More useless fun and diversion!

You've Changed 28% in 10 Years

Ah, the past! You may not remember it well - because you're still living in it. While you've changed some, you may want to update your wardrobe, music collection and circle of friends.

How Much Have You Changed in 10 Years?

Video proof....

...That my cat is not a TOTAL psycho.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ujbfCBsexA

LOVE how the random characters they named her video have the word "sex" in it... sheesh..... Trust me, it is TOTALLY SAFE FAMILY VIEWING.... LOL!

A few photos from yesterday.....

The kids are getting veggies now. They really like their carrots! Abigail's hair just gets longer and keeps going straight up!


YUM!


Aren't their matching outfits CUTE?????


Have I mentioned what a HAM Gregory is turning out to be???


My favorite photo from yesterday... I call it "Three Generations". That's my Mom-In-Law, Sis-In-Law (Barb) and Abigail. TOO CUTE!!!!!


Can't leave they guys out.... Here is Russ and his father.

At Christmas, I'll be a little more organized and get true generation photos... I'll get Don & Gregory in with Russ & Dad and I'll get Patty in the "girls" photo.....

Mmmmm.... TURKEY.....

Yes, I have survived Thanksgiving. Fun and TASTY! I'll upload a couple photos of Abigail and Gregory later.

Also survived minimal Black Friday shopping, although I am headed out again in a few minutes. I went to BestBuy at around 7 this morning, went it, got the item I went for, they were out of the second thing I was looking for, got in the MIRACULOUSLY short line and left. 20 minutes, tops. Went to go to Fry's Electronics and the LINE OF CARS *TRYING* to get into the parking lot was backed up ONTO THE FREEWAY EXIT!!!! What the heck????? So I'll try there later. Now I'm off to Kohl's (excellent deals on bedding before 1PM!).

Tomorrow I'm doing a turkey for us since we all know one of the best parts of Thanksgiving is LEFTOVERS!!!!! YUM!

Every once in a while.....

Someone says something to me that is so OUT THERE, all I can do is laugh......

So Starbucks has all their Holiday stuff out, including these REALLY STINKIN CUTE holders for their gift cards (which I have several already purchased for gift giving this year, so I got to take a few).

Now, I know the folks at my Starbucks PRETTY WELL as I am in there just about every day and I sit and read my paper when I'm there, so I've had the chance to chat with most of them. The gal who rang me up says to me, "Aren't those mittens the CUTEST? You should take a set home and PUT THEM ON YOUR CAT! Wouldn't that be DARLING?". Uh..... yeah..... Darling. That's the word to best describe the BLOOD BATH that would ensue if I even THOUGHT about putting those on her.... They are cute tho.... wonder if I could get them on just the front feet???? They'd make a dashing accessory to the little jingle bell collar.... If I haven't blogged again by the 27th, you'll know that I tried it and you can read all about it in the news... just Google "Woman slashed by cat while attempting to put mittens on her".... he he he.....

Last night she was sitting on my lap and just started growling. I don't know if she was having a bad dream or what, but it was dang funny. She could have left at any time, but instead she sat there growling and if I pet her, she would scream and at one point she even hissed. Psycho..... I was even able to record it on my digital camera.... what a nutcase.... she truly has a kitty screw loose.....

I did some stamping this morning, but I can't share what I did as the person getting it reads my blog. Off to start another thrilling day of errands and housework.....

Taz is NOT amused.....

PetSmart has all their holiday stuff out. I couldn't resist this cute collar. Taz, however, CAN resist it. I will be trying for a better shot, but this was the best one of the 3 she "let" me take this afternoon. Can't you just SEE the LOVE in her eyes????

PetSmart had a little Santa sweater thing too, but I was afraid it would be the last thing I would attempt to do in this life to try and get it on her..... OH! And the little purple "jacket" with the fake fur trim that reverses to a pink plaid..... WAY CUTE! I would have to have blood donors lined up before I try to put something like that on her though.....

At least I didn't get the hat or the reindeer ears. Been there, tried that. Not gonna try THAT again! LOL! I am still trying to get a picture of her in the Minnie Mouse pink princess hat I bought her at Disney World 3 years ago.....

A quick upload

I stamped this tonight for Julee's Mojo Monday challenge this week. You can find it HERE. I had to flip the corner the circle went in since the position of the bottle did not allow for the sentiment panel to go on the left.



The base of the card is called Lightspeck Gold. Sorry, I have no idea who makes it, I've had it for YEARS! Same goes for the burgundy ribbon. The patterned paper is by BoBunny. It's iridescent and I think it's called Holiday Wishes. The gold is Stampin' Up!'s Brushed Gold. The brads and sentiment are also from Stampin' Up!. The wine stamp was acquired today and is by Inkadinkado. I stamped it on Beckett Iceberg cardstock in Chocolate Chip and colored it with my Dewernt Watercolor Pencils and used my Aqua painter to even up and highlight the colors. Thanks for the sketch, Julee!!!!!

When I'm BAD, I'm REALLY BAD!!!!

OK - so one of my errands today was to go to Target and get the cute little step stool that was on sale in their ad this weekend. It's for Taz to help her get up onto our bed; it matches my Pergo flooring and looks a whole lot better than the Sterlite storage bucket at the foot of the bed now. Well, while I was there, I thought I'd go check out the Christmas decorations.... BAD IDEA.....

Russ - stop reading NOW.......

Seriously.......


So I go wandering through Target Christmas Land and see THREE FULL AISLES of Halloween candy marked SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OFF!!!!!! That's 57¢ a bag.... Let's just say my super-secret-candy-stash is FULL. Bad Lisa.... bad, bad Lisa.....

So since I had a LOT of chocolate in the car, I skipped my second errand which was to look at microwave ovens at Best Buy.... didn't want my treasure to melt... it was 75 and sunny out! LOL!

So I guess I get to go back out this afternoon and look at the microwave. We have one over our stove that is starting to show some signs of not being long for this world. It was here when we bought the house and according to the label is about 9 years old. Also, the former residents took the probe with them when they moved, so I've never been able to use the sensor cook feature which I have missed on a few occasions. So I told Russ I want a new microwave for Christmas.

After checking Consumer Reports and then reading a bunch of actual consumers' reviews online I know which one I want (he's lucky I read all the consumer reviews... the one I wanted was $700 and well rated by the testing at CR, but real people rated it VERY BADLY) and the one that scored well with both CR and real people is only $300. YAY! So I just saved him $200 (Yes, I know it's a $400 difference, I have points at Sears that I was gonna cash in for $200 off the Kenmore $700 model, but they don't carry the one we will end up getting.... oh well, I get to keep accumulating my Sears points!). Ain't he lucky to have me???? LOL!

So now I'm off to Best Buy and Fry's (who also carries the microwave brand I'm looking for) to see what their install and delivery prices are.... Catch ya later, peeps!

They're turning into little PEOPLE!

Russ & I went to visit his sister, her DH and the babies yesterday. The babies will be 6 months old on the 15th. The last time I saw them, they had just turned 3 months old. WOW, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!!! Here are my two fave photos from yesterday:






Do you not LOVE Abigail's HAIR????? What a hoot! Gregory likes to "stand" when you hold him and will do this little "marching" thing. That kid is going to walk EARLY..... Abigail (being a girl) likes to "talk". She giggles easily. Gregory normally doesn't like being put in his car seat, apparently, but he didn't mind yesterday, did he? LOL!

Stressin, stressin, stressin......

OK. Don't get me wrong, I *LOVE* Christmas, but there is little in this world that can stress me out more than walking into WalMart on November 1st and seeing their HUGE FREAKIN COUNT DOWN TO CHRISTMAS SIGN UP!!!! (53 shopping days left, by the way) Anyone have a paper bag I can breathe into?????

Let's see.... I have ornaments to make, cards to make, presents to buy, decorating to do. And then there's the baking. And the travel scheduling. And the inevitable guilt trip coming from the north even though I TOLD her we aren't coming up there for Christmas EVER AGAIN after the travel fiasco last year.

What do I have done so far????? I have one card tentatively designed. I have no clue what I'm doing for ornaments. I have a couple Starbucks gift cards bought (those $5 ones you always seem to need to give someone at the last minute). I measured the new gutters to see how many feet of lights I need (now I need to get the lights out and see how many feet I *HAVE* and if I have gutter clips). We won't discuss shopping/gifts. I have an inkling of an idea of what I'm getting Russ and Justin's family. I have a mental budget of what I *plan* to spend. I have money set aside in savings. That's it. No clue where to even start for my Mom. As usual. Ugh.

I remember when I was younger, my shopping was DONE by Halloween (except for stockings and last minute things like edibles) and my cards were addressed and ready to mail the day after Thanksgiving. In recent years I have used the Thanksgiving weekend up at Sea Ranch to stamp my cards. Don't know what I'm doing this year. We still aren't sure when Russ will be done with Vegas, but I may go up to Sea Ranch by myself after Thanksgiving if I don't get some progress made SOON.

I had a couple sketches done last night for the "mailable" Christmas card, but wasn't really HAPPY with either of them. Sat down in there again this morning and made a couple tweaks and I *think* I like it. Unfortunately, I don't own one of the stamps I need for it yet, so it's on order. It will be 7-10 business days before I can see if I *really* like it. Haven't a clue what I'm doing on the "special" cards.... (Special cards go to the friends who get packages from me so they don't need to fly under the new postal regulations that keep me from using embellishments and layers to my heart's content!). I *do* have one batch of ornaments that I did about a month ago for my SCS "Spamily" that are about half done, but I have no clue what I'm doing for our family which is the big batch of ornaments I do every year. Sigh..... Lots of little fragments of ideas, but no real progress. The story of my life.... LOL!

Today is being spent on laundry and errands. Russ is working from home this morning and I helped him get his travel reservations all done for his trip to DC in April.

I decided not to go. I did negotiate him picking up the airfare for my trip to SLC next July for Convention. That ought to be a pretty big PAR-TAY.... it will be Stampin' Up!'s 20th anniversary and if THAT wasn't big ENOUGH, they are going back to a SINGLE SESSION for Convention next year which means probably over 5000 crazy, jazzed STAMPING WOMEN taking over downtown Salt Lake City for 4 days!!!! Should be interesting!

Later we have plans to make a run over to Costco. Russ' new glasses are ready to pick up and I need to hit Petco which is nearby for their HUGE 3 day sale on cat food. Grab a little lunch then come home and do more laundry! The weather is STUNNING, so I picked up some steaks last night to BBQ tonight. Tomorrow we are going down to San Jose (yes, Judy - where the earthquake was this week) to see Russ' family (including the little munchkins who turn 6 months in about 2 weeks). Then on Sunday the whole packing cycle begins again. At least I get an extra hour of sleep Saturday night.... don't forget to set your clocks back!

My swaps are done!

And for once, I'm even EARLY! They aren't due until the 15th of November.... I still had TWO WHOLE WEEKS to work on them even! Must be so efficient because this way I can continue to procrastinate on starting Christmas cards.... he he he.... I'd say that I was procrastinating on working on Janice's Circle Journal but SHE STILL HASN'T MAILED IT TO ME YET (we were supposed to mail on October 15th... yeah, like TWO WEEKS AGO, meaning I will have 2 fewer weeks to work on my pages for her journal before I have to mail it to Melissa on December 15th which is the same time I mail Christmas cards, so my life ought to be STAMPING HELL real soon.....



ANYWAY - Here are my swap submissions:

I am in 2 rounds of the Tea bag holder swap. One was a Christmas theme and the other was a Love or Chocolate theme (and I couldn't find a chocolate square to put in there when I was taking the photo.... of course I found them this morning... sheesh....). All supplies (some retired) are Stampin' Up! except the Deckle edge scissors (Fiskars) and the Fruit Punch Stickles (Ranger) I used on the Chocolate one.

Colors for the Christmas one are Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red and Garden Green (craft ink embossed with Hologram Highlights) and the stamps are from Season of Joy and Terrific Tags 2. I also used the Tag Punches and my deckle scissors along with gold brads and the new gold elastic cord.

The Chocolate one is made with Close To Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red (ink and Prints Designer paper) and Chocolate Chip. The hardware inside is from the Antique Copper HodgePodge set and stamps came from Lexicon of Love, Like it a Latte and Paisley (background). I used the deckle scissors as well as the edge distresser from the Cutter Kit.

A shameless plug for my adorable "daughter"....

Taz is one of a bazillion cats entered in the Costume photo contest over on Catster. If you'd give her a vote, I'm sure she'd appreciate it.... and maybe NOT turn YOU into a mouse.... LOL!



Please vote for Tabitha Jazmine (Taz) in the World's Coolest!

Tagged again!

Julee tagged me on her blog, Poetic Artistry, yesterday. I will play along, but I'm not going to tag anyone at the end since most of the bloggers I know all run in the same (SCS) circle and have all been tagged a bazillion times... LOL! Judy, if you want to play, here are the rules, but I won't link to your blog since it's private!

Here are the RULES:
ONE - Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
TWO - Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).
THREE - Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

Seven Random facts... .hmmmm....

1. I almost never go barefoot.
2. My phobia is fire, yet I *LOVE* candles.... go figure.
3. Except over the border into Tijuana and Ensenada on our cruise, I've never been out of the USA, but I have a passport, so I'm ready to go should the opportunity present itself!
4. I was adopted.
5. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate and do not like chocolate baked goods at all.
6. Salty snacks are my weakness.
7. I collect computer fonts.... I have over 300 installed currently....

So there you go... Seven random and pretty much useless facts about me!

OK. That wasn't very nice....

To make up for teasing you that I made something cool in the stamp room yesterday but not sharing, I decided to whip up something I *could* post!

The easiest way for me to do something NICE in a HURRY is to copy another card. In "Stampland" it's called C.A.S.E.ing which stands for Copy And Share Everything. As I do not have the original artist's permission to post her card, I will just tell you that I changed VERY LITTLE from her original... Like I said, I was in a HURRY! LOL! Here is a link to the original card in the artist's gallery on Splitcoast.

And here is my blatant copy! Everything but the Stickles is fom Stampin' Up!

The card and the "photo corners" are Basic Gray cardstock. The big flower mat and half the little flowers are stamped in Basic Gray on Whisper White after stamping off once. The sentiment is from the Hostess Set "So Many Sayings" and it is stamped on the Soft Sky in Basic Gray. The Soft Sky panel was stamped with the Canvas background and then with the square image from Baroque Motifs. All the images on the white panel are from Baroque Motifs and are stamped in Soft Sky, Basic Gray and Cameo Coral. I distressed the edges of the Cameo Coral and Whisper White panels to give them a little more "oomph". I also accented the piercing on the photo corners and areas in the images with Stardust Stickles. Glittery goodness!! The ribbon is Soft Sky Double Stitched and the rhinestone brad is from the Circle Ice set. The Soft Sky flower image is matted onto the Basic Gray one with Stampin' Dimensionals for a little extra POP!

I'm going to send this to a stamping friend who, once she gets it, can take as many pictures of it as she wants.... LOL!

I made something REALLY cute.....

But I can't share because it's Christmas present stuff and I don't want anyone to see what they're gonna be getting in (EEP!) EIGHT WEEKS!

ACK! WHERE DOES TIME GO?????? I *JUST* realized that Christmas is TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY!!!! I think I literally just felt my blood pressure go up..... Do I have my cards designed? No. Do I have the ornaments for Russ' family figured out? No. Have I started even THINKING about presents? Well, sorta... I know what I'm getting for Russ and I already got iTunes and Starbucks cards for Justin's kids... But OMG, there is WAY TOO MUCH TO DO in JUST two months!!!!! GAK!

OK... I think I need to get my butt back into the stamp room.......

I really hate making these......

But if I'm gonna spend the time stamping, I'm gonna post it!







Due to the somber nature, I tried to keep it simple and elegant. The rose image is by Stampa Rosa and the sentiment is by Paper Inspirations. The card base is Shimmery White and the rose is stamped on watercolor paper in StazOn Timber Brown and water colored with my aquapainter and Watercolor Wonder crayons (Always Artichoke and Rose Red and a little Brocade Blue in the drops on the rose petals). I added a little Crystal effects to the water droplets on the petals to give them some dimension. Then I mounted the image onto Always Artichoke that I edged by dragging across an Artichoke stamp pad. The sentiment is stamped in Encore Gold on white Vellum and then I "gilded" the edge on the Encore pad before adhering it to the card (I used my Scotch ATG 1/4" adhesive and it doesn't show thru the vellum!). It needed just a little something, so I added the brads.... Hope that wasn't too much bling.....

The picture from Portland!

Thanks to Melissa - here is the photo of me, Russ, Melissa and Jason!

This is REALLY CUTE (if I do say so myself)!

So, I joined another swap on Splitcoast. This one is for Tea Bag Holders. They also fit the Ghiradelli chocolate squares. So I was working on the design for my holders. I signed up for 2 groups - one with a Holiday theme and one with a Chocolate or Love theme. I got the Christmas prototype done and took a break to mount my new stamps that I got in the mail today (Thanks, Julee!!!!!!) and realized that the boat from "Boatloads of Love" was the PERFECT size for one of these holders, so I decided to make one! All supplies except the glitter pens are Stampin' Up!:





Finished size is 3.25" square when closed. The Holder is Soft Sky cut 3.25" x 9.75", then scored at 3.25" and 6.5". The right panel is then cut on a diagonal (upper left to bottom right corner)and folded over to make the pocket and glued along the bottom edge. I stamped the diagonal pocket with the swirly image from "Season of Joy" and the front panel with the "Sanded" background stamp in Soft Sky.


The boat from "Boatloads of Love" is stamped on watercolor paper with Black StazOn and then water colored with my aquapainter using ink from my stamp pads (Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy and Basic Gray) and two of my Watercolor Wonder Crayons (Taken with Teal & Bordering Blue). I used my Sakura glitter pens to add the sparkle to the antenna, anchor and the waves. I used Crystal Effects on the windows, portholes and life preservers. While the Crystal Effects was drying, I stamped the swirly pattern in Not Quite Navy on the bottom of the NQN panel (3" x 3") and "friend-ship" in NQN on Soft Sky, punching that out with the Word Window Punch and adding the silver brads. I adhered the Soft Sky Double Stitched ribbon to the front of the holder and then layered the NQN panel over it. The boat was layered onto the NQN panel using Stampin' Dimensionals and then the friend-ship piece was adhered below the boat. Cute, huh?


Sorry I didn't take a photo of the inside.... it opens to a teabag tucked inside a diagonal pocket. I stamped the pocket with the same swirl pattern as the "water" on the navy panel. Here's a link to an open one in the Splitcoast gallery if you really need a visual.

Bummer....

The group photo I had taken on my camera of Melissa, Jason, Russ and I at the SCS Dinner in Portland didn't come out. So now, I guess I'll just wait for Melissa to e-mail me the one from her camera. I know that one came out because she posted it on SCS already! LOL!

I got some cute swaps is Portland, and I promise I'll get around to scanning them soon so I can post some, but now I must concentrate on getting a swap done that I signed up for.... I've also got Christmas cards to design too.... With all the new postal regulations, the challenge will be to design a card that looks layered and embellished, but isn't. Normally I use brads and/or ribbon on just about every card I make. Unfortunately, with the new postal rules, if I use brads or tie a bow or knot in ribbon, it makes the card get charged as a package instead of an envelope and that bumps the rate to $1.13 from 41¢. SIGH.... I could make one REALLY STUNNINGLY GORGEOUS card, take a picture and mail THAT to everyone... LOL! What a pain the Postal Service has become.

I'm back!

Yes, Judy, I'm back from Portland! Had a great time at Regionals and at the SCS dinner and with Melissa and Jason!!!!

I seem to have brought home a cold, however. It started in the sinuses on the plane ride home and by bedtime it was so bad I couldn't see! OUCH! Between the sinus pain, the sore throat and the cat, I didn't get much sleep. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel like uploading photos.... sorry....