no movie review

I would love to have a holiday movie review for you tonight, however my boys got a new game for their wii and are therefore antimovie night tonight...maybe tomorrow ...I was all ready to watch ELF it is my favorite christmas movie...there aren't even enough candy canes for me to review it and I usually make them watch it with me about 87628 times this time of year so that could be why they're hiding...

and if you haven't seen Elf then you should click here and watch this scene...how do you upload video here anyway?

My friend Leslie came over today and we did some cropping we also went to the new target on hwy 15 which is so nice, I think I heard angels singing when I walked in the door...there is a starbuck's INSIDE TARGET...I mean holy cow...I might as well just pack all my stuff and move in I'm pretty sure they have room in the HUGE GROCERY DEPARTMENT....After Leslie drug me out of the store and back home, I managed to get a few more pages done

first I did this one for 123 challenge

The challenge was to do the following

1. journal on photo

2. no cardstock (pattern paper only)

3. handmade embellishment

This is Patterned Paper by My Minds eye

Flourish stamps are CTMH Play Flourishes

Chocolate Ink

handmade embellie is the ribbon I weaved together in the upper left corner

Journaling handwritten

"Britain, sometimes I look at you and I can't believe you're mine. I know that you got the best of both of us. You are so much smarter than your years. You care about people and their feelings, and your faith is steadfast and unwaivering. I can't even being to imagine what the world has in store for you, but I know it's luck to have you in it. I love you."

Next I did this one for Scrapjacked

this one is Bazzil cardstock, unknown pp scrap, felt flowers and chipboard letters from target 1$ section, tickets are Jenni Bowlin

and finally this one for Christi's Creative Prompt #7

This is Bazzill cardstock, pp from American crafts, letter stickers are chatterbox

bummer there is a glare on this photo, or maybe it's haunted hmmmm

and this is leslie who made some very cute Christmas cards even though she doesn't think so and 2 journals for some friends of ours...they have a group get fit/weight loss thing going

I have to work tomorrow back to the real world again!!

have a great night!

our carpet is clean...

We've been rug doctoring this weekend...well actually Rob has been doing all the work but now we have all clean carpet for Cocoa (aka the terrorist) to poop and pee on all over again...at least the house smells better...

I baked chocolate chip cookies today, and drum roll please.... I didn't ruin them...it's a miracle I mean really...for years I thought I was a terrible cook, I've ruined so many meals then a couple weeks ago we got a new oven...suddenly it's a whole new world...I swear my oven is possessed by Mary Poppins...everything I put in there comes out magically delicious...I made brisket yesterday...Perfect...the cookies were the final test...wow it's amazing... I wish I took pictures...

Britain had his first soccer game tonight and they won 4 to 0 ...I don't usually take my camera to games because when I do then he either doesn't get to play or they lose I think my camera is possessed also but not by Mary Poppins ...so I'm hoping someone else got pictures they can send me some

finally I got some scrappy stuff done today!

first is Pencil Lines Sketch #58

then I tried to catch up on some of Christi's Creative Prompts #5 and #6

I have no idea how a picture of a box of cheerios lead me to make the layout above, but there it is

some friends of mine at soccer said they wanted to see a picture of the terrorist (that would be Cocoa) so Nancy and Tracy here ya go

have a nice night...

In the company of heroes...

Rob and I had the Honor of attending the USO's "Salute to Heroes" dinner last night at The Plaza Hilton in St Louis. Rob along with several others were honored with awards for "Exceptional Achievment and Extraordinary contribution".

First off, hats off to the USO for all that they've done and have been doing. I have been looking for a long time for a place to donate my time and I think I have finally found it. I was never aware that the USO runs almost completely on volunteers. They have a "home away from home" so to speak right here at Lambert field airport where service members on layovers waiting to get home or waiting to deploy or just waiting can put up their feet, take a nap with a goose down comforter, a shower with toiletries donated from area hotels, make a free phone call anywhere in the world courtesy of verizon, and get served snacks and beverages from area volunteers....wow....they also have a mobile USO van that goes to mass deployments to serve service members and family members coming home or waiting to deploy...they can make pizza on the van how cool is that...I'm getting off track here




I was humbled to the point of tears by the experience of being in the company of the servicemen being honored last night, all of whom had their own story of heroism or exemplary service.


This was a fundraiser for the USO, so area companies or private donors sponsored tables which allowed the military honorees and their guests to come to the event at no cost. Rob and I sat with some amazing people. Millenium Communications CEO sponsored our table, Barb (CEO) walked into a USO Sept 12, 2001 wanting to help in some way. Six years later, she's on the board and still serves coffee every week at the USO at the airport and has been known to go to deployments at 3 am just to send our troops off knowing that they are supported...and she actually said she was honored to sit with us....see I'm crying again....

Rob and I have been so very fortunate. In the past several years he has not had to deploy, (he has been an ALS Flight Chief and before that taught at the NCO Academy) . This was his last week and he has gone back to a deployable position. I know he wants to go, not because he wants to leave us, but I think because he feels he needs to go. There is also, a certain amount of guilt I think, for me, as well as him to have watched so many of our friends have to go...




We have never been to an event (and Rob has been in for 23 years) where we felt so appreciated, supported, loved...wow



A very cool lady named Ann sat by me last night, I'm not sure if she works for Barb, or with her or is just a friend...anyway something she said resonated with me and I really wish it would be a position most would take...



she said "I don't care who you are, democrat or republican, whether you love Bush or hate him, when our troops go you get your ass behind them! Support them!" (I got the impression Ann wasn't someone to ever mince words, my kind of woman!)

Here are the 2 pictures that actually turned out, but I am not going to be bummed...there were photographers there so I'm thinking we'll get more...


Yes, that is a real live American Bald Eagle, and again with the tears already, I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was to be that close to one. When he flapped his wings it created a breeze you could feel all over the hall...


The entertainment for the evening were these amazing ladies "American Belles" they travel all over singing...think Bob Hope with the Andrews Sisters...They were amazing....

If you are interested in volunteering click here USO

ps...Rob was honored for his ALS (Airman Leadership School) being chosen for The Best ALS in AMC by earning the "Spirit of Excellence" Award all 3 years he's been there and earning Best ALS Flight Chief Air Force Wide for 2006, and for AMC for this year.

have a nice night....

I never know what to put up here...

I feel like quite the scrappy diva today hang on a sec while I flip my hair...

I had a great day off creating 3 of these little guys right here, mini accordian albums for my mom, my mil, and my fil (mil and fil don't live with each other)...I thought they turned out pretty cute... and they went really fast once I did the first one. I got the pattern for the album from Laura Silverman, but I don't think I can link to her.

After that I decided to do the 30 minute Thursday Challenge from over at Scraphappy

I have never tried to do an exercise like this before, but I've got to tell ya it was so fun! It really made me think on my feet...the journaling says

"you have the most expressive face, Landon. All anyone has to do to know what you're thinking is just look at those big brown eyes. How much fun we had watching your face while you road the rides, and then afterwards we couldn't help but laugh when you said "Dad, could you ask God to stop the world?"

This is Bazzill cardstock, doodle bug pp ,paper frills and letter stickers....

sorry I wasn't here last night, we played scrabble and watched the movie "Deck the Halls" which was so funny. It still freaks me out to see Matthew Broderick all grown up.

and so begins my first..... drumroll please...

"Holiday Movie Review" segment.....

Movie Name: Deck the Halls

Who's in it: Matthew Broderick, Danny DeVito, and Charlotte from Sex in the City

Story: DD's family moves in next door to MB's family. DD has a dream for his house to be seen from space which disrupts MB's clean, nice quiet life. There's lots of funny scenes for everyone. And no holiday movie would be complete without the tear in your eye, warm fuzzy, happily ever after scene at the end

Out of Five Candy Canes here is how we rated the movie

Britain age 12: 4 candy canes "It was funny, but not enough plot"

Landon age 9: 5 candy canes "It was funny, then sad but it was really good"

Amy (mom) age 33: 4 candy canes "It was cute and I was able to bliss out for the duration"

Rob (dad) age 43: Dad had a phone call 20 minutes into the movie that lasted until about the last 15 minutes of it. He said if he got to see it all it probably would have been a 4 candy caner.

ok and now here is my AOD...that would be (ailment of the day) does this foyer resemble a closet? I don't think so...but somehow everyone's shoes end up here (even mine) and we don't even use the front door except maybe when a certain someone gets up at 4am to let certain dogs out, and said certain someone trips over about 75000 shoes, said certain someone should not be held responsible for the stream of profanities that leave said persons mouth...

Moving Day

Well hello everyone and thanks for stopping by....

I'm finding blogspot a lot more user friendly and quick to load...I have no new artwork to show you because I spent half the day (or at least it seemed like half the day) moving all my old posts over here...there's no quick way to do it, copy, paste, copy, paste....and so on...

if you look at my old posts...well don't because they are a mess, out of order and pics missing I just didn't have time to tackle all that today...It's sort of like when you rush to "straighten up" your house before someone comes over....on the surface everything looks great and no one can believe what a domestic goddess you are....we're they to open the door to the master bedroom though...well the entire contents of the house would likely create a river of death out the door and end somewhere in Texas....I'm a really good "straightner upper"...anyway thanks to my new PBH Christi (that would be personal blog helper) I am up and running..

Our halloween candy is officially gone, I just ate the last snickers bar...I know that you are all gasping in horror that any one family could consume halloween candy this quickly, but trust me when I say...we have

want to hear something strange about me...well there are lots of things but here's one fun fact for the day for you... it was 30 degrees last night here, but I do not want to turn on the heat..It's still warming up to about 60-65 during the day...our electric bill has tripled this year due to all kinds of crazy Ameren IP (our company) monopoly and politics and stuff I just don't want to hear about...so I am trying to "tough it out" yes I know we're nuts...we have space heaters so they are probably getting their money anyway, and the kids and I slept in sweats...and I know we're going to break in the next day or two...but I guess this is Rob and I's version of "sticking it to the man" (School of Rock style) LOL which we're really not doing anyway we're just torturing ourselves....yeah we're fruitcakes

I would feel like I was naked if I didn't add a picture of something here soooooo

here's the boys at the stingray petting pool in Nashville at Opry Mills....

Busy Weekend

Usually the words “productive” and “weekend” are never used together in one of my sentences because I spend most weekends carting the kids from one event to the next…we did have a little of that but I also got some projects done…yipee!! First I’ve had these “Sotero” cards from Creative Imaginations staring at me for awhile and just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do with them…I’m often inspired by music, even if the lyrics don’t actually show up anywhere in a project or layout, I guess just the music itself will evoke a memory which leads to inspiration for a layout or project….whew I’m long worded today…this is what I made

“These small hours, These little Wonders, These Twists and Turns of fate” …Rob Thomas..I only used “These little Wonders” from the song, but the mini album itself is a hodge podge of snapshots from different moments over the past couple years..
The paper is Cosmo Cricket, I also used 7 gypsy card stickers, rub ons from scenic route and the little jouraling tickets are from Jenni Bowlin’s line, I found her line at a LSS in Nashville, I’m loving her stuff…I’m pretty happy with how it turned out…

I also completed my cards for my Christmas Card swap…the design was inspired by Becky Higgins’ sketch in Novembers CK…I used Bazzill Cardstock, Bazzill Bling, Doodlebug Winter pattern paper, Rhonna Farrer’s clear stamp and ribbon from walmart

The silver bazzill bling makes it so shiny it’s hard to get a good photo…

On Saturday I went with some friends to a local craft show, which was ginormous…I had no idea… it is the entire first floor of a High School!! Holy Schamoly! Lots of fun stuff, creative people, and great ideas…I’m thinking that a friend of mine and I are going to have a booth next year doing lots of scrappy stuff…but I’m probably getting ahead of myself…here is a picture of one of my favorite booths there this lady “trash to treasure” takes recycling to a whole different level…

look closely, I know the pics never load great here but those are recycled bottle caps turned into jewelry and wine corks turned into tree ornaments…I’m not sure if she has a website I was looking on her packaging, if I find one I’ll post it but how stinkin’ cute!!

Today was a nice relaxing day, Rob and the kids watched football and I made Rob’s favorite dinner which is leg of lamb, brussels, roasted potatoes and yorkshire pudding…I know what you might be thinking from looking at his picture, yes he’s mexican, LOL, but his mom is from England and that’s where he was born because his Dad is retired Air Force…Hence the favorite dinner….After 13 years of marriage I finally got it right…

and last I had my boys home all weekend other that the various above mentioned sporting events, which was so nice and we hung out and watched movies and got sick from Halloween candy it was great…and I caught this picture of Landon just relaxing by the front door with the dogs…

”our lives are made in these small hours, these little moments”….

Hang on to your keyboards this is going to be long with lots of pictures…
well I have been a psychoscrapper today!! I completed 3 challenges and here they are…
First I completed the OLW challenge for the word “Delight”

I used Bazzill Bling, Bazzill Cardstock with an Edge, Twinkle Type chipboard letters, Heidi Grace Stickers, and die cut transparency border by Rhonna Farrer…

Next I completed Pencil Lines Sketch #56A Challenge

I used Bazzill Cardstock, Karen Foster Pattern Paper and Rubons, Kurio Chipboard letters, Arrows are CTMH road Signs Acrylic Stamp Set.

and last I did Christy’s Creative Prompt #4

This is Bazzill Cardstock and Karen Foster calendar paper from last year….

I should have been working on my Christmas Cards, I’m participating in a swap and I haven’t even started….It seems like when I have something I need to work on I get all this creative energy to do stuff completely unrelated to what I am supposed to be doing…maybe if I focus on making Christmas Cookies, then I’ll think of what I want to do for my cards….hmmmm.
I have a few other things I’ve been working on but I haven’t finished yet, I plan to do a lot of creating this weekend…
Now I want to share a recipe with you that I promise you will love…this came from my friend Stephanie, who got it from a friend and so on…I don’t really know who the original credit goes to except that somewhere along the line I heard it was a recipe of Paula Deen’s ok so anyway this is so so yummy and perfect for this fall weather weekend…

TACO SOUP
1 lb of ground beef
1lb of ground turkey sausage
1 chopped onion
1 can of corn
1 can of rotel
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of diced olives ( I hate olives but I love them in this soup)
1 can of chopped green chiles
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 packet of hidden valley ranch dry dressing (trust me)
cook meat with chopped onion
dump all cans DO NOT DRAIN into pot with cooked meat and onion
add seasoning packets
cook on stovetop until done…(the longer it cooks the better it tastes)
serve with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream…

I promised you some pictures from our lunch date at Hidden Lake Winery so here they are…. I love fall, I love wine and most of all I love this man