The Thomas Kinkade Collection

This is a 2 page layout, but I can't figure out how to put both sides next to each other on this post, argh....but anyways, just wanted to show of some of my beautiful collection.

Super Saturday...

There is only 1 positive thing from having tummy problems and that is weight loss. I lost 4 pounds this week. If only I could explain that to the weight tracker at WW online when they said "Way to go you lost another 5 pounds, but we see that you have lost more than 2 pounds and that is not good for you, maybe you should try some of our ideas". What a kill joy, although I do understand the concern, but it was not because I was starving myself or anything.

Anyways, I am now at 269 and that mean I have only 7 more pounds till I have lost 10% of my starting weight! I did that in 9 weeks and now I'm hoping to be closer to 200 than 300 by the end of the summer, with God's help and strength I will stay the course. As you can see if you look at my countdown clock to the right....my 40th birthday is getting closer and closer!!

New Layout

I finally figured out what I wanted to do for my fist "Daisy" layout. I really wanted it to be as cute as she is! Hard thing to do because she is absolutely ADORABLE and as sweet as she is CUTE!

Friday Night Fun...

This first layout was a scraplift from Jules (ASF). I loved the one she did of her and her hubby and just knew I had the perfect picture for the title. Thanks for the inspiration Jules.

The layout below was for the weekly challenge given by Amy (ASF). You had to use the title of a Rascal Flatts song on your layout. This picture of my 1st car brought to mind the thought of a Fast Car & Freedom, because a car at 15 gave me exactly that!

This is my sweet B all dressed up for her tap recital. She is growing up way to fast!

The Saturday Report...

Not to much to report, other than cleaning house and oh yeah I managed (Lord only know how) to lose 1 pound this week. I was shocked but pleased.

I need to get to the house work, Rocky is getting off early today so we can go get some stuff for his room. Still not sure if we'll be going to the movies tonight, I guess we'll see how the evening goes, maybe we'll go to Sal & Phil's and get some Royal Reds instead...yummy! For those of you who don't know a Royal Red is a shrimp that tastes like lobster....I promise!

I had a great time at the crop last night and managed to get 3 layouts done, I'll post them after I take pictures of them in a little while, I need to vacuum and deal with my kitchen first.

Have a great day!!

Gorilla Habitat (post #3)

All of the walls are painted, there a few "oops" spots that need some attention, but I"ll do that later, I'm tired of paint for now and unless somebody comes in looking for the "oopses" it won't be an issue.

First picture is with the new curtains and one knife display hanging on the wall, many more to come, but probably not right away, because that is his job, deciding where and taking care of it, I've done my part, the rest is up to him.

I was trying to get a picture where you could actually see the color of the paint, but they all look different, I guess it's the lousy lighting in this room, one wall looks much darker, but it isn't, strange. Anyways, that's the obviously the tv stand

And yet again the desk with the wall behind it finally painted, looks like there is a flaw in the wall to the left of the desk, but I can't see it except in this picture...weirdness.

Tomorrow we pick up the bookcase we bought and then he has to put it together, so...it might be a while before there is a picture of it...but thanks for being interested and staying tuned for progress in the "Gorilla Habitat"!

Soooo....I did it...

.....I took the time to attempt a digital layout. I think I'm pleased with my first attempt. My problem is there are to many things I don't understand or know how to do. This was a free kit that Dawn sent me the link to and it's neat but it took me 2 hours to get to a completed page and sheesh I want to pull my hair out.....but, I can see where it could be come addicting, just trying to figure it out! So tell me what you think......

The Gorilla Habitat.....getting there....

We are getting closer, all but one wall is painted the comforter is on the bed......

Now, the gorillas are on the bed...

Left to right: Oliver, Cappuccino, Raspberry, Smooch, Xavier

Front: Licorice & Sherbert

Rocky gives me gorillas for Valentine's Day and since they are "manly creatures" he says they can stay in the man room, that I am now calling...

"The Gorilla Habitat"

This wall is not painted but I did straighten and organize the desk, so figured that was part of the progress. (Look at previous post and see what it did look like!)

Knives and more knives.......

And these are just the beginning, there are many many many more, but a lot of them will be hanging on the wall and he has to decide what he wants where. Plus we will be adding another shelf for display but have yet to make a decision on what we are getting.

We are going shopping to find curtains or a valance this evening and to look at some more furniture options.....later....

The Gorilla Habitat...Before

This room has been a mess and the "catch all" room for as long as we have lived in this house. It was finally time to do something with it. Rocky has collected knives as long as I've known him and they are literally everywhere. We've talked for many years about turning this room into a show place for his rooms and just never made it a priority. So, this year we decided to finally do something about it. We still have a lot to do but these are pictures that I took at the beginning of the transformation. Now all I have left is painting one wall (behind the computer desk) and buying a nice shelf and some display stands for a bunch of his knives.

And now for your viewing enjoyment.......

Hips Hips Aweigh....

....well I'm 2 pounds closer! Not much else to report so that's all for now. Although I am down to 2 half walls of painting then I'll be done! I think we are really goign to like it, I"ll post pictures when it's done.

It's 5 O'clock somewhere...

...but I'm not sure it ever will be right here. I have been busy on and off all day but it still seems like this has been the longest most boring Friday afternoon that I've had to endure for a long time. Maybe that is because for the first Friday in about 6 weeks its not storming outside. What a concept, I guess I shouldn't complain, because in reality if I'm busy that usually means there has been some type of disaster and I suppose that its better that I bored and the public be safe. Therefore, enough about that.

I spent a little bit of time this afternoon surfing the ASF gallery and there is some great stuff from some very talented ladies that has been posted for our viewing pleasure recently. I really enjoyed looking at them and leaving a comment here or there. A few of them were even added to My Favorites for me to peruse again and again until I find the perfect pictures to do a SCRAPLIFT!

As much as I enjoyed cruisin' layouts it made me want to be srappin' tonight instead of painting the "Man Room" at my house. But, I keep reminding myself that next weekend is a 3 day weekend and we have plans to go to the crop on Friday night...so if I get finished with the painting then next weekend can be all about me and my favorite hobby. Can't wait, but I sure do need to take some more every day pictures so I'll have some fun stuff to work with.

Tomorrow is weigh-in and I am hoping to see a loss since I did not see one last week. I've definitely made better choices (except for that 13 point piece of cheesecake at McAlisters on Wednesday- thank God for Flex Points) and have been careful to drink more than enough water, so we will see. That's about it for now, I'll post in the morning with how it went. Have a fantabulous weekend and be a blessing on purpose!!!

And here's.......

Miss Daisy.........

Just another day...

...in the life of me. It's 9:47 and at this point its been quite uneventful, other than a call from my most favorite supervisor, which is not worth mentioning. Not much on my agenda for today. I do have a dr. appt. at 3:30 and then I hope to start some painting. The comforter set for the daybed came in yesterday so we went to Home Depot and spent 45 minutes trying to decide on the right color. We finally picked one we both thought would be best in that room. Of course, I can't remember what its called, but its kind of an olive drab green. Basically khaki with a hint of light olive green in it. Hopefully we'll really like it when all is said and done. We still are undecided on what piece of furniture we'll be purchasing but I assume we'll decide in the next few weeks. I am about to begin searching for some knife stands, I've found some in the past and ordered a few, but we need more now that they'll actually have places to be displayed.

I forgot to tell ya I have a new "baby sister" she is an 8 week old Shih Tzu puppy named Daisy. I took some pictures but they are on my memory card that is at home, so I'll have to post some cute pictures of her later, but I will, because she is sooooooo ccccccuuuuuuuuuttttee and seems to have a very sweet disposition. I'm certain she is going to be a very spoiled addition to our family.

That's all for now folks......

Husband Tag...

Amy tagged me with Husband Tag...keep reading to see if YOU have been tagged! So here we go...

What is his name? Rocky
How long have you been married? 16 years
How long did you date? A little over 1.5 years
How old is he? 38
Who eats more? Him (now that I'm back on WW)
Who said I love you first? I did
Who is taller? He is
Who sings better? Definitely him
Who's temper is worse? I get upset more often, but when he actually gets angry, his is worse, thankfully I've only seen that side of him on a few occasions
Who does the laundry? both
Who does the dishes? Me...unless he is specifically asked to do so.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed (when you are facing it)? Him
Who pays the bills? he does
Who cooks dinner? Me but he's great about bringing stuff home from work on busy nights
Who mows the lawn? 98% of the time me.
Who drives when you are together? He does.....but he'd love for me to do it sometimes
Who has more friends? Definitely me, but that's because he works to much
Who has more siblings? The same, I have a sister and he has a brother
Who wears the pants in the family? He definitely does.....but we make all major decisions together and fortunately we also are in agreement almost all the time about how to handle things.

Ok, I'm tagging...Stephanie (Braxton's Mommy), Sharon & Wanda....

More weekend layouts....

These pictures were taken on Mitchell's 8th birthday. It was a fun family day at the pool. Nothing like summers at Mom & Dad's in the swimming pool...I'll be glad when the water is warm enough to swim.

For my birthday in 2006 Rocky set up a scavenger hunt in his restaurant. The clues are the actual clues that he had hidden all over the store.

He started the hunt by handing me this: You are now on a quest. All clues are in customer accessible areas of the restaurant. Please note clues may, or may not be people, places or things. YOu may receive help only from people in your party. Good Luck.

Clue #1: Since you are now on a quest you are in need of knowledge. Where would you get that?

Clue #2: You have found knowledge and this is a good thing. Your next lies with my collection.

Clue #3: You are now well on your way to your goal. Your next step is the real thing.

Clue #4: You are very close, but this may be the toughest clue yet. Her name in Arabic means, "to repent".

Clue #5: I knew you would figure it out. Now, return all five clues and the key to the quest master to claim your treasure. Happy Birthday and I love you very much.

The tag has the answer to each clue written on it.

#1 - Back of Mclaurin School Banner

#2 - Back of bouncy ball machine

#3 - Side of Coke machine

#4 - Taba (an employee) had the key to the paper towel holder in the women's restroom, the clue was inside.

#5 Return key and all the clues to Rocky and he gave me my "RING"!

Obsession....

How is that you can take 2 pictures 2 seconds apart in the same room in the exact same location and yet still end up with the colors not matching??? Anyways...here is the Mickey Mouse layout. It is much more vibrant in person and I am well pleased with it now that it's done. Made it easier to accept that they are gone, knowing that I still have a piece of them and they are in my scrapbook pages FOREVER! They take up a lot less space this way.

Hidden journaling (tag): In high school I was obsessed with Mickey Mouse. I had a huge collection that included these items and more:

• stuffed Mickeys & Minnies
• a telephone
• alarm clock
• wall clock (looked like a watch)
• watch & misc jewelry
• posters
• T-shirts for almost every day of the month

Over they years they all went to other other places, but I didn't part with the stuffed ones until May of 2008. There were sold at a garage sale to one family who seemed to love them as much as I did.

New Layouts

Aren't they just beautiful children? And of course their mom is a fabulous photographer so that makes their beauty even that much more stunning. I fell in love with deco edged paper and knew I had to use it for this layout, it just looks so elegant and beautiful.

This young lady has always been quite the actress and performer and when I saw these pictures I knew there was a "layout" waiting to be born. She's a joy and a pleasure and I feel certain that she will be famous one day.

Weigh in...

....no loss this week. I was kind of expecting it. We were so busy all week long and I did not plan ahead so that I could make good choices. I did not overeat, but we did eat fast quick easy food all week long. Then yesterday I made the decision to eat pickled veggies at lunch knowing they are high in sodium and then did not counteract it with enough water. So, in the end I am glad I did not gain and look forward to seeing a nice drop on the scale for next Saturday because I feel certain had I drank enough water yesterday (and my fingers weren't puffy this morning to prove it) that there would have been a loss, so next week will be a good one, I'm sure!!

Finally Friday

I am so thankful for this weekend, I do not have 1 single thing that I HAVE to do tomorrow. I hope to get some scrappin' done this weekend. The garage sale is over, the house is back in order and I can't wait to be able to sit and just enjoy some relaxing scrappin' time. I have several layouts to work on and hopefully the challenges in the cybercrop will help me end up with a projects that I love. I plan to work on the Mickey Mouse layout but have not really had any great inspiration and I want it to be fabulous. I guess I'll be doing some gallery hopping today to get some great ideas. There are multiple pictures so I need to find a great idea for lots of pictures.

Not much else to talk about right now, it's been a long week and I'm looking forward to a break. Have a great weekend. I'll check in tomorrow with weigh in results.

Oh, I know I mentioned that my 5% reward was 10 songs from Itunes, well anybody who knows me knows that I am not an extreme music fanatic. I like it but I can't sing or remember words or titles or who sings them, so although I know there are 10 songs out there I'd like to have I can't remember what they are called or sings them, so.....I opted to buy a ribbon iron instead. I'm very excited, can't wait to have to flatten some ribbon. It is made by Pebbles Inc., its so cute and it's pink.....

Kudos to Justin....

My new nephew called me unexpectedly on Saturday evening to invite me to dinner. He had to prepare a meal from shopping to dessert all by himself for his "Food & Nutrition" class at school. He wanted me to come share in the meal. I was tired after the garage sale, but heck who passes up a nice home cooked meal. So, I hopped in the car and headed to Brandon. Half way there I realized I did not bring my camera. My sister however took pictures of each step and I trust that she will be sending them to me, because of course a layout must grace the pages of my scrapbook.

He did a great job, he really seemed to get the knack of it after the first little while. I was concerned that he might walk away with a few less appendages but he managed to cook the whole meal without even a nick in his finger. The menu was awesome and he cooked everything perfectly, nothing was burned and the Sour Cream Pound Cake that he made from scratch was AMAZING!! Just thought I'd take a moment to brag on him since he did such a good job.

Oh yeah, the meal started with a fruit salad, main course was a Paula Deen recipe called "Backbones and Rice", sides were squash/onions and brocoli and cheese, with garlic cheese biscuits and sweet tea. Then the pound cake for dessert, it was so FINE!

Congratulations Justin on a job well done and a meal well worth eating.

ONE WORD...

Not as easy as you might think... answer each question with only one word!
1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Significant other? Amazing
3. Your hair? short
4.Your mother? strong
5. Your father? devoted
6. Your favorite thing? chocolate
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? cold
9. Your dream/goal? confident
10. The room you're in? office
11. Your hobby? SCRAPBOOKING
12. Your fear? snakes
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
14. Where were you last night? church
15. What you're not? skinny
16. Muffins? yummy
17. One of your wish list items? clipitup
18. Where you grew up? everywhere
19. The last thing you did? typed
20. What are you wearing? clothes
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pets? sweet
23. Your computer? useful
24. Your life? awesome
25. Your mood? expectant
26. Missing someone? steph
27. Your car ? blessing
28. Something you're not wearing? hat
29. Favorite store? ASF
30. Your summer? hot
31. Like someone? Rocky
32. Your favorite color? red
33. When is the last time you laughed? Today
34. Last time you cried? saturday
35. Who will copy this? stephanie??

Let the redecorating begin...

...I just ordered the comforter set for the daybed in the room that we are fixing to transform into a "knife display/office/tv room" for Rocky. It's always been the "catch-all" in our home. So I made up mind that this year we would make it a priority. The garage sale money is going towards the project. I probably won't have time to actually do any painting until Memorial Day weekend, but in reality that is not very long. I have plenty of time between now and then to get all the stuff we need to complete the project. I'm really pretty excited about it and I hope he loves it when it is done. Here is a picture of the comforter set. I think I'm going to paint the walls the color of the skirt, looks like its a light olive green, but we'll see when I actually have it in hand.

I can't believe it....

We made over $500 in the garage sale! God is so gooood!

My bitter sweet moment was a very difficult one, all of my Mickey's were bought, but they all went to the same home, so there was sweet mixed in with the sadness. They were bought by an elderly couple who have 2 great granddaughters and one was a preemie that was only 2.5 pounds when she was born and she loves Mickey. They were so pleased to find them and it made it a little easier to let them go. I did shed a few tears and God bless Dawn N. for seeing it was difficult and bagging them up and helping them load them because I was not handling it well. It was time for them to go and I knew it was time for them to go, but the actually act of letting them go was hard. But, I do have my pictures and had decided I was not going to go to Sam's and get them but I am thinking that right this minute I may just go ahead and drive up there and pick them up...so maybe I will get a layout done this weekend after all...we shall see, but maybe not, I have some things I need to do around here so I really need to focus on that, but I'm tired....we shall see.

I guess I should go ahead and run my errands.

Another Saturday...

...with good results. Even with the arrival of TOM I lost 2 pounds this week. I have now lost 5% of myself and that means I get to buy myself 10 ITUNES!! Woo hoo. NO time for chatting, I'm on my way out the door for our garage sale.