Farmville

8 days ago, I would have given you a blank look if you would have mentioned Farmville on Facebook but today it is a different story. On New Years day when we went down to visit my son Travis, we saw both him and his girlfriend Jamie playing a farming game on their computer. We asked a few questions and watched them plant and harvest crops. I walked away saying.......I just don't get it. Plus it looked like it could be time consuming.

Well last Saturday night Kevin went and started Farmville on our computer. On our way to bowling I insisted he call Travis to tell him that I didn't do it. Sunday I kinda looked on as I watched Kevin plant some crops and harvest them. Monday when he was at work I thought I better keep an eye on things and harvest stuff etc. And that's how it all started..........next you know I was collecting chickens, eggs, horses and trying to earn points to get to the next level. Here it is ONE week later and I am at level 20. I have 4 penguins, 2 horses, 2 goats,2 sheep, 6 cows, 3 kittys, 58 chickens and 17 calves. Ooops forgot that 1 pig and the 2 ducks. These were all gifts that I received or presents from eggs that I hatched.

I started out planting strawberries and have worked my way up to grapes. I still don't know all the secrets of this game and when I visit other farms I am amazed at all the buildings and how pretty their farms are. Speaking of other farms I am looking for neighbors so if you are playing this game too and want to add me as your neighbor I would be happy to come over and feed your chickens and fertilize your fields.

It's actually very addicting and competitive but FUN! I have quite a few friends on there and some of my family so we are interacting in a new way. I've even found some of my crafting friends and fellow Fiskateers on there.............so if you are out there playing too........add me as your neighbor and send me some trees!

Creative Cafe Journal

I don't know about the rest of you but when I make or create things they are generally for other people. This time I made something for MYSELF!! I got this 3 ring binder journal kit last year and it is 8.5 x 10.25 so a nice size. Included were 12 photo pages (one for each month) and 72 journal pages. 12 of them were printed with calendar inserts which I had to stamp & decorate for the appropriate month.

I decided I wanted to use this book for my yearly journal. So the first thing I did was make each monthly calendar. Some of the months I was lucky enough to have appropriate numbers and decorations to use but the others well lucky I have lots of stash to use.

So for each month the first page would be a monthly calendar and then below it a space to record your dates to remember. It also came with tabs to put on the edge for each month too. The back of that page is all lined paper.....decorated with some embellishments....and ready for me to journal the things I want to remember.

The second page had the top section with little boxes where I plan to make notes of things I want to do that month and the bottom section was just lined for journaling. The opposite side of the page is lined on the top half for writing but the bottom half is a big box labeled "ideas & doodles".......how neat is that?

The third page is just lined on both sides for more journaling or notes. It was fun finding embellishments for every month to make every page "special". I love how my May gardening page turned out........don't you?

Last there was the photo insert page which will hold four pictures. I really like this because some pictures are not meant to be scrapped but they hold allot of memories for me. For example.......I have a neat picture of Travis & Kevin playing Wii last week-end early in the morning.

The book also came with a dozen various pockets to use but not sure what I can do with them yet. Maybe in my next blog I will post some pictures of these and you can give me your thoughts on what to do with them.

Since this book was for ME, I decided to use some of my favorite papers I have been saving to cover it with. I used Webster Pages........I just love them but actually hoard them as they are each prettier then the next. The paper I picked was so appropriate as it has a circle on it that says On This Day surrounded by the days of the month and the outside circle has all the months. I added a glittered blue bird and a butterfly and for a finishing touch a piece of green velvet ribbon. The picture of the front of the journal is at the beginning of this blog. On the back of the book I used the same paper but just added a rub on glitter saying.

I am really happy with the result and will enjoy using this all year. Almost would like to make this a yearly thing from now on..........guess I will have to see how long this Creative Cafe journal stays around.

Happy New Year!

Well they say better late then never so here I am to wish you all a happy and healthy new year filled with love and laughter. It kind of reminds me of my prayers every night when I pray that my sons are safe, healthy and loved.... something we can never get enough of. I used to end all our phone calls with "I love you" hoping that one time one son would say it back to me but that never happened and I kinda got the feeling that they hated hearing it so much so now I just say thanks for calling and talk to ya soon. I raised my boys with lots of hugs & I love you's but they didn't end up that way as adults which is kinda sad because the women in their life (including me) miss that stuff. I was very lucky to find a man (Kevin) who not only says those words daily but shows it ....... sometimes just little things like holding hands mean more then words.

Boy did I get off track............but I hope you all had a nice Christmas and New Years too. We've had some weather issues here around the holidays so ours was pretty quiet. New Years day we went down to Lake Mills and spent the night at my youngest son's house. We had so much fun on both days just spending time with Travis and Jamie playing Wii. I brought down a few of our games and our remotes but we really enjoyed playing his Monopoly game. There was so many different versions on that one disc and every round there was a chance of the winner turning into the loser so you just never gave up hope. Plus you never had to count out money and there was also little challenges every round that were fun. On Saturday my daughter in law Justin came over, picking up Alex along the way, and we got to try out my new game which was called Just Dance. Us gals and Alex thought it was a blast and you really got a workout doing it. Kevin & Travis had more fun watching us and laughing. We sat down to a nice ham dinner and before you knew it, it was time for Alex to go home and us to make that long drive home. It sure was a relaxing 2 days and I was quite impressed with all the work my son was doing in his house.

My job at Lands End as a personal shopper for Sears is just about over. I'm only scheduled for one day a week and often I get sent home early for work reduction. With our Wisconsin winters, I really don't mind staying home especially on days like this where it has been snowing all day. It's gonna be our first chance to try out our new snow blower that Travis found for us for Christmas.

I did get some scrapping done this week and did 3 layouts of Travis and Alex during the snowstorm they had last month. Thought I would end this blog with those pictures. Hopefully you will see me blogging more often now that I am home more.

Some things you won't be getting for Christmas

I went back to work last month at Lands End but I actually work as a personal shoppper for Sears. So all day long when I work.............I am on the computer chatting with customers. Shoppers who are online trying to find something at Sears or Kmart. If I can't find it at those stores, I then go off and search the web for you. Sometimes I actually get a sale but most of the time people are looking for some of the impossible to find items this year.

The one I search for most often is a game called Mindflex by Mattel. Retails for $79.99 but since it is out of stock EVERYWHERE people are selling it on Ebay and Amazon for almost $200. Whoever thought of this game has struck gold. Ellen had it on her talk show last week and the calls have gone up big time since then. It's a game where you wear a head set and send mind waves to the ball to make it rise into the air...........hmm.......what will they come up with next? If you missed it on Ellen and still want to see it, just google the word Mindflex.

Another big item is Barbie's glamour camper or her townhouse. Hard to believe that Barbie is still popular but even harder to believe what people will spend on her accessories. I have close to 30 dolls here at the house for Allayah to play with when she comes over. She does have her own jeep and a bedroom set but none of these were even near $15 which is a drop in the hat when it comes to the townhouse or camper.

Now you can understand how hard it is to come home from work and sit on my own computer just for fun. After 8 hours of chatting with people from all over the United States........the last thing I want to do is type some more............plus there is cleaning, cooking and I still have to finish making some Christmas cards. Don't get me wrong...........I really enjoy being a personal shopper...........especially if I can help them find something they are looking for. It's just that I'm not used to working full time and especially not during the holidays when I want to be decorating my house, making gifts and cards and of course baking cookies. Thank goodness it is only temporary so soon I will be home again full time and I won't have to worry about driving to work in a blizzard. Yes we had a blizzard here in Wisconsin last week........almost 12 inches and then came the bone chilling cold ......................... temps below zero and wind chills at -20.BRRRR!!! They are now talking 3 to 5 inches of snow tomorrow. Good thing I have off tomorrow since I worked today.

I do miss blogging and I miss spending time in my scraproom (the messiest place in the house at the moment) but it is nice to earn some extra spending money for Christmas gifts. I'll be back again soon!

Thanksgiving fun

I can't believe I haven't been on my blog for such a long time and I can give you the excuse of the new job and Thanksgiving but.................there really isn't any excuse to miss my friends online.

Thanksgiving was great! My youngest son Travis came up with his son Alex and he also brought along Allayah. His girlfriend Jamie came up later that night too. My dining room table looked really nice with all the matching napkins and placemats,a gift from my friend Betsy (thanks again!). I even made little nametags for everyone so they would know where they sat. It was fun using some of my border punches and just getting my creative juices flowing. The turkey was great and if you've never used an oven bag for your turkey you don't know what you are missing. So easy and so very moist.

We had our 2 oldest grandkids for 3 days. They played so well together we didn't even realize we had kids in the house. They spent hours in my scraproom just being creative (they LOVED the cuttlebug), they played at the park and of course we swam for hours. Friday night we all went bowling and wouldn't you know I forgot my new camera (normally I carry one in my purse at all times). But I did get some cute pictures of the kids swimming so I will share them with you.

I took everyone to Lands End on Friday since the company store was open and they all found some really good deals. Plus they got to be the first people to ride in our new car. We went to Sears on black Friday but otherwise avoided the stores. We had too many other fun family things to do and I can shop anytime right? Actually my job is being a personal shoppper online for Sears so that's all I do every day when I work.

Well I'm off to find my scraproom again so I can make some Christmas cards.......yes I know I should have them done a LONG time ago but this has been one very strange year. Do you have all your Christmas cards done??

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.