Crazy Crazy Weather.....

It certainly has been a weekend for some crazy weather here in Oklahoma, as I am sure many other states. Friday, it was rainey and dreary all day long. By Friday evening, a severe thunderstorm had moved into the area and we were pelted by heavy rain and marbel size hail. Saturday morning, thunderstorms were still making their presence known. During all of the thundering and lightening it started SNOWING. Not just a light snow, mind you, but big fluffy snow flakes and high winds. It was a blizzard for most of the morning, and then just the typical snowing the rest of the day.

Widdles hung out at the window most of the day trying to catch snowflakes. Thank goodness the snow was on the outside of the window and not the inside. But try telling that to a kitten.

I just couldn't stand it any longer. Lets face it, I am not a "dining room" kinda gal. And my home is not a "we eat in the dining room" kinda house. So when Chris talked me into making the front room a dining room and actually using the dining room table for it's intended purpose, I was like "okay, whatever". But that lasted two months! Longer than I thought it would last. We used the dining room table a total of two times during the past two months as an actual dining room table. So Friday, after I got home from work and took a nap, I moved the dining room table back around and put my computer back on it, where it belongs! My dining room table serves a better purpose as a desk than an actual dining room table.

I am doing some serious computing here! LOL! While I was doing work on our desktop computer, I had my laptop playing youtube videos of Gangland and emailing on my iPhone. Not to mention the heavy drinking I was also doing! Nothing like a good cup of hot coffee and a cold Diet DP while computing. If you could see my desk at work, it is just about the same, except, I typically have a bottle of water sitting with my Diet DP and coffee. I am a heavy drinker that's for sure! LOL!

I did accomplish alot this weekend and I didn't even walk into the project room once. I did a massive clean sweep on the desktop computer. It was running sooooo very slow, so went delete happy with some very very old junk that needed to go, then I ran nCleaner and rounded it off with Defraggler. Man, it has made a world of difference on the performance. I was just about ready to throw the computer out in the yard! But not now, I am totally loving my PC again.

Saturday, I spent the entire day reorganzing my photoshop elements picture catalog. Holy Monkey, I have a bunch of pictures. I keep them on an external hard drive, instead of on my internal hard drive. Before yesterday, there was very little rhymn nor reason to our picture catalog. It was almost impossible to find a particular picture. Now, I have organized collection groups, collections and even added tags. The only last thing left to do is organizing Chris' model car pictures. But that will take him sitting next to me telling me what car is what. That project will be for another day!

I've Been Tagged

I have been tagged by my girl, Angie De. Here is the deal......

Go to the place on your computer where you store all your pictures and open the 4th folder. Open the 4th picture. Post the picture and give an explanation of what it is. Tag 4 people. DO NOT CHEAT!! You cannot edit or crop the picture!!So here is my picture.......


It's Scrappy looking all so happy. He was in the kitchen while Chris and I were cooking. Don't ask me why I had the camera handy, but I couldn't resist my sweet Scrappy's happy look.

I am tagging.....

Lainey
Cheryl
Martha
Kim

Aww, the sounds of Spring....

Today, Chris and I sat outside and enjoyed the sounds of spring. The birds were singing, there was a nice warm breeze blowing, a gaggle of kids were laughing and playing and the crashing sound of broken glass....the sound of broken glass sure does get your attention on such a beautiful day. The gaggle of kids were playing across the street in the church parking lot and I guess they found a bottle and decided to smash it to bits. Then they proceeded to stomp the pieces of glass. Kids will be kids. They didn't like me so much when they got busted and I told them to go get a broom and clean it up. These kids are really good kids, but spring brings out the mischief in everyone! LOL!!!

Speaking of mischief, the Insane Clown Posse have discovered moths. Boy howdee, you talk about crazy cats. Word needs to get out in the moth community to not come inside this house. I will try to get some pictures the next time the Posse is on Moth Patrol.

I finally got into my project room to play with that massive stack of paper I got in last week. My absolute favorite paper right now is Bloom & Grow from My Mind's Eye. It is so fun and festive. I decided to use the paper to make some decorations for my desk at work. It's time for something fun and festive. I am going to have to get more of that paper.

I really like to alter stuff! If I could find a supply of mdf picture frames, like the large one below (I think Prima use to make some) I found at Hobby Lobby during Christmas time, I would spend my days making picture frames. I really really do like to alter stuff! :) Oh, and the center of the flower and stem is from my tinker toy set. It won't be long and I am going to have to find me some more tinker toys.

Spring has Sprung in Oklahoma.....

Well, it's allergy season in Oklahoma, as I am sure it is across the country. As much as I love Spring time, allergies totally stinks! I was up all last night, I couldn't sleep because of the pounding in my head. It honestly felt like someone had beat me about the head with a very large baseball bat. I stayed home from work today and slept most of the morning. I was really hoping that all of the allergy shots and my daily Claritin would stop these horried headaches. I guess it's something I am going to have to discuss with my Allergist. My head feels a bit better, I can actually focus my eyes, which I suppose is very good since I am typing this post.

I did have a highlight today. I woke up after lunch and found a package at my front door. I haven't gotten to shop much for new paper. Last week I decided to do a bit of retail therapy. There was some great sales going on all over the internet. Mind you, I haven't gotten to enjoy this beautiful stack of papers yet, but this weekend, I am very certain that I will be doing some scrapping.

Coma Monday......

....that is what I have come to call Monday's around here. I am exhausted! Monday's are the hardest day of the week for me. Can you believe that it's only 6:30 pm and I can think about is how much longer until bedtime. I keep repeating....."you can stay awake until 7:30 pm!" Pathetic!

Today, I was suppose to start my daily walks. Well, it ain't happening today. In the immortal words of my friend Leesa...."I tired!"

Our first 5K.......

Chris and I entered our first 5K. It was Saturday morning. The weather was bit cold, but once we started walking the 5K we warmed up pretty fast. The funny thing was that it started sleeting during the event. Chris jogged the entire 5K, not a fast jog, but hey, he was jogging. I on the other hand, walked. I did jog a little, but me and jogging are not good friends. I think I will just keep walking and leave the jogging and the running to other people. Chris finished in 43 minutes and I finished in 46 minutes. Not bad for our first 5K and for two people who haven't exercised in ages! We are tad bit sore, but it felt good moving. We have entered to walk the Heart Walk in April.

Before.......


After......

Over the past couple of weeks I have been working on some layouts. I finally got around to taking some pictures. I really need to get in my several boxes of old pictures and get them scrapped. ~Sign~ One of these days I will do that!!

This next week is going to be a gorgeous week weather wise. So Chris and I are planning on starting our evening walking at the track. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't get any bad storms.

Ugh......time change is really kicking my tookus...

You know, I really like having more daylight, but dang, this "springing ahead" is kicking my tookus. My clock says 3:30 am when the alarm goes off, but my body and brain is screaming "BUT IT'S ONLY 2:30 am!!!!" I don't care how early I go to bed, I still have to wake up too dang early!!!

Here are some layouts I did with some beautiful Graphic45 papers. I really really love how these turned out. I really need to get me some more of this paper!!!

A Lazy Sunday......

Yes, not only was Nibby spending the day lazing around, so did we. Isn't that what Sundays are for? I know they are around our house. Well, I did get some laundry done and Chris and I did our Sunday veggie chopping session.

Did you remember to change your clocks ahead 1 hour? We did....all 15 clocks! Okay, not that many clocks, 8 clocks that actually got changed. The rest of them (6 of them...yes I have 14 clocks around my house) did not get changed. I am not sure if those 6 clocks even work if we put batteries in them. I have a thing for clocks. Maybe it's my own little way to control time....like time can be controlled. Okay, okay, I just love clocks.

I did spend some time in the project room. I grabbed our tv series dvd case and started watching MASH season 1 (which I watched most of them yesterday) and season 2. I just love MASH. I don't have all of the seasons, just 1, 2, 7 and 8. Not really sure why I have only those 4 seasons and why they were purchased way out of order. I am going to check out Amazon.com and see if they have all of seasons...and put those missing seasons on my Christmas wish list.

I started working on a wellness scrapbook. This ribbon covered album actually started out as a 3" ring binder that hold 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch paper. I had to extend the length of the binder because once I put the page protectors inside, they stuck out the end about a 1/2" and that totally drives me crazy. So I glued chipboard on the covers, covered in felt and then covered in ribbons. It wasn't a planned thing, it kinda evolved into this very colorful album. Now I just have to fill it up.

Chris and I started our "wellness journey" on January 1st. I had let my weight completely get out of control. I felt miserable and had very little energy. So Chris and I started watching our calories and cut out fast food completely. I am proud to say that we have not had any McDonalds, Arby's, Sonic, Churchs Chicken, or any other fast food since January 1st. We started cooking......I know, shocker....I am cooking and drinking more water.

The results so far? Well, I am proud to say that Chris has lost 17 pounds and I have lost 24 pounds! WoooHooo!! My goal is to lose 60 pounds total, which will put me at my target weight. Chris' goal is to lose 30 pounds. Chris is 1/2 way there and I am almost 1/2 way there.

So far we have been losing weight by only changing our diet. Now that the time has changed and we have more day light and that it's getting warmer, we will start walking up at the High School track. We have also signed up for two 5K's. Mind you, we will not be running a 5K, we will be walking. But we are excited to get moving. Our first 5K is this coming Saturday and the Heart Association walk is in April.

Eventually I will post the pages of my "Wellness Journey" on my blog, but for right now I am keeping those to myself...mainly because it is still so hard to say outloud just how much I weighed when I started. But I can tell you this, those pages are plain white cardstock and ooodles of doodles! :)

My March GBC Projects

Introducing GBC's March Kit: Warm Vanilla Sugar

Featuring Pink Paislee Captivating
Two sheets each of Pink Paislee Patterned Papers - Tender, Graceful, Beloved, and Lovely
One sheet of Pink Paislee Stunning Die Cut Patterned Paper
Two sheets of Jenni Bowlin Farmer's Wife Country Store Patterned Paper
Two sheets each of two shades of Bazzill cardstock - Java/OP and Buttercream
Prima Vinyl Rubons - Brown Doodle
Prima Collage Stamp
Pink Paislee Captivating Brads
Creative Imaginations Brown Buttons
Jenni Bowlin Chipboard Buttons - Bookprint
Jenni Bowlin Pearl Flowers - Cantaloupe

Here are my projects for March's kit. I love this paper, the browns, yellows, blues....it's beautiful and allot of fun to play with.

I do have two more layouts I made. But for some reason I can't seem to get them to load up right.

You can check them out HERE and HERE....


I made this sign to hang in my project room.

This was The Stoogettes first thunderstorm. Widdles was totally freaked out about it. The other two were interested for about 5 minutes then they continued to just play. Widdles stared out the window for the entire duration of the thunderstorm.

I love notecards...even though I am the worlds worst about mailing them out. I altered a Maya Road tin and made 6 "hello" notecards to put inside. The cards where based on a great sketch by my fellow GBC Creative Team Member and dear friend Carol.

This is a "catch all" book that I made for mine and Chris' desk. I use a Maya Road sheer ablum with tabs and filled with scratch paper.

Also check out the 75% off Sale at Go Be Creative! There are some great goodies to be had for very cheap!!!!

All good things must come to an end....**Edited**

We had a wonderful week with Matt and Sarah. There was alot of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, lots of laughing, some movies, and naps! It's not much of a vacation if you can't get a few naps in!

We went and saw Taken at the theatre. It was really really good. We also tried catching up on several DVDs that we have bought. Everyday was pretty low key, but lots of fun.

My parents drove over from Arkansas on Sunday to see Matt and meet Sarah. They hadn't seen him in over two years. Their visit was short, they left on Monday morning. I wish they could have stayed longer. We had a great visit. But stupid me totally spaced out on taking pictures of them and kids. Not sure where my brain was at, probably too busy yelling at the crazy cats and Scrappy. Typically I flash burn anyone that visits me, but this time around, the camera didn't get much action. In fact, I didn't get my typical 600+ pictures like I usally do for any given event. LOL.

We decided to have a impromptu photoshoot when we got back from dinner for Chris' birthday. It was the only time I actually dressed up, put make up on and fixed my hair! LOL!

Getting Matt, Sarah and Chris tickets to the SlipKnot concert was a huge hit! I was supposed to go, but ended up staying home. I just can't get into SlipKnot, no matter how hard I have tried. I even listened to their newest album and still can't get into their music. Anyway, it gave me an evening to myself in a very quiet house! LOL!

Oh, and there was more Rock Band. I think they ended up beating the game, finally!

They make a very cute couple. Sarah is such a sweet girl. She and Matt were hilarious together. She definitely fits in with all of us really well! She has a super quick wit and is very funny!! My kind of girl! And she thought that Chris and I were pretty cool. Whew! I was totally worried that she was going to find us rather odd and be bored out of her mind. But she didn't run screaming from the house...so that is good!

Well, while the kids (Chris included) were playing Rock Band I got some scrapping in. I got some new Basic Grey paper and did these frames. They are those acrylic desktop frames. I also did some layouts for the GBC March reveal on Wednesday and some other layouts. I will post those later. I think I have overloaded this post with enough pictures!