BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING

Every year I kick myself in the butt for missing all the great sales that are out there for Black Friday. This year I did some planning. I wrote down what time certain stores open and what they have advertised. I clipped my coupons and I planned on being at my first stop (Kohl's) at 4:00 a.m. because I need clothes and I had coupons.....

Well.... I couldn't get to sleep Thursday night (so what else is new....) so I did not wake up till 7:00 a.m. on Friday - There went my big plans of hitting a bunch of stores.

All was not lost. I got there later than I thought but I did do quite a bit of damage to my credit card but I did get some good bargains. And you would have been very proud of me - I went to AC Moore and walked around, walked around, walked around but walked out with nothing.

Saturday was another story....... I went back to AC Moore and did buy two paper stacks and two Sizzix dies but only because they were 50% off with another 20% off on top of that but even though I was tempted to buy so many other things I went on to Macy's.

There I was not so good........ I shopped myself silly.

Again - It is the whole coupon thing. Everything I got I got on sale plus coupons so even though I spent a lot I did save and it's all stuff that I needed.

On the way home I was thinking how quickly Halloween came and went - How quickly Thanksgiving came and went - How it will be soon time for Christmas.
Then I saw it............. Yes............. There they were again........... Cars with Christmas Trees on their roofs. Not one, not two, but THREE of them in a row driving in front of me (so ofcourse I had to speed up so I could take a picture but in order to avoid crashing my car I only got a picture of two....... LOL)

Well..........

It's official..........
It's time to start decorating.

Now...........

Where in the world are all my decorations????????????????

Sigh...........

JUST TAKING A LITTLE TIME TO RELAX...

Today is Sunday. I probably should be doing stuff around the house - cleaning, laundry, cooking, etc. I probably should have gone out - There are sales everywhere, I should probably have gone to the grocery store. I probably should have gone to the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Stamford (Bob is working setting up the barriers and then taking down the barriers for the parade) but it is so darn cold and I just dont want to go out. Even he came all the way home during his break because he would rather drive all the way home and all the way back then to be out in the cold.

So instead of doing all the stuff I should have been doing, I spent all morning browsing the internet - Mostly SIS because I am so darn addicted to that site.
So anyway......... I came across a post from a wonderful scrapper who uses the name "SCRAPBABY" but her real name is Norma.
She posted this very funny picture of this old lady and how she thought she had more patience now that she is older.........
This ofcourse had me cracking up and so I had to see what else Scrapbaby had in her gallery.
I then came across a layout she did of her coffee cup. A coffee cup that she went out and bought for $2 because at age 68, it was time that she had her very own coffee cup - One that was hers and hers only.
Somehow this layout touched me.............. It really made me think.........
I was sitting here reading about other peoples lives and seeing their pictures and here I was just about ready to let a moment slip away.............
What moment is that????????
Well, the moment where I get off my butt, go to my china cabinet, take out my Royal Daulton Old Country Roses coffee cup and pour my coffee out of the styrafoam cup that I had it in and poured it into my pretty cup........
This cup is from a set that my Mother bought me years ago....... It has been almost four years that she has been gone and I miss her so much. She knew I had fallen in love with this pattern years ago and she had bought me the set but it just sits there collecting dust.
So today - I took time to just relax. I had a few laughs, I had a few moments of reflection upon my life and my family as I read about others and their families. I sat and enjoyed my coffee from MY CUP that my Mother had bought me........
It has been a wonderful Sunday so far.

Okay - Now it's almost 2:00 p.m and I must get going.
The laundry still needs to be done.
Dinner still needs to be made.
Tomorrow is Monday and reality is not always kind.

But thank you Norma for letting me share a laugh and a cup of coffee with you..........

Hugs.........

:0)

TWILIGHT....

I've always had a thing for vampires so when I heard how wonderful the book was I just knew I had to see this movie. It came out at midnight Thursday but since there was work the next day it would just have to wait.

So Friday after work I went and bought tickets. I got to the theater around 5:00 and the 7 O'clock was already sold out. The first theater for 7:30 was also sold out but I got three tickets for the second theater.

Definitely a great movie. Loved the story, loved the acting, love it all.

Wait............ One thing I would have changed.

Yes, Robert Pattinson is very cute and he did a great job acting as Edward but hellooooooooooooooooo....
Can you please look at Cam Gigandet at tell me he is not HOT!!!!!!!

Now that to me is my idea of a vampire....
Sigh...........

STUDIO - My new additions.......

So the are finally home:

1 Executive Desk

1 Computer Desk With Hutch

2 Leather Chairs

I ended up hiring a moving company to bring these home for me.

It cost me an arm and a leg and I know that I could have gotten it a heck of a lot cheaper if I had just rented a truck and had Bob bring it home but I just did not want to take the risk of anyone damaging anything at the office. We just moved in and if there was a scratch on the paint on the walls or if there was anything done to the carpets they would have probably fired me right there.

Okay - I know that is being a little extreme but there are things that you just dont want to mess with.....

So anyway........

I have already made some great discoveries:
Originally I thought the desk would take up most of the space between the windows but on the left I still have room between the desk and the radiator - which is a good thing cause we dont need a fire hazard.

On the right side I have a rolling filing cart which holds file folders for either 8 1/2 x 11 or 12 x 12 papers.

In the computer desk on each side of the keyboard holder (which slides in and out) are shelves but if I take the shelves out - Guess what....... It fits my 12 x 12 Iris carts PERFECTLY.

I am torn.

On one hand I would like this room to be all pretty and clutter free but reality is: IT'S A CRAFT STUDIO so it needs to FUNCTION. I need to be able to store more stuff than most stores carry in their entire inventory (due to my serious shopping addictions......... Sigh.......)

So, even though I would love to have a clutter free look with a few decorative items here and there, I will soon have these new pieces of furniture full of all sorts of STUFF.

This is why I am the self proclaimed "CLUTTER QUEEN"

:0)

STUDIO - The end of C.H.A.O.S. begins......

Hello all.......

Here is a picture for you.
Why did I take a picture of my floor?????????
Because I haven't seen it in a loooooooooooooooooooong time.

It looks good.

Okay - I agree - It is nothing much.

It is not an expensive hardwood floor.

It is not fancy tile.

It is nothing but some old carpet tile that has been there for years but today I can actually SEE IT........

I'm getting new furniture today.
Well - It's new to me.

It's a hand-me-down from my boss who is getting new furniture for his room so I get the executive desk and the computer desk and two chairs and one of the other girls is taking three book cases (she's a major reader) and a filing cabinet and two chairs.

Okay -
Gotta run......

Stay tuned for more..........

If I live through this you may actually see me posting some "After" pictures of the Studio and maybe even pictures of some stuff that I make here.......

:0)

GEARS OF WAR 2

Can someone please tell me why I was out minutes after midnight driving my son to a GameStop???
Oh - yeah..... Cause I'm a Mom and sometimes we do stupid things because we want to make our kids happy.

Gears of War 2 came out today. We knew about this months ago and had the game reserved when they were first taking orders. Bob even paid the whole thing off for Bobby's birthday back in June.
I really did not think I would be dragging my butt down there in the middle of the night but Bobby did get a 95 on his Spanish quiz and that is pretty good considering Spanish is definitely not one of his favorite classes.
So I told him - Keep getting good grades and I'll keep doing stupid things like driving to a video store in the middle of the night........
As long as he poses for a picture so it can go in the scrapbook - :0)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Click here:

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/speeches/obama-victory-speech.html#


GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!

VOTE!!!

One more day till Election Day.

It's times like this when I wish I were a citizen.
This time I would really like to vote.
Such an historic event.

One way or another it is a major step forward.

We will either have the first black President or the first female Vice President.

Either way - This is major.........

But more importantly.

The reason I wish I could vote.

I do believe that one of these people is really going to make a difference.

I really do believe that one of these people is for THE PEOPLE.

You know - The every day people like you and me.

Hint - I am NOT talking about the female who although it is great that she has the opportunity to be where she is but I just really can not figure out how it all happened.......

I just cant see how she would be of any help to any of us. Yikes.....

So if I could I would definitely vote.

SO LOOK WHAT I WON......

Hey, check out what I just won from Angie Delarie. Isn't this just the coolest chipboard camera you've ever seen???????
She has many, many great things on her blog here: http://angiedelarie.blogspot.com/ and at her Etsy Shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5294847 so you need to go and check her out.





Oh, and since the cool new camera was coming my way, I could not help but get the Spirit stamp too........ Isn't she lovely???? I've had my eye on her for a while and now I cant wait till she comes to add a little spirit and inspiration to my studio (which by the way is a disaster zone and needs to be cleaned up ASAP so I can make room for my new desk - But more on this in later posts..................)

NOVEMBER 1, 2008

Oh my goodness...... I knew it has been a long time since I updated my blog but I did not realize it's been a whole month.
I thought about just blogging about all that has happened but then I realized that I would probably put you to sleep and you'd never come back so let's just go forward......


So today I spent the day with Laura, Ally & Tammy at an all day crop. This was the first time we cropped at this place but I dont think it will be the last.

Here are pictures of what I made. They had two make & takes. One was the leaf & acorns. We took chip board and covered them with cardstock. The other was the cards. The third thing in the picture are my Mini's. These were so much fun!!!


My son called me during the crop & asked how many pages I got done. (I hate when they ask because EVERYBODY knows that I am NOT a very productive scrapper..... Sigh......)
I told him that I didn't do any but I did do three Mini Books (the Christmast tree, the snow man & the flowers - Sorry about the lousy pictures....) Although I did do them myself, I have to give credit to this blogger: http://ericasdoingsomethingelse.blogspot.com/2008/03/one-sheet-mini-book-tutorial.html. Thanks Erica for the great tutorial!!! I found her blog just searching the web for mini tutorials. Now I think I'm hooked and will probably make a billion to give out as little Christmas gifts.