I had forgotten I even had a blog

Wow! Hard to believe it's been almost a year since I've posted to my blog. Real life intrudes and sometimes you have to prioritize. So much to catch up on.....

First of all, life has been extremely fulfilling and fantastic. I love living in the midwest and the house we have is definitely HOME. I've become a regular little hermit. My favorite days are spent here in my PJ's all day doing a little bit of "piddling" all over.

Secondly, I've begun a new chapter in my life....in the form of a new job. December 14th I started to work back in the medical field at a local hospital. I know it sounds so FAKE, but I have to say I absolutely love my job and my co-workers. The job is so fulfilling and satisfying. I guess my calling has always been in public service. I love dealing with the public and meeting so many new people every day. It is so satisfying to be able to make a difference in people's lives in my own little way.

Thirdly, I've aquired a few new "Play pretties" in my absence. Hubby was so kind to purchase for me my dream camera...a Cannon Rebel. I can't begin to tell how how wonderful this camera is. I'm constantly amazed at the shots that even an elementary photographer like me can capture. Even the lint on the carpet is facinating through the lens of that camera. He also purchased me an external hard drive (75GB) that will even fit into my purse! Holy cow....do I love gadgets!!!!

I have been creating though in my absence. I completed a very special project that meant a lot to me. For Christmas, I made my Grandfather & Grandma a family scrapbook. One page for each member of our family....all 43 pages of our family. I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to present it to them and see their reactions. Given that my Grandmother has Altzheimer's I thought maybe it would help her to remember us better. It was such a special project that I was blessed to do and complete. I've also made a new year's resolution....I'm making a special birthday card for each and every member of my family and friends and sending it to them this year. I'm doing good so far.

I hope that I will continue updating this blog on a regular basis. Seems that writing on it is cathartic to me.....:)

Happy Belated Easter Greetings

Whew! What a crazy, hectic couple of two weeks. Last week, of course, was the big CKC show and that was hootie wild, but us SBF girls made it through all that work! LOL!

Last Wednesday, we (me, Mo and her BFF) left for West Virginia to spend the holiday with family. We had a grand ol time! It was great to spend time with everyone. In true family tradition, everyone gathered at my Grandparent's house for the big dinner/Easter Egg hunt. Talk about good food....turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, all kinds of different salads, desserts, and a big ol pitcher of sweet tea! (Can you say Jenny Craig's nightmare...lol!) It was sooo good. The kids had a great time hunting Easter eggs and of course, each kid got to find a lucky egg, that everyone pitched in for so each kid got $4, which they were estatic about.

Mo got a cell phone from her dad and (soon-to-be) step-mom, which of course thrilled her beyond measure. She told me this morning she's sent 64 texts (in three days!!!!) Thank Goodness they got her unlimited texts!

I've been working feverishly to transfer all my photos from the old laptop to my new play-pretty. Unfortunately, during my transfer the darn thing dumped allllll my photos into one big lump (and being the anal retentive person I am...I had worked so hard putting into individual folders by event, then by year on my old laptop) and it musta had a snafu in transferring them because it mixed them all up and quadruple copied them. What a mess! ERG....ARGH!!!! It's taken me two days, but I finally finished sorting all of it out...whew!

That's all for now....maybe now I can update a little more often....

Signs of Spring

I'm loving this warmer weather and although my skin resembles the underbelly of a fish (lol, can you say bass-belly white three times fast?) I've even broken out my beloved Irish t-shirts. I tend to wear them allll spring and summer long, regardless if it isn't St. Pat's Day! I'm darn proud of my heritage, can you tell?

Life has been, as a good friend used to say, "hootie-wild". At the store, we're running around like crazy getting ready for the big Creating Keepsakes show in April, so I've been so busy with that I haven't had much time to update my blog. Two weeks to go and counting...

Imagine my surprise when I looked out my kitchen window the other day and spied some blooms on one of my bushes, so being the scrapbooker I am and novice photographer, I immediately went out (in my pajamas no less) to capture them.

I have started making my Easter cards though. I love the way they turned out. I'm using Great Impression stamps, which I love because they give you such a crisp detailed design. I also used Zing Embossing Powder from American Crafts and I have to tell you it melts like butta....worked wonderfully I think, but you be the judge....

I'm so excited. Mo and I are going home (West Virginia) for Easter. I'm so excited to see mom and dad and Hannah Bug (not to mention the rest of my family). Seems like it's been longer than Christmas since I saw them!

I embraced my inner fan-geek yesterday. I HAD to go to Wal-mart yesterday by 11am to grocery shop (just so happened to coincide with the release of "Twilight"!) I immediately came home ripped open the DVD and watched it. I loved it! So glad I decided to buy it...so I proudly wear my "I'm a fan-geek" T-shirt! LOLOLOL!

Sorry for the semi-short post, off to work for a few hours.....

Hugs!!!

I got a new Play Pretty!!!!

I know it's been a while...just seems like there aren't enough hours in the day for me lately. LOL! Been busy making page kits for the CKC show in April...sooo, needless to say I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off!

But, I wanted to tell ya'll about how great that man of mine is. Yesterday, he was making a trip to his favorite place (Home Depot) and he asked me "Do you need anything while I'm out?" Jokingly, I said "Yeah, get me a new laptop". (The laptop I had was at least 10 years old and was in a death spiral to go kaput!)

I went about my business and that man o' mine came in with a brand spankin new laptop (much nicer than I would've picked out myself). Needless to say, much hugging, squealing and kissing ensued. Isn't he something??? *Sighs*

Now, I promise to update more regularly (see Sha-na-na...I listened!)

Hugs to all!

Flea Market Finds=New Creations

I got to indulge in one of my favorite, favorite activities this weekend...I got to go thrift store and flea market shopping! I love finding things that I can "do-over" or alter and turn literally one person's junk into my treasure. I scored big this weekend!

I got:

- an old (ugly) jewelry box

-a miniature primitive chair

-a little (ugly) green box/drawer

-a miniature cabinet with screen doors

-2 primitive wooden trays

-4 miniature iron rug beaters

-a wooden (long) tissue box cover

Total sales: under $15

Now for the fun part! I painted/papered the jewelry box and little green box/drawer. I used Making Memories and Kaisercraft paint and Graphic 45 papers (Botanicabella & Communique). I love, love, love the vintage feel of Graphic 45 paper. I was awed and amazed at their booth at Summer CHA in Chicago. I've always been a fan of primitive/country/shabby chic/distressed looks and these papers really capture all of that. (Did I mention I love, love, love them! :)

Here are the results that I'm very happy with:

More later, gotta paint some more! *Big grin*

Still Alive and Kicking...

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. It isn't that there have been any problems of any kind, quite the contrary actually. I'm still in the "high on life" stage and truth of the matter, it's given me a newfound energy! I've been creating almost daily and have even found a newfound love of card-making. So, I've immersed myself in the creative side and have neglected my love of "gab" and blogging, unfortunately.

Things at work have been busy, busy, busy. All the new releases have been pouring in daily and so I've been working a lot (and I love it! I'm like a kid on Christmas morning and my checkbook IS suffering...LOL!) Things will be kind of hectic until the first weekend in April when we have the big Creating Keepsakes show in Collinsville, IL. Sooo, if I'm spotty by posting forgive me.

I'm very grateful to say that on Feb. 13th, I celebrated my 36th birthday. I never thought I'd be so happy to be turning older, but I'm just glad I'm still here to celebrate it. Bob and I enjoyed a very relaxed, and quiet Valentine's Day since Mo spent the night with her BFF. We watched TV and ate pizza...aren't we romantic? LOL! Bob got me new ink pens and 4 types of chocolate...Good Lord, I love that man! *big ol sloppy grin*

Anyway, hugs and kisses to those of you I haven't talked to lately (V & Bean especially!) and I promise to be back with a vengence soon...heehee!

All in a Name

I ran across this page on Scrapjazz.com and thought it was so flippin' hysterical that I thought I'd give it a whirl. The layout was done by Jen Erikson (and I happen to LOVE her layouts and try not to covet her handwriting..LOL!) So, here goes:

Rock Star Name (1st pet & current car): Andy Maxima (ROTFL!)
Gangsta Name (favorite ice cream & favorite cookie): Vanilla Oreo
Fly Girl Name (Initial of 1st Name & first Three letters of last name): A Eis
Soap Opera Name (middle name & city born in): Jo Huntington (doesn't that SOUND straight off of All My Children or somethin!)
Stripper Name (sorry Mom! LOL!)(favorite perfume & favorite candy): Lovely Bliss (chocolates)
Detective Name (favorite color & favorite animal): Red Dog
Super Hero Name (2nd fav. color & "the" & favorite drink): Black the Diet Dew
Witness Protection Name (moms middle name & dad's middle name): Kathryn Gary
Star Wars Name (1st 3 letters of last name & 1st two letters of first name): EISAM

You try it...see if it doesn't make you giggle! Have a great Saturday!!!

The "Bean" posted about the random-ness of it all today, and I agree with that. But, Vee and Bean both had something really neato on their blogs that I bloglifted from them. Looks pretty cool.... and can be found here.



1. Enough with the near zero weather I want SPRING!

2. Lucky Charms vs. Fruity Pebbles causes me to be conflicted.

3. I've been craving avacado :).

4. My lovely daughter who doesn't think before she speaks makes me laugh.

5. I wish I could go to Ireland (*Sighs* someday) next week.

6. My Hannah Banana has been on my mind lately.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to being a slug in my jammies, tomorrow my plans include staying in the same jammies and scrapbooking and Sunday, I want to stay in the same jammies, but that would be kinda gross...wouldn't it?

Now, wasn't that fun! *hee-hee* I just love things like that. Personally, I'm looking forward to a weekend that has NO AGENDA, which I find to be such a rarity and is always welcome...especially when the temperature is hovering between 0-20 degrees! Can you say...BRRRRRR! Methinks I will be spending quite a bit of time at the 'ol scrap space this weekend with a roaring fire in the fireplace.

I'm reading an excellent book that I'm going to share. It's called "Moments of Clarity" by Christopher Kennedy Lawford and you can read excerpts here. It's a book of stories by people of all different walks of life from the average Joe you see on the street, to celebrities that I know you're sure to recognize. These people all share their stories of addiction, their "moment of clarity" and happily their recovery. It's heartbreaking yet heartwarming. If you know anyone suffering from addiction, or even someone in recovery from addiction...I highly suggest this book!

I'll post pictures if I actually get any pages/projects done this weekend. May you all have a great and happy beginning to the weekend!

Lots of Lovely Projects

Let's hope that the energy and the amount of "stuff" I'm actually getting accomplished this past week extends well into this new year :) . I finishes my "A Flower Blooms Once" mini-book that I made for Morgan. I'm pleased at how it turned out. I've even managed to complete a layout or two in the process. I also took pictures of some of my recent layouts (hoping that this time ya'll will be able to open them to enlarge the pictures. If not, I'm sorry but I'm just deficient in the photo uploading part of my brain! LOL!)

On a personal note, I feel FANTASTIC! Everything is so clear and bright and I'm even sleeping great and waking refreshed! 10 days and counting!!! (YAY ME!)

Hope you enjoy my little projects....

Much gratitude and love to those of you who sent prayers and well-wishes. They are helping me so much and giving me the strength I need to take each day as one step. Thank you my wonderful friends.

Changes..Clarity and Gratitude

Wow! Can't believe it's been so long since I posted.

This post is very difficult for me to write for as most of you that know me, I'm very rarely ever serious...I much prefer laughter to drama, but I think that this experience may be cathartic and theraputic for me...so here goes.

For the last two years, I have been battling, lets just say a "demon of my own making". I hated what how it was able to take over and change me. But at the same time, I thought I was doing nothing wrong because I wasn't hurting anyone (but myself) and honestly, I kept it quiet so many people who know me well, never knew or even suspected that I was going through this internal struggle. Without going into details, the demon almost won completely on January 5th. The experience was scary, painful and I never want to re-live something like that ever again.

In order to never go there again, I had to admit some really hard truths to myself and my family. I had to face just how far I'd allowed this demon to take over part of me...and I have to fight really hard for the rest of my life NEVER to return there again. So, there have been some very big changes that I've made in my life.

I would like to ask that each of you that read this, if you would just whisper a prayer-a hope-a strength for me as I make these changes that I will continue to remain strong in my decisions and actions. Also, send those same prayers and thoughts to Bob and my family as they continue to be my "rock" of support.

I have had a moment of clarity...and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be here to tell about it. For the first time in nearly two years, I feel great and it's like I'm seeing the world through brand new eyes...clear, clean and fresh. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers! :)