More Pictures of my Holiday Home

I figured out this morning how to add more photos to a post. So below are a few more pics of area in my great room. I have a new very square home, which I love but it doesn't have a lot of nooks and crannies to decorate and right now I still have my make do apartment furniture until I can find pieces I love to buy to redo the room.

Some of the pieces were back from a time where I thought I wanted snowmen all around, but I have since changed my mind. I still have a few favorites that are out so they are below. I love the ornament snowmen because they are handmade and were given to me as a gift and the workmanship is over the top.

I have only little area devoted to shabby chic goodness. I have my Silver Bella ornament house out which I love and the star ornament from Amanda out as well as the class kit I bought from Jenny Heid which I think makes a great backdrop for this little table top. The Silver glitter church was a find I made while shopping for a Silver Bell outfit with Heather at a GoodWill store. I love it and hope to make more over the years or buy more. The Shiny bright ornaments were my grandmother's that my Aunt gave to me a year or so ago along with th emini shiny brights hanging from my olive topiary tree on my counter bar area.

The ceramic Santa's are salt and pepper shakers and they are sitting on my coffee table. This is all part of my mish mash apartment stuff and back then I was going with burgundy for a color but now I like the glitter red plus as a kid I grew up with an all red ornament, lights and garland tree along with a red star on top. I think maybe that is why I was drawn back to red this year, it brings back good childhood memories. Now if I can ever find a ruby red lighted star all will be perfect. I wish I could find a glass one or if I can ever find someone who could make me one I would so love it.

Don't forget to check out my post below this one for more pics Of my Holiday Home. Karla thanks for hosting. I promise I will look at everyone's posts over the weekend.

My Holiday Home

I am joining in on Karla's Holiday Home Party.

This is the very first year I am trying to make my home really special at Christmas and decorate the way I want to decorate. For years I lived in an apartment and when I had a room mate it was always a mix of mine and theirs which wasn't so bad, and then when I lived alone for years I never bothered with a tree. From some reason I always had a new kitten or I was sick. I have spent many a Christmas Holiday in the ER at Christmas time. One year I went Christmas night. Thankfully I have not had an asthma attack years! I think my new home with little carpet has helped. So with that I want to share some pics of my home. I don't have many decorations out like some of you who have been decorating and collecting for years, but I feel like I have started nicely this year with my decoration collection.

I also think I have finally decided on a color since I couldn't decide or commit to a theme or color before. I am going with red and glittery and a more traditional Christmas look with some modern and vintage pieces thrown in to make it my own.

Picture # 1 is Of some very cool Tree Cones I bought at TJ Maxx this year. My mom talked me into getting them and I am so glad she did. The are reg and glittery and thankfully Mr. Walker, my dog, has not touched them at all.

Picture # 2 is of my fireplace mantel. I swear I have the smallest mantel edge ever. I added the swag with the red glittery flowers on it. I added red candles and added glitter to a few until I ran out of red German glass glitter. I will be ordering more this weekend to finish up.

Picture # 3 is of my curtains. I haven't bought real drapes yet. I made all of these and they are all just panels. The gold sheers will actually go with the real drapes when I buy or make them. The grape burgundy colored sheers were once just swags in my old apartment. I threw them up to add some interest in the room and to see if that is the color I want for the real fabric drapes with lining one day. The red sheers are something I made to go on my canopy bed which I sold this summer. When I made the sheers to hang from my bed I added rod pockets in case I ever wanted to hang them and sure enough I found a use for them this year. I added the swags on the curtains just because. I found the red glitter flower swags at Joann's this year when they were on sale for 60% off and cost me like $3.89 each. I bought all they had not knowing if I needed them all or not and I guess I did need them. I love the look!

Lastly is my new faux Wizard of Oz Christmas Tree.
My coordinating color is ruby red so I added red glitter ball ornaments and the clear bubble type ( you know like the bubble Glenda arrives in on)

The top lights are not as bright as the lower ones since I ran of out of mini lights and bought some of the new GE energy saver ones for the bottom section. I am so night a good light placer. I will work on that next year. I bought some costume red glitter fabric on sale at Joann's for 75% off and threw it under the tree for a tree skirt.

And of course my newly painted walls. I painted just so I could put my decorations up this year in a colored room. I went with Beachwalk by Behr and I love the color. It is like a Tuscan gold color and doesn't look like the beach at all.

Christmas Traditions

I know I am late posting for Jill's Christmas Traditions party but I guess it's never to late to post about Christmas Traditions. I have been thinking on this for a while and at first I thought Oh my gosh my family doesn't have any. What I grew up with no longer exits and I think what we had as a family died when my father passed away in 1985. Kinda sad I know, and seems very strange to know I have friends that i have known longer than my Dad or that I have now lived more of my life without him than I did with him. Silly how writing that is making me tear up and I am not know for being a cryer. It was really hard for my family to get into Christmas traditions after he passed away. But slowly we have developed some of our own as single adults. You see I have 3 siblings and only one of use is married, my oldest brother Glen and he is also the only one with children so for many years we had to find a way to make Christmas special without much family around to spend it with. I am not sure when we stopped going to Louisiana for Christmas but somewhere along the way as my cousins all got married and started having families of their own we stopped going or we told my mom we didn't want to go anymore.

So for many years it has been just the 4 of us on Christmas day with a friend or two joining us on occasion. The one tradition my second oldest brother, sister and I started was playing Monopoly on Christmas mostly in the evening after dinner. I hated playing it as a kid it just took so dang long for it to ever end but some how I know we will all sit down and play a game and to top it off someone always gets a new version of the game every year for us to play on this day. Now that I think about it I must have started this because I think I bought the first new game for my brother many years ago and he made us all play it together and then the next year he wanted another version and thus the tradition began. I know it has been over 9 years just not sure how much longer it has been. One year I got the Wizard of Oz Monopoly game, yes they had one and I still have it and we only have played it once. We have between the 4 of us Star Wars, NFL, Dallas Cowboys, Coke, Disney, Aggieopoly, the Golden addition, 2 electronics versions, and another Star Wars and I am sure there are some I am missing. Funny thing one year my Niece got the Disney Princess Jr version and we all played and she won fair and square. I remember one year getting a call on Christmas evening from my brother and sister telling me I had to drive back over because we had not played yet. I am hoping we can play early this year since I now live a good 30 minute drive from them, but in the end I know we will play we just may have a few more players this year.

Stockings. yes we still do stocking at our house. In fact they went away for a year but after much grumbling we brought them back. Some feelings were hurt one year but after much discussion and realizing we all could fill each others stockings and not just my Mom they are back to stay. We do them with just the 4 of us now, but this year we will include my brother Damon's girlfriend and her son. I just told my mom we were doing them and that as it. We have all started buying for them. It can never be anything big. Damon is always the hardest to buy a stocking stuffer for so I usually get him candy now that he is living on his own again I have a few more ideas. Our stockings for years were just the old fashion and red and white ones that we had as a kid. One was large and the other three were small and when we decided it was time to do a stocking for my Mom she bought some velvet ones like in the picture and we had our names embroidered on them. She also thought ahead and bought some blank extra ones for those friends that we me invite through the years. I do not have a big mantel like my mom does but we do them at my house this year. This year we will just have to fill them up on Christmas Eve. We will have a believer in the house this year.

With that I am hoping to start a new tradition this year. Every since I heard that my Aunt and Uncle and their family did this I have been wanting to do this to. Every year they all go to a family members home and spend Christmas Eve night all together. They change houses each year so they do not always have to do Christmas at my Aunt and Uncle's home. There are many of them and they just sleep all over where ever they can, so this year my Mom, sister, my brother Damon, his girlfriend Michelle and her son Nathan along with the sister dogs Star and Pooky will all be spending the night at my home this year on Christmas Eve. My home is only 1750 sq without a basement so we will be sleeping everywhere. I wish my oldest brother and his family would join in on the fun but since they have never invited us over to spend the night ever, we will go over to their home for dinner and to exchange gifts with them. I love the idea of all waking up together on Christmas morning so what if we all live in the same area we can all still wake up together.

Josie and Tristan, SB Kit Completed

I haven't posted about my niece and nephew in a while. Josie is 8 and Tristan is 4. Today Josie was in the nutcracker and played a cute little mouse. This was her 3rd year to be in the nutcracker and I think she really enjoyed being a mouse since she kept acting like one even after the show. She's still in Nutcracker makeup and in her cute new sweater. Doesn't she look like a sweet adorable Christmas snow elf? Exactly why when I saw it, I bought it. It was one of those Just because gifts. Now where do I find cute little boy sweaters that do not cost much. the one below was a find at TJ Max for just $14.99. It even has a tiny touch of sequins and beads on the sleeve hem which she loved. She's a future Silver Bella!

This is the best picture of my nephew that I managed to take in a week. At 4 he just moves to fast for me.

Oh and I did get around to finishing one SB class kit, funny thing it wasn't one of the classes I took in Omaha just one I bought from Jenny Heid after I got home.

Wizard of Oz Tree

Ruby Red Slippers Under Tree
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

A small view of my Wizard of Oz Tree. I have been collecting Wizard of Oz ornaments for years, mostly Hallmark ones, but I do have others and yet this is the first year since I started collecting them over 15 years ago that they have been hung on a tree. All of these years they have been in their boxes in a large container in several different closets along the way waiting for this day until I had enough to fill a tree and to be honest they really only fill 3/4 of the tree since the tree is in a corner I didn't decorate the back.

At first I thought they would never make a cute tree and I wanted a more elegant tree, but you know what with the red glitter balls and clear bubble like balls and ornaments I love how it turned out.

My dog Walker gets spooked by the ornaments that make sounds espcially the one That says "I am the great and powerful Oz..."

Now I think I only want the Hallmark ornaments and/or ones with the movie images. I have some that are not the movie type but are still Oz ornaments. I signed up with flickr tonight so you can see more photos of the tree over there. Now to work on my Banner tomorrow night.T

The sore on my elbow is getting better. It is still yucky and oozy but it appears the antibiotics are working thankfully. It still hurts like somethign fierce and it kept me up most of the night last night, so tonight I am taking some Tylenol PM. I sure wish I had accepted the pain killer prescription the Dr was willing to give me yesterday if I wanted it.

Doctor's Visit and (Cookie Recipe's below!)

Additional update on December 4th. For some reason I decided to go to the Doctor because of a small yucky looking bump on my elbow and I guess it was good I went because my Doctor thinks I have a staph infection! UGH!!!! Sunday afternoon a small bumped appeared on my left elbow and it hurt, like a pimple. By Sunday night it hurt worse and looked infected but it was still a tiny bump. By Monday my elbow hurt when I got to work, so I raided the medicine cabinet and placed some antibiotic ointment on it along with a band aid. I woke up this morning and it was worse and boy does it ever hurt. It is about 2" around, hard and it hurts like double hockey sticks. The doctor told me looked like Staph and I need to watch it over the next few days and take some medicine. It needs to get soft if it doesn't I have to go back to the doctor's and if it gets worse I have to go to the hospital. But on another note I get to work from home for a couple of days. My boss doesn't want me at work. Imagine that! I had long sleeves on all day so no one saw my sore. What confuses me is how I got this bump? I didn't have an open sore, or any type or anything on my elbow, so all I can think of is I was bitten by something while I slept Saturday night. It is very weird.

On a side note my Wizard of Oz Christmas tree is up. I used red as an accent color and I kinda like the tree after all. I bought some glittery red balls from Hobby Lobby last week and some clear iridescent glass ball ornaments ( ya know like what Glinda use to get around in Oz), and two boxes of ruby red gems I bought at Pottery Barn two season ago that I have never used until now. I wasn't ever sure how I was going to use them and they add the right sparkly touch to my tree. ( Picture to go here soon)

It's Cookie Time

Jessi Nagy is hosting a Cookie Party today! Click on her name to go to her site to see who all else is playing along.

I found the recipe below in a newspaper many years ago and it always gets rave reviews whenever I make it. It is a bar cookie but I try to make it this time very year. I often alter the extras that go in it since i do not like pecans and my family does. sop I have played with other chocolate morsels that go in it like White Chocolate and such in lieu of butterscotch and pecans



Blondie Cookie Recipe



Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips (feel free to add other flavors. I like white chocolate)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.
Grease and flour a 13x9x2-inch baking pan
Into one bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt.
In second bowl beat together butter & sugars until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beat after each addition.
Beat in evaporated milk & vanilla.
At low speed add flour mixture to butter and sugar mix.
Fold in chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and chopped nuts
Spread batter in pan.
Bake at 375° for about 25 minutes, or until blondies are golden brown.
Test with a toothpick at center and it should come out clean.
Cool blondies completely in pan.
Cut blondies into squares to serve.

*****Another Great Recipe*********

Ok so these are not technically cookies either, but around the Baxley house it isn't Christmas if these are not around to snack on during the Holidays. If you love Peanut Butter and Chocolate this is for you! This is a fun recipe to do make with kids.

Peanut Butter Balls


2 lbs of Powdered Sugar
2 Cups of Smooth Peanut Butter (unless of course you want crunchy ones!) A hint here is to try and buy a Peanut Butter that is firm and doesn't have lot s of oil in it. If you can see the Peanut oil form at the top of the jar do not get that jar of Peanut Butter it will make rolling the balls difficult.
2tsp Vanilla
4 Sticks of Butter ( yes, this is not a recipe for anyone on a diet! It is best made with butter and not margarine.)

Cream together and form into bite size balls.


1 large bag of Semi Sweet chocolate chips
3/4 bar of Parfane Wax (yes wax, the canning kind, but you never taste it. It just makes the balls nice and shiny)

Melt wax and chocolate in a double boiler. Dip balls into the chocolate. Let cool on waxed paper.
Very easy recipe just a little time consuming. I remember making these with my mom. I rolled and she dipped.

Sorry Wet Paint!

Sorry I have not posted more since I got back from Silver Bella. It has been such a whirlwind for me and I haven't had time to relax yet. I am busy painting my great room right now. I picked a color called BeachWalk. I love it It is a warm Tuscan gold color. It is what I used in my kitchen and dumb me forgot to go with a flat color for my living room. I am almost done now with the eggshell enamel finish so I guess for now it will just be a bit shiny and not as matte a I would like. Dumb, Dumb me. It does look 100 times better than the builder beige color it was so I feel good about that. I am trying to finish this week so I can decorate for Christmas and join Karla's Holiday Decorating Party. My living room is a mess and it is driving me crazy! I just have one wall left and some touch ups on the others. I may just wait on the trimming touch ups until this weekend. I still have my small hallway to paint but that may wait until after Christmas who knows. I guess it all depends if I want to finish it all this weekend or not.

My craft room is a whirlwind and I want to clean it up so I can finish my Silver Bella projects and start the ones I bought. on a side note I am 90% done with my Christmas shopping and it feels great! I just have a few left to buy and then a few to make and some baking to do for the guys at work. That is going to be my gift to all of them this year.

So stay tuned. I will try and take some before and after pictures of my living room. At least with taking on the living room any other room in my house I decide to paint will feel like nothing now. Next up my bedroom and my guest room sometime during my Christmas break.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Ok have some fun and go try this link out Elf Yourself

Silver Bella Blast!

I am back from SILVER BELLA and still trying to recover. I will upload my photos tomorrow. I didn't take as many as I probably should have and I think that was because I was busy enjoying the event. I have so many lovely goodies I bought and received as gifts and from swaps. So many people to thank and I am so very happy I met so many lovely woman from all over the country. From the moment I arrived at the Hilton with Miss Heather Ales I knew I was in for the most wonderful time of my life. I started meeting Bella after Bella's standing in the lobby and it was like we all had known each other for ever. It was a Bella sorority. I wasn't fortunate to be accepted into a sorority in College and it was fun to finally feel like I was a part of one.

It is good to be back home with my little buddy Walker, but I miss all you lovely Bella's. I certainly wished I had met all of you. There is always next year!

Check, Check and Check

Well almost everything I needed to do over the weekend has been checked off my list. I now just have to make 22 tags. I promise they won't look thrown together. I am a procrastinator like that, I'm sad to say. I will always meet my deadlines though. I just had know idea how long it would take for me to work on my skirts for the junk Gypsy night yesterday. That and I had a trip to the grocery store so my poor sister will have something to eat at my house while I am gone.

I had to redo the waist band of one skirt because the fabric frayed like crazy. UGH! Then I had to rethink how I was going to sew my Crinoline underskirt. I bought bridal type tulle in a light aqua and there was not way I was going to cut it to sew it in layers. So I cheated. I had to think on my toes and design my own pattern in my head and without paper. I bought fabric to make a drop down wait section. Then I made another mistake and cut the 1/2 piece if fabric in thirds so the drop down waist part is a smaller width than I wanted but oh well I made that work as well. But when I went to start cutting the tulle I cringed. too much work to cut 10 yards of soft tulle I could barely see in two layers on my cutting table. Then it hit me. I used the folder edge and sewed a basting stitch 1/4" down from the fold along almost 10 yards. (I cut off two pieces when I decided I was not going to make this like a regular tiered crinoline) With my drop down waist piece, the tulle folded in half was just long enough to stick out by a couple of inches from the skirt I made ( A skirt I made from a girls size 16 holiday style dress. I accidentally bought a girls size dress but thankfully when cut apart the bottom of the dress still made a nice skirt 2 layer tulle, ribbon trim lined skirt for me.) So I cheated again and just started gathering the tulle, stitched it on the band, sewed on some bias tape to make the waist band easier when finishing it off with elastic. I left the hem as is for now. I did think of trimming it off with my pinking shears for a cuter hem, but that would take a while to cut nearly 10 yards of double layer tulle.

I tried on my new outfit and realized I really do need a black Cowboy hat to make the entire outfit come together. How does one pack a cowboy hat and should I . I have an old one but it needs to be cleaned and would I look dumb wearing it on the plane?

So the plans now are to go out at lunch for a mani/pedi. Work on tags tonight and wash clothes. I realized this morning I have not washed clothes in 3 weeks. That is the longest I have ever gone without doing at least one load. Ok off to work I go.

Countdown to Silver Bella - 5 days!

I can't believe in 5 days I leave for Silver Bella. Woohooo. My sister will be staying at my home with my dog and kitty's. This is a very good thing.

Ok so here is a sneak peak for some of you on my swaps. The first 2 photos are 3 of the 4 fabric flower pins I made. I am not sure I am digging the red and cream one so that is why I went a totally different direction on the remaining ones. The bottom photo is one of my ornaments. Now I am off to finish the backs of the flower pins and start labelling everything so tomorrow it can be a crinoline and gift tag day. That and I must go to the grocery store at some point. My sister would kill me if I left her with an empty pantry again.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Every since my niece was born I have spent Halloween night at my brother's house. I go trick or treating with my niece, nephew and family. This year I may forgo this plan and stay home and pass out candy. When I live din amy partment just about a mile away from them it was a no brainer to go over. Now I live almost 20 miles away and in the car it is a 20 to 30 min trip, thisis my second Halloween in my own home and I want to hand out candy this year. Plus I still have tons of things to work on before I leave for Silver Bella. I can't believe it is right around the corner. I have my ornaments, charms and ATC cards completed. I finally started working on the fabric flower swap and then that leaves me with 22 tags to do and my Junk Gypsy skirts to make. I can do all of this no problemo by next Tuesday night right?!!!

Lately after I get home from work I am just too tired to do anything and I hate it when I leave work when it is dark outside then when I get home I really do not want to do anything. I am so glad we move back to normal hours this weekend. woohoo!

I hate waking up in the dark even worse than I hate coming home in the dark! I do not get up with an alarm clock. Most people are shocked when I say that. I have one in fact; I laugh when I think about this because I even have a double alarm clock. LOL. The only time the alarm clock gets used is if I have to wake up at some horrid hour before 5:30am to go somewhere. Any other time no alarm clock going off in my house. I tell myself when I want to wake up before I go to bed and sure enough every time I wake up at that time or 10 minutes earlier. Never fails. I have never been late anywhere because I overslept in the morning. So don't forget it is FALL BACK this weekend! Now I am off to go buy candy to hand out tonight!

What Your Halloween Habits Say About You

You're a friendly person, but not the life of the party. You like making someone else's day - and you'll dress up if you think of a really fun costume. You definitely think of yourself as someone who has a dark side. And part of having that dark side means not showing it. Your inner child is open minded, playful, and adventurous. You fear people taking advantage for you. You are always worried about protecting your own interests. You're prone to be quite emotional and over dramatic. Deep down, you enjoy being scared out of your mind... even if you don't admit it. You are picky and high maintenance. If you wear a Halloween costume, it's only when you really feel like it. And it has to be perfect.

What's Your Halloween Personality?

Recollections Closing SAY What? & Look what I bought!

A friend f mine told me this weekend that the corporate executives at Michale's craft Stores announced to all the employees of the Recollections stores that they would be closing all the stores! SAY WHAT! They are going to concentrate on their framing and craft stores! ARE THEY FREAKING KIDDING! After they single handledly helped push many a mom and pop store out of business over the last 4 or 5 years! Hardly these stores are losing business for them! Now the closest scrap store near me is a store on Highway 78 in Lavon and it lacks a little polish. They have too much old stuff in the store. I can only hope this opens the doors for Archievers to step in and take over. If I only lived near Colleyville then the Scrap Pad would be my new store but alas it is just too far away for me to drive every time I need something so soon I will be stuck with Target, Hobby Lobby, Joann's, Wal-Mart and Michael's for my scrapping supplies. And have you seen Joann's paper lately. They have been buying some of the same paper for the last 3 or 4 years! GEEZ! even Creative Memories has some cool new paper these days! So I guess I will end up an online shopper!

Ok to celebrate my Birthday I bought me a few gifts over the weekend. One was this and I am so excited to put it to use at Silver Bella! I went shopping for a new Cannon and ended up with a Nikon CoolPix5100. Can you say 12.1 MP! I was just not travelling with my Digital SLR on another crafting trip. Thankfully this Nikon has all the same features I was looking at on the Cannon and then some. It is a little bit larger than I wanted but I think in the end if a better fit for me and since I bought it at Wolf Camera's I get to take some free digital camera classes! WOOHOO! That is exactly what I need.

I also took the plunge and signed up for laser hair removal on my chin and neck area. I am just so done plucking, and waxing. I hate getting older and I really dislike my family genetics. I have been wanting to do this for years and after watching my 65 yr old mom still plucking, I decided I didn't want to be that lady at plucking hair off my chin for the next 40 years and plus I am done worrying about ingrown hair of which I have the worst case ever right now. I go in tomorrow for my first treatment. In total I go in for 5 treatments scheduled 8 to 10 weeks apart. and then I go in for 4 or 5 free touch ups after that, with a lifetime treatment plan where if I have any new growth down the road I just pay a $40 co pay and get treated again. How cools is that! Wish me luck! This may be a whole new additicion for me. I may want my legs done next! LOL.

Another Scrap Book Store Bites the Dust

I just do not get it another ScrapBook store in the suberbs of Dallas is closing. The Scrap Bucket in Plano, TX is closing and it was a great store for 2 1/2 years. I loved the concept of buying pieces by the bucket. Also once again the store owners are blaming their customer's for not keeping their store alive. I do not get this at all. In a city like Plano Texas there are plenty of families and ladies that scrap to keep a scrapbook store alive, why blame the customer's. Why don't these stores ever take the blame themselves for not buying what their customer's want or offering choices for their customers. A little stamp store has been alive and well in Plano for many years now so why can't a scrapbook store stay alive?

This is what I think why they close:
1) They do well in their small space and think if they move to a bigger space they will do better and in the end they close. Don't expand to quickly! Stay where you are for 3 years especially if you are just getting by or just breaking even. I have seen this happen to often a store is doing well and they open a second store or grow to a bigger store and then shut down.
2) advertise - be creative! think outside of the box as ways to advertise. Funny some of my scrapping friends didn't even know about this cool store!
3) Stay on top of the FADs - This is a very fast moving and changing business. Buy just enough to sale out of it and then move on. Don't keep restocking the same items over and over again unless it is adhesive and cutting supplies.
4) make your store unique! With stores like recollections, Michael's and Target all selling scrapbooking supplies don't buy what they buy at market. Stay unique and not just in supplies, organize it in a unique way. make it fun, exciting and creative. A store needs to be warm and inviting. Make us want to stay and explore. I love the store's that look like boutique clothing stores. It doesn't have to cost a lot just be creative.
5) Don't expect to break even for a few years. You have to grow a business. get to know your customer's. The Scrapbucket sent out emails and had a website but it wasn't unique. It wasn't creative. It wasn't anything that made me want stay a while to read. It didn't really offer me anything. In fact their class offerings never had anything I was ever interested in taking.
6) offer unique classes. classes they can only find at your store. Right now a trend in scrapbooking is home dec. from what I remember they never offered a class that used scrapbook supplies in the home as accessories. Stay up with the trends! Don't just keep offering basic level classes. not everyone needs a basic class or a card making class or a stamp class, some of want more creative classes. Trust me we are out there!
7) if you are not doing so well don't send out 50% coupons for your high end items. yes we will use them on the expensive items if you let us. yes I understand you need to get customer's in the door but giving away product won't do it. Even Michael's has limits on their coupons. I do not even know if Recollections has ever mailed out a coupon. I could be wrong.
8) research - find out what your customer's want when you go to market. Ask questions, research and find out what is hot and what they think will be hot.

OK I am off my soap box. I just hate seeing stores close especially when there is a need for them and I have spent lots of money at them and I relaly hate it when they blame their customer's or the lack their of. It's not our fault!

Weekend

I had a scrapping weekend. I went on a scrapbooking retreat this past weekend. It was at a B&B in east Texas called Big Rock Ranch. It is approx 69 miles to the ranch from my house. I go with a group of 8 other ladies that I met through my my SIL, they are her neighbor's and some ladies I just know through going on these retreats twice a year.



I sat down and right away started working on my Silver Bella ATC swap cards. I worked on them from the time I sat down until the time I went to bed friday night and I was the first to go to bed at 10:30pm. LOL But alas they are nearly complete, two are missing brass metal corner pieces, then I just need to find a way to package the cards and carry them to Silver Bella. I now have two swaps down and 2 to go. Here is a sneek peek. I used vintage wallpaper, lots of bling including some of my vintage 30's rhinestones, pieces of an old fairy poem torn from an old book, fairy decoupage cut outs from Michaels, oh and least I forget, candy wrappers! Yep, I said candy wrappers. Sorry they are a little blurry I took the pic with my camera phone.

I arrived home about 4pm. My sister stayed with my dog and cats so that made it very nice for me, but when I arrived home she goes "one of your sprinkler head's is broken and water is gushing out of it." What? Why didn't you call me? (She had called me twice over the weekend.) I thought the sprinkler is not even on so how can water be gushing out of it? I go outside and sure enough my side yard is flooded, then I notice the stone path to my patio was also flooded. I walk in the backyard to actually look for the sprinkler shut off value and guess what? My entire back yard below my little hill was flooded! Oh no! CRAP, oh CRUD! I turned on the soaker hose thursday evening so my newly planted mums could get a good drink and I forgot to turn the water off before I went out of town! UGH! My faucet was on all freaking weekend! No broken sprinkler head just a broken memory! I do not even want to see my water bill next month! UGH!!

Junkin' w/ Heather

I was so lucky this Saturday that I got to meet and spend the day with Heather Ales and go junkin'. OK so we met up at her house, I live about an hours drive away from her and she was just as sweet and funny in person as she is online. I can't thank her enough for going with me at basically the spur of the moment to something called "Antique Alley" which is a 25mile span of garage sales and canton type junk booth along FM4 starting in Cleburne and running through Grandview and ending in Maypearl. All cities I have never visited in all the years I have lived in Texas.

We started out early and thought we were headed the right direction thankfully Heather was so easy going since I didn't really have any exact directions beyond we need to get on FM4 in Cleburne. First off we stumbled upon the Cleburne Flea Market, it looked it could be worth something so we walked a round a bit. I am so glad Heather wanted to walkover to this one booth which looked like to me it was just filled with lots of rusty old tools, and men type stuff. While Heather was looking at an old foldable tape measure I spied a box of Domino's. Not just any box of Domino's but a box of old wooden Crown Domino's. We booth got so excited because there were raised Crowns on them! Then dumb me forgot the technique of not get excited before you ask what the price is, but fortunately the price was perfect; we got the whole box for a whopping yes I said whopping $1. Woohoo! We joked about this find the rest of the day.

Then later on we hit another garage sale even before we got on the "Antique Alley" trail because yes we were sort of lost because of me but this garage sales was awesome and we found some really great items there as well. Heather found the cutest antique looking Silver Bells.

After Heather asked a cop at a stop light for directions to Antique Alley and after we turned around a few times we found it! Now let me tell you it should not be called Antique Alley it should really be called Junk Yard Alley because there were more clothes, old rusty tools and just plain junk along this trail than a little. How would one describe this trail? Well every so many miles people opened up their farm land and rented out spots on their land for vendors to set up and sale their wares or junk. Sometimes we would be walking through a few front yards going from booth to booth or we would be walking in what is normally an open field full of about 20 booths. I wish we had taken pictures because it is really hard to describe but we had a great day together and found some great crafting items. Heather was just so wonderful to spend time with. She is generous and sweet and I can't wait to spend more time with her. It was so nice to hang out with someone that was as easy going as I was.
Thanks Heather for an awesome day!

I still have yet to figure what exactly to do with my 4ft tall wire birdcage. LOL.

Company Social Event Planner

I have been planning a company party over the last few weeks. Single handily mind you! me plan an event all on my own for over 260 employees? I had a little help and since I mostly work with men, I mostly used them for advise on ideas while I did all the leg work. I did put the men in charge of the alcohol; I work for a private company now and yep we can have alcohol at our on site parties. I am now freaking myself out over this party. The "Social Event" is tomorrow and I just keeping thinking in the back of my mind that I forgot something. Then I think what if no one shows up, what if no one has fun, what if my party is a bomb? What if the caterer does not show up? It is my head on the platter if it is a bust or I go over budget. I just can't go over budget. Yes, I am stressing. I am not a party planner. I am an "ideas" person not the follow through person.

I spent 2 hours at work today making sure the surprise part of the got set up. I still have tons to do tomorrow and I told my manager I would be working on party stuff all day tomorrow. So tomorrow I will be stressing on work and on everything I didn't get done on Monday. I have to set up chairs, tables, snacks, get a sign made, have a picture blown up and framed, make sure my plastic cups and drinks are delivered. Gather all the prizes and someone get electricity into the room we are using. UGH! Someone was to make sure the electricity thing would happen for me but I discovered this afternoon I still do not have electricity in my party room. This party just has to be a hit. Now I pray I will actually get some sleep tonight. How did I get picked to do this?

Always Remember to Wear Underwear

I have a few things on my mind so this blog may ramble on a bit. I went to My Mom's yesterday after taking my dog, Walker to the vet. He acted like he had some problems with his "boy parts". (When my 7 1/2 year old niece asked me what those things were on him, the quickest answer I could muster were "those are his boy parts". Luckily she was fine with that answer and away we went no more questions about boy parts on dogs of real boys for that matter.) At the Vet's my sweet little Walker preceded to act like the big dog that he surely isn't and barked at everyone and every dog that came in the door, let alone he stressed himself out so much he threw up twice. Needless to say the Vet called him a spaz and this is the second time he has been called that. It is a part of his breed, trust me, but I guess part of him is a spaz when he wants to be. They also called him sassy; he likes to talk back. LOL. So luckily nothing was wrong with him other than his "boy parts" hurt him and he should be neutered. She, the vet, says it will calm Mr spaz down a bit and the pain he has been experiencing with his "boy parts", the round type parts, will go away. So they proceed to tell me I will need to shut him up for 5 days and keep him calm. They must not know my spazy dog to well. I will try for 2 days to keep him calm but for 3 days after that it's hopeless.

So upon driving to my Mom's after the vet I rounded the corner to her house and was greeted by a site I would have preferred to not see. Everyone Please wear underwear when you go to get your mail in a short skirt! I noticed an older lady, one in her 50's so says my Mom, in a very short aqua blue skirt running to her mail box( and an 80's short knit yoked flounce skirt at that), not sure why I noticed her at the moment she turned from her mailbox to run inside but I did and I was mooned. This skirt was very short for a woman of her age and as she turned the wind blew up her skirt up and low and behold NO UNDERWEAR! She never made an attempt to tug it down. Did she not know she just flashed anyone who passed by and/or that she didn't have an underwear on? Did she not feel the air on her rear? It didn't just flip up once by several times on her way back to her door. I was laughing in hysterics at this point, so please, please wear underwear when you go to pick up your mail in a short skirt. I am pretty sure your neighbors would only prefer to see one moon when they go outside! LOL.

Also in my mom's neighborhood I can't help but smile every time I pass by another neighbor's mailbox. A while ago I noticed a rather large umbrella stuck in the ground right next to a mailbox. It wasn't open the first few times I saw this brightly colored umbrella, but a few times later it was open. This got me to wondering. Why does a person in Texas need an umbrella open next to their mailbox in the hottest months of the year or anytime of the year for that matter? My next drive by later I realized what these crazy neighbors were doing. It was a doozy, they were providing shade to a plant! LOL. They planted a plant right next to their mailbox that is a shade loving plant, meaning you do NOT plant this plant in the bright hot Texas summer sun, so I guess they were determined to plant this plant right next to their mailbox and in order to give it the shade it needs, they go out each morning to open and at night to close the umbrella. They are also smart enough to not open it when it rains. I have yet to see anyone doing this but it is being done trust me. I laugh and shake my head every time I drive by. What will they do next? What else in my mom's neighborhood will give me a laugh?

Wait there is the time the lady down my mom's street hit my brother's parked car and accused my Mother of hitting her car! My sister called the police that night right after she heard a noise out front and discovered what had happened. The police made a report and left stating not much could be done since there wasn't a way to prove who did it. Well, the next day a police officer knocks at my Mom's door and accuses my mom of hitting the neighbor's car down the street and leaving the scene of the crime? What the heck? Yep you bet, a lady down the street called the police the next morning to make a report that her van had been hit, the police go out and she gave them her sweet sad story about how her husband died a few months ago and she has all these kids and how she was out late for the first time in months with a friend, a male friend, when they woke up the next morning to discover her car had been hit and she directed them to my mother's doorstep! She knew it was mom Mom's car because they drive by and saw that my moms car had a big dent in it. The sad part is that the police went to my mom's door accusing my Mom and/or Sister of hit and run. The police did not ask or question, he accused because this sweet widow with these small kids could not possibly be at fault. I mean how could it be this sweet young widow? My sister was like no way I called the police last night when it happened and this car has not moved all weekend, my brother was out of town and left his car parked in front of my mom's house for the weekend. The policeman still accuses my mom and sister of lying because " the car with the most damage is nearly always at fault!" Have you ever heard such baloney! My mother was like what color paint is on her car? Who has more of the wrong paint color on their car? Most of the wrong color paint on my brother's car was on the ground next to the car and it some cases was a few feet away from the car you know like it had been hit and the paint flew! duh! So the policeman picks up a few paint chips and walks back down the street. Not saying much more to my mom and sister. He then comes back and says she admitted she did it so he goes to my Mom what do you want me to do? If I charge her with hit and run she will be arrested and she has small kids. He was giving my Mom her sob story and if the tale had been turned and the lady had not admitted to her crime this policeman would have continued to believe this lady's story and my Mom could have been arrested and charged with hit and run and issued a citation. My Mom says she needs to be charged with hit and run that is what she did right? (She has small children he is very concerned about but what is she doing them teaching them to lie?) Let alone my Mom is also a widow who had been in and out of the hospital 5 times in the past 10 months and could not afford to have a car fixed or the deposit! (It's a car that is in my Mom's name not my brother's, another long story there) In the end he did not charge her with hit and run or for calling in a false report like he should have. Trust me if I had been there, the next day I would have been making a call to this policeman's Sargent and reporting him! I was ticked off when I heard this story! She did get a citation and her insurance had to pay for both cars to be fixed.

Let's go back to that night for a second, she stated she had been out the night before and we know she it the car and ran from the scene of the crime, hmmm maybe just maybe you think she had been drinking and driving and don't you think this policeman should have been smart enough to realize this? She told him she got scared! Yep, so scared that the next morning she woke up, decide to connect a story, called the police and LIED! Isn't that what you do when you are scared! You call the police and commit another crime?!? Now let's just say her insurance person laughed his rear off when he heard the story, he laughed as he spoke to my sister on the phone to get her side of the story, because as he stated no one would have known if this lady had not opened her mouth to lie. Yep my Mother has some bright neighbor's. I can only wonder what additional smart antics they will be up to next. I will keep you posted. I am sure there will be something else someone does to make me laugh!

My 100th Post

I haven't been much of a blogger but was shocked to realize this is my 100th post. Well I didn't get finished what I had planned to finish tis weekend so my Etsy shop probably won't be up until next weekend. My Mom stayed the weekend with me and well we ended up shopping. I got my hair cut in a small town nearby and afterwards hit a couple of one of a kind stores. I happened upon another quilt shop for very cool quilt fabrics, so of course I had to buy some more. We were gone all day. Sunday was pretty much the same for us so no sewing took place or anything else for that matter.

Here is a sneek preview of an apron I am made that I am going to post on Etsy soon. It is from a very old pattern that I have redesigned a bit. I have been sewing my entire life so my sewing skills are above average. In fact I have a BFA in Fashion Design and have been sewing since I was 10 years old. I have designed and sewed and entire elaborate wedding gown from the ladies measurements; no pattern invloved until I made the pattern! I have designed costumes for years and have sewed many a prom dress in my day as well various other items including, curtains, pillows, pillow shams, table clothes, table runners, duvet covers, bedskirts, prom dresses, wedding gowns, mother of the bride dresses, skirts, blouses costumes of all variety of periods, baby stuff, bumper pads, and the list goes on and on. Most of the above I was paid for and at one time I was making Laura Ashley dresses ( yes in the 80's) for 2 ladies that in turn paid for my new sewing machine. In fact once I designed and made little tiny tyvek jackets (yes the fabric that the fedex packages are made out of, that fabric that is hard to tear but feels like paper) that were later used as business cards. The little jacket business cards even had velcro on them to open and close. So if you are interested in the apron let me know. I have a second apron finished but no pictures yet to post. And I am making some vintage inspired halloween aprons. I will post those heopfully on Etsy this weekend.

Happy Friday!

What a week. It started off very badly. I am still sad thinking about my sweet Hope. I sometimes still think I hear here meowing but I know she is not here. She was my most vocal cat. Pretty much unless my cats are in distress from the dog chasing them or trying to play with one of them they never meow. I guess that must mean they are 2 happy and content cats.

I am busy planning a party at work for 250 to 260 employee's. I have never planned a party all by myself for this many people. My companies CEO has challenged the MFG group, my group, to host a company wide "social event". Instead of 1 large party a year, usually a Christmas party, we are going to have 6 "social" events a year. Each department throughout the company will host one of the parties. The only requirement is that the CEO picks the date and time and it has to be on site after work. At least that is the requirement right now. We were challenged by our CEO one night about two weeks ago when he took the entire MFG team out to dinner to host the event. We were challenged to have a creative event and to think outside of the box, and well since I am one of only 4 woman in my group and the one with the creative background guess what? Yep, I am planning it all. Luckily the Men I work with have come up with a few ideas but they are not acting on them. Now I am placing them in charge of the drinks aka alcohal. The guys came up with the basic concept for the party and I took it and ran with it. I am trying to push it one notch past what everyone else would do. I want the WOW factor! I want my CEO to know that I can think outside of the box and save money as well as host a fabulous party that may one up our sales and marketing team! I can't say what sort of party it is because part of it is going to be a surprise for the employees. I am just wrestling with what sort of give away to hand out to all of the employees. I thought of T-shirts, but that is ordinary. I want something smart and cool and I need something under $5.00 each since we have 250 to 275 employees.


On another note I have had a sore throat all summer I think. I just realized it. I have this slow drip at the back of my throat and one of my tonsils has stayed swollen all summer. I know it is allergy related. I guess I just thought the Allegra D would work but it hasn't. I am going to make an appt next week to go back to the ENT Dr. I really need to have my tonsils taken out, but I am just to old so I have to suffer with sore throats until I die I think. I just do not understand why I have had this lingering sore throat all summer. I was told the only allergies I have are to cats, dust, and a slight allergy to dairy products. I have reduced my cat count by 2 this summer, not by choice it just happened or needed to happen, and I haven't had much dairy lately. I do not have much carpeting in my house and that's helped my allergies. I used to have Asthma attacks on a regular basis and now I can not tell you that last time I had an asthma attack so why I have a sore throat is beyond me.

I have gotten creative lately. I am hoping to have some things to sale on either E-bay or etsy or both soon. I hope to get some items up on Etsy this coming Monday. A few will be Halloween related. Then I have some scrapbooking/collage items that started out as belt related items but they transfer so well over to collage and scrapbooking. I just have so many and it doesn't make since for me to keep them all to myself, so I will be sharing very soon.

Stayed tune. I will have some sneak peaks this weekend. All I can say is I am having lots of fun making them.

Goodbye My Sweet Hope

Princess Hope

December 24, 1993 - August 20, 2007

(She lived 4 years after after the pictures below were taking)

Not a way to start a week

Sunday evening I finally decided to mow and edge my lawn after a few weeks. The weather was perfect and not so hot. First I touch my lawn mower with two of my finger tips and burn them. Dumb I know; why I thought the outside of the mower was cool is beyond me but I guess I did because I touched it while it was hot and now I have two nice blister on the very tips of two finger sin my left hand. Then about 30 minutes later I nearly cut off a few fingers also on my left hand with the edger. Thankfully instinct came into play and I let go of the juice which I was holding with my right hand while at the same time moving my hand quickly away from the edge blade/wire. I did decide at that point I was done working in the yard for the day and went in to take care of my fingers. That was Sunday evening.

Monday hasn't started off much better. I had to make a very tough, heart wrenching decision this morning to euthanize my eldest cat Hope this morning. It is one I have been wrestling with for months now. I have had problem with her for almost 2 years now and for the last year and a half she has lived in the guest room all by herself away from the other 2 cats and Walker, my teenage dog. She had everything in the room and everything was fine until about a month ago when she started pooping on the bed. She had her own clean litter, but for some reason decided the bed was better. So for the last 3 weeks I have wrestled with what to do. She didn't have the best life living in a room all by herself I know but I really didn't know what else to do. I tried letting her out to roam but she would get scared, run under my bed and I had already been down that road with her before I decided to give her her own safe environment away from the other animals by shutting her up in the guest room with her own amenities. I knew this weekend I had to do something. I had a cat the was in some sort of distress and at 14 years old, with only one glaucoma filled eye, I made the toughest decision to do what was best for her. My sweet little Persian Oreo cookie, Hope is now in a place where she roam free. I didn't think I would cry but darn it I could barely get the words out when I brought her in; they assured my I made the best decision for her and she lived a good life. Odds were something was going wrong on the inside and it was just her time to go. So needless to say my week has not started off on the right foot. HOPEfully it will get better.

Morning Ritual

Like everyone else my morning ritual consists of a trip to the bathroom. I was quite surprised to be greeted by these two one morning last week. Now how does a girl get dressed when she looses not one but two sinks to a cat?! Yes, most mornings the sink to the left is often filled with my black cat, Charity. This was actually a first to find Bella, my tabby in the left sink and even more surpising to find Charity in the right sink. Let alone the fact they have a large cat condo to sleep on and in. Even Walker wanted to know what was going on. And yes, I had to shoo Charity out so I could get dressed because she certainly wasn't moving on her own.

Little Bitty Boy

This little bitty boy is my father. I often think about him this time of year. (He was born in August and passed away September 10th, 1985 when I was 18years old.) I am not quite sure why he was called "little bitty boy" especially since he grew up to be over 6ft tall. I hardly doubt he was ever little for his age but none the less that was his nickname in a family that loves nick names. Over the years his name was shortened down to "Beady boy" and eventually he went by "Beady" and a few other nicknames. Funny thing his birth name was Preston but he never went by that name. I am not quite sure why especially since his grandfather was named Preston and his grandfather went by the name of "PT" as in Preston Thomas. See they have a thing for nicknames. I guess one day I'll explain how I had an Aunt Pete and an Uncle Leslie! That still cracks me up to this day. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

A month or so ago my cousin gave me this picture of my father. It belonged to her grandmother, my great aunt who recently passed away. OK so she is not my first cousin and more like my 3rd or 4rth cousin but I have known her all my life and our parents, my dad and her mother, were first cousins and grew up as close as sister and brother. I love the fact my Great Aunt had this picture of my father framed in her house all these years. I just wish she had wrote a date on the back so I would know how old he was in the picture. I can only guess he was about 4 or 5. I am just not sure. I laugh at the look on his face. It certainly doesn't appear to be the look of a little boy excited to be sitting or possibly riding on a pony in the early 1940's. The pony doesn't appear to be anymore excited either for that fact. I wish I knew more about this picture. There just isn't anyone in my family left alive to ask so I can only look at it and wonder about this "little bitty boy"

PS.. Does it look like a photo I can print from a scan and work into an art project?

My Newest Obsession

I discovered the cutest little quilt store in downtown Mckinney, Texas. It is bright cheery and the ladies that work there are so nice. It is called Happiness is... Quilting. No, I am not really what you call a quilter, but I seem to have a thing for fabric. especially really different, vintage cute, beautiful colorfull fabric. I have machine quilted one quilt top in my life and it is still just that, a quilt top. My goal this year is to find someone to finish it off for me. I actually stumbled upon this beautiful quilt store a few weeks ago when I was hunting for the store that used to be there, an antique store where I bought my bedroom furniture. Since I have a love for fabric and this little project I decided to start a few weeks ago as well, I wondered in and found some beautiful fabrics that really excited me. (See pictures of fabric below, yep I bought all of them from Happiness is ... Quilting) Well last saturday they had a yo-yo making demo going on. I always wanted to learn how to make fabirc yo-yos and had tried to make one on my own a few weeks ago but it seemed so time consuming. the thought of folding down the sides before stitching just drove me crazy. Well low and behold there is a template out now to make fabric yo-yos and cuts down on the time to make one dramatically. It is such a cool little gizmo and not only do they have your regular circle yo-yo templates they now also make hearts and flowers.

So now I find myself at night with needle and template in hand making fabric yo-yo's with the small circle and the small flower template . Not sure yet what I will do with them but they are so darn cute and so easy to make while I am watching TV.

you know I bet I may be driving back to McKinney, Tx for a 4rth time this month to buy some more of these templates. I think I want the large circle and the extra large circle template to try my hand at making a quilt. You think i willbe able to make one of these soon?

I take Heather Ales Challenge

Another Silver Bella, Heather Ales, posted a fun tag and I decided to take her up on it. So below are my answers to her fun tag post.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE: Yes, I get asked this question often. My easy answer is my dad didn’t understand my Mom’s name when he met her. The long answer I was named after my Mom after my Dad’s mistake. My Dad misunderstood what my mom’s name was when he was introduced to her while he was on Military Patrol at a dairy festival in Louisiana. When he called to ask her out on a date he asked for Va-lee-ta instead of Velta Lee. He inverted the “Lee” from her middle name and the “ta” from her first name. Of course one of my Mom’s 7 sister’s answered the phone when he called asking for “Va-lee-ta” and this Aunt gave my dad a hard time until she admitted he had the right house and just asked for my mom by a wrong name. My Mom liked the name so much she decided if she married him and she ever had a girl her first daughter would be named this name, she just had to figure out a way to spell it. So I was born the year of the original version of the movie “Lolita”. I only recently had to explain to my Mom what the movie Lolita was about. LOL. But she liked the way it was spelled and to the “lita” part to come up with my name Valita. So I am named after my mom by my dad’s mistake. LOL.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Last week. I was just frustrated about something. My feelings were hurt. I really do not cry that often these days.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Printed yes, script no.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT? Ok I know I will get some groans here but I have to be honest it is SPAM. I think it comes from the 3 years I spent in Hawaii as a child. They eat Spam with everything there. My favorite was a recipe for spam wontons by brother brought home from school when we lived there. I just wish I could find that recipe somewhere at my Mom’s house.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No. I want one or two and would love to meet my Mr. Right and start a family soon, but I am thinking of other options as a single woman to still become a Mom. I would adopt in a heart beat if it wasn’t so expensive.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I would certainly hope so.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? It is a genetic trait in my family. If you do not use it you will go down in flames at any family reunion or family get together.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes, but with the way they have been feeling over the last year I wish I didn’t still have them. One is hurting right now and has been for a month or so. It pretty much stays inflamed.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No. I do not think I will. I do not consider myself a fearful person but I will take a pass on bungee jumping.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL? Special K with yogurt and strawberries, but I still love me some Captain Crunch plain and Peanut Butter dry as a splurge on occasion.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Nope. I am a lazy tier. I think that is why I buy slip on sneakers now I think.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes, I think working in a predominately male environment for the last 7 years sure has helped and I have a very strong Mother. She had to become strong since she spent many of her married years alone taking care of the house while my Dad was out to sea and then my Dad passed away when I was 18 years old. She had made me very strong. Maybe that is why I am still single?

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM? White Chocolate with Almonds is my favorite but I can’t seem to find it anywhere anymore. Blue Bell used to sale it. Blueberry is also my favorite.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? If they have strong eyes. Do they look people me the eyes when they speak to me or do they look all around while they talk to me.

15. RED OR PINK? Pink, but my bedroom is red and gold right now.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Being Overweight.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Dad. He passed away when I was 18 while I was still at that age where he and I just didn’t get each other. As an adult it would be so different between us now. I sure would like to see him play with my niece and nephew. I see a lot of my dad in my brother and how my brother interacts with his children.

18. WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? None, I am in bed right now.

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Ramen Noodle Soup with yes Spam and green onions in it. Again back from my days living in Hawaii.

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Whoever is singing on Jay Leno.

21 IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? Funny you ask this because I was just staring at the box of 120 crayons at Wal-mart last Friday trying to come up with a reason to buy a box. I just felt like I needed an excuse. Funny Huh. I just love Crayons. Purple Heart or Vivid Violet. Check this site out for cool information about Crayon names - http://www.crayola.com/colorcensus/history/chronology.cfm

22. FAVOURITE SMELLS? Plumaria. It reminds me of living in Hawaii and the years I spent climbing the Plumaria trees, picking the flowers to make and sale leis to people on the Navy Base. Honey suckle and the ocean. I love the smell of he beach and the salt air.

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? A guy from work who won’t be a co worker much longer.

24. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I haven’t met her in person yet but I can’t wait until I do in November or sooner hopefully.

25. FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Ice Skating if that is really a sport if not Football.

26. HAIR COLOUR? brown

27. EYE COLOUR? All Colors as my Doctors have said I have every color in the rainbow in my eye but they are mostly blue green and change so some days they look grey, some days aqua blue, and some days bright green,

28. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes, most of the time.

29. FAVOURITE FOOD? Mexican, Sushi, Seafood and Cajun food only the way one of my Aunt’s or Mom makes it. Good ole fashioned true Cajun food, not like in these restaurants.

30. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Romantic Happy Endings

31. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I think it was called I wed, me on Lifetime. It was a cute romantic movie with of course a Happy Ending

32. WHAT COLOUR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? White

33. SUMMER OR WINTER? Both but if I lived near the ocean beach again it would be summer all the way.

34. HUGS OR KISSES? If it is someone I really love kisses all the way.

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Lipstick Jungle which I have heard will be made into a series this fall.

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Dell Logo. Came free with the pc at work. I do not need one at home.

37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? All I remember is Design Star on HGTV.

38. FAVOURITE SOUND? Laughter

39. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles, the old days

40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? St Petersburg Russia years ago

41. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Cajun Country, LA 42. WHAT SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU LIKE? To be able to fly. I would fly to the beach daily.