A little behind...

Here is week 3 of our ATC All About Me swap! This was actually the one from the week of 2-18! The prompt was a "Note to Self". Now I had a million ideas as I'm always making mental notes to myself... but the picture I used said it best! Life - enjoy the simple things and you will be happy all the time! This year I am working on staying happy - surrounding myself with happy people! Trying to stop complaining and start living! Enjoying the simple things! So far, it's working great! It can be hard to break old habits, but it can be done, I'm convinced!

I don't have a camera so I can't show you this week's just yet... the theme is Inspiration! Oh what inspires me? You'll have to wait and see!!!

It is just 14 days until we leave for London - how exciting! (Can't you tell by the countdown?) It should really be a fun trip, especially taking my Dad along! Well, it was his idea to go there in the first place (and Dan's) and I just know it will be lots of fun! We will be doing tons of sightseeing, tons of walking and lots of picture taking!!

But before I can go, I have a few loose ends to tie up with my commitments... like 2 CJ's to finish and an ATC swap to mail! Both CJ's seem fairly simple, so I just need to crank them out this weekend while Dan is away. Yeah, unfortunately he ended up on the road for the next 9 days with a brief stop back home Saturday night. Unfortunate but it will give me the time to finish this stuff up and not feel guilty ignoring him!

We are getting a brief dose of spring here! It has been in the 50-60's all week and we are looking at 70 on Saturday! It will be short lived though when the temps drop back to the 40's on Sunday with a possibility of snow again! Go figure! That's Colorado weather for you! But I'll take every bit of sunshine that comes our way! Enjoy you weekend everyone...

Where do the days go?

I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I did from last Monday to today?!

On Friday, Toni came down and met me for lunch!!! It was so great to see her – it had been since before Christmas! We IM just about every day but I miss hearing her great accent!! She brought me a bunch of goodies, including some ATC’s she’s made (some for our challenge), a CJ, a stamp for the back of my ATC’s, and lots of other goodies to try out!! I love when I see her, it’s always like Christmas! I really wish I could have spent more time with her but work was calling me back.

On Friday evening we went up to the mountains for another weekend of skiing! Need to get in some more days before our trip because you never know what conditions we'll come back to in late March, early April! I booked a last minute condo. That experience was painful - I lost 4 different opportunities before ending back up with the first one. It was a sparse but comfortable condo in Dillon and served our purpose well.

Saturday we went to Breckenridge to ski with some of Dan's friends and Moira. It was snowing but at least it wasn't miserably cold this time! We had fun on Peak 7 and 9! I love the rolling hills on Peak 7! I had the opportunity to ski backwards and didn’t even fall!!! It wasn’t on purpose, but I did manage to go quite a distance! Despite my knee cracking every turn, I felt pretty good until the very last run… I stopped to pick up a pole for a skier who lost it and twisted my knee even worse. I made it down the hill and limped around the rest of the night. We had a nice dinner at the Breckenridge Brewery with our friends and then headed back to the condo for a quiet evening.

On Sunday we went off to Keystone to ski getting there right as they opened the lifts! It was still snowing but a little bit warmer! The first run was painful but after I got through that one, my knee seemed to stretch out and was bearable for the rest of the day! We didn’t ski all day, quitting early to beat the traffic home. That was a great plan since a huge storm was rolling in and traffic later was a total mess.

Today I got to work from home – a little change from my normal schedule. It’s always nice when I can work from home. I can get so much done and not spend any time traveling!!! That means more time to blog and scrap! Tonight I’m going to try and get a CJ finished. I realized I have 2 weeks before our trip to get a lot of projects done! It’s definitely possible, I just need to crack the whip on myself!!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far… thanks for visiting!

16 days to London....

Deck of Me Week 2

Here is the ATC for the 2nd week (2-11-08) of my "Deck of Me" challenge with Toni! This one came easy... Scrap your initial!

This weeks subject - "Note to Self"! What do I tell myelf that I already don't know??? That's the challenge!

Look Toni - 2 posts in ONE DAY!

Sunday is for Bowling...

I am off today and I actually sat down and wrote a whole post this morning. Unfortunately, blogger appeared to be having problems and nothing was saved (beyond my first sentence). So here I spill it all out again!

Well at least this past Sunday was! We had planned to go snowshoeing and then ice skating, but the weather was a bit windy and snowy, so we decided on an indoor sport instead! We took my DD and DN to the bowling alley for a few games! Betsy rocked - she beat us all in the first game! Even bowled a Turkey (3 strikes in a row)!! It was her best score ever at 147! Her 2nd game was a bit more realistic at a 90! Melanie struggled but still got a few strikes and improved by game 2! Me, a meer 90 in the first game and well, I skipped the 2nd one! Never been much of a bowler!

After bowling I went shopping at Kohl's with a 30% off coupon - can't beat that one! Got a few good deals and should now be set with jeans for our trip to London! Can you believe that it is in just 24 short days! Yikes - that's soon! Yippee! Can't wait!

Betsy left us early today and after that Melanie and I went for a manicure and pedicure! Great girl stuff!! Now I'm just sitting around making a few cards and working on an Inspiration CJ. It's funny, I choose the Hardware Store for my Inspiration (had to pick blindly from a group of tags). Since my Dad was a carpenter and I have a garage full of my own tools, you'd think inspiration from there would be easy. I went to Home Depot on Saturday, took lots of pictures and are still STUMPED! I even had bad dreams about it last night! That shouldn't be happening - what's wrong with me??!! Hopefully this will all click soon and I'll get a fabulous LO made!

Hope you all enjoyed President's Day - I know I enjoyed the extra day off!

Valentine's Day Cards...

Here are a few of the cards that I made this year! I had some fun with these!!!

It's not much of a holiday in our house - we call it the Hallmark Holiday! In all the years Dan and I have been together, we haven't exchanged much - mostly just hugs and kisses! That's fine with me! I'm saving the diamonds for heaven and taking the money to use for things I find more important!!! The best gift I could get tomorrow would be LOTS and LOTS of snow so that I don't have to go to the office tomorrow!!! Wouldn't it be nice to work in my jammies??!!

I'm working on Toni's CJ tonight. It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to get the finishing touches on it and send it on it's way!!!

Have a great night everyone!

Sweet Home... Chicago!

Yes, I know that Castle Rock is my home, but there is a teeny weeny little part of me that will always miss Chicago! I miss the family and friends and the food! Ah, yes, the food....

OK, my very quick visit to Chicago was a BLAST!!!

On Saturday morning I started out with a visit to Dunkin' Donuts with Dad - yum, yum! Then Marles came and whisked me away for a great day of shopping, eating and more shopping! We started at Paper Source, where I stocked up on cards and pretty, pretty envelopes! Then it was off to lunch at Booby's - an old hangout of Hilary Clintons for a Gyros! Yum! The place by Marles' house is better, but this beat what we have here hands down!!! Then it was off to Archiver's. We did a little bit of shopping before we started our card class! The class was fun. We made 4 different cards and got to use some clear stamps and products I had never used before! The souffet pen they can keep - didn't like that! But loved most of the other stuff! Then we finished up the shopping and after gift cards, I got away with less than $20!!! How good was that?! Then it was off to Lands End, TJ Maxx, Michaels and Eddie Bauer. I did manage to find a few things for my trip to London! The last stop was off to Edwardo's for pizza with Marles and Paulie! Yum, yum, yum!!!!! I suppose it's a good thing I can't get it too often - I'd gain all the weight back and then some! It was a sad good-bye to Marles after dinner... but with any luck they'll be out to visit this summer as Paulie promised!!!

After dinner, my brother Ed picked me up and then my sister Kathy before heading to the Elbo Room for Michael's concert! Michael's band, Few Left was playing in a Battle of the Bands! When we got there we found Michael waiting to go on stage. He was so happy to see me, he gave me a great big hug! That made me feel really great to know that my 25 year old nephew was so happy to have me there! When he got up on stage, I was front row snapping pictures like crazy, rocking out to his music! He was really very good! I had no idea! This is him singing! The crowds cheered them on and the show of hands voting for his band was incredible! (It didn't hurt that the bar he works at bused in about 90 people!) In the end, they won the competition and are moving on to the next round! With any luck if they win the next 2 rounds, they'll go on a quick tour to Germany later this year! Good luck Mike!!!

After we listened to the band, Ed and I dropped Kathy off at home and picked Dad up and went to IHop for some early breakfast and ice cream! It was nice to sit there and talk with both of them. It's just like old times! Then I got the bright idea that I really wasn't tired and that Ed and I should just keep partying! So we dropped Dad off and headed to Teaser's Pub where Mike works for a few drinks! I had never gone to a bar with my brother before! Very weird to be in a bar with your gray-haired brother and his two sons!!! But it really was a lot of fun! Ed brought me back to his place at the respectible hour of 3:40 a.m.! It was still earlier than the time I went out with Kathy until 4 a.m.!! Wow what a FUN night I had!

On Sunday, Ed drove me back to Dad's where we were able to discuss more of our plans for London! It's hard to believe that we're going in about 4 weeks! Actually we leave in 30 days - yeah!!! After much discussions, we both took a quick nap before heading out to dinner. BTW, did I mention that the high in Chicago on Sunday was two (2)!!! Brrrrrrrrr!!!! Dad and I met the rest of the family at Gulliver's for a great dinner around the great big table there. Unfortunately there were 2 people missing. Sarah ended up terribly sick and I didn't get to see her or her apartment. Boo hoo. And Katie had to stay up at Carthage because she had basketball practice. (I also missed a game of hers on Saturday because I had previous plans.) Otherwise, it was great to see everyone!

And before I knew it, it was Monday morning and I was headed back to the airport once again! At least tucked away in my suitcase was 2 Edwardo's pizza's, Dunkin' Donuts coffee and of course Mint Meltaways from Fanny May for Ms. Melanie!!! Ah the food... It was an awesome weekend!

I've Been Tagged - Random Facts

I've been tagged by Toni to share 7 random/weird facts about myself. Here are some VERY weird facts!

1. I was cross-eyed when I was younger and wore a patch on my glasses in 3rd grade. My mother covered the lens with colored electrical tape and drew pictures on it for me!
2. I was on a gymnastics team at the YMCA for 5 years but the best I did was 2nd place on the beam!
3. I was salutatorian of my HS class.
4. I go to the bathroom with the door open when no one is home! (Do you?)
5. My favorite author when I was a kid was Paula Danzinger and she replied to a letter I wrote her!
6. I have had a pen-pal named Akiko from Japan since the 3rd grade! (We went to school together for 1 year!)
7. I was totally in love with David Soul (from the real Starsky and Hutch)!

And now, in true blog tag fashion, I am tagging seven (or less) fellow bloggers to take up this challenge (apologies if you've already been tagged):

Patti
Debbie
Lisa
Nancy
April

Feeling better...

Thanks everyone for the well wishes - I think they helped! I actually took Monday off of work to recooperate! It's a sad thing when I can count on 1 hand the number of times I actually took off of work (in 20 years) because I was sick! It was nice to relax - I even got a few cards finished for Valentine's Day! I guess I had a little energy after all!

I also spent a little time on my first "ATC" card challenge - Deck of Me! Toni and I are doing this together! Once a week we have a prompt that we make an ATC card (or 2) for. We keep one and send the 2nd to the other person. It will be a great way for us to get to know eachother better! And it will keep us fresh all year long with new promts!!! I've even vowed to handwrite my responses even though I HATE my handwriting. (It used to be beautiful before I went blind!) This week's prompt was "What I am Proud of..."! Oh Toni, you didn't think I was going to give the whole thing away, did you? You'll have to wait to see my answer when you receive it!!! HA HA! I am ready for round 2! And I have a whole week to go!!!

I have a few CJ's to work on and are getting ready for my trip to Chi-town! I love to visit the family and eat, eat, eat, but what am I thinking of when I'm visiting in FEBRUARY?? I'm crazy - snow and cold - way worse than here! I hope I don't get stuck there - we'll as long as the hot dog stand is open, I suppose it will be OK!

I have a whole day of shopping planned with my friend Marles on Saturday - first to Papersource to stock up on blank cards and envelopes, then to Archiver's! I have 2 gift cards for there so it will be dangerous! And we're taking a card class while we're there too. And then clothes shopping for London. Did I mention Marles is a professional shopper?! I'm in trouble! Better bring 2 credit cards! In between all of this it's Gyros and Pizza - the good stuff (Eduardo's STUFFED) with lots of cheese. (There go the lbs I lost when I was sick!) I'm even going to bring a za or two home with me! After all that I'm going to listen to my nephew Michael play with his band - shoudl be lots of fun!

On Sunday I'm spending it with the family! First Sarah and I are going to go work out - oh a way to shed some of the pizza off! Then I get to see her apartment finally! Then out for another great dinner with the family! I'm sure there will be stops at Dunkin Donuts and Fanny Mae in there somewhere!

So if I don't get a chance to come back online before I leave on Friday afternoon, you know where I'll be! Eating my way across Chi-town!!! Have a great week everyone!

I'd rather be skiing...

We are NOT football fans and we decided to spend the day skiing today becasue there are NO crowds up there on Superbowl Sunday! Last night just before I was going to hit the hay, I started getting hot flashes. Thought I was going insane - still too early for menopause! Then as I laid down my stomach started to get upset. Next thing I knew I was sleeping on the floor in the bathroom all night inbetween hugging the porceline! I haven't had the flu in almost 8 years and it is absolutely miserable! I sent the family off to ski today while I tried to recover. Hopefully neither of them will get it form me. Lysol the house down before they return!!! I am not longer attached to the toliet, but I'm still going through the hot/cold flashes and weaknes. I am an awful patient! I'm horrible at just laying around. But after these few minutes of typing to my blog, I'm headed back to the counch. Wah! Not the way I wanted to spend my weekend! But I guess it was better than next weekend when I'm going to be in Chicago!!!

I've been tagged...

Courtesy of Toni! Here goes...

• You must post the rules before you give your answers.


• You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name.


• Each fact must begin with that letter.


• If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name.


• After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers.


• At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details).
  

L - lucky to have met so many great friends blogging and creating!

Y - young at heart !

N - neat, well most of the time!

N - no nonsense! I hate when people play games! :)

So now the whole tagging four other people...I am tagging....

Patti
Lisa
Nancy
Debbie


Have fun!