Why o Why???

***Was it when I went looking for another job 5 years ago I chose Retail??? What was I thinking??? Obviously I wasn't thinking that was my problem.. lol, Sighhhhhhh I long for the days working Mon-Fri and weekends OFF!!!! I realize I have Thursday's off but, when your week goes on forevah and evah, you just long for the "WEEKEND" kwim?? Alas, I have to work tonight and tomorrow and let's not forget my usual Monday night... lol sure you say you can sleep in, problem is I am a morning person, and night Owl~~~~(wonder if that's why i'm loving owls??)

***But at least today was productive ~ another vacation photo done from Maine trip with the girls... I used my Life is a Beach cart again, and wondered when I was purchasing the Winter Woodland cartridge last week from Michaels if I needed the "Cooking" one.... hmmmm I figured not, YEAH right... I NEEDED it for this layout, so hence the Lobstah, is a Crab.... lol

Until next time!

TGIF!!!

UGH, this was the longest week ever and still not over for me. I have to work this weekend on the closing shift, at least it's supposed to rain, so I will read, and scrap... lol might be beneficial..

**Do you have a pet peeve?? I do it's people talking on cell phones when checking out... its my biggest one, close second is RUDE people... UGH!!! makes me wanna slap them silly... and ask are you always this rude or only when your here?!?!?!?!?!? and what really pizzed me off was it was a 23 yr old executive... double UGH!!!!

**So enough of the rant an rave... lol I feel better don't you, just knowing that??? lol

**I did make another layout yesterday from Maine Vacation photos and used my Cricut "Life is a Beach" cart... I am loving my Cricut... no fancy pattern paper, just plain ole American Craft cardstock. Got plans to try another one tonight :-)

Until next time!

Crafty Thursday project

Well its October Afternoon, in September>>> I finished up my layout and after I stuck all the flowers in place I had one thought "Flower Sneeze"!!!

I do kinda like how it came out just wished I used smaller flowers for some of them, but like the little title on the arrow says, it made me Smile!

I used up stash from my LRS Oct. 07 kit! another plus, found this cute owl stamp on vacation for my collection. The flowers are random that I have had forever, can not remember who manufacuter was.

Owl be seeing you next time!

Reading frenzy

Crafty Thursday is here again.. what a long week so far. I've been wanting to work on vacation photos for a few days now but "work" has gotten in the way!! LOL
I did however finish up my book "Knock Out" by Catherine Coulter... great as usual and started and finished one by Fern Michaels called "Razor Sharp" then moved on to "Mr. and Miss Anonymous" also by Fern. So as you can see I have been reading not scrapping in my spare time...and watching my birds, with the coming of fall I have put out some suet and the little woodpecker has found it already. Yesterday both the woodpecker and a Blue Jay came to visit and this morning while sitting in my chair I caught a glimpse of my Hummer!! He is filling himself up for his long journey for the winter months.

I did start a photo from my trip ~ currently looks like I will be using the October Afternoon selection but it's still on the table being worked out. Will ponder and hem and haw I am sure before I finish it up. See this photo is the one on my profile.. One of the very few "GOOD" ones I have of myself and it's kinda like a "Life Bird" to me ~ that is one of something you never saw before and have been wanting to see.. this self photo is "one" of those items very rare.. lol
I will post when it gets finished.
Just got off phone with my Dad and he sounds good. I love when he is feeling good and that he gets excited about his weekends away with his Old Car Club. That makes me SMILE!!!
So what made you Smile today?

Until next time!

Curb Appeal ~

*Thanks to my sister Carrie, she has sparked my interest in this topic! LOL while I always try and make my yard and home look appealing this can always be improved right? I have to laugh at my sister using this term... you see I teased her about her house being 1/4 mile down a driveway in the woods!!! like who can see your beautiful home from the road???? Sheeeeeesh Sista, and she tells me I CAN!!! lol I gotta tell you that was a great "girls day" I had not had that much fun in ages....

*So on to MY curb appeal.... I purchased a couple mums to brighten up the front yard, hung out my Fall flags, and put away the bright spring/summer ones. I love the fall it is my favorite season. Last year I planted "mums" near my mailbox, and was blessed they reseeded and came back!!! Now thats Free Curb Appeal!!! gotta love it.

*I found this adorable plant hanger on clearance at Hobby Lobby about a month ago and never really got it hung up. Well yesterdays venture to Home Depot scored this wind chime. It sounds so pretty, I have a hearing disability and some sounds I can not hear great. This one has a nice tone that is perfect for my ears!!! I was Smiling like the Cheshire Cat sitting on our patio listening to it.

* And Kerry was working on curb appeal in a big way too! Thursday I went to lunch with my friend Nina and came home to this~ He pruned ok correct term is BUTCHERED my Forsythia bushes, they were a great privacy fence so to speak... lol well Not so much now!!

*In his defense they really needed to have this done, we have been wanting to do it for a number of years and never got to it, it was just the SHOCK of seeing it completed when I came home. I will trust that they will come back in the spring and BLOOM Beautifully.... This is what I came home to, and Yesterday we added the tiki torches and lit them up!! soooo pretty.

This photo is a portion of the branches he cut off those bushes!! We are fortunate to have the city come a couple times a year and collect these as long as they are on the "curb" by a certian date.. well that date is this week... So Kerry really was on top of this one! I love this man, he always makes me smile :-)

Today I hope to get some much needed card making done and hope to get a gift wrapped and ready to mail tomorrow, maybe a layout or two??? Hope so as I want to review my vacation memories again and again and again..

Until next time!

Crafty Thursday project

I've done it, I actually scrapped for the first time since before vacation!!! Toot for me... Yippiee.
Here is a photo I posted earlier from Cape Neddick, Maine. Nubble Light is a pretty famously photographed light house, I have probably taken a few photos over the years going there but this one was the most "Beautiful" one I captured.
I used a LRS kit from Dec. '07 of Scenic Route papers, rubon and Jenni Bowlin stickers. I was able to use my Cricut!! I purchased the "Life is a Beach" cartridge just before vacation hoping to use it with photos taken.. Well Here it is.. I like how it came out.

I can't wait to try it out with the photos of my chairs all lined up... stay tuned for more craftiness... Off to lunch with Nina!
Until next time!

BFF gotta love them

You have one I know you do.. a BFF that is there for you no matter what! Well this is mine, lol I am the only one she lets get away with calling her "Rosa" tee hee. She is a great mom, daughter, sister, and true blue friend. I am so happy she and her fiancee are engaged and finally thinking about setting a date!! I can't wait to be able to go to their wedding. I will be as beautiful as she is.
No other reason for posting other than I was thinking about her and spending time with them on our vacation. I know she checks my blog from time to time, so when she does I wanted to shout out I LOVE YOU GIRLFRIEND!! :-)



Until next time!

Owl be Cute!

LOL Owls are another of my collective things, I have a numerous number of owl stamps, a few other types of decorative things but these two are just tooo cute. Found at Mr. Twitter's in VT on vacation, both Kerry and I saw them at the same time, they were so reasonably priced that I had to take them home. Other than the photos and memories this is really the only item I purchaced for me. They are made of bark from trees, and birch was used on the front for the bellies.. I have a Target cake stand that was purchased for $4.98 on clearance, that I want to add some straw, or spanish moss on so they will look like they are nesting..

Fall is quickly coming to Naperville, the air is cooler, nights are cooler and getting darker quicker, thats ok with me, I love fall. I was filling up my bird baths this am and really noticed that my Aster plant (purple one in front) is doing amazingly well, I'm hoping to bring it inside in a larger pot and nurture it over the winter months. We shall see if It does as well. The pond area has quite a "Curb appeal" (as my sister Carrie would say!) it's the last hurrah.

Well, heading off to scrap something ~ not sure what, just need and want to possibly most definately something from vacation. Hope to complete it and post later.

Lunch with a dear friend Nina later.... her choice.

Until next time!

It's a small world

I recently took this shot in Kennebunkport Maine, while on vacation. Imagine my surprise when I had a new visitor to my blog you can view her blog here: Lee-ann Well this new blog friend has this same photo (with the complete red building).. Definately is a small world.

For my readers who know I love birds (and stalking them too!) lol I was amazed at the number of places on vacation that were selling bird houses of all shapes, sizes, colors... I wanted one of all of them.. Love the star one in this shot. Photo taken in Maine.

Too bad this place was closed, I probably would have made a purchase or two..


Then in Vermont there was this great Home and Garden center called Mr. Twitters.... It was amazingly FUN!!!! I loved the color purple/white on the building, signing, and scattered all around. The first time we stopped in they were closing, so we just walked around outside. The next visit we got to go inside and there were some cute things, I got a pair of Owls, made of pinecones, etc... will post them tomorrow.

But as you can see Mr. Twitter's was full of birdhouses too..

My brother in law made a few for their yard and I loved them all. I told John thats what I wanted for my birthday and Christmas for him to make me 2 bird houses, one for each holiday! lol yes my birthday is a holiday!! I can't wait to see what he comes up with. I had only one request, that one be purple and the other orange, my two favorite colors.

It's been a pretty busy week at work and home, not much time to do crafting... But tomorrow is my day off. I hope to have a Crafty Thursday and get some vacation photos scrapped.. I also need to add to my monthly mini.. Will post when I complete them.

Until next time!

Why do you scrap?

Hello friends, quick question even though I probably know all your reasons why, it just seemed like an appropriate title for today's blog. Why do you scrap? Well this photo says it all for me, Sarah is reviewing her scrapbook I have been making since she was born, kinda celebrating her birthdays, and some other fun things inbetween.. The look of pure joy on her face and watching her flip those pages multiple times that night and the next day at her party showing it to everyone. This is why I scrap, for my family to remember, enjoy and to SMILE!!! So tell me Why do you Scrap??

On another note, did you realize Halloween is 5 weeks away!?!??!?!?! lol well I was informed by a guest today at work, of this she inquired where the costumes were and I told her they were not set yet, the few that were out were in the seasonal area at the back of the store.. Well, she replied" Halloween is 5 weeks away" Yikes, its not like it's tomorrow and you waited till the last minute to get somethin.. there is still plenty of time left (that was my in the head to my self response)....... my response to her was "i'm sorry" lol even though I really wasnt.. sheeeeeesh.

I have managed to get some vacation photos printed, so I plan on starting some scrapping of them this week, stay tuned for layouts.

Kerry and I had a "date nite" tonite. These always make me Smile. We went to a Japanese restaurant called Bennihanna... great food, chef cooked it right there... Yumm

We found a tv show called "Angel" when on vacation it ran from 1999 - 2005, neither he nor I had ever seen it, so I checked out at work and they had the seasons 1 -2 and 3-4 in double packs for a great price, plus my discount and additional rewards points definately not able to pass up. Star is David Boneaz (sp) from Bones, a vampire who is in LA to rescue people.. So we watched the first one tonite. Will give us something new to watch till the new shows we like start up again.

I really should head to bed, i've got some errands and hopefully some scrapping to do in the am if I get up early enough.
Until next time!

Iowa Road Trip ~

This is an actual working windmill, located in Fulton, IL it is named "De Immigrant" built in the Netherlands and was specifically designed for this location. I was made and then dismantled and transported by ship, rail and truck. Two craftsmen from the Netherlands journeyed here to reassemble the mill, the job took nearly 10 months! It is 90 feet tall and sits on this side of the Mississippi.

This was one of the signs located there explaining quite a bit about Fulton and the "Dutch"

Crossing over the Mississippi River we were greeted with this fun sign. I love signs besides the information, I love the graphics, colors, and creativity wondering how people come up with these ideas... The day was Foggy the whole morning so the photos reflect that, what can I say we can't always have perfect picture taking weather right?

This shot was taken at the Windmill, you can see the fog over the Mississippi.

On the way back we did a few other fun things, more photos later but this one deserves posting tonight.. lol Kerry was telling me that in Moline, IL at the John Deere World Headquarters they have Black Squriells... hmmmmm I found that interesting so we went to check them out, he has seen them there before on business trips.. We walked around and only saw this one little guy, scurrying up and down a huge oak tree for acorns. Good thing I have a zoom on my camera or I would have missed out on him.

I just love road trips, always going someplace new. There are so many places to wander off to that I have not been to that Kerry makes a point to try and take me someplace I've never been. LOL well today I took him to Sonic...... lol someplace he's never been, it's always fun when we both have never been, gives us a "memory"...

Until next time!

Kennebunkport Maine ~ with Girls

This makes me SMILE!!!!!!! I love my sister. And being the photograper/scrapper I am I am constantly looking for great candid shots! I am not a huge fan of the pose and say cheese shots, never have been, I like the real honest "this is me" shot! and catching this one was fun, you see the first shot I took going into this store was like hmmmm NOT!! so I told her this one was not a keeper time for a do over, and I got this one, too bad the lady in background is there, but maybe I can crop her out?? This is one of the stores in downtown Kennebunkport, ME I have always loved Kennebunkport the best so this was our destination on girls day out.

This string of signs is at the center rotary and I have always loved it, so much fun, so colorful, and so many destinations to venture out to.

Closer view of the sign post

Remember the chairs all lined up? Well I noticed these Kyaks and they too caught my eye with the colors and all in a row. I sense a pattern here very linear and colorful!

Former President George Bush has a compound here. Below is a photo, for some reason Carrie and Jennifer did NOT want to use my binoccualrs here... hmmmm wonder why? Maybe the Secret Service?

Well that's it for today, I am taking a road trip with Kerry tomorrow on business to Clinton, Iowa so looking forward to spending time with him again... That makes me Smile too.... I checked out on the internet and looks like I might get some fun photos there too....

Until next time!

Girls day in Maine ~

Vacation day with my daughter Jennifer and youngest sister Carrie was a blast...
They both took the day off from work and we headed up to Maine, one of my favorite places on the East coast.. for years we went to the Maine beaches, and sightseed lol is that a word??
We always take the coastal route and this was definately worth seeing, A line of chairs how fun is that?? I love these chairs and the colors were just beautiful in the sunshine..

Next stop we made was at a fun gift shop lots of poking around there and fun ideas, then further up the road we ventured into another one (not so much fun) lol we were not impressed with the offering However this chair was calling out sit in me and take my photo!~ Thanks sis for being so accomondating love ya!

This lighthouse is actually in Cape Neddick Maine, just past York it is a pretty well known lighthouse and appears on numerous items as Nubble Light. We have come here to watch the gulls, and ocean for years and yup it's just like I remembered it.. there is a little cable car that allows the light keeper to go back and forth operated by a generator could be a fun ride??

Fun story with the binnoculars ~ these are the ones I got for Christmas last year from the inlaws, well most of you readers know I stalk the birds in my yard with these babies.. lol, well my sister and daughter thought I was being a "creepy lady" looking out my window with them.. lol but whos gawking now Jennifer!!!! lol

Some of the amazing things you see on the East coast are Bouys and I always love the look of these places that have them hung up so colorful, so fun...

We had so much fun (well I did and hope they did too! ) It was nice to just spend the day together like old times, now I need for my family to come visit Chicago and do all the fun stuff here..hopefully soon!

Until next time!

Vacation photos

Vacations should be relaxing right?? Well sometimes you just know the first day how things will turn out I mean you just know right? We were driving my inlaws to Vermont, and then going to go down to Massachusettes to visit my family and attend Sarah's party. Drive out of Naperville was going fine, managed to get to Ohio and from then on ei yi yi....

In Ohio at a rest stop, long story short my mil fell flat on her face and ended up in emergency room getting stitches on the bridge of her nose from the sunglasses she was wearing.. She is ok!

After 4 1/2 hour delay we got headed back to the driving adventure and when I went to get gas the drivers side window broke, went down would not come up... UGH. So while I was able to pull it up we had to stop at a toll, hmmmm not thinking I put it down to get ticket and that was all she wrote.. lol Kerry ended up tearing it apart and then he got it wedged up for rest of trip, Oh did I mention we drove for two days in rain?? Guess I forgot that fun part...

But there is always a bright part, during our rain driving we were driving towards this beautiful rainbow for miles and miles, it was the most vivid rainbow I have ever seen and to top it off it was a double one!! This rainbow was coming off Lake Erie.

Cold River with the mist ~ this river is on the way to the camp on the mountain, Kerry grew up fishing in it and was able to fish again this trip :-)

This photo just felt right it was looking down the road from the cabin.. felt peaceful
This is the family cabin we spent time in. It really is very nice was able to catch up on reading lol those that know me well know I am always reading so literally not much catching up to do, but managed to complete 3 books :-)

Did alot of lazing around, some hiking watched Kerry fish, read, took trips downtown for sanity checks and replenishment of ice for coolers etc.. Lots of star gazing They were so beautiful, I miss seeing the sky like that at night, Here in Naperville it is too bright so you squint to see the stars, but up on this mountain in VT you could almost touch them..

Until next time!

Family makes me SMILE

Well we are back from an exciting vacation to say the least, lots of great food, fun memories, and smiles and laughter with family & friends!!!

My Best Friend Rose her Fiancee Mike and Kerry. I (hate that the camera always adds 50 plus #'s to me... lol but at least I posed to flatter my figure somewhat.. I know I will have to work on this)

The Birthday Girl Sarah she is now the big One Three lol (13 and loving every minute of it!)

This will be a fun photo to scrap!

My Jennifer and youngest sister Carrie and I did the beach tour!! Lots of pee in your pants memories here.. lol

My baby ~ lol quite grown up. Joshua is finally maturing rather nicely and I am so proud of what he is doing to turn his life around!

Dad looks good, bit grayer but that happens when you turn 77 I guess.... lol this photo captures the true essescence of my dad, this is such a classic face I can't wait to scrap this one.

Will unveil more photos during the week to keep the boredom down for my blog readers, and to stretch out the memories.. lol

This definately was a trip to remember for a life time, drama on the road etc... lol

Until next time!