Vintage V's

Jan 2011

2011-01-09T10:01:00.006-06:00

Ok so Ive been gone awhile, but I am back. Not sure why I stopped blogging in 2009 but I did and now I am back. Last year was a whirlwind or a blur, it flew by after June. 2010 wasn't a good year for me health wise but 2011 is one I am going to make my best year ever. My position at work has changed and for the first time since 1998 I am not cutting Po's on an every day basis. It was strange at first but I love what I do now focusing on suppliers and negotiations. I still have items to wrap up from my old position but am I slowly passing them all of to others.

So what do I want from this year for my life? This is a question I've been asking myself teh last few days. I want to be a healthier me, a more creative me, a more spiritual me and a more organized me. I haven't started the healthier part yet, I'll be honest but I will. As for a more creative me, I've sewn three PJ bottoms last week from fabric I had on hand, now to get finished up a Valentine swap I am in.

The Organized me go busy yesterday and in putting up all my Christmas decorations and tree, I cleaned, purged and organized my items as well as cleaned out a closet in my bedroom I use as a storage closet. I could not walk in the closet before yesterday. Now I have plenty of room and not much was taken out just reoragnized and cleaned up better. I tossed some things and added a few things to a donate box. Got rid of a full paper case box of paper. I do need to buy some of those spacemaker bags to store some of my college fashion designs, this will free up more space in the closet.

As for the Spiritual me I started searching on line for a local church to attend; I found one that looked like one I should check out in Sachse. And I am amazed how wonderful God works because last week I made contact with an old friend through Facebook and it just so happens her and her family go to that exact church. So Jan 16th I'll be going to church for the first time in a long time. I'm excited, I need to find a new church home. I miss having a church family. My soul needs to be back in church and I need to find a church that treats all its members like family and not a church about membership numbers, focused on kids or one so easily ready to throw you out with the bathwater after 20 years. I guess after 5 years there are still wounds there from what this church did and still does to its members. Very sad as it was once a wonderful home but it has become such a sad place. I can never recommend anyone to ever attend this church if they are looking for a church home. If they have lots of money, kids, and are new believers in Christ then it may be a church home for you, but if you are single, don't have a lot of money or social prestige, no kids, and a solid long time believer in Christ then run ands fast as you can away from this church. I often wonder what my number was? I didn't have a name after 20 years, I just had a number. And one really doesn't need to have a Senior Pastor with Napoleon syndrome. It's also very sad this church is being run like a business but then takes all the advantages from the government in being a non profit. I am sorry but if you admit openly you run your church like and business and you act like the CEO then you need to treat your hired paid full time employees like any other company would and provide them benefits. I am sorry but I do not need to go to a church run like a business with a wanna be CEO. At least when MY work CEO calls a meeting He ATTENDS that meeting and does not send a proxy to be the bearing of bad news! What a coward this pastor was to do this. Yes, not very leader like, or CEO like but more Cowardly Lion and Tinwoodsman Like. Cowardly and Heartless. In fact I do not want my new pastor to be CEO like, I want him or her to be Shepardly like so when a sheep falls aside they go looking for their lost sheep and don't just leave their sheep out in the field, cold or ready to be devoured by the wolf or the elements. I have written a letter so many times over and over again to this Pastor. I still have it saved and often think I need to mail it to help my heart and soul heal. It would help me to let go of my anger towards this man and this church. I want to start my year with a less burdened heart and every time I think I have gotten over this I realize I am still carrying around a lot of angr and I keep going back to my letter. Do I mail it or not? Do I want or care about a response? Not really. In fact, no I don't I think so, it would just be a way for me to let go, but am I ready to let go and move on? That is the question my hearts ponders. I know it must be time as my heart is saying move on and let go. To start fresh and new I must release the past and all that goes with it. This IS going to be my best year ever!

WELCOME 2011 It's time for a CHANGE!

Where did 2009 go?

2009-12-01T12:48:00.004-06:00

Wow where did 2009 go? As you can see by my banner I am way behind in blogging this year so I am going to make a commitment to get back to blogging more in 2010. I can't believe Silver Bella 2009 has come and gone already. Seems like I spent half of the year thinking about it, planning for it and creating for it. What a magical time it was. I absolutely loved all my classes this year. I started off with Charlotte's sweet sweater hat class. It was totally up my alley and thanks to sweet ladies at my table I was given some wonderful trim and bits of sweaters to complete my hat. I have to admit this was one class where the table talk will not be forgotten. LOL. Gina Grable knows what I am talking about. I also can't wait to make a few more hats in the next few weeks. I may even attempt a bag,

Then it was off to Jennifer Murphy's Snowman Clip class. I learned so much in this class about felt and after the felt ornament swap I was in I was eager to learn more about wool felt. She taught us so many great techniques and I love my little snowman. I am going to finish my little guy up tonight. It was nearly finished when I left the class I just wanted to add some touched to him when I got home or he would be done.

Next I was off to the long awaited, 3 years in fact, Rebeca Sower class. Wow! Why or why have I not taken one of her classes before now? I adore her work and now adore her even more. She is just so sweet and wonderful. I love my decorated cigar box and all the little tidbits inside it. I just have to add a bit more red to it to hang in my bedroom and/or living room and I can call it done. This was a lovely class to end my day with.

Vendor night was off the hook yet again! WOWZA! next year if I can attend Silver Bella I plan on spending money on buying finished goods and not supplies. I did buy my two items from two vendors on my to do list this year. A headband from sweet Megan aka Princess Lasertron and a necklace and earrings from Kelly. The rest of my money was spent on supplies from various vendors but of course I didn't Miss Wanda's table. She always has great stuff at great prices so next year I will try to only buy supplies from her. I bought some items from her to make more sweater hats with. She had great velvet flowers and applique pieces.

Saturday I started off with a Pam Garrison class. This is the only class I didn't come close to finishing. I just didn't know what to expect out of the class and dumb me didn't email Pam to find out more so I would know what bits and pieces to bring with me. I think this one is going to be a red and gold wreath to go in my bedroom but who knows I may change that so it can permanently reside in my living room, we shall see. I enjoy Pam's classes and try to always take one of her classes.

I ended my day with Kaari Meng. I couldn't wait to sign up for one of her classes since I had requested and receiving her book last year. I even remembered to bring it with me to SB so she could sign it for me. I never knew when I got the book last Christmas that I would be taking a class from her nearly a year later. Who knew. No one had even told me about her or her book I happened to stumble upon it through Amazon.com last year sometime. I am so glad I did. I loved her class. But boy was I exhausted by this point. I started crying in class for no reason. Generally if I cry I have a reason but this was out of pure exhaustion.

Oh so much more to talk about SB but I need to upload some photos.
Tomorrow swaps and our sat Luncheon! Oh and lest I forget the fabulous Scrappy Jessi Bus Tour!

Silver Bella or Bust 2009

2009-11-09T12:08:00.002-06:00

I have been such a bad blogger this year hopefully after Silver Bella all that will change at least it is on my list of things to change. So I am off to Silver Bella again this year and I am just as excited if not more about going this year. I am looking forward to seeing all my Bella friends and meeting new ones. The classes, the Silver Bella bus tour, the luncheon, shopping at the stores in downtown Omaha, Upstream Brewery (yum their cheese beer soup), Second Chances, my roommates, the swaps, the teachers, the after part on Saturday night this year, and the VENDOR NIGHT!

My swaps are almost all done. I am taking off work tomorrow to finish everything up. I have wonderful cousin Leah staying at my home to watch the fur babies this year. I will be sad this time next week as it will be all over but my oh my am I looking forward to Silver Bella like no other vacation I have ever been on. It's like I finally feel apart of a sorority. I didn't get asked to be in one after going through rush my sophomore year in College but this event so makes up for that rejection.
So Omaha you better be ready for us we are taking over!

SILVER BELLA or BUST!

Please tell me it can't get any worse

2009-07-15T21:35:00.004-05:00

On the 4rth of July this happened, see picture below; if you can't tell that is a 14 week old 3.4 pound puppy with a broken foot and not just one broken bone but all 4 metatarcel bones. Needless to say my Silver Bella budget took a hit. sigh...

My other dog, whom I still love and adore accidentally ran over the puppy when he was coming in his doggie door. I had just happened to show the puppy the dog door just minutes before, helping to set the stage for the horrible accident. All I heard was Walker hitting the doggie door and Coco's blood curtling cries a second later. I knew right away it was broken I just knew not that I have ever seen a puppy with a broken foot or a dog for that matter but I just knew by that cry and the way she held it up close to her it was broken. I called the vet and he didn't believe me when I said I thought it was broken, fractures don't swell up fast but this one did. Her skin is normally nice and pink under her fur but it turned purple and blue and swole up before my eyes. Saturday was a rough night as I decided to wait and see if it was just a sprain, but on Sunday I knew I needed to get her in to see a vet and good thing I did since all 4 bones were broken.
The Nurses were very sweet at the Emergency Pet Clinic off of George Bush and Custer Road in Plano but I will never take my pet there again because the vet was an arse. He left me waiting in the exan room 30 minutes while he left to get an estimate before he would even see her of course I understood when he said he had a pet in the back the took a turn for the worse he had to attend as why he was so late coming back but someone could have told me a little sooner than 30 minutes that he had an emergency after all he said when he left he would be right back. I was already upset and had a puppy on my hands that would not eat or drink let alone walk so when he came back in the room I told him I was upset that I had to wait 30 minutes before I was told he had an emergency and then he went off on me! If I was not already upset with a hurt puppy on my hands I would have shown him what I thought of his bedside manners, but instead I will just tell everyone I meet to NEVER go to the ER Clinic off of George Bush and Custer in Plano because it gets worse.

So after waiting 40 minutes ( plus add 15 minutes of waiting in the waiting room before I even made it in the exam room to be seen and there was NO ONE else in the entire clinic waiting to be seen when I arrived. I actually watched someone poor themselves a bowl of cereal while I waited for the vet to see my hurt puppy) So after the Vet finally came back with the estimate for the possible charges I tell him to take the exrays and then we can decide the next course of action, but no he leaves and sends a nurse back in to ask for my credit card because I have to pay for the estimate chares before they will take care of my puppy!!!! WTH? Exray my puppy's foot first people!
So after telling them between the $775 and $434 estimate I would not leave her there overnight nor did I want then knocking her out they still charge my credit card $775. WTH?! Oh and the Dr told me he did not like my attitude and he could ask me to leave, all because I told him I was upset that he left me waiting for 30 minutes in the exam room before they sent anyone in the room to tell me he had an emergency. Boy did I have to hold me tounge and not go off on him and cause a big scene. I mean I was the upset pet owner because my sweet puppy was hurt. He sure does need better bedside manners, and it gets worse, he gets worse!
Then they tell me they will give her some meds, wait 20 minutes for the meds to take full effect before they exray her so it will be less painfull for her. I am asked to go back to the waiting room and there I hear my sweet little puppy crying at the top of her lungs all over again. I knew that cry and said very loudly that is my puppy crying. The receptionist runs to the back to check and comes back says" they were taking her exray" now I am still calm and I say well what happened to waiting 20 minutes for the drugs to take effect? URGH!!
I get called to the back and I was right she had a broken foot so they will splint her. I tell them do not knock her out, give her some drugs but I do not want them knocking her out, and I am so glad I did because they would have probably killed her if they had put her under. And yes it gets worse. Oh the vet tells me they could keep her overnight but I tell them no I want to take her home. Finally they bring her to me and the only sweet spot to this place are the nurses!
Because they did this and they do this only for special patients.

You see she licked them the entire time they were splinting her up so they had to give her a special pink heart to match her blingy collar. Yes they did finally give her drugs and held her as I checked out of that place but only after waiting yet again for the Vet to come out to advise me what to expect and guess what he didn't do... Yep nothing. He came out started going over the medication and realized the directions on the bottle for the dosage were wrong, so he left to fix them and he never came back out. Finally the nurses give up and basically tell me to take her to my own vet the next day. I left not knowing what signs to look for if things go wrong . I left with a drugged up puppy on some major meds whom I was told would sleep through the night, exrays and tiny pills chopped up in 4 pieces for what I am told is for pain over the next 3 days.

Then since they charged my credit card for the high estimate I had to wait for them to issue credit back on the card because the charges for this wee little ones split, exrays, drugs and vet bill totaled $434.00 and thankfully not the higher estimate of $775.00.

And of course at midnight that night the drugs wore off and she was up acting like a crazy dog all night long. She would run arounf the bed for a few seconds like a crazy puppy then stop and cry/whine and she did this from midnight to 5:45am. I could not console her all night long. I mentioned this to my vet the next day and I stated it was like she was on drugs or coming off some bad drugs, that is when he told me the drugs they gave her were an opiate based drug and she was coming down from a bad high. The drugs they gave her can have side effects on some dogs like she had. He was surprised by the pills I was given and stated he would have never given a puppy those meds or broken specs of pills so he changed meds and I went home full of knowledge of what to look for and what to do next in her recovery, unlike what I got from the ER vet. My vet only chared me $10 for the visit and I boght the new liquid meds.

She will be wearing her cute cast for the next 3 to 5 weeks. I am doing all I can to not bling up her tiny splint and that cute heart. I'm afraid if I glue rhinestones on it and/or glitter it up she will end up with the most sparkly poop around. So belowis my cute little, STUMPY, yep her new nickname. I can hear her coming now. LOL. her cast is the same length as my index finger. But she is well and I am very thankfull she is paper trained right now.

Then what goes wroing next my washer dies this week UGH!! So please someone tell me it can't get any worse.

It's a Girl!

2009-06-22T12:51:00.005-05:00

It's a Girl, no I am not pregnant nor am I expecting but I did add a new little girl to my life.
Her name is CoCo. She is a sweet tiny bit of a thing and a Papillon. You haven't heard of Papillons you say, well neither did I until last month. After shopping all day for bridal dresses for my soon to be SIL, I made them go into the pet store where I viewed and played with my first Papillon. Now mind you when I asked how big the puppy would get I was told 12 to 18 pounds.
And no I did not buy Coco at a pet store but instead I went home and did my research on this breed. I found out these dogs are very smart and can be trained in agility but the nice part is they are more known for being lap dogs. Maybe this was my answer for Walker a playmate at last. A dog that liked to play but was a bit calmer in nature.

So I started researching breeders in Texas. Wow are these Pups are expensive but oh so worth.
it! I knew I wanted a girl so that narrowed it down, then by chance I found one website that took me to another website that took me to my breeders website. Placed a call on Sunday worked out a deal on the adoption fee and Monday was on my way to east Texas to pick up by new little bundle. And here she is. CoCo. Yes, after the French designer CoCo Channel. It fit so perfectly. I love fashion, she is a French breed and is sable(brown) in coloring. And a cuter name to boot for a tiny cute puppy.

After a bit of research I found out they are the ranked 8th in intelligence of all breeds of dogs and number 1 in toy breeds. They were the dogs of royalty during Marie Antoinette's reign and she fancied these dog so much she left a whole palace to them upon her demise so her precious babies could be cared for after she was gone. It is called to this day the Papillon House. Yes, Papillon means Butterfly and they are named after their ears, which my little CoCo is growing into.

Did I tell you she is tiny? Well at 11weeks and 2 days ( her vet told me this) she weighed 1.4pounds. Here she is at 14 weeks old, this past Saturday next to my TV cable remote.

This is CoCo at 9 weeks old, a month ago. She's grown some but not much. I was very surprised to see how tiny she was when I went to pick her up. You see in all my research I forgot to research size. I just went by the pup in the pet store. (which by the way was way to big for a Pap) Paps can be between 3 and 9 pounds, and by the way CoCo is growing and what I saw of her Mom, CoCo will be between 4 and 5 pounds if I am lucky. We shall see.

How does my feisty, Type A dog, Walker feel about her, well see for yourself. I never dreamed they would get along as well as they do. I guess he will decide if she is his girlfriend or sister.
They play well together and CoCo also knows when to run to Me for safety, but don't make CoCo cry or you will have to contend with Walker. He is a sweet dog too, but a protector breed by nature.

OK so tonight I will update with pics of creative things. I have been creative lately. Very creative but this new edition hastaken up some of my free time and how could it not.

I'mmmmmm Baaaack

2009-03-30T18:46:00.003-05:00

Ok so I went black for a couple of months not on purpose, it just sort of happened. But I am back now and will make an attempt to update once a week if not more this year. Please ignore the banner for now until I can create a new one.

What have I been up to lately... Well work and more work. I am blessed my work is busy and our company is doing well through this economic storm. I have too much to do everyday and I love it. It is perplexing at time but it only make me a better procurement person and a better problem solver as I jump in to solve customer and procurement issues. I really do enjoy the challenge of my work.

It is spring in Texas and I know that because not only are my roses blooming but so is the Poison Ivy in my backyard. Yepp I have it again. I got out in my back yard 2 weeks ago to kill and dig up some roots and I guess I hit a poison ivy root. Thankfully it is not near as bad I had it the summer I first moved into my home, but having any of it is not good. So far Ivarest has worked great. After it has been on a few minutes it totally stops itching until about 4 to 5 hours later when it wears off. I know it says on the packaging it provides 8 hours of relief but honestly its more like 4 to 5 at best.

On another I have joined the HDTV generation. I bought my first HDTV at Walmart this month. It was an out of box special on a Samsung 22". I really only wanted a 19" for my bedroom but upgraded to the 22" when the out of box special was only $25 to $30 more for a 22" Samsung which usually costs around $378 to $400. It works great, not a scratch on it and I find myself watching TV in bed more in the evenings these days. Imagine that. I guess I need to work on saving up for that 52" HDTV that I want to hang above my fireplace in my great room. Maybe next year.

I am also waiting on the delivery of my new Thomasville couch. It will be in a soft sage chenille fabric to match this rug I bought about a year ago at a great discount. I was sad I could not afford these beautiful swivel chairs in this fabulous deep plum print fabric but oh well one piece at a time for me. I actually went into Thomasvilleto look at these coffee tables because I needed to see if I wanted the Thomasville ones or some that were on sale at Bassette Furniture one weekend for 30% off that I had my eye on for over a year, next thing I know not only was I in love with the Thomasville tables in the Hills of Tuscany line but I bought a new couch instead. My mom talked me into the couch since it will get my room matching better instead of everything not matching at all with new coffee tables. My old couch will soon have a new life with my brother and his girlfriend.

I am attending Paper Cowgirl in June and I look forward to sign up for Silver Bella 2009 in April.
have you seen the instructors! WOWZA! I haven't been creating instead I have gotten sucked into FB. If you are on FB you know what it means and maybe you are addicted to it just like me. LOL.

See You Later! Will Post again very soon.

Puppy Love Tag 05

2009-01-26T00:58:00.001-06:00

Puppy Love Tag 05
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

Karla Nathan's Puppy tag swap. This will be postal tomorrow.

DeDe Warren's Vintage Valentine Round Robin or Fat Book pages - 05

2009-01-26T00:57:00.001-06:00

DeDe Warren's Vintage Valentine Round Robin or Fat Book pages - 05
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

Another Pink variation

DeDe Warren's Vintage Valentine Round Robin or Fat Book pages - 04

2009-01-26T00:56:00.001-06:00

DeDe Warren's Vintage Valentine Round Robin or Fat Book pages - 04
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

A variation in pink. Not two are exactly the same.

DeDe Warren's Vintage Valentine Round Robin or Fat Book pages- 01

2009-01-26T00:55:00.001-06:00

DeDe Warren's Vintage Valentine Round Robin or Fat Book pages- 01
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

a variation in red

My Favorite New Purchase & Puppy Love Tags in work

2009-01-16T12:40:00.002-06:00

THIS is my FAVORITE New purchase this winter!
My Pink Cuddle Up Robe from Linen n Things.
This is the softest, warmest and most comfortable robe ever!
I love it so much I got online today and bought another one!
They were originally $49.99 at LNT but I got my 1/2 price right before Christmas when my Mom and I visited a LNT going out of business in our area. I started not to buy it but I am so glad i did! I love it and if I am home you will most likely find me in it.
So go check out LNT online today as they are going for $24.99 with free shipping today.
They come in pink and pink lilac. I bought Pink lilac. I have no clue which color I have it home but I know if i wear the one I have at home out I now will have a second one or I may save it for a Christmas gift next year, we shall see.

I signed up for a few swap and I have been busy every night this week working on them.

I am in Karla Nathan's Puppy Love Tag swap

DeDe Warren's fat Vintage Book swap

and Joann's Vintage Valentine ATC swap

So you know what I will be doing this weekend in order to get everything shipped on time next week.

I DID IT!

2009-01-05T22:03:00.003-06:00

Well I gave in and started taking down the tree tonight. Why does it takes so many hours to put up a tree and so much fewer to take down? I did hate putting away all those boxed Hallmark ornaments but I do so love them hanging on my tree.

I also cleaned out my craft room! I can't believe it! With my mom's help Sunday I pulled everything, but the furniture out of my craft room to clean it up and change it up a bit. I rearranged the furniture and pray this move will be the magic layout for me. The other just never really worked for me. It does look like I have more room this way. Funny thing, my mom goes OK let's start moving everything back in the room and I was like NO. It is going back in slowly and in an organized fashion. I don't care if it takes me a few weeks to bring all the supplies back in the room as long as they go back in organized. I need to decide what I want to keep, sale and/or give away.

I need to find everything as it comes back so I can finish off all my class projects from Silver Bella 2007 and 2008 plus my PaperCowgirl classes! I pray I keep it better organized this go around. Why do arts an craft supplies get so messy and disorganized on me,y especially when I can keep everything else organized. I mean my closet is organized my type, then color and then by style. For instance all my tops are organized by color (ROYGBIV), then my sleeveless to long sleeves. Is that so crazy?

I'll upload photos of my room later.
Then I can have a CREATIVE 2009!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T22:43:00.003-06:00

Yes I am alive and well. I'm sorry I have not posted in a while. December was quite hectic at work and then to add Christmas on top of it, I was very busy and very tired. I has sort of been off since Christmas Eve. I say sort off because I have been working during this last week when the company has officially been closed from Christmas day until Jan 2nd. Two weeks before Christmas I decided to put up my Christmas tree, which meant of course unboxing over 60 Hallmark Wizard of Oz Ornaments as well as the couple of hundred other ornaments I also add to the themed Wiz tree with red glitter accents. So after doing the tree I of course had to decorate more of my home, not as much as last year, but the red curtains went up as well as a few other items. I am happy with how it turned out and since I put it up so late it just may stay up a few more weeks for my enjoyment.

Christmas was ok. I spent Christmas Eve night at my sister's not far from my Mom's. Mom's house was just to cluttered and full of people and stuff this year. With a new baby in the house and no place to sleep other than the floor or on an old sleeper sofa mattress, I opted for the twin bed at my sister's new apartment just 3 miles away from my Mom's. And I couldn't leave my dog, Walker at home, so he also spent the night at my sister's. I now am so glad I never got a dog while I was in an apartment, I hated walking him several times a day.

Christmas morning my sister, her two dogs and me and Walker headed over to Mom's where we spent a rather rough day together. Mom was not in a good mood at all and was overly sensitive to say the least. She was Mrs sarcastic and a little too much so for my liking. For the first time in my life I cursed at my Mom. I won't repeat what I said, but I was done with the attitude. I have no idea what set her off but enough was enough with the sarcastic comments, and it worked. I feel bad but I just couldn't handle her attitude on Christmas day no less especially after we had such a lovely day at my home last year.

Then to add insult to injury no one got me anything on my Christmas list. I do not get why they try to over think me and get my stuff I didn't ask for. They give me their lists and I buy off their lists but do they do the same for me, NO and I have no clue as to why not! My list has been virtually the same the last two years. (I know because I keep a list all year long in my outlook tasks menu) I added a few things to it this year, but nope not a single thing bought off my list this year or last. So why in the heck do they ask me for a list when they have already decided what they want to buy for me? In fact Mom and I went shopping together before Christmas and we passed some stools, she commented one on stool and I said no I do not want one like that. I do not have room in my craft room for that type of stool. I want a stool that will fit all the way under my craft table so when I decide to stand up and work it will not be in my way. My craft room is on the small size, and I wanted a small saddle type stool. Needless to say I was very surprised to open a box from my mom and it contained this exact same stool that I had told her I did not want. UGH! Then my sister gave me an i-robot scooba floor cleaner. Now before you pass judgement on me for being ungrateful the reason we all started making lists was to make sure we got each other thins that person would actually like. I got everyone in my family except my brother and his wife items off their list and the only reason I didn't get them items off their list was my brother never gives me a list so I am constantly trying to think outside the box to get him something. So this year my sister and I got them a gift together, a professional style popcorn popper. They have lots of parties and this would a gift to save them money from renting one ever again for a party. Ok so back to the scooba. I am still undecided about it. it is a cool gift do not get me wrong, but since I bought the area rug for my living room this summer I just do not have a big empty bare floor for this item to work really well in and I would still need to mop in the corners and such. This round thing would not work really well in my bathrooms, it would miss spots, so I am undecided on if I keep it or not. If I do keep it I would still need to buy a steam cleaner like a shark or something in that vain to clean the spaces the scooba would miss.

I did get a barbecue grill! I can't wait to get it set up and use it and with the way the weather has been around here I may be able to use it this winter. I left everything at my Mom's and have yet to pick them up. I'll go by tomorrow after work and pick everything up. Yes on top of working on through my holiday break and not getting anything done that I had planned to get done, I have to go to work tomorrow! Why oh why didn't I take the day off like everyone else including my manager! Oh well, I may just take a week off later this month and I promise I will not work through it.

I am hoping and praying 2009 is much better than 2008.
Some goals of mine in 2009:

Get Healthy!
Clean craft room
Get etsy sight up and running
Pay off two bills so I can buy new living room furniture to match the new carpet
Buy curtains for living room
Buy shades for windows in home. (After 3 years it's time to get rid of the paper temporary shades don't you think?)
Paint Bedroom and guest bedroom
Sew Roman shade for craft room (I have had the fabric for 2 years now)
Find a Home Church - get back involved in one
Spend more time with friends and family than home alone
Find and add tile to fireplace.
Finish refurbishing items in garage
Clean Garage!

I think that is a good start.

I would love to add go on a beach vacation this year, but we shall see.
Let alone add find a boyfriend, we shall see. LOL.

Oh yea this is a must get more crafty and post more!

have a Blessed 2009 and please stay in touch,
This year I am going to do some giveaways.
So stay tuned!

Silver Bella Pics

2008-12-02T10:00:00.000-06:00

I know everyone has posted Silver Bella pics by now, but here are the few I took. I just can't seem to take pics at Silver Bella. Thankfully others, but then again maybe the 3rd time is a charm. So I will be back next year, like there was a ever a doubt I would return to Silver Bella for year 3. LOL.

Mary's wonderful Poster just for us Bella's.

Mary herself signing away after out Luncheon

The cutie Megan herself. I adored her little house!

Jana and 2 of my roomies

Kim, Susanne and Jessi

Downtown Omaha

I loved these displays.

Susanne and Debbie

Joanne and Heather

Here's Austin the newest member of my family

2008-12-01T19:01:00.005-06:00

My newest Nephew and our little Election day baby

Austin Ryan

Just hours old, not even a day when these pics were taken.

The proud daddy and first time Daddy, my brother.

Daddy has red hair and baby has brown hair

And a Grandma who is delighted this little one is living with her, My brother and his family moved in the weekend before Austin's birth.

Coming Down From a Glitter High

2008-11-20T12:32:00.003-06:00

WOW! What an amazing Glitter fest this year at Silver Bella! The classes were fabulous, the teachers awesome and vendor night Amazing! I just wish I could have spent more money and bought something from every vendor there! So a note to the vendors if you have items left over please add them to your website and/or etsy shop so this shopaholic can still buy somethings later from ya.

Ok so I started this post a couple of weeks ago. I swear it took me a that long to fully recover from Silver Bella. I got home and slept approx 12 hours that Sunday. It was a great exhaustion and it sure was hard to go back to work the next day. In fact all that week was hard on me. I soon realized that my iron must also be low and started taking my iron pills and sure enough I was back to the old me in no time.

Fast Forward a few weeks and now it is Thanksgiving week and weekend. I spent that day at my cousin Lisa's house not to far away with 42 of my paternal family members. Now mind you I only have 2 paternal first cousins and no they do not have 20 kids each, so many of my relatives at this dinner are cousins, my dad's first cousins their families and etc. This year it included lots of guests. My lone Great Aunt, Aunt Betty Jane was in the hospital this year. She is the last of the 4 McLaughlin sisters that helped create the large brood at our Thanksgiving dinners. Sadly the day after Thanksgiving my Aunt passed away.

My mom, and I as well as various other family members went to visit my Aunt on Christmas day and when we saw her she was not doing well at all. She was in much pain and had only been given 6 to 9 months to live. For a lady in so much pain she knew who I was and was very much her sassy self. She cracked a joke or two and was watching the Dallas Cowboys on TV. She will be greatly missed but she is now with the Lord, in his loving arms and pain free.

I did a little shopping on Black Friday, not much but enough to realize the mall was not crowded at all. I have a few of my family members taken care of now so that feels good. I am going to make some additional soldered charms for some others.

I spent all day yesterday cleaning my closet and bedroom. It was past time to bring out the sweaters and out away the shorts and tanks. I did also get rid of loads of clothes I no longer wear for one reason or other. My car is packed and ready for a trip to Goodwill. It felt so good getting rid of some many clothes. I had waaay to much in my 13 foot long closet. I still have to much and will go through it again when it is time to change everything back. I took to heart the show "What Not to Wear"and got rid of any stained, torn , not great fitting and clothes that I no longer wear. I have so many extra velvet hangers now it is not funny. From here on out I only buy items I love of well made quality, items that fit me perfectly and look good on me. No more buying something I like that fits poorly that is on sale. My items need to work together and I need to buy some items off of Tim Gunn's must have 10 wardrobe essential items.

I will try and post Silver Bella pics tomorrow. And I need to post pics of my sweet 28 day old nephew. He was a perfect Thanksgiving baby. He got passed around and around and didn't get fussy until it was time to eat or be changed.

i promise pics tomorrow.

My Mini Work Vacation

2008-11-01T20:06:00.007-05:00

Last Tuesday I go into work where upon I am called into my manager's office who starts by asking me how flexible I am to travel. I am very flexible and thus I how I ended up on airplane less than 24 hours later headed to MD, to Rockville/Gaithersburg to be exact. I had know idea where Rockville was in MD but I knew landing in Baltimore International Airport put me smack dab in the Washington DC area for Halloween and until after the election!

Did you know you can trick or treat at the embassy's? And you do not have to be a child! People of all ages get dressed up and trick or treat at all the embassy's in DC.

I am learning what I was sent down hear to learn and I spent all day in our Capitol City and boy am I tired! I took the metro to the Mall and then proceeded to walk the entire day. They day was perfect and the weather beautiful! But I was very disappointed to learn the Museum Of American History is closed for restoration and not due to reopen until Nov.21! UGH! The one Smithsonian Museum I still have not seen. I instead headed on over to the Museum of Natural History and stumbled upon the HOPE diamond! WOWZA! Let alone an entire room full of some of the worlds most amazing Gems! And I got to play in a live butterfly exhibit.

If you are a Bella and you know what this means if you are one, then you will love the next picture. A Tiara from France worn by one of the Emporess' of France. Diamonds from the day of Napoleon were cut differently than they are today. Today diamonds are cut to get the most brilliance out of them as they can but back in the day they were cut very little so they were larger stones but not as sparkly.

And this is a not so great picture of the worlds most famous and some say cursed diamond ever, The HOPE diamond! Some 42 plus carats of it and this is after it was cut down twice over its history from its original size of over 100 carats. Even though it is half of its original size it has only increased in value over the years.

I wondered over to a modern Museum and then walked on to the back of the Capital only to discovery the steps were closed in preparations for the 2009 inauguration ceremonies. Boohoo.

Below is a ghostly pic of me in front of a very cool piece of modern work of art. Sorry I don't remember the name of the artist but I loved this piece. It is in a gallery near the air and space museum. When you stand in front of it you can see through it clearly as well as see your relection in it. I took one pic accidentlaly with a flash and no reflection just the glass, but when I turned off the flash this is what I got.

Notice the sign in the pic below.

Oh well it was still pretty and I am glad I walked over, I then walked all the way down the mall back to the Holocaust Museum. What does one say about this place. I wanted to cry all the way through but I didn't. It is so well done and so tasteful. They even have walls up around some of the more gruesome films they show so the kids can't see. It is very hands on, appeals to all the senses and probably the most powerful Museum I have ever been to in my life. It is a beautiful place that touches the soul. The last film shown is one where they speak to the survivors. This is wear i broke down and cried. These men and woman telling their stories of what they went through and sometimes they break down and cry so how can one watching this movie not do the same. The strangest part is when they break down the most, at least for the part of the movie I saw, is when they talk about the day they were liberated, when the American Soldiers came to their rescue. We see a man and a woman talking about the day she was liberated by the American soldier, he was the soldier and they tell their story. He talks about when he first meets her and she says she is a Jew and in tears he replies back so am I and he nearly cries telling this part of the story in the movie, but the part that makes everyone gasp and cry is when he and she states how the other remained in each others lives over the years, they got married.

The last place in the Museum is peaceful, reflective and a wonderful way to end you journey through his powerful place. You leave this place knowing you will NEVER FORGET what happened.

By this time I had spent all day on my feet and it was getting late and I still had a 45 minute ride on the metro to get back to the rental car. Luckily I listened to everyone around me and pretty much this was the same time everyone else was going home and everyone was headed back to the metro center just like me so I acted like I knew where I was going and I found my way back to to my hotel just fine.

Now I have a dilemma on my hands. Do I go back to the Mall and see more of DC that I have not seen yet, you know like the White House! or do I go to the flea market in Chantilly with some other bloggers and Bellas? Oh what is a tired girl to do? If I do not go to DC tomorrow this will be two trips to DC 20 years apart where I never make it to the White House and how many people come to DC and not visit the White House even if it is just from the outside. I heard these days you have to get on a list to get tickets for the White House tour 6 months in advance.

Baby Girl Album and "BABY" Boy Banner

2008-10-06T23:03:00.017-05:00

So I was off to the second of my to B&B scrapping weekends that I go on every year. This is the first time in 5 years I did not take any pictures with me at all to scrap. Instead O got crafty and I worked on one Silver Bella Swap and the two items below. I should have been making a denim and teddy bear baby boy album but instead I found myself using up my stash and making a baby girl 6x6 chipboard album. I used vintage bit and pieces as well as old papers, stickers and rub ons. It i snot finished yet but hopefully it won't take me a year to finish it off. It is on hold now until I can get through some Silver Bella swaps.

A "BABY" boy banner I made this wekend. I used bit and pieces fom my stash. I still have to string it together with ribbon and trim to finish it off. I made it for my soon to be new nephew but ralized after I made it that his nursery is more denim, than pastel blue. UGHH!! Now what do iI do with it? I guess I will save it for a gift for someone one day.

Paper Cowgirl Retreat 2008

2008-09-30T22:37:00.006-05:00

Last weekend I attended the first Paper Cowgirl Retreat held in the beautiful historic downtown Waxahachie. Shannon and I drove down early on Friday so we could spend some time shopping in downtown Waxahachie,little did we know we would spend 2 hours at one store and 1/4 of that time was spent having the girl cut the trim we were buying and 1full hour was spent waiting for her to ring us up. Next time we know better, but the trim was fabulous and at 75% off the decorator trim prices it was worth the wait of course later we realized we could have snuck off to the store next door while she rang us up and have her call us when she was done, but oh well if we had done that we would have never met the sweet lady buying vintage jewelry who ended up giving us a mini lesson on how to buy,clean and what to look for in quality vintage jewelry. Boy did we feel dumb when we realized many great pieces of vintage jewelry can still be bright and shiny and it not be made in China! We met the sweet lady at Grans antiques and I think we both ended up buying great vintage jewelry pieces because of her. I know I did. I later checked out some of the vintage pieces I bought to see if any had signatures on them and low and behold what I thought was a cheap piece of jewelry was a designer piece and there is no way now I can break it up and add it to any collage piece. See the square rhinestone piece, she said it was great piece from the 20's and was probably worn on a dress. it has all of it's stones. The butterfly is also a Liz Claiborne piece from the 70's I think she said.

Later we headed on over to vendor night held at the cutest Pink Cottage in town. I wish I had a picture of this sweet house. Vendor night was so much fun! The pieces below are all from Sea Dream Studio by Dale. her work is fabulous! I fell in love with all of her pieces. So much detail in her work. Shannon and I made a packed that we were only going to buy supply type items, boy did that go out the door when I got a load of Dale's work and all of the other ladies work for that matter, Dale just had something I could buy for my home. For some reason the piece I bought is it not in any of the pics below, but it was one of her bird in a nest pieces like the on below but in olive green and it is now sitting on my bar/counter area until I can find the perfect home for it. Ok it is getting late and more pics of Paper Cowgirl to follow tomorrow.

Pretty In Pink & Long Week

2008-09-20T21:21:00.003-05:00

So first off it was a long week for me. Work was different. Our company announced an acquisition, which I think is a great move. Hopefully one that will lead us to go IPO next year. At least I can hope right, but who knows. I enjoy working for the company and that is what matters to me. if I am going to spend 40 hours week at a place I need to enjoy it and I do.

This week we have our first annual Wellness fair, so I guess it is seriously time for me to lose some weight instead of continuing to gain it as I have done this year. I mean I can't really be on a Wellness Committee if I don't work on my fitness right? And I want to get into better shape so maybe this is the kick in the but I needed. I do have to admit having foot surgery this year really set me back. After all these months I am still in the recovery stage. I had the surgery in Jan then had to stay off of it for 8 to 12 weeks, still had issues with it after being on it all day at work so I came home and did nothing by the time I was feeling better and ready to work it was the long hot Texas summer. Now that it is almost Fall and cooling off I am going to get off my tuff and start losing weight and getting into shape. I have to! As the song goes I am too young to feel this d%$&M old! LOL.

On another note my company went through a small lay off. It was not fun to say the least. My group lost two great guys and I was very sad to see them go. I will miss them a lot. They kept us all laughing. Then later in the week we lost two more people in our dept who worked on the back dock. That one was a shock for all us but one that was needed. Let's just say they won't be getting a good reference from their manager, my Director after what they pulled. I like to think what goes around comes around and sometimes nice people do really stupid stuff. I am hoping my job will be easier now and maybe we won't have some of the issues we have had for years once we get some new people hired. I have a strong feeling more changes are coming. It's just a hunch.

This is a picture of a pretty pink rose I picked from my garden. I planted this rose bush last summer and this is the first bloom on it of this size and I love it! And the smell! Ahhh. It is an heirloom rose bush and I bought it for it large fragrant repeat blooms. The red roses in the pic are also from my garden.

End of Summer & Silver Bella Swap - sneek peak

2008-09-17T22:22:00.005-05:00

The End of Summer.

My sign of the end of a long hot dry Texas summer, a fresh picked watermelon from my garden! Yes, my garden! I picked it today and boy is it good. I never would have thought just tossing some wet seeds into the flower garden in late Spring would result in 3 of these babies this summer especially after the long hot dry summer we had this year. This one weighed between 5 and 10 pounds. I just let the plant grow and would every so often look only to be disappointed by seeing so many brown shriveled baby melons on my plant. Then one day I walk around to the back of this small garden and it would grow into something I could pick and eat with e luck I had been having in the garden. Of course I have no idea when to actually pick a watermelon, but when I noticed the vine turning brown around this baby I knew I had to pick it and take a chance. See how pink it is? Just perfect and sweet. I have one more to watch over the next few weeks and then it will really be the end of summer around here.

So I have started working on one of my Silver Bella swaps. I can't believe I signed up for 6! Geez! What was I thinking. Oh well some are one on one swaps so that makes it easy. I just have to start finding and gathering items for those swaps.

Below is the beginning of my Twinchie. I have never worked in this size before so I knew I needed an early start and a few test runs. What do you think so far? Do I keep the silver at the top or change it out to a Dresden silver border, or no silver at all? hmmm??? I just adore this little girl. I found her on an old Christmas postcard and I knew I had to use her on this swap. The hat was originally a dunce's cap, yes I know why would a cute little doll like her be wearing a dunce's cap on a vintage Christmas postcard? Who knows, but I sure do like her.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-13T20:05:00.003-05:00

My heart just break for everyone that was in the path of IKE. I know I was concerned since most of my mom's family was in the path. I have an Aunt and Uncle in Houston, who are ok I am told. I am not sure if they are out of electricty of not but they are safe. My Aunt, Uncle and cousins in Beaumont rode Ike out in their home after boarding up. They are safe but without electricty. They left for Gustav but got the word to evacuate to late to get out before Ike. They didn't want to be stuck on the highway last night like what happened to them for Rita.
My family is southwerstern Louisiana is ok, but we know one cousin's house flooded. She lost nearly everything in Rita a few years ago, and had just received money from the government so they could raise their home to not have to go through a flood again, but the money came to late. They have the money now, but will also have to replace everything in their home again. Hopefully the items they placed up high survived but right now they can't get back to their home until the water supbsides.

We are still waiting to hear from a cousin and her family who lives in Jennings, Louisiana. I pray they are safe first and foremost.

This was a horible event to happen to our states. My heart breaks for all of those affected by Ike and its aftermath.

This Little Guy is 5

2008-09-12T21:30:00.005-05:00

I can't believe he is 5 already! My nephew Tristan that is and I just adore him. I may be a bit biased but I do think he is the most handsome little boy ever, but sadly he has entered that stage where he doesn't give kisses anymore. sigh.... He started turning his head and giving me his cheek to kiss this summer. It about broke my heart. What happened to that little boy who wouldn't let me leave the house without a hug and a Kiss? I can give one, but min you I won't get one in return. Someone please tell me this will change and he will give them to me again one day?

Below are a few pics from our trip this summer. This one of him riding a horse in Fredricksburg. Gotta love that smile and yes I gave him money so he could ride the horse.

This is one I took of him standing on top of the Enchanted Rock in the Hill Country of Texas. He already looks like a big boy.

This picture makes me laugh. He is so obsessed with transformers he took this toy with him everywhere and he wanted me to take a picture of his transformer on Enchanted Rock, but I managed to get him in the pic as well. LOL.
This is him with his father's grin at his Birthday party a few weeks ago. He looks so much like my brother here.

And this is one taken last weekend of him playing with his little friend at his sister's Gymnastics meet. They played so good together all morning. I love their little heads together, both blondes, but different shades.

Such a swet boy. Thankfully I will have another little nephew to give me kisses soon.

I've Been Creative

2008-09-09T22:28:00.004-05:00

Below are some Necklaces I have made for myself recently. The top one is one I wore to work today. I tend to design my necklaces around the clothes in my closet. This necklace started out as another piece all together that I never wore, but now I really like it. I think I need to add some Silver Black to the center piece to make the flower metal finding not so silver in color. What do you think?

The second necklace was another piece I took apart and redesigned. I wore it yesterday but it still needs some tweaking. The little metal pieces with the cabochons flip over sometimes, so I need to figure out a way to get them to stop doing that. The bottom is made of small special metal findings with black cabochons and black jet beads. About 18 years ago I bought some broken 1920's necklaces dirt cheap at a vintage store and have used them sparingly over the years. Then again who knew it would be the in thing now to buy broken necklaces and redesign them into new pieces.

Vintage Finds

2008-09-08T22:44:00.004-05:00

So this weekend was a busy one. Saturday morning my 8 yr old niece had her first gymnastics meet. She was so cute and very excited to be in her first meet.

Afterwards mom and I drove to the Home and Garden Show and wound up also going to a "Flea Market". Well a Flea market absent the Flea market prices on 90% of the stuff there. Come on people when you advertise for a Flea market then price things at flea market prices and not at Antique store prices! Because the stuff you were selling sure wasn't antique store worthy, most of it was barely garage sale worthy. And I have to admit I was offended by the man selling mostly German WWII artifacts, if you know what I mean; is a flea market really the right place to sale German WWII items? And the the Vintage Halloween post cards are they really worth $35 to $90 especially at a Flea Market? I did score a few things.

A bag of 90 vintage marbles for $10.00. I love marbles and have about 3000 or so of them, but these were in pretty Fall colors that I didn't have. About 14 of them were the large shooters.

A vintage porcelain chick which I negotiated down from $13 to $9.00. It matches one I bought off Etsy this past spring.

These...

The Munchkin Barbie brand dolls that I missed buying years ago when I was gifted with the Barbie Dorthy, Witch, Glenda and Ken Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man Dolls. I bargained these down to $10 for all 3. Aren't they cute?

Then I happened on a lady who was selling vintage trim at great prices. Below is a pic of vintage velvet flocked rick rack. 8 yards for $1.00 and the Giant orange rick rack for 4 yards for $1.00

In the below pic is vintage black seem binding (8 yards for $1.00), vintage orange flowers with orange flocked velvet ribbon (3 for $1.00) and orange and ivory lace. (8 yards for $1.00)

This is some sort of tiny lace with metallic thread. It was 4 yards for $1.00. I got it in aqua and a pretty minty green.

Below is a broken rhinestone necklace and some sort of 70's style ring I got for $1.00

I bought the below necklace also for $1.00. I am not sure why she had it priced as junk because those are heavy pearls on a knotted cord with a rhinestone clasp.

And this is a curious dogs head trying to figure out if what I bought as edible. And with that I must say goodnight since I have one doggie desperate to go to bed. This silly dog knows my schedule all too well and when he wants to go to bed he gets in my face and paws on my arm. So with that good night.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN at POTTERY BARN

2008-09-05T13:41:00.001-05:00

IMG00061.jpg
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

if you love Halloween and Pottery Barn you need to make your way to a store. They have the most outrageous Halloween table setting display. It is amazing to say the least down to all the detail of the sprakly black rhinestoned spider on the tablecloth. I snuck in this pic before we were told we couldn't take any pictures in the store.

I think the display's must vary slightly from store to store because the display at Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, Texas was slightly better than the display at the store in the Galleria Mall in Dallas. I wish I had a better pic but I at least got this one in on my phone.

They have some great pieces to buy as well. I have the hanging spiders not seen in this pic.

Dentist and Gustav

2008-08-28T22:26:00.003-05:00

I went to the Dentist this week to have him remove all of the old silver fillings from my youth and replace them with the new porcelain white ones. We did the hardest side first and days later my face muscles and teeth still hurt so the for the first time in my life I was scared to go again and have him work on the other side. Now mind you he only had 2 to replace on the second side and a receding gum line ridge to fill in, but I was going to give it a try. Low and behold as some point when the huge needle was being slowly injected into my check I could have sworn he stuck an electric current in my face. I have never felt this in my life! After that I wanted to leave, but then he asked if I wanted the gas. Heck yea! Give me the gas please!

Boy does that stuff make you think funny things. My mind wondered off to various places a few times. By the time I was feeling really good he was done. So I am home now with two sides of my face that hurt from muscle spasms. I have TMJ issues and have already had 2 TMJ surgeries in my life so I am sure part of the pain is due to the muscle spams and not really the Dr's fault at all. My jar will start shivering whenever it gets cold, so bring on the meds. Luckily I have some left over from my foot surgery.

On another note Gustav, the storm, may be headed my families way in southern Louisiana, so I have already gotten the call from one cousin saying she is getting out before they tell them to leave. She's coming with her son and two doggies to stay with me and her mom and dad, My Aunt and Uncle will be staying at my Mom's home. Even if the storm doesn't hit Louisiana she said she's still coming. Right now it looks like it will be a hit to her city. I guess after Rita she decided she was not riding this one out. She actually experineced quite a bit of damage to her home from Rita. We are all tracking Gustav now and who knows it may be a mini Vaughan family reunion around here this weekend. I pray my other Aunt's, Uncle's and cousins get out as well if it does head there way.

I have been cleaning my craft room and my spare room. Well moving furniture around in the spare room. It is pretty clean. Now I have to get moving on the cleaning in the craft room, so I can set up a bed in my craft room. I guess it takes a storm to make me clean my craft room. LOL.

NEW GLASSES AND SHOPPING

2008-08-24T21:26:00.004-05:00

So Saturday I went shopping. I picked up my blingy new Bvlgari Glasses, which I love even more now that I own them! They feel so good on. I will still wear my aqua and purple plastic puppy chewed frames, but I certainly will never fall to sleep in my new glasses. Yes on many occasion I have slept in my glasses. I never mean to it just seems to happen. I have tenitis, ringing in the ears very badly, and I find it very hard to fall asleep in the quiet; all I hear is the high pitch ring. Drives me crazy. The Dr. told me to go to sleep with background noise, so I set the sleep timer on my TV and fall asleep. I try and take my glasses off before I fall asleep but sometimes I don't and end up sleeping in my glasses. Weird I know but they are comfortable.

Then I headed to Rockwall to hunt for a chippy all frame for a Silver Bella class and to search for a dress at Target. I bought a long knit dress at another Target in brown in my size but they didn't have in the beautiful blue color so I was determined to find it in my size in blue. It is an empire waist dress, which is best for someone like me that does not have a defined waist no matter what size I am, and the spaghetti straps fit me perfectly. I usually have a problem with spaghetti straps on tops or dresses. I always have to alter spaghetti straps or they will fall off my shoulders, but I don't on this dress. It is almost to long for me and I love that. I love to wear dresses especially at home on the weekends,so I had to get it in blue. Well no luck in Rockwall target but I did stop at a little Vintage store and found this really great vintage library table, that I thought would make a fabulous coffee table. It was only $225. In the end I decided to wait to buy it. I guess if my living room was more primitive and shabby chic it would be awesome in my great room; now I don't know if it is perfect for me or not. I still think it is a fabulous old table at 6ft long an 2 ft wide with little cubby holes on each side of the table for holding books. I decided to think on it for a week and if I am still thinking about it next weekend I will drive back and look at it again. I wish I had another living area in my home so I could do one room in shabby chic and one in the old world style I also love. Oh well. I did find an old pine table to use as a night table until I find that perfect piece vintage 1920's style piece. It needs to be painted black to fit in my bedroom , but for $39 it was the right size and better than the shaky tv tray table I have been using for the past year. So all was not lost on my trip to Rockwall on Saturday.

Just Another Wednesday

2008-08-20T11:52:00.002-05:00

I have been crafting or creating. I just keep forgetting to upload the photos here. I went to upload photos yesterday and my camera battery was dead so maybe I will get to it tonight. I have been sick since July 30th so I pulled out all of beads and findings to make jewelry. So each night I have been working on a few pieces for myself while I sit on the couch trying to recover from work and this crazy sinus infection and sever asthma attacks I keep having.

I started out with allergy problems, sore throat and all that stuffy head gunk. I made an appt to get in with my ENT but they could not see me for 2 weeks so my appt was not until August 5th. By then I had a full blown sinus infection and little did I know my asthma came back. I have not had an asthma attack in 3 plus years. as a kid I had them all the time. Started out as sinus infections, then asthma and sometimes then turning into pneumonia with a trip to the ER if not a stay in the hospital. I know what asthma attacks feel like but this so didn't feel like it, but I got hooked up to the nebulizer anyway and sent home with antibiotics for the sinus infection . It helped but I never got completely well. Last Thursday I was at work and could not stop coughing. With every breath i took i coughed. I finally told my manager I was going to the Dr and lucky for me my family Dr could see me at once. When I got there I was able to calm down my breathing to stop coughing a bit in the waiting room, but once I walked to the back that was it. I started breathing treatments but still kept coughing. Just in case my Dr. sent me to the hospital in another city for chest xrays and would call me that night to tell me what the next course of action would be. Xrays came out clear, no pneumonia or scar tissue build up just asthma so she called in some stronger meds and steroids. I am still coughing, darn asthma. Darn the ENT for not taking having emergency appts for cases like mine. I am still wheezy and hate not feeling like I can't get a breathe of fresh air. I am hoping this rain we are getting washes the pollution out of the air. That would help me out a lot. In the very least my yard and gardens are loving it.

So after getting home from work I am tired from trying to breath all day so I sit on the couch and work on jewelry pieces. The nice thing about making your own pieces is that if you want to change it later you can. I am bad. I make some pieces to wear with a specific outfit and then when I am done with that outfit and I don't have anything else to wear the pieces with, I take them a part and they become something else. Anyone else out there do that?

As for my Garden, why is it that seeds and plants you plan out you can't get to grow but when you just toss the seeds in the ground they grow and thrive!
I got lazy this year and bought lots of veggie seeds but never made it around to planting them. I accidentally left them outside in the rain in the early summer and the paper packages were all wet, some even looked like the seeds were starting to open so I just shucked them in my flower garden. I tossed out watermelon, cucumber, squash and tomato seeds. I also planted two tomato plants. All during June, July and August, I have watched them survive, barely. they all nearly died a few times, but somehow I kept watering them hoping maybe I would get some veggies. Nothing all summer, but yesterday I wondering out in the wet grass to take a closer look and low and behold I have veggies! I found two good size watermelons growing and the pant full of flowers so who knows I could get more. Then since I tossed all of the other seed together they look like one big bunch of plants that I have to dig through to see what I have and I found the most perfect cucumber! I picked it right away, in fear it wouldn't bet there tomorrow. LOL. I have watched this cucumber plant get some growth on them and then all die because of the heat so it was a nice surprise to find a nice size cucumber and see lots and lots of little baby green cucumbers growing. As long as the over 100 degree weather does not come back I am golden! I went straight in side and devoured my tasty home grown full size cucumber and it was delicious! Added little salt and it was gone in no time. Oh I can't wait to find more! Now if I can get the tomato plants to do the same. I do have squash growing and jalapenos. So next year I am doing the same, just tossing seeds in the ground when I can in the spring and whatever happens happens. No more planning or starting the seeds inside and transplanting for me. This way has been more fun and less stressfull.

Where is Parker, TX home of Nastia Liukin Olympic Gold Medalist?

2008-08-18T21:57:00.005-05:00

Well Parker, TX is the home of Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze 2008 medalist Nastia Liukin and well I live very close to it In fact I drive through it each and every time I go to see my family in Plano and Allen. It is a very tiny town. In fact I do not believe there is even a town square or downtown in Parker. The fire station is made up of volunteer firemen. It has 2 water towers and lots of farmland still. The city is tiny and the city hall sits on the same land as the city fire station and police station. It's right next to The famous Southfork Ranch famous from you guessed it, the TV show Dallas.

I guess I should include information on where exactly is Parker, Tx in the state of Texas. Well it is North of Dallas on Highway 75, ( Also known as Central to us Texans, we kinda like the 2 and 3 differnt names per street and/or highway around here. Check out 544. I swear it must have 10 names, just depending on what part of 544 you are travelling! ) Once you enter Plano look for the Parker Rd (Not Park! Parker) exit on 75. Go east on Parker Road and as you drive on Parker Road you drive right through Parker, Texas. Now you will know when you are in Parker by first the sign in the middle of the divided road and then look to your left and you will soon see a few Welcome Home and Congrats signs for their Olympic Hero, but most importantly my the Parker cops that park in the middle of the road just to catch those speeders, so DON'T SPEED on Parker Road! If the Parker cops don't get you odds are the Plano police will. I have been lucky and the one time I sped down this street I was blssed to have the nice police man flash his lights at me to slow down. I was lucky.

I never thought twice of the city as I drove through it until now. Who knew an Olympic Champion lived so close. There is a big home coming and parade planned for her upon her return.

Do you think like what i do that the US gymnast have been cheated out of some medals? I can't believe Nastia did not win the gold on the bars. She clearly made less mistakes than the other Chinese girl, let alone those Chinese woman are NOT woman! They are girls and they can not be 16 years old! they should lose all of their medals! I am sorry but cheating is cheating and if there is tie breaker rule then ALL of the rules need to be followed! Girls not 16 years old should not be able to compete and win. I am sorry those are the rules and I find it very hard to believe that a girl missing a tooth still is 16 years old. There faces and bodies all but say the are not 16 so why didn't the Olympic committee step in and make the Chinese follow all of the rules.

Why do they keep scoring so badly! I mean how can a girl fall on her vault landing and be awarded the Gold medal? Things need to change for the next Olympics and someone better challenge the Chinese on those girls ages! They know how old they are question them alone away from their coaches. UGH! So frustrated for the woman's team. Oh well I hope she wins Gold on the beam tomorrow! It sure has been fun to watch but also the most frustrating games as far as woman's gymnastics goes.

Dilemma - What is a Girl to do?

2008-08-18T12:27:00.003-05:00

What is my dilemma? So I ventured out Sunday on the last day of Texas' tax free weekend. I swore I would never shop on one of these weekends because the stores are just too packed, but I stopped by a small mall with a TJ Maxx to check out the sales. I find a sweater and then check out some Kathy Vreeland bags. Great price on these bags but I just wasn't in love with any of them at this store, I picked one up and carried it around, but then I spied this beautiul bag on the sale rack and in choclolate brown. The price was $19.00. It was made for me. it felt so good on my arm. I carried it all around the store with me. I LOVED it. I have beenlooking for and wanting a hobo style purse but not a deep one, most all of the ones I find are big and deep. This one wasn't, I had to have it. I thought how lucky I was to find it befoer everyone else. It was BEAUTIFUL! And just Yummy to the touch and smell of it. A leather purse for $19.00, a must have!

But then I got to the counter and upon check it gulp, not $19.00 BUT $119.00! BIG GULP! What is a girl to do? I never fall in LOVE with purses. I was in love with this yummy piece by Donald James Pilner. Ok so I have never heard of him or his handbags before but this purse was over the top wonderful! (I've since learned he is big in Beverly Hills, who knew) Never has a purse felt so good on my shoulder, but then again never have I ever paid $119.00 for a purse. Now it was orginally $575.00 and I got it for a knock down bargain price of $119.00 Even the bag pictured in blue I found online for this picture was on sale for $270.00, so $119.00 was a steal right? What do I do? Do I buy it and treat myself or tell the sales lady I don't want it afterall. It's not relaly in my budget. What do I do? What do I do?

Well I bought it! And I still love it!

Playing

2008-08-14T12:53:00.003-05:00

Ok so I am playing around with banner ideas and trying to finally learn Photoshop Elements in the process. I never liked the name of my blog. What doyou think of Vintage V's? Not sure if is a winner or not. Certainly not as creative as some of those I read on a regular basis.

I will play around some more tonight hopefully. That or try and read more of Breaking Dawn as I watch the Olympics. I am in Book two of BD. Not sure I like this side of the story. Hopefully it will get back to the original way soon.

UGH! It's been over a Month! - New Eye Glasses

2008-08-08T16:59:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted. Wow the summer has flown by for sure.

I havn't accomplished much this summer, but oh well! I did go on a mini vacation with my SIL and neice and nephew. We had agreat time in the Hill country of Texas. I managed to get nice an tan the old fashioned way and with penty of sun block. The other added benefit was shopping at a Scrapbook stor ein fredersiksburg texas. It was a great little store and since there aren't to many these days in the DFW area this store was a nice find and the lil ones were very well behaved in the store for the hour or so their mom and I were shopping. I'll post some pics later. I do need to figure how to take better pics with my camera. Why my pics come out slightly blurry is beyond my thinking right now. Oh well. My SIL and I are sharing pics. so hopefully she has some good ones that I don't.

On another note I found themost excellent Blinga Bella eyeglasses at Len crafters but the cots was outrageous! They wanted $465 for frames and I still have to order glasses on top of that and I want those new transisiton lenses I think. and of course in lightweight and non glare non scratch flavor so the cost of lenses will be expensive as well. Well I had them hold the frames, but then decided to serach for them online somewhere. As I was searching online I decided to give my eye doctors office a call and see if they could buy them for me, and they take my VSP insurance even better than Lens Crafters. Well upon searching online I realized Lens Crafters has their glasses marked up way to high! I found them online and my Doctor's office was able to order them for me based on the online number I found. They arrive Monday, then Ihave to go in and figure out the lenses. I can't wait to get them. They look like this! They have real Savorski crystals in them! They bling in the from and from the side! Most eveything I found had blong only on the side but not these! With the rhnestones on the hinge they bling from the front! I will still wear my contacts but these are good for all the other days!

I am so EXCITED!

2008-07-07T14:08:00.002-05:00

I am so excited that I am going to see her this year at Silver Bella!!

I have been a fan for years and once even had my kitchen in all Mary E! It was her Afternoon Tea dishes and set and I loved it for the 10 years I had it in my apartment kitchens. Now to meet her in person! WOW!

And then to add to my fun this week I invited myself to go along with my SIL and my niece and nephew on a short trip to the hill country of Texas. I just called this morning to talk to her and when she mentioned she was going to pack up the kids in the SUV and go out of town by herself with the kids to go see the State of Texas, I asked if I could go and she said yes! I knew I could ask since my brother wasn't going. We are going to Mo Ranch, to the Enchanted Rock, Fredricksburg, and any other state park we decide to head off to. So I will be out and about next week. Taking a few days off work to tag along with the family. I have never had anyone to go with me so I am excited to finally see other parts of the states of Texas after all of these years!

We may een antique shop along the way.

Didyou know.......

2008-07-03T09:10:00.001-05:00

That your own spit can take out your own blood stain? Yes you read correctly. Your spit will remove your own blood stain.

However did I learn this you ask? Well the summer before my 2nd year of college I took a job at a drapery shop where I cut out pillows from fabric, stuffed and closed fancy decorator pillows. I didn't get to sew the pillows, I was the main stuffer and closer Not the sewer mind you. But while I was stuffing there were other ladies there that made the drapes, those fancy, shamancy decorator designed drapes.

Well one day while the ladies were checking a drape to make sure it was in perfect shape before packing it up, someone yelled as a matter of course, ( I could tell by the tone this had happened befoer) there was a tiny spot of blood on the white lining of the drape. This lady then asked for everyone who had ever touched the drape to spit on a rag so she could find out who's blood it was so she could clean the spot up. Everyone spit on the rag and low and behold only one spit sample got the spot of blood off the drapery lining. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it for my own eyes. WHO KNEW?! And however did they learn this trick or trip? I never got that answer but sure enough I soon had to clean a tiny spot of blood off a pillow I had stuffed. you see working in a drapery place where straight pins are used often the workers accidentally prick their fingers leaving a tiny spot of blood on the item they are working on.

I had forgotten about this fact until recently. I accidentally bled on a skirt afewweeks ago. It was an awful day at work and mind you my body decided on that day and time to turn on me and I bled like I have never bled in years. I got a spot of blood on my skirt, luckily it was a skirt I could move around so the back could become the side and know one would ever know, that and I could where a lab coat all day on top of it. I used soap and water in the bathroom to get the blood of my skirt and then I remembered to SPIT, and yep it took the blood right up. Mind you I had to keep spitting for a while and rubbing the spot with a paper towel but finally the spot was out of the skirt. Lucky for me the office I work in is always cold, so I have a heater and my desk and it dried out my skirt in a jiffy. Oh the fun to be a woman and have your body betray you.

Scary Yardwork

2008-07-02T21:32:00.002-05:00

Afterwork for some stress relief I decided to work in my yard. Over the last 2 years I have dug up many a large rock in my yard. For some reason after the spring rainy weather these rocks come up closer to the surface of my yard so when I got to dig a hole or plant a new plant I hit rock. I then have to take time to dig the rock or rocks up before I can finish planting whatever I am planting. I decided instead of tossing these rocks in piles through out my yard I will now start using them to build a dry stacked wall for my garden. I decided tonight was the night so I start moving rocks around. For some reason I told myself to be careful because you never know what could be underneath one of these rocks, and low and behold guess what? Yep Grass Snake # 2 was under one of the rocks. This time instead of grabbing a neighbor I grabbed my shovel. It was a small one but still a snake. Later I decide to finally spread out some mulch stil in bags in my yard, thankfully I told myself again to go slowly and sure enough Snake # 3 was under a bag. This time it was a brown snake. It isnow also dead and I am petrified to move the last bag of mulch in my yard. I may ask my neigbor to help me move it tomorrow.

I figure a few dead ones won't hurt so much. I am sure there are plenty others out there still to kill the rats or mice.

It's Going to be Another Nephew!

2008-07-02T05:25:00.000-05:00

We found out on June 30th, the new baby is a boy, so I will get another nephew. We all wanted a girl, but a boy it is! Now my brother and his GF can start talking names and baby room colors. I am hoping she will let me help design the new baby's room. We shall see.

On another note my nephew Tristan graduated from Pre-School this year. He will be a kindergartner next year! This is the cool funny loving boy!

I LOVE this little Boy! YY

Congratulations Tristan only 13 plus more years to go! YY

A Bit of Shopping, Gardening & Creating!

2008-06-30T14:45:00.007-05:00

This past weekend was a busy one for me. I shopped, I gardened, and I created.

I started by shopping at a Bassett Store in Dallas. After having dinner with my mom and sister, where they were celebrating the fact my mom was able lower her home taxes. They protested the tax accessor's value of my Mom's home and won! They were able to get the home lowered by thousands so her property tax next year will be very low. She is now 65 so they immediately locked her in at this new low rate so her property taxes will never go up again in her life.

After dinner Mom and I drove to the Bassett Furniture store. I wanted to show her a couch I fell in love with and of course we walked the entire store. I also showed her a coffee table I love. It takes me a while to find furniture I love. In fact I have been looking for coffee tables for almost 3 years now that I love. This is the line I found. I can't afford to buy them now, but they are on my list to buy in the next year, unless of course the new line has something I love more. So yes, I have heard and confirmed that Bassett Furniture has a new line coming out August 1rst, 2008. I have no idea what it looks like, but have heard they will have a big kick off sale when they introduce it. I also learned their prices will be going up 8% very soon but they will have a huge July 4th 25% off sale this weekend. Of course the couch I love is over $4K! Yes I want a $4,000.00 couch! It is a large curved couch. It will look amazing in my great room. I can design everything about the couch and pick out the fabric myself as well.

As we completed our round of the store I spotted a this lamp, but my Mom spotted an even better one and it was marked 50% off, so I bought it. It is beautiful. It is a heavy metal wire urn shaped lamp in an antique finish. It is perfect so I found the rep I spoke to earlier, Brian and bought it. As we were talking he asked me if I had a rug for my great room. Funny thing he asked me that because I spotted one at the back of the store, but wasn't able to get to it to find the price. We walked back to the store where we started flipping all the rugs since the one I spotted was at the bottom of the pile. We had to flip them all several time to get to the price tag $599. A great price but still to steep for me right now, but wait, it was on sale for 75% off that! SAY WHAT!?! The 10' x 10' rug was only $145.00!! Now that is a great price so of course I bought it! This is my rug and I LOVE it!

This rug retails for over $1000K and I found it online from $749 to $899 so my $145 rug was a true bargain. This picture does not do it justice. The colors all blend so it looks worn and weathered in places. It has the rich colors especially the plum that I wanted in my room. My wall colors seems a bit off for the rug now and I am thinking of adding a glaze to it, but only after I get the Bassett Designer out to my house to see what he thinks. My wall color is a bit golder than in the picture above. Oh but now my recovered couch does not work at all in my living room! The couch and chaise totally clash with my new rug, so now I want that $4000 couch as soon as possible. LOL. But I will wait.

Saturday Bassett came out to look at the dining room chairs I bought that were delivered the Saturday before. He said the finish was bad and he took them all back to have re-finished. Totally different experience than what I had with Ashley Furniture last year.

Saturday afternoon I drove to Frisco to visit the Ethan Allen store. OMG! What a disaster. I had never been in one of their stores and wanted to see what their designer center was all about and if they had a custom upholstery couch like the one at Bassett. The store had a few shoppers but probably more sales people that shoppers. We arrived right behind a young couple. We were in the store about 5 minutes when a rep approached the couple in front of us and introduced herself. So I waited expecting someone to approach me in a bit. We waited and waited. Mom and I even walked into the designer center a bit to look at the drapes and still no one came up to us. A few reps were in the design center talking. I even spoke up and stated in a loud voice how nice it would be to learn about the store and the design center. We get back to the front of the store where I told the lady at the front desk that I was unhappy. That I didn't appreciate being ignored, it was my first visit to the store and I came to check out the design center. I thought it was rude that the people in front of me and after my had a rep check up on them but not my mom and I. She said "I am so sorry, I can assign a rep to you." I was livid. I told her it was too late. She didn't know who I was or how much money I had to spend and how dare they ignore us. I was done with their store. I drove out of my way to that store only to walk away not knowing anything more about the store than before I walked in was very maddening! I still may write a letter to the store manager.

Then to top off my weekend, mom and I were out in my garden on Saturday in my backyard looking at my flower beds where I spotted a weird shaped leaf or twig. It blended in so well with the plants and leaves, I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at so I picked up a stick and sure enough it was a grass snake. My first snake in my yard. It was about 2ft long. I walked out to get a neighbor to help me and my next door neighbor and his friend saved the day by cutting the snake in half with hedge clippers. He took one half with him home and I found the other half in the bed dead on Sunday. The great part is, it is dead the bad part is where there is one snake there are bound to be others.

So that was my weekend. A bit of shopping, a bit of gardening, and the bit a creating I will talk about tomorrow.

2008-05-21T12:00:00.005-05:00

1. 5 Things I Couldn't Live Without for Under $5

Route 44 Lemon Berry,Cherry Limeade or a Strawberry Limeade Slushy from Sonic

I will have to think on this one a bit longer. Not having kids most of my things are over $5.00

One thing I can't live without is my Blackberry but it is a bit more than $5.00. LOL.

2. 5 Favorite Movies

The Wizard of Oz

American President

Never Been Kissed

Any Jane Austin Movie

Lucky 7 - a movie starring Patrick Dempsey and Kimberly Williams Paisley. I stumbled across it at blockbuster a few years ago and have since seen it some of the cable channels.

3. 5 Baby Names I Love But Won't Use- OK changing this one to names I would LOVE and HOPE to USE one day

Violet

Vaughan (for either or girl or boy - It's a family last name)

Preston Thomas ( after my dad, Great Uncle, and Great Grandfather)

Eva or Ava ( My maternal grandmother's name was Eva and no grandchild was given that name)

Hollyn - I just like it

4. 5 Songs I Could Listen To Over and Over Again-

I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me

DreamGirls CD - The Original Broadway Show CD (I saw the original BB musical on Broadway in the 80's and have had the CD as soon as it came out on CD ever since).

Any song by Trisha Yearwood

Any song by Wynonna

5. 5 People Who Have Influenced My Life In A Positive Way

A friend and former Pastor - Gary (He was my friend years before he ever became a pastor and then just a friend again)

My old high school theatre Teacher - John Steele

My mom

Michael - My former VP at the company I used to work for

Howard- A Colleague at the company I used to work for.

6. 5 Things That Stay In My Purse At All Times

Wallet

Keys

Pen, but I never can seem to find it when I need it

Lip gloss-But I always forget to apply it

Safety Pin because you never know

7. 5 Moments That Have Changed My Life Forever

Becoming a Christian

The Day my Dad Died or rather the morning my Mom told me he died the night before

The Day I graduated from College

The day I got laid off from my job as a belt designer / sales rep in the fashion industry

The day my mom taught me how to sew

8. 5 Obsessions I Have Right Now

The Container Store

Playing sudoku on my Blackberry

Working in my yard

Decorating my Home or my attempt to decorate it

My dog, Walker

9. 5 Places I Would Like To Go

Italy

South of France

Prince Edwards Island in Canada

Tahiti/Bora Bora

Morocco

Something Strange

2008-05-14T21:25:00.006-05:00

So this morning I was listening to my favorite local morning radio show and heard a fun song on the radio called "Shake It". I thought it was fun and upbeat. Later that morning I decide to see what my friend's Kathy and Sam's sons are up to in Hollywood USA. You see Sam and Kathy have 3 sons and their middle child just, oh, happens to be on a little show called "Hannah Montana". You guessed it Sam and Kathy's last name is Musso and their son is Mitchel, who plays "Oliver" on Hannah Montana.

I met Sam Musso years ago when we both auditioned for a musical with a local Christian Community theatre group in the DFW area. We acted in a play called "The Silver Chair", yes an original adaption of CS Lewis' book from the Chronicle's of Narnia series. Later I met Kathy and got to know her when we were all in a 50's Christmas Musical together. Sam and Kathy were dating by then and happened to announce their engagement to the cast and crew on stage during the musical by changing the end of the show that night. I have seen them off and on after the theatre group dismanteled over the years. When I moved into my house in 2006 a mutual friend of ours told me their son Mitchel was going to be in a new Disney show called Hannah Montana. It was fun to see their son acting now. I've since lost touch with Sam and Kathy when they moved from TX to CA.
I do have pictures of some of my old theatre group and their families from 2000 when they came to see me act in a play at my church and Sam and Kathy and their boys are in my pics.

In fact Kathy was on Good Morning Texas this past week. Check her interview out Here.

Ok back to my strange story.....so I hear this song on the radio and for some reason a little bit later decide to see what the boys are up to by looking them up on http://www.imdb.com/. Under Mitchel I decide to see what their oldest son, Mason is up to. He has always been the rocker/singer in the family in lieu of acting like his two younger brothers. I notice he is in a band called Metro Station. I remeber hearing them talk about Metro Station on the radio so I click over to my local radio station's website and notice Metro Station has been in the radio's studio and THEY sing the song "Shake it". Well upon futher investigation of the band Trace Cyrus, yep Miley's brother, also happens to be in the band. It appears the two siblings met through their other two siblings. So You have Miley and Mitchel in a TV show and soon a movie together and their older siblings Trace and Mason in a hot rising band together. So strange. Now where do I find their baby pictures in all of my boxes photos?

Think I can become the cool Aunt to my 8 year old neice that now loves Hannah Montana???
And where ever did I place Sam's cell #?

Another Project

2008-05-12T21:05:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of the valence and curtains I made for my Master bedroom. I actually had to make 2 valences from the pattern I used so the 2 windows that are side by side each other would be covered. I first thought about redesigning the pattern to make one long valence but decided against that once I realized I have a center bar holding up the curtain rod and needed them to be divided anyway. I didn't show my bed since it wasn't made when I took this picture. I'll take a picture of my bed all made up tomorrow. I'm not quite sure why I went with the red and gold and black theme but somehow I did. Certainly not colors I love or ones I am normally drawn to.

Walker p 13

2008-05-07T21:51:00.001-05:00

Walker p 13
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

Another scrapbook page from my Dog Walker's 8x8 album. I am trying to use up pet paper and supplies I have been buying for a few years now. I am determined to use up most of my old papers. This Walker at about 3 months old. Oh these pictures make me want another puppy.

My Creations

2008-05-07T21:19:00.007-05:00

I finally worked on a few kits this weekend. I worked on a kit I bought from Kim Kwan; her Whimsy kit. It is a plexi glass album and I loved how mine turned out. I stayed with colors that go with my home. Ok so I have to admit I had to add some thing to the little girls skirt because I got yellow paint on it, but I actually love how my accident turned out.

I got around to scrapping again this past weekend so I decided to started slow and opted for pet pages and working in an 8x8 album. Now it also helped that I went here this past weekend and slept in the Texas bedroom this time. I have been going to this Scrapping B&B twice a year for 6 years now and I always love going. I do my own thing and if I get only a few pages done I am okay with that. So below are the first scrapbook pages I have worked on in months if not years.

I love this page of my niece and my brand new puppy. I didn't take a lot of photos of Walker while he was a puppy so I am thankful I have these. Plus I got to use pink paper in Walker's album.

Another page from Walker's album.

Sorry I Haven't Updated in While / What I Have Been Up To

2008-04-14T08:51:00.005-05:00

So many things are going on in my life right now. Some good some bad. First off the one bad is that I have not been feeling well. I think my endometreosis is back in full force. I had surgery for it about 3 years ago and was told that odds of it coming back were great unless I have a baby soon. Well since I am single and not dating anyone that hasn't happened. I am on the old fashioned side in that I want to do it right get married and then have a baby but I am getting older so I am starting to think of the option out there for me being single and all. I was told when I had surgery last time that people with this can have small amounts of it and lots of pain and lots of it with little pain. I am on the little side with lots of pain right now at least that is how it was last time for me.

I took a class a few weeks ago with Debbie Shuh at Gotta Scrap. I nearly missed the class because I was so sick. I actually got in my car to drive home when I had to turn off the engine and open the door and toss my cookies. I was sick as a dog and had a 15 to 20 minute drive home still.

I have been busy sewing. After 2 years I finally got around to sewing the valences for my bedroom windows. I finished one and the other is almost finished. It really turned out nice after a rough start. I am going to try and finish the other tonight and take a picture. I used the same fabric from my comforter (that I made 2 years ago) and fabric from my curtain panel along with some pretty bead trim and gimp to finish off the bottom edge of the valence.

I have also been working in my yard. last year I wanted to crate a new flower bed in my back yard and my mom talked me out of it but this year I am doing it. I now have to dig up all of the grass that filled in the area so I can make a flower bed out of the area. I already had some plants in this area now I want to connect them all together with a curving bed on the hill in my back yard. I have gladiolus, a rose bush, a sweet Carolina Jasmine a hibiscus plant and a dwarf pear tree that I am connecting together with one large flower bed. I am excited this year my dwarf pear tree has pears on it! It had more until all the storms. Now there are only about 10 left on the little tree. Oh well. My apricot tree didn't flower again this year, but hopefully next year it will bear some fruit. I read somewhere that it can take up to three years before it blooms. This is year two for me. My rose bushes are doing great. Last year I transplanted some Iris' from my mothers yard to a corner in my backyard, but they never did anything. I was afraid I was going to have to move them this year because the corner of the yard I planted them in stays a bit wet and doesn't get a whole lot of sun, but low and behold this year they bloomed! In fact I didn't even know what color they were until this year. They turned out to be purple! I love purple.

I babysat my niece and nephew one Friday night last month. My 4 yr old nephew is a hoot. The things he says! My niece was watching Halloweentown on TV while my nephew sat in my lap and played with a transformer. He then convinces me to go upstairs to play transformers when the movie was over. While we are playing he goes "Mom took me to a store and it really creeped me out". He was so serious. So I proceed to ask more questions. What store, when did you go. why were your "creeped out?". When was back in October, where was a Halloween store and a huge mummy on display scared him. After speaking to my SIL later that night, the boy was petrified of the huge mummy that moved that was on displayed and screamed when he saw it. I can only guess the movie we were watching reminded him of this horrific event in his life to tell me about it. I still have to wonder where on earth he has heard of the word creep? I asked him and he said he didn't know he just knew the word.

Work is strange right now. I will say more later when and if I can but for now I need to keep on keeping on and hope for the best.

I took 4 days off of work recently. I need the time off and away to regroup. I spent one day shopping. I wanted to take the day off to organize my craft room , but it didn't work out that way. Then I took off for 4 days and 3 nights to a Scrapping B&B in east Texas. I went a day early to get some Silver Bella projects done. I will post pics tomorrow of what I completed. Friday morning at the B&B was exciting since I had to wake people of to tell them we needed to take cover because of a tornado warning. Thankfully the tornado stayed 10 minutes to the east of us and went north. I started my dogs album. Not sure why I am scrapping a dog album but the creative process has been fun and working in 8X8 has been interesting, and challenging. I had fun with my scrapping buddies. I go with the best ladies ever! One lady Carrie always make us the best cocktails! This time it was a drink from a southern living magazine. I frozen lemonade container undiluted and still frozen, 2 light beers, and vodka, Sounds strange but they were yummy!

I left my dog Walker with my mom and sister at my Mom's home. The little stinker howled for 30 minutes after I left. I swear this dog never whines or cries but I heard him howling after my sister called me to tell me what he was doing. He sat with his butt to the corner at the front door and howled for 30 minutes after I left. I mean howled! Poor baby. I have left him at my mom's before but he never howled like that ever. When I got back home Sunday to pick him up he didn't want anyone near me but him. Now why can't I find a man like that ! LOL.

I am sorry I missed the toy post hosted by jessi. Some things going on in my life kept me from posting. The biggie... I spilt coke under my laptop and then it would not start. I couldn't get it looked at until this morning but I guess after it dried out and the battery was replaced it worked just great, thankfully! I will post my pics this week. Sorry Jessi!

My younger sister, she's 38, graduates from college this weekend. Finally! Took her a few years but she is now done and starts work again June 16th after being off work for 6 years. This Saturday is her day! Sunday is my Mom's day. Ok enough for now. I promise to post again tomorrow night and show you what I have been working on.

Exciting Family News!

2008-03-24T20:34:00.003-05:00

I found out yesterday I am going to be an Aunt again. This will make it only the 3rd time and the first child for my brother, Damon. He is 43 and going to be a Dad for the first time. I am actually getting two for the price of one. No not twins at least not as far as we know right now, but his girlfriend Michelle already has a 10 year old son, Nathan.

After last Christmas I had a feeling Michelle and Nathan were going to be a permanent part of our family and I was right. Nathan loves my brother and has been wanting to call him dad for a while now, and now he is. My brother is the only Father figure in Nathan's life. He is a very sweet boy and I am happy to call him my nephew. I think he is thrilled to not only get a Dad, a new sibling but also a grandma and a big extended family! I think he has probably always wanted a family and now his dream is coming true. Funny thing he did ask my Mom at Christmas if she would be at the wedding when my brother and his mom got married. It was a little premature at the time, but he knew even then what he wanted.

So by Thanksgiving 2008 we will have a new baby in the family and I am thrilled. Thrilled to see my brother so happy and excited to welcome a new addition to the family!

One of the Weirdest News Stories yet

2008-03-20T08:54:00.002-05:00

I am sorry but this "Boyfriend charged in Kansas toilet case" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080320/ap_on_re_us/woman_in_bathroom
is one of the weirdest new stories to date and has me pondering on numerous items.

WHY???!!! I guess is the first one, and the second, and the third? Why on so many levels. Why wait years to call for help? Why sit in one place so long? Why, why, why? Just so weird.

Marbles 01

2008-03-16T20:58:00.002-05:00

Marbles 01
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

This is what 3000 vintage marbles look like all over the floor when the glass jar they were in broke as I was lifting it up to vacum underneath it. See the jar in the background sitting upside down with the glass bottom right next to it. All I could do was laugh when I heard the rush of the marbles falling out the of the jar and rolling all over the floor all at once. The dog had a field day chasing.them. I am still finding a stray here and there in the house.

I collected these as a kid when I lived in Hawaii when I used to play marbles with some neighborhood kids. I won most of these. I am always tempted to buy more when I see them at antique stores or flea markets, but do I really need anymore?

My niece is 8 and loves playing with them; I was 9 when I loved playing with them so I completely understand her facination with them when she comes over to my home.

I was Tagged - 7 Random Thing About Me

2008-03-15T22:28:00.005-05:00

Ever since Heather Ales tagged me, I have been racking my brain trying to come up with 7 random facts about me that I have not already shared. So here goes....

1) I have more coffee cups than I should for someone that doesn't drink a lot of coffee. I love coffee cups and every year buy a new Christmas one. I have two shelves full of just coffee cups. I recently splurged and bought 2 more from here. One with a "V" and one with a "B". I wanted one for my mom to be able to use when she comes over, but I couldn't get 2 "V"'s so I got a "B" for our last name.

2) My mom's name also starts with a "V" and it is also an unusual "V" name. Her name is Velta. I fi eve rget married and/or am blessed to become a mom of a daughter, I also want to name her with a name that starts with a "V".

3) I have a coffee maker with a built in espresso maker that I have never used. In fact last year when I went to try and make espresso for the first time ever with it the dang thing didn't work. It also has a milk steamer on it that I have never been able make work either. It worked, I just couldn't ever figure out to steam milk properly. I actually can't make a good pot of coffee maybe that is why I do not drink it much at home. I drink one 8 oz cup of coffee, if that much, 5 days a week at work. We have those one cup at a time machines at work. LOVE IT! I want one for home.

4) I like Pecan Pie just without the Pecans in it. LOL. I know I know. I love the filling and the crust, aren't those the best parts anyway? I have tried and tried to eat Pecans I just don't like the texture.

5) I also do not like anything with that shredded plastic tasting coconut in it. I just can't do it. I only eat fresh coconut right out of the shell. Goes back to those 3 years I lived in Hawaii as a kid where we ate fresh coconut right out of the shell.

6) My very first job was making leis in Hawaii at age 10. In Hawaii we lived in Navy housing right off the navy base well the base housing was full of Plumeria trees and since the trees were on government property no one could tell me I couldn't climb the tree in their yard since it wasn't really their yard in the first place! At some point I started picking the flowers from the trees and making leis, before I knew it neighbors were paying me to make leis for their visiting friends and family. Sometimes they gave me additional flowers to add to the plumeria flowers I picked to add to the leis I made. I am pretty sure my price was cheaper than the airport's price.

7) I graduated at age 17 and I didn't get my first "real" job until I was a senior in high school. I just didn't have time for a job. I wanted the spending money but my desire to spend all my free time after school doing theatre just prohibited me from having a part time after school job until the very end of my senior year in high school. I got a job at Cloth World, which later became JoAnn's. After just a year working there I was given keys to the store and to the store's safe to lock the store up at night. I was just 17 and in charge at night. There were older ladies there but I was left in charge by the manager to close up at night. And come to think of it even back then I was a buyer. I used to buy the notions for the store. I would place and order for items that were out of stock but also would determine when something was running low if we needed to restock it or not based on how well and how fast it had sold in the store.

Ok so I think I was finally able to come up with 7 random facts about myself. I had the first two before I started typing and the rest came as I typed this. Funny how that works!

Ironic Day - My Home Depot Day

2008-03-13T21:18:00.005-05:00

I call my day today ironic. At least I think this day qualifies as "ironic", you tell me. I bought a fridge in 2005 on sale at an amazing price from Home Depot. (Basically I got a $2K Maytag French Door Fridge with a 4 year warranty for $1K. About a month ago the inside fridge water spout quit working, the ice maker kept working just fine. I just assumed it needed a new filter and only this week did I make it to Home Depot to buy a the new water filter. I installed it and still no water. Time to call the famous "Maytag Repairman". I made the call to the Home Depot ESP (Extended Service Plan) number and was told it would be covered under warranty. I then remember when the fridge was delivered in Feb of 2006 the dreadful delivery guys, I swear they were the 2 stooges, damaged the back wheels. (Now I only discovered the back wheels were damaged when I went to pull it out from the wall to vacum under it the first time and it would not budge, this was about a year ago.) I just prayed the wheels would be covered under warranty but was told by the ESP rep that they would not be, that was fine I would pay for them to be repaired when the reairman came out to fix the water feature.

I was given one of those wonderful 8 am to noon appointments and of course the repair man knocked on my door at noon. Always my luck! He looks at the fridge and tells me it is not covered under warranty. Say What!?! Uh... yes it is.. I bought one of those multi year warranty's, a 4 year one to be exact and I could produce my receipt in a second. I did and sure enough my receipt clearly shows a 4 year warranty was purchased in 2005 when I bought the fridge. he says he can see that but GE says it is not under warranty ad for him to fix it I woul dpay for everything. Now I start get very upset. I took off from work and now fridge will not be fixed, so I will have to take off another half day at some point. The "Maytag Repairman" calls his dispatcher who tells me they called GE, who owns all Home Depot major appliance ESP plans, and GE told them my ESP plan does not start until 2010 and goes through 2014! LOL! What the Heck! Now why would I buy an ESP plan and not have it start until the fridge is 5 years old!?!! I am told I have to call GE to get the date chaned befoer they will fix my fridge. After 2 calls, I am told to go back to the Home Depot where I bought the fridge to have the contract date fixed. Now let me tell you GE can see that I bought the fridge in 2005 so why they thought the service plan didn't start until 2010 is beyond me. The ESP plan paperwork I have clearly states the ESP plan goes into affect as soon as the MFG's warranty expires and runs for 4 years. So I call Home Depot, ask for the store manager and warn him I am coming as I briefly explain the situation.

Now I tell the "Maytag Repairman" before he leaves that the damaged wheels will now be fixed for free and he tells me he has never seen Home Depot give away anything especialy in cases like this. You see his company seen this hapen once befoer. i know it i sjust a typoe but I also know it will take time to fix the error. I tell the 'Maytag Repairman" Home Depot has never met me!
I work on getting price breaks and discounts for a living!

I tell the Assistant store manager everything and that GE told me only he could fix the warranty contract start date. I also explain how I now want the damaged wheels fixed for free for my frustration and time off work. This manager then spends the next 2 hours on the phone trying to fix Home Depot's typo. Now I did go in upset,but I was more sarcastic than mad, and once the Mgr understood there was an error, I calmed down and patiently wait for the situation to be fixed. It was quite funny for me to see someone else for once go through a customer service call like what I normally go through with AT&T. He was given no less than 8 numbers to call and was transferred about just as many times if not more. I left to shop a bit in Home depot while he was still on the phone, at some point he tells me he will fix the wheels for free because of the hassle. When I get back to the counter he is very frustrated. He could not find a way to place and order for the 2 wheels parts and have them charged to his store, so he tells me not only will he fix the wheels, but now he is going to give me $110 store credit! $10 for the wheel parts. I am to order the parts and then give him a call once they arrive and he will get someone out to fix them.

Where is the ironic part you ask? While running a few errands I recall the "Maytag Repairman" asking me if I had heard a rush of water into the filter when I had replaced it. So when I get home, I twist the filter out and then back in when I clearly hear a rush of water and the water spout starts working! The reason for the call in the first place!
I could only laugh! But now the wheels will be fixed and for free!

And if my Easter Basket Swap Partner is reading, this my basket will be in the mail Saturday or Monday!

Laptop Whoos

2008-03-06T19:19:00.004-06:00

I have not known what it was like when people say they loose everything on their PC until today. I have a work issued laptop I use for most everything. It is great because it allows me to work from home when needed. I used to travel for work with it but lately not so much. (Wish I had a job where I could travel more) So get in to work this morning, dock my laptop and my flat panel monitor and keyboard do not work. I test everything, even got on my hands and needs to test all the cords underneath my desk, no use so I call our IS support team. ( I have to admit everyone on the IS team knows me, if there was any other team I could be a part of this would be it. Most people don't like them but I think my companies IS team is awesome!) They ask are you calling about the network, no ( oh crap what is wrong with the network I think to myself) about my monitor not working after I docked my laptop I say. She asks for me to do all this stuff, already tried that I say, she knows me as well so she knows I really did tried it, so she goes un-dock your laptop, turn off your monitor, unplug your docking station from the power cord, hit dock station on/off button a few times, then the fatal words, turn off your laptop. I do all the steps re-dock laptop, turn everything back on even computer, success! I have a connection a again from my laptop to my separate monitor and keyboard! whoohoo. Not sure how doing all that helped but it did. We hang up and I try to login.... well in between the time I shut down my laptop while on the phone with IS our network crashed. Not a little crash but a big one, at least for a few of us it was. It crashed so hard it wiped my existence off the main set up server ( I was cached out off or off of the domain name server for all you techno types), my login name and password no longer exist on my companies server so I could not even login to my laptop! I was locked out, AM locked out of my laptop! I can't get to anything saved on my pc! I feel like everything and I mean everything is lost- web favorites, pictures, documents, everything just gone in one little poof! So I cleaned out my desk and files for a few hours as I waited for the server to come up. It came up but I was still locked out. Luckily I have a 11am meeting that goes to 1pm, so I have something to do for a while at work. 2pm and I am still unable to login so I go home, now mind you most everyone around me is working but everything I do is on my laptop and for anyone that was on the network when it crashed, they maintained their user id on the domain name server. I wasn't so I am locked out and I can't get back on under my usual domain name to get to all my files until I go into work and get on our network again.

I have a blackberry so I am still getting emails, I just can't reply to some since I can't get to the documents or websites needed to respond to the emails. I finally get the email that the network is back up and running so I try to login to my laptop at home, still no go. Oh crap now what! Weather is bad and if it ices overnight I need to be able to work from home tomorrow. So my oh so awesome IS team hooks me up so I can at least get online and get to the Internet and our VPN client so I can login to my works intranet. He hooks me up while he is driving home on icy rainy roads. He walks me through step by step over the cell phone on how to create a new user id on my laptop so I can at least log on! whoohoo. That is how I am able to post this evening. Still no access to my pictures, personal files, work documents or Internet favorite links, but I can at least get on my laptop!

I'm also still waiting for the inches of snow we were supposed to get this evening. I watch the news and see snow but I guess my little home town is too far east to get snow. It's still just cold and wet outside. Probably lots of ice tomorrow morning, but forecast tomorrow is also for more snow, we shall see. I would love to see what my little Nordic dog would do in the snow.

I am feeling better, finally. Wore two of the same shoes today so foot is improving as well. Just can't keep them on all day at work since my hurt foot still swells and causes me pain. I may just bring a pair of slippers to work next week to change into while at work! Sinus infection is tons better. I think because I also started using a Nettie pot this week. Kim Kwan told me about it years ago but I never tried it. I actually went to the drugstore looking for some salt packets for a bottle my ent gave me to wash my sinus out with after I had nose surgery a couple of years ago. Thought a salt water wash my help the infection. I hate the bottle, it hurts to force the salt water up my nasal passages, but figured it couldn't hurt to use it again for this atypical infection, well right next to the Dr prescribed salt packet refills was a plastic Nettie pot, so I compare the salt packets used in the nettie pot against what my Dr prescribed and they are the same! I think to myself, Kim Kwan uses the Nettie pot, it uses gravity to flush your nostrils so maybe it won't hurt like the bottle. Why oh why didn't I listen to Miss Kwan all those years ago. Love, love my little plastic Nettie pot. My nasal passages feel so much better and I can flush twice a day now! If you are having sinus or allergy issues, try it. You'll like it! If you have ever gone swimming in the ocean and went underwater without a nose plug, that is what it will feel like. Oh what memories my little nettie pot brings me back to! LOL.

OK long post I know, but as soon as I can get to my pictures, I will have some crafts I have worked on to post. wohooo! I feel like crafting again, now to feel like cleaning my house again! LOL. Time for New Amsterdam. Great new show on FOX! TTFN!

Sick

2008-02-28T20:29:00.002-06:00

On top of a sore foot and still having to walk around in an ortho shoe, I have a sinus infection. Not your typical, coughing, sore throat, drainage kind, but as my doctor said an "atypical" kind. My eyes hurt, face hurt, face was swollen and lynph glad was swollen, and I just wanted someone to chop off the left side of my face, or stick a pin in it to left the pressure out. I stayed home from work 2 days and left early today. I just want to be well and feel like doing something again. I have now spent 4 plus weeks in bed or work and then bed. I am so ready to be well and feel like crafting again.

A FEW OF MY FAVORTIE THINGS

2008-02-24T16:02:00.012-06:00

I'm home in bed another weekend per Doctor's orders to stay off my left foot another weekend. This is the 4rth weekend home alone and I'm bored. So with that I wanted to share some things I found online or in a store that I think are cool, had ot have and want to share.

A FEW THINGS I LOVE

1. White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter - I sooo love this. Not too sweet; just the right amount of white chocolate in this all natural peanut butter. So delish! It is made by a small company based in New York City. I found it at Wal-Mart of all places. Check out their other great flavors listed on their website as well as some great recipes.

2. Capri Blue Volcano Candle in red jar only at Anthroplogie - Smells like Spring in a jar. Beautiful fresh scent to fill your home. Description online says "sugared oranges, lemons and limes" and will burn up to 140 hours.

3. Free Ali Edwards Handwriting Font here - Free downloadable font from Creating Keepsakes march magazine

4. JJill Ladies clothing store. I just love their comfy natural clothes and their sales are awesome. Luckily there are 2 stores in the DFW area. They have awesome catalogs. You can order from the catalog at the store and get free shipping if you ship to the store, of course you have to pick it up from there to get the free shipping.

5. King and Queen Bunnifred from Papyrus. Cute little bunny ornaments with a matching decorative box. They are $12.95 each. Also at Papyrus is the most beautiful pink and shiny sparkly metallic silver wrapping paper. I can't find it online, but will see if I can scan a piece after I go buy a few sheets this week.

6. New Wizard of Oz Ornaments. These are the first 3 in a new Wizard of Oz ornament Collection series by Ashton-Drake galleries, and I think I need them for my tree. I know I told my mom no more unless they were like the movie ( like the ones from Hallmark each year), but these are right up my alley. They have rhinestones on them, they look handmade, and they are just too darn cute! I'll let you know if they are as cute in person as they are online.

Work Situation Update

2008-02-18T21:32:00.004-06:00

Thanks to everyone for the uplifting comments about the work situation. The morning after the email came out, I emailed a Director in another dept that I know pretty well asking if what I did for the company last year in regards to mirgating the two companies together (I listed out everything I did above and beyond my normal that should have included me on the list in this email) and saving the company 200K wasn't enough to get me on the list, then what was; what was it I needed to do to get recgonized at my company? I want to grow my career and to do that I need to get noticed, I know that will help in the man's world in which I work and the company I work for so I did all that last year. In adition to emailing this Director I know pretty well about how I felt about the situation I also spoke to my manager. I asked if he had seen the email and if he knew why we were not on the list again I explained again why I thought I deserved to be on it and I let him know I was upset. He said he really hadn't paid attention to the email but he would look into the situation.

About an hour later I got a phone call from the person that created the list for our CEO to email out. He apologized for the oversight. I could tell from his voice that he truly didn't mean to leave me off and that he made the list up without consulting anyone. He stated he was going to make it up to me somehow, but he could not resend out an email to everyone in the company with an updated list, and I was invited to the dinner with the CEO. I accepted the apology, but I will still need to decide if I shoukd go to the dinner or not. Since my name was left off the list I don't want to show up and have everyone at the dinner think I invited myself. It is good to know this EVP now knows what did and what I do for the company.

I did also find out later that this Director I emailed found out who created the list and spoke to him, and my own manager emailed our own EVP about the situation. So I feel better about the situation. I am proud of myself for speaking up. In the past I would have let it slide and just be upset for a while.

My foot is doing better. I have done nothing other than go to work and home the last 3 weeks. Tonight was my first night to venture out and shop a few hours and boy am I paying for it right now, but I really needed to buy some new shoes. I wore one of my spa sandals to work today, so on the right foot I wore my clunky shoe cast (pictured below) and on the left a Sensi spa sandal. I have 10 days left to wear the lovely show below, at least as far as I know right now. Everyone seems to shocked when I tell them I have to wear the shoe cast to bed. It is not comfortable trust me. I am getting a refill on the Ambien wed.

So thanks agan for the support. It meant alot to me.

I have been busy working on some poof pins. I have been playing around with different fabrics and embellishments for them. I will post some pics tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T20:35:00.003-06:00

I figured out my Secret Admirer partner thanks to the flikr website! This was a really fun swap as well as the other 2 swaps I was a part of for Valentine's Day. It certainly made it easier for this lonely single girl to handle the day this year. Maybe next year I will have a man in my life to spend the day with; I really am tired of being alone.

My work day ended poorly. Every have one of those days where you just do not feel appreciated for the work you do every day? I know most of the stay at home Mom's do! That I sjust how my day ended today feeling very unappreciated. I save the company money, I go above and beyond everyday, I save money, I assist more people and more groups than a little, and today I felt the most under appreciated than I have felt in a long time. My nme was left off an email and I am not quite sure why, but it upset me to the core today. Why were others selected to be on this and I wasn't? It really hurt and I left work very upset and cried all the way home. I am not sure why I reacted so strongly but I did. I helped 4 groups out on the list and I do not think many others on the list could say that. Other worker bees were on th elist buy I wasn't. I am not jealous just deeply hurt. All my hard work since last April was overlooked. It makes me ask "why bother anymore?" Why bother going the extra mile for everyone when it doesn't get me anywhere? Why bother trying to get noticed. Why am I always so invisibleto everyone? Why am I the one always making everyone else look better? What is a girl to do? Not a great way to end my day. How do I go back to work tomorrow and feel good about it?

My Secret Admirer Swap Box

2008-02-14T08:41:00.001-06:00

Pink Secret V-Day Box
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

Just one picture of what i sent to my secret partner on the west coast! I am deep in the heart of Texas can she figure out who I am? More pictures to follow

Sweetheart Box Swap

2008-02-13T11:07:00.001-06:00

Sweetheart Box Swap
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

This is a Valentine's box I made for my Sweet Heart box swap partner Janae at http://mx2mommy.typepad.com/.

My Secret Admirer Valentine - THANK YOU! - Pic of my Pooch

2008-02-08T11:45:00.000-06:00

To my secret Valentine Swap Partner! THANK You ! Thank you! I loved everything in this sweet box you made for me. All the hearts immediatly went on to my wire tree on my dining table. If my table was clean, I would show you a picture, but due to surgery things have gone stray at my house anbd my table is a disaster zone! Hopefully this weekend I can show you how they all look hanging on my tree, even the sweet cupid pin, which I will wear to work on Valentine's Day. I can't wait to find out who you are next week! I am sorry I had not posted sooner that I received your box I guess I thought I was to wait until the 14rth to post about the swap so I was patiently waiting. Thanks again!

On another note this is how my little buddy, Walker sleeps 95% of the time. I still laughing when I see him like this. It doesn't matter where, he likes sleeping on his back with his paws in the air.

Sorry for the blurry pic I took it with my phone trying not to wake him.

Post Op - V-Day Swap Pics

2008-02-04T19:13:00.000-06:00

I am so glad my mom has been with me the past 5 days. She went home this afternoon to sleep in her own bed. She was a life saver for sure. I have been in bed with my foot proped up like a good little patient. The first few days after surgery I slept all day and night; mom kept me fed and iced. I took pain killers the first few days and have been trying not to take them yesterday and today. I have Ambien to take at night to help me sleep and not think of the shoe on my foot, but one night it gave me hallucinajenic ( sp?) like dreams. I felt like I was fighting to breathe while I slept until it woke me up gasping for air so I haven't taken one since. Tomorrow I go back to work. I have a feeling I am going to have to find a way to keep ,y right foot propt up ay work because after a while with it down it starts to hurt. Let alone I have to drive tomorrow! I just pray I do not get into a wreck with this shoe. I am told I will be at fault

Tomorrow I mail my swap packages and one of my swap partners wanted a sneek peek so Below are a couple of items going out the door. I guess they will have to guess. I have three partners so one is not posted yet.

Surgery

2008-01-29T22:01:00.000-06:00

Like a few others I know I am also having surgery soon, tomorrow in fact. I am having foot surgery. Nothing too serious Bunion surgery. I think it runs in my family. My right foot hurts and has been for about a year now so I decided to do something about it this year. My mom is with me for a few days since I have to be off of it for 5 days and I have a dog and 2 cats to watch after.

I think I have taken care of everything to make things easy for my mom while she is here. I cooked a few caseroles and stocked up the pantry. I have also been working on my Ventine's day swaps. The handmade items are now done so it is just a matter of gathering evrything together and getting it all in the mail. I love everything I made, I almost don't want to mail them out, but I will. I didn't realize how fun it was to create Tussie Mussies. hint hint wink wink. I took some pictures but until they are in the mail I won't be posting them unless of course I get so bored of laying around my house for the next 5 days that I start blogging and posting.

I did find the cutest antique store nearby with a booth in it that sales great ephemera items. I snatched up lots of her vintage Valentine's. I found some really cute ones but need to scan them all before I part with some of them. Here is one I bought.

Look what I found!

2008-01-25T15:22:00.000-06:00

I went out at lunch today in search of vintage finds. I was checking out at the store when the lady at the counter goes I have some more cards if you want to look at them and low and behold look what I found! Isn't this the cutest card.

Oh but wait this is the inside!
Ins't she the cutest! She's a paper doll and in perfect condition.
Her doll clothes were still inside the card and they have the cutest Easter sayings on the back of each of the pieces. I can't wait to use her on something! She has the sweetest little face don't you think.

I can't show my other finds just yet but will share some of them as soon as I pick out the ones I want to part with. of course I am going to scan the images of the items before I part with them. LOL . I may want to play with them later.

Ok back to work I go!

Monday Blahs & Vintage Find

2008-01-14T21:20:00.000-06:00

It is Monday and I so did not want to go to work today. It took everything I had to get myself dressed for work. I so wanted to call in and take a personal day. I have about 36 I need to take this year. I carried 8 days over from last year and I even cashed out two weeks! I no longer can cash days out so I must use them but thankfully I can carry over 150 hours each year. Regardless I still did not want to go to work. Ever have one of those days? Hopefully the rest of the week will pick up.

I met a longtime friend for lunch and was saddened to find out she has cancer. She had a spot on her intestine last year but that was taken care of and when she went back in for her 3 month check up they did some sort of urine test and found cancer cells. Sill more body scans and MRI's and no mass anywhere. The cancer cells are floating in her body somewhere and her body is trying to fight them off and in doing so she is having so neurological issues. She goes to a neuro surgeon this week and hopefully he will have some answers for her. I pray so. She is a wonderful, beautiful lady with an incredible husband and 2 beautiful young daughters. We've been through a lot stuff together and she certainly does not need this.

I found a great use for some of my vintage postcards. I placed them in some frames in my bedroom over the holidays. Oh and the small one is a tag made by my friend, Jennifer Ellefson. Don't they all look so cute in my frames? Now to find some Vintage Valentine's ones to place in these frames.

Ok, so right before Christmas I found this cute salt and pepper shaker. They don't go with my holiday decor but they were just too darn cute to pass up. Isn't Mrs Santa adorable in her glasses. That is a mitten she is holding in her hands. I guess it is her honey's. I think I paid $7.00 for the set at a local antique store.

Stay tuned I am going to host my first blog give away later this week......

White Itty Bitty Book page - final

2008-01-08T11:59:00.001-06:00

White Itty Bitty Book page - final
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

So I had a little problemo with my EK heart punch. The small problem being that it BROKE when I went to make the small hearts for the 26 copies of the original. UGH! It was the only tiny heart punch I had and I had already printed out all 26 copies of the front so I had to find a way to cover the small hearts on the copies with some sort of other embellishment. Luckily I did have 2 other heart punches I could use to cover up the small ones on the printed copies. For my other embellishments I also used vintage 1930's rhinestones, a small silk flower and stickles glitter. I thought of adding more but sometimes ya know simple is good.

Now to see if I can get EK to replace my pratically new heart punch.

Swaps

2008-01-07T13:07:00.000-06:00

I decided to join a few Valentine's day swaps. I figure it is one way to get something in my mail on Valentines day since I do not have a sweetheart plus make the holiday fun and hopefully get my out of the dumps I am in. I think they are all closed now. I found 2 of them them through Jessi's blog and one from Jenn's. I think I read their blogs daily. They all sounded like fun and I can't wait to start creating for them.

My Itty Bitty White book page

2008-01-04T23:58:00.001-06:00

Itty Bitty White book page
Originally uploaded by Valita's View

Ok here is the front page to my White Itty Bitty Book I am doing for a swap with Danielle Miller over at vintagedragonfly.com
It is 2 3/4" x 3". Now to make 26 of them.

2008

2008-01-02T17:55:00.000-06:00

I can not belive I have not posted since December 13rth. It has been a rough few weeks. I had part of my family over for Christmas Eve night and day. My house is not that large but I wanted us together for the night. When I say us I mean the "us" of my family that is not married. My oldest brother and his wife and huge house, but we, the "us mentioned above" have never been asked over ot spend the night on Christmas Eve night. Her entier family has done it but none of us. It actually works out great since we are used to getting up in the morning eating breakfast and then opening our gifts, this year it was changed up a bit since My brother, Damon has a girlfriend now and she has a young believing son who all spent the night at my house. This year we all got up opened gifts and then ate breakfast, but it worked out since my other brother and his family didn't open gifts until around 4pm or so. Now how they managed to keep their 8 and 4 year old back away from the gifts except for santa gifts is beyond me, but my SIL just didn't feel like dealing with opening gifts until way after dinner and the kitchen was cleaned or so. I mean what a way to ruin a holiday for a kid by not allowing them to open gifts until very late in the day. So when I say it all worked out it did since the "us mentioned above" like opening our gifts early in the morning.

Christmas Eve night my home was full it included my mom, sister, brother his girlfriend and her young son, my couins , her husband, and their two childern, plus 2 cats and 2 large dogs and my small Walker. (The only way I coul dget my family over for the night was for them to bring their dogs with them and it actually worked. Theonly thing broken was a very old ornament that used to belong to my Grandmother and it was done by an adult and child rough housing as my family says. I saved the pieces to make glass glitter and hopefully create a special ornament with the glitter.

The tree is all put away and only a few stragling pieces of decorations are left out to be put away. i could not belive it when I counted over 53 Hallmark Wizard of Oz ornaments and some of those boxes have more than one ornament in them, 27 Ashton Drake Wiz Ornaments and another 2 or 3 dozen of various random wiz ornaments, plus about 5 dozen glass, acrylic and glitter ornaments that were on my tree! No wonder it took me so long to put it up. How did I ever think I didn't have enough Wizard of oz ornaments to fill a tree until now is beyond me.

I didn't do anything special to celebrate 2008. I am in a bit of a funk and feeling a bit lonely these days. Ever have one of those days where you just want someone to love you and hold you while you cry in their arms, well that is how I feell only that no one is ever in my life to do that and it sucks to be honest. I want a man in my life and it just never happens for me and this year it has hit me hard that I am alone yet again. I want this feeling to go away, but I am not sure how to shake it just now. I am very happy for my freinds that are married and even happier for those that are having babies this year, but I am sad because it isn't me. How many times do I have to ask God when is it ever going to be my time and at this point will I still be able to have a child at my age? So if I am not posting for a bit it is because I am bit down these days.

More Pictures of my Holiday Home

2007-12-13T08:40:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-12T08:26:00.000-06:00

I am joining in on Karla's Holiday Home Par ty.

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

2007-12-10T21:11:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-09T19:34:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-05T20:51:00.001-06:00

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!)

2007-12-04T20:33:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-04T12:00:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-11-27T12:24:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-11-12T21:11:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-05T08:38:00.001-06:00

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!

2007-11-03T10:58:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-31T12:59:00.001-05:00

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!

2007-10-15T08:40:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-03T12:56:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-30T19:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-25T08:27:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-16T21:31:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-06T20:34:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-27T09:18:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-08-24T17:16:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-20T20:59:00.001-05:00

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

2007-08-20T09:04:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-09T22:09:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-31T12:44:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-30T22:56:00.000-05:00

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.

A Sneek Peak at a Special Project

2007-07-25T12:51:00.000-05:00

I just fell in love with these yummy Michael Miller fabrics the other day so I am making them all up into one creative project for a friend. The vintage kitty cat/boo Halloween fabric is also very adorable and I am working on a special project that all of these will also be made into. My camera phone pictures don't do any of these fabrics justice to be honest.

Flea Market Finds

2007-07-23T23:41:00.000-05:00

I haven't sat down and created anything just yet but I sure have been busy buying stuff. UGH! Oh well it has been fun. Here are a few of my latest finds. I bought all of the ribbon and a vintage glass mason jar for $9.75. It is about 40 unopened packs of all different color of seam binding, some ric rack, some lace seam tape and some packs of bias tape. I just love the quilted butterfly. The tool box I bought at an antique store for $7.50. I am going to paint it white and decoupage on it and keep it out on my new craft table filled with glue, paint and such. I also bought my mom a vintage sewing machine table. She saw the table and thought maybe she could put her very old Singer Golden touch, touch and sew sewing machine in it and low and behold that was the exact machine in it plus all the parts and the book! I got the price down from $65 to $55.00. The machine collapses all the way down in the table. I also bought a vintage song book for $2.00 but I think my mom still has that with her right now.

I am working on a surprise gift for someone. I will post some a sneak peek tomorrow.

My Vacation Week

2007-07-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

I took this past week off from work to spend time with my niece and nephew. Dumb me didn't take any pictures all week but I sure had fun playing with them. My neice was going to spend 3 nights and 4 days with me but in the end she only managed 2 days and 2 nights. She is 7 1/2 and at 10pm on Monday evening she started crying and come to find out she just wanted to go home so I called her Mommy and she came and picked her up. My mom and I then went antique shopping on Tuesday after a quick trip to the Doctor's. On wed she drove my car to her next Dr's appt only to find out the Dr. wanted to admit her to the hospital. He didn't like all her pains and what her heart sounded like. She is still in the hospital and hopefully will come home tomorrow. I couldn't take her to the Dr on wed because I had to wait for my new furniture. I gave in and bought a new luxerious pillowtop high profile mattress and boxer spring. I now have to crawl up into bed and I love it! My new craft table and bar stools also showed up. On thursday afternoon I picked up my almost 4 yr old nephew to spend a few nights with me he also only lasted 2 nights. He was so cute though and said "I want to stay 4 days all the way to my pinkie!". Last night he goes "it's at my pinkie now. I want to go home" It was late so I convinced him to get in bed where upon he fell asleep. Now I spoke to both Mommy and Daddy so they knew he wanted to go home. My brother asked for me to get him in bed and see if he would fall asleep, and my SIL was ready to come get him after she was done scrapping, but by the time she was on her way he was asleep so I talked her out of coming.

Then I was blessed upong taking him home where upon both my niece and nephew and my SIL helped me clean my car. My SIL helped me steam clean the fllor board carpets since earlier that week my mom spilt shrimp juice on the floor. Can you say STIIINKKK in 90 degrees weather? Now my car in 4 yr old terms is "clean and shiny" except the engine since he didn't get to look at the engine like he wanted to. LOL.

I did hit some great finds antique shopping. I bought a 1 gallon baggie of vintage rick rack, seam binding and bias tape for $3.00. I will post a pic tomorrow. Then I was saddened to go to the store I always visitied to buy vintage seam binding on the roll for around $2 and $4.75 a roll depnding on how many yards was on the roll only to find out she was now selling the vintage seam binding by the yard! It was marked $.75 a yard! Not cool at all! Then I hit the jack pot in someone else's area in the same store a roll of navy vintage seam binding for $2.75 for the roll. I didn't have Navy so I snatched it up! The lady who checked me out was shocked I had found the roll in the store for $2.75. She tried to sale it to me for $.75 a yard. I was very happy for my finds this past week. I will post pics tomorrow. For now I am going to bed in my luxerious bed! Ahhhhh.

My New Bed

2007-07-06T12:51:00.000-05:00

My new bed arrived yesterday! I do think it will work for me and it fits better in my vintage room than my old pewter bed frame did. I made the duvet cover, bedskirt and pillow shams in this picture. I am not sure I love the fabric now. Funny I was in love with it when I first bought the fabric now I think I want something more vintage and purple. Why do I change my mind so fast on things like this? My curtains aren't even finished and I want to change the colors in my room. LOL. Good thing I have not painted the walls yet. Like my night stand!? LOL. I sold the one that went with my old bed last weekend so for now it is a TV tray table until I find one to go in the room. The pic is a little blurry because I took it with my cell phone this morning. You just can't be alive and use that camera.

I now have to get a new boxer spring and matress since this bed is sitting very low to the ground. Waaaaay to low for my liking. That is why the bedskirt is so long. My old bed was up higher from the floor and I am not resewing the hem. A new matress will be so nice! Now I have an excuse to buy one. LOL.

Weekend

2007-07-01T19:52:00.000-05:00

I wondered through my new home town's downtown on Saturday and I discovered 3 new shops. One a used book store I will have to go back to once I finish my newest Paperback, Lipstick Jungle, a brand new antique store where I bought a milk glass ruffle edge bowl and 2 pairs of antique earrings, and a gourmet food store that sales homemade fudge. Thankfully I only bought 1/4 pound of the fudge to take home. It was so good and if I had bought more it would not have lasted long in my house. I am anxiously awaiting the opening of the new day spa. Not sure when that day will happen but I can hardly wait.

And my brother pulled through and stopped buy to pay for and pick up my old bed and night table which I sold to his girlfriend. I was a little sad to see it go because I loved that bed! It was one of the first piece's of furniture I bought when I moved into my first apartment and remember looking high and low for that bed. I kept thinking will I regret selling it later? I hope not. I know my brother's girlfriend was so excited to get it and I am glad it has a great new home and I do not have to try and sale in the newspaper or at a garage sale. For the next few days I will be sleeping on on my matress on the floor in my bedroom until all of my new furniture shows up. I pray I get a call for delivery early this week. Then I remembered that now I am on the hunt for a 1920's to 1930's style nightstand that will look good painted black with gold accents. My cousin and I have plans to go shopping in another small town with great antique stores next Saturday.
Today I went to my local nursery to buy some plants;haveing a huge 70% off sale! The place was crowded. I was dragging plants all over the place because they were out of carts. I was so excited to buy 3 each 5ft to 6ft tall red rocket crepe myrtle trees for $12.00 a piece. At home depot these would have cost me about $40 to $50 a piece. Now mind you my backyard is a mud pit right now and I pray I can keep them alive until it dries out enought to plant them. I bought some other plants I am going to plant in my front yard around some electric boxes and to keep my neighbor from thinking where she keeps mowing the grass down to the dirt is her yard! ( It just relaly bugs me that she mows her gras down to the dirt and her grass bnever looks pretty and green so for her to mow a strio of my yard becasue she thinks it is hers really drives my crazy. I lived in my house a full year before she moved in so I know where the dividing line is so I know she seems to think a strip of my yard is hers to scalp every few weeks. If she would mow and weed her grass like I do I wouldn't care but she doesn't, so I am going to plant some plants to divide the yard. My mom's idea if that doesn't work I will get my papers out and mark off my lot for her with spray paint on the ground.)

I am so tired of the rain. All of my roses have black spot I am sure due to all of this rain. I am now finding slugs and yellow hairy worms on my plants let alone there are some places in my backyard with standing water and it is begining to stink. We have just had too much rain this year. I swear it has rained every day since May in DFW. I just want a week of no rain so everything can dry out a bit. The cool weather is nice but the mud is not. Maybe this week will bring us more sunshine and less rain. All I can do is pray. Funny last year I was praying for rain and not I am praying it will stop.

It was Just One of those days

2007-06-27T22:28:00.000-05:00

Ever have one of those days where you leave work and wish you never had to go back? Well I had one. I actually left thinking boy was I ever a whiner today. I was ticked off about the way way the some things are going at work and I took it out on everyone around me today including some poor sales men I had to meet with today. Well they wanted to meet with me, I didn't want to meet with them but they kept bugging me so I met with them; so I guess you could you say it's their own fault they got an ear full today right?
It went bad when an email I sent out to one of my reps was in turn sent out to someone inside his company and then forwared on to someone at the company I used to work for and on to the person who used to be my VP and who is now my mentor at my former company, who in turn sent it back to me with comments. UGH! Did you get all of that! Never was my email intended to be sent on to anyone besides my rep, who I let have it! I was/am frustrated with the AP dept at the company I used to work for and used the word "stupid". Boy did I ever learn my lesson! Thankfully I didn't name any specific names in the email it was just implied to be about AP! I am just really frustrated about a situation that has been going on since April. Why do I have to think for everyone around me and help them all do their jobs? I am helping my new company not pay for bills that the old company says that aren't their bills. I am not in AP, I am in procurement! I am frustrated and tired and I need a week off and away from work.

I no longer work for my former company and yet I average 10 to 15 calls a week from my former company asking me questions about what I used to do for them. I can't count all the emails I still get and I have not worked for this company since April when I was sold off because I was told I was replacable my someone who lived in NC and yet my replacement has not been hired. A time is on the near horizon where I will not take some calls or answer some emails or IM's in regards to work at my former company. Is that bad of me? I guess I feel they should have kept me if they still need me. I mean I was told I was replaceable by someone in NC so I could not be offerred a relo package. Funny thing they are now searching for my replacement with head hunters so they will have to pay a head hunter fee for anyone they find and the new person will be paid a higher pay grade than what I was/am paid so in the end it will cost the company more money to replace me than to pay me a relocation package! Makes perfect business since to me; now I see why all those CFO's get paid what they do! They know how to work deals! Ok I'm done whining for the night!

Now that I got that off my chest, above are some little lovelies I got about 10 years ago when a company I worked for was going to toss them in the trash. They are 20mm or 30mm Swarovski rhinstones from the 30's in Aqua and Clear. I know I have grosses of them becasue i remember takign them out of the old wrappings years ago that I wish now I still had! I haven't been able to bring myself to use them yet, but maybe Silver Bella will show me a creative way to use them!

The fabric is to make a Roman Shade for my craft room! I wanted something cute and girly in there. I just fell in love with this fabric with stylelized woman on it. I actually painted the walls a color first and then hunted for fabric to match. Remind me to never do that again! Buy fabric first!

Oh and thanks to Heather I have been playing around with my Blog Banner! This was something I created for a Circle Journal a couple of years ago. It will do for now, but I still want to work on a new Banner this weekend if I ever figure out Photoshop Elements.

Another Home Purchase and My Craft Room to date

2007-06-26T22:22:00.000-05:00

Above is my latest purchase for my home. I just fell in love with this lampshade last weekend. It reminded me of a vintage hat. This lovely "hat lamp" as I have now named it was on sale for 40% off and I had a $30 gift card I really needed to spend ( I had the car din hand over a year) so the lamp only cost me $44 without tax. I saw some simliar shades on lamps at Hobby Lobby but they didn' quite have this lovely shape. The shade even has some sequins on it to give it some sparkle! I think it will lovely in my vintage black/gold and red bedroom

Below is a sneek peak of my craft room in progress. That is my $40 Ikea computer desk and Ikea Shelf on the wall. Onc emy new craft table arrives I will post more pics of my craft room and hopefully it will be all finished by then.

The bar stool and bed I bought

2007-06-19T08:37:00.001-05:00

This is also what I bought from Ashley's this weekend. I think I spent $750 in total for 3 bar stools, 1 bed frame with both foot board and head board, and a dining/now craft table. Now back to saving for Silver Bella! I have an antique/vintage 1920's to 1930's painted black with gold accent furniture in my bedroom that I bought at an antique store in McKinney. My new bed is going to look great in my room. Out with the pewter bed.