Christmas Wish Come True

We had record snowfall!  For several years now I have been praying and pining for a white Christmas and boy did I get it this year!!!!!  It looks to me to be about 20"s but the weatherman is saying 10-15.  Went out in it very briefly this morning and it is super soft and powdery.  It looks like sugar.  I promised pics for CJ and the girl so here they are.  (love u babe and wish u were here)

My Creative Classroom

Guess what I did? I applied to teach online classes at My Creative Classroom. And guess what else? I was hired. Yeah, yeah I know, my life is crazy right now but I am still super excited. I will be teaching 2 classes. This one that is all about making stuff yourself (my all time favorite thing to do!) .....



This is just one of the things that we will be doing. I covered everything from making your own buttons to making brads using photos. The crazy kitty, pumpkins and journal spot on this layout are going to be made in class.

And this one that is all about the glimmer mist.......

Yep, that necklace is made using stuff and glimmer mist. It is pretty, my neighbor told me so.

I still need to add blinkies and put the finishig touches on my classes but once that is done, I will be in business.

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon.

4 weeks till the big moving day! We are so excited!!!!!!

I haven't posted for awhile. I have had a lot going on, all of it personal. I have made so many changes. My husband and I have been forced to live apart for almost 2 years now because of the housing market, economy, whatever and it has been tough. I have had to make some decisions that I put off making when I should have and that has been tough. These last 2 years have really taken a toll on our family. The time apart stress our marriage and his relationship with the kids. For the past few weeks, I really was not sure if we would survive, but God is good and he let us know in no uncertain terms that we made a commitment (#1) and we really do need each other. Giving up is not an option.

It is tough but we finally decided to take a leap of faith and move the family to where my husband is. Not just a decision, but we have taken steps. We have a move date of October 1st. That is when the beautiful moving guys will come and start packing up our stuff. Have I mentioned how much I love moving guys? If you have ever moved, you know why. My husband does not have to worry about a movie star or a pool boy when I start going thru my midlife in about 20 years. He has to worry about one of those guys in a truck that has the word "Movers" painted on the side. lol. Anywho, I got way off track. I am excited to move and really excited to move to DC. My hubby loves it there and can't wait to get us there so that we can really enjoy the city together. The boys are excited that they get 2 weeks out of school. The girl is excited that finally, she gets to move to the city (when she grads of course). I have a line on 10 houses to look at renting and we have narrowed the neighborhoods down to about 5.

I am in my second semester of school and managed to finish my first up with a 4.0! I love, love, love, heart, love being in school. I took Economics this semester (hate, hate, hate) along with 4 other classes.

I will be teaching online but am going to post a different entry about that. I have closed Gifted but am working on something else that I feel will fit my needs better.

Grow

That's it, that is all I want to do. All I feel I am called to do. I have a golden opportunity here. I am young and retired. I can make a fresh start. Doing a job that speaks to me. That makes me happy. That doesn't feel like work. There are only 2 things that fall into that category for me.

1. I want to be a wife & mother that is at home most of the time. I love being able to be there for my husband when he needs an encouraging word. I love being there for my boys when they get home from school or if they have a problem. I love being able to talk to my girl when she needs me. I love cooking healthy meals & taking care of my home. When I had my more than full time job everything was a chore. Everything. I had no time, no patience and no joy. I was cranky and even though I was doing my best, not a good wife or mother. I was very good at my job though. I felt that my family was number one because I was providing a good life for them. But my kids came home to an empty house everyday. There were times when, because of work, I could not stop what I was doing to talk to them. And instead of being able to be a support to my husband when he needed it, I had my own job stresses to dish. And finding God, God was nowhere to be found in my life. Now, things are different. I am taking my time to find the right career. I am spending time with my family. I am finding myself again. It's not easy most of the time but I am growing.


2. I want to have a job that allows me to create the things in my head using the things in my hands. Be it paper, wood, bits of string or fabric I want to make pretty things with them. But the #1 requirement for my job is that I can keep #1 at #1. I don't want to sacrifice my family for business. I want to travel, a lot, but it would be nice to take them with me. I want my schedule to be flexible. I want to be excited about what I am doing & sharing. I don't ask for much do I?

All of this is coming from deep inside of me. Lately, I feel that my emotions are my skin and that I don't want to "have to do" for the rest of my life. I want to feel everything when I feel it, not later when I have time.

Busy

I have an extraordinarily busy day today. Whew, I am tired already. So why am I blogging you might be asking, well I don't know, I just couldn't help myself. Here's my Tuesday to-do list:

• homework for Web & Bus class


• study for Acc test tomorrow (and boy do I need it! Have I mentioned that I can't count?)


• laundry


• dishes


• finishing touches on class samples & get em in the mail


• work on developing new class for a new assignment


• mow the lawn (where's the boy when you need him? I am only doing the front today!)


• Pay bills & mail (Yuck! I wish I could get paid and have the cosmos pay my bills so I could spend all my money on clothes, eating out, coffee & scrapbooking)


• finish moving furniture in boys room


• take couch to the dump (that's been on my list for months now)


• clean my bathroom (maybe move that to tomorrow)


• CHA reservations


• camping reservations


• baby shower cards for my sister


• etc, etc (ie stuff that I need to do but won't do today lol)

What's on your list?

Man, it is absolutely gorgeous today! Hot, but georgeous. I even took a photo for you.........

Have a great day and blog you later!

Don't Leave The TV On

when you go to bed or you will find yourself waking up at 4:30 am and end up blogging an hour later!

A "nice" note my girlie left me on FB

#1-"I found you woman!"
*when I told her I had a FB account she didn't believe me so she called and asked me which community? I was in. Communi what I said. She called me back and 1st asked me if I was sure I had an account than said that she could not find me anywhere. A couple days later I got this*

#2 - I didnt send you a friend request thank you very much. What would make you think that I would want you snooping around on my page? Hmmm? You might get a few shockers lol. But thank you, I wouldn't be beautiful if it wasnt for you. Come on you ARE my mother : )"
*I got this in reply to the very cute note I left her about how hard she was going to have to work to get me to accept her as a friend. How sweet is my girl. Reminds me of that candy commercial for the sweet & sour gummys

Cathleen Smith (met her in one of my classes, she was great) is an Rusty Pickle Amazing Race Finalist. Congrats Cathleen, your work is fantastic. I have to go check out the clues at noon.

My boys are gone. Did not realize how quiet my house would be or how much I would miss having them around. They are having fun at my brothers and when I called, my little guy did not even want to slow down & talk to me. Oh well I have to face reality, he is not my baby any more.

Off to do homework. Will probably go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Just Blog Already!

I did it again. I posted 2 weeks worth of post in one day. It is so much simpler to just do it when I start the post. Some people.

Here are a couple of photos of one of the classes that I will be teaching in Columbia. I am so happy with how it came out. I was a bit disappointed that my original supplies were no longer available but once I got to work with these, the album just came together. Love the bird in the nest!

I sure hope that I can get in the TH class at CHA. That would make me so happy!

Just Finished

the homework that I started at 12pm. This school stuff is no joke. I haven't worked this hard since Q was a baby. My brain is fried!

Very Good News! I talked to Jodie and I will be teaching 3 classes at Scrap 'n' Stamp in Jacksonville, Florida next month. I used to visit this store all the time when I lived there. I will be teaching:

• The Apron Class
• Being Myself 6X6 Mixed Media Album
• The Glimmer Project Mixed Media Album

I love all three of these classes and was very happy when Jodie said she wanted them. I should be posting a few pics of the samples this week before I get them in the mail.

I will also be teaching a new paper bag album in Columbia in July. I will post some pics of that tomorrow.

My dad is doing fine. I just want to say thanks for keeping him in your prayers. My girlie emailed me some pics of him. He just bought a new mule and was completely annoyed that he could not go and plow with him over the weekend. He plows the old fashioned way and let me tell you, it is hard work being pulled behind a mule! It is one of the reasons he stays so thin. He is probably the most active man I know. He picked me a bag full of fresh cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and squash (my favorite!). I am waiting for the boys to come back before I cook them. The horse at the bottom is the one that threw him last year and almost killed him. My husband said that that horse would have been glue but my dad (with a punctured lung, broken collarbone and everything else) refused to go to the hospital till he was sure the horse was safe and not hurt. He is one amazing man.

I did this layout of Q and just realized that I left the "e" off of Dude. Duh! Still love the layout though. I went back and added the "e" in the second lo (ps, excuse the mess in the background of the 1st pic)

I will be going to CHA! I am so excited. Beyond excited. This is my first time going and I am going to try to take a ton of classes and look at lots of paper & stuff. Should I get a purple boa & tiara?

How Sweet

Is this dog? This is my moms new puppy Candace (Candy for short). She is adorable!!!! And my little guy loves her. She loves him too. They spent the entire day playing chase and he took her for walks. And no, we are not getting one. We will visit this one to take the edge off. Reminds me of another cute dog huh Karla. (yah I know the pics are blurry, I truly suck as a photog)


My mom had been wanting to go fishing for a while and that's what we planned to do while she was here. We actually went to the river the first night and didn't catch a single thing! She caught 2 yucky catfish and a really pretty turtle. All got thrown back because Shere don't clean no fish!

Have a great day!

Hello

When you are in school, you actually need to check and see if you have any assignments due. Who knew. I didn't apparently! But it's all good, I can catch up next week.

Yippee, 2 more days till school is done! Can you say sleep in. Yall I truly can't wait.

Change 3

Major change 3 for the girl. She is going with art. Hopefully this will be the last time as school will start in about a month.

The hubby and I have been talking about a trip to Disney. Could the urge to go be coming from Nicoles excitement about going with her family? Maybe, maybe not.

My sister is finally, finally getting married. Holy cow. She and her fiance have been together for darn near 10 years (might be more than ten, I lost count) and are finally on the same page. I am so happy for her and am praying that they have the happiest fairy tale marriage.

The boy decided to join the Air Force this summer. Wow, just wow. Sometimes I look at him and don't realize that he is my baby boy. From 4 lbs of baby joy to 150 lbs of boy/man. Wow.

My mom will be coming for a visit soon.

Scrappy Stuff - for the little guy. Because he knows everything and won't let us forget it.

Thanks for stopping by and blog you later!

Been Scrappy

I've been scrappy! Look what I did today.......

For shame, only one layout has pictures. I don't forsee that being fixed anytime soon as I need black ink for my printer and do not feel like running out to get any. Besides that I am thinking of submitting all of my photos to one of those online places and having them printed out and delivered to me. Lovely, just lovely that would be.

Thank the Lord school will be out next week. I can barely make it!

Thanks for stopping by and blog you later......

I Have a Date

But it's not with my husband! It's with the scrappy chicas at Scrapbook Creations in Columbia, SC. I will be teaching 2 classes there on Saturday July 11th. I am beyond excited. I really loved her store. I had to spend 20 minutes drooling, I mean looking around before I could even talk to Stacie. Lovely, just Lovely.

I officially started school 2 days ago but thankfully, I am taking online courses, so I start tomorrow. This will be one short post. I have a lot of frickin money to recover from spending. It physically hurt me to write the check for my tuition and the bookstore made me cry (and I almost flipped my van over turning into it). I got no sleep last night thinking about going to the school today. I know things will be much easier when I get the hang of things but right now, today, it is tough!!!!! I told my girl that I am going to transfer to her school and take every class that she takes. Hey, we can be study buddies. It was real quit for a while lol.

She actually decided that nursing is not for her. She hates anatomy & physiology. So instead of nursing, she is switching to premed. Go figure. That decision actually settled on me calmly. Pediatrician really feels more like her to me than nurse. I can see her doing that. ER, I cannot. She moves like a turtle and is never, ever intense.

Just Madness

Monday should just be renamed Madness. Everything that needs to happen seems to get scheduled on a Monday. Is it because folks are trying to finish everything early so that they can get their weekends started on the right note? I don't even know but I tell you what, mine was jam packed!

• 2 showings of the house
• dental appt for both boys
• make dental appt for girl (when exactly will she start doing this herself?)
• bills & budgeting
• deposits to be made
• getting rid of old furniture & a box of magazines (should have been 2 but I couldn't cope with parting)
• cleaning the back porch (involved a long brush, soapy water, a broom and moving furniture)
• tying up loose ends before my new classes start
• follow up phone calls for my sb classes
• groc store visit (do I have to go every single day? Why do I set aside a day for shopping?)
• reserving camp sites
• cooking dinner
• arrangements to pick up the girl & get her fin aid for next semester situated
• laundry (washing, folding & putting away)
• sorting the boys clothes (don't fit, unfit, & just plain not clean but in drawers anyway)
• vacuuming (Lord it takes about an hour to just vacuum the upstairs & down)
• deep cleaning the bathroom (must make the boy bathe in his bathroom!)
• washing dishes
• calling family
• and about 6 more things
• eat (Had popcorn, does that count?)
• Blog Hop
• Cuss at Facebook

My time is all gone but at least it was productive. How was your Monday?

Library Time

We finally made it to the library today. I never turn my books in on time and we check a ton of them out. Of course, I get there today and owe almost $27. Crap, do you know how many coffee's that would have bought me? At least 5 maybe 6. The little guy is too excited and has been reading since we walked out the library's door. Literally. So I won't complain. At the rate he is going, he will be done with all 7 books that he picked up by Wednesday. At least they won't be late!

My husband and I will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary this year. I think back to when we got married and it was so simple. Almost another day for us. We got married, went home and changed than went about out day as if nothing special happened. I love to watch the show Platinum Brides, and I always wonder what it would have felt like to have a big production. When I think about us, I realize that we really deserved to. We did it right the 2nd time around and we really should have celebrated it more. I still love him as much, actually more than I did the day we met (14 years ago) and I cherish how we have spent our time together adjusting to each other and learning to honor our differences. I have a lot of respect for him and am glad that I gave love & marriage another chance. He was so worth trusting with my heart and my children. If you are reading this, I love u babe. Not in love with the photos or the lo but thats okay, I love the concept.

In other news, I have been working on a couple of new classes and am so excited to reveal more details about them. One is so different and not really even a scrappin class. It is an apron class! Here are a couple of the fabrics that students will have to choose from.......

We are going to make several of those big frilly fabric flowers to go on it. And we are going to use vintage buttons & jewelry to decorate. And we are going to add a monogram. I could just go on and on about it but I won't. I should have the description and teaching locations up in the classroom section soon.

Well thanks for stopping by and blog you later!

Wanted. Accountability Partner

I have been watching the show "So You Think You Can Dance" and even though I know I can't, I forget. I find myself saying "Wow, I can do that." Who the heck am I kidding? So if you are willing to be my partner, all you have to do is call me up on Wed & Thurs night and say "Shere, you're nuts if you think you can do that and I will seriously hurt you if I ever see you on the show." That's all you have to do. Give me a quick reality check.

Meatballs Gone So Wrong

So last night I get inspired to make a good old fashioned comfort food dinner. I visited my dad over the holiday and got some delicious fresh veges from his garden. I decided that we would have meatballs and mashed potatoes with them. Yum. I only had ground turkey on hand which always, always, always makes dry meatballs to me so I decided to ensure that they were moist and delicious. Um yeah that did not turn out so well. They were too moist and would not hold together, even with the egg I added. You can't just throw it away, that would be wasteful. I got the genius idea to make a meat sauce with them. Turned out to not be so great of an idea and what I got looked a lot like slop.

And yes I served it to the boys. The little suck ups said that they loved it. Yeah right, I had to hide it under everything else before I would eat it. If I don't see what it looks like, I can't get quesy. There is no way in heck the girl would have eaten it. Next time, I will throw it out!

A lo about my neice when she was a baby. She is 7 now. Such a big girl.

I have been working on this layout for about a month now! I got a great idea to place 2 papers together and sew a circle in the center than tear the circle out to reveal the paper underneath. It works great and I love it but I lost all motivation with it after that.

Well, thanks for stopping by and blog you later.

Facebook? Undecided

I finally opened a facebook account yesterday and while I am interested in how it works/why so many people love it/making new friends, I am still undecided on whether or not me likey. I am a total techno-dummy. Texting-have yet to send one. Twitter-don't even know what the heck it is. Myspace-umm, no. My cell phone is older than my kid! So my facebook friends, please be patient with me.

I added a new blog to my link list. Her name is Anna and we met at inspired. She was a riot & very, very straight talkin! Her blog is exactly like she is so consider yourself warned if you go meet her.

A lo that I did for Noel Mignon's contest. Love her kits and may be investing in one soon.

I signed up for 4 (yikes) classes. I am going to start all over again. With the exception of my basic english and math credits, I am junking them all. I completely changed direction with my major but am happy with what I am doing. I like the fact that I can take the classes that I want and tailor my degree to what I want it to be instead of trying to finish as fast as possible and shuttling all of my prior credits to the electives. I start next week. Homework, yeah. Maybe I can show my kids a thing or 2 about straight A's and turning my homework in on time. I was at the mercy of extra credits when I was last in college because I was working with 2 little ones (1 & 4) at home. I so don't recommend that, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

What a Fantastic Weekend!

I love, love, love my family!!!!!! I'm sorry that I haven't commented on the post or posted on commenters blogs but I have not been near my computer since I left on Friday Morning. When I am with my family, all I want to do is spend time catching up, talking and just plain being around them. They make me deliriously happy and I smile the whole time I am with them.

We visited my Granny, picked veges from my Dad's garden, fed his horses, picked wild berries, went fishing, bbq'd at my sister's new house, spent some time with my mom, loved on my adorable new nephew, visited my aunt (who was very happy to have company and it was so good to talk to her and to look at her photos and collections), went to the flea market (apparently, goats are in because there were so many for sale) and last but not least had dinner at my daughters apartment. The boys (Q and my 3 nephews) were completely fascinated by all the animals for sale. Fat geese, lots of biddies, puppies, roosters, pigs, rabbits. I said "no" more than I have in a month. Mom can we get a rabbit, mom this puppy sure would be happy with us, mom can we get a duck, mom can we take home a biddie and keep it until it is big enough to release in the wild. Wha? Release in the wild? Where does he get this stuff? He was so busy the entire time we were gone, that he fell asleep before his head hit the pillow almost every night. As soon as we got home tonight, he went straight to bed. Didn't fight me on it or anything. We haven't watched more than 30 minutes of tv (except for the movie marathon Sunday night) in the last 4 days. That's a good thing because we watch a lot of TV.

That's all I got today, no pictures because I am a slacker. I should have taken some of my dad's gorgeous horses. They are such beautiful animals. And one of my uncle's alien dog. He has a lump (tumor?) on his head that they can't figure out what it is. He looks like a unicorn. I hope they don't have to put him to sleep. I wouldn't let the kids play with him at all.

Thanks for stopping by and blog you later!

Finally Friday

Finally. I sure wish that school was out. We still have 2 more weeks. Oh well, I guess I just have to find a way to enjoy the last 2 weeks of quiet days.

Been workin on some new classes and on stepping outside of my box. I have been invited to teach at a couple conventions but I don't think I am going to. I have had a few people that took my classes last year email to ask if I was going to be there this year and I gave a definite no. I thought I was thinking about it but I guess I'm not. I want to focus more on local, small classes so that I don't have to get someone to come in and keep my boys. Yes I know A is 17 but still, leaving him & Q alone to fend for themselves for 4 days. Not ready for that. So say a prayer for me that my new venture works out. I love teaching and have been told that I am good at it so I want to keep doin it for as long as I can.

I found this crazy patterned paper. Crazy patterned. And I bought it. I knew that I would never use it as it was, I really loved the flowers. So, what's a fussy cutter to do? Cut the flowers out and make a bangin (if I do say so myself) simple layout.

Crappy picture I know but I just had to post this. I have had this paper for years, years (especially the K&co at the bottom. I don't think you can find that paper anywhere but in someones stash now). But hello, the layout. Yeah I like it.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Conversations With Q

Q: Mom, guess what I found today.

M: I have no idea. What did you find?

Q: A tick!

M: (shocked/grossed out/worried about lime disease) A tick! Where and why didn't you tell me earlier?

Q: I found it on my arm at school. It was crawling out of my jacket.

M: Have you been in the woods with your jacket on?

Q: Of course.

M: Why didn't you tell me earlier (it was about 9pm) and where is your jacket now so that it can go in the wash?

Q: I don't know, I forgot and my jacket is on your bed.

M: Crap.



Guess who got no sleep last night because they kept waking up feeling like something was crawling on/biting them?

Monday

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope that you all have a fantastic week!!!!!!

This lovely lo is all about a fair trip. I used the unity stamp from the inspired event literally all over this one. I love the stamp and can see why Donna talks about/collects them so much. I see more of them in my future.

Remember to.........

and enjoy the rest of the week. Thanks for stopping by.

Class was a Blast

I didn't think I was going to make it. I didn't think Andreene was going to make it. I didn't think Lee was going to do a bumpy page. Lorna skipped out on a baby shower that she was cooking for (ok, only some of it). Michelle sat thru the whole class and actually finished her album. I don't have pics, but as always her project was fan-tas-tic. I love her work. I had so much fun and I ate way to much of the gourmet meal cooked especially for us by Publix. LOL. Didn't quite get to the La-ti-da meal but let me tell you, it was still really good.

Kind of sad, this was my last class here before I move. Hopefully there are some stores in DC that will entertain the idea of me teaching there. Can't believe we only have a couple more weeks. Hopefully, we will actually get to move when we planned. Right now it is not looking so good but I know that God has a plan and a timetable to go along with the plan so I will be patient. I really miss my husband though!

Been Scrappin -

When we lived in Okinawa, we took the kids on a hiking trip to Higi Falls. It took us 3 hours thru the jungle to get to the falls. The kids were exhausted and the water was so cold that they only got in once. Don't ask me where I got the huge walkin stick. It was probably something CJ found. I can't believe my kids are so little. They are Q's age. Where has the time gone? The girl is starting her 3rd year in college and the boy will start his senior year in HS. Wow.

These cutie pies are my cousins. About 6 years ago! They look nothing like this now!!

Got the paper, loved it and made a lo. Will put picks about my dad's garden on it. Going to visit him soon as he said some of his vegetables are ready for pickin. Yum, home grown veges. He doesn't use any pesticides or fertilizers so you can eat what he grows right in the field.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wolverine is Calling Me!

I love, love, love the X-men series. I must go see it! Must. But not tonight because I still have to tweek my kits for tomorrow.

So Whatcha Doin?

I have class this weekend so I am preppin kits. I love to teach but I hate to prep kits. It is so much cutting. And what was I thinkin? Making a patchwork page. Am I crazy? Look at all the little blocks!

I love this page. It is so summery and fun.

This though is still my all time favorite.

And what can I say, I never get tired of making paper bag albums. Not like the acrylic. After making 6 or so of those, I am done! But the PB albums, I still love making them as much as I did my first one. I still like acrylic, I just can't seem to get past my creative block with them. Here are a couple of pages from the album we will be working on this weekend. Fun.

(my favorite page! Love the little birdie)

I am so looking forward to class this Saturday. Andreene and Lorna are taking both of my classes and they are both so much fun. I finally smartened up and added more time to the project and I am providing lunch. My plan is to cook a homemade gourmet style meal (Braised chops with creamy corn sauce, layered salad and creamy mashed potatoes. My dad-in-law says that my mashed taters are the best he ever tasted) but we will see how that works out. Thanks for stopping by!

Leftover Kits

I have some leftover kits from inspired 4 of each class to be exact and will post them on ebay. I had a couple of folks tell me they were interested. There is a link to the right. Here is what I am peddling-

It's A Wonderful Life Scrapbook in a Frame Class. Comes with everything including instructions, frame and full packages of rub-ons, alphas etc. Well worth the price

Accordian album with matching box kit. Also includes everything to make the project. Box, album, full sticker sheet, a full stack of DCVW La Creme paper. Everything is cut so all you have to do is put it together.

The album has 10 pages so these are just a couple of examples. Thanks for stopping by! Blog you later.