone I know and love. In my classes we are solving systems of inequalities and will have a test this week; or we are solving systems of equations and will test early next week; or we are learning about the special segments and inequality properties of triangles, and will test next week. That's it in a nutshell. Sarah and Mary Beth have indoor drumline practices, and tryouts for the school musical, which will be the Wizard of Oz.

On Friday of this week, Cookin' Up Creations is starting an embellishment blog hop, so check back in. I will also be revealing the digital pages I made using our sponsor kit, Valentine, by Designs by Krista. See the kit preview here, and Krista's store here.

Playing with PSE8 all day long!

2010-01-02T15:14:00.004-06:00

Yes, I have been playing at the computer almost this entire day. Well, in between making cabbage soup, doing laundry, and taking down the rest of the Christmas decorations.

I bought these totally cute kits Fly Away and Spring Swirls by Digital Anemona at Go Digital Scrapbooking. Looks like she even used the Spring Swirls kit for her blog decor! I really like her stuff!

Here are the pages I created:

The word art in the second page is Elegant Word Art by Bethany .
She has a word art freebie almost every day.

I am really excited to be on the Digital Creative Team at Cookin' Up Creations this year. Our two sponsors right now are Designs by Krista and the Shabby Princess. They both have beautiful stuff. I've already gotten to work with a kit by Krista and it is NICE!
I can't wait to share what I've done.

Enjoying My Time Off

2009-12-30T09:11:00.007-06:00

Ah, I am sooo enjoying my Christmas vacation! I have scrapbooked! Yay!
I always try to scrap a small album of our Christmas BEFORE the end of our Christmas break.
Twenty pages, 8 by 8. So far I have done 5 pages.

We haven't taken down the tree, or the lights in the yard, or put away any of the Christmas decorations.

I haven't been to the grocery store, or to Walmart, or even to Sam's to pick up the rest of the Christmas pictures.

I've just been hanging out. Nice.

Here are a few pictures I have to share! Oh, and if you like my new background, check out the link to Simply Blog It. I know I am way behind the times in terms of adding blog backgrounds. Oh, well.

Chloe, napping.

Randy, with the four-legged children!

Randy and me.

The girls goofing around.

Christmas Update!

2009-12-27T08:37:00.011-06:00

Well, it has been just over two months since I posted. How pitiful. Life has been very busy. Since I last posted the Key Club at Ridgeland High School (which I sponsor and to which both of my daughters belong, as well as 100 other teenagers) has hosted a regional service rally, and participated in several service projects.

We sponsored 16 children this Christmas, purchasing each child at least three gifts, but really every child got what they asked for PLUS some! We bought eight bicycles, with the generous support of the students at RHS, Coach Allen Marett, Charles Hill and the Ridgeland WalMart, and our parents. We helped serve hamburgers and hotdogs and painted faces at their Christmas party, and then had a party of our own at Keifer's. Here are a few pictures:

We have a new addition to our family: little Chloe! Oh my heavens she is the biggest LAP DOG you ever saw! She is in my lap now, as she is always in my lap whenever I sit down to the computer. I pick her up, I put her in her cozy new bed in front of the fire, she follows me right back to the computer. Sigh.

She is a precious little registered miniature Chihuhua. She was named Chloe when we got her, so we left it. She was used to it.

And yes, we still love and adore our little Scrappy! He loves his playmate, Chloe. He treats her like a chew toy. She doesn't mind at all; she gives just about as good as she gets.

Christmas has been great. Our God is good, and our Savior reigns! We have a roof over our heads, food to eat, clothes on our backs and shoes on our feet.
We miss Poppy this Christmas. He passed from us four months prior to Christmas Day, and the 26th would have been his birthday. We love you, Poppy.

I will post some family photos later. Right now I have to go to Cleveland to eat dinner with the family. Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends!

Third Place in the State!

2009-10-25T13:42:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a long day of State Marching Band Finals....and we came in third. The kids put on a fantastic show last night and made everyone really proud. The color guard finished second, and the drum line finished first! I think we should have come in second, based on how the other two bands finished in the different categories, but anyway.............here are some shots of my two fabulous color guard girls!

Musings about Teaching

2009-10-19T18:17:00.002-05:00

Well, I will start by saying that I realize I have neglected my blog. I apologize to all of my eight followers! LOL

I fully intended my blog to have posts about teaching: my thoughts on teaching, philosophies of teaching, favorite activities, amusing stories from my classroom, etc. I haven't done much of that, because I find it so much easier to post pictures and scrapbook pages and talk about my latest creation or scrappy activity.

Allow me to ponder, a moment, on a comment a dear friend and former school superintendent made to me one time. He said, "Wanda, you know, I have found over the years that the best thing you can do for a good teacher is get out of her way." I believe this to be true. I am a good teacher. My students perform well on their state tests; I have only about a 10-15% failure rate in my class; my students and parents like me and are comfortable talking to me (generally speaking); I work hard in my classroom, I put my students' learning FIRST when I am at work, I am constantly rethinking and refining what I do in order to improve my students' achievement.
I do what's best for each class, even if that means extra work; I spend hours grading papers in order to know what things my students still don't understand. I actually change my plans based on those papers I grade.

I wish that my dear friend's philosophy were embraced by those who are constantly throwing obstacles in my path. Just get out of the way and let me teach.

Back from the Tally Rally!

2009-07-16T06:18:00.009-05:00

Whew! Six days of travel and fun and scrapping can really wear a person out.
I went to Texas to a scrapbooking retreat with 25 friends from Tallyscrapper.com
and had a GREAT time! My friend Pam picked me up at the airport in San Antonio, along with my friend Nicole.
After a crazy afternoon running around San Antonio, we had a delicious dinner at Pam's son's
restaurant, called Ciao 2, outside the city.

After picking up another friend, Dorothy,

we headed off to the Rockin' R Retreat in Temple, Texas. Then we scrapped, and played and partied for FOUR SOLID DAYS!

Pam's husband made us all some delicious TX bar-b-que Saturday night. I scrapped ten pages and made a thank-you card for Christine, our lovely sweet and crazy hostess!

It took me a while to recover, (I ain't no spring chicken, after all, and staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning was killin' me!) but I think I'm good now. Here are a few more pics. They're a little repetitive but, hey....I wanted pics with my friends. What can I say?

Me with Laura Jean, me with Starla, and me with Jenn T. Jenn made us all monogrammed bean bags to play cornhole with.......but then we ended up not being able to play. I love my bag, though.

Me with Staci and Nikki and crazy Rachel in the background. Me with crazy Brandy and me with Christi.

Here I am with my roomies........Susan and Patti. They are sweet ladies!

I'll post more about my trip later. Off to finish my coffee!

Happy Fourth and some Cards

2009-07-04T12:31:00.005-05:00

Happy Fourth of July! God Bless America........thank you to all of those who fight and work so hard to protect the freedoms and bounty and blessings that we enjoy in our country, but don't deserve.

So we are enjoying our celebration at home with cousins and grandparents and in the absence of Sarah, who is still in Texas but will be home tomorrow. I took Scrappy walking in the neighborhood parade this morning. It took him 30 minutes to stop panting when we got home. Poor baby. He's sacked out in Randy's chair as I type (and watch the Nathans' hotdog-eating championships on TV).

If you know me you know I don't like the cards I make. Here are some cards I've made that I actually do like:

Just saw where the SEI blog had a great giveaway! Just go HERE to see what it's all about!

Been a Lot Going On!

2009-07-01T18:22:00.005-05:00

Some scrappy projects I've done in June! I have scrapped my little head off! I have scrapped a TON this month, participating in the Summer Scrap Fest at Lifetime Moments and doing the monthly challenges at a fun place called Scrapbook Heaven.

June has flown by, unfortunately! One more month of summer vacation. Here's what we've been doing, since the Heatwave earlier this month.

After a trip to her grandmother's in Cleveland, Mary Beth came home and she and I left for Sandestin with Neely, her mother, and her three beautiful children. We had a fun-filled four days, very very hot, and were very glad to get home.

Not long after we got back from Florida we left for New Orleans to take Sarah and Brittany to fly out to Dallas for the International Key Club convention. No pictures of the girls, but a couple of pictures of the Big Easy!

The trip to New Orleans was short but sweet for the Mighty Hunter and me. We stayed at the Monteleone, where we stayed on our honeymoon 23 years ago. We ate at the former Tortorici's Restaurant (now the Royal Oyster House) where we ate 23 years ago. It was a wonderful weekend for the two of us.

July will consist of more traveling - back to New Orleans to pick up Sarah, then Mary Beth back to Cleveland, and me to Texas (for the Texas Tally Rally......where I get to hang out with some of the most wonderful scrappy ladies ever!) and then Gulf Shores (where I get to hang out with my friend, Kim). Sarah and Randy have to work, sadly.

Heatwave (the event, not the weather)

2009-06-06T10:00:00.004-05:00

Hi from beautiful Ridgeland, Mississippi! Wow, what an exquisitely beautiful day we are having today. It is warm, but not hot, with a slight cool breeze. The skies are bright beautiful blue with a scattered cloud or two.......white fluffs, nothing that indicates rain.

Not far from me are 500 men and women swimming, biking and running in this beautiful weather. The event is called the Heatwave Triathlon, and one of the athletes is The Mighty Hunter. I thought I would share a picture or two.

That's just about it. I'm off to enjoy the weather!

Last Day of School Thoughts

2009-05-22T06:53:00.004-05:00

Well, I truly love my job almost all the time. I really do. Parents send their children to school with high expectations. They want them to be treated well, to be reasonably happy and comfortable, and to be taught so they can learn.

I take those responsibilities very seriously. We don't do "Free Days" or "Movie Days" or have parties for the last two weeks of school. I teach every day, I smile as often as possible, I try to pay extra attention to kids who need it, and I try to be professional in my dealings with students, parents, teachers, and administrators. The end of this school year has been very trying, and I am glad to see it coming to a close. Today is the last half-day of work for the 2008-2009 school year, and I am happy it is here. I love teaching, but I need a little break.

I found this neat "event" happening over at Divine Digital - 40 Days of Joy. Here is part of what it says:

BRAND NEW CHALLENGE! "40 Days of JOY" with Royanna Fritschmann Get to be the first to be inspired by excerpts from Royanna's new book with a brand new inspirational adapted scrapping series "40 Days of Joy!" Come be part of a brand new scrapbooking journey about learning to in | JOY life! Be in | spired inspite of life’s tough circumstances in a time when many of us are at a low point in our lives! Be in | lightened and discover JOY in everyday things... even in the mundane, silly, and plain jane things. in | fect and in | courage others with what’s important all while leaving a legacy...your legacy, your story! Join us at Divine Digital everyday starting May 18th for something different, inspirational...so needed! In 5 minutes each day you will get inspiring words a quote of wisdom to encourage you throughout the day a FREE Quickpage to help you scrap your legacy in a SNAP! And throughout the challenge earn free scrapkits too! Join us for 40 days....and learn to in | JOY the world around YOU!

I am thinking about joining in for the summer - if you aren't a member at Divine Digital, you might want to join just to participate. Plus, I'm thinking that even though it is digital, a person could do it with paper just as well.

To my daughters (who never read my blog): I love you both. Very much. It may not always seem like it, but it's quite true. No matter what happens with your friends, your school-mates, your boyfriends, your teachers..........I will always love you. Always and forever.

And I will leave you with something truly beautiful to feed your spirit and soul on this Friday, the 22nd of May:

The Scrap Etc Event 2009

2009-05-10T07:11:00.004-05:00

I went, I scrapped, I had a ball! Thanks to Renee, Joy and Linh who let me hang out with them, and to my sweet daughter Mary Beth who went with me and kept me company on the road and in the room. Here are some of the pics (me with insert scrappy celebrity name here)

Actually, you may wonder who they are, so I will share: Jenni Bowlin, Melodee Langworthy, Gretchen McElveen, and Elizabeth Kartchner.
I just realized I am missing my pics of me with Jessica Sprague and Margie Romney-Aslett. Must find those! LOL

We had a lot of nice things given to us: stickers, paper, a threading water punch from Fiskars, a couple of cute stamps, adhesive, magazines.........almost all the classes had extra in the supplies, which was nice. The classes were fun, they were done well, we had an ice-cream social, a silent auction, two crop nights, an on-site store, and more. It was wonderful. I've not scanned any of my projects, but I will, I promise.

On a totally different note: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you moms out there who might be readers! Being a mom is the hardest job ever, and the BEST one! Hope your special day is really special.

Beautiful Flowers

2009-04-26T13:01:00.005-05:00

Can I just tell you I have some gorgeous flowers in my yard?

Perhaps they are the cause of my constant state of stuffiness, my blood-red eyes, my itchy throat, my headaches..................they are still beautiful!

So, I have finished my National Boards, will get them in the mail by Tuesday. Maybe even Monday afternoon. What a relief!

Off to the Scrap Etc Event on Thursday to CELEBRATE! Wooooo Hooooo! I have been getting my stuff together all day. Pulling pictures, checking supplies, etc. etc.

All in all, this has been one fabulous weekend!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

2009-04-14T06:11:00.006-05:00

There has been a lot going on! We have had PROM:

Mary Beth has turned 15! She has her driving permit and has started driving us to school in the mornings!

Randy rode his bike 100 miles in the Century Ride Easter weekend:

No pictures of him with his bike; this is just before he left.

We had family over for Easter:
Randy's parents drove down and my parents and great-aunt came over, too.
These are Mary Beth, my mom, Randy's mom, and Sarah:

This is me, my mom, and my mother-in-law:

I have finished all but half of one entry for my National Board re-certification attempt. YAY!
Will get that finished up and mailed off in a week or so.

We leave for Baton Rouge for Key Club Convention on Friday. And then I leave again the end of the month for Scrap Etc. in Atlanta! When I get back school will be just about over. And next year? Sarah will be a SENIOR! OMG, I can't believe it. Where has the time gone?

Okay, so I realize that was a lot of random stuff, so I will leave you with one more random thing:
I caught a fish a couple of weekends ago! Go me!

Oh What a Week!

2009-03-07T13:05:00.004-06:00

What a week I have had! Oh my goodness. Besides work (teaching classes, grading papers, making out tests, getting ready for nine-weeks' tests and working on my boards) we have had PowderPuff football this week. So, after school on Monday and Tuesday we had practices.

Wednesday was a crazy day because we took five buses full of kids to the basketball playoffs - our boys made it to the playoffs for the second year in a row. They didn't win, but we're proud anyway! It was a great day to be a Titan! Then we are still in our Inquirer's class at church on Wednesday nights.

Thursday was PowderPuff game day. I was literally at work from 7:30 am until 8:00 pm! Whew.

Friday finally arrived and I went to a class reunion; my first. No, not my first reunion! I graduated in 1983! Just the first one I have ever attended. It was for all of the 80's classes, so there were lots of folks there I didn't know, but lots of folks I did. I had a wonderful time, and got in very late. Which makes me VERY tired and cranky today.

In the midst of all of that Sarah has been getting ready for the Jr. Miss pageant tonight. She had the school's Fashion Show Monday night, plus a fitting for her pageant dress. She had mock interview practices Tuesday, and dress rehearsal last night. She and her daddy both had dress rehearsal, I should say. He will be escorting her and dancing with her onstage. I can't wait to see it. She had interview today (no idea how she did...........grrrrrrr, she won't tell me anything!).

Interestingly, this week my husband appeared in an advertisement in USA Today. Yes, my hubby, the Mighty Hunter, is now a model. LOL! He didn't even know anything about it, the picture was taken a couple of years ago by a Political Action Committee that deals with aviation issues. Here's the ad:

Yeah, he looks good. He could be a model for real, don't ya think?

My 44th birthday was last week, and Mighty Hunter took me out for dinner with our good friends Neely and Dave. We went to AJ's On The Lake....awesome food, crazy waitress! We had a wonderful time, sitting outside on the deck in the breeze. It was really a perfect evening.

Maybe Mighty Hunter shouldn't be a model after all! He won't open his stinkin' eyes! That's us before we went out to dinner. We are gettin' old. This year will be our 23rd anniversary and at the end of January marked 25 years together.

Things are just hectic for me right now, and I will be sooooooooo glad when May arrives and things slow down. Just counting the days!

New Dare at A Scrappin' Friendsy and Bug at my House

2009-02-26T06:33:00.005-06:00

Cleaning bug, that is! I cleaned my scrap area, which desperately needed it!
Before:

I scrap in the dining area, so it is visible to any and all people who come over. I have scrapped quite a lot lately, which is GREAT. But it leaves a GREAT mess! You know how it is, that after a while it is so messy you can't scrap anymore. I had reached that point! Here it is AFTER:
Aaahhhh, looks like a dining room again. Funny thing is, I don't want to mess it up by making anything, but I want to make a card and a layout for my Dare at A Scrappin' Friendsy!

So, there ya have it! The results of almost an entire day of cleaning, organizing and straightening. After I completed the stunning makeover you see above, I cleaned out Mary Beth's closet and dresser drawers. Then I was so tired I didn't even clean the kitchen that night. Oh, well.

Until next time!

New Dare at A Scrappin' Friendsy

2009-02-16T16:05:00.002-06:00

Yes, we are back to having a dare each week, with small "happies" for random participants!

This week's dare is from Amy:

My dare for you this week is a journaling challenge……I don’t want you to journal like you usually do on a journaling tag/spot or paragraph style……I want you to journal AROUND your photos. Maybe just around one photo or maybe around the outside edge of the page or like I did in the example below where I journaled around the whole photo group. Show me what ya got & be creative!

If you want to play along, you can put a link to your page in the comments on the blog.

I was working on a page and, coincidentally, there was a perfect space around the picture block for a little bit of journaling.

So Mighty Hunter got me a few nice things for Valentine's Day:

See him?

Last weekend was the tea for the participants in our local Jr Miss Pageant, of which Sarah is one. So I had to get an outfit, right? I found this cool sweater at White House Black Market, and wore it with a short black skirt I already had, black patent pumps and a black and white purse.
So then we went to a fancy birthday party on Valentine's Day and I wore it again. Here I am with Mighty Hunter before we left for the party!

So, this may end up being my monthly post! LOL

Lots of things going on: Jr Miss Pageant, National Board Recertification, Sarah's New York Trip, Key Club New Officer Training, and District Convention, Scrap Etc, state testing, my birthday, Spring Break.............lots of stuff.

So, I am juggling quite a few little projects, trying to squeeze in scrappy time and a little time to blog and play on the 'net, maybe cook a little bit and clean a little bit, grade a few papers and such. Fortunately my family is patient and mostly self-sufficient. I love them!

This Week's DT Dare at ASF

2009-01-19T17:08:00.004-06:00

This week's dare is to do a page with a 10-item list of some sort! Go HERE to see the whole thing.

Here is my page:

I have done two of my four PGE's for my National Board recertification attempt. Worked on it a couple of hours up at the school today.

It is FREEZING cold here, and I have to get out and go to Bunco. Brrrrr. It's the wind that is killin' me! School starts back tomorrow. Sure hope Sarah and Mary Beth have all their homework done.

Have missed Tallyscrapper today. The site is down. :(

Oh, and I am doing the Tally Month in Review challenge.......only I have hardly taken ANY pictures this month. Ha. I guess I can do some picture-less pages. I have gone to crops twice and had a wonderful time each time. Sarah has been all involved in Lion's Band tryouts and Curtain Calls, and has decided to run for Key Club lieutenant governor. Mary Beth has been doing her thing....hanging out with friends and texting like a maniac. Randy has hunted and taken a few airplane trips. My dad had a birthday, Sarah had a birthday, and my nephew will have a birthday in a few days. There were things I COULD have taken pictures of, but didn't.

Now it is time for me to head off to Bunco. Gonna go find a really warm sweater to put on first. Ha. Ha. Ha.

And THAT is the kind of stuff that goes on in my boring little life. Boring is good. I'm not complaining. I'm just sayin'..............

New Design Team Dare Posted!

2009-01-11T15:40:00.009-06:00

Yes, Ken is daring you, challenging you, inspiring you...to create something with some dimension. Go check it out at A Scrappin' Friendsy' blog.

I have started both of my projects at Tally Scrapper, the Tally Month In Review project and the Year in the Life of an Art Journal project. Here are some pics of what I have so far.

The title page for the Month in Review book:

My ATC-sized art journal:

The blog for the Art Journal group can be found HERE.

I've gotten started on renewing my National Board Certification, am about to start work on a gift album for a man's 70th birthday, and have resolved to be less passive and more ACTIVE in directing my life. So far, so good.

The "After Christmas" Post

2008-12-30T09:48:00.004-06:00

Yes, it has been a while. And, yes, it will probably continue to be a long time between posts. But I have updated my header and am posting today. I made the header using the Always Romance kit by Calalily Designs, which I bought at Digital Candy.

I will share some Christmas pictures in case anyone is interested. We had a blessed Christmas, with wonderful food and family time, all our travels were safe and our gifts were plentiful. God is better to us than we deserve, as always.

2008-10-26T15:54:00.006-05:00

Well, I am a bad blogger, but really, I lead a pretty boring life. Not much to even blog about, you know? Still, yesterday was a wonderful day. The band won the state championship in class 4A last night. In addition to the band winning everything overall, the color guard won first place, the percussion/drum line won first place! All in all, a very exciting night. The weather was beautiful, sunny and clear during the day, crisp and cool in the evening. Here are a few pictures:

This is Mary Beth (on the right):

This is Sarah: She's very serious about guard!

Mary Beth again (the second one)

Here they are after the announcements were made: You can tell that Mary Beth had been crying. You can't really tell that Sarah had been, too. Anyway, It was a great moment.

So if you like my new blog header you should know that I made it with Gotta Pixel's FALLing for You kit, their Daily Download kit for October. Laura Pitman, Laura Burger, and Randi Oh are the designers. I wish I knew the right size to make my header look a little more "professional" but I just haven't taken time to play with making my blog look nice. Maybe one day.

Cards for World Card Making Day - A Day Late!

2008-10-05T12:52:00.005-05:00

For some reason I woke up this morning wanting to make cards! Well, I think the reason was that my friends Juliet and Penny posted some info about some card making challenges going on at Just Johanna and Queen Kat Stamps.

So I've made three cards:

The baby boy card is my favorite! He is an actual photograph I bought at a flea market years ago. I scanned him before I cut him up.

There's A Lot Going On!

2008-09-01T11:49:00.012-05:00

Well, first of all we are waiting on the rain and wind and bad weather from Gustav! Thankfully it isn't going to be like Katrina, but we were ready for it!

We have a cooler full of snacks and paper goods and candles and batteries. We have another cooler full of ice, and the freezer is full of ice. The cars are full of gas and all the stuff is in out of the yard.

This week's Design Team Dare at A Scrappin Friendsy comes from Penny:

Are you ready for this week's dare? So many times we all get caught up in doing layouts/cards for challenges or DT assignments that we forget the reason that we all starting scrapping. So, your challenge is to do a layout or two cards just for you. It cannot meet any challenges or be for any assignments or be for the upcoming cybercrop. I want you to remember why you started scrapping in the first place.
I already had this one covered the day she posted it! LOL....I had pulled out some pictures from the Scrap Etc Event to use with this little drink thingy that said "This cocktail belongs to....". I finished it up and it is a page just for me. YAY! Why don't you join in?

I also used my 50% off coupon at Michael's to get a Cuttlebug. This is something I previously had no desire for, but I played with the one Jo has at A Scrappin' Friendsy last weekend at the weekend crop, and I kind of fell in love - mostly with the embossing folders, you understand. They are COOL! So I got it. Why not?

I then came home and started making cards. I made 8 cards yesterday. Everyone who knows me in a scrap-related fashion knows that I cannot make cards to save my life. Only rarely do I make a nice one. Still, here are some pictures of some of the cards I made yesterday:

And here are two layouts I made recently. The second one is the one I made yesterday for Penny's dare. The first one totally does NOT meet her dare, because it is for a challenge.

What challenge, you might ask? Well, would you like to find out what kind of "Scrap"lete you are? A Scrappin' Friendsy (ASF) is holding its first ever Olympics, and our scrapletes are competing in 8 different events to see who will win gold! Go HERE to read about the whole thing! We have events like Synchronized Swimming, the Decathlon, and Sailing. We have Medal Ceremonies and Closing Ceremonies. We're going to have a blast. Come join us for fun and prizes.

Can't believe it's been a month

2008-08-24T08:59:00.002-05:00

It doesn't SEEM like it's been that long since I blogged! Time flies once school starts, doesn't it?

I have gotten addicted to this little word game called Multipopword. Find it HERE.

I'm not too bad at it, but not as good as some. It's fun and easy, though. I love word games.

I just spend the weekend at A Scrappin' Friendsy cropping. All night Friday night and all day Saturday. WHew. I am so tired and my head is hurting. Not sure if it hurts from being tired or if it is a sinus thing. The bad weather from Hurricane Fay is coming in and the barometric pressure could be causing the headache, I guess.

I did eight pages, though, and really enjoyed visiting with all the ladies there.

Funky Playground Designs has been having a digital designer contest and some of the entries have just been awesome. I have downloaded almost every one! LOL Here is the link to the gallery where you can still pick up some really nice collab kits:

Funky Playground Designs

You have to sign up for the site, of course.

We have a new DARE up at A Scrappin Friendsy, too. It is from Amy and will be posted on the blog this afternoon. Here it is:

"Statistics- a collection of quantitative data." This challenge is all about numbers! Think for a minute of all the numbers we keep track of: our kid's height/weight, our own weight (HA!), gas prices, grocery prices, car mileage, kid's clothing/shoe sizes, etc.

You might find this a good time to compare something. Then/Now, Before/After....how much a baby weighed when born & how much he weighs now. Or if you're like me...with a BUNCH of kiddos...do a LO about how much each child weighed at birth (cool to see the similarities/differences). If you're doing Weight Watcher's(or any kind of diet)....do a before/after LO. How old were you parents when they first had kids/how old were YOU when your first child was born. Compare prices of everyday items (gas, milk, a home) now & the year you were born.

Maybe you just want to document the 'stuff' in your life. How about the cost of school supplies this fall- with an itemized list. Maybe your grocery bill for the week. How many song files in your digital library. How many photos do you take each month. How many minutes do you use on your cell phone in a month. How many miles you drive each day. How many DVDs in your collection.

You get the idea. Think of the numbers in your life & let your creativity flow..................Have fun!

I love this idea and can't wait to do it. And I have a deal for my blog readers (however few those may be). If you decide to take Amy's challenge, but you're not an ASF member (shame on you) reply here and post a link to your page. I will pick a winner and send you a really nice package of embellishments including some vintage papers....truly a one-of-a-kind treat! The ASF member who wins will get their treat from the store!

On a much more serious note, we got our Algebra state test results back and they weren't so good. The state has increased the minimum score required to pass, and apparently increased it A LOT! More than most of us anticipated, that's for sure. This year we will be getting VErY SErioUs with dealing with these changes (although we were already very serious about what we teach and how we teach it). We've got to make some decisions here very soon about remediation efforts and preventive measures. Should keep me busy and stressed. Oh Joy!

I am going to scan and upload my pages here in a little while. Maybe I'll update this post. But for now, I'm off to get more coffee. I need it.

My Junk Store Finds and INCHIES (OMG)

2008-07-30T10:29:00.008-05:00

Well, I finally made some inchies and now I don't want to quit! LOL
I have a little McCarty's bowl and my goal is to fill it with inchies.

I used some images cut from a very vintage comic book I bought yesterday for $2.50, and images cut from the "B" encyclopedia. Yes, I am cutting up my encyclopedias. I can't even believe it.

Here are my inchies:

And here are pictures of my junk store finds: the comic book was $2.50, like I said, and the book of Rudyard Kipling's poems, leather bound and very old, was $7.50. But the others were 50 cents! On the front of the Counting Rhymes book is a cool clock with moveable hands. It is awesome.

The lady who runs this particular store buys your "junk" and I just happen to have an absolute ton of stuff from this move, so I am putting together what I think she would buy. Easier than a garage sale, right?

So, I am going to take this stuff and put together some little paper crafting kits for friends who might be interested. Whaddaya think, Jules?

Would you buy this?

2008-07-29T18:12:00.008-05:00

I found some cool stuff here and there and got in my mind that it would make a cute kit. Here's some of it. There are vintage and modern buttons, vintage ribbons and lace, vintage book pages, modern Martha Stewart stickers and alphas, a little paper, some flowers and clips.....

I think my friend, Jules, is gonna like it. And I have more of this stuff. I found some old children's books at a thrift store for 50 cents each.

Oh, and here is this cool thing I made:
Made it at wordle.net

New Dare and Family Pictures

2008-07-29T09:44:00.006-05:00

Well, I totally missed blogging last week, since we were hot and heavy into moving. And I do mean, HOT....it's July in Mississippi, and that = HOT!

First of all, there is a new dare at ASF, and it is mine.

LOL - we have had so many communication issues over there, with the message boards being slow sometimes, quick sometimes, working for some of us and not for others. I thought Sara wanted to do this week, so I told her she could. Then I noticed that it was the last week of SEPTEMBER (not July) that she signed up for. So I posted a dare, then got a message from her saying that she would get her dare posted as soon as the site would let her. I tried to send HER a message, but the site was slow at that time and wouldn't let me. Crazy, I tell you. But it looks like we got it figured out, kind of.

Anyway, here is my DARE:

$250 for tickets, $90 for t-shirts, $35 for snacks.........taking your daughters to the Jonas Brothers' concert? Priceless! Okay, I made that up! But it IS my challenge to you. Make a "priceless" page. Model it after those Mastercard ads. There are no other requirements or restrictions! Well, maybe just one: have fun.

Here's mine.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<------------------------------

We had a nice family visit a couple of weeks ago from my aunt and uncle, cousin and her daughters. Here are a few pics:

Scrappy was a real hit with the visiting family. He is such a little sweetie, wearing his HOT DOG shirt that Sarah got him. No, I'm not making him wear shirts in this heat. It wasn't that hot two weeks ago.

New Dare and New Pictures

2008-07-16T10:28:00.007-05:00

First of all, there is a new DT Dare at A Scrappin Friendsy. It is an ad challenge.
Check it out here: DT Dare

Here is the page I did. The pictures of my nephews: Ryan and Brett. Brett is 3, Ryan is 15. They are my brother's boys.
Second of all, my little Scrappy is growing and is so sweet! We will be moving in just three days and I will have to spend some time seriously housetraining him, as he is not perfect yet. Here he is in his Paw & Order muscle shirt:

Seriously, don't you want to just eat him up? Well, keep yer paws off - he's mine!

This weekend we had a rare and wonderful visit from my aunt and uncle and cousins. They live in Huntsville. Here we all are after a yummy meal at Cock of the Walk:

So, PennyG - I hope you are seeing this! I love you!

Gotta go get ready to move things to the house. The niece and nephew are here and I am going to MAKE them HELP! The kids are not good about getting this done. grrrrrrrrr Of course, the Mighty Hunter is not as anxious to get it done as I am, either. Sigh.

Oh, I won a challenge at Tallyscrapper yesterday. It was a digital challenge to make a page at Scrapblog . Scrapblog is a neat online scrapping place. Of course, my scrapping talent didn't win the challenge for me, it was totally the cute picture on the page! Who can resist a puppy?!?!

Now I really am going. Really.

New Challenge for this Week

2008-07-08T07:41:00.002-05:00

at the A Scrappin Friendsy blog:

This one is courtesy of Sara:

Happy July all you Friendsies!! It’s been a wonderful summer so far, full of family barbeques, swimming pools and sunshine. My challenge to you all?? Scrap it!! I want to see what summer means to you. The challenge?? Your title must be one word, ‘Summer’ and it must contain AT LEAST 1 paragraph about your summer so far, whether it be a fond memory or fun time–get those stories on paper!!

Upload your creation to the gallery and link it back to this thread (which is in the Cybercrops and Challenges forum). I will put you all in a random drawing for a little RAK from the store–and a little summer happy from me!! These are due by midnight July 12th.

Have fun!!

So go ahead, do a summer page. It's time.

I am in the last of the meetings to review the data on the Algebra I test items that were field tested this past year. It is going quite smoothly. Much more smoothly than the item review to choose new items for testing, and much more smoothly than the standard-setting meeting last week that I didn't attend. We should be finished early, which is always good!

Got to get back to work on packing and moving! And poor Scrappy? He is regressing in his training for lack of time spent on it. Not his fault: MINE. And the rest of the family has to take some blame as well.

Yesterday I bought a couple of CUTE pairs of sandals (one hot pink and one silver) and some cute tops. I also bought some of those Not Your Daughter's Jeans jeans. They are expensive but I like the fit. Great for older ladies!!!

No other news beyond that, ya know? Think I will go check out Raspberry Road blog, and Sugarplum Paperie blog, and Flerg's blog while I have a second. Then I've got to get ready to go!

My First Layout

2008-07-04T09:07:00.006-05:00

Ha! No way is this my first layout, but it is my first layout with the July Kit from Tallyscrapper! The kit is designed by Leah and it shows! It is just so "her." And it made me want to just throw cute stuff on the page. So I hope that's what I did.

The Gutter Girlz challenge this week had to do with addictions. Well, I had just done a page about my lipstick addiction, but I am also fairly addicted to Coffee Mate Vanilla Caramel Sugar Free creamer. And my friend Jules had just done a page with a cute flower pot on it, and when you put it all together and stir, this is what you come up with:

It's not the best scan I've ever done. Probably should do a picture instead. hmmmm, maybe later.

And in case you think I have not been gettin' digi with it (oh my goodness I can't believe I even said that! Maybe I should backspace over all of this. But, no, I'll leave it. Let's be real.) I downloaded a template that I thought was REALLY cute from Kristin Aagard on her blog HERE
I've been a fan of her stuff since I saw it in a designer contest at Scrap Orchard, I think it was. Anyway, my page is so so so not as good as her examples, but here's what I did with it: And I learned that I am not very good with a template, but I enjoyed using it. So, thanks Kristin. Y'all go visit her blog and download this template, ya hear?

And so, I took my own challenge at A Scrappin Friendsy and made this page: It is simple, but I think the colors are so, so yummy! And, no, I didn't create the challenge so I could use this picture. It just so happened that the picture matched the jar of candy I bought at Tuesday Morning a few weeks ago, that matched Kim's ribbon, that inspired this picture:
that inspired my challenge.

Well, Happy Fourth of July to everyone! Happy Birthday to this great land of ours. Remember our precious freedoms and those who fight and have fought for them.

"Exciting News"

2008-07-02T07:38:00.004-05:00

Well, kind of exciting. I am sitting here when I should be getting ready. Lots of errands to run today. Most of the errands relate to my "news."

#1: We call him Scrappy. Scrappy Coco. Or Scrappy Doo, or Scrap, or Scrappy Doo-Doo, or Scrappy Boy (or little turd......depending on what he's doing.). This is why we call him Scrappy:

Thanks for all the suggestions!

#2: We are moving. Soon. No, we didn't buy a house, but we found one to rent in the neighborhood that we have wanted to be in for a while. It is rare to find a rental here. Very rare, so we are very happy. Here it is:

So, my errands include, walking through the house again. Meeting Lacey for coffee. Going by the school to get some boxes. Taking the deposits to the landlord. Going to Walmart. Finding a vet for Scrappy.

Now, if you haven't already, you should totally visit A Scrappin' Friendsy to see my DT Dare for this week. Yes, I am hosting, and I like the dare. I like it, and I have taken it, but I haven't posted my page.

You should also visit Tallyscrapper
sometime today. I have a surprise there (I see it isn't posted yet, but it should be sometime today).

Now, I really do have to go get ready. As you can see, I have a lot to do today!

Pictures of the New Baby

2008-06-27T08:49:00.007-05:00

Well, he doesn't have a name yet! I am open to suggestions! If we end up using one of your suggestions, I'll send you a small gift! LOL

Here he is:As I said last night, he is a chihuaha -yorkie mix. The breeder said he is 13 weeks old. He is the tiniest little thing you have ever seen. She thinks he might only weigh 5 or 6 pounds when fully grown. He has done little other than sleep since he's been here. I dragged him around a good bit yesterday, then we put him in the utility room last night and he has slept ever since. Mighty Hunter took him outside for a little while this morning, but he went right back to sleep when he came in.

I am trying to paper-train him (the breeder said he was paper-trained at her house already, but I can't tell it). Any advice or suggestions? I haven't a clue, really.

He seems very bright. Already he will stay on the paper when I put him there and walk away. After I put him back on it three or four times he stopped trying to get off. He just looks at me like, "When can I move? Why am I here?" He doesn't want any treats that I've tried to tempt him with, and has only eaten a few pieces of dog food since he's been here.

Well, I am off! Enjoy the puppy pictures!

Bad Blogger!

2008-06-26T17:46:00.002-05:00

Yes, I am. I have no excuses, no reasons except that not much has been happening! School got out and I have had four lovely weeks of hanging out at home, at the pool, in the tanning bed, scrapping, reading, and generally being a lady of leisure. Nice.

Well, actually I had only three weeks like this. THIS week has been full of meetings of the committee that reviews items for placement on our state's Algebra I End-Of-Course test. So for the last four days I have been solving 300+ Algebra problems and arguing about them with 17 other teachers, plus representatives of the testing company and of the state department of education. Actually, this is really fun to me, so I am not complaining. And I could write a book about testing, multiple choice assessments, Webb's Depth of Knowledge, performance level descriptors, and the scope and sequence of Algebra I. But I am not allowed to talk about it. They might shoot me.

I could share with you some new scrapbook pages, but I haven't done what I consider to be a whole lot of scrapping. I've THOUGHT about scrapping, but haven't really done a lot. See, I found this Boggle-type game online called MultiPopword (at www.eastoftheweb.com) and I can't seem to stop playing it. Oh, well. Join me over there sometime if you like stuff like that, because it is a multi-player game. I always sign in as Wanda.

This is the first time in a long time I haven't tried out for the design team at Tallyscrapper. I am kind of tired of "close, but no cigar!" but really, I just don't have good "mojo" right now, so it would have been too stressful this time around. And, besides, I have some other Tally news to share later on. It's all good.

At A Scrappin Friendsy we finally have the message boards and gallery stabilized and working consistently. Things feel "back to normal" which is GREAT. The challenge this week is from Amy (momoffive) and I have the page started on my table. Here it is:

"Here’s my challenge: Dump out your purse and explain its contents…but don’t simply ‘make a list’ because we’ve done lists before. This time make a list with descriptions……why it’s there, what it’s used for, etc. Take pictures of your pile of STUFF after you’ve dumped it out and even take a picture of your purse. Maybe tell us where your purse came from and why you love it…..or what you DON’T like about it and why you NEED a new one. Be creative & have fun!!"

Here's a link to the Blog: ASF DT Dares Blog

Take the challenge! It'll be fun.

Now, for the biggest news of all: I have a new baby. He hasn't got a name yet, but he is a Chihuaha/Yorkie mix and is adorable and tiny. I love him. He's asleep right now. I've only had him a few hours. Pictures to come, don't worry!

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

Internet is Down at My House

2008-05-20T16:06:00.005-05:00

Sure do hate it! But I sure do hate having talk to the cable people, too. Sigh.

So in the meantime I have to figure out a way to share these awesome pictures of MB that I took this past weekend. Yes, I have definitely been bragging about these!

And there are more, but I don't want to put a lot of pictures of my daughter out there for public consumption. You never know who's reading!

I'm excited that this is the final week of school. I LOVE teaching, love my job, love my students. But the break is nice for all of us. The older I get, the more I need it. :)

A quick but fun post!

2008-04-30T06:58:00.003-05:00

I don't have much time.......gotta head on in to work. BUT, I wanted to share some exciting news with my friends. Don't you just love it when you run into an old friend somewhere? Somewhere you least expected? This happened to me a week or so ago and I wanted to tell you about it.

So, I'm at Scrap Etc. and my new friend Shirley has introduced me to her friends at Willow Traders, and they have just included me in everything they are doing. Wonderful, sweet ladies!
I keep hearing them talk about their friends who are going to join us for dinner on Saturday night.

Saturday evening Shirley and I are headed up to the Scrap Etc store and run into Christina (the head willow) talking to a friend. I hear Christina call this friend Christy. We stop to speak and Christy turns around. Christina introduces us but I ALREADY KNOW HER from A Scrappin Friendsy. Yes, ladies, Christy is Chrisjay! And here she is:

She agreed to let me share her picture so you could all see that she is alive and well! YAY!

She is happily settled in Alabama and has even invited me to ride with her to another scrappy event in March of 2009. Gotta get a decision made on this, too, as the deadline is fast approaching.

So, everybody, say hello to Christy and I will email her and point her to this blog so she can enjoy the greetings!

Scrap Etc Projects!

2008-04-23T05:46:00.007-05:00

So, more pictures from Scrap Etc. Sorry! These are some of the things I came home with.
Some were "freebies," some were parts of kits, some of the projects are shown here, and some is stuff I bought in the on site store. See the cute Scrap In Style TV papers at the top? Too, too cute. I bought the whole Sugared kit from Basic Grey, mostly for the flamingo paper - LOL. The cute kraft album with the bright red flower is Creative Cafe, if you were wondering. They have some NEAT stuff! I love the colors.

These are cute cards from Jenni Bowlin's class. I never wanted these before, they seem too big for an 8.5 by 11 page. They were sooo fun to make, though, and I love that weird gold German foil, I think she called it. Cool. Oh, and the genuine milk bottle cap is awesome. I love little details like that.

And here I am with Jenni Bowlin and then again with Gretchen McElveen. In Gretchen's class we made neat little albums called "The 10 Most Influential People in My Life." Mine isn't finished, for lack of pictures of the people I want to put in there. I'll finish it, though.

So, that's it for Scrap Etc. updates for today!

Scrap Etc !

2008-04-22T05:49:00.008-05:00

Oh, my, I now see why people are addicted to scrap events like CKU! Scrap Etc. was a wonderful experience. I left Nashville really inspired and excited about scrapping. I remembered that it is more than just a hobby (although it is a WONDERFUL, fun hobby). It is memory-keeping, and everything that I create today will be a treasure 30 years from now.

So, we made this cool mirror mini-book (these mirror books aren't on sale ANYWHERE) with Heidi Swapp. Heidi is an amazing person and a wonderful inspiring speaker. The book is cool, but you have NO IDEA how meaningful it is, because you have to have listened to her speak to understand the inspiration behind it. She is just awesome awesome. I am now a HUGE fan, even if her rub-ons have issues. I can't say enough about how her words touched me. I love Heidi!

I am also in love with Wilna Furstenburg - she is just so stinkin' cute! Here are "Vilna and Vanda":

And I will post some more pictures of me with the teachers later. I HAVE to post the best picture of all - me with my roomie, SHIRLEY! Shirley is awesome and sweet and fun. And she loves the Chili Peppers! Woooo Hoooo - Anthony is HOT! And I can't forget JESS! The other Tally friend who was at Scrap Etc. She is soooooooo sweet!

And there will be much more to come! I will have to share pictures of some of the goodies I got (free and at the store) and projects I made, and Amy Tan (Amy Tangerine t-shirts), and Jenni Bowlin and Angelia Wigginton and the scenery at the beautiful Opryland Resort and Hotel, and my shoes from opening night....

THREE DAYS

2008-04-13T20:28:00.004-05:00

I can hardly believe it, but I have only three days before I leave for Nashville and Scrap Etc.! I have never been to a scrap event before, and I am so excited and nervous! I mean, really: what do I wear? What do I take? What if nobody likes me? What if my roommate thinks I talk funny? (she's from California - she's never heard me talk) Okay, Shirl - are you ready for a serious southern drawl?

I thought I would post another couple of digi layouts I have done. I am now one of Pyralis' Princesses - that is to say I am on the Pyralis Designs creative team and have been happily using her kits to create! Visit her shop HERE (at 3Scrapateers) or HERE (Just the Right Scrap). Her things are all on sale during April.
I also used alphas by Scrap Kitten and Royanna Fritschman, and some elements like the crown and star from SugarPlum Paperie.

A Scrappin Friendsy Site is DOWN

2008-04-03T21:57:00.003-05:00

and I mean down. For a while it was non-existent. I MISS all my friends there.
If you are an ASF friend, come HERE and you can still chat. Can't do much else, but at least that!
And if you're not an ASF "friend," you are cordially invited to join us anyway. Hopefully we will be back up soon!

Down in the Dumps

2008-03-30T18:15:00.006-05:00

ah, not having a very good day. actually, not a very good weekend altogether.
Won't go into the reasons, but suffice it to say they are mostly money-related.

On a brighter note, I won a free digital kit and add-on from Pyralis Designs. At DigiShopTalk she needed a name for her new kit, and she chose mine! YAY! The kit isn't in the store yet, though. I am thinking she said it would be there Tuesday. It is called A Painted Spring.

I did a page with it:

The tree stamp is from Scrap Stew Sue and the alpha brushes are Kelly Mickus. I've been practicing my extractions...can you tell? LOL. I did two other pages:

The Spring layout was done almost exclusively with elements from the Little Dreamer Designs Apprentice contest. Courtney Wilson, Dale Ann Cubbage, Mrs. B, and Lisa Sisneros are just some of the really talented designers in this contest.

The Enjoy the Little Things layout was done with papers from New Life Dreams, a frame by Cyndi Wetmiller and rub-ons and quote by Michelle Coleman in the Wild Sorbet kit that was a free download from Memory Makers.

You can sort of tell I have been playing around with doing those pop-out things with my pictures. I have also done a paper page and two cards, two loads of laundry, cleaned the bathrooms, made lunch and supper, been to the grocery store and helped Mary Beth with her algebra homework. She says she's not finished yet, so I guess I better get back to it.

Here's hoping that your weekend was better than mine! Love ya!

Baby Turns 14 Tomorrow

2008-03-24T19:57:00.006-05:00

Yes, my baby is almost 14! Here she is last week at the park in Cleveland, MS
(where she was born and raised until I cruelly yanked her up and moved her after the third grade!).

Can you tell it was a "little" windy?

And when they talk about your hair standing on end? Here I am with my hair blowing pretty much STRAIGHT UP!
So we just had spring break, and spent three days in Cleveland. Very pleasant to spend quiet time with the in-laws. And the kids in Cleveland were NOT on spring break, so it was quiet in the neighborhood as well. Here are some pictures of my in-laws. Poppy is 84 years old. I won't say how old MawMaw is (she wouldn't like me).....but she is younger than Poppy!

A Scrappin Friendsy has a new weekly challenge going on. I like it; it involves scraplifting some of our new Design Team members. Why don't you go check it out? I'm definitely gonna try to get it done sometime this week. Other scrappy news? I got high TallyPoints yesterday at Tallyscrapper! Thanks to whoever cruised through my gallery and gave me points! I tried to return the favor this afternoon and spent nearly an hour in the gallery and gave away 700 points!

I wish I had some exciting news or a funny story to tell, but alas, I do not. Just a whole bunch of same old, same old around here. Well, I am excited that in THREE WEEKS I will be going to Nashville Tennessee to Scrap Etc. (my first ever scrap event)! I am rooming with my tally friend, Shirley. She is not a scrap event novice, like I am. Hope she doesn't think I am too, too lame.

I got the sweetest note from my internet friend Stephanie, asking if I was okay. She noticed that I hadn't updated my blog (well, I had also said I wasn't feeling well the other day). So, Stephanie, this update is for you! (all the rest of you, blame Steph!)

And if you like to digi scrap (or if you just want to look at some cute stuff) go visit Digi Treats and check out the different ABC kits. And if you want to see lots of freebies, go HERE.

Mighty Hunter has a mighty nice fire going in the living room, so I think I am going to put my pj's on and go in there for a while. Until next time...... good night!

March 5, 2008

2008-03-05T06:29:00.004-06:00

So many things going on! Not interesting things, really, just THINGS. You know what I mean?

Still, I have just a few minutes before I go get ready for work, and I had to share something that was really exciting to me. I know it's silly, but still......

So I really love Royana Fritschman's digital designs. I did a digital page that turned out really nice, so I just decided I would post it at Divine Digital. Just a random decision, as I have never posted there. And guess what? She picked it as the layout of the day for Sunday, I think it was! And she told me she really liked it. She said I "rawked!" I laughed out loud at how silly I was.....because it was like meeting a celebrity or something. Hilarious. But anyway, here is the page I posted:And it was a kind of hard page to do (for me, as I am such a newbie to digital). Getting the negative strip done wasn't too bad, but then figuring out how to but it behind those ribbons but in front of the polka dot was hard, because that little thing is all one piece. Anyway, just thought I would quickly share that random bit of info! All my blog readers (all five of them) already know this anyway! LOL

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Well, It Has Been A Long Time

2008-03-01T12:31:00.004-06:00

There have been so many times when I have come to the computer intending to update my blog, but found myself doing other things.

Like downloading free digital scrapbooking elements, as in the big TREASURE HUNT from DigiShopTalk a couple of weeks ago (or was it just last weekend? can't be). Anyway, it was fun.
And I saw lots of designers that I liked that I am sure I would never have seen before.

Art and Scrap is one, and also Nicole Seitler at Sugarplum Paperie.
Blushbutter has these neat vintage images in her kits, and I especially need the aviation one!
The Mighty Hunter is a pilot, you know.

There were others, of course, but it would make for a really long post, since this is not really the reason I am updating here at all.

I have had a birthday since I last posted. I am now 43 years old. Sigh. However, I had a nice birthday treat last Saturday. The Mighty Hunter gave me a card with one of those big-eyed chihuahas on it, and $100 inside it! That was great! Then he handed me another doggie card. And yes, you guessed it, another $100. So, I'm happy, and the girls are jealous! LOL
And he brings out another card. This one says on the inside: "Say NO to lapdogs!" And has $100 in it. And one last card that says, "I love you anyway." And, yes, has another $100 in it.
Mary Beth had made me a Happy Birthday sign on my Cricut, and it's still in the kitchen.

So, I got some unmentionables with my birthday money LOL! And, I haven't spent it all yet. I've been trying to get a new Cricut cartridge, but forces are aligned against me. Hobby Lobby is out of almost everything. They don't have one that I want, at all. And WalMart had ONE font cartridge I wanted, so I picked it up and put it in my basket. Shopped some more, and walked away from my basket, only to TRY to return to it and find it missing! Never did find who took my basket. It was weird.

We have since participated in the Winter Fashion Show, of which I tried to take pictures but really couldn't get a good one. Here's one, just for informational purposes:
Fashion shows are not like beauty pageants.....the models don't stand still.

We are having a wonderful weekend cybercrop at A Scrappin' Friendsy. Why don't you come join us? We have card challenges, color challenges, prizes and RAKS, 8 new technique tutorials.....come on over!

Oh, my! Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T21:37:00.008-06:00

It's been over a week since I have blogged. Whew......where does the time go?

I'm Home Alone for the moment. Mighty Hunter and Daughter #1 are at MacAllister's. Daughter's request. Daughter #2 is downstairs babysitting. The Beauty and Beau Pageant (Part One) was tonight. That is to say, that the freshmen and sophomore girls went tonight, and the juniors and seniors will go tomorrow night. Oh, and the guys were tonight. Sarah didn't win, but she was sure a winner in my book! Here she is:

And here are a couple of pictures of my new "do"! I like it. Not sure how everyone else feels (well I know the daughters don't like it, and my mom's not crazy about it, and Mighty Hunter is pretty indifferent to it) but I like it:

So, it is officially time for bed! I think I heard Mighty Hunter and Dear Daughter drive up. I hope so, anyway. I am off for dreamland.

I've Been Tagged!

2008-02-06T17:45:00.000-06:00

By my friend Kammie, who was tagged by two gals from TallyScrapper.

First list: TEN RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME

1. I am shrinking. I used to be 5'7" and now I am 5'5. And I'm only not quite 43.

2. Speaking of being "not quite 43" my birthday is 21 days away.

3. And 21 is my favorite number, and I have no idea why. It's just pretty to me. So I got married on the 21st of June.

4. I got married on the 21st of June. What was I thinking? It's the longest, hottest day of the year.

5. I don't eat uncooked tomatoes. I love red sauces, love Italian foods, but don't put no stickin' tomato on my sandwich or in my salad!

6. I play the clarinet. I used to be quite good at it. Like, really good at it. And I miss playing. A lot.

7. I love to teach math, but I don't really like to do math.

8. I had a heart attack a year ago. I'm not overweight, I don't have high cholesterol, I don't have high blood pressure. But I did have a heart attack.

9. I am always looking around in parking lots for squashed, rusty bottle caps. I keep thinking I'll use them in a scrapbook or on cards or ATC's. They're so cool. They're also HARD to find.

10. I forget everything. Really. What's your name again?

My Bucket List.......things I want to do before I kick the bucket.
ooooh, this is not anything I really want to be thinking about, but it's all in good fun, right?

1. Go to Scotland
2. Get into geneology.
3. Learn to knit or crochet (or knit and crochet).
4. Own a really nice camera, with different lenses and things, and take really stunning pictures.
5. Be a great-grandmother, and a great grandmother.

So, whom shall I tag?

1. ROBIN
2. SHARON
3. CAROLYN
4. PENNY
5. STEPHANIE

Okay......now off to tell them they've been tagged!

Oh, and I will post a picture of my new haircut soon, I promise.

When It Rains, It Pours!

2008-02-04T06:15:00.001-06:00

So, my four or five blog readers undoubtedly noticed that I haven't updated in, like, forever! I sat down to do it several times, but life happened. : ) It does that, you know, but I just had the sad thought that whatever I was going to say, or share, at those times is lost forever. Whatever memory I would have captured is gone. There were thoughts I was going to share, pictures I was going to post, pearls of wisdom just waiting to be dropped! All gone.

Here are some of the things that happened:

Curtain Calls finally ended. The kids performed their unique version of Hairspray/Bring It On/High School Musical and did a WONDERFUL job. They came in second to the Seniors, but won in the categories of costumes and choreography. That entire week was full of long days, dress rehearsals, performances, etc. No time to blog, certainly.

Then, my dear friends Tom and Gail lost their daughter. Amy was an exuberant, creative, over-the-top young woman who lived a troubled life, addicted to prescription pain meds for about half of it. Seriously, terribly addicted. She married, and shortly after her husband (also very young) died of a heart attack. She was ill, hardly able to work, had been through rehabs more than once. She tried so hard, and was so cute and sweet and funny. And she died of an overdose at age 34. So this past weekend we attended her memorial service to say goodbye. Amy - we miss you. We're glad you're free, though.

And on Monday, Sarah sliced her thumb open on a desk at school. Really....we had to leave school early, and go to the clinic, wait two hours, and then get five stitches and a tetanus shot. Well, SHE got the stitches and shot, not "we." It was all very traumatic and stressful. And then the reactions to the tetanus shot kicked in and she missed two full days of school. Fainting, nausea, dizziness, fever, chills, body aches, stiffness.....all of it. She was one sick puppy. And so, she has mountains, literally, of make-up work to do. Has had to spend every waking minute working on it. Not quite through yet, but getting there!

That's not all, you understand. Mary Beth had a band clinic to attend on Friday and Saturday, at the same time that we needed to go to Amy's memorial service. So, we had to figure out arrangements for her to be dropped off and picked up while we were gone. She had a wonderful time, in spite of the fact that, at the last minute, her oboe had to be sent off for repair, and she had to audition on a strange horn. This week she goes to Montevallo on a field trip. And she has pulled her grades up to mostly A's, so she got her Nintendo back. She's quite happy about that, as you can imagine.

And the Mighty Hunter? He worked several 14 hours days last week shuttling airplanes around for annuals and repairs, and shuttling people around on the various airplanes, to Birmingham and New Orleans and Pine Bluff.

We are all glad that last week is over, and the week before last. They were insane. Life does happen, doesn't it?

At A Scrappin' Friendsy, we have a new DT Dare posted. It is mine, and if you haven't already seen it, you can go HERE and check it out.

Oh, and I got my hair cut. And nobody likes it, including my mother, who is the one who cut it! It is short, and stacked in the back. I've wanted to try this for a while. Apparently it was a BAD idea! So I am headed off to school today, where no one has seen it, and am "girding my loins" for the comments and non-comments that I will get. Sigh. It will grow.

I hope you all have a wonderful week...heck, I hope I have a wonderful week!

The Decluttering is Contagious!

2008-01-22T06:30:00.000-06:00

I have lots of friends who are really into decluttering right now! This is fine, but I wasn't having any part of it, hating housework the way I do. And living in an apartment (after living in a 2,000 sq ft house on 6 acres), I just thought clutter was unavoidable.

Yesterday I had a little time to kill and did this:

This is the top of our dresser BEFORE:

And this is the top of the dresser AFTER:

And these are my scrapbook magazines, BEFORE:

And these are the Magazines, AFTER:

Okay, I fully realize that this is no big deal to most people, but I have enjoyed seeing other people's before and after pictures, so why not take and post some of my own?

Because, truly, I am waiting for some HOT WATER TO SHOWER IN!
And I'm not likely to get it, and I really have to go shower anyway. So wish me luck!
Life with two teenage daughters = cold showers.

A New Challenge is Up!

2008-01-20T13:14:00.000-06:00

This week's challenge is posted here at A Scrappin' Friendsy.
It's posted by Kendria, and it is a real challenge. Are you up to it?
I'm not sure I am - LOL. She has some beautiful examples to go with it, though.
Can't wait to see who rises to this challenge and what they create.

On a sad note, Sarah didn't make the Lion's Band. She is one disappointed young lady. But I'm one proud momma: Lion's band or not......she's a great kid - smart, talented, and beautiful. I don't worry about what she's doing, or who she's hanging around with, or where she's going. I love her dearly. And there's always next year.

On another sad note, I have to head over to the school for curtain calls practice in just a little while. Sigh.

I have added a poll to my blog, to see if more people LIKE math, HATE it, or are just INTIMIDATED BY it. If you'll take the poll, and leave a comment here, I'll send this cute Artist Trading Card to somebody!

My Snow Pictures

2008-01-19T12:42:00.001-06:00

A Snowy Saturday!

2008-01-19T10:43:00.000-06:00

I can hardly believe it snowed! In Mississippi, that is a pretty big deal! We have gotten a kick out of watching it fall, and been outside in it to see if we could get any good pictures. Mighty Hunter has thrown open the windows and doors and embraced the cold! (Nothing new there, according to my blue nose and frozen toes!)

So, in the snow, Sarah and Marge headed off to Lion's Band tryouts....the Final Call. They are both done, and trying to figure out whether or not Sarah has to learn a second routine for the color guard portion. They did last year, but it is unclear whether they do this year. So.....no news there, except that she says she
did better this time than last time. Mary Beth and Mighty Hunter made her a good
luck sign this morning:

Here she is when we arrived for the first round tryouts, two short weeks ago. Yes, it was cold that day, but at least it wasn't wet and snowing!

And then, also two short weeks ago, Mary Beth got her braces off! If you've ever had braces for two-and-a-half years, you KNOW how she was feeling!

And, so, here I am, in the freezing cold (INSIDE my apartment, mind you) finally updating my blog. We, of course, have a Curtain Calls practice this afternoon. And tomorrow afternoon, and Monday afternoon (even though Monday is a holiday). This is going to be one of those events in my life that, while horrifically painful in its process, is worth all the hard work in the end. A little like having a baby,no?

And for a preview of weeks to come: Sarah has tryouts for Grease in early February, Beauty and Beau pageant in mid-February, and winter Fashion Show in late February. Mary Beth has a field trip to go on, and a band clinic to attend in mid- to late-February. This will be her first clinic, and I'm soooo glad she's going.

So, now that Mighty Hunter and Mary Beth have gone off to Bass Pro Shop, I can turn the heat up a bit and thaw my toes. Think I will go do that now, and leave my four readers to ponder why I let my husband turn me into an icicle every winter. When you figure it out, let me know, okay? Thanks.

Exciting News at A Scrappin' Friendsy!

2008-01-14T20:24:00.000-06:00

We have FOUR new design team members! Yay! Congratulations to these wonderful and talented ladies:

Sara Allison
Dawn Hopkins
Carolyn McAfee
Julie Bonner

Go HERE to see their entries, and all of the other wonderful entries, in our Design Team Call for 2008.

Later, when I have some more time, I will work on this blog a little. I want to have more links, and I still want to start posting a math problem every day, or at least every few days. For now, though, I have been at work 12 hours, and I am ready to eat supper and go to sleep!

Why would a teacher work 12 hours, you ask? Well, it's called Curtain Calls. Each class (sophomores, juniors, and seniors) write, direct and perform their own play/musical production. Now, it is student led, but teachers have to be at the practices to supervise, and guess who's going to be at all the practices this week? Me. Yep...the performances are next week, and it is crunch time. So, it will be a busy week.

Send good vibes to Sarah on Saturday as she goes back for the final auditions for the Lion's All-State Band. We're really excited about it.

She's Sixteen Today!

2008-01-05T07:14:00.000-06:00

Yes, my oldest daughter is Sweet 16 today. I can't really believe it. Where does the time go?

We have a busy day today, with Sarah trying out for the all-state band, and needing to take Aunt Mary Ann's Christmas presents to her, drop off a package at the post office, shop for a school project, and take Megan back to Clinton. Whew! Lot's to do and I haven't even had my first cup of coffee!

Slowly my mind is turning back towards school, and Algebra, and related things! Last night I dreamed about school, something I always do when I'm returning to work after a break of any significant length. So it is time to make some plans, which means that Algebra-related posts are sure to follow! (with my apologies to those who hate math....shame on you, anyway! wink wink)

Here is a Recent Favorite Layout

2008-01-01T17:08:00.000-06:00

I did it late last night and it turned out better than I planned (yeah, that hardly EVER happens)! I used this week's lyrics from Scrapping The Music, a very cool blog with weekly challenges. (uh huh....like we need more challenges, right? But these are song lyric challenges, and they are very inspirational.)

The First Post of 2008 is Gonna Be a Fun One!

2008-01-01T12:18:00.000-06:00

Yes, because we have winners! Yes, TWO of them!

One of them is from the Winner Takes All game at TallyScrapper.
That winner is: kmazy (Kris)

And the second winner, the winner of this unique and very cool package of ephemera I have put together, is Vannasmom (Dawn)

So, Dawn, tallymail me with your mailing address so I can send you your stuff! Congratulations!

2007-12-31T11:55:00.000-06:00

Well, I know it's not quite 2008 yet, but it is New Year's Eve, so it's close enough.
The Mighty Hunter has killed a doe, with Mary Beth along for the ride. She texts me that she will not watch them as they "do whatever it is they have to do to get it ready" because it is "too sad."

The deer chili that Mighty Hunter will make is not gonna be sad, neither are the deer hot tamales!
Yummy Yummy.

I am scrappy today because I have to do SIX layouts in order to reach my goal of 365 for the year.

Tomorrow I am going to have Sarah or Mary Beth draw for the ephemera package. Then I will get it postal on the 2nd (which happens to be the day Mary Beth gets her braces off)! Oh, happy day!

Time for a Give-Away!

2007-12-29T17:26:00.000-06:00

Well, I have had a fun, scrappy day so far. Actually, I have fiddled around on the computer and internet more far more than I've scrapped, but who cares?

Before Christmas I promised to round up some ephemera goodies and give them away to a lucky reader. Here they are: unique vintage postcards,
a vintage notecard (the yellow with the flower),
some hole reinforcers, hearts made from Prima paper,
hearts made from a page out of a book,
the word MERRY cut from a page out of a children's Christmas book,
part of a page from that same book,
a bit of red BoBunny Double-Dot paper from A Scrappin' Friendsy,
three novelty buttons,
and a cool vintage photo envelope (well, a piece of it, anyway).

These are very unique items and would make great elements for a scrapbook page or wonderful ATC's. Post here if you are interested, and I will pick a winner some kind of way!

Now I am going to go get some more of my Christmas Cookie coffee, which I am drinking out of my TallyScrapper mug!

Christmas Day 2007

2007-12-25T17:42:00.000-06:00

Well, we are having a wonderfully quiet day here at my parents' house! Just my family of four, plus my folks and my niece and nephew. I haven't taken that many pictures, which is really a shock. I usually have a TON! Been playing with my new Cricut (yes I know Cricuts are old news, but I have wanted one for a few months now, and Randy got one for me) while the kids have played video games, Scrabble, and Rook.

We had a wonderful non-traditional lunch of my dad's home-made lasagna. After that we have just been nibbling and enjoying the quiet.

While checking out my friend Rachel's blog
I saw this cool link to a reading level "checker." Her site is college-level, and mine is:

Cool! And I haven't even put any math problems on here yet!

So, for now I am saying goodbye Merry Christmas to the five people who actually read my blog! Love you guys!

Counting Down to Christmas!

2007-12-23T20:53:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am counting down the days! Have been winding up school, grading exams and entering grades. Shopping for Christmas presents and wrapping said presents. And the saddest thing of all? I made Martha Washington balls (which isn't so sad) and ATE them! Tons of them! They are soooo good.

Melt a stick of butter, stir in a box and a quarter of powdered sugar, a can of condensed milk, a can of coconut, and a cup and a half of finely chopped pecans. Chill, then roll in balls and dip in melted chocolate. That is the recipe in a nutshell.

Tomorrow I am going to make cranberry fluff. I'll have to let you know whether it is any good - I've never made it before.

I haven't finished putting together my envie of ephemera to give away. Tomorrow is looking like a good day to piddle around and get some goodies together and take a picture. Right now, the kids are home from the mall. Consequently, my quiet moment to post on my blog has vaporized. They are now twirling the wrapping paper, arguing over who has more presents, and whose are bigger, and talking about decorating the gingerbread house (I don't think so!).

So I will leave you with this peaceful scene from my living room (hah, doesn't look like that right now!). Merry (almost) Christmas, everybody!

I just love....

2007-12-18T06:31:00.000-06:00

a nice hot shower when it's cold outside. You know, the kind of hot shower that you just can't make yourself leave until the water starts getting lukewarm and you know you're gonna freeze if you don't hurry up! What things like that do YOU love? Leave me a comment!

Today will hopefully be a joyful day as my Key Club students get their gifts ready for some area children in need. We have bought lots of things: scooters, shoes, bikes, dolls, CD players, stereos, clothes and more! We will stay after school today and get it all together for the big party on Saturday. I NEED to be finishing up my own Christmas shopping, but this is WAY better.

And there is my BABY (who isn't a baby anymore) dressed up for the Christmas dance at school. Can you tell she didn't want me to take a picture? Evil kid. Doesn't she know it doesn't matter what she wants?!

Here is my other evil (I mean, sweet and loving) teenage daughter, in the show choir's recent concert. I totally adore my children....just love teasing them. I actually do my students the same way, completely and totally because I love them. I think they know that about me. I hope they do.

Do you ever take pictures of the fire in your fireplace? Very cool.
We totally love our fireplace!

So, does that make you warm if it is cold where you are? I hope so.

It might make you warm and fuzzy to know that I am putting together some envelopes of ephemera perfect for scrapping, card making, and ATC's! I will send them out after Christmas, as soon as I figure out HOW to decide who gets them! Any good ideas for me?

A Scrappin Friendsy DT Call

2007-12-16T18:19:00.000-06:00

A Scrappin Friendsy is searching for two new design team members.
Could you be one of them? Each member will serve a
six-month term on ASF.

Requirements:
- Newsletter - One layout or project per month, and a write up of
the project that includes products used.
- Newsletter - select “Hot Picks” layouts and provide
RAK prizes once during your six month term.
- Challenge Rotation with other DT members: create and
post one challenge every six weeks.
- Challenge Rotation with other DT members: during
our challenge weekends, at least one challenge (these will happen
every three months).

All projects completed for ASF will be yours to keep; however,
you will need to scan and upload your projects to a private album
in your gallery by the deadline prior to newsletter release.

You must have an active gallery at ASF. An active gallery is
considered one that has projects other than DT assignments.

You must maintain an active presence on the ASF boards.

Incentives:
- While you are a member of the ASF Design Team, you will
receive a 20% discount at the store (online or brick and mortar).
If you order product and choose to have it shipped with your
assignment products, postage will be paid!
- You will receive products free of charge to complete your
Design Team assignments.
- You will be given recognition for all projects that are
uploaded to the Design Team gallery. You will also be featured on our
Design Team website with a photo and small informational section
about you.
- Your layouts/projects will be yours to keep.
- Design Team members will also have input in the assignments
and running of our online community.

If you are interested, come join the A Scrappin Friendsy forum at
www.ascrappinfriendsy.com. Upload a layout that best shows your
style to the ’08 Design Team Call gallery. Then answer the following
questions and send them to the moderator
at moderator@ascrappinfriendsy.com

Name:
Username at ASF:
Other usernames:

1. Describe your scrapbooking style and list your favorite products
and techniques.
2. Tell us a little about yourself (interests, family, favorites, etc.).
We'd like to get to know you!
3. Please provide a link to the online gallery where you are
most active. Please include your username at that site.
4. Are you currently, or have you in the past, served on
another design team? If so, when and where?
5. What will you contribute to our DT and, more importantly,
to our site and store?

All applications are due by January 10.
The new DT members will be notified by January 14.

First Thoughts on my new Blog

2007-12-16T17:55:00.000-06:00

Truly my very first thoughts are that I don't have time to blog! I won't lie about that.
But, then I think that EVERYBODY blogs, and I hate to miss out on anything fun. I am
such a "joiner." So I will figure it out and find my "blogging place" in the world.

I hope to mix my personal thoughts and happenings with scrappy happenings and also with
math happenings. I teach Algebra I and geometry to high school students. I will post math
questions for fun and learning. Well, mostly for learning. I am always looking for
questions, especially good multiple-choice questions, that I can copy and paste for my tests.
I have a lot of experience writing, reading and editing MC questions for personal use and for
high-stakes testing. Maybe, eventually, math teachers will make their way to my blog and be
able to use these questions with their own students.

I am really into scrapbooking, and will probably end up talking a lot about that hobby on this
blog. There are a gazillion scrapper blogs out there, all better than mine, but I am joining in.
I can hardly believe it. And on that note, my next post has exciting news in it!

Slideshow of Some of my Scrapbook Pages

2007-12-16T17:46:00.000-06:00