TGIF!! At Last!!

Friday - My favorite day and it's here again! This week has flown by, but that's okay, but each WINTER week that goes by quickly, gets us that much closer to SPRING!!

Today, I am heading out of town to shop with Patty. We have a 40% off coupon to our LSS, and you know how that is, you simply can't let a good coupon go to waste. We also have some Bath and Body Works coupons for some 'Freebies' with purchase, so it's likely, we will stop there too.

Other than that, I've been having some pretty good days and I'm doing well on my 365 Project and my card-making too.,

All my Valentine's are now done and the ones for the FIBRO Gals I will mail out on Monday, the others that are local family and friends I will hold onto for another week. I'm happy to be ahead of the game for once. Next it'll be some sort of SPRING cards, I'm thinking!!

After today's shopping event.....I am going on the BEAUTY and CRAFT Wagon, both which start again on February 1st. I did start out WELL in January, but this past week, between good sales and my State Refund check, I've been on a little spree. I am happy to say I am NOW very very well stocked with Beauty and Skincare products and enough crafting supplies, probably for a year!!

WISH me Luck!! I hate to pass up great auctions on eBay or great sales. At least I ONLY buy sale things, so that does save money! Right??

SNOW DAY!!

Yes....It is snowing again! School was canceled last night, so that was a good thing. We were notified in advance and knew we didn't' have to get up early.

It's about 10:45 am now, and we have about 3", but the snow is very, very light and the plow just went by for the first time. It's expected to change to rain later today and then end maybe again as now late tonight. I hope that it's not too bad and that we don't lost any power. We should be okay, since there is no wind or heavy snow.

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This has also been a sad week. I found out of Sunday that Donna Spelman died. She was the wife of my former boss at Varian, (Mike Spelman), who just died this Fall. It's such a shock to think of them both being gone...they were both far to young and vibrant! Only 62 and it must be very hard on their kids, (Kimberly and Michael). I finally reached Janine (my former Job-share) partner at Varian, this morning to share the sad news. We both still can hardly believe that Mike is gone and now Donna too. Life is simply too short.

My Mom just called now to also tell me that my neighbor (Paula's) Dad has passed too. He's been quite ill for some time and in a Nursing Home. He was much older, at 86, but I know Paula, Roger, Kayla and her Mom, must be having a hard day. Her Dad was very policitally involved and had been the Mayor of Gloucester at one time, so I'm certain that his Funeral will be very bid...and very heartbreaking!!!

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As for me...I'm okay, this is NOT been one of my best weeks either! Not a bad Fibro flare, but I don't feel that great. I started reading "Twilight" last night and for some reason I woke up with a headache....I'm just NOT good with reading...my eyes are not what they once were and I think that my meds, play a part in that. The book is okay, so far, but I'm not into it yet. I read about 50 pages (2 chapters). I hope to try to read more tonight.

Now, I'm off to head up to my craft room and work on the second half of my Week 4 pages for the 365 project! I also need to take some pictures for this week and start putting together ideas for this week!!

I hope the sad days are over for this week and things start looking up!!!

Happy Monday!!

Well...about as happy as a MONDAY can be!! It's never been my favorite day, I love the weekends much more because I really enjoy that extra sleep. The 5 am alarm on the week days is NO fun, this morning I snoozed three times before I finally got up!!

I had a great weekend and managed to get a lot of crafting time in, which is the BEST. I finished Page 4 of my 365 project and have also almost finished my second page 4. After finding some really good Inauguration pictures, I decided to make one full page based on that them and a second page for the rest of the week!

Here is my Page 4 - (Part 1)



This my my Album that finally arrived from Jo's!!

The album didn't photograph well, but it's really very pretty. It's a Making Memories Leather Post Bound Album in a light lavender color and really very nice. I also bought extra page inserts and put them in yesterday too. I was very happy when I saw it and it was worth the wait.

Today, I ended up going to have my nails done instead of waiting until Wednesday. The weather is forecasting another SNOW storm....YUK! It's expected to start on Tuesday night and snow ALL day on Wednesday. Since I didn't want to take the chance of have to miss my appointment I lucked out and was able to go in at noon today! I took pictures too and will likely use one or two of them for my page this week. I'm starting to run out of ideas for pictures, especially since it's soooo cold and I'm home most days.

So that's about it for today. I hope to finish up my second Page 4 tomorrow and I have finished ALL my Valentine's too! Here are two of my favorites! For the most part, they came out pretty good!!

WooHoo! Friday at Last!!

I hope everyone has a Fantastic Friday and a great weekend! I can NOT wait to be able to sleep in tomorrow!

I'm off today for an out-of-town doctor's appointment and a bit of shopping. I figure, if I have to drive out of town, I may as well stop by the Craft stores while I'm out. I have coupons for two of them and also one for Bath & Body for a Freebie!!

So...that's it for now...I'm off!! Have a nice day and a wonderful weekend too!!

It's Thursday already!

The time this week is flying by. Today and most of yesterday I spent working on our Taxes!! Boring and very time consuming, but I wanted to be DONE and get them in the mail so that we can look forward to our refund!!

Happily, I finished them this morning! WOOHOO! Then I went directly to the Post Office and mailed off the Federal. I was able to file the State through their new online FREE Web filing and that was a breeze. I wish the Federal would offer FREE online filing for all, but I couldn't find anything and I'm too cheap to pay!! We aren't getting as much back this year as in the past, but it's better than nothing and I'm happy that we do have a refund coming!!

Now, I need to work on doing Brian and Alex's returns, but neither of them, has received all their paperwork yet, so they can wait. Luckily theirs are simply and easy to do and they get most all their money back.

The rest of today, I'm catching up and then resting. My neck has been awful and I'm not sleeping so well, despite being exhausted!!

So that's it for now...hopefully I'll have more free time on the weekend to do crafts.

Tuesday - Today is a historical day in our Country as President Obama will officially become our newest President. I wish he and his family well and hope that the change we ALL hope for so much, will be coming. He has quite a challenge ahead of him, and I truly hope that in time things will get better for ALL of us!! May God Bless America!!

As for me.....I'm off to Chiro this morning and a nice adjustment is going to feel really good today. I've been feeling kind of stressed and upset the last day or so and I think my body is hurting more from that!!

It just really upsets me when some people are unkind to others and I hate seeing that type of behavior. It happened yesterday, within one a group of my friends and it's really is upsetting to me! While I will always agree that not every one will like everyone....I don't believe we should ever resort to name calling of try to push our feelings on others. I find it wrong and hurtful and I am the kind of person who would never ever hurt some one's feelings on purpose!!

I know this will pass, but for now I'm upset to see one "friend" speak poorly about another and hope that I can put this behind me....take a break from hanging with them for a few days and move on.

Hoping today will be a better day and that ALL people will try and be kind to others...even if we do NOT always like them!!

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Afternoon update!!

I've been really doing a lot more crafting again and having a great time. Today I worked on Valentine's and also on my Project 365 layout page for the third week!

Here are a couple of Valentine Cards that I made for a project the "Two Peas in a Bucket" . They are doing a year long project called a "A Year of Cards". You can check it out here - CLICK!

Here are my cards that I made and submitted -



It was fun and I liked having the ideas an experience to learn more ideas and techniques! Special thanks to Cindy for sending me the link and encourging me to try it and to submit my cards!!

WOW!! It's already Sunday afternoon....where does the time go!!

Yesterday, Patty and I want off shopping, we planned to go simply to our Favorite Scrap Store "Absolutely Everything", but she had a return, so we ventured to the Mall to go to NY & Company. As it turned out, I had not been in that store in a long time, but I LOVED it as much as I did years ago and they were having a great sale too. I bought two pairs of jeans, two tops and a pair of earrings and everything was half price. I also applied for one of their store cards, for an additional 15% off, but then remembered that I have a fraud alert on our credit things and so it can't go through until they call and get my approval. (It's nice to know that the Fraud Alert works). Today, I was contacted to make certain it was me who had applied and I had to verify I wanted to apply and provide some security information. I even was a bit leery at first, so I took the number and called back, but it was indeed the bank that handles their cards, so I was able to verify I did want it and now I can go back to the store and get the 15% off of my shopping from yesterday. They told me yesterday, I have 30 days, so I'll do that sometime next week!!
I was very impressed with how well this works, and I feel much more secure with our accounts now that we have the fraud alert in place. We will to keep it on our accounts for the future too! Ever since out debit card was used fraudulently, we simply didn't feel very secure!

After our little spree there, (Patty bought some things too), we then hit the scrap store. Come to find out I had a package there from some give-a-way that I had won. It was a bunch of papers , embellishments and stickers and not a bad little package, so that was a nice surprise. I also bought some new papers for my 365 book and today I'm working on page three and doing Valentine Cards for the Fibro Beauties too! Its' been a good day for crafting and it's relaxing too! We also signed up for the DeNami Class in March yesterday and I'm looking forward to that class. The first class was excellent and it'll be the same instructor, Debra!!

I haven't felt that great all weekend and it kind of started yesterday, on the way home from shopping. It came on fast and I felt super light headed, nauseous and feverish too! Once I did get in, I just put my bags up in my craft room and crashed on the couch. I then had something to eat and laid down for a bit and it passed, but boy did I feel sick for awhile.....really terrible. Eventually, I felt better...today Ive felt good and bad with waves of that same awful feeling. I hope it's gone for good!

Packey (DH, for those of you who don't know him), just went out to shovel. We woke up to more snow this morning. For a while it changed to rain and then ended as snow again, with about 4-5". Now the temps are dropping, so it's time to clean up before everything freezes solid. It's been pretty snowy this month, but at least the bitter cold is gone for awhile! It's getting dark now, but it sure is very pretty out there!!

Once DH comes in we'll make some burgers for dinner, with a salad..nothing exciting. Alex is working and will be out at six and he and I can sleep in tomorrow, since it the MLK Holiday. Packey has to work, but we'll be home resting!!

So that's our weekend! Shopping was good and I love my new things..today I've done a lot of crafting and have had a great day!! I'm off now to stop by the Monkeys and the MISfits and see what is going on in both groups.

Signing off for today....take care

TGIF-- It's' FRIDAY!!

....and a bitter cold Friday too! When we woke up it was ZERO, yes...0 degrees and very cold. The only good thing is that the SUN is shining and there is no wind today.

Tomorrow and Sunday too are both expected to be bitterly cold again and we will be getting more snow (YUK) on Sunday, which could be another 6" on top of what is still on the group!!

I am not sure exactly what the forecast is, but I sure hope it's for late day. Patty and I have plans to go to Absolutely Everything, our local scrap store on Sunday and she we haven't had a chance to shop there in weeks, so we are really looking forward to going. We are also planning to sign up for a DeNami Card Class which will be on March 7 th. I can't wait to take that class and it should be great, it's 10 more cards Spring/Summer Themed and costs $40, so it's a good deal. It's been taught by Debra again, the teacher who did the last DeNami Class and she was fantastic. Its' also an afternoon class from 1:30 -5 PM, so we won't have to get up and rush in the morning.

Today, I need to get started on my Valentine's that I am doing with my Fibro gals. I've been trying to get going on them all week, and have been too busy, but hopefully today.

I have a nice fire going in the wood stove and that really helps to heat my craft room, so I'm heading up there very soon and need to pick up a bit first too!!

Wish me luck as my Fibro is flaring a bit and my neck is sore. I just took an extra muscle relaxer and I'm adding some of my Cryogel too and hoping it'll be better shortly! I think the weather is NOT helping with my Fibro at all...it's been a rough week and I'm happy that I'm IN for the rest of the day.

Have a FANTASTIC Friday and a great weekend too!!

Happy Thursday!!

This week is flying by, but it's all good! I've been very busy with my 365 Project and having a lot of fun. It's sooo nice to have the project, especially with this bitter cold weather that we are having.

This is my completed Page Two of my Project 365!
The Week of January 4-10, 2009

One more view --

I enjoy being home and once I get a nice fire going in the Wood Stove, I'm able to say roasty warm and spend a lot of time in my scrap room. For some reason that room is really cold., (I guess probably because it's the one room, where we haven't yet replaced the older windows). But once the wood stove is on it's nice.

I completed my second page of the project and I like it...it's pretty plain and simple, but it came out good and having this project of great for helping me to learn.

Today, is a busy day and I wont' have much crafting time. Alex has Mid-Terms still and I'm running him to and from school at different hours. We did get to sleep in again too and that was great. DH survived another layoff at work yesterday too, so that was a relief. Brian stopped by to pick up a new camera lens he ordered and has been super busy with both his jobs. Mom and Don returned from their overnight to Mohegan Sun, but didn't win a thing.

This afternoon I have my annual Gyn appointment, which I do not care for, but it's simply one of those things we have to do. Having Fibro keeps me always at one doctor or another it seems and at least this is only once a year. That appointment is at 2 PM and had to be re-scheduled from December, which was already way overdue, it's more like almost 2 years since I've been and that is NOT so good, usually I'm much better, but because I'm always at the doctor, I just kept putting it off and it takes SO long to get in...oh well! It'll be done today and that's good! Hopefully, all is well and I don't' foresee any issues!

So that's my day, by the time I get back, it'll be time to think about cooking dinner and all that jazz! I just hope it isn't too freezing cold and that we don't get the snow that might come in. The cold is bad enough, no snow is needed!

Brrrr....Winter is NOT for me!!!

Well it's now Wednesday and "Baby It's COLD outside" and getting colder. This morning when I woke up it was 20, but the temps are going to drop ALL day and it's very windy. Tomorrow and Friday we are expecting to be near zero and if it's Windy it'll be below ZERO!!!

GOSH to I hate WiNTER and COLD!!

Today, its' only 11 am, and I have the Wood Stove blaring! It feels much warmer in the house once that is going good, so I think it'll be going a lot for the next few days!!

I never did get started on my Valentine's yesterday, so I hope to today. I had ordered some supplied from eBay and they arrived yesterday, so NOW I'm ready. I also have Page 2 of my Book almost completed and it's coming along!!

I hope the SPRING comes VERY soon...this Winter stuff is NOT for me!!!

Tuesday - January 13th!!

Good Morning,

It's Tuesday and the sun is finally out here again, which is nice to see! I actually was able to sleep in until 7AM vs. the normal 5AM this morning too and that makes this my day off to a great start with extra rest! Alex has Mid-Terms all this week and today and Thursday he goes in later, so that will be another day where I can sleep in. Extra sleep with Fibro is such a wonderful thing and I'm always very, very thankful for that!!


I'm also very happy to say that yesterday, I completed the first page of my 365 Project! It's not as nice as some of the really good scrapper can do, but a good start for me. I started this project in the hopes that it would help me to become a better scrapper! I'm enjoying it so far and it does have me starting to like scrapping more than I had before. I still think card-making will also be my first love, but I do like this whole project idea and if I keep up and finish is, it will be a full year of my life and that's kind of near and why I decided to do it.

This is page one...I plan to add a few more embellishments, but I like it and it's a good start!!

I'm off now to start on page two (week two) of January and do also get moving on a plan for the Valentine cards that I doing with the Fibro Gals. I need to get moving on that too!

Have a terrific Tuesday!! Peace!!

It's Monday again...!!

Happy Monday!! ....Well as Happy as Mondays can be! Monday has NEVER been my favorite day. It's hard waking up early again and rushing around. Today, it's snowing here again...just flurries, but enough to be a pain. I just came home from bringing Alex to school, but have to run errands in a bit too. Once I get done with errands I'm planning to get back to work on my 365 Project. I've already HIT a bump in the road...and will NOT be using the photo album I posted here yesterday. The black insides are too dark and it really looks awful. I should have stuck with my original plan to order a "lavender" or "lilac" color and now I did, but it'll be a few days before it arrives. I found it at Jo's last night online the it was ON SALE and actually less than the stupid cream photo album....ARGH!! Once I have it Post a picture of it. I'm doing good on the project and pictures and I'm up do date, but do NOT have ANY pages done. I may work on one today, as a Full Page layout depending in how much I get done as far as chores too. I'm also still having problems with VISTA and (Kevin), the Microsoft VISTA tech is planning to call me today, but I'm going to ignore this call because I'm too stiff and tired to deal with it and hope he'll call another day!! Maybe tomorrow! I simply do NOT want to do that ALL morning!! So I'm off....I need to get the bank and get gas in my car and then I can finish my AM chores and get back to my project.

This is going to be my Picutre of the Day and it's a picture of a new card I made last week! It's plain, so that it can be used as any type card. I really liked the pink/black combo and may do more like this!

Have a great day!!

Happy Sunday,

Today, I slept in until close to 9 AM, which is super late for me. I woke up the the sound of the plow coming up the road...yes, we had MORE snow again. I'd guess another six inches and I hate it!!

It's now already 2 PM and I just finished my chores! Now I want to start on my 365 project. This the ALBUM I bought yesterday to get going on the project! I will post more things in time, but I'm anxious to get going on it today!!

Have a wonderful day and ENJOY the rest of your weekend!!

Shopping for my 365 Project!!

Hi all,

After my HUGE disappointment with CK yesterday, I was up bright and early today and headed off to the Craft Store to begin my search quest of buying the supplies I need to created my VERY OWN 365 Project.

I'm home now (5 hours later) and happy to say that I think I have a good start on beginning. I ended up buying a pretty cream color very nice post-bound photo album. Finding any 3 ring style albums or scrapbooks was NOT possible in ANY of the store I search (Mike's, AC Moore, Target and Staples). I settled with the Album from Michael's because of large size that fact that it already had over 40 inserts in all all the 4X6 size as in the original project. What I also alike is that some are in Portrait and some in Landscape, so I'll be able to change it up a bit!

I'll off now to get going and I'll take some pictures of the album and post soon. This blog is MY very first and this is ALL new to me, so it's going to take time to have it ALL pretty and nice!!

I may need some help and tips from you ALL and would appreciate that very much!!

Happy Saturday and Enjoy your day!!