Ah....life is good......finally!!

I know I shouldn't jinx myself by saying that but I finally got my retro pay. It was a raise we were supposed to get 3 yrs. ago but thanks to our illustrious governor, we didn't get funded. Anyway, enough complaining. I can now pay off my huge amex bill that I've built up while my husband was unemployed.....basically by buying sb/stamping stuff & a few other things! oops.

We are picking his car up today...YEAH! I no longer have to be dropped off at work to be stranded at this godforsaken place all day!!!!!!! I can shop for sb stuff on my lunch hour, right?!! Well, maybe not. I need to behave for a while until my husband is bringing in some serious commissions!!

Anyway, those are my three good things this week - my dh's job, my retro pay and his car. I feel like things are moving in the right direction finally!!!!!!!

What kind of coffee am I? The best is true!! But I hate black coffee!!

You are a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Cars, cars, cars....

Went car shopping last night instead of scrapping! I had NO choice in the matter LOL. My dh wanted either a Pontiac Vibe (has a Toyota engine) or a Toyota Corolla. Well, we found out that the Vibe only has the engine and not other components of a Toyota so we're back to the Matrix or the Corolla. He needs good gas mileage with his new job since he's getting an allowance instead of the paid gas. So....we really wanted to stick with front wheel drive and all of the Matrix's are now all wheel. The salesman is on the commercial with some schtick about being the prince with a wand and he magically finds what you need. So....they found a car that they thought would be for us. It was a used 05 Matrix with front wheel drive. The only problem is that it's white which is our LEAST favorite color (no offense to those that have white but it's just our preference). So we left there, ate a Wendy's dinner at 9:00, ran to pick up my son and now we have to figure out if we can live with the white or go for the Corolla. I don't care either way and told dh that. He's the one that has to drive it every day, all day. I only have to use it on nights & weekends to save gas when I shop or run errands. My big piggie takes too much gas! More later....

Gnarls Barkley

I just had to share....I am LOVING this guy!! The song, Crazy, makes you want to get up and dance!! What I was shocked at is my 16 yo loves it too! It almost reminds me of a Barry White-ish song or something much older. Check it out!!



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000F3AAUW/ref=pd_bbs_null_1/102-1835311-6409708?v=glance&s=music

Doing the Happy Dance....

Wooooohoooo, woohoo hoo!! My husband was offered a job yesterday! I never thought I'd be able to say that again! It's been a long 9 months (like a preganancy!!!). I am afraid to get too excited. He'll sign the agreement today and start on 8/7 (after drug screening, etc.). We are so happy!!

I'm also happy that I can officially say I've lost 19 lbs. Two days on the scale does it for me!! I feel so good today. I know I'm not skinny but I feel soooo much better!! We have a staff apprec. cookout today so I'll be seeing people from another campus that I haven't seen in a while. I wonder if anyone will notice?!! I hate when you think you look like you've lost 50 and no one says a word!!! I don't care either way. My stomach is NOT hanging over my waist band any more. YEAH! Go SB diet!!! :-))

things

Well, the 9 a.m. interview seemed to go well. It's between my dh & another guy who is being interviewed this afternoon. I really hope this works out.

I'm getting out at 3 today! Yeah....hope to scrap some extra los!! I did two extra last night so I was very happy. It was my son at the sr. prom with a girl he broke up with. Oh well..moving on to 2004.

Ah.....bettter

Well the weekend was much more pleasant at my house. I think we've finally gotten through to my son, or I hope so!! I saw my old son here. Told him he better keep it that way. He's off grounding tomorrow so back to the friends.

My husband got a call on Fri. from the pres. of a company he wanted to have a second interview with. He had given up hope on that one so it was a pleasant surprise. He also has a second interview with another company and was about to give in and take the job even though the money was horrible. I desperately want him to get the one at 9:00. Maybe he won't even have to go to the 4:30 interview! Now I just have to find a ride home!!!

I scrapped this weekend and also made 4 or 5 cards. Fun, fun, fun!!!! I needed the therapy!! :-) Back to work tomorrow and it will be a looooong day since I"m getting dropped off early & don't have a car to go out at lunch time. It's supposed to be in the 80's so that means I can't walk either. Maybe I'll bring a book....need to finish Memoirs of a Geisha!

Cards, cards, cards....

Well, I didn't do any scrapping because I had to make some cards.

First of all, my 20 yo niece had her baby boy, Derek, yesterday. Wow, that makes me a great aunt and my mom a great grandmother!! He's 6 lbs. 2 oz. Can't wait to see him! I hope they don't have to struggle too much for the next several years.

Second, my neighbor returned my stamps so that I could make a golfer's card and sent a few of hers along with a card she made. It was so cute that I decided to copy it for my golfer.

I think I have all of my July & most August cards done now. Maybe I can get back to the scrapping tonight!

I hope to get to my lss on Fri. if I have a car during the day. They have a free make & take card from Amuse and I may pick up some Bazzill papers and the Hero Arts flourish stamp.

Not sure what's going on but my links aren't working.

This link is for the blog quizzes.

http://www.blogthings.com/quizzes/

There weren't many tunes that I liked on his...Not true!

Your Musical Tastes Match: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

See his whole playlist here (iTunes required)

What Celebrity Matches Your Taste in Music?

What flower am I? Mostly true!

You Are a Blue Flower

A blue flower tends to represent peace, openness, and balance.At times, you are very delicate like a cornflower.And at other times, you are wise like an iris.And more than you wish, you're a little cold, like a blue hydrangea.

What Color Flower Are You?

Oh MY, I am so excited!!!

Neece, one of my SBA friends, was able to give me a list of favorites & blogs!!! Yeah!! Thank you sooo much! I really appreciate it. What a nice surprise this morning!

I scrapped two pages last night - one of my youngest's lacrosse & then his school photo. I tried to do one more so my total wouldn't be an odd number but my dh came in to talk. He has a 2nd interview on Wed. and will probably take the job even though he'll be making less than me. It will be tight but at least it's money coming in.

Thanks again, Neece!!

Weight loss & layouts...

I got on the scale this morning as I do every day. I lost another 2 lbs.!!!!!!! I'm so excited. I was bored to death with the 16 lb. weight loss. It feels like I was stuck there forever! I hope this wasn't a fluke so when I get on tomorrow it'll be back at the 1x0 number! Keeping my fingers crossed and my stomach tucked!! :-) Now if I can get to the 20 lb. loss.....

I'm hoping to scrap again tonight. I got two pages done last night which brought me to 101 for the year!!! I could not leave it at 99 so I rushed through the other 2. And I hate odd numbers so I need to move up to 102 or 104 tonight!

Here's a card I made for my cousin.

You can't see too well but the black car & HB are embossed. This is not my design. I made something very similar at a class at my lss a long time ago.

Better days...

Ok, things are going much better around here.

I got to scrap the other night and did 2 pages, one Frankentoe and one family reunion page. Nothing last night because we ended up going to JCP after the anniversary party and then put the curtains up in our bedroom. They look nice.

Today my dh is off to a jam session and my mom returns home this afternoon. So....I could lay out in the sun and get some color on my white legs (and sweat to death since it's around 90), or I could clean (NOT - did most of it), or SCRAP some more!!! I also have to make a card for my cousin, the cop. He's always looking out for us so I have to make a personal one for him. He loves orange so that's where I"m starting.

Back to work tomorrow and also the start of summer school for my ds. Wish me luck!!

No scrappin'.....

Well, I didn't scrap last night but I made two quick cards and cut some bookplates for my SBA friends. I ended up going out at 10:30 to pick up my 16 year old. He THOUGHT he had a ride home. Grrrrrr.....I was in my pj's and it was pouring buckets. Oh well. It gave us a chance to talk after I dropped his friend off.

Tonight is another story. I'm going to get something done, hopefully scrap another page or two. I've been putting off my husband's surgery. It's a gross picture of his toe with pins and stitches. Yuck. I think I'll call it Frankentoe.

Cards, cards, I just love making cards...

I scraplifted this from www.splitcoaststampers.com I just changed the color, stamp, etc. I used my CTMH stitches for this with a white SU pad. It's for my SIL's bday. She loves butterflies and the color purple.

It's been a few days....

I took Mon. & Tues. as vacation days so I've been off the computer.

Yesterday I set out on my walk after applying ocean scented lotion. I read in a magazine that bugs don't like the smell. So....on I went and almost stepped on a squashed turtle and then some frogs. I went down the swampy winding road and low and behold the horsefly started on me. I thought he'd go away but he was relentless as usual. I cut my walk short and headed home to exercise on the ball.

We went to Loew's got some nice curtains and decorative rods. They don't fit. The window is too close to the wall so we'll be heading out again for that. We also have to check into our plan at verizon.

I have been on a scrapping roll! I got 4 more los done and I also made a card for my cousin. Last night I used my stitches set from CTMH and made a card for my sil (aug. bday). So I'm ahead of myself - yeah!!

I hate the thoughts of going back to work tomorrow but I may take Fri. off. Still nothing on the job front but getting closer. He has been on two interviews and is waiting to hear back. My fingers are crossed. More later...

Scrapped again!

I did another 2 pg. lo. Nothing great, just a ton of photos of my niece's wedding from 7/03. I cut out a part of their invitation and used it for my title. I did my first hideaway journaling! I had no place to write down the funny story about my son winning the centerpiece (a fish bowl/vase). So I made a strip of paper and tucked it behind his photo. I hope to get to our Aug. 03 vacation tonight. Or maybe update the boys books. The older they get, the less I have to scrap so it should be easy to catch up. It's kind of sad though. I'm running out of those cute younger boy things to scrap. Oh well.....some day I'll have grandchildren, right?! Hopefully not too soon though. I want to make it to 50 before I have any. That would mean my 20 yo will be out of college for a whole year.

I'm going to my lss on my lunch hour today. I need adhesives!!! I also want to check out the new stuff since I haven't shopped in forever! I really hope this job thing works out for my husband.

July 4th

Well, it was kind of strange yesterday. My oldest son was in Maine, my youngest was swimming with friends, and my mom was at a cookout that we didn't want to go to. We just wanted to hang out and do our own thing. It was very quiet though. I went to the mall and exchanged some things and bought others. I found a dress for the next wedding & I'm very excited about that!

We ended up going out for dinner at a local casual restaurant. We both got a big 25 oz. beer and a lobster roll. Our tradition has been boiling lobsters for 4th of July but we had no one to do it with! So we ended up having it anyway. I broke the diet again by eating the roll & some fries. We also had some boneless buffalo tenders that had a little bit of breading on them. YUM...but NOT on the diet. I will be on the right track today and for the rest of the weekend! I think I gained a total of 2 lbs. back. Not too bad since I ate a lot at the wedding & over the weekend!

I scrapped 2 more pages last night! YEAH! I think that's 7 pgs. for the weekend!

My dogwood tree

summer

Weekend...

Had a great time with my cousin & her husband. We picked them up at the airport and went out for fried clams. They live in MD and don't get the fresh clams we do. It was delicious. I decided to break my diet for the day and was sorry to see that I gained 4 lbs. in one day!!! I did lose most of that though.

The wedding was beautiful and we all danced our behinds off! I'll have to see if we have any photos to post later. It was fun but I was happy to drop them at the airport just because I was tired.

I took some photos for the sba challenge outside yesterday. I'm sad to say that the flowers on my dogwood tree are going by and we will have to move or get rid of the tree because it's touching the house. The flowers above are from a neighbor. This is what summer looks like to me! They've spread like crazy and they're so pretty when the sun is out. I caught them at dusk so they're somewhat closed. Don't mind the weeds!