EDIT to earlier post

I need to clarify something from my earlier post.

When I said the boy last night on AI reminded me of my nephew I meant in his DRY HUMOR. I did not mean to imply that he (my nephew) wasn't good looking-or the boy on AI for that matter. He (my nephew) is very cute but it's his humor I appreciate the most. Being a smart A&& myself, I really love dry humor. C has that. He is also so quiet that when he speaks it's always a surprise...then usually what he says cracks me up.

Sorry sis.

((I think his mom is just alittle bleary eyed from her weekend in the cold north but I didn't want anyone else to be confused. If you've read my previous posts you know how I feel about people being judged for their looks. I would NEVER imply someone shouldn't have an opportunity because the do not "Look" a certain way. BTW, did anyone see the year Ruben Studdard won AI?? He certainly didn't match the judges idea of the "perfect idol". The man could sing and that was all that mattered. I do however wish that Clay Akin would go back to his former hair style. The current one is kinda scary. I still love his voice though. ))

Crap, the more I try to get out of this hole the deeper I dig myself in. :-0

Computer challenged

I was going to post some cute photos of DS in his Karate uniform (gee..sp??) but I decided to try & make a watermark first. Apparently I need several hours more research or I should just break down & pay to have one made. I printed off directions but then discovered they were using PhotoShop and not Paintshop like I have. (DUH!!) I cleaned off the computer of junk we don't use & loaded stuff that was suppose to make the stupid thing but I can't get it worked out yet. Now I have junk back on my computer that I don't know if I need or not. Darn it!!!

House was FAB as always. Got to see a glimpse into why he is the way he is. So much pain in that man. Guess if he gets "fixed" he wouldn't be House. More IDOL tonight. Then we get ready to get "To it". Always love the auditions. Can't wait to find the person we will root for during this season. What did you think about the kid who wanted to make David Hasselhoff cry? To funny. He actually reminded me of my nephew. Not so much in looks but in the dry humor. Think they will let him keep his hair? It's always funny to see what they "do" with the contestants.

I've been tapped to attend a meeting today that will keep me "at work" until 7pm. Before work I have to run by HSS's doc & pu scripts so I can drop them off at the Walgreens. Guess that means I better get moving. How ironic that ever since I printed a schedule that says I work from 8:30-4:30 I haven't made it in before 10am. Darn Blog! LOL.

Til Later.......................

How many layers

does it take to walk a kid to the bus stop?

If you guessed three, you must gave been outside at 6:40 this morning. Brrrrrr. There is ICE on my windshield and car roof top again and even on the roof of the house. They said it was going to be below freezing this morning and I guess they weren't kidding. Thankfully the wind wasn't blowing so with all the extra clothing on it was to bad of a walk.

My DS started Karate (again) last night. We didn't have much success the last time I signed him up (Don't ask-it wasn't MY fault) but I figured the kid needs those social skills we keep talking about so I gave it another try. He said he really liked the class and that it was so much better than the last place he went. They really had them get a work out before the actual class started. Poor boy even broke out in a sweat! He spent an hour after we got home practicing tying his belt so I guess he really is interested. So far. He's paid up till the 15th of February and will be going three times a week. We'll see how much of a fight he gives me after that. He was excited to find out a boy at school goes to the same place. Unfortunately when we got there it turned out he attends the after school program, not the night classes, so DS didn't know anyone after all. Luckily most of the kids were about his size so he didn't complain.

TV as great again last night. I haven't seen HEROS so no one spoil it for me. Prison Break, 24 & Studio 60 were fabulous as always. Tonight we have another installment of AI and our favorite: House. Bones is back tomorrow so it's shaping up to be a good week for us couch potatoes.

Hope your household is feeling well. My poor niece has her hands full with 3 sick kids and my buddy Jess has two sick ones of her own. My DS stayed out from school Friday but seems to be feeling better. He is still making disgusting noises with his nose but isn't running a fever or coughing.

Take care, all my cyber & local friends. Til later........................

Wrapping up the weekend

This is the first time I've been near the computer all weekend. I've spent the last couple hours catching up on emails & other blogs so thought I'd drop by and post.

The crop Friday night was fun. There were only four of us ( Nicole, Cami, Denise & Me) but we had a great time talking & doing a little scrapping. We learned: how to post on "Two Peas", about "Letter Boxing" and MOST importantly; All four people should not go out to your cars at the same time after 10pm!

Who knew that even with our access cards we would not be able to get back in after 10pm???? Obviously not me! We knew the alarm would go off if we were still inside after midnight so we were being careful to pack up & get out before then. We took our first loads outside and when we went back to the door..............locked. OK, no problem, two of us had access cards. Swipe. Nothing. Swipe. Nothing but a red light. We stood there looking at each other, shaking our heads. Surely we can't be locked outside with most of our stuff still inside. Yep. We were.

Being the bright, resourceful women we are, we decided to head around back and see if by some chance there was a door or window we could open. We all walked through the gate into the pool area & I almost jumped out of my skin when the gate slammed. We checked around & peered through the window at our stuff. Not a door or window that we could budge. We finally decided we would have to wait until 5 am when the access card would work again.

We headed back to the gate to leave and discovered it too was now
LOCKED!! I will leave to your vivid imaginations what it looked like for four grown woman, some of us fluffier than we should be, using chairs to help get our short legs over the fence and down on the other side. We were laughing so hard that it is a wonder we didn't hurt ourselves.

Denise ended up volunteering to spend the night at my house so she could go with me in the morning to retrieve our stuff. We set alarms & at 5am headed back to the clubhouse. Luckily my access card worked and we got our stuff & left. (What Denise doesn't know is that after she drove off & I was half way home, I realized I didn't remember seeing her take out Cami's stuff. I drove back & went back inside. Of course she had grabbed everything so there was nothing left to recover.)

So let that be a lesson to you all. Do not miss a crop that I am in charge of and NEVER go out to your car without leaving someone behind to let you back in!!

The rest of the weekend I caught up on my TV shows , reading, filing papers, cutting out coupons and just being lazy. Now another weekend has passed and I still do not have my sons new shelf unit put together, LO's still need to be photographed and posted, I haven't re-arranged the garage, cleaned out the final storage unit or a thousand other things that need doing. I did, however spend time with my two favorite guys and that's a pretty great way to spend two days.

Hope you had a great weekend. I'm going to go finish reading the blogs and see how the Winter Retreat girls fared in the cold north and how my niece is surviving her three boys. After that, I'm going to get into bed and snuggle with my HSS.

Til later.....................

Hits-Ice- and other ramblings

WOW, I had quite a few hits yesterday. I was at about 985 the last time I checked yesterday afternoon and this morning it was 1018. I only got one comment so I'm not sure what people thought of what they read.

No problem, welcome to my little view into my world.

Guess who had to scrape ICE off her windshield this morning?? BRRRRRRRRRRRRR. It was only in the 40's but my car was in the shade and we do live WAY up North in Z-hills. LOL. I called my sister to tell her as she is about to drive 2 1/2 hrs further north for a scrapbooking retreat. They are staying in cabins WITHOUT windows, only screens. And there are NO bathrooms in the cabins. Sounds like fun to me.

Speaking of scrapbooking, tonight is the first "mini-crop" at my community Clubhouse. When I drove in last night I was pleased to see that my neighbor & subdivision sales rep had put up signs next to the "official community" signs telling about the crop. Hopefully a few people will show up. If not, I know there will be at least 2-3 of us. I'm planning to work on a few small things but may end up just chatting with who ever shows up.

My DS went to his dads last night for his "once a week" sleep over and ended up sick and missing school today. B said he's running a 101 temp. I'm going to check on him later and see if I need to take him to the doctors. Hopefully it is just a cold and he'll be better by Monday.

GREYS last night.....WOW. The door slam was sad. My HSS said it even hurt him and he doesn't get "emotionally involved" in shows. Should be interesting to see what that does to the "race". I didn't see the ending coming, did you? A few things I figured out before they happened but didn't expect the last 5 minutes.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Till Later..........................

Spanking issue

Warning............I am about to climb on my soapbox so if you do not wish to hear my views, good day sir!! I wasn't going to bring this up but I just read a story by my dear niece and want her to know I stand behind her 100000000000000000 percent.

I heard yesterday that California (big surprise) is talking about passing a LAW that you can't spank a child under the age of 4.

OMG! I work for the State of Florida. I know what can happen when people abuse their children. I know that spanking can be taken to far. But to make it a LAW that you can't spank your own child, bring the cuffs because NO ONE is going to tell me how to discipline my own kid.

Do these people not read the news? Do they not see what the "young people" of this country are doing because the last generation of parents were told that they should give their kids the "freedom of expression"? Freedom of expression my ASS.

As soon as the temperature of this country turned away from parents, teachers & even next door neighbors disciplining our children, the nation went to hell in a hand-basket. Before you get all "up in my face" let me remind you that I'm not that old. I have also lived with children that are mentally ill. I experienced the reality that spanking a child with Bi-polar disorder does nothing but hurt your hand. Having lived through that, I still believe that children need discipline. If "time outs" don't work I say a little swat on the butt is called for.

I'll admit to "flicking" my DD across the lips a time or two for smarting off to me. If there is no statue of limitations on that, bring it on. I can proudly say that she turned out to be a pretty good kid. She also learned not to smart off to me, at least not in my presence.

I welcome your comments.

Mystery Box

One of the talented bloggers that I read daily, recently offered a "Mystery Box" for $20. She was cleaning out her stash and didn't want to hassle with Ebay. I figured I'd take a chance and contacted her about buying one. She said that depending on how many people wanted one, she would divide up the stuff between them. Apparently only 6 people jumped on the offer by her deadline so each of us got a box that weighed an average of 10-14 lbs. My box arrived last night.

I was a good girl and made dinner before tearing into it. The picture shows most of what was inside. Just about all of the products were from Stampin UP. They are all used but somethings are just about full (the 2 re-inkers). Of the rubber stamps at least half look like they've never been used. There is a ton of paper, ribbon, buttons, a blending pen, a marker that matches one of the 4 ink pads, a footprint punch (which my son immediately played with), watercolor pencils (half are half used and the rest are much larger), a full jar of green embossing powder, a paperbag project, ruler, deco scissor, a Lg. tray for embossing/bead application, two old idea books, some hand made cards & some blank cards & envelopes.

I am very pleased with my haul and can't wait to start playing. I really want to learn how to use the watercolor pencils & blending pen. Hopefully I've have some examples for you in the next few days (weeks).

Till later...........

Middle of the road

I was going to say "Hump Day" but everyone's blog will probably say that so I had to be different. I guess I could say, "Trash Day" since that's what it is in our neighborhood.

I have to tell a short story that only my scrap-booking friends will appreciate. The rest of you "talk among yourselves".
I'm having a small "mini" crop at my Community Clubhouse this Friday. I called the clubhouse director to firm up plans and discuss the do's & don'ts of the event. (First you have to understand that they are so clueless about what we do that when I asked to have it put into the newsletter, it came out "Kids Arts & Crafts") Anyway.. So Dan says he will be changing the signs at the entrances to the subdivision and will put the event on them.

Cool, thinks I.

I drive in through the main entrance last night and look at the sign.

I almost drove off the road laughing.

For all the community to see,

is a sign,

advertising that this Friday night,

from 7-11, will be


Scrape booking .


Now you may say that it was a typo. I guarantee that when I talk to Dan later today, he will have NO CLUE that he misspelled the word.



So, as promised, I didn't watch the President last night. In honor of my sister (HI MICHELE) I will not mention the great country to our North. I won't say a word about the State of our Union. Don't tell me. I want to enjoy my day.

We did watch AI. I agree that the judges are being harder on people than in previous years. Case in point, I think that the first girl would have made it to Hollywood before this years auditions. Maybe it's better they don't send tons of people only to dash their hopes & dreams on the first day. Maybe they are getting a BONUS for every dollar they save the show, NOT sending a looser out there. We agree that the first thing they are going to do is cut the hair of the "Castro looking" guy. He looked like he had potential. To bad the world counts looks so highly. Can you imagine paying to see him in concert with that hair & beard? We are to shallow a people for that. Clean him up & put him in designer clothes and he'll sell the place out.

You all should be ashamed of yourselves.

I'm going to go read all my fav blogs. Hopefully they will have posted by now. I was soooooooo happy to see "Jane" back from her Vegas trip. Can't wait to hear the rest of the story.


OH, I almost forgot. DS made the Honor roll at his school. He got 2 c's but I guess the rest of the grades pulled his average up to a 3.2 and that eeked him in. He was so proud of a metal dog tag on a chain that he got for it during a ceremony yesterday at school. Bad mommy that I am, I forgot he said I could attend. I had those two meetings at work but I would have blown them off to see my baby get an award. He wore the dog tag to school today. I hope the other kids don't make fun of him. Wearing it on the day you get it is one thing but I don't know what the "rules" are for wearing it after that.


Till later.............

Tuesday musings

Is that even the right word? Anyway.. Good morning all. Not a lot to talk about today. The weather sucks and it is supposed to get colder & rainier (again with the weird word!). Yes, I know that having temps in the 50's with some rain is not as bad as some folks have it. I live in Florida because I don't want to be in 6 ft. snow drifts. It is supposed to be a calm 70 degrees year round. That's what I want. If I wanted to freeze I'd move.

I have two meetings at work so have to be brief.

Last nights shows were all good. Haven't had a chance to watch Heros so don't anyone tell me anything about it. Looking forward to American Idol from Memphis tonight. As for the presidents speech, my HSS has promised we don't have to watch it. We have tons of recorded stuff to keep us happy. You all watch for me and let me know if it is time to pack my DS clothing to ship him to Canada. I understand there will be talk about Taxing Health Care coverage from your employer. Since I DO NOT HAVE any health care, and certainly none that my employer is kicking in for, I really don't have any interest in that topic. Since I hope to have coverage in the future I should care but lets face it, he's going to do what ever he's been told is best for the country so my watching his lips move or not won't change anything.

I got an email from one of my readers telling me about her recent experience trying to order from a fast food joint. Now I understand she lives in South Florida but to discover that NO ONE spoke English at the drive thru and she was told to COME INSIDE to order.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will not get started on that subject again. You can scroll down and read or reread my thoughts in the "ENGLISH" post. Good grief!!!

Make it a great day and please leave a post , at least about my poor cards? I'm feeling unloved.

Till later................

A little justice for Dungy

Ok, so this is my third post of the morning....sue me!

I am so HAPPY for Tony Dungy and his Colts. I watched every minute of the game yesterday and was about to have a heart attack during the second half.

When the Colts player almost fumbled the ball late in the 4th quarter, I actually screamed for the second the ball was in the air-before he caught it again.

You must understand.....I was born in New England but come on.........they have won enough.

No one deserves to go to the Super Bowl more than Tony Dungy and I will be holding my breath during the entire game, hoping that he wins.

After what the Bucs did to him

and then after his team got so close last year

and then the tragedy with his son.

NO one could deserve to play in Super Bowl 40 more than they nicest man in national football.

I hope he wins and shows the same humility and grace he has always shown.....and I hope the Glaziers feel bad (at least for a minute) for how they treated him.

Go COLTS!!!!!

MUST see TV night

Forgive the second post of the day but I didn't want to include TV banter with my DD's birthday wishes (see below).

I feel bad for anyone that doesn't have a DVR/Tivo/recorder for tonights TV events. 24, HEROS, Prison Break, Studio 60 are all back tonight. ( BTW, if you are not watching Studio 60-shame on you! It is one of the best written shows on TV. The writing is smart, funny, fast paced and very good. )

Guess I should feel bad that TV shows are so important in my schedule...well, on the grand scheme of things..they aren't. However, I will be glued to my seat tonight. If I could cure cancer or solve the worlds problems, I would be doing that. I will, however, enjoy what other people have been paid to create.

Great television shows.

***********SIDE BAR*******Lisa D, email me your address so I can send you a little treat. You were the first person to comment on my Valentines cards.*************

Til later..................................

19 years ago

I was recovering from an "emergency" C-section after delivering my beautiful daughter. She loves to tell the story that "She almost died" when she was born.

It really wasn't that bad, my blood pressure dropped and her heart rate dropped and they decided to do the C-section. 19 years ago, they didn't "turn you on your left side" like they do today to try & correct the heart rate drops. I had another C-section when I delivered her brother 7 years later because he was TO BIG. Maybe I just wasn't built to birth babies but the story makes her feel "Special".

I got to have lunch with her Friday. It was nice to see her. Her schedule is so hectic that you have to be penciled in to get some time with her. She had two KD events yesterday, and has class today, and then I'm sure her friends want to do something tonight so Friday was my only chance.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JRS!!

Til later................

Saturday Crop

EDITED TO ADD PHOTO (thanks Lisa)

I had a blast at the crop yesterday.

Here are the crazy group of women I hung around.

Top row L to R:

Lisa, Cami, Carey

Middle row:

Rebecca, Me

& the lovely Cari is on the floor

I did most of the make and takes so only got a total of FIVE cards made. I am happier today with most of them than I was yesterday.

Let me know which is your favorite.

#1. It was made using pink card stock, a specialty white paper with silver flecks that I used in my Cuttlebug embossing hearts folder, ink was rubbed on the hearts to high light them a little, Autumn leaves-Love-acylic stamp, American Crafts ribbon. I also did a little paper piercing on pink cardstock.

This next one is my least favorite but cute enough.

#2 Cream colored Card stock, pieces of CB embossed pink paper-inked on sides , Inner Square-scallop punched with 4 mini stamps from Michaels & then inked, Large dark pink Scalloped shape was cut using Cricuit & then holes punched with Crop-a-dile. Corners of base are paper pierced.

#3 Cream colored card stock, a piece of CB embossed red paper-inked on sides with Black & then lightly rubbed on raised hearts with White Cats eye ink , Large heart was cut using Cricuit- then American crafts ribbon through it. Hero Arts rubber stamp-love, paper torn & inked with black. Corners are paper pierced.
#4 Red card stock, pieces of CB embossed white specialty paper-inked on sides with Black, Words & small heart were cut using Cricuit-silver brad through tab of heart (words were cut apart to fit on card the way I wanted)

Finally


# 5 Very plain & simple. Red cardstock, scallop punched square with stamped envelope over American Crafts red poka dot ribbon, paper pierced under each scallop.


I've spent most of today catching up on my recorded Scrapbooking TV shows, reading emails & posting pictures.

I'd hoped to get started on my Taxes or at least get my LO's from last week finished. I think I may just go get the newspaper (finally) and sit & read it while watching the football games with my HSS.

Till later.....................

Croppin for Babies

I'm off today to spend the day with another group of great gals!! We are meeting in Safety Harbor to crop from 10-5. The crop is a benefit. There is going to be lots of people I know there so not sure how much I will get done. They are supposed to have "Make & Takes" and since they are free today, I plan to take advantage of all of them. Door prizes, raffles & food too. What more could a girl want? It's another hour drive for me to get there so better get ready & out the door.

Make it a great day and I'll check in with you soon.

Friday

Wahoo! It's Friday! I have a big Crop to go to tomorrow and a bunch of my friends will be there. Should be fun. We are all dressing alike as there is supposed to be a "Photo Spot" available. How fun & geeky is that!

No more calls from any teachers. DS is not happy about his restriction. Think I'll let it go through the weekend and then see about letting him off. I may at least let him watch some TV. His computer/video time will still be limited. I need to find out how to bring his "C"'s up. We talked about that this morning while waiting for the bus. I told him to ask his teachers what he could do to improve the grade. At least he brought up his Science grade so we're not doing to bad. I know it's been hard changing schools mid year so I'm trying to cut him a little slack.

Watched this weeks "Criminal Minds" last night since ER was a rerun (why???? they left us hanging last week). Great show, as always. Greys was good and I'm sure my sister was crying through most of it. I won't spoil it for those that haven't seen it yet but I suggest you bring your hankies. I didn't cry but then I was alittle distracted, reading my mail & dealing with the homework stuff to let myself get totally involved. I figured my sister was doing enough for all of us. We belong to the special club they mentioned. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I've had years of therapy to deal with the issue so it only occasionally gets to me. Last night wasn't one of them. That means it will probably come out when I'm watching a cartoon or something.

My DD is supposed to meet me for lunch today. Her 19th birthday is Monday and I had to be penciled in to her busy schedule so I could see her. She has a weekend full of KD stuff and I'm sure her friends have things planned. It's kinda sad that I have to make an appointment to see my own child but I guess that is part of the life process. I have hopes that someday, maybe when she is a mom, she will need me again.

**I'm going to take a moment to feel sorry for myself-----

OK, I'm done*****

Since she is coming by work and we are supposed to go out for lunch I really should get to work earlier than I have all week. I never take a lunch hour so I consider my late arrival my "lunch time". If I want to get my usual hours in today, I'd better scoot.

Have a great day & a wonderful weekend. Have some fun, hug your family & do something nice for a stranger. Several Cyber friends of mine are doing RAKs for people that may not even know who helped them. I told them it goes with one of my favorite questions,

"What have you done TODAY to make you feel proud?"

Till later.............

Call 2-from my mother

Just about the time I've gotten calmed down from the Coach Reed phone call (see post below before reading on), my mother calls. Seems a student at USF has dropped dead while working out in the campus gym. I had already spoken to my DD so I knew she was alright and my second thought was that my nephew (who is also attending USF) wouldn't be in a gym so why was she calling?? She then informs me that my nephew had started working out recently and she had been unable to reach him on his cell phone. I talked her though enough to calm down a bit and gave her the phone number of the campus housing. She said there was to be a news conference in a few minutes about it so she'd watch and call me back. (Side bar....besides having two kids directly involved in the school- I WORK on the campus so the news was a little unnerving to hear something like this had happened so close by)

She called me back as I was talking to HSS (to ask him to check the news reports) and said it was one of the USF football players and that she had spoken with DN-he'd been in class and that's why he didn't answer his phone earlier. He hadn't heard anything about the guy and the gym.

I don't have any details but the whole thing is upsetting. It is always sad when a young person dies but this one will hit so close to home with our association to the school. I'm sure it will be all over campus before I get to work today. How how awful for his family. No matter what my DS does at school, that sort of phone call is one I pray I NEVER receive.

Go hug your kids and say a prayer for the family of #10 of the USF Bulls.

Call from Coach Reed

So my cell phone rings yesterday afternoon and when I answer some man asks me if I am Cheryl S. Before I could correct him he says, "Are you MS mother?" "Yes", says I. " I am Coach Reed from SMS, MS's teacher." Great, I'm thinking, now what? Well it seems that he is the teacher of the "Wheel" class for this nine weeks. He informed me that so far in the class my DS has gotten an 80, a 50 (for a half a^^ed class paper) and today he totally refused to do the assignment so would be getting a -0-. Refused?

He said all work they do is IN CLASS and that today they were to read the newspaper, find two articles that interested them, and write a short paper telling what the article was about. He said that DS read the paper but then just sat there, staring into space. The teacher said he spoke to DS about getting going on his paper & DS "ROLLED HIS EYES" at him and didn't do the assignment. The teacher told me that was unacceptable. I quickly thanked the teacher and advised him it was NOT acceptable with me either and I'd have a chat with the boy.

I called my HSS and gave him the heads up. Since he is home when the DS gets there, he was able to confront (question) him about his day before I got there.

HSS " How was school today?"

DS " OK"

HSS " Did anything happen we need to know about?"

DS " No"

HSS " We already got a call from school, would you like to tell me what happened?"

DS proceeds to tell him that the incident wasn't his fault, he just hit his book on his desk to wake the kid up and that the kid behind the other kid hit him in the back and the teacher blamed DS.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

You may notice that DS has confessed to an event that we have no knowledge of yet.

HSS, having been around this block with his own two sons, keeps a straight face and advises him that there is another event that he was referring to and would he like to explain the "assignment" incident. After some hemming and denying and some story details getting mixed up, he finally admitted that he didn't do the newspaper assignment because he, "Thought it was stupid".

As you can imagine, the boy was placed on restriction and sent to his room to

"Wait until your mother gets home"

The long story short of the rest of the evening is that he had to write a letter of apology to the Coach, he had to do the newspaper assignment for me (and will every night for the next week) and he is on restriction.

OH...as for his report card...Three A's, 1 B, 2 C's...all S's in conduct (!!!!) I still don't have the info on the "sleeping kid" event but will try and find out today. When his dad found out about his day he questioned me as to "Why all of a sudden he acted out like that, had something happened to make him upset?" Um, NO and besides it wouldn't matter, he shouldn't take matters into his own hands about another students actions (we've gone over this a billion times) and he should never roll his eyes at a teacher (at least not in his face) and NOT do an assignment because he thinks it is stupid.

I wasn't about to go into the whole discussion about the "Making a friend" talk we'd had the night before. Good grief. Is the thought of making a friend so awful that he purposefully got into trouble so he would be put on restriction?

My HSS & I discussed that thought when I called about the teachers report. Do you "punish" him by making him do the exact thing he doesn't want to do??

Parenting SUCKS at times!!!

Report card day-Making friends & AI

The day my DS has been dreading. This will be the first report card since changing schools. He's gotten a "progress report" but this is the first officially report card. He knows that it could mean the end of his video playing days for awhile if the outcome is poor. Don't think that we punish him because of less then stellar grades (I used that phrase with my son this morning and he said, "Stellar?? No one uses that word). He has the ability to earn great grades. When he gets less than "stellar" it's because he didn't turn in an assignment or project. He does that when he is to busy playing his video games and doesn't want to take the time for his school work. It's hard to make him do something when he lies about having things due. We've had that problem. Matter of fact, he just got off restriction for just such an event.

We had a discussion at dinner last night (yes, we actually eat dinner together-at the table-and talk. It's a new routine we established when we moved into the house & have an actual kitchen table) about DS's lack of interest in making new friends. He comes home & goes on the computer to play games with his virtual friends. He NEVER wants to play outside. Since we are hoping to mold a semi-well adjusted adult, we feel he needs to develop social skills and they can't be formed with out contact with other actual humans. I won't go into details of the discussion because it was tough but we've "suggested" that he go outside, ride his bike and try & meet some kids in the neighborhood. I'm torn. I can't protect my baby if he is outside meeting boys that could "harm" him. I know he needs to learn to get along with people but can't I be the people?? Motherhood is not for the faint of heart.

OK, show of hands.. who watched American Idol last night? I brought out some stamping supplies to make stuff during hour two because I didn't want to leave the TV. It was the usual awful with an occasional good sound mixed in. What still amazes me is the people who stink and are shocked when they are rejected. According to the commercials, tonight will be the best of the worst with a lot of really bad singers. From the looks of the people in the commercial I may never visit Seattle, Washington. Hopefully the people they showed came to town to audition and don't really all live there. My goodness that sounded shallow. Since when do I care about a persons appearance?? I don't but, if you've seen the commercials, some of those people are just scary looking!!!

Till later........................

Good intentions

I'd like to say that I didn't step foot into a store yesterday. I'd like to say that my DS and I spent the afternoon watching his RC plane soar into the beautiful blue skies of Tampa Bay. I'd like to say I got 10 more LO's done, found a cure for all cancers, lost 40 lbs and got my hair done.

I'd be lying.

In my defense, let me explain.

My DS & I went to a nearby park where I thought we'd have a large area of open space to fly his plane. When we got there and started looking around, there wasn't as much open space as I'd thought. We did find an area that looked promising. I held the plane as instructed by HSS, my DS held down the throttle as instructed, I tossed the plane upwards as instructed, the plane went straight-nose down-into the ground, JUST as the instructions suggested it might. The propeller got shoved onto the shaft and wouldn't allow it to turn anymore. We tried to fix it but couldn't budge the sucker. Wisely, before totally destroying the plane, we decided our flying experience was over.

What was a mother to do? Her 11 1/2 yr old son had his hopes up to spend the afternoon having fun with his mom. Said mom had "broken" his plane. How to make it up to the boy?? Well, shopping always seems to help some people so, to TOYS R US we go. In fairness, he had two GC that he got for Christmas so he already had funds. Since the closest TRU is nasty, we HAD to go to the one in Brandon instead. Since the TRU in Brandon is across the street from Joanns........................

Yes, I went to Joanns. I was very good and only spent $20. I found one of the two scallop punches that I'm looking for to use in my card making. After all, all the card making people that I admire (see Thinking Inking) use a scallop punch. They had two rolls of blue painters tape clearanced priced at $1.50 each and I got them for my HSS. I didn't buy any more paper, or embellishments so cut me some slack!

Oh, and my DS you ask? Would you believe the poor kid couldn't find anything he wanted? A kid with $40, in a Toys R Us for an hour, and he can't find anything to purchase. Don't you hate when that happens?

BTW, when in Brandon at Joanns & you can't find the scallop punch you are needing, what do you do? Correct. You go across the street to Michaels Crafts & try there. I found a larger version of the one I'd just gotten but since I still had a Joanns 50% off coupon I decided to get it .

The cashier said that as of a month ago they can no longer accept Joanns coupons if they also have a coupon out that week. She said it was because they have been taken over by another company and have changed the policies. Michaels had a coupon but it was only 40% so I put the punch back!!

The rest of the evening went well. The girl from our community sales office is a scrapper and bought a house two down from me. She hasn't actually moved in yet (long story) but occasionally comes over to stay the night. I had invited her to come over to see my scraproom and she dropped over last night. After showing her around the place we "retired" to the patio and chatted for awhile. It was a nice evening and I got a chance to get to "know my neighbors" alittle as she knows all their names. I haven't had time to go door to door & meet everyone so it was nice to put a name to the people I wave at as I'm driving in & out of the subdivision. She told us that they are about to build the last three houses on our street so if you know anyone that wants to move to my area, give me a call & I'll refer you to the builder.

I've been told it is Tuesday. I have a meeting at 10am so can't play on the computer to long this morning. Enjoy the last 4 day work week while you can. I don't get another short week until May. My bank account will be glad.

Til later...............

What to do today??

I have today off from work which is a blessing and a curse. Free day to play but UNPAID. I really am torn about what to do today. I want to scrap some more and I want to spend quality time with my DS but I also have those darn 50% off coupons burning a hole in my purse. I won't go into the whole "50% off sale" again, you can scroll down to see what I said on the subject before. I really have more than enough stuff for 5 lifetimes. Why do I feel the pull to drive 45 minutes to Lakeland to the C & S store so I can spend more money, even if it would be 50% less than I would normally??

Ok, you've talked me out of it. I'm going to stay here & spend the day with my son. He has those RC items we can play with and I can get some great pictures that I can use to scrap later.

Oh, if I do that then I'll need stuff to put on my pages. I may not have the perfect embellishment. Maybe I should go get something that would work.
LOL**WINK- WINK** Had ya going didn't I? I'm just kidding about going shopping. Besides, I already have that great Jolees "Control Freak" embellishment I can use. I'll just have to make sure he plays on his video game today. Yeah, like that isn't gonna happen.

Just so you don't think I am a complete "socially unconscious" person, I want to take a moment to recognize why we have today off. Thank you Dr. King for what you started. I'm sorry that, so many years later, we still sometimes seem like we haven't gotten any further at all. We promise to keep trying.

Croppin Saturday

I had a blast yesterday! I met my sister and mother in Palm Harbor at the Joanns fabrics & craft store for a little "pre-cropping, shopping". Actually, they were finished as they arrived about 20 minutes before I did. I ran in, grabbed some acrylic stamps and a stamp pad and met them over at the scrapbooking store, Ruban Rouge. A mutual friend, Kip, had arranged with the store owner to let us use their crop room for the day. Kips friend, Jules, was up visiting from Ft. Myers. All together we ended up having 9 ladies for our day of creative fun. We laughed, we ate, we shopped, and we made some amazing stuff. Well, the other ladies made amazing stuff, I managed to get one card made and put some pictures on pre-made LO's. The card was the "retirement" card I offered to make for the lady at work who is leaving this week. I made sure I did it first so I didn't get distracted and run out of time. I think it turned out OK. I used one of the embossed sheets I made using the Cuttlebug-Textile design, a piece of ribbon donated by Kip, a Bazzill flower, cardstock , a rubber stamped message borrowed from the RR stock pile & some ink. I used a white cats eye stamp pad to bring out the design on the embossed image. Hopefully the lady will like it.

After spending most of the day at RR, I said good bye to Michele, Mom, Kip, Jules, Amy, Robin, and the two other gals that I've forgotten their names (SORRY!!! I'm awful with names) and headed back to Tampa to meet up with my other friends at the YMCA crop. I got there about 7:30pm and luckily one of the other girls was just arriving so I could get in. ( the crop is held after hours so you have to call to get the door opened if you arrive late). It was great to see my "Scrapyard" friends. The three "Ds" are always fun. I jokingly told my HSS when he asked if I was going to have fun, "Yes, these girls always manage to make me pee my pants" . It's true. At least one of us has to make a run to the potty before the night is through.

I ended up staying until the crop ended at midnight! I got almost 12 pages (LO's) done throughout the day. The last few need some finishing touches and unfortunately, I ran out of adhesive and ended up using the re- positionable: kind and those pages need to be re-glued, BUT a very productive day over all. The great thing is that I have another day of cropping next Saturday and the following Friday night we are getting together in my neighborhood. Since it seems like forever since I scrapped, it feels good to get back at it.

OK, enough about my fun Saturday. Hope you all had a great day. I'm going to go read all the blogs and see what the others have to say about the day we shared. There should be some pictures on a few of them that I can share in the near future. Sorry again to the people who's names I forgot. It's a really bad problem I have, Names & Phone numbers. I can't seem to keep them in my head. It's nothing personal.

Till later....................

EDITED to add photos:

As I'd expected, Kip had pictures on her blog so I thought I'd add them now. I also was right about the names of the other two ladies. They were Teri & Diana. I thought so but was afraid to say until I was sure. HI GALS!!!!!!!

Photo1

Left side: (starting from front)my sister Michele, Teri, ME

Right side: (front) Mom, Jules, Amy & Robin

Kip was photographer & Diana was in the store.

Photo 2- Lunch time

Left to right: Jules, Me, Mom, Kip (standing), Michele & Diana

There should be a group shot, including Lisa the store owner, as soon as Jules gets it up on her blog.

EDIT TWO: I just realized that Jules is holding a BEER in the "lunch" picture. Since I have a blue can in front of me I thought I would clarify that I was drinking COKE. Goodness knows I can't walk & chew gum at the same time (jessie!!!) so don't think for a moment I can drink & crop. Not that there is anything wrong with the people that can. I just had to much to do that day and was to far from home to drink anything stronger than soda. Actually, if I thought I could create the incredible things that Jules does after her one beer....I'd say sign me up!!!

My bags are packed

my scrapping bags that is. I pulled more stuff together last night and I managed to have everything consolidated into 4 bags. For me, going to scrap for over 12 hours, four is good. And they are small bags, not the HUGE ones I usually bring. I'm sure that means I have NOTHING I will want when the time comes but I'm on my way. I just read that the "HOSTESS" of our day is running late so mabe I'll get there about the same time as her. Must get in shower & dressed & stop for gas and try NOT to stop at to many Yard Sales and drive straight there & not stop at Joanns or any where else. The place is almost an hour away and there are many temptations between here and there.

Yes, I must be strong.

Screw it.

It's my day to PLAY!!!!!

Til later..............................

TGIF

I'm so excited that it is Friday!!! We get to wear JEANS to work, I'm going to TWO crops tomorrow and then to make it even more special, it's a THREE day weekend! I'm a simple girl, it doesn't take alot to make me happy.

As soon as I get home tonight I'll start pulling together the stuff for the crops. I'm hoping to get some cards done, especially the Retirement card I volunteered to make for a lady at work, and a few pages from the holidays. I have a few "Pre-made" LO's that I could use and then I'll accomplish something and feel good about myself. Must also remember to gather as many of the TLC sanders as I can find for the ladies at the YMCA crop. **Note to self--pull out sanders**

The rest of the weekend I will probably just hang out at home with my HSS & DS. My DS is going over to his dads for one of the days of the weekend but is supposed to be here most of the rest of it. I'd like to go outside with him and get some pictures of him playing with all the RC stuff he got for Christmas. Oh..and I need a picture of him playing video games so I can use the great Jolees embellishment I got. Always thinking about the next scrapbook layout.

I hit the local Michaels last night on the way home trying to find some cute Valentines stamps they were supposed to have. I only found tiny ones but then managed to clean out their 70% after Christmas stuff. I think I have enough stuff now for next Christmas for Co-worker & school chums/teachers gifts. I bought some other things that they consider Christmas but can be used for other things like set of 3 nesting boxes. You are supposed to make a Santa out of it but to me it is a set of three boxes w/lids for $1.49. That translates to three gifts per set.

Greys was good last night and ER was exciting and they left us hanging. They didn't even give us any previews. Man!! It's a good thing CSI was still on reruns (what's up with that??) or I'd have never gotten to sleep.

Ok, I resolve to get to work before noon today so I have to run. I promise to put some pictures on here soon. I told my future BIL to check out the blog & he'd see holiday pictures but then discovered unless he scrolls way down he won't see any. Sorry David. I know other people put pictures on their blogs everyday but if I tried to do that I'd really never get to work. Guess I could get up & on the computer at 5am like they do but not gonna happen. It's bad enough getting up at 6:15 to get the DS off to the bus stop. Anyone that knows me well knows I'm not a morning person. If you want to stay up all night cropping, I'm your girl. Get up at 6am to go to a great yard sale...count me in. Get up early just to get up?? ARG!!!!

Til later...........................

Greys is back

tonight!! I'm so glad to see new shows finally coming back on after the holiday reruns. Thank goodness for DVRs cause, lets face it, I have a very calm (I would never call it boring) life and TV is an enjoyable pass time.

Last nights TV fair sucked except for Friday Night Lights. ( I won't even comment on the 20+ minutes that GW spoke-my HSS is a person that knows alot about alot of things and wanted to hear what he had to say. I personally would have rather spent the time packing my DS suitcase to get ready to smuggle him to Canada in a few years to avoid going over to a foreign country -cause lets face it..it doesn't look like we're leaving anytime soon. Hmmm, sorry, guess I did just comment.) The lack of new programing the rest of the night allowed me to play with my new Cuttlebug embossing folders.

I am so glad I bought the original Sizzix from a fellow scrapper cause it work with the CB folders and I didn't have to spend $80 on another machine. I've made up a bunch of embossed papers and plan to take them with me this Saturday when I have a scrapping frenzy day-o-fun. I'm planning to make some fabulous creations which I will try & remember to share with you. (I DID say I was going to use this as vehicle to further my crafting. That vehicle is still in the garage so hope to get some gas in it or at least roll it outside.)

WEDDING plans update: I sent an email to see about a place where we might have the ceremony. I'll let ya know when I get an answer.

Well, once again I am late for work. Good gosh, I'm so glad I do not have a firm 8-5 position. They are having a going away party today for a girl whose job I applied for . Since I haven't heard anything and the girl is leaving in a few days, pretty easy to figure I didn't get picked. I really don't want to leave my current position but the new one had benefits and paid time off. Maybe someday I'll get benefits again **insert pity party music here**.

Til later........

Hump day

or so I think. With all the four day work weeks lately & school going back this week on a Tuesday, I'm not really sure what day it is. Oh yeah, then there is "Friday night lights" which used to be on Tuesday and now has been switched to Wed., no wonder I can't figure out what day it is.

Not alot else going on. I was mentioned on another blog today. HELLO JESSIE!!!!!! She is a friend from work that I adore. She actually got me started (well her and my mother asking me EVERYDAY if I'd read so & so's blog) on this blog thing. She had one & then she never posted anything. We got her rehooked up yesterday and this mornng I'm running late for work because she posted a new entry & mentioned me and I had to comment and now here I am. Good grief I'm starting to have Plain Jane disease (inside joke for those of us that are addicted to her blog)

Still working on Wedding plans. I get to where I think I have something figured out but then I can't get the next part figured and it causes me to rethink the first thing. Goodness, after as many times as I've done this you'd think I could do it in my sleep. Actually, maybe I have, that would explain the numbers!! I promise to let all my faithful followers know when an official decision has been made, right after I tell my HSS..*LOL*!

I better jump in the shower (sorry for that frightening visual) and head off to work. I spent most of yesterday working on a "flow chart" of when everyone on our team works so we could try & keep track. Guess it wouldn't look to good if I miss my own starting time I put down...actually, I think I already did.

Till later...................

My darn sister

has "tagged" me.

Here are are the rules to play:
1. List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets
2. Tag 5 friends and list them.
3. Those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people.
4. Don't forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

She already tagged everyone I'd tag so I'm just going to answer her questions so we can have World Peace. Feel free to skip this post.

Here we go:
1a. My sons cat has the nick name of "Cat Dog" because she wags her tail exactly like a dog.

1b. Weird- me? My sense of humor.

1c. Dorky- I once had to climb down the ladder of a High Dive at a pool, through many people waiting on the rungs, because I was to scared to jump off.

1d. My sons cat doesn't purr. Never.

1e. I'm the only one of the three sisters W/O a tattoo. (Not sure that makes ME weird.)

There, 5 weird things about me or my pet. Wasn't that fascinating?

GATORS WIN

First I must tell you that I have spent the better part of my life "Hating" the Gators. Not sure why except that Steve Spurrier pissed off alot of people years ago so we just "hate" the Gators even though he is no longer their coach. I spent more of those same years cheering for the Seminoles. I still love Bobbie Bowden and hope he lives forever. Now that my DD is attending USF I have become a BULLS fan. They did very well in their second Bowl appearance this year but they are still a very young organization. Against my years of cheering against them, I had to cheer for the Gators last night as they played for the National Championship. I'm sure by now most of you know the outcome. The game wasn't even close. I'm ashamed to say I started falling asleep on the couch before the half time show but I did tell my HSS to wake me up if it turned into a "Boise State" kind of game.

I will now take pride in living in the state of the College Football National Champions as if they were my team all along. Hey, I even wore Orange & Blue yesterday to work and NO ONE NOTICED. Not even my DS dad when I went to his house to pick up our son. He is such a Gator hater that he almost disowned our daughter for suggesting she wanted to attend UF. (thankfully she didn't get in so that solved years of therapy) I did my part for Florida pride. I will give them their moment in the sun. I will return to my usual feelings by the time the season starts this fall.

Happy Anniversary

to my future MIL & FIL. I only wish I had as many years left so I could get to celebrate 53 years with my HSS. (If we count the years since we met we may make it!) They do not read my blog as they do not have a computer. Shocking I know. They do stuff like READ and Talk and stuff. Anyway, my future SIL drops by here and my HSS will be calling them later so they will know I'm thinking of them. I hope they have MANY more years together, not just for their sake but for mine. That means I get to be their DIL for many years and that would make me happy.

Mentioned on another blog

I got a shout out from another blogger this weekend. I see it caused a small jump in people checking in here. I'm sure the ones that came over to look thought she was crazy for linking me as I'm no where near the writer she is. It did cause a little envy from two of my co-workers who are addicted to her blog. That was pretty cool. LOL. Glad I'm not full of myself or I'd think I was "ALL THAT".

For the "little people" that read me, thanks and don't worry ....I won't change.....ROTFLMAO!

Thanks Jane for my moment of fame.

Hail to the KING

Today would have been Elvis' 72 birthday. (OMG!!) I remember where I was when we got the news that he had passed away. (please no discussions on whether he really died or not...I saw Eddie & the Cruisers) I was living in NC and he was scheduled to perform at the local arena that weekend. I didn't have tickets but had seen him at Curtis Hixon (local reference that will only be gotten by people as old as me) when I was a preteen. Strange how I always remember his death anniversary in August (it is close to my own Birth-birthday) and his Birthday because it is close to the birthday of a friend of my mothers. She linked that thought in my mind many years ago. Plus the fact that the KING and my mom are the same age. (oops..she will kill me for that tidbit) Anyway....I couldn't let the day pass without a shout out to the man from Tupelo....or Graceland depending on when you start counting.

HAPPY Birthday

to my future SIL. Hope you have a great day!!

Saturday thoughts

Where to start? I did go to the community yard sale. Turns out it is held the first Saturday of the month. It only cost $1 to set up! I may have to check that out myself to gt rid of some stuff. I didn't find anything I felt like braking my $20 for so left there and went to the local church thrift stores. Have I mentioned how much I love living in a small town? SO quaint! Still nothing worth making them break my lone Jackson so I headed home. Found a yard sale in my subdivision that had a really cool OLD wooden tray with handle..has little compartments and definitely has some age to it. They only wanted $1 which was KILLER. When I pulled out my $20 I apologized as I hate when people take all your change for a tiny sale. The girl said she didn't have change and for me to "Just take it". WHAT?? Free?? NO, I can't do that..I told her I had a quarter in my car but that was my entire life savings to date. She laughed and said, No, please just take it". OK.........I didn't exactly run to my car but I was very happy with my treasure. I'll have to take a picture later so you can all be impressed with my find.

Next I came on the computer (my HSS got it fixed-YEAH) as I'd had a nightmare that I'd missed the Homestead Exemption deadline for our new house. Nope....started on January 1 and I have until March. That was a relief. I'm still smarting from missing the deadline on the rebate from Direct TV. Don't even get me started on how upset I was over that $100 mistake!

I was happy to see I'd gotten some comments from my "Language issue". Thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy..well at least not on this issue. One of the comments was from a blogger that I really enjoy as she tells it like it is. THANKS!!! I also received a comment from someone I don't even know.......how cool is that?? I'm not sure how she found me but it's kinda cool to see my blog being read by someone other than myself. LOL!!

Oh, I almost forgot the MOVIE story. My DS & I went to the clubhouse for movie night. For awhile we were the only ones there. Finally the man in charge showed up and before we knew it there were about 15 kids. I didn't realize that parents were going to just drop & go but they did. Unfortunately there was a kid that was a BRAT. Wouldn't stop talking, bothered other kids, just a BRAT in general. He started at the front of the room and later wandered back to where my DS & I were sitting. He started talking again so I finally told him, in a very stern voice, "SHUT UP! You've been told several times to be quiet and if you don't SHUT UP I'm going to call your mother". He did pipe down but then they interrupted the movie to serve pizza and by the time we got back into the "theater" he'd gotten chatty again. Between him & another little chatty boy, two girls with bells on their sandals that kept moving their feet and the fact that the movie was "HAPPY FEET" my DS asked me if we could leave. I must confess I would have liked to see the end but since I'd had a Large head ache all day I quickly agreed with him and we left. We'll probably try again next month but I already told the "leader" that I'm bring duct tape!

I want to get some scrapping/crafting done today so better get going. I really should get the decorations boxed up as it's Epiphany so I have no more excuses. What ever you do, make it a great day. Or not, your choice...Land of the Free and all...**WINK**

Till next time................

Is anyone still here?

I'm not sure if I've offended the entire blog reading community or no one has read my rant from yesterday. I didn't have any comments so I can't tell what you all are doing or thinking. Don't get me wrong, I stand firmly by what I said. Guess I will continue to post and wait and see what happens. As I stated from the beginning, this blog may end up being for my own amusement but if anyone else enjoys reading it...so much the better.

Now, what am I doing this weekend? So glad you asked. I read that there is a Community yard sale Saturday morning so I think I will check that out. Goodness knows I do not need anything but if you think that will stop me..............well you apparently haven't read my 50% off post....see below....not Needing something doesn't keep me from shopping. Beside, there is nothing better than a small town community yard sale. I could find a real treasure.......or more crap to add to my house......we'll have to wait & see. My DS is going to his dads this weekend but not until tomorrow morning. We are supposed to go to the movies at the clubhouse tonight. I'm not sure what they are showing as they don't post a schedule. We've never gone before so it may turn out to be a bust. The rest of the weekend I plan to try & scrap & make a couple cards. My future FIL's birthday is coming up as well as their anniversary. I've already mailed my future SIL's card so I'm golden there.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Our computer decided yesterday that we needed to reinstall our Verizon software so if my HSS doesn't get it to work I may be MIA till Monday. Make it a good one & have fun!!!!

Peoples english

There is an article in this mornings paper that our new Gov. has decreed that the government will use "regular" english and not the blasted jargon that they love to toss around.............

**CkN-A Charlie!!!! Now do you think we can agree that ENGLISH is our countries language and if you choose to live here....................YOU SHOULD LEARN THE LANGUAGE..................!!!!!!

Sorry.....really sore spot with me. I have been passed on for positions with our beloved state because they required a BI-lingual person. EXCUSE me.....isn't this still America? Didn't our ancestors make ENGLISH our language? The fact that people choose to leave their native country to come to our "Land of the Free" shouldn't mean that I have to learn THEIR language because "heaven forbid" they can't be included since they don't speak English...........................PARDON ME.........LEARN the LANGUAGE!!!!!!!!

When I lived in Germany for a few years...many years ago.........I learned as much of their language as I could so I could communicate with our hosts. I used to get angry at the soldiers that made remarks about how the German people should learn English so they could talk to them. ???!!!!!! DID you not see the sign when you got off the plane?? You are in THEIR country.....learn the language. The funny thing is that German school children are taught English as a second language.......why can't people do the same thing here?

If you do not make an effort to learn the language of the country you have decided to live in.....................sorry...............you will not understand what is being said and you can't get a job because my customers will be calling or coming to the office and they will be speaking ENGLISH.

WOW......got a little stirred up. Sorry if I offended anyone. If you disagree with what I've said you can leave a comment or you can stop reading this blog. Land of the Free!!

What is it about a 50% off sale

that makes us run to the store....even when we just went shopping at another 50% off sale and we swore we didn't need anything else and we wouldn't buy anything else until we used the stuff we have........................but we still go to the store "just to check things out"?

I read on one of my groups that a LSS was closing................moment of silence for another small business that is going out of business...............................so of course I HAD to run over after work to see what they had.

The store never really was known as a place with a HUGE inventory so I wasn't surprised when I got there and the pickins were slim. They still have alot of stickers but I'm kinda over stickers...not to mention that I still have TONS from when I was into stickers so NO SALE there. There was a fair amount of paper but again...............I have enough paper to open my own store..............so NO SALE there either. The only thing I did manage to find that I "couldn't live without" was some Paper Mache round" containers" and a fair amount of Jolee items or "Specialty" die cut titles. I have my beloved Cricuit but since it can't link letters together yet I got some of the titles for local attractions. I managed to get out of the store with only a $27 ding to my checking account so I felt that was pretty good.

OK, repeat after me.................. I promise to use the items I got and NOT BUY ANYTHING else.......................until the next 50% off coupon.........................so help me scrapbooking queen.

Ali Edwards has challenged her readers to pick ONE WORD that will be their inspiration for the year. Check out her blog (see my list) for more details. I'm going to think about this for a couple days and will announce my pick in a future blog. Feel free to post your pick here but don't be upset if I "borrow" your word. I'm leaning towards HAPPY...(it's partly because it is a private "joke" between my HSS & myself....no, it's NOT dirty....this is a family blog) but I'm not sure if that will be my "final answer".

Till later......................