Digital scrapbook page

The past few days I have been playing around with Photoshop and doing some Digital Scrapbook pages. This is one of the pages that I made of the girls from this Christmas. Its fun to do these and I have found several websites on Digital Scrapbooks that give away freebies.
I have to go back to work tomorrow,,bummer. I am only going to work 3 days this coming week and be off on New Years day and friday. It will be quiet at work too as the students and teachers do not return until the following week. I hope every one has had a great week-end!
xoxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxoxo

Saturday after Christmas

I sure hope every one had a Wonderful Christmas ! We spent ours with our children and loved every minute of it. This is what the Christmas tree looked like before we opened our presents.
I have alot of pictures of us opening the presents but every one had the bed head look so I promised them all that I wouldn't blog those pictures. But we had a great time.
The weather is extremely warm here today. High is suppose to be 73 degrees and storms coming in tonight to cool us off tomorrow. Its nice to sit here 2 days after Christmas with the door open to the deck and feel the warm breeze.
I am enjoying some quiet time right now as Daniel and Allison have gone to take her boyfriend to the Airport. He has to work Monday and had to return home early. We really like him a lot! We couldn't ask for a nicer guy and he is so good to our daughter. Hoping he will be our son-in-law one day soon.
I wanted show the cute little packages of Cocoa that I made for my Co-workers this year. I got the template from my blogger bud, Lolly from Lollychops. They turned out so cute!

They made some really great gifts and the cocoa recipe was easy to make too. Thanks Lolly!!!
I also wanted to show the vintage Christmas table cloth that was my Grandmothers. And also one of the pretty poinsettias that I got this year. Well I better get off this computer and do a few things before Dan and Ally get back. I have some lyaringtus today and not feeling so great. Guess its this crazy weather we have been having.
Hope every one has a wonderful week-end!
xoxooxoxoxoxoox

After a long wait !

Yes, our daughter her boyfriend finally made it here. But what a time they had trying to make the journey here. I am sure every one has heard about all the snowstorms all across the country and all the cancellations and delays at all the airports. Well that's how is was for them. They started out at 3:30 Thursday morning trying to get to the Spokane,WA airport for their flight out at 6::00 a.m. Of course there was the blizzard that they had to contend with and 3 feet of snow already on the ground. Luckily her step-dad has a 4 wheel drive truck or they wouldn't have made it there.
They got to the airport to find that all flights had been cancelled indefinitely due to the white out conditions. So they sat and sat some more. Then at 11 a.m. they were able to board the plane. Unfortunately their plane did not take off until 4 p.m. in the afternoon. They got to sit on the tarmac for 5 hours with screaming babies and irate passengers while they kept de-icing the plane and trying to clear the snow off the runways. All this while more snow was falling. They were on of 3 planes that got out of there that day before they shut it down completely. Needless to say her Dad and I were basket cases all day. Trying to work all and watch the airport's flights departing and texting Allison and e-mailing each other,,it was just crazy!!!!
They finally made it to Denver by 7 p.m, only to find that all the flights to Nashville were full up until 7p.m. on Friday night. We found them a hotel for the night with shuttle service to and from the airport. Then had to spend most of the next day sitting in Denver airport until flight took off, which was delayed of course until 8:40 p.m. They finally arrived in Nashville at 11:30 p.m. We were so glad to see them coming through the corridor from the gates. Even though was 30 hours later than we expected, we didn't care. We were thrilled that they made it safe and sound.
They were pretty worn out from their travels and we all came home and went to bed.
On Saturday Mom had her Christmas get together for our family. My brother in Alabama came up with his Granddaughter. His wife was very sick with a cold and didn't make it. My children were there too and we had a wonderful time. It wasn't even that cold here and Allison and Willy were glad it wasn't snowing after coming from the Blizzard in Spokane.
This is Allison and Willy below in Mom's kitchen.

Then Mrs. Santa(Mom) opening her big box of gel pens that I gave her.

And then its the kids watching me open up a present.

All of us having fun and opening presents!


My Girls, Kalyn and Allison!
Kyle and Kalyn spent the night on Saturday night and we all had such a great time. We played board games and laughed alot and also ate alot too. Daniel enjoyed having our all our"babies" here with us.
On Sunday we celebrated Daniel's birthday.
The picture above was made down in our basement which is the "Dan Cave" that is where he likes to spend his time listening to music and where he keeps all of his Bud collection. We had alot of presents for him and the girls made him a birthday cake and he loved it all. I had to take a picture of him and the kids.
This week has been a busy one for me so far. Yesterday I had an Optometrist appointment and I now have to wear bifocals, I knew it was coming because I was having a hard time reading up close. I will get my new glasses next week.
Today I went to the Rhuematologist. Good news is I don't have Rhuematoid arthritis. Bad news is I have bone spurs in the joints of both of my big toes. It causing degenerative arthritis in the joints and has been causing all of my pain. He gave me some medicine that will help with the pain and I do not have to go back to him again until April unless it gets worse.
So this has been whats been happening with me since my last post. Now I am going to go see whats up with all of my blogger buds. I will post again tomorrow.
I hope you all have been having a nice Holiday week so far.
XOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOX

Busy week but Fun times are coming!

Wow,,its been over a week since I have posted. I have been busy at home and at work and trying to get caught up on every thing. Thats the one thing I don't like about Christmas, feeling overwhelmed because the days keep going faster and I feel like I am going backwards instead of forward. I have so much that I want to do but yet I have so much that I haven't done. But it will be ok. Friday is my last day of work and I will be on vacation all next week.

And best of all our daugher is flying in from Idaho to spend Christmas with us! We are excited.

The picture above was made summer before last which was the last time we got to see her.
I get to pick her up at the airport tomorrow afternoon,,I can't wait to hug her and kiss her sweet face!
I hope to post alot more next week as we are going to do some fun things while she is here.
I also hope every one is doing great. And to tell my other Girlie Jess, how sorry I am about her losing her Grandmother this week. Your still in my thoughts and prayers!
Hugs to every one!!!!

Christmas Eye Candy

I was in a Christmas ornament swap with Jeanie and Shelley this season. This is the beautiful ornament that I received from Jeanie. I Love it. She knows I Love Kittys and she does too. It is so cute and I already have it on my tree,,front and center. The pictures aren't that great as I had to use my scanner as my camera batteries were charging. Below is the front of the ornament and next picture is the back.

Thanks so much Jeanie,,I will treasure it always. I hope you get mine this week,,it was sent out Monday.
A little more art that I have received lately is some 4 x 4 Christmas chunky pages. I was in a swap and received 4 of them.



And I also participated in a Christmas ATC swap too.

I really didn't participate in too many swaps this Holiday season. I did a Christmas inchie with my Mom and another with someone in another group. And I also did a Christmas Banner swap and should receive it this week. I will post pictures of it when I get it. I am also doing a Goodie box swap will that Jill is hosting. You send your partner a good size box of artsy stuff such as art supplies, pictures, embellishments, etc... I think this will be fun as I always love to get goodies that I can use in the mail.
I have been working fast and furiously on some jewelry projects that I am giving as presents. I also making some Hot Cocoa bags to give to some of my co-workers. I got the cutest template and recipe over at Lollychop's blog. She is so generous in giving all kinds of cool templates, patterns, and recipes away on her blog. The templates are in PDF form. She also had some cool Christmas gift tags and little cards. I have really enjoyed visiting her blog and she is just a really nice friend,,and her posts are funny too. So pay her a visit and say Hi!

I sure do have to say this. Some times when I get kind of sad and blue, which does happen sometimes,,I know I can always count on my blogger buds to cheer me up. And all of you do that for me. I go to your blogs and read them and smile. Or if your sad and blue or sick or have family that is not well, I can sympathize and know that I am not the only one feeling that way or the same kind of issues. So always know that you have a good friend in me too.
Ok,,,I had to get a little sentimental today,,lol.

I hope every one has a wonderful Wednesday!!!
xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxox

Monday's musings!

Here are some pictures of some beautiful sunsets we have had the past few days.

I Love it when the sky looks like this. And my ride in this morning was so pretty because of the sunrise but I didn't have my camera to take a picture of it. I did take a picture with my cell phone but it didn't turn out that good.
Yesterday I went over and got my Mom to bring her over to watch our fave Football team play. We had a great time. She always gets chilly at my house as I don't keep it quite as warm as hers so I had to bundle her up in my Titan's blanket and I put a Santa's hat on her too.

Next picture is when she was so happy because the Titan's made a touchdown!

We do Love to watch our Titans play ball and they won again. So we are going to the Play offs and hopefully on to the Superbowl! Daniel came in and had to snap a picture of both of us as I had my Santa hat on too!

No,,she didn't fall asleep,,she just shut her eyes when the flash went off. And of course I had to have my big mouth open,,lol.
I also took some pictures of some of my Christmas decorations that I have out and of my Christmas Tree.







Now I just need to do some Christmas shopping and put some presents under that empty tree. I always wait till the last minute to do my shopping. Mainly its because we have to wait till get "Sparky" gets his Christmas bonus check,lol.
I hope every one had a wonderful Monday! I have been pretty sore today with my good ole Arthur acting up. Heavy rains are expected tomorrow and tomorrow night. No more snow for awhile.
xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo

Sunday's jabber

Lots to talk about today. Well its been a few days so I can, right? First off, I got a phone call from my doctor's office late friday afternoon. It seems the blood work that they did on Monday shows that I have elevated levels of ANA(autoantibodies), thus indicating that I have Rheumatoid arthritus. So they will be setting me up with a Rheumatologist. I kind of felt that this was the case all along but wasn't for sure about it. But what I have researched online sounds like what I have been going through. I know its not very severe yet and I am hoping they will be able to give me meds to control it. The good thing is it has shook me up enough that I am following the recommendations I have read about what to eat to keep the Gout from flaring up again. So, I think I have lost a few pounds through all of this. I am still hurting some but not as bad. The below normal temps we have been having hasn't helped it at all.
So,,I will deal with it and try to do what I can to keep it from progressing.
On to happier notes. Yesterday my sweet niece came to vist my Mom and I. She is like a daughter to me and I use to babysit her all the time when she was little. Her husband and her have been married for about 9 years. They always said they were not going to have children, but guess what? Yep,,she's pregnant and her delivery date is next month. We are all so excited and can't wait to have "Little Samuel" join our family. We haven't had a baby in our family for many years, every since my children were little, which was 21 years ago.
We had a great visit and my step-bro prepared a great lunch for us all. It was very Christmassy looking with Mom's Christmas plates and decorations up in the kitchen.
Here is a pic of Mom and Emily at the table. Of course I didn't notice that the ceiling fan chains were in the way when I snapped it,,duh.
Emily is very petite and she has only gained 15 lbs during her pregnancy. But that is all baby fat. I think its wonderful since I gain way too much weight each time I was expecting. We also had some baby presents for her and her hubby to open while they were here.
She is such a sweetie. And they both are so excited about the new addition.
I had to snap a funny picture of my step-dad. Between my parents and my step-bro, they have 2 Bichon Frise dogs. Well, my step-bro's dog seems to think that it is her duty to keep my step-dad's scalp cleaned and washed very day.
Ha,,now that would drive me bonkers, but dad is so laid back that he jus sits there and lets her go to town. According to Mom and Bro he gets a good "shampoo" every day. And Sugar gets pretty spoiled by him in return.
So, today I am going to bring Mom over to my house and we are going to do a little Artsy stuff,,and watch our Football team, the almighty Titans, whip Cleveland.
Its still very cold here today and the high will only be 37 degrees. Our December has been way below normal in temps so far. And I think we will get a good snow before January. I hope it happens on Christmas day.
OH,,and great news. My stepdaughter and her boyfriend will be flying in from Idaho on the 18th to spend two weeks with us. We can't wait as we haven't seen her in almost 2 years. Its going to be so much fun having them here.
Today I am going to take some pictures of my Christmas deco and will post them this coming week.
I hope everyone is having a great week-end! I am leaving you with pictures of our "mini snowfall" that we had on Monday. It was just a trace and melted pretty quickly, but we usually do not get snow here till January.






xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxo

Christmas Postcards

I made these for a Christmas Postcard swap that I am in this season. I Love making Postcards.

I used alot of rubber stamps with these. The little girl and Santa is a Oxford Impressions stamp. I Love Suzanne's stamps.

I also found out from my Dear friend Jill that Lisa Vollrath has some great free Vintage images she is giving away for December if you post a link to her site. I too, like Jill, have been a fan of hers since starting in Altered Art. Go visit her site and look at her other sites too. She has some great tutorials and some wonderful goodies for sale that are great for all of our Art Project needs. And another great blog site also from Jill, Art by Chrysti, is having a great giveaway called the 29 days of giveaways. She will be giving something away for the next 29 days, so make sure you visit her site too. Its always so nice to have such generous artists to take to giveaway such great prizes. So please visit both of these great Artists sites!
I hope every one has a great Wednesday!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxox

Happy Birthday Candace!!!

Today is the day that my first born-Candace Elizabeth (Candy) would have turned 25 years old. She left us after only 7 weeks old and became an Angel. I still miss her but I have faith that I will see her again one day.


Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!