Cards for the Troops

Last Thursday I took the day off to spend with Melanie because she was on Spring break. As it turned out, our plans got all twisted and I ended up making a bunch of Mother's Day cards to send to the troops instead! Here are a few of the very cute cards that I made!!!

So what happened?? Well the week before Melanie was on break we had 70 degree weather and we were welcoming Springtime in the Rockies! We thought it would be great to spend our day together at the zoo! Unfortunately the week began in the 40's and it never got much warmer than that. We decided on a trip to Park Meadows Mall instead. That is still a major outing for us because we have to take the bus. In addition, after we were done spending all our money, Melanie was going to spend a few nights at her best friends house in Aurora - being picked up at the mall. But the weatherman ordered a BLIZZARD on of all days - THURSDAY! We woke up to sunny skies, however by 9:30 it began to snow. We went for plan C - a shopping trip to the Outlet Mall in Castle Rock and a mid-afternoon bus ride up North for Melanie to meet her friend! Not much, but better than nothing!!

We took the shuttle bus to the mall and as soon as we got there we were told it was going to close within the hour. They wanted everyone to be home safe. Thankfully for Melanie there was a bus arriving to take her to Denver within minutes and away she went. That was my day off spent with my daughter. :( A big disappointment. So I took the next shuttle bus home, watched the snow fall and made cards for the troops! I had a lot of success... sending 10 Mother's Day cards and 16 various other cards from my stash!

The snow fell on and off all night. We only ended up with about 9 inches - which wasn't bad because they were calling for about double that! And by Saturday, the grass was completely showing once again! Gotta love the Spring storms in the Rockies!!

I opted to work from home on Friday, instead of trekking to the office and as it turns out, that would have been my only choice anyway! Melanie decided to come home and her friends took her back to the bus stop and tried to send her back home via bus. Unfortunately it never showed up... they didn't run service at all that day. So as I said, I couldn't have gotten to the office unless I walked!! Eventually Dan met her and brought my baby home! What a fiasco those 2 days were!!

And as I sit here typing this, we are once again cursed for enjoying that 70's weather for that week! After a brief storm yesterday dumping about an inch during the morning rush, another storm is heading our way for Wednesday's commute home! This one is calling for 3-6" in my neck of the woods! That either means a trace or a foot! The weatherman is never right here! One more storm is headed here on Friday/Saturday as well!

With all that fresh powder, I think it's time to hit the slopes again! Hopefully we can find the time and energy to get up there this weekend! There are only a few more weeks left at most resorts! We definitely have one more weekend in us - Easter Weekend we will be up there to have some fun... in one way or another!!! Snow or not!

OK, I have to get back to studying... it's not much fun, but I'm trying very hard!!!

Baby Book Pages

I finally finished the baby books for my friend this past week and photographed some of the pages before I got it wrapped up and will ship off tomorrow. Here are a few of my favorite ones!

I got a few hours of studying in this weekend and I'm feeling pretty good about my progress so far. I remembered why I hate to read so much! It's not easy doing it comfortably when you're blind! I hope I don't need back surgery when I'm done with the test!!! :) Off to bed and back to work in less than 12 hours - ugh!

Early Birthday Gift!!

I got a very early birthday gift yesterday from my dear (old) friend Marlene! She has fallen in love with Copic markers (as so many of you have) and she has sent me my very first set!! Now that is a very thoughtul gift - and very much appreciated! I can't wait to play with them this weekend! In addition to the markers, she also sent me this rolly thing (I know it's a brayer!) and a Changito Birthday stamp! Wow - I can't wait to play with those too!!! And of course a beautiful card she made in Michelle Zindorf's class last weekend!

To top it all off, my birthday is still 3 weeks away!!! I think she was more excited than me and just couldn't wait to send it!! Thank you so much dear friend!

I plan to spend a good portion of my weekend studying, however we're going to start tomorrow off with a nice hike in Castle Rock to enjoy the weather! IT's been in the 60-70's all week - not bad for Colorado, eh? It's about to change though - back to the normal 40's by Monday. Go figure - Melanie is FINALLY on break!!

Have a great weekend!

Miss You Card

This little card I made for Marlene for our March card swap! Every month Marlene and I send each other a card to celebrate our friendship! It's a way to keep our creativity flowing and send some of our masterpieces! Melanie helped by coloring the little girl!

On Monday I finished the 2 books I was making for my friends babies! They came out really cute! I hope she will enjoy them as much as I do! I haven't tried to photograph them yet, but if I do, I'll post some pages!

I spent last night cleaning up the pit I call my office! It feels good to have it mostly clean! I have several pending scrapbook projects, including my CJ Survivors challenge yet to do for March! We have to use a favorite quote or verse in a project. I'm not much for quotes, so hopefully I can find one I really like that fits!!

Off to study... I forgot how extremely boring that can be!!!

MIA

I've been missing for a few days... what have I been up to?

I've spent much of my week working on two books for a dear old friend who had a baby of her own AND adopted one at the same time! She just brought the adopted baby back from Vietnam and he is adorable but tiny for being a year old already! I'm creating 2 separate books for them! It's hard for me to do without pictures so I really have to be creative! I'm trying to keep each of them unique! I'd really love to finish them up this weekend and get them shipped off before the boys start school!!!

I just bought study guides for taking the Professional Human Resources (PHR) certification test, so I'm starting to work on that. I will be taking the test sometime in June (I hope). The testing window is from May 1st to June 30th and I still need to schedule the test, but hopefully the later the better! With 20 years of experience, I hope it will work for me when it comes time to test. I'm not very good at these kinds of tests, so hopefully I'll do OK. I tried it 10 years ago and failed and as you can tell, it's taken me that long to try again!

Last week I had laser surgery on my eyes to remove the film that built up on my lenses after my cataract surgery several years ago. I went back to the doctor this week and he confirmed a nice improvement in my right eye (well all relative to being blind) and little improvement in my left eye. Since I'm still struggling with small numbers (I work with them all day long), I asked for stronger reading glasses. I ordered them and hope to see them in the next week or so. I'm still blind (really, I am legally!), but at least don't need a cane - YET!

Last weekend we went skiing yet again - to Beaver Creek! That was day #18 for me this season! It was fun, but we were dealing with "dust on crust"! Unfortunately on Tuesday they got a dumping, which once again we missed. I don't think we're going to go up this weekend - we need a rest. I'm sure we'll get a few more days in this year!

Well, that's my boring life! Back soon with some pictures of my baby albums?!

Basment Remodel

A few weeks ago Dan started the basement remodel. For almost 7 years now he has been asking for "walls" and "heat" in his basement! (He never complained in the summer when it's cooler down there though!) We had a contractor quote us last year, but they wanted an insane amount of money just to do his office. So finally he decided to refinish it himself! He has the know-how, it was just the "will" to do it! He finally saved enough cash and we were off getting that permit! Here are some photos from the first few days of the project.



This will be his office... walk through French doors into his spacious room, complete with a nice big closet! (off to the right behind the staircase.) Those French doors were a killer to carry down the side of our house, in the dark! I had bruises on my legs from trying to support it!!


Here are all the studs I helped carry! More bruises on the shoulders!



This is the big room that someday might just have the TV and work out equipment in it! There will also be a furnace room over to the left.

So there it is... I'll post more when there is more progress to report!!!

Birthday card

Here is a card I made a few days ago using an image that Melanie colored! It was challenging to match paper to her color choices, but once I found one I liked, it all fit together pretty quickly! I used a sketch I found on Frances' blog awhile back. I can't seam to design my own cards anymore - I have to use a sketch. I guess there is nothing wrong with that?

Tomorrow is my laser surgery. It should go quickly! Hopefully the drops will wear off quickly so I can spend some of my day of stamping and scrappin'!! Have a great week!