My Heart, My Home

it's been so long...

since I last posted, I almost forgot that I had a blog...lol. but I will make an effort to post more frequently from here on out. I hope to have a lot to have updates on; I had been working out a lot when I hurt my knee rollar-skating (funny, I know) and now it has finally healed and I hope to really get kick-started on my weight-loss. more tomorrow after a great workout and another crazy day @ work...

Nicki

my hero

this man is my hero, tonight, he brought pizza home for dinner and right now, he is upstairs referee-ing the girls so I can have a little break. he has become the man that I always wished he would be, he is the kindest father to two little girls, he is the most loving husband that I could ever want and he just oozes hotness to top it all off...love you sweetie!

back to school

Charlotte went into the first grade today. Now, we can all get back into our routines. It feels good. We are a family of "rutters". We all have our little ruts and we enjoy them. We are flexible and don't get bent out of shape when something is out of the ordinary, but we prefer our quiet, simple life. She was very happy to go. And Norah didn't miss her as much today as I thought she would. Mom said when the bus came this morning, they both acted like Charlotte had just been off for the weekend and not the whole summer. We thought Norah would be heartbroken to lose her playmate to the big yellow bus, but she just went on about her business. I just felt so bad that I had to work this morning and not see her off on her first day. Again, the children didn't seem to mind. I'm looking forward to Charlotte being exhausted this evening and she can go to bed early with Norah and I can play with my Big Shot and my stamps. I'm expecting my new stamps on Wed. and I have to play with the one's from my last order first and finish getting ready to order my next sets to play with on the 2nd. Wow! So much to do and so little time.

statement of the heart

We made the @ the RemARKable Stampers Gathering yesterday (well, the center piece was a make & take, I mounted it on cardstock to put in a 5x7 frame and hang in my studio.

Ingredients: Blush Blossom Cardstock, I'm not sure of the exact colors for the make & take (if anyone knows exactly please comment and inform me),20th Anniversary Embosslit,  Priceless Stamp set (page 116 of Fall Winter 2008 Catalog) and the ink colors are Pretty in Pink and Creamy Caramel Classic Stampin' Pads. Thanks for looking! And a thank you to Janet for this great addition to my workspace.  

'happiness always' set

I finally made an attempt at the oh so beautiful "Happiness Always" Hostess Set...It is an 8x8 page.

Ingredients: Kraft Cardstock, Barely Banana Cardstock, Certainly Celery and Close to Cocoa Classic Stampin' Pads. I used the direct to paper technique to grunge it all up.

This photo was taken near Droop Mt. State Park in West Virginia last summer when we went for our family reunion.

my very first swap

This is the very first swap I've ever made...I did it for the RemARKable stampers gathering today. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Ingrediants: Kraft Cardstock background, Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss accents, stamp from Fun and Fast notes (page 67 of the Fall Winter 2008 Catalog) Istamped it with the Whisper White Craft Pad and colored with a blender pen and Ballet Blue Classic Pad. The flower is Pink Pirouette cut with the Big Shot and the Birds & Blooms Sizzlits Die 4-pack (page 28 of the Holiday Mini Catalog 2008.)

I think this card really showed MY style, not just SU's style, which is why we do card swaps in the first place. I go so many wonderful swaps back today and it was so cool to see everyone else's take on a stamp set...I got a couple that were done with the Happiness Always Hostess set, and now I just can't wait to play with it. To me, the really beautiful sets are the most intimidating.

what a day!

I am so pumped! Today I went to an event held by Janet Wakeland for the RemARKable Stampers...I had so much fun! I have been really concentrating on my stamping and scrapbooking lately and this is just the kick in the pants that I needed to really get my creativity flowing. Also, it got me so excited about Stampin Up that I feel like I really must find a way to get to the Regional convention in VA Beach in November and to Salt Lake City for the national convention next August. It was so much fun to be around people who love stamping as much as I do.

I've been cleaning up my craft room and trying to transform it into a real "studio", so part of this process has been purging my old supplies and sending them to ScrapMasters in Bel Air, MD for their Garage Sale Aug 27-29. Please go and check it out! They have some really great deals and a ton of "treasures" to sift through!I will be taking my Cricut! So if you are looking for a good deal on one, it has only been used like 5 times in the past two years...it is just not my thing.

Now, I'm off to create (and maybe finish cleaning and pricing my garage sale stuff) I cannot wait to post some of my new projects!

guess I'll go eat worms...

blah, just feeling like such a nobody tonight...an unaccomplished, pudgy, boring, unpopular nobody. what an odd combination of feelings, ok...got to get this out of my system. I am somebody to my little Norah, and to my Charlotte and to my friends, but they cannot realize this insecurity in me, they cannot see it because they love me...they don't see my failures and the cracks in my shell. I did recieve a card today from a dear relative saying that they were so glad that I made it through everything ok on Tuesday. btw, did not mention that my exision went well and the outlook on the skin cancer looks great...more later, I have to go work my way out of this weirdo funk that I am in ...

A New Journey Begins

this has been a week like I've never experienced before. I was diagnosed with a melanoma on my leg and will be having more tissue surrounding the site removed on Tuesday. So, every day for the last week I have had some kind of doctor's appointment or medical test done. Blood work, chest x-rays, ct scans, poking, prodding, It is just getting to be way too much for me. This is not who I am! I have always been a very healthy, low-maintainance kind of girl, this is just insane. I just pray that the outcome of all of this will be good, that this has been a prolong April Fools day joke by my body. If anyone actually reads this, please say a prayer for me. My chest x-ray came back with a nodular density which is what prompted the ct scan, I should hear the results of the scan tomorrow. But on a promising note, my blood tests came back normal.

Charlotte in School!

My baby starts school on Monday. We are all so excited about this. We do think Norah will miss her so much though. We went to an open house yesterday to meet her teacher and get a look at her classroom. There will be 12 children in her class, the majority being boys. Oh no! But there is one little girl in her class that she had met @ VBS this summer. This is really going to change our whole little world. But hopefully for the better. I think Charlotte will absolutely love school.

The changes at work are going well, after being in the new store for a month now, I can honestly say I like it. We re-merchandised the bakery last week and that was a huge adjustment for all, but nothing that everybody can't get used to. (that sounds so un-grammatical!)

I'm on vacation though this week and am dreading going back to disaster! Hopefully everything will be ok! I'll be going in tomorrow to check on everybody and everthing.

I'm anxiously awaiting the UPS truck. My starter kit of Stampin Up will be arriving this afternoon. Not really planning much with it right now, just signed up as a hobbyist to get the discount and to be able to get sneak peaks at everything and to be able to get my 'stuff' before everyone else does. Also the website available has a ton of reasources and is so easy to use.

More later...