Last Minute Gift

Just a quick post to show the book that I made for my friend Moira for Christmas! The full book can be seen here. I really hope she likes it! I had fun making it! Just a few more hours and the festivities will begin!! Merry Christmas!

Just 3 days left...

until Santa arrives!! I just love Christmas! It is defiantly my favorite holiday! I've gotten a bit lax over the years and don't decorate as much as I used to. But I do love my tree. It holds tons of ornaments that are special to me. My all time favorite is the angel (below) that was MY first ornament ever given to me by my Mom! It is almost an antique!!! Many of the ornaments were made my my dear mother, sister or myself. (I wonder if my sister will recognize any of these?) And then there are all the ones that have come from some special place that we've visited! This year's addition is a great Santa with a Surfboard which we found in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia! We have plenty of skiers and snowmen on the tree as well! We may have to get a bigger tree or a 2nd tree sometime soon, when there is no longer anymore branches to hold them all! I was hoping we'd have lights outside this year, but we never got around to it when the weather was nice and when we finally had time, it had already snowed! There is always next year I suppose!

In this nice long 4 day weekend, I will be busy but there is still plenty of time finally to relax a bit! The stress of the past week and the thoughts of the upcoming 2-3 weeks (at work) are very stressful, so I'm not going to think about it if I can! Instead, I'm going to work on wrapping the presents, cleaning up the house and preparing some appetizers and deserts for the holidays! I think there will be a "few" extra stiff drinks in there as well! Bring on the Apple Pie!

To all my family and friends who enjoy my "blog" - Merry Christmas! I hope to share more over the holidays, but if I don't, please remember that I love you all!!

A Quickie Holiday Quiz...

just to keep the holiday pressure on! LOL! Here goes...

Have you....

Finished your Christmas shopping? Nope, still have my BIL and some small stuff for the munchkin!

Sent out all your holiday greeting cards? All except for the one going to Akiko in Tokyo!

Decorated your house with holiday decorations? Yep! That was done weeks ago!

Play along and share your holiday progress with your blogging friends :)

Celebrating Christmas!

On Sunday afternoon, Toni and her family (Iain, Nattie and Jaime) came down for a nice visit for the holidays. We had such a wonderful time together! The kids really had fun opening up all the gifts that were laying around - but I think Jaime had the most fun with the wrapping (bows)!! Melanie got some great scrapbooking supplies, including stamps, inks and a punch. There was also a gift card to M's. If there was other things, I'll never know since she's hiding it from me! Dan got a wonderful gift card to REI! I'm sure it will go towards something for skiing! I got the best gifts of all though! Let's see - first off the Journaling Jar! (See Toni's Blog for Monday!) That will last me all year (if not much, much longer)! What a cleaver idea! I can't wait to get started! Then there was my own journaling book - can't wait to record my first verses! Then an acrylic 8x8 book - something I've been wanting to try! And lastly a gift card to Archiver's! Gee Toni - when do you want to go shopping??!! We were spoiled ROTTEN! We are happy to hear that they enjoyed our gifts as well! We are just happy that we met such nice people!

I have been trying to finish up the Arrow Book (This Way... To Adventure) for my dear friend Moira! I'm hoping it's done for Christmas! It should be. Unfortunately I'm so exhausted when I finish working every night, that I don't spend much time on it. I have just 2 sets of pictures left - so that should go quickly! That will be the last gift I will be able to get done. I have to just cut my list down and do what I can! I just got the December CJ and there is still my challenge with the other group to finish up this month!

Finally Friday!

And what a week it's been! I am exhausted from all the work and all the stress. I have no idea where my job is going to take me in the future - neither does the top bosses it seems either! They want to know what I want to do. So now I have to think about it and tell them what I want. This could be really great but right now, I'm just to exhausted to even think! What I do know is that I want more $$$$$!

I think I'm going to stay home from skiing tomorrow and try to get some of my shopping done as well as some other projects I have started that I want to finish for Christmas. I hate to miss a day of skiing, but it may help my stress level next week! And then maybe I can enjoy a day of skiing next weekend even though originally I didn't think that was going to happen! I hate letting Dan get one more day, but sometimes I just have to concede!

Off to bed...

A little bit of this...

and a little bit of that! That's how my projects are going right now! Just can't seem to focus on just one to finish! When I'm stressed, that's how my life gets! Just hope I get them all done in time for whatever deadline I need! So here are a few of the tags that I have made with my scraps and "extra" time this year! They are a lot of fun and QUICK!

Yesterday morning I was greeted by the news that my boss of the past 4 years is resigning! (We started on the same day - 12-22-03) I'm so going to miss her. She is the real reason that I have stuck it out in this job so long! Maybe she'll call on me in the future, but we won't know for a while. Not sure what they're doing to replace her. The COO will talk to me later in the week. I can interview for her job - if there is one that is. Who knows what they've got planned - all I know is that I want a RAISE! And she's leaving me before OE is over - more stress on me to get that done with less and less people! Last year I had 5 - this year it's 3 1/2!!!

Got some of the most beautiful cards today from Toni as a Christmas gift! I'm so excited about them that I don't even want to give them away as she had intended me to do! I so wish I had her talent to stamp! In my next life, I want perfect vision!!! That would make life so much easier!!

Off to cook some French onion soup - it's cold and snowy so it's a great time to have it!!

Yikes...

I didn't even realize that my "Thanksgiving Hangman" link changed to "Christmas Hangman"! Wonder how long ago that happened? Shows you how out of it I truly am!

Glad this week is finally over! It was a tough one! at work No need to complain on my blog, just happy it's over! A new one will soon be upon us and hopefully this one will be forgotten!

It's snowing like crazy in the mountains and to celebrate, we're going skiing tomorrow! Yippee! Hope we can get up there! With fresh powder you never know how the drive it going to be up Interstate 70 - could be great and then could be a parking lot with idiots who don't know how to drive! We're aiming for Vail, but it requires 2 mountain passes to go over and an extra 30-45 minutes of drive time, so we'll see if we make it there! If so, they're taking me to the back bowls of Blue Sky Basin! Shall be fun (and really, really cold!) I'm not sure pictures will be anything but white, but we'll take the camera along and see!

Happy weekend everyone!

Positive Attitude!

I am trying my best to keep a very positive attitude right now! And I suppose for the most part is is working, but I am exhausted! See, work is just really stressful and busy right now. I've been putting in long hours for the past few weeks and it's going to stay this way until the holidays. I usually wear that stress on my sleeve and everyone just knows to "stay away" from me! But this year, I'm trying to keep a smiling face and work it out in a different way. No one wants to be around an unhappy person, especially at the holidays! So now that I've got it off my sleeve...

I am thrilled to see that Debbie has now joined the blog world! Gives me yet another person's blog to check out and see what is happening in her life! I really like all the new ladies I've met this past year in my CJ groups! I sure hope that I can make the trip to CA in summer to meet some of them!

Our trip plans to London are semi-stalled right now. I do have a travel agent researching it all for me! Her initial quote, with a few days in Edinburgh was a bit too much (ha, that's putting it mlidly), so we're looking at alternatives... such as going a week earlier so we aren't there over Easter or even waiting until the fall. I'm sure hoping that she has better results. Or I just need to get back to doing it myself. Not sure why this trip is so hard for me to plan?

I still have TONS of Xmas shopping left to do... not sure when or how I will finish it but I'm sure it will happen! Maybe I just need to buckle down and Internet shop QUICKLY!!!

Have a good evening!

Tne best way to exercise...

is swishing down the slopes! We had a great day at Breckenridge today! They had fresh powder this morning and I got a great workout on one of my favorite runs there - Volunteer! It was a wee-bit cold, but we survived! We even met up with a few of Dan's co-workers after lunch and got a few runs with them! That was fun too! Always great to ski with others! They go up often as well, so it seems we will be hooking up with them often! After we finished, we went and had dinner with them. They are very nice folks and we all enjoyed their company!

These are the LO's that I completed for Nancy's Inspiration I Spy book. I choose my favorite color and my favorite subject matters - the great outdoors and my little girl! I ended up using glitter AGAIN and still have it all over my room. I'm retiring the glitter until after the holidays!

Off to make some more x-mas tags with my scraps! It's a no-brainer after a hard work out!

Time to relax...

Yes, that is what I need right now!! It was one hectic week that I had. This is our busy time of year at work, time when everyone is re-enrolling in benefits with their company. Well as a Benefits Manager, that is my job to get everyone enrolled. And with my company acting as the "employer" for almost 100 other companies (about 700 employees), the job does not come easy. And when rates come late, our system is difficult to configure and people are hard to track down, that job isn't fun either. I pulled a few 12 hour days this week and it's just the beginning! It will be like this for at least the next 3 weeks! And then as the holidays wind down, it will very slowly get better! Time for a career change that gives me time to enjoy my holidays!! (Yeah, sure I say that ever year!) OK enough whining!

Here is a card I made with the scraps from my B&W challenge! I do like how it turned out! I'm trying to come up with a few more to use up all the extra little pieces of paper I got this card design off of 2peas but do not remember who I scrap lifted it from. The next challenge that I'm faced with is a 2 page recap of my year in review. That should be fun... I've got about 5-6 pictures already in mind, just need to upload and send them to the printers tonight! And one last big push will be to finish a present for my friend Moira... sorry no more details than that. Never know when she is looking!!!

I attempted to go Christmas shopping today... boy do I hate the mall. Walked all over, and left empty handed. The crowds were insane! I managed to pick up a few things at Target, but I have a long way to go on this huge list of people. It seems to get harder and harder every year. Is that because we accumulate more and more stuff?! Maybe some Christmas music and a big tumbler of "liquid" apple pie will help my mood tonight!

Off skiing tomorrow... fresh snow up there should be AWESOME!!!

Challenge complete!

Well I finished up my B&W pages on Sunday and got them in the mail to MI and CA today! Whew... glad that's done! (It was fun, used my creativity, but took longer than I had hoped!) I did different pages for everyone and then forgot to take pictures!!! Oh well, at least I still had the one I saved for Toni to photograph! This one is the only one I did not use a flower on! Instead I painted and glittered a chipboard that Toni had given me awhile back! I like the look but a punch of color would be nice too! And I'm not too fond of the glitter process! Boy is that messy and now I have glitter flakes everywhere!

After the cleaning ladies come tomorrow we'll finish decorating for the holidays! That may be backwards but I'm too tired to do it tonight anymore! For some reason I'm really excited this year... not sure why! I've barely begun my shopping, in fact not even sure what to buy anyone! And then there's sending out the cards... oh writing the letter first! And who can forget the present wrapping! That's what X-mas Eve is for right? Oh the holidays... love them!! I am enjoying all the lights in the neighborhood! Hope the hubby joins in on the fun! Our moose need to get out of the basement!!!

Off to create....

Happy Sunday!!

We got home late this morning... early from our big T-day ski weekend! We had an absolutely wonderful time on the slopes, despite the lack of snow and runs open! (This is Melanie in Breckenridge!)

We got up to Dillon on Wednesday afternoon just before dinner to a very nice and inexpensive Condo that we rented from a very nice family! After settling in, we went out for some dinner and pre-Thanksgiving shopping at the sports stores. Dan got a great deal on a Spider fleece! Then we settled in for our first night before ski begins!!!

On Thanksgiving morning, Moira and the girls arrived (from Castle Rock) at the slopes of Keystone just minutes after us! We spent the day regaining our legs and switching off between the 2 or 3 runs that were open! They are in desperate need of snow that's for sure! When we were finally beat, we wrapped up our turkey day at Pug Ryan's for an awesome dinner!

On Friday we tried our luck at Breckenridge and found they had a wee-bit more terrain open for us to cruise down! Or at least it sure seemed like there was more variety! It was a bit more crowded and by 2 we had gotten tired of the lift lines, so we headed down the slope one last time and made our way back to the condo! After joining us for some chili, Moira and the girls headed down the mountain, leaving us to rest and relax!

On Saturday we decided to try our luck with Breckenridge again and found it to be VERY COLD! Say, single digits when we began the day and maybe 20 as the afternoon warmed up! BRRRRRRRRRR!!! They did open one more small run, which helped a touch, but we were still dodging newbies, waiting in long lift lines and freezing out buns off! We packed it in even earlier (at 1 p.m.) and headed downtown for some shopping! Hey, we didn't buy a thing, can you believe it? not even at the scrapbook store! Wow, what was wrong with me? Anyway, after an early dinner, we treated ourselves to Cold Stone before finishing up the puzzle back at the condo!

Unfortunately the crowds and repeat of the same 4 or 5 runs got to us this time and we decided today to pack it in early and come home! So back went on my computer when I got home and up popped 200 new emails! Geez, they're out of control! After weeding through them, I have decided to blog a little before getting started on the rest of my B&W pages. Or maybe I'll do a bit of x-mas shopping this afternoon?! Or finishing up my x-mas decorations! (You know I did put up the tree over a week ago!) Whatever I decide, it shall be relaxing I'm sure!!

B&W

Our current challenge with the Seasoned Survivors is to create a B&W page with glitter! I'm not much of a glitter lover, so I'm taking the easy way out here! This page has glitter brads - it counts, doesn't it?! In the end, I'm creating 6 different pages because I'm not happy with any one LO - but they're all titled "LAUGH"! At least I have a theme going!!

We're off to the mountains tomorrow afternoon! The snow will be flying so the drive should be really fun! It's going to be COLD up there - upper 20's! BRRRRRR!!!! At least we'll FINALLY get to go skiing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Get to know ME!

Two in one night - BONUS!!!

I'd love to learn more about my blogging friends - here are some questions for you to copy and paste to your blog, and post your responses :) Enjoy! Here are mine:

1. Who am I? Sue - wife, mom, friend, benefits queen, occasional blogger
2. Who knows me best? My honey!
3. How old am I? 41
4. How old do I feel? 30
5. The most important thing in my life is... good health for my family!
6. I always carry... my glasses
7. Something I always do is... brush my teeth first thing in the morning!
8. I'm at my happiest when... relaxing in the mountains!
9. On a Monday morning, you'll find me... getting on the bus going off to work.
10. My favorite mode of transportation is... airplanes - they get you to great places fast!
11. My eyes are...blue/grey
12. My favorite material possession is... my photos
13. To relax, I like to... scrapbook, watch mindless TV.
14. The town I live in is...small but growing, not a suburb but someday will probably be one.
15. What's my worst habit? yelling at my child
16. My guilty pleasure is... duh, chocolate!
17. When I look at someone, the first thing I see is...their hair style!
18. I think ....................... is beautiful. Raindrops falling on the trees!
19. One thing that I can live without is... large amounts of stress! (I need a little bit!)
20. One thing people don't know about me is... I can't color within the lines!
21. My life is... great - living every day as if it were my last because you never know!!

What to say? What to say?

According to Toni, I need to post to my blog... so here goes!!!

Last week is almost a blur... let's see I went to work, got frustrated, came home, worked some more, got frustrated more and went to bed only to repeat the next day. Yes, I think that is how the week went! This is not my happy time at work, although I am trying really hard to make it pleasant! At least I did get 2 (very long) days working at home last week!

On Saturday the kids and I went to see a play - "The Diary of Anne Frank" in downtown Denver. It was very good. Although we knew the ending, we were surprised at the light comedy that they incorporated into the play! It was a theater in the round and we had the very last (or first) row of seats in the balcony! I'd say for me they were PERFECT! I can't wait to go again and see another good play!

Just 2 more days of work and 4 days off!! I love this holiday! Thanksgiving! Our tradition is to spend it up in the mountains as a family - just the 3 of us! Our plan is to go skiing, although I'm not sure the weather is going to cooperate too much with us?! But if it does, 4 days of skiing are always fun! We will go out for T-day dinner at some great restaurant in town - we never know where! Then this year I found a great deal on a condo, so we'll cozy up in there! If we can't ski, we'll find some place to hike or shop or who knows what?! We'll just find something to do! Maybe the ice rink in Breckenridge or the indoor pool there? Hmmm, the possibilities?!

Happy Thanksgiving my friends!!

(Maybe tomorrow if you're lucky I'll post some cards?! It's any body's guess!!!)

10 things....

that I have said or done that I am proud of (today's Two Peas blog challenge question):

1. moved my DH and DD to Colorado despite leaving the rest of my family behind in Chicago.
2. climbed 8 14ers (that's mountains over 14,000 feet)!
3. changed my diet and lost those "extra" pounds after suffering a heart attack 8 years ago. (And have kept it off!)
4. graduated 2nd in my HS class.
5. earned the honor of Outstanding Lt. Governor I-I District of Key Club.
6. saying "I do" at age 22 and being happily married for 19 years to my bf!
7. raising one very beautiful little daughter!
8. learned to ski (and love it) at age 35!
9. getting involved in scrapbooking and making a family "history" album for each member of my family!
10. having just a few ounces of the artistic talent that my mother had!

Have a wonderful night everyone!

Denver Ski Show

Well, it was 70+ on Saturday in Denver (and today it's pretty darn close), so there isn't much skiing going on yet. Well the resorts want you to think there is, as there are now 5 of them open. But if you look at the web cams (like Breckenridge), you'll find mostly rocks/grass mixed in with the white. It's not looking good for Thanksgiving weekend at this rate. Our tradition is to ski all 4 days that weekend, but we may be looking for alternative activities if the snow remains this scarce! Hopefully we'll get dumped on in the next week!! (How does that "snow" dance go?!)


So, since we could not go skiing this weekend, we went to the Denver Ski Show instead! They had booths from all the local resorts and from other places like Canada, Jackson Hole and SLC. There were also other vendors there as well. Moira won a hat that had headphones in it from some radio station! Keystone was giving away custom t-shirts - you pick the logo and the location and they printed it (for free)! And the kids loaded up on stickers galore from all over! A few good deals were had at the Colorado Ski and Golf sale but not by me. :( Before we left, the kids spent a long time climbing the rock wall (pic) - they loved it! It was a great way to get out for the afternoon and enjoy the day - even if we couldn't be skiing!


I'm off to organize my scraproom and work on something - don't know what! Maybe a special card for my friend Marlene's birthday coming up at the end of the month. No pressure - I've still got 19 days to get it there!!!

Dad's birthday and the holidays!

Here is the card that I made for dear Dad for his birthday... always the carpenter theme for him!!! It's not bad - not my best - but not bad either! I always hate making MALE cards! If they can't have flowers, do they really need a card?

Well, the job stress has now begun. I don't like to talk much about work, but for the next 2-3 months I will have plenty to do and will be totally under-appreciated at the office. Open Enrollment should be moved to another time of year so we can ALL enjoy the holidays equally!

Speaking of holidays, I'm ready for Christmas! No, I'm not finished shopping, although I do have at least one gift in my stash! But I am ready to decorate the house! I love to see the tree up and all the sights and smells of the holidays! I think the weekend after this (before thanksgiving) we will get the tree up! Melanie has promised to help put the ornaments on this year! Yeah, right, we'll see if she holds true to that! And Dan has expressed interest in putting up the outside lights and our "Moose" this year! Yeah! Yippee! I hope it is a good holiday!

During our hike last weekend I decided we would try a new tradition this year on Christmas. I want to hike up to Castle Rock on Christmas Day! We can record it with pictures and document how the weather was. Then every year when we make our trek up, we can do it again! I think that will be fun! Hopefully this year it will be WARM!!! You never know in Colorado! That's why I love Living her so much!

Mosaic Challenge...

It took me awhile, but I finally got a result I liked in the mosaic challenge! I ended up leaning towards the Christmas theme, but that's OK! I had to make 6 different ones, so the placement of the trees was different, the frames for the pictures were different sizes and I used different words to make each one unique! I hope the ladies like them!

The next challenge is yet another technique I've never used before. Not only is Kristi asking for a B&W page but also adding glitter! I have the glitter and have used it once or twice on cards when stamping, but never in a scrapbook page. Maybe I'll end up loving it - who knows! I have never scrapped in B&W either - but I like the look!

I'm still thinking about mine. Maybe since I have this nifty new circle cutter I'll work off of that for a theme... hmmm! The wheels are turning!

Off to make a b-day card for Dad. Need to ship his gift this week if I'm going to get it to Chicago in time for the big day!! Turning 73 this year!

Beautiful November day...

It was 77 degrees as we drove home from Roxborough Park this afternoon - how awesome for Colorado!!!

Dan, Moira and I took a very nice hike up to Carpenter Peak today! It was 6.4 miles round trip and gained about 1000 feet! The views of the front range and out West towards Pike National Forrest were awesome! I didn't take any pictures bc I was too busy enjoying the warm fresh air! We are hoping to go back there when we have some snow and do a bit of snowshoeing! The South Rim trail looks like it might be perfect for that - again if we have enough snow! I think we will go back in Spring and do some hiking there as pre-14er training!

I need to get my mosaic pages finished. They are suppose to be shipped tomorrow - hmmm, I hope they'll be done. This was a scary challenge for me, especially since I'm a perfectionist! Off to work on them...

Going Purple!!

So the Rockies didn't win, but in honor of all their accomplishments this year, I'm going Purple in November anyway!!! (It doesn't hurt that I love purple!!)

Once again, we have a cold Halloween! We can never catch a break! At least the snow is suppose to stay up at higher elevations, so we may get a decent amount of trick or treaters! I hope so, we have tons of candy and my hips sure don't need it! Melanie didn't want to go out this year, so she is the "official" door opener! Dan got a last minute call to Tucson for the night, so he won't be around either. Boo Hoo! It's a good night for pizza and a movie!! Well, maybe not with all the doorbell ringing!! Lights out??!!

I decided to work on scrapbooking some old pictures this week! I picked Melanie learning how to ride a bike at age 5! (2001)! It brings back a lot of memories of my little pumpkin! She was so mad that day, but once she got it - look out! Her and her little Aeriel bike were on a roll! I'll try and post the final LO tonight when it is completed. Still trying to come up with the right title and embellishments! I have several more sets of pictures from that year that I'd like to complete so that I can "retire" that book!

Still Thinking Pink!

This is a card I've made for a girlfriend that is a breast cancer survivor! Haven't talked to her is a very long time, so I thought this would be a really nice way to say HI! I think she's going to love it! Thanks to Toni who stamped and colored it for me! She is my new "seeing eye" friend!!!

And thanks to Toni and her husband Iain for a great dinner last night! They graciously entertained my family and I in their home! Her kids are great! Jaime even drew me a very special picture that I'm going to hang in my office! That boy has talent!! Can't wait for many more fun times together!

Just a relaxing day at home... storing up the relaxation for when ski season begins in just a few weeks! GO ROCKIES!

I've been tagged...

I've been tagged by Toni!

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).
3. Tag 7 (or less if you're like me and don't know many!) people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

Lisa - Flatfish Paper Arts
Patti - My Happy Place
Nancy - Fierce Wonderings
Lisa - Somewhere between "Going" and "Crazy"

4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here goes...

1. I absolutely hate to clean house, so we hired a housekeeping service many years ago. Best investment my husband ever made!
2. In HS I won the award for best Lt. Governor in the Illinois-Eastern Iowa District of Key Club (a service organization affiliated with Kiwanis Club). I worked my butt off for that!
3. In College I got the one and only D of my life in a computer programming class! Needless to say, I changed majors right away!
4. I love to eat Hershey's syrup right out of the bottle!
5. I pick things up with my toes, because I'm too lazy to bend over!
6. I hated to ski the first year I learned, but now in my 7th season and I can't wait to hit the slopes!
7. I never could decide on having a 2nd child because I couldn't understand how I would share the love I had for my first. Then it was too late...

Lazy Saturday!

My head is still held high that those Rockies are going to come back and WIN tonight! We're taking it one game at a time. It's not over until the last pitch!!! GO ROCKIES!

Melanie is off in a babysitting class today. I hope she learns something from it! And maybe with that knowledge she'll find some babysitting job this next summer to keep her busy! That would be way better than sleeping in and watching TV or playing Sims 2 every day!

We are hanging out today waiting for the sun to shine. I just made a pumpkin cheesecake to take with to Toni's tonight. Later we're headed up the hill for dinner with Toni and her family! It was so nice of her to invite us! I'm really hoping that the families all get along as much as we do! I'm also excited to see her scrap space in person! I just want to see HOW MUCH stuff she really has and compare it to mine! If hers is greater, I'm going to have to catch up!!

I'm going to try creating now- haven't been very successful in the past few weeks. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. Maybe I have too many projects started at once? Who knows, but the bad streak better break soon!!

ROCKtober!!!

Yes, it's ROCKtober once again!!! Time for the Rockies to kick some bootie in Boston!! We're going to be perched in front of the TV, along with most of Denver tonight rooting for our underdogs!! It's an exciting time here in the mile high city!!

My little pea-brain has been working overtime on the latest challenge for the Survivor group - mosaic elements. I think it's found an idea, let's just hope it works on paper as well as in my head! And with any luck, I can bring it with me to Toni's on Saturday!

Lunch break is over, back to work!!

(PS - if they win the World Series, my blog will turn PURPLE!!!)

GO ROCKIES!!!

What is that White Stuff??

Yep, it's SNOW in Castle Rock on October 21st!! We woke up to it coming down pretty good! I'd guess we got about 3-4 inches of the stuff before it stopped! They got less up north in Denver and more out west in the foothills! Hopefully even more up in the resort towns that have skiing!! Thankfully our first accumulation didn't show up on a Monday! That would have made for a miserable start to the week!
Went to my cousin Karen's house today for a baby shower for Rachel, her DIL. Rachel actually had the baby on October 4th - a tiny boy name Ilan. He is really adorable!! Pretty well tempered too from what I saw! I didn't get a chance to hold him though. There were at least 30 woment there - all taking at once!! Instand headache!

Off to create (I hope)!!!

Quiet but Busy...

It's been a quiet but busy week... not much happenin' other than WORK! Well, let me think about that more...

Monday started with a trip to the eye doctor with Melanie... she got her first pair of contacts!! Wow, there is a lovely girl behind those glasses! (Well, that's if you can get her to move the bangs to the side!) She got hard lenses, which most say are more difficult to wear. I'm not so sure about that! I wore them for almost 30 years and so far she's doing awesome! So far in 6 days she's got them in for more than 13 hours! I'd say that's awesome! She didn't play volleyball in them yet, but there's always next Monday for that!

Tuesday work. Wednesday, work from home - yippee! Thursday, work from home - double yippee!

On Thursday I also picked up my pictures from the gnome CJ and finsished up my pages so that I could pass along that book to Toni when we saw her on Friday. I'm not really thrilled with the LO, in fact I didn't even take a picture of it since it didn't impress me at all. But at least it is done. I also received the next CJ from Rachel in OR on Thursday, so I've got my work cut out for me to try and finish it by the 27th when I see Toni again.

On Friday I had to take Mel back to the doctor. This time he checked her out and said it looked pretty good but he wanted to see her again in 2 weeks. Yeah, right, like that's going to happen! We pushed it off 4 weeks to bring her in on the day before Thanksgiving when she's off again. Then her and I went shopping. We were suppose to meet up with Ms. Toni, but she wasn't feeling well, so we were on our own. :( We did get a few scrapbook supplies at Arch's, a baby gift for a shower I'm going to and a new winter coat to keep my butt warm on the street corner!

Today was very quiet... and tomorrow we're expecting our first SNOW!!! The winds came in tonight - the storm is here! Too bad I have to go to a baby shower tomorrow!!! It's a brunch, so I'm hoping it won't last all day long!

Here is the card I made for the shower - I used a design I found earlier this week and I'm pretty hapy with it!

Scrap Challenge, Tons of Stamps, and the ROCKIES!

I just joined a new CJ group and for the remainder of the year we are doing challenge pages instead of a CJ! How fun!!! The first challenge that I get to participate in asks for 2 8x8 pages with a fall theme and an interactive item! When Toni and I were at the ScrapPink event a few weeks ago, I learned how to create a 3x3 mini album using 1 piece of pattern cardstock! Well, I adapted this technique to add to my challenge page! This is what I came up with! I think it turned out really great! The little book on the first page opens up and you can add pictures, journaling or whatever you want. The tags pull out and can also be used as journaling or for pictures! I have to make 6 identical LO's, but I used different pattern paper for each one so that I wouldn't get bored with the project! Yahoo! One down and 5 more to go! My turn to come up with the challenge is in late December - hmmm, what should I do??

I had lunch with Toni yesterday and she brought over this great big box of stamps that she no longer wanted! What fun! Thank you Toni - you're the sweetest!! Melanie quickly snagged up all the one's she wanted - I haven't even see what she took yet! I can't wait to spend more time stamping! It was a nice lunch, too bad I had to keep it short and return back to work. :(

And last but not least - the Rockies rocked the Diamondbacks yesterday beating them 5-1 in the first game of the NL championship! This town is Rockin' - you wouldn't believe how excited people are! Just 3 more games to win and we'll be on to the World Series! Could it really happen?! Game 2 is tonight at 8 pm - we're making pizza and settling in for a long night!

I've been tagged...

Now I've been tagged by Toni!!

Four jobs I've had in my life: Day Camp Counselor, Girl Friday, Benefits Manager, Mother
Four movies I would watch over and over: Forest Gump, Sixteen Candles, Risky Business, American Pie
Four places I have lived: Chicago, Carbondale, IL, Bolingbrook, IL, Colorado Springs
Four TV shows I love to watch: Designed to Sell, Dinner Impossible, M*A*S*H, Dog the Bounty Hunter
Four places I have been on vacation: Port Douglas, Australia, Zermatt, Switzerland, Amsterdam, Seattle, WA
Four websites I visit often: Two Peas in a Bucket, A Cherry on Top, 9News, MSN
Four of my favorite foods: Stuffed Pizza, Nacho Loco's, Spaghetti, Ravioli
Four places I would rather be now: lost in a HUGE scrapbook warehouse, skiing in BC, on a Jet traveling the world, snuggled up with my "kids"
Four friends I think will respond: Marlene, Sarah, Nancy, Kathy. Come on, ladies, let's see your answers!

Here's a PAT on my BACK!!

What for? 19 years of wedded bliss today!! OK, so maybe bliss is a bit strong! But I am married to a great man and I wouldn't change it for the world! He brought me to Colorado, what more could I want?! (Let's see... more travel, less work...) We started out young and poor (very poor), but now we are middle-age and in debt but rich with life! And we are HAPPY! Life is good!

We had one of those relaxing weekends! Errands on Saturday, yard work (for the man) on Sunday, and a good dinner out last night for our anniversary! But as usual it went way too fast! I'm in a slump with the scrapbooking - I need to get my mojo back!

The newest thing is to start researching London. We are planning to go in March, so we've got to figure out what we want to see, where we're going to stay and most of all HOW we're going to afford it! It's a trip with my Father! He would like to see London and since I know he won't go by himself, we're going to accompany him. Don't get me wrong, I really, really want to go! (They speak English there - we'll some form anyway!) I just know that the timing isn't the best with the exchange rate and the fact that we're going during Easter break. But no matter, we're going to go and have lots and lots of fun. But first the research!!

Go Rockies...

I am a Cubbie fan at heart, but if you live in Denver right now, you've got ROCKIES FEVER! They are "Purple" HOT!!! They won again today 10-5!

Go ROCKIES!

A Walkabout...

I'm a lucky transit commuter these days since Dan took a job up in Lakewood. Most of the time I take the bus to and from work - or should I say several buses. Let's see... I start with the big BLUE bus (otherwise known as Dan's Expedition), then the FREX (Front Range Express) and then Denver's RTD. It takes only 50 minutes to go about 23 miles!! Sometimes when I'm feeling really ambitious, I either walk the last leg of the trip to the office (about 1.75 miles) or the last leg of the trip home (about 2.5 miles).

Today I got ambitious!! Instead of waiting for the big BLUE bus, I decided I was going to walk home. Instead of the normal route home along the main road into the sub-division, I decided I was going to cut through this big field and find a new way home - you know venture on my own WALKABOUT! I left the main road behind and started down this dirt road. It quickly got quiet and I could hear the birds and the bugs in the thistle along the road! Oh, how peaceful! There was an old house I had never seen before. How exciting! Because of the hills, I couldn't tell how far I was from the road I needed to be on or exactly where I was going to come out. I ventured through the thicket to the top of the hill to get my bearings only to find - the railroad tracks!! Of course they were behind a barbed wire fence - drats! How was I going to get across. I had to get across if I wanted to get home. I decided to continue down the road because, well I knew there had to be a way across at some point! And sure enough, there was. When I got across I could see the high school - if I can find a clear path towards that, I was home free! Before I knew it - there was this beautiful blacktop road - geez when did they build that? I followed that right into the parking lot of the HS! Ah, that was the road that leads to nowhere!! Well someday, it's suppose to go across the tracks and creek and out to the highway - someday! Anyway, I was back in civilization! Yeah I guess!

I find it so wonderful to still have these open fields with some adventure so close to home! I sure hope they do not build on every square inch of land here. If they do, where will I do my walkabout in the future?

Thinking Pink...

I was challenged by Toni to Think Pink and I can't turn down that challenge!! It's easy to do and you can add your own banner very easily by clicking here. If my daughter can Think Pink, so can I!!!

ScrapPink crop

Yippe, what a great, productive weekend Toni and I had at the ScrapPink crop sponsored by Scrapbook Destinations!!! We spent all day Saturday and all day today together cropping! Toni blew me away with her speed – creating twice as many gorgeous LO’s YESTERDAY as I did all weekend!! Then she spent today stamping, coloring and creating the cutest cards!! (I wish I had the eyesight to do what she does - it is SO CUTE!) I did get a lot accomplished considering what a slow scrapper I am, which was great! I also learned a lot, not only from Toni but from other people as well! This was a great experience for my first crop… I can't wait to try it again. I'm sure I will do things differently next time - like take less and use up more!

We stayed up well past 2 a.m. last night giggling and learning all about each other! We were like 2 little school girls having a slumber party! We may be from 2 different places in the world, but we seem to get along great!! I think our families will also get along well!! The men and our daughters seem to have a lot in common! And I hear her son will be our entertainment!! I can't wait to see her oasis in the mountains - hopefully when we visit the elk will be dining in the backyard! I am happy I have a new friend who loves what I love - scrapbooking!

While I was having fun, apparently Melanie and her cousin had their own fun!! First Dan took them to the Rockies game last night where they watched the home team "BURY" the D-backs in a 11-1 win! They even got to see a grand slam! Then today when they had nothing else to do, they colored their hair PINK!!! It is in honor of Breast Cancer month, so how can I say anything? At least it's not my hair!! As long as they like it and don't mind the laughter, I'm fine with it!! Aren't they cute??

Happy it's Wednesday...

This has been some week so far...

On Saturday and Sunday we spent hours learning about the incredible history of Breckenridge and South Park. We went on walking tours and visited several museums, including an old gold mine. It was all great history and fun to learn more about names we hear everyday... like names of ski runs, towns and streets! I will recommend the walking tour in Breckenridge to everyone! On the way home, we drove over Boreas Pass and captured the wonderful fall colors in this photo! Too bad they disappear so fast!

Monday Dad flew back to Chicago. It's always sad to say good-bye. More than likely the next time we will see him will be in London in March. Then we went back to work... ugh! We are down 2 more people this week and I'm stuck packing up payrolls for shipment - great use of the college degree... Needless to say, I'm not too happy this week.

On Tuesday afternoon I got horrible sharp pains in my abdomen that lasted until almost 10 p.m. Still don't know what caused them, but I'm thrilled they are GONE! I was felling a bit better today, but work continued to bring me down... can't wait until the week is over.

Lost a few hours last night of finishing up my CJ, so I'm now behind the 8 ball to get that done and pack up for the crop this weekend. I'm really looking forward to a weekend getting to know Toni more, cropping like crazy, and have a fun "girls" weekend! Haven't done much of that, so I'm ready for it!!

The Rockies kicked butt!!

They did a sweep of the Dodgers series by winning the game yesterday 9-4! Holiday had an awesome bat! We were lucky enough to get box seats on the 1st base corner of the outfield IN THE SHADE! If you are in Denver, it's been in the mid-80's still! When will this heat disappear?? Oh, when we officially celebrate Fall it's suppose to drop to 70! Yeah!!

Today we visited the Colorado History Museum and the Byer Evans House Museum. They were both very interesting! Took a few pics, I'll have to post them next week when I get settled back in. It was interesting to hear all these names of people who have mountains, streets, and lakes named after them! I'd like to learn more about Denver History!

We are off in a few minutes to the cooler temperatures of the mountains! Should be a wonderful weekend!!

Off to the game...

Dad arrived safe and sound last night - yeah!! I'm always happy to see him! It seems like the visits are getting farther and farther apart (a year this time)... they should be getting closer! I guess I need to start going back to Chicago once in awhile! LOL!

So today we are off to the Rockies game!! They are on a roll, beating the Dodgers in the last 3 games! Hopefully they can keep up the pace today and show us a great game! It is suppose to be 88 out there - great baseball weather for September! We're going to eat at the Buckhorn Exchange for lunch - it has the 1st liquor license in Colorado! Should be fun!

Tomorrow we will go to a few museums in Denver - that should be fun too! I really wanted to go to the US Mint, but they are closed for renovations - figures! And then tomorrow night we are off to the mountains for more R and R!

I have a big crop coming up next week and I'm so excited. Wish I had time to plan for this now, but it will have to wait until Dad leaves on Monday. I have plenty of projects just not sure which one to get involved in! I did join a brand new CJ group - Seasoned Survivors! Toni recommended me, which makes me feel honored! I think it's going to be a ton of fun! Right now they're doing challenges until the end of the year. I missed the first one, but will join in on the next one! The CJ starts in January, so I have plenty of time to figure out a theme!

Off to the game....

Beautiful morning!

Oh what a beautiful way to start a Monday morning!! Isn’t it amazing how something as beautiful as this sunrise sets the tone for the day! As tired as I was this a.m., I still managed to walk from the bus stop to the office this morning and was HAPPY doing it!! It’s always a good walk, especially when it’s cool! (1.75 miles) And the day went well, which is always a plus for a Monday! Nice that I only have to work until noon on Wednesday then I'm off the rest of the day!! Yippee!

Our weekend was very pleasant too! We did our last camping trip of the season (well maybe) up at Mueller SP. It is such a beautiful campground! On Saturday we spent a few hours at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine learning about how the miners struck it rich on gold, silver and other minerals. We’ve been on the tour several times before, but they’ve changed it up, so it was still quite interesting! The kids really enjoyed the mine and they each took home a rock with small traces of gold or silver! Too bad it wasn’t worth enough to pay for the tour!

After the great tour, we took a drive down Phantom Canyon and found a very nice picnic spot! It is always fun to spread out the blanket and enjoy a nice lunch next to a creek! Phantom Canyon is very beautiful and I bet in a few weeks it will even be more gorgeous with the color changes! We were a wee-bit early for that!

On Sunday we packed up our camper for the winter. Boo Hoo! Well, if the weather is nice, we might just go out for one more weekend in October, but we just don’t know yet.

Grandpa is coming to visit on Wednesday! It’s been a full year since I saw him last, so I’m really anxious to see my Dad! Sure do miss him!

I need to finish my CJ before he arrives – so off to work on it!

So much fun today!

What fun... I finally got to meet up with Toni, an absoultely wonderful, giving fellow scrapbooker that I've met through the CJ I belong to! We had so much fun today getting to know eathother! We definately have to do it again!

Toni lives in the foothills and took the long trek down to Castle Rock today to meet me for lunch! I had time to show her around my house and bore her with some of my scrapbooks! She brought me so many goodies, I do not know how I can repay her (but I will)! She even left me with some of her georgous cards that she's made giving me lots of ideas! Next time I will have to get a stamping lesson from her!

As part of her generosity, Toni took me scrapbook shopping!! That is always a great time for me! We went to a new store in Highlands Ranch called Scrapbook Destination. They have a lot of nice stuff and their store has penty of room to move around in. We found that we both LOVE paper and bought more of it of course! They are sponsoring a Crop in a few weeks and Toni and I might go. It's a full weekend at the Wyndham in the DTC (right by my office), so plenty of time to talk and scrap! That could be fun! She also mentioned that she will be going to a show in February in CA - maybe I'll tag along on that one too! I'm so happy I finally met such a talented lady around here! (Too bad I don't live in the mountains as well!)

I also got to go to HL - somepleace I don't get very often. The day ended way too soon as Toni had to get home to rescue her kids from the school bus!

Back to reality tomorrow and back to work... wah! At least I can work from home tomorrow - it will be my last day for a few weeks.

Rainy day

I wrote a short post yesterday only to have it lost when the Internet went down - again! Yawn! I'm getting tired of the trees getting in the way of our line of sight to the bluff and knocking our Internet down. ERGGGGG....

On Sunday we were saved from too much work by the rain!! Dan did manage to get most of the repairs done on the camper before we had to quickly close it before the thunder started. I was pulling weeds - a very un-favorite thing to do, so I was thrilled that the rain came!! I do like green grass and hot showers though!

We spent last night at Mary's house celebrating her birthday with pizza and then a game of HORSE (basketball). The game was cut short when the thunder began again. I didn't win, but at least I beat Moira! Yes, the blind girl beat Moira! And both Dan and Melanie beat me!

We woke this morning to MORE rain - actually mist and fog. It was pretty cold too. I think Fall is on it's way - yippee! I've had enough heat for the year! The wet weather did make for a long, tiring day. I was glad when it was over. I've made dinner, prepared chili for tomorrow and now I'm catching up on emails. Next I have to work on my CJ. It won't be done for Wednesday since I do not have the pictures I need, but at least it will be started!

Housework, Shopping and Parties!

Today is busy with housework, shopping and parties! The best part will be the shopping - until the bill comes of course!! The worst is housework, but it has to get done!

Melanie and I are going to go to Kohl's and spend her gift card she got for her birthday. Knowing me, that won't be the only thing we spend!! Then we're going to Ski Rex to find her some skis, boots and poles... not that will be expensive! Hopefully it will be a fun day shopping!!

We also have 2 parties today - a kids party for Mary and dinner for BIL. A great way to blow the "Good Eating" habits!!

I got the latest CJ this week and now I have to think hard! It is "10 Things About Me". 4 things I can't live without, 3 things you like about yourself, 2 places you'd like to live and 1 greatest accomplishment! I'm so UN-materialist that I'm lost on the first one! What 4 things CAN'T I live without?? Geez, that's hard! I guess I'll just have to stop thinking so hard! I know one is Ted E., but beyond other's in my family, I'm lost. Someone else already used Air, Water, etc... so I don't want to copy there. I must figure it out by the end of today so that I can scrap it and pass it on to Toni when she's here on Wednesday!

OK, off to go shopping!

It's Thursday...

I am very excited that Toni and I will finally get to meet next week!! We've done lots of chatting online and I know a tiny bit about her, but now I can finally "hear" her Scottish accent! I decided to take the day off so that we don't have to be rushed at lunch and we can spend "MORE" time talking about scrapbooking! I think she can teach me so much!! She is a DT for several companies now I think. I'm envious, but I don't think my skills are up to that. She has opened my eyes up to realize that there is so much more to the craft than what i see in my own little world! (And I don't see very clearly, that's for sure!)

The other ironic thing about Toni - she was also in HR!! Speaking of which, I chatted with Susan last night until my internet went down. She moved in with her boyfriend in the city! She has always wanted to be in the city, so that is fantastic for her! And Harrison is going to Lincoln Park HS! That's where Cindy goes! I think he's only a freshman though. She told me that Graham got re-married - that's cool! I miss my friends at CHG - I loved working there. I need to find a new carrer and fast!! SAHM sounds good!

I've been working on some greeting cards for the troops. I found this lady on 2Peas that sends cards to them and have been thinking about doing this all summer. I finally started making some cards so hopefully I can send her some soon. It's a good way to use up my scraps! And hopefully make someone happy!

How do we relax??

The standing joke in our family is that we do NOT know how to relax! Take Labor Day Weekend. While most people slept in, laid around the house and didn't do much of anything, we were off doing our thing!! That thing... camping, horseback riding, swimming, 4-wheeling and hiking! From the moment we got to the campground, until the time we packed up and headed home, we were busy! OK, I must admit, I did sleep in until 8 one morning, but when it's cold outside, who wants to get out of the warm, cozy sleeping bag!! We cannot imagine laying around the house doing NOTHING! We'd be bored in 10 minutes!!

Camping outside of Buena Vista was awesome as usual! The campground was very quiet and had lots of privacy. It was located 1/2 way up Cottonwood pass, which crosses the Continental Divide! (You know where the water flows either East or West depending on which side of the divide you are on!)

On Saturday we took a ride up to the top of Cottonwood Pass and climbed up the peak there for a birds eye look from the summit! Awesome views of Taylor Reservoir (another one of my favorite camping areas)! From there we drove down to Taylor Park and then up to Tin Cup - a great little ghost town. Before we got there though, we stopped by a creek and had an awesome picnic lunch! From Tin Cup we choose Tin Cup Pass - a rough 13 mile 4-wheel drive trail. In our old Isuzu Rodeo it would have been a piece of cake - in our Ford Expedition, it's a bit more scary! We got hung up once or twice, but nothing the master driver couldn't maneuver over! Dan did an excellent job! We made it to the top - took a few quick pictures and headed back down the other side to St. Elmo! The kids liked looking at the old buildings and feeding the chipmunks in St. Elmo. We wrapped up the day with s'mores by the fire!On Sunday we went horseback riding by Mt. Princeton. It was a very nice 2 hour ride, even though it took a LONG time for them to get the horses saddled up! We did the ride last year, but at least they took us in a different direction this time! My horse, Jaz was very well behaved. Dan's on the other hand was pretty old - had an appropriate name "Drifter"! I think Mel liked her horse Doc. After the ride, we had a quick picnic at Chalk Lake and then went swimming at the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. It is fun to walk in the creek, but sitting on their steaming hot toilets is only but an experience! Again, a good dinner and s’mores finished out the evening!

On Monday we cleaned up the camper and headed home… boo hoo! One last camping trip (in 2 weeks) before we’re done for the season. That is but one of the sad things about the mountains – you can camp in Fall, but with no reservations we just hate to take the chance.

Back to work yesterday and today… busy was good, but I have a headache now! I’m so looking forward to some cooler weather and even SKI SEASON!! SNIAGRAB this weekend for some new skis for Mel! (That’s BARGAINS for those of you who are not familiar!!)

We're off to the mountains.....

AGAIN! It's our 2nd home!! I've spent the night getting ready for another weekend in the mountains. I made a homemade salsa, cole slaw, rice krispies and prepared the cooler. Oh yeah, there were also loads of laundry and watering the plants! My job is never over!

We are staying outside of Buena Vista halfway up Cottonwood Pass. It should be fun! We are planning to go horseback riding and lounge at the hot springs one day and 4-wheeling the other day. We've done it all before, but it is always a really good time!

Sarah, you know you are always welcome to stay here. As long as you help with the chores, you've always got a place to stay!

Toni - I'm loving listening to your music as I type my own blog. I've got to figure out how you did that!! Are you giving pointers?!

Cheers!!! I'm off to get some beauty sleep!

I need chocolate...

It was another long day at the office. So crummy that I don't even want to re-live it in my blog! So instead, I will tell you what I want - CHOCOLATE! Of course, who doesn't want chocolate?!

Tonight we're going grocery shopping and getting our hair cut - yippee! Then I have laundry to do before we can pack it up for the weekend of camping. We are taking Moira and her kids to Buena Vista. We plan to hike, horseback ride and sit in the hot springs. It should be a lot of fun!

I hate Monday's

It seems like it never fails, the first 30 minutes at work will determine what the day is to be like. The past 3 Monday's have started out with problems and the day has just gone downhill from there. Thankfully this week I had an upswing late this evening and things have turned a bit brighter! First off I got word that I can rent a condo for New Year's weekend for just $79+tax. That is an awesome deal! I sure hope it's a great condo! We're also spending Thanksgiving there, so we'll know soon enough! Secondly, my fellow CJer let me know that the stamps I ordered she got me a deal on! Yahoo! Even though both require money, they are still good news! Tomorrow is weigh in at WW - hopefully the good news will continue! :)

Hiking to Sky Pond

Despite the early start (6 a.m.) and the sore throat, Saturday was absolutely fantastic! We (Dan, Moira and I) couldn’t have asked for better weather when we started our hike to Sky Pond! Along the way, we passed by Alberta Falls, The Loch, Timberline Falls and Lake of Glass before finally reaching our final destination Sky Pond! (Pictured) Moira thought the path to Timberline Falls was a massive stair master! It was definitely a good workout! Sky Pond left us in awe once again with her beauty! I just love that area so much! When the day was done, we had another 9+ miles under our belts and the satisfaction of visiting another great place in God’s country! I live for days like this!

Today we are making a “relaxing” day… well as relaxing as we can get! I did sleep in very late, partly because I don’t feel good and partly because I was sad. It is the anniversary of my Mom’s death and it always makes me sad on this day. She has been gone 16 years now… wow time sure flies. When I think of all the things I have done in that time, it makes me sad that she was not here. But then again, she is here, I know. I feel her with me every day. I have to remember to embrace every day as if it is your last, because you never know when you will leave this earth to join the loved ones who live in heaven.

And on that note, I’m off to think of Mom and maybe scrapbook a bit.