Busy week-end

First I have to say that my blogging has been so slow due to working full time at Lands End. I am assuming that after this week my hours will not be full time and then life might return to as I know it. I've forgotten how hard it is to work full time and keep up with household stuff. Forget the scrapping and this is something I truly miss especially when I should be busy making Christmas cards. The job is interesting as I am a personal shopper for Sears.com. So if you happen to be online at Sears or Kmart and click that button that says "chat now" you could possibly be talking to me! It is an awesome service offered by Sears where they will help you find or buy just about anything online or even locate the nearest store to you that has it available. Getting paid to shop................doesn't get better then this!

My husband and I did go to see that new movie out 2012 and I will give it a thumbs up! It was 2 1/2 hours long but it was a movie that had brilliant effects and the suspense kept you sitting on the edge of the seat most of the time. Definitely worth seeing on a "big" screen. I just saw on the news that there are people who actually believe the Mayan calendar and are preparing for the end of the world. Makes you wonder....

Later this week I will blog about our car shopping trip that we did on Saturday and yes we actually did buy our first BRAND NEW car...........more to come in just a few day.

Happy Birthday to me............

Well today is day 2 at my new job at Lands End where I am going to be a personal shopper for Sears. Sounds like a perfect job for me............helping someone shop online and spend their money! And you know me I'm a GREAT shopper!

It also is my birthday..........not a day I am particularly fond of but today was special. First of all I woke up to so many nice messages on Facebook and Fiskars and emails from friends. At work they have a birthday board so my class found out and sang happy birthday to me. I got cards in the mail from 2 of my brothers and of course my mom and in-laws. My darling husband had a gorgeous card waiting for me when I got home and then took me to Apple bee's........and you can guess what happened there when the whole working crew started singing Happy Birthday too.

While eating I got a phone call from my son Todd and another one just now from my son Travis. Just a few minutes ago my grandson Alex (he's 8) called and wished me a great day (sure Jamie dialed her cell for him but it still was so very special)! Funny thing is why we were eating..........I told Kevin how special it would be if Alex or Allayah called......and 30 minutes later that wish came true when Alex called.

Nuthing makes a birthday better then family or friends! Now I'm off to relax in front of the fireplace with my hubby and watch some tv.

Happy Halloween...............

Happy Halloween and we have a winner for the Halloween goodies RAK. It is Laura...........please send me an email with your address and I will get it in the mail.

I have been busy raking leaves and covering all my gardens with them for the winter. Today it is actually 60 degrees but very windy and tomorrow the high will only be 45...........which is kinda sad for all the kids going trick or treating. Last year we had Allayah here for the 1st time for Halloween and it was so nice she actually didn't need a jacket until later in the evening. Not sure what she is going to be this year but I know I sent her a cute little costume that was a long velvet dress complete with a muff for her hands...........this year it would be very appropriate.

We have to bowl tomorrow nite in couples league and then are heading to a bonfire so that will be our entertainment. How about you............any plans for Halloween?

Arizona was GREAT!!

You just can't have a bad time in Arizona..............weather is always the same..........sunny and warm......and even tho one day it was 102, it never felt like it since it is a dry heat. You don't even sweat there.....well at least I don't.








We arrived on Saturday afternoon and was surprised to see BOTH of my brothers picking us up at the airport so we all had a nice visit on the drive home (1 1/2 hours). Went out to eat in the evening and they served Spumoni (Italian ice cream cake) for desert. Here's a picture of Kevin having his and it also has a candle on it!







Sunday after church we headed to Riverside casino for their champagne brunch. It wasn't as impressive as I remembered...............not like the seafood buffets we normally hit on Fridays. We watched the Packers play in the Losers Lounge since they weren't on regular tv this week. After that we headed back to my moms and sat in the hot tub and did some more visiting. This picture is of my 2 older brothers, my mom & I out on her deck in back.






Monday was golf day..............first time I played in over 7 years. It really wasn't as bad as I remembered. I only lost 5 balls............one to the water, 2 to the bushes, 1 across the street and the last ended up on someone's patio (hoping it didn't hit or break anything). This was an unusual course as it was surrounded by condo's so lots of windows just begging to be hit especially from someone like me who doesn't hit it straight and far yet! What a great way to spend 4 1/2 hours ..............getting some sun, exercise and enjoying some wonderful scenery. Here's a picture of my mom, Bob & Kevin just before we went out to play. The 3 of them just LOVE golfing................mom & Bob play almost daily. I think they are hoping that I will get that bug too.

Palm trees, mountains, cactus plants...........and look at how close the houses were. I finally got in a picture too......not a great hair day when wearing a sun visor!

































Just had to get a picture of this sign since the comedian playing at the Riverside Casino was Kevin Johnson (same name as my husband). We didn't go see him but the 4 of us did go see Couples Retreat which was a very funny movie.









Now we are back in Wisconsin with temps in the 30's & 40's and lots of rain. I even put our electric blanket back on the bed Thursday night as it was so cold even with flannel sheets. Where is our Indian Summer?

BOOO -- I'm back with a RAK!

Just got home tonite from a wonderful vacation with warm weather and wonderful family time. Unfortunately came home to chilly rainy weather with maybe even some snow on the way.

So before I go to bed ...........I wanted to offer a Halloween RAK..............all you need to do is leave an easy favorite recipe that you enjoy making...........maybe something for the slow cooker, a desert or hot dish. I know from the past that coming back from vacation means catching up on lots of stuff including laundry etc so you could make my life easier with your recipes. I will draw a name next week-end and this is what you can win. Lots of nice spooky goodies including a set of Fiskars trick or treat clear stamps!

Will tell you more about my trip tomorrow!

Gonna Leave this snow & head out west

Here it is 36 and snowing outside............as pretty as it looks......I sure am glad that I'm am packing to head to sunny Arizona where temps are in the 90's! This fall has just been too wierd and so was summer! Anyhow tomorrow we will be spending the night at my brother Andy's place in Madison and he will drive us to airport there early Saturday morning. We arrive in Las Vegas at 1:22 and my oldest brother Norm will be picking us up and driving us 1 1/2 hours to my mom's place in BullHead City. We will be celebrating Kevin's and Norm's birthday that evening at an Italian resteraunt and my brother Robert from Milwaukee will actually be there too. How exciting for my mom to have 3 of her children together at the same time! I will have seen 3 out of 4 brothers within 24 hours and I spent an hour on the phone last night with the 4th brother Tony in Texas. Gotta love family time!

So while cleaning up my scraproom I got sidetracked and started organizing things. I received this neat bag from Fiskars with some garden tools so I decided to use it for all my adhesives. It is large enuf even to fit my ATG gun (a tool that I love).

Then I had this neat bag that I got in a RAK from Karen (Ladydoc) so I decided to put all my inks organized in there. It too was large enuf for lots of ink pads and stamp cleaners too!

Now I have an empty drawer so course gotta fill that....... so I organized a bunch of my squeeze punches in there. It fit 18 punches and some corner punches too. I like the way they sit nice on top of each other and now I can see which design I have 2 sizes of or 3 ( I actually only have the circle set in all 3 sizes but some of the scalloped ones only came in 2 sizes so they are complete too). The other 16 fit into this nice box and are very handy. The orange ones are the seasonal (Halloween) ones so aren't used year round. The drawer above this one holds all my border punches nicely! Don't ya just love being organized?

Last but not least I organized all my stickles and smooch into this nice little round basket. I put a piece of styrofoam in the bottom so they could all stand upside down in there and actually stay put.

By this time all my laundry was done so I carried it up to our bedroom and started putting it away. While doing that I thought hmmm I should pack socks etc for my husband and next thing I know I was cleaning out his sock drawer, sorting, matching and taking out all the ones that were wearing out. I did get his socks packed but it just shows you how sidetracked I can get from one chore to the next. Does anyone else have this problem LOL??????

Well not sure what free time I will have while on vacation so you might not see another blog until I get back. I'll try to bring back some sunshine!

crafting while it snows!

Yup it has been snowing all day...........little white flakes that could add up to be 1 to 3 inches. Doesn't seem quite right for October 12th does it? Course it will all be gone tomorrow but still made a nice day to say inside and be crafty!

I spent hours making a birthday card for my granddaughter Allayah who will turn 8 on the 24th. Knowing we wouldn't be seeing or talking to her this month I wanted it to be extra special. The felt frame on the front blends so perfect with the picture I took of her in our gardens back in August. I love the beading in the flowers and even the cake and present are made of felt.

On the top half of the inside I filled it with butterfly kisses and each butterfly is prettier then the next. On the bottom half I used my Cuttlebug folder and in the middle of it used a happy birthday rub on. I used my glitter pens to make this look special plus I remember how much Allayah liked using them and I think she will recognize it too! I enjoy making special cards for special people and hope they will be treasured for many years.

I also made my brother a birthday card and what was unique about it is that I used samples from a wallpaper book. I like the crackled aged look to this lighthouse envelope. I used the coordinating paper to make the card and on the inside I found a sweet picture of a girl on a beach which is so appropriate since I am his only sister. So next time you are near a paint store stop and see if they have any "old" sample books...........the best part is they are FREE and now you have another ideal of what to do with them. I have also used them to make frames which is fun.

As much fun as I had crafting today..........it is almost 3pm so I better get something constructive done around the house too! Thank goodness I made a nice turkey yesterday and fresh apple crisp so I don't think Kevin will mind leftovers tonite especially since he has to rush out to bowl.

I'll try to post again this week before we head out to warmer weather this week-end!