Jan 2011

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?

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.