Overcome

I am overcome. 

God has blessed our family so.

He has brought us thru everything and we are all so grateful. 

I owe all of my joy to him and I don't want to forget that.  Ever.

Today was supposed to be just another day, but I woke up this morning feeling as if I had just finished something big.  Elated.  Happy.  Thankful. 

I can't totally describe the how or the why but I wanted to share.  Thanks for listening.

Have a beautiful, blessed, productive day! 

We Fell In Love With A House

It is the first one we looked at and I know it is a big no, no to commit your heart to a home so early in the process but CJ and I both can see our family living in this house.  It is made for living with lots of space (storage and living), lots of windows (big, airy, sunny windows), lots of places to curl up and read a good book, lots of places to sit and share, room to do big crossword puzzles and play heated games of scrabble.  I could scream over the beautiful wood floors, granite countertops and other special details.  The neighbor hood is full of walking paths, tennis courts, sports fields and has a pool.  There is a shopping center within walking distance and another one less than a mile down the road.  It is closer to his working area.  We can have it built from the ground up on a large cul de sac lot.  So many plusses.  But with a house like that comes the worry. 

• Is it too soon to make a decision?
• Can we really afford it?
• Can we qualify to buy it with the strict lending practices of today?  We do after all have a home and he will be retiring soon.
• How much money do people with homes like this make?
• Do we make enough or are we being extravagent  and living above our means(sp)?
• Is there something better out there?
• What if the job he finds after he retires is in another part of the country?

We have a year to make a decision about buying a house.  And I know that with trust in God all of this stuff will work itself out but it is still on my mind. 

I finally finished my nieces baby shower invites.  A week after they were promised to be done.  They were so much work!  But they turned out so cute.  All hand stamped with hand cut scallops and pretty decorative blocks and hand set rhinestones.   Really love them.  Hope she loves them too.  What do you think?

And finally, more pictures of Mia.  I can't take credit for these super cute photos bc Q took them!  I think a new camera is in his future.  He used mine to take these and did a better job than I would have.  We bought him a really simple point and shoot for Christmas but I think he needs something a little better. 

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Program

• For 100 baby shower invitations
• A new job demo'ing the Cricut at Best Buy

• 
  
  A booth at ScrapStampArt tour
• 
  
  An adorable new addition to the family that I am slowly falling in love with
• 
  
  A new tutorial on C. Middlecamp's blog
• 
  
  Searching for a new home to buy (our last home!  So excited)
• 
  
  Finding and buying all of the new MME lines (Seriously beautiful)

• 
  
  My new kit club subscription.

So, sorry for being such a slacker no show here.  I will do better in the future!  Thanks for stopping by and

HAPPY HUMPDAY..........

Meet Mia

she's hiding bc I scared her.  she is still very jumpy & shy.

Not as cute as I thought she would be (red eyes, huge) but still cute.

She is huge!  As big as the dog I would have considered getting.

Can't stop calling her "your creature" (she has red eyes for goodness sake! I thought that was a sign of being either possessed or drunk.).

Am itching and scratching but I think the "allergy" is all in my head.  And so is the flea infestation. 

I sniff everytime I go upstairs because I really expect her to smell.  Can you safely & economically clean their cages 2x a day?

All of that aside, the little guy is the happiest kid in the world right now so I think we will keep her.  He is so gentle with her and afraid that if he picks her up wrong he will hurt her.  Adorable.  I really love that kid.

I finally finished something scrappy.  Q loves to cook and on Thanksgiving last year he was allowed to cook 2 dishes all by his lonesome.  He did great! He made bacon wrapped shrimp and peach spritzer (no wine).  The peach flavored simple syrup he made from scratch.  It was lovely.  I made bread - I love to make homemade bread btw.  I get insanely happy when we let milk go sour and a few years ago, I had a beautiful sourdough starter that I had to get rid of when we moved.  It takes years to get a starter great! anyway back to the story, sorry for the OT - and he was like a puppy begging to help me.  So here he is rollin dough. 

I got my SC kits yesterday.  I had to run it downstairs so the hubby wouldn't see it and start asking a whole bunch of questions that he really didn't want the answer to.  Now the hubby is at work and I finished my last class yesterday soooooooo

I am going to play and play and play.  All.  Day.  My plan is too use August pagemaps and the entire contents (every little piece!) of the SC kits.  Wish me luck.  I will post my results (good or bad) tomorrow! But I can tell you today that my favorites in the kit were

The date stamp.  *sorry about the pic being so crappy*

Jenni Bowlin yellow butterflies

and finally the girls' paperie die-cuts.  Love, love, love the clocks.  Would have bought this just for them!

Thanks for stopping by......

Shere

The Husband and The Boys Are Going

To the pet store.  Right now.   To get one of these......

Something that I vowed he would never get.  Why did I cave.  Because these are much better to stomach than the fat green catepillars that he has adopted as a pet.  He has been catching them in the yard and they crawl all over him, he hand feeds them (completely gross by the way), takes them out into the  yard for excercise and has himself convinced that he taught the last one to play dead.  Yeah, I know.  Disgusting.  But the last straw was when I came inside and found the nasty thing on the dining room table. 

So, needless to say, they are on the way to buy the boy a proper pet.  Complete with little rolling ball thing.

Joy.

On The To Do List

• Mail C her mail that I forgot to give her while she was here
• Deal with HOA!  Hopefully for the last time......
• Cricut demonstrator interview
• Cook Dinner
• Dee's Baby Shower invites
• Finalize family cruise details
• Family cruise invites finished & mailed
• Budget with the hubby
• Plan science projects with the little guy for the next couple of weeks
• Niagra Falls plan
• Return necessary phone calls
• Get court date for bogus parking ticket
• Wait anxiously for the Studio Calico kits that I should not have ordered
• Laundry
• Place pages in new album
• Price new mattress
• Study for final exam TOMORROW (yikes!)
• Forward info to the girl
• Clean out garage
• Clean sun porch
• Weed backyard flower beds
• Can excess garden bo-tay
• Rethink this to do list
• Clean car
• Blog
• Definitely rethink the bottom 2.  I am sure they will fit on next Wednesdays to do list.